Chapter one
Hogwarts was once something that sixteen year old Annabelle Evans had only dreamed about. A magnificent, magical school she had only read about in her mothers old school diary. She had never thought, not even in her wildest dreams, that she would be sitting in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express; on her way to one of the most famous of all magical schools.
Annabelle was home schooled in witchcraft and wizardry at a young age by her fathers brother Jordan and Jordan's wife, Mae. Her father Jack and her Mother Rose had been killed sixteen years previous, three months after she had been born. And had been raised by her aunt and uncle ever since. Finally, on her fifteenth birthday, her aunt and uncle had decided to let her attend Hogwarts once the new school year started.
Not long after the train had begun to move was there a knock on the door. "Come in" Annabelle said quietly. The door slid open to reveal four students, two boys and two girls.
"Hello, you don't mind if we join you, do you? Every where else is full" asked a girl with curly, brown hair. Annabelle shook her head.
"No, not at all." with that, the four other Hogwarts students entered the compartment and sat down. "I'm Annabelle, by the way, Annabelle Evans." At the mention of her last name, something flashed in the boy with dark, unruly hairs eyes. Sparkling green eyes that reminded her of her mothers.
"I'm Harry Potter" the boy said after a moment or two. Then he pointed to the girl with curly brown hair . "That's Hermione Granger. Next to you is Ginny Weasely, and this is Ron, Ginny's brother."
"Nice to meet you guys." Annabelle smiled, having the feeling she had just made her first friends at Hogwarts.
"We've never seen you around school before, ar you a transfer?" Hermione asked, Annabelle simply shrugged.
"eh, you can say that. I was home schooled until last year, by my aunt and uncle." she stated.
"That's cool… so do you know what house you're going to be in?" Ginny asked. Annabelle shrugged again, but smiled.
"It could go either way, honestly. My mother was in Gryffindor, but my father was in Slytherin." Hermione let out a small gasp. "Don't worry, he wasn't bad. He loved my mum too much to follow Voldemort. Which I ended up bad for them, I guess" Annabelle let out a shaky laugh at her last statement. She was half expecting her new friends to pry, and was extremely relieved when they didn't. "What house are you guys in?" she asked, trying to take her mind off the subject of her parents.
"Gryffindor" Harry said with a grin "I'm actually the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, Ron's our Keeper." Annabelle nodded her head, trying to think of something to say. "Do you play Quidditch at all?" Harry asked.
"Nah, never really got into it." Ron and Harry looked at her as if she had five heads. "I mean, don't get me wrong. I have a lot of respect for the sport and the people that play it and all; I just… I don't know. I guess its just not my style is all."
Harry and Ron shrugged and nodded in unison, agreeing with what the younger girl was saying. "So, Annabelle. What year are you going to be in at Hogwarts?" Hermione had asked over a moment of silence.
"I'll be in my sixth year. That's where the sixteen year olds are, right?" Annabelle asked, still trying to understand the full extent of Hogwarts.
Hermione and Ginny chuckled in a caring manner and continued on. "Yea it is.." Ginny said helpfully. "You're in the same year as me. Hermione, Harry and my git brother are in their seventh year" Annabelle nodded in understandment.
An hour and a half had passed and the students were all chatting and joking as if they had all known one another their whole lives.
"Soo…." Harry said after a slight moment of silence. "Annabelle, tell us about yourself"
Annabelle hesitated for a moment, unsure of what the boy who shared her mothers eyes wanted to know. But the girl shrugged off her insecurities and smiled. "Well," she started "my full name is Annabelle Rose Marie Greywolf Evans. I've lived with my aunt and uncle since the day I was born pretty much. Ever since the day my magic started to show itself, my aunt and uncle have been teaching me. It was wandless, of course, at first. Then they day I turned eleven, they took me to see Mr. Ollivander. Umm…. I don't know, my favorite colors are green, black, silver and blue. I have a dog named Hellina. I have five body piercing, my ears three times, my tongue and my belly button. And I plan on getting my first tattoo either this summer or on Christmas break. Back home I was known as sort of a rebel." Annabelle chuckled lightly as she twirled a strand of jet black hair around her pointer finger.
