Disclaimer: JKR owns the whole Wizarding World.
Note to Self: First years take the boats.
The only compartment open was one near the end of the train. I barely managed to convince Mariah that we could not saunter in and sit with the handsome blonde boy and his fifth year friends. Instead, we plopped down in our own compartment and spread out along the plush benches.
Mariah was laying on her back, telling me about some of Sara's cute friends she had gotten to meet over the years, when someone knocked and stuck their head in.
"Oi, Mariah, can I sit with you? I dunno where Quentin ran off to." The boy at the door had thick, shaggy black hair same shade and texture as Mariah. Was this another Kniffen?
Mariah nodded and waved her hand. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, bro, whatever. So anyway, Anya, one time…" And she was off, talking much faster than I thought possible.
The Kniffen boy smirked at his sister and rolled his eyes, swinging the door the rest of the way open. Mariah kept on talking as he strolled in, his eyes roving the compartment until he started at the sight of me sitting there. Evidently he hadn't noticed me earlier. I gave him an awkward smile as he turned his head slightly. "Mariah?"
"And he was so cute! Oh- uh, yeah Harls?" She sounded a bit annoyed at being interrupted.
"You have a friend." He spoke much slower and more deliberately than his sister.
"Yes and you have a face, can we move on now?"
I snickered and he gave me a look that said, Can you believe her?
"Anyway, I was saying, I couldn't believe this boy was with Sara of all people so—"
"Mariah," the boy interrupted again.
"What?"
"Who is your friend?"
"Oh," she said, finally understanding why he was still standing in the center of the compartment. "Harley, my mentee Anya. Anya, my uglier twin Harley." Harley shot her a look. She beamed back at him, unruffled.
Ah, so this was the Harley that exploded Mariah's sister's cereal this morning. He didn't look so klutzy, with his confident smile and the same broad shoulders as his older sister.
"Hey." He nodded and sat next to me, since his sister was taking up the whole other side of the compartment.
"Uh, hey."
He cocked his head to the side. "Accent?"
Before I could answer, Mariah squealed from across the compartment, "She's from America!"
"Wicked," he breathed.
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I didn't like Mariah answering my questions for me. "Yeah, uh, my dad went to Hogwarts though, and he really wanted me to go here."
"Really? What house was he in?" asked Harley.
"Hufflepuff."
"And your mum?"
"Muggle."
He nodded. "So have you been raised in the Muggle world? Or the wizarding one?"
"My dad kind of left the wizarding world behind for my mom. So, I know almost nothing about it. Especially in Britain."
Mariah squealed. "He left his whole life behind for your mum? That's so adorable! Isn't that so sweet, Harls?"
Harley sat back in his seat blew his hair off his forehead. "Adorable," he answered, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Just then, the candy trolley came around. Harley and Mariah shelled out enough to split a bag of Bertie Botts Beans and have a chocolate frog each. "Anya?" Mariah asked, turning to me.
I shook my head. It wasn't that I didn't want candy, I did. I just had no money on me.
"Oh come on. I know you want some." Mariah waved around her chocolate frog and grinned at me.
I shrugged and turned out my pockets. "I've got no green." She looked at me funny a moment before I fixed myself. "No money. Or else I would."
Mariah shot her twin a look that was almost imperceptible. Almost. Harley sighed and reached into his pocket. "No, no, really it's fine, you don't have to," I tried to say, but he had already bought a third chocolate frog and the trolley lady was off.
"Catch." Harley smirked and tossed the frog over, strolling back over to plop down next to me once again. "It's fine, by the way," he said when I started to protest.
I smiled shyly. "Well, thanks then."
He nodded kindly as Mariah looked back and forth between us, the look on her face a cross between confusion and repulsion. "Are you…flirting with her, Harley?" she asked, eyes on her brother.
A red flush began creeping up the back of his Harley's neck, but he rolled his eyes to try to hide his embarrassment. He scoffed a bit louder than necessary. "Shut it, Mariah."
"Uh, so anyway," I said, breaking the awkward silence that was ensuing. "Where do you guys think you'll be sorted?"
Mariah looked thoughtful. "Well, Sara is in Gryffindor. But I really don't think we are anything alike, so probably not there."
"Yeah and you won't be in Ravenclaw," Harley added. He turned to me and pretended to whisper. "She's not the brightest."
Mariah shot up in her seat and glared at her brother. "I'm plenty smart actually."
