Pinkie Pie woke up at the crack of dawn and raced down the stairs. It was the first day! The first day of Hogwarts had arrived! She couldn't contain all this excitement! So many new friends! She almost started to hyperventilate. Almost but not quite for there was much baking to be done. Cupcakes and muffins and cakes, oh my!
xxx
Daphne Greengrass awoke by the gentle nudging of their family house elf Jibbles.
"It's time for wakey young mistress."
Daphne rose from her slumber rubbing her eyes. Long blond hair cascading down her neck and back sticking out at odd angles here and there. A loud ungraceful yawn forced some wakefulness back into her when she stepped out of her bed.
She was escorted to the bathroom by an excited Jibbles babbling on about her first day of Hogwarts. Daphne herself couldn't really summon much enthusiasm since she wasn't even fully in her body yet.
After a quick shower she put on the robes that Jibbles had laid out for her and headed downstairs. Her mother had already started breakfast. Her dad was sitting at the head of the table sipping his morning tea and reading the daily prophet.
"Good morning mother, father." She said as she joined them at the table.
"Good morning Daphne. Are you ready?"
"Yes mother. I packed everything I need last night."
"Good. Remember that-"
She was interrupted by the sound of Astoria coming down the stairs in a rush. She ran into the room babbling about something or other.
Daphne's mother was not in the mood for her sister's joyful antics and put a stop to them decisively.
"Astoria Greengrass! We do not run in this house! You will conduct yourself with the decorum and grace that is befitting of the noble house of Greengrass."
Poor Astoria lost whatever excitement she had and look forlornly towards her father for support.
"Don't look at me." He said as he continued reading. "Your mother is right. We fear that you have been neglecting your studies as of late. Your etiquette in particular."
Her mother once again entered the fray. "Now go clean yourself up. You will not sit at the dining table in your sleepwear."
Daphne's sister morosely moved herself from the room.
"And don't slouch. Think of your posture, or we're going to get the books out again."
Daphne didn't understand why Astoria couldn't just do what her parents asked of her. All they wanted was a little dedication. Oh well, that's why she was the heir and her sister was the spare.
Daphne sat down with her parents and spoke about the other heirs on the Hogwarts Express. She was going to show them what a Greengrass could do with magic.
xxx
Hermione Granger fell asleep last night reading. All evidence pointed towards this inevitable fact. She woke up face down on top of Hogwarts a History.
When she commenced operation photon intake she noticed that said book was sporting an impressive drool stain in between pages 136 and 137 and not only that, her neck had a disconcerting creak.
Books made for lousy pillows she knew from experience.
She stretched and yawned loudly so that higher brain function could be within grasp.
Once higher brain function was achieved it was time to panic over the giant gross drool stain in her favourite book.
"Eww ew eww!" Hermione started searching for something to clean the book with but in her panic some accidental magic cleared the stain right up.
"Oh thank you witch powers!"
She quickly returned the book to her trunk which she had packed the previous evening. It was time for a quick shower and then breakfast.
xxx
Harry Potter woke up in his own bed. He's been sleeping in it for a month now, which was weird for him. Normally he was kept in a cupboard but ever since his giant friend Hagrid appeared in his life he's got his own room and his own stuff. Most of it magical.
That's not to say that everything was fine now. Instead of the open hostility he was used to from the Dursleys, the family he was living with, and was his family from his mothers side, changed into something altogether strange. He was ignored.
Which compared to being called a freak every other day was something of a step up as far as he was concerned.
None of that mattered now. Because he was going to Hogwarts today! He was going to learn magic. The reason why the Dursleys called him a freak in the first place. Harry smiled.
But first he had to make breakfast before the Dursleys came down the stairs. It wouldn't do to give them an excuse to not drive him to Kings Cross station.
