CATTLEYA'S POV
Cat was simply excited. She was standing on Platform 9 3/4 with Keikoku, ready to board the train. Mrs Bones, who had kindly agreed to take care of Keikoku while Cat was at school stood beside them so as to leave them space.
"- Hey, Kei, promise you'll be good with Mrs Bones. She looks really decent you know?
-…
- I'll take it as a yes then. And don't cry while I'm away! Men don't cry you, know that.
-…
- Mrs Bones said that she will bring you to Hogsmeade every time a day there is planned, so that I can spend it with you.
-…
-Well then I guess I'd better get on the train, it's bound to leave in a minute now. "
Cat did not mind her brother's attitude in the slightest. He was just weird that way, but she had seen how fiercely protective of her he could be at times. Remembering the time he had nearly bitten the finger off of a guy who had tried hitting on her a bit too much, she smiled. She knelt by his side and hugged him. Not expecting him to return the hug, she started getting up, but then she felt something wet on her neck as he put his small arms around her.
"Stupid little brother, she whispered to his ear so that none but him could hear, that's why I told you not to cry."
But truth, was, she was not far from crying herself. He had been travelling with her almost since she had left her family, they had stuck together 24/24 and it would be the first time in 3 years they would be separated.
She found an empty compartment for herself, went to the window to wave Keikoku goodbye one last time, and the train departed.
AAAhhhhh this is so cool. I wonder how the other kids will be.
At home, Cat had always been alone. The clan was rather big and there were some children her age, but never had she enjoyed the company of someone her age as much as her teachers' and parents'. She had started reading a book which title read "The lord of the ring" when the door of her compartment slid open.
"- Come on, this one's usually empty, a boy's voice came
- Charlus, really, I'd rather not… the girl answered
- Come on…
-Mmmm"
Cat watched as the boy crushed the girl to the door of the compartment and started kissing her.
"Charlus…stop…you're being a bad boy…No, let me go" she giggled, trying to wither away.
He held her arms as if to stop her from fighting him and pinned them to the door with force, leaning deeper in the kiss.
That was more than Cat could watch. She crossed the alley, seized the boy's right shoulder, and made him spin so that they were face to face.
"-HEY YOU! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING? KISSING A GIRL AGAINST HER WILL! THAT'S SO FOUL!
Obviously, the boy had not expected to be interrupted, for he simply watched Cat, his jaw hanging slightly.
-Um… you know, it was not really against my will, surely you understand, the girl giggled again
- IT'S OK! NO NEED TO MAKE EXCUSES FOR THAT PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A MAN"
And with that she threw her fist at the boy's face, where it collided with a very unpleasant noise. So much for respect on a first encounter, really.
-And don't ever let me see you do that again
Cat shoved the boy out of her way and went to the girl. She seized both her shoulders and looked at her with concern obviously showing in her eyes.
-Hey, are you OK? Are you hurt?"
But before the girl could answer, the door slid open once more and a tall, young dark-haired boy entered the compartment.
-What's the matter here? A smooth voice called
-Nothing Riddle, the boy answered, everything's fine don't bother, Charlus quickly said, jumping to his feet.
- Yes everything's fine, that's why you're covered in blood I suppose? I recommend you to tell me the truth, he said sounding annoyed.
Charlus opend his mouth but was interrupted by an angry Cat:
- This boy here, Cat said pointing an accusing finger at Charlus, was trying to kiss this girl, she said pointing at the girl, against her will.
The dark haired boy raised an amused eyebrow at Charlus.
- Were you now, Potter?
Charlus opend his mouth but was interrupted by his confused girlfriend:
-I think this is all a big misunderstanding, really… Charlus wasn't doing anything against my will…
-SEE? He scared her so much that she does not dare speak the truth! Take that"
And she shoved her foot in his stomach. Charlus crumpled to the floor, a rather pained look on his face. Cat stormed out of the compartment. Meanwhile, Riddle was not taking keenly to be ignored and followed her out.
-Excuse me Miss…
Cat suddenly seemed to remember where she was. She bowed her head to the boy.
-Mi bu. Mibu Cattleya. I am deeply sorry for the commotion, sir. But I will not take such things lightly; she raised her head and looked the boy straight in the eyes
-It is not your place to do so. I hardly believe a punch in the nose and the stomach are appropriate…erm…punishment there. You should have called a prefect. Moreover, I believe you were mistaken to think -
But he was interrupted
-I can't believe it! Men are the same wherever you go, really! You're siding with him!
-Miss Mibu, do. NOT. Interrupt me. I am not siding with anyone; merely trying to tell you that muggle fighting will not be tolerated –
-Meaning if I had cursed him you would stop nagging me?
