(Collab between Rune_Alchemist and Reem) 

It was the beginning of a new day on the first of September. Luke was excited this new chapter in his life, school was about to start! Not just ordinary school, but Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Luke had been waiting a very long time for this day. All his dreams were becoming a reality as he walked with Karen, his mother, and John, his younger brother. Mother was holding his youngest brother Nathan who had somehow managed to be sleeping on such a joyous occasion. Dad was still at work, but he wrote Luke a letter of encouragement to stay focused on his studies, like he needed to be reminded. John, was oddly quiet. Luke suspected he was jealous of his older brother. He knew how much he yearned to go to Hogwarts even though he was only nine years old. Mother was dressed in a very expensive dress and had all her boys dressed in their finest clothes, all matching to mother's preference, of course. 

After many photo's of "Luke's first day" the family exchanged hugs and good-byes as Luke gathered his belongings on a cart and headed between the wall-post of platforms nine and ten. It was now that Luke could feel the butterflies in his stomach. He was a bit nervous. Closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath as he heard mother's encouragement, Luke darted straight into the wall through the magically concealed entrance of platform nine and three-quarters. He took a look around seeing many students both old and new heading to the train to Hogwarts. 

Luke made sure his pet Rosie was safe. He knew snakes were very mischievous, and masters of strategy. If Rosie felt she had the chance of escape, she would. Luke knew that, and always kept a sharp eye on his pet. It wasn't that Rosie didn't like Luke, snakes were solitary creatures. He understood that. Snakes would rather be alone than be bothered by humans. Luke thought he heard Rosie whisper something about hating children. Luke could communicate with snakes, it was a natural gift he had. Only his mother knew of his secret ability and encouraged him not to share it with others. "Snakes are very powerful, they have wisdom of anctient knowledge, it would be to your advantage to use your gift of Parseltongue," mother had told him. She had to learn the ability, while Luke was apparantly born with it. He noticed the other kids that were watching him. It was time to make friends, he thought to himself. 

Finally! Finally, it was the start of the school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry. Acacia was a little more than excited. She would finally be able to do magic herself and be able to show her two idiot brothers a thing or two about how it's really done. She was tired of listening to them how 'great' Hogwarts was and listen to them talk about their accomplishments. All she had to do was ditch them and find some...eh, friends of her own so she could start actually learning magic. That...might be a bit troublesome, however. They insisted on sitting in the same compartment, and Acacia was not at all going to even attempt to do that. She wanted to get some much needed time away from them, and she was going to get it. All she had to do, was first go through the brick collumn between platforms nine and ten. It would be easy enough. If her two brothers weren't arguing loud enough to be heard across the entire station.

"Ugh. Would you just shut up already Alex?" The brown haired boy said as he leaned on his cart full of belongings, obviously more than a little tired of whatever argument they were having. The cart was rather unassuming, save for the cat cage sitting on top of it. The resident of which, was sleeping soundly with one of its paws handing out of the cage door.

"I'm telling you, you should have bought everything on the list!" The older looking boy stated. On his cart sat a smaller cage, probably home to a rat or maybe frog. She hadn't bothered asking what pet Alexander, her brother had. She hadn't really cared that much. "That book-"

"Oh blah blah blah," Jackson interrupted. "Nag nag nag, is that all you ever do? I swear, you're like my wife or something." He replied, giving Alexander a glare, eliciting a sigh from Acacia. The two brothers used to be best friends until a little incident over the sumer break had distanced them. Acacia smiled a bit at the thought of that. The little incident had been her doing, actually. She had gotten tired of them finally and had framed Alexander for messing up something Jackson and their dad was working on. She wasn't entirely sure what it was, but apparently Jackson was going to try again this summer break.

"I'm just trying to help. Look, if you don't buy everything you'll just hurt your grades and..." Acacia started to tune the both of them out, giving the Owl sitting in the cage on her cart a friendly petting and a small smile.

