A/n: Well, I'm glad that there are still some people reading this! Thanks Sara and JediMaster16 for sticking with this story I really appreciate it! Well here's the next one.
Lindsey walked into the crowded train station all by herself at ten o'clock. Uncle Severus had to go to the school a few days early so somebody who worked at the ministry this morning had picked her up. He was a short, wiry thirty something man who seemed to have had way too much coffee that morning. However, he claimed he had urgent business to tend to at the office and could not take Lindsey to the train itself. She wheeled her trolley around in search of platforms nine and ten. People jostled her as they made their way from one train to the next. No one seemed to notice how lost she looked, or else they didn't seem to care. Typical, Lindsey thought, everyone's too preoccupied with their own life to care about anyone else in the world. Lindsey finally figured out which direction she need to go in and pushed her trolley along with difficulty. Athena had already gone ahead with Uncle Severus because Lindsey didn't feel comfortable carrying an owl around King's Cross Station.
"Nine and ten." Lindsey muttered to herself as she looked up at the sign on the barrier between the two platforms. She looked around as if looking for a sign. The man from the ministry had explained to her how to get on the platform but she was skeptical. I mean really, it's just common sense. You cannot walk through solid brick. But then again, this was the magical world now, she shouldn't be surprised. She looked to her left and then to her right to make sure no one was watching her. She was clear, so she casually started walking toward the solid brick. As the wall got closer, she clamped her eyes shut and waited for the crushing impact. It didn't come so she opened her eyes and found that she was on another platform. In front of her, a beautiful scarlet train emitted clouds of smoke.
Lindsey pushed her trolley along the eerily empty platform. She was only here that early because this had been the time the ministry had told her they could pick her up at. She loaded her trunk onto the train near the back and sat herself down in the very last compartment of the train. Nobody'll bother me here, she figured. Then she found the closest bathroom because she had gotten up late that morning. She muttered a few words and suddenly her appearance was much better. Her black hair was curled, her face was smooth looking and makeup had been applied. She smiled at herself in the mirror and could help noticing how forced it looked. She looked down at the pink watch on her wrist. She had about forty-five minutes before the train would leave yet she could hear the sounds of the early bird families starting to arrive.
Lindsey drowned herself in music while waiting for the train to leave. She used something that Maria had invented. It looked much like a muggle personal cd player yet it did not run on electricity and it did not require cds. It ran on magic and all you needed to do was say the song title and the artist, or sometimes just one of those. You could also say some of the lyrics and it would help you find the song. Lindsey had her own play list so she didn't have to say the name of the song so many times. Lindsey was so lost in the music that she didn't notice the boy come in. She was listening to October Nights by Yellowcard wishing for someone to offer her heart to. She was pulled away from her wishes when the boy cleared his throat. She pressed the pause button and removed the headphones.
"Would it be all right if I sat here?" the boy asked. "All the other compartments are empty."
"Of course, go right ahead." Lindsey said. She recognized the boy immediately before he said another word. It was the famous Harry Potter of course. Not a second after Harry sat down did the train start moving. Lindsey was just about to pull her headphones back on when Harry offered some polite conversation.
"Are you new?" He asked. He suddenly shuddered at how rude he sounded. "I just mean that I don't think I've seen you around Hogwarts before and you have a strange accent."
Lindsey laughed. "Yeah I'm new. And my accent is not strange, yours is." Harry laughed quietly. "I'm Lindsey." She felt she'd add and offered a hand to shake. Harry accepted.
"Harry." He replied. Lindsey knew of course but didn't say anything because she knew that would make things awkward.
"Nice to meet you." Harry opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a very angry female voice from the doorway.
"I just can't believe Dumbledore let that slimy git remain prefect." A girl with bushy brown hair ranted as she entered the compartment and sat down next to Harry. Behind her, a rather annoyed looking red haired boy and red haired girl entered and took a seat next to Lindsey. She recoiled slightly and placed her headphones over her ears. She turned her attention out the window to the now green landscape rolling by. Lindsey drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.
