AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys! Welcome to chapter four! I hope that you are enjoying your read! Please review! Thnx
Chapter 4: Defining Gorgeous
The next day, the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione went to Diagon Alley to do their school shopping. No one mentioned what had happened the night before. Though the air between Ron and Harry was tense, they tried to imagine that the outburst had never happened. By the end of the day they were laughing together again, each having been forced to spend a good amount of money at 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes,' the store that Fred and George had opened. The twins had caused a great commotion in the alley when they started up several of their everlasting fireworks. Harry, Ron and Hermione returned to Grimmuald Place that night laden down with more birthday hats, a year's supply of Skiving Snack boxes, and several Canary Creams apiece.
Within no time, summer vacation was over and it was September 1st, time to leave their peaceful trance and board the Hogwarts Express. On Platform 9 3/4, Harry, Ron and Hermione all noticed several people they had not seen before. Not including the first years, there was also another new student. Ron picked her out of the crowd immediately. The bright peachy orange streaks in her dark brown hair made her very noticeable.
"Harry!" Ron elbowed his friend hard in the ribs.
"What did you do that for?" exclaimed Harry, rubbing his side.
"Look at her, over there, she's new, isn't she?"
Harry looked around. He saw and unfamiliar girl clad in an orange tank top, and army green, very baggy cargo pants. She had a black bandana tied into a dew rag over her streaked hair. She was carrying a large backpack that looked like it held about thirty pounds. In addition she had an abnormally large duffle bag, which she had somehow forced onto a trolley.
Hermione leaned over, poking both boys in their backs. "Stop staring, it's embarrassing! Impolite, too!"
Harry and Ron didn't stop. Hermione gave Harry a hard kick in the ankle and he refocused his attention on her. Ron seemed to have fallen into a trance.
"You know what Harry? She might be even more gorgeous than Fleur from fourth year. And she's no veela! We have to get to know her, don't we Harry?"
"I don't think she's that exceptionally good looking," said Harry, just for the sake of Hermione, who was looking like she could hex Ron. The girl was in fact very pretty, and it was obvious that Hermione knew it. The new girl left their range of vision when she entered the train and Ron, still looking slightly stunned, turned to say goodbye to his family. Harry and a rather disgruntled Hermione, followed him.
"She seems a bit weird," whispered Harry to Hermione. He was relieved when she broke her disheveled expression with a weak grin.
"I'm glad you aren't as brain-dead as he is," Hermione smiled. Then, more to herself than to Harry, she said, "She does seem interesting though."
Harry, Ron and Hermione hoisted their heavy trunks aboard the train at two minutes 'till eleven on the sunny day. Once they had gotten the luggage into the corridor between compartments the train began to move.
"So," said Harry, "Do you two have to go to the Prefects compartment?" He really didn't want them to go, but asked anyway to make it less awkward for them.
To Harry's surprise, Ron and Hermione smiled at the question.
"No Harry, that's only for 5th year prefects," explained Hermione. "All they do is explain stuff, we can sit wherever we want this time." Grateful, Harry pulled his trunk down the corridor with his two best friends. Everything was full except the last compartment, which held the girl in orange.
"Well," said Hermione, almost wickedly. "Ron, you got your wish, you get to meet her." She grinned evilly in front of the closed, glass door.
Ron looked horror struck at the idea of being within ten feet of the new student.
"No way. We can't go in there."
Hermione doubled her grin and slid the compartment door open.
"Hello, do you mind if we join you, everywhere else is full."
The girl smiled at Hermione and all three of them couldn't help but notice again, that she was exceptionally pretty.
"Sure! Come in, nothing on me!"
Hermione quickly put her trunk in the overhead compartment with help from Harry and went to sit across from the girl. After placing his own trunk overhead and helping Ron with his, Harry quickly rushed in to sit next to Hermione, leaving the seat next to the new girl free. After Ron had closed and locked the overhead compartment he came in to sit down. His face turned redder than a tomato when he saw what the other two had done. Looking near suicide, he took the seat next to the girl. Harry almost started to laugh but held back when Hermione stepped on his foot.
Leaning forward, she introduced herself to the new girl, "I'm Hermione Granger. What's your name?"
"I'm Alexis Garcia, and you are--?" She indicated Harry, and Ron who was still staring at the floor.
"I'm Harry Potter, and um, this is Ron Weasley." Ron looked up and seemed grateful that Harry had introduced both of them. He smiled sheepishly at Alexis, but she didn't seem to notice.
"Oooo…" Alexis gasped. "Are you related to Harvey Potter? That guy who defeated Voldemort?"
Ron winced when she said You-Know-Who's name, but didn't comment on the fact. Harry felt his face turn pink. There was an awkward silence
"Um, no." Hermione rescued him. "It's Harry, and he is the one."
"Oh. I'm so sorry, Harry. I knew it was Potter but—Sorry."
There was another awkward silence, which Alexis broke by speaking again.
