Platform 9 ¾ was bustling with families as they prepared to send off their children to Hogwarts either for the first time, the last, or somewhere in between.

"Have you got everything? Did you double check your things? Clothes? Books? Oh, what if you forgot something. Let me see your trunk," Mrs. Eruditus fussed as she stood on the platform with Gaia and Mr. Eruditus.

"Mom! I checked everything more than three times!" Gaia whined as her mother grabbed one of her trunks, insisting on taking a look. Mr. Eruditus shook his head fondly at his wife's antics before wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Relax, love. I'm sure she's got everything. Right, Gaia?" Mr. Eruditus said. Gaia nodded in agreement, silently hoping that her mother would ease up on her worrying.

"You can't blame me for worrying." Mrs. Eruditus untangled herself from her husband's grasp and wrapped her eldest into a hug. "Write to us every day, alright?"

"I can't write every day!" Gaia laughed as she returned the hug, "Every week, maybe." Almost immediately after her mother let go, her father took over hugging her.

"Be careful, Gaia. Don't cause too much trouble, okay?" he told her.

"Yes dad. Do you think I'll be Gryffindor like you were?" Gaia asked. Her father laughed and shook his head.

"As much as I would love that, I think you'd be greater in Ravenclaw. Don't worry, Ravenclaw's awesome as well." Mr. Eruditus ruffled up her hair, pulling a noise of indignation from the girl.

"Don't forget about me," Lele said as she hugged Gaia and looked up at her. The older girl shook her head with a slight laugh and hugged her sister tightly.

"Nothing could ever make me forget you."

"Go, sweetheart. You don't want to miss the train. Have fun at school," Mrs. Eruditus said as the two sisters separated.

"I will, mom. Be safe going home." Gaia moved to board the train as the whistle sounded, signaling the last few minutes before it was time to leave. She walked around until she came across an empty compartment near the end of the train.

"Why do these have to be so high up?" Gaia grumbled to herself, standing up on the tips of her toes on the seats to try and place her trunks up where they were meant to go.

"Need some help?" Gaia yelped in surprise, accidentally dropping her trunk which made a loud thump sound on the round. She turned her head to the side and saw a red-headed boy laughing, before he straightened up and apologized. He was in his school robes, she noted, which displayed the colors of the Gryffindor house. He picked up the trunk from the ground and easily slid it into the rack above as Gaia let herself down from the seat.

"Thank you," she whispered, her hair turning violet out of embarrassment. The boy made a sound of surprise before a grin appeared on his face.

"My friend's a metamorphmagus as well. Maybe I should introduce you to her sometime. I'm Charlie Weasley, by the way. I'm a Gryffindor prefect so if there's anything you need, you can ask me. Although once you get sorted, you might be better off asking your house prefect but you can still come to me." The smile on Charlie's face seemed welcoming, easing Gaia's tenseness, "Anyway, I have to go patrol on the train. Nice meeting you..."

"Oh! Uh, Gaia. Gaia Eruditus," Gaia supplied as Charlie trailed off, realizing that he didn't know the 1st year's name. He nodded and turned to exit the compartment, closing the door on his way out.

Deciding she was settled in enough, she looked out the window, her excitement building up inside her as well as the yellow slowly seeping into her hair. She let herself get lost in her own mind.

How big would the castle be?

Would there be a library? Well of course there'd be one, it's a school!

Would I meet new friends? But what if my hair freaks them out? Oh, but what if I meet someone like me there at Hogwarts? That'd be amazing!

The sound of an owl snapped her out of her reverie, and she looked to see Nieve looking at her expectantly from his cage. Gaia let out a giggle and opened the cage, letting the owl fly around the compartment before landing on her shoulder. She rubbed his head gently, a sound of content being pulled from the owl.

A few minutes into the travel, the door slid open again and she turned her head from the window to see two boys with the same red hair as Charlie. They seemed to be identical twins, both with a glint in their eyes and wide grins that were so creepily identical.

"You mind if we sit here?" one twin asked.

"Yeah, the rest of the students in the other compartments aren't too happy with us since we threw a few dungbombs in most of the compartments," the other twin continued. Gaia let out a small laugh and shook her head as they closed the door and took as seat in front of her.

"I'm Fred Weasley," the one who had spoken first earlier said.

"And I'm George Weasley," the other one quipped, the grins on their faces widening, "In case you haven't noticed, we're twins."

"Yeah, don't worry! You're not going crazy-" Fred started.

"-or delusional!" George finished. Gaia looked between the two with a skeptical look on her face. In her opinions, the twins gave her the feeling that the two were more than what they seemed. Their matching grins almost sent a shiver up her spine with how much mischief she could feel was leaking from them. Then, she raised an eyebrow with a smirk on her lips.

"You know, the very fact that you two are identical twins and you have those huge grins on your face makes me question if you introduced yourselves properly," Gaia said.

The twins shared a look between them, seeming to have a conversation with their eyes. After moments, they burst out laughing at the same time. Gaia looked at them with a mix of amusement and confusion on her features. They were definitely a more peculiar bunch.

"Oh, wow! You're good" the one who introduce himself as George said, snickering in between words.

"Mum can't even tell when we do that to her!" the other grinned, "But you're right,"

"I am Fred," the first one (the one who introduced himself as George) said with a grin.

"What's your name?" George, the real one, asked.

"And why's your hair yellow? Were you born like that?" Fred asked, leaning forward to get a closer look at the girl's hair.

"Would be sick if she were!" George chimed, nudging his brother slightly to get a look at her hair as well.

