Haley's Story Chapter 3
"Young Miss Malfoy?" someone drawled as they shook Haley awake.
"I don't wanna grow up…" she yawned groggily. Apparently, Halley was still dreaming.
"Excuse me, but your stop is coming up in just a few minutes…"
Halley opened her eyes to see a young face staring at her….
"What? Oh….okay." said Halley as she sat up. She glanced at her watch and realized that she had about five minutes until she came to the station.
As she was walking down the corridor to kill the time, she heard bits of conversation leaking into her ears. Most of them, like "Aaaa" "ssss" "hoooo" "llll" were just silly kid's games, and a few were boring business talk. Halley took little notice until she came to a talk about her father, Lucius Malfoy. Taking interest, she started to eavesdrop, just like she did at home when locked in her room.
"-Of course, she doesn't know. The result would be too risky. Imagine what the ministry would do if they knew." Said a woman's voice. She sounded fairly young.
"He says that his wife is always getting in the way…won't let anything happen to either of them…." Replied a man's lower one.
Halley leaned closer to the wall, wondering what they were talking about. As the distance between her and the compartment door increased, she peered into a small crack. Neither of them were recognizable to her.
Halley gazed at the two, and took in as much as she could as she could remember. The woman had darker, shoulder-length hair that was tied back neatly in a large clip. The man had chestnut colored hair that looked as if it had been gelled into spikes. Both seemed to be at about age 25.
As Halley leaned forward, trying to catch as much of the chat as possible, the train came to a swift, yet smooth halt.
"Attention, all passengers: We have arrived at Hogsmeade station! Seven minutes until we leave for the next stop, Admon City!" Please exit as quickly as possible!"
The announcment having grabbed her attention, Halley bolted back to her compartment. She gathered up her things, and hauled her trunk out of the train.
Stepping out of the train, Halley gazed around the station. The station was much like an ordinary muggle train station, she thought. There were wooden benches, stone walls dividing the platforms, and people pulling suitcases, backpacks, and trunks on wheeled carts. (A/n: I've never seen a train station, let alone ride on one…if my descriptions aren't entirely correct, please ignore it…) Waiting for her near one of the deviders was her brother, Draco, and a greasy-haired someone she didn't recognize at first. Then, she relized that it was Severus Snape, the one her father had invited over for dinner several times a long time ago. Of course, she didn't remember that all too well because she usually spent formal nights in her room. Dressing up just wasn't her thing… Then she remembered that he taught potions at Hogwarts.
Right besides him was Headmaster Dumbledore. Halley remembered her father talking about how he was the worst thing that could happen to the school. Many a time, he would mutter to himself as he worked through his job as a newspaper editor about how it was his entire fault that he lost his job as school governor.
"Hello, Hal' " Malfoy said rather stiffly.
"Hello Draco, Professors." Returned Halley.
"Now that you're here, let's get going. I don't want to waste my time here. I have things to do." Snape retorted as he moved them both towards the door.
"Hmm…well, down to business. Halley, what house do you want to stay in?" Dumbledore asked. "I'd have you sorted, except you're only staying with us for a short time. You can stay in the Gryffindor tower where Harry Potter stays, or you can sleep in Slytherin with your brother. Of course, you could stay in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, but I wouldn't recommend it. It's your choice."
Weighing her chances of success, Halley chose Gryffindor. She figured that it would be a lot easier that way.
As the four of them steered towards the exit, she noticed that Snape headed off to the train that was soon leaving. Halley remembered all the things Lucius had said about Dumbledore: how he was the worst thing that could happen to the school, how he was a filthy mud-blood lover, how he cost him his job and income had decreased….
But she pushed all of that from her mind. She remembered long ago, before she could remember anything, that a close friend had told her not to judge people by their past actions or families. She hadn't been following the advice too well, and now was a perfect opportunity to.
The three of them climbed into the horse-less carriage and sat down in the squishy leather interior. The ride wasn't too bad. Although it was a bit rickety and bouncy, and Draco said he only went because it got him out of later lessons, cheerful conversations with the Headmaster kept this out of her mind. Draco was sulking in a corner most of the time.
"Well, here we are!" proclaimed Dumbledore. "Halley, welcome to Hogwarts!"
The three of them entered the Great Hall where most of the students were busy talking or eating. Halley had never seen something so marvelously decorated ever! The ceiling alone could make you stare in awe…tonight's was a blue almost black with a crescent moon so long, it almost formed a circle. The stars that dotted the sky were glistening and shimmering!
