#platform's edge

His accent hailed him from London, like so many of her friends. 

"Aye, I'm a wizard, well a witch since I'm a girl." The boy made a face and Katie smiled. "Everyone here is a witch or wizard you know."

"Not my parents."

Ahhh-- that explained it.

"Muggles I take it?"

"Muggles?"

"Non-magic people?"

"Yes! They're somewhere, they didn't know what to do once we got here, and were arguing so I came to look for help and you were using your wand and you looked nice cause you were smiling so I thought I'd ask you cause you seemed not creepy."

The whole bit came out in a rush, and if Katie were anyone else she'd ask him to repeat himself. But the boy was already flushed red, whether it was because he had to ask a girl a favor or he was stressed Katie wasn't sure. 

"Why don't you take me to your Mum and Dad and I'll help you get settled?" her voice was kind, she knew what it was like to be so out of place on the first day only she didn't have anyone to help her or anyone there to hold her hand. Just her uncle who dropped her off in front of Kings Cross and observation skills to get her to Hogwarts. The boy nodded and grabbed her hand, her right one, and tugged her through the throng of people who once again moved out of the way for the scarred Gryffindor and her young charge who held her hand like a vice. They moved to a back wall where a stocky man stood, his face red and dark hair slicked back, a woman with light dirty blonde hair in a proper green dress. Obviously the son looked far more like his mother than his father, though Katie bet that he would do well as a beater if he gained any of his father's stature.

"Mum! Da!"

"Jason!" the woman cried, putting her hands on her hips, "Where did you run off to?"

"I went to find help! I did! See."

The boy pulled Katie forward and Katie had to supress and laugh at the parents faces.

"Hello, you must be Jason's parents. He says you need some help?"

"Who are you?" the father intoned, looking over her with a critical eye. No doubt he found her triple ear piercings and torn jeans matched with her mussed button down rather annoying and wondered why his son didn't bring someone more presentable. His eyes of course landed on her scar.

"Katie Thorne, Gryffindor, seventh year." she almost added trickster but stopped herself and gave the adults a wide smile, one of her authority ones. Not her manic grins of course-- that'd just scare them.

"Gryffindor, that's the house with the lion symbol right?" the woman's voice was much kinder than her husbands as she smiled down at Katie.

"Yes, Gryffindors are the house of nerve, daring and courage." her voice had a hint of pride to it. "I'm in my final year at Hogwarts."

"I see, so you know about all of --" she gestured at large to the platform.

"I've been coming here since I was 11, I know my way about this place. He needs to get all his stuff to a storage compartment, when he gets sorted into his house all his things will be taken to his new rooms there. He should also bring his black robes to change into on the train and some money for food. It's a long journey from here to Scotland."

"Ahhh, so you're here alone this year? Didn't think you're parents would want see you off?" the man didn't say it unkindly though Katie flinched as her hand raised to her cheek as she rubbed the bottom licking of the scar. The mother's eyes zeroed in there, and then back at Katie's eyes.

"My parents... are no longer in this world, and have never seen me off to Hogwarts. Nor knew that I was a witch." her voice was stiff as was her posture. "I came here by myself every year." she clasped her hadns behind her back, and set her chin. 

"Every year?" the father asked, his voice obviously one of mixed confusion and concern.

"Yes, every year, my... guardian, does not agree with my ahhh... the difference between us." Her words were picked carefully. "But it's no matter, no matter at all. Never has been. Just makes me more independent."

The mother didn't say a word and the husband seemed to be looking elsewhere, but Jason looked at her with keen eyes.

"You're an orphan?"

He was so blunt that Katie had to laugh while his mother smacked him in the head for his perceived rudeness.

