It was a dreary day as the Hogwarts Express brought the young wizards to the infamous school of witchcraft and wizardry. Harry Potter made his way through the train towards the back where he and Ron agreed to meet Hermione after they had put their trunks away.
He slid the door open, seeing Hermione's unmistakable bushy hair, and started complaining about Malfoy. "It's been what? 10 minutes since we've been on the train and already Malfoy has….." he faltered as he noticed a girl around his age across from Hermione.
"Hello Harry." Hermione looked up at him and smiled. "Hey. Who's this?" he sat himself next to Hermione, never taking his eyes off of the girl. "This…" she waved her hand, grinning, "is Rachael Galloway. She's moved here from America."
"What year are you in?" Harry cocked his head slightly, awaiting her answer when Ron came in, ears red and breathing heavily. "What a prat! I swear…the next comment he makes about my family…he's going to stay a ferret!" he huffed as he threw himself across from Harry, crossing his arms.
Rachael's eyebrows rose a bit at the outburst but turned to Harry and answered, "Sixth."
At this, Ron jumped, completely unaware of her presence when he stormed in, "Whoa! Where did you come from!" his hand over his heart, breathing returning to a normal rate.
She smiled, "If you want to get technical, my mother, but if you mean land, then America." Hermione giggled behind her hand.
"America?"
"Yeah. Y'know…the big piece of floating land across the thing we call the Atlantic Ocean?" Her lip quirked slightly upwards.
"What house are you going to be in?" Harry spoke up from across the compartment, grinning.
"I think the headmaster said Gryffindor because it was the closest to my house back in my old school."
"Please say you're a good witch? What we need right now is definitely not another Neville."
"Ron!"
"What? You know I'm perfectly right."
"Yeah I'm a regular old Glinda...if that's what you mean." Judging the looks of utter confusion, she added, "Don't tell me you haven't seen the Wizard of Oz!"
Harry and Ron exchanged a glance and looked at Hermione questioningly. "Muggle movie. Glinda was the good witch from the north." She explained in brief, turning back to grin at Rachael.
"Let me guess…Pureblood?" she looked at Ron, who started to look defensive, still on edge from his bout with Malfoy. "Well Ron is…but Harry isn't." Hermione cast a nervous glance at Harry.
"Of course Harry isn't. We may have an ocean separating us, but that doesn't keep heroes from spreading." She grinned at Harry who blushed a little and lowered his head.
"Thanks." He mumbled, picking at a fingernail.
"No. Thank you." She bowed her head slightly in his direction and turned to Ron. "So Mr. Weasley…care for a game of wizards chess?" she quirked an eyebrow in challenge and continued, "Hermione says you're an excellent player."
He grinned at Hermione before he accepted, "Would you mind if we used your set? Mine's in a particularly snake infested part of the train." He grumbled, re-crossing his arms.
"If you mean in the Slytherin section, then no problem. Mine's there, too, but I don't think they'll bother me." She stood and walked to the door.
Before she left, Ron laid a hand on her arm to stop her, "Watch out for the blonde rich git with the two goons. That's Malfoy."
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." And with that, she left.
"Isn't she something." Ron pondered, receiving a slightly astonished look from Hermione and one of surprise from Harry.
"Oh, I don't mean like that!" he shook his head at his two best friends. "I mean her attitude. I've never seen anyone go willingly near the Slytherins…no matter how much they didn't know about them." He added as he looked at Hermione and Harry.
"Well I wouldn't blame you for being attracted to her." Harry added as an afterthought. "But you're right. So far, she's the only one who's known who I am and didn't stare at my scar." He ran a hand through his hair.
"From what I know, she's a very excellent wizard. She was among the top five in her old school, Hartling, which is an extremely tough school." Hermione pulled out a book and started to read.
"Wicked. Two geniuses in one house? Let alone our house? This is gonna be great." Ron leaned back as the door slid back open.
Rachael stood with one hand holding her chess set while the other held open the door. She looked down the hall, smiling, as she ordered softly. "C'mon. In."
A moment later, a small orange cat with white on its nose and belly trotted into the compartment and sat in Rachael's spot. "I don't think so, young lady."
She handed her set to Ron as she carefully picked the cat up and set it on her lap, scratching its chin as Ron set up the game.
"That's your cat?" Harry pointed to the purring pile of fur with a shaky finger.
"Yep. She's my Sugar Pea!" Rachael smiled as she pet the cat. "Why?" she asked as she noticed Harry's reaction.
"I think that's the cat that tried to scratch me when I was putting Hedwig away!" he scooted further away.
"No doubt that it was her. She doesn't like to be caged up, especially when I'm not in sight. So she'll get really defensive when someone comes along that she doesn't know. She's really friendly though." She moved a pawn on the board and returned to petting the cat. "Obedient, too." She smiled as Ron got her knight.
"You mean like a dog?" Harry reached out and stroked the cat's nose.
"I guess you could say that." She shrugged as she blocked Ron's attempt to get her queen. A muttered 'bugger' was heard before Ron placed her in Check.
"Bad move, buster!" she grinned like a maniac as she moved her castle between her king and his queen in a manner so if he took the castle, she would get the queen, but if he didn't move the queen, the castle would nab it. "I must admit though. Hermione was right."
"When isn't she?" Ron mumbled as he moved another pawn. Chuckling, she cornered Ron, putting him in Check Mate.
"I do believe that that's the first time Ron's lost to a girl." Hermione snickered from behind her book, slightly red from Ron's earlier comment.
