The Raven and The Snake

Ariadne was bouncing with excitement the entire way to King's Cross Station. She'd wanted to wear her wizarding robes before even arriving, but her grandparents had paled at the thought. They didn't follow her into the station and their goodbyes were stiff.

Looking up at their hard expressions, Ariadne felt a lump in her throat. She had to blink back the sensation of tears. She wished them the best and said she would send them letters before diving into the sea of people.

She found the wall divider between platforms nine and ten that Professor McGonagall had described, the tug in the back of her mind reminding her of the similarities to the books. She leaned casually against the wall and when no one was looking, slipped in. The barrier felt like water, but she came out completely dry to a platform packed with wizards and witches.

Families all over were hugging and kissing their children and helping them board the train. Ariadne felt the sob building in her, but she quickly hopped aboard the train without making eye contact with anyone. She ran along to the first empty compartment she could find and pulled her robes on over her t shirt and leggings. She grabbed the first book she could reach in her bag and buried her face in it, hoping to distract herself from crying.

Not five minutes later the compartment opened again and 4 kids her age came in, chatting animatedly. She offered up a polite smile over her book, but didn't speak. She felt a tremble in her and was afraid it would make her voice sound weird.

One of the boys gave a low whistle at the sight of her, "Hey there."

Her smile tightened.

"My name's Fred," He sat across from her, trying to look cool by messing up his flaming red hair. "This is my brother George and our friends Lee and Angelina."

A slight pang hit Ariadne's chest. Fred. Fred Weasley with his identical twin George. She remembered them from the books. She nodded to each of them nervously, the other names coming to her as well. Lee Jordan and Angelina Johnson tied with the name Gryffindor. They were the same age as her though she was positive they were older in the books. That meant the books hadn't started. She let out a tiny breath. "I'm Ariadne. Nice to meet you."

Both George and Angelina shook her hand in greeting. Angelina plopped down next to her while George and Lee took seats next to Fred. They'd already been having a conversation which they quickly resumed. Angelina was one year above them and was already planning to join her house Quidditch team. The boys excited to go over every detail of the team with her. Fred proudly boasted about his brother Charlie who had been on the Gryffindor team a few years prior.

Fred and George both seemed to ogle Ariadne who was becoming less interested in her book, looking up into their faces with polite interest, but having nothing to add to the conversation. Angelina finally seemed to think it was rude and asked what her favorite team was and whether or not she was planning to join a team.

"I've never seen a game," Ariadne said with a wry smile. "I don't really know anything about it."

"Are you joking?" Lee yelped. "What, are you muggle born or something?"

Ariadne flushed a little. "Not exactly, but I did grow up in the muggle world so I don't know much about it."

"That's okay," Angelina smiled warmly and gave Lee a reproving glance. "A lot of kids are raised in the muggle world. Quidditch is the wizard sport, it's played on broomstick."

Ariadne closed her book and tapped out a pattern on the cover, steadying herself with gentle breathing that Grandpa Lawrence had taught her. "Is it the only sport unique to wizards?"

"It's the only sport that matters," Fred butted in.

George grinned, "We're planning on joining our house team as soon as possible."

Angelina shrugged, "Don't get your hopes up too high, first years never get picked. You need to prove yourself on a broom first to Madam Hooch."

Ariadne raised her brows. "Who's that?"

"The flying instructor. She usually referees the games or is part of the team to catch students that fall."

"Does that happen often?" Ariadne tried to picture what it would be like to fall from a broom in the middle of playing a game.

"All the time!" Lee said enthusiastically. "It's one of the best parts of the game to watch players eat it."

"But we won't fall off our brooms," Fred shot out. "George and I have been flying since we were old enough to hold a broom and we're fast."

Angelina's mouth quirked at that. "Everyone free falls at some point, but it doesn't usually get too bloody. Maybe a couple broken bones, nothing hard to patch up. Our matron is very skilled and can fix anything in a heartbeat."

Ariadne had to shake her head. A couple of broken bones? Sure, she could do tricks on the jungle gym on the playground, but that was hardly a few feet from the ground. "Sounds kind of scary to me, I doubt I'd have the skills for that game." "What house are you hoping for?" George asked unexpectedly.

Ariadne chewed her lip and tapped her book. "You first."

"Gryffindor, obviously!" Fred said excitedly. "Our whole family is in that house."

"Except for our younger siblings." George nodded.

"I'm hoping for Gryffindor too, but with my luck, I'll end up in Hufflepuff." Lee said with a hint of glumness.

Angelina raised her chin, "Hufflepuff isn't that bad."

