Chapter 3 - Caroline

Caroline was having a field day. First she got to creep out the Brits, and then she got to terrorize Sophie. When she had first tried out the spell, it was quite easy. It was her speciality. She looked at Sophie mischievously, before muttering, "Cultellulus!"

A knife gleamed instead of a needle, as Caroline held it, examining it, carefully. A wicked grin drew up on her face. She lifted her eyes to Sophie, who had paled drastically.

"For your homework, I want you to write five inches of parchment about Transfiguration and practice the spell. Mind you keep your writing small!" Professor Bascombe ordered. Caroline rolled her eyes and ran out as soon as she heard her Professor dismiss her.

"Dopey!" Caroline called as she quickly transfigured her knife into a needle again. "Dopey, what're you doing, now? Classes are over… I think."

"Mmm," Sophie mused. "Well, bye, Caroline. I'm going to work on homework."

"Why do we have to do homework?" Caroline whined. She saw no point in doing something she was already good at. "This place is horrible!"

"Suck it up, Caroline," Sophie rolled her eyes. "Schools not all fun and games. Got to go. Bye, Caroline."

"Bye, Dopey," Caroline muttered. Normally, she would usually run after Sophie and endlessly tease and terrorize her, but, right now, she was simply too tired. She didn't know why. Maybe the wands? Caroline pulled out her wand – ten inches of alder wood and dragon heartstring as the core. She honestly didn't see the 'awesomeness' of wands, as the other wizards and witches from Gryffindor insisted. She would probably lose it in her first week at Hogwarts. She walked towards the Gryffindor fat lady painting (fat lady… such a nice name…) and she saw a girl with wavy, chestnut hair.

"Hey!" she called. The girl turned around, her brown eyes widening.

"You're Caroline Lawson, aren't you?" the girl guessed. "Do you need the password into the Common Room?"

Caroline was stunned for a moment, but soon pulled on her haughty behaviour. "No. I was just wondering if you knew where to go."

The girl smiled, but it wasn't out of humor. "Mm hmm, in that case. No, I am not lost. I was just heading back to the Gryffindor Common Room. You?"

Caroline gave a small, curt nod. "Yes. Yes I am." For a while, Caroline thought she could somehow sneak into the Common Room with her, and listen to the password, without admitting she didn't know it. After all, it was best not to reveal what you didn't know.

"My name is Zila Allen," Zila introduced. "And I already know yours."

For the first time in her life, Caroline sighed. "It seems everyone here knows my name. Damn."

"Well," Zila said, matter-of-factly, "You are one of the new foreign students. Who wouldn't?"

"Dopey," Caroline said, without thinking. Zila shot her an odd look.

"Who…?"

"Forget what I said," Caroline said. "Let's just get to the Common Room."

"Mmm," Zila agreed. When they reached the portrait, Zila told Caroline; "It's revelio aparecium."

"I knew that," Caroline grumbled. "I'm not daft. That's Dop – that's someone else's job." Caroline saved lamely. Slipping up too much. This isn't like me.

"By what I can deduce, this 'Dopey' would be another of the foreign students. From Canada, I presume?" she asked testily.

Damn. This girl is too intelligent, Caroline thought to herself. "Whatever."

As they entered the Common Room, Caroline immediately smelled trouble. "Something's off…"

"Something's always off, Caroline," Zila said patronizingly. "This is Hogwarts. There's a lot of magic frequency in the air. Unlike your school, of course."

Caroline tried not to look astonished. "Whatever."

"Do you need help on any of the homework?" Zila offered condescendingly. "I'm the best there is at Transfiguration."

"I'm sure you are," Caroline scowled. "But so am I."

"Oh." Zila hmphed. "Well, bye, Caroline. See you around."

"Whatever." Caroline really couldn't find anything else to say. "Guess I have to see you tomorrow."

Zila coldly smiled. "Maybe."

"God dam –" Caroline exclaimed in frustration. She scribbled out the ink on the parchment, as she dug out another one. "Who got rid of pencils and erasers?"

