"You're Harry's cousin, aren't you?"
Darla looked up. She'd been tying her shoe excited to start a day of classes. The girl she had seen the night before with the red hair was standing beside her. She now knew her name was Ginny Weasley, she was Harry's friends sister. Darla nodded and stood up.
"I'm glad he wasn't expelled for flying that car." Darla said. "He missed my sorting, I don't even think he knows I'm here yet."
"My mum isn't going to be happy they did that." Ginny said with a smile. "I can't believe they did that. We got to the train station late so maybe they missed the train and thought they'd drive the car. Mum wasn't too happy when the twins and Ron used it to get Harry from your place."
Darla had trouble believing that Harry would want to drive or fly the car to school. He must have been a lot different from the boy she knew at home when he was at Hogwarts with his friends. She remembered the night before after the sorting. She'd been eating wondering where Harry was when people started whispering around her.
"You know Harry Potter? He was expelled for flying a car to school with his friend!"
Darla had barely eaten the rest of the night, she had finally gotten her dream and Harry wasn't even there to share it. Then later that night after the prefect who was also a Weasley led them to the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry and Ron both appeared happy. Darla had tried calling out his name to get to him but he ran to the boys dorms and disappeared.
Now it was the next morning, the first day of classes and Darla wanted him to see her that day. She hoped she would get a chance to talk to him. She wanted to know why he flew a car to school and she just really wanted to see him.
"How did you know who I was?" Darla asked as the two girls left the dormitory.
"Your name." She answered. "Harry told us about your parents and brother, how they didn't seem like to magic or him. He told us you were the only one in the house that would talk to him. He told us how you wished you could be a witch too."
Darla noticed she blushed a lot when she said Harry's name. They both realized that they had no idea how to get to the Great Hall so they followed a group of older girls out of the Common Room. Darla liked the Common Room it was very large and round with a lot of squashy arm chairs around the room. It looked like a really cozy place to be, she wondered what the Hufflepuff Common Room looked like since she almost ended up there.
She hoped talking to Ginny Weasley, whose older brother was best friends with Harry would help her chances in finding and talking to him quicker. They followed the girls all the way to the Great Hall. When they entered the Great Hall, Ginny pointed ahead where both Harry and Ron (Darla guessed it Ron, the boy had the same flaming red hair Ginny had) were just sitting down with a girl who had very bushy brown hair. They quickly made their way over to them. The girl was reading a book while Ron and Harry were looking around the Great Hall talking.
"Ahem." Ginny said.
Both boys looked up at them when the girls stopped across from them at the Gryffindor table. Ginny blushed when Harry looked at her and quickly took her seat. Harry's eyes fell on Darla and his mouth fell open.
"Darla?" Harry asked. "You're here? How?"
She was about to answer when a bunch of owls flew into the Great Hall, delivering everyone's mail. She stared up for a moment before looking back at Harry.
"It turns out I really am a witch." Darla answered trying to ignore the distraction. "I got a letter the day after you left. Mum and dad aren't pleased."
"No I expect they wouldn't be." Harry said. "I'm surprised that they let-"
"Oh no!" Ron exclaimed as a very old owl fell into some milk causing everyone to get wet.
"It's all right." Hermione said who had been staring at Darla while she and Harry talked. "He's still alive."
"It's not that- it's that!" Ron said.
Darla looked to where he was pointing and saw a red envelope. What could be wrong with an envelope? She looked at Harry for an explanation but he didn't seem to know either. He was looking at Ron and the envelope now, seeming to forget her while another boy was telling Ron to open it. Darla looked at Ginny now who was watching the envelope too with a very red face. Suddenly a loud sound filled the whole room making everything rattle on the tables and dust fall from the ceiling and walls. A loud shouting voice was echoing around the room:
"STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BENN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT UNTIL I GET A HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT HAD GONE, A LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE FROM SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD HAVE BOTH DIED, I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED, YOUR FATHER FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK AND IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOW OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME!"
Darla felt shaky listening to the voice even though it had nothing to do with her. Ron, Ginny and Harry all had red faces. Ron had slumped so low in his chair so that only his forehead was visible. The girl closed her book and looked at Ron.
