Eyes of a Stranger

Hello to all who have had the misfortune to stumble onto my story. ;) This is just the first chapter...I'm not quite sure exactly where this is going...I might just delete it if I get too frustrated. Not that you'll care. I'm scared of reviews, but if you happen to venture down to the little box, why don't you just write something anyway? It'll make me happy :)

*sparkliez*

Disclaimer: All of the lovely characters that are J.K. Rowling's (you know who they are) belong to, well...her. The girlies belong to moi.

Chapter One:

Strangers Alike

Having just emerged from the barrier which separated Platform 9 and 3/4 from the Muggle World, Gabbi stared around in amusement. She had told her (rather evil) parents that she'd like to come to the platform the way the other new students did, so as not to attract any attention. Not that her appearance in itself didn't attract any attention

Gabbi (that's Gabrielle, to you) was rather pretty, if she did say so herself. Pale as moonlight, with sharp, yet beautiful features, she was very small. Her dark silky hair was cropped short, but it didn't give her a boyish appearance, as it might on others. On the contrary, it made her look chic and sophisticated. Not that she was aiming to look chic and sophisticated...it just kind of happened that way. There was a beauty mark on her upper lip; her mother, and seemingly every woman in the family had it.

Her eyes were a deep, dark, almost plum color, and they didn't come to be this way by some cheap Muggle contacts. No, she was born with them like that, and they seemed to change, depending on her mood. If eyes were the window to the soul, this rule certainly did not apply to Gabbi. No matter how long you looked into those mysterious eyes of hers, you wouldn't have gained any more knowledge about Gabbi, or her "soul." Assuming she had a soul, that is.

Gabbi looked around the crowded station for a nice boy who she could easily charm into helping her put her trunk on the train. Finding one rather quickly, she dragged her heavy trunk over to him as fast as she could. The boy, who was tall, with flaming red hair and freckles, was conversing with a few of his friends. Being quite short for a girl of eleven, Gabbi got on her tiptoes and tapped the boy on his shoulder. He turned away from his friends to look down at Gabbi, who wore a mock expression of fear.

"Um...could you help me with - with my trunk?" Gabbi asked in a small, mousy voice, much unlike her own.

"Oh...um, sure," said the boy. He called to his friends, "Be right back, you guys!"

Upon reaching the train, the boy said, "I'm Ron, is this your first year?"

"Yes," said Gabbi, "I'm Gabbi." They shook and then, with some difficulty, heaved her trunk into a compartment near the back of the Hogwarts Express.

"Thanks!" said Gabbi, hopping inside, grinning, and displaying a row of perfect, white teeth.

Ron turned the color of a radish and mumbled, "Oh, sure...no problem. See you later!" and trotted off to rejoin his friends.

Gabbi giggled evilly and settled down in her seat by the window to spy on Ron and his friends. Ah, how easy it was to get what you wanted! Suddenly she let out a murmur of surprise.

"Ooh...Harry Potter," she whispered. "How...interesting." She smiled to herself, purple eyes twinkling maliciously.

Suddenly, the train emitted a whistle and the few kids that remained on the platform scrambled onto the train in a hurry, for fear of being left behind. As the train sped away, young witches and wizards in training leaned out of the windows, yelling to their parents. Despite herself, Gabbi's stomach leapt with excitement.

Just then, the compartment door burst open, and three girls leapt in, trunks in tow. The first girl, who had two high, dark-brown pigtails sitting atop her head (which, Gabbi thought, made her look remarkably like a dog) squealed, "Why'd you do that?"

"What, me?" another girl, with dark blue eyes and curly red hair giggled. "I didn't do anything."

The third girl, who was apparently at a loss for words, collapsed in a seat and ran her fingers through her long, blonde hair, gasping for breath. All three girls settled down in their seats, breathing deeply and trying hard to contain themselves.

Looking around, the first girl (the doggish one) spotted Gabbi sitting in a corner and said, "Oh, h ello!" She strode forward and held out her stocky hand boldly. "I'm Marissa."

