60: Meeting new companions

(Ana POV)

"Let's go or else we are going to be late." I shouted at Nat.

"Coming coming. Why are you blaming me now? It is because of you that I am late." He shouted back at me from inside the mansion.

"How is it my fault? I never did anything." I said while drawing circles in the floor with my feet.

"No no....... nothing is ever your fault. It was all my fault that I had to stay awake all night to pack your clothes." He was furious. "I mean seriously...… Why do you even need that many clothes?" He finally came down.

"A delicate girl like me has to fulfill all her needs in order to stay healthy." I made my best puppy dog eyes.

"Delicate my ass. You..... delicate. Only I know how delicate you are. My back still hurts you know." He scowled at me.

"What did you say?" I turned towards him while making a fist.

"What did I say? Nothing... absolutely nothing at all sis. Why...… did you hear something. Must be a bird" He immediately jumped back and took a defensive stance.

"Yeah, I thought so too." I turned back. And walked away.

It was time to leave for Hogwarts and we were leaving the mansion to go to the station. I did not like apparating that much so we thought that we should just go using the muggle ways. Thus we had called a cab. And we were leaving for the station. I got in and sat on a seat. Nat took the seat next to me and the driver started the engine. I looked at Nat. He was wearing a hoodie with jeans. It was exactly the same attire he had worn the last time we took the train. I don't know why he wore that but he disliked the wizard clothes. The robes and the cloaks. He hated them and he usually wore muggle clothes. And he was especially interested in hoodies. If you ask me it was a stupid name. And if one did not need to hide their appearance, it was a stupid design as well. I also wore muggle clothes sometimes but mostly I used robes. Although using muggle traveling services, I had to blend in, so right now I was wearing a black jeans with a royal blue shirt. I took a look at Nat and surprisingly enough, he was looking out the window.

(Huh is he enjoying the scenery? If I think about it, he has changed a lot since that trial of his. Since the time he took that trial, he has been talking more. Maybe it affected him and just maybe he will make some friends this time around.)

But that thought was just a farfetched idea. He turned his head away and hid his face with his hood and opened one of the new syllabus books.

*SIGHT*(Looks like there is still a long way to go)

We reached the station in about an hour. There was a lot of luggage. We unloaded it all and placed it on our trollies. We dragged them into the station. It took us but a few minutes to reach platform six. From there the platform nine and ten were in our field of vision. We started to calmly walk towards our destination.

"Excuse me, sir. Can you tell us where is the platform nine and three quarters?" I heard someone talking.

My head turned towards the sound subconsciously. It was a group. There were about thirteen children and one woman and they were asking a guard.

"Women are you mad. I have been telling you that there is no such thing. Yet you still insist on this. Let me see your ticket." The guard said.

Bells of danger started to ring in my head.

(This is bad.)

"Nat distract the guard." But he was already moving before I had even completed my sentence.

The guard stretched his hand and placed a foot in front of the other. But a small bump that was not supposed to be there appeared beneath his feet and he suddenly lost his balance. He fell to the side and knocked over a white-haired boy that was walking towards him.

"Damn IT...… CANT YOU SEE WHERE YOU ARE WALKING." Nat shouted in fake rage.

(Hell..... he is good.)

"Look what you did. All my stuff is spilled now. Who the heck is going to clean it up." He said to the guard

"I am really sorry sir. Please let me help you." The guard got up hurriedly.

"pppsssssssttttt" A small girl looked at me as I whispered. I simply raised the golden ticket that I had with me. She looked at it then her eyes sparkled. She immediately went to the women.

"Sister Sister." She tugged at her

"What is it Kamilia." The sister bent to her level.

She spoke something in her ear while pointing at me. Then the sister also looked at me. I gestured for her to come. She nodded her head.

"Let's go children" All the children got confused but they followed nonetheless.

"Hello" She bowed down.

"Oh hi...…. Also, why are you bowing."

"It's just a form of greeting."

"You don't need to do that miss....."

"Erica. Please call me sister Erica." She said

"Oh sure, why not. Sister Erica. I heard that you were looking for the platform nine and three quarters." I said

"Yes we were going to ask the guard over there but then he fell over and that kid got all his belongings spilled and...….." She pointed towards the incident but there was no one there. "Huh? Where did the kid and the guard go." She was confused and so were the children.

"I don't know about the guard but that kid is here."

"HUH?" They all turned to look at me and were startled to see Nat standing next to me.

"He is my brother." I chuckled

"YO" He also spoke

"So...…..so...….so that was deliberate?" Erica was confused.

"Yes, it was" I smiled.

