Chapter One
She was a bit nervous at first, what with being a new student AND new to the country. Thus, it was quite understandable that she was staring with a fierce concentration at the gap between Platform 9 and 10, willing a Platform 9 and ¾ to appear.
"Come ON," she whispered to herself, "You HAVE to get on this train. Think!"
But no matter how hard she thought, she found it impossible to solve her problem. She looked at the time and found that she was late, and the train had probably left.
Forcing back her tears, she whispered angrily, "Now what will I do! I'm lost, alone, and halfway across the world from my home! ARGH!"
She kicked the column viciously, although instead of coming in contact with it, her foot slipped right through it. Carried by the momentum of her swing, she squealed as she fell through the barrier. She was caught by a pair of strong arms and looked up in surprise, straight into piercing green eyes.
His eyes twinkled as he asked, "First time to Hogwarts?"
She blushed and nodded, standing up quickly to straighten her clothes.
She pulled up her luggage that had fallen after her and stretched out her hand, saying, "My name is Brenda Chang."
He looked her over, taking in her pretty face, the straight black hair tied into a floppy ponytail at the back, along with her slim upper body and muscular legs. His face seemed to tighten a bit when he recalled Cho, but he quickly grabbed her hand and shook it.
"Harry Potter."
However, his name seemed to have no effect upon her. She merely attempted to drag her heavy luggage over to the surprisingly-still-present Hogwarts train. After helping her lift it on, he brought her into the train compartment that held his best friends. After being introduced to each other, they tried to ask her why she had a Canadian accent and why she was coming to Hogwarts.
"I come from Toronto, Ontario, and I was born into a non-magical family. So, as can be expected, my family was really surprised when my sisters and I started doing accidental magic. We decided to find a witchcraft and wizardry school, but the ones in Canada and USA were very bad. So, we decided to try for Europe; my older sister was sent to Durmstrang, because she started later and the training is more intensive there. I was sent here, to Hogwarts, and my little sister was sent to Beauxbatons because she used to go to a French immersion school. My mom and dad are still in Canada, because they're not magical… it wouldn't be sensible for them to come along."
The compartment door slid open, and Ginny Weasley stood in the doorway.
"Oh, you're already full?" she asked, with a tinge of sadness.
She started to go until Brenda grabbed her hand.
Brenda apologized, saying, "Sorry, I just took your place temporarily. Here, sit down."
She got up, sat Ginny next to Harry and left the compartment hurriedly. As she wandered around, she looked around her, trying to understand the layout of the train. While she was looking to her left, she ran into someone.
"Ow!" she muttered, and got up, dusting herself off.
She attempted to reach out her hand to help up that someone, but was met by a rude voice.
"Watch where you're going, Mudblood," he sneered.
"And I'm so sure that YOU were," she retorted.
He looked taken aback by the fact that she had snapped back at him.
"Who are you?" he asked, "I've never seen you around, before."
"Brenda Chang. Who are YOU?"
"Draco Malfoy."
"Nice meeting you, I'm sure. Now can you please remove your big self from the middle of the hallway so I can walk across? Thanks," she added with a very fake smile.
He huffed indignantly and pushed her away, muttering under his breath something that sounded suspiciously like, "MALFOYS never get bossed around. Malfoys NEVER get bossed around. Malfoys…"
Brenda continued to look around the train, until a lady with a cart full of sweets asked her if she would like to buy some candy. She bought a few things, and walked to the back of the train, opening a dark but empty compartment and slumping into a seat. She tapped her clothes twice with her wand, and they immediately changed into a red tank top and a white pair of sweatpants that flared at the bottom, over her white running shoes. She shook out her hair and retied it into a big braid running down her back. Then, she removed a small notebook from her little sidebag. From the spine of it, she took out a ball-point pen and started to write.
'Dear Diary. Today I met a few people on the Hogwarts Express: Harry Potter, as well as his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Harry is a really sweet guy, and he's pretty cute, what with the most adorable British accent I've ever heard, messy black hair, gorgeous green eyes—"
At this point, a voice drawled out, "Oh great… another Potter fan."
She shrieked and the pen flew out of her hand. She snapped her book shut and bent over to pick up her pen… as she did this, Draco thought he saw a flash of color at her lower back, but he dismissed it.
"Where did you come from?" she demanded, standing with her legs apart and hands on hips. Her not-so-little 5'6 frame glared up at the 6'1 Draco Malfoy.
He smirked, until he frowned down at her clothes, "Where did you get that Muggle wear?"
She sighed and rolled her eyes, "I AM called a Mudblood for specific reasons, you know?"
He ignored her and walked past her, sitting on the seat opposite her.
She sighed in exasperation and sat back down, saying, "You stay on YOUR side of the car, and I'll stay on MINE."
She stabbed at the air viciously as she said this, but he merely smirked at her fiery temper, and waved a hand dismissively at her. She gave a short 'humph' and turned around, continuing her diary entry.
'and did I mention that he has this really endearing lightning bolt scar on his forehead? Oh! And he's got glasses – just like me! He's such a sweetie… quite the opposite of Draco Malfoy. He's the most retarded kid I've ever met. He's probably just another snobby rich kid… arg! I hate him so much!—'
At this point, Draco said clearly, "You're not the only one."
She looked up, startled at how he had read her mind, or had somehow seen through the thick notebook.
