A train let out a loud whistle and I jumped in surprise, nearly dropping my things. The platform that I was on was extremely loud and had tons of people dressed in varying assortment of clothing. Some wore robes while others wore Muggle clothes. I was standing uncertainly on the platform, this being the first time that I was there. When mom and dad had gotten a job offer to work for the Ministry of Magic they both jumped at the opportunity and moved our family from the United States to London, without taking my opinion on the matter of course. Both of my parents where Auors you see, and since the Dark Lord was back, the Ministry needed all the help it could get. Because they where Auors, my parents didn't have the time to bring me to Platform 9 3/4 so I had to go by myself. I didn't mind this, as I was usually by myself back home.

Maneuvering myself through the crowd I tried my best not to bump into people but sadly I still managed to do it; there where just too many people!

"Hey watch it!" A blonde haired boy snapped at me. "Who do you think you are?"

"S-sorry." I muttered. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Obviously." The boy sniffed. "Just stay out of my way in the future or you'll regret it."

The boy stalked off to join his friends who where standing a few feet away snickering.

Not wanting to make anymore of a fool of myself, I decided to get on the train because it was almost noon. Wandering trough the train I looked for an empty compartment to sit in but I wasn't having much luck. It seemed that every compartment was full of students. Eventually I found an empty one and after setting my things in the luggage area, I settled down and didn't even have a second to settle in before the door to the compartment opened to reveal the blonde haired boy from earlier.

"Oh jeez." The boy said to his friends. "Look it's that Mudblood again."

"Excuse me?" I said. "What did you just call me?" I knew what to term 'Mud-blood' meant and did not enjoy being called one since I was the exact opposite.

"Are you deaf? I called you a Mudblood." The boy said.

"For your information I'm not a Mudblood." I snapped. "I happen to be from a well known Pureblood family."

"Oh do you now?" Blonde boy raised an eyebrow. "Would you care to share your name?"

"Only if you share yours." I snapped back.

"I'm Draco Malfoy." The boy said. Oh, well that explained a lot.

"Emmalyn Knight." I said.

"What kind of name is Emmalyn?" Draco sneered.

"It's my name dumbass." I glowered at him.

"What did you just call me?" Draco said, stepping into the compartment.

"Does it really matter?" I asked. "What are you even doing here?"

"You're in our compartment." Draco snapped. "Get out."

"Well I don't see our name on it." I replied. "I suggest that if you want to sit here you'll have to ask nicely."

Draco gritted his teeth. "Get out of here. This is where we usually sit."

"Oh, what a bummer." I said. "You'll just have to sit somewhere else. Change is good you know."

"Can we sit here?" Draco asked. I could tell that I was killing him to even say those two words to me. What was this kids problem?

"Ask politely. And use please. That word can get you very far in life you know."

"Can we sit here?" Draco hissed out. "Please?" He practically spat the word out.

"No." I said. "You're acting like a jerk."

Draco made a move towards me but one of his friends held him back.

"Come on man," He said. "It's not worth it. You can get her back later. You're a Perfect remember?"

Draco threw me one last glare before leaving with his friends, slamming the door to the compartment closed. I let out a sigh and hoped that no one would bother me again for the rest of the trip. The door opened again and I groaned.

"What do you guys want now?" I said, getting irritated. I glanced at the doorway to find... not Draco.

"I'm sorry?" A boy said peering in. He was wearing hipsterish glasses and had short brown hair with slightly longer bangs. "Am I bothering you? I can leave if you want me to."

"No." I said. "I thought that you where Draco."

"You though that I was Malfoy?" The boy said in surprise entering the compartment.

"Well yeah..." I said scratching my head. "I mean I just told him to get out and he seemed like the type of person that doesn't take kindly to people doing that. I thought he was coming back to pick a fight."

"You told off Malfoy?" The boy said in surprise. "It's about time someone did. I'm surprised that Professor Dumbledore made him a Perfect in the first place. He's a git. I'm Alex by the way."

He held out his had and I got up to shake it.

"Emmalyn."

"Pretty name." Alex said grinning at me.

"Thank you." I said sitting back down.

"No problem." He said, sitting down next to me.

"You're from the States aren't you?" He asked.

"How'd you know?" I asked suprised. "Is it really that obvious?"

"Kinda." Alex said. "But not in a bad way."

"Oh." I said. "Yes im from the States."

"What's the wizarding school like there?" Alex asked. "I've heard rumors about it but I haven't really tried to learn more about it."

