*Mata's PoV* "Erm...sorry about not realizing that you-er-" said the boy with glasses. Or, at least, I was pretty sure that was what he said.

Oh, forget it, Specky.I wrote, my blue eyes twinkling.

Specky started laughing, I think. "You like my glasses?" he asked.

When did I ever say that?

The curly-haired flirt's eyes crinkled in amusement and he grinned at me before turning his attention to the compartment door (trust me, he's a flirt). I followed his gaze and saw that a sandy-haired boy was patiently standing outside. He had pale blue eyes, his face was covered in scars, and he had a book tucked under his arm.

Mr. Flirt gestured for him to come in and he slid open the door.

"Can I-?"

Specky nodded and said something else, but I couldn't tell what it was since he wasn't facing me. It was obvious that he had given his permission, because the sandy-haired boy sat down across from me and immediately started reading his book. I huffed through my nose.

For some reason, I always got annoyed when people immediately started doing something without introducing themselves first. Don't get me wrong! I was perfectly fine with someone getting lost in their book after they had acknowledged my presence. If I wasn't, I'd be a total hypocrite, because my mechanics become my sole purpose in living once I start fiddling. But at least I try to acknowledge other people the vicinity!

Anyway, I ended up poking Bookboy on the nose with my wand-mostly to make him look up at me and to express my annoyance at his poor socializing skills.

Rude!I wrote, sending him the stink eye.

To my amusement, there was a red mark on the spot where I had poked him. Bookboy glanced up at me, looking utterly confused.

"What the-?"

I'm deaf, BOOKBOY, I told him, utilizing the new nickname I created for the fine specimen sitting in front of me. And you didn't even introduce yourself!

Suddenly I felt someone grip my shoulder and turned to see Specky shaking with laughter. His glasses were on the verge of falling off his nose and his cheeks were red.

Bug off, Specky, I wrote, after cleaning the window for the second time that day. It seemed like I'd have to find a more efficient way of communicating with other people.

Specky shook his head, and I stuck my tongue out at him before turning my attention back to the sandy-haired boy. Well? I scribbled, puffing out my cheeks to emphasize my impatience.

He hesitated. "Erm..." He brought out his own wand and tried to write on the window like I did. The results were a bit distorted, but oh well. Remus Lupin.

Werewolf McWerewolf. Interesting.

Nice to meet you, I answered. And I can lip read. You don't need to write like that.'Cause you suck at it.

Remus looked slightly annoyed at my nonexistent filter, but hid it quickly. "Okay," he said. "What's your name?

Mata Dunphy, I wrote.

He nodded and turned to the two boys sitting next to me. "You two?"

"James Potter," said Specky, a proud smile plastered to his face.

"Sirius Black," said Mr. Flirt. A grin spread across my face.

I'm calling you Siri from now,I told him.

"Then I'm calling you Mats," he answered, his eyes lighting up.

I considered my new nickname for a few moments. I'd never had a nickname before. Holly (my adoptive mother) had always called me Mata and Gregor, her thirteen year-old son, followed suit. This was mostly because he and I weren't very close, and he never bothered to come up with a nickname.

Fair enough, I said.

I was about to go back to fiddling with my cassette player, but suddenly realized that everyone in the compartment was looking at the door. A squat, plump boy with blonde hair had knocked. He looked extremely nervous-as though he'd been rejected many times. James nodded for him to come in and he slid the compartment door open.

"Can I sit here?" he asked.

Sure, I scribbled. Name?

The last part was meant to be a joke, but the boy didn't seem to get this. He just looked very confused. Perhaps it was my odd form of communication that had tripped him up.

"She's deaf, but can lip read," James explained.

Remus gave me a playful wink. "And she also has an obsession with knowing people's names," he added, grinning. I picked up the nearest book (which happened to be the one he was reading at that very moment) and whacked him over the head.

The boy at the door's mouth fell into an o-shape. After a moment, he said, "Erm...Peter Pettigrew."

I nodded. Well, come on in!

If there's one thing I've learned during my eleven years on Earth, it's that certain people make an impact on you. Whether it's good or bad depends on the person, but they still leave their mark. And that mark never goes away.

The thirteen year-old girl that walked into my compartment on the first day of school left a very, very bad mark on me. And I'm happy to say that I left a similar mark on her.

Anyway, this hag waltzed in with her younger sister, giggling her arse off and holding her head high as though she owned the entire train. One look at her and I knew she was trouble.

"Can we help you, Bellatrix? Narcissa?" Sirius asked. The unpleasant scowl etched onto his face confirmed my guess that he knew them and didn't like them one bit.

Yeah,I added, tapping the window after writing to get their attention, didn't your parents ever teach you to knock before entering?

