Rough Chapter Plan[]
1. Prologue - Fenrir Greyback comes and threatens the youngest Mahenry brother.
2. Chapter One - Rowan is nervous about Hogwarts and meets Remus. Sirius Black and James Potter torment Snape. Snape goes to find Lily who is with Remus and Rowan.
3. Chapter Two - Snape is not pleased when he finds that he has to share a boat to school with James Potter, Sirius Black and Rowan Frost. He is even more annoyed when James drops the oars into the lake. Meanwhile, Remus does something, but I haven't decided what yet. Rowan is able to retrieve the oars from the water.
4. Chapter Three - Sirius is scared about being Sorted into Slytherin house and is therefore delighted when he is placed in Gryffindor. Meanwhile, Cygnus Mahenry goes to his older brother for help.
More coming soon.
Chapter One - Hogwarts Express[]
To any passer-by, Rowan Frost would have appeared to have been lost, fighting back tears as she searched desperately for a familiar face, or perhaps a group of friends. It was true; she was lost, but since she knew nobody, the only thing that she was looking for was an empty seat.
Rowan peered through yet another window into a compartment that was full to bursting with chattering girls. To her, it looked as if they were all best friends, having known each other all of their lives – though it was likely they had met only a few moments earlier. With a pang of regret, she realized that if she had arrived here ten minutes ago, perhaps she would have been sitting amongst them, joining in with their conversation and feeling perfectly at ease.
Instead, Rowan was hovering outside of the sliding door, wondering whether or not to ask to join them. Lingering there a moment longer, she decided against the idea of interrupting them and turned away, entering the last carriage.
As Rowan passed down the narrow aisle, she began to feel a sickness in the pit of my stomach. What if she had to stand for the whole of the journey to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? What if she didn’t make any friends? What if the Headmaster had made a mistake and she didn’t really have any magical abilities?
With this swirl of questions came a wave of dizziness and she had to reach out for the wall to steady herself. Most of her fears were already coming true; there was only one more compartment left and it was very likely to be full, she hadn’t spoken to anybody yet and she had never even heard of Hogwarts until last month.
Taking a deep and calming breath, Rowan blinked the wetness away from her eyes and forced herself to move forwards. She was shaking by the time that she had reached the last door, trying to look anywhere apart from through the window. Finally plucking up the courage, she slid the door open and braved a glance inside.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Rowan was glad to see that the compartment was very almost empty. A small boy that was sitting beside the window looked up as Rowan entered. His face was pale and tired; the dark bags beneath his eyes gave her the impression that he was ill. As the sunlight touched his golden hair, she saw small patches that were tinged grey. His blue eyes bore into her as if he were waiting expectantly for her to say something.
“Y-you don’t mind if I sit here, do you?” Rowan stammered, shifting from side to side in the doorway.
The boy’s eyes had widened and he was staring at Rowan in surprise, as if horrified that somebody had dared to ask such a question. After a couple of moments of silence, Rowan turned away, obviously unwanted.
“W-wait!” the voice was so quiet that she almost didn’t hear it. “O-of course you c-can sit h-here!”
The boy was smiling shyly up at Rowan, though he still seemed shocked that somebody had chosen to sit beside him. She managed to return a weak smile, sitting down opposite him. Rowan's stomach was still knotted with worry, even though she now had somewhere to sit and somebody to talk to. Forcing herself to relax, she tried to push her troubles aside and kept herself busy by attempting to start a conversation with the boy.
“I’m Rowan Frost,” she told him. “What’s your name?”
The boy jerked his head upwards, as if taken aback that Rowan was trying to speak to him. He sat there, staring at her for a long while before he seemed to process what she had just said and realized that she was looking for a response.
“Umm...” he stuttered. He paused, words apparently failing him. “I – I’m R-Remus L-Lu-Lupin.” A slight redness crept across his cheeks.
Rowan felt a stab of sympathy for this boy; he was obviously very shy. Nevertheless, she pressed on;
"Is this your first year too?"
Remus nodded.
"I - I'm kind of nervous," he admitted. Rowan smiled kindly but she knew that nobody could be as nervous as she was. Not even this small stuttering boy who was sitting alone at the back of the train. He at least knew a little about the school, Rowan realized as she noticed the book lying open on the bench beside him; Hogwarts: A History.
