Meghan reached down and grazed the wound with the tip of her fingers. This slight touch only made it hurt more, and she moaned at the pain.
There was a wave of male laughter from right in front of her, but she paid no notice. Instead, she held her fingers up to her face, examining the droplets of blood that were on them.
"I don't like girls," a male voice sneered in the distance. "Especially when they look as dumb as her."
Meghan looked up at the one who had spoken, and the sight that met her eyes was blissfully hypocritical. The boy was remarkably unattractive, with a lumpy nose and beady eyes that peered haughtily over a pair of thick-rimmed glasses. Meghan did not know what "dumb" was supposed to look like, but there was no mistaking straightforward ugliness.
"Merlin, Evan, I think you hurt her!" said another boy, running up behind him.
"That was the whole point," said the homely boy.
"You weren't supposed to make anyone bleed," a third boy protested.
"Shut up, both of you," the first boy snarled. "Everyone knows that that's the best part!"
"You don't know how dangerous those things can be!" said the second boy. "It's only supposed to scare them, that's all!"
"Do you want to get expelled before we even get sorted?" added the third.
"You two are both being idiots. You said yourselves that you wanted to learn how to get by here, so follow along!"
Meghan was too busy trying to staunch the trickling blood with the sleeve of her blouse to wonder just how people expected to get by hitting other people with…whatever had hit her. She used her free hand to grab the curtains of the nearest compartment. The one with all her friends and the treacherous Emmy was too far away, and despite her emergency, she would feel too foolish going back to them all just yet. But for the time being…she clutched on the curtains and stumbled onto the seats inside.
Two pale, dark-haired girls were had been reading aloud from cards before Meghan stumbled in, but now they turned to greet the new arrival with eyes less curious than Meghan thought they would be.
"Oh." One of them, who had wide blue eyes and long, curly hair that were similar to Meghan's own, grimaced at the wound on Meghan's leg. "I see that the Terror Triplets have been at it again."
"Obviously, this is what happens when there's no grown-up around to keep them in line," the other girl agreed. She had straight hair just the same color as Meghan and the first girl, but it was shorter, reaching just past her shoulders. The slightest hint of pale freckles was peppered on her cheekbones, and her eyes were brown. The girl sighed and pulled a small blue bag out of her carry-on luggage.
"Hold out your leg," she commanded. "This is the least we can do."
"But, what-" Meghan protested.
"Just do it."
Meghan gingerly obeyed, releasing her sleeve from the wound as another drop of red-black blood slipped out. Meghan winced at the sight, but the other girl was unfazed.
"Trust me, I've done something like this before."
She pulled out a green glass dropper-bottle and squirted a little of it on the wound.
What came out looked like liquid white glitter, and the sensation it gave was even more amazing. The wound instantly cooled, and Meghan sighed with relief.
"That feels good; that's wonderful!"
"I call it 'the Bloodstopper,' but that's only because I don't remember what its real name is," said the other girl. "I think it's in Latin or something. I don't know. But I made it out of this difficult recipe from a Potions book that I came across in Italy."
"You've been to Italy?"
"She's got a gift," said the girl with the curly hair and blue eyes. "She could be a Healer when she grows up."
"I don't know about that," said the other girl, closing up the bottle as a blush gathered around her pale cheeks. "I just played around with some magical books and whatnot, and the results are better than I had expected, at least after a few tries." She held out her hand to Meghan. "My name's Breanna, by the way."
"I'm Jessica," added the other girl, extending her hand as well. "We actually just met each other only about an hour ago, but now it feels like we've been friends forever. Now fancy meeting you too."
Meghan nervously shook both hands, and introduced herself as well.
"I'm afraid I don't make friends with anybody as easily as you two have with each other," she admitted sheepishly. "In fact, I'm having friend troubles right now. I was just with some of my friends a few minutes ago, as a matter of face, and this stupid girl came in and ruined everything."
"That seems like a pretty big feat for a stupid girl," Jessica remarked thoughtfully. "Ruining your friendships with her very presence."
"She must have a severely destructive aura," Breanna added. "Is she some black hole toward which friendships gravitate and are crushed out of existence?"
"It's not quite like that…" Meghan started faintly. She realized that all three of them had different accents. Her own was Irish, Jessica's was British, and Breanna's accent was something altogether different.
"Where are you from, anyway?" Meghan asked her.