Apparently their parents didn't teach them common courtesy either, because both girls continued their laughing fit without even acknowledging the fact that there were five other people present. And I knew they had noticed me, because the older one's eyes flickered to the window for a split second.

Sirius' scowl was rapidly becoming wider, and I decided to step in before he lost his temper.

Hello! I wrote-this time in the air-whacking them both over the head with Remus' book and stomping on their feet. I thought I was the only deaf one around here!

The older girl turned on me, sneering. "Look at that, Cissy," she said, "a freak among witches. You don't see that everyday."

Needless to say, she got huge middle finger sent in her direction. And no, it does not mean "screw you" in sign language, idiots.

Sirius stood up abruptly, fists clenched. "Get out," he answered, his eyes slits. I could tell he was about to blow at her.

"I don't think we will."

His face turned slightly red in anger and he opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off when the compartment door slid open again. The brunette girl from earlier (who also had the potential of being my stunt double, funnily enough) had entered. She looked soaked to the bone and her expression mirrored Sirius': absolutely pissed. I could almost imagine the anger in her voice when she spoke.

"What the hell was that for?!" she demanded, glowering at Bellatrix and Narcissa.

They simply busted out laughing.

After she was finished laughing, Bellatrix smirked at the girl. "It was meant for the mudblood," she replied.

I suddenly had a flashback to when I was nine years old. Someone at Gregor's school orientation had called Holly "mudblood" and he had threatened to pulverize them if they ever called his mother that again. The only thing that had kept him from beating the crap out of them right there and then was Holly's pleas to "not turn to violence."

Although, she had looked just as angry as Gregor-if not more.

Shut your face-hole, hag, I told Bellatrix, my eyes flashing.

"You've no right to tell me what to do," the third year retorted, with her hands on her hips. "Oh, right," she added after a moment's pause, "you can't speak."

Be glad that I can't, I thought, because the crap that'd come out of my mouth might puncture your oversized ego.

The girl who had entered our compartment slapped Bella upside the head. "Don't call Lil a mudblood," she snarled, "and sure as h*ll don't make fun of the girl who can't hear."

Preach, Sista. Preach.

"You can't tell me what to do either, Miss Goody Goody."

She just did tell you what to do, I wrote, flashing Bella a cold smile. Deal with it.

"Who asked for your opinion, you deaf freak?" she sneered.

That was the last straw.

I stood up and straightened my back so I could get in her face. You have three seconds to get the h*ll out of this compartment,I warned her. I may be deaf, but that doesn't mean I can't bitch slap you into next month.

"I think we know a lot more spells than you do," Bella countered, smirking.

"Doesn't mean we can't kick your *ss," the other girl told her.

I pocketed my wand and held up three fingers on my right hand. Bella and Narcissa seemed to get the message but didn't move one inch.

"Two." The girl held up two fingers. I nodded at her and held up one finger. When Bella and Narcissa didn't budge, I balled my fists and socked the both of them in the jaw. Narcissa retaliated by taking a large bucket of water that she happened to be holding and dumping it over my head.

To say that I was angry would've been a massive understatement.

Piss off, bitch, I signed, without realizing it. My hands were my voice and I definitely had a lot to say. I gave you three seconds and you failed to heed my warning, so take your bucket of water and fuck off.

"We don't understand freak language, hon," Bellatrix told me sneeringly.

"Let me give you a hint," said the brunette girl, eyes narrowed. "She's cussing you out."

She then proceeded to kick them in the shins so hard that they fell over and slam the door in the their faces. I stifled a snort with my hand as Narcissa accidentally hit herself in the face with her own bucket. Served her right.

The girl shot them one last glare and turned to the rest of us. "Sorry about that!" she said with an apologetic smile.

Sirius winked at her. "'S okay," he answered. "Been wanting to do that myself actually."

See? Told you he's a flirt. I mean, come on. That wink wasn't really necessary.

Apparently she thought so, too, because she rolled her eyes at him and promptly walked out of the compartment.

I took my wand out of my pocket and looked at Sirius teasingly. Rejected!I wrote.

"Bug off, Mats."

Nope.

Sirius huffed. I grinned cheekily at him.

"Sorry about those girls," he told me after a few moments. "My cousins are gits."

You're related to THEM? I asked, eyebrows raised.

He mumbled something under his breath that I couldn't lip read, but I got the gist; he didn't like being related to them. And in all honesty, I couldn't blame him.

Sheesh. And I thought Gregor was annoying.

"Gregor?"

Adoptive older brother.

"You're adopted?" James questioned.

I nodded, before realizing that I was still soaking wet. I'll be right back, I told them, grabbing my robes and a clean set of clothes. I'd been prepared to change into my school robes, but not everything else. Stupid gits.

