Hey everyone! This is my first story on here, so it would mean a lot to me if you guys could leave comments on what you like about it, or what I need to improve on. Thanks so much!
~EDITED~
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I listen to the rain pattering against the window, silence filling the compartment the train compartment. I’m currently on my way to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry; it will be my first year attending it, but I’ll be going in as a third year. My family and I moved to England after my dad got a job transfer to the Ministry of Magic here. I transferred from the school of Cresco-named from the Latin word to grow. In that school, we started learning magic when we were eight-three years before this school. At Hogwarts I’m the equivalent of a sixth year, but I decided I'd rather spend time around peers my age. Besides, there’s always something new to learn!
The border line that separates the school boundaries goes right through the middle of my house, so I got to choose if I went to Hogwarts or Beauxbaton. I chose Hogwarts because I thought it sounded more fun; my brother Jake, who is the same age as me, decided to attend Durmstrang, because I have cousins that go there.
I glance over at my best friend Zandra (everyone calls her Zan) who was staring at me with her big blue eyes slightly hidden by her silky brown hair. I love Zan to death. We’ve known each other since we were born. I’m not even joking when I say that; we were born on the same day, in the same hospital. My dad has pictures of us lying next to each other in the nursery. Her family moved here the same time mine did, because both of our dads got job transfers. Her brother goes to Durmstrang with my brother; they’re as close as Zan and I are.
I look back down to the words I was writing in my journal. My journal wouldn’t make any sense to anyone else but me, because I only right words, or random sentences in here. I used to keep a “Dear Diary…” type of thing, but I got lazy so now I only write words. I glance back up at Zan again, who is still staring at me. I sigh and shut my journal, marking my place with my index finger. “What?” I ask her.
“I’m trying to read your mind,” she replies like it is the most normal thing in the world. I laugh and hit her with my book before returning to writing in it.
At that moment, there’s a knock at our compartment door. A slightly chubby boy with greenish gray eyes and brown hair pokes his head in. “He-hello, do you mind if we sit here? Everywhere else is full,” he asks. I notice a blond headed girl peaking over his shoulder with a dreamy look on her face.
“Sure,” I say cheerfully, happy to meet some new people. I scoot all the way over to the window to make room for the new-comers. The boy sits beside me and the girl sits by Zan. “I’m Emily,” I introduce myself.
“I’m Zan,” my friend chimes in.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Neville,” the boy says. “This is Luna,” he continues, gesturing to the girl adjacent to me. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around before so am I blind or are you transfers?” Neville asks laughing a little.
I grin at him, “No, you’re not blind, we’re transfers.”
“We come from Cresco in America,” Zan adds.
“I heard about that school, all the witches and wizards are supposed to be really advanced,” Luna says thoughtfully. We just shrug.
“So do you have to go up in the boats like the first years, get sorted with them?” Neville asks. “Yeah, but oh well. I mean, who doesn’t like being put on the spot?” I say sarcastically. Everyone laughs and we go on our merry way, until I decide to go change into my robes.
I’m walking to the back of the train when I reach a particularly narrow section. There’s a very tall seventh year boy coming towards me, so I move to one side just as he did, and ended up on the same side as him. “Sorry,” we both say at the same time. I step to the right, and so does he; I go to the left, just as he does. I step back to the right and-you guessed it-so does he. I laugh a little and he grins and moves aside for me. “Ladies first,” he says politely.
“Thanks.”
“I’m Oliver.”
“Emily.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t place your accent, where are you from?” he asks curiously.
“America,” I reply.
“Hmmm, I would have thought I would have noticed such a pretty girl with an accent before,” he says, a smile playing at his lips.
I slightly blush at that comment and reply, “I’m a transfer, so that’s why you haven’t seen me before.” He nods thoughtfully, and I just wave and walk back to my compartment.
On the way there, I saw the only other person I knew here, Hermione. I pop my head in her compartment and say, “Hey Hermione!” She straightens up.
“Hey Emily!” She exclaims while giving me a hug. There are two boys in the compartment staring at me. One has black hair and piercing green eyes, and one was a freckled red head. I wave at them, and they grin at me.
“I’m Harry,” the one with black hair said.
“I’m Ron,” the other one added.
“I’m Emily, in case you didn’t catch it. And I’ve got to go, see ya around!” I call over my shoulder, dancing out of their compartment on the way to mine.
~~~~
“ALL FIRST YEARS FOLLOW ME!” I hear someone shout. I look over to see a very large man ushering small 11 year olds the opposite way of the rest of the students.
“I guess that means us, by Neville, bye Luna!” I say, starting towards the man with Zan.
“Bye guys!” I hear Neville reply as we approach the large man.
“Hi, I’m Emily and-”
“and I’m Zan,” my best friend interrupts.
“We’re transfers, so we were told to go with you?” I end in a question.
