Sleeping Superstitions

Chapter 1

This is my third magic school and it's going to be different this time. All I want is to do well in school, play quidditch and make friends. Is that too much to ask for? So here I am sitting on the Hogwarts express in my carefully chosen clothes and lightly applied make up, trying to look friendly yet not over enthusiastic to anyone who happens to peer into my compartment. My game plan is to be myself from the start, well I should explain first that in the past I tended to be quite shy around people I don't know, but this time I'm putting myself out there from the beginning! Go me! Just as that thought ran through my head two girls popped their heads around the compartment door, so I gave them a big welcoming smile!

"Hi, is it okay if we sit in here?" The first dark skinned girl asked.

"Sure, come on in. I'm Jessica by the way, but most people call me Jess, or Jessie." I said as they took their seats.

"I'm Angelina and this is Alicia. What year and house are you in?"

"I'm new here, going into my 7th year, so I have no idea what house I'm in, or what houses there are for that matter!"

"Oh, I thought I hadn't seen you around before and you certainly don't look like a first year, I swear they get smaller every year! Well there are four houses, you are sorted into one based kind of on personality traits or qualities. You live, attend classes, eat and play sports with your housemates, we're in Gryffindor." Alicia explained.

"You only play sports with your house? What about a school quidditch team?" I asked, suddenly fearing that there wasn't a quidditch team at Hogwarts.

"There are four house quidditch teams and we play each other for the Quidditch Cup, we're both chasers on the Gryffindor team, do you play?" Angelina explained.

"Ok, that sounds quite fun, yeah I play chaser too actually!" I said.

"Hmm, this could work out quite well if you get into Gryffindor, see I want to quit the team this year, then you could take my place and I wouldn't have to deal with the wrath of Wood." Alicia said excitedly, as if she just had the biggest brainwave of her life. Angelina was just looking at her with her jaw almost touching the floor.

"YOUUU WHHAAAT!!????" She yelled once she managed to regain the movement of her mouth.

"I know, sorry I didnt get a chance to tell you, but I really found it hard to cope with my workload and quidditch last year and this year, we're in 5th year, so we have OWLs , and it's Woods last year, he'll be training us into the ground, so I thought I'd stop playing and he could find another chaser, but of course if there was no one, I thought I'd have to play anyway, but if he'd at least try to find someone else... and hey, if I miss it too much I can always play again next year, Jess will be gone." Alicia said quickly. It was clear she had been worrying about this for a while. Angelina must have realised this and engulfed the worried looking Alicia in a big hug.

"Don't worry pet, I'll support you and we'll have the twins ready to hold Wood back when you tell him, but we'll wait till after Jessica's sorting, cos if she gets into Gryffindor, she can try out and maybe she'll be able to take your place, you could even still train with us now and again if you want!" Angelina comforted her friend. I couldn't help but hope I did get into Gryffindor and become friends with these girls, I mean they were just so nice to each other!!

"I'll try my best to get into Gryffindor then, what do I have to do?" I asked. They both smiled at me.

"Nothing, you just put an old hat on your head and it chooses, don't worry, whatever is meant to be will be! That's my motto in life!" Angelina said. Hmm, I do like that motto!

"So is this Wood guy the captain then, he sounds scary!"

"Yeah, he's a 7th year and he's been captain for the last three years, we've come really close to winning every year, we easily have the best team, so this should hopefully be our year. Let's just say he takes his quidditch very seriously!" Angelina replied.

I decided that I needed to learn a lot about Hogwarts, so I questioned the two girls for the next hour and I soon had the basics of the place sussed out, as well as getting to know them a little more and maybe even have become friends with the them along the way! The questions naturally started to turn to me after a while.

"So what school have you been in till now? Actually you may as well start from the beginning and tell us your life story!" Alicia asked. Both the girls were so warm and welcoming, I decided to tell them all about myself, something I don't think I've ever done before.

"Well, I guess every life story begins with a birthday, mine is Halloween, the 31st October. I had a happy childhood, I have great parents and an older sister called Leah, she's 21. I started out at an all girls magic school in Ireland when I was 10, but I didn't really like it there. I had a couple of good friends, but they werent always in the same classes and didnt play quidditch, so I guess it was a bit lonely plus most people there were quite competitive, bitchy and cold and my teachers seemed to hate me, so did the quidditch coach actually, so I rarely got a game. After a while sitting on the bench I decided to start going to a local quidditch club, just so I could get to actually play and also so I could try to prove to the ass of a coach in my school and to myself that I wasn't as bad a player as he thought. Leah graduated when I was 15 and got a ministry job in Europe, based in Luxembourg and she suggested I go with her to get a fresh start in a new school. I jumped at the chance of course and next thing I knew it I was living in Walferdange, Luxembourg and attending this teeny international magic day school in the city, it didnt even have a quidditch team or enough room to practice. So I tried out for Bigonville Bombers youth team, where I played till I was sixteen, I worked extremely hard on my game there and eventually I got to play for their under 21 and reserve squads, which was so much fun as everyone was quite nice and I made some friends. This year I started playing for the Irish reserve team and thus got called into the Bombers senior squad along with my reserve teammate Seb, but after a while my sister got relocated to London because of the extra security issues and Sirius Blacks escape, so here I am." I felt like a load lifted off my shoulders in the space of the minute it took to say all that. The two girls were gaping at me.

"Woh, your ass better get into Gryffindor, we'll surely win the cup then, and you'd save my ass aswell!" Alicia exclaimed.

"You sure did show that coach of yours" Angelina said smiling. I smiled back at her.

"You know, I hadnt even thought of that!" I felt really estatic inside when the train suddenly came to a halt, I figured we had arrived so I got up and reached for my trunk.

"Wait, we cant be here yet." One of the girls said as the lights went out. I sat back down and tried to see out of the fogged up window. It felt cold and eery all of a sudden and I began to feel scared. We sat in a shivery silence for a minute and thankfully after a couple of minutes the lights flickered back on and the train started to chuckle along the tracks again.

"What was that about?" I questioned as two identical red haired boys ran into our compartment.

"Did you hear? Dementors came on the train!" One of them exclaimed.

"Dementors?" I questioned, shocked. They both looked at me a bit puzzled, then introduced themselves as Fred and George Weasley, beaters on the Gryffindor team and took a seat each side of me.

"So, where have you come from? One of them asked me, I wasn't really sure which one but I started to answer their question quite literally.

"Well, often when a male and female adult are in love, or indeed quite intoxicated, or maybe even just a bit horny, they may decide to partake in an act that can sometimes bring about the creation of a new witch, wizard or muggle..." I couldn't continue as the whole compartment including myself were already in hysterics. Once I regained my composure, I gave them the answer they were looking for in the first place.

"Jessica Moran, transfer 7th year, can be a bit of a smartarse sometimes!" I smiled at each of them while shaking their hands in turn.

"I like you already! Now tell me, have you ever delved into the world of pranks?" The twin on my right asked as they both put an arm around me.

"Hmm, well on the last day at my old school in Ireland I did hide fish in numerous places, so they would smell the place out; put forgetfullness potion into the staff room water supply; put hiccoughing solution in the quidditch team's refreshments and some good old fashioned cling film on the toilet seats, but they all deserved it, they were horrible!" I laughed at the thought of my little pranks. The twins were looking at each other as if they had both just thought of the same thing, I decided not to question them. We spent the rest of the journey talking about Hogwarts and different stories of their time there. I was really starting to get excited about my year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.