A.N: Okay, so here's the start of our lovely story. I'm not going to bore
you with the whole before she gets on the train to school thing, cause I
always find that part to be really boring. So, have fun reading and
enjoy! Please R&R, thanks! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and anyone in the books; they all belong to J.K Rowling. As for Lysa and Professor Barlow, they belong to be and don't use them unless I give you the okay. Even then, don't damage them in anyway. Thank you.
Chapter One: The Girl
Rumors flew around the train at lightning speed. Apparently there was a new girl here, and she was American. People looked for this mystery girl, but none could find her, only because she was in the last car of the train, all alone. Not that she minded, she was having a lovely time looking out the window and was quite content not to talk to anyone.
The new girl was tall, standing at about five feet three inches and had short blonde hair. According to rumor she had blue eyes and was very pale with maybe a slight un-notable tan. People said that they say her carrying around a guitar case, but again that's what people said. Her clothes were different from what anyone had ever seen in England, she wore baggy black jeans and semi-tight tee-shirts.
Nobody actually knew where she was from. Some people thought she was from America, others though she was from France. On her purse were patches of both the American and French flag. Nobody had bothered to actually find her, so most of them just made the rumors grow.
"I heard someone say she's part veela!" Came a voice from behind the door of the girls' compartment.
When the door opened, they were greeted with a blast of music. The three children who had opened the door all covered their ears and closed their eyes. A man in the back of the compartment said something in Latin that the others couldn't hear and the volume of the music decreased. He watched them as they approached him and waited for them to speak. No one spoke.
There were two boys and one girl in the small group who had come in. The first boy looked rather small, wearing clothes that were much too big for him. He had bright green eyes and rather messy black hair that reached to the top of his circular glasses. In the center of his forehead was a scar in the shape of a lighting bolt.
The second boy had short red hair and freckled skin. His robes must have been second hand, seeing as they were just a little too short for him. This boy was tall and thin looking, as well as gangling. He had big hands and feet, as well as a long nose. Brown eyes looked all around the room, taking in everything.
Finally, the girl, who was looking very serious. Her hair was bushy and a deep chestnut in color. She was slightly plump, not on the heavy side, but she looked rather healthy. Severe looking brown eyes looked at the man, as if asking him what he was doing on the train meant for only the students.
The man himself had a small black goatee and black hair that fell to the bottoms of his ears. His robes were patched in places, and his clothes were even slightly large on him. Dark brown eyes looked at the three of them, daring them to say something before her did. They never spoke.
The man cleared his throat," You need something?" His voice was rough.
"Oh..um..no, not really." The first boy replied, looking around till he spotted the girl sleeping on one of the seats. He then looked back quickly, "I'm Harry Potter."
"I know." The man said shortly. "Who are your friends?"
"I'm Ron Weasley." Spoke up the second boy, looking the man in the eye quickly before looking away again.
"Hermione Granger, and.um.just who are you?" The girl looked at the man cautiously.
"Professor Barlow, your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." He again looked at all of them.
"Pleasure." Hermione and Ron said in time, but Harry wasn't paying attention.
Harry's eyes were looking over at the girl who was asleep by one of the windows. Curled up by the window was a small silver cat who was staring at them with cool golden green eyes. Around the cat's neck was a small green collar loosely fastened around her neck, but not so loose that it could easily come off. Harry walked over to the girl and the cat and looked at the tags around the cats' neck; the cat didn't flinch as he touched it. As he was about to pet the creature, the girl next to him woke up.
After rubbing the sleep dust out of her eyes, she gazed up at Harry and nearly screamed. "Get away from my cat! Get away!" Her voice was shrill and it rang clear in their ears. At this time the others had turned their heads to see what the matter was.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know you don't like people touching her. I'm terribly sorry!" Harry backed away from the cat, hands up as if he'd been caught doing something illegal.
"Everyone touches her, and then when I tell them not to they put curses on her. I just now got rid of all of them on her." The girl scooped up her cat and started petting it softly.
"I'm dreadfully sorry. I didn't know." Harry had brushed some hair out of his face and his scar was clearly visible.
