1 9 9 1, September 1st
Harry and Nel talked a little about Hogwarts, their owls, the magic world and what not. After dinner Nel suggested that they venture out into the alley and go and get some ice cream. Being so late and not wanting to oversleep in the morning Harry persuaded her to stay by offering to share a pumpkin pastry with her. She was never one to complain when it came to food, so she accepted.
The next morning both overslept and left in a hurry. Because they overslept, they didn't have breakfast, instead Nel used her paid breakfast to buy some lemon biscuits to go for the rest of the journey to Hogwarts. Both went dressed in their Muggle clothes packed their heavy trunks and made way to King's Cross taking the tube.
It must've been odd for Muggles to see them both. Two eleven-year old's alone carrying two large trunks and their caged owls. On the way Nel offered her seat to a pregnant lady who turned out not to be expecting a child and was very upset by her comment. Harry couldn't tell if she had done it on purpose to irritate the woman or not.
They arrived to Platform 9 but there seemed no sight of the 3/4. Nel still looked around anxiously worrying that this whole thing was some type of extremely elaborate prank. She was still waiting for Ms. Wool to pop up and claim her vengeance for the many evils the girl had done to her in the past.
"It should be here," Nel said looking down at her ticket.
Both found themselves lost and attracting the unwanted peering eyes of Muggles. The owls were growing irritating hooting loudly in protest of being inside of their cages.
"What do we do?" Harry asked feeling lost.
"Train leaves in ten minutes," Nel clicked her tongue and looked at a large overheard clock nearby beginning to feel somewhat stressed.
"-packed with Muggles, same every year-"
Both whipped their heads around. Muggles. That was only a word that wizards and witches knew. They had to be magical. Probably heading to the same place.
They spotted and decided to follow a plump woman with wavy red hair and her four children with the same matching colorful hair around King's Cross. All carrying trunks, one had an owl balance on top of his trunk. Yeah. They were definitely going to the same place.
"You're not old enough Ginny, hush," the mother scolded one of her children. "Now, Percy, you first."
The boy who seemed to be the oldest took his cart and lined up with the divider between the two platforms. The two eleven-year old's watched the boy attentively as he pushed his cart forwards briskly.
"He's going to crash!" Nel shouted with her big mouth attracting the attention of Muggles and Non-Muggles nearby.
She was in shock when he instead seemed to magically phase through the wall.
"First time?" The plump woman turned to look at the two children with a soft expression. She guessed they were both probably Muggle-born children.
"We don't know how to get to the train," Harry said to her. Not being one to ever ask for help and much less from an adult Nel kept her ears peered waiting for instruction.
She placed a hand on both of the children's arms and kindly turned them towards the wall where one of her kids had just vanished.
"Walk straight at the wall between the platforms. Don't stop, and don't be nervous, or you'll crash, that's key. Best do it at a bit of a run, if you're nervous. Watch Fred," she said addressing one of her twins.
The boy scowled. "I'm not Fred, I'm George! Honestly woman, you call yourself our mother!"
The woman looked flustered. "Sorry George." She waved him forwards dismissively.
The boy grinned cheekily. "Only joking, I am Fred."
His mother scowled, aiming a swat at his shoulder when he passed. His twin yelled at him to hurry up, and the next moment, George was gone too.
"Go on," She ushered both of the children forward with care. "Before Ron," she said signaling to yet another one of her red-head children whom the others gathered to be Ron.
Harry stepped back allowing Nel to go ahead. Part of her mistrusting nature suspected that he wanted to see if she would slam towards the wall or not. Regardless she nodded and took in a deep breath, gripping her cart tight. She ran towards it elbowing a Muggle on the way. She braced herself for impact wincing at the expected pain. Instead she phased through the wall just like that woman's other children also had. Glancing back over her shoulder Nel could only see a wall. Yet ahead of her- This world was never going to cease to amaze her. Before her on the platform stood a regal scarlet colored engine train that was generously puffing out heaps of white vapor steam. She gaped at it in awe face breaking into a broad grin.
It was then that she spotted a spot of white from the distance.
It was that same rude boy she had meet at the bookstore. His parents were bidding him goodbye as he got ready to board onto the train.
"Oi!" She said quickly approaching him blocking his path and forgetting all about Harry or the red heads. She stood on his way hauling her trunk and owl behind. "It's you," she glared at him.
"What do you want orphan?"
Really? That was the best insult he could come up with. How unoriginal. Even Aisha could probably come up with something better. She scoffed at his petty insult.
"About that-" She began starring him down. "Don't tell anyone… about - well, about my family. Please?" Her expression softened a bit.
"Embarrassed?" He taunted with no shame.