He dressed in some of Dudley's old clothes and got to work.
xxx
Pinkie and her entourage entered kings cross station at 10:30. The rambunctious group was making it's way towards the barrier that separated the magical world from the mundane one. Alfie was sitting on top of the trunk which was in turn being pushed by an excited Pinkie Pie. They babbled about small things and big things.
"Well, here we are everybody." Maddie said looking at the map that came with one of the flyers that Albus left them.
They stopped in front of the secret entrance to platform 9¾
A silence fell over the group as the children realised it was time to say goodbye to Pinkie, at least for a couple of months.
"Bye Pinkie. Stay safe you hear!" Lewis said giver his not-quite-sister a side hug.
"Yeah, go kick their asses!" Sophie added
Pinkie looked a little confused and asked "Who's asses?"
"All the asses!" Sophie responded raising her arm in exuberance.
"Yeah!" All of them shouted drawing some stares from the gathering crowd.
But then it was time to really say their farewells. She hugged them all individually trying to draw it out as long as possible. Alfie was trying not to cry and failing.
"Now now Alfie. I'll be back home come Christmas. So don't be sad because I'll write loads you'll see! Owlicious can't wait."
"Hoot."
Alfie hugged her a long time.
"Go on Pinkie it's time to go."
And with her pet owl, trunk and secret confectioneries she ran through the barrier.
xxx
Daphne Greengrass floo'd onto the platform with her parents in tow. Fashionably late of course, the train wouldn't dare to leave without her onboard. She noticed a redheaded family struggling to make it through the barrier to the muggle world. Truly a tragic sight those Weasleys.
Her parents noticed something else however.
"Oh Merlin, here she comes." Her dad said. He was speaking about Longbottom. An elderly lady with a ridiculous vulture hat that was hounding them about some botany business or other. Daphne didn't know nor care.
"Ghastly woman." Daphne's mother opined "Can't she leave as alone for one second? We're trying to take our daughter to Hogwarts."
Daphne's father sighed "You might as well take your belongings onto the train Daphne. This will probably take a while."
"Yes father."
Unconsciously in her heart of hearts she hoped for a more emotional goodbye. Maybe even a hug or a pat on the head. There was slim chance of that happening anyway but it wasn't improved by the presence of that Longbottom creature.
She steeled herself and made her way onto the train feeling inexplicably angry.
xxx
Suddenly Harry was shoved into the car. It seemed that the Dursleys couldn't be rid of him fast enough. Good thing he had his belongings stashed earlier that day. Thankfully the Dursleys were decent enough to throw it along with him.
The ride towards Kings Cross was a silent one. It seemed to Harry that uncle Vernon was conflicted about the whole thing. On the one hand Harry would be gone for the foreseeable future, but on the other he would be learning magic.
At the station Harry was none to gently removed from the vehicle along with his belongings. One and a half hours too early. With a brisk "Bye. Don't come back for Christmas." Uncle Vernon drove of.
Great, now what was he going to do with his time? He only had his wizarding money on him and a big trunk and owl cage to lug around. Harry sighed. He knew which way to go because of the flyers Hagrid had sent him after his trip to Diagon Alley. He supposed he could do a bit of people watching. Just sitting on his trunk and watch the crowds go by. It seemed dreadfully dull though. Seeing nothing for it he started moving.
As he roamed in between platforms nine and ten he realised that he had a lot of books with him he could read. He had already perused them before of course but now with so much time on his hands he could easily get a little head start.
He sat his trunk down in a comfy looking out of the way corner, grabbed one of the books at random from his trunk and started reading.
It turned out it was the book on charms. He learned that charms are simple spells that did simple things. Like making things levitate or making things hot or cold. He wasn't allowed to use his wand out of school since he was underage and because of the statute of secrecy. Still he was eager to have a go at it.
"Maybe I can try it without a wand?" He thought.
He paged his way in the book until he found the section about the levitation charm. The incantation was something like wingardium leviosa. But he couldn't start shouting random words in the middle of a train station, swishing and flicking his hands around. He'd look like a lunatic.
