Hogwarts: A story -Chapter 1,

Dumpweed

A/N: Hello. I decided to try some new writing styles this time. We get a change of narrator! (Ain't it the greatest?) You Harry fans might get a little confused at his weird character change... *ducks a rotten tomato and rubber boot* but it's only temporary, you'll see!! Erin gets sorted! How do you Hat song peeps do it??? Um, as I only got er, minimal reviews... *I'm so pathetic* I wrote another chapter, this one might be easier to understand... :o} *muahahaha! He gets toasted!* Um that's all, MERRY XMAS!!!!

Disclaimer: Anything the least bit familiar doesn't belong to me. In fact, the only people in this who're mine right now, are Erin, Marissa, and Harry's character's bad mood... that's it!

Enjoy!

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"...How would you feel if I should choose to go?

Another guy, you'd think it'd be unlikely

Another guy, you think he'd want to fight me

She's a dove, she's a f***ing nightmare

Unpredictable, it was my mistake to stay here

On the go and it's way too late to play

I need a girl that I can train..."

-Blink 182 "Dumpweed"

The two people in the compartment looked towards Erin. She was startled at how slowly they moved, almost as if it was too much energy to spare.

"Of course you can it's if you may sit here that counts!" The boy snapped at her.

Now, Erin wasn't one to get angry very easily, but this, idiot was acting to all the world as if he had every right to tell her off even though he'd just met her! He didn't even know her! OK, yeah, so maybe she was just a teensy bit disappointed that her sense for people had been so wrong, but mostly it was his nerve... She usually wouldn't care, but now... now all the anger and resentment for the crap Marissa had dished out was built up to overflowing. Erin was pissed.

"You listen to me Mr. "I don't know you but I can be stupid, and rude and... and dumbassed" just because I was in this compartment first! There. Are. No. More. Compartments. So personally I don't give a sh** whether or not I use the correct word in politely -which is more than I can say for you- asking whether you mind if I sit here or not. I'll sit here because there really is no more room anywhere else and the train's leaving any minute, so shut it!" With that Erin hauled in her trunk and flopped down on the seat beside the girl, who had been staring at them both since the boy's first words.

The boy had been staring open mouthed at her for a full minute with her glaring right back, when she started to feel uncomfortable. Her anger was wearing off and she was starting to regret her words, but she was stubborn and still felt that that guy had deserved every bit of what he'd gotten. She turned to the girl she was sitting beside, who'd been studying her hands for a while now.

"Erm... hello, I'm Erin Davis. What's your name?"

The girl looked up with a relieved face. "Hi, I'm Hermione Granger, I've never seen you before. Are you new?"

"Yeah, It's a long story-"

She would have gone on but at that moment the door burst open and Ron and Ginny Weasley burst into the compartment.

"Harry! Hermione! We made it! Oh! Hallo Erin! What a coincidence! we were going to go looking for you once we'd settled, glad to see you anyways!" Ron said in between huge gasps of air as the train started to move.

Ginny smiled at them all, and sat down beside Erin. Ron took a seat beside Harry as that seemed to be the guy's name, chattering away about his summer. After sitting in shock for a moment, Erin turned and grinned at Ginny.

"Now that's really something! How'd I pick the same compartment that you two were going to sit in? Weird!"

"Yeah! that's is strange isn't it? Ah well, It's a good kind of strange... hallo Hermione! How was your summer?" Ginny said.

"It was great! I had a wonderful time in Canada! It was so beautiful." Hermione replied, "I wish I could go more often, but Uncle Alfred is sick and I really don't want to be a burden during his summers."

Erin caught her breath at the word 'Canada'. "That's interesting! I'm originally from Canada! Where'd you go?" Erin asked.

"I went to a little town just outside of Toronto. Uxbridge. It was very quaint" Hermione said happily. "You're from Canada? How come you don't have an accent? Why are you coming to Hogwarts? I thought there were Wizarding schools there, rather good ones if I recall.

