A blast of cold air greeted us. It weaved between the students and found me, sending chills up and down my spine. Fleur conjured a muffler and warm jacket that wrapped around my uniform that was designed for the warm weather of the south of France. Madame Maxine adjusted her bravura costume de jour, and with her head held high, stepped out of the carriage. She elegantly walked foreword, and Fleur, my hand in hers, lead me out of the coach behind her. We gathered behind Madame Maxine, who was talking to a tall, old man who had a wise aura about him. Madame paused from her fawning over the old man and nonchalantly gestured her hand behind her and said, "My pupils." We saw a few hundred heads turn towards us. The Hogwarts students began pointing and chattering softly. Fleur, her friends, and I huddled together to stay warm. I looked up at the Hogwarts castle, which was a gorgeous castle that looked like it came straight out of the fourteenth century, and saw it was covered in snow. I groaned: I hated cold.
Madame began to lead us inside the castle and I gratefully followed. The castle was just as beautiful inside as outside. We found ourselves in a great room covered in the Hogwarts crest, paintings, and banners. A bit later, the old man Madame had been talking to lead us into another great hall, this one a dining one. Four long tables began to fill with Hogwarts students. As I wondered where I would sit, I squinted, and my eyes fell upon a familiar face. I grinned and ran over to her. She noticed me, and stood up from the table to run over to me.
"Hermione!" I exclaimed and wrapped my arms around her. "Rachelle!" she squealed back. I stepped back to look at how she had grown. She looked almost exactly the same- warm brown eyes, cheerful smile, and slightly less bushy brown hair since I had last seen her. It had been a year since I had met her on her vacation to France. I identified with her determination and loved hearing of her adventures with her two close friends. We kept in constant contact since I met her, but I had conveniently forgotten to mention that I was coming.
"Rachelle! Why didn't you tell me you were coming?" Hermione said sternly, but still looked happy to see me as she lead me over to where she was sitting. I explained that I wanted to surprise her, and we sat down. A boy with bright red hair and a lot of freckles to match looked up at me and a dumb expression came over his face. "Rachelle, this is Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. Ron, Harry, this is Rachelle Delacour," she introduced me to her two best friends. I had heard quite a lot about them, but still I looked up above Harry's eyes as I greeted him to see that famous lightening-shaped scar. Everyone knew about him: how his parents were killed by one of the most terrible wizards, Lord Voldemort, and he survived, barely a year old, the same curse that killed his parents. He had jet black hair and brilliant green eyes, just like I had heard, but one fact that I hadn't learned was how good looking he was. He had a bright smile, strong jaw, and nice build. Hermione's other friend, Ron, wasn't terribly bad looking, either. I smiled to myself and thought, "I think I'm going to like it here."
"How do you know each other?" Ron asked Hermione, that same dumb look across his face. She explained how we had met and I noticed that my sister and her friends had found a table to sit at, and of course, all the boys were gaping at her. I helped myself to the food that had appeared in front of us. I simply adored British cuisine. "Quite an appetite you have there," said a voice from beside me. I removed my jacket and muffler, and grinned. I turned to my right to see a boy who resembled Ron but looked a few years older with the same dumb expression upon his face. Once again, I feel silly now thinking back. Despite how many boys gaped at me, I refused to notice. I liked pitying myself in not inheriting the same genes as Fleur, thank you very much. I looked across from the boy who was staring at you to see a carbon-copy of him. "Rachelle, this is Fred and George, my brothers." Ron told me what I didn't need to hear. "Delighted to make your acquaintance" the twin next to me said, seized my hand, and kissed it. "No, the pleasure's all mine," the twin across from him snatched my hand, and kissed it as well.