"Never," She narrowed her eyes, her expression hardening once again. It wasn't a complete lie. "Not that you'd understand, but I don't want to be known as the orphan girl in a new school. Know what I mean?" She attempted to get him to emphasize just a little.
"And why should I do as you say?" He shot back boarding the train challenging her. "After all, you're just a filthy little mudblood," He spat the vile world.
Nel had never heard such a slur. She had no idea what it meant. She brushed it off her thick skin with no concern having been called worse by others.
She didn't have a single good reason why he should listen to her besides the one she had just given him. If he wasn't going to be reasonable, she left him no choice. She left him no choice.
"Because if you don't - I'll make you regret it," she threatened.
He looked at her for a moment before laughing loudly in her face and retreating inside of the train.
She glared at him. He made her feel that same way Alf and those other bratty kids that were in her life made her feel. Powerless. And that word she had called her. Mudblood. She didn't know why it left such a filthy taste in her mouth.
Climbing in the train fuming. She carefully plotted her revenge. She kept a careful eye on the back of his gelled head as he entered a compartment. Nel looked for a place of her own and went inside of the first compartment she could find where three girls and a boy were sitting. Two of the girls were twins and introduced themselves as Padme and Parvati Patel. The other girl had large bushy hair and stuck out her hand formally introducing herself as Hermione Granger and lastly the boy she was to sit next to was dorky looking his name was Neville Longbottom. He was holding a large ugly toad in his hands and looked as if he wouldn't last a minute at Wool's. They made idle talk before the train began to move.
The students in the compartment stood up and were pressed up against the glass waving their goodbyes to their families excitedly.
It was then that the lightbulb went off in her head. An evil smile carved her features as she snuck out of the compartment without another word.
It took her a minute to assemble the tools she would need to make her plan a complete success. Being most resourceful she had to improvise but it would work.
Nel walked a tea trolley down the corridor. The porcelain teacups and pot clinked as she advances. She discretely peered inside the windows of the several compartments looking for that shiny white head savoring the beginning of her petty vengeance.
It was then that she spotted him. He sat on a compartment with two hulking gorillas like looking boys who were laughing at something he said. A scowling girl with shoulder length black hair sat across from him. Nel walked inside unannounced without knocking and stuck in the trolley car. She had tried her best to set up the elaborate display of lemon biscuits she had gotten for her lunch as well as the simple tea party.
It seemed convincing enough.
"Lovely day, ain't it? Lads and lady," she addressed in the most cordial tone she could muster her dark eyes zeroing in on the blonde boy. The edge of his lips curved up in a vile smirk.
"This is the girl I was telling you all about," he said bitterly. "A mudblood orphan," he spat in a tone that seemed to suggest great disgust at her lesser status. There it was. That filthy word again. "And now it seems like she's the help!"
The girl before him laughed obnoxiously loud, the other two boys simply sniggered at his comment.
Alright, you lot of pricks. Nel was even more certain now that she had to do this. They were all officially going on her shit list. She would greatly enjoy what she was about to do.
"Haven't you ever heard of the student service club?" She arched an eyebrow and spoke in the most convincing matter of fact tone she could manage. "If you volunteer you get extra points. We run the Hospitality Trolley. It always passes by right as the train leaves. Everybodyknows that."
"Like house points?" The girl asked sounding terribly confused.
Nel had no idea what house points were. She meant like bonus points to a grade point average, but this could work. "Something like that," she shrugged casually and began pouring the tea into five of the teacups on the trolley.
"That's ridiculous," The blonde scoffed suspiciously. "We haven't even been assigned out houses."
"They count towards it. It's magic," she reasoned in a most convincing argument. "Cheers," She said lifting up the teacup and brining to her lips. Hesitantly at first, they followed suit each grabbing one of the lemon biscuits on the table.
"This tea is cold," The black-haired girl looked at the tea cup she was holding with degust. The water was tinted a yellowish shade of green.
"That's because its Norwegian tea," Nel lied through her teeth sounding as snobbish as possible. She couldn't even point out where Norway was in a map, but as long as she sounded convincing enough that would do the trick.
It was then that the four brought the teacups to their lips. "Why does it taste funny?" The round-faced boy asked grimacing at the taste of the cold tea.
"This is the most god-awful tea I've ever had!" The blonde said with his nose scrunched up in great disgust.
"It takes a while for your pallet to accustom to it. It's a very sophisticated taste," she tried her best not to laugh as she attempted to sound as snobbish as some of the people in cooking shows did.
"Disgusting. You said this was Norwegian?" The girl gagged sticking out her tongue.
She couldn't help it. A squeak escaped Nel's lips. She laughed a little. "You'd say it tastes kind of swampy right?" She said holding on to her tea cup yet not drinking it.