"Well that's really all part of the long story of why I'm coming to Hogwarts, so why don't I just tell the whole thing? I guess I should start with my mother..." and so, Erin told the long story of her family's troubles, getting very confused when everyone except for Harry flinched when she said "Voldemort". She ended with the charms finally wearing off and Professor Dumbledore sending her acceptance to Hogwarts. "Professor McGonagall came to help me get ready, and that's about where I met Ron and Ginny, when I went for my wand at Ollivander's Ron was talking to Mr. Ollivander and we ended up talking for awhile, Ginny stepped in for a moment and I met her too." Embarrassed, she changed the subject. "To be honest, I'm really quite unsure of this whole sorting thing. From what I got from Prof. McGonagall, I hope I'm in Ravenclaw , but I suppose Gryffindor would be OK."

Erin looked up to see Ron, Ginny, and Hermione watching her, they had been listening to her story with interest, and were now looking thoughtful. "We're all in Gryffindor, believe me, it's the best house, Harry's on the team! Seeker! Has been since first..." Ginny went on. Harry, however seemed to be trying to ignore everyone, herself especially. 'Well that's just too damn bad isn't it?' she thought, annoyed. 'I'd begun to think I'd judged him too early, but now he's gone and reinforced my opinion. It's really not my fault that he had the bad luck to be an idiot during my PMS session.' (A/N: Heh. Awwww... Harry! for those of you who have no idea what Erin's talking about... just think of PMS being a time of month where Erin gets... er... annoyed quite easily. :o}) She'd hated the tone he'd used! Probably because she'd had so much of it living with her cousin.

"Let me see if I've got this straight. You, are Erin Davis, your mother was the last living member of the immediate Prewett family, that for some reason, You-Know-Who wanted to annihilate. She escaped and went into hiding. When He had been gone for five years, defeated by Harry here-" Hermione had started, only to be interrupted by Erin.

"I'm so sorry Hermione, but did you just say Harry here? as in that Harry" she nodded towards where Harry was sitting. "That Harry, is Harry Potter?" Hermione nodded, yes. Feeling nervous about what Erin's reaction would be. "THAT explains it!" Erin cried settling back into her seat, as she'd feared! Harry Potter was one of those inflated egos. "Alright! you can continue Hermione."

Whatever Hermione had expected, it wasn't this. Usually the person wanted to see Harry's scar, lately the girls had taken to positively drooling over him. Something which Hermione found amusing. 'I mean, Someone else I might understand, but Harry?' She would think as they cooed over his bravery. That was another something, she thought that Harry may have been getting used to this sort of treatment, something that Hermione was hoping wouldn't happen. Harry was usually a nice boy, but what if he got an attitude like Lockheart? Urgh! She didn't think she could manage that.

"Oh never mind, I think I have it now anyways." Hermione said. "I expect we're going to come to Hogwarts anytime now, I think should start changing."

The boys left to let the girls change into their robes, and as soon as they were out of the compartment Hermione tried to come to Harry's defence: "Erin, please try to believe me, Harry usually isn't like that. When you came in I'd just been asking him some very tough questions and he was in the worst mood possible. It really was nothing personal, and once he gets over himself, he'll be the first one to tell you so." She blurted. Ginny nodded her agreement.

Erin smiled, "Oh, OK, then I wasn't wrong. When I chose your compartment it was because I have this sort of people sense. One that tells me if the people I'm about to meet are the nice sort, or the... not so nice sort. You both gave me the impression that you were the nice sort. That's part of why I blew up at him as much as I did. I was disappointed in myself, the other part, well, never mind that, but I really feel like apologizing... I'm just worried he wont even want to talk to me."

"Oh! I wouldn't worry about that!" said Ginny, pulling her robes over a tank top and shorts. "Harry is one of the nicest people I know!"

Something about how Ginny said this simple line made Erin grin and glance over at her after pulling on her own robes. Ginny blushed and Erin grinned some more. 'Hmmm...' she thought, 'There's one admirer already, I wonder who else is on the Potter band-wagon? surely no one else as nice as Ginny.' Why weren't they going out? Ginny didn't seem the type to be able to manage to er... hide her admiration (read: blushing, very red). Something to think on. 'If I ever make friends with Harry,' She thought. 'Setting those two up is definitely on my to do list.'

Out loud, She said: "Thank God for tank tops! I wasn't sure what witches were supposed to wear under these robes. They seemed a bit chilly for only underwear. I was really glad that it was a female teacher sent to help me when I thought of these questions."

