Lana Hamilton stepped into her empty train compartment on September first, her heart twisted. She set her cats case down beside her and hung her newly bought robes on the shelf above her seat. She felt more alone than she had ever felt in her whole life, even her first day of muggle private school.
She glanced out of the window and could see her parents stepping back through the barrier. She silenced the need to let out a stream of profanities. To put the situation simply, Lana was not happy about transferring schools to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Not Happy is actually quite an understatement. Lana loathed her new situation.
Two months earlier, she was a very happy, normal young witch excited about entering her final year at Brizindine Academy for Enhancing the Magical Arts. It was a top magic school in the United States located in the very warm state of California. She was quite popular with her group of girlfriends. With her long blonde hair and dark brown eyes, she had boys licking her shoes. With the war rising, her father was reassigned to head of the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol section of the Ministry. It was a rather large promotion salary wise, so he had no complaints. Lana sure had a couple hundred, though.
They were moved into their new town home in London by the next week. Through the remainder of the summer, she felt like a complete loser. She was holed up inside of her home with her younger brother, Hunter, and her mother, who had recently changed interests from shopping to knitting while staying glued to the news. She attempted to find a new friend by taking a stroll through her neighborhood, but the closest person to her age was seven.
Lana was trying to retain an appearance of positive hope, but she was scared out of her mind about a new school and her father working in even more dangerous conditions. She had had the same friends since she was eight. They were also finding less and less time to write to her. Lana just couldn't see her life going up.
The train lurched forward as it started to roll, she could here voices outside of her compartment, and she was slightly relieved that no one had opened hers. She almost wished she could remain that invisible for the remainder of the school year. She wanted to get through it as quickly as possible, so she could move back to California on her own.
An hour into the ride, Lana was stolen from her train of thought when a boy and a girl opened her compartment door. "Because Ronald, as a prefect you are to set an example, not make bets to see which first year you can get to wet their pants first," The girl steamed at the boy. This girl wasn't exceptionally pretty, but she had an air that glowed from within her that made her beautiful. She had wavy brown hair and matching brown eyes. Her skin was perfectly clear. She had a few inches over Lana. Lana was a petite 5'2" and this girl was around 5'6" it looked. Both girls were very curvy, though.
The boy standing next to her was at least two heads taller. He stood at around 6'4". He could have been very lanky if it weren't for the lean, toned muscles coming out of his sleeve. He had very noticeable red hair and even more noticeable brilliant blue eyes.
"I'm sorry if we are disturbing you, but as Head Girl and prefects it is our duty to inspect compartments and hallways. We saw you by yourself in here and just wanted to check that everything was alright. I am Hermione Granger. This is Ronald Weasley. Are you new?" Hermione stepped into the compartment and sat across from Lana, Ron stayed in the doorway.
"Yes, this is my first year," Lana felt the butterflies find their way into he stomach. Her hands began to get damp.
"You look a little old to be a first year," Ron said, his voice made Lana snap towards him. She had almost forgotten he was there.
"Ron! You can't just tell people that kind of stuff. I'm sorry, he's never grown up," Hermione smiled kindly.
"It's okay. I didn't mean I'm a first year. I am a seventh, I just transferred from America," Lana glanced at Ron to see what he would say.
"Of course, explaining the lack of an accent," Hermione nodded. "Well, we best be off, I hope your sorted into Gryffindor. Enjoy the rest of your ride."
"The snack trolley comes in a bit," Ron added.
"Is food all you think about," Lana heard Hermione getting on to him as they left. They were quite the couple. She wondered how he could stand dating someone who yelled at them all of the time. 'Hermione seemed nice though,' she thought.
The trolley did arrive within the next hour and Lana purchased a package of pumpkin pasties, which lasted her through the remaining ride. As soon as she saw the massive peaks of Hogwarts towers, Lana had to press her face to the window. Her old school was nothing to the impressiveness of Hogwarts.
She quickly pulled on her school robes and filed out of her compartment with her cat, Sylvie. She handed her cat over to a small man outside of the train and walked over to where the first years were standing. She was informed in her letter that she was to go through the introduction ceremony as if she were really a first year.
