Noah Wipple

If you were to go down Fifteenth Street and take a right at the drug store, you would end up driving down a rather strange road called, ‘Couch Ave’. And if you kept going down Couch Ave, you would see rather ordinary looking houses with ordinary muggles all going about their ordinary lives, all clearly unbothered by the rather strange road name.

At the end of Couch Ave., you would be forced to turn right yet again onto another strange street named, ‘Doubtful Ct.’ where the same scene once again awaits you on either side of the road. Not only do the people on Doubtful Ct. not seem very doubtful, but they seem very busy. The houses lining the road all appear normal but not too fancy looking. Dull browns and greens are the choices for the colors of the siding and shutters, with the occasional sunny yellow or plain white for someone who was obviously feeling rather adventurous.

But as you come to the end of Doubtful Ct. you notice a house that not only is painted in a bright blue with orange shutters matching in equal vividness, but the lawn is so green and perfectly cut that it almost seems fake. Small lawn gnomes border the walk up to the open front door, while flamingoes who are as large as the gnomes are small, decorate the front lawn as scattered and randomly placed patches of pink to the far away eye. A garden is visible through the white picket fence in the backyard, seemingly just as perfect as the grass out front and a small swing set that appears to be slightly rusty from lack of use swings idly in the breeze in the background. This is the home of Noah Wipple.

Noah Wipple was a strange boy to all the people who were with him through Elementary school. His father was a lawyer who spent most of his time in his office downstairs, buried in paper work and muttering to himself about things he shouldn’t forget or something he was looking for, which was usually a pen. Not only did Noah’s father rarely sleep but he never had a pen with him, which was something he always seemed to need. He had dark black hair and circles under his golden eyes from sleep loss and his thin lips never smiled.

His mother was an environmental activist who would weekly chain herself to trees or go out with boating parties to try and save some poor animal. Her frizzy brown hair and sparkling green eyes seemed to be full of life and joy, contrasting deeply with Noah’s father’s features, but he had seen his mother make his father smile twice in his life and therefore he was sure they loved each other.

The first was in the picture he had of the day he was born. His mother was holding him tight to her chest, sweat plastering her usually frizzy hair to her forehead and neck as his father stood beside her, beaming down proudly with a bright smile on his face. Noah’s mother had given him that picture on his ninth birthday and after he had admired it a moment, she had flipped it over to point at the back and whisper in his ear, “Look, baby, see? It says, ‘Love Mom and Daddy,’ and we do love you, baby.”

The second time had been when he was seven years old and his mother had gotten in a skiing accident. Apparently the story behind her multiple injuries had been so funny that his father had burst out laughing after she had called him on the phone to tell him she was in the hospital.

Noah was more like his father. He had the untamed, frizzy brown mess like his mother’s hair and even had her bright green eyes that people told him sparkled with the same life and joy, but he watched the world instead of partaking in it. He, like his father, was a realist who thought things over and studied people from afar instead of jumping in with the same enthusiasm that his mother seemed to possess. Conversation did not come easily to him, though he could debate all day without even having to think.

After he had tried public school and seen how the other children looked at him and his rather strange mannerisms of muttering to himself as his father did, he had chosen books over society as his new found friends. Both of his parents had been proud to see that he thirsted for knowledge so openly and both had provided him with books on every topic you could think of. His mother had helped him understand the world, starting with environmental issues and growing in time to talk with him about social issues as well. Noah’s father let him borrow his books on previous cases, government and law and order.

He would stay up late into the night pouring over the new information he had found, with only a small night light to help him read since his mother didn’t like him staying up past his bed time, and soon after a few years of reading by small lamp-light, Noah was forced to get glasses, making him officially the class nerd. His shaggy, wild brown hair hung down past his eyes brows and he was constantly forced to push it aside to slid his glasses further up his nose from leaning over his books so much.

So when summer came it was his eternal heaven. Not only did it free him from the burdens of being so rudely interrupted by his fellow classmates and teachers, but summer brought with it the chance to travel with his mother and venture into the office with his father on some lucky occasions. That was until the summer he turned eleven.

That summer was the first summer that Noah had begun to feel antsy. Not only could his usual books not seem to satisfy him but it was as if he knew something was going to happen. It wasn’t as if he suddenly longed for friends or even had begun craving attention from the opposite sex. No, he had simply known something was going to happen. He checked the window for any visitors habitually and without thinking, he would run to answer the phone before anyone could get to it and most of all he watched the mail. There was something about the mailbox that suddenly had him drawn to it like a moth towards light and if the letter hadn’t arrived that day, Noah was sure he would have gone insane.

It was the twenty-fourth of June at eleven thirty a.m when he heard something fluttering above the chimney. They had never had any trouble with birds and so naturally, Noah being in quite a state from his boredom went to check it out. The moment he had entered the living room, the fluttering had stopped. A sudden silence had filled the air and the only sound to be heard was the ticking of the clock on the mantle. Noah hadn’t moved for a moment, but had simply eyed the fire place before him before turning to leave. At that moment the fluttering had started up again. Spinning around, he had rushed forward and stuck his head inside the fireplace, looking up into the unending black of the chimney in time to see something white flying toward his head.

