Vincent Crabbe stood in the crowded muggle air port for the first time in his life. People all around were bustling past and jostling. He'd nearly been tripped and fallen on the hard marble floor twice. He hated it and the sooner he got home and sent Malfoy an owl about the new student the better.

He stood between his father and older brother, Bradley. was starring at his watch (which he didn't quite seem to know how to read) impatiently, looking annoyed. They were standing outside the United Airlines terminal, waiting for people to stream out the door. Vincent had to admit, he did like looking at the airplanes. He and many other Crabbes had been placing bets about what the student would look like. Most of them had been horribly mean. Even if the Crabbe family wasn't known for their intellegence, they were certainly known for their dispicable nastiness. They'd been informed by the Ministry that the student would be a boy, so now they stood in front of the terminal holding a plain white sign that simply said, American Boy. Hogwarts.' Vincent had tried to convince his father to write something not so nice', but his father had whacked him hard, on the ear, muttering something about that damn Ministry.'

People had begun to trickle out through the doorway, and the Crabbes became more alert, scanning the crowd, not sure of who to look for. Vincent noticed a small girl with long dark brown hair exiting the plane. She looked around, not sure of where to go. He kept looking for a boy, but every boy he saw either didn't seem to read the sign, or walked right past. They were getting impatient, and kept glancing at the watch on his pudgy wrist.

He was sweating slightly, hoping nothing would go wrong. If anything did No, he wouldn't think about that right now. He had more important things to do. When no more people came out of the passage, and the attendents shut the heavy metal door, felt possitively sick. Vincent just wanted to go home.

As she stepped off the passage that led from the plane to the airport, Chloe felt a surge of happiness and hopped excitedly into the airport. Just as she took one big hop and squealed happily. She was in ENGLAND! Whooie! A rush adrenaline spread through her and she felt ready to just burst, as she took her first step across the ocean, the furthest she'd ever been from home. At first her head swiveled all around trying to take in everything at the same time, all the while smiling.

She'd been standing and smiling, looking around, hopping and trying to surpress squeals, when suddenly she became more nervous. She was was worried. No one had told her who would be picking her up. She'd gotten a few letters from the Ministry, and even a letter and photograph of a Weasley Family, who said she would hopefully be staying with them, and if she had any questions or concerns to please send them an owl. So she just hoped that they were going to meet her here. They looked so friendly.

She'd read everyone's sign twice now, and the terminal was almost empty, except for a few groups of scattered people. Her eyes rested on a family of three heavy set looking people, who all looked like clones of each other, except for the fact that they were different sizes. They would've stood out of the crowd just by their size, let alone their dark robes. There was something about them that almost scared her. Almost. Maybe it was their dark, emotionless faces, or their little beady black eyes. But they were holding a sign.

Please, thought Chloe, don't let them be the people I have to stay with. I hope the, what was it?, Weezley's are here somewhere! Oh well, I'm sure they're very nice people, just a little scary, but oh man!

After procrastinating a few minutes and looking around for people with bright red hair, she gave in and read their sign. She felt like she'd just swallowed ice. This had to be it, but she wasn't a boy.

Vincent looked around. He was getting frustrated, and he could tell by his father's grunts that he was too. Then, out of the corner of his eye he saw that girl from earlier approaching. She was wearing a jean jacket over a white shirt and her only luggage was a red backpack. She was really small, but he thought she was really pretty, unlike many girls he'd seen before, she had lightly tanned skin, mid back length black brown hair, and a pair of beautiful brown eyes. He had never thought this way before, and wasn't used to it. He wasn't sure if he liked it either.

He could just hear his father's thoughts. A girl. An American. And worst of all a mudblood. Just wait until he told Draco and Goyle about this!

She'd walked over to them and was smiling nervously. He had to practically look down to see her. He decided not to smile.

Hi,' said Chloe, fidgeting with her gold star earrings. Um, I'm the exchange student to go to Hogwarts, but I think there was a mistake–since I'm not a boy," she added, hoping not to sound rude.

's expression didn't change and he continued to look at Chloe.

"I'm Chloe," she said smiling and hoping to look nice and friendly, "nice to meet you, and thanks for offering to let me stay."

grunted and mumbled something, probably introductions and shook her hand, drawing back quickly, as if he was afraid to catch some awful disease. Bradley chuckled. Normally Chloe would've said "Don't worry, I won't bite," but decided against it as they quickly turned and without a word led the way out of the airport.

Talk about a warm welcome thought Chloe I hope I live through this.

After they'd gotten into a fancy limousine and been driven home (the ride had been awful! The Crabbes were some of the coldest people she'd ever met–she wondered if they knew how to carry on a conversation), the fun continued. The Crabbey's' as she'd nicknamed them, simply entered the house and left her standing in the large foyer, admiring their vast mansion.

