The Unknown

Chapter Two

So now you all know the story of how we got from America to Scotland. I, for one, was excited. I finally got to go to school. My mother was happy for me. My brother was happy for me. I'm sure, deep down and even though he didn't say a peep, my father was happy for me. The only person who wasn't happy was my irritating little sister, Salieri.

You'd think seeing her older brother happy would make her even a little happy, right? Wrong. She was even moodier than before. She would grunt as a reply and up and left a room whenever any sort of school was mentioned. Salieri wasn't even throwing fits anymore; she just sulked silently in her room and ignored everything that was going on in the world. She was turning into dad.

But as much as I felt bad for my little sister, I felt happier for myself. I had missed the first year of school, seeing as most witches and wizards start school at age eleven... but the headmaster insisted that I remain one year behind, to get the proper amount of schooling instead of skipping ahead to where I would be confused. But I was going to school! I can't even begin to explain how happy I was. I would finally learn to control my magic, instead of letting it get away from me whenever I got angry. I would finally meet people other than my father and brother who were magical folk. I had the possibility of making a friend!

But I still had one more transformation to go before I could start school at Hogwarts. I know... what a weird name for a school, but I could hardly care less about the name. It was one of the best schools in the country... and I was attending it.

XxX

"Did you know that only a handful of Werewolves have ever attended school before? I'll be one of the first!"

"'s nice, Nolan," my father grumbled, more into his coffee cup than to me. His eyes never left the newspaper. Before I could even let my shoulders slump or drop the book from my hands, I felt something warm grip my shoulder. I glanced up and found my mother standing behind me, amber eyes sparkling.

"That's great, honey." She insisted. Her mouth was open to say something else before we heard the slam of Salieri shoving her chair away from the table before storming up the stairs. This time, my shoulders slumped, and I let the old leather-bound book slip from my hands and onto the table.

XxX

My hopes and dreams for Hogwarts were too high, and I should have seen it coming before it hit me like a freight train.

I had expected to find friends, create our own little group and be able to write to each other over the summer holidays and even visit once in a while. I was wrong... like I had been about a lot of things so far.

I made one friend... sort of. I'm not even sure if he counted as a friend, because we barely spoke to each other unless we were working on something for classes. We kind of bonded over the fact that we were both quiet... he more so than I. Except, of course, around the full moon. It's a little difficult to explain in words, but I can feel the full moon. A few days before it actually comes, I feel hyper. I have too much energy and I can never get rid of it. I've tried running, wrestling with my older brother, but everything I try just never works.

I end up talking. A lot. I talk my family's ears off, and end up locking myself in my room to keep from annoying them too much.

But Adam never complained. We would sit by the lake, and he would let me talk about everything, except a certain forbidden topic, that is. He would listen and remain quite, often nodding his head understandingly and staring at the Black Lake; and I would ramble. I'd talk about the lake at home, Lake Whatcom, and how much different it was than the lake here at Hogwarts. I got into detail, too, without really realizing it. I would talk about the temperature, the plants under the surface, and even the color. But when most people would get annoyed, Adam just nodded and listened.

It sort of helped, and I had a feeling he knew it did. In a way, school was so much better than home, but it was all because of Adam. He was my one friend, someone who understood me without the need for conversation; we fit together perfectly... and it made being away from home so much more bearable. When I was around Adam, I forgot exactly what I was. I felt normal... even though I wasn't.

That was another thing... although I was around people who were like me... I wasn't. They were witches and wizards, and I was a Werewolf. I could never even tell my one kind-of-sort-of best friend about me being a Werewolf... I couldn't tell anyone. The teachers and staff were already informed of my "condition", and besides the monthly visit to the Shrieking Shack, it was never spoken of... and I was never spoken to.

It was like I was a disease... and even the staff at the school were too scared to talk to me. The first night I met everyone, they even called it my "condition"... like I was sick and contagious.

I learned in my first year that raising my hand in class didn't exactly get me called on. In the teacher's attempts to not show me too much attention, for fear of other students questioning my 'special treatment', I was treated like every other quiet student in the school... I was ignored. But it was worse than that... I was ignored by the other ignored students. I couldn't even join the little group of quiet people that sat towards the end of the Gryffindor table; I just never fit in with them.

I never fit in, period. Except with Adam, of course.

Adam Wendell was a great friend, and he was smart if people would give him a chance to talk. I think he even knew something was wrong with me, but he was just too polite and embarrassed to bring it up. And I don't really blame him. It's not too easy to go up to the one person who accepts you and accuse them of being a monster. I would do the same thing, even though I wished more than anything that Adam would bring it up during one of my rambling-sessions... so that maybe one person outside of my family would know about me.