She had gone through multiple parchments, making mistake after mistake, ripping parchment, throwing it down or even cutting it into pieces with a knife.

This sucks, Caroline thought, sulking. Quills. Are. So. Stupid.

Transfiguration is one of the most dangerous branches of magic. Transfiguraton

Dammit! she mentally screamed. What is this? My seventh parchment? "Ugh. I miss my laptop."

"What?" Caroline turned around. Great. Another girl.

"And who are you?" she sniffed. "I don't need your opinion, you know."

"Raine Yew," the girl introduced herself. She had pixie cut hair and bright brown eyes. "Caroline Lawson?"

"Yes," Caroline decided to be civil for once. "Nice, erm, to meet you." Being civil, she decided, is too hard. Screw it.

"What do you want?" She demanded.

"Are you rude to everyone you meet?" Raine fired back. "Or are you just rude to people you don't know?"

"Pfft. Of course. What makes you think you're special?" Caroline retorted. "I treat everyone the same."

Raine shrugged. "Well, lovely to meet you too." she said sarcastically "What blood purity do you have?"

"Does it matter?"

"Not particularly to me, but you said you missed your laptop," Raine explained. "Which, I think, means you aren't pureblooded."

"I am a pureblood, thank you very much," Caroline said haughtily. "At schools in North America near everyone uses Customary machines. Unlike this stupid old-fashioned Europe."

"Ah, there we go."

"What?"

"I was wondering why you were Sorted into Gryffindor. But here you are, full of panache and conceit."

"Am I breaking the tradition?" Caroline asked, huffing. "Are all Gryffindors supposed to be noble and good? Because I am far, far from it."

Raine laughed humorlessly. "No, you aren't. People always seem to get the impression that all Gryffindors should be good and all Slytherins should be bad. Actually, it's just generalizations: Gryffindors can be vain and arrogant, while Slytherins are ambitious and smart, which can be good or bad. So, no, you aren't the first unkind Gryffindor, to put it lightly."

"Personally, I was hoping to be a rule breaker."

Raine was silent until she questioned,"You need help on Transfiguration?" She looked at Caroline's feet, littered with trash. "And don't say no, it's obvious you're struggling."

"Yeah, well," Caroline huffed. "I need an eraser and pencil. All I need are those two things. The two most common school items in America are non-existent here."

Raine frowned. "You should get an auto-correct quill."

"There's such a thing?" Caroline said then she frowned heavily. "Of course there is. This is the UK."

"I will choose not to take offense to that," Raine said. Then, she sighed. "C'mon. Let's work on your Transfiguration homework."

"Zila Allen," Raine told Caroline, "Should be in Slytherin."

"I picked that up from yesterday, thank you very much" Caroline grumbled. "She thinks she's the great princess, everyone needs to worship her, thinks she's so smart."

"I agree with you there," Raine gave Caroline a dry smile. "Her own name means shade or shadow, did you know?"

"Figures," Caroline grumbled. "Even I'm not that snooty!" She frowned. "Come to think of it, I'm not snooty at all. I just don't like people in general."

After they had finished Caroline's homework, Raine started showing Caroline around Hogwarts.

"I'm in my second year," Raine informed her. "There are some nice people and some people you should avoid."

"Obviously. Mind giving me a few examples? No, of course you don't, you'll tell me anything."

Raine ignored the last part and continued. "Zila for example, you should avoid her at all costs, as you've seen. Cameron Longbottom is cool, I guess... he's more ambitious than his parents – people say – and he's in Ravenclaw. He's also in his third year."

"Know anyone in my year?" Caroline asked, as she brushed some of her hair out of her eyes. "I look real pathetic over here, with only older kids to talk to."

Raine looked at her funny. "Is that a problem? I hope you aren't one of those snobbish kids who only blabber about their popularity."

"Me? Popular?" Caroline scoffed. "Yeah, right. Best way to strike is from the shadows."

Raine gave a small smile. "Me too. What do you have tomorrow?"

