Maude Moonshine stepped through Platform Nine and Three Quarters and perused her new surroundings. This year her family moved back to England, and Cackle's Academy was just too far for her to travel, as her mother put it. She saw all the groups of young friends approach each other with warmth and a strong sense of faliliarity that made her feel like the odd man out. She watched a dirty blond haired girl and a brunette hug, and she thought of herself and Millie.
She knew that this year was going to be a disaster. She didn't know anybody, and most of these people, as she was sure of it, belonged to cliques. She already missed Ms. Cackle's warm smile. She knew that her headmaster would look and act somewhat like Grand Wizard Hellibore, straight-backed and pompous. She felt like a canary in a flock of eagles.
Miss Hardbroom assured her that Hogwarts would give her the finishing touch that she needed to reach her peak. She told Maude that she wasn't a bad student at all, that in fact, she was impressed with her skills as a young witch. She said that she regretted her social selection and that matriculating in a more rigid environment would straighten her out, set her on the right path.
Ms. Hardbroom, formidably stone-faced wonder, Maude was sure that every teacher would be just like her. She shuddered to think on it and boarded the train. She looked among the faces of others and decided to sit in a compartment where she saw a boy with red hair sleeping. He wasn't' aware of her, and she would certainly take care so as not to pay any attention to him.
No sooner did she sit down than did a boy with black hair and green eyes come and yell," Wake up, Ron!" The red head boy didn't stir.
She jumped, and the boy with black hair gave her a passing glance.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to give you a start," he said.
"It's okay," she said shyly.
"Your accent is different."
"I'm from Canada. My family just moved here. I'm Maud Moonshine,"
"Harry Potter."
"Nice to meet you."
"Same here."
"It looks like he's not waking up. Let me try."
Maude shook him, and he turned to the other side and resumed his nap.
"Still asleep, I see. You'd think that he'd stay awake after ten hours of sleep," a girl with bushy hair said sternly. She sounded a bit like Ethel Hallow.
"Hermione, this is Maud Moonshine."
"Oh, hi, I'm sorry; it's just that he asked me to help him finish his summer essay."
"Oh...." Maud said looking at Ron.
"Where are you from Maud"?
"Cackles Academy in Canada. My family is from England, but my mom is from Canada. My grandfather recently took ill, so we had to move back."
"You don't seem too happy about coming here."
"No... it's not that. It's just that I miss my friends."
"Well, you'll make some new ones at Hogwarts."
Hermione looked around and said, "Oh, no, here comes trouble."
Maud stuck her head out to see what it was about. She saw a blond boy with two black- haired lackeys.
"Oh look, it's Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber. Where's Tweedle Dumbest"? Malfoy asked silkily.
"What do you want now, Malfoy"? Harry asked in a tired voice.
"To see what you were up to, Scarhead, and to see the new student that my cousin Ethel told me about. It's funny, she said that you'd be from a family with far too many kids and far too little money which if I add up makes you almost as poor as Weasley there."
"Well, that explains why you resemble a stuck up pig, like your stuck-up, over pampered, and snotty-nosed cousin Ethel." Maud said in a tone that suggested spitting a bad taste from her mouth.
"You know I should warn you that I don't take kindly to people who insult my family."
"You started it, and besides, it's true. You seem to like picking on people just as much as Ethel did. You let these two follow you around as bodyguards so you won't have to eat your words when it's time to rise to the occasion, just like Ethel did. So if you stuck your nose in it, it's not my fault."
"I warned you. Now I'll just have to show you," he said through gritted teeth pulling his wand out.
Harry and Hermione reached for their wands, but got a surprise when Maude waved her hands. Malfoy and his friends floated away like they were streaks of cloud.
"There, that should take care of him."
"You know wandless magic." Hermione said.
"Yes. We didn't use wands at Cackles."
"Two years ago, he could've taken me. It's fortunate that I've mentally mastered my spoken spells and don't need to say them out loud as often as I used to."
"I'd love to learn a few of those kinds of spells," Hermione said.
"What's going on"? Ron asked half yawning.
"You just missed it. Maude here just took care of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle with a wave of her hand," Harry said.
"Maude"? Ron asked looking quite perplexed.
"Yeah. Pleased to meet you."
