Ok, so since I forgot last chapter and I didn't realize before I updated it about 3 times, here's the disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters in this story except Melinda Stagg and other OCs that you will meet later. Nor do I own anything near as wonderful as anything that the brilliant J. could produce.

"Oh. Hey, Seamus. What's up?" the boy, Neville, responded.

"I would like to introduce yeh to my new friend, Melinda Stagg."

"H-hello," Neville stuttered.

"Hi," I smiled.

"She's from America," Seamus seemed to boast to his friend.

"Oh, well, that's neat," Neville seemed a bit overwhelmed.

"Oh! It's Fred n' George!" And like that, Seamus disappeared into the throng of bodies. I stared after the direction he went with wide eyes.

"That bastard. He left me here to die."

"What?" Neville seemed a little worried. And scared. He was scared a lot.

"You see, I'm a 'muggle-born' witch and I was not prepared in the slightest to function in the magical world and to tell you the truth, I don't think I'm fitting in so far..."

"Oh…Um…I'm sorry… I'm sure he'll be back soon. Until then, I-I guess you can just…" Neville seemed very shy, I mean, the poor boy didn't even finish a sentence before turning away, though I know he was probably going to say that I could hang with him. I let a sigh of relief out anyway.

"Thanks a bunchamous, Neville." I gave him my signature smile. He looked a little more scared… I noticed he was a little cute…

"D-do you like gardening?" he asked, probably as a conversation starter.

"We had an herb garden behind the kitchen and I liked to help take care of it, but it was pretty small… I did always want to have some flowers in my room, but Ms. M didn't allow really plants indoors," I explained.

"O-oh.. I asked because there's this class at school called Herbology and it's basically magic gardening…" he was gaining confidence, "And it's a really cool class, my favorite. Though I didn't know exactly how to feel about it the first day when I passed out…"

"How'd that happen?" I asked.

"We were working with baby mandrakes and I had faulty earmuffs…"

"I'm sorry to hear that," I frowned then added, "But Herbology sounds like it must be pretty fun if you like it after a first day like that."

"It really is," he smiled.

"Tell me more about it, what sorts of plants are there that I wouldn't know about? What do they do?" I asked both genuinely interested in the subject and wanting him to feel comfortable.

"Oh, lots!" he started.

Seamus reemerged from the pit with two ginger guys. I'm guessing Fred and George.

"Melinda, t'is is—" but I cut him off by holding up a finger.

"So gillywig makes you grow gills and fins, and is found where again?" I asked.

"Melinda! Stop talking about t'at boring stuff and let me introduce yeh already!" Seamus yelled impatiently. Neville looked down and I knew that his feelings were hurt… Seamus can really be a hothead, can't he?

"Fine, Seamus. Go ahead."

"T's is Fred and George," Seamus introduced.

"Hi, Melinda Stagg," I shook their hands

""Fred and George Weasley,"" the said in unison.

"He's Fred," one said.

"And he's George," the other said. This was still not going to be easy for me…

"That's a lovely wand," Fred/George I don't know said.

"Oh, thanks," I smiled. Was everyone in the wizarding world so bent up about wands?

"That's ebony, right?" the other one asked

"Yep."

"And an amethyst handel?"

"Yeah. And before you ask, it has dragon heartstrings."

""Nice,"" they said in unison again.

"Bet it packs a wallop," twin # 1 said.

"Wouldn't know. Just got it today."

"How is that? Break your first one?" asked twin # 2.

"That is my first one. I'm kinda coming to school late… All thanks to the bearwomanpigthing that runs the orphanage I live at."

""Orphan, huh? Sorry to hear that,"" again with the in unison!

"Yeah. It's not too bad after a while though; you can get used to it just like anything else. After a while, you even become comfortable with it." They seemed sort of weirded out by that and I wished I hadn't said it… But I realized something, I got used to all sorts of other things in my life that seemed terrifying, maybe I can get used to this world, too… Maybe…

"T'ere yeh are!" cried Mrs. Finnigan, "We have yehr account all set and t'is should cover all t'at yeh need for today." She handed me the money and smiled at me again.

"Thank you so much Mrs. F," I thanked her.

"Mrs. F?" she questioned.

"It's kind of t'e 'hip' way of saying an authority figure's name now a days wit' us muggles," Mr. F chimed in.

"Oh," was all she said.