She paused, puzzled when she turned around, Ginny and Hermione were falling all over themselves laughing so hard they were turning respective shades of purple.

"You- y-you asked McGonagall this?!?!?" Hermione asked between giggles.

Remembering the look on Professor McGonagall's face after that particular round of questioning was enough to make her lapse into giggles with the other two. When she'd calmed down a bit. Erin managed to squeak, "Oh my, you should have seen the look on her face! I guess she wasn't the person most people would go to for these sorts of situations, but she was all I had." She was completely serious now. "Ah well, we should probably be off... the guys must want to change before we arrive." As if on cue a voice echoed through the train.

"We will be coming to Hogwarts in ten minutes. Please make all the necessary arrangements. Thank-You."

"Wait, Erin, um... you might want to brush your hair!" Hermione hinted.

Erin put a hand to her shoulder-length honey brown locks, and found that they had been mightily messed up with all the activities of the day.

"Oh! Thanks Hermione!" Erin took out her wand, "fixus foliculus de tetus totalus" she muttered and formed a picture in her head of what she wanted her hair to do, this happened to be a pony-tail. "There we go!" She said brightly. Giving her hair a pat. "All Done. What?" She had just noticed the stares she was getting from Hermione and Ginny.

"Um, seeing as you haven't been exposed to any magic since the age on five, how did you possibly learn that?" Ginny stuttered.

"Oh! McGonagall got really tired of waiting for me the morning she came, when I heard we were going to London, I went upstairs and tried to get my hair to look normal for once... it just wouldn't happen. In order to get me out of the house, she taught me this charm." Erin said "You know, I knew someone who used to tell me it'd take magic to get my hair anywhere near nice, and on this one thing, they were right." The person was Marissa of course...

*********

Harry walked out of the compartment. 'My God, what a mess!' He thought. He felt awful. That girl, Erin, had walked in just as Hermione had finished asking him about the activities of the summer, and she wasn't talking about the Dursleys. Dumbledore had been requesting many things this summer, and Dumbledore's select group had discovered along with a very surprised Harry, that he, when concentrating as hard as humanly possible, could find a faint trace of Voldemort's thoughts. This he had been requested to perform many times, and it hadn't been fun, considering the types of thoughts Voldemort was inclined to think.

He had come back to school looking forward to some normal teenage behaviour, for at least a little while- here Harry blushed, he wasn't quite over Cho.- but no, the minute he'd come in and seen Hermione sitting there he'd been bombarded.

Just after he'd finished his debriefing as he'd begun to think of it, Erin had entered. He hadn't thought and had lashed out, using his frustration at Hermione as a base, he'd been undeniably snappish.

Involuntarily he shuddered at the girl's resulting outrage. Her eyes had frozen him on the spot and she'd shown herself as fully capable of becoming the Ice Queen from hell. (A/N: lookee!!! A juxtaposition!!!!!!) She was actually very pretty once he thought about it, but... nothing like Cho Chang...

Ron's voice broke into his thoughts, "...Very quiet Harry, what on earth is wrong?"

Harry told Ron about his run in with Erin.

"Oh my, she really chewed you up didn't she?" Ron chuckled, "You did ask for it though. Don't worry," He went on, as Harry smiled ruefully. "She really is a nice girl, I'm sure she'll get over it."

"I hope so, she was really angry!" Once again, Harry shuddered. Causing Ron to laugh uncontrollably.

An announcement came on. "We will be coming to Hogwarts in ten minutes. Please make all the necessary arrangements. Thank-You."

"How long does it take them!?!" Ron complained. "Honestly, you'd think they were..." the last of his whinging was drowned out as he turned and banged on the door.

Harry chuckled quietly as the door opened and the three girls filed out, he brushed by them, and bumped into the doorway as Erin caught his eye and smiled. Uncertainly, he smiled back, maybe Ron had been right.

**********

They all turned around at an angry BANG! on the compartment door, followed by muffled complaints. "Whoops, sounds like the boys are getting a bit impatient huh?" Hermione commented.

They opened the door and passed the boys on their way in, Ron, who was muttering about "How long we'd had to wait." Erin caught Harry's eye and gave him a friendly smile on the way past. She saw him cautiously smile back, and sighed with relief. She had hoped he'd get the message so they could apologize to each other, she really disliked confrontations that were drawn out.

