The blonde girl of about thirteen years of age entered King's Cross station by herself. She didn't speak to anyone, she just silently pushed her cart, avoiding anyone that would stop to look at her. People wondered what someone so young was doing in a train station all by herself, but no one was actually interested enough to ask her, to question her if she was alright.
Jillian Mantle stopped walking, gazing at the wall that was in between platforms nine and ten. She looked around to make sure that no one was watching before walking through the wall, entering platform 9 3/4. The Hogwarts Express stood before her, looking grand and majestic, but it had lost its splendor for Jillian. The girl stepped onto the train, keeping her head down, entering the first empty compartment that she could find. She tugged at the long sleeves of her sweater, making sure that the bruises that were on her lower arms were adequately hidden, the last thing that she needed was for someone to start asking questions.
Unfortunately, she wasn't left alone for very long. Marcus Flint sauntered into her compartment, sneering at her. "Aw look, the little Mudblood is sitting by herself, not even the blood traitors will be friends with you."
Jillian sighed softly, ignoring his taunts. It had been like this ever since her first year, so needless to say, she was used to Draco and his childish taunting. He was trying to get a rise out of her, but it wasn't going to work, she had dealt with far worse than petty people like Marcus Flint over the past couple of years.
Marcus growled in annoyance when she ignored him. He gripped her hair, smirking in satisfaction as the younger girl cried out in pain. "I don't like when people ignore me, Mantle." He hissed in her ear. "Especially someone as low as yourself. When I talk to you, I expect you to give me the respect that I deserve, understand?" He gripped her hair even tighter, and the Ravenclaw's eyes filled with tears.
"Oi!" Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, entered the compartment, a look of anger on his face as he stared Flint down, his wand raised and pointed at Flint's face. "Let her go."
"Potter." Flint scoffed. He released Jillian in such a way that it caused her to bang her head hard against the window. "I should have known that you would come to the little Mudblood's rescue. Always playing the hero, aren't you?"
"I'm not going to tell you again Flint, you better let her go-"
"What's going on in here?" An older man with scars on his face and a kind look in his eyes suddenly stood behind Harry.
"Who the hell are you?" Flint demanded, none of the students had ever seen him before, Jillian would definitely remember someone like him.
The strange man had been about to respond when suddenly the train stopped. It grew cold in the compartment, and Jillian shivered as she rubbed her arms. What was going on? They weren't at Hogsmeade station yet, and even so, that wouldn't explain why it had suddenly gotten so cold.
Harry pushed past Flint, going over to Jillian and looking at her in concern. "Are you alright?" He asked her, and Jillian nodded her head. "Yeah, I think so." She might have a nasty bruise on her head, but other than that, she would probably be okay. "What happened? Why has it gotten so cold?"
Harry immediately took his jacket off, wrapping it around her shoulders. Jillian protested that he didn't have to do that, but it seemed to fall on deaf ears.
Jillian shivered again, but this time it wasn't the cold. She suddenly started to feel miserable, as though she may never be happy ever again. "W-what's going on?"
She saw a dark shape appear in the doorway of the compartment, and it stopped, hovering above the ground as it looked at them. Jillian looked at Harry, and he looked even worse then she did. His hands clapped over his ears as though he were hearing something horrifying, and a moment later he fell to the floor, unconscious.
"Expecto Patronum!" The strange man pointed his wand at the creature, there was a bright light, then with a screech the creature flew off. Jillian kneeled down next to Harry as a boy with red hair and a girl with brown hair that hung in curls entered the compartment.
"Harry!" The girl cried out, and Jillian moved away so that she would have room, obviously she was friends with Harry.
Jillian felt extremely sluggish, and that feeling of misery was still hovering over her like a heavy blanket.
"Here." The man who had managed to chase the creature away handed her a piece of chocolate. "Eat this, it'll help you feel better."
"Thank you..." Jillian took the chocolate and nibbled on it. Sure enough, the misery began to leave. Harry began to revive a couple of minutes later, and he was given a piece of chocolate as well. Flint had long since vanished, which Jillian was extremely happy about.
Harry looked up at the man. "Who are you?"
"My name is Remus Lupin, I'm going to be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." The train started to move once more, and Remus smiled. "Now, I think that you should all change into your robes, we'll be there shortly."
After he had left, Jillian shrugged off Harry's jacket, handing it back to him. "Thank you." She murmured. Their fingers brushed as Harry took the jacket, and he blushed lightly. "Um, it's no problem. I'm Harry."
"I know." Jillian said, giggling softly. "It's hard to go to Hogwarts and not know who you are. But it's nice to actually meet you. I'm Jillian, Jillian Mantle."
"You're in Ravenclaw, aren't you?" The brown haired girl asked her, and Jillian nodded her head in response. "I'm Hermione Granger, and this here is Ron Weasley."
"H-hi." Ron stammered out, and Hermione rolled her eyes. "Ignore him, it seems that he doesn't know how to act around girls."
"I do too!" Ron protested. "It's just...whenever I try to talk around girls they always wind up smacking me."
Jillian laughed at that. "Well, you don't have to worry about me smacking you, I'm a firm believer in non violence." She then turned to look at Harry. "Thank you for what you did with Flint, you didn't have to do that."
Harry rubbed the back of his neck. "It's no problem, not like I could just let him hurt you like that. Are you okay by the way? You seemed to hit the window pretty hard."
"I'll be alright." Jillian reassured him. "It doesn't hurt that much." The truth was that it hurt like hell, but by this time, Jillian had become quite the expert at hiding her pain.
"Harry, we have to go and get changed." Hermione reminded him, and Harry sighed softly. "Right...um, maybe I'll see you later Jillian."
"Yeah, see you." Jillian smiled as the trio left her compartment. After changing into her robes, Jillian continued to stare out of the window, a smile on her face. Harry Potter...just saying the name made her heart go aflutter. Jillian would definitely make sure that she would talk to him again soon, the boy was indeed interesting, and for the first time in three years, Jillian Mantle felt happy.