Ducking out with a slight curse under his breath, Noah had watched as a letter landed gracefully and without half the force it had appeared to be moving at onto his living room floor, somehow managing to miss the ashes. It had been a letter with his name and address on it, looking quit normal except for the seal upon it.

“Hogwarts; School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,” he had read aloud as his heart beat rapidly in his chest and his fingers fumbled to open it hastily. Inside was a letter explaining what Noah was sure to be a practical joke as he read what appeared to be an invitation for him to join a school that dealt with magic?

Scoffing slightly, Noah had tossed the letter aside and tried to forget about it, but as the days progressed he had found himself keeping the letter in his pocket and taking it out at random moments to read over and over. Somehow the important looking seal and fancy gold lettering told him that this might be more than a joke and maybe it was actually real, and so a week later Noah found himself sitting at the kitchen table with his parents during dinner, fumbling nervously with the napkin in his lap and trying to figure out how to tell them what he had received.

“Mum,” he began after another awkward moment of silence had passed, during which his father had been poring over a new text book and his mother was telling him to eat his vegetables.

At the sound of her name, she glanced at him with a warm smile and said kindly, “No, Noah. I’m sorry but you’ve gone far too long without your nutrition while I’ve been gone this week and you have to eat the broccoli. No, but’s.”

“No, mum,” he said with a sigh and mentally wondered how many times she was going to interrupt him tonight before he could get to the point. “I don’t mind eating the vegetables. I just wanted to ask, erm… tell you something.”

“Did you hear that, Kip?” she asked her husband suddenly and poked him in the arm to try and draw his attention away from the book.

“Hmm?” he mumbled, slowly looking away from the page he was on to glance around at the both of them over his own pair of glasses, reminding Noah of himself as he did so.

“Our son just said he doesn’t mind eating the vegetables!” She poked him again on the arm as a gesture that he was suppose to show some sort of enthusiasm at these words and grinned around the table. “Isn’t that great?”

“Yes, honey,” he mumbled in a slightly bored tone and glanced at Noah for a moment before returning to the book in front of him.

“Mum,” Noah whined slightly and set down his fork to fiddle with the napkin in his lap again, staring at it instead of his parents. “I really need to talk to you about something!” He looked up again in time to see his mother nodding but obviously not really listening as she continued to beam at him, still enthralled over the fact the her little boy enjoyed eating his healthy greens. Rolling his eyes, Noah sighed and started again. “I’ve been asked to join a new school.”

This not only got his mother’s attention but his father’s attention as well.

“Private?” his mother asked with a smile.

“Expensive?” his father asked with an obvious frown.

“Erm… yes, it’s pretty private but I don’t think it’ll be expensive.” Noah had forgotten that his father might worry about the price and he still wasn’t sure himself where he was supposed to get the supplies he needed.

“Oh?” he heard his father ask and blinked to see his parents still watching him. “And how does a private school manage not to be expensive? I would really like to know. Do you have the papers with you?”

Noah gaped slightly for a moment, as he had not expected to get this far in the conversation in one night and stammering slightly, he reached into his pocket to try and retrieve the letter that was worn and crumpled from being read and refolded so many times over the past few days. Handing it over to his father’s waiting hand, Noah watched as he readjusted his glasses and his mother leaned over his shoulder to read as well.

A few moments passed, during which Noah squirmed in his seat and thought about all the lines he had practiced in his head and how worthless they were to him now as both his parents sat reading the letter he never expected to give them. Then, suddenly, his father cleared his throat and calmly handed the paper back to Noah, taking off his glasses as he always did when he was about to say something important and glancing side-ways at his mother. Neither were speaking which made Noah feel even more antsy and anxious.

“Do you believe this letter, son?” His father’s deep voice broke into his thoughts and he glanced up to lock eyes with his deep golden ones. All he could do was nod slowly. “Have you investigated this? It could be a prank, you know.”

“I thought of that, father but I don’t think it is.”

“And you’re willing to give up your normal education to learn about something like this?”

“What education, father?” Noah asked and even laughed a little as he said it. “I know more than any of my past teacher’s combined. I want to learn something new.” He was almost surprised with himself and how confident he sounded during those last sentences and obviously his father heard that confidence as well because he looked at Noah with something close to pride in his eyes and smiled for the third time in the little boy’s life.

“Then I guess you’re going to this… Hogwarts, aren’t you?”

Noah opened his mouth to speak but a sob from his mother stopped him. Both young men turned to look at the woman beside them and she looked up from blowing her nose to offer a smile. Noah gave her a questioning look and she rolled her eyes, saying simply, “Oh, just eat your vegetables.”

After many confusing minutes of looking for this supposed Platform nine-and-three-quarters�” Most of which involved Noah’s mother asking random people who constantly gave her the same strange look, Noah’s father trying to get his mother to quit asking the poor people the same ridiculous question, and Noah sitting beside his trolley full of books, kits, suitcases and a cage holding his owl, watching the rather amusing scene�” it seemed as though the platform did not exist and he began to wonder if it was a mistake to even hope that it did.

The train that had been there when they arrived at the station had left and a new one was pulling in as Noah’s parents began to talk in hushed tones in the background, glancing at him from time to time with worried looks on their faces. He knew what they were thinking and he didn’t blame them. A school that said it taught magic to its students and claimed that you needed to board a train at a platform that didn’t exist didn’t look very promising to him at the moment either.

