"Hugo, would you please just stop eating for one moment? It's honestly disgusting!"
"I'm sorry Lily, not my fault I'm hungry. I'm a growing boy."
Lily rolled her eyes, rummaged in her bag for headphones. "At least you could eat quieter," she muttered popping her earbuds in and leaning her head back against the seat.
The door to the compartment slid open loudly. Helen entered grumpily. She shoved her bag above her seat and sat down with a huff. Hugo was occupied with his sandwich and Lily with her music. No one seemed to notice how upset Helen was. She sighed louder. Still nothing.
The compartment door opened again and in walked Cyrus, wearing his signature all black and startling white hair. He carried himself with an air of self-pride and confidence.
"Lily, Hugo, can't you tell that your dear friend Helen here is upset?" He smirked and settled himself next to Helen, slinging his arms over her shoulder. "Now, tell me, Helena. What's on your mind, on this beautiful fall morning?"
Helen shrugged. "I'm tired."
"Codswallop!" Cyrus declared. "Lily, headphones out! Hugo, sandwich away!" He turned to face Helen. "Come on, Lenny. Be real, tell us what's up."
"It's nothing, really," Helen insisted. "I swear."
Cyrus looked skeptical but stopped pursuing it.
Helen rested her chin on her hand and looked out the window. The train wasn't moving yet, so she was staring out at the platform, all the young wizards and their parents, scattered around, talking animatedly, all of them carrying an assortment of trunks and parcels, broomsticks and owl cages. Her mother was nowhere in sight, but that was to be expected. She was probably looking for Helen's father, who had a knack for getting lost, especially in a room with so many people. Helen was only slightly disappointed that she had no one to wave goodbye to. She knew her parents loved her, even if they let their minds and bodies wander sometimes.
The train ride felt longer than usual. No one in the little group had been selected as a prefect, which was a disappointment to their parents, but somewhat of a relief to the kids. Several people stopped by to say hello, including Rose, Hugo's older sister, Albus, Lily's older brother, and Scorpio, Cyrus' older brother, who were intent on causing some trouble, as it was there last year at Hogwarts. Rudy Oakwood, a beater for the Gryffindor Quidditch team came by as well, obviously and awkwardly crushing hard on Lily. Lily was beet red by the time Rudy had left, and Cyrus, well Cyrus thought the whole thing was very entertaining and proceeded to poke fun at Lily for the rest of the ride.
Everyone, especially, Hugo, was starving by the time the students, excluding the first years, reached the Great Hall. And there was still the Sorting to do, and Headmaster Nightshade's speech. By the time the first years arrived, looking cold and terrified, Hugo was practically melting.
"I'm famished!" he complained as Amanda Armadill got Sorted into Slytherin. "Can't they hurry this process up?"
The surrounding Hufflepuffs nodded in agreement while clapping dutifully as Hudson Bunyip joined their table. Hugo felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around in his seat to face Helena, who was sitting directly behind him at the Ravenclaw table.
"What?" he asked grumpily. Hugo was never himself when he was hungry. He was more like a live wire, apt to explode at any moment.
Helen pursed her lips and reached into her robes, pulling out her wand. She gave it a wave, saying, "Accio Crisps!" Within seconds, a bag of potato crisps appeared in her hand and she presented them to Hugo, whose face was suddenly alight with glee.
"I stashed some in my bag before we left the train," Helen said, proudly. "I always come prepared."
"You're brilliant, Helen," Hugo said in awe.
Helen smiled sheepishly and turned back to her table. Hugo did too and continued watching the Sorting happily, ignoring the looks of longing coming from the rest of the Hufflepuffs.
After Vic Willows had taken off the Sorting Hat and sat down at the Ravenclaw table, the Headmaster stood up. Her speech was mostly a reminder of school rules, directed at the first years and Albus, Scorpio, and Rose. Nightshade also mentioned OWLs, which caused a certain amount of ruckus among the fifth years. Hugo had to admit he was worried for the OWLs, but he didn't let that get to him. He would cross that bridge when he came to it. Besides, the only thing he could think about at the moment was food. Corned beef, and kidney pie. Treacle tart and pudding. With a cold glass of butterbeer or pumpkin juice. Hugo closed his eyes and just imagined what it would look like. And how good it would taste. And smell. He could practically smell all delicious food. Finally, he opened his eyes. Well, that was why he could smell it. The table had suddenly, magically, been covered in all the mouth-watering foods Hugo had been dreaming about a moment ago. He dug in, not wasting a second.
On the other side of the Great Hall, Lily was visiting with Celeste, also known as the Violet Lover, and one of the ghosts of Hogwarts. She appeared to be around 90, but her actual age was completely unknown. Celeste was the biggest gossiper of Hogwarts and was always crushing on a student, which was both disgusting and hilarious. This year, that lucky student happened to be, of all people, Rudy Oakwood. Lily knew that Cyrus would have a field day if he heard about this. She tried to tune out Celeste's jabbering and the chatter of students all around her. She just wanted to think. About the upcoming year. About OWLs. About what Cyrus said on the train. It's almost like you don't even like guys. You turn a blind eye whenever one of the throws themselves at you. And he had laughed. Because it was a joke. Of course, it was a joke. But Lily couldn't stop thinking about it. She really needed to talk to Helen about it.