Fred and George came down to greet Harry and the others and to show them their new joke stuff. Harry and Hermione grinned at each other mischievously.
"Hiyah, Harry, Hermione. We've just developed new products. Would you like to see"? Fred asked.
"Yeah. Oh, Fred, George, this is Maud Moonshine. She's new."
"Oh, hi. We're the local entrepreneurs of the satirical arts. If you ever need anything in the joke line, see us."
"I'll be sure to." They reminded her of Fenny and Gris in a way. They were confident and cool, yet knowledgeable in a masterful fashion.
"Ey...what are you smiling at"? George asked playfully.
"Oh... you two remind me of my two friends Fenella Feverfew and Griselda Blackwood. They were cool like you guys, and they had all the latest gadgets. "
"You hear that, Fred. Maud here's cut us to the quick. She's just told us that we're not original. She says that there're two out there just like us."
"Well, it looks like we have to prove our reeputations, defend our honor."
"Oh, no. I'm sure that you two are quite unique."
"Well, far be it for us to pass over a challenge. Give us a month and you'll forget all about Ferny and Gruz."
"Fenny and Gris. It's too bad that they're not here. You all would get on together nicely."
They gad on as the time passed until they reached the Hogwarts Platform. They got off, and Maud stared at the giant who approached. Hagrid took offense and asked whether or not she'd ever seen a giant before. Harry apologized for her and introduced her.
Maude apologized saying that she'd read about giants but had never seen one before. They went into the Great Hall. Maude got sorted into Gryffindor. She was about to
cry; because, she had her grandfather's old HufflePuff tie, and he wanted her to be sorted into his former house. She cheered up when she saw her friends from the train.
She told them about her granddad, and she soon learned from their comments that not being sorted into hufflepuff was quite the blessing. She also remembered that her grandfather had a tendency to stretch historic details.
When the feast ended, they adjourned to their rooms. They accompanied each other to Potions class. Maude could see that Malfoy, Fred, and George were not the only things that were similar to Cackles' staff and students, but that her Potions Master was a male replica of Miss Hardbroom.
She got her first four potions correct, but when he asked the ckass to make the restorative potion, she instead made the elixir of life after she dropped her flax seed. She would have gotten away with it had Malfoy not 'accidentally' tripped while bringing his solution to the Professor Snape's desk to be tested for accuracy. He toppled her cauldron, and all the quills turned into birds, and the desks and paper back into wood. This most unwelcome miracle cost her a week's detention with professor Snape and twenty-five house points from Gryffindor. She remembered being sore at Millie for the Hellibore disaster, and knew how much Hermione must've hated her right about now.
"He's like that with everybody unless you're in Slytherin, "Hermione said.
"Yeah, if it hadn't been you, he'd have found someone else to pick on," Ron said.
Maude reported to the dungeon for detention. When she approached the door, Professor Snape stood waiting for her with his arms folded just like Miss Hardbroom.
'Oh, Millie, you have no idea how much I miss you,' she thought as she bit her lip shyly mrking the stern teacher's steady gaze.
"I'm curious, Miss Moonshine. Where did you learn to make the' elixir of life'potion? I think that it's a little advanced for you."
"My teacher Miss Hardbroom taught us."
"Indeed. Why is it that you didn't heed my instructions"?
"I dropped my flax seed, sir, and I knew that the 'elixir of life' was as close to your restorative as I could get."
"Deception, Miss Moonshine"?
"No, sir. I didn't intend to deceive you, sir."
"Then what do you call not telling me about your flax seed, and then trying to concoct a solution that you thought that I wouldn't be able to differentitate, Miss Moonshine"?
"Ingenuity"? Maude remarked shyly.
"Ingenuity. Well... we'll see how ingenious you are at handling the doxie problem in my cellar. I've laid the ingredients out for three types of doxy repellants. You'll make them and after you've used them, you'll tell me which one is the most useful in a twenty-five hundred word essay. Oh, and don't bother to get anyone to help you with the ingredients. I haven't taught these potions to anybody here."
With that, Professor Snape left her in a cold and forboding silence that made her feel more anxious as each moment passed. All she had was her prior knowledge to keep her company. She never thought that she would say it, but she'd have given anything for Miss Hardbroom to be there to oversee her in this new venture.