DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR DRACULA!

LADY OF THE NIGHT:

CHAPTER THREE:

I sat down next to Dracula as Dumbledore Flooed into one of the libraries in the castle. I noted right away he wore a crucifix, and I chuckled. "Shall we start, Headmaster Dumbledore?" Dumbledore nodded. "As I specified in the letter to Gabrielle, she is welcome to attend Hogwarts." I frowned. "But my parents enrolled me in Beauxbatons. How is that possible?" Dumbledore chuckled. "Well, apparently, right after they did, your uncle, Jacques Delacour, enrolled you in Hogwarts instead, telling me he 'didn't want his goddaughter ending up in a prep school for spoiled mindless brats'." I laughed at this. "Yep. Sounds like Uncle Jack."

Dumbledore's face turned serious. "However, on the fact that your family may be looking for you, it's best if you went under an assumed name." I nodded, thinking hard. "How about Evangeline Lestrade?" Dumbledore nodded. "All right." He handed Dracula a list. "This is her school supply list." Dracula scanned it. "Very well. I will send Renfield to accompany her to Diagon Alley."

We strolled through Diagon Alley, checking the list. "Okay, now all that's left is to get my books." I had already gotten my wand: Ivy, with a Threstral tail hair for the core. As we entered the store, Renfield led me around, grabbing the correct books for the term. Eventually, he had his arms full, so I took them from him so he could pay for the books. After that, he took me to the pet shop, and I selected a sleek black kitten with golden eyes that I named Midnight.

When we got back, I noticed Dumbledore was still there, and I frowned. "What's going on?" Dumbledore stood up. "I informed the Count that you might be safer from harm if I put wards in your bedroom. No vampire can enter without your permission." I nodded.

Dumbledore glanced down at Midnight, and chuckled. "I take it this is your new pet?" I smiled. "Her name is Midnight." Dracula walked over, examining Midnight. I had placed a collar that had a crucifix on it around her neck. Finally, Dracula spoke. "This is not a cat. This is a panther." Dumbledore frowned. "Oh. Oh, dear." I scowled. "I'm not getting rid of her! Besides, the letter said I could get an owl, a cat or a toad. And a panther is a form of feline life!" Dumbledore sighed. "Very well. But you must keep her under control. The last thing Hogwarts needs is parents filing charges because your pet attacked their children."

"Okay." Dumbledore smiled. "All right. I'll see you at Hogwarts next week." He nodded at Dracula and left.

A week later, I stood on the platform beside Renfield, and took a shaky breath, staring at the train. Renfield, noticing this, squeezed my shoulder in comfort. "It will be all right, child." I nodded, giving a weak smile. "Thanks, Renny." I had taken to calling him that after two weeks at Dracula's manor. I'd also began calling Dracula "C.V." (for Count Violent), though I never said it to his face. I hugged him. "See you, Renny. Though I've got a feeling I'm not coming back for Christmas or Easter breaks." Renfield laughed. "Indeed." I waved goodbye and hopped on the train, holding Midnight. I stopped in the hall to get one last glance as the train started moving, but Renfield had vanished.

I made my way down the train, searching for a compartment, when I heard voices. "Come on, Lee, show us." Whatever it was that "Lee" had, a few nearby girls shrieked in disgust. My curiosity piqued, I went over to investigate. My eyes widened when I saw a boy with dreadlocks holding a box containing a tarantula. "Cool." The boy turned to look at me, as did two identical boys with fiery red hair. The three looked to be about two years older than me. The boy with dreadlocks grinned. "Finally found a girl who appreciates my little pet." I chuckled. "I'd hardly call her little. She's fully-grown. What's her name?"

"It's a female?" I laughed. "Yeah. I know a female arachnid when I see one." He stared at me. "Um...okay." I tapped my chin. "Why not call her Alex? After all, boys are called Alex too. Only certain people will be able to tell the difference." The boy with dreadlocks laughed. "You're pretty different."