Instead he stared at a nearby coke can for a long time, willing it to move.
The can did not move but he did feel something. He supposed it could be magic. It could also be indigestion. Who knows at this point.
Time passed quickly, it felt like, and before he knew it the barrier to platform 9¾ was opened up.
Oh well. He went through the barrier with a brisk pace, boarded the train that was already there, found a seat and continued his reading. Studying magic it turned out, seemed like it could be very interesting.
xxx
Hermione's parents were dentists.
Most people when they think of dentists think of calm intelligent people. Rational to a fault, upstanding citizens contributing to society. Dependable pillars of the community. That's what dentists are. That's what Hermione wanted to be.
Her parents were hippies imported from America.
Outstanding dentists to be sure. But also hippies. Hermione felt a little bit of shame that she was embarrassed by them.
"Far out Hermione look at these flowers! They're so colorful!"
That was her mother. She liked flowers. The dental practise was full of them. They brought the good mojo.
"Please mum can we hurry up? I don't want the train to leave without me and I have a big trunk to lug around."
"Mellow out my beautiful daughter. Your vibes are way harsh right now."
Hermione's father wrapped an arm around his wife.
"Now Charity, you were young once too. Hermione is very in flux right now. We should show her support on this new adventure."
Charity returned her husbands affections and looked towards Hermione and started moving her hands in a strange wiggly pattern around Hermione's head."
"Stop cleansing my aura mum! That stuff is scientifically proven hogwash and you know it!"
Charity gave her daughter a knowing smug expression.
"By that rationale witchcraft is also hogwash."
Hermione groaned in frustration and angrily stomped across king's cross station dragging her belongings along with her. Her parents were hurrying along after her.
Hurrying being a process they normally actively avoided they nevertheless could keep up.
When they reached the barrier they said there farewells. Hermione knew she was going to miss her oddball parents a lot. Despite their quirks they did support her and dragged her through what in her own mind was referred to as 'The Bad Times.' The time in school when she was bullied a lot because of her teeth, hair and nerdy disposition.
She looked back at them once more and went through the barrier.
xxx
Harry was reading his charms book for a while now when people finally started trickling onto the train. He was getting both excited and nervous about meeting new people. The Dursleys weren't exactly conducive to making friends back in Little Whinging and this was his first opportunity since starting school to really try.
After a while of thinking about things and reading his charms book of and on. It was really getting crowded on the train but his booth remained occupied only by Hedwig and himself. Maybe he should go outside and meet some people he thought. But that was the moment that the door to his booth opened and in walked a redheaded boy. Who asked if he could sit here because everywhere else was full.
xxx
Pinkie Pie was struggling to get her trunk onboard the train when there was a bit of a commotion happening at the barrier. A bunch of redheads came tumbling out of it appearing to be in a rush.
A blond girl passed her by that didn't seem in a helping mood. The redheads though hurried right up towards the train where a couple of twins helped Pinkie out.
"Well looky here brother of mine. It appears an ickle firsty has found herself in a spot of logistical tomfoolery."
"Indeed handsome one. A trunk far to big for a girl that small and an owl to boot. Mayhaps we should assist said waif along."
One of the twins levitated her trunk aboard while the other levitated Owlicious.
"Hi I'm Gred and this is Forge."
"Hi Grod. Hi Fredge! Thanks a lot for helping me with my trunk. Owlicious thanks you too."
"Hoot."
"No I'm Gredge and he's Frod… Wait"
He looked to his brother for assistance but when they turned to look towards Pinkie again to correct her. She was already helping their brother her own age board the train along with yet another redhead who was the oldest of the bunch who levitated al their trunks inside.
The redhead her own age mumbled a thanks before hurrying on the train proper. Fodge and Gread followed rambunctious like because they were beckoned by two older girls in Gryffindor robes.
