Chapter 1

Codes and Keys

Chapter 1: Ellie

Like many other stories, this one begins with a girl. Ellie Landon to be exact. Standing at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters with luggage that was bigger than her! Tugging nervously on the hem of her shirt, she stretched herself as tall as she could to search for her few friends, but at the great height of five feet, three inches, the task proved itself to be very difficult. After a few minutes of tirelessly trying to see over people's heads, Ellie sighing and grabbed the handle to her luggage. "C'mon Cookie," she said, motioning to her ferret. After tugging lightly on his leash, she sighed and put him in her sweatshirt pocket instead. The animal immediately curled up and fell asleep.

Succeeding in getting her luggage safely aboard the Hogwarts Express, she climbed aboard and began the search for her friends once again. Ellie walked down the isle slowly, glancing this way and that way to see if any of her friends her in the small compartments. Just as she reached one of the last ones, Cookie began to squirm in her pocket. Taking him out, she held him to her chest as she went to find a compartment that wasn't full. The first one she checked was a disaster. "Hello?" she asked, ducking her head inside. "Can I-"

Before Ellie could finish, one of the girls screamed in horror. "Is that a rat?!"

Ellie blinked a few times before speaking. "N-no, it's a-"

"Never mind! Get that thing out! Now!" another girl screamed, while the third one covered her face from the sight of Cookie. Immediately, Ellie slammed the sliding door shut. From behind it she could still hear the three girls making retching sounds from Cookie. Ellie looked down at the small ferret resting against her chest, shaking from the screaming that had just occurred. Ellie walked away from the compartment and looked down at Cookie.

"You're mot a rat..." she mumbled, bouncing him a bit. The next compartment she stopped at, she prayed wasn't the same as the last one. Ellie sighed before sliding the door open. Instead of a compartment full of girls, this one was full of Seven Years. Before she could ask to sit with them, a horrid smell reached her nose. Ellie covered up her nose quickly, backing away from the compartment. "Oh Merlin!" she yelled against her hand as she jogged away from the smelly, laughing boys.

After many other attempts of trying to find a seat, Ellie was on the verge of just sitting in the isle. However, when she reached the last compartment, she decided to try it. What else could go wrong?

Ellie slid the door open, the three people inside looked up at her expectantly. "All the other compartments are full...May I?" she asked.

"Of course," the girl said, moving her heavy looking bag from the seat next to her so that Ellie could sit down. "I'm Hermoine. Hermione Granger." the girl, Hermione, introduced herself. Ellie smiled and shook her outstretched hand.

"I'm Ellie, and this," she motioned to Cookie. "is Cookie." she said, holding him up for all to see.

"I'm Harry, this is Ron...Cookie?" the boy by the window said, motioning to himself and his friend.

Ellie nodded. "Well, when I first got him, he chewed holes in all of my shoes and bit me allot...I really didn't like him, so I named him after something I really dislike. Cookies."

Ellie's face grew red when she was done explaining and realized the three other people in the compartment were staring at me blankly. It wasn't until a few seconds later when Harry broke the silence with a genuine chuckle, relieving me slightly of her embarrassment. "I have an owl, I liked him, so I named him Hedwig." he said, smiling. Ellie laughed a bit, thankful that he was at least trying to make conversation.

Ellie looked at Hermione and Ron. "So...What years are you guys?" she asked, kicking my legs a bit.

"We're all sixth years, Gryffindors actually." Hermione said. "I'd be happy to show you around if you'd like."

"What?" Ellie asked, not understanding what she meant.

"You're a first year aren't you?" the boy, Ron, asked me. Ellie's mouth gaped open like a fish, not knowing what to say.

"I was nervous my first year too, you'll get the hang of it in no time Ellie." Harry offered, Ellie's eyebrows knotted in confusion. It was quiet for a few minutes as she debated on what to say. Ellie noticed Hermione, Harry, and Ron glance at each other, not knowing what to say next, possibly thinking that they've offended her.

"I'm actually...a sixth year myself."

Ron practically spit out the gummy candy he was chewing. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"Not at all. I was supposed to be a seventh year this year, but I redid my fifth year twice. I got swept up in all the Umbridge madness, failing all my classes in the end."

Harry, unfazed, continued. "Right. I think I remember you in my Charms class last year."

"How did you manage to fail all of your classes?" Hermione asked, utterly perplexed at the other girl's story.

Ellie shrugged. "Umbridge took away Cookie and accused me of impersonating a first year. I spent most of my time writing sentences for her."

