Sean Evans was not excited for her 6th year at Hogwarts but it was better than spending the summer in America with her foster dad, Jerome. Sean pushed her black horn-rimmed glasses closer to her dark brown eyes as she boarded the Hogwarts Express.
She went in search of an empty compartment. She found one near the back of the train and quickly locked the door muttering "Colloportus," so that she could continue to be by herself. As you can probably tell Sean did not like being around people. She choose to be by herself most, if not all, of the time.
In her five years of being a student at Hogwarts she had not made any friends, and trust it was not for lack of trying from her fellow Hufflepuff housemates.
Sean could remember what it was like when she first came to Hogwarts, it was difficult for her to adjust to being in a brand new school in a country that she new little about.
She could barely understand what anyone around her was saying half of the time and pretty soon she stopped trying to understand and just decided to stay to herself.
The Hufflepuffs learned to keep away after the first few weeks when their kindness would be met with either rudeness or indifference. Sean considered herself an expert in pushing and keeping people away. It was how she learned to survive being in the American foster care system after all.
Sean put her trunk containing the few items she owned under the left bench seat of the compartment and then proceeded to put her, dark brown almost black, shoulder length tightly coiled hair up in a bun so she could stretch out on the seat without ruining her hair.
Sean knew that it would be slightly difficult to fit her 5'9 frame across the bench seat but she made it work. She laid down and closed her eyes trying to get in a nap before the train made it to Hogwarts.
Sean had found it quite strange when she received her Hogwarts letter when she was eleven. She didn't even know about magic much less that she herself was a wizard.
Looking back, there had been signs, like when her drunk foster dad had tried to hit her after she dropped a cup while washing the dishes. A lamp had fallen over and onto the ground causing it to break but there wasn't anyone near the lamp. Sean didn't think much of it at the time, she was too busy being grateful for the distraction which gave her time to run and hide until her foster father passed out and forgot about her.
She was also confused to why she was being invited to attend a British school for witchcraft instead of one in the United States but did not dwell on it for long.
At first her foster dad had refused to let her go to some weird school all the way in England but as soon as he found out that her tuition had been paid for and that he would continue to get his checks from the government for taking care of Sean. Jerome was quick to get rid of the little girl after that.
Sean quickly snapped up when she heard the lock on the compartment door click open and in walked Draco Malfoy.
He had bulked up a little over the summer and it looked to Sean like he now stood at a height of 6'3 but that could have just been because Sean was sitting down while he was standing. He was a 6th year, like her, but she had never had any interaction with him.
"That door was locked for a reason," says Sean with an intense look in her eyes and a little bit of an attitude. Okay scratch that, a lotta bit of an attitude.
"Yeah, well I thought this compartment was empty," says Draco in reply.
"Well, obviously it's not so you can go and find an empty compartment now and shouldn't you be at the prefect meeting," says Sean with a shoo of her hands. Sean knew that there weren't any more empty compartments.
"Look this is the only compartment that is not filled with people and I really need some peace and quiet." He says while ignoring her prefect question.
Normally Sean would have said something along the lines of 'That sounds like a personal problem, now get the hell out' but something in his light gray eyes, Sean didn't know if it was desperation or exhaustion, but she found herself saying otherwise.
"Okay, since this is the only semi-empty compartment, how about we share. You stay on your side and i'll stay on mine and we don't talk to each other."
"Gladly," was all Draco said before he sat down on the bench seat opposite her. Sean laid back down and Draco tried to do the same but he had to prop his legs at an angle since they were so long.
Twenty minutes of blissful silence had passed when Draco craned his neck towards her and said "So America, what's that like?" Sean opened her eyes long enough to roll them and them closed them again.
"I thought that we had agreed that there would be no talking."
"We did, but ... I need a distraction"
"You are a wizard Draco with a little thing called a magic wand, and with that wand you can conjure up something to appease and or amuse yourself with instead of bothering me when I am so obviously trying to sleep," her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Draco noticed that she had said all of that with her eyes closed. "Wow, no wonder you don't have any friends," responded Draco. Sean snorted and chuckled slightly at that and sat up with her eyes open.
"First of all I don't have friends because I don't want them. Second of all, you're one to talk, you don't have any friends either."
Draco sat up "Yes I do, I have Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini and Parkinson.'
Sean outright laughed at that statement.
"Those people are not your friends, they're your lackeys, people you have do your bidding while you parade around here like the damn King when really all you are doing is hiding behind your family's money."
Sean pushed her glasses farther up on her face before continuing, "They don't hang out with you, they hang around you- well parkinson hangs onto you like she is scared that you are going to run away- but I digress. They do this because of your last name and the numerous zeros in your daddy's bank account. Please tell me that in these last five years you noticed this. I, quite frankly think that is way sadder than my not having any friends at all. At least i'm not surrounded by a bunch of users."
Draco stood up angrily, as did Sean, incase he tried something. She did not want to be caught sitting down. Sean inconspicuously grabbed her 10 inch cherry wood wand with dragonheart string from the pocket of her robes.
"What gives you, a filthy mudblood, the right to speak to someone like me like that," spat Draco.
"Someone with two working eyes and a mouth. I was just making a simple and somewhat obvious observation, sorry if the truth hurts," said Sean as she stepped closer to Draco.
'Yep,' she thought 'he is definitely 6'3.' Sean had to slightly look up at Draco, "Also, is mudblood the only insult you can think of, try harder sweetheart, I am sure you will think of something better someday," says Sean right before the train whistle blows signaling that they have arrived at Hogwarts.
And with that Sean grabbed her trunk and left Draco staring at her retreating form in the train compartment.
Draco left the compartment not long after thinking 'She should have been sorted into Slytherin.'