"From many places," Breanna shrugged. "I'm from the United States and always have been, but I've traveled to other places over the past few years."
"So you're an American?"
"Yes, but I'm prouder of having traveled elsewhere. I was in Italy for two years. That's where I found the book that made Bloodstopper."
"It was more than just Italy," Jessica added. "She's seen the Berlin Wall too."
"I've also been to the Eiffel Tower. But France was only a month."
"Didn't you also see the Pope? And the Leaning Tower of Pisa?"
Breanna sighed, brimming with nostalgia.
"I did like Italy. I want to go back sometime."
"Maybe Hogwarts will be better," Meghan offered meekly.
Breanna looked only mildly interested.
"I think your leg is better, at any rate," said Jessica, pointing at the wound.
It was true. The bleeding had stopped, and a weak scab was poking out from the streaks of white glitter. The only blood left was in a few dried streaks that were now turning brown. The pain was completely gone.
"That was amazing; that was truly amazing!" exclaimed Meghan. "That was so quick; I thought it would never stop!"
"You should tell that to this other girl I treated earlier," Breanna replied glumly. "She expected the wound to heal completely, and for it all to be as good as new, right away. She thought it was an ordinary cut, but it's not. It's one of those Gambol & Japes products, from the new SizzlePro line they've introduced. This thing that was shot at you was no ordinary prank dart. It's a Sizzle dart, and when it hits you from too close a range, it cuts you and then explodes. And the bleeding that follows isn't too heavy, but it's hard to stop. Those things should be banned altogether, but no one has thought to do that yet."
"I think there's supposed to be another nasty effect from Sizzle darts, but I don't remember what that one was," Jessica mused.
Meghan had stopped hearing them both after the word "SizzlePro" rolled off of Breanna's tongue, and the word bounced around in her head, making an eerie echo.
She closed her eyes, and in her mind's eye, the face of a girl came into view, a girl whose hair was flowing black with strands and locks of gold here and there, and whose gold-brown eyes were so startlingly bright that they pierced Meghan's mind.
"I think I've seen you before," Meghan whispered faintly.
Before either Breanna or Jessica could say another word, she slumped over unconscious, and then fell sideways off her seat and onto the ground.
Meghan did not know how she ended up in the Hospital wing of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and she had no memory of anything that happened between her fainting spell and it. All she knew was that when she woke up, she was lying on a bed there, with Breanna sitting in a chair on one side of her, and Maile Shield from the bookstore on the other. Maile was wiping Meghan's forehead with a cool wet washcloth, and Breanna was perched on the edge of her seat, glancing nervously at her, hands clasped in her lap.
When they saw that Meghan had come to, Breanna shouted, "Madam Pomfrey, look, she's awake!" and handed Meghan back her glasses.
As Meghan adjusted them over the bridge of her nose, she listened as Maile spoke to someone else.
"No, Madam, I don't know exactly what it was. All I know is that I was walking down the aisle with my best friend Jen, and then Breanna here jumped in out of nowhere, telling me to get help because some first-year student fainted, and she didn't know why. We got the conductor's attention, and then I decided I should stay there."
"Did Miss Hart stay with you?" came back the voice of an older woman.
"No, I told her to go back and tell my sister and my boyfriend that I wouldn't see them until the Sorting Ceremony. I thought it was my duty to stay with her."
"That was very good of you, Miss Shield. Perhaps you should go to the Great Hall now. The ceremony is going to start soon."
"Yes, Madam Pomfrey."
"W-where am I?" Meghan stuttered faintly after Maile left the room.
"You're at Hogwarts!" exclaimed Breanna. "You don't remember it because you were blacked out, but when the train stopped, this really big guy named Hagrid led all us first years to the school in rowboats. He ended up carrying you to his own boat, and he let that other girl and me go along. I was about to cry, because I didn't think that you would ever wake up, but Hagrid was so nice, and he said that there was no reason to worry. You should see what a great big person he is, Meghan, he's-"
"You will surely be used to his size in good time, Miss Falcon," Madam Pomfrey interrupted, waving her aside. "And as for you, Miss Wolf, there is no reason to worry. You seem to have taken a bad reaction to the dart that hit you a few minutes earlier by some unruly passengers. The darts have proven to be dangerously sedative on frequent occasions. Really, I think that item should be banned from all stores that now sell it."
