Disclaimer: I am not J. K. Rowling, these are not my characters (Except for Alaynia... And other new faces that you might meet), I don't own anything (even this disclaimer, lol!), and I will not get money for this. Darn it!
A/N: Yay! First story out! I'd like to thank everybody in New Zealand who wasn't thanked at last year's Oscars (Go Lord of the Rings! Woo hoo!), my Beta and twin sister, Bridget, and Carissa, who put on a story before me, even though I started writing first. Thanks for making me stop procrastinating! I'll also thank you, the readers, for at least attempting to read this.
My Life in Hogwarts
Chapter 1
Alaynia looked out the window of the Hogwart's Express. The scenery flashed by and suddenly she wished that she was back in the United States. She was an exchange student from the American Academy for Magical Studies, or AAMS, for short. Alaynia had really looked forward to this trip, but this was her first time out of the country and she was very lonely. There was nobody else in her train compartment. Suddenly the door flew open.
"Hi! Is anybody else sitting there?" A girl with long red hair was standing in the doorway. There were three people behind her. There was a short boy with mousy brown hair, a girl with long brown hair and a dreamy look on her face, and an older boy with brown hair and a toad. They all looked friendly, so Alaynia invited them to sit down.
"I'm Ginny Weasley. This is Colin Creevy, Luna Lovegood, and Neville Longbottom. Who are you?" Ginny had a huge smile on her face.
"Me, oh, I'm Alaynia. I'm an exchange student from the states." They all looked interested except for Luna, who had a magazine out and was currently reading it upside-down.
"That's cool. Do you have any idea about which house that you'll be in? We're all in Gryffindor except for Luna. She's a Ravenclaw." Colin beamed as he said this, and Alaynia could tell that he was proud of his house.
Alaynia looked confused for a moment. "What's a house?" she asked.
Neville looked stunned. "You've never heard of a house? It's what we live in inside Hogwarts! Didn't anyone tell you?"
Alaynia shook her head.
Neville started to speak again, but Colin cut him off. "There are four houses in Hogwarts. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Gryffindor is the best house. Everyone sticks together. Ravenclaw is pretty good too. Everyone there is really smart. Everyone says that Hufflepuff is just a bunch of duffers, but they're really nice and a lot of them are smart too. And then there's Slytherin. All of the wizards that have come out of that house have been bad. A lot of them join the dark lord, You-know-who."
"Even in the states there are a lot of news reports about him. He sounds really bad. And who's this Harry Potter that everyone keeps talking about?"
Ginny, Colin, and Neville stared incredulously. Ginny finally spoke up, her face a bit flushed. "You've never seen Harry Potter? He goes to school here. He's a sixth year Gryffindor. You know, I almost forgot. What year are you, anyway?"
Alaynia thought for a moment. "By your reckoning, I believe I would be a... sixth year. I'm fifteen, but our schooling starts when we're ten, so I've had more experience."
"Cool!" Ginny said. "We might have another year-mate! But you still have to meet Harry Potter. Come on, he's a friend of my brother, Ron!" Ginny stood up and Alaynia followed her out the door. "I used to have this humongous crush on Harry, but I guess you could say that I got over it."
Ginny led Alaynia to a compartment a toward the back of the train. She opened the door. Three people looked at Ginny and Alaynia.
"Oh, Ginny, what do you want?" This was coming from a red-headed boy.
"Ron, Hermione, Harry, I want you to meet Alaynia. She's an exchange student from the states. She's fifteen, and she's never seen Harry Potter. So, of course, I just brought her down to say hi!" Alaynia smiled nervously and waved.
A girl with frizzy brown hair stood up. "I'm Hermione Granger. This is Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. We're all sixth year Gryffindors."
Alaynia smiled. "I'm from the American Academy for Magical Studies."
Hermione perked up. "I've read about AAMS! It sounds like a very fun place. What did you think about it?" Harry and Ron rolled their eyes. Hermione glared at them.
"Well, none of the professors wanted us to give up a good highschool education, so we learned magic and regular things while we were there. There weren't any houses, because there weren't many kids. We all lived in dorm rooms, like a college campus. The food wasn't that great, but none of us really had time to eat. There was no homework, because we would be in classes from 8:00 in the morning to 8:00 at night just to learn everything. It was so much fun!"
Ron and Harry had really started to listen only when they heard "no homework".
Ron looked wistfully at Harry. "I wish Hogwarts didn't have homework. Snape's essays are hard!"
Hermione looked at Ron and Harry. "Only because you procrastinate and end up doing stuff at the last moment!"
"Hermione, just because you do all of your homework early doesn't mean that the rest of us do!" Harry looked at Ron and rolled his eyes at Hermione. "I swear she must live in the library!"
Alaynia smiled. "Nothing's wrong with that! I happen to like the library..."
Ron and Harry grimaced. Ginny spoke again. "Well, see you guys later. Colin, Neville, and Luna must be wondering where I am."
Ginny left the compartment after telling Alaynia to come back after a while. Alaynia smiled. "Okay, I will." She turned back to Hermione. "You were saying..."
Hermione smiled at her. "Have a seat. I want to talk to you about some of the books that I've read!"
Alaynia left the compartment feeling very pleased with herself. Not only had she made seven new friends, she also knew a lot more about Hogwarts. She walked into her compartment only to find a blond boy and two gorilla-looking guys sitting there. She looked confused. "I think this is the wrong compartment."
The blond boy looked up. "Who are you?"
"I'm Alaynia. I'm an exchange student from the states."
"Muggle parents?"
"No... They're both magical. Why?"
"Oh, good. Can't have a mudblood infecting my compartment." The blond boy looked relieved to find that she wasn't a mudblood. "I'm Draco. Draco Malfoy. This is Crabbe, and Goyle. We're in Slytherin."
Alaynia looked wary of them. Then she cracked a smile. "I've heard that all Slytherins are the evil spawn of the devil," she told them jokingly.
Draco looked disgusted. "You must've heard that from a mudblood-loving Weasley. Only they could make it sound like a bad thing."
Alaynia laughed. "Well, actually, yes. Can I sit down?" He nodded. "Thanks. They were the first people that I met on the train. Everyone's been really understanding and friendly. Ginny took me to meet Harry Potter, too!"
Draco grimaced. "Uggh. Don't tell me that you hero-worship him like that Creepy kid. Or is it Creevy? I can't recall."
Alaynia rolled her eyes. "No, I don't worship him, but he's not a bad guy either. And Collin doesn't worship Harry!"
"Yeah, whatever."
"Listen, it's been nice to meet you, but Ginny told me to meet her back at our compartment. I've gotta go. Sorry!" Alaynia waved and left.
Alaynia entered Ginny's compartment. They all looked up at her approach. "Hi guys. You'll never guess who I just met. Draco Malfoy."
Ginny, Colin, and Neville grimaced. "Don't tell me what he did. I don't want to know what kind of torture he used this time." Neville looked positively scared as he said this.
Alaynia just smiled. "Actually, he was very friendly after he learned that I'm a pureblood. He seemed like he doesn't get out much. I mean, just look at how pale his skin is!" They all laughed.
Ginny sighed. "Well, I guess we should start to change for Hogwarts. We're getting closer."