As I left to go to the changing rooms, I saw that brunette heading in the same direction. I studied her closely as we walked and noticed that physically we were alike in every aspect. Our eyes, our hands-even the way we scowled. The only thing that could help you tell us apart was my short hair and the yin locket bouncing off her chest.

When I saw this locket, I got an uneasy feeling in my stomach and glanced down at my own locket. It was yang and looked like the matching locket to hers. Something wasn't right here. How often was it that you found someone with a matching physical appearance and locket? It just didn't add up.

Suddenly another person bumped into me and fell over, getting up and continuing their walk. If they had apologized, I wouldn't know. They probably did, but lip reading is the only way I could understand people in the world of hearing. Besides sign language of course.

The aisle was getting a bit too crowded for my liking, so I squeezed by everyone and gave them apologetic smiles if I knocked them over. When we moved to England-and especially the last few months before Hogwarts-Holly had emphasized the importance of surviving in public and being polite. But the thing is, I wasn't polite. Over the years, I had developed a hard shell that almost no one could penetrate. People weren't scared of me like they were in those fiction books where the bad guy is a cold, emotionless robot of destruction-they just thought I was a rude nuisance-which I was.

Anyway, when I entered the changing rooms, I was met by a familiar face; it was that redhead-Lily, I think. She had a small smile on her face and it was directed towards the person next to me.

"Andy! I wondered when you would get your arse in here!"

"I had to deal with a few arse-holes first," Andy replied, chuckling.

I let out a snort through my nose. I doubted they noticed, though. I wasn't that good at laughing. My doctor back in America had said that the neglect of my voice had made it a bit rusty. He had offered speech lessons, but Holly said it was too expensive. People I asked said I sounded like a bullfrog when I laughed, which wasn't very helpful since I didn't know what a bullfrog sounded like.

People are idiots, I tell you.

I quickly realized that the conversation between these two girls wasn't meant for me and went to find a stall. As I changed into my robes, I thought about what house I'd get into. I hadn't heard much about Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, but Gryffindor and Slytherin seemed okay. I wasn't that into being brave and daring, but who knew? Slytherin seemed fine. I mean, ambition and cunning were awesome traits. Sirius had said some people there were prats, but then again, ninety percent of my kindergarten class was full of people who wouldn't let me play with them at recess because of my deafness. I still enjoyed kindergarten.

There was this one girl who let me join her game, but she left on the first day of school, which was weird. Of course, my whole life couldn't really be considered normal, could it?

Once I had finished changing into my robes, I stuffed my wet clothes into a plastic bag and headed out of the changing rooms. On my way back to my compartment, I saw a middle aged man with shoulder-length auburn hair sitting in a compartment with two other girls. He was clearly a teacher, but I didn't know why he was here; teachers weren't supposed to come to school on the train.

The man and I held eye contact for a few moments. His eyes bore into mine and I had the unpleasant feeling that he could see into my mind. Mostly because no one stares at you without a purpose. Unless they're a stalker.

And middle aged men stalking eleven year old girls is just plain freaky, so I tried not to think about that.

When I got back to my compartment, the boys were absorbed in their own things. Remus was reading his book, James was fiddling with a silvery cloth, Sirius seemed to find the window interesting for some unknown reason, and Peter was munching on a sandwich.

I'm back, children!I told them.

"We're not your children, Mata," said Remus.

So?

Remus facepalmed himself. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"You're an idiot, Mata."

And proud. What's that, Jamesie?I asked, referring to the silvery cloth in James' hands.

"An invisibility cloak," he replied.

I sat down by the window. COOL!I wrote.Can I borrow it for like, thirty minutes?

"To do what?" he questioned, eyeing his cloak protectively.

To go on a thrilling mission of revenge, I answered, grinning mischievously.

James returned my grin, getting the gist of what I was going to do. "It's all yours," he said, handing the cloak to me. "Just give it back when you're done."

Of course, I wrote, slipping out of the compartment and throwing the cloak over myself.

This was going to be lots of fun.

It wasn't very hard to find Bella and Narcissa's compartment. Turns out that theirs wasn't very far from mine. I just had to be extra careful while going in, because most people-unlike me-can actually hear you if you just casually stomp into their compartment under the guise of an invisibility cloak (mind blown!).

When I got there, I saw the two hags sitting with another older boy. He had blonde hair, pale grey eyes, and an arrogant smirk that seemed to be engraved on his face. His chest was puffed out to show the prefect badge pinned onto his robes and he didn't seem like the pleasant type.

The three students seemed to be engaged in a game of Exploding Snap, so when I slid the compartment door open and walked in, they didn't notice me at first.

"Who opened the door?" Narcissa asked, frowning.