The two identical boys spoke up. "Now, Lee, you really shouldn't-"

"-hog the attention-"

"-of this lovely young lady. Care to sit with us?" I laughed. "Not until I know your names." Lee grinned. "All right. I'm Lee Jordan. Those two troublemakers are Fred and George Weasley." He pointed at each of them in turn. "That's not right! I'm George, and that's Fred!" I laughed, and Lee continued. "And you obviously know Alex here." George grinned at me. "So, who are you, fair lady?" I smiled, giving a fake curtsey. "Evangeline Lestrade, pleased to make your acquaintance." They stared at me for a second, and then burst into laughter. "You're not bad, Evangeline." The twins threw their arms around my shoulders. "Come on. We'll get you to our compartment."

As we headed for their compartment, George noticed Midnight. "Who's this?"

"Oh, she's Midnight, my cat." Fred chuckled. "Looks a bit large to be 'just a cat'." I sighed once we'd entered the compartment. "Okay. She's not just a cat. She's a panther." They recoiled immediately. "WHAT?!"

"But I didn't know that when I bought her!" Fred slowly reached out a hand to pet her. When she didn't bite his hand off, he sighed in relief, and I laughed. "She obviously likes you three, otherwise she probably would have attacked you on the spot." Lee smiled. "So long as she doesn't eat Alex, we're good." We all laughed, and I turned to them. "You guys want some food?" The twins shifted uncomfortably in their seats, and I pulled out my purse. "It's on me."

"But-"

"No buts!" I stuck my head out the compartment door. "Oi! Food cart lady!" A few minutes later, we'd placed our orders, and had a multitude of various snacks sitting before us. I was feeding Midnight a Pumpkin Pasty when a drawling voice spoke. "Well, well. Since you can't afford to buy snacks yourselves, you're going to make a girl buy them for you?" Fred and George glared at him, and Fred spoke. "Shut your mouth."

The boy turned to me. "Come on. You must have better things to do than spend time with riffraff like them." I smirked. "The only riffraff I see is you." The boy stared at me, then smirked. "You are quite wrong. I'm Draco Malfoy. Those two are simply poor blood-traitors, and that freak with the spider is their friend. Though he must have brain damage to be their friend."

I smirked. "Well, you asked for it. Fred, could you take Midnight for a minute? I don't want her killing this prick." With that, I lunged at Draco, punching him in the gut. After that, I kneed one of his thugs in the ribs, then hit the other in the nuts. Lee and the twins winced. Once I'd finished, the three boys ran off. "You're going to regret this!" I rolled my eyes as I dusted off my hands. "I'm sure."

I turned back to see Lee, Fred and George staring at me while Midnight had a hint of amusement in her eyes, and Alex had fallen asleep. Eventually, George spoke. "That was so wicked." I bowed. "Thank you." Immediately, the four of us began laughing. When we'd regained our breath, Lee glanced at the window. "Looks like we're almost there." I nodded, staring at the castle. "That is amazing."

"Wait until you see it up close."

I turned to them. "What house are you guys in?"

"We're in Gryffindor. Where do you want to be sorted?" I sighed, collapsing back into my seat, unwrapping a Cauldron Cake. "I dunno. Probably Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. Hufflepuff sounds kinda boring, and Slytherin doesn't sound at all pleasant." I looked down at Midnight, who licked her lips as she eyed the Cauldron Cake I was holding. "Fine. You can have it." I gave it to her, and she devoured it within two seconds.

George laughed at this, and turned back to me. "Well, Ravenclaw's okay, but Gryffindor's definitely the most fun." I chuckled. "Okay. Any teachers I should keep an eye out for?"

"Well, Professor McGonagall, for one. She's the Transfiguration teacher. Pretty strict, but otherwise okay. Then there's-" He made a face. "-Snape. Quite possibly the most evil professor in all of Hogwarts. Favors Slytherin House over the others." Fred nodded. "Other than that, you should be fine." Just then, the train stopped, and we stood up. I put a rather grumpy Midnight back into her cage. "Don't worry, girl, I'll let you out soon." She kept eyeing me. "Oh, fine! Here!" I handed her a Chocolate Frog, and she ate it quicker than she had the Cauldron Cake I had given her. "I gotta cure you of that sweet tooth."

