Star immediately pressed her nose to a nearby window, and could still see her mother’s short figure standing on the platform. Star frantically waved her arm, and Jazz laughed, giving her a thumbs up. Much encouraged, Star headed down the train, trying to find a compartment that wasn’t already stuffed with other students. Farther and farther down the train she went, and she began to lose hope of finding a space. As she stopped to peer into yet another full compartment, a loud call of “Look out!” rang out, followed by the painful sensation of someone’s elbow in her gut as they ran into her head on. She fell down, scattering her luggage and hitting her head quite painfully. She looked up reproachfully to see a boy, about her own age, looking mortified.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there,” he stuttered, blushing deep red. A moment later, a slightly older boy ran up. He looked a lot like the first, only his eyes were chocolate brown, and he had dark brown hair, while the first boy had black hair and emerald eyes.
“Nice going Al,” the second boy said sarcastically. “I told you to watch it.” He flashed a smile at Star and held out a hand to help her up, saying, “Sorry about my brother. I’m James, by the way. James Potter. And he’s Albus,” James added, inclining his head toward his brother. Star accepted the help up, grinning nervously and checking her pocket to see if Comet was okay. Luckily, the little dragon had suffered no damage, and in fact had fallen asleep in her pocket, apparently uncaring of the jostling she received.
“I’m Star. Star Cylene,” she said softly, relieved that the dragon was okay. The first boy, Albus, began to clumsily pick up her bags, still blushing furiously.
“Sorry again,” he mumbled, handing everything to her. James watched his brother, amused, for a moment, before declaring loudly, “Well, I think as compensation for knocking you down, my brother would like to invite you over to our compartment.” Star laughed at Albus’s embarrassed expression, already feeling at ease with the two boys.
“Sure, that would be great!” she answered enthusiastically.
“Excellent!” James beamed, leading the way down the corridor and turning into a compartment to the right. Star peered around him to see a girl was already seated and immersed within the pages of a book.
“Rose, look who we found,” James announced, nudging Star into the compartment ahead of him. The girl looked up and smiled, putting away her book before holding out her hand. “Hello, I’m Rose Weasley,” she said, smiling warmly. Star grinned back, taking her hand out of her pocket to shake Rose’s. “Star Cylene,” Star introduced herself, firmly shaking Rose’s hand before returning her hand to her pocket, where her little dragon was still sleeping peacefully. She moved farther into the compartment, attempting to heave her bag onto the luggage rack. She got it about halfway up, before it began to slide back down on her.
“I’ve got it,” James said quickly, moving past her to catch the heavy bag before it could knock her down.
“Thanks for that,” Star said gratefully. She stood awkwardly at the doorway, unsure of where to sit. James and Albus scuffled briefly over who would get one of the window seats, and Albus sulkily sat down in the middle when he lost.
“Come on, you can have the other window seat,” James said helpfully, indicating she sit down across from him. Still grateful, Star nodded and sat down next to Rose, staring out the window at the autumn trees rushing by. For a few seconds, she studied her reflection, momentarily ignoring the others. She looked exactly like a girl version of her father; dark blue, almost black eyes, pale skin, thin frame and delicate features. Except for her hair…that was exactly like her mother’s: perfectly straight, raven black, falling gently to her shoulders. The only remnants of her real parents…well, other than the singed picture Jazz told her had been clutched in her hands when she appeared on Jazz’s doorstep 6 years ago. Jazz, who had taken care of her automatically, and was the best mother Star could imagine. She would have given anything for the brown hair, tan skin, and hazel eyes Jazz had, for her to look like Jazz so she would feel more as if she belonged. She couldn’t even see the beauty of her delicate features, just the fact that she looked different from the person she loved most in the world. Star’s face sank into an expression of deep sadness, and sighing deeply, she once again had to hold back tears.
“Star, what’s wrong?” A voice jolted her out of her reverie, and Star jumped slightly, turning to see Albus, James, and Rose looking at with worried expressions.
“Nothing,” Star answered quickly, flushing slightly. Her new friends still looked dubious, but before they could ask anything else, someone burst into the compartment, yelling, “Quick! Hide me!” The boy wriggled between her and the window, using her as a shield. Another boy, much older, came into the compartment a second later, bellowing, “Eric! Get out here now!” A small giggle from behind Star gave away his position, and the older boy immediately pounced on him.