"How do you know my name?" Meghan asked nervously.
"Oh, your brother was able to identify you when everyone got off the train. I imagine that he and everyone else is waiting in the Great Hall for you two to get sorted?"
"S-sorting?" Meghan stammered.
"Why, yes, Miss Wolf. Seeing as there is already magic in your family, I take it you already know about the House-Sorting procedure?"
"Oh, I do know. I just didn't know that it would happen this soon."
"Well, it will. And seeing as you and Miss Falcon are first-years, it will only be a matter of time before you are assigned to your House."
"It's a very exciting occasion," Breanna offered reassuringly.
"Are you feeling better, Miss Wolf?"
"Why-yes," Meghan replied. Then she hesitated. "At least I think so. I'm sure so. All the faintness…it's gone."
Breanna smiled and helped Meghan off of the bed.
"You girls should run along, then," Madam Pomfrey concluded, giving Meghan a pat on the head. "The Sizzle dart can do you no more harm; its effects have to have worn off entirely by now. Professor Dumbledore will be starting the Sorting Ceremony any moment now, and mind you, it's an important event for you both. Miss Falcon, will you see Miss Wolf to the Great Hall, with the rest of the first-years?"
Breanna led Meghan to a pair of double doors where Breanna assured Meghan that everyone was waiting for them so that they could all be sorted. She started to open one of the doors, but Meghan grabbed her hand and pulled her back.
"Breanna, let's not go…not just yet."
Breanna looked puzzled.
"Why not?"
"I don't know…it's just…" Meghan looked around helplessly. "I'm not sure that I'm ready for what's going to go on in there?"
"Well, what do you think is going to happen in there?"
"I don't know!"
"Then why are you worried?"
"That I'll…I don't know - fail, or something."
"You can't fail! That's absolutely impossible!"
"But I-"
"No, Meghan, just…just don't say anything more. Just…take a deep breath."
Meghan breathed.
"Feel better?"
Meghan nodded hesitantly, then stood up straight, and threw her shoulders back.
"It's now or never."
She and Breanna each pulled a door open and marched into the Great Hall side by side.
The sight of the many floating candles that adorned the air and accentuated the lofty height of the ceiling astounded Meghan so much that she forgot to be afraid. Silvery transparent beings smiled down at them from there, whom Meghan realized were ghosts.
We're among the dead, she thought to herself.
She and Breanna caught sight of the other first years standing in a line that stood along the end of the room, and ran up to join them.
"Now that everyone is here, we can begin the Sorting procedure," a stern woman with square glasses announced, who she was later told was Professor McGonagall. Professor McGonagall pointed to a four-legged stool on which a dirty pointed hat stood.
No sooner had she done so, then the hat twitched and began to talk through a rip in the side.
"Oh my…" Breanna breathed.
The hat proclaimed its message in rhyme:
"The Sorting Hat does wonders
To the astonishment of all
But talking's only half of it
For the greatest thing of all
Is how I see into your mind
And in a twinkle, just like that
Your character it what I'll find,
And because I'm a talking hat
I'll tell you all where you belong
And what you can hope to be
And proclaim your place here with my song
Based on what in you I see.
"For the bold and brave, Gryffindor House
Is where they are meant to be
And sorted into Hufflepuff
Are the loyal, hard-workers I see
You might belong in Ravenclaw
If you are endowed with wisdom and wit
And Slytherin is the place for the cunning,
For with the ambitious ones they fit.
And now it's time to take the test
To see where you belong
Just put on the hat; I'll decide the rest,
And so here ends my song."
The Great Hall erupted into applause, and the hat bowed to each of the four long tables that Meghan realized represented the four Houses.
Professor McGonagall read aloud a series of names from a roll of parchment:
"Bell, Katie."
Katie Bell, whom Meghan remembered as being Lee Jordan's train companion, stepped up and sat on the stool. She placed the hat on her head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat bellowed.
Katie blushed with excitement at the applause that followed from those at the first table, took off the hat, and ran over to join them.
"Blake, Norman."
A sharp-faced, dark-haired boy put on the hat, and was then sorted to the same house.
"Bulstrode, Evan," followed, whom Meghan recognized as the ugly boy who had shot the dart at here. When the hat proclaimed him a Slytherin, she decided that she didn't want to be there. She looked around, and when she found Breanna's face, they exchanged pitying glances.
