Chapter 2: Shopping For Supplies
Crescent stared out the window of the airplane, and let out a depressed sigh. She was on her way to Hogwarts, but she had to stop in England to get her school supplies.
A moment later, she turned to her mother, who was sitting next to her. "Mom, when are we gonna get there?"
Virginia turned to face her daughter, and sighed. "We should be arriving there very soon." She gave her a Look. "Same as I told you five minutes ago."
Crescent flushed slightly. "Sorry. I guess I'm nervous." Then she asked, "How do you think Princess is doing? Do you think she misses me?"
Virginia smiled. "I'm sure that Princess is fine with the X-Men. She has a huge backyard to run around in, and I'm sure that Kurt will be more than willing to play ball with her. Don't worry."
Suddenly, the intercom came on. "Attention, passengers. We will be landing momentarily. Please return to your seats."
* * *
A short while later, Crescent and her parents had gathered the luggage that they had brought with them. As they approached the entrance of the airport, a strange man approached them.
"Are you Crescent Greyson?" he asked. He was dressed completely in black. He had shoulder-length greasy black hair, and eyes that were so brown they were almost black.
Crescent disliked him on sight.
"Yes, I am," she replied.
"I am Professor Severus Snape. Gather your things and follow me. We're going to go to Gringotts to trade your muggle money for wizarding money." He turned and strode away.
Crescent watched him walk away, and mumbled something in German. Virginia wasn't quite certain what they meant, but she got the gist of what her daughter was saying. She smacked Crescent on the arm.
"Ow!"
"Crescent, be polite!"
"Okay, okay. Yeesh." She grabbed her backpack and her duffel bag, and followed Snape. Virginia sighed, and both she and Wolf followed her. When they got outside, Crescent looked around for a car, but didn't see one. "Um, Professor Snape?"
He turned to look at her. "What?"
"Um, how are we going to get to wherever this Gringotts is? We're not going to walk there, are we?"
"No, we will not be walking there. We're going to travel there by Floo."
Crescent stared at him for a moment, one eyebrow raised slightly. "Hoo- kay." She turned to her parents and muttered, "Well, it can't be any worse than the times that Kurt's BAMF'ed me around." She wrinkled her nose. "And it'll probably smell better, too."
A moment later, Snape led them into a small building, and stood in front of a large fireplace that was on one side of the room. He pulled out a stick from his robes, and aimed it at the fireplace. Then he muttered something, and purple flames shot out of the stick, lighting the fireplace. He pulled a pinch of glittery green powder from a small pouch at his waist, and flung it into the flames, which then turned bright green.
Snape turned to Crescent, a nasty smile on his face. "Ready?"
Crescent's eyes had grown huge by that time. "Y'know, I think that I'd prefer walking," she said quickly, and tried to run away. But Virginia and Wolf both stopped her.
"Crescent, if we have to go that way, then so do you," said Wolf sternly, and Crescent sighed. She turned to stare into the fireplace for a moment, and the dancing green flames reflected in her silvery-green eyes.
"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" she asked, an air of resignation about her. She turned to Snape. "Is it hard to travel by Floo?"
"No. All you have to do is step into the flames, and say where you want to go."
Crescent nodded. "Sounds easy enough." Snape stepped out of the way, and Crescent walked up to the flames. "Where should I say that I want to go? Do I say Gringotts, or something else?"
"Just say 'Diagon Alley'," snapped Snape. (Try saying that three times fast. Go on, I dare you.)
Nervously, Crescent stepped into the flames, and to her astonishment (and immense relief), they didn't burn her.
"Diagon Alley!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, there was a whooshing sound, and Crescent felt herself spinning faster and faster. A moment later, she hit the ground, and lay there for a few minutes, trying to get her wind back. Then she rolled onto her back, and coughed up a lungful of soot.
"I take it back," she muttered to no one in particular. "I prefer Kurt's BAMF'ing to traveling by Floo. Less hazardous to my health."
Suddenly, a strange face came into her line of vision, which, at the moment, was slightly blurry.
"Are you all right?" the person asked. Crescent blinked, and her vision finally cleared. Then she saw that the speaker was a teenage boy her age with jet-black hair and emerald-green eyes that peered down at her worriedly from behind a pair of thin-framed circular glasses.
"Yeah, I'll be fine, just as soon as I finish coughing up the soot in my lungs."
