A/N: This story might not pan out well but I felt like writing it. So there. :P

Disclaimer: I don't own HP. If I did, Orange Crush monstrosity would not have ensued.

---

Dear Diary,

Hi. My name is Mona Li.

…sa?

Shut up.

Yeah, so it's just Mona Li.

Today's-or rather tonight's-my first time at Hogwarts. It's not so bad. I can't wait to do magic, but that's tomorrow. I'll be turning twelve on October 31st, which will be overshadowed by Halloween as always. It's also a bugger that I couldn't bring my computer or my CD player over-Mum says the school makes technology go all wonky. It's a real shame, because technology is pretty much my life.

The above statement might seem a little strange, huh? It's because I grew up in a very Muggle-ish household. Sure, Mum subscribes to the Daily Prophet and we use Floo Powder, but I've never been really exposed to any real sort of magic-mainly due to fact that my mum's a Squib and my dad's a total Muggle. Because of this my parents thought that I would never be accepted into Hogwarts or any sort of wizarding school for that matter. Turns out they were wrong after all. Which I'm very glad of.

…And yet, I'm not. As of now I am homesick. See, I knew having a journal diary thingy would be a bad idea. It makes me think far too much of home. There's really not much to miss. Just Mum and Dad and Puck and my bed and the backyard and technology…

But Mum insists so I guess I'll have to. She'll skim through the pages to see if I actually wrote in it or not. She says and I quote "it'll be a good psychological exercise if you pen your wonderful experiences on paper and dispel your worries and fears into a non-responsive inanimate object neutral to your ambivalent thoughts."

I had to ask her to repeat that several times before I got the hang of it.

My mum's an agony aunt. She's a lot of other things too, but I can't remember them all. She does odd jobs and runs errands and such. Not that I'm going to tell anyone though.

Now, back to me.

I don't mean to sound arrogant about it. It's just, a diary is a person's private thoughts, right? So it should be about me.

You can note that I'm a very indecisive person.

I'm also a bit of a blabbermouth. I'm really annoying to some people. Which amazes others because I can be as silent as a…well. I was never good with similes. Or analogies, come to think of it.

But anyway, the feast was really good. I mean really. All that food! I tried to eat everything. Which usually means I didn't eat enough. Ah well. I also couldn't help but shoot quick glances in Harry Potter's direction. I mean, the Harry Potter! He looked surprisingly ordinary for someone who's a legend. Kind of geeky too. I always imagined some sort of muscleman with a cape flapping in the breeze tied about his neck. Which is silly anyhow because Mum told me he's around my age.

He looked back at me once, annoyance in his facial expression-Mum says the definition of one's existence can be read in the countenance-so I stopped staring. I kind of have a staring problem. It's what happens when you're alone most of the time. Yes I'm an only child. Which is fine by me because I hate ankle-biters. And animals. Except for Puck, our family owl. He grew on me, that owl did.

Back to me and my staring problem, now…

My staring problem is what got me some sort-of friends on the train. I was running late so all of the compartments were full. I managed to find one with only two girls in it so I went in and did my best to be invisible. Something I happened to be good at, as a matter of fact.

"…NO BLOODY WAY! BEATER IS THE BEST POSITION IN QUIDDITCH!" roared one of the girls across from me. She was really big. I think her hair was blonde.

"But…I don't know anything about it…I was just saying what Uncle told me…" said the other girl beside her, shriveling in a corner. She was really small. She wore pigtails and little frilly pink socks and her glasses kind of took over her face.

"WELL YOUR UNCLE IS STUPID." The big girl huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

The little girl nodded furiously.

"HEY, YOU." The big girl started to notice me, mostly because I was staring at them. I guess I wasn't quite as good as being invisible as I had thought. "WHAT, YOU GOT A STARING PROBLEM?"

"Um, kind of…" I said truthfully.

"WELL, GO FIX IT!" She threw back her head and laughed. "HAHA, YOU'RE FUNNY. WHAT'S YOUR NAME?"

I wondered why she was still yelling but I didn't say anything about it. Maybe she was half-deaf or something. "It's Mona. Mona Li." I just had to say my last name. It's not my fault. Not really. It just comes out. I can't really control my mouth, to be honest.

The big girl threw her head back and laughed again. It was more of a honk, really. "WHAT, YOU'RE NAMED AFTER THAT WEIRD SMILING WOMAN?"

"No, that's Mona Lisa," I corrected her. See why I hated that?

"WHATEVER," huffed the big girl. "I'M BELINDA, BY THE WAY. AND THAT-" she jabbed a finger over to the little girl- "IS CATHLEEN."

"Cassidy, actually," whispered the little girl.

"Hi," I said.

The rest of the train ride was really just Belinda talking really loudly and scaring Cassidy into the point of possible pants-wetting. Belinda's toad and Cassidy's cat were also adding to the noise that was Belinda's voice. I watched the landscape and grew bored. When I bought some Licorice Wands, Pumpkin Pasties, and Bertie Bott's Every-Flavored Beans Belinda ate most of it. I ended up sharing a boat with them and Belinda got us all bloody soaked. Really it was Cassidy but then Belinda was the one who scared her into it. At this point I just really wanted to get away from the pair of them.

When we finally entered the Great Hall we were thankfully separated. I was nervous of course because I did not want to be in Hufflepuff. Everyone knows that without all that sugarcoating they're still a bunch of mongs. There was also the tiniest bit of worry that I deserved to be in Hufflepuff because I was a mong myself, but I eased this worry some by reciting the alphabet backwards in Parseltongue. I don't really know Parseltongue but I memorized some bits and things when this really interesting television program came on starring Manny the Magician who happened to be a former Dark wizard. That show got cancelled a few days later because parents didn't want their precious babies learning the Dark Arts and stuff but Mum didn't mind. She told me something really philosophical as an explanation but I forgot it.

Anyway Belinda and Cassidy were before me. Belinda got Sorted into Ravenclaw and Cassidy got sorted into Slytherin. After recovering from my shock I got up there with my knees knocking together and was sorted into Gryffindor which is funny because I don't think I'm all that brave. And I told the Sorting Hat so.

'Well that's what they all think' said the Sorting Hat, amused. 'So of course it'll be-'

And then it screamed "GRYFFINDOR!" and blew out my eardrums.

The Gryffindor table applauded for me and I squeezed in between two people I didn't know. They weren't very happy because I was really wet. Which was not my fault, I might add. And then…well, I've already told you the rest.

Now I'm lying in my bed and writing as fast as I can under the faint light of my wand. 14 inches, linden, dragon heartstring. Very interesting combo said the wandmaker. I don't know what he means by it but he sounded an awful lot like Mum so I just tuned him out. I like my wand though. It looks wicked.

My eyes are really heavy with sleep, so I'll stop now.