I do not own Harry Potter in any way, shape, or form. All rights belong to J.K. Rowling.
Forgive any mistakes, I haven't written anything in 4 or 5 years, so bear with me please.
Chapter 1
Origins
I stood on the platform, looking at the train in awe--platform nine and three-quarters, to be exact. The shiny red train was enormous, but I supposed that it would have to be to accomodate all of the people that have to go to this school. I was still in shock of what had happened only weeks before; my parents dying, being brought here by an old man with a beard that someone was going to trip on if he didnt trim the dang thing soon.
I supposed that's why I was so calm about it all. The shock was still very much in my system. I looked around at all the kids with their parents, who were saying their tearful, but temporary, goodbyes. A sharp pang of sadness cropped up in my chest. I rubbed at it a little, trying to ease the ache, but to no avail. The ache still persisted. I turned away and walked on to the train, hoping to distract myself.
Since I wasn't used to trains, being from Texas and all, I was a bit surprised at the compartments. I was expecting something more like the seating on an airplane, with rows of seats. I started peeking into compartments, trying to find one that was empty. I wanted to wallow in my misery alone. Most of them were already full or had at least one person in them. Finally, I found one at the end of the train with no one in it and quickly went into it.
I stared out the window, but I quickly changed my mind when I saw all the parents still on the platform, looking for their children on the train. The ache was just getting worse. Instead, I looked down and took out my iPod and earbuds. I scrolled through music until I found something I wanted to listen to, then stuck my earbuds in and closed my eyes. With the music playing loudly in my ears, I didn't notice when the compartment door slid open and someone came in. Thus, when I opened my eyes and there was suddenly a boy sitting across from me, looking at me, I gasped and grabbed my chest.
I started apologizing as I pulled the earbuds from my ears. "Sorry, I didn't hear you come in." The boy was peculiar, with a sharp face and even sharper hair. White-blonde hair, just like mine. Though, his was slicked back, and he had gray eyes--very much not like my deep, emerald green eyes.
"It's alright. My name's Draco. Draco Malfoy," he said in a strangely condescending voice. He stuck his hand out for me to shake.
I stuffed down my internal reaction of sighing and rolling my eyes, and instead shook his hand. I didn't really want to make friends, at least not yet. I wanted to be alone, but instead I said, "Shaelynn Savela. Nice to meet you."
"Your hair's really nice, Shaelynn."
"Thank you," I said genuinely, smiling. Maybe he's not so bad, I thought. My hair was really straight, but I couldn't tell if his was or not because of all the hair gel. "No, it's not dyed, just like I'm supposing yours isn't."
He smiled back. "Never has been, never will be. Though, everyone always thinks that it is."
I laughed. "Mine, too! Everyone's always asking what business a child has to dye her hair, and I'm just like 'it's not dyed, though.' Usually people don't believe me, since it's such an unusual natural color."
He chuckled a little with me. "Exactly, they always think I've been playing with magic, dying my hair. At least, until they realize who I and my parents are." He paused, looking at me with a strange expression for a second before it cleared. "What's that thing you have in your hands, the one you had in your ears?" He seemed honestly curious, which I questioned for a moment, since this was fairly old technology. I had assumed everyone knew of iPods by now.
"This is an iPod, it plays music. I can play games and stuff on it, too, but its main purpose it to listen to music," I said matter-of-factly, not much emotion in my voice.
He nodded, narrowing his eyes at me. "It's a muggle device, correct?"
I stared at him for a second, forgetting that "muggle" was a term used by the magic inclined to refer to the non-magical people. As soon as I remembered, I nodded. "Yeah, my parents..." I hesitated, then cleared my throat. "My parents bought it for me last year."
"Your parents are muggles?" he said with a tone of disgust.
I thought I might've misunderstood his tone. Why would them being muggles be a problem? "Yeah, I suppose so. Is there a problem with that?"
He wiped his hand on the seat next to him. "I would say so, you filthy Mudblood."
"I'm sorry? What the hell is a 'filthy Mudblood,' and why the hell is my parentage a problem for you, buddy?" I said, my voice full of venom.
This time he smirked at me, and it irked me quite a bit. My eyes narrowed and my mouth settled into a firm line. He started to explain, "A Mudblood is what you are, idiot. Someone with muggle parents. In other words, your blood is dirty, tainted with that of," he sneered, "non-magical people."
I glowered at him, sitting up a little straighter as I put my iPod and earbuds in my pocket. "And who are you to judge me and my blood? A doctor? Has this been medically proven, that my blood has dirt in it?"
Draco looked confused for a split second, then covered it up with a smirk. "I'm a pureblood. I don't need a doctor-whatever that is-to tell me that your blood is absolutely filthy, while mine is clean and pure. I come from a long line of only witches and wizards, while you come from a long line of filth. Obviously."
I raised my eyebrows. "Are you high or something? Who cares what our parentage is; we're both here because we both have magic, and I'm willing to bet that I have just as much as you, you absolute blockhead. We're here for a magic school. Seriously." I just watched with the same expression as Draco's face got redder and redder with each word I said. I had made him quite upset, it seemed.
"How dare you talk to me like that, you filthy little Mudblood! You should treat your superiors with respect!"