The boy looked sympathetic. "Traveled by Floo, huh?" He helped her to her feet. "I've traveled by Floo a few times in the past, and it's definitely *not* one of my favorite ways of traveling. I'm Harry, by the way. Harry Potter."
"Crescent Greyson." They shook hands, and for the first time, Crescent noticed that he had a scar on his forehead that was shaped like a lightning bolt. "Cool scar."
Harry's gaze turned slightly bitter.
"Thanks. I got it the night my mum and dad were murdered."
Crescent turned pale and stared at him in horror.
"Oh, my god. I am so sorry. I didn't realize---Shit, talk about a classic case of open mouth, shove in foot."
Harry smiled faintly.
" 'S all right. You didn't know."
"Found yourself a girlfriend, Potter?" drawled a voice nearby, and Crescent turned to see who the speaker was. A boy their age was standing there, sneering at them. He had white-blond hair and blue eyes.
"Shove off, Malfoy," Harry snapped.
"Make me, Potter," Malfoy retorted. Then he turned to Crescent and smiled. "I'm Draco Malfoy. I'd shake your hand, but I don't really want to touch a Mudblood without wearing a pair of gloves." With a smirk, he turned to walk away.
Crescent wasn't sure what a Mudblood was, but by the way that Harry was glaring hatefully at Malfoy's back, she knew it had to be a fairly potent insult. Her eyes narrowed. Payback time, wolfie style.
"Hey, Malfoy!" called Crescent.
Malfoy sighed, and turned back around to face her.
"What?"
"Congratulations. You've just made yourself one hell of an enemy." Her eyes turned yellow for an instant, and when Malfoy saw that, his eyes widened, and he fled down the street. Crescent started laughing, and walked back over to Harry, who was also laughing. "Well, that takes care of that shmuck."
Suddenly, there was a whooshing sound nearby, and then Wolf, Virginia, and Snape walked out of a building, coughing.
"Well, that was fun," said Virginia, looking slightly nauseous.
Wolf didn't say anything; he looked like he was about to be sick.
"Dad, don't you *dare* barf on my shoes," warned Crescent, moving away from him. "Mom, Dad, this is Harry Potter. Harry, these are my parents." Harry nodded slightly, but didn't even glanced at Wolf and Virginia. Instead, he glared hatefully at Snape, who was glaring back. Crescent blinked slightly. "Uh, I take it you two know each other?" she asked. They both nodded, still glaring at each other.
Crescent sighed, and then smacked them both in the back of the head. They both yelped, and stared at her in shock.
"What was that for?" demanded Snape.
"I thought you were going to take me and my parents to Gringotts," Crescent replied icily, crossing her arms over her chest.
Snape sighed.
"Yes, I did say that I would take you and your parents to Gringotts. We're going there right now." He began walking down the street, and Crescent and her parents followed him.
* * *
An hour later, Crescent and her parents had exchanged their money. Snape disappeared into a store that was selling Potions ingredients, leaving Crescent and her parents to get her school supplies.
"What's left?" asked Virginia after they had gotten Crescent's books, quills, rolls of parchment, robes, Potions kit, and dragon-hide gloves.
Crescent glanced at her list of school supplies.
"Uh, all I've got left to get is a wand," she replied. "And the list says that I can get a pet."
"What kind of pet?"
"Either a toad or a cat or an owl." Crescent glanced up at her mother. "Mom, can I get an owl?"
Wolf and Virginia glanced at each other.
"We'll see."
Crescent began glancing around all the stores. Finally, she spotted one that said "Ollivander's Wand Shop".
"There's a wand shop," she said, and went inside. Wolf and Virginia glanced at each other again, and Wolf walked away without saying a word.
Crescent glanced around the inside of the wand shop. It was dark, and reminded her of an old archive section in the royal library back in the 4th kingdom. It had the same musty smell.
"Welcome." Crescent nearly jumped out of her skin when an old man appeared out of the back of the store. His pale eyes bore into hers, and Crescent had to resist the urge to shrink into a tiny ball. "Ah, Crescent Greyson. I was told that you were going to arrive sometime today. Now, let's see. I think, perhaps, that I know just the wand for you. Birch, dragon heartstring, seven inches, inflexible." He handed it to her, and Crescent waved it around, feeling like an absolute idiot. But nothing happened, and Mr. Ollivander snatched it back. "Try this one. Holly and unicorn hair, twelve inches, whippy."
