A/N: Here you guys go! This was the poll winner! I own nothing, but I hope you enjoy it just the same! ;)
The moment Lunette Gosmark stepped through the doors of the dining hall at Hogwarts, everyone knew that she was not normal. Everyone had filed in and had sat down at their respective tables, waiting for their dinner to arrive and eyeing Dolores Umbridge, the woman that had ruined their lives for the first month of the school year, when the hall doors swung open and Mr. Filch stepped inside.
At that moment, Fred and George Weasley had been poring over another drawing for some wacky spells and gadgets they thought they could build while Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Harry Potter were discussing the latest Qudtitch match against Hufflepuff. None of them paid attention to the ratty groundskeeper until he had meandered past them, huffing as he climbed the steep steps towards the table where Dumbledore and the rest of the teachers sat.
"What do you think he's going to do, Fred?" George asked, having looked up from his scribbling just in time.
His twin looked up eagerly, jerking his head slightly to get his bright red hair out of his face, and was in the middle of answering his twin when he heard, "What's taking him so long? Oh I hope Albus doesn't turn me away." The Weasley boy gave a start, whipping his head around to see where the voice had come from, but no one else even looked up.
"Fred?"
Could it have been in his mind? Fred realized that it must have been. But whose thoughts would he be able to pick up? Such a thing had never been reported before.
"Fred!"
The shout, right next to his ear, startled him out of his musings and he turned to glance at his twin. "Sorry," he mumbled, and then he glanced over at Dumbledore, whose eyes were growing larger by the minute. "Perhaps Filch's cat's gotten herself petrified again," he suggested, giving his twin a lopsided grin that he hoped would keep George from suspecting that there was a problem.
George, however, noticed that Fred was not as enthusiastic as he should have been over such a suggestion, but wisely let the matter lie. He turned away from his brother and glanced over at Harry, who was watching them intently, trying to figure out why George had been shouting and Fred hadn't been responding. Harry raised an eyebrow and George answered him with a flippant shrug. He had no idea what was wrong with Fred, but when they were alone in their room, he was going to find out.
Fred, in the meantime, had been straining to hear what Dumbledore might have been saying. If only he had had his extendable ear at the moment! It was another work in progress, but tonight would have been a brilliant time to test it out. Cursing his rotten luck on that point, Fred managed to catch a snippet of the conversation over the din of the busy room.
"Of course!" Dumbledore said, his tone eager, yet haggard at the same time.
"Her bag-" the noise of the hall blocked off part of what Filch was saying, but Fred noticed that Dumbledore nodded.
Without further ado, Filch turned and began his strange walk, half walking and half jumping, down the long hall, disappearing behind the solid doors once again. Fred looked around and noticed that most people in the hall hadn't even noticed Filch's presence, and if they had, they were brushing it off as grounds business. However, Fred had a feeling that whatever news Filch had brought with him, it was much more interesting than Hogwarts grounds business.
Sure enough, only a few minutes had passed before Filch walked back in, casting a glance over his shoulder, as though he was waiting for someone…or something. Fred's attention snapped towards the caretaker and George, seeing his brother's change of attention, turned as well. They were soon mimicked by the whole hall, which had gone deathly silent upon Filch's second visit. Everyone seemed to be well aware that such behavior from the crotchety old man was not normal.
"Well come on!" he cried, his temper flaring and making his weathered face contort into a snarl.
He took a step forward and the whole hall now saw what, or rather whom, he was trying to coax into the hall. A girl stepped in after him, and immediately, Fred tensed. Her face was skeletally thin, like the rest of her body, and there were streaks of blood as well as dirt all over her face. A scar slashed its way across her forehead, still an angry red color crusted with blood that hinted that her injury was recent. A purple and blue bruise on her cheek stretched all the way across her high cheekbones, and she immediately threw her dirty, stringy hair across her face in an effort to hide her injuries as well as her embarrassment.
She was wearing what could only be termed as rags since everything was a dirty color that reminded Fred of splint pea soup. As the girl took a step forward, her knee almost buckled and her face blanched even paler. It was then that he saw the swelling of the joint and surmised that she must have dislocated it. She bit her lip to keep from making a noise and took another step, her eyes narrowing almost undetectably at the pain the action caused her.
She was studying the floor intently as she continued to walk up the long aisle towards the teacher's table, ignoring the stares, and quite a few whispers from the Hogwarts students. Fred found that he couldn't take his eyes off her as she clenched her fists in order not to show pain and mounted the stairs one by one to reach Dumbledore, who immediately came around the table to put his hands on her shoulders.
