{Kit's POV}

|September 1st, 1991|

My older brother is the only reason I was able to get ready in time. He woke me up early enough to get my things together and eat a quick breakfast. We were trying to be completely ready to leave the house at 10:20, just to be safe.

Our parents weren't able to be with us on that day. They had to be at St. Mungo's for my younger brother's yearly appointment. Our dad was very apologetic about not being there to see me off for my first year at Hogwarts, but our mum just shrugged it off as something that happens in life. She told us that she would be writing us letters every week.

Kyson and I travel using the Floo network. The platform and train were both relatively empty before 10:30, so we were able to find a compartment easily.

He decided to sit with me for my first trip to Hogwarts, which was very kind of him. He was a Third year that year, so he already had friends. I easily could have found someone else to sit with, and I said this to him, but he waved it off. I was fine with it, as I had never traveled without a family member before.

Someone did end up joining us, though. At around 10:53 there was a knock at the compartment door. It was a young girl with long curly black hair hanging around her shoulders.

"Can I sit here? I couldn't find another seat." Her acceptance letter was clutched in her hand and she was already wearing her robes. Obviously another First year.

"Of course!" Ky said. He offered his hand for her to shake as she sat down. "My name is Kyson Ollivander. I'm a Third year Ravenclaw."

"Dorothea Mallard. First year." She shook his hand and turned to me.

"Kit Ollivander." I didn't offer my hand.

My brother rolled his eyes. "Ignore them. Kit's a First year too. They don't hate you, so don't worry."

Dorothea tilted her head. "How do you know?"

"Kit only shakes people's hands when they don't like them. They didn't shake yours, so they don't immediately hate you. That's good. Maybe you can be their first real friend!"

I practically yelled at him. "Stop telling people my whole backstory, Ky."

He put his hands up in defense. "You weren't going to tell her! I thought your new bestie deserved an explanation so she remains your best friend!"

"I don't even know her yet! How can she be my best friend already if I only know her name!"

Ky shrugged. "I dunno. You'll figure it out, though!" He grabbed his bags and stepped out of the compartment. "You're a smart kid, kid!" And he started down the train.

I quickly marched to the door. "You suck, Kyson! I'm buying all the chocolate frogs so you can't have any!" I slammed the door and sat back down.

Dorothea had her hand over her mouth, clearly holding in giggles. "Oh shut up," I said.

"Sorry, but you need your brother just have such a cute relationship!" She laughed a little more. Her happiness was soon replaced with anxiety, though, because the train began moving.

"Here we go." I settled into the seat. "Get comfortable, Thea."

She smiled.

I eyed her curiously. "What now?"

"You called me Thea."

"So? That's what you said your name was. Thea Mald."

She burst into laughter again, all fear vanishing. "No, silly! I said that my name is Dorothea Mallard!"

I felt my cheeks turn pink, embarrassed at having heard incorrectly. "That's what I said."

She shook her head vigorously. "You definitely called me Thea just now."

"Sorry, then. Didn't mean to offend you."

Her dark eyes widened. "No! You didn't offend me! I actually really like the name Thea! I think it's cute, like me."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure thing, Thea."

Thea squealed a little. "I love it!

After a few minutes of worthless banter, we started asking questions.

"How tall are you?" I asked.

"147 cm," she said. "What about you?"

I smirked. "152.4 cm."

(Note: 144 cm = 4' 9"-ish & 152.4 = 5'0"-ish)

She gasped. "Dang it! I hate being shorter!"

I laughed. "Must suck, shorty. I've always been tall for my age."

Thea pouted. Until our door opened and a cheery voice called, "Anything from the trolley, dears?"

"Yes!" I yelled. However, upon inspection, there was close to nothing on the trolley. "Huh? What kind of nonsense is this? Where is everything?"

The trolley lady looked around her before waving us in closer. "Don't tell anyone I told you this, but Harry Potter is on the train right now and bought everything for him and one other person." She saw the look on our faces and took pity on a couple of First Years. "Tell me, what are your names?"

"Dorothea Mallard."

"Kit Ollivander."

"Ollivander, you say? So you know Garrick?" She asked me.

I nodded. "He's my grandfather."

She looked me up and down. "You don't say. He and I were the best of friends when we were at school. Both Ravenclaw, so we got along great. I've been wondering what he's been up to these last few decades." At this point, I had no earthly idea what she was getting at. "If you let him know that I've been thinking about him and send me a letter, I'll show you both the secret stash of Honeydukes candy I keep on the train for myself and the teachers."

"I will. I'll send him an owl as soon as I get settled in my dorm." I agreed.

The old woman smiled. "Very well, then." She beckoned for us to follow her.

Thea and I looked at each other, smiling at the situation. We hurried along behind her. I say hurriedly, but we were actually going quite slow. An old woman is an old woman, after all.

We reached the front few compartments eventually, however. These were reserved for teachers and other staff members returning to school. Students are usually never allowed in the front, but they can with permission.

None of the adults gave us a second glance; they were all very interested in their books or copies of The Daily Prophet. Trolley Lady led us to the very first compartment, the one where the conductor resides.

He looked like a nice man but didn't pay any attention to us.

Trolley Lady pointed to the corner. "You can get anything you want from those bins. They are for the Hogwarts staff later into the journey, but there are always extras."

Thea went to the boxes without hesitation. I followed a second later.

I grabbed some chocolate frogs, for me and Ky. I saw that Thea had selected various gummies, so I did too. The Trolley Lady handed each of us a small empty box to carry our food in.

"Thank you!" Thea said cheerfully.

I simply nodded in agreement.