The girl looked up at Harry and saw the scar, "You're..you're Harry Potter, aren't you?"
"Huh? Yes, yes I am."
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry I yelled at you. I didn't know who you were. I'm Lysa McCarson. Such a pleasure to meet you." Lysa held out one of her hands to Harry, and he shook it in return.
Out from under Hermione's cloak came a large ginger cat, known to them as Crookshanks. He twisted himself around Hermione's legs before the cat on Lysa's lap jumped down to join the other cat. Both were sniffing each other, Crookshanks wound around Hermione's left leg, the other cat wrapped around her right. She looked down at the cats and sighed.
Ron walked over to Lysa and Harry, and he was shortly followed by Hermione who had managed to get the cats unwound around her legs. Professor Barlow sat in his seat, watching the four the entire trip. They were rather chatty, but the Professor didn't mind the noise. There was faint music playing above them, but no one seemed to notice at all.
Once they had arrived at their stop, all four of them got off together. Lysa, who didn't mean to be rude, left them to get her things and load them into one of the horseless carriages. The others understood and got their things a placed them in the same carriage as a small forgetful black hair boy. Apparently they knew him quite well because they were all talking non-stop about something.
Once Lysa had gotten into her carriage, she was greeted by one blonde haired boy and two rather large boys. She ignored them for the time being as the blonde haired boy told his friend who was sitting next to him move to the other side. The other boy grunted at him and moved to sit next to the other very large boy. Lysa rolled her eyes and got in, sitting next to the blonde boy.
"So, you're the mystery girl everyone's been talking about?" The blonde boy said after they had begun to move.
"Guess so, huh?" Lysa really didn't like this guy, so her voice was as cold as his.
"I'm Draco Malfoy. My two friends are Crabbe and Goyle. What's your name?" The boy, Draco, turned his head to look at her, and she met his cold blue eyes with her own.
"Lysa McCarson. Pleasure." She gave him a strained smile and went back to looking outside the window.
"So, are the rumors true? Are you really from the United States?"
Lysa sighed, "Yes, I really am from the United States."
"Well then, why do you have the American and French flag on your bag?"
"Because I went to Beauxbatons before I was transferred here."
"What? Don't they have magic schools in America?" Draco was slightly taken aback by this news; he seemed to think there were magic schools in ever country.
"No, they don't. Sorry to disappoint you." Lysa turned to him again and smiled rather coldly to him before returning her attention back outside.
"But why did you go to Beauxbatons? Why didn't you just go straight to Hogwarts?"
"Because I didn't, alright? Is that okay with you? Gosh, do you ever stop asking questions?" Lysa had raised her voice to a low scream; this boy was killing her with all his questions.
"Well, sorry. Looks like someone's having a hissy fit." Draco turned to Crabbe and Goyle, "I think she needs to be told who's boss around here."
Lysa turned her head sharply to face Malfoy, "You touch me and so help me, you will have the worst school year in your entire life. And, I plan to follow threw with that threat, you can believe me."
"Oh, I'm scarred, what's a little girl gonna do to me?" Malfoy imitated the way a baby might talk if they actually could speak at such a young age.
Before Lysa had time to reply, the carriage had stopped and had sent their luggage flying out the back end of it. It was pouring outside, but the others didn't seem to mind, apparently it must have rained every start of the year. Lysa stood there, looking around for her trunk when a voice behind her cried out, "Lysa, don't bother looking for your trunk. It's probably already upstairs. Come on, let's get inside."
Lysa turned around and came face to face with Hermione who was smiling at her. She grabbed Lysa's wrist and pulled her up the stone steps and into the warm castle. Both girls met up with Harry and Ron and shook their cloaks free of rainwater. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Professor McGonagall had appeared and was now standing over Lysa like a hawk.
"Miss McCarson, if you'll follow me please." Her voice was rather strict and one could tell she wasn't a force to be reckoned with.
Professor McGonagall led Lysa up to where the first years always waited. Lysa looked around at the excited first years and saw their happy faces, she couldn't help but smile. Though most of them were nervous they had made friends quickly with some of their classmates, and the energy was so positive that even severe looking Professor McGonagall was smiling at them.
