Rosé’s search for her friends stopped when she heard a familiar voice calling her name from one of the compartments.

She looked toward the source of the voice and her face brightened when she saw Lisa’s head peeking out of a compartment’s doorway.

“Lisa!” she greeted as she made her way towards her friend.

Lisa stepped aside to make way for her friend, waving her hand to signal for Rosé to enter the compartment. “Where have you been? We’ve been waiting for you.” she asked when Rosé finally reached her side.

“I was saying my goodbyes to my parents. We were running kind of late this morning, so…” she left it at that. She looked at the occupants of the room. There were three girls, two that she recognised to be her friends; Lisa and Joy, and a dark-haired girl who glanced up to see who’s the newcomer from her seat next to the window. She greeted Joy as she made her way inside and sat next to her while Lisa chose to sit next to the other girl in the compartment.

Once settled, she turned her attention towards the girl and gave her a smile. “Hi, I’m Roseanne – Roseanne Park. But you can call me Rosé. And you are?” she introduced herself and reached her hand out for a handshake.

“Jisoo. Jisoo Kim. Nice to meet you,” the girl answered shyly and put her hand in hers, giving it a shake.

Her smile widened. “It’s nice to meet you too! Are you excited to finally start at Hogwarts?”

“Yeah. I’m a bit nervous though, since I’m quite new to all things magic. I don’t really know what to expect,” the dark-haired girl answered nervously, scratching her cheek.

From her side, Lisa bumped her shoulder with Jisoo’s lightly. “Don’t worry. Even if the work could get a little too much sometimes, it’s nice there. My father said so. You’ll be fine.”

“And there’s always quidditch matches to look forward to,” Joy added.

“Quidditch? What’s that?” Jisoo asked.

“It’s a wizarding sport!” Joy answered enthusiastically. “It’s like football, but you play it on a flying broom.”

“A flying broom?” asked the girl, stunned.

“Yeah! It’s really fun. You should go see it – at least once – while you’re in Hogwarts.” Lisa said from her side.

“We can watch together! My brother is actually a beater for the Gryffindor team,” Rosé quipped.

Jisoo nodded. “Sure! But what’s a beater?” she asked them.

The other girls looked at each other then before taking turns to tell Jisoo everything she needs to know about quidditch. They also talked about all things Hogwarts for the rest of the train ride before changing into their robes after a prefect came to remind them to change into them.

–

The four girls stepped out of their compartment and went to get off the train when it finally arrived at Hogsmeade Station. When they got to the platform, they saw a man – a very tall man (like a giant! said Lisa) – waving at the first years while calling out, “First years! First years, this way!”. A group of first year students could be seen standing near him, so they made their way towards the towering man and stood with the chattering group.

“Good evening, everyone! My name is Kris, and I’m the Groundskeeper of Hogwarts. Tonight, I will be the one to take you to the castle,” greeted the tall man, making the group stopped their talking. He then did a headcount of the first-year students and once he’s sure everyone was there, he continued, “Now that everyone is here, please stand in two straight lines and follow me!”. The first-year students started forming two long lines and walked after the tall man who had turned to lead them towards the edge of a lake, where a lot of boats could be seen waiting at the docks.

Kris then turned towards the group of 11-year-olds behind him and said, “Now, pair yourself up with a friend and get on the boat. We will be taking these boats to the castle. And please, be careful as you do so!” After that, he started helping the first-year students into their boats.

The four girls split themselves into two groups. Joy will be riding the boat with Jisoo, while Rosé will be riding it with Lisa. Then, they got on their respective boats with the help of Kris. They sat there for a while, chatting among themselves while waiting for the others to finally get on their boats. After a few minutes, the boats started moving, taking the first years across the Great Lake towards their destination.

When the castle came into view, Rosé couldn’t help but stare in amazement. The way the moonlight and the lights from the windows illuminated the castle made it look even more magical. It looks like a scene straight out of a fairy tale! She could hear Lisa quietly saying wow in front of her, agape. A thought occurred to her then. Leaning in towards Lisa without her realising, she whispered in her ear, “You might want to close your mouth, Lisa, or you’ll soon find it full of bugs.”

Startled, Lisa jumped in her seat and put a hand to her chest. She could feel her heart racing underneath her hand and turned to glare at Rosé. “What did you think you’re doing scaring me like that?!”

Seeing her reaction, Rosé couldn’t help but release the laugh that’s been bubbling up inside her, unaware of the pair of eyes that landed on her then and followed her for the rest of the boat ride.

–

A chorus of oohs could be heard from the group of first years as they made it halfway across the Great Lake, where they could finally see the castle that was Hogwarts sitting atop the cliff in all its glory. The windows of the castle were alight, reminding Jaehyun of a Christmas tree from this distance. Deep down he was grateful, for the magnificent view of the castle had managed to stop Ten, his partner for the boat ride, from talking his ears off. He loved his friend, but his talkativeness could get a little too much for Jaehyun sometimes.

A laugh suddenly pulled him out of his thoughts and his eyes landed on a boat floating not too far away from his left. A girl with strawberry blonde hair could be seen laughing at her friend who was busy glaring at her on the boat. Jaehyun didn’t know why, but he found himself unable to tear his gaze away from her face. There’s just something about the way the corner of her eyes crinkled as she laughed and the way the sound tickled his ears that made him unable to look away. Jaehyun found himself smiling. He never thought that a laugh could sound so lovely.