"But why did you do it. Are-are-are you planning to rob us." She said and all the children got scared. They immediately hid behind her.

"By GOD no. We just wanted to help. Besides, that guard would not have been of any help to you. And did you not know that you are not supposed to disclose any information about magic to anyone." I asked.

"No, we were not told that." She replied humbly.

"OUTRAGEOUS. WHO WAS IT THAT WAS ASSIGNED TO YOU." I shouted in rage.

"Assigned" She tilted her head in confusion.

"I mean the person with whom you brought all your belongings." I pointed at the carts.

"Oh, it was someone named Gilderoy Lockhart." She said.

"Oh god." I facepalmed myself.

"Why the hell did they send him?" Even Nat took part in the conversation this time and he looked equally pissed hearing the name of that fraud.

"I don't know what they were thinking." I shrugged my shoulders. Then I turned towards them again. "You have quite the nice family. Are they all siblings." I said while ruffling the hair of a small boy. He would be about six or seven.

"Yes, we are a happy family indeed. They are siblings but not related by blood. You see we are from an orphanage." She said while smiling.

Immediately a lump formed in my throat. The words got stuck and I could not say anything. Guild was banging on the door of my conscious.

(damn it, Anastasia. She did say that her name was 'SISTER' Erica. But you could not take the hint.)

Even Nat was shaken from the sudden revelation. Even he was looking at them now leaving his book behind.

"Oh, I am sor...….."

" for what?" She cut me short.

Now I was even more guilty.

(What should I say now.)

"She is sorry that the Lockhart guy did not tell you about your things properly. We are magician s. So we kind of feel responsible even though we are still students." Thankfully Nat came to my rescue.

"Don't be. It's not your fault. And did you say that you were magicians?" She asked excitedly.

"witch and wizard" Nat replied while pointing at me and himself. He pulled out his wand and sat down.

A flick and a swish. "wingardium leviosa" the book which he was reading moments a go rose into the air.

"OOOOOHHHHHHHHH" They all looked in amazement. The book float for a moment and then fell.

(Wow Nat you are surprisingly good with children)

"That is all I can show you right now. We are not allowed to do magic at home before we complete our education." Nat said.

(Yeah like you can say that. You have been using magic the whole summer.)

There were two ways that the usage of magic was detected by the ministry. First, a tracker was placed on a wand the moment it was bought and it slowly deteriorated over time. Secondly, there were magic detectors in all parts of the world. There was usually a difference in the magical performance of an adult and a child. The magic of a student was usually crude and it got better by practice. So the detectors could detect the difference in a child and a full fledged magician. Both these were easy to avoid. The tracker could be removed and nobody would notice. If the magic was performed in a place where there was a high concentration of magic either due to magical protections or due to the presence of other wizards, the magic detectors could not detect the difference between the magic caster. That was how Nat was able to use magic during the summer. Well, he mostly used his soul magic or his armaments. So it was even easier. Because there was no way to detect the usage of soul magic that I knew of except for Odin's eye.

"AAWWWWNNNN can't you show us a little bit more brother." A little kid urged.

"Come on Johnny don't say that. The brother told you that he is not allowed. So don't force him." Erica pulled Johnny back who was clinging to Nat.

It was then that a little girl walked up to the kid.

"Don't worry johnny I will practice very hard and soon be a witch. Then I will do a *swish* and another *swish*" She swung her wand and Nat backed off to save his face. "and then you will be well." She said.

"Okay I will be waiting." Johnny spoke.

"Umm sister." I spoke

"Yes?"

"Is Johnny sick?" I asked her.

"Oh no, he is not. It's just that...…." She fell quiet.

"Oh please do tell me. I will try to be of help as much as I can." I asked again.

"There is nothing you can do. It's just that our orphanage was small compared to the others and we received less fundings. So the kids that were sent to us were sent according to that." She started to whisper. "You see that every kid here is handicapped."

My eyes grew wider. Nat heard it all and even he seemed shaken.

(How did I fucking not notice it before. His leg, Johnny does not have a leg. And that kid, his hand, it's wooden. That one is suffering from acromegaly. What the fuck is wrong with me.)

Every child there was handicapped in some way except for the girl with the wand

"So, who is the lucky one." I sat down beside Nat.

"US" Two children came forward. It was the same girl and another boy.

"Oh my, brother and sister I presume."

"We do not know that for sure but it is thought like that. They were brought here at the same time." Erica answered.

"Oh, I see. So what are your names?" I asked them.

"My name is Annabella but everyone calls me Anna." The girl smiled cheerfully. My eyes grew even larger and tears started to form in them but I controlled myself.

