Hey! I'm Back! I found my notebook full of old FanFic stories so be ready! Plus, I'm collaborating with my beautiful friend Whitney who will keep me in line to make me hit all of my deadlines (God knows I need it) so :D Disclaimer: I do not own the wonderful world of Harry Potter by JK Rowling, nor anything within, the only thing I own is Jessica Harris. I really hope you enjoy it! DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!
It's only been a few weeks but I have no idea why anybody in his or her right mind would live here. It is cold and damp inside, and cold and rainy outside… all the time… I miss Australia. I miss the reefs in the ocean. I miss the wildlife in the Outback. And as much as I hate to admit it, I miss the heat. England is bleak and bland and boring… but it has one of the greatest wizarding schools in the world—Hogwarts. Therefore, when I got accepted as a transfer student into sixth year, mum and dad decided that it was an important opportunity I couldn't pass up and I had to pack my bags immediately. So here I am in London, England. Standing in the rain, soaked and freezing, at King's Cross Station, London, England to be precise. Hogwarts may be one of the greatest wizarding schools in the world, but it sure isn't home. It's too late to whine about that now though, I'm already here and I'm not going back to Australia until they send me back so I guess I'll make the best of it…
Overall, the travel was ridiculous. You would think this place was middle-earth or something! I took a bus to the train station, a train to a lake, a boat to a carriage, a carriage to a gate, and a quarter of a mile walk to the Headmaster's office. At least, this is where they said it was. All I saw was a bloody great statue in front of me. What kind of school has an impossible-to-reach Headmaster?
"Sherbet Lemon" said a soft, low voice behind me as the statue turned and began rising, revealing a winding staircase which seemed never-ending. I turned to face a tall elderly-looking man with dark flowing robes, long light-grey hair beneath a tall pointy hat, a long crooked nose and twinkling eyes that were hidden beneath half-moon spectacles. He opened his mouth to speak again. "Hello there, I am Professor Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he extended his hand and I shook it politely. "You must be the new exchange student, Miss Harris. Welcome! Now if you will follow me to my office, you need to be sorted before the feast begins and, hopefully, before I give my speech!" he smiled and winked, leading me up the stairs to a tall wooden door. He opened the door, allowing me to enter first, and then followed me in. "Please, by all means, take a seat! Have a licorice snap!" he said as he grabbed an old, tattered brown hat from a tall perch and brought it to me. "This is the sorting hat. It makes the decision of who goes to which house here at Hogwarts. There are four houses-Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. You will join a house, live in their dormitories, and attempt to gain points for your house so that it may win the House Cup at the end of the year," he placed the hat on my head slowly, "Do not be alarmed if it does anything unusual, it is a magic hat after all..."
Hello...Jessica... You're not from around here, I see... Ah, a sixth year... Well that doesn't matter, I shall sort you anyway... better late than never...
"Whoa!" I whispered as I attempted to look at the hat on my head.
You are very intelligent... You would do well in Ravenclaw but... Very loyal and brave, even if you don't think so yourself...I must say this is difficult but I shall place you in... "GRYFFINDOR!" the hat bellowed, his exclimation echoing softly in the tall room. Dumbledore clapped excitedly but silently.
"Congratulations, Miss Harris! You are a Gryffindor!" said the Headmaster as he took the sorting hat off of my head and put it into his robes. "I was a Gryffindor myself, you know... Wonderful house, wonderful house..." He trailed off, walking out of the room. I realized I was supposed to follow so I got up quickly and caught up to him, walking behind him down the stairs and to the Great Hall.
The Great Hall is an extremely large room with four giant tables, filled with students, all of which turned towards the Headmaster and I with applause as we entered the room. I was sure the applause was for him, not me, but I was caught in the middle of it all like a deer in the headlights. He led me down the center aisle until we reached a table decorated with crimson and gold he leaned over to me and whispered, "That is the Gryffindor table, Miss Harris. Go find a seat and make friends with your new housemates." I did as he instructed and found a seat next to a strawberry-blonde girl who smiled at me brightly while Professor Dumbledore began his speech at the front of the room.
"Hello there, I'm Lily Evans, sixth year... Are you new?" She said as I sat down.
I smiled shyly. "Um.. I'm Jessica Harris, sixth year as well... I'm a transfer student from Australia... Pleasure to meet you."
A girl with short black hair popped up from behind her excitedly. "HI! I'm Alice Fortescue! Very pleased to meet you!" she said sweetly.
Suddenly, a boy with shaggy dark brown hair and glasses, who was sitting across from Lily, coughed loudly. "Aren't you going to introduce us, Evans?" he said. She suddenly looked very annoyed.