It had been a long, tiring day of robe fittings and book buying and owl finding and trying to get used to this new, scary, crazy world. Around every corner was something brand-new; some of it interesting and fun, other things frightening. I just wanted to curl up under my Pooh bear comforter and go to sleep, do something that felt normal. The smell of my blankets and my fatigue created the illusion of being home again. I half expected it to be Sasha that was coming up the stairs…

"Hey, Mel—Oh. Where yeh asleep?" Seamus asked.

"Not yet, I wasn't," I grumbled from under the covers. I tear formed in my eye.

"Oh, I'm real sorry, Mel. I'll leave now…"

"No, what did ya want?" I asked as I sat up and scratched my head.

"Just to see if yeh wanted to come down and have a butterbeer wit' me and some friends…"

"What's butterbeer? It's not alcoholic, is it?"

"Haha, no. It's not."

"Hmmm… Ok. I'll come down in just a minute." I began getting out of bed.

"Wha?"

"I'm in my jammies, Seamus. I WAS ready to go to sleep and all." I stood up in my purple pj shorts and a purple tank top.

"Y-yeah. I'll just tell everyone yeh'll be down in a minute." He almost ran out of the room.

I found a bra, a pair of black skinny jeans, and my black jacket with bunny ears and changed quickly. I tied my all-black high-tops with purple laces onto my feet. I grabbed my cell phone and put it in the pocket of my jacket. Then I remembered that it didn't work anyway and put it back under my pillow. On the way down, I ran into Neville.

"H-Hey, Melinda."

"Hey, Neville. You can just call me Mel, if ya want, it's what everyone else calls me."

"O-oh. Ok, Mel. …excuse me…" Neville hurried up the rest of the stairs. Hm, I thought, wonder what the rush is.

I snuck up behind Seamus and poked him in both his sides at once. He almost jumped into the air while I fell to the floor laughing.

"Melinda! T'at wasn't funny!" he cried, looking a little miffed.

"Haha, sorry. I just couldn't help it, I'm a stealthy ninja," I grinned. He helped me back to my feet and began to introduce me to the rest of his friends.

"Yeh already know Fred and George," he began, "And t'is is Hermione Granger, brightest witch of t'e age."

"Hello, Melinda. It's nice to meet you," she greeted me.

"Hi, Hermione, nice to meet you too."

"And t'is is Ron Weasley, Fred and George's little brother, and Ginny, t'eir little sister."

"Hey," was all Ron said as we shook hands.

"Hi."

"It's nice to meet you, Melinda," Ginny said sweetly.

"It's nice to meet you too, Ginny," I smiled back

"This is Luna Lovegood."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mel." She seems like a sweet girl, if a little spacey.

"The pleasure is all mine," I smiled.

"And last but most certainly not least, Harry Potter."

"Hi, Harry. I'm so excited to meet Seamus's friends."

"Hey, Melinda."

"Why's you're jacket look so funny, Melinda?" asked Ginny. Ron promptly elbowed her.

"Why are bunny ears so funny?" I pouted.

"O-oh, well, I guess they aren't," she said as she rubbed her side.

"I think it's really cute, Mel," Luna commented, "Did you make it yourself?"

"Oooh, noo, I can't sew this well. I mean, I can sew, and it …usually stays together relatively well, but it looks NOTHING like this…"

"I didn't know yeh could sew," Seamus said.

"Well, I mean, I did take home ec."

"What?" he asked. I sighed.

"Never mind, Seamus."

"Hey, when are we gonna get those butterbeers?" Harry asked.

"Tom! A round of butterbeers, please!" Seamus called.

"OhmyGod. This stuff is great," was my first response to my first sip of butterbeer.

"Yeah, kind of a shock at first, though, isn't it?" Harry asked. We were sitting at a table away from the others. They were talking about something called Quidditch which is, apparently, a very popular sport. Harry saw that I was feeling left out and began to talk to me about different muggle things. And I found that he and I were much alike. We're both orphans that grew up in the muggle world.

"I got so used to where I was, where candy didn't really move and there were tvs and ipods and things like that that have no purpose here that I feel so out of place, almost like I don't belong… I find it so hard to be around them because I don't know what to talk about; I don't know anything about their world… And I know they don't mean to make me feel this way, they're just doing things that are normal to them. And I'm trying to get used to it, I really am, but it's just so different… I feel more comfortable now that I have someone to relate to. Though, I'm sorry that you're in my same sort of situation," I told Harry. He knew right away that I was talking about being an orphan.