Harry shuddered the slightest bit, recalling when Umbridge made him write "I must not tell lies", making him use his own blood as ink. Harry glanced over at Ron, who was no longer immersed in his gummy candy that closely resembled a muggle candy called a Twizzler. Instead, he seemed to be interested in Ellie, this small girl who could pass as a child. Maybe it was her round face and large blue eyes that made it appear that way. Regardless, no matter how hard Harry tried to pin point it, he could never be quite sure. Throughout the train ride, the trio bombarded Ellie with an abundance of questions.

"Where did you live before now?"

"How tall are you exactly?"

"Do you have any siblings?"

When the train finally stopped, it was clear that Ellie was glad the questions were over, but pleased that she had made some new friends. When they all got off, Ellie turned to them. "Thanks for letting me sit with you guys."

"You can sit with us to eat too if you want." Ron suggested, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Ellie's face fell. "That would be lovely...But I'm not a Gryffindor. Thanks anyways."

Ron's face fell as well. "What house are you in anyways?" Hermione asked.

"Hufflepuff." Ellie confirmed as Cookie crawled up onto her shoulder. "I really hope we can all still be friends. You know, still talk and stuff."

Ron, Hermione, and Harry all nodded. "Of course. Why wouldn't we be?" Harry asked.

Ellie shrugged. "I don't know. I just...I've seen friends drift apart because of being placed in different houses. It's actually very common."

"I'm sure that won't happen." Harry said, Hermione and Ron nodding in agreement. Ellie smiled the slightest bit and the group continued on their way.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione took their seats at the Gryffindor table after Ellie had found one of her other friends from her own house and sat down with her.

"She was a nice girl, wasn't she?" Hermione asked, making conversation.

Harry and Ron nodded. "Yeah, a little odd though." Ron said, resting his chin in the palm of his hand as he watched the first years file by.

"How?" Hermione asked, her eye brows knotting in confusion.

Ron shrugged. "I dunno. I've never seen a sixth year, an eighteen year old to be exact, look like an eleven year old."

Neither Harry nor Hermione could object to that of course, it was rather odd. Ron and Harry's eyes slid over to where Ellie was sitting. Although they could barely see her through all the other tables, they could definitely tell it was her from by the way she was so much smaller than everybody else.

Harry broke his eyes from Ellie after a few seconds and looked over at Hermione already with her nose in a new book. Ron, however, was still staring at Ellie. Harry still smirked at his friend's possible infatuation, whether he was actually looking at her or just simply staring off into space, with of who he claimed to be an "eleven year old." Even so, Harry lightly elbowed Ron. "Pretty cute, yeah?"

Ron jerked and blinked a few times before turning to his friend and responding. "What?"

Harry, who was still smiling, casually pointed a finger towards a certain Hufflepuff. Ron objected immediately objected and started mumbling about first years and food.

When the ceremony was over and so was the feast, the first years were shown to their dormatories. With Hermione leading the Gryffindor first years, Ron and Harry stayed behind and waited for the Great Hall to clear along with some other students, Hufflepuff was the last to leave. As the two boys got up to leave, Ron shove his hands in his pockets and hang his head low. Harry could tell he was trying to avoid looking at the group of first year Hufflepuffs that passed by. Honestly, Harry did find this behavior odd. It was rare when Ron acted like this. After Hermione had attended the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum, he had spent the next few days with his head low, mumbling about food. Potatoes mostly.

Not wanting to pry, Harry let the matter go and copied Ron's action of shoving his hands into his pockets. They walked back to the dormitories in an awkward silence, eventually, Harry let his mind wander to Ginny.

After Ellie stripped down and changed for bed, she pulled her long, light-brown hair into a bun for the night. The other girls already in bed for the night, she was the last one up. The other girls' subtle remarks and whining gave her the hint that she should probably go to bed soon, lest she want a fat toad in her shoes the next morning.

Quietly climbing into bed and turning off the lights with a flick of her wand, Ellie snuggled underneath the warm covers. As her eyes grew heavy, her mind wandered back to the Sorting Ceremony. She had caught Ron staring at her. Of course it could go either way, Ellie was so excited to have new friends, you could say she got caught staring at Ron through the crowds of students. Ellie was never one for new friends. Constantly being bullied for her size, it can stop a person from being outgoing towards making new friendships.

When the two fifth years' eyes connected, Ellie quickly fixed her slightly agape mouth by biting her bottom lip and quickly turning back to her friends. Her face burned red hot at dinner, and it burned red hot in the dark then, she was just glad no one could see her. Maybe it was just the way Ron looked at her, Ellie was almost positive Ron gave her a half-tipped smile and it made her stomach fill with butterflies.

End of Chapter 1