Author's Note: This chapter took a lot of thinking through… and I'm still not sure if I want to go through with it. It's going to be significantly different from the first one. Hopefully you'll like it though!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Chapter Seven: All Aboard the Hogwarts Express
"Well, uh, I don't see a platform nine and three quarters…maybe we should ask someone," Harry suggested, fidgeting nervously. What if they didn't make it?
The two were starting to attract much unwanted attention because of Hedwig, Harry's owl.
"Are you mad? Muggles won't know what we're talking about, and they might question us, which would make us miss the train! Let's wait around and see if there's anyone with a trunk like ours," Cordelia replied sharply.
"Well-er, you're right. But we only have ten minutes left!" Harry said urgently.
"I know! That's why we're looking!" Cordelia said, getting annoyed. She had come to learn that Harry could be lacking in common sense sometimes.
Harry wondered how Cordelia could almost always keep a cool head. He, on the other hand, was stressing out. Would they get kicked out if they couldn't find the right station or missed the train? Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do, like tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. He wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket inspector's stand between platforms nine and ten.
They looked around for a few minutes before hearing someone say, "Packed with muggles of course—," and Harry whirled around. The speaker was a plump woman talking to four boys and a man, all of them with flaming red hair. Each of them were pushing a trunk like Harry's and one had an owl.
"Harry! Let's go after them!" Cordelia exclaimed, pushing her cart after the family excitedly. Silently she was cheering. There was no need for freaking out after all!
The red-haired man spotted them, but kept on walking.
"What's the platform number again?" the mother red head asked.
"Nine and three quarters!" piped a small girl, holding the mother's hand.
"Aw, mum! Why can't I go?"
"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."
What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten.
Harry and Cordelia watched, careful not to blink in case he missed it — but just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished. Cordelia gasped in wonder as she nudged Harry excitedly.
"Fred, you next," the plump woman said.
"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"
Cordelia giggled.
"Sorry, George, dear."
"Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy, and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone — but how had he done it? Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the barrier he was almost there — and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere.
There was nothing else for it.
"Excuse me," Harry said to the plump woman.
"Hello, dear," she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too."
She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.
"Uh, excuse me, would you please tell me how to get to the platform?" Cordelia asked, with the most innocent face she could muster. They hadn't noticed her standing next to Harry yet.
The family whirled around, shocked to see a Vixen. They were about to respond when the mother remembered Harry standing there, and responded in a light tone, "Don't worry, just walk straight into the barrier and don't stop. You can go before Ron, dearie,"
"Uhh, Cordelia, ladies first?" Harry offered, and she nodded at Harry's manners, before giving him a grin.
As she pushed her cart forwards though, it tipped over and the contents fell to the floor. How the heck did that happen? "Oh, I guess you can go first, Harry. I'll catch up to you later. Save me a seat, will you?"
Harry nodded before running into the platform, leaving the red head family gawking. The little girl looked at the barrier in complete awe.
"Mum! That was Harry Potter! I saw Harry Potter!" the little girl chatted excitedly.
"Ron, you go next, and Ginny and I will follow," the mother said nodding to the father.
Once the rest of the family was gone, the red headed man turned to Cordelia with a menacing look on his face. She gulped. What had she done?
"Hello, Miss Vixen, I am Arthur Weasley, patriarch of the Weasley family. I just want you to—STAY AWAY FROM MY CHILDREN! And Harry Potter, too. I don't know what he was thinking, making friends with the likes of you," he said the last word as if it was the filthiest thing on earth, "do I make myself clear?"
Cordleia stopped cleaning up her stuff and looked at Mr. Weasley, bewildered. She tried to pick up the rest of her pride before saying, "Well, Mr. Weasley, I don't see what could make you hate me already, but if your children have any resemblance to you, you wouldn't have to worry at all."
"Good," Mr. Weasley sneered, "but just to make sure, you have about four minutes before the barrier closes," he kicked over her trunk again, spilling everything once more. Cordelia almost growled in frustration. If this man made her miss the train, there would be hell to pay.
Unknowingly, another family came by to go through the platform and heard the last part of the conversation. There was the sound of a cart passing the barrier, and a silky voice saying behind Mr. Weasley, "Ah, Arthur, we're not terrorizing little children are we?"