She sat like this listening to her music the rest of the train ride. Occasionally she'd glance back at the compartment to see what the others were doing. Most of the time they were speaking in hushed voices. Once, the brunette noticed her watching and motioned to the others to be quiet until Lindsey looked away again. Lindsey grew tired from the motion of the train and the soothing music that was now coming through her music player. She rested her head against the cool window and closed her eyes, letting herself drift into dreamland.
"Who do you think she is?" Hermione asked in a hushed voice once she noticed the girl fall asleep.
"Her name's Lindsey and she's new." Harry replied happily sharing the information he'd learned in they're brief conversation.
"Isn't she that girl who was in the kitchen screaming that one night." Ron asked looking at her. "And then she was at Diagon Ally with Malfoy."
"I wonder why she's here." Hermione thought out loud. Ron and Harry just shrugged. "Well she's strange." Hermione added thinking back to the two events that Ron just pointed out.
"I don't know," Harry interrupted, "She seemed nice enough."
Just as Sarah Mclachlen's song When She Loved Me was coming to an end, Lindsey felt someone tapping her. She jolted awake and pulled her headphones off.
"We're almost to the school." The bushy haired girl told her. Lindsey noted that everyone else had changed into their robes. "You should change into your school robes."
"Thank you." Lindsey said softly. She disappeared and reappeared minutes later wearing the usual gray skirt and socks, white shirt, gray sweater with the black robe over it. The train eventually rolled to a stop and Lindsey traveled onto the dark, crowded platform alone. She saw a large man holding a lantern.
"First years!" He was yelling. "First years this way." Lindsey walked up to this wild looking man.
"E-excuse me sir." She said timidly. He smiled down at her.
"First year?" He asked kindly.
"Well-well no. I'm new here, I just transferred and..." She stammered.
"Oh, you must be the Hathaway girl." He said. "Yes, you'll be coming with me and the first years." Lindsey nodded and stepped into the crowd of young kids. Some of them looked just as nervous as Lindsey, others looked overly excited and there were a few who simply looked bored. As soon as the large man was satisfied that he had all the first years, they made their way to a lake where there were little rowboats.
"Four to a boat now." The large man called, while he took up an entire boat to himself. Lindsey got in a boat with a girl with brown curly pigtails, another girl with straight blonde hair, and a girl with curly brown hair. The boats took them along the river to a gigantic castle with numerous glowing windows. The crossed the spacious lawn and into the castle where a stern looking witch, named Professor McGonagall, took them to a room to wait to be sorted. Then they were taken into a large hall filled with students, all sitting at one of four tables. As Lindsey walked in with the rest of the first years, she spotted Harry and the others who had been in her compartment. She then saw her uncle sitting at a table ahead. Must be the teacher's table, Lindsey inferred. She gave him a smile but all she got in return was an icy stare. At the front of this large hall stood an old hat sitting on a stool. Dumbledore stood up at the table behind the stool when all the first years were lined up and the hat had sung a song..
"Students, this year at Hogwarts we have a transfer student. She will be joining the rest of the six years in their classes. So would Lindsey Hathaway please take a seat to be sorted."
Lindsey stepped forward wishing nobody was looking at her. She gently sat on the stool and placed the hat on her head. The hat slipped over her eyes and she was thrown into darkness. The hat made thinking noises in her ear for a few painful moments before it announced "GRYFFINDOR!" to the entire hall. Lindsey removed the hat and placed it on the stool. She then made her way to the table where Harry and company sat, although she sat herself on the end, by herself. She looked up to where her uncle was sitting and he looked positively furious. Lindsey shrugged it off. Soon, every last first year was sorted, the food had appeared, been eaten and disappeared just as quickly, and Dumbledore had made a small speech. Lindsey followed the brown haired girl and the red haired boy from the train to the Gryffindor dormitories where she learned the password was 'bat wing' and she must give the password to a lady in a picture. She finally went up to the girl's dormitory and collapsed on the last empty bed, right next to the bushy haired girl. She didn't even attempt conversation and drifted into dreamland, not wanting to wake up for classes the next day.
A/n: please review!