"So you're a Weasley?" She indicated Ron who looked up from the floor, obviously surprised.'
"Er- yeah," he said, staring at her.
"Do your brothers own Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes?"
Ron stared for several seconds after she said this, his jaw going like a fish out of water. "Um- yeah," was all he finally managed. Alexis looked excited at this fact.
"Oh – my - god!" She almost screamed. "I love that place. I get orders from there. Fred says I'm their biggest customer." I have a ton of stuff in my bag right now that I bought just a few days ago."
"Really," said Harry, slightly surprised. "I didn't know they had such good business. I mean, they've only been open for a few months." He glanced at Ron. There was an awkward silence.
"What year are you in?" he turned to Alexis.
"Oh. I'm 16, so I think that I'm going into 6th, right?"
"Yeah," Hermione attempted at friendship, "that means we're in the same year! We can show you around and stuff. You'll really like it at Hogwarts. Where did you go originally?"
The girl ginned, apparently grateful for Hermione's offer and encouragement. She started to speak as she patted Crookshanks, Hermione's cat, who was now sniffing the backpack Alexis had been holding between her feet the whole time.
"Well, originally I'm from Spain. I lived there 'til I was two. Then my family, my parents and my older sister (she's twenty-five), moved to New York City in the US. We lived there 'til just a few weeks ago." Alexis said all this very fast, as if she was trying to get it over with. She continued, though it was with a pained expression. "Now I live with my sister, Steph, in Diagon Alley. She got this major job offer in a hair studio. It's like the biggest thing she's ever done. She used to just work at bars and ice cream places and stuff, but this pays a lot more, so we moved here."
Harry looked at her quizzically. Ron was staring, his expression blank and his mouth halfway open.
"What about your parents?" Harry asked.
"Um…" She seemed to be at loss of words. "Th-they died in a car accident several years ago."
Hermione and Ron seemed shocked but Harry looked at the floor. He knew what it was like.
"Oh my goodness," Hermione whispered. "We are so sorry," But the Alexis seemed not to mind. She brushed the apology aside and didn't seem to want to talk about the subject.
"It's OK. It was a really long time ago. Let's talk about something else." As she said this she opened the backpack that had been resting between her feet. Out jumped a bright white husky dog, about 10 inches at the shoulder with black nose and eyes. "Do you guys mind if I let her out? Her name is Nieve. It means 'snow' in Spanish." Alexis smiled at them, obviously not seeing the horrorstruck expression on Hermione's face. Crookshanks had begun a hissing fit on the spot, his tail three times the usual diameter and fur on his back standing strait up.
"Umm…" Hermione was obviously very mad and trying to hide it. "I guess I'll just have to put Crookshanks in his carrier then. He isn't very fond of dogs."
"Oh no!" Alexis was ginning broadly now. "Nieve gets along with cats just fine." Even as Alexis had said this the two animals seemed to be getting acquainted (Crookshanks was now sniffing Nieve and vise versa.) Hermione still seemed very angry.
"Oh come off it, Hermione." Ron butted in, taking sides with Alexis, "look at them. Crookshanks is almost bigger than the dog! They're getting along fine." Hermione sighed.
"OK. I guess. But we aren't allowed dogs at school, you know."
Alexis didn't act like this rule was new to her at all. She reached down and petted her dog. "I know about the rule, but I couldn't leave Nieve behind. She's like my best friend. Plus, she's a toy American Eskimo dog, not a real size one!
Harry looked at Hermione, who was now sitting Indian style on the seat next to him and seemed to be accepting the dog, even though it was against the rules. She reached down and scratched behind Nieve's ears.
"l guess she is small enough to pass as a cat from a distance." Hermione smiled. To the dog she said, "You're such a cute little one, aren't you?"
Harry laughed and rubbed Nieve's stomach. "What are you going to do when we get off the train?" He said to Alexis. "I mean, we aren't aloud to take animals up to the castle for dinner and Filch, the caretaker, comes down here to move all our stuff up to the dorms. He'll be able to tell up close."
"Well, I did some reading on my plane ride here and found this little charm that makes him look just like a long-haired cat." Alexis removed her wand from a pocket in the backpack and pointed it at Nieve. "Felineor Electrio!" She said, and the other three watched in awe as the fur on the little dog's nose became fuzzier and the muzzle shrank to half it's original size. "See, now she looks like a deformed cat, you could no way mistake that to be a dog! And you know what, she's littler trained too."
Ron started laughing, "Oh golly! She looks like something went totally wrong!" Both Hermione and Harry's thoughts about the new nose were similar, but they had the sense not to say it out loud. Hermione looked slightly grumpy, as if she had wanted the charm to fail.
"You litter trained her?" Harry tried to keep Alexis from noticing Hermione's look.
"Yeah. That's really what I've been trying to do all summer, ever since my sister excepted the job offer." Alexis grinned. She then pointed her wand at Nieve again and said "Crono Prego!" and the dog tuned back to it's usual self.