“Oh yes! Dumbledore told me about you, he did! I’m Hagrid; you get to ride in the bigger boat with me, instead of the tiny little things all of our first years get. Follow me!” He tells us as we trail obediently behind. We wade through the little first years and wait for Hagrid so we could start towards our new home.
“Attention, please!” I hear a voice that belonged to an older woman shout. She’s standing at the front of the hall we were in, with a long scroll in her hands. “I am going to read off names alphabetically, and when I do you must go sit upon the stool in the front of the room. I will place the sorting hat on your head, and it will promptly tell us which house you belong in. We will start with our transfers! Zandra Blaknesk and Emily Bonor come forward.” All of the eyes of the new comers turn to us. It was kind of obvious that we were the transfers-being about a foot taller than anyone there. I follow Zan up to the woman, and wait right outside the doors to listen to what is being said.
We hear what sounds like an old man say, “And now, on to the sorting! This year, we have two students originally from the school Cresco who are now transferring in to join our growing family of eager learners. We will be starting with them, to see which lucky house gets these two wonderful students! Professor McGonagall, the floor is yours.”
“Thank you Professor Dumbledore. Zandra Blaknesk, come forward!”
The doors open, and I smirk at Zan for having to go first. She walks up past all the students looking on, as I anxiously watch. She sits down on the small stool, and of course her feet reached the ground while most of these first years’ would probably dangle. The hat speaks. “Hmmm, tough one you are, but not the hardest I’ve come upon. SYLTHERIN!” The table full of students wearing green and silver cheer very loudly, and Zan winks at me before going on to sit in an open seat.
“Emily Bonor!” McGonagall calls. I stride forward passing all the curious eyes, meeting the gaze of a few people-Oliver, Hermione, Neville, Harry, Ron, and then Luna. Luna looks sort of out of it. I sit down on the stool and the hat is placed on my head. The hall falls silent as they wait for the reaction from it.
“Hmmm, curious,” it states, and then goes back to being silent. You are very well balanced. I jump as I hear a voice inside my head. I realize it’s the hat, and listen closely to what it says next. You could be in any one of these houses, but one truly needs the help of a kind heart with a sneaky and smart mind along with an outgoing personality. I know what to do now. “Never before have I come across a more balanced person!” the sorting hat roars. “You could belong in anyone of these houses. HOWEVER you shall go to…SLYTHERIN!” There is a loud eruption from my new house, even louder than it was for Zan. The hat’s taken off of my head and I go to join my new family while meeting the saddened gazes of the friends I had made on the train. I throw them an apologetic smile as I settle into the seat beside Zan.
The pale blond boy sitting to the left of me turns and gives me a smirk before offering his hand. “I’m Draco, Draco Malfoy.”
I take it and reply, “I’m Emily Bonor, well I guess you already know that much.” His smirk gets slightly bigger and he nods.
“So Cresco huh? Isn’t that like an extremely fancy advanced school?”
I shrug, “Sort of. We just started when we were eight instead of eleven. Here I’m the equivalent of a sixth year.” He tilts his head, intrigued.
“So why are you only in third year?”
“Well, I just wanted to spend the rest of my school life with people my age.” He graduates from a smirk to a full grin.
“Fair enough.” We continue chatting until the sorting was done, but when the food appears onto the table the person on the other side of him claimed his attention, so I tuned into the conversation Zan was having with the girl next to us.
“-and the classes are really easy. Well, for those of us who pay attention of course!” This girl has dark brown hair and green eyes, she is slightly shorter than me, and she just noticed I was listening to their conversation. “Oh, you’re Emily! I’m Kimberly, but just call me Kim! I think you guys are rooming with me! This is Jennica, but just call her Jen,” she tells me, gesturing to the caramel haired girl across from me. She smiles at me, and I say, “Geez am I the only one without an abbreviated name?” The three of them laugh.
After dinner, I follow the crowd of first years to the entrance of the Slytherin common rooms, which happened to be a brick wall. The prefects were handing out class lists that night so we didn’t have to get them in the morning. I end up in line behind a black haired girl who’s the same height as me. She turns around to face me with a not-so-friendly face and accuses, “You were the one talking to Draco, weren’t you?” I look at her, slightly bemused.
“Um, yeah…why?”
She takes a step closer and says in a low voice, “You stay away from him, he’s mine!”
“You know, the last time I checked, he was a living being, and he doesn’t ‘belong’ to anyone. And I’m going to guess he can make his own choices of who he hangs out with.” She appears infuriated, but it’s her turn to receive her schedule. She grabs it from the person’s hands and stalks up to the dormitory.
I accept my schedule, and it’s as followed: Transfiguration, Divination, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Herbology, and Ancient Runes. I grin, I LOVE Ancient Runes! And I’m surprisingly good at Divination. I walk up to Zan, who got her schedule ahead of me. We have everything together but potions. At least I’ll have someone to talk to in most of my classes! We head up to our room-which we are sharing with Jen, Kim, and three girls named named Lexis, Sarai, and Hally-and choose our beds. I fall asleep thinking about what an interesting year this will be.