"Cerberus? Why are you badgering me about one of your relations? Heh, bugger off Dog-face."

- Pansy Parkinson

Chapter 9: Dean Thomas

I was rattled. That's the word for it. RATTLED. I mean I'd already teleported through fireplaces and had powdered Flu splashed all over me as a means of transportation. I don't know why a witch would think to powder a disease, but I suppose that's a specific brand of devil sorcery I will learn in school. No, I'm rattled because Mrs. Finnegan just pushed me through a wall. A wall. THROUGH a wall. I came out on the other end. It wasn't some prank to get me to ram a cart of expensive looking heathen goods and my new pet owl into a brick pillar. Which was good. I didn't care for my stuff but I kind of liked my new bird…

"Come here dear." Mrs. Finnegan shook me out of my stupor to give me one of her awkward one-armed bear hugs- as if using two arms was reserved for relatives that aren't ticking time bombs. "Now you just stick with Seamus. He'll watch after you until you get sorted."

"Yes, ma'am."

She nudged me toward the train- the Hogwarts Express train, and I climbed on after Seamus. He was grinning from ear to ear. "I can't believe we're finally off." He waved goodbye to his mother from the open entryway. "I'm my own man now."

"Your own man?"

His brow furrowed at me. "We're literally leaving the nest. We're off to become independent men-err and women. No annoying parents to coddle us and tell us what to do." Seamus grabbed my wrist and pulled me the rest of the way into the train car, still selling me on the Hogwarts experience. "I mean sure there are professors there that sort of tell you what to do, but they're not your parents."

I was confused as to how that made things any better, but then I thought of my own parents and it put things into perspective some. "I don't know. Your parents don't seem so bad-"

"Do you reckon I'll be becoming any kind of man- REAL MAN- with my mum always chasing after me?" He scoffed, stopping in our progression down the narrow car with a pointed look in my direction. "Offering me sweets and hugs and practically wiping my backside for me? May as well cut my jewels off now." He looked so serious I just nodded in agreement. That seemed to be enough as he was tugging me along again, peeking from booth to booth. "My dad told me leaving off to Hogwarts is just the thing a boy needs to become a man. Independence." Finally, Seamus seemed to find a booth he was okay with and pulled back the door.

Inside were other kids that looked our age, one boy and one girl. They seemed to be ignoring each other. Her face was buried in a book with moving pictures on the cover. A man with a golden mane and a trident in hand standing on the edge of a cliff with a woman in a red dress held tightly to his chest. They looked dangerously close to possibly tipping over the edge, but I suppose that might be on purpose to make the woman cling tighter to him. Mama always said men could be crafty that way and that it was always important to remain alert. She did say it was also important for women to be equally as cunning but just patted me on the head after. "You just focus on staying alert. You'll have a hard-enough time as it is."

"Hello," Seamus greeted, taking a seat across from the boy closest to the window. "I'm Seamus. Seamus Finnegan." He extended his hand out firmly and the boy returned the handshake, shy but with equal vigor.

"Dean Thomas."

I took a seat next to Dean, catching Seamus' eye as he tipped his head suggestively to the girl sitting across from me. I squared my shoulders and tried my best to imitate Seamus' enthusiasm. "Hey-um, Hello!" I squeaked. "I'm Mary."

The book slowly lowered to reveal squinted aluminum foil eyes. Her eyes seemed bright even though everything else about her looked washed out. She was blonde, but not in the same warm and bouncy way Jubilee was blonde. Her skin even almost looked like it could have been gray. Like at my great-grandma's funeral. When I walked with mama to the front of the room for the viewing, she looked gray. It was my first time meeting her though, so I couldn't tell if she was always that color. I guess people are just grey sometimes.

Instead of shaking my hand back, she got up out of her seat, spared us all one last glance before walking out of the booth. "I'm Mary? Just Mary?" Seamus shook his head at me. "Last names are important in a greeting you know? They tell you who and who not to hang out with."

Your last name? That sounded really silly. "How do you know what kind of person someone is based on their last name?"

Seamus shrugged. "You don't always know I guess. But when you hear specific ones you definitely KNOW, you know?"

I glanced at the other boy- Dean Thomas, but he just shrugged. "Well what does Gregory say about me?"