TOM'S POV
Tom was quietly walking down the train. Newly appointed Head Boy, he wanted to make sure everything was going smoothly before assembling the prefects. He liked to have things under control.
That's when he heard a girl shout. Heading to the compartment, he opened the door to see the 7th year Charlus Potter on the floor holding his apparently broken nose and the 6th year Adele Hook, looking completely bewildered while a girl was shaking her thoroughly.
-What's the matter here? He called, annoyed that things were going wrong so early. God, the Gryffondors, what a loud, trouble-seeking, useless lot, all of them.
- Nothing Riddle, everything's fine, don't bother.
The Potter boy had said, still holding his nose and jumping to his feet.
He then had to endure the unknown girl rambling about how Potter had aggressed Hook and when said girl had demented it, the girl had shouted something about intimidation, punched Potter in the guts and stormed out. Now, as much as he loved seeing Potter being brought to his knees by a girl, he could not let her walk out of the compartment without a proper explanation. Obviously, the girl did not who made the rules.
That was when the girl, Mibu she said she was called, had interrupted him, something he did not like. Not at all, really. AND she had accused him of siding with Potter. Of SIDING with POTTER!
-Miss Mibu, do. NOT. Interrupt me. I am not siding with anyone; merely trying to tell you that muggle fighting will not be tolerated –
-Meaning if I had cursed him you would stop nagging me?
He could see the angry sparks in her eyes. His narrowed.
-Miss Mibu, which house do you belong to? He asked calmly
-I'm new here; I have not been sorted yet. I hardly see where that comes in in the present case, she had said in a regal way, eying him as if from above when she clearly was much smaller.
Well, that explained that he had never seen her before. He smirked to himself. At first, people would always take him lightly, mistaking his politeness for weakness. But them, without even touching them, he could make them scared. Just by his tone and the look in his eyes, really. He didn't even need to threaten them, most of the time. He would need to take care of the girl. Corridor was empty, that was all good.
-Miss Mibu, he said in his coldest voice.
As he was saying the words, he walked slowly towards her, hands behind his back, his expression blank. He expected her to take steps back whenever his took step forth but she stood her ground. Very well, he decided. His eyes were fixed to hers, when he was a mere inches from her face, he whispered:
-Let. Me. tell you. how things work at Hogwarts.
CATTLEYA S POV
Cat watched as the boy approached. She was curious as why he was getting so close. But right now, it didn't matter. She was so angry!
- You don't understand! Oviously, she waved a finger at his now oh-so-close face, no one has EVER tried to kiss you by force!
TOM's POV
Well, no indeed, no one had never… But that was not the point. He frowned. What exactly did she mean by that? He could not see sarcasm in her eyes, only anger. He shrugged. Obviously, she was one of those who believe in righteousness, roar at the slightest sight of "injustice" and nonsense like that… She was bound to be sorted in Gyffondor, he thought.
In the meantime, it annoyed him to have to deal with her when all he wanted was for things to go smoothly. By the look of it she was a filthy muggle born, she had not even taken out her wand to fight. He smirked. He could teach her not to waste his time anymore…
But then he heard footsteps and Potter was here again, this time followed by quite a lot of people.
-Hey, what's happening?
- I was just about to give Miss Mibu here a detention for attacking you, Potter. And now, everyone goes back to their compartment! he called, a little bit louder, yet not shouting. He did not need to shout to assert his authority on them. Everyone went back to their compartment at once. The Mibu girl shrugged and did the same. He scowled.
CATTLEYAS POV
Really, people were so weird. She sighed. She missed her world.
As she reentered her compartment, she saw the girl from before rushing at her.
- Umm… Could I ask you who you are?
- Mibu Cattleya. I am new here. I come from Japan. I am sorry for before, are you really OK?
-Mibu Cattleya? Do you actually say your last name before your first one when you introduce yourself? She chuckled
Arrrgh! Dumbledore had told her to do it the other way around! Why did she have to keep forgetting what he said?
- Well, I come from Japan. People introduce themselves that way…
-JAPAN! That's so cool! Much cooler than France or anywhere in Europe! But you don't look Japanese at all!
- I was born in a very old family, that, it is said, comes from Europe.
Cat hated to lie; She hated everything about it, the guilty feeling in her stomach, the need to memorize lies when truth just came out naturally, the innocent look on the other one's face. She especially hated to lie about her family, but that was necessary.
-I see! Well, I'm Adele, Adele Hook. Thanks for trying to protect me earlier, but really, Charlus and I are going out, I was just trying to spice up things a little, she finished, giggling and winking. Could you apologize to him please?