Dumbledore headed to the long table near the front and Draco went to the closest table furnished in Green and Silver. Halley followed him, but he turned around and pointed to the furthest table. "You go over there" he said, malice in his eyes.
Halley turned a color of pink and trotted to the Gryffindor table. Scanning her eyes up and down, she soon spotted an untidy bit of Black hair and some red and brown too, and immediately knew that this is who she was looking for. They appeared to be about her age.
"Hello, I'm Halley." She said, trying to sound as cheerful as possible.
"We know who you are. You're Malfoy's sister." Ron retorted coldly. The Weasleys and the Malfoys never got along.
"Yeah, and I know who you are, too. Draco talks about you at home." She focused on Harry's lightning bolt scar, Ron's red and Hermione's bushy brown hair. "Weasel, Potter, and Granger (AKA: mudblood)."
Harry looked into her eyes and thought to himself, something's not right about that girl. I don't trust her… Ron deciding that he couldn't put up with any crap, took his plate, said, "C'mon Harry. Let's go sit by Ginny." And the both of them turned their backs and headed of towards the other red heads.
***
The first night, Hermione had been considerably warmer towards Malfoy's sister, she had introduced her to the other Gryffindor Girls and had given her the "Grand Tour" which included several useful secret passages. In fact, Halley thought, it seemed as if it was her first time meeting a Malfoy. She couldn't even tell if Hermione knew about her father's reputation.
After the grand tour, Halley and Hermione, and also, Parvatti, and Lavender who had come along strolled back towards the Common room. It would be her first time in the Gryffindor Tower, but Halley wasn't expecting much. From what she heard from Draco, the common rooms were bleak and gloomy. To her surprise, Parvatti was looking forward to showing her the Common Room. Steering up and down so many passages and stairwells, Halley tried to keep up in her mind how to reach it… Left at the big, billowing curtain, up the 2nd staircase you come to, ask door politely to let through, right at the 17th coat of armor, but it was too difficult. There were so many twists and turns that Halley was grateful she knew people who memorized the way.
When they came to a long corridor on one of the upper levels, the girls stopped at a portrait of a rather fat lady in a pink silk dress.
"Password?" she asked.
"Swing-line" Hermione responded. The fat lady swung foreward on hiden hinges and revealed a door to the common room. Stepping inside, Halley looked around the room.
The passage lead to a large room furnished in large, squishy armchairs and long, elaborately carved wooden tables. There were various portraits and pictures along the walls and on the left wall was a sign that said, "Boys." Next to it on the right was a sign that said, "Ladies." The four of them trotted up the staircase on the right and headed to the third landing. Above the door was yet another sign that said, "Fifth Years," and under that was a paper poster that stated, "Warning: Nutty Inhabitants. Enter at your own risk!" on it.
The other girls ignored the poster, and pushed open the door. There lay before her were four elaborately carved Four-poster beds, complete with scarlet hangings and matching bedside tables. She rushed over to the bed with her trunk at the end and peered out the window above her headboard. There was a marvelous view: the lake and a small cabin near the edge of the dark and mysterious forbidden forest was visible.
***
Through the whole weekend, Harry, Ron and Draco had not spoken a word to Halley. Pansy Parkinson, who used to be friends with her, was unmistakably snotty towards Halley. Halley figured she had a whole month to do her research became closer friends with Hermione, hoping it would trigger a "Your friends are my friends" sort of thing.
After the weekend, Halley's first Hogwarts class was Care of Magical Creatures taught by the lumbering Hagrid. Today's lesson was (thankfully) not a hands-on one, but to be taught by the thrashing Monster Book of Monsters. Hagrid had told them that this year there was going to be a special focus on Dragons, (don' ask why) and were focusing on various different species.
Later, the Gryffindors had Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. The squat witch, Professor Sprout, taught this lesson, and Halley's group consisted of Lavender Brown, herself, and Hannah Abbot of Hufflepuff. Professor sprout instructed them how to gather juice from the rare Chinda plant. The three of them cautiously collected it in small containers and capped them with a cork.
After a hurried lunch, everyone was in for a surprise. Their next class was History of Magic, and who was to be teaching but Fleur DeLacour?
"Fleur? Fleur D-D-DeLacour? N-No way!" Ron stuttered as he gawked at her silvery blonde hair and soft, pale skin.