A/N:I do NOT own Harry Potter, or anything related to the wizarding world of JK Rowlings' creation. I'm just writing fan fiction, here. ^_^ This is for Saki and Alex (the fork!) Love you both. Also, this is my first time posting on here…please don't criticize too hard. I'm looking to improve, though, just don't be incredibly rude!

I sighed and stepped out of the shadows. It was fall, and I was extremely cold already. I probably looked really strange in my winter coat, as everyone else was still wearing late summer clothes. Looking around, I saw ordinary people doing ordinary things. How boring, I thought. Muggles sure do complain a lot, even though most of them are nosy things who do nothing all day…

"Zoey!" a familiar female voice called form behind me. "ZOEY!" She called again, even though I was starting to turn around. When I was looking fully in that direction I saw a tall blonde girl running towards me. She was being followed by my other close friend, Alexandria; who was going at a much slower pace.

"Yes, Saki? It's good to see you." I smiled at my two friends as they caught up to me. "You too, Alex."

"You look very strange with that jacket on, Zoey." was Alex's greeting. "Oh, and it's Lexi." She frowned at me and sighed. This was the official start of her 'it's not alex it's lexi' thing.

"Alex the Fork." I said, crossing my arms and grinning in a very annoying fashion. The thing I enjoyed most about these train trips to Hogwarts (or from Hogwarts to London during Summer) was annoying Alex. She absolutely hates it when I call her Alex, and even more so when it's Alex the Fork.

"I AM NOT A FORK."
"Guys! Can we steal a tank in time before the train comes?" Saki broke in, grinning and bouncing up and down. Saki has tank issues. And by issues, I mean a crazy obsession that scares even her parents sometimes. The only time Saki is allowed in London is when she's going off to school, or on VERY special occasions; let's just say she was marveling over a 'really awesome tank' and ended up not being able to control her magic. No one was hurt, but the Ministry wasn't very happy…

"NO." Alex and I said at the same time, causing both of us to laugh as we dragged our obsessed friend over to the magical barrier.

"Saki-chaaan. Look, the magic wall!" I said, trying to get her to stop ranting about tanks. She perked up immediately and looked from left to right rapidly.

"Is anyone around?" Alexandria asked, shifting the weight of her trunk.

"Who cares? Let's go!" Saki said. She literally pulled Alex and I through the border, and I hoped no one saw us. Even a flash of my coat could have an investigation and the Ministry would be on us like ants to a corpse.

"Ah, finally. Witches and wizards. You know, Muggles are so boring!" I sighed, setting down my trunk and sitting on top of it.

"Watch it, Zoey. You never know who has muggle siblings or parents around here." Alex said in a stern voice. "Even though you are right, still."

"Haha. You said I was right. What time is it?" I swung my legs and pulled on the tiny red plaid ribbon tied around my neck. I always wear this ribbon, no matter what I'm doing.

"Time for you to get a watch!" Saki sang, and sat next to me on my trunk. I rolled my eyes at her, and she just stuck her tongue out. Alexandria was busying herself by reading her Potions book. Somehow, Saki, Alex and a couple other third years got into third year Potions [including me, surprisingly..].

We sat in the sun for awhile, and the Hogwarts Express train finally arrived. The crowds of other students made it nearly impossible to get over there without getting injured, so me and my friends waited. After a good five minutes of yelling, goodbyes, complaints of being smashed, and crying first-years, my friends and I made our way into the train. All of the compartments were either full, or full of people that think we're odd. We walked to the very back of the train, and finally there was an empty one.

Alex and Saki took the seat on the left, and I stretched out on the right one comfortably, taking off my shoes and everything.

"So, what did you guys do this Summer?" I began, pulling at my socks. "I went on holiday to France."

"Explains the accent." Saki said, eying my blue, grey, white and black striped socks.

"Huh?" I blinked, not noticing my voice until she pointed it out. I suddenly felt extremely embarrassed, and shut my mouth. I looked down at the compartment floor, blushing.

"Your voice. I can tell you left the country for awhile, and you tend to pick up accents easily." Saki smiled slightly, not meaning to offend me. "Remember when you were using really bad Engrish?"

"She definitely sounded odd then, didn't she?" Alex smiled too, and I looked out the window, still a bit embarrassed. "Ah, but you use Engirsh a lot too, Saki. I'm the only one who sounds British all the time."