"Now, I want you to form two lines, in a moment you'll go right through these doors and you will be sorted into your school houses." The first years looked up at her rather nervously, and her smile was suddenly gone. "Now, don't be afraid. I will place the Sorting Hat on your head and it will tell you where you ought to be. Miss McCarson, if you don't mind, would you please come to the front? You will be the first to be sorted."
Lysa nodded and walked up to Professor McGonagall, the smile also gone from her face. She was rather nervous, as were all the first years behind her, but she was the most nervous, having to go first and all. Lysa closed her eyes for a brief moment and took a quick breath of air before opening them again.
When she opened her eyes, the sight before her was beautiful. There were thousands upon thousands of floating candles above four long tables. She walked by the tables, and waved to Harry, Ron, and Hermione as she passed them. They smiled at her and crossed their fingers, a sign for good luck.
Once up at the Head Table, Professor Dumbledore gently knocked his spoon against his glass to get the attention of the students. One their attention had been fixed on him; he rose to his feet and cleared his throat.
"Welcome back to another year. This year we are fortunate enough to have a student from Beauxbatons who originally comes from the United States. I hope that you make her feel most welcome, as she will probably be here for awhile. I ask that she steps foreword and is the first to be sorted." Dumbledore remained standing as Lysa walked foreword and stood in front of the Sorting Hat.
Professor McGonagall lifted the hat off the stool and motioned for Lysa to take a seat. She took a deep breath and exhaled quickly before seating herself on the stool. Professor McGonagall gave her a quick smile before placing the Sorting Hat on her head. The hat fell over her eyes and blocked out the rest of the world.
"Ah.a lot of brains.not bad. Plenty of courage, mixed with brains you never know what you can accomplish. Very hard to place.you could be great in Slytherin.but Gryffindor would be better suited for you. Hm.so hard to place. Well, I'm taking a shot in the dark here, so you better be in.GRYFFINDOR!!'
The hat was removed from around her head and she could see the table of Gryffindors cheering for her. She smiled as she hopped off the stool and walked over to Hermione, Harry, and Ron and took a seat next to them. As she sat down, she could feel someone watching her, so she turned her head around to see Malfoy staring at her, she gave him a forced smile and joined the rest of the table.
Harry, who had looked over at Malfoy too, turned back to Lysa and said "I see you've met Malfoy."
"Yeah, we met on the way here." Lysa was less than happy to remember her long ride to the castle.
Ron gave a short laugh and leaned in front of Harry, "What'd you think of him, eh? Stupid little git aint he?"
"What's a git?" Lysa looked rather confused, seeing as she had never heard that word in her life.
"Someone who lacks knowledge in other words." Said Hermione who sitting to Lysa's left.
"Oh, yeah he was pretty stupid. Kept asking me questions about why I didn't go straight to Hogwarts and why I went to Beauxbatons. He's quite annoying."
"Yeah, that's Malfoy for ya."
"I have a question. Don't they have wizarding schools in the United States?" Hermione had pulled Lysa's attention away from the two boys and back to her.
"No, they don't." Lysa turned her head to look at Hermione.
"Well, I'm going to ask the same thing Malfoy did, but why didn't you go to Hogwarts first? It would make some sense after all."
"I just didn't. My Nan enrolled me in Beauxbatons when I was ten and sent me there, and I've been there for four years. See, my Nan lives in France, so I went to the school she went to."
"Well, if you've been there for four years, then why did you switch to here?"
"I had a hard time with the language and when I finally did pick up on the language, it was hard for me to really fit in. I didn't have a lot of friends there, and the ones I did have turned on me the last few days of my fourth year. So, I asked her if I could come here and she said yes. And, that my friends, is just the Readers Digest version of my so called life." Lysa looked down at the table as they started to fill up with food and grabbed a roll before passing that to Harry.
"Wow, sounds like fun." Ron said sarcastically, as he too grabbed a roll from the basket.
"Oh yes, a lot of fun." She rolled her eyes at her and continued passing food down and took things she thought looked tasty.