"I think Flying was one," Caroline crinkled her nose. "With the Hufflepuffs. Oh, Sophie's deathly afraid of heights. I actually feel a little pity for her… haha! No… I don't."

"I'm guessing you don't treat your other friends with such luxury as you are to me?" Raine asked. "I mean, you call your friend 'Dopey'?"

"How did you…?"

"I overheard you, when you were talking to Zila," Raine shrugged. "Isn't Hogwarts nice?"

Caroline gave a small, curt nod as she looked around. "When's dinner?"

"I remember my first year," Raine reminisced. "I was even more curious than you. What school are you going to next?"

"I'm not sure, really," Caroline decided she liked Raine. She would treat her as an equal. "Antarktikos Academy, I think. In Antarctica."

"Cold, much?" Raine asked Caroline. "Better pack fur coats."

"Hopefully they have awesome heating systems," Caroline hoped. "I'm not freezing my butt off."

"It is a primarily magic-based place there, though, isn't it? But I have a question. How do they choose the representatives?" Raine asked, curious. "I mean, they obviously don't choose their best students."

Ouch. But Caroline guessed that's what everyone else felt when she was blunt. "Honestly, I don't know. It had to be eleven year olds, because they wanted the age to be similar with everyone."

"Was it like a draw?" Raine asked. "Like your name was entered and your Headmistress or Headmaster chose three names?"

"I've got no idea," Caroline told her, eyes narrowing. "All I know is that I got a letter telling me to pack and go to England as soon as I could."

"That… sucks," Raine concluded.

"I know right?" Caroline said. "I've got to travel for the next 6 years."

"That might be fun, right?" Raine said, optimistically. "I mean, you get to learn every branch of magic from all the different continents!"

Caroline put on a twisted smile. "Yes…" Her stomach grumbled.

Raine chuckled. "Let's get some dinner."

"Yeah, I'm, like, dying here," Caroline said dramatically. "Hogwart's magic food is actually really good."

"Oh?" Raine cocked her head. "How is your food made?"

"Well it isn't magic," Caroline said. "But I'm particularly attached to the sushi there."

"I've got a question," Raine said suddenly. "How come there are kids who have different backgrounds? I mean, if they had an old prejudice, why would they immigrate here?"

Caroline shrugged. "Maybe they immigrated here a long time ago. Before the prejudice. That's the only reason I can think of."

"Maybe…" Raine mused. "Oh, I forgot. Also, another couple of kids that's good to have around are the Scamander twins, but they don't enter Hogwarts until four years later."

"So… they're seven?" Caroline said, dumbfounded. "How do you know them?"

"My parents are good friends with the Scamander's," Raine shrugged. "Cutest kids ever."

"I won't be here four years later," Caroline pointed out. A hot air rushed to greet them, as they entered the Great Hall, already filled with students. "I'm so hungry!"

"Let's grab a place," Raine said, briskly walking over to the Gryffindor table. "I find it extremely inconvenient that we are still sitting on benches. That sucks about Hogwarts."

As Caroline and Raine sat down, a few people lifted their heads to greet them.

"Oh, hey, Caroline," Albus said, giving a small smile. He elbowed James, who looked confused.

"Huh? Oh, hi, Caroline," James said, dazed.

Caroline arched an eyebrow in question.

Albus leaned closer. "He, um," he cleared his throat and whispered confidentially, "Sophia walked in on him snogging some other girls. Three times."

"Dopey wouldn't make that much of a fuss out of this moron being more moronic, would she?" Caroline wondered. " But then again, she's the Dope."

James only cradled his head and mumbled something inaudible.

"Look, you like her, right?" Caroline rolled her eyes. She could see that much. She wasn't completely moronic.

Everyone stared at her quizzically.

She sighed. "Putting it in you Brits' terms, do you, James, fancy the Dope. Sophie."

James nodded.

Caroline sighed and shook her head. "Well then, stop it! She's friggin' eleven, James. I may not like everything about Sophie, screw that, I don't like anything about her, but if you're kissing other girls, and you break her heart, I will freaking kill you."

