Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Lila woke to meet the five girls all clad in black and yellow robes surrounding her bed, speaking to each other in hushed tones.
"Who do you suppose she is?" a brassy haired girl with thick rimmed glasses asked her cohorts.
"I haven't the foggiest," a rather plumb girl with frizzy brown hair replied, her voice almost cruel.
"I'm Li- Charlotte Hawkins," Lila replied, cursing herself inwardly for almost revealing her true identity, "I've just started, because my parents have passed away."
The girls stared at her, apparently trying to decide whether or not to believe her, when suddenly a rosy-cheeked blonde girl spoke up, "Honestly, she's clearly in our house now, and thank Merlin, it's been forever since Hufflepuff has had any good gossip," The girl smiled warmly at Lila before extending her hand, "I'm Cassandra Lockwood."
After that, Lila struggled to keep track of the girls' names, there was Penelope Bushman, a thin girl with freckled skin and blazing red hair who preferred to go by Penny. Penny had advised her to steer clear of the Slytherins as more often than not they were up to no good.
Jeanette Loxima, whom had tanned skin and curly black hair, who told her all the best make-out spots at Hogsmede, to which the other Hufflepuffs snorted.
Veronica Waxworth, the chubby girl who had spoken earlier, warned her not to be out past curfew, or go into the forbidden forest, for it would look awful on the whole house if the new girl got into trouble,
Serena Weaver, the brassy haired girl who had first spoken, merely expressed her sympathy over Lila's parents supposed death by giving her a warm embrace.
When introductions were finished, Lila got up to shower and get ready for the day, and the others did the same. Lila turned on the shower with a tap of her wand and let the water wash away her worries, You are here now Lila, there must be a reason, she thought to herself as she turned off the shower, and made her way back to the dorm, feeling refreshed and ready to start her day.
It suddenly struck Lila that she might not have any clothes here in 1955, "Dung," she hissed under her breath, as she ran a hand through her hair. Her fear was in vain though, because sitting at the end of her bed was a black and gold trunk with a lovely badger lock, keeping it closed.
Tapping the trunk three times with her wand, as she had grown custom to doing in her years at Hogwarts, the trunk opened and inside Lila discovered her timetable and a short note, that read;
"Dear Miss Hawkins,
I've managed to get a hold of everything a seventh year would need, along with a few pairs of robes, the Headmaster recommends that you head out to Hogsmede this weekend and buy a few more with funds the school will provide you with. I expect your days at Hogwarts to be magical.
Sincerely,
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore"
Lila quickly stashed the letter away in the trunk and pulled out a pair of standard black work robes with the Hufflepuff crest dazzling proudly on the front.
After slipping into her robes and casting a few glamor charms to fix her hair, Lila was ready for the day.
Lila walked down to the Great Hall with Cassandra, who seemed to be very interested in befriending her, "My mother was a Slytherin and my father was a Hufflepuff, I suppose I know which of the two I'm most like," she said with a bright smile, "What about you?"
Lila smiled lightly at the girl, "My parents both went to Beuxbatons," she lied, "They were both of French decent and their parents didn't want them to go to any other school."
Cassandra nodded, "I know what you mean, my grandparents are old English purebloods, and they definitely did not want my folks to go anywhere but here,"
Lila was about to reply, but the two had already made it to the Great Hall, and it appeared that nearly everyone was staring at them.
"Damn," Cassandra cursed, "I didn't think the school would react like this," just as she said that, the entirety of the Hall turned to their house and began to whisper things Lila couldn't make out, "That is more like it," Cassandra laughed, directing Lila to a seat at the Hufflepuff table, which seemed to be the only table that wasn't in on the whispers.
"Word travels fast in our house," Cassandra said jokingly.
Lila took her place next to Cassandra and a boy she didn't know, he immediately turned to her with an arrogant smile, "I'm Greg Masters," he drawled, extending a hand while the other ran through his chestnut hair, "I'm the Hufflepuff seeker and easily yours," his gray eyes were serious, but Lila couldn't help but wonder if he was joking.
"Bugger off Greg," Cassandra said with a flip of her hair before turning to Lila, "Don't worry Charlotte, he does that to everyone, I even caught him hitting on a third year a few days ago," her blue eyes were bright with the air of gossip, "Not just any third year either, his second cousin, whom by the way is a half-blood," she snickered.
At the mention of this, another boy patted Greg on the back, "I'm sure little Violet was more than willing to flirt with her cousin, after all it would improve her families social standings." The boy who approached was tall and a bit more muscular than the thin Greg and his caramel hair offset his emerald eyes perfectly.
Lila felt a bit uncomfortable with where the conversation was going, it all felt rather Slytherin to be discussing blood purity and such things.
Cassandra could apparently tell this, for she interrupted the two boys in the middle of a purity discussion, "Sorry Charlotte, we each have at least one Slytherin parent, and they all expect that we'll marry purebloods, except we aren't usually this rude about it," Cassandra looked fairly embarrassed.
"It's fine, I understand," Lila said, quick to smooth the situation over, "I'm Charlotte Hawkins by the way," she said to Greg and the boy she hadn't been introduced to yet.
"Oh right," he said jokingly, "I'm Cornelius Fudge, but everybody calls me Neil," he smiled at her and Lila's eyes went wide, Could this really be the infamous Cornelius Fudge?, Lila thought to herself, while she struggled to find a response.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," Lila replied, her voice sounding hoarse with shock.
Cornelius stared at her curiously, "I suggest we go to class, come along, we'll get you every where in time, let me see your time table," he held out his hand expectantly and in it Lila placed a piece of parchment that held her class schedule.
"Hmm," he said after a moment of examining her schedule, "You have charms and ancient runes with Cassandra, defense against the dark arts with me, muggle art by yourself, and double potions with Greg."
"You're taking muggle art?" Cassandra snorted, "At NEWT level?"
"Yes," Lila said, nodding, "I find it to be relaxing," she clarified with a smile.
XxXxX
It wasn't long after that, that Cassandra and Lila found themselves in charms class, taught by Professor Lizington.
It was a rather boring class,and Lila found herself longing for the warm words of Professor Flitwick, as he nearly fell off his stool with excitement of the subject.
"Miss Hawkins, can you tell me a quick way to put out a fire or create a block of ice?" Professor Lizington asked, during the middle of one of Lila's daydreams, "Or are you too busy not paying attention?"
Lila perked up at this, drawing from her day dream in one swift shake of the head, "Glacius would do that for you professor," Lila said quietly, remembering the teacher mentioning it earlier in the lesson, "I'm sorry," she said, more as an after thought than an actual apology.
This seemed to appease the professor and she moved on.
Ancient Runes was another story completely, Professor Donaldson merely handed out a parchment with runes on it and asked them to decipher it.
"So you, Greg, and Cornelius have been friends for a while?" Lila asked, honestly curious how the three had just ended up friends.
"Yeah, I mean our parents are all friends, so we've known each other since we were kids," Cassandra said as she filled up the work sheet, "I suppose it just happened," she said laughing.
Lila nodded and just wrote a few more translations down, just as the bell rang for them to continue on to their next class.