"Well, I don't know what you expected, Ron, but you-"
"Don't tell me I deserved it." Ron snapped.
Looking away Darla looked back at Harry who was still red in the face.
"So-so is this normal for Hogwarts?" She asked.
He smiled. "Almost." He answered. "Listen, you'll have to tell me what happened at lunch. I can't believe you are here. In the meantime, Ginny is friendly."
Ginny blushed even more than she already was when Harry looked at her. Darla had a feeling that Ginny liked her cousin a lot. Professor McGonagall was walking down the table handing out time tables. She gave Darla a small smile as she handed her her time table and kept moving down the table. Darla glanced back at Ginny who was staring at her time table, she looked happy to have a distraction.
"We're going to go." Harry told Darla. "We'll meet you back here at lunch."
"Come on." Ginny muttered to Darla, "The others are going."
They got up as the other first years got up. Darla saw the mousy haired boy talking to another boy about photo's. She thought she heard Harry's name a couple times. He was already moving down the table with Ron and the girl who Darla was now assuming was Hermione. There were three other girls and five boys in the Gryffindor first year. Darla didn't know all of there names yet.
"We have Lockhart first." A girl was saying in a dreamy voice to the two other girls. "He is so handsome."
"Lockhart?" Darla asked. "The man who wrote a lot of our books?"
"Yes." One of the girls said as if it was the most obvious. "He announced it at the book store and last night."
"Yeah, and it was also in the Daily Prophet." One of the other girls piped up. "There is a picture of Harry Potter and Lockhart together!"
"I cut it out!" The last girl exclaimed. "Hey, you two were talking to Harry this morning, I saw you when the Howler went off. What were you talking about?"
"Harry is my cousin." Darla said. "He didn't know I had come."
"He's not your cousin." The girl said laughing. "He has no family left."
"Yeah, except muggles who he lives with."
"Yes, and Darla is muggleborn." Ginny said. "Harry's muggleborn cousin. My older brother is best friends with him."
"You're a Weasley." One of the girls said in a sniffy voice. "I heard Harry is friends with the Weasley's."
"He was with them at the book store."
They stopped outside a classroom. The three girls introduced themselves as Patty Young, Sheila Kerpin and Julie Timmins. There was already another group of first years standing there. Glancing at them, Darla figured they were the Slytherin's. They had a crest with a snake on their robes.
"So, if you really are his cousin, how come he didn't know you're a witch?" Patty asked.
"He went to the Weasley's for the summer and my letter came when he was gone." Darla answered. "We didn't really get a chance to talk this morning."
The girls giggled. "That was funny. I hope I never get a Howler, that would be just dreadful." Sheila said. "You're so lucky to be his cousin."
The door opened and a very handsome man stepped out, he motioned for them to follow him. The three girls seemed to fight over who would sit next Darla, leaving Ginny behind. Ginny chose the desk behind Darla. Patty and Sheila sat on either side of Darla so Julie sat with Ginny. Instantly the two girls began bombarding Darla with questions about Harry. Darla could hear Julie asking Ginny what it was like to have Harry stay at her house for the summer.
"Quiet, quiet please. For those who don't know and I don't see how that's possible I am Gilderoy Lockhart, your professor for the year." The man said moving to the front. "I know this is your first year but you'll still face your most dreaded fears in this class. When the year is over you'll be ready for your third year instead of your second."
Darla thought the man seemed to be a little over confident as he began telling them more about how great he was. She saw that Sheila and Patty seemed to be following his every word. She had to admit that he was a very handsome teacher, she had expected only ugly teachers at Hogwarts. In story books witches and wizards were always ugly.
"Now, I thought today we'd start with a quiz. Don't worry first years this isn't to test your strength in this class yet… no this is to test how well you've read my books. I wouldn't give you a test you couldn't do."
Darla felt some relief, she had read a lot of his books over the summer time while hiding in her room. She wished she had read them more thoroughly but she hadn't expected a test on the first day of school. He was already handing out the test papers. A lot of people were looking around alarmed.