I jumped off the train, waving goodbye to Lee and the twins as the other first-years and I headed for the boats. I swung into a boat with a nervous-looking boy holding a toad and a girl with rather bushy hair. "Everyone in? Right, then. FORWARD!" The boats started moving forward across the lake, and we reached the other side quickly. The tall man who'd gotten us into the boats, Hagrid, began checking the boats. "Oi, you there! Is this yer toad?"
The nervous-looking boy who had been sitting with me ran over. "Trevor!" We walked up to the castle, and Hagrid turned to us. "Everyone here? You there, you still got yer toad?" With that, he knocked on the door, and we entered as the doors swung open.

A tall witch stood there, and Hagrid turned to her. "The firs' years, Professor McGonagall."

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." She led us off into a small chamber, then turned to us and began speaking. "Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend your free time in your house common room. The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

She glanced at Nervous-Boy while saying this, then turned back to the rest of us. "I shall return for you when we are ready. Please wait quietly." With that, she swept out of the room, and the others started muttering to each other about what houses they hoped to be in.

Suddenly, a group of girls shrieked as about 20 or so ghosts came through the walls into the chamber. Two of them seemed to be arguing. "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance-"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not even really a ghost-I say, what are you all doing here?" The second ghost had noticed us. Dead silence answered him.

The Fat Friar smiled. "New students! About to be Sorted, I suppose?" A few shocked students nodded mutely. "Hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old house, you know."

"Move along, now. The Sorting Ceremony's about to start." McGonagall had returned, and the ghosts floated out of the room through the wall. "Now form a line, and follow me." We did as she said, and I gasped as we entered the Great Hall. Even in C.V.'s castle, I'd never seen anything this impressive. I looked up and saw the ceiling that was bewitched to look like the sky.

I looked over to see Professor McGonagall place a hat on a stool. The hat sang a song involving the houses of Hogwarts, and the Sorting commenced. I spaced out until my "name" was called. "Lestrade, Evangeline!" I walked up to the hat, taking a deep breath as I sat down. "Hmm...you have a rather intelligent mind, but tend to seek out danger, often leaping into the fight without thinking. However, you have quite a brave heart for someone so young, to be living with the likes of him."My eyes shot wide open. "Relax. I won't tell. Let's see..."

"GRYFFINDOR!" I sighed, and got up off the stool as I took off the hat and went over to Gryffindor table where I sat down between Fred and George, across from Lee. I looked up when McGonagall said "Potter, Harry". Immediately, whispering broke out through the entire Hall, and heads swiveled in his direction. I laughed to myself. "So, Harry Potter's going to Hogwarts, huh? Interesting." Finally, he was Sorted into Gryffindor, and he sat down, looking extremely relieved.

As we began eating, we began talking about their families. Eventually, Fred turned to me. "So, what's your family like?"

"Oh. Um...I live with my Uncle Renny." Lee frowned. "What about your parents?"

"They're dead. Just me and Uncle Renny."

After we'd finished eating, Dumbledore stood up. "Just a few more words now that we are now fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all students. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." I laughed when I saw him looking at Fred and George.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their team should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out-of-bounds to those who do not wish to die a very painful death." We stared at him.

We stopped on our way to the Gryffindor common room, and I looked up to see a bunch of walking sticks floating in midair. Percy, Fred and George's older brother, who was a prefect, turned to us. "Peeves. A poltergeist. Peeves, show yourself." In response, something invisible blew a raspberry at him. "Don't make me have to go to the Bloody Baron." A loud popping sound answered, and Peeves appeared. "Oooh! Ickle Firsties! What fun!" He swooped at us, and we ducked.

"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron will hear about this! I mean it!" Peeves stuck out his tongue and disappeared, dropping the walking sticks on Neville the Nervous-Boy. Percy sighed. "You want to watch out for Peeves. The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him. He won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are." We had come to a portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress. "Password?"

"Caput Draconis." We stepped into the common room, and I followed a girl with bushy hair up to one of the girls' dormitories. Not even bothering to change, I flopped down onto my bed, ignoring the bushy-haired girl's scolding as I fell asleep.

I GOT THE LAST NAME "LESTRADE" FROM THE BRITISH TV SERIES SHERLOCK.