Chapter One
I'm sure you've all heard of Hogwarts, the English School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. If you have, you're probably also familiar with Beauxbatons in France and Durmstrang, I don't even remember where.
Well just like muggles, witches and wizards also immigrated to Canada. Naturally they built a school for all the young ones who needed a place to learn. They called it Dacrooms Institude of Magic. DIM, if you want to go that far.
It was hidden in the Rockies and had its own train that travelled from Nova Scotia, all across the CPP until all the witches and wizards across the country were safely nestled at school.
Like Hogwarts, DIM was founded by four magic-doers as well: Lester Lyall, Ivory Ursinus, Isaac Irwin and Helen Hartley. They founded a house each and got their own little sorting hat to do the dirty work. Like all boarding schools, rivalries arose and fights broke out. After years of drama, the four founders retired and handed their school over to a headmaster, who continued on the legacy.
I was off for my sixth year, leaning out the train window and waving to my parents. I was relieved that year to be off of holidays. My parents had been squabbling all summer and I figured that some time without me or my brother, might do them some good.
My brother shouted his high pitched goodbye from beside me in the compartment. It was irritating but I had to remind myself that he couldn't help it. He was twelve years old, and puberty had not yet graced him with its presence.
"Alright, Jack, don't forget to get into your robes right away. It's only an hour until we get there and-"
"Yeah, yeah, Ash, I know." He rolled his eyes and jumped off the seat he had been standing on to wave goodbye. "I'm going to find my friends." He ran his hand through his shaggy brown hair and slid open the compartment and paraded off.
"You do that…" I shook my head and pulled my uniform and robes from my backpack. Shutting the compartment door, I quickly changed into them and tucked my muggle clothes into my bag.
KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK
I opened the sliding door. Towering over me was my cousin Mike. He was a year younger than me, yet twice my size. He looked just like me: brown hair, green eyes. We were often mistaken for siblings, but we were just really close.
"Hey Ash," He slipped through the sliding door and collapsed onto the bench beside me. "Have you seen Victoria?"
"Not since last year. Why? I didn't think you liked her." I said.
"I don't. She sent me like 15 owls this summer and I know she gets on at your stop. I'm trying to avoid her at all costs." He had a look of near fear in her eyes.
"Well, I'm sure if you stick with me, she'll stay away from you." I laughed.
Mike looked a little concerned. "I thought you two were friends?"
"Were. I haven't talked to her since the train home. I sent her 3 owls over the summer but she never replied."
"Hmm, did you ask Alannah if she knew what was up?" He asked.
"I did. But she's been short with me all summer. We hung out twice but all she could talk about was her new boyfriend or how much fun she's been having with Victoria and Kristin." I said.
"At least you can kick her ass on the quidditch pitch." He said with a grin.
"Yeah. I'm not gonna lie, I've been thinking we might actually be able to win the cup this year."
"I hope so. Why do you say that?" He leaned forward, clasping his hands.
"Alright. Well this year we've got Derek, Leah and I as chasers. The three of us have been playing together for what, three years now. Last year, all the other teams had at least one seventh year chaser, so they'll be trying out some new players, which gives us a bit of an advantage. You almost snagged the snitch last year, but Irwin's seeker graduated and now they need a new one. We've also got Hallie and Elliot as beaters and they're sixth and seventh years. Lastly, Jess is our keeper again this year and last year she did really well."
"I've been training with her all summer too. We were at the cottage and really didn't have much else to do." He said.
"Well that's excellent. I can't wait to see her on the pitch." I grinned.
"See who on the pitch?" Jess popped her cute face through the crack in the door. She smiled an ear to ear grin, let out a high pitched squeal and threw her arms around me. "Hey cutie." I let her go and she sat across from me. "Long time, no see."
Jess and Mike were brother and sister. They lived in Ontario, and I lived in Alberta, so we didn't see each other over the summer.
"So you were talking about me." Jess swept her extremely long brown hair over her shoulder.
"Yeah," Mike answered. "I was telling her how I trained with you this summer. We were talking about how we're going to kick Irwin's ass this season."
"I can't wait." She grinned.
"Me either." I sighed.
My mind had seemed to wander elsewhere. I was thinking about Leah and wondering where she was. She's been in Europe all summer and I hadn't seen her since the train home. We exchanged owls all summer and she was supposed to meet me on the train.
"Have either of you seen Leah?" I asked.
"No. I saw Tom and Ricky, though." Jess said. "They were on the other side of the train. Maybe she's with them?"
Tom and Ricky were Leah's best friends. They were in Ursinus so she spent most of her free time with them, and the rest of her time with me.
I nodded. "Maybe. I need to talk to her so I'm going to go look."
"Are you two together yet?" Mike asked, raising a brow.
I couldn't really say anything because I didn't know what to say. I didn't know that Mike had known what was going on between Leah and me.