"Nice to meet you, Anna. My name is Anastasia but everyone calls me Ana." I smiled at her. She looked at me and then the most beautiful smile I had ever seen in my life appeared on her face.

"Sister sister look look. Her name is like mine. She is also Ana." This was the moment when no kid could understand what happened.

"Huh, sister are you hurt somewhere. Why are you crying?" Even the sister teared up.

"I am not crying, Anna. I am just happy."

"And what is your name?" Nat ruffled the hair of the boy.

He lowered his face and did not speak.

"Don't be shy. Talk to me." Nat urged him but the kid still did not speak

"His name is Augustine. Everyone calls him Aug." Anna replied instead.

"Nice to meet you Aug. You should also talk a bit. Don't be shy." Nat said to him again.

"Oh, he is not shy. He just can't talk." Anna told us.

That was the limit. I mean there is a limit to what a person can endure in a day. My eyes became red and tears started to fall from my eyes. Nat also teared up but his control was way better that mine. Then out of nowhere he hugged Aug. I took Anna in my embrace as I heard Nat say.

"Nice to meet you Aug. My name is Nathaniel Morningstar. You can call me Nathan, Nat, or anything you want."

My face got all wet from the tears.

(God I am soo lucky. I never knew that what I took for granted can be so precious for someone else. She is Anna, I am Ana too. But here I am living in a mansion and she does not even have a home.)

Nat was the first one to recover. The three of us, sister, me, and Nat tried our best to not let the kids know that we were crying. But it was way too obvious at this point.

"Okay let's go now. It's almost time." I told them all.

Both Anna and Aug started to say their goodbyes. I walked over to sister Erica and asked her

"Does Aug know sign language."

"Yes, but he is still lacking."

"Okay. But can he converse."

"Yes, he can. Sometimes when he can't tell us something he looks into our eyes and we somehow understand what he wants to say. It was always mysterious but I guess that was magic related." She told me.

This day had brought me soo many surprises that I had lost count. I immediately grabbed Aug and looked into his eyes. The moment our eyes met I felt a force on my occlumency shields.

(MY GOD. The kid has developed talent in Legilimency because he could not speak. This is beyond amazing. He is a prodigy. Even Nat can't do such a thing)

I was lost in my thought and did not notice that Aug was getting uncomfortable. It was probably confusing him that why he could not speak to me like that. I revoked his doubts by sending him a message through my Legilimency.

\You are among people like yourself. You do not need to be shy/

{A/N: The sentences enclosed in \Slanting lines/ like this would mean that the conversation is being done via Legilimency}

His face immediately bloomed and then he looked towards the sister who in turn looked at me in amazement.

(He must have told her about this.)

I just smiled. Then Aug looked at Nathan. Maybe he was asking him if he could do it as well. But Nathan could not. So he replied normally.

"Sorry but I haven't learned it yet but soon I will be too."

"Okay, every one it's time to leave now. Bye-bye, everyone." I waved at them all and then we left.

"Come back soon"

"Become power full magicians."

"Learn some cool magic."

"Kids don't shout like that" were all the sounds I could hear from behind us.

Nat showed them the way to the platform. Both of them were hesitant at first but then they went in as well. The moment I started to walk sister stopped me.

"Can I ask you a favour?" She said

"Anything at all sister."

"Please look after them." She said. "They are both naïve and young. They won't survive. In the real world like that."

"I will try my best." I assured her.

"Thank you very much. I do not know why but you seem reliable. You know that this world is cruel. It swallows up the weak. Those children are weak and they have extremely pure hearts. So please help them in need."

"I will make sure of that." I said.

"And one more thing." Before I could walk away she held me.

"Try that the both of them are always kept together." She requested.

"Why so?"

"Well the two of them are peculiar. The moment we separate them weird things happen."

"weird thing? Like what?" I asked. The sister was a bit hesitant but she replied.

"You may not believe me but Animals start to gather around Aug. The things around him start to float at random."

"What?"

(Things floating seems like magic but what is this other thing. Animals start to gather around him.)

"Yes. Whenever the two of them were separated, birds gathered around the orphanage. Stray cats all came. Stray dogs and even some wild animals came to him. But none of them ever hurt him."

"Wow" I was surprised.

"And Anna has a weak body. She is very frail. She cannot exert much. She gets tired easily. But the odd thing is that If she is separated from Aug for too long she collapses and no matter what we do she does not get up."

(That is even weirder.)

"Thank you for telling me this sister. I will see to it. So now I will go. Time is of the essence. See you all later." Saying that I turned and ran into the pillar between platforms nine and ten.