The rest of the time they talked was just about things in general. Things like how Snape was evil, and about the other teachers. They also told her about their classes, to watch out for Filch's cat, and to avoid Peeves at all costs. She laughed, and they laughed, everything was going to be much better at Hogwarts, she could tell.
Malfoy watched this, somewhat upset that he couldn't have gotten to know her better. But, Draco, don't forget you have a whole school year to get to know her, you never know what might happen. He was right; he did have a whole school year with her, to get to know her better, to fall in love with her. Malfoy let out a faint sigh, hoping the others wouldn't hear, and he went back to talking with Pansy Parkinson who sat right across from him.
Lysa could feel someone watching her, but she dismissed the feeling. Nothing was going to ruin tonight, not her first night here. Once she turned and caught Malfoy staring at her, and he turned slightly pink, but she turned so quickly that she didn't notice. Malfoy, on the other hand, didn't look at her again for the rest of the night, too embarrassed to have her catch him again.
Finally, Dumbledore stood up and waved his hands to get everyone quiet. Everyone went quiet and looked at Dumbledore, who smiled at them in return.
"Now that we have all been feed, I would like to make a few announcements, as this is what I do at the start of each year. First off, Mr. Filch has asked me to tell you that you are not allowed to harm his cat in anyway. I do believe he has a list of everything that violates what he has said. Second, the Forbidden Forest is off limits to everyone, as it's name does have forbidden in it, I think you all would have guessed that. Lastly, we have a new teacher joining us this year, and I hope he sticks around for awhile. Please welcome your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Mr. Domenic Barlow."
Everyone stood up as Professor Barlow stood up out of his chair and bowed to them. His neat black hair fell into his eyes and he brushed it away as he took his seat. Fred and George Weasley, who looked exactly alike down to the last strand of red hair, laughed thinking about all the fun they were going to have with this new teacher.
After a few more small announcements, the prefects lead all the students to their dormitories. Lysa followed Harry, Ron, and Hermione up, hoping that she would be with one of them next she had to come up here again. She listened closely as the prefect said 'Silens Noctis' to the Fat Lady and she opened the portrait.
All of them walked into the common room where a fire burned happily in the fireplace. Lysa looked around in awe; everything was very pretty here, no matter what the seventh years at her school had said to her, it was the most beautiful place she had ever seen. There were big comfy arm chairs all around and tables for studying, banners hung off the high ceiling. She continued to look around until Hermione grabbed her arm and shook her back to life.
"Come on, let's go. I'm getting tired, aren't you?" Hermione smiled at Lysa and she smiled back.
"Yeah, I'm getting pretty tired myself." At that moment, Lysa let out a big yawn.
Harry laughed at her, "Well then, good night. See ya tomorrow."
Ron waved at them and caught up to Harry as he started to climb the stairs towards their room. Hermione and Lysa followed a few minutes later, seeing as they had been stopped by Fred and George who wanted to greet Lysa properly. They wanted to know if she wanted to have a toffee, and being told what happened last time they gave a toffee to someone, politely declined. They shrugged and trudged up the stairs to their room.
Once in their room, Hermione immediately spotted Lysa's bed. It was right next to hers and was right next to the window. Her things had already been brought up and everything was laid out so neatly, Lysa quickly got changed into her pajamas and hoped into bed. She smiled to herself as she looked up at her red cloth above her bed.
Everything was so perfect right now, she had made some new friends and she could tell she was defiantly going to like this school. Her cat had jumped on her stomach and sat there, purring as she stroked his fur. This must be what heaven is like, Lysa thought, thinking of the days events.
Hermione had finished getting dressed for bed and settled down in the bed next to Lysa. Both turned their heads towards each other and smiled. Somehow, deep down, both knew that they were going to be good friends, no matter how different they were from each other.
"Good-night, Lysa." Hermione said, closing the drapes on her bed.