In a few minutes the train started slowing down, the boys emerged in their robes and they were joined on their way out by the twins from the platform. Ron introduced her to two of his older brothers, Fred and George. Erin instantly liked the twins, they made her forget her nerves in seconds after they'd met her, by cracking her up with a bunch of retellings of their best pranks. They all stepped outside the train and were greeted with a grey drizzle. A huge hairy man met Erin at the foot of the train, introducing himself as "'Agrid", and told her that she would be sorted in front of the school along with the first years but not to worry, as she would do fine. Erin's sense was telling her this man was definitely a kind one, and she'd trusted it before, so she'd trust it again. There was something comforting about Hagrid.

Erin climbed into a boat with three first years and watched them sympathetically as they peered around, looking as nervous as she was sure she looked.

In a chamber off the "Great Hall" as she'd heard it called. Erin stood waiting a little ways off from the first years. this was embarrassing, she was towering over them.

"I really hate my height," Erin sighed.

Professor McGonagall walked in to the room. Smiling, in her way, at Erin and telling the first years to get in single file behind her. She motioned for Erin, "You'll be sorted first, were going to put you in fifth year along with everyone else your age, but Professor Dumbledore would like to see you for a minute after the feast.

"Alright." Erin managed to squeak. She couldn't remember being this nervous ever before.

McGonagall seemed to notice, "Don't worry," she said, then "Follow me."

Erin Walked into the Great Hall after Professor McGonagall and saw four long tables set up to face the teacher's table behind her, she stood and waited. Taking in the huge hall, all those faces watching her curiously, and the really cool enchanted ceiling at a glance. Then she took a deep breath and focused on the frayed, rumpled hat McGonagall was placing on a stool.

After a few moments silence had filled the hall and to Erin's amazement, the frayed tip of the hat opened like a mouth and started to sing, it sung a song about the Hogwarts four, how they'd founded the school, and what type of person would go into each house. Finally ending with:

"...You may not think I look like much

when seen with top hats tall;

but I'll say right here right now

that I can best them all!

So sit on down and slip me on

please don't get in a state!

I'll take my time to judge your mind

for I'm a hat, first-rate."

The Hall erupted with applause Erin clapping along with the rest. Then, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and started to speak "When I call your name please come up to the stool. This year we have a new student who will be joining fifth year, she will be sorted first. Davis, Erin."

Feeling as though she were one huge ball of frazzled nerves, Erin walked over to the stool, sat, and placed the hat on her head. It felt as though it had magically grown to cover her eyes. A tiny voice started to whisper in her ear: "Oh my! this is quite interesting Miss Davis, you seem much more like your mother. Shall I call you Miss Prewett just as an inside thing?" 'uh, sure!' Erin thought, 'My God, this is strange!' feeling as though the hat wanted her to answer. "Wonderful! Of course I'm a strange hat Ms. Prewett, why else would I sort students? So, where shall I put you? Hmmm... bravery is quite strong, but the intelligence is quite high too. You do want to succeed, my yes! but definitely not a Slytherin. Or a Hufflepuff, no definitely not. So Ravenclaw or Gryffindor? Erin thought back to the new friends she'd made on the train. 'If you please, I'd really prefer Gryffindor I think. Or Ravenclaw! Oh! I can't decide!' She thought despairingly. Ah, I see we have a conflict... the most-part of the Prewetts, up against your mother... Oh wait! Yes, you'd better go to- Erin almost screamed as the hat's -'mind-voice?' what on earth should she call it- faded out, and then back in on: This last bit might become interesting. Farewell Miss Prewett, and good luck. Better be... GRYFINDOR!"

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K then, there's the second chapter, I really hope this worked out. I'm getting scared... Erin's becoming more and more real! I think I may be forced into a... *dum dum dum* CLICHÉ!!!

Erin: Damn right!

Me: great.... Oh well...

Time for some more.... *ahem* hints: REVIEW!!!!!!!!!

Au Revior! 'til the next time, if there is a next time. I've made up my mind, ten reviews (give or take a couple), and I'm continuing the story. Now, time to try and regain control of Erin...

Erin: *cackles madly* Yeah. Right...