Glancing up at the clock above his head, Noah read the time as eight fifty and sighed, looking back down at the sheet of paper in his hands that had written upon it the platform number, the train name and the departure time. He had all three memorized but he kept glancing back down at them all the same. Platform nine-and-three-quarters, the Hogwarts Express, nine o'clock… The last one made him feel sick in his stomach as he realized that in ten minutes all his hoping would truly have been a waste.

“Excuse me,” someone murmured behind him and Noah turned around to look up at a seemingly peculiar man in brightly colored robes and a plaid cap. “Are you and your parents looking for the platform?”

Blinking, Noah opened his mouth to answer but his father’s voice spoke for him.

“Can I help you?”

He glanced behind to him to see that his parents were no longer a few feet away, talking animatedly in hushed tones but rather standing behind him, his mother’s hand resting protectively on Noah’s shoulder and his father eyeing the man who had just spoken to him.

“I was just asking your son if you were looking for the platform,” he repeated to his parents this time and Noah couldn’t help but notice how soft and musical his voice sounded. “I know a lot of the first year students usually get lost on the first day. We’re going there ourselves.”

“Erm… Platform nine-and-three-quarters?” he heard his father ask behind him, obviously embarrassed to be uttering the number out loud from the many negative reactions they had already received.

“Yes,” was the simple reply given, uttered in such a tone that it seemed as though the man didn’t know any other platforms existed. “My Luna is joining Hogwarts as a first year, as well.”

At the mention of another person, there came a sudden movement from behind the man’s colored robes and a young girl emerged slowly, eyeing the people in front of her as who was viewing the world for the first time. Her hair was a long, pale shade of blonde, almost seeming white, and at the moment half of it was tied in a ponytail with a strange assortment of feathers sticking out in every direction from the core of the pony. Her face’s most stunning feature though was her blue eyes, framed with long eyelashes, that seemed just as light as her skin and hair, though rather large and set in a seemingly surprised look.

Hanging from each ear was a pair of feather earrings that matched the feathers in her hair, only smaller and different colours. Her choice of clothes was a pair of striped pants rotating in different shades of brown, a white t-shirt that seemed to have some sort of advertisement on it but was covered up by a blue jacket that appeared to belong as a part of a tux, and ending with a pair of converse. Noah could feel himself gaping at the girl’s apparel and feeling appalled by the fact that if this was the dress code, he was ready to reconsider going to this school.

Suddenly, a small white hand was being thrust in his face and he looked up to see the girl’s face only a foot from his own. “I’m Luna,” she murmured in a soft, silky voice that made him relax and even slightly drowsy for a moment.

“N-noah,” he stammered back and realized after a moment that he was still gaping at her and her hand was still held out just as high and ready for his as it had been a moment ago. She didn’t seem bothered by his obvious staring but instead seemed to be studying him as well until he took her hand timidly, attempting to shake it awkwardly.

Instead of shaking, though, Luna pulled them down by their sides so that they appeared to be holding hands, but the moment Noah realized what she was doing, he pulled his away. Luna didn’t look scathed in the slightest by his somewhat rude gesture but rather turned to smile at his parents and took her father’s hand beside her, while continuing to stare at Noah.

“So shall we be going?” Luna’s father’s voice seemed almost random and unwelcome as it interrupted his thoughts.

“Yes, thank-you,” he heard his mother’s voice reply and felt her hand squeeze his shoulder. “Are you ready, honey?”

“Yes,” he murmured, breaking eye contact with the pale-like girl before him for the first time since seeing her to look up and give both of his parents a reassuring smile. “You don’t have to see me off if you don’t want to.”

The comment seemed to instantly wipe the smile off his mother’s face but before Noah could find out why, Luna’s father was pushing him along towards the stone archway before them and his father was wheeling his trolley beside him.

“Now watch this,” he heard the man say in his musical voice and he watched in awe as his daughter stepped forward with her trolley in front of her and ran without hesitation towards the stone pillar. Before Noah could cry out or even blink, she was gone. “Now it’s your turn.”

Noah gaped at the place where Luna had been only a moment ago and shook his head firmly. “I-I don’t understand,” he stammered and looked up at his parents to see if they were as confused as he was. They were.

“Oh, it’s simple. You’ll find my Luna on the other side. She’ll help you board the train.”

He felt a pair of hands gently centering him in front of his target and watched as his trolley was placed in front of him and someone guided his hands to grip the handle bars. Looking up at the man one last time, Noah noticed how cross-eyed he seemed to be and the white, shoulder-length hair that came spilling down past the cap, which he had failed to notice before. Then, without warning, he was being shoved forward and all Noah could do was run and pray that he didn’t die or make a fool of himself. Whichever came first.

Warm air seemed to surround him as Noah stood still, his eyes still closed for fear of the impact he was suppose to feel. The trolley had made no sudden jolt and no one seemed to be screaming and so Noah dared to open them only to find himself looking at a huge black and red train, half covered in steam but majestic looking non-the-less. What he assumed to be the steam’s heat for one moment, turned out to be something completely different as he turned to suddenly be looking into Luna’s grey-blue eyes. She had apparently been standing so close that her breath had been warming his neck.

