Chapter Two
The sunlight streamed through her window and inched across the room onto Kerri's sleeping. She remained deeply asleep, and subconsciously rolled over off her bed, landing with a thump on the hard wood floor.
"Ow," she rubbed her head in pain. Oriole looked up at the sound of Kerri's voice, but deemed it uninteresting, and settled back to sleep. She looked over at her alarm clock, which read 9:30 in neon red letters.
"Crap," she muttered. Kerri had overslept. She quickly grabbed a few articles of muggle clothing out of her dresser, which was a pair of dark-wash jeans, and a yellow and blue shirt.
After a swift shower, brushing her teeth, changing into her clothes, and brushing her hair, Kerri went downstairs. She approached the kitchen, expecting her mother to be seated at the counter. She wasn't. Kerri spotted a paper on the table, and walked over to it.
Kerri-
You are late. I have your trunk, and your new books and uniform. Go fetch Oriole and apparate to Kings Cross as soon as you can.
Much love,
Mom
Thankfully, Kerri had turned come of age months before, so she could apparate legally. After grabbing her owl, she concentrated on a street away from the station, behind a tree. It would be disastrous if a muggle saw her. She heard a small pop from behind her, and landed on solid ground. Stumbling, Kerri looked around to see where she was. She had never liked apparating, and had never gotten used to the sensation. Taking in her surroundings, Kerri sighed in relief. She had reached the correct destination with all her limbs intact. She darted out from behind the tree, and walked down the busy sidewalk to the station.
She walked past a few platforms until she reached number 9. Kerri saw her mother in front of the wall. "Mom, I didn't get any breakfast." Kerri whined childishly, pulling on her sleeve like she used to do when she was smaller.
"That's your fault." Her mother chuckled, smiling. Kerri and her mother linked arms with each other, and disappeared through the brick wall that had hidden the Hogwarts Express.
"Emily, darling!" An old woman said, who had a hideous hat with a stuffed vulture on top of her head, running over to where we had just appeared.
"Mrs.Longbottom! It's so nice to see you!" Her mother said, embracing the woman in a hug. Kerri froze upon hearing her mother. Longbottom...had she heard that name before? Kerri racked her brain for an answer. 'Perhaps it had been mentioned in the news somewhere?' Of course not, Kerri was not allowed to read the Daily Prophet.
Before she could come up with an answer, Kerri saw a boy around her age lurking in the shadow of what she assumed to be his grandmother. The woman was much too old to be his mother. Kerri walked over to him, noticing her mother and Mrs. Longbottom were deep in conversation.
"Hi," Kerri said stiffly. "My name's Kerri. Whats yours?" Kerri stuck out my hand, and he shook it. "Neville, Neville Longbottom." He replied, barely looking up at her. 'Of course!' exclaimed Kerri, silently. 'The prophecy.' She wondered what the young boy had to do with her.
"Have you heard of Harry Potter?" Kerri asked, curiously, thinking of the other name mentioned on the prophecy.
"Who hasn't?" Neville scoffed. "He's really nice though." Neville added as an afterthought.
"Well, I had heard you mentioned somewhere before, and his name was there, too-" Kerri started, unsure of whether the boy knew of the prophecy, or what it was about.
"Oh! You mean a few years back when my friends and I battled all these Death Eaters in the Ministry. There was a ten page article on that, and I was mentioned there a lot! They even interviewed me..." A smile stretched across his face. Kerri had obviously touched on his favorite subject. 'Wait, did he say battling Death Eaters at the Ministry?' Kerri asked herself. She had been there, too, and after her mother had explained what had happened...
Kerri walked stealthily through the Department of Mysteries, trying to find her mother, who worked there. She was normally not allowed the department, but sometimes her snuck her in anyway. She avoided any closed doors, normally, but there had been fiery X's across the doors to her alarm, and curiosity got the better of her.
She cracked a door with one of the marked doors, and looked in timidly. "Stupefy!" Kerri heard someone bellow, and next heard several screams. "Sirius! No…no…he's not gone, SOMEONE GET HELP!" She heard another voice shout in agony.
Kerri got frightened, and slipped through a different, unmarked door. Kerri looked around the room, and gasped. There were millions, or at least it looked like that many, of glass orbs on shelves. She walked around the room until one particular glass ball caught her eye. She reached up, and grabbed it off of the shelf. "Kerri Fallowyn." She murmured, tracing her name on the prophecy.
"Cool, huh?" Neville said, snapping Kerri out of her trance. "Hey, I've never seen you before. Are you new?" He asked Kerri, staring at her with a raised brow. She broke eye contact with him, and looked down at her feet, which were clad in white muggle trainers.
"Yeah, I am." Kerri said finally, breaking the awkward silence.
"Oh, dearies!" Mrs.Longbottom called, waving to the two of us.
"Yes, Grams?" Neville said nervously.
"The train is about to leave." My mom finished.
"Oh. Bye Mom! It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Longbottom." I smiled politely, waved goodbye, and boarded the train.
"Hey! Wait!" Neville called after Kerri, catching up. "Want to sit with me on the train?" He asked, rather quickly.
