Chapter Two: Friends, Foes, and Unexpected Developments

Rebecca Granger's P.O.V

"There you are Rebecca!" Hermione's voice snapped from behind me. I stiffened. I had been hoping not to run into her on the train, and maybe make a few friends before they realized I was the sister of the biggest know-it-all on this side of the planet. I turned around reluctantly. "Have you seen Ron or Harry?" she asked. Of course. She wanted to ask about someone else. There was no way she would talk to me just because I was her sister, or because she liked to know what was going on in my life.

"No, I haven't." I answered, just as another girl's voice from behind me asked,

"Oh, Hermione, have you seen Ron?" I turned to see a girl with red hair and freckles.

"I was just asking 'Becca the same thing. And I haven't seen Harry either." The red haired girl went bright pink when Hermione said 'Harry'. Interesting. I cleared my throat pointedly.

"Oh!" Hermione said. "I haven't introduced you, have I? Rebecca, this is Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister. Ginny, this is Rebecca...my sister."

"Sister? Ron never told me you had a sister, Hermione." Hermione turned slightly pink when I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Why don't you two try and find a compartment, while I look for Harry and Ron?" she said, hastily changing the subject. She didn't give Ginny or me a chance to respond. She ran off, leaving me with me with Ginny. I stood there awkwardly for a moment.

"Well, shall we?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"Um...okay." said Ginny. "Why don't we try this one?" she said, opening the door to the nearest one. I stepped through the door. The only occupant was a lanky auburn haired girl, who was already wearing her robes. I immediately knew why she had been left alone. She radiated disapproval, disgust and contempt. But Ginny had already sat down. Reluctantly, I did the same.


Lena Malfoy's P.O.V

I looked up from my book as the compartment door opened, irritated. I gritted my teeth as a pair of girls stepped through. They were the third interruption so far, and I was extremely displeased that I couldn't read a book without having my privacy intruded upon. I returned to my book, deciding it was best to ignore them.

"Hi, I'm Ginny Weasley, and this is Rebecca Granger. Hope you don't mind if we sit here. What's your name?" I sighed, and shut my book. Apparently, the world was against me reading 'Hogwarts, A History' in peace.

"Lena Malfoy." I said in a low drawl, my voice dripping with contempt. Perfect! I looked closely at them. I recognized them from Flourish and Blotts. Apparently the Weasley girl did as well, as she cried, "I know you! You're that girl from Flourish and Blotts!"

"I am stunned by your powers of deduction," I said in the same monotone voice. I was totally nailing this.

"What house are you hoping to get into?" asked the Granger girl, sitting down and pulling the redhead to sit down next to her.

"Slytherin, obviously. It's the only house worth being in after all." I leaned back, twirling a strand of my hair around my finger. "I mean, imagine being put into Hufflepuff. I would leave, wouldn't you?"

"What's wrong with Hufflepuff?" asked the Granger girl in a confused yet indignant tone. I snorted. I sat up very straight, made my voice a few octaves higher than usual, and infernally cheerful.

"Hi, I'm a Hufflepuff! I'm scared of ghosts! And sheets with holes! And regular sheets too!" I squeaked. I slumped back over and resumed my regular voice. "Honestly, what's the point of having a house full of idiots?"

"Well, you're polite!" said the Weasley girl sarcastically. Good. I had succeeded in irritating both of them.

"Whatever. And as you leave please close the door behind you, I'll have an awful lot of disinfecting charms to do and I don't want anymore filthy mudbloods and blood traitors penetrating my personal bubble." I said, and opened my book again to hide my smile as the girls stormed out of the compartment.


Rebecca Granger's P.O.V

"Egad!" I fumed. Hermione had told me what most purebloods, and Malfoys in particular were like, but I hadn't expected one to be like that.

"I know." said Ginny angrily. "That girl was a nightmare. I really hope I'm not in Slytherin." Another girl walked by us and reached for the door handle.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I warned her.

"Why not?" The girl had a voice similar to the girl inside, but her tone was polite and somewhat friendly. She had a mass of sleek black curls pulled back with silver bobby pins.

"The girl inside there is horrible." Ginny said.

"I can deal with her." the girl countered. I snorted.

"Oh really? Wanna bet?"

"Sure," she answered, surprising me. "How much have you got?"

"Um…" I said, checking my pockets. "A stallion or whatever you call it says you can't annoy her to the point of pulling out her wand before she does the same to you."

