"Who the fuck are you?" said the boy.
"Who the fuck are you?" countered Faith.
"I asked first."
"And I asked second."
There was a tense silence. And thenㅡ "James! There's a girl in your living room!"
***
When Faith Potter gets expelled from Beauxbat...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"You're not a first 'ear, are yeh?" asked the half-giant in a gruff voice, the lantern he held emitting a faint glow on his face. He had a scraggly, long black beard that looked as though it could nest a few animals, and two beady eyes that, despite his scary appearance, showed kindness.
"No, I'm a fifth year, actually, but it's my first time at Hogwarts," replied Faith, craning her neck slightly, letting her dark hair fall back to look up at the man. Hagrid nodded in understanding and said, "Well, get on the boat then. Yeh don' want to miss it now, do yeh?"
Faith smiled at him and climbed onto one of the boats as he yelled, "No more'n four ter a boat! First 'ears over here!"
No sooner than he said that, three more children clambered onto the same boat as Faith. Two boys and a girl sat down, and Faith took the moment to survey her boat-buddies. One boy, who sat opposite her, had light brown hair and bright blue eyes; a quick glance next to her told Faith that the two must be twins as they looked almost identical. The boy next to him hard dark hair and was looking at Faith with question in his eyes.
"You don't look like a first year," he said. "I'm Jacob, by the way," he smiled, lifting his arm to wave as a way of introduction.
"That's because I'm not. I'm in my fifth year," she informed with a smile as the boat began to glide smoothly across the pristine water reflecting the starless sky.
"Then why are you here?" asked the girl. Faith couldn't help but notice her tone was rather rude.
"I got expelled from my old school, Beauxbatons. I'm a transfer. I've been told to sitㅡ"
"Didn't ask for your life story," muttered her twin under his breath.
Faith smiled without humour. "I don't seem to remember you asking the question in the first place."
The two just rolled their eyes. Faith had to push down the spike of anger at their unwarranted rudeness. They didn't need to be best friends, but they definitely didn't have to be brats either. Faith quickly reminded herself of what happens when she gets mad and pinched herself. It wouldn't be pretty if she lost her temper. The last thing she wanted was to get her mother's attention from over a hundred miles away.
"Oh, wow!" exclaimed Jacob suddenly in awe. "Is that...a squid?" He started leaning over the boat, when a tentacle emerged just inches from his face and in surprise, he fell in.
The two obnoxious twins laughed, doubling over and red in the face.
Faith was still in shock when a few seconds passed, and then she snapped into her senses when a scream rang through the air.
She raised her hands, fingers splayed apart and closed her eyes, commanding the water to rise. Feeling the familiar tingle surging through her body, Faith focused on forcing the water to surround Jacob protectively and lift him out of the lake, just as it had done for her all those years ago. Rise. Hearing the splash of water, Faith's eyes flew open and she saw a spherical ball of water just above the surface of the lake, with a shocked, pale Jacob inside, shivering in the cold.