Pinkie looked at her trunk, sighed and started dragging it along. It was really heavy. But at least it looked pretty. She'd put nice flower stickers on it.
She dragged her trunk with Owlicious on top through the corridors of the Hogwarts Express when she noticed a sneaky toad trying to hide in the corner.
"Hello little buddy." She said. "Where are you off to?"
"I'm searching for adventure miss." The toad said. "My name is Trevor."
"Well how did a dapper toad such as yourself find your way onboard this train?"
"I was brought here by a young boy. But I'm afraid I've lost him. Would you be a dear and give a weary amphibian a lift?"
"Why, I would be delighted."
Pinkie lifted Trevor up and placed her upon her head.
"Hoot." Owlicious said.
"Indeed." Replied Pinkie and Trevor.
"Stick with me Trevor. I'll find us some adventure."
xxx
"Could you help me find my toad? I think I lost him somewhere on the train."
Hermione looked at this boy and felt a moment of pride. Someone asked for her help. This was an opportunity to be a responsible person and maybe make a friend.
She immediately turned around and started walking away in search of the toad.
Neville was confused but then she turned around, grabbed the boy's hand and dragged him along.
"Hello, I'm Hermione. What's your name?"
"I'm Neville."
"Alright Neville let's go find your toad."
xxx
A redheaded boy asked politely if he could sit in Harry's booth. Harry had no reason to object and welcomed him in. He said his name was Ron Weasley. When Harry mentioned his own name Ron's eyes grew quite a bit inside his head. Harry knew why of course. The whole boy-who-lived thing.
He was asked to show his scar and he did. They started talking about magic and just when Ron was about to cast a spell on his rat the door to their booth slid open and there stood a bushy haired girl with long teeth being shadowed by someone who seemed a bit more shy.
"As anyone seen a toad? Neville here has lost one."
She then saw the wand in Ron's hand.
"Oh, are you doing magic?" She took a seat next to Harry. "Let's see then."
Neville who was a bit unsure of what to do took a seat next to her.
Ron did a little doggerel verse and waving his wand around to try to get his rat to turn yellow. Sadly it didn't work. Hermione pointed out that it didn't really sound like a real spell. She was about to show a real one on Harry's glasses when the door slid open with a loud thunk. In the doorway stood a mad looking girl with weirdly coloured hair and a toad on her head.
She looked around the booth with a concentrated look inspecting each of them in turn.
"Yes this'll do nicely."
xxx
Pinkie was roaming the halls of the train letting her Pinkie Sense guide her. Sometimes she would open a booth here or their startling the inhabitants. Sometimes she would sniff loudly, other times she would lick her index finger, hold it in front of her for ten seconds and watched it intently.
"What are you doing?" Trevor asked after one of these moments.
"Searching." Pinkie replied. "Most people think that parties just require a bit of organisation. Just bake a cake throw some confetti around and Bob's your uncle. No, I'm looking for a powder keg waiting for the right spark to ignite it..."
Pinkie slid a door open with a loud thunk and peered inside inspecting what she saw.
"Yes this'll do nicely."
xxx
Harry was startled out of the conversation by crazy girl with a toad on her head. She stepped inside resolutely like she owned the place.
"Trevor!"
The toad on her head jumped towards Neville who caught him with a surprising amount of affection.
"I'm glad you're back Trevor." Neville said.
Meanwhile the crazy girl was looking outside the window and lowering the blinds. Then quickly turned towards her trunk and started rummaging through it. She pulled out an old scuffy looking beatbox and put it on the small table near the window. Then she pulled out small cone shaped party hats with frills on the end and delicately placed them on each head in the room. Even Trevor got a small one.
Everyone looked at one another equally flabbergasted. There was a curiosity on where she was going with all this.
Then she turned towards the beat box, put a cassette in, and pushed play.
Peppy music started playing and the crazy girl with the weird hair started doing the goofiest dance he'd ever seen.