"Listen, sweetie, you seem nice and all, but I would just love it if you'd get the hell out of my compartment, capiche?" I retorted, starting to pull out my iPod again. I was getting tired of this jerk and his tirade of supremacy.
"No, you listen, Mudblood. You get out of my compartment! I am your superior, after all!"
"I was here first, and it took me a bit of searching earlier to get an empty compartment. I'm not moving. If you're not, either, that's fine. Stay, by all means. I don't really care anymore." I looked up at him, catching his dumbfounded look, as if he had never been defied so many times in a row, let alone from someone he believed he was far above. "Besides, what kind of insult is 'Mudblood'? It's really terrible, it's not that hurtful. Apparently you purebloods could use a little muggle wit to come up with some new, not-so-lame insults."
As the boy was about to retort, the door slid open, revealing two rather large boys and a small girl with an upturned nose. The girl looked at me with distaste.
"Who is this, Draco?" she asked, sounding dangerously on the verge of a psychotic break in which she killed everyone she could get to.
"Just some filthy Mudblood who won't get out of my compartment, Pansy." The girl nodded and walked in, sitting directly beside Draco, a little too much in his personal space, if his face was anything to go by. The two boys stepped into the compartment, but didn't sit, seeing how I was in the middle of the other bench, with one of my bags strewn across the seat. One of them dared to squeeze beside Pansy, next to the window, but the other was left standing.
"Oh, are you still on about it being your compartment?" I rolled my eyes. "I was here first, for one thing. Another thing, I don't feel like moving. In fact, neither does my bag." I adjusted my bag on the seat and laid down, using it as a pillow. There was eye contact between Draco and I the whole time.
The boy who was still standing shifted nervously, looking a little panicked, as if he had no idea what to do. Pansy looked at me, curled her lip in disgust, and said "Where does someone like you get off talking like that to people like us?!"
I shrugged. "I'm sure you've all noticed by now that I don't have an English accent, nor Scottish, Irish, or any of the other places in Europe. I'm from the United States, where everyone is treated equally. Also, I'm from Texas. You know what they say." I looked the girl straight in the eye. "Don't mess with Texas."
As Pansy was quivering in fear, Draco laughed. "No wonder you're so thick, you're from the States! It all makes sense now."
I sat up quickly. "Did you just call me stupid?" I glared directly at him this time.
"See, there she goes again, having to ask to be sure of the insults," he smirked, not even deigning to talk to me.
I settled into a very calm state of anger. My glare dropped, my expression flattened and emptied, and my shoulders went back so I was sitting up straight."You're making a mistake, screwing with me. I may not have been raised in magic, but I'm willing to bet that I could still give you a run for your money."
"You probably couldn't even hurt a fly with your stupid, little Mudblood wand," Draco said, getting a little angrier.
I smirked. I hurt his pride, I thought. That will be his downfall. As I pulled out my wand, I said, "Don't regret this later. I mean, you will, but you should still think this through before you decide to do something stupid."
Draco looked at my wand, held loosely in my hand and pointed down. He pulled out his own wand and pointed it straight at me with an obviously firm grip, his arm outstretched; this meant that his wand was basically right in my face. I put my wand up, as well, though it wasn't as close to him as his was to me, seeing as I was a bit shorter than him. I glared at him. He glared back, then opened his mouth to say an incantation, "Loco-"
I was quicker though, and cut him off. "Impedimenta!" He got knocked back into the bench so that he was sitting down. I smirked victoriously. He glowered at me, and I shrank back a little from the force of it. Now, I thought, he's really pissed.
The other kids tried to help him up, but he just shoved them off. "I'm fine! Get off me!" He got up and pointed his wand at me again. "Locomotor mortis!"
I quickly brought my wand back up. "Protego!" I shouted, but only managed to weaken the curse as it passed through the flimsy shield I had made. My legs locked up tight, and I fell back onto my own bench, very uncomfortably. I glared at Draco as he smirked, happy with his own little victory.
"Come one guys, let's find a less filthy compartment for the rest of the trip," he said. They left me there, and he was the last one to leave, casting me one more condescending glance before shutting the door.
I laid there for a few minutes, since I didn't know the counter-curse. I had only studied bits and pieces of the spells while I had been waiting to come to the school. Thankfully, my shield had weakened the spell enough that it wore off in about five minutes. Once the curse had worn off, I locked the sliding door, got comfy lying down on a bench, and looked at my wand in wonder. It was a beautiful wand, and I did like it very much, though at this point it was fairly plain. I was hoping I could put more intricate designs on it as the years went on. My wand was fir, twelve-and-a-half inches, with dragon heartstring core, and a hard flexibility. The old man who had sold it to me, Ollivander, had said that it took someone with a very powerful personality to weild and bond with a wand like this. I shrugged, thinking, Whatever that means.
I spent the rest of the trip to Hogwarts laying down and wondering at this new world that I had been thrust into. The magic was amazing, and I was looking forward to learning more about it and how to use it. I closed my eyes and the boy's face and surprisingly pretty eyes flashed through my mind, and I told it to shut up so I could focus on the new magical world and all it would entail.