"Butler, Erin" became another Gryffindor, and then "Carmichael, Edward," became the first Ravenclaw. Meghan's stomach relaxed a little, and then tensed with impatience, realizing that she was near the end of the alphabet.
"Carmona, Alyssa," went to the Ravenclaw house, and so did "Chang, Cho," a black-haired Asian girl whom Meghan decided was annoyingly pretty.
A few more names followed, including, "Dyer, Peter," who was one of the boys that had accompanied Evan Bulstrode in dart-shooting. He went to Hufflepuff.
"Edgecombe, Marietta," who had strawberry-blonde hair, went to Ravenclaw, and then it was Breanna's turn.
As Breanna passed Meghan on her way to the Sorting Hat, she caught Meghan's hand and squeezed it. Meghan flashed back a supportive smile.
"RAVENCLAW!" the hat decided. Breanna sighed with relief and rushed over to the third table.
Other names followed. Then "Jennings, Tom," the other boy that was with Evan Bulstrode, went to Hufflepuff along with Peter Dyer. Meghan looked at them sitting together at the second table with distaste and decided that she did not want to be there, either.
"Ivec, Laura!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Kazandjian, Mihran."
"RAVENCLAW!"
"Mclaggen, Cormac."
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Monaco, Gregory."
"SLYTHERIN!"
And then it was Jessica Nelson's turn.
"HUFFLPUFF!"
Meghan shrugged. Now it was official that Breanna and Jessica were not in the same House, but at least things would be more palatable if Meghan ended up in Hufflepuff too.
"Nicolson, Georgia" went to Slytherin, and then Emmy Perkins went to Hufflepuff. Meghan's stomach turned and decided that Hufflepuff would be a bad idea after all. At least Emmy wouldn't be too close to George.
"Parkinson, Priscilla."
"SLYTHERIN!"
"Santos, Danielle."
"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Shield, Miranda."
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Wannagat, Christopher."
"RAVENCLAW!"
And finally, it was Meghan's turn. Remembering Breanna's encouragement, she took a deep breath when her name was called and tried her best not to look afraid.
Walk up to that hat as if you own it, she told herself.
And she did. Or at least she tried to. She was so nervous, she decided not to think at all.
She sat down on the stool and placed the hat upon her head. It was so big that it fell over her eyes, and she felt that she was truly alone with her thoughts, even though she knew that a mere hat was judging her character.
"I sense some distinct anger in you, lady, but plenty of determination," she could hear it say. "You want to succeed everywhere where you think you so far have not, and you are willing to do everything to try."
Yes, Meghan's mind replied.
"A tricky girl is what you are. You have a good mind, but a shaky sense of how to use it," the hat added.
But I want to find out. Oh, just please don't put me in Hufflepuff, those mean boys are there.
"But the meanest one is in Slytherin. Why are you not so pitted against that House, then?
Oh…I don't know.
"I think you do."
My brother is in Hufflepuff!
"Is that so wrong?"
I don't want to be Trevor Wolf's little sister. Oh, I know I will be sometimes, but…I don't want to be a family traditionalist. I want to start my own legacy.
"You talk rather grandly for a young lady."
I've been told worse than that, Sorting Hat. Are you mocking me? Tongue in cheek, she added, And can I call you Bob?
"I do not mock; I determine. And you can call me whatever you like; it makes no difference to me. But why call me a name?"
Just because I thought you should have one. So what do you determine for me, Bob? Where will I succeed?
"That is a question to ask yourself; I can only help you along so far."
Meghan felt a surge of strength build up out of nowhere, and then:
Well, place me where you will, because…
"You have said it yourself, Meghan Wolf. I don't make you, because…"
"I'm the one that makes me!" Meghan declared, this time speaking out loud, so that the whole Great Hall could hear. That looked at her in curiosity, but since the hat covered her eyes, she could not see them,.
"Take the privilege now, and handle the responsibility later," the hat replied. "At your own risk, mind you."
What do you mean by that?
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat declared. The first table applauded, and then Anna, George, Fred, Lee Jordan, and Katie Bell all swarmed into view.
"I'm one of you now!" she cried out happily, as she threw off the hat and ran over to meet them. There was a sparse wave of laughter around the Hall, but she didn't mind. She was just so relieved at how well things had really turned out.