Mr. Weasley spun around quickly, only to find the menacing glare of a blonde haired man with piercing gray eyes he looked kind of scary too. The blonde haired man waved his wand and the contents of Cordelia's trunk went back in. Was that even legal? Well, people vanishing in barriers weren't really legal either, so there must have been some spells around them. Or so she hoped.
"Malfoy," growled Mr. Weasley, "I was just putting this scum in her place, there's nothing wrong with that." Scum? Since when had she become scum? She didn't recall doing anything to this man, except for responding to his comments.
"On the contrary, I would believe that you are the scum that needs to be put in its place," sneered the man called Malfoy. He turned to Cordelia, who was nervously glancing at the clock, "Come, Miss Vixen, we wouldn't want you to miss the train right?"
Cordelia nodded, and preceded to run through the barrier, which had very little students left on it. "I'm never going to get my luggage on that train and get on, on time." Cordelia muttered to herself.
Unfortunately, Mr. Malfoy heard, and barked at two burly, grown men to get her luggage on board. When Cordelia was on the train, she opened the window to call out to Mr. Malfoy, "Thank you, Mr. Malfoy!" to which he only inclined his head. She had to pick up on some Wizarding Traditions to make her seem like him.
The train rumbled and tooted, then began moving rapidly. Cordelia was looking for Harry's compartment, which she found a minute later.
"Hey Harry, sorry that took longer than expected. Some Weasley meanie who almost made me miss the train, if it weren't for Mr. Malfoy," she greeted, plopping down on the seat, oblivious to the fact that one of the Weasley family members who also sat there.
Harry fidgeted again, causing Cordelia to look over. "What's wrong—oh,"
"How dare you call my father a meanie! Who are you anyways? Are you another Malfoy worshipper? How do you know Harry?" the red head, whose name was Ron, asked angrily.
"Such questions!" she exclaimed mockingly, "where to start? Right, I called your father a meanie, because he is one. Who tries to harass eleven-year-olds anyways? I am Cordelia Vixen and I do not worship anyone, and Harry is my friend, much more than he is yours," Cordleia finished smugly.
Ron turned a very interesting shade of red, and turned to Harry for backup, who was fidgeting in his seat, trying not to pick a side. Cordelia shrugged at Harry's behavior. It didn't really surprise her, as she wouldn't pick a side if she were in his situation either. But how could he want to be friends with such a horrible person?
"Vixen!" Ron spat angrily, "you are the worst scum on earth! Disgusting inbreed, is it worth it to be Pureblood, but have a brain the size of a pea? Or insanity?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just as new to the Wizarding World as Harry is. For the sake of an enjoyable train ride, how about we not say anything mean to each other? Poor Harry here is having a migraine," Cordelia suggested smirking at Ron.
Ron, who had no idea what a migraine was, tried not to show it. "Fine. No more arguing. Do you really have… you know, The scar?" he asked Harry.
Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar. Ron stared. Cordelia rolled her eyes. Couldn't Harry see Ron just wanted a famous friend?
"So that's where You-Know-Who —?"
"Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it."
"Nothing?" said Ron eagerly.
"He was one. How much do you expect him to remember?" Cordelia said dryly. Ron shot her a glare and was about to retort, but he bit it back as Harry started speaking.
"Well — I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."
"Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again. Cordelia just grinned at Harry smugly.
"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him. Also, he was trying to ignore Cordelia's smug glances at him. Ron seemed nice enough to him.
"Er — Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."
"Just because he doesn't have magic?" asked Cordelia blandly.
"Well. I dunno. Because he just doesn't have magic!" Ron retorted.
Cordelia just shrugged, and made a mental note of that. It could be potential blackmail, but she would have to research it more.
Harry stepped in. "So you must know loads of magic already."
The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about.
"I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?"
"Horrible — well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."
"Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. Cordelia just stared. Five?
"I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left — Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch.
Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first.
You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."
Cordelia gave Ron a look of pity. It was sad his parents couldn't provide for all of them.
Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep.
"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up.
Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff — I mean, I got Scabbers instead."
Ron's ears went pink.
He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window. Cordelia and Harry just stared at each other. They both had fortunes in Gringotts, and were pretty well off.
Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up.
"… and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort —"
Ron gasped.
"What?" said Harry.
