Chapter 1: All Aboard - Special Revised Edition
"Shit," I gasped, stopping mid-stride and promptly turning on my heel. "I forgot to get that new potions textbook."
"Shae, we only have half an hour to get to the train station! We don't have enough time to go all the way back to Flourish and Blotts!" Hermione shouted, exasperated at my forgetfulness.
"Never said you had to come along with me!" I said, already racing down the road.
"Sorry," I mumbled, shoving aside a posse of cackling old witches, who looked at me with disdain. A grizzled old man with dull, rust-colored hair appeared in front of me out of nowhere - he must have Apparated - and, unable to stop, I crashed into him, knocking whatever he was carrying out of his hands and scattering it all over the street. Somehow, I didn't fall, and I stumbled past quickly without apologizing (even if I wasn't in such a rush, things like that just weren't in my nature) as shops continued to whizz past me.
Why was it me that had to be the forgetful one? Always distracted, always too much on my mind. Always worrying about my parents' secret obligations, which new enemies I had made and which I had fixed my relations with, who I needed to get revenge on and which professors I needed to suck up to. Things like remembering which textbooks I still needed to pick up seemed just to get pushed to the back of my head, mere afterthoughts in the surrounding chaos. My life is too complicated. I sighed, wishing I could have it as simple as some of my other friends.
Soon, I had passed Gringotts - but not before sweat was literally dripping down my face, vainly attempting to cool me down in the blistering early September heat. When, at last, I passed Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions, I was raggedly breathing and bent over, hands on my knees. After a few minutes of leaning against the wall of Madam Malkin's, catching my breath, I shakily stood up and stretched, remembering what I had first come here for.
I fast-walked up to the huge bookstore, not forgetting the fact that we didn't have much time to get to the train station. I pushed the door open and strode towards the counter. "Excuse me, where are the copies of Advanced Potion Making?"
The thin, gangly store clerk pointed to a dark alcove in the southeast corner of the room. "Just over there. Sorry, it's a bit dark. We've tried to conjure light and suspend it in the lanterns, but they always tend to go out soon after, and no one has really been able to explain why..."
"It's alright," I said, not really caring about what the clerk was saying and injecting his little speech with my hasty reply. Huge bookshelves towered over me, sort of imposing in their gigantic stature. On any other day, I could have spent hours poring over everything in there, but at the moment, I had somewhere to be - and I had to be there fast. I checked the watch I usually never wore. I had 20 minutes left.
The clerk was right; the corner here was dark. I could barely see a thing. "Lumos," I whispered hurriedly as I crouched down, my fingers running over the titles, at last coming across a very old-looking Advanced Potion Making. "Thank goodness," I muttered. Just as I was standing up, book in the crook of my arm, a strong hand grabbed my wrist and spun me around. I instinctively opened my mouth to yell out, but before I could, another hand clamped over my mouth, cutting off whatever I was just about to shout. As soon as my eyes caught a glint of platinum-blonde hair flashing in the smallest of rays of light beaming from the tip of my wand, I slapped the hands away, instantly knowing who it was.
"Fancy seeing you here, Finchley," he said.
"I could say the same thing, Malfoy."
"That you could."
"Look, Malfoy, let me go. Now." I demanded, seeing as he was blocking my way out. "I sort of have to get to the train station right now."
"Oh, pity you couldn't stay a while and chat with me."
"Yeah, a real pity, Malfoy. You'll have to wait until I'm dead before you have a 'chat' with me."
He smirked, letting my comment go without issue. He folded his arms and leaned lazily on one of the nearby shelves. "Nice seeing you too, Finchley. Thanks for the wonderful greeting."
"You're welcome," I yelled back, while paying my 5 sickles to the clerk. The white-haired boy just shook his head, smirking all the while.
That marked the end of my encounter with the absolute worst enemy I had made during all of my years at Hogwarts.
After jogging in order to exit the shop, I ran without stopping yet again through the streets of Diagon Alley, it only occurring to me once that Malfoy should be getting to the train station as well, although he looked like he had no intentions of leaving the shop in a hurry. "That's Malfoy for you, I suppose..." I mumbled, thinking to myself.
In a few minutes, I found myself face to face with a very angry Hermione Granger.
"You could have ordered a copy and just borrowed one from the potions room until it came in the post! You never think things out, Shae, and I just know there are not going to be any seats left on the train! Why do you have to always..." After a solid 5 minutes of Hermione ranting, and Harry, Ron, and I running with her silently (and about to burst into laughter the whole time), we jumped into the Weasley's vehicle and drove off to King's Cross Station - arriving exactly 2 minutes before the train was scheduled to leave.
"Just go through the damn wall, Ron!" He had never liked walking through the wall between platforms, and now was no exception. "If you're not going to fucking go through the wall, I'm going first."
"Go, then, if you're in such a rush!"
"I think I will, actually," I said, too annoyed to laugh at Ron's childish fear. Before he had a chance to say another word, I was already sprinting towards the wall, pushing my trolley far ahead of me. As I ran, I heard Ron exclaim,
"Fuck you, Shae."
This time, I laughed a little. I loved mine and my friends' ability to say things like that to each other and still be the closest of companions at the end of the day. Suddenly, a chill crept over me, and I knew I had passed through the seemingly made-of-stone-wall. I breathed in the smoke, feeling at home immediately. "It's good to be back."
Just then, Ron materialized right where I had just been standing, looking shaken and breathing heavily as he always did. "I really do hate that stupid wall."
I chuckled yet again.
"Let's go," I said as soon as Harry and Hermione had joined us. We walked onto the train, dreading the fact that there were probably not going to be any seats left open. We looked into every section, hoping with all of our mights that there would be at least one compartment that wasn't filled yet.
Our hopes were answered.
"Well, that was lucky," said Harry quietly. That was the first time I'd heard Harry speak for quite a while - he seemed to have been very quiet lately. Probably because of what happened to Sirius last year. I couldn't blame him, even though I wasn't there to see the killing itself.
We filed into the compartment, thankful.
I hauled all of my bags, books, and other assorted things onto the empty seat next to me and sighed. "Well, I definitely got my workout today!"
"You have no idea how incredibly lame that sounded," Harry said with a grin.
I shoved him playfully. "Not as lame as your untied shoelaces and the Gryffindor badge you're always itching to put back on."
Just then, the compartment door slid open to reveal a sleek figure wearing all black.
One with platinum-blonde hair.
"Well, look who made it just in time for the train to leave? The Golden Trio and their moronic friend, Shae."
Harry, Hermione, Ron, and I looked at each other with dread.
All were aboard the Hogwarts Express.