"Touché, my friend. And what are you staring at?" I looked over in the direction Alex and Saki were now looking in. "Lexi, there's no on-"

The sliding door to our compartment flew open, and two voices were heard. One was a girl who sounded stressed and tired, the other sounded like a prat. A tall girl with very bushy brown hair suddenly was pushed into the room, and she turned back towards the door angrily.

"Ron, can't you see?! There are already girls in here. We can't just barge in!"

"There's no other place! Tell them to move." a voice floated in just as angrily.

"You guys can sit here!" I said, pulling my legs closer to me to make room for another person. The girl smiled gratefully and pulled her friend into the compartment with a jerk. The boy was gangly and had bright red hair. He looked very annoyed, and the girl in front of him wasn't helping with his mood. They sat down in between Saki and Alex, and Saki immediately asked them if they knew what FMA is.

A few seconds after the two had sat down, another boy looked in the compartment. He was tall as well, but not gangly or bulky like the red-headed one. When he saw the girl and boy who had just sat down, he smiled and walked in as well. He sat near my feet, which I tried to pull as close as I could without sitting back up.

"Oh, I suppose we should introduce ourselves, shouldn't we?" The brown haired girl said after a few minutes of very awkward silence. "I'm Hermione Granger."

"Sakura Kankura." Saki said, swinging her legs.

"Ron Weasley." The grumpy redheaded boy said, before going back into his stony silence.

"Alexandria Night." Alex smiled slightly at the strangers and went back to looking out the window.

"Zoey Hartley.." I said, trying not to sound odd with my apparently French-English accent.

"Harry Potter." The last boy said, closing his eyes and grimacing, as if awaiting a reaction. After a few seconds of my friends and I not saying anything or doing anything strange, he relaxed.

"Oh, hello, then. Harry, Ron, Hermione." I said, smiling nervously. I was hoping that everyone in here would get along, especially with that Ron looking very irritated. "Say, who are you mad at boy? We're going back to Hogwarts! That's enough to cheer someone up, hm?"

"That cat of hers is a devil." he answered, glaring.

"Crookshanks is not devil! He's just misunderstood!" Hermione cried, holding onto the box in her lap tighter. Ron glared at the box, and clutched at a bulge in his sweater pocket, mumbling something about a Scabbers.

"Uh…" I chewed on my lip, beginning to zone out. I was thinking about what could happen this year at Hogwarts, considering last year I almost blew up a Potion in Snape's face. It was a good thing I'm in his house, or I could have gotten expelled. He was angry, and I did four months of dentention; but it was so worth it!

When I came back down to earth, I noticed my breath in front of me. I shivered, feeling very cold. It was dark outside, and there was a thick fog on the train window next to me. Looking around the room, I noticed that my companions were shaking and could feel this odd...depression (I suppose that could be the word, here) as well.

"Do you guys feel that..? It's cold.." I said, watching my breath rise and disappear. The air seemed to get colder, and I began to feel a weird sadness. I watched my breath, distracted by it. The air was almost heavy with sadness, and very, very cold.

"It's sad.." Saki said. Usually cheerful, her sad tone sent a chill down my spine. I looked around the room, and saw that everyone was shaking. Alex was staring at the door again, with a single tear running down her cheek. She wiped it away defiantly, and glared at the door.

It flew open, and standing there was a giant black shape. It was a creature of some sort, and it was floating. All of the cold air seemed to come from the creature, and the sadness increased when it looked around the room.

I stared at it, wondering what could be under the long black hood. The creature was just staring around the room, and it was getting colder and colder. The creature lifted it's arm up, and the sleeve fell back. It's arm was grey, with black scabs all over it. The skin was rotting away, and looked wet and slimy. It pointed directly at me and Harry's seat, and began to lift it's hood down.

Then Harry began to scream, and fell out of his seat. He was writhing around on the floor like he was having a seizure, and his screams sent shivers down my spine. The creature made a sucking sound, it was hurting Harry…

"GET WAY FROM HERE, YOU!" a male voice shouted from behind the thing. The creature didn't move, and Harry was screaming even louder. "NONE OF US ARE HIDING SIRIUS BLACK IN OUR TRUNKS. GO."

The creature still didn't move an inch. Lights were flickering, and Harry was shaking even more madly. Then a silvery light shot out in the hallway. The creature made a shrieking sound, and flew away. I was able to breathe easier as it warmed up, and I stared at my two friends.