And, she realized, Emmy wouldn't be there to bother them. She felt both good about that and a little guilty just because she felt good.
She took the seat that Lee and George made for her between them, across from Anna and Fred.
"Hello," she greeted them calmly.
"Uh…hey, we're really sorry about what happened earlier," Anna whispered over the table as "Wolfe, Stephanie," and "Zabini, Medea" were sorted. "I should have put the situation under control earlier, but I wasn't prepared for Emily to do anything mean."
"Don't worry about it," Meghan said, smiling. "It doesn't really matter anymore."
"And that concludes the Sorting Ceremony for this year's first-years," announced Professor Dumbledore, the old man with flowing white hair and half-moon spectacles who sat at the center of the Head Table that presided over Houses. "And now…let us enjoy ourselves in fine feasting."
In an instant, there were dishes, gold dishes and goblets that had been there before, but that Meghan had not noticed before in all her excitement and nervousness. They were now impossible not to notice, piled and filled high with all kinds of delicious food and drink.
"Well, I never…" said Meghan.
"Oh, but you will," said Anna. "This kind of thing is only the beginning."
"Really," said Fred, gnawing on a lamb chop as the meal went under way, "I didn't think that Emmy was out to get you like that. Otherwise I would have told her to sod off from the start."
"Oh Fred, you would not," Anna scolded. "You knew she had a big thing for George all summer, and you should have figured out that he didn't like her back."
"She's not so bad," Fred answered with a shrug. "I mean, she knows her way around Gambol and Japes, so she knew how to help us out with everything."
"I thought she was all right at the start," George admitted, "But then, you know, she was just in our faces all the time, and it got really annoying."
"And you should know that there is nothing wrong with being a magical recluse," Lee added firmly. "There's something of a stigma against the label, but most people adjust quickly even if they're late to come into the magical world. Most of the time, other people can never tell the difference."
"And besides," said George, "She only used that against you because it's the only thing that sets you apart as far as she sees it. The thing is, people pride themselves on their magical knowledge, because it's associated with strong magical heritage. And people with magical heritage that is pure or close to it are respected.
"It's wrong, of course," Fred cut it, "And even though George and I are pure-blooded, we don't flaunt it, because we're secure in what we know and what we can do."
"I might be pure-blooded, but I don't know," Meghan said shyly.
"It doesn't matter!" Katie Bell insisted. She smiled meaningfully at Lee. "Every good Gryffindor knows."
"Why, Katie," Lee said slyly. "You're talking awfully confidently for someone who was just inducted."
"Anyway, a magical recluse just means that people assume that you're behind the curve when that label is used," Anna continued. "I know that sounds bad, and that's why it was upsetting when Emmy said it. Well, we told her about how you hadn't seen all that much of the magical world compared to the rest of us. We just didn't think that she would be mean about it."
"We don't think that others will be mean about it either," Fred added. "But that's because they don't all have a reason to hate you."
"I hope she realized how hideous she looked in all that makeup," Katie remarked somewhat nastily. "Someone should teach her how to put it on right."
"She'll realize not to wear it once she sees that it impresses no one," Anna added soberly.
George wrapped his hand around Meghan's under the table and whispered, "And don't worry. Emmy will back off once she realizes that you're mine and that we're all living closer with each other than we are with her."
Meghan smiled sweetly and kissed George gently on the lips. It was the first time that she had done that in plain sight , but she was determined not to be shy.
They'll all just have to get used to it, she thought smugly. George and I are officially a couple.
A split second of silence was followed by a shriek from over by the Hufflepuff table.
"Oh my goodness! Is that a…it's…it's a dog!"
Anna's eyes became like a pair of saucers, which Meghan's own followed to the direction of the door. The door to the Great Hall was standing ajar, for some squat witch professor from the Head Table had opened it to leave, and to her amazement, two dogs immediately scampered past her and raced each other down the aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables.
"Great Scott!" A male professor's voice rang out, as Anna grew sick and Meghan grew incredulous to see that these were their dogs. Tiger was unmistakably orangey-hued and striped, and Indiana's tri-colored fur patches were recognizable anywhere.
Meghan turned to Anna.
"Do you know about this?"
Anna grew pale.
"I didn't think that they would…oh, Trevor and I decided this morning that we had to take our dogs to Hogwarts with us. I know they're not allowed, but I was so sure that we had kept them sedated and hidden in our luggage."