"I haven't even read the books." A boy in Slytherin was whispering.
'Don't worry, he's a fraud." His friend whispered back.
Darla took her test paper he gave her and blushed when he stared into her eyes. She looked at Patty who was staring at Lockhart with a very dreamy look on her face. Darla looked back at her test paper and noticed that the whole test wasn't about Lockhart's books, but about himself. She didn't know most of these answers, since she hadn't paid attention to the parts where he had said what his favourite colours were. Why was this significant? She wondered.
She noticed all of the boys in the class were scowling at the test paper, some of the Slytherin boys weren't even writing anything on the paper. Darla started filling in the answers that she did know.
"Why is this important?" She asked Patty.
"It's to have an understanding of who our teacher really is." Patty answered. "We have to have him for seven years you know. A lot of our teachers will just start teaching without caring whether we feel comfortable with them or not."
"Oh." Darla said still not getting it, she'd have to ask Harry what he thought.
He collected the tests a half hour later and was disappointed that no one in the class seemed to get the whole test paper correct.
"Why a lot of you didn't even do the test! What is this test paper with drawings of someone being tortured? Who did this? It looks like me being tortured, but I know it can't be." Lockhart was saying. "No, this is very disappointing. I guess I can understand with this being your first year though, you're nervous. I understand. So, we'll spend the lesson reading out of my first book We'll take turns."
--
"Hi Harry!" Darla said sitting in front of him in the Great Hall, she was aware that Patty, Sheila and Julie were watching.
"Hello." He said. "How were your classes?"
"Good." She answered. "Yours?"
"They were all right. Couldn't do a thing in transfiguration though." He said. "We were supposed to turn beetles into buttons. Only Hermione could do it. I haven't introduced you yet have I? Hermione this is Darla, my cousin, Darla Hermione my friend." Harry said nodding at the girl with very bushy brown hair and large teeth. "And Ron this is Darla."
"Hello." Ron said moodily.
"Nice to meet you." Darla said. "I had Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms first."
"Really?" Hermione asked her now interested. "How was Lockhart? We have him this afternoon."
"He was er- very nice. We did a test and read one of his books." Darla said.
After lunch Darla followed Harry out of the Great Hall as he motioned for her to come. She looked around for Ginny and realized she had disappeared right after Charms to go to the Common room but she never came back. Darla hoped that she hadn't got lost. She mentioned this to Ron as he was her brother.
"She'll be fine." Ron said. "She probably just forgot a book or something."
"So what happened when you got your letter?" Harry asked Darla impatiently. "What did your parents do?"
"They started to fight, dad was saying it was your fault." Darla answered. "But I told him it wasn't."
"I knew he'd blame me. If Dudley was a wizard that'd be my fault too." Harry answered in a dark voice. "Everything is my fault."
"Then they talked about it some more. It's awful Harry, the only reason they let me come is because they thought that giant man would come back." Darla said. "But Dudley is calling me a freak and mum and dad won't look at me. They said I can go home for Christmas if I want but I don't have to and you aren't allowed home until summer."
"That's fine; I wasn't going back until summer anyway." Harry said. "If I could I would never go back."
"And they said I have to pay my way through school. They paid for my first year, but after this year I'll have to get a job." Darla continued.
"I told you that you wouldn't want to be a witch." Harry said. "I know they are your parents Darla, but they just aren't understanding when something isn't right."
Harry looked away from her to where a boy had appeared. It was the boy who Darla knew was now named Colin Creevey, the one who was excited about everything. He was staring from Harry to Darla. He was holding on to a camera now and was almost bouncing again as he stared at Harry with awe.
"Are you really cousins?" he asked breathlessly.
"Yes." Darla said. "This is Harry, Colin."
"I know who he is!" Colin said excitedly. "I've heard all about you Harry. I'm Colin Creevey, I'm in Gryffindor too. I was wondering, could I have a picture and and Darla could be in it to if you want!"
"A picture?" Harry asked in disbelief.
