2

I paused outside the doors of the compartment, and peered in. The boy was hunched over, his head resting on his knees, and his hair covered what I should have been able to see of his face. The only thing that was unusual about him was that he had bright blue hair. Another girl sat next to him, with light ginger hair and blue eyes, with a slightly haughty look about her.

I knocked on the door, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up as they boy cast his gaze through his hair at me and smiled. I edged into the compartment.

"C-can I sit here?" I asked the blue haired boy, whose eyes sparkled. He nodded.

"Yeah, of course!" he said, and moved so I could sit next to him. "I'm Teddy Lupin, by the way, and this is my….cousin, Molly."

"Molly Weasley." The girl said, sticking her hand out so I could shake it. I promptly did so, my cheeks burning, and Teddy stuck his hand out too. I grasped it, and then sat down, feeling my heart thump in my chest.

"My name's Matthias Constantine." I replied, trying not to sneer as I said my own name- it was hideous. I never understood why my parents would want to torture me so much as to call me Matthias Constantine (or Matt, as I preferred). "I'd prefer to be called Matt, though."

"Okay," Teddy said, looking at me intensely, his green-amber eyes glued to my face. "Welcome to Hogwarts, Matt…so what year will you be going into?"

"First Year." I replied, and I watched as Teddy's face lit up.

"So am I! We can be friends, I'm sure!" he chirped.

"You're just creepy, Teddy." Molly laughed, and winked at her cousin. "Well, I'm in my second year, and a Ravenclaw…"

"Ravenclaw….blue, right?" I asked nervously.

"Yes." Molly replied stiffly, "Hufflepuff's yellow, Slytherin's green, and-"

"Gryffindor's red, I know." I replied a little dryly, and then felt guilty. Ralph had said I'd better hold my tongue a bit when I'm around people….maybe he was right. Ralph was my older cousin, sixteen now, and had been at a wizarding school in America, known as Jeffersons. I had never been to America, HE came to US during the summer…he had given me far too much advice about everything before I'd got on the train. His school didn't start till October, so he stayed with us until he had to go back to America: I could never decide if I truly liked him or not.

"Oh." Molly huffed sourly, "So…What house would you like to be in?"

I thought back to what my parents had said: 'I was a Gryffindor,' my father had declared, 'And I a Ravenclaw." My mother had replied.

"I don't know…" I replied quietly, "Probably Gryffindor, or Ravenclaw…"

"I want to be a Gryffindor." Teddy replied. "Well, I'll still be your friend whatever house you're in…"

He blushed, and then all of his hair turned bright pink, to his obvious horror. Slowly, his hair turned to a dark but vibrant blue.

"I'm a metamorphagus." Teddy explained quickly, and I filtered through my brain to find the meaning of the long word. I nodded two seconds later, knowing that it meant that Teddy could change his shape.

"That's really cool." I replied, "I can't do anything like that…."

"I think it's rather weird." Molly replied snootily.

"Your face is weird!" Teddy huffed, playfully insulting his cousin. I laughed a little at the comment, when Molly turned bright red and huffed, and her eyes turned angry. She stood up, rolled her eyes, and walked out!