Chapter 1: The Journey
The sun was blinding as Marissa dragged her trunk through the crowded aisles of the Hogwarts Express. The loud laughter of many groups of students whom had already found compartments with their friends carried up and down the train. Despite the fact that she was now 15, this was Marissa's first time on this train. She was a transfer student Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the magical school in North America. 15 years old and she felt just as nervous now as she did on her first day as a 1st year at Ilvernorny. Marissa had no idea what to expect, no idea what was waiting for her at the new school. She knew that there were four houses just like at her old school, but had no idea on how she would be sorted. Had there ever even been a transfer student, she thought to herself? Surely there must have been in the almost thousand year history of the school. Would she be sorted with the 1st years? Marissa imagined that she would look pretty stupid standing with all of the 11 year old students waiting to find out where they would go.
As Marissa continued down the train looking for an empty compartment, or at least one with some friendly looking people, she couldn't help but notice that a good chunk of them had already changed into their school robes. The patches of each of the four houses seemed to mock her as she passed and Marissa felt even more out of place with her jeans and t-shirt on. As she passed one particularly crowded compartment full of unpleasant looking people wearing the standard black robes, which had a silver, black, and green crest emblazoned with a snake she noticed that they all looked at her and began to whisper and point. What could they be saying? If the look of their faces were any clue it was not good. The next compartment contained a handful of nervous looking younger kids. They smiled shyly and one gave a tiny wave as Marissa walked past.
It wasn't until Marissa neared the end of the train that she found a compartment that only had one occupant. A rather surly looking boy sat alone. He had not changed into his school robes yet and that made Marissa feel slightly better. Even only seeing him sitting down, she could tell that this boy was a fair bit taller than she was. He had long dark brown hair that was pulled back into a loose pony tail. His eyes were light blue and he looked almost sad. When Marissa gave him a small, slightly nervous smile, the boy just shrugged his shoulders and looked down.
When Marissa pulled the door to the compartment open, the boy's head snapped up and he glared at her. "What do you want?" He snapped.
Marissa was taken aback by the hostility in the boys voice. Why would he just snap at her for no reason like that? She looked to the ground and spoke nervously, "I'm sorry to bother you," she said. "It's just that this is the first compartment that was not completely full." Marissa managed to look up and meet the aggressive eyes of the boy who was still glaring at her. "Would it be okay if I sat with you?"
The boy frowned and looked back down at the floor. "Why on earth would you want to sit with someone like me?" He asked and Marissa noticed a catch in his voice.
Marissa shrugged and walked into the compartment shutting the door behind her. "I don't know," she said sitting down across from the boy. "Everywhere else seems to be full and I do not really know anyone."
The boy eyed her suspiciously before turning to stare out of the window. "Fine," he said. "Just try not to make it a habit of being seen with me. It'll be bad for both of us." His voice had a sharp edge, but Marissa thought that she could hear a hint of sadness in his tone. "Are you new or something?" He asked. "You don't look like a 1st year."
This was what Marissa had been afraid of. Being the new person scared her. Most of the people her age going to Hogwarts had probably known each other since they first started school. Marissa was the outsider. The new person, the girl starting Hogwarts in her 5th year of magical training. "I...I am new," she said shyly. "I transferred from Ilvermorny. That's in the United States if you didn't know."
"I know exactly where it is, thank you." the boy snapped. "So that explains why you would want to sit with me. You must not know who I am, or at least not know who my parents are."
That statement caught Marissa off guard. Why would it matter who he or his parents were...unless. No, it couldn't be. "I don't know anyone here," she said sadly. "As I said, I am new. My family took a job with the Ministry and so we moved and here I am. I'm Marissa by the way. Marissa Watson." She held out a hand to the boy.
"Jacob Taylor," said the boy looking at Marissa's hand but not shaking it.
The train whistle sounded loudly and they started moving slowly. Neither Marissa nor Jacob said a single word as the train slowly started to gather speed as it departed the station. Soon enough the sights of the city vanished and were replaced with green rolling hills and mountains. It was an uncomfortable silence in the compartment as the laughter and shouting of other students carried up and down the train. It seemed that everyone was excited to be heading back to school. Everyone except Marissa and her moody compartment mate. A few people ran up to the compartment door and made rude gestures at Jacob. He was not very well liked it seemed. Part of Marissa understood why. He had not been very welcoming towards her, which she also understood. Marissa was new and in a way she had kind of forced her company on him. What else could she do though. She couldn't very well stay in the train corridor the entire journey.
Though neither of them were saying a word to the other, Marissa could not help but notice that Jacob seemed to keep glancing at her when he thought that she was not looking. It made her slightly uncomfortable, almost like he was sizing her up. Thoughts of finding a new compartment began to float through her mind. She didn't want to seem rude though. Marissa was probably just letting her imagination run wild.
After about an hour Jacob stood up, grabbed something out of his trunk, and left the compartment without a word. He returned a few minutes later wearing his school robe. It was emblazoned with the silver and green crest. Below the crest the word Slytherin stood out. Marissa knew that was one of the four Hogwarts house and that it was one with a bad reputation. Could that have been what Jacob meant when he warned Marissa not to be seen with him? She also noticed that he was slightly red in the face and seemed to be a bit winded. It looked like he had just been running. What could he was been running from though?
Marissa decided that it would probably be best if she changed into her robes as well. She grabbed a pair out of her overly stuffed trunk along with her wand and told Jacob that she would return soon before letting herself out of the compartment.
