Chapter One
I sat, alone, in the compartment on the scarlet-colored train that carried me away to my first year at Hogwarts — despite the fact I was already fifteen. Sighing, I looked out the window onto beautiful scenery whizzing by. My bored mind lazily sifted through my memories, and I soon found myself back at our dark, gloomy manor; the only home I had ever known. In my mind, I was standing before my father. Tall, lean, and muscular, his handsome face looked down at me, oddly grave, and his long black hair fell loosely to his shoulders.
"Father, must I go to this . . . Hogwarts?" I asked my father inquiringly, looking up at his face. He smiled sincerely down at me, his eyes dull and somber. The usually pulsating electric-blue color within them was now a deep grey.
"Haiz, you know as well as I that this must be done," my father patiently told me, though I could tell his heart was full of regret and sorrow for his decision to send me off. "If you stay here any longer, you may place yourself in grave danger. Even your mother and I are going into hiding after we see to it that you arrive safely at your school."
Far from reassuring me, my father's words drove fear through me like a stake. Why would my father have to go into hiding? Surely he was more powerful than whatever — or whomever — was seeking him.
Seeing the trauma his words had caused me, my father quickly wrapped me up in a reassuring hug.
"Don't worry, Haiz," he whispered in my ear. "Everything will work out fine. Just remember, your mother and I love you."
Suddenly, the compartment door opened, jerking me from my thoughts. Looking up, I saw three people standing in the doorway, all of whom looked to be my age. There was a girl with frizzy, light brown hair who looked smart; on her left was a boy, a tall and gangly red-head with freckles; at the smart girl's right-hand side stood another boy with jet-black hair and piercingly green eyes. All of them looked at me passively.
"Hi. Is it okay if we sit in here?" the girl asked me politely. "We've been — ah — kicked out of our compartment. It was over-run by a slimy git with blonde hair and his minions." I smiled at her description and nodded.
"Sure," I replied, sliding over, giving the trio more room to sit. The frizzy-haired girl returned the smile and led the other two into the compartment, all of them dragging their luggage with them. Soon after they put their things in the luggage rack, I found myself sitting next to the girl, with the two boys sitting across from us.
"Well, let's introduce ourselves," the girl next to me said. She stuck out her hand formally to me. "My name is Hermione Granger." I smiled and shook her hand.
"Hi, Hermione," I replied, "My name is Hazel Kerrison."
"My name is Ron Weasley," the red-head from across the compartment said, imitating Hermione by sticking out his right hand. I shook it and looked at the boy with black hair.
"And I'm Harry Potter," he said apprehensively, sticking out his hand. I shook it, noting his tone of voice when he told me his name, and guessed that it came from the fear of being idolized — which was a sure thing to happen to any famous witch or wizard in the Wizarding World. I made no comment on his name, merely glancing as quickly as possible at his forehead to confirm that he was exactly who he claimed to be. Sure enough, the tell-tale lightening-bolt shaped scar seemed to flourish itself before my eyes, dramatically standing out against Harry's fairly pale skin.
As soon as I had seen the scar long enough to recognize it for what it was, I quickly averted my eyes, knowing how uncomfortable it was to be stared at. I could feel Harry's slight annoyance from the stare simmering gently in the room. Fortunately, I was spared from too much discomfort by Ron, who began asking questions, making the general ambiance of the compartment more welcome and relaxed.
"So, are you new this year?" he questioned, looking at me with a mixture of confusion and curiosity. "I don't remember ever seeing you at Hogwarts."
"Yeah, my dad kind of forced me to go to a wizarding school this year," I said conversationally, looking out the window for one more glance of the serene, sun-kissed rolling hills before it got too dark. An excited gasp distracted me from the beauty of the scenery, forcing my brain to concentrate on making new friends and, thusly, staying with the conversation.
"Ooh, so you're going to get sorted this year!" Hermione exclaimed. I looked at her, confusion etched all over my face. This was one part of Hogwarts tradition that my father had not mentioned.
"Sorted?" I repeated cautiously. "What's that?" As Hermione quickly explained to me the process of being sorted into the four different houses (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin), I got the impression that she was a know-it-all, nice as she may be.
"So, what house are you guys in?" I asked my three new-found friends as soon as Hermione had finished describing in much detail every single factor of the four houses.
"Gryffindor," the boy named Harry replied. "We're all in our fifth year."
"Oh, so that means that you're fifteen?" I asked them, catching onto the age system. When they nodded, I smiled.
"That's great, I'm going to be in your year too!" I said, grinning — I had already found three new friends, and we hadn't even arrived at school yet! The three of them smiled and looked as though they were about to say something when the compartment door opened with an ominous bang.
Looking up, I saw a sneering whitish-blonde haired boy standing in the doorway. His light grey eyes were full of malice, and his face held an evil sneer as he stared at the four of us seated in the compartment. When his eyes landed on me, his sneer widened — something I had previously thought to be impossible.
"Well, look here," he said evilly. "Potty and Weasel found themselves another girlfriend!" Instead of blushing, which the boy had obviously hoped I would do, I sneered right back at him, catching him off guard. At that moment, Harry and Ron leapt up, looking like angry panthers about to pounce upon their prey.
"Get out, Malfoy," Harry spat through gritted teeth.
"I don't think I will," the boy named Malfoy said egotistically. "I haven't introduced myself to this young beauty over here." Reaching over to me, Malfoy picked up my hand and, kissing it lightly, introduced himself politely.