"Let's say we ditch them while they're busy arguing?" Thatch, her owl simply gave her an unintersted blink in response. "Right then. Less talking, more doing, huh?" With that, she brought her cart inline with the pillar and rushed forward confidently. Success! In an instand, she had made it to platform nine and three quarters. Now she just had to get away from the entrance before her brothers followed her through. Shouldn't be hard to get lost in this crowd.

Absolutely humiliating! If there was anything Luke hated more it was being the "new kid." Overhearing a conversation with an older student who was making fun of a group of new kids, Luke walked away hoping no one would detect his presence. "I bet you wont even make it back next year," the large blond haired student laughed as he pointed at the young students. "You won't make it back, you won't make it back, and you... definitely won't make it back," he finished pointing and mocking at his fresh victims. This guy must be a bully around here. He wore the colors green and silver the markings of House Slytherin. 

"Looks like they are going to enjoy their first year," Luke whispered to Rosie as he turned his cart around. He would much rather be making fun of the fat student, but he didn't want to put his own reputation at stake let alone his future house, well at least he was sure of it. 

The only friend he had around here was Rosie, and it was definitely time to change that, but who would he choose? Many people were dressed in street urchin clothing as mother would call it, and Luke wore his best suit, making eleven year old boy stand out, above most the crowd. It was a bit annoying, and not Luke's intentions to make himself look better than others. 

It was Rosie's sharp gaze that caught Luke's eye. The snake surprisingly was not fixed on a rat or way of escape as per usual snake activity. No, this snake was people watching, and staring at a young, red-headed female student pushing her cart on the platform. It appeared the girl was in a hurry, as if she was getting away from something, or someone. Rosie wasn't simply observing, she was peering into the girl's soul. The snake paused as his forked tongue flickered out of his mouth."Find the girl." She said. "Ugh, of all the people, you want me to talk to a girl!" Luke had no sisters, and no female friends other than mother in his life.

"Do it!" Rosie hissed back. "Alright, I'm going." He said as he made his way to the girl. Rosie was acting particularly persistent, usually keeping to herself, as if the old serpent had an agenda of her own; but he knew, the relationship was symbiotic. Whatever was in Luke's best interest was her own, and Luke knew she was more than excited to be at Hogwarts. She was beautiful for a girl, and Luke couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. It was time for him to break out of his shell. Following the girl into the crowd, Luke casually waited for an opportunity to talk with her. "Hey, is it your first time on the platform?" He smiled as he couldn't help but notice her bluish-grey eyes.

Well. Someone was having a good time mocking the new students. How troublesome. Hopefully he was smart enough to not try that with her. Acacia's patience was wearing a bit thin after spending all morning with her quarreling brothers, and she had half a mind to get some practice on some spells before even getting to Hogwarts. Not a very good idea, but it might make her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. She shook her head with a sigh. She needed to find a seat on the trian. Preferably an empty one so she could get all of her things put away before some troublesome kid barged in. Might be fun to crash someone elses' compartment though.

It was Thatch's low hoot that caught her attention, the Horned Owl's gaze falling on a boy that seemed to be approaching her. He was dressed in a very expensive looking suit, which was the only real notable thing she could really say about him. Her parents weren't ones for such clothing, though her mother had made her put on a lavender colored dress before leaving. She didn't like dresses that much herself, and as soon as she got her robes it was coming off. She had to admit though, the boy looked rather important with his suit. It made him stand out a bit anyways. Now, just one thing. What did he want?

"Depends," She started. So he wanted to know if she was a first year. No reason not to answer, he looked to be one as well. "If you're going to annoy me, then I'm a dwarf whose a seventh year and I know some really fun curses. If not, then yeah, I'm a first year and this is my first time here. You?" Thatch continued to eye the boy until the owl spotted Rosie. Acacia had no doubt that if he wasn't in that cage, the snake would have been owl kibble.

