Disclaimer: Obviously I'm not JKR and don't own Harry Potter. In my dreams.

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Chapter 3: The Arrival

The train ride took almost the whole day. I had managed to find a compartment alone, even though the train was practically full. I spent the day-long train ride contemplating what had happened on the platform. I could not believe I had felt the urge to kill my mother. My mother, who had taken care of me by herself for my entire life. I had never felt anything but love for her. It was something in the way she looked at me, the way, in that moment, she believed me to be weak, and the way she thought she was better than me. Why had I reacted like that? Anger was understandable, I guess. But that fury-I had never felt anything like it in my life. And the urge to kill her? Where had that come from? It was like for a moment, before I snapped out of it, I was plain evil. I had felt so cold, so emotionless, as if all I had the ability to feel was hatred.

I was still lost in thought when the sun began to dip below the hills and as the castle came into view. I gasped, it was so beautiful. Up on a hill overlooking a lake, the many-turreted castle's lit windows reflected in the glassy lake below. I couldn't believe this was where I was going to live for the next 7 years of my life. It was so magical. It sounded to cliché, but I simply couldn't think of a better word for it.

It had begun to storm earlier that day and when I stepped off the train, I was immediately hit by thick sheets of ice-cold rain. Most people were running toward black carriages for shelter and passage up to the school. I was just about to follow when I heard a booming voice behind me and turned to see a towering man about the width and height of two normal men. "First years over here, please! First Years, this way!"

I was slightly terrified to approach him given not only his mammoth size, but his fierce appearance. He essentially looked as if he lived in the woods. His long, bushy hair and beard looked as if they hadn't been brushed in the last century and his overcoat seemed to be made of many small animal pelts crudely sewn together. I gathered my courage and walked up to him and held out my hand. "Hello, sir, I'm Jesse Harrison, I'm in 1st year", I said, trying my best to be polite.

A big toothy smile stretched across his face, lighting up his watery brown eyes, and he reached out his huge hand, which was roughly five times the size of mine, and crushed my hand with it. "Over here, boy, 'n don't bother with that 'sir' nonsense. I'm Rubeus Hagrid, gamekeeper and teacher here at Hogwarts. "

A smile spread across my face involuntarily and turned to join the group he had indicated behind him, who were apparently trying to shield themselves from the rain and wind behind his huge mass. Roughly 30 other kids my age, all dressed in brand new Hogwarts robes, soaked to the bone, and looking absolutely terrified. I looked around at the faces, and there she was again, right beside me. Melanie. As if she had heard me call her name, she looked up. Her hair was wet and windswept and her lips were blue from the cold, and she was still beautiful.

I reached out a shaking hand to her. "Hi, I'm Jesse." I said, my voice feeble, it didn't seem to want to work.

She smirked and gave a little cough-I never knew a cough could sound so menacing-and replied, "Melanie." As she said her name she jutted her chin towards me in an I'm-super-cool kind of gesture and continued, "Pleasure meeting you" in a tone of voice that suggested it wasn't a pleasure at all.

I lowered my eyes away from her perfect face to the wet flagstones of the platform, blood rushing to my face for the second time that day. My embarrassment was interrupted by the gamekeeper booming, "Okay, I think that's everyone, right this way. We'll be crossing the lake to get to the castle, it's a Hogwarts tradition!" He said the last sentence like it was good news, but it was met by a collective groan from the assembled newcomers. Cross the lake? In this storm? That sounded like the worst idea I had ever heard.

We all followed the huge man along a path until we reached a cluster of small boats at the water's edge. "Four people per boat!" He yelled over the howling wind. I was beginning to wonder if his voice ever lowered in volume. "I said four people per boat!" He yelled again from directly behind me as he caught 5 friends trying to fit in a cramped boat together. My ears rang. Apparently not.

To her obvious dismay, Melanie and I ended in the same boat (literally), along with two giggling girls who apparently thought crossing a dark, stormy lake in tiny bobbing boats that seemed ready to flip at any moment seemed quite hilarious.

The whole cold, wet ride Melanie kept her face turned away from me; as though she was scared I might try and make conversation. When we finally reached the castle I was bored of staring at the back of her head and pretty sure that this year, there would be no first years at Hogwarts because they were all going to die of hypothermia. That's how cold I felt.

We trudged up the stairs into the entrance hall of the huge castle, and stood there dripping a few minutes before a very flustered looking old woman walked briskly into the room. "Hello and welcome to Hogwarts." She began. Her hair was pulled up into a tight bun at the base of her head and she wore long green velvet robes and a pointed witch's hat. "My name is Professor McGonagall. I am the headmaster here at Hogwarts school of witch craft and wizardry"

There was a gasp, apparently she was a well known woman. All of the first years seemed to be staring at her with widened eyes. I peeked at Melanie, she was looking almost as bewildered as I felt.

"Please wait here until it is time to sort you into your houses" She finished, and departed from the hall. The gathered students then erupted into chatter. "Was that really her...Did you know….Did she really…no way….I heard….."

My confused eyes met Melanie's and we both quickly looked away. She turned to her neighbor, a blond kid with what seemed like a permanent smirk on his face and asked "Wait, Why is she so famous?"

The whole hall seemed to quiet down a little bit and the boy and a few of his friends burst into raucous laughter. "You've never heard of her? What are you, a mud blood?" Many of the other boys around him started laughing even harder and Melanie looked at the floor with shame.

I don't what came over me but I burst out yelling "DON'T YOU CALL HER THAT", I may not have been a part of the wizarding world most of my life, but I knew what that meant.

The blonde boy turned to me, an evil smirk across his pale face, "This your girlfriend, then? Well, you can have her. Personally, I wouldn't go near her. Might go around stinking like a muggle if I get too close" His gang nearly fell over laughing.

I don't know why I did it. I don't know how I did it. Maybe it was because of the disgust on Melanie's face at the mention of being my girlfriend. Maybe it was because suddenly I felt the same inexplicable hatred and anger. I felt inferior and humiliated. I wanted him to pay, so badly that suddenly that hate consumed me and the next thing I knew I couldn't see his face because of the blood gushing from the gashes all along it. I watched as he fell to the floor trembling and crying out in pain. And then the terrible picture was no more and everything was black. The last thing I remember feeling was a deep satisfaction, like something in my life had just clicked into place.

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I'd love to know what you think. Good/bad, whatever.

Thank you, ncy555. You were my only reviewer and gave me the motivation to write this chapter.

Next chapter: The Sorting :)

Thanks for reading,

Rose