An American's Guide to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Chapter 2: The Thestrals

The rest of the train ride went by in a flash of laughter and gossip with occasional mentions of dementors and muggles, which Emily guessed were British No-Majs. By the time they stepped onto Hogsmeade Station, Emily had a strong feeling that she'd be okay. She and Harry had made awkwardly prolonged eye contact on multiple occasions, which in turn triggered Ron and Hermione to exchange giggly glances. The four of them stumbled off the train in the midst of an exciting debate between Hermione and Harry about the use of Amortentia on The Bachelor. Emily looked over her shoulder at Ron-- who seemed to be absolutely bewildered by the existence of a show like The Bachelor in the first place-- and was therefore painfully unaware of the huge man standing directly in her path.

"Watch where yer goin' there!" exclaimed a voice from above her as she ran into the man.

"I'm so sorry!" She apologized, her face becoming a deep red color.

"That's alrigh'." He assured her, adding "Yeh'll wanna follow me down to the castle with the res' of the firs' years." He then turned to a large group of small students and waved his massive hand in the air, raising his voice. "C'mon now! We don' have all night, now do we?"

"Actually sir, I'm not a first year." She muttered, looking around at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who looked back at her and shrugged.

"Ye'll be Emily Carter then, is that right?"

She nodded, fidgeting with the silver ring on her left index finger.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." He boomed, a warm smile on his face. "Harry!" He called out and the green eyed boy looked up at him. "Make sure she gets to the Great Hall, will yeh?"

He nodded in response and turned to her, wondering whether it would be appropriate to hold her hand to pull her through the massive crowd of people surrounding them and with absolutely no ulterior motive. He finally decided against it, instead choosing to motion for her to follow him. She did, and eventually the crowd began thinning as they made their way towards the carriages. A pit grew in her stomach as she noticed a group of skeleton-like horses with wings pulling them.

"What are those?" She asked Hermione, nodding toward them.

"What are what?" She responded, an eyebrow raised.

"Those animals over there..." She pointed at them and turned to Harry, who seemed equally confused.

"I'm afraid I'm not quite sure what you're talking about." Hermione added as Ron helped her onto a carriage.

"Harry..." Emily muttered, climbing onto an empty seat across from Hermione. "You see them too?"

He nodded, still sporting a perplexed expression. After looking around briefly, he realized the only empty seat was next to Emily. He shot a glance at Ron (who was holding back a laugh) and Hermione (who smirked back at him with an eyebrow raised) and decided that this was definitely not an accident. Nevertheless, he squeezed into the space next to the new girl and placed his hands awkwardly on his lap.

With that, the group finally seemed to realize they were not alone on the carriage. Seated on Ron's left was a dark-haired, shy-looking boy, who had introduced himself as Neville Longbottom during a brief visit to their train compartment. Across from him was an eccentric looking girl holding a newspaper with the words "The Quibbler" sprawled across the top. Her white-blonde hair fell all the way to her hips and her skin was pale. She slowly lowered and closed her paper, a soft expression on her face.

"I can see them too." She reassured them in a light, airy voice. "You're just as sane as I am."

This, unfortunately, provided little to no comfort to the pair of confused teenagers.

"This is Loony Lovegoo-" Hermione started, cutting herself off before she could finish. "Luna Lovegood, everyone." She corrected herself, looking embarrassed.

They finished their introductions as the carriage continued on their journey to the castle.

"Those horses..." Harry began. "What are they?"

'"Horses?" Hermione asked. "Harry, there are no horses."

"They're Thestrals. They've always pulled the carriages at Hogwarts. They can only be seen by people who have seen death." Luna answered, paying no regard to Hermione. "They're quite gentle creatures, really, but people tend to stay away from them because they're a bit... different."

"So you've... you know?" He asked.

The blonde girl nodded. "My mum. She was a brilliant witch, always experimenting with spells. One day it went wrong. I was eight. I'm quite sad about it sometimes, I miss her dearly."

"I'm sorry, Luna." Hermione replied sincerely.

The girl shrugged, at peace. "I've got dad."

The group nodded and the carriage stopped. "It was very nice to meet you, Luna." Emily said.

"You as well." She smiled.

"We'd better go." Said Hermione, breaking the silence. "Emily should be on time for her sorting."

They all stood, jumping down from the carriage one at a time. The six of them dragged their feet all the way to the main entrance.

"I'm starving." Luna mumbled. "I hope there's pudding."