But he didn't, and I didn't. We had that little unspoken agreement that we wouldn't talk about what was wrong with me... and I was foolish enough to keep it that way.

And I think we did have some weird, secret bond. He knew what was wrong with me, and I knew there was something wrong with him. I didn't notice it at all until our third year, and even then, I didn't say a word. I tried convincing myself that we had that unspoken agreement that our flaws were not to be discussed. And I think that's what killed my kind-of-sort-of best friend. His silence turned into depression, and his depression opened up his mind to the idea of suicide.

At first, I had thought that the address was a hint to go and visit him over the summer… which I had planned to do. But after I received the letter from Dumbledore, explaining that my friend had killed himself, I understood what his intention of it was. I'm sure his parents didn't know he had any friends at school, so that address was my one chance to go and say my final goodbyes to someone who had shared the silence with me for years.

After the funeral, everything went by quickly. Instead of studying Werewolves, and informing my family of my new discoveries, I stayed in my room. No one cared besides my mother, anyway, and I'm sure even she grew tired of the subject after a while. So the days grew into weeks, and the weeks grew into a month before I had my last transformation of the summer.

Even that flew by quickly. I didn't want to say I was numb, but I was in a state of delayed shock. I was going back to school in a week, and my one friend, the one person in the school who took notice of me and accepted me, had killed himself. I was most definitely, not, looking forward to another year at what had turned into my little hellhole.

XxX

I boarded the train alone, heading for my fourth year at Hogwarts. My father had gotten a job offer at Gringotts Wizarding Bank, meaning he could finally work at a job that would start to pay more... and meaning that he had no time to come and drop me off at Kings Cross Train Station. Salieri was sick with the flu, and seeing as it was still her summer vacation, we knew she wasn't lying; my mother decided to stay back with her.

So I had no formal goodbye from my family... which was actually alright. I had barely talked to them in full sentences, most of us communicating in grunts and nods-except my mother-so it was hardly any different than normal.

I had to catch myself as I scanned Platform 9 3/4, looking for that familiar head of reddish-brown hair, always neat and tidy. I had to stop myself when I realized that Adam wouldn't be joining me on this trip to Hogwarts.

My shoulders slumped of their own accord, and this time my mother wasn't there to cheer me up with a reassuring smile.

My depressing thoughts of how lonely this next school year would be were cut short when something slammed into my back, causing me to fall forward, do an impressive and painful flip over my trunk before landing with a thud on my back. I let out a groan as I moved a bit, testing my limbs before deeming myself unharmed enough.

"Sorry! I'm sorry!" A frantic voice sounded from the other side of my trunk. A small boy glanced up over the edge, brown eyes wide and fearful; a first year.

I shook my head, grabbing my trunk and the boy's arm, and dragged them both out of the way just in time for another Wizard to pass through the barrier.

Usually, Adam was at the end of the Platform, waiting patiently alone until the train pulled up, and I would go and join him. However, without him there, my feet were rooted to the ground in the highest traffic area of Platform 9 3/4.

"It's fine, you okay?" I asked, turning my trunk so that it was right-side-up. The boy nodded, brushing off his slacks before accepting my hand. I hauled him up to his feet, surprised at how little he weighed. He smiled sheepishly before grabbing his trunk, and scratching the back of his head.

"I'm fine, sorry 'bout that," he mumbled before setting off into the crowd of students and families, waiting to send their children off on the Hogwarts Express.

I stayed where I was, now that I was out of the way, leaning against the stone wall until the shrill cry of the Hogwarts Express filled the Platform. I made my way to the train along with everyone else, slipping around large families engulfed in one giant hug before I finally found a door that hadn't been blocked. I hauled my trunk up the few little stairs and pushed past a few people until I was finally walking down the hallway in search of an empty compartment.

Normally, I would have sit by Adam, the two of us sitting in silence in a compartment towards the front of the train. But this time I had to find my own compartment, shut the door behind me, and sit in the awkward silence that followed. It was a good half and hour before the train gave it's first lurch forward, and the uproar from outside-parents screaming last goodbyes and little notes to their children-was heard throughout the entire train. I watched the window, waiting for the bricks to pass by faster and faster until we were finally out of Kings Cross Station.

I sank down lower into the seat, staring at the empty spot across from me. That dark blue seat should be filled by Adam, sitting with his hands resting on the seat beside his knees and watching the landscape go by for the entire ride. I wallowed in those thoughts for a few minutes, remembering the few years where we sat in a comfortable silence on the train ride to and from home. The sounds of the train on the tracks had once been a nice accompaniment to the silence, but now it was too loud. I wanted the regular silence that we had shared.

I sighed, propping my feet up on the seat across from me, and forced myself to turn away and look out the window.