"What do you think, dear?" Celeste interrupted. "You think I could pass for a seventh year?"
Lily regarded the wrinkles covering Celeste's face, her old grandmother clothing, and she smiled. "Of course, Celeste," she lied. Celeste beamed and floated off down the table to talk to Rudy. Lily tried to feel bad for Rudy, and the torture she had just put him through, but it was hard. She almost couldn't help laughing when she saw Celeste place her transparent head on Rudy's shoulder.
Looking around, Lily now realized that she had no one to talk to. Helen was on the other side of the hall. Everyone else seemed engaged in conversation about their summer holidays and catching up with friends. Across from her sat Juniper Inkwell, Lily's roommate of four years. Juniper was a light-hearted, funny girl, and a complete nerd, like Lily. The only difference was, Juniper was confident, and out-going, whereas Lily was insecure and shy. Lily was studying Juniper closely, looking at her in a way she never had before. Juniper's hair was a curly mess of dark, chocolaty brown. She had bright blue eyes and a laughing and mischievous smile.
"Whatcha looking at, Lily?" Juniper was looking curiously at Lily, and so was Juniper's many, many friends and followers.
Lily jumped and looked guiltily down at the food on her plate. "Sorry, I was just…" Lily trailed off.
"It's alright," Juniper said, assuring Lily with a smile. "So, how was your summer?"
"It was nice," Lily responded with a shrug.
Juniper smiled quickly and returned to conversing with her companions, leaving Lily starstruck.
The rest of dinner past quickly. When Headmaster Nightshade finally did dismiss them, there was a rush of students to the doors. Cyrus stayed behind, as the first years followed the prefects to the doors. As always, four or five scared and lost first years stayed behind, unsure of what to do and where to go. The prefects had left without them, taking the rest of the first years up to the dormitories. Cyrus approached them, and led them up to the Slytherin common room and showed them their dormitories. He then headed up his own dormitory, his boots clicking on the marble tile.
The second the other girls in the room were asleep, Helen quietly climbed out of her bed and crept through the empty common room. She pushed her way out the door and hurried down the staircase to the fourth-floor hallway. The windows in the wide corridor were open, letting the cool outside air in.
"Hello?" Helen called out, walking forward cautiously. "Anybody home?"
The hallway responded with silence, aside from the hoot of an owl from a faraway tree. Helen kept moving slowly, as to not scare anyone.
"Helen?" A disembodied voice came from behind the wall. "Is that you?"
The figure of a beautiful young lady floated into the hall. The Grey Lady faced Helen and stopped. "I've missed you, little Lovegood," she said, smiling at Helen.
"I've missed you too, Helena Ravenclaw," Helen said with a smile, giving a quick curtsy.
The Grey Lady smiled back and laughed. "Look how much you've grown!" she exclaimed.
Helen laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess," she mumbled. She walked over the windowsill and sat down. "I wanted to talk to you about something, Helena," Helen said.
The Grey Lady floated to Helen and sat down next to her. "You can tell me anything, Lenny."
Helen shifted uncomfortably and opened her mouth as if to say something, but she quickly shut it. She closed her eyes and shook her head. "It really isn't that important," she said, her eyes still closed.
"Of course it's important!" exclaimed Helena Ravenclaw. "I want to hear it, Helen."
Helen nodded and opened her eyes, facing the ghost. "Well, there's this guy…"
A cackle coming from down the corridor interrupted Helen. Peeves the Poltergeist appeared, carrying Ms. Norris, the late Argus Filch's cat. Peeves had a grasp on Ms. Norris' collar, which had a closed locket dangling from it.
"Look what I've got!" Peeves sniggered. "It's a wild Ms. Norris in her natural habitat!"
Helen and Helena exchanged a glance.
"Peeves?" Helen said cautiously, standing up. "Maybe you should leave the poor cat alone."
Peeves cast a surprised look at the girl and smiled. "Ah! The young Helen Lovegood," Peeves exclaimed. "What are you doing out of bed?"
Suddenly, the small, round locket on Ms. Norris' collar burst open. Inside the locket, a mini portrait of an angry Filch.
"Student out of bed! Student out of bed!" shrieked the locket Filch, startling everyone. Peeves dropped Ms. Norris, who meowed and trotted away, carrying Filch with her.
For a moment, the corridor was quiet. And then Peeves collapsed into a fit of giggles. Ignoring him, Helen turned to the Grey Lady.
"I think I better get going," she said. "I'll visit you again." And tell you all about it, she thought.
"Good girl," said Helena. "Rest up before your first day of classes." The ghost gave Helen a knowing look. Helen smiled and walked off quickly, leave Helena to deal with Peeves.