Standing beside the large scarlet steam engine as it puffed smoke, I watched as everyone passed by in a frenzy. Parents were fussing over getting the first years on the train, and wizards were flooding in through from platform 9 3/4. Some students were hugging their Friends that they hadn't seen all summer. Normally my parents would be gushing over me and my little brother, Alexander, leaving for school, but this year would be completely different. This year, we no longer had dad, mom was too busy working and I had a secret I wish I had never learned.
Now that Alex was a third year, he didn't need his big sister looking after him, so he took off with his friends the minute we stepped onto the platform. I stood in the same spot for nearly twenty minutes, twirling my long blonde hair between my fingers, and reading the latest news report about Sirius Black escaping Azkaban.
"Alanis." I spin around at the shouting of my name. Suddenly I'm squished between two very tall, slender, warm bodies making me an Alanis sandwich.
"Georgie." I swiftly squeeze the handsome redhead to my left. "Freeed" Then the identical one to my right. "I've missed you two."
"I do believe she's starting to figure us out, dear brother." Fred says as he leans back from the hug.
"Nah. Just a lucky guess…" George smirks.
"What no love for me?" Angelina chuckles as she stops in front of us with her arms crossed over her chest. Her dark skin was glistening making it look as if she just came from the spa. Knowing her, she probably did.
"I want one too." A voice came from behind us. I spin around to see my beautiful brunette friend, Alicia standing behind me with Lee at her side. His hair was tied up in his usual dreadlocks, and he looked a bit taller than last year.
"Leash." I bring her in to a bone crushing hug just like the twins had done to me. "You look good."
She steps back, and examines me from head to toe. "Whoa. You look different."
"Yeah." Lee coughs as he stares with his mouth wide open. "Even hotter than you were last year." Lee has always been the one to speak what was on his mind. No matter how awkward and weird it was.
"The summer did me well." I shuttered at the thought of what actually happened over the summer. It most definitely didn't do me good. Quite the opposite, but I smiled anyway.
Mrs. Weasley gave us all hugs and wished us luck, before kissing the Twins, Ron and Ginny on their cheeks. "I expect you all to behave this year." She mumbles as she hands Ron his rat that he always seems to loose. "And don't lose him."
"Make sure you write to us this year." Alicia's parents said as they hugged her goodbye. Waving to me as she walked towards the group again.
After the final goodbyes we stepped on the train. I was the last on, but as soon as I step up I feel a pull at my bag. I turned around only to see what or whom had snatched my bag. "What do you want Regan?" I huffed as I pulled my bag back from the middle aged man.
His brown hair was starting to grey, and his green eyes were wide. With a smirk he lets go of my bag. "I just wanted to say good luck, and if you need anything..."
"Just don't." I held my hand up in the man's face stopping him from talking.
"Okay then." He nods "Have a good semester." Then disappears out of my sight.
I take a deep breath and suppress a shudder as I begin to wander through the train, holding my bag tightly to my chest. A minute later I stood in the doorway of the train car where Fred, George, Angelina, Katie, Alicia, Lee and now Oliver all sat. I swiftly throw my bag on the rack above the seat. Strapping it in place so it wouldn't come flying off in the middle of the ride.
"What happened to you?" Oliver questions with a surprised expression. "Something is different."
"She's not surrounded by her gang of girls." Lee says as he looks up and down my entire body.
"No that's not it…" Oliver His deep brown eyes narrowed, and his head tilted to the side. "You've changed something."
I scowl as I sit next to Angelina beside the window. "It's not like you all haven't changed over the summer." Angie responds with a smirk. "You two look like you've grown a few inches yourselves." She points to the twins and they shrug, agreeing with her observation.
"Even Oliver here has gotten taller and changed his hair." George smiles at our captain sitting beside Fred on the cramped sofa. "He's looking good. Right girls?" George winks at Alicia and I. We just roll our eyes and smile.
"Yes, Wood looks good…" Alicia nodded, and Oliver blushed slightly. "Can we move on with the conversation now?"
"Please?" I exhale loudly. I turn to look out the window when the final whistle blows. Regan Vossen was looking directly at me with a smirk plastered on his face. My stomach churned when he winked and turned to give his son, Brady, one final hand shake. Brady was the same year as me and one of Marcus Flint's close buddy's. Wherever Flint went, Brady was close behind.
"So why wasn't your mom here to wish you good luck?" Alicia asks as she sits across from me, next to George.
"Yeah? She always gushes over you and Alex leaving her behind." Angelina adds turning my direction with her back to Fred.
"Mom said her goodbye's at the house." I shrugged, forcing a smile "She couldn't get out of work. It was no big deal." I turn my head back to the window, watching as the dark haired man stared at me intently. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest and my hands shook in my lap. After a few seconds, I tore my eyes away from his intense glare, looking back to my group of friends.
"This is my last chance to get the cup, guys." Oliver announced as he gripped the red notebook in his hands with all his elaborate plays. "And this here, will win the cup for us." He smacked the notebook with his palm a few times with a huge smile.
