Sit Vis Tecum

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Sit Vis Tecum-Chapter 2

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Sara looked around. What she saw totally took her breath away.

She was standing on another platform. This one was packed with people and bustling with activity. She saw that a wrought-iron sign hung over her head.

"Platform Nine and three-quarters," she whispered, her voice filled with awe. Over on the tracks sat a scarlet steam engine, smoke issuing from it in little puffs. On the platform, she could see a girl hugging her little sister goodbye and promising to her parents that she would be good. She saw two boys lifting a trunk onto the train. Further down the platform, she caught sight of a group of boys and girls hugging one another, finally reunited after the long summer.

"I see you've made it through all right," Sara heard from behind her. She turned around to face the speaker.

"Yes, James. Thank you for the advice."

"Have your grandparents made it through, yet?"

"No, not yet. I don't think that they were too willing to try to go through. I hope they come, eventually, though." James glanced quickly over his shoulder. A boy with shaggy black hair was waving to him.

"Hey, Sara, I've gotta run. Catch you later!"

"See you," she replied. He turned on his heel and disappeared through the crowd. She looked down, realizing that she still had her trunk with her. Pushing the trolley closer to the train, she took Athena's cage, stepped onto the train, and put the cage down on a seat in an empty compartment. Stepping back outside, she dragged her heavy trunk off of the trolley and attempted to lift it onto the train. She had no luck whatsoever.

"Need some help with that?" Sara jumped, startled. She turned around. A boy stood behind her, with chestnut-brown hair and dark eyes.

"Yes, thanks. It didn't seem this heavy when I packed it," Sara told the boy. Together, the two of them heaved the trunk onto the train and into an empty slot on the luggage rack. "Thanks again. My name is Sara, by the way. Sara O'Hanlon." She stuck out her hand.

"Connor Hawke, pleased to meet you," the boy said, shaking her hand. "Hope to see you around at Hogwarts." Sara nodded and Connor left the compartment. She hopped off of the train into the sunshine and caught sight of her grandparents waving at her. Her face split into a wide grin as she ran over to meet them.

"You made it!" Sara said excitedly. Her grandmother laughed.

"Yes, dear. At first we thought it was all nonsense, then we changed our minds. We did want to say goodbye, after all."

Sara looked at the big clock hanging on the wall. It was 10:46. She had nearly fifteen minutes. She looked up at her grandparents.

"I guess I'll see you later, then," she told them. Virginia gave her a big hug. Sara hugged her back.

"You'll be fine, sweetheart," William said as he hugged Sara tightly. "Don't you forget to write us lots of letters."

"You will have to get used to owls, then," Sara said, raising her eyebrows. "You sure you can do that?" William laughed.

"For you, Sara, anything."

"You are coming to visit for Christmas, then, right?" Virginia asked.

"Of course."

"You be good, Sara," William told her

"Aren't I always?"

"Good girl," he said, giving her a kiss on the top of the head. The train whistled loudly: five minutes until departure. Sara looked at them, somewhat hoping that they would take her away from this strange place. She wanted to go back to her old school, Beaumore Academy for Young Sorcerors, not to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Even the name sounded dumb to her. Sara felt a tear run down her cheek. She wished she could stop crying.

"Sara," Virginia said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "don't worry about it. Just be the pretty, smart, and funny girl that you are, and you'll get along just fine."

The whistle sounded again: four minutes. She gave her grandparents one last hug.

"I love you both," she said. William hugged her again.

"We love you, too," he said. Virginia also threw her arms around Sara.

"Dear, try not to break too many boys' hearts!" she whispered in Sara's ear. They both giggled.

"I won't," she promised. She glanced back at the train. The last passengers were hopping aboard. Some leaned out of the open windows and waved goodbye to their parents and young siblings. She turned back to her grandparents. "Goodbye. I promise to write at least once a week."

"Goodbye, darling, and good luck." Sara turned and dashed towards the train, stepping up into the compartment. She was met by a ruffled Athena, who was looking at her with an expression of utmost discontent. Sara shifted the cage and sat down close to the window. She could see her grandparents out the window. They were waving at her. She waved back. The train's whistle sounded three times. Sara looked out and saw that the train had begun to move. She waved at her grandparents, who blew her kisses. She watched them as the train sped faster and faster, until it turned and they disappeared from view.

