The grey eyes stared up at the empty sky that mirrored their pigment almost exactly. It was an awful day, one full of humid and cold air supporting clouds pregnant with rain that just wouldn't fall. On top of this already depressing atmosphere, there was a thick fog clinging to any horizon to which one looked, so that the tops of the rolling hills that surrounded the speeding train where barely visible. A wisp of wavy blonde hair fell into the young girl's field of vision, separating her from the heavens she found so enthralling. Her hand reached up and tucked it neatly behind her ear without her having to even command it to do so. It was quiet. Aside from the occasional squeaking of her shoes against the leather seat from her adjusting her cross-legged position every few minutes, virtually no noise could be heard. She suspected that everybody except for her was talking animatedly with old friends in their own compartments, but she couldn't hear anything from her own little cubicle, where she sat alone. Now, a few garbled words reached her ears from under the compartment door. She pulled her legs up so they were in front of her and she hugged them, resting her cheek on her left knee. It was lonely and she wished she'd gotten up the courage to speak to somebody back on the platform, before it would have been awkward to intrude on people already settled into their spots with their friends. Slowly, she drew the lower of her two full, red lips into her mouth, biting it lightly. It was a bad habit but one that she'd gotten so accustomed to that she did it unconsciously. It was so boring on that train, and so cold and lonesome. Slowly, and without notice, her eyes drifted closed and her body relaxed.
-
"Do you even realize what you are doing to us?" A very old aristocratic woman shrieked from a heavily-padded armchair near a lavish fireplace. The flames from the mantel created dramatic shadows across her face that made her appearance even more frightening. "You had no right! None whatsoever! Look at her! LOOK AT HER!" The elderly woman kept yelling as she pointed toward a very scared little girl with powerful grey eyes sitting in the corner of the room, shivering despite the large fire that filled the room with warmth. "SCUM! Do you hear me? Do you?!"
"How dare you?!" A man's voice enraged replied as he walked over to the child and picked her up, stroking her light blonde hair.
"How dare I?" The woman chuckled sarcastically. "You should be ashamed." She muttered. "What do we need another mut like her in the world for, anyway? We were separated for a reason!"
-
Suddenly, the girl was wide awake again, the horrid red of the fire soothed and washed out by the weak grey sunlight coming through the window. She could now hear excited chatter outside her compartment. When she focused her eyes very hard, she could start to see a large black silhouette of a castle in the distance through the twilight fog. There were bright lights illuminating most of the windows, and she could tell even from the distance the train was at that it would be warm inside. Despite her slightly sour and ostracized mood, excitement and nervousness filled her. It wasn't just that the only castle she'd ever seen in person was Buckingham Palace, and the size and majesty of this building itself filled her with awe, it was something that burned to know what was inside, wanted to become acquainted with this beautiful, mysterious place, despite the fact that she was new and didn't know anybody.
It seemed like hours before the shining train suddenly screeched to a halt, and the girl rushed out of her cubicle as soon the grounds outside of the window stopped moving, her large trunk in hand. Dozens of other students rushed by her, all in their black uniforms with badges on the front. When she saw that the students were evidently supposed to have changed, dread filled her. After standing in shock for several minutes, she ran back into her compartment, flinging open her suitcase and rummaging through all her personal belongings to try to get her uniform out. A slight feeling of regret pulled at her when she thought about the expectations she had when packing her bags, that the next time she would open them would be near her new bed, when she would have plenty of time to sort things out and get dressed at her own pace. Now, she was throwing the robes on haphazardly, hoping that nothing was being put on backwards or forgotten. By the time she'd scrambled back out of the tiny room, there were only one or two students left in the corridor. After searching for an exit for several minutes, the girl finally clambered out of the train. Outside, it was even colder than it was earlier that day, and the bitter air greeted her like a slap on the face. To make matters worse, it was now nearly pitch dark, and there was nobody on the concrete platform with the exception of an absolutely huge figure whose face she couldn't distinguish. Panic filled her as she realized she had no idea where everyone was or where to go.
The giant man was holding a lantern and bellowing "First years! Over by the lake! FIRST YEARS! Yur over by the lake! Anyone else, ya know where to go! Come on, we 'avn't got all night!"
The girl pondered whether it would be wise to approach the towering figure, but decided that she had no choice out of disparity. Timidly, she approached the man, or whatever he was.
"Um, excuse me, sir." She said in a small voice.
"FIIIIIRST YEARS!" The thing just yelled out again. After waiting several seconds and scanning the train one last time for signs of movement, the man turned around and started walking out toward the lake.
"Sir!" The girl repeated, louder now.
The giant individual turned around as though startled, then finally found the slender girl looking up at him, desperately.
"Sir, I'm sorry. I'm not a first year, but I'm new here, and I don't know where to go." She looked on the verge of tears.
"You go over to the carriages. Better hurry, though. Looks like they'll be leavin' soon." The giant man said kindly as he gestured to the left.
The girl thanked him quickly and hurried away toward the horseless carriages she could barely make out in the distance. By the time she arrived at the small area where the carriages were assembled, there was only one of the elaborately-decorated coaches left. She rushed up to it and quickly climbed in, only to be greeted by about half a dozen surprised faces staring at her.
"Sorry." She panted. "I got off the train late. Mind if I…?" She asked as she gestured toward the one empty seat left.
"Sure." Said a blonde girl that seemed to be older than her. She seemed friendly enough, and her smile was warm and inviting, so the grey-eyed girl took the seat, glad to relax after sprinting up the carriage.
"I'm Katie." The girl with the warm smile said as her new traveling companion got settled.
"I'm Taylor. Stainthorp. I'm a fifth year. I'm new." The girl replied in choppy sentences, her breath still coming in sharp bursts.
"I'm a sixth year. You're not from England, are you?" Katie asked. At that point, the carriage jolted and started to move, despite the lack of anything to propel it forward.
"America." Taylor smiled, glad to finally have somebody to speak to.
"Well, Hogwarts is a great school. You'll love it." Katie replied. "We don't get many Americans around here. Most of them go to Brobelswell, right?"
"Yes, that's where I'm transferring from. There's also the Salem School of Magic, but it's not very well respected internationally. I used to go there before Brobelswell." Taylor said. She noticed several of the other girls in the carriage smirking slightly at her when she said she used to go to Salem.
"How was Salem?" A short, pretty girl next to Katie asked in a snobby tone without even introducing herself.
"Well, I can't say I loved it, but I got used to it in the one year I was there and it was home to me." Taylor replied, trying to keep from lashing out at the rude teenager sitting across from her, who just deepened her smirk.
"So what brings you to Britain?" Katie asked.
Taylor shifted uncomfortably in her seat, and then cast her eyes downward. "Um, family reasons." She murmured, as the elderly woman's "How dare you!" echoed through her mind, sending a piercing feeling through her heart with each reverberation of the cold words. She could feel herself getting hot from all the eyes that were staring at her, wondering what could be keeping her from telling them the whole story. There was a silence in which everybody just kept looking at the poor girl. Even Katie was gazing at her curiously.
"So, Becca, I heard you met up with David Cooper quite a lot over the summer." The girl next to Taylor broke the silence.
The girl called Becca blushed slightly. "Well, I don't mean to brag…" After that, Taylor stopped paying attention and looked out the window. It was then she noticed that it was drizzling.
-