Again, nothing happened. Mr. Ollivander went to get another wand.
By about the fifth wand, Crescent began to feel rather disgusted with the wands.
"I'm beginning to wonder if there's some sort of conspiracy against me," muttered Crescent darkly, giving each of the boxes in the store the evil eye.
Mr. Ollivander chuckled.
"Ms. Greyson, we will find you a wand, even if it takes all night." He selected one of the boxes from the top shelf, and glanced at it. "This is a very unusual combination, but all the same, we cannot rule out any possibilites." He took the wand out of the box. "Here. Rosewood and wolf hair, nine and a half inches, flexible."
Crescent took it, and instantly felt the wolf in her react. Her eyes glowed yellow for a moment, and then they went back to normal.
"I think that I found my wand," she said, staring down at it.
"I think that you're quite right," agreed Mr. Ollivander, looking startled at what had happened to Crescent.
She paid for her wand, and went outside to meet her parents.
"Where's Dad?" Crescent asked her mother.
"Getting you a going-away present," replied Virginia. A moment later, Wolf came trotting up to them, holding something behind his back. He had a huge grin on his face.
"All right, what'd you get me?" Crescent asked suspiciously. Wolf pulled a cage out from behind his back, and Crescent gasped. The cage contained a beautiful eagle owl. "Oh, Dad, thank you so much! She's beautiful!" Crescent took the cage from Wolf, and grinned. "I'm going to call you Celeste. Do you like that name?" she said softly to the owl, who hooted happily. "Well, that settles it. You're Celeste."
* * *
Crescent glowered at her reflection in the hotel mirror. She was wearing a knee-length grey skirt, a white blouse, a black tie, and a grey sweater. She had pulled her hair into a ponytail with a black velvet hair scrunchy, and was wearing the necklace that Wendell had given her for her fourteenth birthday. On her feet, she had on grey knee-socks and black mary janes.
As soon as she was done glowering at her reflection, Crescent stomped into her parents' room.
"Mom, I look like a dork," she complained. Virginia glanced up at her.
"You look very mature," she replied. "Like a Catholic schoolgirl."
Crescent gave her a horrified look.
"But I don't wanna look like a Catholic schoolgirl!" She pouted at Virginia, who started laughing, much to her daughter's annoyance. She blew a raspberry at her mother, which only made her laugh harder. Fuming, Crescent stomped out of the room.
* * *
Crescent was silent as she and her parents drove to King's Cross. When they got there, they headed to platforms 9 and 10.
"I don't see platform 9 3/4, do you, Mom?" Crescent asked, looking around in confusion. Suddenly, she spotted Harry nearby, talking to a red-haired boy and a girl with bushy brown hair. "Oh, thank god. A familiar face. Hey, Harry!"
Harry Potter turned around and saw Crescent Greyson coming towards him. She was wearing a Hogwarts uniform, but didn't have any of the school colors on her tie.
"Hey, Crescent. These are my friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron, Hermione, this is Crescent Greyson."
"Hello," said Ron and Hermione at the same time.
"Pleased to meet you both." Then Crescent gave them a puppy-dog look. "Could you please tell me how to get to the train?"
"Just walk through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10," said Ron. Crescent lifted an eyebrow slightly.
"Thanks." Crescent walked back over to her parents. "Well, I found out how we get to the train. We walk through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10." She shrugged. "It can't be any different than walking through the traveling mirror."
Crescent grabbed her stuff and ran at the barrier. There was no resistance, none at all. An instant later, Crescent found herself in a completely different train station. A sign overhead said "Hogwarts Express, Platform 9 3/4".
A few seconds later, Wolf and Virginia came through the barrier as well.
"Well, that was different," said Virginia.
"Come on, Crescent," said Wolf. "Let's get your stuff on the train."
Together, the three of them dragged Crescent's trunk into the baggage compartment. She held onto her wand, just to be on the safe side.
"Bye, Mom," Crescent said, hugging her parents. "Bye, Dad."
Then she went to find a compartment on the train. Crescent walked up to one of the compartments, and knocked on the door.
"Come in," called Harry. Crescent opened the door, and stuck her head inside.
"Is it okay if I sit in here with you guys?" she asked. "I don't know anyone else on the train except for Draco Malfoy, and I'd sooner slit my wrists than seek him out and ask if I can sit with him."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all laughed.
