"Mom, could I get your help with this?" I heard Emily call out from her room. I heard the shuffling of feet and then after a second, Emily thanked her, and the shuffling went back towards my parent's room. I saw the green of the floo going, and I figured my parents were sending the rest of their thing to the inn we were staying at. That was already done for me, so I sat on the barren floor of what used to be my room, reading over some of my old correspondents with IrishBoy, trying to get an idea of what it would be like gong to school with people from a whole other country. Being a fan of English Literature, I sometimes use words like "Bloody" and things like that, but otherwise you could tell that I, well, that we were from America. My mom called us into their room, and all Tia, Emily and I had was our purses. One by one we all stepped into the fireplace and called out the place where we were staying until the school year started. Finally, I went, the last of the kids, and stepped into the fireplace.
"The Leaky Cauldron!" I yelled, throwing down my floo powder. The green flames engulfed me as I was taken to England. Though, of course, my body chose that moment to be clumsy. I tumbled out of the fireplace, landing hard on my ass. "Ouch," I mumbled, trying to get the powder off my glasses. I felt two sets of arms help me up, and I knew who it was immediately.
"We figured you'd do that," Tia joked. I rolled my eyes.
"I prefer brooms," I said, wiping my glasses off on my sweater. My mom and dad came next, and then Tom showed us to our rooms. My mom and dad would have one, then Casey would, and then Emily, Tia and I would share one with a set of bunk beds and a single. I just let them battle it out over the bunk beds, and threw my stuff that was sitting in the front of the room onto the single. Sometimes, my best friends fight like they actually are sisters, because essentially we are, we're just not blood related and don't have the same last names. Emily's long dirty blonde hair made her the envy of most girls at my school, and Tia's devious, conniving side made her the fun one out of us. My smarts completed the trio, rounding us off.
A week passed, and it was time for us to get our back to school stuff. Mom gave us the money and told us to go a head and go by ourselves, and gave Casey his own bag so he wouldn't be stuck with us. The first thing we knew we needed was robes, so we headed to the store Tom had told us about, Madam Malkin's. When we walked in, a somewhat mousy looking lady was walking around a tall girl with long black hair getting her robes hemmed. She pinned another hem up and looked at us.
"What do you girls need?" she asked.
"All three of us need to be fitted for Hogwarts robes," Emily clarified. The lady looked us over again.
"I'll be with you in a minute," she said. The girl getting fitted looked at us.
"You girls don't seem familiar. I go to Hogwarts. You transfers? You have American accents," she said. I nodded.
"Yeah. We're transfers from America. Texas, to be exact." She nodded.
"Well, it'll be good to be in school with you. I'm Cho, by the way. Cho Chang." She smiled and held out her hand. I shook it, and so did the other girls. Tia was the first girl to be called up after Cho was done, but she pulled me aside to talk.
"So, Holly, what house are you hoping to be in?" she asked. I was confused.
"House? What are you talking about?" I asked. She looked at me like I was crazy.
"The four Houses of Hogwarts. Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. At the beginning of first year, this your for you guys, you get sorted into one of the houses and have classes with the students in the same year as you in your house." She smiled knowingly.
"Well a big thanks to IrishBoy for mentioning that," I muttered.
"What?" Cho asked.
"Nothing," I said quickly. "So what exactly sets these houses apart? I asked." She pointed to the small blue crest on her robe.
"Well us Ravenclaws are known for wit and smarts. Gyffindors, like Harry Potter, are known for their bravery: Slytherins for their cunning, and Hufflepuffs for their kindness and loyalty. Honestly, I'd go with the first two. Most Slytherins are huge gits." She laughed.
"Well I think I know which houses we'll be in," I said under my breath. Just then, Madam Malkin had me stand on the platform and she took in the hems of the robe. The bells on the door rang, and I heard a cane hitting the floor.
"I'll be with you in a minute, Mr. Malfoy," Madam Malkin said. When she had me turn around again, I saw a boy who looked to be my age and his father. Both of them had blonde, almost to the extent of being white, hair. The son was looking at me with contempt.
"Can I help you, or are you just going to glare at me all day?" I asked. I heard Emily, Cho and Tia snort." Madam Malkin stuck another pin in the robe, and Malfoy looked at me for a second.
"Aren't you a Weasley?" he asked. I raised an eyebrow.
"A what?" I said, confused.
"I believe what my son means is that we haven't had the please to meet you yet, my dear," the father said. He curtsied a bit, which, I must say, freaked me out a bit (I mean, I'm from Texas and Cali, and the most courteous thing we do to each other is nod).
"We're transfers from America. I'm Holly Anderson, and these are my friends, Emily and Tia." The son looked back at the girls who were talking to Cho, and then back at me.
"So you're not a Weasley?" he asked. I rolled my eyes.
"Considering I have no idea what in the world you're talking about, you can take that as a no." Another round of giggles came from behind me.
"Good. You're too good looking to be a Weasley anyways," the son said. I dropped my jaw, and there was a silence. The dad hit the boy over the head with his hand.
"Ow!" he yelled. He rubbed the back of his head.
"You're done, deary," said Madam Malkin. I took off the robe carefully and hopped off the platform, careful not to make eye contact with the blonde kid. When Emily went up, Cho said she needed to leave, so I said goodbye to her.
"You shouldn't be hanging out with the likes of her," the kid said in my ear when she was gone. I took a step back.
"And you're one to make that decision, why?" I asked, annoyed that this guy was dissing my new friend. He looked like I was crazy.
"I'm Draco Malfoy," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"And that means what, exactly?" I said, rolling my eyes (ok, so I have an attitude problem). As soon as Emily was done, and Madam Malkin said she would send the robes to our rooms, we high tailed it out of there and went to get the rest of our stuff. In the book store, this lady holding about five sets of the same books almost dropped them on us, and so we helped her carry them to the register.
"Thank you girls so much," she said, looking at us. "Are you girls going into your fourth years this term?" she asked. Man, she had a good cense of age.
"Yep," Emily said. The lady looked a bit taken aback at her accent, but continued.
"So is my son and his friends. Just ask for Ronald Weasley," she said. The second time we had heard of these infamous Weasleys.