Platform 9¾ were especially crowded today. As it should be, since it’s the first day of September, which meant the start of school year for the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Everywhere you looked, you’d see parents saying their goodbyes to their children or friends catching up with one another after the long summer break. In the distance, the Hogwarts Express could be seen waiting for its passengers to board the train.

Among this crowd, a family of four could be seen making their way through the throng of people. The youngest of the group, an 11-year-old strawberry blonde-haired girl, was tugging at the edges of her parents’ sleeves, trying to make the pair and her brother walk faster towards the train. Excitement was palpable on her face. After years of just dropping off and watching her brother board the red train, she’s finally going to join him on the train ride to Hogwarts.

“Come on, Pa, Ma! We don’t want to be late!” she exclaimed, sight set on the gleaming red train.

Once they’ve gotten close enough to the train, the mother gently put both of her hands on her daughter’s shoulders to stop her and turned her around to face her before crouching down to her daughter’s level. “Now Rosé, be good in Hogwarts. Go to your brother if you need anything. Have fun but don’t get in too much trouble, okay?” Mrs. Park said as she caressed Rosé’s cheek. “Do you have everything with you? Your quills? Books?”.

“I will, Ma! Don’t worry. And I have everything in the trunk. You helped me pack, remember?”

Her mother chuckled, “I’m just checking. Now come here!”. She spread her arms and Rosé jumped into her mother’s arms, hugging her tight and burying her face in her mother’s shoulder before stepping out of the hug and went to hug her father. Mrs. Park then stood and turned towards her son, pulling him into a hug and kissing both of his cheeks, ignoring his protests. “Try not to cause too much trouble this year, Chanyeol. And don’t drag your sister into any of your shenanigans!” she told him with a playful twinkle in her eyes.

He laughed, “No promises, Ma.”

“Take care of yourself, little flower,” Mr. Park said as he leaned down to hug her daughter. He then stood and softly ruffled her hair before turning to his son, “Watch over your sister for me, okay son?”

“I will, Pa,” he said as he went to give his father a light hug.

A whistling sound came from the train, signaling for its passenger to board it. The siblings said their final goodbye and made their way towards the train. “Don’t forget to write!” Mrs. Park shouted after them.

“I will! I promise!” Rosé shouted back. Chanyeol then helped her carry her trunk and ushered her to the train.

They got on the train and put away their trunks. The train then started moving and Chanyeol looked down at her sister. “I’m going to go and sit with my friends. Will you be okay on your own?” he asked, worried.

She smiled. “Don’t worry, Channie. I will be fine! I’ll just go and look for Lisa and Joy. They should be here somewhere.”

“Alright then. See you at the Great Hall, Rosie.” He lightly pinched her sister’s round cheek and went to find his friends.

Rosé watched as her brother disappeared down the hallway. She then took a deep breath and set off to find her friends with a smile on her face and a skip in her steps.

–

A young boy with dark hair could be seen sitting alone in one of the many compartments in Hogwarts Express. He was staring at the crowds of people saying their goodbyes to their loved ones at the platform through the train window. After quickly saying his own goodbyes to his parents and parting ways with his sister earlier on the train, he’d decided to wait for his friends in one of the compartments and save a seat for them.

When are they going to get here? He wondered as he sighed and turned his attention away from the view outside as the train started to move.

His eyes landed on the book on his lap. The title read, “The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1”, which was the first years’ book for charm. He contemplated on reading it. He’d become familiar with the spells written on the book, coming from a pureblood family and all, but since he had nothing else to do, he figured it’d be a good thing to refresh his memory before class started and began to read. He was only one chapter into the book when the compartment’s door suddenly opened.

There stood his friends; Doyoung, Taeyong and Ten. The trio greeted him as they made their way into the compartment. “There you are! We thought you ditched us and decided to go to Durmstrang instead,” Ten joked as he took a seat across from the dark-haired boy while Taeyong and Doyoung took their seat next to Ten and Jaehyun respectively.

Jaehyun snorted and closed his book before putting it away, turning his attention towards his friends. “You know my mum would never let that happen.”

Ten shrugged, “Well, you’ll never know.”

“Are you guys excited to finally start at Hogwarts?” Taeyong asked from his seat. “Where do you suppose you’ll get sorted into?” he continued.

“My brother said that I’ll probably get sorted into either Slytherin or Ravenclaw,” Doyoung said. Then he nodded at Ten’s direction and added, “This idiot right here will probably get into Gryffindor.”

Ten glared at him. “You’re the idiot. Shut up,” though later he shrugged and said, “But yeah, I’ll probably get sorted into Gryffindor. What about you?” he asked as he looked at Taeyong.

“I don’t know… and to be honest, I don’t really care either,” he answered. The three of them then turned their attention towards their friend who had been watching the whole interaction in silence.

Jaehyun shrugged, “Slytherin, probably.” Afterall, most of his family were sorted into the house of snakes, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he got sorted into it as well. It’s rare for the Jungs to get sorted into other houses, though there were a few of them who got sorted into Ravenclaw and even fewer of them got sorted into Gryffindor. He didn’t know if any of his family members had ever gotten into Hufflepuff.

“I guess we’ll find out soon at the sorting ceremony,” Doyoung said.

The four of them then proceeded to catch up with one another and talked about whatever topics that caught their attention for the whole train ride to Hogwarts. Though in the back of their mind, they all wondered; how’d their first year turn out to be?