Before I begin, I would just like to go over two things.

One- I started this at about eleven at night after hiking up to Delicate Arch in Moab and three hours of driving, so if some things aren't compatible with the books, I apologize in advance. If they have no use to the plot, I'll change them, but if they do… well, it's just going to be stuck like that. Sorry.

Also, if this never gets finished… well, oh well.

Anyways, here we go.


Things just weren't going well for Carroll Kelling that day. What, with the heater breaking down (which meant a cold room), her sister using up all of the hot water, and setting off the smoke detector because she burned her toast for the fourth time that week, she was just not having a good day. Thank god she would be turning seventeen in less than two months and be able to enjoy all of the perks that came with it, such as…

1. Using magic to make her room nice and warm when she woke up (stupid furnace)

2. Using magic to make her shower nice a reasonable temperature next time someone used up the hot water (ahem, Margie!)

3. Never ever burning another piece of toast using the crappy old toaster that was sitting on the kitchen counter. She would almost certainly find a way to burn toast using magic, seeing as she had not been blessed with her mother's cooking skills, but she considered it a victory for now.

Although, if you took the time to scrape the black off of it the toast didn't taste all that bad with some butter and a whole lot of jam. And if you had pretty poor taste buds. Actually, it was more like if you had no taste buds. You know what, screw the toast. Carroll decided to settle for a bowl of Frosted Flakes Cereal instead.

"Carroll, are you down there?" called Marissa, Carroll's step mom of about eight years

"Yeah, what do you want?" Carroll called back up the stairs of their house

"Well, I just took a quick peek into your room and couldn't help but notice the fact that you are not packed completely. Dear, the train leaves tomorrow, not in a week. You should have been packed days ago." Scolded an exasperated Marissa, as she walked down the stairs and into the kitchen

Carroll fought back the desperate urge to yell at Marissa for going in her room and instead settled on rolling her eyes and slamming her bowl of cereal onto the counter as hard as she could before she turned around to give her the stink eye.

"I'm practically done, Marissa!" snapped Carroll

"Really? Where's your wand? Your old text books? Your parchment for writing letters home? Your dress robes? Your school robes? That's right, they are not in your trunk, young lady. I asked you to be packed weeks ago. Your brother and sister are." Countered Marissa sternly

Though Carroll turned around and rolled her eyes again, even she had to admit that Marissa had a valid point. She had been asked to pack up her things last Monday and had been putting it off ever since because… well, just because, now that she thought about it. Although, she highly doubted that Jason's trunk was any better than hers.


"You really promise that you'll write me, Carroll? You aren't just saying it, are you?" asked Jilly, Carroll's five and a half year old step sister

"Of course not, Jilly. I will write you, when I have the time." answered Carroll carefully. She would write when she had time. It would be a lot easier now that she was a sixth year and had her O.W.L.s behind her. Now all had had to look forward to were N.E.W.T.s.

Jilly seemed to accept this response and gave Carroll a hug which was happily returned. Despite her annoyance with her British step mother and all the changes that had come along with her, Carroll, Margie, and Jason were all happy about that one. The one called Jilly.

"Carroll!" came a loud voice from behind her

Carroll turned around to find the smiling face of Alicia Spinnet, a fellow sixth year, grinning at her.

"Hey, Ange! How was your summer?" asked Carroll

"Oh, it was great! We went over to America to watch a quidditch tournament. It was in South Dakota, I think. There wasn't much there, you know. Only some hills with people's faces in them."Mentioned Alicia "From what you described, I was expecting beautiful mountains covered in snow."

"Well, there's never been anything in South Dakota. That's probably why it was there. I lived in Colorado." Defended Carroll loyally

"Hmm" muttered a still skeptical looking Alicia

"Hey, did you hear about Sirius Black?" Said Carroll quickly in a desperate attempt to steer the conversation away from what was looking to become a huge debate of the United Kingdom versus the United States of America

"Yeah, I did! Can you believe it? He actually broke out of Azkaban!"Gasped Alicia

"I know! When I first saw the papers, I didn't believe it, but it must be…" for the next fifteen minutes until the train left for Hogwarts, Alicia and Carroll continued to discuss the mystery of Sirius Black and his escape from Azkaban.


Though the two girls were as different as could be (Alicia was sporty as could be and focused where as Carroll was more of a spaced out "artsy" person) the two had bonded with each other while they were being forced to study non stop for their O.W.L.s the year before. The two of them worked surprisingly well together, all things considered. At least Carroll wasn't a Slytherin, though the hat had seriously considered it (Carroll swore her sister was to blame for this). That would have been a huge disaster. Thankfully, Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs got along quite well, for the most part.

Unfortunately, the "for the most part" didn't always apply to some of the two girl's friends, so there could be more than a few awkward silences per conversation, especially when it came to things like Quidditch, which is what the conversation had just managed to turn to.

"So, how was France, Allie?" asked Katie politely to the Hufflepuff sitting across from her

"Oh, it was lovely! We went to the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre while we were in Paris." Gushed Allie, who was visibly relieved at the sudden, yet highly appreciated, subject change.

"Did you see the Mona Lisa?" asked Alicia curiously

"Of course she did! Who would go to the Louvre with out seeing the Mona Lisa? It's like the Disney World of Art Museums!" exclaimed Mary, who was obviously a muggle born

The whole compartment's faces shifted to ones that would be highly appropriet for a confusing game show.

"What the bloody hell is Disney World?" asked Angelina incredulously, as nearly everyone else's face in the room mirrored her expression of confusion

Before the conversation explaining what exactly Disney World was and why it was every muggle child's dream to visit the amusement park, the compartment door burst open and Oliver Wood stepped in, an expression appropriate to a court hearing on his face.

"Angelina, Katie, Alicia, what are you doing in here?" asked Oliver in a surprisingly strained voice

"Umm… Talking to our friends?" answered Alicia in a confused sounding voice

Oliver motioned for the three Gryffindor girls to come closer to him and hissed in an almost whisper: "Why on earth are you fraternizing with the enemy?" under his breath, though it was clearly audible to every person in the compartment.

"What the hell are you talking about, Oliver?" hissed Katie

Oliver nearly did a face palm as he explained to the three Gryffindor girls that their chosen companions were Hufflepuffs and were not trust worthy because they were so obviously trying to steal their new quidditch strategies.

"Yeah, but Mary is the only one that even plays Quittitch anyways and all she's done is talk about Disney world, what ever the hell that is." Muttered Katie

"Go away, Oliver!" snapped Angelina, but her comment was cut short as the lights flickered a few times, then shut off, and the door slowly creaked open.

The seven people in the compartment had been so caught up with Oliver and his ridiculous accusations that they had failed to notice the fact that the train was slowing down and steadily getting colder and darker.


Well, there's the first chapter. I hope you like it.

Please review. Criticism (constructive stuff, not flames) is appreciated.

Also, thank you to HappyNoodleGirl666 for inspiring me to write HP stuff again. Though you never told me to, you did inspire me to, so thank you.