It was then that the four other students realized.
They went mute for a second and a loud croak shattered the silence in the compartment. Their wide eyes all zoomed into the porcelain tea pot. Whatever was inside croaked once again before leaping out of the pot escaping. The blonde dropped the teacup making it shatter on the floor. He gagged reaching for his throat dramatically acting as if he'd been poisoned. The girl that was sitting across from him did the same and instead sprayed out a fountain of toad tea which wet the blonde boy in front of her. She looked horrified, turning a bright shade of scarlet.
The other boys looked nauseous as if they were going to be sick.
Nel lost her cool bursting out in a loud laugh before running out of the room. She wasn't going to stick and find out just what they had planned for her. Her feet loudly stomped down the corridor as she successfully evaded capture. Thankfully the service cart being inside of the compartment slowed them down in their chase.
She ran inside of a compartment and pressed up against the blind spot next to the door's window heaving, her heart racing from the excitement of the chase. Turning to face the people in the compartment she noticed Harry and that red-headed boy they had met earlier. What was his name again, Ron?
"Oh, there you are Harry," she said in a casual airy tone.
She could hear the footsteps of those other kids stomping down the hallway as they looked for her.
"What did you do?" Harry asked with a shocked expression.
It was then that the compartment door slid open. Nel pressed so hard against the wall behind her she could've morphed into it. The girl that had been in the compartment with them stuck her head in and asked if they had seen the culprit. Both Ron and Harry's eyes glued themselves to the culprit who was holding a finger to her lips pleading for both of them to be silent.
The girl left fuming. Laughing loudly Nel plopped down on a seat next to Harry.
"What did you do?" He repeated.
"Somebody pissed me off. So, I went out of my way to make their day," she laughed evilly.
"Who?" Asked Ron curious.
"Dunno," Nel shrugged without mind. It was then that she stretched out her hand across the compartment to Ron.
"Nel Saintday," she smiled brightly. "Pleasure."
Ron's rat squeaked.
The children looked down to see a fat, gray rat which was sitting on Ron's lap.
"Mind Scabbers, he doesn't do anything and is practically useless. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff - I mean, I got Scabbers instead." Ron's ears went pink in embarrassment.
Harry shrugged. "The Dursleys never gave me a proper present either." Harry smiled.
"Same," Nel said sincerely. "Best gift I ever got was an ash tray, and I don't even smoke," she snorted jokingly making both Harry and Ron laugh.
Ron smiled feeling better already.
Moments later a woman complaining someone had stolen one of the trolleys from the front walked in making the girl turn red as she attempted to stiffen her laughter. The woman brought in a trolley filled with a lot full of candy which made the mouth of the children water. Suddenly the girl was regretting giving her lemon biscuits to those toad tea pricks. Ron and Nel would've never said it but both looked at the candy with longing. To their surprise Harry bought the whole thing.
Nel ate so much candy and without shame she felt like she had grown a second stomach. Ron was the same. Even Ron's rat seemed to eat.
"He'd have died, and you wouldn't know the difference," Ron said looking at his rat with disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but it didn't work. Look..." He drew out a battered wand, the unicorn hair poking out of one end.
"Anyway-"
It was then that the compartment opened. Nel flinched getting ready to bounce behind the wall when she assumed it was one of those boys, she had made to drink the toad tea. It was instead the girl with frizzy curly hair from her compartment. She stepped in.
"Ah, there you are Elowen. We were wondering where you went off to," she paused for a moment. "Has anyone seen a toad?" she didn't ask. She demanded to know. "A boy Neville's lost his."
Nel smirked and sniggered slightly. Both Ron and Harry looked at her perplexed before shaking their heads.
Ron continued to practice his spell at a poor attempt to make his wand turn Scabbers yellow which was a major fail.
"Are you sure that's a real spell?" She said in a know-it-all tone. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard. I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" She spoke so fast that it made Nel's head spin.
"Ron Weasley," Ron mumbled.
"Harry Potter."
Her eyes widened with interest at Harry's name. For a moment Nel forgot that Harry Potter was a celebrity in the Wizarding World. Hermione rambled about Harry's accomplishments and bragged about all the books she had read.
"Do you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... Anyway, I better go and look for Neville's toad. You three had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon. Your trunk is still in our compartment Elowen."
With that she left.
"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," Ron said irritably. He tossed his wand aside annoyed that his spell failed. "Fred and George gave it to me; should have known it was a dud."
"What house are your brothers in?" Harry asked curiously.
"Gryffindor, Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad but imagine if they put me in Slytherin." He wrinkled his nose.
"That's the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?" Harry asked.
"Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat.