"Sure," said Harry. Crescent came into the compartment and sat down next to Hermione.
"Where are you from, Crescent?" Ron asked curiously.
"Bayville, New York. I used to live in New York City, but a year ago, my mom got transferred to Bayville. Then this summer, I received a letter that said I'd been accepted as a transfer student to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. At first I thought that my friend Kurt was playing a prank on me, because I'm not a witch. Not yet, anyway. I've never attended a school of magic before."
Ron, Harry, and Hermione's eyes all grew huge.
"Then how can you be a transfer student at Hogwarts?" asked Hermione, confused. Crescent shrugged.
"Good question, and I'm certain that it'll be answered in time," she replied. She let out a sigh. "Of all the weird things that have happened in my life, this is definitely one of the weirdest."
"What kind of weird things have happened to you?" asked Harry, sounding curious. Crescent hesitated.
"Uh, just weird stuff, that's all." She took her wand out. "My wand, for example."
"What kind is it?" asked Ron.
"Rosewood and wolf hair. Mr. Ollivander said that it was a very unusual combination."
"Yeah, it is," said Ron, staring at the wand in shock. "Wolf hair is almost never used in wand-making. Too risky."
"Not for me," replied Crescent. "It was the only one that would work for me. I guess it's because I'm part wolf." Harry, Ron, and Hermione all gasped. Too late, Crescent realized what she had just revealed.
"Blimey," said Ron, staring at her. "You're a werewolf?"
"No, I'm not a werewolf," replied Crescent. "I said that I was part wolf, not a werewolf."
"What's the difference?" asked Harry.
"Well, werewolves have to be bitten by another werewolf first before they can become a werewolf. My dad's half-human, half-wolf because his father was a wolf and his mother was a human. But I'm only one-fourth wolf because my mom's human. I was born that way."
Then Crescent quickly changed the subject by asking them Hogwarts was like. They chatted until the train arrived at the school.
to be continued...
* * *
A/N: *smirks* I told you chapter 2 would be longer. As always, please R&R, but no flames. Anyone who flames me will be pelted with dungbombs, and then get their sorry arses kicked to Middle Earth.
Crescent stared out the window of the airplane, and let out a depressed sigh. She was on her way to Hogwarts, but she had to stop in England to get her school supplies.
A moment later, she turned to her mother, who was sitting next to her. "Mom, when are we gonna get there?"
Virginia turned to face her daughter, and sighed. "We should be arriving there very soon." She gave her a Look. "Same as I told you five minutes ago."
Crescent flushed slightly. "Sorry. I guess I'm nervous." Then she asked, "How do you think Princess is doing? Do you think she misses me?"
Virginia smiled. "I'm sure that Princess is fine with the X-Men. She has a huge backyard to run around in, and I'm sure that Kurt will be more than willing to play ball with her. Don't worry."
Suddenly, the intercom came on. "Attention, passengers. We will be landing momentarily. Please return to your seats."
* * *
A short while later, Crescent and her parents had gathered the luggage that they had brought with them. As they approached the entrance of the airport, a strange man approached them.
"Are you Crescent Greyson?" he asked. He was dressed completely in black. He had shoulder-length greasy black hair, and eyes that were so brown they were almost black.
Crescent disliked him on sight.
"Yes, I am," she replied.
"I am Professor Severus Snape. Gather your things and follow me. We're going to go to Gringotts to trade your muggle money for wizarding money." He turned and strode away.
Crescent watched him walk away, and mumbled something in German. Virginia wasn't quite certain what they meant, but she got the gist of what her daughter was saying. She smacked Crescent on the arm.
"Ow!"
"Crescent, be polite!"
"Okay, okay. Yeesh." She grabbed her backpack and her duffel bag, and followed Snape. Virginia sighed, and both she and Wolf followed her. When they got outside, Crescent looked around for a car, but didn't see one. "Um, Professor Snape?"
He turned to look at her. "What?"
"Um, how are we going to get to wherever this Gringotts is? We're not going to walk there, are we?"
"No, we will not be walking there. We're going to travel there by Floo."
Crescent stared at him for a moment, one eyebrow raised slightly. "Hoo- kay." She turned to her parents and muttered, "Well, it can't be any worse than the times that Kurt's BAMF'ed me around." She wrinkled her nose. "And it'll probably smell better, too."