"So, what are the good bands around this parts?" Alexis picked up Nieve and cradled the white, fluffy animal in her arms as it licked her face.
"Bands?" Hermione turned her back towards the window and pulled her knees up close so that her socked feet pointed down the seat towards Harry. Her shoes were on the floor, where Crookshanks sat batting at them.
"Yeah. Like, groups, something I could join."
"Well- I don't think there are any." Harry shrugged. Alexis looked disappointed and disbelieving.
"Really? I was in a band in New York. I play guitar and it was my life. I was their lead singer."
"Really? Well, Ron, he plays drums. He's just started but he's getting better. Right Ron?" Hermione seemed to be trying to get back into the conversation again.
"Um. Yeah. Something like that." Ron's ears turned pink.
"Do you!?" Alexis seemed happy to hear this. "Maybe we should get together sometime. I've written some things and you could check them out."
Hermione grinned awfully at Ron once more, who looked horrified.
"That sounds wonderful!" Hermione said for Ron, even though he looked utterly terrified of the idea. "That would be great. And also to mention, his sister Ginny plays piano and I think her boyfriend's been playing guitar for several years." It was obvious that Hermione was trying to hook Ron up with Alexis, though maybe she was doing it more out of.. well.. jealously, than offering a helping hand.
"Okay then." Alexis gave another one of her enthusiastic smiles and Ron looked like he was about to melt.
Oddly, this caused Hermione to turn sour and she grumpily pulled 'Hogwarts, A History' out of her bag. Even though this was one of multiple copies she owned, the book was very beat up from the many times that she had leafed through it, trying to find some precise detail or fact. She flipped it open to somewhere in the middle and with a strangely jovial smile to the others, dismissed herself to another period of intense fact seeking.
Seeing Hermione disappear behind the creased leather cover, Harry and Ron launched a conversation that they were sure their friend would not take great interest in: the Gryffindor quidditch team. To their surprise, Alexis went completely haywire at the thought of the sport and began jabbering at high speeds about how she had played for the junior state team in New York. Apparently, each of the fifty US states had their own team and New York had come up second the previous year, right after California, which had won by a mere ten points difference in the national final. This conversation lasted them for almost an hour as Alexis explained countless new moves that she and her fellow chasers had developed while on the team.
The topic of conversation changed as they moved to Gryffindor Quidditch and then tryouts. Soon the subject was not just the team, but the whole of Hogwarts. The rest of the train ride was spent talking about the different teachers and classes. Harry and Ron had fun describing how horrible Professor Snape and Professor Binns were while Hermione sat back and glared at Harry, as if blaming him for not involving him in the conversation. She, however, did join in and agree that Professor Trelawney was an old fraud when the subject of Divination was mentioned. Alexis looked upset at this, since she was actually taking the subject, but she soon got over it.
The foursome laughed over various subjects while eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, trying out the mystery flavors but spitting many of them into napkins.
When they arrived in Hogsmeade Station the four of them had already changed into their robes. Ron, having grown quite a bit over the summer, seemed more self-conscious than usual about his slightly short robes. As they got of the train he kept tugging and trying to make them seem longer. Eventually he pulled too hard and a small seam ripped at his shoulder. Cursing, he tied to cover it up be saying he had shoulder pains while pretending to massage himself.
As they were walking form the train Harry noticed for the first time how tiny Alexis was compared to the rest of the company. The top of her head seemed to just level with his shoulder and the distance between the highest points on her and Ron were immense. She even seemed quite a bit shorter than Hermione, who was nearing five foot seven. Harry brushed the thought aside. But apparently, she overcame her size and was still able to play quidditch at a pretty decent level. He wondered how she could play chaser, but reminded himself that some small things could contain a huge amount of energy and power.
As they were getting into the horseless carriages, Hermione jumped.
"Look," she said, pointing. "There are horses now."
Harry smiled, "you can see them now, the thestrals, Ron can too." Hermione almost instantly showed an expression of regret. About to apologize, Harry brushed the things she was about to say away and continued to walk towards one of the black carriages. He tried not to remember why she could see them but the whole scene of Sirius falling through the veil flooded back to him. The only ones who could see thestrals were the people who had seen death; Harry had witnessed the tradgedy twice in the past two years.
When Harry, Hermione, Ron and Alexis entered a carriage Harry sat by the window and didn't speak until they were in the entrance hall. He tried to hide his face and not let the others see how his eyes had turned overly bright. Hermione must have noticed but she didn't say anything. She just took his hand and held it in hers. Harry let her without complaint. He glanced sideways at Hermione. He wondered if she knew it wasn't just Sirius that was bothering him. Did she know about the Prophecy? He was a marked man. His fate was either to kill Voldemort or die trying. Did any of them know? Harry turned back to the window, blinking hard to try and clear his vision.
By the time they left the carriages Harry's eyes were dry again and he was smiling with the others, glad to be back at Hogwarts for another year.