Leah and I met through one of her best friends, my ex-boyfriend Christian Salve. He was a Hartley, and the epitome of lame. Unfortunately, at the time, I found that to be quite attractive. We dated briefly in my fourth year but it didn't last very long. In fact, he dumped me because it bothered him that Leah had a thing for me.
I hadn't been aware of this, as our friendship grew stronger. Being in the same house, we got closer and soon became inseparable. At some point or another, Leah gave up on me and started dating Maggie.
Maggie Flatts, also a Hartley, dated Leah for a bit and then cheated on her with Christian. Leah was kind of crushed, and we talked throughout the whole summer, until I was bold enough to tell her how I felt. She told me she felt the same and that she couldn't wait to see me on the train.
My palms were sweaty just thinking about it. "Not so much."
"Why not? She's liked you forever." Jess said.
"Yeah, and that's why I need to go find her." I said through gritted teeth.
Jess glanced at her watch. "Oh shit. I told Zoe I'd meet her like now." She ran out the door then back tracked and peeked her head back around the corner. "I'll see you at dinner?" I nodded and she continued on.
"Let's go find Leah." Mike passed me my backpack and pushed me out the door.
We wandered down the halls, peeking into compartments and asking anyone we knew if they had seen Leah. Some people said no and others mentioned that she could be at the other end of the train, so we continued on.
"Fuck." Mike said, jumping into the nearest empty compartment.
"What?" I asked. I glanced up the hall and immediately understood.
Three girls, clad in Irwin robes, made their way in our direction. They had matching blonde hair curled, crimped and straightened to exploit their love of themselves.
"Ew, gross, look who it is?" Victoria Riley laughed, glancing over her shoulder for her posse's approval.
Victoria was naturally a very dark-haired brunette. She had worn oversized glasses and had had huge buck teeth her entire life, until fifth year when she got contact lenses and had her braces taken off. Her hair was straightened and recently bleached, just like her eyebrows. I had to hold my breath from commenting on how silly she looked. She was flat chested and nearly anorexic looking.
It was hard to hide the fact that her comment had actually hurt. I looked to Alannah for a little bit of support. She didn't even look me in the eyes.
Alannah was naturally blonde, which suited her well, she had an IQ lower than a stick. Yeah, she was my friend, but now I was pissed. She had crimped her hair so that she looked like a mangled poodle. She was a little chubby which her boobs made up for. Her shirt was unbuttoned to reveal the canyon-sized cleavage that she so proudly showed off. She cleared her throat and shot a look at Kristin.
Kristin was even larger than Alannah, particularly around the middle. Her hair was actually black but she had added so many yellow-blonde highlights that it looked more confused than anything. It had been curled, so that long ringlets gathered at the ends. She was Victoria's bitch, hands down.
"So, have you seen your cousin?" Victoria asked.
"Which one?" I asked, dancing around the question. It was hard to hide the fact that Mike was hiding in the compartment beside us, undoubtedly listening.
"The cute one, obviously." She laughed.
Immediately I got this image of our cousin Karl. He had a bushy unibrow and unruly hair. He was massive, not fat, just huge. Mike, Jess and I were never sure what made him so strange. It could have been the dysfunctional family but he liked to seclude himself from us. He also hung out with a bunch of other weird kids which meant that he was definitely not the cousin Victoria was referring to.
"I didn't know you had a thing for Karl?" I played dumb. I could hear Mike chuckling on the other side of the compartment door.
"Who? Fuck, Ashley, you know I'm talking about Mike. Where is he?" She looked like a rabid animal, and it would have been intimidating had it not been so amusing.
"Alright. I've seen him, he's down the hall. Fifth compartment or so." I lied.
She shot her groupies an accomplished look. "Thanks." She said sarcastically and stepped around me, making it a point not to touch me with any part of her. Alannah kept her eyes down and Kristin nearly knocked me into Mike's compartment.
They continued on blabbering down the hall. I slid the door open, once I'd removed my face from it.
"Thanks." He said, and hurried ahead so that once Victoria discovered I had lied, she couldn't turn around and see us.
I shrugged and we continued down until I heard familiar voices and I had to stop and say hello.
A short girl with blonde hair and rainbow earrings let out a random shout, jumped onto her seat and leapt at me. Had Mike not been standing behind me, she would have sent us both to ground.
"Hi Sara." I laughed. She squirmed off of me and pulled me into her compartment where she sat with Hallie.
Hallie was kind of butch. She was a complete tomboy and was crazy about quidditch. She had short brown hair, in a ponytail and wore the boys' uniform instead of the girls'.
The two were best friends, both in my house. We'd been kind of close until this summer when we started hanging out more. Once Victoria and Alannah had ditched me, they jumped right in and claimed me as their own.
Mike cursed and leapt into the compartment with us, sliding the door shut. I heard Victoria and her posse strut by talking about some annoying first year girls. They were gone a second later.
"Ash," Hallie began, as I sat down. Mike sat down beside me. "I can't fucking wait for quidditch!"