A moment later, Snape led them into a small building, and stood in front of a large fireplace that was on one side of the room. He pulled out a stick from his robes, and aimed it at the fireplace. Then he muttered something, and purple flames shot out of the stick, lighting the fireplace. He pulled a pinch of glittery green powder from a small pouch at his waist, and flung it into the flames, which then turned bright green.
Snape turned to Crescent, a nasty smile on his face. "Ready?"
Crescent's eyes had grown huge by that time. "Y'know, I think that I'd prefer walking," she said quickly, and tried to run away. But Virginia and Wolf both stopped her.
"Crescent, if we have to go that way, then so do you," said Wolf sternly, and Crescent sighed. She turned to stare into the fireplace for a moment, and the dancing green flames reflected in her silvery-green eyes.
"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" she asked, an air of resignation about her. She turned to Snape. "Is it hard to travel by Floo?"
"No. All you have to do is step into the flames, and say where you want to go."
Crescent nodded. "Sounds easy enough." Snape stepped out of the way, and Crescent walked up to the flames. "Where should I say that I want to go? Do I say Gringotts, or something else?"
"Just say 'Diagon Alley'," snapped Snape. (Try saying that three times fast. Go on, I dare you.)
Nervously, Crescent stepped into the flames, and to her astonishment (and immense relief), they didn't burn her.
"Diagon Alley!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, there was a whooshing sound, and Crescent felt herself spinning faster and faster. A moment later, she hit the ground, and lay there for a few minutes, trying to get her wind back. Then she rolled onto her back, and coughed up a lungful of soot.
"I take it back," she muttered to no one in particular. "I prefer Kurt's BAMF'ing to traveling by Floo. Less hazardous to my health."
Suddenly, a strange face came into her line of vision, which, at the moment, was slightly blurry.
"Are you all right?" the person asked. Crescent blinked, and her vision finally cleared. Then she saw that the speaker was a teenage boy her age with jet-black hair and emerald-green eyes that peered down at her worriedly from behind a pair of thin-framed circular glasses.
"Yeah, I'll be fine, just as soon as I finish coughing up the soot in my lungs."
The boy looked sympathetic. "Traveled by Floo, huh?" He helped her to her feet. "I've traveled by Floo a few times in the past, and it's definitely *not* one of my favorite ways of traveling. I'm Harry, by the way. Harry Potter."
"Crescent Greyson." They shook hands, and for the first time, Crescent noticed that he had a scar on his forehead that was shaped like a lightning bolt. "Cool scar."
Harry's gaze turned slightly bitter.
"Thanks. I got it the night my mum and dad were murdered."
Crescent turned pale and stared at him in horror.
"Oh, my god. I am so sorry. I didn't realize---Shit, talk about a classic case of open mouth, shove in foot."
Harry smiled faintly.
" 'S all right. You didn't know."
"Found yourself a girlfriend, Potter?" drawled a voice nearby, and Crescent turned to see who the speaker was. A boy their age was standing there, sneering at them. He had white-blond hair and blue eyes.
"Shove off, Malfoy," Harry snapped.
"Make me, Potter," Malfoy retorted. Then he turned to Crescent and smiled. "I'm Draco Malfoy. I'd shake your hand, but I don't really want to touch a Mudblood without wearing a pair of gloves." With a smirk, he turned to walk away.
Crescent wasn't sure what a Mudblood was, but by the way that Harry was glaring hatefully at Malfoy's back, she knew it had to be a fairly potent insult. Her eyes narrowed. Payback time, wolfie style.
"Hey, Malfoy!" called Crescent.
Malfoy sighed, and turned back around to face her.
"What?"
"Congratulations. You've just made yourself one hell of an enemy." Her eyes turned yellow for an instant, and when Malfoy saw that, his eyes widened, and he fled down the street. Crescent started laughing, and walked back over to Harry, who was also laughing. "Well, that takes care of that shmuck."
Suddenly, there was a whooshing sound nearby, and then Wolf, Virginia, and Snape walked out of a building, coughing.
"Well, that was fun," said Virginia, looking slightly nauseous.
Wolf didn't say anything; he looked like he was about to be sick.