"We'll do our best..." Fred slaps him on the back.
"Be on our best behavior…" George grins wickedly at his twin.
"Most of the time." They say together.
We talked for nearly an hour before the train halts to a complete stop and the lights begin to flicker. The window fogs over, not allowing us to see outside the compartment at all. My heart was pounding, my head aching, and I felt like all the happiness in the world had disappeared completely. A dark shadow crept by the compartment door and the handle turned to ice. We could all hear a terrifying scream from the compartment next to us, but we were all too scared to move. I placed my hand on the window, rubbing it quickly trying to get the ice to melt.
"They are looking for Sirius Black." Fred says as he leans into Angelina trying to comfort her.
"Last I heard, he was sighted in London." Lee replies reaching for the newspaper he packed inside his suitcase. He paused the moment the lights completely went out.
A few minutes later the train began to warm up again and the lights flickered back on. We each look around the room with frowns plastered on our faces. For the next hour we gossiped about Sirius Black, Azkaban and what we think this year will be like. Somehow, I knew this wasn't the last we'd seen of the Dementors.
We all walked off the train platform at Hogsmeade station, and toward the wagons that seemed to move by themselves. I watched as Alex walked toward the wagons with his group of Ravenclaw friends. He didn't seem too fazed by our circumstances this year. Then again, he wasn't the one being affected by most of them.
There were at least a hundred coaches, and only seven seats per wagon, three at each side and one at the front, which left one of us out for the rest of the ride. We begged professor Flitwick to allow one of us to ride on the floor, but he insisted that one of us wait for the next wagon. I grumbled then volunteered, regretting my decision once I saw that Brady was in the next group. He looked so much like his father that I had to take a double take. His dark hair and green eyes matched perfectly to his Slytherin robes.
Grumbling to myself, I sit in the front of the wagon as Brady and four of his Slytherin friends joined me. Including Marcus Flint, the Slytherin Quidditch captain. "What would dear old Oliver say if he knew you were riding with the enemy?" Flint asks, and I roll my eyes.
"Fuck off Flint." I reply, shaking my head and blowing out loudly.
The carriage moved slowly through a pair of iron gates, with two dementors standing guard at either side. Picking up speed once through the gates, and moving down the steeped road towards the castle.
Brady leans in close to my ear and whispers "Father says I need to keep an eye on you.." He chuckled, leaning back into the leather seat. "I don't really give a rats ass if you do something stupid, actually I'd rather you did."
"Get away from me Brady." I retort with a repulsed tone. Scooting the opposite direction of him. Unfortunately one of the other students sat beside me and winked when my leg touched his.
"Who says we corrupt the poor girl?" Flint utters, and the rest of the guys laugh. He leans forward placing his elbows on his knees. He always tried his hardest to get me to pay attention to him. "Go out with me?" He practically begs.
"Do I have to tell you to fuck off again?" I responded, ignoring his question. That wasn't the first time he asked me out, and I'm sure it won't be the last.
"I'm sure Wood would be pissed if you were to take up with a Slytherin. Probably even kick you off the team." Flint smiles showing his grotesque crooked teeth. He would be somewhat cute without those beaver teeth.
"Too late for that." Brady smiles scooting closer to me. "She spent quite a lot of time at my place this summer."
"What? In your dreams?" I retort sarcastically as I scoot farther away from him. He grins knowing all too well that he was telling the truth. "There is no way I spent any time with YOU, this summer."
"I'd rather you spend some time with me…" One of the other students retorted. I didn't recognize him, but then again, I didn't know most of the Slytherin students.
"You didn't answer my question Anderson…" Flint leans back again, placing his hands behind his neck and stretching.
I look away disgusted by the boy. "And I don't intend to….Flint."
At last the carriage stops, and the Slytherin team step off first then Brady and Marcus hold up their hands for me to grab and jump down. "Wouldn't want the poor girl to flash us when she jumps down, now do we?" Marcus winks.
I push their hands away and jump down between them. They were right, my skirt had definitely flown up to reveal my underwear. I hurriedly turn away, stepping toward my group that was waiting beside a fallen tree.
"You had to ride with the Slytherin's?" Alicia shutters. "How was that?"
"I feel the need to take a long hot shower and wash off their dirty looks and comments." I retort with a laugh and a fake gag.
"What sort of comments?" Oliver stood beside me with a concerned expression. To most people Oliver Wood was a quiet boy, who only spoke about Quidditch. Only his team mates knew him as fiercely protective of the ones he called friends. This happened to be one of the few instances where he showed his protectiveness.
"Do we need to go kick some Slytherin ass for you?" Fred stands tall beside me with a smirk and evil look in his eyes.
"Yeah. I would love to get my hands-on Flint." Oliver says and the rest of us stop to look at him.
I raise my eyebrows. "It's nothing I can't handle on my own."
