Chapter Text
She was so excited to go to Hogwarts. So, so excited! The morning of September 1st she was up even before her mother called her and her sister, Lydia, for breakfast.
She lay in her bed, wide awake, and stared at the underside of Lydia’s mattress - they shared a bunk, and because she was the younger sister, Lydia got the top bunk.
Today she would go to Hogwarts - finally! Lydia had been so excited when she came back during her first Christmas vacation three years ago. She twitched excitedly. She just couldn’t wait to see Hogwarts for herself. Especially the ghosts - she wanted to meet the ghosts!
Before her daddy had gone and never came back, he had read her muggle bedtime stories, and there the ghosts were always mean and very scary, but the ghosts in Hogwarts seemed to be nice enough - except Peeves, but he was not really a ghost, Lydia had explained.
She wanted to get up and out of bed, but she knew her mother valued her morning coffee in peace, so she stayed in bed and waited for the breakfast call.
The three of them lived in a small apartment, in the cellar of a big muggle building. Her mother had magically changed the dark and sticky rooms into a comfortable and homely two-bedroom-and-a-kitchen-niche apartment. The place was quite small, she guessed, but she didn’t mind. It was the home her mother had built them when their daddy left and never came back.
She thought of her daddy, and got very sad for a moment. She missed her daddy. And she had wanted him to be there when she took the Hogwarts Express for the first time. “Lydia, Sophie. Breakfast is ready!”
Sophie shook the sad thoughts - it was ok, her daddy was in a better place now, that’s what her mother had told her - and she could finally go to Hogwarts today! Lydia in the bunk above her groaned, obviously not ready to get up, but Sophie pushed the covers back and jumped out of bed. She could go to Hogwarts!
They took the tube to Kings Cross. Her mother had sent the owls ahead, so they wouldn’t attract too much attention in the train. But Sophie thought her mother needn’t have worried - the muggles didn’t look up, even when too girls with trunks as big as them entered the train. She was very grateful for her mother’s magic. The trunks were made lighter so she and Lydia could carry them more easily.
At Kings Cross they loaded the luggage on a cart and Sophie waited impatiently for Lydia to go through to the platform first. Why was Lydia walking so slowly! Sophie wanted to see the platform and the train and the other students and, most of all, she wanted to see Hogwarts!
Come to think of it, Lydia had been very strange after she came back from school last year. She had stopped telling stories about Hogwarts, and sometimes Sophie woke up because her sister was screaming in her sleep. Her mother had always been there in an instant to wake Lydia from the nightmare, but still. Sometimes Sophie wondered what had happened to Lydia during her third year in Hogwarts.
Sophie knew about Dumbledore’s death and that a war followd, of course. She knew because so many witches and wizards went into hiding during that time. Her mother had barley let her leave the house for the entire year last year. But Lydia had been at Hogwarts, she had to be safe.
Sophie and her mother had not lived in their little home in the cellar of the big muggle building during the last year. They had moved places every month at least, often even every second week.
But now the war was over. They could go to Hogwarts! Why was Lydia not excited to go back - she had always loved Hogwarts, had she not? Maybe her grades had dropped in last year’s finals and she just hadn’t told her little sis’ ?
“Sophie! Stop dreaming and go through, the muggles start staring.”, her mother whispered in her ear and gave her a little push. “I’ll be right behind you!” Sophie nodded happily and started to rush towards the solid looking wall that was really the passage to platform 9 ¾. She ran, the wall was getting closer and closer, any moment she would collide with it and pass through . She blinked and in the next moment she was on the other side. Sophie looked in awe. So many witches and wizards! “Sophie, get away form the passage!” Lydia called out to her and Sophie pulled over to join her sister. Her mother came through moments later, looked around feverishly until she spotted the two girls and joined them, too.
