bcenterThrough the Eyes of an Innocent Bystandercenterb

bAuthorb: Legowen

bRating:b PG

bCategory:b Drama/Humor/Romance/Sarcasm

bDisclaimer:b Everything (almost) belongs to JK Rowling.

bSummary:b You've seen the Mary-Sues, the Gary-Stus, the Out-of- Characters, the Love Triangles, Now see what the average Hogwarts student thinks of all this. (takes place during third year.)

The train. Giant clouds of smoke billowed from the engine, and the red beast roared in impatience as the last people boarded it, seconds before it would leave. When everyone was either on board or waving, the great wheels slowly turned, grinding against the iron track. Gradually, it picked up speed, and the train departed from Platform 9 and ¾, slowly becoming smaller and smaller to those waving goodbye to the passengers.

Rily was one of the last people on board, her bags haphazardly thrown in the storage compartments as she was rushed on board, holding nothing but her small bag of robes and other small things she may need on the train ride, and her little gray cat, Slinky. He mewled at her from his place on the floor (he refused to be carried), staring up at her with overlarge orange eyes, making him look rather odd and not at all cute and cat-like. "C'mon Slink," Rily called to him in a chirruping voice, "let's go find Mae."

She then proceeded to walk down the row of compartments, occasionally glancing inside to see if she could find her friend and fellow Ravenclaw, Mae. Usually the going was easy, until she came to a compartment about halfway down that was fairly overflowing with people, the majority of them tall beautiful girls with strange hair and eyes, looking as if they had had some contact with radiation as children. Many of them jumped nervously when someone else touched them, immediately dissolving into tears, a few threatened to beat the rest up, and most generally looked as if they had had a horrible past, but had decided to put on a brave face and manage on their own.

Rily drew closer to the door of the compartment, close enough to catch a few words from the girl (this one with swirling silver-green eyes and hair that looked as if it had gotten into a bad tie-dying accident) closest to the door.

"I hope you don't mind my sitting here," she told the occupants, "but all the other compartments are full." "Not at all," came the reply from the people within. Rily identified three of them; Harry, Hermione, and Ron; but there were about forty she did not recognize, most of them sounded female, and bell- or nightingale-like.

"Thank you," The girl said, "I'm MoonRose Riddle, a new student from America." She managed to look rather endearing as she said this, tossing her hair lightly over her shoulder, which hit the girl behind her in the face. The girl who had been hit then screamed, and fainted, and a small wave of very powerful, but uncontrolled, magic was released as she hit the floor.

This then set half of the line into hysterics, many crying and babbling incoherently as they pushed themselves against a wall.

Rily rolled her eyes.

"Americans," she sighed to Slinky, who blinked agreeably, "They get worse every year."

With that she pushed past the last of the girls, and was once again in open space. The halls were relatively clear now, except for a few wanderers, and a tall platinum-haired boy with a thin face and his two friends.

The blonde was leaning nonchalantly against a wall, looking at his watch. He saluted Rily as she walked past.

"Greetings, Naghn," he said as she passed, "Malfoy," she acknowledged, "how goes it?" Draco smiled his cruel-but-heart-rending smile.

"Just about time to saunter past Potter's group again in an attempt to be nasty and be cursed at by the New Girls, actually." Rily snorted.

"Best of luck," to which he nodded, and, true to his word, walked off in the direction of the swarm of beautiful girls, followed closely by the two rather large boys that stood near him.

Slinky still trotting at her heels, Rily pressed on, still casting an occasional look into the (mostly empty) compartments. At last she came to one that was occupied by a stocky blonde girl with cheery blue eyes.

"Rily!" Mae exclaimed at the sight of her friend, "It took you long enough! You have trouble getting past the New Girls, too?" Rily nodded, plopping down into an adjacent seat. "They get worse every year," she agreed, pushing rather tangled brown-black hair behind her ear. Mae sighed heavily.

"I feel sort of sorry for Harry, he never really asked for this, did he?" Rily slowly shook her head, but waited until Slinky had settled on her lap before answering.

"I guess not, and you're right, falling madly and completely in love with forty different girls, your best friend, and your other best friend, your worst enemy, your teachers, your best friend's sister, brothers, and your long-lost cousins all at the same time has to be a bit hard."

Mae smiled. "At least we're never mentioned in the books," she giggled, "or he may have fallen in love with us as well!" Rily snickered at this.

"Well," her eyes glinted with laughter, "You are certainly right about that. I mean, falling in love with Pansy? And He-Who-Is-Named-By-Only- Idiots? If you fall for them, I guess no one is out of the question." Mae's eyes widened in shock.

"He fell in love with i He-Who-Is-Surprisingly-Weak-For-a-Dark- Lord?i"

Rily nodded solemnly. "More than once."

At this the two girls dissolved into giggles.