"The name's Draco Malfoy," he said, his grey eyes boring into my hazel ones, still gently clutching my hand. "And your name is . . . ?" I wrenched my hand away from him and wiped it on my jeans.
"My name is Hazel," I snapped, already not liking this boy. "And if you don't get out this second, I deeply regret that I'll be forced to hex you." The moment my cool words left my mouth, I pulled my wand out of my back pocket, giving it an expert twirl for good measure. Malfoy eyed my wand fearfully before he backed out with as much dignity as possible.
"I'll be back later, Potty, Weasel," he called, sauntering away. Ron slammed the compartment door shut, causing the glass to shatter and fall to the ground. Giving my wand a wave, I quickly repaired the glass without even having to say the incantation out loud. Hermione looked impressed.
"What school did you go to before you got sent to Hogwarts?" she asked curiously.
"Er," I replied, unsure of how to put it. "Actually, I was home-schooled by my father." Just at that moment, however, the lights outside our compartment dimmed, obviously signaling the upcoming arrival at Hogwarts.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione immediately began sorting through their luggage, each apparently searching for something. I remained seated, yet again confused by the odd customs of Hogwarts-folk.
"Um, what are you guys looking for?" I asked them, curiously looking from one to another.
"When the light dims," Ron began, his head stuck inside his tattered suitcase, "it means that we're getting near Hogwarts."
"Which means that we have to change into our school robes," Harry added, seeing the confusion on my face.
"Oh," I replied, walking over to my suitcase. Quickly pulling out my neatly folded school robes which lay on the top, I turned to Hermione.
"Where is the bathroom?" I asked her. I could have just changed in the compartment, but I, being a shy person, was sadly too embarrassed to do so in front of people I just met — even if they were my friends.
"Here, follow me," Hermione said, leading the way out of the compartment. After we changed, we went back to the compartment to find that Harry and Ron had begun a game of Exploding Snap.
"Ooh, I love that game!" I exclaimed, watching Ron pick up a card. Both boys ignored me. I glanced over at Hermione, my eyebrows raised at the boys' rudeness.
"They get really into their games," she said with a slight giggle. At that moment, the whole deck of cards exploded, singeing both Ron and Harry's hair. Hermione and I both burst out laughing at the shocked sight of them.
"Here," I said, taking out my wand again, "I'll fix that." With a slight flick of my wand, both boys sat in front of us, their hair completely back to normal, all signs of soot and ash gone. Once more, the trio stared at me.
"How do you do that?" Harry asked me, intrigued. I looked at him, shocked.
"You mean Hogwarts doesn't teach nonverbal spells?" I asked, surprised. He shook his head.
"At least, not yet," he replied, staring at me oddly. "I think we start learning how to do them during our sixth year. How do you already know them?" I shrugged modestly.
Suddenly, the train slowed to a halt, and everybody clambered off the scarlet machine, not wanting to be left on it. I was about to grab my luggage when Hermione stopped me.
"You just leave it in the compartment," she stated calmly, walking out of the compartment with me in her wake. "They transport our luggage to the school somehow." I nodded and ran to catch up with her.
"So, how are we getting to the school?" I asked Hermione. She pointed up ahead at carriages. Harry and I gaped at them.
Connected to the front of the carriages were the oddest creatures I've ever seen. They looked like reptilian horses of some sort, but they didn't seem to be dangerous.
"Are we going in the carriages?" I asked apprehensively. Hermione turned to look at me, obviously shocked that I was standing there.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" she exclaimed, roughly leading me towards a lake that I hadn't noticed before. Standing before the lake was a squat, frog-like woman who was calling first years towards her in an annoyingly high-pitched and overly girly voice. Hermione shoved me towards her.
"You're probably supposed to go with the first years across the lake," Hermione said, giving me another push towards the lake. "We'll be waiting for you in the Great Hall. Keep your fingers crossed that you get in Gryffindor!" With that, she ran off to join Harry and Ron in the carriages.
I noticed that the short woman was looking at me oddly, so I turned to face her.
"Yes?" I asked as politely as I could, annoyance simmering within me. She merely sneered at me and ushered the first years towards small row boats, leaving me to follow.
"Four to a boat, no more," she stated, glaring daggers at me. I shrugged off her glare and stepped into one of the boats, my long, wispy brown hair flowing out behind me with a sudden gust of wind. Soon, three other first years followed me into the boat, looking at me apprehensively. Apparently, they thought I was another escort to bring them safely across the lake. Eventually, all of the boats were full.
"Off we go!" the squat lady trilled. With a small jolt, the boats moved forward magically. While the first years seemed transfixed by the simple magic of it, I leaned back and crossed my arms, holding a glaring contest with the frog-woman. She had something against me; there was no doubt about that.
Suddenly, my stomach dropped as a thought occurred to me. Surely she didn't know about my secret. Looking back at the woman, I noticed that she had seen the sudden fear in my eyes. Grinning smugly, she turned to face the front of the boat. I also looked ahead, and let out an audible gasp, along with the other first years.
Our small boats were headed for the most amazing castle I had ever seen. It shone and glittered majestically, emitting a magical radiance from within. As we neared the shore, the boats smoothly slid up the bank, and we climbed out of them, headed for the depths of the castle, waiting to be sorted.