And just like that it hit him. Really hit him. He was going to learn magic. This was his life now. No more Dudley to prevent him from meeting people. No more Dursleys to order him around to do their bidding. No more fear.
He started laughing, a real big bouldering sort of laugh. The kind that would give an old man whiplash. And because he had absolutely no reason not to. He joined in and started dancing. He looked ridiculous and he didn't care.
Soon others joined in, even Trevor on Neville's head did something like a toady tango. Only Hermione remained seated. Uncertain on what to do, biting her lip and doubting on whether or not she should join in.
That didn't last though since the crazy girl pulled her to her feat by her hands and twirled her into Ron's arms who was doing a silly sort of shuffle thing. It didn't take long before they were dancing together.
After that she turned towards Harry.
"Hi I'm Pinkie Pie. What's your name?"
"Harry, Harry Potter."
xxx
Daphne walked with Pansy, a daughter of one of her fathers business relations, through the corridor. She supposed she would call her a friend. They knew one another since they were very young. Pansy was always a bit… vindictive in Daphne's view. Still it paid to have someone like that on your side.
They entered a booth that held Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini as it's residents. They accepted their obligatory greetings with kissed hands and exaltations about their beauty, with grace.
They spoke about their summers each trying to impress the others with tales of both exorbitant luxury and hard teachings in equal measure.
Daphne enjoyed herself feeling in her element. Her tales of torturous music lessons with a horrid teacher were a hit.
Pansy's tale of woe of a house elf that failed to give the appropriate respect didn't shake up, which pleased Daphne immensely.
She was about to start another one of her anecdotes when a commotion happened some distance away. There was something that sounded like music maybe, and general sounds of merriment. Of course they had to investigate.
They found the corridor to be filled with people dancing to strange music that Daphne never heard before. Some of the people were wearing party hats or were munching on some delicious looking pies or candies. Some people were playing games. One was blindfolded trying to pin a fluffy thing on an image of a donkey looking creature.
Even the trolley lady looked happy. She was doing good business.
"Ugh, stupid mudbloods. Is nothing sacred anymore?" Pansy said with obvious disdain. Theo nodded along with her where Blaise looked a little bit more thoughtful.
Daphne, who was more surprised then anything, felt like she had no choice in the matter other then to agree. So she nodded her head putting on the mask of indifference with a hint of loathing.
She made eye contact with an obviously completely insane girl who appeared to be having some kind of fit.
"Yes let's go somewhere more quiet. I wish to-"
She was interrupted by a shove coming from the crowd. Draco Malfoy emerged like a baby rhinoceros from it's mothers womb out of the group of people.
"Filthy disgusting mudbloods!" He ranted. "Crabbe, Goyle stop looking ridiculous and get out here!"
It appeared to her that Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle had decided on dancing but she couldn't be certain. When they arrived in a similar fashion that Draco did they mumbled some apologies.
Pansy helped Draco to his feet. "My sentiments exactly. These muggles are getting more brazen by the day."
"They do know how to bring a disturbance don't they." Daphne added.
"Come on let's find another place to sit."
Draco was hating that it was even necessary.
xxx
Pinkie was dancing with Hermione who was talking about the books she read since they met in the bookstore.
The party had expanded some since it started and was now filling in the corridor. More children had joined in from different booths. There was a girl named Susan Bones and her friend Hannah Abbot and an Asian girl with a fun sounding Irish accent called Cho Chang. There was Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. Pinkie had to resist the urge to start singing Finnigan's wake.
Quickly rumour started spreading and soon older children decided to join in. Someone pulled some butterbeer from somewhere and just like that the party was leading a life of it's own.
Still Pinkie noticed a few subversive elements from the corner of her eye. A blonde girl with bright cold laser eyes, looked at her in an unfriendly way. Parties weren't for everyone. Pinkie knew this but she still didn't like the way she looked.
