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[CHAPTER NINE]
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SUMMER BREAK DIDN'T REALLY FEEL LIKE A BREAK to Odette. It was spent doing a lot of other things rather than taking a break. The whole break felt very rushed to her as she still remembered waking up in Margot's bed like it was yesterday, but it wasn't and she was now standing in front of Platform 9 3/4.
She had just watched Xia run through it, but she remained a bit frightened at the idea of running through a brick wall, even with the Xun family telling her it would be fine.
"Let's run through it together," said Mei, holding out her hand.
"Why couldn't we just go to Hogsmeade and go to Hogwarts like that?" said Odette.
"And miss the Hogwarts train?" said Mei, "No way."
Odette sighed and took Mei's hand, "Alright."
Mei picked up her pace and Odette shut her eyes close just as she saw them run closer to the wall.
"You can open them now," said Mei. Odette opened one eye and no longer saw the brick wall in front of her. Instead, she saw a scarlet red train before them.
"Wow. . ." breathed out Odette in awe.
"I know right?!" said Mei, "This is why we don't miss the train — and because it's easier than going to Hogsmeade."
Liu ran through the wall after them.
"You two take care. Enjoy your first and final year at Hogwarts, Odette. Stay out of trouble, Mei. I don't need another letter telling me you got in a fight with a Slytherin or student because of something stupid they said."
"Yes, mum," said Mei.
"Now where did Xia go?" said Liu. Mei dragged Odette away from her mother and towards the train.
"Shouldn't you wait for your friends?" said Odette.
"They'll find me," said Mei.
Mei led Odette towards an empty compartment and sat beside her.
"So, I think you'll go with the first years," said Mei.
"Where do the first years go?" said Odette.
"They go on the boat ride to the castle and then get led through the great hall to get sorted."
"I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb," said Odette.
"Of course you will," said Mei, "The firsties are so small and cute — not that you aren't either of those things, although you're not very small —"
"I get your point."
Mei cleared her throat, "Right."
The compartment door opened. Two other girls stood at the doorway, both whom Odette recognized from the photographs in Mei's room.
"Mei!" squealed the blonde, Olivia Mae, Odette believed.
"Livi!" said Mei, standing up just as Olivia Mae attacked her in a hug.
"It's been ages, Mei!" exclaimed Olivia Mae, "Summer break hasn't been treating you well. Are those grey hairs I see?"
Mei gasped and pulled away. She examined her hair as Olivia Mae and Aditi laughed.
They spotted Odette and turned back to Mei.
"Why don't you introduce us to your new friend, Mei?" asked Olivia Mae as she took a seat in front of Odette. Aditi not far behind.
"Right," said Mei, "This is Odette, her family got into some trouble, so my mum took her in. She's basically my adopted sister now."
Perhaps they should have gone over their excuse beforehand as Odette wasn't sure what story they went with until that moment.
"Hello!" said Olivia Mae, "I'm Olivia Mae, but my friends call me Livi."
"And I'm Aditi," said the brunette besides Olivia Mae.
"Hi," waved Odette.
"So, you're new?" said Aditi, "I've never heard of Hogwarts taking in transfer students."
"It's rare," shrugged Mei, "but Dumbledore allowed it, so it must have happened a couple times before in history."
"Mei?" said Aditi, "Why don't you let Odette speak for herself?"
"I'm only answering the question," said Mei with a shrug, "Odette isn't from here, so she doesn't know how it works."
"So, where are you from?" asked Olivia Mae.
"That's not important," said Mei.
"I was just asking a question," said Olivia Mae, before she leaned away from the table, "Anyway, did you guys hear about poor Edo Mounts?"
"I knew leaving the country was a bad idea," said Aditi, "What did I miss?"
"Basically, Edo Mounts went off to work and returned to find his entire family dead," said Olivia Mae, "It gives me the chills just thinking about it!"
"Was it Death Eaters?" asked Aditi.
"Who else would it be?" said Olivia Mae, "The dark mark was above his house. Gosh, I can't wait until this war is over."
"What happened to Edo Mounts?" asked Odette, turning the attention to her.
"Oh," said Olivia Mae, "He was admitted to St Mungos. He developed some sort of trauma after seeing his entire family dead, you know? Even his young children — they were all just — dead."
"Of course, You-Know-Who shows no mercy," said Aditi, "You must have heard about him from where you're from, right? Unless, you're not from Europe I think."
"Of course she's heard about him," said Mei.
"Stop doing that, Mei," said Aditi, "If Odette doesn't want to tell us something, she doesn't have to, so you don't have to go answering for her."
"Yeah, right," said Mei, "I'm going to show Odette where she could change into her robes as I reckon she won't feel comfortable changing in here."
"Go ahead," said Aditi.
"Come on, Odette," said Mei.
Odette followed Mei out of the compartment.
"Look," whispered Mei, "As much as I love those two, be careful not to mention anything to them. If you tell something to Aditi she will tell it to Olivia Mae. I trust Livi, but she's the literal gossip queen of Hogwarts if there even is one. It's best if you don't risk it."
Odette nodded, "Okay, that can't be that hard."