Lana crossed the star-flecked black lake in her own boat at the back and then lined up with the pitifully small first years outside of two large oak doors. A rather old, stern looking woman arrived in deep green robes.
"Welcome to Hogwarts. I am deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House, Professor McGonagall. I will be teaching your Transfiguration class. Now, when we walk through these doors, I would prefer you all to remain quiet until you have joined your house tables. Understood?" She gave everyone the eye that any child would obey. "Now, Miss Hamilton. You are to remain in the back, as you will go last. Well, follow me."
She pushed open the large doors and everyone immediately followed. Lana's jaw dropped as she walked inside. Her old school was definitely nothing compared to this Great Hall. She glanced around at the students and suddenly realized all eyes on her. She looked from table to table and saw boys staring and girls whispering back and forth. She came to a stop at the front of the room behind the first years. They were huddled around a stool with a very large, old hat on it.
(at the Gryffindor table)
"You might want to close your mouth, Ron. You'll catch stupidity," Ginny said. She was sitting across from Ron, next to Harry.
"Isn't she the most breathtaking thing you've ever seen," He gaped.
"Talking about McGonagall again, Ron?" Harry joked.
"No, he's talking about that new beauty up there," said Seamus who was also staring. "I've never seen a girl like that before."
"She's American," Hermione said. "And by the looks on you guys faces, I expect she is part veela."
"She's not that different from the girls we have here. Her odds and ends look the same to me," Dean added.
"The only thing that makes her different is that Ron has a thing for blondes," Ginny smirked.
"She's just transferred, you know?" Ron said airily.
"Yes, we've discovered that already," Harry laughed.
"Ron, don't act like your in love already. You don't even know her name yet," Hermione jabbed.
The hall quieted the small whispers as Lana stepped up to the stool when her name was called.
"Students, we have a new student this year. She has transferred to us from the Brizindine Academy in America. I'm sure everyone will do their best to make her feel welcome," Dumbledore announced before the hat was placed on her head.
"Gryffindor!" It shouted as soon as it touched her hair. Lana stood up and took a seat next to the first years who were also sorted into Gryffindor. She glanced down the table nervously and saw the two people she met on the train. Hermione waved her down so she stood up and walked down to where the group was sitting.
"Congratulations. You were sorted into the best house," Hermione smiled and made room for Lana to sit between her and Ron.
"That's right! We're taking the Quidditch Cup again this year lads!" Seamus yelled raising his glass.
"That loud Irish boy is Seamus Finnegan. He's our year. The boy across from him is Dean Thomas," Hermione pointed the two out.
"I'm Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister. I'm a sixth year," Ginny reached her hand across the table and shook hands with Lana. "And this loud talker is Harry Potter."
"Yeah, I've heard of him," Lana smiled.
"Really," a voice squeaked nervously from next to her. "They know about him all the way in America?" Ron asked.
"Well, Everyone knows of him. He made history," Lana giggled inwardly at his nervousness.
"We never caught your name by the way," Hermione said.
"Oh, sorry, I'm Lana Hamilton," Julie smiled. "So are you two dating?" She asked pointing at Ginny and Harry.
Ginny smiled, "Yep, I know right, how did this nerd land me?" Ginny fluffed up Harry's hair.
Lana laughed, "And are you two dating?" She pointed at Ron and Hermione this time. Hermione broke out into a fit of laughter.
"Please, we would kill each other if we dated," Hermione said, but Lana noticed her eyes move towards another table across the room.
"So, how do you like England?" Ron asked. His eyes were locked on hers.
"To be honest I haven' had that good of a time. I don' know where anything is in London, and I haven't met anyone my age, until now," Lana said and took a sip from her now full glass. The food had just appeared.
"We will just have to show you a good time, then," Ron smiled and filled up his own plate.
The rest of the meal consisted of small talk and Lana informing everyone what America was really like. It took her a good ten minutes to explain that it wasn't really the size of Asia. She followed the group up to the common room. She instantly fell in love with the coziness of the room and knew that she would get use out of the couch in front of the fire place.
When Hermione went upstairs for bed, Lana followed her and said good night to everyone, Ron leaving her an unusual glance.