Caroline turned back to Raine and muttered, "Stupid British thirteen-year-old boys."

"That's sexist and racist," Raine cocked her head. "Not that I don't agree with you at the least."

Caroline gave a small smile as she looked for some macaroni 'n' cheese. She was fond of that too.

"You like chicken?" Raine asked, handing her some.

"No!" Caroline exclaimed. She had something against chicken, after her mom sent her chicken nuggets every friggin' day. "I mean, I'll pass. I'm looking for some mac 'n' cheese. Please tell me you have that here."

Raine gazed thoughtfully, as she munched on her chicken. "Hmm, no. Or I've never seen it. There are some grilled cheese sandwiches, though."

Caroline shrugged as she reached over to them. "Whatever with cheese, I'm good."

As Caroline chewed her grilled cheese, she looked over at Hannah. "Hey, Raine, hand me a napkin."

Raine gave her one as Caroline quickly scribbled with some sauce on the napkin.

Hey Hannah, What's up? Dopey's Got a new admirer at this end.

Caroline folded the napkin and silently cast the spell to fly in her own branch of magic. As the napkin soared over to Hannah, she noted Hannah's disgusted expression as she read the sauced words. She grabbed a bit of parchment from her bag, and a quill and quickly scribbled it down, sending it back.

You do realize how inconvenient this is, don't you? Anyone could snatch it up and read what we're writing. Some Slytherins are already shooting me dirty looks. But, besides that, classes here seem pretty good. I dominated Herbology and had Charms afterwards. I had fun at Charms, but I suck at any spell. By the way, it's pretty obvious the admirer is the older Potter boy.

Caroline read this as she smudged more sauce in return.

Had Charms and then Transfiguration today. Also, you guessed correctly. Cheese for you! If he breaks Sophie's heart… I don't care how much we hate her, we SHOULD help her, right? I don't want Dopey to become Mopey.

Honestly, I'm not sure. We'll be gone within a year. You don't think Sophie will develop feelings for him, do you? She's also ELEVEN.

It's Dopey, Hannah. I honestly can't tell what's going on in her head. Maybe, but this sucks, especially for Dopey.

Figured that out, have you? Applause for you, Sherlock.

Thanks, Hannah. I'm going back to dorms. See you tomorrow.

Caroline swiftly rose from her seat as she informed Raine, "I'm going to sleep."

Raine nodded, her cheeks bulging with food. "Sure, g'night."

"Good night," Caroline said, as she went up the staircase to the Gryffindor Common Room. "Revelio aparecium."

The portrait swung open as Caroline went in, right into her dorms. She jumped into her bed, thinking of her home in the United States. Now, she was in friggin' Scotland. Her eyes closed as she hit the bed.

"Potions is not just plain cooking," Professor Slughorn explained. "It is the brewing of ingredients and the precise time management. This might be one of the hardest classes you will take for the next five years."

Caroline rolled her eyes. Most likely, she would blow things up in less than a minute.

"Today, you will only be taking notes," Professor Slughorn ordered. There was a silent groan from the class. "Now, please copy the ingredients for the Wiggenweld potion…"

"Potions are horrible," Caroline groaned, as she and Albus walked to their next class – Defence Against the Dark Arts.

"Dad hated that class," Albus told Caroline as they made their way to the class. "He always said a certain teacher picked on him, because he didn't like granddad. But he understands his reasons."

"That sucks," Caroline commented.

"Also, James told me dad pops up time to time in DADA," Albus told Caroline. "Honestly, it's kind of embarrassing."

"Oh, well…" Caroline tried to find something mildly beyond what qualified as 'mean' to say, but years of taunting other kids her age left her with virtually nothing. "That can't be, erm… too bad, right?"

"Ask James," Albus grinned. "He said it was the most mortifying thing ever."

Caroline grinned back. "I can see that."

As they walked inside the classroom, they spotted a man, about in his fifties or sixties.

"Hello, my dears," the old man greeted, warmly. "My name is Professor Ollivander."