"W-what was that?" I asked, still shivering. My friends shook their heads and shrugged, while Ron and Hermione got on the ground next to Harry. He was out cold, and had stopped screaming bloody murder.

A man ran into the room, then. He looked shaken and very, very tired. Once he saw Harry on the ground, he started pacing around the compartment, muttering about something. The lights slowly stopped flickering, and I was feeling extremely tired. The others were all on the floor beside Harry, but I stayed in my seat.

"Here, take this." The man was trying to pass around chocolate. I took a small piece, and stared at it.

"Pourquois..?" I inquired, turning the piece of chocolate over in my hand. "Uh-I mean..why?"

"Chocolate makes you happy." he answered, taking a piece himself. "Eat it. Now. By order of you new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." He crammed his piece into his mouth, and begna to look less nervous.

I popped the chocolate into my mouth and chewed it slowly. The chocolate didn't really help me much, but it tasted good. Alex was nibbling on hers, and Saki was already back to her cheerful self, with eating just a bite of her chocolate.

"Look, he's coming around!" she said, pointing down at Harry. He was blinking, and rubbing his head slowly. His glasses had fallen off of his face, and he was groping around for them. They lay beside him, broken.

'W-what happened?" He sounded dizzy.

"There was some kind of creature, and when he came in you just.."

"Fell off of your chair and started screaming." Alex finished for Saki, who trailed off. Everyone nodded at him, and the Professor handed him the rest of the chocolate bar. Harry took it, but stared at it in a silent question. I idly wondered if he could even see it, since his glasses were broken.

"You better eat it. He ordered me to." I said, scowling at the man. He looked away, and fished around in his robes some more. He passed another bar of chocolate around, but no one wanted any.

"You. Who are you?" Alex demanded at the man. "I don't trust you. You seem fishy." She had a scowl on her face, and there was a wary sort of anger in her eyes.

"I am Professor Lupin, the new D.A.D.A teacher at Hogwarts." He answered coolly, stffing the chocolate back into his robes. His robes were tattered and in patches, he definitely didn't look like a professor.

"You know all of our past teachers in that position have been evil?" Alex raised one of her eyebrows, and crossed her arms. She tilted her head to the side with a angry questioning look at the tired-looking young man, and he averted his eyes.

"Drop it, Alex." I threw a glare at her, and she silenced herself, going back to her corner.

"You all should change into your school robes, we'll be arriving soon." He said, while walking out the door. We stared at each other for a few moments, but eventually left the compartment to change into our school uniform.

"That was horrible." I said, while pulling on my boots and stretching out on the seat again. I could tell everyone was still shaken up about the whole weird creature of the black lagoon thing.

"Zoey, you're a Slytherin?" Harry asked, as I pulled at my green and silver tie. I nodded grimly, fiddling with my ribbon. I honestly hate being asked that, I mean, really? It's on my tie, why ask? It's obvious.

"I'm not that mean, though. I have psychotic moments of threatening a-and rage and stuff, but…." I trailed off, biting my thumbnail. It's a bad habit of mine, and I am constantly doing this.

"Ah." He said. "I almost got into Slytherin, but I told the Sorting Hat no." He smiled slightly at me, and handed his glasses to Hermione for her to fix.

"That's wicked! I wish I would've done that. I don't think he would have listened, though…I kind of did threaten Draco Malfoy on my first day." I laughed nervously, crossing my arms on my stomach to keep from biting my thumbnails again.

"Zoey, who hasn't threatened Malfoy?" Alex broke in, pinning my hand to my lap so I couldn't uncross my arms even if I wanted to.

"Good point."

"Guys, we're arriving." Saki stuck her head through the compartment door and smiled at us. I stood up, and nodded at my two friends.

Okay Zoey, I thought to myself. Time to put on your game face. You're a Slytherin. Slytherins do not hang out with anyone but other Slytherins. Slytherins are mean, nasty creatures. We serve only ourselves, and care about one thing: superiority to the other Houses.

I walked in front of the people in my compartment, and got onto an empty carriage. My friends joined me shortly, but we didn't speak to each other. No one spoke the for the entire carriage ride, which was short and bumpy. I kept staring out the window up at the giant dark castle which is my home away from home.

Well, time for my second year at Hogwarts.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this, I tried. Gah, please review this, I'd like to know how to make it better! I might not be able to update much, seeing as I am grounded and have convinced my mother that this is a school paper. (Ha. XD)