"I certainly didn't," said Bella, not moving her eyes from the cards she was stacking. "Must've been the wind."

"The wind opened the compartment door?" the boy commented, looking doubtful. "Bella, the window is closed. It couldn't have been the wind."

"Oh, shut up, Lucius," she snapped as the cards exploded and singed her eyebrow. I grinned. It was the perfect time to act.

During the summer, Holly advised me to create signs for all of the spells I had to learn this year because I couldn't say them. Unfortunately, this was easier said than done. Thinking up signs wasn't even the hard part, but making them efficient was a whole other issue. One of the only signs I'd developed that had actually worked was "Wingardium Leviosa." According to my textbook, if I did the "swish and flick" motion with my wand while saying (in my case, signing) the spell, I'd be able to make things levitate.

Pretty cool, right?

Anyway, I hoped it worked this time, because Bellatrix and Narcissa definitely needed to learn the meaning of Karma.

I took my wand and signed "Alohomora" (another sign that I created. It unlocked things) while sharply waving my wand at Bella's trunk. The lock undid itself and the trunk lid flew open. The air tensed as Bella, Narcissa, and Lucius froze at the sight.

"What the bloody h*ll just happened?" said Lucius, his eyes widening.

"Something odd is definitely going on here," Bella added, looking slightly freaked out.

No dip, Sherlock.

I leered and pointed my wand at her hairbrush, getting ready to do the "swish and flick" motion. I held up the W-handshape with my left hand, copied the movement I was already doing with my wand (swish and flick. Duh), and brought it out to the L-handshape. Satisfaction rippled through me as the hairbrush lifted a few inches in the air, completely under the control of my wand.

Bella almost fell off her seat in fright, Narcissa shrank into the corner, and Lucius went so pale that his face was the same color as whipped cream. And it was all I could do to stuff my knuckles in my mouth to stifle the laughter that surely would've escaped my lips two seconds later.

And the best part? I wasn't even done with them.

Needless to say, I went all out. I levitated books, clothes, accessories, reveling in the new control I had over my magic. As for Bella, Lucius, and dear Cissy, they flipped.

And when I say "flipped", I mean they went psycho.

Or at least they did when I started smacking Bella on the face with her own books.

MWAHAHAHAHA!

Was that a bit too much? I think not!

Anyway, my victims-er, prankees (yes, I made that word up)-ended up sprinting out of their compartment while waving their arms around like madmen and screaming Bloody Mary.

Well, I didn't know whether or not they were screaming Bloody Mary, but it sure as heck seemed like they were. I mean, I doubt they were singing praises to the Lord above.

But of course, I still wasn't finished with them. You didn't just call someone a mudblood in front of me, dub sign language as "freak language," and drench me with water in one day without paying dearly. I had one last thing to do.

Get all of this amazingness on freaking camera.

Luckily I already had the stuff that happened in their compartment covered. Now it was time for the real fun.

I crouched down low and readied my camera, making sure that James' invisibility still covered me. A grin spread across my face as I started recording. Being obsessed with mechanics had its perks.

While I was following them, we passed that teacher's compartment. As soon as he saw the ruckus they were causing, he stood up and exited his compartment.

"What is going on here?"

"There's a-a-" Bellatrix began, falling flat on her face as her own underpants tripped her. She got up awkwardly, literally shaking in her shoes. "-A DEMON FOLLOWING ME!"

The two girls who sat with the professor shook with laughter, clutching their sides and crying from mirth. One slid off her seat, leaning on the other one for support.

Unfortunately, I was just as successful as they were at hiding my amusement. My mouth opened automatically and before I could even stop myself, the professor's eyes were trained on the exact spot where I stood hidden from sight. At first I thought I was going to get in trouble, but then he started laughing as well.

"Miss Dunphy, please take off that invisibility cloak."

I forced myself to recover from my laughing fit, stopped recording, and pulled off the cloak, grinning from ear to ear.

I was just practicing and they were in the way, I scribbled on the compartment door, folding the cloak and stuffing it in my pocket with my free hand.

Bella spun around, glowering at me. "You-you-" she spluttered.

I sent her a falsely apologetic smile. You might want to put your knickers back into your trunk, Bella, I told her. I know pink hearts are fashionable and all, but I'd rather not see them on your underwear.

She looked ready to strangle me.

Lucius suddenly noticed the camera hanging around my neck. "You recorded it?!" he sneered, straightening his disheveled hair. I leered at him, holding it up tauntingly.

It's called revenge, hon, I said.

With one last smirk at their humiliation, I took off and raced down the aisle as all three of them chased me around the train. Not exactly the ideal way to spend my first train ride to Hogwarts.

But hey, at least Bella left her knickers behind for all to see.