The train corridor was crowded and when people saw her exit the compartment a number of them whispered among themselves. A few people pointed and made comments just loud enough for Marissa to hear. Some were inquiring as to who she was, while others were questioning why a sweet looking girl like Marissa would want to sit with someone like Jacob. When she reached the washroom, Marissa slipped in quietly and quickly changed into her plain black robe and slipped her wand inside the inner pocket before slipping back out in the corridor. As Marissa made her way back down the train to her compartment more whispers followed her.
She had almost made it back to the compartment when Marissa felt someone grab her by the arm. Instinctively she reached in her robe and gripped her wand before turning around. It was a female with short, choppy black hair who had grabbed her. When she realized that Marissa was gripping her wand she let go and quickly held her hands up. "Hold on," she said panicked. "I mean no harm. I just wanted to talk."
Marissa slowly relaxed her grip on her wand. She couldn't explain why she felt so jumpy. Marissa noticed that the girl was already in school robes with the Ravenclaw crest clearly shown. Thoughts of how she would be sorted into a house entered her mind once again. "What did you want to talk about?" She asked the Ravenclaw girl.
The girl smiled and let go of Marissa's arm. "I saw you coming out of Taylor's compartment and was just curious as to why you would want to sit with someone like that?" She glanced around nervously as if she thought that Jacob may be listening in. "It's just that his parents were Death Eaters," the girl from Ravenclaw whispered the final two words as if they were swear words.
Marissa's heart dropped. She of course knew all about the Death Eaters and Voldemort. They were known throughout the whole wizarding world. Voldemont's reign of terror, while confined to Great Britian for the most part, had been heard of throughout the whole world. He had been the most powerful Dark Wizard since Grindelwald. Just hearing the words Death Eater made Marissa's heart start racing, but just because Jacob's parents were part of them, did that mean that Jacob was one too? Surely not, he was just a kid after all. Marissa could not be certain though.
The Ravenclaw girl was still talking, but Marissa was only half listening. Her mind was reeling. "You don't have to sit with him you know," she was saying. "You're more than welcome to join me and my friends. I'm Abby, by the way."
"Marissa," Marissa said introducing herself with a nervous smile. "And yeah, maybe I will join you. I need to get my things first," she said squeezing past Abby and her friends. Marissa had to know. She had to know if the first person that she had met on her way to school was the offspring of Death Eaters. And if he was, what did that mean for Jacob? Did he follow his parents views? Was he a supporter of the now vanquished Dark Lord? Marissa wanted to make friends at her new school, but could she really be friends with someone that came from a background like that?
When Marissa reentered the compartment Jacob spoke sharply without looking at her. "Did you get lost or something?" He asked.
Marissa sat down without a word. She didn't know what to say. What was there to say? She wanted confirmation of what had been told to her by the Ravenclaw girl, but had no idea how she could possibly bring it up. So they sat there in silence as the hours passed by. At one point Jacob pulled out a newspaper and began flipping through the pages. A plump friendly witch pushing a trolley full of sweets came by mid afternoon and Marissa bought several pumpkin pasties to snack on as she had not eaten anything since dinner the night before.
As she was eating her way through her third pastie Marissa couldn't take the silence anymore. She looked over at Jacob and cleared her throat. He ignored her. She coughed and he finally put down his paper and locked eyes with her. "Is it true?" Marissa asked quietly, not taking her eyes off of him.
"I'm sorry?" Jacob said sharply, but with a hint of panic in his voice. "Is what true?"
Marissa took a deep breath and prepared herself for whatever came. "Are your parents Death Eaters?" She asked. Her voice cracked and she could feel her face starting to flush.
Jacob's face turned bright red. His face was full of fury. Marissa thought for sure that he was about to attack her and she instinctively reached for her wand. Jacob plunged his hand into his robes before regaining control. He put his head down between his knees and sighed. This in turn caused Marissa to relax slightly and she left her wand alone. "It's true," he said voice full of shame. "They are...well I guess they were, since he is gone now."
"And you?" Marissa asked hesitantly.
Jacob's head snapped up and his face flushed once again. "Hell no!" He said sharply. "My damn parents tried to bring me into that circle a few years ago and I told them to piss right on off." He slammed a fist down onto his seat before continuing. "I've witnessed first hand the type of vile scum that those people are. I've seen the horrors that they have committed. When I told my oh so lovely parents that I wanted nothing to do with that lot, well, they basically shunned me." Jacob turned and stared out of the window. He genuinely looked and sounded sad about this.
"What do you mean they shunned you?" Marissa asked, he voice soft.
"Well I basically spend all of the school holidays at school, and only go home for summer." He turned to look back at her. "When I am home, I basically stay locked up in my room or wander the streets. I try to avoid them and they do their best to avoid me."
"Oh," Marissa said sadly. She couldn't even imagine what that would be like. She had always been really close to her parents. Sure, they worked a lot, but they always seemed to make time for her. Always asked about her time in school and regularly sent her owls.
Before long the sun had started to set the train started to lose speed. They must have been nearing Hogwarts. The very thought made Marissa's heart start to race. What was about to happen? Her thoughts turned to Abby, the Ravenclaw girl who had warned her about Jacob. Would she be mad that Marissa didn't come to sit with them? As the train finally came to a stop Marissa stood up and deposited the wrappers from the pumpkin pasties that she had earlier in to the bin. She grabbed her trunk, but Jacob casually informed her that it would be brought to the school for her. He quickly left the compartment, leaving Marissa to figure out what to do on her own. Taking a deep breath, Marissa walked out of the compartment and slowly made her way off of the train and on to the station.