Sophie looked around. Something felt off. Wasn’t platform 9 ¾ supposed to be buzzing with excited students, with overly-emotional parents? Everything seemed so gloomy. Her mother had put her arm around her and hugged her close, holding on so tightly it almost hurt. Why was Lydia not smiling? She would meet all her friends again any minute now! “We need to get into the train, ma.” Lydia said suddenly and Sophie checked her watch. Oh gosh, it was true! They only had a few minutes left, and would probably struggle to find seats now. Maybe them being late was the reason the platform seemed so eerily quite.
Their mother hugged them tight, holding on a little too long for Sophie’s taste - they were running late, would maybe even miss the train if their mother didn’t hurry up now. “Take care of her!”, their mother said to Lydia, then she gave Sophie a last kiss and hushed them towards the open doors. “You don’t need to stay with me, you know that, right Ly? I can find a seat on my own.”, Sophie said. After all, she was a big girl and didn’t need a chaperon anymore. But Lydia just shook her head. “Next time.”
The train ride was over before it really began. Their mother had made them both sandwiches for lunch, and Lydia bought some sweets. They weren’t talking all that much. Sophie wanted to hear stories about Hogwarts, but Lydia didn’t seem to be in the mood for it, so they both ended up reading.
Sophie had gotten all of her sister’s old books, and was now paging through them, trying to find an ink stain she hadn’t yet committed to memory over the summer. It was getting dark outside when Lydia told her to put on her robes. “We’ll be there in about half an hour.”, she explained. Sophie nodded happily and got dressed in record time. She would see Hogwarts in less than an hour!
When she was sitting again, clad in her black Hogwarts robes, Lydia knelt down before her, looking up into her face. Worried, Sophie noticed the dark circles under her sister’s eyes. Did she still have nightmares? But Sophie hadn’t woken up from her screaming anymore in several weeks…
“Listen up, Sophie. I have to tell you a few things about Hogwarts, about the Hogwarts that you will get to see in a bit. These are things that I haven’t told you before, because Mum wanted you to have the excitement and anticipation.” Sophie furrowed her brows. What was her sister trying to say? Why had her mother and sister kept something from her?
“You know the war happend, yes?” Lydia asked, looking up at her still. Sophie nodded slowly. What was her sister getting at? “Last year, things at Hogwarts were… different; darker. And then was the final battle. It took place at Hogwarts. Do you understand?”
Sophie blinked. No. No, she didn’t understand. What did her sister mean with different? With darker? Lydia sighed sadly.
“Look. Big parts of the castle have been damaged or destroyed. I over-heard McGonagall say it would take a long time to fix everything. And then there is…” “No! That’s not true!”, Sophie interrupted her: “Hogwarts is a wonderful place with lots of candles and nice food and comfortable common rooms. And with scary teachers that…” A shadow flickered over her sister’s face, and for a moment Sophie thought she saw real fear there. She fell silent.
“Things changed. There will be at least three new teachers this year. I don’t know how many classrooms can still be used, or how we are even supposed to get into the castle - the entire entrance hall where the first years were waiting before the sorting has collapsed.” Lydia sounded angry now, harsh. “Hogwarts is not the same anymore. But I’m sure it’s getting better already.”
Silence fell over the compartment, while Sophie stared at her sister in disbelieve. Damaged ? Collapsed classrooms? What..?
The train stopped, and a magically enhanced voice drifted through the Hogwarts Express. “Dear students, welcome to Hogwarts. Please leave the train now. May the new students please gather around Professor Hagrid. The rest, please get to the coaches. We will have a little detour to get to the castle, as some of the road has not yet been restored. Please leave all your luggage in the train.” It was true then, Sophie thought. Everything Lydia had just said was true. There had been a battle at Hogwarts.
Numbly Sophie grabbed her coats and joined the flow of students that pushed out of the train. Once outside, Lydia pointed her towards a massive shadow, an enormous man: Professor Hagrid.
