A/N: Guess who's writing another story? ME! So normally this would be the part where I would tell you to read my first story, but actually, don't. It sucks. A lot. But this one is better I swear!
P.S. All of these characters are OC's of mine, so be prepared not to know who the heck anybody is.
Happy Reading!
May I just begin by saying: "oh my god, this is awkward"
I mean, just a few months ago I would never of imagined all the stuff that has happened, or that I would even be writing to you. Now I don't even know how to start.
So I guess I'll just start at the beginning. I'll try to tell the story as best as I can.
Of course this has to start with me in the middle of doing something incredibly stupid.
It was out of pure determination that I was running so fast down the Hogwarts train that foggy September morning. I had to get to the last compartment first. That compartment was our spot; #1 on a long list of traditions. So do you think I was going to let those jerkface Slytherins try and steal it? HA! Over my hexed body!
It was very loud; there were kids and teens of all shapes, sizes, and houses having conversations across the corridor and lugging huge trunks. And apparently my right to run around a train like an idiot as I pleased had been jeopardized by squeaky little first years clogging up the hallway. So I decided to be optimistic I took this as an opportunity to play one of my favorite star-of-term games. "Intimidate the freshman with 5th year intelligence"
Soon I was maneuvering my way through the crowd pretty well by yelling "Shift ye positions insolent swine!" and reciting random transfiguration theroms. I earned a few judgmental looks from some Ravenclaw girls (to whom I stuck my tongue out at) and I looked rather psychotic, but the crowd was evaporating more quickly now.
At least it was until ran straight into a ginger little first year who, in my opinion, greatly resembled a meatloaf. This meatloaf happened to be holding one of the biggest frogs I had ever seen. Like, bigger than my foot (and I wear a 10).
On impact of the collision, the giant toad leaped out of the boy's hand and into a nearby empty compartment. The boy kind of stared at me in shock for a second. Then he noticed his frogs absence and dove into the compartment, shouting, "Mr. Gibler!"
I had every intention of continuing to walk towards the last compartment as planned, but that annoying Hufflepuff conscience of mine told me to go help the little guy locate his freak of nature.
And so, I soon found myself dangling upside down trying to lure the giant frog out from under the seat with a cauldron cake. The meatloaf was lying on the floor, and had stuck his head under the seat to get a better view of the situation. Mr. Gibler croaked.
"Oh, here! I have his favorite!" He said, rummaging through his bag and pulling out a little gold box.
"Chocolate frogs? Isn't that a bit—"
I was interrupted by a mass or frog slapping against my face, causing me to fall on the floor and bang my head on the underside of the seat. I swore loudly which earned me a thoroughly terrified look from the little ginger boy.
"Are you alright?" he squeaked.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." I mumbled, rubbing my newly damaged head. "Bloody cannibalistic frog…" The boy gave a nervous smile and ran out of the compartment for dear life.
I swear I was becoming more and more British every day.
My vision was slightly blurred because my contact was having some sort of spasm, but a blue pentagonal shape suddenly caught my eye. I picked it up to see a boy smiling back at me, bright green eyes under circle rimmed glasses and a lightning bolt scar just visible under his messy black hair.
HARRY POTTER:
Also known as "The Boy Who Lived", Harry Potter defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named when he was one year old, by the rebounding of an illegal killing curse. He is the only known person to survive a killing curse.
"Wow this seriously needs to be updated, huh Harry?" I told the card. But the image of Harry was already gone by now.
There were several reasons this card needed to be updated. First, Harry was no longer at Hogwarts. He had been gone for a whole year.
Second, nobody called Voldemort, "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" anymore, because no one was afraid anymore. There was no chance of him just randomly showing up and killing everyone you know; He was gone. Deader than a… uh, a dead thing that's dead. We now referred to him as Moldy Voldy.
Third, Harry had recently defeated Voldemort once and for all in the battle of Hogwarts. You'd think they would mention that one right?