A sudden movement from his right made him turn to see his parents emerging in the smoke and as soon as she saw him, his mother ran forward to envelope him in a hug. “Don’t you ever think for one second that we’re not proud of you or thinking about you,” she whispered fiercely in his ear and her hug suddenly seemed to be suffocating him.

“Yes, mum. I know,” he managed to whisper back and wriggled away to see her smile at him through watery eyes. Noah glanced up at his father and saw that he had been watching the whole scene from a distance, standing erect with the usual distant look to his eyes. As he made his way over, though, his father blinked and looked down at him. Then, without warning, he stuck out his hand which Noah took dumbly and shook for a matter of seconds.

This was truly the last time he would be seeing his parents before Christmas break and the thought seemed to hit him with a jolt. Though over the years his mother had been periodically gone and his father was always down in his office, they had been there for him, to encourage him with his learning and answer all of his questions. Only a moment like this seemed to help him grasp the full meaning and depth of that thought, and he turned away to prevent the knot in his throat from growing any larger or producing tears.

Luna was waiting beside her father, watching the entire scene with a rather blank smile planted upon her face. Both of their things had been loaded up onto the train and he had a feeling that she was waiting for him. Though he loathed human company and had been hoping to find a quiet place to finish reading his new text books, a quick glance at the windows crowded with the faces of children and teenagers told him that there was no such place, and so he felt a slight twinge of gratitude towards Luna. Not only did she and her father seem to know what they were doing, but her soft voice and rather quiet disposition made him hope that she liked to observe as he did, more than talk.

Starting off at a brisk pace that he hoped would make him look confident, Noah headed towards Luna who was boarding the train just as the warning whistle blew. His heart seemed to be hammering in his chest as the shock of it all hit him once again, and he realized that he was actually here, getting ready to leave. He had made it.

Noah climbed clumsily up the ladder with one last backwards glance at his parents, both of whom were waving like crazy at him. Then he ducked inside the door closing behind Luna and found himself not only in a complete change of setting, but the mood and everything else seemed to have transformed the moment he stepped through the sliding glass door.

The noise level of people’s voices and sudden random movements was almost overwhelming and he had trouble hearing what Luna was saying as she pointed farther down the hallway they were in and attempted to say something to him, though it was in the same soft tone she had used outside, making it impossible to hear. Noah simply nodded, wondering silently why she didn’t try yelling.

Children darted in and out of compartments as they passed by, yelling words behind them to their friends following in suit, or screaming in delight as they chased one another. Teenagers could be heard farther down, begging the immature youngsters to settle down and get back to their own compartments as the train began to hum and rock, preparing to leave.

However much steam had been outside before, there was twice as much now and Noah didn’t even try to find his parents through the dense white fog outside the window as he and Luna continued to walk further and further down the hallway. She still seemed just as serene and calm as ever, moving casually out of the way as an enchanted feather or paper air plane flew past their heads. Noah, on the other hand, found that all the movement not only gave him a headache but made him jittery as well. He had never traveled without his parents before and he had just met Luna, making him not entirely sure of her character or usual traits.

As they passed the different compartments, he found himself glancing in each of the windows, to see who happened to be there. Most of them all looked the same, either containing a group of giggling girls, small boys stuffing themselves with candy or taller and more mature looking boys, who were either sleeping or talking quietly as well.

As they neared one compartment, the door happened to be open and Noah could hear a girl yelling as they approached.

“What were you doing in here?” he heard her yell and as they passed the open door, he glanced in and was slightly taken aback by the scene that awaited them. The girl who had obviously spoken was standing with her arms crossed and a bemused frown upon her face, as she awaited a response from the other person in the room. Once in view, Noah saw that it was a boy, standing there with a surprised look upon his face as an open, pink duffle back lay on the seat beside him (which was hopefully not his) and a pair of flowery underwear sat upon his head.

Blinking rapidly, as though to help remove the image from his head, Noah continued on at a slightly faster pace, though Luna seemed not to have noticed the past scenario.

As they neared another compartment, the door was closed but when he peered in, there didn’t appear to be anyone inside. “Hey,” he hissed to Luna and she turned to look at him, a rather dreamy and distant gaze upon her face. “I think this one’s empty.”

“Oh good,” she said with a sigh. “I was afraid we were going to have to sit with the luggage.” Noah highly doubted that they would have had to do something that drastic, rather they probably would have had to simply share a compartment with someone, but Noah chose not to say so out loud, mentally deciding it was best to drop it.

As soon as they entered the small room, he heard a noise to his left and turned to see a boy looking around 16, lying on top of a girl looking around the same age. Low moans seemed to be coming deep from within each of their throats as they kissed each other. Noah had never seen such a thing before and for a moment, he could only stare. Their bodies were pressed together so tightly that he wondered how they were not smothering each other or suffocating, but a few jackets and a belt were laying on the floor, making it appear as though the couple had tried to fix that problem. The girl’s arms were wrapped around the boy’s neck, playing with the collar of his shirt as his mouth appeared to be devouring hers, his own fingers stroking her upper thigh.