"Well, obviously you didn't keep them asleep long enough," Meghan accused.
"Oh, they must have woken up and escaped," moaned Anna. "And they came here because they could hear people and smell food, but…I was so sure that they wouldn't be discovered until we got back to the dormitory!"
"We have to claim them!" Meghan insisted.
They started toward the Head Table, but Professor McGonagall had already gotten to the dogs. She had them each by their collars, but the results were disastrous as far as the teacher's were concerned. After a short, scuffling commotion, the dogs had attacked their table, and Tiger's face was smeared with buttery mashed potatoes. Indiana, on the other hand, had stolen a turkey leg from the plate of Professor Dumbledore himself, and had it clenched between his teeth. He looked at Professor McGonagall with bewildered brown eyes.
Anna and Meghan rushed up to them, and so had Trevor, sprinting over from the Hufflepuff table.
Professor McGonagall surveyed them all with eyes that were both weary but unrelentingly stern.
"Are these your dogs?" she snapped.
Meghan, Anna, and Trevor all nodded nervously.
"Take them outside the Hall, then," she commanded. "It seems you three and I need to have a private chat. Now."
Professor McGonagall closed the door behind her.
"I believe the rules were made clear that only rats, toads, owls, and cats were permitted to be taken to school with you," she said quietly.
She was clearly angry, but she did not raise her tone.
"I don't think they meant anything bad," Meghan offered meekly.
"That is enough from you, Miss Wolf," McGonagall cut her off sharply. "And furthermore, you allowed them to wander freely and cause a disturbance at the banquet?"
"That part was an accident," Anna explained sorrowfully. "Besides, I missed my dog last year, and I wanted him back. I didn't think that it was such a big deal…"
"The rules are the rules, Miss Macynski, and to think that this infraction has affected the standing of our House!"
Trevor cleared his throat.
"Not that that is an excuse for you, Mr. Wolf," McGonagall answered severely. "I imagine Professor Sprout will be most disappointed in you for breaking the rules, so you are not off the hook.
"Your parents will be notified, and you will serve two weeks of detention. Now tell me, what do you two have to say for yourselves?"
"Meghan wasn't with us on this," Anna loyally volunteered. "She didn't even know about it until now."
"AND YOU TWO, ON THE OTHER HAND, HAVE BEEN HERE AT LEAST A YEAR, AND SHOULD KNOW BETTER!"
Indiana, who had still been holding the turkey leg, dropped it suddenly and started to whine. Professor McGonagall turned to him and got a good look at him.
For the first time.
"Oh, sweetheart, I wasn't yelling at you," she assured him.
Indiana barked shrilly, and Meghan, Anna, and Trevor all exchanged puzzled looks.
"Oh, quiet, puppy," Professor McGonagall ordered, but more gently now. She took Indiana's face into her bony hands, and they stared at each other for a few seconds.
Indy sneezed.
"Bless you, you poor baby," McGonagall cooed. She stroked Indiana's ears.
"Is this a pureblood collie?" she asked the other three.
"Yes," Meghan and Trevor answered meekly.
"I used to have one, back when I lived in Scotland," McGonagall commented plainly. "She was the sweetest thing anyone ever saw, and she was so much like this one."
She stood up.
"Mr. Wolf and Miss Macynski, you have detention, and your parents will be notified about what you have done," she state firmly. "But…but the dogs can stay."
Anna and Trevor were elated.
"Did you hear that, boy?" Trevor exclaimed to Indy. "Professor McGonagall said that you can stay! Won't that be fun, Indiana?"
"The dogs will go back to your dorms, and you had better be responsible for taking care of them completely, or else I might change my mind," Professor McGonagall stated firmly. "If I hear one complaint-"
"Oh, we will, Professor McGonagall," Anna promised. "I'd never neglect my baby."
"You had better not. Now go back to your suppers. I will have an elf see to the dogs for the time being.
The three nodded stiffly and walked back into the Great Hall amidst the stares of everyone else in there.
Just before she closed the door behind her, Meghan turned around to see an elf, who had appeared out of nowhere and was leading the dogs away. She also had a look back at Professor McGonagall, whose face was buried wearily in her hands.
"Did you ever think-" Anna breathed wearily as she and Meghan made their way to Gryffindor tower. Meghan had bade Indiana a quick good-night kiss before he pranced excitedly after Trevor to the Hufflepuff dormitory.