Her brother rolled his eyes. "Yeah right. You thought Canada was a continent."
"I was nine!" she shrieked. "Will you ever let that go?"
"You also thought that Uncle Wendell was part giant."
She whipped her eyes over to me for this one. "That was an innocent mistake. He's huge."
"Anyway," Harley cut in. "It really does no good to speculate. As long as none of us end up in Slytherin, we'll be fine. Those mates are nasty." What was his problem with Slytherin? My dad said he had some good friends in Slytherin. "The Sorting Hat always has surprises up its sleeve, but it won't put you in there if you don't want to be."
"Ha! It doesn't have sleeves! Who's not smart enough to be a Ravenclaw now, huh?" Mariah gave a smug grin and settled back down in her seat.
Harley rolled his eyes and mimed choking his sister, but her eyes were closed, so the threat went unnoticed.
"So what do you want to do?" Mariah asked after a beat. "We've got a long train ride."
"Exploding snap?" Harley offered.
Mariah shook her head. "I don't have the cards."
"Uh, I have cards," I said tentatively. When they looked at me excitedly, I had to add, "Not Exploding Snap cards, just, regular cards. Muggle cards."
Mariah gazed at me curiously. "Muggles have cards too?"
"You guys don't know anything about Muggles do you?"
The both shook their heads.
I sighed and got out my cards, proceeding to show them how to play a variety of Muggle card games, including Go Fish, BS, and Egyptian Ratscrew.
Harley took a special liking to the latter. "Merlin, who knew Muggle games could be so intense," he murmured, not taking his eyes off the ever-growing stack of cards.
Mariah, however, quickly lost interest and went back over to splay herself across the seat opposite us.
A light drizzle started up outside as we played. The clouds were growing ever thicker and darker. I thought I heard a faint roll of thunder from off in the distance. It was definitely going to storm. Halfway through our fourth straight game of Egyptian Ratscrew, a young wizard burst into our compartment, arms flailing.
"Harley! I've been looking everywhere for you mate," he puffed, out of breath. The boy was tall and lanky, with short coppery hair and freckles that dominated his skin. "This third year witch tried to curse me for stepping on the end of her robes. She was barmy." He nearly tripped over his own feet as he stumbled in. I got the feeling he didn't have complete control of his overly long limbs.
Harley ignored his friend until I ended up with the pile, temporarily pausing the game. "What?" he asked, finally looking up.
The redhead boy rolled his eyes and threw himself down next to Harley, making himself comfortable.
"I said there was this third year witch who tried to hex me into next week."
"She should've too," Mariah piped up without looking at the boys. "Merlin knows you deserve a good hexing, Quentin Akers."
Quentin looked offended. "Why Mariah Kniffen, I've no clue what you mean."
She sat up, her black hair even messier than before. "Quentin, you know exactly what I mean. I bet you stepped on that girl's robes on purpose hoping they'd come off."
No answer.
"Pig," Mariah snorted.
Quentin shrugged and looked around, noticing me for the first time. Am I really that invisible? "Hey, I don't know you." Wow he's observant.
"I'm Anya Skelton."
For the third time that day, someone commented on my accent. I swear, if every single person was going to mention it, I was just going to start putting on a fake one.
"America?" he asked.
"China," I answered. He didn't seem to find it as funny as Mariah and Harley did.
"Feisty one, eh?" he said, eyeing me. "I can work with that."
Mariah took off her shoe and chucked it at his head. She barely missed, the shoe clattering harmlessly off the back wall and to the floor. "Bad Quentin. Down. Leave her alone, she's my friend."
He rolled his eyes and tossed the shoe back with better aim than Mariah. "Sod off."
The rest of the train ride went about the same way. Outside, the rain started coming in sheets, drumming heavily on the roof of the train car. By the time we had changed into our robes the sky had taken on a tint of green. Lightning lit up the entire sky while thunder shook me to the bone. It was getting scary.
Once in the station, everybody piled out of the train and made mad dashes to get out of the storm. A rough woman's voice was roaring "FIRST YEARS!" from somewhere, but her voice was whipped around by the wind so much, I couldn't tell where she was. The sky was pitch black and the rain made it hard to see more than a few feet in front of my face. I couldn't even see the lights of the castle. Unable to fight the writhing throng of frantic students around me, I let the masses sweep me away.
Bad idea. Before I knew it, the others were gone and I had no clue where they'd gone.
