Her head is pounding furiously when she finally comes to, and Ana lets out a small groan, wishing that she had been allowed to bring ambrosia with her. Instead, she squeezes her eyes shut and takes a deep breath, exhaling slowly in order to center herself and relax. She hears the shuffle of feet around her, making her open her eyes to see the intruders. Blearily Ana sees the faces of Hermione, Harry, and Ron. Some new faces are among them, but she did notice that Mr. R.J. Lupin was no longer in the vicinity.
"Her-" Ana cough and try again, clearing her throat. "Hermione? What just happened?"
She looks away from where she was trying to comfort Harry, giving Ana a look of concern, "Those were dementors. They were looking to see if Sirius Black stowed away on the train… But it seems like they took to their job a little too eagerly. Those nasty things, both you and Harry fainted when they came in…" Tears well up in her eyes, a shiver running down her spine as she sees the recent events play in her mind again.
Ana looks at Harry, his pale demeanor shaken, his jade eyes haunted. Ana reaches out across the carriage and take his hand, jolting him from his thoughts. "You okay, kid? What happened just now? All I remember is hearing voices, and feeling this deep dark sensation settle within me…"
His eyes are searching her face, and whatever it is he's looking for seems to please him the tiniest bit. He squeezes her hand, "I heard screaming… my mum… and a flash of green light."
Hermione inhales sharply, grabbing his other hand to comfort him. She nibbles on her lip, "Dementors… they're nasty for a reason. They make you live out your darkest memories, your worst nightmares. They take all your happy memories… They consume your soul…" She finishes off in a whisper, horrified at how close we were. Ana sees that everyone around Ana is stark white, a greenish hue in their pallor.
The new kids who have joined us, they didn't look any older than 13. She's shook to her core at how careless the wizarding world is. Ana didn't come from something any better, much worse, but Ana was hoping for something good. Something different.
Ana sighs, wrapping her arms around her body after letting go of Harry's hand. She takes a deep breath before smiling at the new kids. "Hello everyone, name's Analuisa. And you all are?"
Ana takes in the ginger hair, suspicious hazel eyes, and kind smile. Looked suspiciously similar to Ron. "Ginny Weasley." Ana nods, checking off the connection.
The new boy had dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, looked very much uncomfortable in his clothing. "Hullo, I'm N-Neville Longbottom. Pleasure." He blushes a little at Ana, obviously anxious around new people. She sends him a smile in response, deepening his blush.
"Luna Lovegood." She stands out the most, the only blonde, her hair shimmering even in the pale light, her eyes an iridescent grey/blue. Radish earrings are hanging from her ears. Ana decides she quite likes Luna Lovegood.
"It's a pleasure to meet you all, although perhaps not under the right circumstances," Ana smile politely at them, trying to lighten the mood.
Ginny snorts a little, Neville's blushing grows even darker, and Luna looks at Ana serenely. Luna opens her mouth, pausing once her eyes becoming slightly unfocused as she speaks, "You as well, Daughter of Wise."
Ana's face freezes. Their eyes connect. Whatever it is that she knows, Ana needed to find out. My eyes hold questions for her, one being to not say anything else. She nods and proceeds to look out the window, the passing trees barely able to be seen in the stark darkness of the night. Ana decides then and there, Luna and her were going to have fun together.
When she finally looks away from her, everyone is staring at them, with varying facial reactions. Neville, Harry, and Hermione looking confused and bewildered. Ron and Ginny leaning towards exasperated. Ron leans in almost conspiringly, whispering to them in a not too hushed tone, "She's a bit mental that one, they call her Loony Lovegood, ya know?" His eyes flicker to Luna, wincing when Ginny hits him on the head.
Ana scowls a little at him, "Just because you don't understand her doesn't mean you can make fun of her, Ronald. She simply views thing through a different lens." A very clear one, Ana tells herself. He splutters a bit, either at Ana chastising him or at the fact she called him 'Ronald'.
Ginny gives Ana an approving look. Harry and Neville just shrug, not caring about Luna's eccentrics. Hermione… not being as convinced, but she shrugs it off, "Anyway, boys, shoo out of the carriage, we must get changed before we arrive to Hogsmeade." The three of them blush, but Harry and Ron try to mask any of their feelings by groaning at the prospect of getting up.
Once they've left the compartment, Ginny and Luna leaving as well since they left their trunks in a different compartment, Hermione and Ana begin the silent task of changing. As Ana is wrapping her tie around her neck, Hermione gasps sharply, making Ana turn around quickly, stumbling into her as she had walked up behind her. "I'm so sorry," she says. "Mr. Lupin told me to give you this piece of chocolate once you woke up, but I forgot." She looks at her guilty, handing her half a chocolate bar.