Then, reality seemed to shake Noah and he blinked, feeling himself to begin to blush furiously as he realized that he and Luna shouldn’t be here. Attempting to turn around, Noah felt his foot catch on the bottom edge of the seat opposite the busy couple and he could only watch himself fall sideways onto the boy beside him.

A gasp could be heard but Noah didn’t look to see the expressions on their faces. Quickly, he stood again, mumbled his apologizes to the floor and walked quickly toward the door where Luna was waiting, smiling at the girl and boy as though what they had been doing was cute. He grabbed her hand and pulled her from the room with him, back into the hallway as the girl could be heard yelling, “Pervert!”

“That wasn’t very nice,” Luna stated matter-of-factly but Noah continued to walk in silence behind her, not bothering to look into the compartments anymore, but trusting that Luna would find one on her own. A few minutes passed and then she stopped suddenly, forcing Noah to stop as well but running into her all the same. She cast a dreamy smile behind her and turned to point at the open compartment door beside them. “In here,” she murmured and stepped through, leaving him slightly dazed and blinking for a moment before he followed her inside. “Shut the door, will you?” she asked as soon as he had entered and he hesitated for a moment before sliding the door shut and hearing it click with finality.

Noah sighed quietly as he collapsed onto the cushioned seat across from Luna, closing his eyes and inhaling the smell of the train. Steam and a strange flavor of mint were the only things he could seem to detect and he opened his eyes to find Luna staring at him once again. For some reason it made him squirm when he caught her doing it.

“You have lovely eyes,” she spoke suddenly; her voice calming though her comment caught him off guard. “Just like your mother, right?”

“Er… yeah,” Noah stammered, blinking again at the mention of his mother. This girl seemed to constantly catch him off guard with her random statements, making him nervous and uncomfortable, though her voice was peaceful sounding, making it something he liked to listen to rather than answer. “So does your father know a lot about the wizarding world?” he asked, hoping that she would talk awhile.

“Oh yes,” Luna said, sounding as though she was about to say quite a lot and Noah sat back to rest his head against his chair. “Though a lot of people who go to Hogwarts either have at least one Muggle parent, both of mine are wizards.”

“Wait�”“ Noah interrupted, though grudgingly. “What are… Muggles?”

“Oh, you must be new to all this,” she said, some slight realization showing upon her face. “Muggle is simple a term we magical folk have for you non-magical folk. It’s not bad, just a term.”

“So what do magical people do for a living?” Noah asked, now clearly confused since he had assumed that everyone on the train was coming from the same type of background as he was: Living their whole lives, not knowing they were missing out on something more and then one day receiving a mysterious letter like his that told them about a school that taught magic. He had had no idea that there were people out there somewhere, living and performing this stuff.

“Well, my father owns a magazine called the Quibbler,” she said with a smile that showed she was quite proud of that fact. “We choose to write about things other than news and the average ordinary things,” she mused.

“What do you write about?” asked Noah hesitantly when an awkward silence filled the air and it still didn’t appear as though she was going to continue. Luna was staring off in space with a blank look upon her face, and it bothered him slightly that her train of thought seemed so detached.

“Oh the ordinary things,” she murmured, still looking out the window before turning slowly to look at him with those pale blue eyes, a faint smile playing at her lips. “Nargles, Crumple-horned snorkacks…”

Noah blinked and watched to see if she was joking. She wasn’t. This not only made his feel slightly confused, but aggravated as well. He had finished reading his Care of Magical Creatures book before the train ride and of all the creatures mentioned in it, he knew that ‘Nargles’ and ‘Crumpled-horned snorkacks’ weren’t on the list, which made him sure that either the girl before him had a very dry sense of humor or she was even stranger than he thought. “I don’t remember reading�”“ he began but Luna cut in.

“Oh, don’t worry,” she said with an obvious smile this time. “There are a lot of unbelievers out there. But my father and I know they’re real, and that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?”

“Not exactly,” Noah said slowly and he eyed the girl for a moment before starting again, sighing slightly. “Don’t you think you could get in trouble for printing false evidence? I don’t think it’s a good idea to be writing about made-up fantasies and actually getting paid for it. That’s not fair to the other people who are working hard to find real evidence for everyone else out there. Do you even have any proof?”

It was as if she hadn’t heard anything that he had said. She was still smiling just as bright as ever, but she had gone back studying him again, making Noah feel frustrated.

“Forget it,” he muttered, turning back to the window to watch the scenery go by. Trees and rolling hills appeared to be the only things in site, with the occasional farm occupying a few horses or pigs. The train seemed to be going at an almost unnatural speed, forcing someone to concentrate if they were really interested in the passing things, otherwise they would miss them. Since Noah really wasn’t interested, it all looked like green and more green, simply zooming by and thankfully bringing their destination closer every second.

“Do people have proof about God and his existence?” Luna asked suddenly and he looked back at her with surprise. She wasn’t looking at him, but concentrating on fixing the feathers in her hair.

“What?” he asked, though he had heard her the first time.

“That’s something you muggles believe in, right? A religion called Christianity?”

“Yes,” he said slowly. “And yeah, they’ve found a few things. Scrolls, documents, stuff like that.”

“Well don’t worry,” she said, not letting her ruined example dampen her spirits. “We’ll find evidence, too.”