She wanted to help people come out of their shell. What she needed was a plan. So she found a nice corner for herself, snagged some butterbeers and started cooking something in her noggin'
xxx
"First years, over here! First years! This way please!" A very large bearded man was shouting for all the first years to follow him. Pinkie followed everyone out of the train staying close to Hermione who was talking about how first years got to Hogwarts on boats.
"How do you think he got so big?" Pinkie asked Hermione concerning the big man.
"I don't know. Maybe he's suffering from a form of gigantism, you know, like a medical condition?"
"You don't think he got stretched? That would've been awful. Oh, maybe he overfed on veggies. We should get some candy in him stat!"
"He doesn't look stretched. Just looks big."
"Hmm… If we encounter such mysteries on Hogwarts' doorstep just imagine what could lay within."
"Are you quoting something? It sounds like you're quoting something."
"...Maybe."
They shared their boat with two other girls and when everyone was on board the boat started moving on it's own accord.
The sight of Hogwarts at night was truly something special and everyone was staring mouth agape. Countless of little lights were spread out all over the castle making the whole scene feel quite rightly magical.
As the lights hit the water and reflected this way and that one of the girls on the boat was looking a bit to close to the water and fell in.
Pinkie and Hermione were scrambling to try and help when a giant tentacle came out of the lake with girl in sucker depositing her back in the boat none the worse for wear.
"Thank you mister Squid!" Pinkie shouted over the lake.
Her reward was a big splash in the face.
"Ah, I think it was miss Squid actually."
The tentacle came out of the water again and petted Pinkie and the girl who fell in the water, on their heads before submerging once again underneath the waves.
When Pinkie made eye contact with the girl they both burst out into laughter. Turns out her name was Lisa Turpin and together with Hermione and Morag McDougal the remainder of the boat ride turned out to be a pleasant one, if a bit cold.
xxx
Once inside the castle and after walking a bunch of stairs. They entered a hall decorated with moving paintings and armour. In it's centre stood a tall stern looking witch with a pointy hat, glasses and a list who introduced herself as Professor McGonagall.
She spoke about how they were about to be sorted by a hat into four separate houses each one holding a value above all others.
Pinkie was a little tired and bored after climbing all those stairs so she didn't pay a lot of attention. Though she did appreciate the drying spell the professor cast upon herself and Lisa and thanked her for it.
When the big doors opened and they stepped into the great hall Pinkie couldn't help herself but gawk all around. There were floating candles lighting up the room and the ceiling was enchanted to look like the night sky. It was truly beautiful.
She didn't notice that all the attention of the older students was firmly set upon the first years.
The initial commotion died down and Professor McGonagall placed an old hat on top of a stool who started singing a song about each of the four houses.
Pinkie liked it a lot and clapped along merrily feeling a pleasant buzz coming over her. Not really noticing that she was the only one who did.
She remembered the girl in the train that was so cranky when she looked at the hat and something of an idea popped in her mind.
When the song was done she waved at a few people who seemed friendly. Then McGonagall started calling out names and the sorting began.
xxx
The sorting hat had sat on many heads, though not as many as he would've liked this year. The wizarding world was still recovering and it was only this year, eleven years after the end of the war, that the number of new young wizards and witches was rising.
For a while there he worried that it would be the end of Hogwarts but now he dared to entertain some hope.
He had just sorted a couple of adorable twins into different houses when he felt it.
Divinity had come to Hogwarts. So subtle, so gentle yet unmistakable.
The hat was placed upon the last of the Pie family and for a moment it understood.
He wanted to tell her about all the amazing things that were locked in here, inside her head. He wanted to speak to her about where she came from, the horses and what that all meant. He wanted to tell her how blessed he felt, just being in her presence let alone being granted the privilege of sorting her.
He wanted to tell her all these thing and more but he could not.
"PUT ME IN THE HOUSE MOST IN NEED OF A PARTY!" She commanded with all her being.
And he could do naught but answer.
"..."
"..."
"SLYTHERIN!"