Ana grabs it gently from her hands, staring at it curiously before looking at her, "Umm it's okay… but what is it supposed to do?" It looks like a regular bar of chocolate. She breaks off a smaller piece, eating it slowly as she begins to feel remnants of depression and loneliness leave her body, making Ana relax.
"It's supposed to help you recover from the dementor attack, the sugar ups your feelings, replenishes your energy…" She looks frazzled at her response, as though she was wracking her head for a better one. Ana simply smiles and nods at her, "That makes sense, I do feel better after eating some. Thank you, Hermione. Better late than never! Speaking of… We better hurry so that the boys can come back in here and get dressed as well." We both finish up quickly before unlocking the door, poking our heads out to let the boys know they can come in and change, switching places.
"So, what house do you think you'll join?" Hermione asks Ana, curious eyes landing on her face as Ana leans against the wall before sliding down and sitting in the hall.
"Hmm… I'm not sure," she shrugs. "Maybe Ravenclaw, possibly Slytherin." Ana places her elbow on her knee, resting her chin in her palm as she stares at Hermione, her face slipping into shock at the word Slytherin.
"Sly-Slytherin? Why them?"
"Well, you did say they're for the cunning and ambitious. I feel like I fit that quite well. You don't know me just yet, but I can pull off a mean prank when I want to." Ana wink at her, making her relax a little.
"Oh, I suppose that makes sense… Analuisa? Do you mind if I ask why you're just now coming to school? At this point you'll only have three years of schooling. Do you think you can catch up?" It's cute how concerned she is for her academic wellbeing.
Ana pats her hand as she sits next to Ana, "I'll be fine, 'Mione, I've always had a knack for getting up to speed on my studies, it's nothing to worry about. And my reason for joining school this late? It's a little complicated, and I can't get into the details, but my mom finally explained my heritage and culture from my father's side after all these years and I decided to come see it for myself." Ana shrug at her, telling a skewed version of the truth.
She wrinkles her nose a little at the nickname Ana has given her before nodding at her story, accepting it – "Will you tell me eventually?" – for now.
Ana sigh and smile at her, "You betcha. Now what's taking those boys so long?" Ana hops onto her feet and knocks on the door, "Hey kiddos, what's taking so long?" Ana hears soft hissing come through the door and her eyes grow comically huge. Without thinking Ana pushes the door open and catches Ron in the middle of pulling his vest over his head.
Hecate is tucked into Harry's cupped hands, soaking in his warmth as she hisses angrily and sadly. "Hecate! Oh my, I'm so sorry girl, I didn't mean it, just a lot happened at once." Ana gently snatches her from Harry's hands, her tail wrapping around her wrist as Ana kiss her head, snuggling her to her chest. She hisses angrily at Ana, "I know, I know, I'll never forget you again, but you have to admit that was a little traumatizing." Her hisses turn from mad to sad, "Yes, I know, but I'm okay now, just new things, more memories adding to the list of traumatizing soon to turn normal." She hisses angrily, whipping her tail against her wrist, "Ouch! Okay, I'm sorry, you know I'm trying to stop normalizing these experiences." She nods curtly at Ana and she takes her finger and rubs it down Hecate's head lightly, kissing where Ana the top of it. "How 'bout you stay on me for the rest of the night, yeah? I think that might be best." Without responding she slithers up her arm and drapes herself around her neck, hiding in the folds on her clothes.
Ana makes sure she's situated and when she finally look up, she see three sets of eyes on her, "What?"
Harry splutters a little, "How did you communicate with her? You don't know Parseltongue!" The other two nodding in astonishment.
Ana shrug, "I don't need to be a Parselmouth in order to understand my familiar. We're connected via magic, and as a result I can sense her emotions, and I can almost sense what she's thinking. It's hard to explain."
Harry looks thoughtful at this, looking up at the snowy owl sitting above us, hooting softly, "Yeah, I think I understand. I didn't know that's what was happening between us, Hedwig." A soft hoot resounds from her, sounding like a confirmation. "Well, that's neat, we'll have to work on it, alright girl?" He reaches up and softly scratches her chest wings, making her purr – if owls could purr… can they? That's definitely a first for Ana.
As we're all about to sit down for the remainder of the ride, the train comes to a soft stop, the whistle echoing around us.
Ana looks at her new friends, a smile spreading, "Well, looks like a new adventure awaits us, boys and girls."
ayo
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oterol