"Just saying. I could use an excuse to punch him in is crooked teeth." Oliver laughs as we continue to walk toward the castle.
"And I'm sure you would if you found out what he said to me, but I will not be telling you." I put my finger up in the air in Oliver's face. "Bedside's he's not worth the time of day…Can we please change the subject now?"
"You fainted, potter? You actually fainted?" Malfoys delighted voice echoed through the air and his friends all laughed with him. His silvery blond hair was cut short, and held so much gel that the wind couldn't move it. We were the only two in the entire school with that color hair.
"Shove off, Malfoy." Ron said. I chuckled, watching Fred and George walk past their brother rolling their eyes. Ronald has always been a bit dramatic.
Suddenly the door to the carriage beside us opens and an older gentleman stepped out. "Is there a problem?" His robes had patches and he carried a dilapidated suitcase with the name R.J. Lupin written on the top. We chose to ignore the rest of the conversation, it didn't concern us anyway.
We walked up the stone steps, through the giant oak doors and into the entrance hall which was lit with torches. Suddenly three beautiful girls came running past the open Great Hall doors, and strait into my arms. We hugged and jumped around like we were all little kids again.
Fawn Denholm, Tessa Richmond, and Abigail Jacobson had been my best friends and roommates since first year. They were all lucky enough to not have to ride the train this year. Instead Abby's parents brought them to school in one of her dad's flying cars. He was an extremely rich doctor who traveled the world and cured odd diseases. He wasn't around much, so he spoiled Abby and gave her anything she wanted.
Fawn had beautiful long red hair, and captivating blue eyes. She had always been the sensible one, and sometimes boring. She never wanted to do anything dangerous and on multiple occasions tried to talk me out of playing Quidditch. I chose to ignore her when she went on those rants. Tessa, or Tess, had Poufy black hair, deep brown eyes and a spunky personality. She's always been the fun one that could get along with anyone. She was also the one I went to whenever I needed someone to talk to. Then finally we have Abigail. Abby has a very unique ability to change her appearance at will, she's what we call a Metamorphmagi. She is the one with the temper, and I swear she loved to start fights. I could count on her to back me up with anything.
Finally we enter the Great hall and we're greeted by thousands of candles, floating over the tables in midair. We hastily made our way to the front of the large Gryffindor table, taking our seats with smiles.
"So how was your summer?" Abby asks with a huge smile. "I didn't get a letter from you at all."
"Us either." Tess and Fawn say together then look at each other and laugh. Even though they were so different, they called each other twin's. They had some sort of unique telepathic connection.
"Sorry. I know I was slacking in my letters this summer. I was just so busy with that internship at the daily prophet." I was offered the internship before my sixth year had ended, and I had every intention to do it. Unfortunately that's not what I ended up doing over the summer.
We watched as professor Flitwick set the sorting hat on all twenty - five of the new students. Seven went to Hufflepuff, eight to Slytherin, four to Ravenclaw and the final six joined us at the Gryffindor table. Not many of us payed attention to the sorting, due to the fact that a rumor about Harry fainting was floating around the room. Finally, Flitwick exited the hall with the hat in hand and the stool floating in mid air above him. As he stepped out of the room, Harry and Hermione stepped inside. They quickly made their way to Ron and sat down on either side of him.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts." Dumbledore stood at the small table on the podium. His long silver hair and beard seemed to grow a few more inches since last year. "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business." He went on to tell us to all be aware of the dementors and not to give them reason to harm us. And then told us to look to our new Head boy and girl, to make sure none of us 'runs afoul of the dementors', whatever that meant.
Percy, who sat beside Oliver, puffed out his chest revealing his shiny new Head Boy badge. We all knew he would be the one to get the position. He has always been full of himself, which was a perfect trait to have as Head Boy.
"On a happier note. I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year." Dumbledore continued "First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly taken the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts." There was an unenthusiastic applause, except for Harry, who clapped loudly. "I am sorry to tell you all that Professor Kettleburn retired at the end of last year in order to spend more time with his remaining limbs. I am delighted to say that his place as, care of magical creatures teacher, will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid." The applause was enormous, especially from all of us at the Gryffindor table. Hagrid has been a great friend to all of us.
"Well, I think that's everything." Said Dumbledore "Let the feast begin!"
A paper airplane flew through the air, landing directly in the center of my plate. I picked it up, looking around the room. Brady was staring at me intently from the Slytherin table with a huge grin plastered on his nasty face. I opened the paper to see a small note saying, 'I'm watching you'. I angrily crinkled up the note, tossing it beside my plate and ignoring him for the rest of the day.
After the delicious feast we all streamed up the marble staircase, along more corridors, up more and more stairs, to the hidden entrance to the Tower I'd called home for the past six years. "The password's 'Fortuna Major'!" Percy called from behind the crowd of students standing before the portrait of the Fat Lady. Once through the portrait hole we were divided toward our separate staircases. I made my way up, joined by my three roommates and best friends.