"You said You-Know-Who's name!" said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people —"
"It's not like he's going to jump out and kill us all! Relax! He's gone!" Cordelia said, annoyed.
I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn… I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class."
Cordelia glared. "You better not be! We're been studying for weeks!"
You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough."
While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past.
Cordelia worried about Pumba. The small snake was currently asleep on her forearm, but even after having her for a week, Cordelia still had no idea when Pumba had to eat. Maybe Ron's rat could be a nice snack? She didn't really want to take Pumba out with Ron around, though,he might tell the teachers, then she would be in trouble.
Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"
Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Harry went out into the corridor. Cordelia followed him excitedly, wanting food.
Harry had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry — but the woman didn't have Mars Bars (much to Cordelia's horror, they didn't have Lemon heads, Apple Heads, or Cherry Heads either). What she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts. Cordelia followed him with the same amount of candy, but she asked for a bag, just incase she didn't finish it all. She looked amusedly at all the candy. It looked so good!
Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.
"Hungry, are you?"
Cordelia laughed. "Understatement," she coughed.
"Starving," said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty.
Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef…"
Cordelia's eyes widened. Four? She laughed to herself. Ron seemed to miss that her laugh was directed at him.
"Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty. "Go on —"
"You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."
"Go on, have a pasty," said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with. It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Harry's pasties, cakes, and candies (the sandwiches lay forgotten), with Cordelia and Harry wondering what half the candies were.
What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs.
"They're not really frogs, are they?" Cordelia asked, squirming. Frogs were gross.
"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."
"What?"
"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know — Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect — famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy." Ron said smugly, looking at Cordelia haughtily.
Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half-moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache. Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.
"So this is Dumbledore!" said Harry.
"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. "Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa — thanks —"
"Weasley! We told you, we haven't been in the Wizarding World before! Stop rubbing it in!" Cordelia said angrily.
Harry turned over his card and read:
ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS
Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.
"Sounds cool," said Cordelia, re-reading it over Harry's shoulder.
Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared.
"He's gone!" Cordelia exclaimed.
He's gone!"
"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron.
"He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her… do you want it? You can start collecting."
Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped. "Help yourself," said Harry. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos."
"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "Weird!"
Harry stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Harry couldn't keep his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin. Cordelia seemed more interested than the cards than he was, so he just gave them to her.
There was a knock on the door of their compartment and a round-faced boy looking tearful came in.
Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?"
"Er- no. If we did, I'm sure you would know," Cordelia said, wrinkling her nose.
He wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"
"He'll turn up," said Harry.
"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him…"
He left.
"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."
For once, Cordelia voiced her agreement over Ron's words, "How could someone hold that thing? I mean, it's all slimy and nasty!" She still didn't like Ron though.
The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap.
"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look…"
He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.
"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway —"
"Is that yours?" Cordelia asked, a little disgruntled that Ron's wand could be older than hers.
Ron blushed. "Well, no, it's actually one of my brother's."
Cordelia looked confused, "But I thought the wand chose the wizard?"
"Kind of. I think
He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.
"Erm, no. The chubby boy came in here a few minutes ago. It could have gotten stepped on…" Cordelia said, trailing off, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in Ron's hand. Cordelia scowled.
"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then," she said bossily.
She sat down. Ron looked taken aback.
"Er — all right."
He cleared his throat.
"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."
He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep. Cordleia chortled. Pathetic.
"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it?
I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard — I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough — I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?" She said all this very fast.
"Excuse me? You've learned all your books by heart? Have you no life?" asked Cordelia incredulously. Even if she had all the time in the world, she definitely wouldn't try to memorize her books.
"Well, yes. Haven't you?" Hemione asked.
"Sorry if we're not bookworms like you," Cordelia muttered.
Harry looked at Ron, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the course books by heart either.
"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered.
"Harry Potter," said Harry.
"Are you really?" said Hermione.
"No, he's Albus Dumbledore," Cordelia said sarcastically, "Seriously, Harry, it seems like people think you have amnesia or something."
Hermione looked offended at first, but she quickly regained her composure and said, "I know all about you, of course — I got a few extra books, for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."
Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed. This little girl talked insanely fast.
"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best;
I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad… Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."
And she left, taking the toadless boy with her.
"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. Cordleia internally agreed.