"You two practically got away with murder," Meghan hissed self-importantly. "Wouldn't have been less trouble to have chosen an allowed pet from the start?"
"But Tiger's my baby."
Anna had been instructed to take Meghan up to the first-year dormitory on the way to her own, so they were both ahead of the other students.
"Dragon scale," she whispered to an animated painted portrait of a very fat woman. Meghan's first instinct was to think of Miss Owens, but this one looked much more pleasant.
The portrait swung as a door to reveal the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room.
"At least we all get our own beds," Anna explained as they climbed in through the portrait hole. "And they're not bunks, either. You get singles, along with the privacy of canopy curtains.
Meghan admired the lavishness of the Common Room, with its fireplace and wine-colored furniture and upholstery, as Anna pulled her up a flight of stairs by the collar.
Sure enough, when they got to the top of the stairs and Anna pulled open a door, the opening to the room revealed a row of beds canopied in red brocade. On each one, a pile of luggage was stacked, and Meghan recognized a pile on one end as hers.
More than that, she recognized the green-eyed cat that arose from it and leapt toward her.
"Grizabella!" she shrieked. "Oh Christ, Anna, I'd forgotten all about her!"
"The twins and I made sure that she got here all right after we heard that you had fainted." Then she added quickly, "Because we weren't allowed to leave the others to see you."
"You saw me taken to the hospital wing?"
"Mr. Hagrid, the groundskeeper, was there, and he carried you there himself." He's such a big, strong guy, like twice your brother's height…it was nothing. And then Maile Shield and this other girl headed there straightaway."
"Breanna Falcon," Meghan said, nodding. "I'd just met her."
"And apparently you'll meet her again tomorrow, because you have Potions class with the Ravenclaw first-years." She added darkly, "Beware the professor; he's mean."
Meghan gulped.
"I have to go." Anna shrugged and pointed to one end of the room. "Showers are over there. Then there's a towel rack on the end of your bed, where your house tie, sweater, and badge are hanging. Don't worry about any boys sneaking in as a joke. Fred and George tried it once, but the stairways wouldn't let them. It's because boys aren't to be trusted."
Meghan smiled weakly.
"Thanks, Anna."
"Good night. I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow."
As soon as Anna left the room and closed the door behind her, Meghan heaved a sigh and ran over to the trunks on her bed. She quickly dug out her new red nightgown and held it close against her chest, sniffing the fabric.
After digging out her new school robes and a stiff-collared blouse and throwing them over the end of the bed, she closed all the trunks and shoved them under the bed. Then she undressed slowly, but then pulled the nightgown quickly over her head when she heard the sounds of footsteps and giggling make their way up the stairs.
By the time the door opened to let in all of her chattering new roommates, Meghan had leapt into her bed and pulled the blankets up past her chin. She had closed the side of the canopy that faced the beds of her other roommates, but the other side was left open. She lay facing this way so that she could see the window.
Scrunching her eyes closed, Meghan waited for what seemed like forever until the other girls got into bed and the lights and the noise had both gone down.
The only lights in sight were the twinkling of stars in a black sky, and if Meghan looked down to her feet to where Grizabellla was curled up, the glowing green ovals that were the kitten's luminescent eyes.
Meghan rested her head deep against the pillow, in deep pleasure at how soft the hole bed was. She hadn't felt drowsy since the car ride to King's Cross, but as soon as her head touched the pillow, she felt all her earlier tiredness rush back to her head. She looked at the starry sky outside the window and imagined that there was a car speeding against it, filled with five foolish kids who wanted nothing less innocent than one last summer adventure.
Before Anna and I and Fred and George go off to learn magic…
And Ginny spends yet another summer in loneliness.
And George had become her boyfriend since last night, her first.
My first love…
She mouthed the words to herself so that they were barely audible:
"I am a girl who is happily in love."
She giggled and then began to say more in barely a whisper.
"Good night, my love. George, my George, in the boys' dormitory, and missing me so much."
She pulled her headband off, letting her hair fall messily around her face. In the daylight, she didn't think of it as anything special, but now, she imagined that she was raven-haired and beautiful.
A pretty girl. With gold flecks on black hair and the most dazzling brown eyes.
She was so lost in the image that she could not even feel herself drift off to sleep.