"Really?" Hermione asked "you seem pretty sweet and innocent to me."
"Well, now that I'm going to Hogwarts, I kinda have to be. I've wanted to come to Hogwarts every since I was a little kid. But my aunt and uncle never let me go. Now that I've finally convinced them, I have to be a 'good little girl' or they'll pull me out of Hogwarts and get home schooled again"
"Well, here's to hoping." Harry chuckled. Annabelle smirked.
The group of Hogwarts teen chatted for the next hour and a half, until the train finally stopped. As they filed off of the train, Annabelle's heartbeat quickened, nervousness dampening her palms and drying her mouth.
'it's no big deal, Belle.' she told herself 'it's just like any other day' Annabelle tried to reason with herself, but to no avail, nervousness was still slowly enveloping her body.
Once she was out in the crisp night air, Annabelle inhaled deeply and instantly started to calm down. Annabelle watched as her friends piled into horseless carriages with the other older students and as the first years piled into rickety old boats, leaving Annabelle alone with an older woman dressed in forest green and emerald robes.
"Miss Evans, I am Professor McGonagall. I will be your transfiguration teacher. Now if you will follow me to the teachers staff room, I will sort you into your house before the first years so that you can enjoy the feast to its entirety." The woman said, Annabelle simply nodded and followed her teacher into the castle.
Once inside the warm stone room, Annabelle took a seat in one of the many black wing-back chairs that adorned the staff lounge. And almost immediately an old wizards cap was placed on top of her head.
'hmmm, interesting. Very interesting indeed. And here I thought that your cousin was going to be the only one in his family I would sort, until he himself had children of his own. Now I see, I was wrong' echoed the old hats voice inside her head.
'I have no idea what the hell your talking about you dam hat. Just sort me and be done with it already' Annabelle retaliated. The hats voice simply chuckled.
'well now, lets see' the sorting hat pondered over Annabelle for a moment, then shouted for Professor McGonagall to hear "Slytherin!" with that Annabelle removed the hat from her head, handed it back to the teacher, and the two of them walked back down to the great hall for the first years to be sorted.
Professor McGonagall pointed to the table farthest to the left, indicating that it was the Slytherin table.
Annabelle nodded and walked over to the table, sitting between two boys, one with fair skin and platinum blonde hair and the other with jet black hair and piercing blue eyes.
"well, hello there beautiful. What's your name?" asked the black haired boy.
"My name is Annabelle, and yours?"
"Blaise Zabini, next to you is Draco Malfoy."
"Pleasure." was Annabelle's response as she bit into the warm bread.
"The pleasure is ours."
"I'm sure" Annabelle muttered as she scanned the Great Hall for Harry and the others.
As Dumbledore began the introductory speech, Annabelle caught Harry's striking green eyes and grinned. She still didn't know why, but she felt drawn to the Potter boy. But as they're eyes locked, a look of sadness flashed over Harry's face. And Annabelle knew why. She was a Slytherin and her new friends were Gryffindor's.
She didn't know why, but seeing Harry's sadness made her sad as well. Disgruntled, Annabelle broke from Harry's gaze and kept her head down.
"Aww, what's got you down, love?" Blaise asked her with a grin, slinging his arm across her shoulders. Annabelle merely shrugged it off
"my best friends hate me. Not that its any of your concern." she muttered.
"Awww, and why would anyone hate some one as gorgeous as you?" Draco asked with a smirk
"Cuz I'm a Slytherin." the girl sighed. The two boys didn't press the issue any further, choosing to change the subject.
"well, love, there's gunna be a start of term party in the common room tonight, and you are obviously more than welcome to join. That is, if you are not busy."
"well that sounds great and all." Annabelle said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "but, I have a meeting with Professor Dumbledore after the feast." she said as she continued eating her dinner, stealing glances of the Gryffindor table as often as she could.