Sara sat back against the seat and sighed. Here she was, on her way to a new school, starting her fifth year. She wrinkled her nose. At Beaumore, she would be beginning the sixth grade. There, young witches and wizards began their magical education at age 10, as first-graders. Sara would be starting her sixth year of her magical education. It was weird, having to repeat the fifth year.

Sara opened the small hinge on Athena's cage and took the owl out of the cage. Athena was small, perhaps only eleven inches tall. She had beautiful cream-colored plumage that was speckled with tan patches. Athena nipped at Sara's finger affectionately, and Sara began to absent-mindedly stroke her feathers and let her mind wander. Not surprisingly, Sara's mind wandered all the way back home, tens of thousands of miles away. She wondered what Ariana and all of her old friends were up to, as school always began on the fourth of September back home. She missed Ariana, and decided that she would write her a letter, just to pass the time. The train ride would be eight hours long, anyhow.

Sara placed Athena gently back into the brass cage and closed the door. Standing up, she went in search of her shoulder-bag, which lay locked in her trunk. She found her trunk in a luggage rack and crouched down.

"Aperare," she whispered, causing the lock to spring open. After fishing around in her trunk, she came up with a bit of parchment and a muggle pen. She hated quills, and wasn't very good with them, anyway. Closing and re- locking her trunk, she found her way back to her seat in the empty compartment. She took the cap off of the pen and began to write:

Dear Ariana,

How is it back home? I am currently sitting on a train on the way to my new school. It is called Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry-what a name! I miss you and everyone back home. Everything here is strange, including the people. They aren't mean or anything, just foreign. I am not used to the accent, the new money, anything. I want to co-

CRASH!

Sara looked up in alarm. She put down her pen and parchment and stood up, wandering close to the door. She heard a stampede of footsteps, and some shouting. Sara turned away from the door and sat down once more. She placed the pen and unfinished letter back into her shoulder-bag under the seat, and pulled out one of her new schoolbooks. She might as well become familiar with her textbooks, as she did have seven and a half more hours to spend on this train. She looked at the title of the book: The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 5. She was about to flip open the cover when she heard the compartment door slide open. Sara looked over at the source of the noise.

A girl of about her age with long, red hair and bright green eyes stood in the doorway. She peered into the compartment and, upon seeing that its only occupant was Sara, came into the compartment. She stayed close to the door of the compartment.

"Do you mind if some of my friends come and sit in this compartment for the rest of the ride?" she asked Sara.

"No, not at all." The girl let out a relieved sigh. She leaned her head out into the corridor.

"It's okay, guys. This compartment is almost empty-only one other person. Come on," she spoke quietly, gesturing with her hand for the people in the corridor to follow her. The girl opened the compartment door a little bit wider and five students who looked the same age as the red-haired girl trooped in. First came a tan, slim girl with long, shiny black hair and dark eyes. Following her was a boy with short, sandy brown hair and gray eyes, closely trailed by a girl with light brown hair and gray eyes. Two boys followed them: one had clean, neat black hair that was almost shoulder-length and blue eyes, and the last boy, one that Sara recognized, with black hair that stuck out at every angle, was none other than James Potter. James slid the compartment door shut behind him. He turned around, and immediately saw Sara.

"So we meet again, Sara," he said, walking over to her and sitting down in the seat opposite her. The girl with the red hair stepped forward.

"Wait, you two know each other? This is great! James, aren't you going to introduce us?"

"Of course," he said. "Right. Everybody, this is Sara O'Hanlon. She is in the same year as we are. Sara," he continued, "that dork over there with the long hair is Sirius Black, the girl standing next to him is Arabella Figg. That boy there is Remus Lupin, and that girl with brown hair is his twin sister Rena." Sara smiled at them all. "Oh, and this," gesturing to the red-haired girl, "is my girlfriend Lily Thompson." (a/n I know that her ln is Evans..but I have an idea and it involves Lily with a fake ln. You'll find out later in the story)

"Hello Sara," Lily said. "I've never seen you around here before. What house are you in?"

"Ummm," Sara said. She noticed that everyone was looking at her. She began to feel a lot more uncomfortable than she already was. Six pairs of eyes; she was going to hyperventilate in a moment. "I-I don't know what house I'm in yet. I just moved to England and so I had to switch schools."