"Good-night, Hermione." Lysa followed suit and closed the drapes on her bed too.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Okay, first chapter done, I'm so happy. Anyway, I have some pretty pictures of Lysa up on geocities, so if you want the links e-mail me, and I'll be more than happy to send them to you. The story gets better, so just hang on, okay. Thanks. Please review!!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and anyone in the books; they all belong to J.K Rowling. As for Lysa and Professor Barlow, they belong to be and don't use them unless I give you the okay. Even then, don't damage them in anyway. Thank you.
Chapter One: The Girl
Rumors flew around the train at lightning speed. Apparently there was a new girl here, and she was American. People looked for this mystery girl, but none could find her, only because she was in the last car of the train, all alone. Not that she minded, she was having a lovely time looking out the window and was quite content not to talk to anyone.
The new girl was tall, standing at about five feet three inches and had short blonde hair. According to rumor she had blue eyes and was very pale with maybe a slight un-notable tan. People said that they say her carrying around a guitar case, but again that's what people said. Her clothes were different from what anyone had ever seen in England, she wore baggy black jeans and semi-tight tee-shirts.
Nobody actually knew where she was from. Some people thought she was from America, others though she was from France. On her purse were patches of both the American and French flag. Nobody had bothered to actually find her, so most of them just made the rumors grow.
"I heard someone say she's part veela!" Came a voice from behind the door of the girls' compartment.
When the door opened, they were greeted with a blast of music. The three children who had opened the door all covered their ears and closed their eyes. A man in the back of the compartment said something in Latin that the others couldn't hear and the volume of the music decreased. He watched them as they approached him and waited for them to speak. No one spoke.
There were two boys and one girl in the small group who had come in. The first boy looked rather small, wearing clothes that were much too big for him. He had bright green eyes and rather messy black hair that reached to the top of his circular glasses. In the center of his forehead was a scar in the shape of a lighting bolt.
The second boy had short red hair and freckled skin. His robes must have been second hand, seeing as they were just a little too short for him. This boy was tall and thin looking, as well as gangling. He had big hands and feet, as well as a long nose. Brown eyes looked all around the room, taking in everything.
Finally, the girl, who was looking very serious. Her hair was bushy and a deep chestnut in color. She was slightly plump, not on the heavy side, but she looked rather healthy. Severe looking brown eyes looked at the man, as if asking him what he was doing on the train meant for only the students.
The man himself had a small black goatee and black hair that fell to the bottoms of his ears. His robes were patched in places, and his clothes were even slightly large on him. Dark brown eyes looked at the three of them, daring them to say something before her did. They never spoke.
The man cleared his throat," You need something?" His voice was rough.
"Oh..um..no, not really." The first boy replied, looking around till he spotted the girl sleeping on one of the seats. He then looked back quickly, "I'm Harry Potter."
"I know." The man said shortly. "Who are your friends?"
"I'm Ron Weasley." Spoke up the second boy, looking the man in the eye quickly before looking away again.
"Hermione Granger, and.um.just who are you?" The girl looked at the man cautiously.
"Professor Barlow, your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." He again looked at all of them.
"Pleasure." Hermione and Ron said in time, but Harry wasn't paying attention.
Harry's eyes were looking over at the girl who was asleep by one of the windows. Curled up by the window was a small silver cat who was staring at them with cool golden green eyes. Around the cat's neck was a small green collar loosely fastened around her neck, but not so loose that it could easily come off. Harry walked over to the girl and the cat and looked at the tags around the cats' neck; the cat didn't flinch as he touched it. As he was about to pet the creature, the girl next to him woke up.
After rubbing the sleep dust out of her eyes, she gazed up at Harry and nearly screamed. "Get away from my cat! Get away!" Her voice was shrill and it rang clear in their ears. At this time the others had turned their heads to see what the matter was.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know you don't like people touching her. I'm terribly sorry!" Harry backed away from the cat, hands up as if he'd been caught doing something illegal.
"Everyone touches her, and then when I tell them not to they put curses on her. I just now got rid of all of them on her." The girl scooped up her cat and started petting it softly.
"I'm dreadfully sorry. I didn't know." Harry had brushed some hair out of his face and his scar was clearly visible.
The girl looked up at Harry and saw the scar, "You're..you're Harry Potter, aren't you?"
"Huh? Yes, yes I am."