"You mean the Ollivander from the wand shop? The wand shop my Dad got his wand at? When Oliivander was very old?" Albus asked, dumbfounded. "Shouldn't you be dead?"

Caroline stomped on his foot. "Subtlety, much?"

"No, it's quite alright," Professor Ollivander assured. "I'm his son."

Caroline shot him a glance. He better be doing his job right. "Oh, nice to meet you, Professor Ollivander."

"Please take a seat, Miss Lawson, Mister Potter," Professor Ollivander smiled. "Please wait while the other students come."

Albus and Caroline took seats next to each other, as they saw other students beginning to file in. Caroline recognized a few of them, they were her dorm buddies, but they were quite hostile to her.

And why shouldn't they be? After all, she was a foreign. And, dammit, these Brits were softening her up.

"Albus, d'you know what we're learning?" Caroline whispered to him. She vaguely remembered her DADA classes at her old school, but she hated the subject, because she couldn't jinx anyone – yet.

"I'm not sure, really," Albus admitted. "I think dad mentioned we're learning a few jinxes and a few animals… right?"

He looked questioningly at Professor Ollivander. He nodded in confirmation. "Today we will be taking notes about different animals we will be learning later in the year."

Caroline groaned. Great, more notes. When will this ever stop? "Oh, c'mon Professor, please let us do some jinxes – anything!"

Professor Ollivander looked at her sharply. "Not today, Miss Lawson. Maybe in a month or two."

"A month or two?" Caroline asked, flabbergasted. She couldn't wait that long!

"Yes, Miss Lawson, a month or two," Professor Ollivander said impatiently. "Now I would like to start this class."

After a while, Caroline soon got bored. She quickly scribbled a note and passed it to Albus.

Are you as bored as me? I mean, all he's doing is droning on about some animal we will learn about LATER IN THE YEAR!

I understand your pain, Caroline , I really do, but Dad told me to try hard on this class.

Caroline rolled her eyes as she read this. Parents. Luckily, her parents were overseas. She refocused her attention on Professor Ollivander, and slowly began taking notes. Ish…

The dark arts are seriously screwed up. Why are we even learning about them? I mean, I get the defence part, but what part of NOTE TAKING is going to help us DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS? What are we going to do, splatter them with ink?!

"Miss Lawson?" Professor Ollivander questioned as Caroline stabbed the parchment in anger.

"What?" Caroline snapped. She quickly realized her mistake. "I mean, I'm sorry, sir."

"Apology accepted, Miss Lawson," Professor Ollivander warned. "But I shall not be as forgiving next time.

"Of course, sir," Caroline muttered, under her breath. "Anytime, sir. Whatever, sir."

You should stop that attitude. If you said that to any other Professor, they would've given you detention.

Haha, says you, who is PASSING NOTES.

Albus shrugged as he continued to write down everything in his choppy handwriting. Caroline looked at the chalkboard and sighed, beginning to copy everything onto the parchment.

Caroline looked at the broom she was supposed to fly on. Back at North America, they didn't start teaching you how to fly on brooms until second year, so she was on the same level as all the nervous kids, here. Basic levitation was taught in the first year, so she felt relatively reassured that if she fell she wouldn't straightaway die. The bad part was that she, Sophie and Hannah all nearly failed that course.

"Good afternoon, class," a witch with spiky, grey hair said.

"Good afternoon, Madame Hooch," some of the class responded in return. They stranded there, brooms at their sides.

"Well, hurry up, now," Madame Hooch instructed. "Let's get to the daily lesson. Now. I want you to raise your dominant hand over the broom, and say up, in a good, confident voice."

Caroline put her right hand over the broom and said, "Up!"

The broom rose about halfway before falling back to the ground. Albus' twitched, but didn't move after that. Sophie's hadn't moved at all. Caroline glared at the broom and said, "Up!" once more. The broom reluctantly flew up into her hand.

"Once you have your broom," Madame Hooch explained, "You will mount it and on the count of three, kick up into the air. One… two… three!"