"Welcome, Lunette Gosmark," he said, staring right at her. She nodded back to him, tipping her head slightly. He stretched his hand out over the gathering of students and said loudly, "We all welcome you to Hogwarts."
He tilted his head and Professor McGonagall jumped slightly as the sorting hat appeared on her empty plate. "If you would be so kind, Minerva," Dumbledore said, motioning to the hat. "Lunette will be joining us at Hogwarts from now on." With dignity and quite a bit of curiosity, she grabbed the tip of the hat and strode forward to place it on Lunette's head. Fred, from his seat, couldn't help but notice that the new girl, Lunette, flinched slightly when the hat settled on her head.
Immediately, the tip of the hat stood straight at attention, and then cocked to the side. "Hm," the sorting hat murmured. "Very difficult." Murmurs were heard throughout the school. The only other time the sorting hat had had trouble discovering a person's destined house was when Harry Potter had come to school five years ago. "So many emotions. There is courage, yes, but there is sadness and fear." The tip of the sorting hat tilted to the other side. "There is caring and a lot of love, compassion and wit, and a good bit of cunningness." The girl's hands twisted in her sad attempt of a skirt, and Dumbledore placed his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. "What to choose," the sorting hat mumbled. "What to choose. Not Slytherin. You don't have the character. Hm. Better make it…Gryffindor!"
No cheering was heard in the hall. In fact, no one moved. Lunette's eyes flittered around, and she jumped once more when the hat was taken from her head. She turned to Dumbledore and he smiled at her. "Congratulations, my dear! Gryffindor it is!" He placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled once more. "However, I do believe that I'd like you to sit with me for tonight." The tension in Lunette's shoulders immediately disappeared and she nodded slowly as Dumbledore led her over to an empty chair he had transfigured behind her back.
When Dumbledore came back to sit next to Lunette, he clapped his hands and the feast for that night appeared, but Fred didn't even notice. All of his attention was fixed on this mystery girl who seemed to be the one whose thoughts he had heard. He watched as her eyes widened as food appeared on her plate and she looked at Dumbledore, as though asking permission. In return, Dumbledore nodded kindly and motioned for her to eat. Lunette bent her head towards her plate and did not look up again. Her entire focus was on fitting as much food into her mouth as she could without looking rude.
"Earth to Fred," someone said, waving their hand in front of Fred's face. Fred jumped and turned to find his twin looking at him curiously. "Sorry," he muttered, and absentmindedly reached for a chicken leg.
George raised his hands, surprised at his twin. "It doesn't make a difference to me whether you eat or not, but since you were telling me two hours ago that you were starving, I guessed you'd be the first one to pounce on dinner." He raised an eyebrow. "Something you want to share with us?" he asked, indicating The Golden Trio and himself.
Fred shook his head and grabbed a roll. "Nope," he said without looking up. George shrugged and everyone went back to eating, casting secret little glances Fred's way when they thought he wasn't looking.
When he was sure that his friends had exhausted their annoying checkup glances, Fred sneaked another look at the girl that had captured his curiosity so completely. She seemed so fragile and small, flinching each time Dumbledore's hand came in too close proximity to her. Fred's heart cried out to comfort her and he immediately thought, "I wish I could help her!"
Immediately, the girl stiffened, a piece of chicken hanging halfway out of her mouth. She raised her eyes ever so slowly, sliding first over her plate, then over the table, and then the floor, all the way until her eyes rested on Fred's gaze. Her eyes seemed to widen almost an imperceptible amount and then Fred's vision went completely black.
"Fred!" George cried as his twin slumped into him. His arms shot out, catching his brother just as Fred slipped to the floor. Almost as instantly as it had come, Fred's eyes shot open and he sat up so quickly that the world began to spin, a rapid, dizzying collage of anxious student's faces swimming before his eyes.
He turned to look at Lunette and found Dumbledore gently pounding on her back as she choked on the piece of chicken she had been eating. From the wide, uncertain look in her eyes, Fred guessed that she had blacked out as well. "I'm okay. Just a little dizzy from hunger," he told everyone, but no one believed him this time and George kept a firm hold on him for the rest of the meal, giving him no chance to glance at Lunette.
The questions that kept invading Fred's mind now were, "Am I really okay? Can she hear my thoughts? What just happened?"
He knew that his reaction had something to with Lunette's strange appearance at Hogwarts and his apparent link with her. There was something about her, something that was going on now that she was here, and he was determined to find out. After all, he was Fred Weasley. He could do it.
A/N: I hope you liked this first chapter! Please review and tell me what you think! Have I captured your interest enough? LOL! :D