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry I yelled at you. I didn't know who you were. I'm Lysa McCarson. Such a pleasure to meet you." Lysa held out one of her hands to Harry, and he shook it in return.
Out from under Hermione's cloak came a large ginger cat, known to them as Crookshanks. He twisted himself around Hermione's legs before the cat on Lysa's lap jumped down to join the other cat. Both were sniffing each other, Crookshanks wound around Hermione's left leg, the other cat wrapped around her right. She looked down at the cats and sighed.
Ron walked over to Lysa and Harry, and he was shortly followed by Hermione who had managed to get the cats unwound around her legs. Professor Barlow sat in his seat, watching the four the entire trip. They were rather chatty, but the Professor didn't mind the noise. There was faint music playing above them, but no one seemed to notice at all.
Once they had arrived at their stop, all four of them got off together. Lysa, who didn't mean to be rude, left them to get her things and load them into one of the horseless carriages. The others understood and got their things a placed them in the same carriage as a small forgetful black hair boy. Apparently they knew him quite well because they were all talking non-stop about something.
Once Lysa had gotten into her carriage, she was greeted by one blonde haired boy and two rather large boys. She ignored them for the time being as the blonde haired boy told his friend who was sitting next to him move to the other side. The other boy grunted at him and moved to sit next to the other very large boy. Lysa rolled her eyes and got in, sitting next to the blonde boy.
"So, you're the mystery girl everyone's been talking about?" The blonde boy said after they had begun to move.
"Guess so, huh?" Lysa really didn't like this guy, so her voice was as cold as his.
"I'm Draco Malfoy. My two friends are Crabbe and Goyle. What's your name?" The boy, Draco, turned his head to look at her, and she met his cold blue eyes with her own.
"Lysa McCarson. Pleasure." She gave him a strained smile and went back to looking outside the window.
"So, are the rumors true? Are you really from the United States?"
Lysa sighed, "Yes, I really am from the United States."
"Well then, why do you have the American and French flag on your bag?"
"Because I went to Beauxbatons before I was transferred here."
"What? Don't they have magic schools in America?" Draco was slightly taken aback by this news; he seemed to think there were magic schools in ever country.
"No, they don't. Sorry to disappoint you." Lysa turned to him again and smiled rather coldly to him before returning her attention back outside.
"But why did you go to Beauxbatons? Why didn't you just go straight to Hogwarts?"
"Because I didn't, alright? Is that okay with you? Gosh, do you ever stop asking questions?" Lysa had raised her voice to a low scream; this boy was killing her with all his questions.
"Well, sorry. Looks like someone's having a hissy fit." Draco turned to Crabbe and Goyle, "I think she needs to be told who's boss around here."
Lysa turned her head sharply to face Malfoy, "You touch me and so help me, you will have the worst school year in your entire life. And, I plan to follow threw with that threat, you can believe me."
"Oh, I'm scarred, what's a little girl gonna do to me?" Malfoy imitated the way a baby might talk if they actually could speak at such a young age.
Before Lysa had time to reply, the carriage had stopped and had sent their luggage flying out the back end of it. It was pouring outside, but the others didn't seem to mind, apparently it must have rained every start of the year. Lysa stood there, looking around for her trunk when a voice behind her cried out, "Lysa, don't bother looking for your trunk. It's probably already upstairs. Come on, let's get inside."
Lysa turned around and came face to face with Hermione who was smiling at her. She grabbed Lysa's wrist and pulled her up the stone steps and into the warm castle. Both girls met up with Harry and Ron and shook their cloaks free of rainwater. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Professor McGonagall had appeared and was now standing over Lysa like a hawk.
"Miss McCarson, if you'll follow me please." Her voice was rather strict and one could tell she wasn't a force to be reckoned with.
Professor McGonagall led Lysa up to where the first years always waited. Lysa looked around at the excited first years and saw their happy faces, she couldn't help but smile. Though most of them were nervous they had made friends quickly with some of their classmates, and the energy was so positive that even severe looking Professor McGonagall was smiling at them.