“Eric, fix my badge right now!” The boy demanded, holding out a badge with a lion embossed on it, with the word “ “PRAT!” running across it in big, bold letters. James began to laugh, and even Albus chuckled a little.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” The first boy, apparently named Eric, said innocently, though he had a mischievous glint in his eyes. Star could see the older boy’s face getting redder as his anger rose, and she watched curiously, wondering what would happen.
“Give it here,” Rose demanded, pulling out her wand from her bag. Grabbing the badge from the older boy, she tapped it with her wand and mumbled a few words. The words on the badge shivered, then split apart and reshaped themselves until they spelled out “Prefect.” Eric’s disappointed look made Star laugh, which brought everyone’s attention to her. Eric finally seemed to see whom he had sat next to, and he instantly beamed a grin.
“Hullo, Eric Weasley at your service,” he declared cheekily, leaning out and grabbing her hand, shaking it wildly, and bumping his elbow against the window. “And that prat over there’s my brother, Fred.” Fred looked offended by this remark, and huffily left the cabin. “He doesn’t like to act like it, but he thought it was funny,” Eric whispered, his eyes still dancing wickedly. Star got a good look at him for the first time as he stood up, moving to the other side of her so she could have the window again. He had flaming red hair, and looked to be her age too. His clothes were shabby, but he didn’t seem to mind. Star immediately liked him; he was clearly very friendly and agreeable.
“What year are you guys going to be?” Star asked suddenly, realizing she didn’t know at all. They all said, “First,” with the exception of James, who proudly said, “Second.” Star smiled, glad she had found some friends her age. “Me too. First year, I mean,” she said, curling her legs under her so she could get more comfortable. The others began to chat, the other first years deliberating over what Hogwarts would be like and James boasting about how he already knew everything there was to know about the school. Star chortled quietly sometimes, but mostly she was content just to relax and let the others’ conversations wash over her.
“What House do you think you’ll be in?” Albus asked abruptly, waking up Star from her half-doze. “James is Gryffindor, and that’s where I want to be, but he says I’ll get Slytherin,” Albus glared at his brother, who grinned back innocently.
“I only said you might be in it. Geez, you take everything so seriously!” James replied, playfully shoving his brother in the shoulder so he ran into Rose.
Rose seemed to see Star was confused, and said in a shocked tone, “You guys! I don’t think she knows what the Houses are!”
When Star nodded affirmatively, James launched into an explanation without further delay. “Well, when you get to Hogwarts, you’re Sorted into a House. There’s four of them, called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. You have to take a test to see what House you’re put in, but once you’re Sorted, you’re in that House for life. I’m in Gryffindor,” he ended proudly, displaying a red and gold lion emblem on his robes.
Star was still confused. “Well, what’s so special about each House?” she asked, bewildered. This time, Rose answered.
“Well, Gryffindor is for the brave, Hufflepuff for the true at heart, Ravenclaw for the wise, and Slytherin for the cunning,” she answered formally.
“No, Slytherin is for the evil,” James corrected, putting on a look of mock-seriousness. “If you’re Sorted into Slytherin, you’re destined to be a Dark wizard. Everyone knows that. Both my parents were in Gryffindor. Same with Rose and Eric,” he changed the subject quickly, before Star could begin to worry. “I’m sure you’ll get in too,” he said comfortingly. Star felt better, but there was still the nagging worry about Slytherin…
A poke from Eric, followed by an excited, “We’re here!” sent all thoughts of unease from her mind, and she could only feel a rising sense of excitement. Following the others’ example, she quickly shrugged on her school robes over her regular clothes and followed them out of the train, one hand tightly curled protectively around Comet, who seemed to sense Star’s anticipation and didn’t protest. Jumping down the steps to get off the train, Star almost instantly lost her friends in the jumbled confusion of students. Fighting down a rising sense of panic, Star spun around 360 degrees, only to knock her head against someone else’s luggage as they lugged it down from the train.
The Path of a Star by shooting_star42
Chapter Notes: Second chapter, finally up and running! I would like to thank my (very few) fans for their love and support. And lovely reviews. :D