What was that supposed to mean? Was she pretending not to want to be kissed when really, she did? In her world, women had no rights. No one cared if one was taken against her will, no one cared if a man beat one half to death. During her journey she had seen many trying to resist when they could not, and Cat had always put an end to it when possible. It had really looked as if the boy had enjoyed the act, the power he was having on the girl, and she would NOT forgive him that.
She turned to find herself face to face to said boy.
-Hey… Look, I'm really sorry about the misunderstanding. It was just a little game.
-Miss Hook already told me. I apologize for hitting you for no reason.
She breathed in heavily and bent her back slowly until she could not see his face anymore.
-Please, accept the apology.
Yes, please accept, or I'm screwed.
CHARLUS POV
Wow the girl was weird.
First, when he had thought the compartment empty, she had practically accused him of rape. God, that so disgusted him. He did enjoy the game he was playing with Adele, but he would never touch a woman, let alone play dominant with her, against her will.
Then she had broken his nose with her punch. That was the worst part. Charlus had always been good at muggle fighting and was rather proud of it when so many wizards were completely useless without their wands. And this girl had punched him straight in the face. He had not seen it coming, and had a feeling that even if he did, it wouldn't have done him much good. Her aim was very good and she was much stronger than he expected from a girl.
Then Riddle had arrived, seen the blood, and the girl had repeated her accusation and kicked him AGAIN. And he couldn't avoid it AGAIN. And then she had stormed out without a word.
And now she was bowing to him in apology? Gee!
But he had overheard her telling Adele she came from Japan, and he knew that people here were, well, different.
-OK OK apology accepted! Just stop bowing, that's embarrassing.
CATTLEYA'S POV
Cat felt relieved. Her parents had always told her not to apologize if she didn't mean it from the bottom of her heart, but what else could she do? The boy had done nothing wrong and yet, she could not help but feeling disgusted by what she had witnessed.
And if he didn't accept her apology, she would have to make it up to him. Again, something her parents had engraved in her. Therefore, she was relieved to hear he was OK, and to see in his eyes that he meant it.
-Good, then let us not discuss the matter anymore.
CHARLU'S POV
- So, umm, you're from Japan? He was trying to make the girl feel at ease, but she unnerved him.
- You know, you don't have to pretend that you actually want to talk to me just to break the silence, she answered from behind her book.
Adele laughed. Charlus rolled his eyes. Really, Hook was useless, well she was a nice girl, but had the brains of a squirrel. On the other hand, he did not know how to handle the Mibu girl. She was like a sword with no guard.
And so they remained silent for the rest of the travel. He was extremely uncomfortable with uncomfortable silence but the girl seemed to take no notice of his uneasiness or of Adele's occasional giggles. Please someone shut her up.
Well, the only thing he could do was stare at her. Not that he was not enjoying the sight. He remembered how strong she was and decided she was a sportive. He liked sportive ones, their long legs, their flat stomach… He shook his head, turning his attention back to the girl. She was sitting with her back straight and head high. However, there was nothing arrogant in her attitude, she looked quite relaxed and emitted quite the purposeful, powerful aura. He was fascinated by her glossy, jet black hair that looked so supple and soft to the touch and he wondered how it would feel to put his hand in her loose locks. He was fascinated about everything about her, actually. How she had punched him, her blunt honesty, her strange beauty. He started chewing at his bottom lips, wondering whether she was still innocent.
CATTLEYAS POV
THANK GOD WE'RE HERE she thought to herself as the train stopped. She hated the boy's stare, it made her feel dirty. She would have punched him again except for the fact that there was no good reason to do so and that would lend her in trouble. She made a quick escape.
TOM'S POV
Toms' attention was far from being fixed on the sorting. He had done his duty as Head Boy and was now enjoying dinner, still smirking at the look on his comrade's face as he had told them about his summer. About his father. He had showed them the ring.
Now, he didn't want everyone to know, just those 4 on whom he had most influence. That would scare them. Yes, let them know what he could do to them if they…angered him. Not that they did not know of course. They knew he had opened the Chamber. They had suffered his displeasure on several occasions, but the killing curse was something else.
Now, all the first years were sorted, but Headmaster Dippet rose and addressed them in this way.
"Well, now that our precious first years have been sorted, let me introduce you another new student. She comes from Japan and will be in 7th year. Please, give her a warm welcome once she is sorted." And he nodded towards the Hat.
He surveyed her as she walked to the Hat, wondering lazily whether he would give her a lesson or not. Honestly, he had pretty much forgotten about what had happened in the train already and had better things to do. He bent over to his faithful friends and told them "Gryffondor", then resumed his watching. The second the Hat touched her hair, it shouted "Gryffondor" and Tom continued looking at her. He did not need to look at them, he knew they were, once again, staring at him in awe, wondering how he knew this. That was too easy, really, he told himself, almost wishing for a bit of challenge.