"Technically yes... but at Hogwarts. Hogwarts is my home, and everyone there is part of my family. My housemates are my brothers and sisters, everyone else is a friend. We're family in Hogwarts, so I would say that I'm an orphan, but really I'm not cause I've got my brothers and my sisters and everyone else." her voice was laced thick with emotion, she didn't need her Uncle or her sister, not when she had Brandon, Tuesday and Meg. The silence was suddenly deafening between Katie and the small family, and suddenly Katie clapped her hands together.

"Alright! Enough about my personal baggage, it's your first year at Hogwarts and you'll love it. Classes are fun but sorta hard, you're house will be amazing no matter which one it is... though Gryffindor is the best. You'll watch Quidditch Matches and join clubs, I'm in Dueling and Potions, and you'll make all sorts of friends from all over the place. But first, I gotta help you get onto the train. Come along Parents of Jason, the train leaves in 40 minutes which is just enough time to get pictures you no doubt want and say your goodbyes."

Katie lead them down to the storage units, flashing her wand again she moved his trunk onto the train. Before going into a 10 minute long explanation on why she could use magic non-verbally, when Jason would learn it and why her wand was different than his. Also what exactly a wand was good for once Katie showed them wandless magic. A small plethora of question Olivia would have much more fun answering that Katie herself. Filling in the parents on the agenda for tonight's sorting and the feast they both screamed aloud in surprised as a tiny sparrow alighted on Katie's shoulder, it was transparent, blue and it opened her mouth.

"KATIE. GET TO OUR COMPARTMENT BEFORE I KILL BRANDON FOR SAYING I'M A BETTER CUDDLER." "I AM A BETTER CUDDLER!" "SHUT-UP BRANDON THIS IS MY MESSAGE." "QUIET DOWN THOMAS." "BOTH OF YOU SHUT-UP I'M TRYING TO SLEEP." "BY MERLIN'S FUCKIN' BALL--"

Katie reached up to make the patronus disperse as she smiled a sheepish grin at the startled parents.

"Wh--"

"Patronus charm, it's the spirit animal of the caster and you're able to send messages with them to another person of your choosing. That was my friend Meg's sparrow, but it seemed Brandon jumped in on it, along with Tuesday. Their my housemates. Let me just..." Katie pulled her wand in front of her and whispered a soft 'EXPECTO PATRONUM' and into being came a scruffy coyote and the parents gasped as it twirled around her feet yipping silently at it's caster. Crouching down she pressed her wand to her throat, "To Meg: I'll be there in a while, keep your tie on, smack Brandon in the head and let Tuesday sleep on your lap. For Merlin's sake, stop fighting, we haven't even left the station yet you bunch of idiots!" the coyote yipped she pulled the wand back and tapped the top of it's head and it ran off into the crowd. People yelling and moivng out of it's way before it turned up and ran through the wall of the Hogwarts Express. 

"...a coyote? Interesting spirit animal." the father commented, offhandedly.

"Coyote's are the often depicted as the symbols of chaos and tricks, madness and keeness. It's a good fit for someone like me." Katie tucked her hands into her pockets as she leaned back against the train.

"Someone like who?" the mother asked. Katie tilted her head to the side and looked at her, she seemed like a nice average woman. But perceptive, the way her eyes lingered on her hands, scar and her words. Smart one, mayber her son would be a Ravenclaw.

"Someone who plays tricks and someone who's whole life has been a chaotic trick to see how mad I'll go." she answered honestly, her gold-flecked eyes looking upwards before sighing. Letting her mouth pulled up into a grin, the lower edge of her canine tooth showing and her scar pulling tight against her skin. "But like I said, don't worry about my emotional baggage. You're son will be fine at Hogwarts, it's safe there, and nearly everyone takes care of each other as much as well can. He'll do great." Katie stood on her feet and tapped the toes of her boots against the cement floor before turning around. Reaching down to ruffle the boy's hair she smiled, softly, almost sadly. "Just send him letters, and try to remember, magic isn't a curse-- it's a gift. He's special, the magic told him he was." Katie walked back into the crowd, making for the compartment that she always had on the train.