Lydia pulled her into a big hug, crushing her against her taller body. “You will be save with him. I’ll see you at the castle, all right?” Sophie just nodded. Her sister had said the war was over, that Hogwarts would be getting better by now, so why was she so reluctant to let go? “Go now! I’ll see you there!” Hesitantly Sophie took the first step towards Professor Hagrid.
“Don’t be shy, little ones. I’ll get you over the lake save and sound.” the professor’s voice boomed over the heads of the shy and worried looking students. Sophie ended up standing quite close to him and nearly flinched when he turned his head and looked down at her. “So, what’s your name, little lady?” “So- Sophie…”, she muttered and looked at the floor. “Don’t be shy. Hogwarts is a wonderful place. And it will be a warm home for all of you.”
Sophie liked Professor Hagrid. His size and the wild looking hair were a little frightening, but he seemed to be a nice man. A little calmer she followed him towards the lake and then over it in those tiny little boats. And then they walked up towards Hogwarts.
There was light in many windows, but also an entire section of the castle that remained in the shadows. Professor Hagrid led them over the courtyard, and towards the big wooden gate. It was too dark too see details, but Sophie thought the courtyard looked a too bare, just as if anything that may have been here before had not yet been rebuilt. Before she could think about what this truly meant, the gate opened and Hagrid ushered them in. It was cool inside the walls of the castle, and Sophie shivered. To her right was a big curtain, and a sign that informed students to stay clear of this side of the building for now. It was also the side that she had noticed was dark when approaching the school. Hagrid led them further into the building, and into an empty classroom. “The room we used to have you little ones wait in is still under construction.”, he explained apologetically, as if he himself were at fault for the incomplete repairing work.
The door opened and a tall witch entered - Professor MacGonagall. “Thank you, Hagrid.”, she said politely to the other Professor, and he left the room through the same door she had just come in through. He had to bow a little, otherwise he may have knocked his head against the frame.
“Students. Welcome to Hogwarts! As you may have noticed, a big portion of our castle is currently under construction to repair the last remaining damage from the war. Please be very careful to not end up in corridors you are unfamiliar with, or which are abandoned. It can be very difficult to find a lost student these days - particularly in a part of the school that may currently be unused.
"I will now lead you to the Great Hall where you will be sorted into one of the four houses of Hogwarts. Please know this, while we have all seen horrible things happen, and many of those committing these horrible things may have come from a particular house, it is no shame to be sorted into said house now too.
"The Sorting Hat will allocate you to the house that suits you best, may this be Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, or Slytherin. ” Professor MacGonagall paused and looked over the group of new students before her. “I am very happy to welcome you to our school. Now, follow me please.”
The Sorting would later be only a blur in Sophie's memory. Too many emotions, too many faces, voices, eyes. And the weight of the Sorting Hat that slipped over her eyes, the whispered voice in her head. Her mother had been in Hufflepuff, her sister was in Ravenclaw. Sophie didn’t know what house she should hope for. If she ended up in a house other than Ravenclaw she would have no one to look after her.
That would be easy, wouldn’t it? A voice in her head said: But you are no Ravenclaw, not really. And no Hufflepuff either, I fear. Leaves Slytherin or Gryffindor. What shall it be, little one? Sophie breathed heavily, too nervous to answer, too scared that she would be all alone whether she would end up in Slytherin or Gryffindor… You’re too scared for a Gryffindor, really. But you are a gentle creature, not made for the harsh future Slytherin has ahead at the moment, so it will be - “Gryffindor!”
Sophie rose with trembling legs and made her way to the cheering Gryffindor table. What had just happened? She looked over to her sister at the Ravenclaw table, who just smiled and nodded her on. Sophie swayed a little. Before she could stumble, however, someone reached out and steadied her. “You ok there, little one?”
The girl asking her had long, flowing red hair, lots of freckles and bright blue eyes. Sophie just stared, then remembered the question and shakily sat down on a free spot. She looked around. One table was almost empty, and she hadn’t seen many new students walk over there. This had to be Slytherin then. Why had the Sorting Hat considered putting her there?