"Now, I want you to form two lines, in a moment you'll go right through these doors and you will be sorted into your school houses." The first years looked up at her rather nervously, and her smile was suddenly gone. "Now, don't be afraid. I will place the Sorting Hat on your head and it will tell you where you ought to be. Miss McCarson, if you don't mind, would you please come to the front? You will be the first to be sorted."
Lysa nodded and walked up to Professor McGonagall, the smile also gone from her face. She was rather nervous, as were all the first years behind her, but she was the most nervous, having to go first and all. Lysa closed her eyes for a brief moment and took a quick breath of air before opening them again.
When she opened her eyes, the sight before her was beautiful. There were thousands upon thousands of floating candles above four long tables. She walked by the tables, and waved to Harry, Ron, and Hermione as she passed them. They smiled at her and crossed their fingers, a sign for good luck.
Once up at the Head Table, Professor Dumbledore gently knocked his spoon against his glass to get the attention of the students. One their attention had been fixed on him; he rose to his feet and cleared his throat.
"Welcome back to another year. This year we are fortunate enough to have a student from Beauxbatons who originally comes from the United States. I hope that you make her feel most welcome, as she will probably be here for awhile. I ask that she steps foreword and is the first to be sorted." Dumbledore remained standing as Lysa walked foreword and stood in front of the Sorting Hat.
Professor McGonagall lifted the hat off the stool and motioned for Lysa to take a seat. She took a deep breath and exhaled quickly before seating herself on the stool. Professor McGonagall gave her a quick smile before placing the Sorting Hat on her head. The hat fell over her eyes and blocked out the rest of the world.
"Ah.a lot of brains.not bad. Plenty of courage, mixed with brains you never know what you can accomplish. Very hard to place.you could be great in Slytherin.but Gryffindor would be better suited for you. Hm.so hard to place. Well, I'm taking a shot in the dark here, so you better be in.GRYFFINDOR!!'
The hat was removed from around her head and she could see the table of Gryffindors cheering for her. She smiled as she hopped off the stool and walked over to Hermione, Harry, and Ron and took a seat next to them. As she sat down, she could feel someone watching her, so she turned her head around to see Malfoy staring at her, she gave him a forced smile and joined the rest of the table.
Harry, who had looked over at Malfoy too, turned back to Lysa and said "I see you've met Malfoy."
"Yeah, we met on the way here." Lysa was less than happy to remember her long ride to the castle.
Ron gave a short laugh and leaned in front of Harry, "What'd you think of him, eh? Stupid little git aint he?"
"What's a git?" Lysa looked rather confused, seeing as she had never heard that word in her life.
"Someone who lacks knowledge in other words." Said Hermione who sitting to Lysa's left.
"Oh, yeah he was pretty stupid. Kept asking me questions about why I didn't go straight to Hogwarts and why I went to Beauxbatons. He's quite annoying."
"Yeah, that's Malfoy for ya."
"I have a question. Don't they have wizarding schools in the United States?" Hermione had pulled Lysa's attention away from the two boys and back to her.
"No, they don't." Lysa turned her head to look at Hermione.
"Well, I'm going to ask the same thing Malfoy did, but why didn't you go to Hogwarts first? It would make some sense after all."
"I just didn't. My Nan enrolled me in Beauxbatons when I was ten and sent me there, and I've been there for four years. See, my Nan lives in France, so I went to the school she went to."
"Well, if you've been there for four years, then why did you switch to here?"
"I had a hard time with the language and when I finally did pick up on the language, it was hard for me to really fit in. I didn't have a lot of friends there, and the ones I did have turned on me the last few days of my fourth year. So, I asked her if I could come here and she said yes. And, that my friends, is just the Readers Digest version of my so called life." Lysa looked down at the table as they started to fill up with food and grabbed a roll before passing that to Harry.
"Wow, sounds like fun." Ron said sarcastically, as he too grabbed a roll from the basket.
"Oh yes, a lot of fun." She rolled her eyes at her and continued passing food down and took things she thought looked tasty.
