Hearth II James Potter

Chapter 3- A Singing Hat Decides Futures

The train ride to Hogwarts was exhausting. Lily, Severus and Y/N were squished into one compartment with two other mean-looking boys with green robes. One had long platinum hair, which Y/N thought looked a little too gaudy. He had a cruel smirk on his face and leaned on top of a cane with a snake decoration. The other boy had on regular robes that first years did. He had shaggy brown hair and eyes to match, and similarly to the blonde, he seemed to have his face contorted into a permanent scowl. Neither introduced themselves, having Severus speak up for them. The blonde was Lucius Malfoy and the other was Mulciber, although Y/N had to admit he wasn't very memorable. Lucius kept looking at Y/N and Lily with disgust, which led to Lily and Y/N quickly abandoning that compartment. They felt unwelcome but Severus stayed behind with them. He seemed perfectly content where he was and Y/N wasn't close enough with him to complain.

They finally found a compartment that was welcoming enough for the two of them. There were three other girls in the compartment, all extremely excited and chattering away. Marlene McKinnon, a vivacious blonde, was chatting away about her family. Mary MacDonald was snacking on chocolate frogs. She pulled out a Nicholas Flamel card and was waving it in front of Dorcas Meadowes, who seemed not in the least interested.

Y/N and Lily sporadically joined in on the conversations, especially when they were confused about something. Y/N was the first to question what the hell a Chocolate Frog was and why Mary was eating a live creature. There were many times that Y/N had gone hungry but she didn't exactly have the heart (or stomach) to eat a live frog. In her opinion it was a little barbaric, so you can imagine her shock when Marlene laughed to the point of tears. Was Y/N embarrassed when Marlene explained that it was just an enchantment? Yes. Would she continue to pretend that she figured it out herself in the future? Absolutely.

"My dad would've held a protest in Dumbledore's office if I didn't get into Hogwarts," Marlene joked. "He hates Ilvermorny more than anything else in the world."

"More than Grindelwald?" asked Dorcas, disbelief in her voice. "Didn't you mention he fought alongside Dumbledore?"

Marlene's cheeks colored an unnatural shade of red, "That's not what I meant Dorcas, and you know it."

Y/N read about Grindelwald in one of her books. She remembered that he was one of those weird revolutionaries. She had no idea why Grindelwald was such a taboo topic. When Dorcas mentioned him Marlene went extremely rigid, even seemingly nervous. They reacted the same way a teacher would react when someone would bring up any of the World Wars. They would look around as if checking they weren't being spied on and would shift uncomfortably wherever they were standing. Y/N guessed that Grindelwald must have been some psychotic war criminal, like Stalin, but why exactly he was seen like that was beyond her.

Y/N couldn't help her curiosity, "Who exactly is this chap y'are yackin' 'bout?"

Marlene's eyes widened. She looked at Lily, who shrugged. Much like Y/N, Lily wasn't exactly sure about Grindelwald. Most of the books they had only wrote about the bare minimum, never about what he supported and did.

"He was a lunatic, believed that muggles were beneath him and all," Dorcas spoke up. "Tried to overthrow the Statute of Secrecy and rule over muggles, control them."

"Like stories 'bout Titans n' people, right?" Y/N said suddenly interested. The complexities of this world were confusing but Y/N wanted to understand them all. No, she needed to in order to assimilate.

Dorcas shook her head, "Yeah, except Grindelwald was real and people don't exactly feel the need to censor myths like they do history."

The compartment sobered up after that. There was no more chatter about the exciting first year, nor was there any more snacking. Y/N felt guilty about ruining the atmosphere with such a depressing topic, but she couldn't help her curiosity. Y/N was muggleborn, from what she gathered, but she did not understand why that made her a target. Her birth was mentioned three separate times that day. It gave her a new identity, someone that wasn't quite like the others. She wondered if Lily and Mary felt the same way.