Undistinguished (H.P.)

Prologue

As she stepped through the wall that led to the magical platform with her mother on her left, holding onto her shoulder, her senses came alive. Her large brown eyes shone with wonder as she got lost in her surroundings. The loud busy platform was filled with people and although she could feel her mother pulling her out of people's way as they came bustling past them, she felt alone and lost - almost as if she didn't belong among these interesting and vibrant witches and wizards preparing to step onto the train. 

The loud screeching whistle shook her out of her thoughts as a feeling of dread filled her head, weighing down on top of her shoulders. Her father came marching up to her and her mother with a huge grin stretching across his entire face. "Well," his booming voice echoed through her body "we're finally here, Platform 9 3/4!" Johnathan Green heaved a sigh as he glanced around the station, memories filling his mind of the many times he stood in that very spot, seemingly a lifetime ago. "Oh, how things change" he murmured making eye contact with Abigail Green, his beautiful wife. 

Abigail sent a warm look back to Johnathan before leaning down and kissing her daughter's cheek whilst she fiddled with her long straight brown hair. "You better hurry onto the train Veronica, we don't want to have you being in a rush now do we?" said Abigail with a soft and calm presence that never failed to calm Veronica down. 

This false sense of security is what made her step onto the train that day and her mother's encouraging words about making friends and writing home about all of her apparently upcoming and exciting adventures filled Veronica with a hope that her initial bad feelings were just irrational and nothing to worry about. 

She can distinctly recall her mother and fathers proud excited faces staring back at her as the train slowly gained speed while departing from the station. She can also recall a voice in the back of her mind screaming to be let off the train, as a deep feeling of regret and terror weighed her down. 

She sat down in a carriage alone, listening to the many excited voices throughout the train as people made friends or met up with old friends after a long summer and although every other carriage seemed filled to the brim, no one came to sit with or talk to Veronica. In fact, people barely even looked her way, as if she was invisible to them. 

The closest she got to talking to someone was when she gave a dishevelled mousy boy around her age a small shake of her head and an apologetic glance as he burst into her carriage asking about a toad before he quickly shut the door again and carried on down the train. 

The journey passed neither quickly nor slowly and Veronica sat there staring out of the window every now and then as if in a trance. Soon she would become used to the feeling of being alone, or so she made herself believe, trying to force those irrational thoughts of loneliness to the back of her mind. 

The rest of the evening was a blur as she and the other first years took a short but mesmerising boat ride up to the famous castle that was supposed to make people feel welcomed and warm but has yet to make Veronica feel anything but sadness. Not even after being sorted into Hufflepuff did she feel as if she belonged, sitting on the table throughout dinner surrounded by others her age. It seemed no one was bothered by her as they were all too busy staring at and discussing the life of Harry Potter. 

Of course, she'd heard of him, who hasn't? But she didn't see the need to ogle him like everyone else was, nor did she want to join in conversations that were centred around his heroic yet terrifying backstory. Which was probably another reason why no one spoke to her the entire night, including her roommates Susan, Hannah and Megan who continued to gossip about the Boy Who Lived until she finally managed to drift off to sleep, dreaming of home and how she wished she was back there.