"My name's Gaia Eruditus," Gaia shook her head at their antics, "And no, I was not born with yellow hair." She shook her head once more, her natural brown seeping in from the roots of her hair. The boys sported similar surprised expressions as they watched her hair fully turn brown.

"Wicked!" they exclaimed in unison.

"You're a metamorphmagus!" Fred said.

"Our brother has a friend like that! She's cool," George added.

The three spent the rest of the train ride talking to each other. As the twins told her stories of their younger years, Gaia remained silent, listening intently, and laughing occasionally. She found herself hoping she had met them at an earlier age because of how fun their stories sounded.

"What house do you reckon you'll be in?" Fred asked.

"Well, dad was in Gryffindor, but he told me I'd be a better match for Ravenclaw," Gaia answered proudly, her hair turning a light shade of orange, "And you two?"

"Our family's been Gryffindor for ages," Fred said, pride clear in his tone as George nodded along.

"Would be a shame if you weren't in Gryffindor with us, but Ravenclaw's not too bad!" George said.

"Nothing worse than being placed in Slytherin, that's for sure," Fred continued.

"I'm sure there's great people in Slytherin! Don't tell me you really think they're evil because of what people say," Gaia frowned.

"Well, they haven't really given us any reason to think they're not."

Before Gaia could say anything else, the compartment door slid open to reveal a familiar face.

"Hello Gaia," Charlie smiled before spotting the twins, "Oh hey Fred, George. We'll be at Hogwarts in a few minutes, so I suggest you three change into your robes." He gave the trio one last nod before closing the door.

"That was our brother, Charlie. You've met him?" George asked.

"Yeah, he helped me with my trunk. Couldn't reach the rack," Gaia answered, gathering up her robes that were folded in her small hand-carry bag.

"I'm not really surprised. You are quite short," Fred laughed, yelping when Gaia whacked his arm before leaving the compartment.

On the way back, she bumped into a girl holding her own set of robes. Gaia huffed, standing up and fixing her uniform as she opened her mouth to apologize.

"Watch where you're going!" the girl sneered, "Stupid girl."

Gaia gaped as the tan girl pushed past her, glaring at the head of wavy black hair getting further away from her. She grumbled to herself as she turned around to head back to the boys. Both boys jumped slightly when their compartment door opened rather harshly to reveal the girl sporting black hair.

"Uh," Fred started, glancing at George for a moment as Gaia sat in front of them, "You alright?"

"Your hair's black." George pointed to her hair. Gaia looked down at her hair and shook her head.

"Nothing. Just... bumped into someone." Her hair turned back to brown, though it was still darker than her natural color.

"Well," George pulled her up to stand and slung an arm around her shoulders, "Cheer up because-"

"-we're here!" Fred finished as he stood up and did the same on her other side. The two started leading her out off the compartment before Gaia jerked back.

"Wait, what about our luggage?" she asked.

"Charlie said it'd be fine to leave it," Fred shrugged.

"Apparently, someone'll take them up to the castle" George continued to explain.

"But how will they know which belongs to who?" Gaia wondered as she let the boys start leading her off the train.

"Beats me. We're-" Fred shrugged.

"-at a magic school for wizards. There's bound to be-"

"-some way they do it!"

When the twins finished what they were saying, Gaia looked at them with an eyebrow raised before shaking her head.

"Don't do that ever again when you two are with me. It's creepy," Gaia said as they stepped off the tr ain.

"Do-"

"-what?"

"That!" Gaia shoved both twins off her with a playful glare. The twins only laughed at her as they stopped behind the crowd of first years.

"First years, over here!" A giant man called, "The name's Rubeus Hagrid. I'll be helping you little first years get to Hogwarts. Now, we'll be goin' on a little walk."

As they walked, Hagrid kept telling them little stories and facts about the school itself. Gaia noted that his accent made him a bit hard to understand, but she enjoyed listening to him nonetheless.

"Alrigh', everyone get on the boats, four students each. It'll take you over the Black Lake. Try not to move too much 'less you want to take a dip with the squid," Hagrid said jokingly, though some students seemed to glance at each other worriedly.

The twins dragged Gaia over to a boat that already had another first year on it. The boy had brown skin and dark curly hair, an excited grin on his face as he stared in the general direction of the school itself. He turned to look at the trio when he felt the boat rock slightly.

"Hello! Name's Lee Jordan," the boy said as the boats started moving across the Black Lake.

"I'm Fred Weasley," George said.

"And I'm George Weasley," Fred said.

"Don't listen to them, it's actually the other way around. I'm Gaia Eruditus." Gaia rolled her eyes jokingly. The twins frowned at her as they started whining about her ruining their joke.

"Other way around? Ah, so they must be Weasley Fred and Weasley George then?" Lee grinned. Gaia groaned as the twins started cheering rather loudly.

"Oh Merlin, there's three of them," she muttered to herself.

"What house d'you reckon you'll be in, Lee?" George asked.

"Gryffindor, for sure!" Lee beamed. The three boys started their own discussion about Gryffindor house and why it was, in their opinion, the best house. Gaia, on the other hand, remained quiet as she stared ahead at the castle they were slowly approaching.

"Boys, look." Gaia stared at the castle in wonder, her words barely being heard by her three friends. The boys went silent as they stared at the castle as well.

"Woah." Lee breathed out.

"That's a-" George started.

"-big castle," Fred finished. Gaia's head snapped towards the pair with a heated gaze. They looked back at her with a small grin.

"What?" they chorused. Gaia groaned, shoving the slightly.

"I told you not to do that! It's creepy!"

✧✧✧

Edited 09/06/2020