"I know how you feel," Rowan assured him. Remus looked slightly relieved but didn't say anything more. Instead, he turned around and resumed gazing blankly out of the window, seemingly lost in though. Rowan was startled by his sudden loss of interest; a moment ago she had thought he was going to say more.
There was a few moments of awkward silence as Rowan wracked her brain for something else to say before the door slid open.
"Anything from the trolley, dears?" asked an older lady with a tight grey bun. She was wearing an apron and smiling kindly.
Remus shook his head whilst Rowan looked past the woman to the cart, wondering whether she could buy a packet of Maltesers. Instead, she found that it was full to bursting with multi-coloured sweet packages, none of which looked to have been created by Mars.
Getting to her feet, Rowan wandered over to have a closer look, gazing at the selection of different sweets in wonder. There were Berty Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Liquorice Wands, Pumpkin Pasties...
"Can I have a... chocolate frog?" Rowan queried, handing the woman a couple of strange bronze coins. Knuts, she remembered vaguely as she was handed a little blue box. Thanking her, Rowan returned to my seat.
Careful not to rip the flimsy cardboard, she opened the dark lid and peered inside. Just as she had expected, a chocolate frog sat on the tinfoil wrapping, but to her astonishment, it was moving. In her surprise, Rowan dropped the box on the floor and watched in amazement as it leaped across the compartment and out through the open door.
"Woah!" Rowan exclaimed. "Was that frog real?"
Remus looked up, shaking his head. There was the trace of a smile on his lips, but there was no sneer in his voice; only kindness.
"N-No," he assured her. This time when he spoke, he sounded a little less painfully shy. Though his voice was still barely above a whisper and was qivering slightly, he appeared to gain confidence as he carried on. "I-It's just been charmed t-to look as if it's al-live, but since the spell used on it is-n't great, they only have one decent jump in them."
Rowan nodded, although she was still completely bewildered. "Do you know any spells?" she asked.
Remus nodded. "Only a few very simple ones."
Genuinely curious as to how he knew so much about magic - and pleased to see a half-smile slowly lifting up the corners of his mouth - Rowan continued to ask questions. "Are your parents wizards too?"
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"You'd better be in Slytherin," Severus Snape told Lily Evans.
He was pleased to see that he had managed to cheer her up at least a little bit. A hint of a smile now turned up the corners of her rosy lips and the usual sparkle had returned to her emerald green eyes. He opened his mouth to continue; to tell her about the amazing food that they could feast on each day; about the beautiful scenery crawling with all sorts of wonderous magical creatures; the adventures that they could get up to; how they could stay up every night and just talk, never having to worry about Petunia eavesdropping or about getting in trouble because it was way past their bedtime.
He would tell her stories about after they had finished Hogwarts; she would be a doctor, just like she'd always wanted to, and he would be a Potion's Master. They would live in a little house in Godric's Hollow, with a big garden for their children to play in. They would grow old together, surrounded by their grandchildren and -
"Slytherin?"
One of the boys sharing the compartment, who had shown no interest at all in Lily or Severus until that point, looked round at the word. He was slight, black-haired and was quite obvously very spoilt, Severus observed distastefully.
Great, a Potter.
"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd just leave, wouldn't you?" Potter prodded the boy sitting opposite him with his trainer.
"My whole family have been in Slytherin," the boy replied. He was unsmiling, his pale face very serious. His black locks brushed his shoulders, his brown eyes were framed with thick dark lashes and his long legs were stretched out in front of him. There was no mistaking that he was very handsome. There was also no mistaking that he was one of the Black family - his words had just confirmed it.
A Potter and a Black in the same room together. This'll be good.
Severus sat back on his bench and got ready to watch them fight.
"Blimey!" Potter exclaimed. "And I thought you were all right!"
To Severus's utter disbelief, Black broke into a wide grin.
"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?"
"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart! Like my dad."
Severus could not quite suppress a snort. Potter turned on him instantly.
"Got a problem with that?" his voice was challenging, but the smile that played with his lips revealed that he wasn't being very serious. His eyes sparked with lauhter; quite like how a father's eyes would spark after his children had just told him that they wanted to be dinosaurs when they grew up. It was as if he was looking down on Severus.
That's what annoyed him at Potter. Not his goofy grin, not his too large glasses that kept slipping down to the end of his nose, not even the way he kept running a hand through his already messy hair. It was Potter's air of condescendence that really got under Severus's skin.