"Uh, sure?" Kerri said, tentatively. After all, she didn't know anyone else. He led her to the middle of the train, and opened the door to the compartment. It had a red haired boy, a bushy haired brunette girl, and a boy with messy black hair and glasses.
"Hey Neville." The three chorused, greeting him.
"Hey guys. This is Kerri. She's new. Kerri, that's Harry, Ron, and Hermione." Neville said, pointing to each person as he introduced them.
"Harry Potter?" Kerri asked Harry, with a raised brow. She couldn't believe the coincidence, meeting two out of three of the people that were mentioned in the prophecy on the very same day!
"Yes," said Harry begrudgingly. "Would you like an autograph? Or have you come to gawk at my scar like everyone else?" Malice dripped from his voice, and Kerri was taken aback.
"Bit full of yourself, aren't we? So what? You have an unusually shaped scar. I didn't even notice until you practically spat at me," Kerri countered, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Oh...I am sorry. I thought, well, I'm just used to people staring and...yeah." Harry apologized, obviously embarrassed.
"Don't say sorry if you don't mean it," Kerri said crossly. "Conceited little bastard." She muttered under her breath. "But it is really nice to meet you all." Kerri said, smiling at Ron and Hermione.
She sat down next to Neville and pulled out a book, starting to read.
"So, Kerri was it? Where did you transfer from? I haven't seen you before," Hermione asked nervously, seemingly scared of setting her off again.
"I was at Beauxbatons." Kerri smiled, closing her book. She was surprised that Hermione actually made an attempt to make her feel welcome.
"Really? You know, I went to France just the other summer…" She continued, trying to make a conversation.
Kerri cheered up immediately. "Did you go to Montreal?" Amazingly, her foul mood had vanished and she had once more become chipper.
"Yeah," Hermione said happily. "I'm really sorry, but Ron and I have to go with the rest of the prefects. See you soon," Hermione shook Ron's shoulder, who had tuned out the conversation.
"Err, okay. Let's go then. Bye, Harry, Neville, Kerri," Ron said, quickly exiting the compartment with Hermione trailing behind him.
Kerri picked up her book again, and had soon fallen asleep.
A few hours later, Hermione returned and told Kerri and the other two boys that they should change into their robes. The boys left and Kerri quickly changed. Hermione came in again.
"Sorry about Harry. He's a little sensitive about people staring at him." She started.
"I can tell. Hey, you're a prefect right? Where do I go once I arrive? My parents told me something about a hat..." Kerri trailed off. "You can follow me. Once we get to the castle, you'll have to join the other first years though." Hermione replied, her chocolate brown eyes glinting with something unrecognizable.
Soon enough, the train had stopped. Kerri did as Hermione said, and joined her in the carriage. "What were those freaky things?" Kerri questioned, once inside the carriage, motioning to the winged horses that pulled the carriage. Hermione, Ron, and Harry exchanged glances.
"You can see them?" Harry asked.
"Yes. Should I not?" Hermione glanced at Ron again.
"No." She replied quickly. The carriage came to a halt.
"You'll follow the midgets." Ron said, pointing to a line of tiny children who were being led up to the castle by a very large and hairy man.
"Don't call them that, Ron!" Hermione scolded bitterly.
Kerri left the carriage and joined the eleven year olds at the front of the school.
Professor McGonagall lifted her glasses at Kerri once she neared her. "Kerri Fallowyn?" She asked, scrutinizing her appearance.
"Yes?" Kerri replied.
"Follow me." She led Kerri out into the middle of the room that was surrounded by students, and she sat on the stool. The headmistress placed the tattered hat she was holding on Kerri's head, and she held her breath.
"Curious...very curious..." The hat muttered. "A bit of everything, I see. Hadn't seen this since Dumbledore..." the hat said loudly. And then it remained silent. A murmur went through the hall.
"Um. How long does it take?" Kerri asked, hoping that she wouldn't come off as impatient.
"Oh my," McGonagall said. "You better come with me, Fallowyn." She said, taking the hat from Kerri's head. A professor hurried down from their table, and took the hat from McGonagall. Kerri felt numerous eyes on her as McGonagall led her out of the Great Hall, up several flights of stairs, and past a gargoyle.
"Fallowyn, I was hoping this wouldn't happen." McGonagall said, seating herself behind a desk. "The Sorting Hat is an ancient method, started by Godric Gryffindor himself. There are four houses, as you know. Usually, even if they are almost exactly even in each house, they get sorted into one or the other. The Sorting Hat places you in the house you would like to join the most, or whichever one you would achieve most in and are suited to. You, Fallowyn, were exactly even in each house. You don't belong a bit more in any of the houses, and you sat there completely unbiased. The hat got confused, and didn't say any of the houses. So Fallowyn, which house would you like to be in?" McGonagall explained, her own sharp eyes glaring daggers straight through my ice blue eyes.
"Well, m-my parents were both G-gryffindors, so I suppose I'll join that house." Kerri stuttered, wondering why she was so special.
"Exactly why you were so evenly matched in each house, Fallowyn, will be explained later. I expect that you will be most warmly welcomed in Gryffindor, now hurry along to your table." She said, shooing me out the door. Kerri caught a glimpse of her gazing longingly at a silver bearded wizard's portrait, mumbling "Albus...If only you could have been here."