"This is James Potter." she said dully, pointing to the boy (who looked very proud at this). "This," she pointed to the thin boy with clean cut medium-brown hair on James' right, "is Remus Lupin."
"Pleasure, Miss Harris." he nodded politely.
I smiled. "Oh please, call me Jess."
Lily continued, pointing to the fidgeting boy with sandy hair to Remus' right, "This is Peter Pettigrew" (he merely smiled at me) and then to the boy with long-ish black hair and storm grey eyes in front of me, to James' left. "And that is Sirius Black." The boy grinned confidently, extending a hand to take my own, kissing the back of it lightly.
"Enchanté, mademoiselle" He said, trying to be seductive. I rolled my eyes. "And what are you doing so far from heaven? James! Get God on the phone immediately, I must tell him that he is missing an angel!"
"Ha-ha, like I haven't heard that one before... Let me guess, I have the most BEAUTIFUL name you've EVER heard, my eyes look like FOREVER, and you love every bone in my body... ESPECIALLY YOURS!" I said sarcastically, causing my newfound friends to laugh, but Sirius didn't seem too upset.
"No, but mind if I use that one?" he said with less character than before.
"Go right ahead," I said dryly, turning my attention to the Headmaster who was still speaking but about what I couldn't tell you; I heard something about the word gambit and never having enough woolen socks...
James punched Sirius in the arm. "'Bout time you got rejected! I was beginning to think you've been paying girls to go out with you!"
Sirius looked mock appalled, "Its just my brilliant good looks, witty charm, and wonderful sense of humour..." He then looked at me with a little sparkle in his eye. "I'll get you though... You can't resist me for too long!"
"So confident... it's a shame." I replied, glancing at him which the group turned their focus to the last part (or so we hoped) of Professor Dumbledore's speech.
"And now that I have said all that I wished to have said, let us eat!" the Headmaster bellowed loudly, throwing his hands out to the students. The tables were suddenly filled with heaps and heaps of any type of food you coul imagine. It was absolutely incredible! We all began stuffing our plates, and our mouths, with chicken and crisps and mashed potatoes and all kinds of greens and turkey and... well, everything! I knew I was going to have to start jogging again if this is how we were going to eat here.
I felt more full than I have ever felt before when we were finally done feasting. All of the houses went to their common rooms and you could hear each student groan as they rubbed their stuffed bellies. When we got to the Gryffindor common room, Lily and Alice decided to help me settle in while the boys planned their pranks for the first week of school. Apparently these are the things I need to know while I'm at Hogwarts: there is a password that you must speak to a painting in order to get in (they say it changes, so I have a lot of remembering to look forward to) and I can't leave the dormitories late at night, much to my dismay, and I should never take any advice (or anything) from someone named Peeves... OH! And another thing! Apparently electronics don't work at Hogwarts so I brought my alarm clock for no reason... Awesome.
"OOH! We have all the same classes together!" Said Alice, excitedly looking at our schedules.
"That'll be fun!" I smiled at her, looking up from the bag in my lap. Lily and I were still unpacking our things while Alice sat up on her bed, organizing her books. I turned to Lily who was folding a crimson jumper. "So what's with Sirius Black?"
Lily continued to fold her robes as she chuckled, "He's a total man-whore! He's gone out with half of the girls in our year! Its ridiculous!"
"He's never been rejected... unless you count yourself." Alice finished.
"Really?" I asked, not completely surprised. Alice nodded ferverently.
"Its about time somebody knocked one of them down a peg..." Muttered Lily. I looked at Alice in confusion.
"James has a thing for Lily," she explained, "and he's been asking her out relentlessly since the beginning of first year! He loooooooooooves her!"
Lily looked annoyed. "Yeah well, I'm not going out with him, he's a jerk..."
"They all seemed nice enough..." I said quietly, as I put away my last item of clothing and got in bed.
"Wait until you get to know them, they're all dumbasses." Lily grumbled as she crawled under her sheets.
"They're not all that bad and they're really funny and...you should give 'em a chance, Jess... Lily just doesn't like James is all..." Alice yawned and turned out the lights.
"Goodnight, you guys." I said to the darkness, drifting out of consiousness.
"G'night!" Alice chirped.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, Jess" Said Lily as I drifted off to sleep... Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as I thought...
Okay, there it was! I am currently working on chapter two, I already have it planned out, all there is left is to write it and edit it and re-write it and re-edit it so that'll take me a few days at least... unless I have some motivation *wink wink* (AKA, please review!) erm, I hope you liked it, and if you did there's more where that came from! ;D lots of love, Lilah
Oh and PS, I looked it up... Fortescue is Alice Longbottom's maiden name... JK Rowling said so... JSYK.