"Are you almost ready? I've got the car running outside and your bags are in the trunk."

I took a deep breath and slowly released it before I nodded my head.

"Yes, daddy. Just give me a second."

He smiled at me before turning around and walking down the stairs towards the door.

I looked at myself in my vanity and leaned forward, fixing my lipgloss.

I wanted everything to be absolutely perfect for my first day at my new school.

I stood up from my seat and walked over to the wall, shutting off the light before looking behind me one last time and closing my bedroom door.

I rushed out the door and sat in the front seat.

"I promise you'll be alright."

"I know, I'm just a little nervous is all."

My dad gave me a look as if he didn't believe me.

"Okay, well, maybe a lot nervous."

"You'll be fine. Stop worrying."

"I'll try."

As I said goodbye to my father at the train station a wave of fear washed over me.

I'd always suffered from shyness and was not looking forward to having to meet new people.

I was instantly very appreciative of my mother who had previously taken me to the train station earlier in the summer to show me where in the hell platform 9 ¾ was. I walked straight towards it but had to stop due to the entrance being blocked.

"Excuse me?"

The group of people turned around and looked at me as if I was some kind of freak being they'd never seen before.

"Um, could I get by please?"

The two identical boys moved aside to let me pass.

"Thank you."

I rushed through as I pulled my bag along behind me.

As soon as I reached the train I was aware of the cliques of people that surrounded me.

I handed my bags to the porter and walked up the few steps into the train.

As I walked down the aisle I silently prayed that I would be able to find an empty compartment.

To my immense relief I was able to locate one about half way down the train.

I slid the door open and closed it behind me before taking a seat next to the window.

As I peered outside I saw the two identical boys emerge from the platform along with four other people.

I frowned as I realized that other than the first years I was most likely the only person here who didn't have a single friend.

I was startled as the train began to move and began to laugh at myself for being so jumpy.

I turned to my right as the door was slid open and revealed two girls who looked around my age.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know anyone was in here. Would you mind if we sat with you?"

It took a moment for me to think of an appropriate response, "sure. It's fine."

I became very nervous and placed my hands into my lap and began to fiddle with my fingers.

The second girl who walked through the door sat down beside me and outstretched her hand, "I'm Angelina. You must be new."

I looked down at her hand for a moment before I shook hers with mine.

"Hey, yeah I am. My name's Elena."

She pointed towards the other girl in the compartment, "this is Alicia. We're both in fifth year. What about you?"

I became excited on the inside to know that at least I at least kind of know some people in the same year as me.

"Same as you."

Alicia looked at me and opened her mouth to talk, "how come you're just starting at Hogwarts now? Did you move from another school?"

"I actually went to Beauxbatons for a while but I got tired of it."

"Really? How come?"

"To be honest I just felt out of place there a lot of the time. Plus I wanted to be closer to home."

They both nodded at me before the door slid open again, revealing another girl who introduced herself as Sarah.

"It's nice to meet you."

I released my hand from hers before leaning back into my seat.

"We thought you'd be with Fred and George."

"I was but then Oliver came in and Katie was all over him. I just spent the whole summer having to listen to her talk about him, I wanted a chance to get away."

"Who's Oliver?"

The three of them turned to me and began to laugh.

Alicia reached over and patted my knee, "sorry. I almost forgot. He's the quidditch captain and in seventh year. You'll meet him later, and Katie, I'm assuming."

"Oh, okay."

"Hey, do you know what house you're in?"

"I have no idea, no. Why? Are all of you in the same house?"

"Yeah. We're all in Gryffindor. So hopefully you get in there too."

I gulped, "I hope so."

I breathed a massive sigh of relief as the hat declared that I would be placed into Gryffindor.

I jumped down from the chair and walked over to the table where Alicia had saved a seat for me.

I smiled at her, "I really hate being on display in front of everybody."

"Don't worry, you looked great up there."

I looked across the table at one of the identical boys and laughed, "um, thank you."

Alicia placed her hand on my shoulder and introduced them as Fred and George Weasley.

"They're in fifth too."

"Oh, nice."

I felt someone sit down beside me. I looked to my left and couldn't help but smile. I tried my best to hide it but I'm really not sure if I accomplished that.

"Hi."

He laughed and reached his hand out to grab a drink. "Hi. I'm Oliver."

Damnit. The one Katie likes.

"I'm Elena."

"I know."

I scrunched my eyebrows together, "you know?"

He laughed again as he took a sip and placed his drink down onto the table.

"I just watched you get sorted. Remember that part where your name was called?"

I instantly felt like an idiot and moved my hair behind my ears, "Oh. Right."

He smiled at me, "it's okay. Don't worry about it."

Throughout the rest of dinner I found it hard to not stare at him.

I tried my best not to but I found it to be very difficult and I was hoping that no one else had noticed it.

"Come on, Elena. We're going to our house now."

I looked towards Sarah and nodded, "okay."

I stood up from my seat and followed them towards the door.

Sarah linked her arm with mine as she pulled me through the halls and towards the Gryffindor house.

As she uttered the password I made a mental note that I really needed to remember the password for future reference.

"Holy shit. This is amazing."

She laughed at me and lead me up the stairs towards our room.

"Your things are over there, I think, next to your bed."

I walked towards the bed situated beside the window and opened my trunk.

I picked up a pile of clothes and began to unpack.

I sighed once I was finished and sat down onto my bed.

"So, what do you think of it so far?"

"It's alright. It's usually hard for me to start at a new place."

"How come?"

"It's really hard for me to talk to people if I don't know them. I've struggled since I was younger."

"Seriously? I hadn't noticed."

She closed her dresser drawer and walked over to me, "come on. I'm sure everyone else is downstairs."

I followed her back down the stairs and found everyone sitting on the couch and around the fire.

I saw a few faces that I hadn't seen before but I was quickly introduced to all of them.

There were two other people my age named Lee and Katie as well as three younger people named Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Hello, everyone."

There was a collective group hello as I watched Sarah sit down next to Angelina.

"Elena."

I looked towards the fire and saw Oliver sitting close to it.

"Come sit."

I smiled greatly on the inside as I approached him and sat down.

Everyone started having their own mini conversations with one another as I sat in silence for a few moments.

"I hope you like it here."

I looked up at Oliver, "Same. I'm sure I will, though."

He pointed towards himself, "how could you not what with me being here and all?"

I grinned, "you're right. You really do make the place."

"Without me Hogwarts isn't Hogwarts."

I gigged and looked down at my hands.

"You should come down and watch practice tomorrow."

"Oh that's right. They said you're the captain."

He let a proud smirk appear on his face, "that's true. So you could come watch me in action. I'm sure you'll be very impressed."

"You're obviously the modest type."

He let a laugh escape from his lips before he leaned into me, "it'll be fun."

I looked at his eyes and noticed that they were a deep brown.

"How can I resist?"