"Well." I said. "It's a lot like Hogwarts. We have four Houses, Horned Serpent, Wampus, Thunderbird, and Pukwudgie. However, it's also very different. Unlike Hogwarts we are not allowed to take our wands home with us during break. Rather, we have to leave them at school until we graduate. Only after that can we take our wands and keep them for good."

"Wow." Alex said. "That sounds like it'd be hard."

"Not really." I said shrugging. "It's to help us make sure that we don't take our magic for granted. And not to use it against the No-Magis."

"No-Magis?" Alex asked confused.

"I mean Muggles." I said blushing. "I'm still getting used to the terms you guys use here."

"It's fine." Alex said. "I've never understood why we called them Muggles, No-Magi stands for no magic, right?"

I nodded.

"That makes a whole lot more sense than calling them Muggles." Alex said. "So what House where you at the American wizarding school?"

"It's called the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." I said. "I was a Horned Serpent."

"Interesting." Said Alex. "What House do you hope to get into once you get to Hogwarts?"

"I don't know." I said shrugging. "Ravenclaw looks like it might be interesting. So does Gryffindor."

"I'm a Gryffindor." Alex said proudly. "I hope that you get into it."

"Yeah." I said. "That's be nice. I wonder if I can guess what house I'm going to be in. The Houses at Ilvermorny have to be at least close to those at Hogwarts considering our founder went there."

"Well you said that you were a Horned Serpent, right?" Alex said. "I hope that you're not in Slytherin. Not that I'd ignore you if you do get into that House."

"No." I said shaking my head. "I don't think that I'd get into Slytherin. Just because Horned Serpent's mascot is a snake doesn't mean that it has the same qualities as Slytherin. Horned Serpent House actually favors scholars. So It'd be most similar to Ravenclaw."

"That's interesting." Alex said. "So what do you think the others would be similar to?"

"Well," I said. "Pukwudgie is said to favor healers and the students that are in that House are usually sweet and timid, so I'd say that it'd be most like Hufflepuff. Wampus and Thunderbird are harder to figure out though."

"Why?" Alex asked.

"Because they are very similar. Thunderbird favors adventurers while Wampus favors warriors. Gryffindors tend to be brave, while Slytherins tend to be shrewd and cunning. Hmmmm..."

I thought about to for a while.

"I got what's wrong!" I said after a minute. "I'm only thinking about the traits, not what each House represents."

"Isn't the traits what the House represents?" Alex asked, turning to face me. He'd been sitting there quietly beside me looking out the window.

"Not necessarily." I said. "Each House from Hogwarts, for example has a specific element that aligns with it. Gryffindor is fire, Slytherin is water, Hufflepuff is earth and Ravenclaw is Air."

"I did not know that." Alex said sounding impressed. "I wouldn't be surprised if you became a Ravenclaw with all the knowledge you have."

"Thanks." I said. "But anyways, at Ilvermorny the Houses aren't based off of the four elements. They're based off of the mind, body, soul and heart. Horned Serpent is based off of the mind, Thunderbird after the soul, Wampus after the body and Pukwudgie after the heart. I think based off of this I'd say that Gryffindor is like Thunderbird and Slytherin is like Wampus."

"You're very smart Emmalyn." Alex said with a smile.

"Emma, please." I said. "It's what my friends call me."

"So we're friends then?" Alex said in surprise.

"Why not?" I said shrugging. "You're the first person that has been nice to me so far."

"Oh," Alex said. "I forgot to ask you what year you are."

"I'm a Fourth year." I said.

"Oh." Alex said, his face falling. "I'm a Fifth year. I can still help you if you need anything."

"Even if I'm not in your House?" I asked.

"Even then." Alex said. "What House you're in shouldn't determine what friends your supposed to have."

"Truer words have never been said." I replied.

"Crap." Alex said frowning. "I forgot that I was supposed to meet up with the other Perfects in there compartment to talk about this upcoming year."

"Don't worry about it." I said. "Go ahead and go. I'll see you later, right?"

"Yeah." Alex said getting up and walking towards the door. "Well it was nice meeting Emma." He said turning around. "I look forward to getting to know you better."

"Same to you." I said, watching him leave.

I stared out the window as the landscape rushed past. It was getting darker out so we must've been close to Hogwarts. I actually had never though about what House I might end up in once I got there; talking to Alex got me thinking. I hoped that I would get put into Gryffindor so I could hang out with him more. He was cute.

Woah there. I thought. You just met him and you've got a crush on him? So what if I did? He was good looking and really nice. There wasn't much harm in liking him. I just hope that I don't make a fool of myself next time I see him.