Chapter 6: Answered Questions
"So would anyone care to fill me in on what happened out there?" Storm asked casually as she took a seat next to Harry.
"It was nothing really. Malfoy was just trying to stir Harry up and succeeded." Hermione was the one to answer Storm.
"Oh well, just next time think before you attack. So, Draco Malfoy? Is that Lucius Malfoy's son?" Storm asked.
"You know Lucius Malfoy?" All three of them asked in unison.
"Well doesn't everybody? He doesn't exactly try to go unnoticed, does he?"
"It's just surprising considering you're not from around here," Ron said.
"I never said I wasn't from around here."
"Well we just thought that you were from somewhere else since this is your first year at Hogwarts," Hermione explained. "Where are you from then? Where have you went to school.?" Hermione asked.
"I was wondering when you were going to ask those questions. But Hermione, aren't you going to ask the more obvious questions? The ones that you have been dying to ask," Storm said casually.
"What's your last name? How come you had no one with you at the platform? How come you never talk about your family or your past for that matter. Where did you learn such powerful magic? Why Hogwarts and why now? Why all the secrets?" Hermione asked in one quick breath.
"Whoa, okay first off, last names are not important. A person should not be defined my their family but by their actions. Next, I don't really have a family. My dad was taken away when I was about one and my mom died shortly after. I've been on my own since I was five. Most of the magic I know I learned from rogue wizards on the streets. I went to Pringxston for a little while, but I learned more on the streets so I left. No one ever cared enough to come find me or offer me a place to stay, no one that is until Dumbledore. He told me that I could come to Hogwarts and be safe. The streets aren't safe anymore. As for secrets, well you'll have to be a little more specific."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all sat in silence while Storm told all this. Each trying to digest all the facts. Each imagining how hard life must have been.
"Don't feel sorry for me. I don't need your pity. I'm here, I'm healthy, and I'm strong," Storm said. "I've lived among many different creatures. All considered dangerous but actually not. One of my caretakers was a werewolf. He is one of the nicest people you could ever meet. Yet people still treated him bad because of what he is. Lucius Malfoy was and still is particularly nasty to him. Yet Draco is not his father."
Harry and Ron both scoffed at this notion, but Hermione considered this idea. Was it not true that they automatically considered Malfoy a Death Eater just because of who his father was. Hermione looked at Storm to see if she was going to say anything else, but found her gazing out the window. Harry and Ron were also staring at her, but she seemed more interested in the storm raging outside.
The compartment door slid open then and all eyes except Storm's turned to see the visitors. Ginny and Neville walked in laughing but stopped when they saw everyone's faces.
"You guys look really happy," Ginny joked cheerfully. She then walked over to Strom and extended her hand. "Hi, I'm Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister. Your Storm right? You're pretty, no wonder my brother has a crush on you."
"Ginny!" Ron shouted at his sister with a very red face.
"What, you do, and don't give me that 'I am going to get you later' look." Everyone by this point was rolling with laughter.
"We better get dressed," Hermione said trying to delay the fight boiling between the brother and sister.
"Yes, lets," Strom and Harry happily agreed.
Author's Note: I'm sorry for any mistakes. My kitten decided she was going to help me type and I fixed as much as I could.