Colin nodded with excitement while Darla flushed with embarrassment, well aware that people around them were listening. Colin began telling them about his father being muggle so he wanted to get a lot of photos for him. Ron and Hermione were just staring at him with small smirks on their faces, as if this amused them. When Colin mentioned getting a signed photo from Harry another voice called out:
"Signed photos? You're giving out signed photos Potter?"
The voice came from the boy whose father had helped her with her trunk on the train. He was laughing and had two huge boys with him. Darla backed away slowly, poor Harry. She didn't want to be there any longer but she also wanted to help him. She glanced at her watch and saw that luch was almost over, she would see Harry later that night.
"Er, I'm going to go look for my class now." She said quickly. "I'll see you tonight Harry."
"Another girlfriend Potter?" Draco asked.
Darla hurried away quickly; she could see Sheila, Patty and Julie across the court yard so she went over to them. They greeted her when she joined them and knew they had been just talking about her. She had a feeling they had come out just to watch her talk to Harry, just to see if they really were cousins.
"Hello." She said. "So, ready for History of Magic? Harry told me it's taught by a ghost."
"Yes, and I heard it's dreadfully boring." Julie said. "But you can tell us some more about Harry in class."
--
Darla soon got into the routine of life at Hogwarts quickly. After her first week at Hogwarts she wrote home to her parents telling them everything, she hoped she would get a response back. She enjoyed all of her classes, including History of Magic which she didn't find as boring as the rest of the students did, she found the history of the wizarding world interesting.
Her favourite class was Herbology. The plants were different than what she was use to but she noticed that she had a green thumb for magical plants as well as the plants at home. They were replanting singing flowers at the moment. She felt jealous of Harry who told her that they were working with plants called Mandrakes. When she asked what a mandrake was Hermione quickly explained to her what it was while Ron rolled his eyes.
"And they really look like babies and cry like ones?" Darla asked. "That's neat. The singing flowers are nice too though."
"Oh yes they are meant to relax someone who is very stressed." Hermione said. "I enjoyed working with them and they smell good too. Have you turned a match into a pin in Transfiguration yet?"
"Yes, I did it the second day. Ginny did it after a few turns though, she seems to know what she is doing. She is good at Potions too, but the teacher Professor Snape doesn't seem to like us or the Hufflepuffs."
"Snape favours his own house." Harry told her.
She enjoyed Astronomy as well, on Thursday nights all the first years went to the top of the highest tower to study the constellations. What got to Darla the most were the ghosts at Hogwarts. They were very friendly, unlike the ghosts stories said in the muggle world. The only time they were scary was when they popped through a wall at you unexpectedly. The ghost of Gryffindor was named Nearly Headless Nick. Darla hadn't met him but she wanted to just to see why he was named Nearly Headless. She had thought about asking Harry but didn't know if he even knew. He still didn't know a lot about the wizarding world it turned out.
Then there were the girls in her dorm. She talked to them all very often, even though she enjoyed Ginny's company the most. Ginny seemed very secretive from day one, she was always disappearing to the dorm for very long periods of time. Darla and Patty discovered after a couple days it was because she was writing in a diary.
"Should we steal it and see why she writes in it so much?" Julie asked after Darla revealed this to her and Sheila.
"No!" Sheila and Patty said at the same time.
"When a girl writes in a diary a lot you leave her alone." Sheila said. "You do not ask questions, and you do not steal it. I mean how would you like it if I went snooping through yours?"
"Ok, ok you're right." Julie muttered.
"Dudley, my brother did that to me once when I was nine." Darla said shaking her head. "It was horrible, he read it to his friends. I haven't kept one since. And anyway, some people like to write a lot about their life in detail when they are young so they can have something to look back on when they are older."
"Why wouldn't you just get a pensieve?" Julie asked. "You'd see a lot more than you would in a diary."
"What's a pensieve?" Darla asked.
"Those are expensive." Patty said at the same time.
"Let's just not worry about it." Sheila said. "If Ginny wanted us to know she would tell us, but we haven't even known each other for that long. She probably likes some boy anyway, that's probably who she is writing about. My older sister was like that too, she was the one who told me to leave girls alone when they are secretive with their diaries."