"Yeah, at least it's not Slytherin." Fred reached across George to punch Lee's arm.

George smiled, "So what house are you hoping for then?"

"I'm not really sure..." Ariadne hedged. "Gryffindor doesn't sound too bad. I guess one of my uncles went there. From what Professor McGonagall said, Ravenclaw is for really smart kids and Hufflepuff is really diverse." Angelina gave a firm nod. "Yeah, but a lot of the time you end up in the same house as most of your family."

Ariadne chewed harder on her lip, "Well, my father was a Slytherin so... I'm really not sure."

The mood went a little stale at that. Fred examined her face as if trying to spot some sort of indicator that she was made for a house he seemed to dislike.

"Well, it's not every time you end up in your parent's house. You said your uncle was Gryffindor? Maybe you'll be different too." Angelina said, trying to be encouraging.

Ariadne gave a nervous laugh. "A lot of rivalry between houses, huh?"

Angelina wrinkled her nose and smiled. "Yeah, you could say that. Slytherin's been on a winning streak in Quidditch and the House Cup for a couple years now and Gryffindor is a competitive house."

Just then, a knock at the door drew their attention. Angelina smiled and hopped up. "I gotta go hang out with some kids from my year, see you guys later."

They all waved and Fred leapt to take her spot next to Ariadne. He slung an arm over her shoulder in an overly familiar gesture. It made her face heat up, but she didn't shove him away.

"You seem like a good kid, you'll probably end up in Gryffindor with us," he said jovially.

Ariadne shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not very competitive. It'll probably be you and me in Hufflepuff, Lee."

Lee barked out a laugh, seeming cheered by the thought.

The boys all regaled her with stories their families had told them about the school and everything they knew about Quidditch. Ariadne found them easy to get along with, not minding at all at the way they monopolized the conversation. After the snack trolley passed, none of them having enough money to spend on so much as a chocolate frog, George asked if she'd been able to practice any magic.

"A little," she smiled. This was an area she was little more confident in. She'd read all of the books she'd purchased from Flourish and Blotts and the majority of the little charms she'd tested on her paper animals had worked. She pulled her wand from her sleeve and made it shower sparks like a little firework.

"When did you first find out you had powers?" Lee asked, watching the little shower land without igniting anything.

Ariadne shrugged. "From the moment I was born, I guess. My mom said I showed magic from nearly my first day home from the hospital. I used to make things float around my nursery. It really freaked out my foster grandparents." George's eyes widened. "Seriously? You have control over it?"

"A little bit. I mostly just learned to make things move, but I can read minds fairly well."

"Read minds?" Fred looked at her skeptically.

"Yeah, as long as I have eye contact I can go a little deeper and see memories, otherwise it's just a sort of buzz." Ariadne confirmed.

"No way!" Lee interjected. "No way you can read my mind."

Ariadne focused on him. She looked deeply into his dark brown eyes and as it had the first time she'd really wanted to search for something in particular, the word came to mind. Legilimens.

She was in his mind, watching him practice on a broom and falling in a pathetic heap, not three feet off the ground. She saw him talking about getting his acceptance letter to Hogwarts with people that must have been his parents. He was playing with a puppy with a short tail and floppy ears. Running along a stream with a paper boat. Trying on his school robes, pulling them on over his pants that had the name of a Quidditch team over his bum. "What the hell was that?" Lee yelped, knocking her from her concentration.

"You support Ireland, huh?" Her mouth quirked into a little smirk.

"You saw that?" Lee covered his flushed face with his hands, looking mortified and not meeting her eyes.

She gave a shrug.

"Nuh-uh," Fred shook his head. "No way, you've got to try that with me. What am I thinking?"

She didn't have to use the spell for this one, it was at the forefront of his mind and she could hear it without issue. "You're thinking about the feast when we get to the castle... and that my mouth is pretty." She blushed and looked away from him.

George rolled his eyes and bypassed the slightly flirty atmosphere. "Anyone could guess that. Tell me what I'm thinking."

She looked into his hazel eyes and frowned a little. "Sunshine... daisies... butter... yellow rats? What on earth is that supposed to be?"

George sat back, his eyes popping out of his head. "No way."

Fred laughed then, throwing his arm over her again. "That is so awesome!"

The boys spent a good hour trying to make her read weird phrases from their heads before getting tired of that and showing off their own minor spells. Fred managed to send her book flying into his own face, earning a bloody nose that thankfully wasn't broken. Lee howled at that and made a purple mushroom sprout from his wand, though that wasn't what he was trying to do.