As they kicked up in the air, Caroline rose about fifteen feet in the air, the highest being twenty five. She wanted to beat that no good person who was beating her. She steadily flew down to Sophie, a mere five feet in the air and yanked her up. "C'mon Sophie!"

"No!" Sophie squirmed as she tried to get away. The broom began to slip from her feet. They were now, unsteadily, twenty feet in the air. Soon, Sophie's broom dropped, and she was only hanging by Caroline's hand.

"Caroline!" Sophie howled. "Let's go down! Put me down!"

"No!" Caroline called back, gleefully. She looked down, and her gleefulness was replaced with a timid fear for Sophie. "I mean, yeah!"

"What are you two doing?" They heard a bark. Madame Hooch. "Miss Lawson, let Miss Walker go back to the ground! What are you thinking? Are you crazy?"

Caroline slowly flew back to the ground, letting Sophie land softly.

"What were you thinking?" Madame Hooch asked, her eyes glinting dangerously. "You put Miss Walker in danger! She could have died!"

Caroline squirmed, trying to think of a way to get out of this one. She heard Sophie speak.

"It's partly my fault, Madame Hooch," Sophie lied, quickly. "We can levitate a bit, and I wanted to try out how well I can do it."

"You foolish girl!" Madame Hooch scolded. "Detention for both of you, in the Trophy Room. You, Miss Lawson, for agreeing to such a dangerous activity and you, Miss Walker, for suggesting such a dangerous activity."

Sophie hung her head, but as she did, she whispered to Caroline, "You owe me. So hard."

"Understood," Caroline nodded. "Erm… thanks… I guess. D'you know what we're supposed to do in the Trophy Room, Albus?"

Albus knitted his eyebrows. "Clean the trophies, I guess. Manually."

"Oh, joy," Sophie stated, sarcastically. "I can't believe I helped you."

"I know why," Caroline grinned. "Because you're my bestest friendest everest!"

"Oh, yeses I ames," Sophie rolled her eyes, having a small smile on her face at the improper grammar. "You are so luckiest to havest a friendest like me-est."

"Yeses I amses," Caroline smiled back. "Get ready to clean!"

Three ways to describe the Trophy Room.

Old.

Filled with useless stuff.

Musty.

Caroline coughed as she waved at the air around her, trying to get rid of all the dust and debris. "Wha-at the he-eck. So-o mu-uch du-ust!"

"I-I know, ri-ight?" Sophie gagged. "We're supposed to clean all these trophies? This will take forever."

"Y-you si-igned u-up for this, Dopey," Caroline coughed. "Bl-lame no-o one b-but yourself."

"Damn," Sophie sighed. "We'll have to use our own magic to make the process faster."

So they did. Caroline was mentally exhausted by the time they had finished, and Sophie looked close to passing out.

"Oh my god, who would keep that many freaking trophies?" Sophie groaned, trying to wave away the leftover dust. "Please, just get me some Advil. My head is dying!"

"My head is worse!" Caroline moaned, rubbing her temple. Madame Hooch entered, looking at all the polished trophies.

"That's good, girls," she told them. "Now, run along. Next time, the detention will be worse, so be good. Is that clear?"

Caroline and Sophie nodded in unison and Madame Hooch walked briskly away. Caroline turned to go, but Sophie tripped over a box. "Oof!"

"You alright, Dopey?" Caroline helped her up, putting the box right side up. Some photo's had slipped out, and Caroline placed them back in the box, but one caught her eye. It was a Quidditch team, and below were the names.

Cedric Diggory, was the Seeker's name.

"Hey Sophie…" Caroline trailed off, showing the photo to Sophie. "Doesn't the dude in the middle – Cedric Diggory – look a lot like Edward Cullen from Twilight?"

Discalimer

We do not own anything you recognize.

Author's Note

Thank you for reading, once again! Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Now, I must thank Wilhelm Wigworthy for following and reviewing! Thanks! We appreciate it, so much! Cookies for you! (::) (::)

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Bluedaylighter & QuietlyImagining