“How can you if they’re not real?” Noah pressed, trying not to let his aggravation show in his voice. He knew he was being ornery but he couldn’t stand knowing that she really and truly believed in such fantasies. He normally avoided people like this.

“Why couldn’t I?” she asked, completely avoiding the question and making him frown. It was clearly pointless to try and talk to Luna about her obsession and still try and get any sense out of it. She was just an oddball, though that had been apparent from her clothing style as well. Glancing over at her one last time, Noah saw that Luna was now examining the cushion of her chair, leaning over so that her face was almost pressed against the fabric, her fingers running over it repeatedly.

Quite bemused by the sight, he leaned toward her until his face was inches from hers to wait for the explanation he was sure would come.

“I thought I saw a spinzie,” she said, still looking at the fabric.

Noah didn’t talk to her for the rest of the train trip.

“Oh, my dear boy this is simply too easy. Are you sure you’ve never broken a rule?” the voice asked inside Noah’s head. He shook his head fervently, sending the hat almost tipping off his head and forcing him to open his eyes to readjust it, seeing all the eyes staring at him and the tiny stool on which he was seated. “Well,” the voice continued and he shut his eyes again, trying to concentrate on the strange, rough noise that he still could not believe was coming from the hat upon his head. “What about inhaled candy for fun?” Another shake of the head. “Peed in your mother’s garden?” There was a slight hesitation and then another fervent shake came that sent the hat toppling, but this time it was chuckling as it felt itself gain balance again.

“Gone on a dangerous quest?” it asked, resuming the questions immediately instead of commenting about the hesitation. “Lied?!” it questioned, finally showing some desperation in its voice as there had been another shake. This time there was a nod and the Sorting Hat roared with laughter as it boomed out, “Ravenclaw!”

Noah felt the pressure of the huge leather hat lifted off his head and he opened his eyes to see a long table to his far left cheering elatedly. Sighing in relief, he climbed down from his prison and nearly ran to join his fellow students. The benches on both sides of the table were almost completely crowded since he had been the last person to get sorted. Toward the end, movement caught his eye and he saw a boy waving furiously at him, while the one beside him beckoned with a finger.

Shrugging, Noah nodded at them to try and cease the one’s flailing gestures and made his way over to sit down between the two.

“Zechariahs Plumb,” one said immediately after he had taken his seat, and thrust his hand forward to awkwardly shake Noah’s. He had obviously been the one who had been beckoning him with his finger. There was a slightly snooty note that Noah detected in the other boy’s voice as he had introduced himself and he understood why a moment later. “I’m a pureblood myself,” he continued without hesitation, pushing his thick-rimmed glasses farther up his nose in a rather delicate gesture. “Though I must admit I prefer the muggle-borns for friends; they amuse me.” He glanced sideways at Noah after making this comment and he gave a weak smile towards Zechariahs, who returned it with his own sardonic one. He had slick, blonde hair that, like Noah’s, was shaggy but tamed with what appeared to layers of gel and many minutes of constant combing. His dark brown eyes seemed to twinkle with a sick kind of amusement, and were the kind of eyes that looked at though they knew and observed everything.

Noah’s speculation of the boy across from him was cut short by a tap on the shoulder. Glancing to the other side of him, he was greeted with the sight of a rather short boy who was smiling warmly at him. “Don’t mind my cousin,” he said in a voice that was just as friendly as his smile. “He just likes to put on a show at first. Once you get to know him he can be quite nice, though. I’m Benjamin Stiller, by the way.” Unlike his cousin, Benjamin held out his hand to wait for Noah to take it, instead of grabbing it forcefully from him. Noah took it and smiled at him. He, unlike Noah and Zechariahs, had no glasses, and his hair was cut short with a small duck-bill at the front. His bright blue eyes seemed to gleam with excitement rather than mischief, and a rather noticeable feature that Noah found himself staring at was the boy’s incredibly long eyelashes. All together, his warm smile, rosy cheeks, twinkling eyes and feminine eyelashes seemed to make the boy look more like a porcelain doll, than a regular boy.

“And you’re Noah Wipple.” Zechariahs’ voice interrupted Noah’s thoughts and he blinked to find Benjamin looking at him with an amused smile.

“Yes,” he replied, looking down at his hands while blushing furiously with the shame of being caught studying someone so intently.

“Oh, is that your last name?” a silky voice inquired and Noah froze at the sound.

“Have you met Luna, Noah?” he heard Benjamin ask and he slowly raised his eyes to find himself staring into a pair of pale, blue ones belonging to the person sitting across from him. A low moan escaped his lips as he squeezed his eyes shut again and nodded quickly.

“Noah and I sat together on the train,” he heard Luna telling the boys sitting on either side of him. “He can get rather defensive when it comes to talking about magical creatures,” she said just as calmly as ever, as though the fact were as unimportant as the one before it.

Thankfully, at that moment the headmaster chose to stand up and begin his welcoming speech. He introduced himself as Albus Dumbledore, welcomed the first years, and gave warnings that sounded as though they were given every year. With a clap of his hands, he closed his speech and food magically appeared in front of all the students. Greedy eyes looked up and down the tables before hands began reaching in every direction for whatever had caught the grabber’s eye. Noah and the boys beside him began stacking food onto their plates as fast as they could while Luna sat calmly in front of them, nibbling on a chicken leg.