Gabbi looked at her hand, considering this action. These weren't the sort of people she usually concerned herself with...but hey, what the hell. She shook Marissa's hand saying, "I'm Gabbi." The many silver rings that adorned her fingers glimmered in the bright light.

"Ooh, your hands are freezing!" Marissa exclaimed, flitting around the small compartment. "It's summer!"

Gabbi shrugged and looked over at the other girls, who were still making an attempt to calm themselves. One was rubbing her eyes, which appeared to have tears in them, and the other was holding a hand to her chest and breathing slowly.

"This is Karly," Marissa said, pointing at the girl with the curly red hair, "and Taylor," she said, pointing to the other girl.

"H-hey," said Karly, still out of breath. "Is this your first year - too?"

"Yep," said Gabbi simply.

Taylor gave Gabbi a once-over and said quietly, "Hey." Gabbi narrowed her eyes and looked out the window.

"All right then!" Marissa clapped her hands togther jovially. "Who's up for a game of Exploding Snap?"

"Ooh, me!" exclaimed Karly, jumping up. Taylor merely nodded, glancing at Gabbi darkly.

"You wanna play, Gabbi?" Karly asked, rummaging through her trunk for some cards.

"Nah," said Gabbi, gazing out the window again. She wasn't one for games.

--

Genieveve listened in silence as the people around her conversed happily. She preferred not to talk; her mouth had a way of either embarrassing her or getting her into trouble. She didn't want either thing to happen on her first day in a new school.

"I got to go to the Quidditch World Cup this summer!" exclaimed one particularly haughty, sandy-haired girl. "And it was all the way in Romania!"

As someone pulled out a game of wizard's chess Genieveve was left to wonder what on earth Quidditch was.

Being Muggle-born, Genieveve didn't have the slightest clue about the perks of the wizarding world. It was an extreme shock, you'll understand, when an owl was heard tapping on her bedroom window on that lovely morning about three months ago.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Genieveve had murmured incoherently in her sleep, wishing her pesky little cousin would go away. Why did he always have to wake her in the wee hours of the morning?

Tap. Tap.Tap.

Throwing off the covers, Genieveve had been surprised to see a tawny owl suspended in midair, holding thick-looking letter outside her bedroom window. She immediately rushed to the window, and opened it quickly, upon which the owl fluttered in, dropped the leter, and taken off again in quite a rush.

Opening the thick yellowish parchment, Genieveve had discovered that she had been accepted, though it could hardly be true, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The letter said she'd start on September 1st.

Genieveve sighed happily, reflecting upon this happy memory. She had been surrounded by darkness, it seemed, for the longest time before that, sinking deeper and deeper into the myseries of depression. But then the letter had arrived, and the thought of this school, and that she had these wondrous powers, shone like a beacon of hope on the horizon. She had clung on to life, just barely, just long enough to be able to come to the station. And now she was on her way to this school, this Hogwarts.

Turning her head a bit, she gazed out the window once more and one of her earrings caught the light, flashing in the window's reflection. Genieveve noticed this and almost let out a sob. Most would think this sort of thing would make a young girl happy, but Genieveve let out a shaky breath and untucked her dark hair from her ears to hide her pale face, just in case she started sobbing right there.

Genieveve smacked herself mentally. What are you thinking? She screamed. Mom would want you to be happy - she bought you those earrings because she knew you loved them. She wouldn't want you crying over the sight of them! Forget Mom. Forget everything. Get on with your life! She kneaded her forehead with her knuckles, trying to relax.

"Um...Genni? Gen - Genieveve?"

Genieveve looked around to see that everyone was staring at her. Apparently she'd roused a lot more attention than she'd intended.

Turning a bright shade of pink, she muttered, "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?" a girl with kind eyes questioned.

"Yeah...I'm fine." No you're not, Gen. You need some kind of help. Look, you're talking to yourself!

"Shut up," she moaned.

"What?!" the sandy-haired girl who'd been bragging earlier bristled. "Did you just tell me to shut up?"

"No...no," Genieveve muttered. "Sorry."

You are such an idiot, Gen! She yelled at herself. What a great way to make new friends. Just great.

So, was that bad? Good? Should I delete it? You tell me...