"Nothin much but that isn't your last name anyway."

That's right. I was English. "Smith. Smith's a real common last name."

"Not around here it ain't. Maybe in that American muggle place you come from-"

"Muggle?" Dean finally spoke up.

"Non-magic folk. Are you a muggle-born?"

"Um, I don't know? My mom is a…muggle? But my father wasn't."

"So you're a halfblood then," Seamus smiled. "What's your dad's name? I think my dad works with a Thomas."

"Oh," Dean looked around awkwardly. "I didn't really know my dad."

It was quiet for a few long moments. Seamus seemed to make the same face my father made when Mama's baby died back when I was seven. Like he just didn't know what to say or what to do. "My dad's dead," I piped up to lighten the mood, but I suppose that was an odd way to do it. "My mom too. I used to think maybe I'd run into them one day. Like they'd just come back looking for me. I had all sorts of ideas about what kind of people they were. I didn't think any of this, but I guess it's better than thinking they left me in a dumpster- I never did find out why I ended up in Mississippi…" I shrugged and kept on despite the weird faces they were making. "My point is, I never knew my parents and I found out they were magic, and they had a lot of money, and people seem to think they were pretty nice, and they're dead. Maybe your dad is just some important rich guy that couldn't come back for you because he's dead. Maybe he just really loves you but, you know, he's dead-"

"Don't pay her any attention," Seamus quickly cut in. "She's just a distant cousin. Doesn't really have any manners."

Dean looked back and forth between the two of us, his blank look slowly morphing into a small smile. "It's alright." Then he faced me fully. "So, you're American?"

"Well kinda. You see I was raised there but seeing as my dead parents are English, I'm thinkin' that makes me English too."

Seamus scoffed. "Not with that funny accent you're not."

"Yer- YOU ARE the one with the funny accent!"

Dean was outright laughing now. He extended a hand to me "Nice to meet you Mary."

I shook his hand back. Firm grip. Papa used to say always keep a firm handshake. "Nice to meet you Dean Thomas."

The train ride continued for hours. Dean was nice enough to switch seats with me so I could see out the window. When the snack trolley came along, Seamus helped me figure out how much money was right to pay for what I wanted, then helped himself and Dean to a bit more of it as a fee for his services. He was scamming me, I knew it, but I think it was fine. We were having fun and I wouldn't know what witch things to buy anyway. It took us a while though. Some kid had tried to buy the entire cart of candy. I guess there were a lot of rich people that go here? Seamus showed me and Dean what snacks to get and told us about all the cool things I could buy during the Christmas break in Hogs… I don't remember the name.

I didn't eat the chocolate frogs because they jumped around and I like my food good and dead. Dean seemed to think they were cool though. I thought Dean was cool. He was nice to me and helped when the chocolate frog jumped into my hair.

Seamus told us about the rumor going around. About a Kid named Harry Potter being in our class and how he survived a curse from You-Know-Who. It took a little while for him to explain to me because I Didn't-Know-Who and he wouldn't say his name and said I didn't need to either. Wouldn't even tell me which curse he survived. Was it Damn? Fuck? Shit? I can say these in my head but it's a good thing Mama never allowed me to say them out loud. They're all muggles so it was okay but I'm magic. I could really hurt someone.

The boat ride after was pretty cool. Everyone else got into these carriages being pulled by these funny looking horses while a really really REALLY REALLY big man shouted for all the first years to get on the boats. Once we got to the big castle where I now go to school because I'm a princess and not stupid Mere-cat face Jubilee, they made us wait in a hall outside a room where we could hear a lot of noise. And then the doors opened.

Just when I thought I couldn't be shocked at anything else, I was shocked by something else. Candles floated, you could see the starry sky through the roof. And ghosts- GHOSTS! They flew by screaming. One hovered just low enough to tip his head to us like a hat in greeting. This was Satan's paradise. There was no going back after this. I had truly thrown my soul to the devil. "Seamus," I whispered, grabbing his arm. "Look at the roof! Isn't it beautiful?"

"Erm, Hi." That wasn't Seamus. I looked up to see a head of bright orange hair. I don't think I'd ever seen hair his color before. It looked like fire. "Are you okay?"

