CHAPTER THREE: The New Girl
"Harry, Ron. Have you guys heard the news?" Hermoine asked almost breathlessly when she caught up with her two best friends.
"Heard what, Hermoine?" Harry frowned.
"And why do you look like you just ran in a marathon?" Ron added, frowning at the current state of haggardness showing on Hermoine's face.
"It's just my class load--there's too much for me to do." she answered Ron's inquiry first then looked at Harry, "You mean you haven't heard the news yet? There's a new fifth-year student that just arrived today."
"What?" Ron and Harry echoed in unison, "Is that even possible?" Harry frowned.
"We're well into the first month of the school year. And did you say she's a fifth year student?" Ron questioned, "How's that possible that they accept a fifth year new student?"
"I don't know." Hermoine shook her mop of unruly, long, curly brown head. "All I know is that Hagrid made a special trip to bring this student to Hogwarts today and spent like hours locked up in Dumbledore's office. She's going to make her entrance tonight during dinner."
"How did you know about this?" Ron asked curiously.
Hermoine gave him an are-you-kidding-me look, shutting Ron up and they continued on their way to the Great Hall where almost everyone was seated. This is Hogwarts--every secret gets leaked out to the public until the whole school knows about it. The three of them quickly made their way to their table and each took a seat.
"Has any of you seen this new girl?" George Weasley asked Ron as soon as his younger brother sat beside him.
"No. Harry and I didn't even know about it until Hermoine told us." Ron replied in a low voice, looking over the Slytherin table, watching out for any new and unfamiliar face to pop-out from the crowd, but it's still the same old, same old faces. He then turned his gaze over to the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff table; it was the same thing. No new faces popped out amongst the ton of almost all too familiar faces he has seen over the years since he attended Hogwarts. Except of course for the first year students, but they have been around each other's company for almost a month now, he already knows their faces and he could tell that whomever this mystery girl is, she has yet to make her grand debut tonight.
"I heard she's a beauty!" Fred Weasley, George's twin, enthused, giggling on Ron's other side.
"From what I saw of her when Hagrid came in with her earlier, she has shiny jet-black hair." Lee Jordan, the twin's close friend, added as he joined in on the huddle between the Weasley brothers, Harry and Hermoine.
"She's a fifth year too. But how could she be mixed with the fifth years if this is her first year at Hogwarts?" Hermoine frowned, looking from Harry all the way down to Fred who was seated on Ron's left across from her.
"She must be really special if Dumbledore lets her join the fifth year students." Lee wondered, his forehead creasing into a thoughtful frown.
Their little forum was abruptly pulled apart when Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat at the front of the room, asking everyone to settle down and listen.
"Good evening, students. Before we begin tonight's feast I would like to make an announcement." he paused briefly, eyeing each table closely before continuing, "Tonight we welcome a newcomer to our school, albeit arriving late, still, she is a remarkable young student and a new house member at Slytherin House." again he paused an watched each student carefully before straightening up and pointing his hand to the right backdoor entrance, "Ladies and gentlemen, I would like you all to welcome Ms. Mystyk Rydel."
All eyes turned to the direction Professor Dumbledore just pointed at. Mystyk took a deep breath to calm her nerves and walked out with a bright smile plastered on her small, pretty heart-shaped face. An audible gasp swept up the entire room--and they were all from the male student occupants of the Great Hall.
Fred was right. The new girl is indeed very beautiful. She looked almost like a sinful siren with inky black hair cut into an inverted bob that fell just below her chin. Her eyes were a bright shade of violet, and she held herself in the most regal of manner. Shoulders straight, chin held high, and she looked as though she was gliding on ice instead of walking on stone floor.
Harry remained frozen in his seat as his eyes zeroed in on the newcomer with neatly brushed jet-black hair that--and he has to agree with Lee--is very shiny.
It's her! The girl from the train station. his mind screamed as he followed the girl, Mystyk Rydel, make her way to the Slytherin table.
Hermoine, who was seated beside Harry, noticed that her friend's jaw nearly fell on the table as he stared at the newcomer. She jabbed him on the ribs and hissed, "Close your mouth before a fly or something else crashes into it."
Harry felt his cheeks burn from embarrassment and did as her friend asked him to do.
As soon as Ms. Mystyk Rydel was seated, Professor Dumbledore finished his speech before announcing that they all enjoy their dinner.
~*~
Mystyk felt uneasy throughout the rest of her meal. Slytherin House kids are...well, they are all not the kind of people she is used to hanging around with. Most of them are loud, boisterous, and egotistical while the women are deadly gossips, always talking about a certain guy or girl from either Griffyndor, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw. Since she have no clue about half of what the rest of her housemates are talking about, Mystyk ate in complete silence, smiling nicely at whomever's eyes collides with her. She kept on glancing at the teachers's table as well, smiling fondly at Professor Dumbledore whenever their eyes met, and smiling at Hagrid as well whenever their eyes met.
Oh boy, what the heck kind of trouble did you just get yourself in to, Mystyk? she asked herself as she quietly finished her dinner. And those stuff Dumbledore said...gosh, are they all for real? Me getting private lessons from the school headmaster until I'm all caught-up? How pampered could I be?!
"So, you're the new girl everyone's been talking about." Draco Malfoy sneered from beside her.
Mystyk stopped taking a bite off the chicken leg she is holding and looked at the platinum blond haired boy seated to her right. "Everyone's talking about me? Gee, I didn't know I'm popular."
"You're not. After today, you'll just be a thing of the past." snarled Pansy Parkinson who sits across from Mystyk and Draco.
Mystyk looked away from the boy with slicked-back blond hair and turned her attention to the dark haired girl seated across from her. From the sound of the other girl's voice Mystyk could tell she was jealous. But why would this girl be jealous of her? It's not like Blondie over here has the jones for her!
Mystyk knew it would be pointless to stoop down to this girl's level, but something childish inside her couldn't resist from goading the other girl.
"And that would be bad because...?"
Pansy couldn't think of a smart rebuttal at Mystyk's cool dismissal of her attempt to raise her heckle. She sent Mystyk a warning glare coupled with a warning only Mystyk could hear (according to Professor Dumbledore she had been blessed with the psychic gift, she can hear and read people's minds and tell fortune, heck, she could even solve mysteries if she only concentrated enough, whether by accident or by force): Stay away from Draco, bitch. He's mine.
"Hey, I'm not here to take your man away." Mystyk blurted out, surprising the now red-faced girl seated across from her.
"How--how--you don't know what you're saying!" Pansy nearly shrieked at Mystyk before angrily stomping away from the table, causing others to look their way to see what the sudden commotion was about.
Mystyk wished she didn't goad the other girl. Now all eyes are on her--and she has yet to finish her dinner!
She's really pretty. She's even prettier on a rather close range than when I first saw her.
Mystyk's head quickly snapped up when she heard the runaway thought of one of the numerous male students dining inside the Great Hall. She crank her neck here and there, from one end of the long Slytherin table to the other, then she did the same with the other three long tables before her.
Gosh, she's looking around! Better not let her catch me looking at her.
Mystyk thought she heard the thought coming loudly from the table across from Slytherin--is it Gryffindor table across from theirs?--and made a thorough investigation of each male occupant, but of course now that the owner of the runaway thought she just heard has now looked away, and her chances of finding out who he might be was gone.
She let her eyes move up and down the long Gryffindor table, but her search was futile. She won't find the owner of that runaway thought now.