"Deal." she answered. I spat into my hand and held it out to her. She hesitated, apparently not thrilled at the idea of touching my spit-covered hand, but she spat into her's, and we shook. The girl took one last look towards us, a bit of a smirk on her face. "By the way: it's a galleon. Not a stallion. But I can tell that you're fairly new to the wizarding world as well, so it's alright." With that, she pushed open the door.


Carter Holmes's P.O.V

I pushed open the door, wiping my hand on my jeans. I sort of liked the girl outside with her chestnut brown wavy hair tied up messily with a piece of ribbon, and large hazel eyes, even though sealing the deal with spit was extremely unhygienic.

The girl inside the compartment looked up at me immediately after my entrance. I quickly looked her up and down. She had grey-green eyes and long auburn hair that was escaping from her messy bun. She was wearing her Hogwarts robes and a harassed expression. The name 'Lena Malfoy' was written on the trunk above her head in gold letters. She was reading a book called 'Hogwarts, A History'. Her wand was tucked behind her ear, and she was twirling a strand of hair around her finger, which had a small scar encircling the base, like a ring. Small golden hoop earrings. Chapped lips. Fair complexion, with a light smattering of freckles. Her fingers were drumming on the book's pages. Either ADHD or caffeine, though irritation could be a factor. I suppressed a smile. This was going to be easy.

"HI!" I said in a much too loud voice. She gave me the sort of look it takes most parents years to master: A mixture of disgust, disapproval, superiority, exasperation, and contempt. "I'm Carter, who're you?" She looked at me as if I was something she had found on a lavatory seat. Apparently deciding this was too direct a question to ignore, and that she couldn't pretend she hadn't heard me, she answered.

"Lena Malfoy." Tenor voice. Traces of a refined accent, though she spoke in a bored drawl.

"Do you know which house you're going to be in?" I asked, voice irritating as ever.

"Well, no one knows for sure, you know, though I would be extremely surprised if I got into anything other than Slytherin. My whole family has been in Slytherin, you see." she said, in a condescending voice.

"Really?!" I said, sitting down next to her. She inched away. I inched closer.

"Of course, mainly only purebloods ever get into Slytherin," she said. "They really shouldn't let the other kind in, don't you think? Muggle-borns, I mean." My blood pressure shot way up. Who did this girl think she was-oh. Another Malfoy. Pureblood advocates. Of course.

"Both my parents are Muggles." I said cheerily, while I mentally ripped out her esophagus.

"Really." She slid away from me, as if being Muggle-born was contagious. "So-o sorry!" Her voice said the opposite. "Nothing personal, of course. It's just purebloods are usually more successful, you know? More natural talent."

"M-hm." I said. I knew I was probably bright red with anger. I could control my voice and expressions, but not the blood rushing to my head. Oh, it's on. I pulled out my cd player and scrolled through the tracks. I selected one song, and prepared to press the replay button. I turned up the volume sky-high. Then, finally, I pressed play.


Lena Malfoy's P.O.V

I could feel the girl's anger coming off her in waves. For a moment I felt bad. God, Lena! Was that really necessary? Just look at her! She was only trying to be friendly! And you were awful to her! Then all of a sudden, music-if it could even be called that-started pouring out of a hand-held gadget. I gritted my teeth. She was testing me, I knew it, and I wasn't going to let that filthy little mudblood win. On the seventh repeat of the song, I could feel a tic going in my temple. She turned up the volume. On the eleventh repeat of the song, my resolve began to waver. On the thirteenth, I turned to her. "Will you please turn that off, or at least down?" She examined me with a smirk worthy of me.

"Mmmm...No." I exhaled slowly, attempting to stay calm. She turned the volume up even more. Something snapped.

"TURN OFF THAT INFERNAL MUGGLE DEVICE!" I shouted, pulling out my wand. She looked as smug as a cat that's just swallowed a cage of canaries. "Reducto." I said, tone deadly soft. The gadget exploded, leaving her holding a little smoldering pile of plastic, glass and metal.

She gave me a cool glare. "Well, that wasn't nice," she said, mockingly. "Reparo." She repaired the object easily, raising an eyebrow as she did so. The gadget repaired itself, and she shut the door behind her. At the angle I was sitting at, I could see out the window in the door. The two girls from before met up with the Carter girl, and as I watched, gold was exchanged.

