Chapter Two: Hogwarts Express
"Ugh…there we ago," I sighed, finally managing to push my trunk into the compartment my mother and I shared. An exhausting ordeal, given that she'd been sitting there the whole time, watching, a calico cat sitting in her lap. The orange, white and black cat looked up at me with golden eyes. The sight of Lightning brought a smile to my lips. Grandma gave her as a gift to me last year for my tenth birthday, and she'd followed me everywhere since. My house, grandma's, even playing in the neighborhood with Hermione.
Speaking of which… "Mum, I'm off to find Hermione." I told her, slipping out of the compartment before she could tell me otherwise, thank Merlin. I wanted to find Hermione, the faster the better, as it meant I wouldn't have to share a compartment with Mum. I mean, I'm pretty sure no other student on this train has to share a compartment with their parent. Sighing, I began my search for my best friend. A long one, I'd bet, since Mum chose one of the last compartments on the train and there were so very many to—
"Bloody hell!" I looked to my left, spotting a boy with unruly black hair trying to haul his trunk onto the train. From the compartment beside me came a loud squawking, and I peek inside to see a pure white owl in a cage, hooting. Pretty. My attention fell back to the boy, who I assumed was the owner, and I stepped up to the door.
"Excuse me," I spoke, but regretted it as I startled him and he dropped his trunk on his foot again, swearing. "I'm sorry!" I hopped from the train. "Did you want help?"
"That'd be great, thanks."
Well, unfortunately, I wasn't much better. I'd sought to make up for having him drop it on his foot on my account, but even together, we didn't manage to get it much further onto the train. The best we'd managed to do was get covered in a layer of sweat. Brilliant. After a few minutes of struggling, the weight was lifted from my hands by a tall boy with red hair and what was obviously his twin brother. "Here, let us," he grinned. I remembered seeing them earlier outside with a large group of red-heads: two other boys and a little girl. Weasleys, my mother had told me, waving at the mother of the family as we'd passed.
The boy and I stepped away, and in seconds they lifted his trunk onto the train and into a corner of his compartment, his white owl hooting away the whole time. "Thanks," the boy pushed sweaty hair out his eyes, and my eyes widened. On his forehead, I could've sworn…
"What's that?" one of the twins said suddenly, pointing at his forehead. Clearly, I wasn't the only one to have seen it. The boy lifted the hair from his face, revealing a lightning-shaped scar. No way… "Blimey. Are you—"
"He is!" said the other twin. "Aren't you?"
"What?" the boy frowned, their question clearly lost on him.
"Harry Potter," they chorused.
"Oh, him," the boy said. "I mean, yes, I am." The twins gawked at him until he turned bright red in the face, beginning to shuffle his feet. Clearly, they were making him uncomfortable.
"Can't you see you're embarrassing him?" I stepped forward, between the red-heads and Harry. Harry Potter! Despite the excitement I felt, I looked up at the twins, defiant. "Honestly, I doubt he wants this on his first day."
One of the twins raised their eyebrow at me, while the other grinned. "Someone's got quite a bit of fire to them for a First Year." His eyes trailed to the door, and a woman's call reached all our ears. "Right then. We'll be off. Mum's calling."
And with that they slipped out of the train, leaving me and Harry Potter alone. "Thanks." I turned to face him, offering him my hand.
"Elena." We shook.
"Harry, but you already knew that."
"Sorry again about your foot," I smiled, taking a step back. "I've got to be off to find my friend. Pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise."
I turned, making my way into the next car, pushing past a couple of students who were already in their uniform, when we hadn't even left yet. I would've laughed, yet I felt that Hermione would be the same once I found her. In Hogwarts robes and probably talking off the ear of some poor—
"Have you seen how many there are? Walking around the platform with their filthy Muggle parents. You can tell, can't you, because they haven't got a clue!" a familiar voice proclaimed loudly, and I paused, leaning closer to the compartment just up ahead, looking through the window. Inside sat the boy Mum and I had crossed at Borgin and Burkes, Draco Malfoy, and two much larger boys. Just as I had when meeting the blonde in Knockturn Alley, I was hit with a wave of familiarity, this time from all three boys. It was really weird.
The feeling was replaced really quickly by pain, however, as something slammed into me, knocking me into the wall. I collapsed in a heap, groaning, a splitting ache in my head. I faintly heard the door to the compartment open, and footsteps beside me as someone grabbed hold of my arms, hauling me to my feet. For a moment I thought the train had taken off to a rather disruptive start, but then he spoke. "That was rather rude of you, Pansy."
"She was in my way, Draco. Blocking the door to your compartment." I looked up, still disoriented, to see a girl larger and taller than me, with a crop of short black hair and a nasty grin on her lips, half-pouting. Following her gaze over my shoulder, I was surprised to see none other than Draco Malfoy keeping me steady.
"Perhaps she was interested in the compartment herself. Must say I can't blame her," he said, looking down at me then. He had a brilliant smile. I realized that what I had earlier thought were gray eyes were actually a pale shade of blue. I noted that I was rather close to him to be able to make this distinction, and could feel heat in my cheeks. "We weren't properly introduced the other day at the shop. I'm Draco."
One hand still on my arm, he held the other out to me to shake, and so I did. "Elena."
"Care to join us?" He smiled again. Brilliantly. "This is Crabbe and that's Goyle. And the lovely girl that was rude to you is P—"
"Pansy Parkinson. And no friend of yours," she spat at me, eyes narrowed. They flickered back up to Draco, gaining a brightness to them. "You realize she's Sinistra's daughter, right? I saw them board the train together. A teacher's kid is obviously going to be a snitch."
I scowled at her. "And you're obviously going to be a b—"
"Whoa, now, I'm sure we can all get along," Draco said, tugging on the arm he still held. "After all, we all have something in common, a parent interested in the finer arts of magic." My mother's words came back to me then. Lucius Malfoy is a slimy man, Elena, and I don't want him around my daughter. I pulled away from his grasp, straightening.
"I'm sorry, but I've got to find my friend. Nice meeting you," I said, shoving past Pansy, who was taking up the majority of the bloody hallway, and away from them. "Not." I could year Pansy whining about me having pushed her, but I didn't care. I just wanted to find Hermione!
Honestly, was that too much to ask?
The compartment door ahead and to my right slid open as the train hit a sort of bump, and a toad leapt out. I had just enough time to move to the left wall as it hopped past to avoid the slimy creature. Cats, I liked. Owls too. But Toads? My least favorite of magical familiars. "Trevor?" a boy's voice called out from the compartment where the toad had escaped. "Where's he gone? Trevor? Trevor!"
How did he not notice it leapt out the bloody door? I stepped up to the compartment and stuck my head in. "Listen, I think your toad just passed me in the—Hermione!" There, sitting beside a plump boy in a fuzzy red sweater, was my best friend.
I knew she'd be wearing her uniform already.
A/N: I'm going to have so much fun with the interactions between Pansy and Elena. There's more to come, so please, lemme know what you think. Reviewers get a preview of the next chapter. :)