The youngest Crabbe, who she'd hoped to make friends with, raced upstairs to his room (to write to Malfoy no doubt) and slammed the door. Now the house felt completely empty. Her stomach gurgled loudly. She was so hungry but didn't want to impose. Thinking about how they really ought to serve peanuts on the flight, even stale old pretzels, she made her way to a huge black couch. It was such a dark house! Kind of cold and creepy

She was about to take out a book and read when she spotted a small dish of what looked like small jellybeans. She was sure they wouldn't mind if she had just one Reaching out for a shiny white one, hoping it was coconut, she nearly choked as she bit into the tiny bean. It was the worst thing she'd ever tasted! A mix between sour milk and rotten fish. She could've hear she heard some muffled laughter, but spit the bean into her hand and decided to read.

The rest of the evening was just as uneventful, with only the sounds of doors closing in the huge mansion. Chloe felt really lonely and a little scared, not knowing what to do.

Upstairs, Vincent was writing to Malfoy:

Draco, you'll never gess what happened tooday! We went to the muggle airport, but the new student is a gurl! She tries to talk to much and I can tel father reeally doesn't like her. He's just going to let her sit all by herself today and tomoro. I think she's funie. She's trying to hard, but I dew think she's a little pritty. For a muggle you know. Well, I will talk to you soon.

-Crabbe

Finally, after hours of waiting and making pictures with the jellybeans, a maid coldly showed Chloe to her room, and left abrubtly before she could even say thank you.

Well, at least we'll be leaving for school tomorrow, thought Chloe as she climbed into bed. But the next day was even worse.

Rain pattered against the windows steadily. Outside the sky was covered in murky gray clouds and flashed with bolts of dead to the world, Chloe was happily dreaming about gumdrops when she was woken up by a loud crash of thunder. She nearly flew off the bed but just laughed at herself and slipped on a pair of fluffy slippers. Yes! It was raining! She flew over to the window, threw open the drab black curtains and forced the squeaky window to open. She stuck her whole face out of the window, tilting it up and letting the rain droplets roll off. Chloe loved rain. She stood for a few minutes gazing out the window, when suddenly she remembered where she was.

Oh no! Crabbey Mansion! Oh what time was it–she rummaged through her backpack and came up with her smiley face alarm clock. 10:30? Aw crap, how could she've slept so late? Dashing around the room madly, she caught a quick glimpse of herself in the mirror and skidded to a stop, bursting out in laughter. I should really wear my hair like this all the time–she thought to herself–I might fit in here!

She threw on some clothes and ran downstairs, hopping she wasn't too late for breakfast. She'd had to raid her emergency stash of gummy worms last night! Unfortunately though, Chloe did not get any breakfast, and the day went downhill from there.

First of all, Crabbey number one had announced very snootily that if she wanted breakfast she would have to wake up in time for it. Now she would have to wait for lunch, and hopefully she would arrive on time for that. Lunch was awful. Who knows what kind of nasty meat and steamed cucumbers. Time to raid the candy stash again thought Chloe. For the rest of the day she was completely left alone and ignored. Where on earth do these people go? She wondered. She decided to try to go on a walk around the grounds, and returned to the lovely surprise that her candy stash had been pillaged. Well, this was it. Maybe she'd try to smuggle some food from the kitchens.

When she finally reached them, she peeked through a crack in the door. Vincent Crabbe was inside having a hefty snack of chocolate cake and what appeared to be frog legs. Next to him sat an enormous pile of candy wrappers. That was it. It was time for pay back, to the Crabbey's who'd made her first two days miserable. They were goin' down.

She quickly ran back up to her room and dug through her back pack. Finally she found what she was looking for. 2 bright pink whoopie cushions, a few sticks off peppery hot gum, and a bar of black soap. Pranks were probably her biggest weakness, but they were so much fun, she thought, her brown eyes glittering. She put the soap back. It was too much. She'd save it for another occasion.

She kept herself busy for a few hours, putting everything in place. It was hard work sneaking around and finding the right rooms in the huge mansion. Whoopie cushions under the fancy seat cushions in the dining room, the gum under random plates. This would be great. She would leave them a nice little surprise.'

When everything was set, Chloe apologized profusively to a maid and asked her to please thank for his generosity, but that she would be retiring early and missing dinner. But not really–she planned to watch all the action. So what if the Crabbe's were inviting over some important friends? The Malfoy's–what a screwy name. Better than Crabbes though, she thought. Hopefully, the Crabbe's wouldn't be able to figure out she'd been the one to do this. They weren't exactly the brightest tools in the shed, and hopefully the Malfoys wouldn't be either. And even if they did, they were just harmless little pranks. At least, knowing them, they'd think she was in bed. Fat chance She could see the clear glass china sparling in dark red dining room, and could hardly breathe with anticipation. the Yep, this would be a night to remember.