I felt my chest swell with fury and I realized I had made three enemies and hadn't even set foot in Hogwarts yet. Draco would be proud.


Rebecca Granger's P.O.V.

Carter, Ginny and I had found our own compartment and were in hysterical giggles over the Malfoy-ette's defeat. Carter was laughing silently with tears of mirth rolling down her face and I pantomimed Malfoyette blowing up the cd player, and soon all three of us were on the floor in stitches. The problem is, I thought, that as soon as we start to wind down, we look at each other and start laughing all over again. Though the fact we drank about four Butterbeers apiece probably wasn't helping either. Finally, we managed to stop laughing. Ginny was hiccuping like mad, and Carter had the same problem. I had managed to escape from this particular indignity, though I had a butterbeer cap stuck in my hair. I was attempting to pull it out when a voice from behind me said, "Mind if I sit here?" I turned to see a girl with violently purple hair. I mean this stuff was so lavender it hurt my eyes. Not only that, but it was sticking out around her head in a style more common in anime than real life.

"Uhhh…" I said, struck dumb by the color. Egad, that stuff was bright.

"Not at all." said Carter politely. "You're American, aren't you?" she continued.

"Yeah. You're the first person to get it right off the bat." I tried to mask my surprise. I had realized she had a strange accent, of course, but people from other countries usually didn't come to Hogwarts, according to Hermione. Hermione was wrong! I did a happy little dance in my head and made a mental note to rub this in Hermione's face the next time I saw her.

"People from other countries usually don't come to Hogwarts, do they?" asked Carter. Whoa. Was it me, or did she just read my mind?

"No" said the girl. "But my great aunt works there, so I kinda get a free pass."

"Who's your aunt?" asked Ginny, interrupting Carter, who had been about to ask the same question. Carter scowled, most likely at not getting to question first.

"Minerva McGonagall. I'm Helena McGonagall, but if you call me Helena you die. Most people just call me Hell." I'm sure my expression was priceless. She began to laugh. "I'm kidding!" she managed to get out through giggles. Ginny and I collapsed again, our sides heaving. Carter looked disapproving, either at Helena's language or her joke. It wasn't entirely clear which. "But seriously, don't call me Helena. I usually go by my middle name, Brooklyn, or better yet, Brook."

"So then...Brook," Carter began, she picked herself off the floor and arranged herself in a surprisingly dignified position considering what had just occurred, "Your Great Aunt's THE Professor McGonagall?" At this I rolled my eyes. Great, another Hermione. I made a mental note to NEVER introduce them to each other if at all possible.

"Well, yes, I guess she is the only Professor McGonagall at Hogwarts... but I don't see her very much 'cos I live in North Carolina, so I don't exactly know my ole' Auntie very well, if y'all know what I mean."

Carter seemed satisfied with this.

It was just beginning to get dark when Hermione poked her head through the compartment door. "Rebecca, you need to change into your robes, we're almost-" Her voice trailed off as she looked around the compartment. "What have you done!?" I grimaced guiltily. The compartment looked like a war zone. Brook had let her cat out of its cage, and the animal had gone bonkers and scratched the seats to shreds before we could capture her again, not to mention the long grey cat hairs. Ginny had spilled a Butterbeer, a smuggled Fanged Frisbee of Brook's had exploded after coming into contact with her wand, and we were in the middle of a game of Exploding Snap when Hermione came in. Not only that, we had been playing poker with the cards. Of course, they chose moment to explode. "I CAN'T LEAVE YOU ALONE FOR A SECOND BEFORE YOU DESTROY SOMETHING! LOOK AT THIS PLACE!"

I could tell she was going to go into a full fledged rant, unless I did something. Carter beat me to the punch. "Reparo." The cushions' stuffing flew back inside them, and the upholstery knitted back over the repaired foam. The rest of us tried to mimic her though we quickly gave up. Even so in minutes, the compartment looked as if I had never been in it. Hermione sniffed. I could tell she was still miffed, but since Carter repaired it, she couldn't scold us. Luckily, she hadn't noticed the poker game. I was sort of glad it was over, because even though we were only playing for Chocolate Frog cards, I hated losing, and Carter was beating us all miserably.

"Well, anyway, you all have to get on your robes." We did, and collected our various possessions. Not a moment too soon either, because the minute we had assembled ourselves, the train screeched to a halt. We were there.