The Hogwarts Express

September 1st had finally come. Edd was excited to start his first year at Hogwarts. He hadn’t had a chance to test out his wand or any of the spells from ‘The Standard Book of Spells, Grade One’ since magic wasn’t permitted for students, and his mother had been adamant about enforcing this. Edd quickly packed his trunk with everything that he’d need for his first year. He hauled it downstairs and heard his sister call from the top of the stairs, “Hey Edd, help me with my trunk.” Edd was about to make a cheeky comment and tell her to do it herself when his mother came around the corner and said, “Edd, help your sister.” Edd closed his open mouth and walked up the stairs to haul his sister's trunk down for her since ‘help’ really meant do it for her.

Edd loaded both trunks into his mom’s car, while Lilian took advantage of this to steal the front seat. Edd begrudgingly took his seat in the back of the car, and they were off. Hoot was asleep in his cage with his head under his wing, and Mittens was curled up in Lillian’s lap. It was a fairly short drive to King’s Cross Station, where the Hogwarts Express would take them to their first year. Edd unloaded both trunks onto carts for him and his sister. His mother gave him a hug and said, “Thanks for being so helpful. Good luck with your first year. I love you.” Edd hugged her back and said, "I love you too, Mom.” He could see Lillian pretending to vomit behind their mothers backs. Edd’s mom gave Lillian a hug and said goodbye to her too before she left them at the station. Edrick looked over and noticed Lillian rubbing her thumb and index finger together. It was a nervous tick that betrayed her calm demeanor and straight face. “It’s all right, this year is going to be fun.” Lillian gave him a small smile and jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow lightly. “Of course it will be. Now come on, we don’t want to miss the train.”

The siblings quickly found platforms nine and ten before Lillian lined up with the barrier in between them. She clutched at her cart handle tightly as she braced herself. Edrick watched her take a breath and then walk forward as calmly as she could. She slid right through the wall and out of sight. Edrick lined himself up next. He gave a quick look around to make sure no one was watching and steadied himself to do what he just watched his sister do. He adjusted his grip on his cart nervously. He didn’t quite understand why, but he could feel anxiety bubbling up inside of him. He quickly brushed off the nerves before walking forward as calmly as he could muster. He knew that he must’ve looked quite stiff but hoped that nobody would pay him any mind. All he could think about on the walk to the wall was a mixed worry about being seen by a muggle and the wall not working and locking him out. Edrick was able to pass through the barrier without trouble and found himself standing on platform 9¾.

Lillian was standing on the other side with a smirk. "Dang, I was kind of hoping it would close on you.” The two siblings shared an awkward, nervous laugh. Neither of them found the joke very funny, but both were so nervous that the bad joke helped calm them down a bit. The two of them made it onto the train before splitting off to find a compartment to sit in. Edd found a compartment with two girls sitting inside. One of them was a cute black-haired Asian girl with great-looking legs, and the other was a short brunette girl with a large chest. Edrick figured that this seemed like a great compartment to spend the trip in. Edd opened the compartment door and asked, “May I sit here?” The girls both just nodded and gave each other a look. Edd gives the two girls a friendly smile: “My name’s Eddrick Lought; it’s a pleasure to meet the two of you. First year at Hogwarts?” He takes a seat, and the cute girl with wonderful legs speaks first: “My name is Cho Chang; it’s my first year at Hogwarts too.” The busty girl introduced herself next: “My name is Amy Hobbes. I was so shocked when I found out I was a witch. I come from muggle parents, so we had no idea about wizards or anything before I got my letter. Do you come from wizards?”

Edrick was taken aback by her quick and almost unrecognizable manner of introducing himself. Once his brain had finally registered the information she had dispensed at him, he gave her his response: “I’m a half-blood. My dad was a wizard, but my mom’s a muggle.” He felt like it was an underwhelming response to her quick introduction, but he was still a little stunned at just how energetic she seemed. He couldn’t understand anyone being this excited. “Are you nervous?” He decided to ask her. Amy giggled, “Nervous? A bit, I suppose, but I’m really just excited to get to learn magic. It’s going to be so much fun. Are you excited to learn magic? I am very excited; of course you’ve probably been waiting ages to learn magic since you knew it existed your whole life and everything.” Amy said all of this in her rapid-fire, bubbly voice, but Edd was better prepared for it this time: “Yeah, I’m very excited to learn magic too.” Although he still couldn’t really fashion a great response, Talking to strangers wasn’t his strong suit. Cho smiled at him. “I wonder what houses we’ll be in. Do you have any idea?” Edd shrugged. “Hopefully not Slytherin. Gryfindor or Ravenclaw wouldn’t be too bad, though. I think my dad was in Gryffindor, but he didn’t really talk much about it. I think that Gryffindor is where a lot of Loughts end up.”

Amy gave them a quizzical look, so Edd and Cho spent a bit explaining what the Hogwarts Houses were before the topic switched to Quidditch: “I hope I can get on one of the house teams; I love Quidditch.” Cho gave a wonderful smile when she said this; she was clearly very passionate about the sport. Her excitement was so infectious that Edrick was even getting excited despite not really caring about it very much: “I’ve never played, but I’ve heard it’s a lot of fun.” Edd once again found himself wishing he had more to contribute. The truth was that Edd didn’t care much for broomsticks; in fact, he had a bit of a fear of flying as a whole. The first time he’d tried to ride one was when his father was still alive. He, being a dumb kid, had tried to hop on it and soar. He’d ended up getting a good bit off the ground before he fell and broke his arm. He’d stayed off of brooms since.

The three of them chatted for a while longer before being interrupted by their compartment door being opened by a cute but bossy-looking girl with curly brown hair. “Has anyone seen a toad? A student named Neville lost his.” Edd gave her a shrug and said, “No, sorry.” The other two girls gave a similar response. She nodded. “I’m Hermoine Granger, by the way. Nice to meet you.” Edd gave her a friendly smile and said, “I’m Eddrick Lought; nice to meet you too.” Hermoine gave him a polite nod and closed the door. The rest of the ride continued on without too much of a note happening. The three new friends continued to talk to each other until the Hogwarts Express reached its final destination.