"Dad, don't you *dare* barf on my shoes," warned Crescent, moving away from him. "Mom, Dad, this is Harry Potter. Harry, these are my parents." Harry nodded slightly, but didn't even glanced at Wolf and Virginia. Instead, he glared hatefully at Snape, who was glaring back. Crescent blinked slightly. "Uh, I take it you two know each other?" she asked. They both nodded, still glaring at each other.
Crescent sighed, and then smacked them both in the back of the head. They both yelped, and stared at her in shock.
"What was that for?" demanded Snape.
"I thought you were going to take me and my parents to Gringotts," Crescent replied icily, crossing her arms over her chest.
Snape sighed.
"Yes, I did say that I would take you and your parents to Gringotts. We're going there right now." He began walking down the street, and Crescent and her parents followed him.
* * *
An hour later, Crescent and her parents had exchanged their money. Snape disappeared into a store that was selling Potions ingredients, leaving Crescent and her parents to get her school supplies.
"What's left?" asked Virginia after they had gotten Crescent's books, quills, rolls of parchment, robes, Potions kit, and dragon-hide gloves.
Crescent glanced at her list of school supplies.
"Uh, all I've got left to get is a wand," she replied. "And the list says that I can get a pet."
"What kind of pet?"
"Either a toad or a cat or an owl." Crescent glanced up at her mother. "Mom, can I get an owl?"
Wolf and Virginia glanced at each other.
"We'll see."
Crescent began glancing around all the stores. Finally, she spotted one that said "Ollivander's Wand Shop".
"There's a wand shop," she said, and went inside. Wolf and Virginia glanced at each other again, and Wolf walked away without saying a word.
Crescent glanced around the inside of the wand shop. It was dark, and reminded her of an old archive section in the royal library back in the 4th kingdom. It had the same musty smell.
"Welcome." Crescent nearly jumped out of her skin when an old man appeared out of the back of the store. His pale eyes bore into hers, and Crescent had to resist the urge to shrink into a tiny ball. "Ah, Crescent Greyson. I was told that you were going to arrive sometime today. Now, let's see. I think, perhaps, that I know just the wand for you. Birch, dragon heartstring, seven inches, inflexible." He handed it to her, and Crescent waved it around, feeling like an absolute idiot. But nothing happened, and Mr. Ollivander snatched it back. "Try this one. Holly and unicorn hair, twelve inches, whippy."
Again, nothing happened. Mr. Ollivander went to get another wand.
By about the fifth wand, Crescent began to feel rather disgusted with the wands.
"I'm beginning to wonder if there's some sort of conspiracy against me," muttered Crescent darkly, giving each of the boxes in the store the evil eye.
Mr. Ollivander chuckled.
"Ms. Greyson, we will find you a wand, even if it takes all night." He selected one of the boxes from the top shelf, and glanced at it. "This is a very unusual combination, but all the same, we cannot rule out any possibilites." He took the wand out of the box. "Here. Rosewood and wolf hair, nine and a half inches, flexible."
Crescent took it, and instantly felt the wolf in her react. Her eyes glowed yellow for a moment, and then they went back to normal.
"I think that I found my wand," she said, staring down at it.
"I think that you're quite right," agreed Mr. Ollivander, looking startled at what had happened to Crescent.
She paid for her wand, and went outside to meet her parents.
"Where's Dad?" Crescent asked her mother.
"Getting you a going-away present," replied Virginia. A moment later, Wolf came trotting up to them, holding something behind his back. He had a huge grin on his face.
"All right, what'd you get me?" Crescent asked suspiciously. Wolf pulled a cage out from behind his back, and Crescent gasped. The cage contained a beautiful eagle owl. "Oh, Dad, thank you so much! She's beautiful!" Crescent took the cage from Wolf, and grinned. "I'm going to call you Celeste. Do you like that name?" she said softly to the owl, who hooted happily. "Well, that settles it. You're Celeste."
* * *
Crescent glowered at her reflection in the hotel mirror. She was wearing a knee-length grey skirt, a white blouse, a black tie, and a grey sweater. She had pulled her hair into a ponytail with a black velvet hair scrunchy, and was wearing the necklace that Wendell had given her for her fourteenth birthday. On her feet, she had on grey knee-socks and black mary janes.
As soon as she was done glowering at her reflection, Crescent stomped into her parents' room.
"Mom, I look like a dork," she complained. Virginia glanced up at her.
"You look very mature," she replied. "Like a Catholic schoolgirl."