I slowly got up and staggered out of the compartment, putting the card in the pocket of my red leather jacket. Too add to my previous irritation, upon entering the corridor I ran into yet another human being.
"Ugh! Would you people watch where your—oh hey Dylan." It turns out this human being was my brother.
Dylan was one of five brothers. Yeah, five! There was Paul, a sophomore in college, and Cody, a senior in high school. Then Dylan, a 6th year at Hogwarts, and me of course, a fifth year. Then the twins Nick and Matthew, they were 3rd years. Paul and Cody weren't wizards.
Usually, when I say Paul and Cody aren't wizards, people ask: "Well aren't they squibs then?" Well sort of, I'm a muggleborn, so I'm not quite sure what to call them. Well my mom's a muggle….I guess they could technically be squibs. Technically. Are you confused yet? We Rossotto's are pretty confusing.
"What's up with you snappy?" He joked. I scowled at him as bunch of giggling 3rd year girls brushed past us. Dylan's fan club.
"Nothing, just come on we have to—"
"We already got the last compartment" he interrupted.
I sighed in relief. "Good."
"Well sort of"
"Huh?"
"Rominger and a bunch of his pet Slytherins are trying to take it, so I came back to get you."
I swore again, and he gave me "the look."
"Wendy…"
"Sorryy" I said rolling my eyes."So, you need my hexing expertise?" I said twirling my wand in my hand.
"Yeah, whatever. Come on!" he grabbed my wrist and dragged me through the corridor, brushing past his little fan club. They nearly fainted, I believe.
Dylan always had at least 3 girls following him around at one time, all who had an incurable and extremely annoying crush on him. I mean, he was good looking and all with his Rossotto light brown hair and dark green eyes, but they acted like he was the most beautiful thing ever to grace the earth. The funny thing was that he hated all the attention.
We finally reached the end of the train to find our usual compartment Slytherin-free.
The only people in the compartment where my best friends Lyla and Caleb. Lyla was sitting in the corner, holding her wand out, staring at it with wide blue eyes in shock. Caleb, who was Lyla's cousin, was standing in front of her and waving his hand in front of her face.
"Where did they go?" Dylan asked, sounding slightly disappointed.
Caleb turned towards us, grinning like he had just been handed a brand new Firebolt Broomstick. "Lyla hexed them!" He beamed. "Oh hey Wendy!" He walked over and gave me a rather painful hug, considering the fact he was almost twice my size.
"Uh-Hey! So who did Lyla hex?" I asked confusedly.
"Rominger! She did a jelly leg curse and his legs got all floppy! It was bloody fantastic! His little group got so scared they ran away like they all saw a boggart! Then I made him promise never to try to steal are compartment again and sent him on his way! He looked so scared! It was great!" Caleb was talking really fast, like he did when he got excited.
"Wait, Lyla hexed him?" I asked incredulously. Lyla was usually too shy to talk to anyone 4 inches taller than her (except Caleb), no less to hex Rominger and scare away a whole flock of Slythijerks.
"Wow!" Dylan said, seeming impressed.
"I know right! She's still kind of in shock I think" He gestured to Lyla, who was still staring at her wand.
I walked over and poked her head. "Lylaaa? It's Wendy!" I said loudly. She snapped out of it and looked up confusedly.
"Oh! Wendy!" She got up and gave me a hug.
"You hexed Rominger! I said excitedly. She covered her face with her hands.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry!" She said, her voice cracking with guilt. "He was just so irritating; I didn't know what I was doing! I didn't mean to… Ugh! I'm such an awful person!" she continued babbling, pacing and running her fingers through her dark brown hair while I tried to calm her down.
"Lyla, Lyla?"
"-I mean I've never used magic against anybody before"
"Lyla? Look, Lyla just chill out"
"This is completely against everything I believe! Do I have right to use magic as a weapon? Absolutely not!" I grabbed her by the wrist.