He smirked again (what was WITH that smirk!) and merely said, "I'm not psychic, don't worry. It's kinda hard to mistaken the annoyance that's written all over your face as you scribble in that stupid Muggle contraption."
Brenda raised an amused eyebrow. "If you know how annoying you are, why do you continue pissing people off?"
"It's fun?" he offered.
She sighed at the hopelessness of his cause, and shook her head. She looked at her watch and suddenly stood up, swearing lightly.
It was Draco's turn to raise his eyebrow as he said, "Now what would make such a sweet, innocent girl as yourself so upset that you would have to swear?"
Brenda stopped her frantic searching of her bag, and stared at him. Really stared at him. Then she burst out laughing… it was really quite disturbing how hysterical she was, and he became nervous.
"Um... Chang?"
She fell onto the floor in hysterical giggles and bent over at the middle, clutching her stomach. Finally, her bubbly laughter started to slow down, and when she was calm enough to talk, she gave him an incredulous look.
"You REALLY think I'm a sweet, innocent girl?" she asked.
"Yeah…" he answered, "You look like the typical Gryffindor student."
"Hm… and I suspect it means that I'm the typical good little girl?" she laughed and added, "Far from it."
She stood up in front of him and grinned down at him. Her hand reached down to the elastic waistband of her pants and she pulled the right side of it down, just a little bit… enough to look like a sexy, model-like pose and also enough to let him see the edge of her lacy black knickers. She giggled and pulled her pants back up as she resumed her place on the other side of the car.
She sighed dramatically and said, "I'm a bad, bad girl… deeeeep down in my heart."
Meanwhile, Draco stared at her in shock, with his now-dry mouth slightly open.
'STOP THINKING ABOUT BLACK ON WHITE!' he tried to command himself mentally, 'NOT LACY BLACK LINGERIE ON HER PALE SKIN! NO! NO!'
As he was trying to regain his mental composure, she took out a chocolate bar and started eating it. A few minutes later, she was aware that he had re-composed himself, as his voice broke the peaceful silence.
"Did you just FLASH me?"
"Are you crazy?" she cried, "Why on earth would I do THAT?"
"You DID! You DID!" he continued.
"Get your mind out of the gutter, kid. I don't want you that way."
"Are you suuure?" he purred.
A choking noise came from right outside the train compartment. The door burst open, followed by an angry Harry, who was yelling.
"GET YOUR GRUBBY PAWS OFF HER, MALF…" he drifted off, realizing that neither of them were even close to the other.
He grinned sheepishly, "False alarm."
Harry then forcefully pulled Brenda out into the hall.
"You should be careful around Malfoy. He has a really bad reputation… not to mention that he's EVIL in itself. He's known for sleeping with tons of girls, then dumping them… I don't know WHY they bother with him if they know what's going to happen… I guess they hope that they'll be different. But don't let him fool you—"
"Harry," interrupted Brenda, "Don't worry. I understand and I won't be tricked. He's such an annoying… GIT. But thanks anyways."
"We'll be arriving at Hogwarts in no time at all, so get ready. Nice outfit, by the way," he grinned at her.
She blushed prettily and thanked him.
"You should come along with me, Hermione and Ron. You can get your stuff now if you want… I'll wait here," he added.
She went back into her compartment, took her small bag and nodded a goodbye to Draco. She followed Harry into his compartment and within a few minutes, they had stopped.
Brenda got into a horseless carriage with the rest of the Gryff Trio as Ginny went to find her fourth-year friends. Throughout the carriage ride, Brenda talked to them and found out all about their pasts and learned everything about their families. In no time at all, they were in the Great Hall, and Brenda was being Sorted along with the other First years.
'Let's see...' the Hat seemed to say to her, 'You have lots of courage AND cunning… you are incredibly intelligent and are faithful… perhaps—'
"Not SLYTHERIN, PLEASE!" she said desperately, "It would be nice if I could be with Harry and his friends…"
'Hmm…' the Hat muttered, 'Well, all right then… I suppose if you don't want to be in Slytherin, the only other choice is…
"GRYFFINDOR!" the Hat roared.
The Gryffindor table burst out in loud applause… most of them having already met her and befriended her through the Trio. As she sat down at the table, she felt a prickling sensation at the back of her neck, and she turned around to find the source. Draco was staring right at her! She childishly had a mad impulse to stick her tongue out at him, and suddenly… oh no! it was too late, and she had done it. He glared at her and she sheepishly shrugged her shoulders. She turned back to her food and ate.
When she returned to the Gryffindor common room, she learned about the different bathrooms and even managed to squeeze the Prefect bathroom password from Hermione (Brenda learned to identify the prefects by their shiny badges on their robes and learned that Ron and Draco were prefects too). She then went and unpacked everything, including her broom – the newest model, DragonFlame 9000. She was very grateful that the Canadian Ministry of Magic had sent mentors to her family so that they would understand all aspects of magic. She had discovered a passion for DADA, Charms and Quidditch.
Before she knew it, she was in her four-poster bed, sharing the fifth-year Gryffindor girls' room with Hermione, a girl named Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. She fell asleep quickly – she had a whole new day to look forward to, tomorrow.
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Author's Notes: Okay! MY FIRST FIC EVER IS OUT! weeps with joy Pleaaaaaaaaaseeeee tell me what you think of it. I need to know if it's good, what it needs to improve on, etc. I would TOTALLY LOVE any reviews, good OR bad.