Darla agreed and hadn't like Julie's idea in the first place. She didn't care that Ginny was spending a lot of time writing in her diary. Darla had thought at first that Ginny hadn't wanted to be friends, but it turned out it wasn't true. Darla was happy to finally be in a place where she was accepted. The three girls no longer wanted to just talk to her because of Harry, they liked talking to her just to be her friend. They still asked Darla to introduce them to Harry.
"I will, but you can't act the way Colin does him." Darla answered once. "He doesn't like that. He likes to be treated like anyone else."
Darla didn't think they were quite ready yet. They were nice girls, but they seemed the type that would go to Frances School for Girls and actually enjoy it. They acted very ditzy at times especially when it came to Harry, which was why Darla preferred Ginny. Ginny just blushed when he was mentioned and changed the subject, she didn't start giggling and start asking strange questions, like if Darla had ever seen Harry's underwear.
--
"Darla, would you like to come meet Hagrid with me today?" Ginny asked Darla at the end of their first week as she brushed her teeth in the bathroom.
"Sure, Hagrid is the hairy giant isn't he?" Darla asked.
"Yes, well I'm not sure if he is a giant but he sure is big isn't he?" Ginny answered.
"I know Harry talks to him a lot." Darla said. "When are we going?"
"After lunch, we have Friday afternoons off so I thought it'd be the best time."
Darla spit some tooth paste in the sink and then washed the sink out as Sheila, Patty and Julie came into the bathroom giggling. They were whispering and Darla thought they might have been talking about Gilderoy Lockhart since they all had dreamy looks on their faces.
"What was it like?" Julie asked.
"His hand was so warm." Patty answered.
"Whose?" Darla asked curiously.
"Professor Lockhart's." Sheila said. "He touched Patty's shoulder."
Darla giggled too, but not for the same reason they were laughing. She thought it was very silly to have such a reaction about him touching Patty's shoulder. She left the bathroom with Ginny following behind, leaving the girls to fantasize.
"Do you want them to come along as well?" Darla asked Ginny.
"No." She answered. "They wouldn't even if we asked."
So that afternoon Darla followed Ginny to Hagrids hut. She knew he was the groundskeeper there but she hadn't known he actually lived at the school. Ginny was walking fast over to his place so Darla had to run to keep up. They saw him just outside walking to what looked like a garden. As they got closer, Darla saw it was a garden with very big pumpkins in it.
"Well hello Ginny, Darla." Hagrid said spotting them. "What are you up to."
"Oh, um just having a look at the grounds." Ginny said. 'What are you up to?"
"Checkin' up on my pumpkins." Hagrid answered. "I'm trying to keep the slugs away, should be big enough by halloween."
"Looks like you used an engorgement charm on them." Ginny replied moving closer. "But they do look good I suppose."
"Why so many?" Darla asked. "And why are they so big?"
"I'm usin 'em for the feast. You two will enjoy that. How's Harry doin' haven't seen him yet." Hagrid said.
"Good, he's trying to stay out of trouble. You know, with the car incident and all." Darla answered.
"Well tell him, Ron and Hermione to come visit me. Would you two like to come in fer some tea?" Hagrid asked.
Ginny nodded eagerly and they followed him into his hut. It was very small inside, it had a bed in one corner of the room and a fireplace in the other. There was also a table that Ginny and Darla took seats at while Hagrid began making them some tea.
"Been hopin' to meet you o' course Darla." Hagrid began. "Harry told me you were the on'y decent one in your family."
"He said that? When?" Darla asked feeling flattered.
"When I took him to Diagon Alley last year." Hagrid answered placing a steaming mug in front of her. "Told me a lot about yer family, said yeh were the on'y one he liked. If I hadn't met them fer myself last year…"
"They aren't too happy about me being a witch." Darla said. "I was hoping maybe since I was one they would be ok with it since I am their daughter, and then change their minds about Harry."
"Maybe they will." Hagrid said but didn't sound as if he believed it.
A/N: I know I didn't quite get Hagrid down but it's hard to do. Any questions, go to the forum.