Maledictus

Ch.4 - Hogwarts Express

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"YOU MEAN THE COW?"

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And that's how Alice found herself on platform 9 3/4 the following day, with a trunk full of Draco's old books and wand. She also had the torn blue dress, a pair of trousers and a t-shirt.

She stood in front of the bright red steam engine, gazing upon the sign; Hogwarts Express. This was the train that would take her to Hogwarts, this is where she hoped her life would be turned around.

Draco gave her a gentle push towards the train, but she still didn't move, she was terrified. The amounts of people she saw walking in and the only person she knew was Draco.

"Mr. Malfoy, may I sit with you?" she asked with a slight quiver in her voice. He sighed and knelt down to her level. Alice was tiny, anyone would have to kneel down to be at her level.

"I have to be in the Prefect compartment, but I'll find you after, I promise" he said softly. "Come on"

He waved goodbye as he closed the compartment door of the prefect compartment and Alice was left alone. She took a deep breath and began walking down the long corridor, filled with compartments on each side.

The laughing, the noise and the shouting of goodbyes was deafening. She turned to look into the compartments, trying to find an empty one when she bumped into someone and crashed to the floor. As she sat up and realised that she had knocked a boy with jet black hair over, she began to panic.

"Sir! Sir! Are you alright?" she asked quietly, helping him up. "I'm so so sorry!"

"Nevermind, no harm done" he said quite moodily, as he walked off in the opposite direction. She hadn't even made it into to Hogwarts and she has already made someone mad. Luckily, there was a spare compartment just up ahead. She rushed in, closing the door behind her.

She sat down and gazed out the window. She never thought London was this beautiful.

Just over five minutes later, there was a knock on the door and Alice jumped at least five inches into the air. She opened it, her heart pounding. There was the black haired boy from before, a girl with fiery red hair and a boy who was holding the most peculiar plant.

"I-I-I'm sorry, I must be in the wrong compartment" she said quickly, trying to squirm out, but the boy with black hair, caught her by the shoulder.

"This isn't ours, we were just going to ask if we could sit with you" he asked kindly.

"You can take it, I don't want to be a burden" she said quietly.

"Don't be silly! Everywhere else is full" said the girl softly.

Before Alice could say anything more she was in the compartment, situated by the window surrounded by strangers. They began talking amongst themselves, and Alice looked out the window, mesmerised by the scenery. Her face lit up when she saw not one, but a heard of black and white cows.

"Excuse me miss?" she said, tapping the girl with fiery red hair. "Do you know if that thing was called a horse or a chicken?"

"You mean the cow?" the girl answered in disbelief.

"Yes, the cow" she said dreamily, almost to herself.

Everyone was silent, looking at Alice weirdly. They couldn't imagine a girl who didn't know what a cow was. Alice soon felt the eyes of the strangers looking at her. She turned around slowly and sat properly in her chair, staring at the ground. The girl felt bad for staring so tried to make her feel better.

"I don't think we've introduced ourselves, I'm Ginny Weasly" 

"I'm Neville Longbottom" said the boy with the plant.

"And I'm-"

"The boy who I ran into" interjected Alice, looking at the boy with black hair. "I am very sorry about that"

Ginny and Neville looked at the boy and then Alice, noticing that this girl was very jumpy and awfully shy.

"Most people just call me Harry Potter" the boy muttered as Alice looked up. "What's your name?"

She hesitated before answering.

"Alice. Alice M-Malf-foy" she managed to stutter. Everyone looked at her with even more disbelief than before.

"Are you Draco's sister?" asked Ginny and Alice just nodded, turning to the window again. Everyone was shocked. First she doesn't know what a cow is, then she tells them that she is Draco's sister. By the looks of things, she already didn't have a great reputation.

They talked among themselves for the rest of the ride, not even looking at Alice. This made her feel odd. It gave her the sense that they didn't like her because her surname was Malfoy. Maybe if it was kept as Adair, things would be different.

After a few hours, the sun had set and she could no longer see out of the window, so decided to examine everyone's shoes.

"Excuse me for asking, but what are you doing?" asked Neville, noticing Alice was looking ever so closely at the fine details on their shoes.

"I always found foot-socks-with-ribbons very interesting" she replied, looking at Harry's black shiny shoes. They looked at each other, and then at Alice. "I've never owned a pair before! They are so fancy!"

"You mean shoes?" questioned Harry, as Alice lifted his foot to look at the sole. "Do you mind putting my foot down?"

She looked at him and her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment as she huddled up onto the seat again, staring at the ground and playing with the hem of her robes.

Soon enough, the train came to a slow stop, and Alice lurched forward and fell to the ground.

"Are you alright?" asked Harry, helping her up.

Alice quickly nodded, jumping to her feet and rushing to the door, ready to follow the teachers and other students to Hogwarts.