"I know, it's going to be good this year." I said.
"You think we might actually have a chance?" She laughed.
"We do." Mike said, sure of himself.
"You guys were so close, last year." Sara shook her head. She was our biggest fan.
"I know, it was lame. But hey, we can't talk right now, I just wanted to say hi. I'm looking for Leah. Either of you seen her?" I asked. They both shook their heads. I stood to leave, Mike was ahead of me, but Sara grabbed my arm.
"I need to tell you something." She whispered and eyed Mike to let me know he wasn't welcome to hear.
"Alright." I turned to Mike. "Can I catch up with you in just a sec?" He nodded and left the compartment. I turned back to Sara. "Okay, what's up?"
She was grinning hugely and her blue eyes sparkled with excitement.
"I wanted to tell you about me and Mike." She kept the smile on her face and watched for my expression to change. It did. I knit my eyebrows together because I had no idea what she was talking about. "He didn't tell you, did he?"
"I guess not. Maybe you better before I have to beat Victoria off him again."
"We owled back and forth all summer. I think he likes me." She jumped up and down and tugged on my sleeve.
"Cute, do you like him back?" I asked.
"Sure do. That's what I wanted to tell you."
"I'll find out for you. I'll let you know tonight in the dorms." I said. She looked nearly fearful but I slid out the door before she could stop me.
"ASHLEY!" Mike shouted from down the hall. He was running towards me and stopped when I looked up. "I think I found Leah." His eyes were big: urgent but amused. To me, this was a bad sign, I bit my lip and ran after him.
We booked it down the hall until we came upon a swarm of students, mostly made up of younger kids. Jack was there too. He looked tall and gangly in his robes. When he saw me he looked like a little boy on Christmas morning.
"Leah's kicking the shit out of Victoria!" He said. He turned back to the crowd and stood up on one of the benches to chant with the rest.
"Fight! Fight! Fight!" They shouted.
"Fuck." I cursed and tore through the crowd with Mike right behind me.
At the front, surrounded by Victoria and Leah, were a couple of fourth and fifth years. They wouldn't budge when I pulled at them so I turned to Mike and gave him my best pleading look.
"I got it." He nodded and grabbed two fourth years by the shoulders, pulling them out of the circle. We took their spots and watched as Leah had Victoria on the ground in a headlock and she was pulling her hair. Both of their skirts were openly displaying their underwear. (Victoria's showed more ass than underwear.)
Victoria managed to reach around her back and grab a handful of Leah's hair, right at the nape of her neck and pull until her own was released. Leah fell onto her ass and Victoria continued to hold her hair, with her back to me. I could hear Leah cursing.
"You stupid fucking cunt, let go of my fucking hair or I'm going to rip all of yours out as soon as I get the chance." A bunch of guys laughed.
I looked up and noticed the guys that were laughing were Tom and Rick. They stood back with their arms crossed, looking amused. They shot me a we-want-to-help-but-we-cant look, which I had heard before. Guys code of ethics, which they apparently have, but they can't help a girl in a fight, because they can't hit a girl.
I, was a girl, and I wasn't going to stand and watch so I stepped up and grabbed Victoria by the arm. She let go of Leah, but when she turned to me her fist collided with my nose.
It was a sharp and throbbing pain that flooded all over my face. I cursed and threw my hands over my face, cupping the blood. All I could see was Leah getting up from her knees and throwing her whole body at Victoria, sending them both into the floor. Victoria's face hit the ground probably just as hard as her fist had hit mine. Leah rolled Victoria over and sat on her, pummelling fist after fist into her face.
"MISS JOHN!" A pinch faced teacher emerged through the parting crowd, smacking her wand against her hand, angrily. "QUIT THROTTLING THAT GIRL IMMEDIATELY!"
Professor River stepped through the crowd in her bright red pumps. She pulled Leah off of Victoria by the back of her robes. She grabbed Victoria by the arm and helped her up from the ground.
"Detentions, both of you, every day for the next two weeks." She snapped. "I would expect better behaviour from two prefects." She said, continuing down the hall.
Leah approached me, looking apologetic.
"I can't believe she hit you." She said.
"Neither can I." I let the blood I had pooled in my hands, fall to the floor. "What started the fight anyways?"
"Episkey." She said, pointing her wand at my nose. I felt a cool soothing sensation and knew that she had healed it.
"Thanks," I smiled, feeling my nice, unbloody nose.
"I hope you're not trying to impress somebody because you look like a dirty whore." She said.
"Excuse me?" I choked on air. Leah laughed.
"No, no. That's what started the fight."
I'll have to admit that she looked incredibly hot in her uniform. The grey pleaded skirt felt frumpy on me but she must have ordered hers and extra few sizes smaller. Her shirt was untucked and her hair was a wild red-headed mess, falling straight down her back, and over each shoulder.
"Oh," I laughed. "Why would she say that to you?"
"She didn't," Leah smirked. "I said it to her."