"No," Severus sneered. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy-"
Potter caught him off with a roar of laughter. Severus had to try hard not to punch him in the face.
"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment," Lily tugged at his sleeve. He turned to see that she was already standing up, shifting impatiently from side to side. Her ears were almost as red as her hair as she glared at Potter and Black in dislike.
"Oooooo..."
Severus ignored the way Potter and Black imitated Lily, ignored the way the chant that they gave as he whisked Lily out and into the aisle, even ignored the way that Potter stuck his foot out in a half-hearted attempt to trip him.
"See ya, Snivellus!"
Severus froze.
He couldn't hear Lily as she pleaded him to leave them alone, trying to tell him that they weren't worth his time. She was right, of course, but he was too angry to see sense. He threw the compartment door open violently. Words were already pouring from his mouth. A meaningless torrent or insults and swears. He didn't even realise that he was shouting, until he felt his throat burning, raw and sore.
"Looks like you've upset your girlfriend, Snivellus!"
Severus was just in time to see Lily burst into a fresh stream of tears and disappear into the next carriage.
¤ ¤ ¤
Chapter Two - I Didn't Just Drop That[]
(Severus Snape is not happy when he has to share a boat with James Potter, Sirius Black and Rowan Frost. He is even more annoyed when James drops the oars into the water.)
¤ ¤ ¤
(Remus Lupin (or possibly another character) does something/something happens to him.)
¤ ¤ ¤
As I was lighter and closer to the edge, I managed to clamber over easily. Getting the oars back, however, proved to be a lot more troublesome.
Though I was lighter than Sirius, I was quite a bit smaller, meaning my arms weren’t nearly as long as they needed to be. I had to lean much further out of the boat than I would have liked to before I was able to grasp my hand around the slippery handle of the oar. I heaved it partly out of the water and pulled it back to my stomach. Pausing for breath, I reached out again, making sure to keep a tight hold of it with both of my hands. Rescuing the other one required a lot more effort.
As it had been dropped a while ago, it had been carried right out into the centre of the lake – much unlike us. Stretching out as far as I could without falling out, I began to scoop the second oar back towards us. It was just inches away from being within easy reach when a wave passed underneath the boat.
I flew forwards, feeling my grip on the oar loosen and gave a startled cry. I would have almost certainly tumbled into the lake if arms had not wrapped themselves around my waist, dragging me safely back into the boat. The oar that had still been in my hands fell to the floor with a clatter and I flopped back onto the bench, my heart thumping in my chest.
“Thanks, Remus,” I managed to gasp out, realizing that it had been him that had saved me from falling into the icy waters. Remus smiled faintly, shrugging his shoulders in a modest reply.
“Got it!” I looked up to see James, who was waving the second oar triumphantly in the air. “Well done, err...” He looked at me pointedly.
“Rowan,” I told him.
He nodded and began to help Sirius row us to the edge of the cliff. Within moments we were passing through some kind of tunnel that seemed to have been built right underneath the very school. Its walls, shimmering with acrid water, arched high above my head.
It didn’t take long before we reached the other boats and, I saw with a sigh of relief, the other first years and the giant-man waiting for us.
When the boat had reached as far as it could to the edge of the lake, I climbed out onto the rocks after James, waiting for Remus to catch up before hurrying over to everybody else.
“Are yeh lot all righ’?” the giant-man asked us gruffly. “Didn’ fall in, did yeh?”
Sirius shook his head.
“No,” he replied. “We just had a slight incident with the oars.”
“And it was not at all my fault,” James added quickly.
The giant-man shook his head vaguely before turning and leading us the rest of the way through the stone passageway. As our footsteps echoed around the cave, I was suddenly glad to be in the middle of the crowd and hurried to keep up with them, anxious not to fall behind again.
After ascending a large flight of stairs, I stopped behind a magnificent pair of tall, oak double doors. I gazed at the giant-man in awe as he raised his humongous hand and knocked loudly three times. At once the door opened to reveal a stern-faced woman with dark hair tied up in a tight bun and robes of a deep blue.
“Professor McGonagall,” the giant-man addressed her. “Sorry we’re a bit behind schedule.” The woman shook her head.
“Not at all, Hagrid,” she assured him. “You may leave us here.” Turning to us, she continued, “Welcome to Hogwarts. Please follow me.”