I heard his voice, and another voice. The boy before me and a deep baritone, layered over each other as if they were one in the same. I had the surreal light feeling of my visions but nothing about where we are or this moment had changed. "Are you okay?"

Instead of replying, I slowly backed away from him. Slowly. I weaved between the other students. My nerves on edge after that new experience. I think maybe I was becoming frightened. When I spotted Seamus and Dean, I immediately latched onto Seamus' arm but he yanked it away, looking around frantically. "Stop being weird. People might see."

In the bobble on my wrist was a small glow that I noticed soon disappeared- like the happiness and enthusiasm I had experienced with them on the train ride here. Dean seemed to be able to tell I was uneasy. He subtly made room for me to fit in the gap between the two boys, bumping his arm into mine I think on purpose. It made me feel better.

The woman from my Hogwarts letter, MC-Gone-A-Gal, explained to us the sorting process, like being assigned a club house, only to sleep and study in. My anxiety crept back again. "Seamus, what if we end up in different homes?"

"Houses- and for the better. Remember. Independence."

And then Seamus was called. "Gryffindor!" The hat bellowed quickly. Seamus sported a proud grin as he sauntered off to a table of applauding older children. Gray face was called up too. So her name was Daphne Greengrass. She got sorted into the house Seamus said to pray I don't end up in. "Not that I think you're Ravenclaw material or anything." I didn't know what that meant so I guessed not.

Mr. Fire was a Gryffindor too. And he sat with a bunch of other orange tops. Together they looked like a fireplace. "Mary Smith."

It was my turn. I tried to subtly shake off the crumbs from the treats we ate on the train, the thought only occurring to me just now. "Yes, ma'am." I walked up and nervously took a seat on the stool.

The hat had barely touched me, never even fully seated on my head before- "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Eyes round, I looked over to Seamus who just shrugged back. I slowly slipped off of the stool. Dean clapped for me, then pointed to the table beside the Gryffindor one where unfamiliar faces clapped and smiled. It felt like auto-pilot. Like I walked, but I didn't really feel in the moment. An older kid in my new house noticed this and slid down to make space for me. "Have a seat here, Mary." I did as I was told.

"Thank you," I whispered, still looking to make eye contact with Seamus. His attention was already elsewhere. I felt like a dingy untied from the dock. Floating away on my own. I hardly heard him introduce himself.

"Dean Thomas," Ms. Miggonal announced next. I whipped around in my seat. Dean was really nice and maybe he'd be in the same club as me?

The hat sat on his head for what seemed like a long time compared to me and then, "Gryffindor!" and then my heart sunk to my feet.

I watched Dean walk over and join Seamus with a wide grin. He received various claps on the back and settled down. What was I going to do? I just met my new distant cousin Seamus. Just had a conversation with him for the first time today! I just met another person that didn't know nothing about me being weird or destroying homes and who could care two-hoots about my occasional possession by the Devil- because weren't we all agents of the Devil now anyway? And now it was all gone. From what Seamus says, we'd have to sleep in different clubs and usually club members hung out with their own club members. What was I going to do? "Cheer up." Just then, I received a bump from beside me. The older boy. "Hufflepuff is a really nice place. You'll make friends fast."

"Thank you-erm…"

"Cedric Diggory," he repeated with the same welcoming smile he'd given me before. "And from now on, you're with me, kid." This was strange. Why was he talking to me? Did someone dare him to try and kiss me? I hope not. Not that I minded his bushy brows or chapped lips but I think I would mind kissing in general. Especially when someone is doing it on a bet.

"Thank you, Cedric. It's nice to meet you." He gave my shoulder a squeeze before turning back to another boy beside him.

I glanced over at the Gryffindor table again, only this time, my eyes met Dean's immediately. He was looking over here. With a small smile, he waved. I felt lighter. My smile was a whole lot bigger as I jerked my hand up to wave back. I think I just made my first real friend!

(Lidia: Thank you to everyone bothering to read. The first 8 chapters were already written, and their short so quick updates were easy.

Guest(review): That's the point. Mary has ADD. The chapter names are based on Mary's points of focus. Sometimes they're important things. Sometimes they're completely inane and meaningless things. I plan on playing with the importance of chapter titles based on the character's growth over her next seven years at Hogwarts. Thank you for being my first story review!)