A Cowrite with the Love of my Life, Tori

Chapter One: Let's Be Friends

Alex Hawke stared in fascination at the Hogwarts Express, her younger siblings calling goodbyes to her as she boarded. Bethany, her younger sister, was crying that she wanted to go, much like a young ginger girl across the platform. Her younger brother, Carver, was doing much the same even though he had no signs of any magical ability. Hawke struggled with her large trunk, and was surprised when a boy with sandy hair and a rather fluffy tabby kitten helped her lift her baggage onto the train. She smiled as way of thanks, and he gave a sweet grin in return.

"Hallo, my name's Anders! Let's be friends, 'kay?" He finished putting up her bag and dragged her into a compartment with him, and she just went along with it.

"A-Alright," Alex smiled easily, though she was taken a bit off guard by his forward attitude. She sat across from him and let his cat sniff her hand, strawberry hair swinging over her face.

"Oh, right, how could I forget? That's Ser Pounce-A-Lot, say nice to meet you Ser Pounce-A-Lot," he cooed at the cat, who gave him a look that told Anders that he was above saying nice to meet you to anyone. Hawke gave it one more nervous glance before turning back to Anders, who had taken out a kitty toy and was dangling it for the snobby tabby. The girl giggled and Anders blushed, and she was about to strike up a conversation with her new friend right as the compartment door slid open. There in the doorway stood a tanned girl with long, inky hair dragging an adorable elven girl with huge eyes and a slim build.

"Got room for a couple more?" asked the bronzed girl, and the other one quivered.

"Oh, I don't know if we should ask them for room, is that rude? I think that might rude, oh I'm sorry…" The elven girl trailed off, and Hawke waved them in casually, causing Anders' cat to hiss and leap onto the upper shelf.

"We don't mind, do we Anders?" He shook his head no, and they stepped in. Hawke motioned for the nervous girl to sit by her, and she did so, thanking her about fifty times. The tanned girl put her legs over Anders' lap, causing him to blush as she spoke up.

"I'm Isabela, by the way, and that's Merrill over there having the heart attack," she said, twirling one of the gold rings on her finger. Merrill waved feebly while Isabela made herself at home, using Anders as a cushion. "So, who's who? I know the kitty boy over here is called Anders, but what do they call you?" She directed her gaze at Alex, who was still trying to reassure Merrill.

"My name is Alex, Alex Hawke." Isabela grinned, with a mutter of "excellent." She moved onto her next question, dark eyes alight with glee.

"Who here's a muggle-born, anyways? I'm not, and Merrill isn't, so I want to know," she demanded, and Hawke laughed at her imperious nature.

"Half and half over here, but I don't know about Anders." Anders shifted uncomfortably in his seat before muttering that he was fully muggle-born, and Hawke patted his shoulder over Isabela's long legs. "That's nothing to be ashamed of! You'll be great!" Anders stopped shifting and looked more at ease at her encouragement. Alex sighed and began to relax, falling into an easy conversation with Isabela and the others, the cat looking on as an affronted bystander.

~OoOoO~

Fenris sat alone in the train compartment in the back of the train, fingers in his silver hair, green eyes open and watching the scenery. He was an elf; he didn't even know why he was being put in this school full of wizards. Magic was fully unacceptable, and he hated the fact that he would be going to a school filled with that sort. His frown deepened from his usual perpetual scowl as he heard laughter in the hallway by his compartment as the train pulled to a stop. Why would people be walking to the back of the train as it stopped?

"See, I told you there was a loner back here!" cried Isabela in mirth, and Merrill giggled randomly as Anders stroked Ser Pounce-A-Lot and Hawke leaned into the compartment.

"Hey, loner kid, the compartments weren't that full," Alex was a few inches away from his face now, and he shrunk back into the seat, green eyes full of loathing. Anders frowned; that was rather rude to Alex. He wouldn't have leaned away, after all…

"I want to go back. I hate wizards, they ruin all that they touch," he spat, but she didn't lean away. To the contrary, she leaned in further, strawberry hair tickling his face as her matching scent rubbed off on him.

"Nice to meet you too, broody elf boy. I'm Alex Hawke, what's your name?" Fenris flushed and found that he could lean back no further, and caught the immediate dislike in the sandy haired boy's eyes.

"Fenris. Now get off me," he snapped, and she laughed as she pulled him out of the compartment and Isabela caught on, looping an arm around him to form a sort of cage. They frog-marched him out of the train while Anders stared on in jealousy and Merrill cocked her head to the side, not altogether sure what was going on.

~OoOoO~

They all stood in the chamber outside the Great Hall, being lectured on the Sorting Hat. Fenris looked vaguely disgusted, Merrill looked excited beyond belief, Isabela smug, Anders anxious, and Hawke was cool as a cucumber. Fenris grimaced and was edging away from them when he accidentally bumped into a boy with white-blonde hair and silver eyes, who was nursing a wounded ego from being publicly humiliated by that Potter kid.

"Sorry," Fenris muttered, trying to escape the crowd.

"Watch where you're going, you daft knife-ear," Draco snapped, and watched in awe as the taciturn elf walked on past him, completely unaffected. The blonde's head actually turned to watch him go by; he had never been simply ignored by someone like that before! Fenris had made his way to one of the gothic windows of the castle and grew noticeably depressed as he looked out of it. A first year with mahogany hair and piercing eyes happened to notice the distraught almost-escapee. He clutched his cross; this boy was obviously in need of spiritual assistance.

"The Maker loves all of us, no need for such sorrow," the precocious, cross-bearing boy addressed his fellow first-year. Fenris gave him an evil look; now was not the time he wanted to hear the preaching of some pint-sized choir boy.