Crescent gave her a horrified look.
"But I don't wanna look like a Catholic schoolgirl!" She pouted at Virginia, who started laughing, much to her daughter's annoyance. She blew a raspberry at her mother, which only made her laugh harder. Fuming, Crescent stomped out of the room.
* * *
Crescent was silent as she and her parents drove to King's Cross. When they got there, they headed to platforms 9 and 10.
"I don't see platform 9 3/4, do you, Mom?" Crescent asked, looking around in confusion. Suddenly, she spotted Harry nearby, talking to a red-haired boy and a girl with bushy brown hair. "Oh, thank god. A familiar face. Hey, Harry!"
Harry Potter turned around and saw Crescent Greyson coming towards him. She was wearing a Hogwarts uniform, but didn't have any of the school colors on her tie.
"Hey, Crescent. These are my friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron, Hermione, this is Crescent Greyson."
"Hello," said Ron and Hermione at the same time.
"Pleased to meet you both." Then Crescent gave them a puppy-dog look. "Could you please tell me how to get to the train?"
"Just walk through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10," said Ron. Crescent lifted an eyebrow slightly.
"Thanks." Crescent walked back over to her parents. "Well, I found out how we get to the train. We walk through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10." She shrugged. "It can't be any different than walking through the traveling mirror."
Crescent grabbed her stuff and ran at the barrier. There was no resistance, none at all. An instant later, Crescent found herself in a completely different train station. A sign overhead said "Hogwarts Express, Platform 9 3/4".
A few seconds later, Wolf and Virginia came through the barrier as well.
"Well, that was different," said Virginia.
"Come on, Crescent," said Wolf. "Let's get your stuff on the train."
Together, the three of them dragged Crescent's trunk into the baggage compartment. She held onto her wand, just to be on the safe side.
"Bye, Mom," Crescent said, hugging her parents. "Bye, Dad."
Then she went to find a compartment on the train. Crescent walked up to one of the compartments, and knocked on the door.
"Come in," called Harry. Crescent opened the door, and stuck her head inside.
"Is it okay if I sit in here with you guys?" she asked. "I don't know anyone else on the train except for Draco Malfoy, and I'd sooner slit my wrists than seek him out and ask if I can sit with him."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all laughed.
"Sure," said Harry. Crescent came into the compartment and sat down next to Hermione.
"Where are you from, Crescent?" Ron asked curiously.
"Bayville, New York. I used to live in New York City, but a year ago, my mom got transferred to Bayville. Then this summer, I received a letter that said I'd been accepted as a transfer student to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. At first I thought that my friend Kurt was playing a prank on me, because I'm not a witch. Not yet, anyway. I've never attended a school of magic before."
Ron, Harry, and Hermione's eyes all grew huge.
"Then how can you be a transfer student at Hogwarts?" asked Hermione, confused. Crescent shrugged.
"Good question, and I'm certain that it'll be answered in time," she replied. She let out a sigh. "Of all the weird things that have happened in my life, this is definitely one of the weirdest."
"What kind of weird things have happened to you?" asked Harry, sounding curious. Crescent hesitated.
"Uh, just weird stuff, that's all." She took her wand out. "My wand, for example."
"What kind is it?" asked Ron.
"Rosewood and wolf hair. Mr. Ollivander said that it was a very unusual combination."
"Yeah, it is," said Ron, staring at the wand in shock. "Wolf hair is almost never used in wand-making. Too risky."
"Not for me," replied Crescent. "It was the only one that would work for me. I guess it's because I'm part wolf." Harry, Ron, and Hermione all gasped. Too late, Crescent realized what she had just revealed.
"Blimey," said Ron, staring at her. "You're a werewolf?"
"No, I'm not a werewolf," replied Crescent. "I said that I was part wolf, not a werewolf."
"What's the difference?" asked Harry.
"Well, werewolves have to be bitten by another werewolf first before they can become a werewolf. My dad's half-human, half-wolf because his father was a wolf and his mother was a human. But I'm only one-fourth wolf because my mom's human. I was born that way."
Then Crescent quickly changed the subject by asking them Hogwarts was like. They chatted until the train arrived at the school.
to be continued...
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A/N: *smirks* I told you chapter 2 would be longer. As always, please R&R, but no flames. Anyone who flames me will be pelted with dungbombs, and then get their sorry arses kicked to Middle Earth.