Chapter Two
Okay – it was all too long for one chapter so we've
decided to turn what was the first chapter into three new chapters! Enjoy!
~~~
Groups of Hogwarts
students began to gather at the doorway all trying to see what had caused the
screech as Charlotte collapsed still shrieking onto the ground.
"What happened?"
"Who's that?"
"Why have you got
a Grindylow here?"
"Why is it
wailing?"
"That isn't a
Grindylow, that's Charlotte!" Luke exclaimed.
"Charlotte?"
"Oh Merlin, How?"
The questions
continued until Meg and Tim gathered enough of their wits to push everyone away
from the doorway and slide the door closed.
Charlotte looked
up and tried to speak but only a small growl escaped her mouth, so she now
pointed her elongated finger accusingly at Roz, who backed up in surprise.
"What?" Roz asked.
"Err," Charlotte
growled.
Then abruptly
smoke poured out of her ears and mouth and with a loud pop, the original
Charlotte was back, perhaps a bit angrier than before. Looking stunned she felt
her own face and looked at her hands.
Clambering up to see her reflection in the glass she turned and pointed
her finger at Roz again. "You!" She snarled. "You did it, didn't you? I don't
know why but I know you did it."
Roz bewildered at
first, cried back: "Did what?"
"You did something
to my Acid Pop!"
"I did not!"
As Charlotte tried
to dive at Roz, Shadow and Luke pulled her back; Meg and Alex stood trying to
calm her down.
"I don't know
enough magic yet!" Roz exclaimed.
Meanwhile Skye
cautiously picked up the dropped sweet. Tim rummaged through his trunk and took
out his wand.
"Revealious,"
he muttered and the sweet turned from red to green. "Something has been done to
the sweet," he said looking up.
"See!" Charlotte
screamed, "How can you deny it now!"
"But she can't
have," Alex said slowly. "She's been with us all the time since she got on
board."
"Luke would have
seen if she had done something to the sweets," Meg added. "Did you see anything
Luke?"
Luke shook his
head.
"See," Roz replied
angrily, "I didn't do it!" Before Charlotte could retort, Skye pointed out the
window again,
"We're nearly
there, and we still need to get changed." Roz sat sullenly back down on the
seats of the train. Skye cleared her throat.
"Oh yeah," Shadow jumped
up. "You want me, Luke and Tim to leave."
"Think they'll
ever forget?" Luke joked as they all left. Skye faced them all to give them a
look that simply said: 'Boys!' then left to return to her trunk, which
was with Jinks the cat and her friends in another compartment, to get changed.
There was a lot of
tension in the small compartment as the girls changed. Charlotte kept glancing
up nervously, and then glaring at Roz until either Meg or Alex gave her a
warning look. Roz changed into her robes uncomfortably aware that the silence
was because of Charlotte's suspicion. Deep down she knew she had not bewitched
it, and she knew she could not bewitch anything at the moment, she hoped
Charlotte knew that too. Roz was the last to get changed into the awkward robes
that she had worn only once before, she wondered why Charlotte had suspected
her immediately.
"Have you been to
Hogwarts before?" Alex broke the silence. Roz was about to reply when she
happened to glance at the door. Through the glass pane she saw the distorted
outlines of the three boys.
"Hey!" She pointed
them out to the others. "How long have you been there?" Roz began to feel
slightly embarrassed; she had taken longest changing and hadn't found putting
the robes on very easy.
"Don't worry," Tim
assured her as they all re-entered the room. "We saw nothing, and even if there
was a chance we could of, we wouldn't of looked, would we Shadow?"
"Oh no, we
wouldn't have, not me and Tim." He grinned at the boy mentioned. Noticing
something amiss Meg began to protest but Luke, who looked redder than he had
before, interrupted her.
"Well, erm, what
were you girls talking about while we weren't here?" He sat down quickly next
to Meg and Charlotte.
"Oh, nothing
much." Alex responded indifferently. "But I'm dying to know what riveting
conversations you three had." Watching Luke turn even redder Tim decided it was
time to rescue him.
"Oh, nothing much.
We were just wondering what house Roz would be placed in." Roz looked up
sharply at this, no longer embarrassed.
"Houses?" She
asked.
"There are four
houses at Hogwarts, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin." Shadow
uttered the name of the last house with spite. "Alex, Shadow, Luke and I are
all in Gryffindor, Charlotte and Meg are in Ravenclaw and Skye is in
Hufflepuff, none of us are in Slytherin, thank Merlin. You'll be placed in a
house and you'll have your lessons with your house." Roz chewed her lip at the
thought of lessons.
"I know hardly any
magic." She told them. "I'm not sure what lessons I'll take. I've been taught
some by a witch that lives near to where I do, but not enough to take the same
lessons as everyone else."
"See," Charlotte
exclaimed, "she does know magic, and she could have bewitched my sweets!"
"But she didn't Charlotte,"
Meg calmed her, "Luke was there the whole time, remember?"
"I don't know that
much anyway. It took me ages to learn anything." Roz protested. "Doing any
magic made me feel really weak and dizzy at first. It was weeks before I could
perform the simplest spell. I hope," she said voicing her fears to them all, "I
hope I don't have to take the same lessons as the first years. That would be so
embarrassing. I can't see many other options, though, can you?" She looked
hopefully at the others. She wasn't smiling any longer she looked more worried.
"Well, I'm sure you'll catch up quickly." Alex reassured her and both
girls smiled. "I know, what books have you got? We'll be able to tell what year
you'll be taking if we recognise the books. The transfiguration book, what's it
called?"