"Lyla! Shut up!" she stopped talking and I smirked. "Now that's better. It's okay Lyla. That was only self-defense!"
"And totally wicked." Caleb chimed in. Caleb had Lyla's same dark hair, but it was much curlier, and his eyes were dark brown instead of blue. Plus he was flippin' ginormous. He could have easily threw Rominger out the window if he wanted to, but he was too nice for that.
"Well, yeah… I guess." She said hesitantly.
"Plus if you didn't, he would have hexed us all. And we would have a lot more than jelly legs."
Dylan was staring at his feet. Then he sighed and looked up. "You did the right thing Lyla." His voice sounded kind of choked when he said her name.
Why was he acting so awkward? I gave him a questioning look but he just shrugged.
Suddenly, Eddie came bustling into the compartment with his huge battered trunk. "Sup people!" He said heaving his trunk onto the overhead bin.
"Hey Eddie!"
"What's up Ed?"
"Hi Eddie!"
"Hello!"
He gave us all a hug, but stopped at Lyla. "Lyla? Are you alright?"
"She's fine, she's just freaking out because she hexed somebody." I said.
"You did? All right Lyla!" he said enthusiastically, hugging her. She wiggled herself away from and gave him disapproving face.
"Well then." He said, faking offense.
"Well I guess we're all here then." Caleb said, sitting down.
"Wait, where's Abbie?" Dylan asked.
"She's a prefect now, did you get her letter?" Lyla asked. We all nodded.
"Oh yeah I forgot" Dylan said sitting in the corner across from Lyla. I sat beside him and Caleb sat across from me.
"Good for Abigail." Caleb said.
"Or course she's the one to be a prefect." Eddie mumbled, plopping down beside me. Eddie was hilarious and a great friend, but he got jealous pretty easy. He also had quite the temper. Whenever he got really mad I could swear that his unruly muted blonde hair turns somewhat red. And when I say unruly, I mean it. Eddie's hair was all over the place, all the time. But it suited him.
What was I talking about again? …Oh yeah!
"Well you didn't expect any of us to get it, now did you?" Lyla asked.
"Yeah, how many times have we been in detention? Quite a few." I said.
"I'm actually kind of surprised they chose her though, she did help us spray paint the hallways last year." Dylan remembered,
This was the closest we got to mention the previous year all day.
He flinched, realizing he had brought up a touchy subject. Everyone looked down at their feet or out the window. Except for me, I looked up at him and saw him close his eyes and mouth a swearword. I squeezed his hand reassuringly. The poor boy wasn't having a very good day when it came to social skills.
No one mentioned it. No one. We would laugh about the fact that Voldemort was dead, and make jokes about Harry being the next Minister of magic even. But anything else—the murders, the torture, the injuries, the emotional scars that may never fully heal—were off limits in the topics of conversation. But Merlin knows we were all thinking about it, keeping it all inside. I wondered how long it would take for everyone's brains to explode.
The train started moving, and thank goodness Abigail walked in or that awkward silence might never have ended.
"Hello!" She beamed. She was sporting her shiny new prefects badge fastened of the knot of her cream-colored scarf. We all stood up and gave her a hug.
"Abigail! How's the new prefect?"
"She's currently making her rounds about the train. I can't stay very long, just wanted to say hello. I'll be back in an hour or so. Oh Eddie, are you ever going to get those shoes cleaned properly?" She says, talking way too fast like she always does.
"This dirt represents character! Experience!" Eddie defended his beloved yellow converse. He's always showing his Hufflepuff pride
"And lack of care? Perhaps, laziness?" Abigail suggested.
"Oh you two, stop bickering." Lyla said. It was no use. Abigail was always bickering with somebody.
"Lyla, I heard about your little episode with Mr. Rominger." Abigail said in her gossipy voice.
"Oh God! Are people talking about it?" Lyla squeaked.
