CHAPTER ONE: HOPE
AN: I just wanted to say real quick if there are any mistakes i'm sorry...I don't have a beta and this is really just a fun story for me to write really quick when i have time. I hope you enjoy!
Once upon a time there was a girl, and her name was Hope. She hadn't been able to stand that name since the age of seven however so she goes by the name of Dusk, because that was the best time of the day in her mind.
She is also a witch. She has been going to the American School for Magick until the age of sixteen when her family moved. She is about to start sixth year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She is not looking forward to it.
She has arrived late in the semester, and had just been sorted in a tiny room with the Heads of houses and the Headmaster present. She was sorted into Hufflepuff, for reasons she could not begin to guess at, and she had the feeling it would be a trial.
The Head of Hufflepuff Prof. Kennedy had been extremely welcoming, to the point that Dusk had been afraid of dying form her cheerfulness.
She had been led to her common room and up to her dorm room where the only bed left was the one in the back, shoved next to a tiny window. The moment Dusk had placed her bag on the bed she could tell why it was the only unoccupied bed. There was a definite draft coming from the window, and the headboard rattled.
Dusk sat on the bed, starring out the window blankly as she dug thorugh her messenger bag, finally finding a small, dark blue book. It was her diary, and she pulled out a blue pen, flipping it open to a blank page.
This is going to be great(AN: imagine a backwards '?' here. Stupid formatting)
(that is a Snark, Percontation Point and also known as the Irony Mark. Basically it's a symbol for sarcasm that no one uses but Dusk thinks everyone should use)
She had arrived during dinner so she hadn't gone down to the great hall so the first time she met another student was when they all came streaming in moments later.
"Hello! Are you the new student?"
Dusk closed her diary and looked up to see a tall girl with red lips, whose smile seemed to stretch bigger then the freakin Cheshire Cat's. Dusk nodded, dropping her diary on the bed and standing up. Five other girls appeared, all exclaiming greetings as Dusk stood there awkwardly. She wasn't the best at making friends. Or talking to people.
Dusk wiped her hands on her jeans and smiled, as the girls all introduced themselves, laughing and talking over one another as they did so. Quite honestly there was so much talking going on Dusk didn't think she could have remembered the names if she had tried.
"SO you're from America?" asked one of the girls, the one with the short black hair and a voice that Dusk was pretty sure meant she was Irish.
"Uh, yeah. My parents just moved us here," said Dusk as the girl pulled off her tie.
"Is that where you're here so late into the term?"
Dusk nodded, but at this point she just wanted to go to bed. She had a pounding headache, and smiling was starting to physically hurt. The other girls seemed perpetually cheerful as they changed into other clothes, some heading down to study, a few getting ready for bed. Dusk was starting to wonder if the old leather hat had placed her in the wrong house.
And the next day only reinforced that belief. She sat at her table with her house 'mates', as they all called each other. The majority of them seemed to be in the best! moods! ever!
Dusk had heard the stereotypes of the Hogwarts houses via online forums before she enrolled. She was surprised a bit to see how largely accurate they were. The Gryfindor table was the loudest, the Slytherins seemed to all be very intent on themselves, and there were more than a few Ravenclaws bent over books or projects next to their orange juice.
And here Dusk was stuck at the happy table. How would she survive.
There seemed to be at least one person sitting close to Dusk who was for sure not a morning person. A boy with sandy-brown hair and his tie sloppily knotted was sitting across from Dusk. She kept glancing over at him over a pile of cereal boxes.
After breakfast (during which Dusk never said a word to the boy) Prof Kennedy stopped her and gave her her schedule. Dusk stuffed it in her bag after noting her first class was Potions, letting herself be swept along with the tide of students.
She lingered in the doorway, watching as everyone took their seats. Predictably, there were only seats at the front left, and she took a seat directly in front of the professors desk, dropping her bag to the ground.
"Guess we're partners then," said the Irish girl, sitting next to her.
"I like your hair," said Dusk.
"Thanks!" she said, running her fingers through her almost boyish cut. "I couldn't stand the red hair, color spells were the first spells I learned second year."
Dusk couldn't help but smile at that, she had done the same thing to her brown locks before. But before she could say anything a short blonde woman walked to the front of the classroom.
"Good morning everyone. It's time to wake up—" She looked over at a pair of Gryfindor boys who had their heads down on their desks. "We will be continuing work on Invisibility Potions today, so everyone pay attention. WE will be moving on from the theory and onto the actual brewing today. Copy down the ingredients on the board please."
She waved her wand and a list of ingredients appeared as though written by an invisible hand. Dusk pulled out her notebook and pen while the Irish girl beside her pulled out parchment, quill, and ink.
"Are those…required here?" asked Dusk, watching.
Irish looked over at her spiral notebook and pen. "No, just highly encouraged. I'd recommend writing your essays on parchment." She started copying down the ingredients.
"This place still hasn't quite transitioned to the twenty-first century—or even the twentieth," she added, and Dusk couldn't help but laugh.
She looked around at everyone copying down the ingredients and saw a couple other students with Muggle notebooks, but most people were using parchment. She opened her notebook to a blank page, turning back to the front of the room.
Dusk had just started on Invisibility Drafts at her previous school so she wasn't terribly behind and managed to keep up pretty well throughout the class. As everyone was packing up at the end of class ninety minutes later, the Professor motioned for her to stay behind.
"Miss Riker, I'm Prof. Olive Sevee. I'm also the head of Ravenclaw house." Dusk nodded, standing in front of her. "How are you liking it here so far? I bet it's different from the States, huh?" Prof. Sevee smiled at her, and Dusk nodded.
"Yeah, it's not that bad," she said, shrugging.
Prof. Sevee smiled at that, leaning back against her desk.
"Did you have any trouble today with the coursework?" Dusk shook her head, slinging her bags straps across her body.
"I think I'm good. I have to get to my next class." Dusk was certain Prf. Sevee watched her all the way out the door, but she didn't dare turn around and look.