"Well, I was actually only a baby when my parents were killed. I don't really remember them," he softly informed. "How old were you?"

"About the same. I didn't go to the orphanage until I was about six, though. Before then I stayed with a foster family until they had their 8th child and sent me to Hill Crest…"

"I'm so sorry to hear that, Mel. Do you want to talk about it?" he seemed to not really know what to do.

"Well, there's really not much to say. I was so small that I don't even remember what they looked like… I just know they died in a really bad tornado storm and everyone thought it was a miracle I was even alive."

"Oh… um… That sound's terrible…" It seems my apathy has troubled someone again…

"I'm not completely apathetic to it, though. They were my parents. And even though I've never known a parent's love or whatever, I still saw other kids with their parents and saw how happy they were. When I was little and just starting school, I began to see what I was missing as my new friends would talk about the things they would do with their parents and for a while, I was really sad. Would go home and curl up under my Winnie the Pooh covers and not come out till dinner but after a couple of months, I got used to my situation again. I told myself that my lot couldn't be changed and who knew, maybe my parents would've been really strict or mean or something."

"Is that what you do with everything, Mel?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You just get used to it?"

"Well, things I can't change, of course. What else can you do then, ya know? But there are some things that I won't take any other way. I don't like having homework at home—who does?—so I do it all at school and if I do bring any home, it usually doesn't get down. Every time Ms. M would rearrange the herb garden, I'd get back in there and put it right again. And, obviously, I wear whatever the hell I want," I said as I held up one of the bunny ears.

"You know we wear uniforms at Hogwarts, right?"

"Yeah… That's not gonna jive well…"

"Just promise me that you'll try to stay out of trouble with the dress code, ok?" he laughed.

"I don't know… I'm thinking of making all the trouble. Allllllll the trouble," I snarked, adding in a reference from my favorite webcomic-thing: Homestuck.

"You didn't catch that reference, did you?" I asked.

"What reference?"

"Didn't think so…"

"Hey guys!" Seamus interjected, "Can I join you two?"

"No, you have to separate from us. Now," I replied. I do love being snarky, and I can't be that way to people till I know they can handle it, but I feel Seamus can.

"W-what?"

"I was being snarky, Seamus, of course you can join us," I laughed. He just pouted.

Seamus calmed down very fast and didn't leave my side for the rest of the night. I got to talk with a bunch of the other kids and found out that Ron's not too bad a guy. I ended up having three butterbeers and they must have a high sugar content because I got an energy buzz for a while before I crashed.

"Seamus."

"Yeah?"

"I think I'm gonna go to bed…"

"Oh, ok. I have t'e key right here."

"…I won't need it… I forgot to lock the door…"

"It locks itself," he turned to the group, "'Night guys. Mel needs to go to bed."

"Wait… Why are you coming?"

"I have t'e only key," he said, waving the key in front of my face.

"Oh… Right…"

"Oh, wow, Mel. You really do need to get to sleep."

"Yeah, Melinda. You don't look like you're feeling well," Hermione said, worried.

"I'll be fine… I'm just… tired…" I said in a more muffled way than I meant to. I got a chorus of 'Goodnight's before I waved goodbye and started to slink toward the stairs.

Seamus kept close to me in case I fell while we made our way upstairs. When we got into the room we were sharing with his parents, I went over to my bed and tried to pull off my shoes. It didn't work… These are high-tops… Which means I have to untie them to get them off…

"Here, Melinda, let me help yeh wit' t'at." Seamus untied my shoes for me.. I noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Finnigan weren't around and asked Seamus about it. He said they were on a "date." I pulled my shoes off and slinked into the bathroom so I could change my clothes. When I was finished, I came out to see Seamus sitting on the bed by the window, reading a book. Funny, I didn't know he read. Or that he wasn't cute. He was hot. Wait. Why the hell was he on my bed?

"Seamus, what the hell are you doing on my bed?" He looked at me a little shocked and unable to speak for a moment.

"I called t'e window bed, remember?"

"Like hell you did, get out of my bed."

"But t'e ot'er's a queen size and everyt'ing," he tried to coax. But I didn't really care about what he had called. I pushed him out of the bed and pulled my Pooh bear comforter over my face.

"Night, Seamus," I mumbled from under the blanket. He sighed before replying.

"Night Mel, sleep well…"