"How did people find out?" I asked
"Well when the head jerk of the Slytherins starts flopping all about the train with jelly legs, it gets people talking. Asking questions. Who do they ask? Prefects. I finally got it out of one of his little friends. The poor kid got a right smack across the face from Rominger he did! Everyone's talking about how shy Lyla Underwood put the Super-Snake in his place!" Out of all of us, Abigail had the most obvious British accent. Except me and Dylan didn't have one, of course.
Oh yeah, did I mention we were American?
"Fantastic! My cousin's a celebrity!"
"Told you it was a good thing Lyla." I said, elbowing her.
Abigail checked her expensive watch. "Oh Dear, I've got to go. See you later. And Eddie I want those shoes looking somewhat decent by the time I get back." She gave him the "I'm watching you" sign with two fingers. We all sat back in our usual spots. Except Eddie, who was getting irritated.
"Well how the hell am I supposed do that?" he called after her. She was already down the hall but you could almost feel her confident smirk.
Eddie slammed the compartment door shut and flopped down beside me again.
"So what are our plans for the roof?" Lyla asked
Ah, the roof. #2 on our list of traditions. Every year, since we were 12, we skipped the sorting and snuck a bunch of sweets from the train up to the roof on top of the transfiguration hall. It was about 15 feet up, looking over the main courtyard, leading down to the forbidden forest and Hagrid's hut to the left and right in front of you, you can see the lake.
"Same as every year I guess." Dylan says, leaning against the window and staring at the trees passing by.
I was getting pretty tired at that point; I'm pretty sure trains just make me drowsy. I learned my head on Dylan's shoulder, who barley acknowledged me, and watched as Eddie propped is foot on his knee and started rubbing away at the dirt with his thumb.
"You don't actually have to clean your shoes, mate." Caleb said.
He sighed. "Yeah I know." Then he looked up at me and gave me a smirk.
I was the only one who knew that he had a bit of a crush on Abbie.
I woke up confused. I rub my eyes and as my vision comes back into focus, I see Lyla, her back against the window and her legs stretched across Caleb and Abigail's seats, reading a book. Eddie and Caleb had their faces pressed against the window leading into the hallway, apparently waiting for something. I was clutching to Dylan's arm like a teddy bear, as I was known to do with anything within close proximity while I was asleep. I looked up at him, he was in the same position I left him in, staring out the window with that brow-furrowed look of concentration on his face.
"Hey!" I said loudly. He jumped, startled.
"Decided to come back to reality did you?" I laughed. He looked at me and gave a sigh of relief.
"Oh Wendy, your awake. Are you alright?" he was worried, but trying to hide it, using an overly-nonchalant voice. I could tell because I did the same thing. But why was he worried? Was he scared I was going to fall out the window?
"Yeah… I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" I asked skeptically. He shrugged and -looked out the window again. "Are you two looking for Abigail?" Lyla asked.
"Oh God, no" Eddie said.
"Sweet cart of course!" Caleb said. Why wasn't Abigail back yet? I checked Dylan's watch.
"It's almost 2 o'clock where is she?"
"Don't know" Caleb said.
"Don't care" Eddie finished. Caleb gave him a look; that wasn't where he was going with that.
"Oh Wendy, I forgot. I think this demon bird belongs to you." Caleb said lifting a cage from the overhead compartment. My owl.
"Sassafrass!" I said grabbing the cage. "She is not a demon!"
"Is too! She tried to bite my head off earlier!" said Eddie.
"That's why you don't try to balance the cage on your head." Lyla said.
"Aw you poor girl." I said stroking her speckled feathers. I could of sworn she was glaring at Eddie.
2 hours later the sweet cart had come, and we had loaded up on all the sweets we could carry for the roof. Abigail arrived just in time to lecture us on cavities. She never fully explained why she was gone so long.
When we arrived at Hogwarts, we snuck through the door on the back of the train. Then we went through the forbidden forest for bit and ended up near Hagrid's hut, where I left him some acid pops at his door. I was always pretty good buddies with him.