"Mariah?" I called. I knew they wouldn't be able to get to me, even if they could hear my voice. "Harley? Quentin?"
I was struggling stupidly against the crowd when a large body hip-checked me and sent me sprawling into a muddy puddle. "Oh, sorry mate, here," said a vaguely familiar voice from above my head. Strong arms hoisted me to my feet and started pushing me through the crowd. "This way." I managed to twist uncomfortably around to get a better look at who was helping me. Kolton, the attractive blonde boy who'd helped me load my trunk. Mariah would be jealous.
We came up to a towering carriage with nothing pulling it. The step was high, and I was struggling. I hate being so short. Kolton seemed to notice my dilemma and hoisted me effortlessly up into it. I hate being picked up almost as much as I hate being short. "Wow, you're tiny," he chuckled as he clambered in behind me. Thanks, I hadn't noticed. Two other kids climbed in behind him, about his age, and the carriage began bumping along through the storm.
For the first time Kolton looked over at me and did a double take. "Anya?" he asked tentatively.
I nodded, embarrassed that my robes were all muddy and sopping.
"I thought you were a first year."
"I am."
"Then why are you here?"
Now it was my turn to look confused. "Well, I'm going to Hogwarts. I think," I added.
The girl next to me snickered and I looked over at her. She looked a year or two older than me, with flaming red hair and bright, piercing eyes. A smirk spread across her face as she looked at me. "Are you a muggleborn?"
I shook my head. "Well no, my dad's a wizard. But I grew up in the Muggle world. In St. Louis."
"St. Louis? Isn't that near Cadbury?" The boy across the carriage spoke up from beside Kolton. His blonde hair was spiked up in all directions.
I didn't know where Cadbury was, but I shook my head anyway. "Uh, no, it's in America."
The carriage hit a bump so violently I almost ended up in the redheaded girl's lap. "S-sorry," I stammered, struggling to right myself.
She just snickered again. "So, first year, you a big rule breaker?"
"Am I breaking rules?" I asked stupidly.
She and the blonde boy cracked up laughing, but Kolton shushed them. "Why are you not with the rest of the first years?"
I shrugged. "I kind of lost my friends in the crowd and then I got knocked down and then you helped me to here. Where am I supposed to be?"
"First years are supposed to cross the lake in boats with Madame Wilson. Older kids ride in these carriages."
"Oops."
The two other kids cracked up laughing again. "Can we keep her?" wheezed the redhead girl, pretending to wipe tears from her eyes.
"No, we want her," countered the blonde boy.
I grinned lopsidedly. Even Kolton was smiling now. "Well Anya, if you get sorted into Slytherin, we'll have your back." The girl nodded along.
"Or Ravenclaw," added the blonde boy.
"Thanks," I said, rather shyly. Then something hit me. "Am I missing anything important? Will I get in trouble?"
"Afraid of trouble?" smirked the girl.
"No I'd just rather be prepared with a good excuse."
Kolton nodded. "Smart. I like that. And no, you really aren't missing a lot. Joelle and I will help sneak you up to the platform with the rest of the first years before anyone even notices you're gone." Joelle, the redhead, nodded.
I smiled gratefully and wrapped my robes tighter around me, shivering from the dampness and the chill of the air. Suddenly I realized I was being stupid. I was a witch, wasn't I? I pulled out my wand and performed a simple drying spell. "There." I looked up to find the others staring at me. "What?"
"How'd you do that?" asked the blonde boy.
"Magic?"
Joelle snickered. She seemed to do that a lot.
"First years aren't supposed to know any spells."
I shrugged. "My dad taught me."
Kolton looked at me with grudging respect. "Impressive."
"Thanks."
"No problem." He smiled his dazzling smile that had made Mariah swoon earlier and sat back in his seat. He and the other two began chatting about classes as I gazed out the window. The rain was lightening up as the storm began moving away. Hogwarts castle began floating out of the darkness as we drew nearer. It was even more magnificent than I imagined. Massive towers reached to dizzying heights, so far up I couldn't see the tips. Warm glowing windows shone in welcome. From here I could just make out little shadows struggling across the churning lake. Those must be the rest of the first years, where I was supposed to be. Oh well, I would rather be dry in here than risking falling in the lake out there.
A/N: Wow Anya, you really are pretty clueless aren't you? So any guesses on her house anyone? I know.