The rest of the time they talked was just about things in general. Things like how Snape was evil, and about the other teachers. They also told her about their classes, to watch out for Filch's cat, and to avoid Peeves at all costs. She laughed, and they laughed, everything was going to be much better at Hogwarts, she could tell.
Malfoy watched this, somewhat upset that he couldn't have gotten to know her better. But, Draco, don't forget you have a whole school year to get to know her, you never know what might happen. He was right; he did have a whole school year with her, to get to know her better, to fall in love with her. Malfoy let out a faint sigh, hoping the others wouldn't hear, and he went back to talking with Pansy Parkinson who sat right across from him.
Lysa could feel someone watching her, but she dismissed the feeling. Nothing was going to ruin tonight, not her first night here. Once she turned and caught Malfoy staring at her, and he turned slightly pink, but she turned so quickly that she didn't notice. Malfoy, on the other hand, didn't look at her again for the rest of the night, too embarrassed to have her catch him again.
Finally, Dumbledore stood up and waved his hands to get everyone quiet. Everyone went quiet and looked at Dumbledore, who smiled at them in return.
"Now that we have all been feed, I would like to make a few announcements, as this is what I do at the start of each year. First off, Mr. Filch has asked me to tell you that you are not allowed to harm his cat in anyway. I do believe he has a list of everything that violates what he has said. Second, the Forbidden Forest is off limits to everyone, as it's name does have forbidden in it, I think you all would have guessed that. Lastly, we have a new teacher joining us this year, and I hope he sticks around for awhile. Please welcome your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Mr. Domenic Barlow."
Everyone stood up as Professor Barlow stood up out of his chair and bowed to them. His neat black hair fell into his eyes and he brushed it away as he took his seat. Fred and George Weasley, who looked exactly alike down to the last strand of red hair, laughed thinking about all the fun they were going to have with this new teacher.
After a few more small announcements, the prefects lead all the students to their dormitories. Lysa followed Harry, Ron, and Hermione up, hoping that she would be with one of them next she had to come up here again. She listened closely as the prefect said 'Silens Noctis' to the Fat Lady and she opened the portrait.
All of them walked into the common room where a fire burned happily in the fireplace. Lysa looked around in awe; everything was very pretty here, no matter what the seventh years at her school had said to her, it was the most beautiful place she had ever seen. There were big comfy arm chairs all around and tables for studying, banners hung off the high ceiling. She continued to look around until Hermione grabbed her arm and shook her back to life.
"Come on, let's go. I'm getting tired, aren't you?" Hermione smiled at Lysa and she smiled back.
"Yeah, I'm getting pretty tired myself." At that moment, Lysa let out a big yawn.
Harry laughed at her, "Well then, good night. See ya tomorrow."
Ron waved at them and caught up to Harry as he started to climb the stairs towards their room. Hermione and Lysa followed a few minutes later, seeing as they had been stopped by Fred and George who wanted to greet Lysa properly. They wanted to know if she wanted to have a toffee, and being told what happened last time they gave a toffee to someone, politely declined. They shrugged and trudged up the stairs to their room.
Once in their room, Hermione immediately spotted Lysa's bed. It was right next to hers and was right next to the window. Her things had already been brought up and everything was laid out so neatly, Lysa quickly got changed into her pajamas and hoped into bed. She smiled to herself as she looked up at her red cloth above her bed.
Everything was so perfect right now, she had made some new friends and she could tell she was defiantly going to like this school. Her cat had jumped on her stomach and sat there, purring as she stroked his fur. This must be what heaven is like, Lysa thought, thinking of the days events.
Hermione had finished getting dressed for bed and settled down in the bed next to Lysa. Both turned their heads towards each other and smiled. Somehow, deep down, both knew that they were going to be good friends, no matter how different they were from each other.
"Good-night, Lysa." Hermione said, closing the drapes on her bed.
"Good-night, Hermione." Lysa followed suit and closed the drapes on her bed too.
*~*~*~*~*~*
Okay, first chapter done, I'm so happy. Anyway, I have some pretty pictures of Lysa up on geocities, so if you want the links e-mail me, and I'll be more than happy to send them to you. The story gets better, so just hang on, okay. Thanks. Please review!!