"I don't want love from the Maker, I want that train to come back so I can leave," Fenris' olive eyes were cold and a bit saddened, and also had a nice bit of anger at the world in them. The other boy smiled serenely and began spouting more nonsensical crap about the Maker.

"I'm Sebastian," he held out his hand, and Fenris stared as though it were some unclassified beast rather than a human appendage.

"I don't recall asking your name." Fenris was beginning to trudge away when an arm snaked around his neck, and another teasingly pulled on his robes.

"Fe~nris! You ran away, Fe~nris!" Alex pulled insistently on his robes, causing him to teeter a little. He glared down at her, and she gave him a pouty five year old face. "Alex wants Fenris to not run away! Did you miss the train, Fe~nris?" She giggled as Fenris' scowl deepened, and the "choir boy" Sebastian chuckled a bit. They were called in at that moment and all went in, their small group already establishing itself.

The names were called for sorting, one after another. A girl named Hermione got put into Gryffindor with the famous Harry Potter and his new friend Ron Weasley. The boy who Fenris had bumped into earlier got called up (apparently his name was Draco) and the hat had hardly touched his white blonde hair when the enchanted accessory had called out "Slytherin!"

"Alexandria Hawke?" McGonagall called, sharp voice beckoning her up to the front of the hall for her Sorting. The hat debated a moment before shouting out "Gryffindor!" Alex grinned and hopped up, skipping all the way to the table where a family of gingers sat and two twins clapped her on the back with identical grins. She smiled encouragingly at Anders, who was now hoping to god that he was put in Gryffindor.

"Fenris Wolfe?" He reluctantly stalked up to the hat and allowed it to be placed on his silver hair, and listened as the hat ranted on about his hatred of wizards.

"Slytherin!" It shouted, and Fenris went off to join the Malfoy kid, who was sitting next to the house ghost.

"Isabela Romany?" Her name was shortly followed by another call to go sit at the Slytherin table, and she calmly went to sit by Fenris, who grimaced at the girl's approach.

"Sebastian Vael?"

"Ravenclaw!"

"Merrill Dale?"

"Hufflepuff!"

Finally, Anders was left in the small group of people yet to be sorted, and he looked over at Alex, who was laughing with the twins Fred and George. He swallowed nervously as he saw the thin woman look back down at her list, then back at him. Her voice rang in his ears as his name was called, and he focused all his thoughts on being in Gryffindor.

"Anders Fells?" He walked up and pulled the worn hat onto his head, and as soon as he did, he heard its deep voice addressing him.

"Ah, Justice has caused you quite a few problems, hasn't he? Especially for an imaginary friend from your childhood, eh?"

"You could say that. Imaginary friends are dreadful bothers, especially Justice," Anders replied aloud, not at all bothered by the fact that the hat could see into his mind.

"And your cat, Ser Pounce-A-Lot," it paused for a chuckle, "also takes up quite a bit of room in your mind."

"Of course! My kitty cat has my heart!" Anders was indignant now, and he was oblivious to the fact that the Great Hall was now silent, watching his conversation with the Sorting Hat.

"It's not the only thing that has your heart," the hat replied smugly.

"Well… What did you see? What did you see inside H- her mind?"

"Well, she feels strongly for you, that's for sure."

"What? What do you mean, what did you—"

"On a more relevant note, Gryffindor!" the Hat finally cried, and Anders glared at it a moment.

"I don't like you," he hissed to it, thwacking it down on the stool, and he could swear the hat was grinning. He was overjoyed when he saw the Hawke had saved him a seat, however, and just about pranced up to the table. And just like that, their meal began. Fenris ate in silence while Draco bragged about his money and Isabela bothered the sullen elf. Merrill was making friends, laughing at jokes she didn't understand and being told about how they "found a toad earlier! We Hufflepuffs are wonderful finders!*" Sebastian was preaching about the Maker after a solemn prayer and was delighted to find that Terry Boot was also a devout believer. Anders and Hawke chatted while he came out of his shell, little by little, and began even talking to the family of redheads and Harry Potter. Like it or not(*ahem* Fenris), they were now official Hogwarts students, through and through.

~OoOoO~

In the Gryffindor Commons sat Anders, Hawke, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, all laughing together over the look on Draco's face when Harry had snubbed him. Hawke imitated it while Anders leaned casually on Harry, their shoulders touching. Ron noticed their immediate closeness with a certain degree of jealousy but stomached it with no small amount of effort.

"He looked like someone had just told him that the sky was green!" cried Hawke, clutching her stomach and giggling even harder. Hermione's mouth twitched up a little at this but retired early, claiming that she "couldn't be hanging about that barbaric boy Ron any longer than necessary, for sake of her mental health." Ron had looked affronted while the others chuckled some more, simply happy to be there together. Then the ginger noticed something about their new friend Anders; the way his eyes followed Seamus' lips as he approached to join the conversation with a longing look in his warm eyes.

"Bloody Hell," he murmured to himself, then looked at Hawke, whom he had earlier watched with that same expression. He repeated himself once more, and tried to not think too much on it before bed. After all, they were sharing a dorm.

~OoOoO~

The green and silver hangings matched the eyes and hair of the elven boy who was currently in a silent non-stare-down with Draco Malfoy, while Isabela perched on the back of a cough with a bottle of stolen butterbeer and watched in amusement. Slowly, Fenris reached over and took the butterbeer from Isabela and finished it off. She grinned mischievously at him and pulled out some filched Firewhiskey and she handed him the bottle.

"You'll need this, Scrooge. Drink up," she popped it open with her teeth, and he gained a slight, though forever unvoiced, appreciation for the gypsy.

*Great Finders actually belongs to A Very Potter Musical by Starkid Productions, but it couldn't be helped. It needed to be there.