Chapter 1 - The Hogwarts Express
"Bye mom, I'll see you next year."
"Bye hun. Have a fun year at school."
Tamara White tucked her long brown hair behind her ears and climbed up onto the train. As the Hogwarts express rolled down the track Tamara continued to search for a seat, her aqua eyes wandering from compartment to compartment.
"Is it really that hard to find a bloody seat in this place?" she found herself whispering rather harshly.
She came to the last cart and stopped. As she took a deep breath she mumbled, 'please, please, please.' She slowly opened the door and asked, "is there a seat available?" There seemed like there was none but a girl, her age, with thick brown hair moved her stuff off the seat beside her and said,
"Yeah sure, room for one more."
Tamara smiled. "Thanks."
She made her way through the little cubicle and sat in between the girl and the window. She looked head on to the two boys that looked her age as well, who sat across from her. One was a freckled red head and the other, hair black as night with circular-framed glasses.
"I'm Ginny Weasley," said a girl who looked almost like the red headed boy though being a girl and all.
They must be related, thought Tamara.
Ginny seemed a bit younger then the boy and she was sitting on the other side of the brunette.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Tamara White."
"This is Hermione Granger," she pointed to the girl they both sat beside.
"I think Hermione can speak for herself, Ginny," spoke her brother.
"It's quite alright Ron," Hermione shot back.
"Yeah any ways, I'm Ron, Ginny's my sister."
Ginny just shrugged.
"And I'm Harry," the other boy said and stuck out his hand and shook Tamara's.
As he swept his hair out of his face, Tamara caught a glimpse of a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt across his forehead. Immediately she felt a jolt of excitement run through her. She heard of him and knew he went to this school but who knew she would have met him, especially so quickly.
"You're Harry Potter aren't you?" Tamara tried to sound relaxed and cool but it didn't come out that way. She started out in a very high pitched voice but, as soon as she realized how stupid she must sound, she lowered her voice and sounded even worse. Kind of like a teletubbie going through puberty.
She raised her eyes uncertainly as everyone else looked at her like she was an alien.
"Yeah, I am," Harry admitted.
"That's so cool!"
Harry shrugged. "You're not from around here are you?"
"No I'm not. I came from Canada actually."
"Really!? What made you come all the way to England?" Hermione asked.
"My father. His work demanded it. We had no choice."
"Oh. From what part of Canada are you from?" Ginny pondered.
"I'm from Toronto. I used to go to a school there called Toronto's School for Canadian Witches and Wizards."
Hermione's eyes lit up.
"I read about that school..."
"Oh no here we go again," Ron exaggerated.
"... They don't have quidditch do they? They have something along the lines though."
"Yeah, it's called broom hockey. It's a mix of quidditch and hockey. You guys have heard of hockey right?"
Ron and Ginny both exchanged curious glances.
"I have and Hermione probably has as well. We live with muggles so..." Harry jumped in.
"Well in this game we use half field hockey sticks, half broom sticks. How we play is there's field where we race a ball with our 'hockey' stick and try get it in the rivals net, just like field hockey. The goals on the ground are worth five points each." She looked around at all the intent faces looking upon her. "Here's the catch. Just like quidditch there is a high looped goal post on each side of the field. While a game is being played on the ground a game is being played in the air that is almost exactly like quidditch, with the same positions and everything except for only having one goal post. If you score there it's worth ten points.
"Wow, that sounds so cool," exclaimed Ron. "But, uh, what's hockey and uh, what's a hockey stick?"
Tamara smiled to herself and explained to him what they were. He seemed even more excited now.
"We just kind of switch positions throughout the game, field players switch positions with broomstick flyers. I used to play back home. I loved it."
"Sounds like a lot of fun. You know, have you ever thought about joining the quidditch team?" Harry enthused.
"No not really, I was more worried about the kind of people I would meet. So far not bad at all."
Harry gave a half smile.
For the rest of the train ride to Hogwarts they continued to talk and to compare schools. Tamara seemed to get along really well with everyone and they all soon became friends. It was much darker out when the train began to slow down. Everyone seemed really happy to be back but Tamara was as nervous as ever. This was a completely new school to her and she was scarred because she heard that she had to be put into a house. What if she was put into a house she didn't want to be in? She heard that there was as house where most wizards went to it, turned out bad, for Voldemort had been in that house. What if she was placed in that house? What would happen to her if she were put into Slytherin?