"Oh, really boys. Try not to drool" Hermione snapped. I took back my hand and smiled. Dinner was heavenly, and I noticed that Hogwarts was brimming with attractive guys. "All the more for Fleur to have," I thought, glumly. After a filling meal and enjoyable conversation with Hermione and her friends, I got up from the table and began to follow Hermione out of the room. The twins jumped in front of me to block me from walking any further. "Rachelle, how lovely it is to see you again. We have some friends we'd like you to meet," they announced, taking turns in finishing each other's sentences. They parted to show a group of teenagers, around my age or older. "This is Lee Jordan," they gestured to a boy with dreads who winked at me, "Oliver Wood," they showed a tall, gorgeous, burly boy with rich brown eyes who smiled nervously, "Alicia Spinet," a girl with a cheerful face and long brown hair waved, "Angelina Johnson," a tall girl with braids smiled quickly, "and Katie Bell," a pretty girl with blonde hair grinned. "They're all in Gryffindor, so they'll be seeing you around," one of the twins informed me. "I should hope so" the boy with the dreadlocks nudged the boy named Oliver. I smiled, and resumed talking to Hermione. Oh yes, this was going to be a great year.
The next morning, I awoke quite a bit earlier than usual. I stretched and made my way over to one of the three showers all twenty-five teenage girls shared. I laughed to myself in my good fortune that I had awoken so early. However, I didn't think it was luck. I was excited for my first day of classes with the Hogwarts students. I turned on the water as hot as possible and melt away the tension that came with the excitement of my first day. Twenty minutes later, I grabbed for my towel and realized that I had forgotten to get one. I pulled on my bathrobe, and sopping wet, walked out of the girls dormitory to the linen closed between the girls and boys dormitories.
"I see you forgot a towel" a deep voice from behind me purred. I whipped around to see Fleur's boyfriend, Guillain, reaching for a towel behind me. He was so close, and his arm lowered to on my back, as his other hand pulled the back of my face towards his. His lips roughly met mine, and closing my eyes, I dissolved into him. As if I slapped myself in the face, my eyes shot open, and I pushed him away. "Guillain! How could you?" I grabbed my towel and ran into the girls dormitory. I wiped my mouth, disgusted. I hated myself. How could I? I was terrible when it came to boys. I wasn't easy, but I often found myself giving into what boys wanted. I dressed, and ran over to the sink to brush my teeth, rather more vigorously than I would have normally.
"In a bit of a rush?" Fleur said, laughing at my vitality. I nodded quickly, avoiding eye contact. I couldn't look at her; I had just betrayed her. I spit out the last remnants of Guillain, hoping my guilt would go along with it.
My first lessons had gone swimmingly well, despite the upset feeling I had in my stomach from the morning's events. Because of my academic level, I was placed in sixth year classes. My professors were pleasant (with the exception of the Potions Master), and my classes all had Fred, George, Alicia, and Katie. The twins were quite the double act, but I knew I would have enjoyed it so much more if I hadn't kept thinking of Guillain. Guillain was a great guy, and I would have loved to kiss him if he wasn't dating my sister. However, now that he had betrayed her, I thought he was lower than low. I tried to keep myself as busy as possible to keep my thoughts from him, but the feeling of his lips kept coming back to mine. Katie noticed this, and asked me what was wrong. I was never good at keeping anything, and I needed to tell someone so badly. I spilled. "I kissed my sister's boyfriend. Well, it was more like he kissed me. But I feel sick from it." Katie looked taken aback from my sudden sharing, but she was sympathetic nonetheless. "What a codger! Have you told your sister?" "Err.. well, no. I couldn't." I hesitated. Katie urged me to tell, but I knew I couldn't. Besides, she would move on to another guy soon enough. I felt loads better after telling Katie. Since I had broken the ice, she and Alicia were wonderful towards me. I was telling them about Beauxbatons while walking to lunch, and ran into the boy named Oliver I had met the previous night. Literally ran into him. I apologized, and Katie said, "Oh Oliver! Get your mind off quidditch and look where you're going!" Oliver replied, "For that comment, we'll have an extra hard practice tonight," in a thick, Scottish accent. Alicia and Katie groaned. "You guys play quidditch?" I asked. They nodded, and Alicia pointed to Oliver and said, "He's our captain. A little too obsessed if you ask me." "And how much harder do you want practice to be?" he teased. I laughed. "I played quidditch at Beauxbatons. I was the captain, too," I smiled at Oliver. He looked me in the eyes, and I felt my chest tighten. His rich, brown eyes met mine and I felt as if he was looking past my eyes. I blinked, and saw Alicia and Katie looking smug at me. He apologized softly again, and took off in the opposite direction of us. We continued walking, and they still wore that look. "What?" I asked them. They exchanged glances. "Oh, nothing."