"Hey, listen. I'm going to look for my trunk and stuff. I'll see you when we get there," Cordelia said, trying to make an excuse to leave. She didn't feel that comfortable with that Ron boy, and it was about time she checked on Pumba.
She found an empty compartment, much to her surprise. Maybe Ron was lying about there not being anymore empty compartments just so he could sit with Harry. It was highly likely.
.: Pumba :. She hissed softly.
.: What is it missstress :. Pumba hissed back, slightly disgruntled that she was being woken up.
.: Do you need any food? :. Cordelia asked quietly.
.: No! I just fed before we left! :. Pumba exclaimed.
.: Yeah, so do you need any more food? :. Cordelia asked again.
.: We ssnakes only eat once a month! :. Pumba hissed.
Pumba wasn't the happiest snake around, that was for sure. .: Sso why did you go out sso often? :.
.:Because you humansss are so young and annoying! Speaker or not, I ssshould bite you! :. Pumba spat angrily.
.: Jee, sssorry. I can't help that I'm only eleven :. Cordelia said irritably.
.: Yesss, that's why I haven't bitten you yet…you smell of greatnesss. So great, I suppose I can live around you for a little longer… this would provide great blackmail later… :.
.: Are all snakes sso irritable? Or is it only you? :.
.: Not all ssnakes are given ridiculous names, Mistress :.
.: Touché. I'm starting to think you don't deserve thisss name either. :. Cordelia said, amused.
.: Change it then! :.
.: I can't. I promised Harry, remember? :. Cordelia said, sighing.
.: Ah, yesss, the other speaker. It is very fortunate that I have come across two young sspeakers in my lifetime :. Pumba said, flicking her tongue.
Suddenly, the compartment door opened to show the blonde boy she'd seen in Diagon Alley, but he was with a black haired girl with jade green eyes, a tanned Italian boy with slightly messed up dark brown hair, and two troll-like boys.
"What do you want?" Cordelia snapped, trying to hide Pumba before they saw her. It was she who was against the blonde boy bringing in a broomstick anyways.
"Well, well, well. Aren't you the girl who was with Potter in Diagon Alley?" the blonde asked haughtily.
"Why yes, I am. It's nice to know that your brain wasn't fried by meeting such a lovely person as I," Cordelia said, giving the group a small half smile.
The black haired Italian laughed, "Draco, why didn't you tell me about this one? I like her!"
The blonde boy fidgeted a little, then he cleared his throat. "Excuse my friend. He seems to have forgotten his manners. I am Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. And you are?" he held his hand out for her to shake.
"Cordelia Vixen. Nice to meet you," Cordelia said, giving him a smile and taking his hand.
"I should-er introduce you to my friends." Malfoy said nervously, at her smile.
That was quite thoughtful of him, so she complied, although she couldn't help but feel he was kind of a spoiled brat. Of course her first impression of him wasn't the greatest.
"Vixen, this is Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini, and those two over there are Crabbe and Goyle," Malfoy said proudly.
Pansy stuck her hand out first, respectfully, "Nice to meet you, Cordelia."
Cordelia shook it, smiling, and "Likewise." She then offered her hand to Blaise, who took it, but instead of shaking it, kissed her knuckles, causing her to blush.
"A pleasure, Miss Vixen," he said politely, still not letting go of her hand.
"Blaise!" squealed Pansy, laughing, "You're scaring her!"
Blaise simply winked at her and dropped her hand slowly. Cordelia gave him a wink when the others weren't looking, and they both laughed silently.
"Sorry about Blaise, he's currently trying to get the status of 'Ladies man,'" Malfoy explained smirking, "Of course, sometimes it doesn't work and he gets slapped or punched by their boyfriends."
Cordelia laughed, "Don't worry. I won't slap you… wait, I take that back. I won't slap you if you don't try anything," she said suavely.
"Oh, Blaise! Seems like you can't hit on this one!" Pansy laughed, as Blaise pretended to sulk in the corner. They all laughed a little, still getting used to each other.
"So what brings you to this compartment?" Cordelia asked.
"Well actually, it was ours first, but Draco wanted to see if Harry Potter was really here," Pansy explained.
Cordelia smiled, "Did you find him?"
"Well, yeah. Except Draco was being himself so they kind of got into an argument," Blaise said, shaking his head at Draco.
"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?" Draco exclaimed.