"'A beginners guide to Transfiguration' by Emeric Switch." Roz
recalled. "That looked quite hard, I've read most of it. I've read all the
books, but I left that one until last. Oh, and I haven't read the History of
Magic Book completely, I got bored." She grinned at the others.
"That won't help, we need to know what books you have, all of them."
Tim told her. "Have you brought you list, you know, the list of equipment you
needed for Hogwarts?"
"Well, yes, its in my trunk somewhere." Roz moved towards her trunk to
search for it.
"Never mind," Meg said quickly, "we're nearly there. I'm sure
Dumbledore will tell you what lessons you'll be taking. We'd better get ready
to get off." They all collected their things together while chatting
pleasantly, except for Charlotte, who just collected her things. Roz made to
lift her trunk.
"You can leave that." Luke told her. "It will be taken to your dorm.
Leave it there." The train skidded to a halt. It had been raining while they
travelled but it was only a light shower and it was now over. The floor was wet
but the whole of Hogsmeade station looked fresh and clean. Meg, Alex,
Charlotte, Luke, Tim and Shadow stepped, jumped and strode onto the platform.
Roz was about to do the same when she remembered Thunder due to Skye rejoining
the group with Jinks, which she handed to Shadow.
"Hang on," Roz called, "I have to get Thunder." Shadow climbed back
onto the train.
"Your kitten?" Shadow asked while placing Jinks on top of his trunk.
"He was the first off the train, I think he's under those benches. When you
find him, leave him here, with your luggage, he'll be taken to your dorm too."
Roz rolled her eyes.
"Thanks, he would escape wouldn't he?" She followed Shadow's direction
and found Thunder as Shadow had said, under one of the benches. She scooped the
kitten into her arms and moved to rejoin the others. A sneering voice stopped
her.
"Did you see? That Ravenclaw ate the Acid Pop I covered in the potion.
She was covered in green scales. It worked perfectly." The voice laughed
menacingly. Two sniggers joined the sound. "Not so clever is she? Even better
there's nothing to link me, I mean us, to the deed. I heard some girl got the
blame, no-one seemed to know what house she was in though, strange."
"It was you!" Roz exclaimed. She looked around to find the source of
the voice and found a tall boy with sandy coloured hair that caused his face to
appear paler than it actually was step pompously out from behind the backs of
two broad boys who promptly turned to face her also. A lot of the chatter in
the station ceased. "You did something to Charlotte's Acid Pop. You bewitched
it." The boy glared at Roz before checking the station quickly, he could see no
teachers and this caused a wry smile to appear on his lips.
"Oh, did I?" He asked mockingly returning to glare at her. "And how are
you going to prove that?"
"You changed a girl into a," Roz strived to remember what the creature
was called, "a grindylow." All of the four students, Roz, the pale boy and his
two friends, noticed the utter silence coming from the rest of the station,
broken only by an odd cough. Everyone knew what was going on. There was no
point in hiding the fact any longer; he might as well get recognition for what
he did, as long as there were no teachers around.
"It
worked a treat, didn't it? My own
personal invention." The boy replied proudly. "Not brought from one of those
ridiculous Weasley shops. No, specially designed. I doubt your intelligence level
is high enough to comprehend that."
Many of the first years who knew what a grindylow was had pale faces at the
thought of being changed into one.
"My intelligence level is more than high enough."
Roz began to yell, anyone who hadn't been watching, was now. "Just because I
don't know much about magic doesn't mean I'm not smart enough to..." She broke
off momentarily; all her friends had now run to her. Luke stepped forward.
"Yeah, its not her fault she's lived as a
muggle." He attempted to end the conversation, by ushering Roz away. She
pushed him off.
"What do you mean one of
those Weasley shops? What have you got against the Weasleys?"
"What,
you mean those red-haired, freckled freaks? Oh, nothing much." He sneered at
her. Roz stepped forward and slapped him across the cheek, which instantly
sported a red hand mark. At that very moment both of the boy's friends stepped
forward towards Roz who got instantly pulled back by Shadow and Tim.
"You pig!" Roz exclaimed
loudly. "You idiotic, worthless pig!" As soon as the boys let go of her she
struggled back forward to stand next to Luke. "You take that back."
"Now, why would I do that for a little mudblood like
you?" The boy was angry he had let a girl strike him and had realized the importance
of Luke's fatal addition to the argument, telling him Roz had 'lived as a
muggle' indicated she had a muggle family. From the gasps behind her Roz had
guessed that an insult had been thrown at her.
"I may be a mudblood but I'm not that little." She
smiled sweetly at him. "I managed to hit you didn't I?" He stared at her with
so much ferocity and hate she stopped smiling quickly.
"Come on Roz, we've got a coach waiting." Charlotte
coaxed, dislike her as she did, Charlotte knew the boy, Matt Malfoy, knew
enough curses and jinxes to keep Roz in the hospital wing for weeks whereas Roz
knew none. Matt drew out his wand.
"Go on Rozzie-wozzie, run to your coach." He snarled.
Roz swallowed, she realized she stood no chance in a duel.
"My name is Roz." She told him stiffly. She was about
to draw her own wand when she saw Malfoy lift his and aim it at her.
~~~~~
Don't be afraid to tell us what you think (be afraid of
what we'll do if you don't). See this little form below this? Fill it in,
simple as that.
We'd better take the opportunity now to thank Jess and
Marci who's characters' we have used in this fan-fic (Meg and Alex,
respectively). They gave us their permission to use their characters and we
waited until they had both read it before posting.
Disclaimer: As you probably know, most of the
environment this story takes place in was created by J.K. Rowling and therefore
belongs to her. The characters and the plot and a few other features are the
only things in this story that belong to us, plus some of the ideas (and a lot
of the creative grammar).
