10: Hogwarts Express

-1st of September, 1991-

[3rd Pov]

As the last traces of summer begin to fade, September arrives in Britain with its own distinct character, bringing cooler temperatures and a sense of anticipation for the arrival of autumn. The days grow shorter, the leaves begin to turn, and a crispness fills the air.

"Lysandra, Alaric, hurry it up!" shouted Isadora. In the old Bagshot Cottage, the Grindelwald twins were preparing to depart for school.

After hearing their mother, the twins quickly ran down the stairs.

Lysandra was wearing a typical black witch dress, that complimented her hair. On the other hand, Alaric was sporting a dark-grey suit, wearing a long beige wizard trench coat on top.

"Got everything?" said Isadora, to which the twins just nodded. "Well, before we go, I've got a little present for the two of you~"

She then took from her magical pouch, a small black box, with what seemed to be gold on the edges. She carefully opened the box, showing two equally black rings on the inside.

"These rings were a gift from your grandfather to me," explained the mother, "He had one, and I had the other. If any of us was to get gravelly injured, this ring would connect our magical power, giving us the precise location of the other," she wryly smiled. "As you probably expect, I never got any signal from my ring..."

Isadora looked at her kids lovingly, before taking the rings out and putting them on the twins.

"This will be the proof of your connection" she continued, "Even if you get upset with each other, even if you drift apart... just look at those rings, and you will remember that, above all, you two are family."

Alaric and Lysandra carefully looked at their hands, watching how the ring adjusted to their finger.

"Thank you, Mother," thanked Alaric, before hugging his mother.

"Take care of each other," she said, patting her son's head. "And Lysandra, do make sure your brother doesn't go too overboard, you know how he can be with certain things..."

"Also, don't you two dare forget to write to me," threatened Isadora, "I want three letters per week. So, if you don't want a Howler, you both better remember," she said, smugly.

Giving their mother a last hug, the twins disapparated of the house.

__________

King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London.

In an alleyway near the station entrance, two kids apparated. Walking to the entry, they slowly made their way through the muggle crowd, each carrying in their hand a leather suitcase.

"For Merlin's sake, so many muggles!" loudly whispered Alaric, earning an elbow in his ribs from his sister.

"Shut up," responded Lysandra, taking out a ticket from her pocket. "It says here platform nine and three-quarters..." She looked around trying to find the platform, only to notice some not-so-discreet wizards with a small Ministry emblem in their robes, standing near platforms nine and ten.

"I still don't understand why we didn't go straight to the platform," questioned Alaric, casting a wandless confundus on a man he bumped with.

"Mr. Potter told us that it's tradition for the new first years to go through the non-magical entrance for their first time," commented the girl, as she walked to where the disguised wizards were standing.

"Yeah," said Alaric, with scorn in his voice, thinking about how the Potter family dressed " Like he knows anything about tradition,"

When the twins approached the entrance, they saw a familiar face. Long red hair, dressed in a casual muggle white hoodie and navy jeans, a girl was standing with a cart full of luggage and a pet cage on top, where a brown-feathered owl stood.

"Hope!" shouted the Grindelwald girl. Alaric just rolled his eyes back, thinking about how his previous statement was true.

The red-haired girl turned to look back before a big smile appeared on her face. "Lys!" she exclaimed.

During the summer, the two girls hit it off really well, forming a close bond. With her constant visits to the Bagshot house, Hope got to know the twins, mostly Lysandra, better. While Alaric felt mildly bothered with her presence, he never voiced it out, happy to see his sister finally having a friend, even if she was yet to know of their full name.

"Where's the rest?" asked Alaric, with his right eyebrow raised, surprised to see the girl without her little group of friends.

"Oh... they went on ahead... I was just..." Hope shyly said, with an embarrassed face, not finishing her answer.

Noticing how she would occasionally side-glance to the brick pillar, where the safety ward was, Alaric quickly understood why she was alone.

"Is that so," said Alaric, grinning. "Who knew that the great Hope Potter was afraid of a simple ward!"

"S-shut up!" angrily shouted the redhead, watching Alaric go through the brick wall, still looking at her with a grin.

"Come on, don't listen to him," chuckled Lysandra, helping Hope push her cart through the entrance.

Going through what felt like a gel barrier, the girls joined Alaric looking with slight awe at the station.

In contrast to the grey ambiance on the non-magical side, platform nine and three-quarters had vibrant colors. On the railways, there was a long bright red steam-moved locomotive, with students boarding its carriages, carrying their luggage. Some parents were outside, waving to their children, while some quickly said their goodbyes before leaving.

There was also an ungodly amount of journalists and press employees, seemingly waiting for someone.

The three kids moved between the crowd, with Hope shielding her face from prying eyes.

The twins didn't question the girl, knowing full well the popularity of her brother, and by proxy, her. They made their way to one of the carriages, finally boarding it.

"I'll go look for my brother, then we'll join you," said Hope, leaving them.

'No, thank you' thought Alaric 'I can't stand that Weasley kid'

The twins then walked through the carriage, getting some stares from boys and girls alike, mostly because of their beauty, before finally finding an empty compartment.

__________

[Alaric's Pov]

After wandlessly levitating both our enchanted suitcases to the top of the compartment, I and my sister sat in front of each other. Quickly taking out her potions book, she immersed herself in her reading.