After we stopped by the hospital wing to steal some blankets, (Madam Pomfrey was at the feast) we reached the courtyard and began levitating each other onto the roof. Well it was more like Abigail and Dylan levitating everybody, then each other. They were always the best at charms.
It was windy on the flat roof. As we sat around the fire in our usual places, I wrapped my hand around a single, weather beaten shingle, ripped it off, and placed it in my bag. My own tradition.
Lyla was attempting to paint her toe nails bright pink with some muggle nail polish I had given her. She was always fascinated with muggles and their "Behavior" so I always tried to bring her something extra muggle-ish from home. Dylan was beside her, gazing into the fire intently with an acid pop in his mouth. He was still wearing his brow-furrowed face, but he broke his concentration a few times to give Lyla a confused look.
Next came Caleb, who was debating with Eddie about the Quidditch Championships. Abigail was in between them, engrossed in a book, making sarcastic comments about the boys' obnoxiousness every now and then.
I took my usual seat in-between Caleb and Dylan, grabbing my own fluffy purple blanket from the pile. A few seconds later, I had decided that I was far too lazy and exhausted to sit up and lay down on my side, snuggling up with my blanket. My feet were in Caleb's lap and my head was resting on Dylan's leg. Dylan looked down in confusion.
"Shut up, I'm tired." I said before he could protest. Caleb hadn't even noticed.
"The Harpies' chasers make the Rockets' look like injured Hippogriffs." Caleb stated.
"But how much do the chasers really matter when the Rockets have the fastest seeker since Victor Krum?" Eddie retorted.
"I don't understand how you do this, Wendy." Lyla said, frowning at her pink-splattered foot. I kicked off my shoe and wiggled my perfectly painted toes in reply.
"WOAH. Foot!" Caleb exclaimed, finally noticing my foot rather close to his face. He moved about 3 feet back.
Accio Converse
My navy blue high-top zoomed into my hand and I shoved it onto my foot. I then did a rather handy shoelace tying charm on it.
"Wow, magic seems to have made you even lazier than you were before." Eddie commented. I threw a fizzing wizzibie at him. "Ow!"
"What flavor do you think this is?" I asked holding up a redish brown flavor bean.
"Hm… brick?" Eddie suggested.
"Leather?" Lyla said.
"Rotting wood?" Dylan guessed.
I bravely popped the flavor bean in my mouth and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Bacon" I said.
"Wow, you're always so lucky with those" Caleb stated.
"This one looks interesting." Abigail said holding up a greenish-yellowish flavor bean.
"I dare you" Eddie said.
"Yeah Abbie, live a little!" Caleb encourages. Dylan then started a chanting of Abbie, Abbie, Abbie until she finally shoved the bean into her mouth. She then turned a lovely shade of green and slapped both of her hands over her mouth. Dylan held on to sassafrass' cage.
"Ow!" He yelped a second later, quickly yanking his hand back from the cage and putting his pinky finger in his mouth.
"What happened?" Lyla asked.
"He bit me!" Dylan exclaimed, sounding half amused.
"Sassafrass!" I scolded "That's weird…she's never bitten Dylan before. And it's a she Dylan."
"He's bitten me…" Caleb mumbled.
"Well that's what happens when you try to shove things down its throat." Abigail said, referencing to our 3rd year, when Caleb tried to feed her his failed potions essay.
We returned late as usual. Me, Lyla, and Abigail tiptoed into our dorm so we wouldn't wake our other two roommates, Alice and Jane. I then remembered that Jane's mom wasn't letting her come back this year (still paranoid) as I spotted a head of curly red hair in her usual bed. Must be the new roommate.
I plopped into my four-post bed and stared at Harry's chocolate frog card for a while. The thing I'm sure everyone was thinking about was swirling in my mind.
Were we ever going to talk about it?
A/N: Well, there you go. Feel free to rate and review! If you hate it, rant on! I could use the advice. If you love it, awesome! Tell the world! :)