“You know,” she thought out loud as they continued to eat, after a few minutes of silence. “It really is a shame that they don’t have better food here. The claws of a jiggilo bird, or even certain types of tongues can be quite tasty. I prefer a mantheebil tongue.”

Noah rolled his eyes and muttered through a full mouth, “Thewre isn’ sucha thin’.” Some of the pumpkin pie in his mouth flew out onto Zechariahs’ plate and the boy stopped eating to stare at it in horror and disgust.

“Of course there is,” Luna said calmly to Noah as Zechariah attempted to flick the food away from his plate without his finger actually touching it. “Noah and I had this talk on the train,” she added to Benjamin, who had paused mid-bite to look from her to Noah, who was now gritting his teeth. “Noah says that the creatures my father and I believe in and write about in our magazine are foolish and fake. I know he’s wrong, though.”

Benjamin finished his bite and then set down his fork to turn to Noah, a smile playing at his lips. “You mean you don’t believe in jiggilo birds or manthbills?”

“That’s… mantheebil,” Luna corrected.

“Right,” Benjamin said and turned back to smile and wink at Noah.

“I personally think it’s rubbish,” Zechariahs said calmly, and everyone turned to look at him. “Everyone knows that the Quibbler prints things written by people who are just desperate to get their name in the magazine. It’s not real.”

“You only think that because you’ve never seen any of it,” Luna countered.

“Exactly,” Zechariahs said smugly. “And I highly doubt that I ever will. You give me proof, and then I’ll be interested in listening.”

“What if I don’t show you it?” Luna asked, standing up to walk off and go sit down by another group of girls who stopped talking as soon as she arrived, leaving Zechariahs frowning and looking rather confused while blinking rapidly.

Beside Noah, Benjamin sniggered and went back to eating. Noah followed in his suit but felt that his good mood had once again been permanently ruined for the time being. His thoughts stayed with Luna, obsessing over how annoying she was and how quickly she seemed to be able to get him mad. All she appeared capable of talking about was her father and the ridiculous ideas that his magazine came up with. Her pale, blue eyes made her appear as a rather deep and thoughtful person, but every time that she spoke it was in a smooth, silky voice that never displayed in other emotion other than a constant calm that drove him nearly to insanity.

What went on in that head of hers? he wondered as he sat there. Was she bothered by what people thought of her? Did she, like many other girls, wish for the approval of a boy and feel sad when she didn’t get it? Did she even show anyone when she did get mad?

A tap on his shoulder broke through his thoughts and he looked up to see Benjamin smiling down at him, while Zechariahs stood in the background, tapping his foot impatiently. “We’re leaving now. Prefects are showing the 1st years to the dorm rooms,” Benjamin said kindly and Noah blushed, standing hastily and thanking him. “You looked pretty thoughtful back there,” the small boy continued as they began to follow the other students out through the double doors. “Someone got you thinking?”

He glanced down the see Benjamin looking up at him with a pair of sweet looking blue eyes and an innocent smile, but he didn’t miss the twinkle of mischief in them or the smirk behind the smile. “Not really. Just wondering about classes and such,” Noah lied, returning the smile he had received.

“Well I saw plenty of ladies checking me out so I might be a little preoccupied, myself during this school year,” Zechariahs said smugly, and Noah looked over in time to watch him wink at a girl by the door. She eyed him, smiled and then winked back before turning to join a group of her friends. “Oh, yes. She wants me,” the boy said in his snobby, English accent. Benjamin and Noah secretly rolled their eyes at one another, Benjamin mouthing his cousin a moment later and attempting to look rather haughty, while Noah bite his lip to keep from laughing. Zechariahs was, of course, too preoccupied with now winking at every girl he saw to notice the boys behind him.

It turned out that all the students got a tour of the school before going to the dorms to sleep, and the prefect that they got stuck with was compelled to tell them the history behind everything they saw, not only slowing them down but almost putting them to sleep right there. Noah mentally took notes in his head, pretending to be bored himself though he secretly enjoyed learning about the school his was attending.

Not only was he fascinated by the moving pictures hanging along all of the walls, but when they reached the moving staircases, he was absolutely enthralled. Luckily so were all the other students so Noah didn’t need to suppress his gawking. Finally, after what felt like minutes of climbing the circular staircase, the group reached the top though slightly out of breath. Before them was a door with a simple, gold knocker in the shape of an eagle but that was it: there was no handle or keyhole.

The prefect who had been leading them reached out casually and knocked once with the knocker and immediately the eagle began to speak. “What is so fragile that when you say its name, you break it?”

“Silence,” the young boy answered confidently and the eagle nodded before the door swung open.

What Noah guessed to be the common room as they stepped in, was a room that matched its house’s colours and mascot. Graceful arched windows had been set into the back wall, framed by blue-and-bronze silk curtains. In the distance he was sure he could make out the mountains he had spotted behind the castle when they’d arrived. The ceiling, he noted as he gaped upward, was dome-shaped and painted with stars that matched the dark blue carpet beneath their feet. Tables, chairs and bookcases decorated the room, along with what Noah recognized to be a niche opposite the door, made of a soft white marble.