Doing the same, I grab our grandfather's notebook from my magical pouch, entertaining myself and trying to understand some of the curses he devised.

After some time, the door to our compartment shot open, revealing a bushy brown-haired girl, dressed in muggle clothes. I assumed she was a muggle-born, meaning she barely had a summer to adapt to the magical world and understand its traditions, so it didn't bother me.

"Have you seen a toad, a boy named Neville lost one," said the girl, looking at me, before blushing embarrassedly. 'Is there something on my face?' I thought.

"No, we didn't see any toad," I responded, continuing to read my book, my sister not even sparing her a glance.

The girl then looked at my notebook, a curious expression on her face.

"Are you reading a magic book?" she asked, sitting beside me, "I've read all of the first-year course books, do you think it's enough to pass? I'm Hermione Granger by the way,"

Hearing her question, my sister finally lifted her head from her book, "Did you practice the things on those books?" she asked, tilting her head.

"Well no, but..."

"Then no, you can't expect to pass a year by only knowing theoretical knowledge," finished Lysandra, before continuing to engross herself in her book.

Hermione shyly looked at the floor, thinking about what Lys said to her. Thinking she should leave, she was about to get up. However, the door to the compartment shot up again.

From the corridor came Hope, Harry, and Ron, who was carrying a... magical rat? They quickly sat beside us, before noticing the bushy-haired girl.

"Who's this?" asked the Weasley, making Harry and Hope turn their gaze to the unknown girl.

"H-Hermione Granger, n-nice to meet you,"

"Well, nice to meet you too Hermione," greeted Hope, "I'm Hope Potter, this is my brother, Harry Potter, and this dunderhead is Ron Weasley,"

"Hey!" shouted Ron.

Hermione looked at them with a shy smile, before widening her eyes. "Wait! P-Potter? As in, Harry Potter?"

"Yeah, that's me" chuckled Harry, probably used to this type of reaction.

Like a fangirl, Hermione asked all sorts of questions to the Potter twins. When she deemed she had nothing more to ask them, she leaned back in her chair, with a content smile plastered on her face.

However, she turned to look at me and my sister, as if she had forgotten something.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't catch your names before..." she murmured, embarrassedly looking at us.

"That's because we didn't tell you," said my sister, "I'm Lysandra, and this idiot here is my brother, Alaric,"

I just rolled my eyes, not wanting to bicker with my sister. I looked at Ron again, who was trying, for some reason, to change his rat's color.

"Weasley," I called, making him look at me, "Is your rat a magical creature?" Since he entered the compartment, that little rodent didn't stop leaking magic whispers.

"What?" he responded, confused, "Scabbers is just a rat, he's been with the family for 12 years. My brother Percy was the one who had it, but now he's my pet,"

"A rat living for 12 years? That's a good joke" chuckled Lysandra. She was right, no rat could live for so long, even with some magical enhancements.

We both looked at Ron, who still had a confused expression.

"Wait? You're not joking?" I asked, making the boy nodded his head. I looked again at the rat in his hands, and the magical whispers seemed familiar. I often see those when either I or Lysandra transform into our... animagus form. It can't be, right? There's no way they would keep a man/woman animagus as a pet for 12 years.

During the rest of the trip, apart from the incessant questions from Hermione, it was fairly peaceful. I looked out the window and Hogsmeade Station was starting to become visible.

I, Harry, and Ron got out of the compartment for the girls to dress. After all of us were ready, we made our way to the train exit, which had in the meantime reached the station.

Steeping out into the platform, a towering bulky man was shouting with his hands in the air.

"Firs' years, this way!" he called, with a weird accent.

""Hagrid!"" shouted the Potter twins and Ron. They quickly ran in his direction, hugging the giant man.

"Do they know him?" asked me, Hermione.

"I don't know," I said, sincerely, "What I do know is that the Hogwarts groundkeeper is a half-giant. And seeing that man's size, that's probably him,"

"A half-giant? How did that happen..." curiously murmured the bushy-haired girl.

The six of us followed Hagrid, along with the new first years, through a forest pathway, until we reached the shores of the infamous Black Lake.

"Only four per boat!" shouted again the half-giant.

I swiftly boarded the boat, followed by my sister and two other girls I didn't know. One of the girls had short brown hair and eyes, while the other had long flowing golden hair, with blue eyes. The first one had a rather cute but plain face, while the blonde-haired one gave off an aristocratic feeling.

The short-haired girl looked at me and Lys for some time, before finally introducing herself.

"I'm Tracey Davis, a pleasure!" she said, extending her hand to my sister, which she grabbed with a smile on her face.

"Lysandra, a pleasure as well," greeted my sister, before looking at me.

"Alaric," I said, turning back my attention to the book I had taken out of my pouch. I understood the desire my sister had to make friends, but why bother when they would avoid us like plague the moment they know of our family?

"Daphne Greengrass," said the cold-looking girl, continuing to gaze out to the Black Lake.

"Yer' should be able to see it now!" told us Hagrid.

Not understanding what he meant, I lifted my head and was presented with a beautiful view.

The Hogwarts castle stood there, on the edge of a cliff, being basked in the moonlight that fell upon him, giving the architecture marvel and ethereal look.

Everyone had their jaws on the floor, except me and my sister.

We looked at each other and smiled because we both knew.

'Our castle looks better'