Quote:
Originally Posted by
Moonhare 
She hadn't wanted to come. Leaving her mother behind had been the hardest thing she'd ever done. Maisie sat on her trunk, back straight, knees clenched together. She wasn't used to other people. She'd been home-schooled and knew nothing about socialising with other kids. Here, there were dozens and dozens.
Maisie took some deep breaths, counting her breaths in twos, like she'd been taught. Her mother had made her a book of anxiety management techniques. They'd been practising them all summer. The book was covered with navy blue fabric embroidered with silver stars. She thought about it, tucked up in her dressing gown in her trunk. If she could make it through one term, she could go home for Christmas. Her mother was insistent on a Hogwarts education for her.
Maisie sighed. She wondered who the other first year girls were, who she'd be sharing a room with. Maisie had never shared a room in her life.
"Ollie...where yeh goin', me dorm's that way!"
Apparently the beginning of term had got her familiar all excited, and Sam sighed as her rat scampered off in the complete opposite direction to the sixth year dorm. Into the first year dorms, perhaps? Groans were happening.
"Oliver, you're not gettin' any treats tonight..."
Wherever he'd ended up, she'd prefer he didn't get trapped; he'd slept beside her since they'd first met. So, searching for him before bed it was. She started her search by knocking on the first years' door lightly. "Sorreh teh interrupt...you haven't happened to see a rat, have yeh?"