"Oh, nothing, Draco. Just commenting on your lack of social skills," Pansy said, laughing.
"You guys seem really close," Cordelia said enviously, "how long have you known each other?"
"Well, our parents knew each other, so we've all grown up together," Draco said, glancing at his friends.
"So… Cordelia, what house do you want to be in?" Pansy asked after a short amount of silence. Out of the three friends, Pansy seemed like the friendliest so far.
"Hm… Ravenclaw doesn't sound too bad, and neither does Gryffindor. Just anything but Slytherin," Cordelia replied thoughtfully.
"WHAT? Are you MAD? Anything BUT Slytherin?" Malfoy roared. Out of the three, she disliked Malfoy the most. He seemed very prejudiced and snobby. It didn't help that she had a poor first impression of him, either.
"Draco means to say, why don't you want to be in Slytherin?" Blaise inquired gently.
"Well, I heard everyone who went there turned dark and worked for You-Know-Who," Cordelia said quietly.
Another knock on the door interrupted them. "You better hurry up and put your robes on! I asked the conductor and he said we would be reaching Hogwarts shortly! Oh my! Aren't you the girl from the other compartment? I didn't catch your name!" said Hermione Granger, as she invited herself in the crowded compartment.
"I didn't give you my name," Cordelia said shortly, "but it's Cordelia Vixen."
"Oh! I've read all about your family! They're not very nice, are they? Well, I guess I'll try not to judge you by your family, but you're so incredibly rich! I would really like to see how your Manor looks, though, it must be amazing! I read in Hogwarts, a History, that all Vixens went to Hogwarts, isn't that cool? Maybe some professors taught your ancestors!" There was a bushy haired girl at the door, and she seemed to have said this in one breath. Cordelia decided that she still sounded like a know-it all, and that she didn't like her.
"Excuse me, but could you leave now? I don't think Vixen likes being ogled at," Malfoy said rudely, glaring at her.
The girl looked at Cordelia for support, but she was trying to get her robes out her trunk, which she had no idea was there.
The bushy-haired girl bit her lip and ran out of the compartment. The boys left shortly to change into their robes after.
The boys got back to the compartment and they sat in a comfortable silence until the train finally stopped. People rushed out of the train and a voice calling "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"
Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.
"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."
There was a loud "Oooooh!"
The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.
Cordelia stared at the castle in wonder, ad she saw her friends stare at it too.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called pointing to the fleet of boats.
Cordelia, Pansy, Blaise, and Malfoy all piled themselves to a boat and began talking about what could live in the lake. When the ride was over, they all found themselves at the base of a large wooden door that led to the magnificent castle.
Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.
"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands.
Cordelia snickered. That boy was just too much.
Hagrid knocked on the door, and it swung open.
A tall black haired witch answered the door. She had a very stern face, and Cordelia deluded this wasn't a person to mess with. Hagrid motioned them to get in.
"Hello, I am Professor McGonagall," the woman said, once they were in the hallway, "Welcome to Hogwarts. The feast will begin shortly and you will be sorted in your House. Each house has its own noble history, and they are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. While you are at Hogwarts, you can earn House Points, while rule-breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the House with the most Points will win the House Cup, which is a great honor. The Sorting Ceremony will begin shortly. I will return when we are ready for you."
The hallway erupted with nervous whispers, and the four could hear snippets of each conversation.
"How do they sort the Houses?" she heard Harry ask Ron.
"I heard it was something painful like wrestling a troll. That's what my brother told me," Ron replied.
"Only you would be stupid enough to believe that, Weasley," Cordelia coldly interrupted, causing his ears to turn pink. Some of the other students laughed, causing him to turn redder. Their truce just ended.
"Well- aaahhh!" Ron screamed, pointing at a transparent body that was floating toards the ceiling.
"Oh, wow, ghosts, don't tell me you haven't seen one before, Weasely" Malfoy said, laughing snidely. Cordelia had to admit, Malfoy was pretty good at making up insults.
Cordelia was just about to say something to Harry, but Professor McGonagall returned. "Move along now, the Sorting Ceremony's about to begin," she said in a sharp voice. The first years had moved to the Great Hall. It had begun.
Author's Note: Wow, that was longer than I expected… seventeen pages on Microsoft Word! Please review!
The Sorting is next! I bet you know where everyone will go though!