“Rowena Ravenclaw,” their prefect announced as though he had been reading his thoughts, but when he blinked and looked around he saw that everyone else was staring at the statue as well. “You can go look at her if you want but then we all need to head to bed.” He pointed to a door beside the statue and said, “Girls head down the stairs and boys head up to get to each of your dormitories. I’ll wait around until everyone leaves, so if you have any questions about anything, now is the time to ask.”

It was as if no one had been listening but instead simply waiting for him to stop talking, because the moment he hesitated everyone rushed forward to admire the different things about the room. Only Noah, Luna and another girl seemed interested in the statue before them.

Walking closer he saw that it was indeed made of marble and the woman their prefect had claimed to be their head of house was looking down at them with a quizzical half smile on her face. She was indeed beautiful, Noah noted, and glanced up to see a delicate-looking circlet resembling a tiara that had been produced on top of her head. He also noticed that there was, what appeared to be tiny words etched into the tiara but before he could attempt to climb the plinth to examine it; their prefect called out that it was time to go to bed.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Noah?” he heard Luna ask and groaned mentally. If she had stated it instead of asked it he was sure he could have simply ignored her.

“Maybe,” he replied hesitantly. Inside he was desperately trying to come up with an excuse. “We’ll have classes, you know. I’ll probably be very busy.”

Luna let go a high-pitched giggle that made him cringe slightly. “You’re so funny, Noah: always pretending to be so grown-up. You don’t have to act like that here, you know,” she added a bit quieter, making her voice sound even silkier. “You have friends now.” Suddenly he felt something moist pressing against his cheek and as Luna pulled away to join the other Ravenclaw girls trudging down the stairs, he realised she had just kissed him on the cheek.

“Bit of an odd couple, wouldn’t you say?” he heard Zechariahs say smugly behind him.

“Oh, leave him alone,” he heard Benjamin counter and Noah threw him a smile over his shoulder. “It’s not like he wanted her to do that.”

The boys were now dispersing to head upstairs and Noah followed silently behind his two companions as they climbed the stone steps at an agonizing pace. Once again he found his thoughts straying to Luna and how confusing she was. It wasn’t as if he liked her, she merely confused him with her comments which were random one moment and then insightful the next.

How did she know I never had friends before? Noah wondered as he glanced out the windows that had been punctuated into the walls along their spiral ascent. It caught him off guard to see that there were stars, clearly visible in the sky. No light pollution or any trace of cloud was there to attempt to cover them up and if he had been outside, he was sure that the air would have been crisp and clean.

“Noah!” he heard someone call from the top of the stairs and he blinked to find himself stopped in front of the window, the last one on the stairs. Running the rest of the way up, he found Benjamin waiting for him with a crooked smile planted upon his face.

“What?” Noah asked.

“Don’t worry,” the short boy said, looking up at him with his feminine face. “I would be thinking a lot, too.”

Noah chose to ignore him and looked around to see that they were standing in a huge room with beds placed randomly throughout it. Each of them had poles at every corner of the bed frame, enabling them to be decorated with blue satin cloth, draping down and almost creating a curtain of privacy. Most of the boys had already chosen beds near their friends but before he had a chance to worry, Benjamin was pulling him down the isle towards the left, back corner where he spotted Zechariahs sitting.

He and Benjamin had beds beside each other and Zechariahs had one across the isle, though he didn’t seem to mind. Everyone’s luggage was already there waiting for it’d owner and soon Noah found himself sitting on his bed in his pajamas, feeling quite content by how independent he was able to be.

“Not a bad first day, if I do say so myself,” Zechariahs said from his bed in the far corner and Benjamin emerged from the bathrooms to plop down onto his own bed across from him.

“All you care about it is meeting girls,” he muttered sourly after a moment of getting comfortable.

“Do I detect jealousy?” the smug boy asked, letting his English accent become more noticeable as his tone changed.

“No, just annoyance. Are you going to be ditching us for them all the time this year?”

“It depends,” Zechariahs said slowly, as if the answer required a lot of thought.

“On what?” Benjamin replied, clearly letting his annoyance show.

“On if I get into a more… serious relationship.”

Both Benjamin and Noah burst out laughing at that comment and Zechariahs scooted to the edge of his bed to glare at them both. “It could happen!” he countered; only causing the two boys to laugh even harder.

“What would an eleven year old,” Benjamin asked between giggles. His face slightly flushed. “Know about a ‘serious relationship’” He imitated his cousin’s accent on the last two words and rolled his eyes towards Noah as he did so.

“Just don’t drool all over her or come to me with apologies when she turns out to be a total babe,” Zechariahs said grudgingly as he closed the curtains around his bed and could be heard slapping, instead of fluffing his pillow.

Benjamin winked at Noah and mouthed, “Drama Queen” while rolling his eyes as he pointed towards Zechariahs’ bed. Noah bit his bottom lip to keep from laughing and shut his curtain as well. He had to agree with Zechariahs though. All in all today had been quite an adventure and gaining two friends had made things even better. And even though there were many things he wanted to think about and ponder over, eventually his emotional exhaustion won him over and he drifted into sleep soon after.