Lior rode alone to Hogwarts. The first year she came, her father escorted her and showed her the way. The second year, she led him, to prove she knew the way, and would not be lost. She was always taught how to keep care of herself, as her parents always had to keep up with work on the farm. They had little help with everything that had to be done daily. There was no time to lose if she could go herself. Still, the journey from her town to Hogwarts was only a few hours of riding, maybe about half a day through rough terrain. If you took the roads, it was longer. Luckily, both she and the horse knew the way through the forests, and there was little danger from animals as long as you travelled by day. 

She dismounted from her horse, a chestnut mare she had named Eva. All around her, people were laughing, reuniting with friends, saying farewell to parents, and hurrying along to the school. She watched some of the pureblood students arriving in fancy carriages or in other pompous fashions. She was jealous of their prosperity.

Losing track of where her horse was, Lior started to shove her way through the crowds to reach a thestral-drawn carriage. She realized she had cut in some poorly-organized lines, but no one stopped her and she didn’t care. When the opportunity presented itself, she hopped into the carriage with her pack of belongings. It was smaller than most of the other students’. She tried not to notice.

Many students were excited to be back to see their friends, and, despite Lior’s lack of connections to other people thus far in her Hogwarts career, she was excited as well. For her, Hogwarts felt like a vacation from physical labour on a farm day in and day out. The only one she ever got, and finally, she even found herself thinking about free time throughout the year, instead of all the work she would have to do to catch up to the other students’ knowledge of magic. 

No, she thought. Third year is going to be the best yet. She would make it such.