We continued to select snacks for ourselves (and my brother for me) until our boxes were full. We stood up and turned to say goodbye.

"Are you sure you don't want any sort of payment?" I asked, "I have money." I pulled a pouch out of my pocket.

She shook her head. "I am positive, Kit. Just tell your grandfather that I want to reconnect with him, and we'll be perfectly even."

I nodded, still unsure if she was being serious, and slipped the pouch back into my pocket.

"Goodbye, Mr. Conductor! Goodbye Trolley Lady!" Thea said, leading me out of the room.

"Goodbye, children," the conductor said back.

Before settling in our compartment, I told Thea that I was going to drop something off for my brother.

I set the box down and grabbed a few Chocolate Frogs before walking out again.

Ky's chosen compartment wasn't very far from mine, so it was less than a minute later I arrived. I knocked on the door and opened it myself.

"Delivery for Ky Ollivander," I said, and dumped the stuff onto his lap.

He laughed. "I thought you weren't going to save me any."

I flicked his forehead. "I lied." And I ran back to Thea.

I closed the door behind me and sank down on the bench. "Okay," I said, "now we can relax and enjoy the trip."

"We sure can, Kit." Thea kicked her feet up onto the seat.

We did just that. For the next few hours, we talked and ate food with each other.

The train stopped around 6:00 PM. When Thea and I felt the halt, we both froze, our voices caught on our last words.

We had arrived at Hogwarts.

Finally.

I took the initiative and grabbed my bag. I also took Thea's and thrust it into her arms. She wasn't going to do anything about it. Her eyes were fixed on something across from her.

I snapped in her face. "Thea."

She blinked. "Oops. I guess I'm still nervous."

"Don't be," I said. And I'm about to say something else profound, but get interrupted.

"Firs' years over 'ere! Firs' years come to me!" a loud voice bellowed.

We don't dilly-dally any longer. We each grab our things and follow the crowd off of the train.

"All Firs' years to me! Over 'ere! Come to the big guy!" I looked to the source of the voice. Sure enough. It was just a loud guy waving for all of the First years to gather around him.

I led Thea through so we weren't separated.

"All Firs' years'll be riding in boats across the lake there." He pointed out the lake.

It was in a different direction than the older students were walking. Their path leads to carriages pulled by skeletal horses.

The big guy started towards the lake and all of us First years had to jog a little to keep up.

"Alrighty then. No more'n four to a boat and then we'll getcha off to the ceremony!"

Thea linked her arm to mine and started looking around for two more people. Identical twin sisters joined us.

The big guy, still didn't know his name, ushered our group onto one of the boats and sent us off along with the others.

The ride was around 10 minutes, plus a few more when we were waiting for the rest of the groups.

When everyone was on the shore, we began walking up to the castle. Thea clutched my robes to calm herself. I was fighting off inner demons as well, but I've never been one to express it.

The castle was dark when we entered. Candles are what lit the hall we walked through. The stairs too.

A tall woman stood at the top of the stairs. Her presence soothed my nerves.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. Now, in a few moments you will pass through these doors and join your classmates, but before you can take your seats, you must be sorted into your houses." She paused for a moment. "They are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Now, while you're here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points. Any rule-breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year, the house that has been awarded the most points will earn the House Cup."

The professor got interrupted then. A child screamed, "Trevor!"

People laughed, and the boy said, "Sorry."

The woman continued. "The Sorting Ceremony will begin momentarily." She walks to the door and all is silent for a moment. Then people begin talking.

"It's true, what they were saying on the train," a voice says from toward the front of the crowd. "Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts."

He walked forward, revealing himself. "This is Crabbe and Goyle." His hair was slicked back and very blonde. "And I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."

A redhead near him snickered. The blonde snapped back, "Think my name's funny, do you?" He stood directly in front of him. "No need to ask yours. Red hair, and a hand-me-down robe? You must be a Weasley."

He turned to a boy with round glasses. "You'll soon find out that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort." He turned back to the redhead at the end. "I can help you there." And he stuck his hand out to Potter.

Potter looked down at the hand. "I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks."

Draco Malfoy put his hand back by his side and scoffed as McGonagall returned to the group.

"Quiet, children! It's time to go in!" She managed to get everyone in some resemblance of a few lines.

Then the doors to the Great Hall opened.

We all filled in after McGonagall. All of the other students were at their respective tables, watching us enter the vast room.

"Gather 'round, children," McGonagall said to us, motioning for us to come closer. There was an old brown hat sitting on a wooden stool.

"Now when I call your name, you will come forth, I will place the Sorting Hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses."

Most of the Ceremony was incredibly boring, so I'll just talk about the interesting people.

Mercedes Coniferg = a tall girl with long fiery red hair was sorted into Gryffindor after about a minute.

Hermione Granger = a girl with bushy brown hair was sorted into Gryffindor after a few minutes as well.

Draco Malfoy = the blonde boy from earlier was sorted into Slytherin after barely a second.

Dorothea Mallard = my friend Thea was sorted into Hufflepuff very quickly.

Me, Kit Ollivander = Slytherin. Just Slytherin. Nothing exciting.

Harry Potter = the boy with glasses who rejected Draco was put into Gryffindor after a considerable debate with the hat.

Alzona Tursk = a tall boy with amber hair was put into Hufflepuff.

Ronald Weasley = the redhead Draco insulted was sorted into Gryffindor.

Levi Willows = a shorter boy with dark hair was put into Ravenclaw.

The feast was good. Like, really good. And then I got to see the Slytherin common room. It's nice and cozy but also dark and dreary at the same time.

The rest of the night was quiet. I share a room with one other person. Her name is Pansy Parkinson.