I quickly glanced around the large crowd containing witches and wizards getting ready for another year at Hogwarts. There were hundreds of kids all saying goodbye to their families- mothers crying slightly, fussing over their children and fathers smiling fondly, noticing the embarrassed looks on their kids' faces. I had my eye out for a very distinct family of redheads. I pushed my curly brown hair back and grinned as I finally spotted them. The twins had their backs turned to me, and I ran to them, laughing loudly as I lunged on one twins' back. I felt their shock turn into laughter as they realized it was me. I quickly found it was George's back I was currently on and chuckled as I got down, and was pulled into a hug by the two of them. I was sandwiched between them (not that I'm complaining), as they began talking.
"Blood hell, Ella! You scared the piss out of me!" George grinned as the two of them backed out of the hug.
"You should've seen his face!" Fred laughed, "I think he thought it was one of those second years whose always following us around."
I laughed at the image of George's face I had produced in my mind, "Sorry George, I couldn't resist."
He joined my laughter and it was that moment that I noticed Mr. and Mrs. Weasley standing there, smiling at our behavior.
"Mrs. Weasley!" I said with my American accent, as she pulled me into a motherly hug. My family is originally from America, but we moved to England when I was eleven years old. Fred and George had been my very best friends since we sat together on the Hogwarts Express first year, so needless to say, I spent a lot of time at the burrow.
"How are you, dear? Getting enough to eat?" she asked as she placed her hands on my face, looking me over to make sure I wasn't being starved.
"Of course," I laughed. I found it particularly funny that she had asked this, seeing as I was just at the burrow a few days ago and she had made a very large supper, insisting that I take home the leftovers. "Alright Mr. Weasley?" I asked, looking over at the kind man standing next to his wife.
"Very well, thank you Ella. And you?" He inquired.
"I'm great, though not too happy about returning to school." I answered, noticing the twins making a face on either side of me, presumably also not too eager to return to another year of classes, homework and tests. We were heading into our 5th year, meaning OWLs. Kill me now, will you?
"Have your parents left already?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"Yeah, they left just a couple of minutes ago."
"Well, you'd best be boarding the train, it'll be leaving soon."
We said a last goodbye and got on the train, searching for a compartment. It was quite crowded, but we managed to find an empty compartment right before the train started its journey. We spent much of the ride joking around, laughing, and playing exploding snap. Much too soon, however, the train lurched to a stop and the lights went out.
"What's going on?" I whispered.
"I don't know." They whispered back.
It suddenly got extremely cold and I began feeling unexplainably sad.
"I think there's something out there." I informed them. I stood up and began moving towards the door, feeling them both reaching for my arm to pull me back.
"Ella,"
"What are you doing?"
"Get back here."
I ignored them and looked out the door, seeing an enormous black figure. I froze. I wasn't sure why, but I felt so much despair in that moment. Suddenly the figure disappeared, the lights went on, and the train started up again.
I no longer felt sad, but incredibly curious. "What the hell just happened?" I asked the twins, who wore expressions similar to mine.
"No idea," they stated at the same time.
"Let's go investigate," I grinned mischievously.
They smirked and stood up, walking out of the compartment with me. Others were also out and about, trying to figure out what had just occurred. We reached Fred and George's brother, Ron's, compartment, and I threw the door open.
"What the bloody hell was that?" I asked, blue eyes wide with curiosity. I suddenly noticed the scene in the compartment for the first time. Specifically Harry lying on the ground looking quite pale. "Harry! Are you alright?"
He smiled lightly, "I'm fine, thanks."
"That," said a man I hadn't noticed until now, "was a dementor. They guard Azkaban."
"Well what were they doing here?" I asked.
"They were looking for Sirius Black." he answered.
I made an "Oh" shape with my mouth and properly looked at the man for the first time. He was quite handsome, even though his face had a few scars. He looked to be in his thirties and had light brown hair that seemed to be prematurely streaked with a bit grey. He had lovely amber colored eyes, and he wore tattered robes.
He handed Harry a piece of chocolate. Ooh, that looks good. I bet he got it from Honeydukes. They have the best chocolate. Oops, he's talking. I hadn't heard a word he'd said, but he left the compartment, presumably to go talk to the driver or something. It was silent, so I took the opportunity to ask, "Who was that?"
"Professor R.J. Lupin." Hermione answered.
I nodded. He must be the new DADA teacher.
We finally arrived at Hogwarts a bit later, and I was seated comfortably between Fred and George at the Gryffindor table. The first years filed in, looking around nervously. I got an evil grin on my face before I said loudly to the twins, "Remember our sorting? The pain finally went away about halfway through third year. I still get nosebleeds sometimes, though."
The twins tried to hide their laughter beside me, and nodded, trying to look understanding. The first years began panicking, asking if the sorting hurt. I smirked to myself and looked up at the staff table. My eyes landed on Professor Lupin, who appeared to be hiding his own smirk. He must have heard what I said, I thought. He seemed to have felt my eyes on him because he looked up, catching my gaze. I raised my eyebrow at him, still smirking as I looked to the first years, now being calmed by McGonagall, and back up to him. His smirk grew to a smile, and he looked to be on the verge of laughter. Interesting, I thought. I could already tell he was going to be better than Lockhart. That dunce.
The sorting began, and Dumbledore stood up to give his speech. He told us about the dementors that were now guarding the castle, and then told us that Hagrid would be taking over as the Care of Magical Creatures professor. The entire hall- minus Slytherins of course- clapped loudly. Fred and George let out loud whistles, happy for the gentle gamekeeper. Dumbledore then introduced Professor Lupin. He seemed to be embarrassed as the hall applauded him when he stood up, and quickly sat back down. Dumbledore continued talking, but I zoned out. I found my thoughts drifting to Lupin. He was a curious one, that's for sure. I wonder where he got his scars. And why he wears tattered robes. And why he has such a nice smile. Wait, what? Okay, let's just pretend that I never thought that last thing. I mean he's a teacher for Merlin's sake! Though I didn't think anything bad, just that he has a nice smile. Dammit! I did it again!
I was brought out of my thoughts by everyone clapping as the headmaster sat down and food appeared on the table in front of us. I dug into the food, and tried to join the conversation the twins were having with Angelina Johnson.
We entered our common room when dinner was finished, and I flopped onto the couch.
"Oof!" I muttered as Fred 'kindly' sat directly on top of me. "Get your fat ass of me." I pushed him off of me and onto the floor.
"That wasn't very nice," Fred grinned as he stood up, rubbing his backside. "And I'll have you know that my arse is not fat. It's just big boned." He lifted my legs up and sat down, putting my legs securely on his lap. George lifted my head and sat, and I layed my head on his lap.
George and I laughed loudly at Fred's statement. "Sure," I replied. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
He pouted and I laughed again. We talked for a few more minutes before I yawned. "I don't know about you two, but I'm exhausted. Night boys!"
I stood up and began to walk up to my dorm as they responded, "Night Ella!"
I entered my dorm that I shared with Angelina, Katie Bell, and Alicia Spinnet- all chasers on the Gryffindor quidditch team. They weren't there yet, however. I had noticed them still down in the common room. I quickly changed into pajamas, jumped into bed, and closed my eyes. Before I drifted off to sleep, a certain smile flashed in my mind.