"Where'd you move from?"

"The United States."

"Cool," the brown-haired girl, Rena, said. "Did you go to Salem? I have a cousin who goes there."

"No," Sara answered, feeling more confident now. "I went to Beaumore."

"Oh," Rena said, "I've never heard of that. Where is it?"

"It's in the Northwestern US, in Oregon." Everyone was giving Sara blank stares. "Just north of California," she explained. A few of them nodded. Sara hated when people talked about her. She wanted desperately to change the subject. "So, what brings all of you into this compartment?" Sirius, James and Remus exchanged grins.

"Well," James explained, "Remus, Sirius and I, plus our other friend Peter, sort of 'let go' of a couple of dungbombs a couple of compartments over."

"And now all the people in that compartment are trying to hunt us down," said Remus.

"So we are seeking refuge in this lonely little compartment," Sirius finished.

"These three," Lily said, gesturing towards James, Sirius, and Remus, "are always getting into trouble like that. Sirius is even trying to break the school record for 'Most Detentions Received in One's Career at Hogwarts,' or something like that. The three of them, plus their other friend, Peter, like to call themselves the Marauders." "You better believe it," said Sirius, "There are no bigger troublemakers at Hogwarts." Sara smiled a little. She had started to relax a bit. She turned and looked out the window. It was getting dark, and the passing trees seemed to be thicker and taller.

"So, Sara, your last name is O'Hanlon?" Sara turned around to face Lily and nodded. "That's, what, Irish?"

"Yes, my dad's grandfather came to the US from Ireland a long time ago." The group nodded, somewhat approvingly. Sara noticed Lily and James looking at each other, as if they were communicating without speaking.

"So you're a muggle-born, then?"

"Yes, what of it?" Sara had heard of people that think muggle-borns are scum. She hoped that these kids would be kind about it.

"Nothing," said James. "Lily's muggle-born, too." Lily smiled at Sara. So the group began to talk, rather, the Marauders and the girls began to talk, with Sara listening intently and interjecting comments where they fit. Hours went by. With two hours left in the journey, Sara changed into her new Hogwarts robes. She noticed that hers were different from everyone else that she'd met: hers had the Hogwarts emblem on the breast, while the others had the Gryffindor crest on their robes. Arabella noticed Sara worrying about this.

"Don't worry about it," she said softly. This was the first time that she had heard Arabella speak. "When you get Sorted, you will get a tie, and a scarf and patch on your robes, too." Sara smiled at her.

Before long, there was half an hour until their arrival at Hogsmeade Station. The others left to change into their robes and get their things together, leaving Sara alone. She slipped her shoulder-bag back into her trunk and locked it. Sinking into her seat, she slipped Athena out of her cage and ran her hand down the owl's back. It was really a very comforting thing. Athena nipped Sara's finger again, and Sara held the owl at eye- level.

"Wish me luck, Athena," she said. Athena hooted softly in reply, ruffling her cream-colored feathers. All of a sudden, the train began to slow. Sara gently slid Athena back into the brass cage and closed the hinged door. When the train had pulled all the way into the station, Sara stood up and carried Athena's cage to the door. She felt someone grab her arm and she whirled around. It was Lily.

"Hey...I thought you might not know where to go, so I'm here to help you out," she said, grinning. "The first thing is that you are supposed to leave your belongings on the train, and they will be brought to your dormitory. That includes your owl. Sara set Athena down on top of her suitcase and followed Lily out of the train and into the crown of students streaming out of the train. She heard a giant of a man calling, "Firs' years, this way." Lily led her out of the train station and to a cobblestone road, where a line of horseless carriages were waiting. The carriages seemed to be transporting students to the Hogwarts castle.

Somehow, Lily found Rena and Arabella among the crowd. The four of them climbed into a carriage together. The carriages were small, lit by a lantern hanging from the ceiling (with one small window on either side) and smelt faintly of hay and mold. The ride to the castle was silent for Sara, though the other three girls chattered away. They pulled up to the stone steps that led to the front door of the castle and clambered out of the carriages. Sara took a deep breath as she climbed the stairs.

"So," she said to Rena, who was right beside her, "anything I should know before I walk in there?"

"Have fun," she answered, giving Sara a big smile. Taking a deep breath, Sara followed the current of students flooding through the great oak doors into the castle.