"Bye mom, I'll see you next year."
"Bye hun. Have a fun year at school."
Tamara White tucked her long brown hair behind her ears and climbed up onto the train. As the Hogwarts express rolled down the track Tamara continued to search for a seat, her aqua eyes wandering from compartment to compartment.
"Is it really that hard to find a bloody seat in this place?" she found herself whispering rather harshly.
She came to the last cart and stopped. As she took a deep breath she mumbled, 'please, please, please.' She slowly opened the door and asked, "is there a seat available?" There seemed like there was none but a girl, her age, with thick brown hair moved her stuff off the seat beside her and said,
"Yeah sure, room for one more."
Tamara smiled. "Thanks."
She made her way through the little cubicle and sat in between the girl and the window. She looked head on to the two boys that looked her age as well, who sat across from her. One was a freckled red head and the other, hair black as night with circular-framed glasses.
"I'm Ginny Weasley," said a girl who looked almost like the red headed boy though being a girl and all.
They must be related, thought Tamara.
Ginny seemed a bit younger then the boy and she was sitting on the other side of the brunette.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Tamara White."
"This is Hermione Granger," she pointed to the girl they both sat beside.
"I think Hermione can speak for herself, Ginny," spoke her brother.
"It's quite alright Ron," Hermione shot back.
"Yeah any ways, I'm Ron, Ginny's my sister."
Ginny just shrugged.
"And I'm Harry," the other boy said and stuck out his hand and shook Tamara's.
As he swept his hair out of his face, Tamara caught a glimpse of a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt across his forehead. Immediately she felt a jolt of excitement run through her. She heard of him and knew he went to this school but who knew she would have met him, especially so quickly.
"You're Harry Potter aren't you?" Tamara tried to sound relaxed and cool but it didn't come out that way. She started out in a very high pitched voice but, as soon as she realized how stupid she must sound, she lowered her voice and sounded even worse. Kind of like a teletubbie going through puberty.
She raised her eyes uncertainly as everyone else looked at her like she was an alien.
"Yeah, I am," Harry admitted.
"That's so cool!"
Harry shrugged. "You're not from around here are you?"
"No I'm not. I came from Canada actually."
"Really!? What made you come all the way to England?" Hermione asked.
"My father. His work demanded it. We had no choice."
"Oh. From what part of Canada are you from?" Ginny pondered.
"I'm from Toronto. I used to go to a school there called Toronto's School for Canadian Witches and Wizards."
Hermione's eyes lit up.
"I read about that school..."
"Oh no here we go again," Ron exaggerated.
"... They don't have quidditch do they? They have something along the lines though."
"Yeah, it's called broom hockey. It's a mix of quidditch and hockey. You guys have heard of hockey right?"
Ron and Ginny both exchanged curious glances.
"I have and Hermione probably has as well. We live with muggles so..." Harry jumped in.
"Well in this game we use half field hockey sticks, half broom sticks. How we play is there's field where we race a ball with our 'hockey' stick and try get it in the rivals net, just like field hockey. The goals on the ground are worth five points each." She looked around at all the intent faces looking upon her. "Here's the catch. Just like quidditch there is a high looped goal post on each side of the field. While a game is being played on the ground a game is being played in the air that is almost exactly like quidditch, with the same positions and everything except for only having one goal post. If you score there it's worth ten points.
"Wow, that sounds so cool," exclaimed Ron. "But, uh, what's hockey and uh, what's a hockey stick?"
Tamara smiled to herself and explained to him what they were. He seemed even more excited now.
"We just kind of switch positions throughout the game, field players switch positions with broomstick flyers. I used to play back home. I loved it."
"Sounds like a lot of fun. You know, have you ever thought about joining the quidditch team?" Harry enthused.
"No not really, I was more worried about the kind of people I would meet. So far not bad at all."
Harry gave a half smile.
For the rest of the train ride to Hogwarts they continued to talk and to compare schools. Tamara seemed to get along really well with everyone and they all soon became friends. It was much darker out when the train began to slow down. Everyone seemed really happy to be back but Tamara was as nervous as ever. This was a completely new school to her and she was scarred because she heard that she had to be put into a house. What if she was put into a house she didn't want to be in? She heard that there was as house where most wizards went to it, turned out bad, for Voldemort had been in that house. What if she was placed in that house? What would happen to her if she were put into Slytherin?