Ron just stuck his tongue out in a childish fashion as he started to pet the cat. "She's a lot softer than Crookshanks." Ron smiled slightly as the cat walked onto his lap and laid down.
"Her fur is a lot shorter than Crookshanks'. Besides, she's a girl…we stay clean. Well, most of us do." She began to put away the chess set.
"How do you know about Crookshanks already?" Ron looked at her with his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.
She only raised her hand in response and pointed to the shelf above Hermione where the large cat lay, sleeping contentedly, and returned to putting away the chess set.
Harry was about to inquire further about her old school when the sliding door opened and the drawl that haunted them for the past five years filled the small compartment. "Well, well. Is this your new girlfriend, Potter?"
"Sod off, Malfoy." Harry rose to his feet, fists clenched at his sides.
"I'll take that as a yes." Malfoy smirked as he observed the girl. Long brown hair with natural highlights was pulled back into a loose braid, slightly bronzed skin; copper rimmed glasses framed hazel eyes as they rested on the bridge of her nose. She sat with her hands in her lap, looking at him with a hint of disgust. "You must be Draco." She stood and held out her hand, looking him in the eye.
"And you are?" he raised her hands to his lips and kissed the back, laying on the patented Malfoy charm.
"Not that easy." She pulled her hand out of his as a look of surprise flashed over his face. "And not at all impressed." She crossed her arms and looked at him with an expression of slight disappointment.
"Excuse me?" his usual sneer was back in place.
"You heard me. I don't follow clichés but I had expected more from a Malfoy. From where I come from, your family is a well respected group of wizards. However, you've just showed me how mistaken we were. Apologize to him." She tried not to smile at the sound of Ron gasping from behind her. She did grin, however, when she felt the tip of a wand under her chin and a very angry Malfoy trying to contain his rage.
"And what, exactly, am I apologizing for? Besides, I'm a Malfoy. Malfoys don't apologize. Especially to Weasels and Golden Boys."
She snapped her fingers, causing the now hissing Sugar Pea, to sit down. "That remark was completely unnecessary. I don't wish to make enemies with anyone at this school, Mr. Malfoy. However, if you force me to do so, then so be it." With that, she rested her hand on the pale one that was holding the wand, and said clearly, "Manodoloro."
Almost instantly, Draco's wand clattered to the floor while he cradled his hand to his body, trying to ignore the pinpricks of electricity that were shooting up his arm and intensifying by the second, "What spell was that?" he ground out between gritted teeth.
"One that you don't know. Now apologize to Harry and I'll make it stop. I'm the only one here who knows how."
Draco glared up at her as the others stared in awe. "No." was the simple reply that he would soon regret.
She frowned slightly before growling, "Fine…have it your way. Nieta."
Draco fell to his knees as the pain intensified while spreading up his arm. Gasping, he whimpered, "I'm sorry."
Hearing his statement, Rachael waved her hand, removing the spell. "I do hope you have better manners next time, Draco. I'm sure your father would hate to hear you were beaten by a girl on more than one occasion." She was about to pick Draco up and push him out the door when an orange blur flew past her followed by a howl of pain from Draco.
She gasped as she grabbed the cat by the nape of the neck, smacking her on the tip of the nose, "Sugar Pea! No! Don't do that again!" she dropped the cat and knelt down beside Draco, "And don't look at me like that!" She turned to Draco and lightly ran a finger over the four parallel scratches across his cheek. She went from a crouch to her knees, "I'm really sorry about that. Here…this'll fix it."
She smiled warmly at Draco's look of horror, "It's okay." She raised a hand to his cheek and ran her thumb over the scratches. Leaning forward, she brought her lips until they were almost touching his cheek. She whispered, "Heladora." and gently ran her lips across the scratches. Pulling back, her thumb glided over the scratches, erasing them as she went.
She stood and offered her hand to Draco, who tentatively grabbed it. Hauling him to his feet, she apologized again for the cat before closing the door behind him. She sat back down and started fiddling with the end of her braid when she heard Hermione stutter across from her, "Y-You didn't even use your wand!" Rachael looked up to see three sets of wide eyes and three open mouths, staring incredulously at her.
"My parents found out I was 'different' when I was 10 when my babysitter hit Sugar Pea for who the hell knows what. She was only…three months old I think. I grabbed her hand before she could do it again and I burned her. About a week later, we got a letter from Hartling asking if I was interested in going to a school for the magically gifted. My dad was a little unsure 'cause he'd never heard of it but it sounded like fun to me. I convinced him to let me go to try it out and it ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me."
She gazed out the window, eyes slightly unfocused as she lost herself in memories.
Ron, Hermione, and Harry leaned forward slightly, waiting for her to continue. It didn't take long. "While I was there, I met all kinds of kids like me. They taught us how to do magic with wands and how to control our own gifts and tricks."
Ron glared at her, "But why did you help him?"
She looked at Ron, then to Sugar Pea, "Because it wasn't his fault. She had no reason or right to attack him." The cat glared at her. She looked out the window before turning back to them.
Grinning, she changed the subject, "Shouldn't we get into our robes?" she pointed out the window to reveal the castle lights just visible through the rain and dark. The other three snapped out of it and rushed to get dressed.
"This is going to be the best school year ever." They grinned at Ron while he adjusted his robes and the train pulled to a stop.
Author's note: This is my first fanfic that I've taken seriously in writing. I'm already over 100 pages in writing it so I figured I'd post it and see if it's worth continuing. Tell me what you think and don't be shy…I'm pretty thick skinned. Sorry if you don't like Mary Sues…I don't like them either but I just couldn't help myself with this one.