September 2019 – Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Pt. 2.
"Hi, I'm, Elina Weasley!"
From packing her clothes, Andre looked at the doorway of the empty room. A tall, perfectly dressed, brown-red haired witch stood there, smiling at her. "Um, hi."
"My cousin, Lion, said that you're the transfers we've been expecting since last week," the girl chattered on. "You won't believe the joke you gave the school when McGonagall announced that we had transfers from New York, only to realise that you weren't here yet! So what's your name?"
For a moment, Andre couldn't respond. She'd never expected this… she thought she'd have to be lonely a while before she made friends or something, but here was an older girl talking to her as if they were already acquainted. She decided not to snub the olive branch – not that she wanted to. Elina seemed nice.
"I'm Andrea St. Clair," she said warmly, walking forward to clasp the other girl's hand. "But you can call me Andre. Only my Mum and Dad – and that nasty Head Boy – call me Andrea."
The girl laughed. "That nasty Head Boy is my cousin, Lionel Potter." Andre scrunched up her face, a little ashamed for insulting Elina's cousin in front of her. "It's OK though. His father is the Wizarding Hero, Harry Potter, and his mother is a Slytherin, Pansy Parkinson. We all accept he's not too nice and stuff, but he is kind – the best friend you could have."
"Really?" Andre asked sceptically.
"Really," Elina giggled. "So I hear you two got off on the wrong foot, so to speak."
Andre shrugged. "He was rude, I told him so and then he upped the rudeness."
"But that's the thing," Elina laughed. "You don't tell Lion that he's rude."
"Well he was!" Andre insisted. If he was rude to her and her brother, then why not tell him so?
"Yes, well, Lion can be difficult but he'll get over it. Meanwhile, how about you come downstairs and meet people so tomorrow won't be too difficult for you."
The hat had not been lying when it said Andre was a little shy. Right now, her insides cowered at going downstairs and being the centre of attention. She'd much rather stay up here and fiddle with her clothes. "I don't think so…"
"Come on!" Elina coaxed. "I'm Head Girl, you know. No one will dear say anything dreadful to you, you'll see. It'll be fine."
Andre still didn't want to go. She wasn't good at maintaining friends… She shook her head to Elina.
"Yes! There's nothing to be afraid of! I'll pester you until you do…"
She looked like she would. And Andre could hear laughter coming from downstairs. It was sort of tempting. "Alright."
"Right!" Elina shouted. She grabbed Andre's hand and pulled her out the door, mindless that her new friend had no shoes on – she'd kicked off her Marc Jacobs a while ago.
Downstairs, they stopped on the stairs and Andre fidgeted a little as she attracted attention. She hated attention. "Hey everyone!" the Head Girl shouted, "Meet Andrea St. Clair! She's the transfer we've been expecting!"
Immediately, the people who'd not noticed her before craned their necks to see her. She only just stopped herself from visibly squirming. Instead, she flushed and muttered, "Hi."
"Hello!" piped up three voices. The people who spoke approached her and in the same manner that Elina had approached her – as if they all knew each other. The three also had bright red hair and two of them, a boy and girl about her own age looked like twins yet different.
"This is Annabelle, Gavin and Freda. We're all Weasleys," Elina introduced.
The girl as short as Andre herself stuck out her hand. "I'm Annabelle, Elina's sister. I'm in third year."
"I suppose I'm in fifth year. You guys can call me Andre, though" Andre said, shaking Annabelle's hand and then Gavin's and Freda's, the look-a-likes. "Are you twins?" she asked bluntly and curiously.
"Sort of," Freda smiled, "Our fathers are twins –
"Fred and George Weasley -" picked up Gavin.
"My twin is Freya but she's in Gryffindor –"
"And mine, Gabe, is in Gryffindor as well -"
To conclude, the both chorused, "We're all in fifth year too."
"I see." What a delightful group of people!
"Is that your brother who left with Lion?" Annabelle asked suddenly with a slight blush. When Andre nodded, she whispered, "He's really cute."
She rolled her eyes. "Everyone thinks he's cute. Personally, I think he looks like a rich vagrant but whatever floats your boat. FYI, though – he's in first year and his head is as bloated as an inflatable boat."
Annabelle blushed harder, going an alarming shade of red that surprised Andre.
"FYI?" Freda asked, looking confused.
"An inflatable boat?" asked Gavin, a cute look in his face.
They must be pureblood. "FYI is short talk for 'For Your Info' and an inflatable boat is a boat you use an electric pump to blow up."
"Okay," the not-so-twins said, still looking confused.
"Are you muggle-born, then?" Elina asked.
"No. My Dad's a Wizard and my Mum's a muggle. Dad had nothing to do with magic though, until the Academy I used to go to came knocking on our door four years ago, demanding I start my Magical education."
"He had nothing to do with Magic!" Annabelle looked like she couldn't possibly imagine such a life.
Andre didn't care for that. The tone the girl used indicated that her father was nutter, which in their eyes, he probably was. Andre loved her father and in her mind, though, he could do no wrong. "He has no family other than us, you know. I suppose using magic reminded him of them or something. I dunno. But don't you dare even think that my Dad was mad to give up magic!" she glared.
"Alright, alright!" Elina placated.
"But why did the school have to come knocking on your door for you to go?" Gavin asked.
"Why couldn't they just send you a letter?" said Freda.
Andre rolled her eyes, "Because, for some reason Dad was intercepting them and hiding them from me. At the time, we didn't know he was a Wizard."
"Wow!" Elina sighed interestedly, like it was a nice romance. "What did he tell your Mum? Was she angry when she found out?"
"He'd told her when he asked her to marry him. Besides, my Mum's sister and cousin are witches. No one was really surprised – my Dad's special and it only made him more so."
Annabelle looked wistful. "You must really love your Dad. And he must spend a lot of time with you."
"Of course!" Didn't everyone's father live just to make his children happy? She asked, "Don't yours?"
"No," Elina shook her head. "Our Dad's an Auror. He's always off chasing bad guys and our Mum is Head of the Magical Library in Diagon Alley. They're always busy with their own lives."
"What do your parents do?" Annabelle asked.
Andre shrugged, feeling sorry for the Weasleys. "My Dad owns the Royal Arbitrary Bank of the World and my Mum teaches Languages at Muggle Universities."
The sisters stared. "Wow!" Freda said, "Your Dad owns that bank and your Mum is a lecturer!"
"And they still have time for you?" Elina gaped.
Andre shrugged again. Apparently this was unusual but that was how she grew up. Her parents loved all six…five… of their children and showed them how much all the time. Family was important.
For the next hour, she spent time getting acquainted with and meeting people. Some people said she looked familiar, but no one recognised her as a (slightly) famous movie star, so she was happy. She just hoped no one recognized her too soon.