"Oh no, I didn't come to bother you. Yes, this is my first time on the platform, my name is Luke. You looked like someone I could talk to without having to deal with these idiots." He said indicating with his eyes to the group of students who seemed like trouble. On the girls cart was an owl in a cage. His eyes brightened with his smile as he looked at the creature."That's a North American Great Horned Owl, I have never seen one before." He was so fascinated he almost forgot Rosie, who had coiled herself in her cage in the presence of her enemy. "Rosie is also from the Americas, but I don't think she is as excited as I am." Glancing at his watch, he figured it was almost time to store his gear and secure a seat on the train. 

"Well, looks like you're not as silly as you look." She giggled. He certainly knew how to get on her good side at least. "Acacia Coronet," She continued, turning to give him a warm smile. "Third child of the Coronet family, who really doesn't want to be in the same house as her idiot brothers." She hadn't meant to add that last bit. Acacia had no real inention of being overly friendly, but perhaps it might come in handy later so she simply went with it and gave him an enthsastic reply when he mentioned Thatch.

"Mhm! my mom bought him for me. She runs a potions shop in Diagon Alley. A sort of 'Happy first year' thing. His name's Thatch," She noticed the owl eyeing Lukes snake and gave a small sigh. "I suggest you keep your pet in that cage. He can be a bit of a glutton." Acacia was obviously none to happy about her pets eating habits. He would probably demand a three course meal on their way to Hogwarts. "I suppose that's for later though. Want to sit together? We should probably find a compartment before they all fill up."

"Don't worry about Rosie, she isn't going anywhere with Thatch around. I think you read my mind, though, I was hoping to get a head start on choosing compartments. Let's sit closer to the front of the train. They are the better compartments." He said grabbing his stuff as he began to load onto the train. He helped Acacia with her things. Once the two had settled their luggage. Luke found the best compartment he could find to his liking, empty and window seats, far removed from the other rowdy students. As they settled in their seats, Luke couldn't help but ponder what Miss Coronet had said about her brothers. "Pardon me for asking, but you mentioned wanting a different house than your brothers... What house would that be?" 

"Gryffindor." Acacia replied, taking a seat next to the window. "My family has been part of the Gryffindor house since my great-great-great grandparents or something. I stopped listening after the third great. That would include my parents and brothers." She sighed, taking a look out the window and watching a various people walk by. "Personally, I'd rather be part of a house with more...ambitious people. For example...Slytherin." Of coruse, she knew that if she was put into Slytherin, her brothers would probably have a heart attack and pass out. Especially Alex. She heard Jackson mention something about him constantly getting into trouble with them for some reason or antoher. "What about you?" She continued, giving him a curious look. "What house do you want to be in?"

Ahh, Slytherin, that must be the reason Rosie had such an interest in this girl. "My mother was Slytherin, and I also want to represent Slytherin. I don't have any doubts that is the house I will be in, I can feel it." A moment passed as Luke looked out the window of the train, it would be leaving at any moment. "Well Acacia, I'm glad we can be friends, I'm sure you'll make it into Slytherin. I don't think Gryffindor suits you." He wasn't trying to give any false hope, he meant what he said. 

"Flatterer" She replied giving him a small smile. "But thanks. Since you have family ties, I doubt you'll have much trouble getting in. I'd honestly be fine with any house as long as I don't have to constantly put up with those two. Slytherin still feels like the best fit for me though after doing some research." She wondered if all siblings were annoying as hers. She didn't have many friends because she didn't get out much back home. She always had her nose stuck in a book, so that wasn't something she had much experience with. "What about you? Any annoying brothers?"

"I have two younger brothers, one of them is the most annoying little brother ever. He is always riding my coattails and trying to one-up me whenever he can. He is very smart for his age, but too cocky. Whenever anything happens he lies to my parents and I get blamed for everything. He never gets punished. He is arrogant and selfish." Luke stopped himself from his little rant. He loved his brother, just usually found that brotherly love was more full of irritation, fights, and anger than typical kindness type of love. "I'm just glad to be away from home, and starting a new life on my own."