"Go on, Annabelle, give it a go." George grinned at me from behind his large trunk.
"It's not that scary once you get going."Fred stood beside his twin brother, the same goofy grin on his face.
"Go on, Ginny, Dear." Molly spoke up from next to the wall. "Show her how it's done." With that, Ginny began running at the wall, disappearing as she touched it.
I shook my head in disbelief. "H-how did she do that?"
Fred walked up next to me and dropped his arm around my shoulder. "Magic, dear Anna, magic."With that, Fred and George both ran toward the wall, disappearing in the same manner Ginny had.
"Come, now, Dear." Molly placed one hand on my cart and the other on my back, running with me toward the wall. Much to my surprise, I found myself standing on a new platform with the largest train I had ever seen right in front on me. "Come, Dear!" Molly smiled at me, guiding my way with her hand. "You mustn't miss the train."
Walking back a hall, I heard noise coming from a compartment to my right. I, however, ignored it and kept walking, looking for an empty compartment of my own.
"Hey, Mudblood!" A voice rang out behind me. Ignoring it, I kept walking until I heard a THUNK! And and felt a sharp pain on the back of my head. I dropped the small book in my hand, instantly bringing that hand up to the blood that was trickling down the back of my neck. The roar of laughter behind me grew as I bent down to pick up my book, once more being struck in the back of the head by something. As I felt myself begin to tear up, the laughter behind me stopped abruptly.
"Apologize, Flint!" I turned to see a girl standing over the boy who had been throwing things at me, his arm twisted up behind his back.
"Unlikely, Delamai-"
"I said apologize!" The girl snarled, tugging harder on the dark haired boy's arm.
The boy screeched in pained before squeaking out, "I'm sorry!"
"Sellout." A boy sat in the corner with his platinum blonde hair slicked back. He scoffed before rolling his eyes.
"I'll deal with you later, Malfoy." The girl forcefully released the dark haired boys arm and turned, leaving without another word.
I quickly turned and scrambled into the nearest empty compartment. Gathering my thoughts, I glanced out the window just in time to see the platform roll out of sight.
Moments later, the compartment door opened and Ginny and Francesca sat down across from me. "Did you see Angelina Johnson?" Ginny asked, turning to Francesca."She was practically chasing George down the platform!"The girls giggled and turned to me. "Don't worry about her though, Anna."Ginny smiled reassuringly.
"Da." Francesca giggled. "He's got his eye on you."She winked at me as the door opened again, and Fred and George appeared in the doorway.
"Room for two more?" They said in unison as the sat down on either side of me.
"George!" A girl appeared in the doorway, blushing. "There you are, I've been looking everywhere!"She grinned widely at him. "Come sit with us!"
George sighed. "Sorry, Angelina. I'm sitting with Annabelle here." George reached out and patted my hand and I could feel my body tense up. "Don't want her getting lost you see.
Smiling politely at the girl, I tried to bite back the heat rising in my cheeks. The girl, however, was not as polite. She glared at me momentarily before slamming shut the compartment door and storming off back to her friends.
Furrowing my eyebrows in confusion, I turned to George. "What was that all about?" Turning to glance back out the door, she was gone out of sight. I shrugged and turned to listen to the conversation around me, laughing and chatting with them the whole way to Hogwarts. For once in my life, I didn't feel so different. For once, I felt like I belonged.
"What's this?" I heard a snicker behind me as I walked up to the front of the Great Hall. I was confused at first but then George explained that there was an old magical hat that determined which of the four houses of Hogwarts I should be sorted into, based on what it could find in my brain. Turning to glance behind me, I heard the voice again. "Another Weasley?"
The teacher in front of me who I now know to be Professor McGonagall glared at the student behind me before clearing her throat and pronouncing, "Students, this is Annabelle Roland. She is a new student from America. Now, if you're all quite finished, I'd like to have her sorted so we can all get on with it." She ended her statement by placing an old hat on my head when I had sat down on a stool.
"What's this?" The old hat croaked. "You're very tricky. Very tricky, indeed." I looked up, attempting to see the hat on my head as it spoke. "Nevertheless, I think it should be..." There was a momentary pause as the entire room was silent. I squeezed my eyes shut tight, opening them once more as the hat roared, "Gryffindor!"
I looked to the Weasley family sitting in a row at the Gryffindor table before I hopped down off the stool and proceeded to run toward them, slipping onto the long bench in between Fred and George. Grinning up at the twins, I turned to George as he spoke.
"I suppose you really are a Weasley."He said with a chuckle. "Looks like you fit in perfectly."He smiled down at me before turning his attention to the other students who were being sorted.
That's when it hit me. I belonged. For the first time in a long time, a feeling of pure joy engulfed me. I belonged somewhere. I had friends. I wasn't so different from everyone else. I finally fit in.
"Hey, Mudblood!" I glanced behind me as I heard a voice ring out. Turning farther around, I noticed that standing behind me was the boy with the platinum blonde hair on the train. "Don't have Delamaine to defend you now."
As the boy walked over to me, he held up his wand, snickering. Pointing his wand at me, he narrowed his eyes, an evil grin spreading across his face.
"I could do anything I wanted right now. Who would care enough to help you? The pathetic lot of Weasleys?" He scoffed, moving closer as I stepped backward. "You're such a pathetic little mudbloo-"
Before he could finish the word, the boy was lifted into the air. As I watched, stunned, he was tossed to the side, landing harshly on the ground, then standing quickly, and running off in a hurry.
Before I new it, the girl from the train was in front of me, a smile on her face, her eyes shining brightly. "You okay? That Malfoy can be a right foul git sometimes." Stretching out her hand, she reached for mine to shake it while cheerily adding, "My name is Ashlee, by the way. Ashlee Delamaine."
"I'm Anna Roland." Giving her a shy smile, I returned the handshake, repositioning the books in my arm. "Say, you wouldn't know where flying lessons are, would you?"
"Still getting used to things around here?" Ashlee chuckled lightly and looped her arm through mine, leading me off toward the Quidditch pitch and chatting about life at Hogwarts the whole way there.
As we reached the Quidditch pitch, she turned to me with a smile. "You ever need anything, just let me know. I keep the rest of the Slytherins in check." It was then that I noticed the green colors on her robe. "And don't worry about Malfoy. I've always got an eye on him."
As Ashlee turned to leave, she waved, causing me to do the same. Entering the Quidditch pitch, I couldn't help but to smile to myself. Somehow I just knew that this was going to be a great year.