"What's wrong with Slytherin?" Nel asked. Not mentioning that she had met the head of said house the day before.
"There hasn't' been a single wizard that's gone to Slytherin that isn't a complete git!" Ron said bitterly. It sounded almost personal to him. "Hagrid said they have a reputation, that they've all 'gone bad.'" Harry explained.
Nel gave her house sorting some thought. She wasn't a bad person. She shrugged a little, whatever house she was in it for sure would not be that one. She felt she was too good for it.
Moments later the door opens again. By this point Nel had lowered her guard and had forgotten all about the frog tea she had made those kids drink.
It wasn't the sweets lady or the Granger girl this time. It was that blonde boy she had met at the bookstore. The two boys that resembled his own personal bodyguards standing closely behind. One of them cracking his knuckles ready to pummel her.
Uh-Oh.
"You," He growled out dangerously glaring at the girl.
He was about to say something horrible to her when he noticed the scarred boy that was sitting next to her.
"So, it's true. They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter is in this compartment. So, it's true? It's you, then?"
Harry starred at the three boys at the entrance. The boy flickered his hand at the boys behind him and absently introduced them.
"This is Crabbe and Goyle. And I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."
Ah, so that was his name. Ron gave a slight cough, not quite disguising his snicker. Malfoy stared down his nose at him.
"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford." He looked at Harry. "You'll soon find out that some families are better than others. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort." He looked at Ron and Nel with disgust. "I can help you there."
Ron looked down in embarrassment. Nel leaned back on her seat with an irritated look on her face as she glared at Malfoy crossing her arms over her chest.
"I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks," Harry said cooly making the girl sitting next to him smirk in approval of his response. "Oooh," she laughed at the comment.
"Think that's funny?" He glowered at the girl his ears turning pink from the embarrassment. "I'd be careful if I were you," he warned Harry slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer, you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them either. You hang around riffraff like the Weasleys, Hagrid and this one here long enough, it'll rub off on you."
Ron and Harry leapt to their feet ready to fight.
"Say that again!" Ron demanded, going as red as his hair. "Oh, are you going to fight us now?" Malfoy sneered.
"If you don't get out now," Harry said boldly.
"Hardly seems fair," Nel stood up with a cocky smirk standing between the two parties.
"Three against three? Do you not know how to count?" Malfoy sneered.
She could've sworn she saw one of the boys behind her raise his fingers and begin counting.
"Yeah," She huffed. "But they have me."
One thing Malfoy had underestimated was that you should never cross someone from the streets. Specially if they have nothing to lose. In that moment Nel felt she could've belonged with Nico Shafer's gang of troublemakers. Scrunching her face, she stepped forward and shoved Malfoy as hard as he could making him topple backwards between his friends who also stumbled back barely catching him before falling on his bum. The three staggering out of the compartment.
"Stay away and keep your gorillas away from me Malfoy! Unless you want to find something uglier than a toad next time, you're enjoying a cup of tea!"
He looked aghast at the fact that somebody had actually dared to lay a hand on him. "My father will be hearing about this!" He exclaimed. She rolled her eyes at him. His threat going in through one ear and exiting through the other. With that she slammed the door on their faces and turned around triumphantly.
"You better watch your back Saintday!" Draco leaned in and hissed at her through the window. In response Nel smiled smugly and lowered the blind so she didn't have to look at his pointy face. She heard them retreat with frustrated footsteps.
Harry and Ron starred at her with their eyes wide, mouths ajar in awe. "Some people just can't handle the tea," she smirked.
"Wait- that's who pissed you off?" Harry asked.
"What did you do to him?" Ron asked with his eyes wide.
"You know how that boy's toad is missing?" She smiled wickedly before telling the boys of the success of her vile prank.
Ron was laughing so hard he was holding onto his stomach. It almost looked like he was about to cry. "That's bloody brilliant!" Ron exclaimed falling back on his seat with a broad grin on his face. It was almost as good as the type of prank his twin brothers would've pulled maybe even better.
"Should've seen the look on his face. He could've just died! It was toad-atally awesome," she laughed obnoxiously.
That same night. The students arrived to Hogwarts for the first time. Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom and one of the twins that was in the compartment where Nel had left her trunk were all sorted into Gryffindor. The other twin went to Ravenclaw.
Nel was one of the last ones to be sorted.
The hat didn't even give her a second to participate in the decision-making process. Quickly defining the next seven years and probably the rest of her life.
STARRING
THE ORIGINAL CAST OF THE HARRY POTTER SERIES
with
ELLE FANNING as DAPHNE GREENGRASS
HARRY STYLES as THEODORE NOTT
and
AMANDLA STENBERG as TRACEY DAVIS
AN: What House do you think Nel will be sorted into?