Purposefully Hating Cedric

2

Everything Has Changed
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A train whistle followed by the loud rumbling of its engine below wakes me.

I open my eyes hesitantly, expecting a shot of searing pain to slash through my head as it usually does the morning of a hangover. Instead, the bright light pouring through the window beside me has no effect aside from causing me to squint my eyes from the sudden lighting change.

There's no one in my compartment besides me, which is odd as I've always sat with my Slytherin friends on the way to and from Hogwarts. I start to get an odd feeling, like my DR has changed more than I intended. Why on earth would I wake up in a compartment by myself?

I start to rack my brain for memories of this DR, and I find it easier than I thought it would be, considering how it would seem easy to get the memories from my other DR confused with this one. Instead, what I know of my other DR and the memories I have from there seem vague, almost as if it was a dream, whereas the memories here are prominent and unmistakably real.

Confirming several of the memories I recall of where I came from, right above my compartment door there's a small sign that reads "Ilvermorny Transfer Compartment" in gold paint. When I said I wanted a few changes in my DR, I didn't mean I wanted to become a transfer student! Though, thankfully, I'm not a complete transfer student, in a sense. Ilvermorny, the "Hogwarts of America", as they call it here, is the school I attended when my mom moved me to America after my third year at Hogwarts.

The compartment door opens quickly, someone I wasn't expecting to see here then stumbling through.

"Oh good, you're awake," Sydney says, taking a seat opposite of me.

It takes me a moment to recover from my initial shock of seeing her here. Although, I guess it makes sense, as my DR will definitely be more interesting now that she's here.

"I've just taken a turn about this section of the train. I've forgotten how much nicer this train is compared to the piece of shit we had in America." She must notice my shocked expression as she asks, "I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

I shake my head no, pasting a neutral expression on my face. "You excited to be back here?" I say in an attempt to change the subject.

She shrugs. "I mean, I guess. I've always preferred Ilvermorny to Hogwarts, though."

This is the one thing we've always disagreed on. Us being half-sisters, we were both forced to leave Hogwarts when mom's job required her to move. Leaving Hogwarts had taken a much bigger toll on me than it did her. Like her with Ilvermorny, I'd always felt that Hogwarts was where I belonged. So, of course, I was ecstatic when I learned we'd be moving back.

"Maybe your experience will be better this time around," I say. "Maybe some of the boys will have gotten cuter since year three." I wiggle my eyebrows suggestively, inducing laughs from both of us.

"Yeah, yeah, maybe," she concedes. "What about you? You excited to reunite with your old friends?"

Luckily, my memories tell me that my friends are somewhat, if not exactly the same as in my other DR. Naturally, we've distanced since I've been away, but I've managed to stay in contact with most of them at least somewhat. However, there is one big difference when it comes to my relationships in this reality and my other one.