"That's where you're wrong," said Mei, "Olivia Mae may not look like it, but she doesn't feel comfortable around people she knows nothing about. She'll try to learn more about you slowly. She'll start to get sneakier and sneakier the longer you refuse to say anything about yourself. In fact, lie about everything. If she asks your favorite ice cream flavour and you like chocolate and hate mint, tell her mint — actually, tell her you hate ice cream."
"That's a bit extreme, don't you think?"
"Nothing is extreme at this point," said Mei, "If I could, I would tell you to not talk to anyone longer than necessary."
"Okay, that's definitely extreme."
"Don't worry, as long as you be careful about what you tell people, you'll be fine. Also, make sure your story lines up. If they don't, the castle talks and chances are they will find out. And the last thing you want right now is for people to be suspicious of you. Everyone's so paranoid."
"Clearly," mumbled Odette.
"What was that?"
"I agreed with you about how everyone is paranoid, including you."
"You would be too if you were more aware about the vile things happening as we speak," said Mei, "Anyway, change in there."
Odette stepped inside, locked the door behind her, and changed into the plain black robes. She came back out and Mei walked passed her to enter, but turned to her before she locked the door.
"Don't go anywhere," said Mei before she closed the door.
"Where would I go?" mumbled Odette.
Mei took around five minutes in the loo before she swung the door open and was met by Odette standing beside the door.
"What's wrong?" said Odette, "You look —"
Mei covered Odette's mouth, "We don't talk about those things. Just put two and two together."
"Oh. . ." said Odette, "You're —"
Mei covered her mouth again, "Don't say it out loud where anyone can hear you. In fact, don't say it all. Now, let's go back."
Odette didn't know how Mei knew exactly which compartment they came from as Odette forgot the moment they made it to the toilet. However, Mei found the compartment without having to peek into others. Olivia Mae and Aditi had already changed into their robes and seemed to be talking about Aditi's vacation.
"I would have stayed there forever if I was you," said Olivia Mae.
"The thought did occur to me," said Aditi, "but my parents wouldn't let me."
"Do they still think you're going to go elope with a vampire?" joked Mei as she took a seat. It was clearly some sort of inside joke as the three girls laughed.
"Probably," said Aditi once the laughter died down.
"They're not being mean to you anymore though, right?" said Olivia Mae.
"Not really," said Aditi.
Odette didn't talk much during the train ride. They tried to include her in the conversation most of the time, but Odette didn't really feel comfortable. She didn't know anything about what they talked about most of the time, nor did she have interesting stories about what happened over the summer or in her life in general.
The compartment door opened. The girls turned to see Xia.
"Xia!" said Olivia Mae, "You keep looking more like your mum as time passes."
"That's an insult," said Xia, before she turned to Odette.
"Hey, Odette, come join Lola and I. I bet Mei and her friends are boring you."
"Hey —" Mei started to say, but Xia interrupted her.
"I know, Mei," said Xia in annoyance, "I'm not stupid."
Xia turned back to Odette with a smile, "So what do you say?"
Odette nodded, "Sure."
Odette stood up and walked passed Mei.
"Odette, remember what I told —"
"You're acting like you're her mum. Back off, will you?" said Xia, "Come on, Odette."
"See you later, Mei," said Odette, "Nice meeting you Olivia Mae and Aditi."
"Bye, and for the record, I am not acting like I'm your mum," said Mei.
"You're right," said Odette, "You're more of an overprotective father."
Mei gasped dramatically but Odette didn't get to hear what Mei had to say as Xia pulled her out of the compartment, laughing as she did so.
"Bloody Hell, Odette! I didn't know you had it in you," said Xia as she led Odette towards a different compartment.
"You don't think she'll hold it against me, will you?"
"Nah," said Xia, "I've told her worst things, you'll be fine. What you told her is the equivalent of me telling her she's ugly."
Xia opened a compartment and led Odette inside.
"Hi, nice seeing you again," said Lola.
"Yeah, hi!" said Odette, taking a seat.
"Did Mei tell you what to do when you get off the train?" asked Xia.
"Yeah, she told me to join the first years," said Odette.
"I wish I could take you to the boats," said Xia, "but I can't really do that, you'll just have to follow the first years."
"That's fine," said Odette, forcing a smile.
"Would you like some sweets?" asked Lola, offering a chocolate frog.
"Sure," said Odette.
"You poor thing," said Xia, "That compartment doesn't buy sweets because Olivia Mae doesn't like them and can't even stand the smell."
"Xia!" laughed Lola, "Don't talk about Mei's friends like that."
"I was only talking about Olivia Mae, not Aditi," said Xia, "Aditi isn't that bad. It's Olivia Mae I don't like."
"She looks like a nice girl," shrugged Lola, "She helped me pass potions last year."
"You didn't go to me?" said Xia, "How could you?"
"You're not very good at potions either, Xia," said Lola.
"Excuse you, I'm very decent at potions."
"I beg to differ," said Lola, "You barely managed to get an OWL in potions."
"But I managed," said Xia.
They were interrupted by Odette letting out a small shriek, bringing the attention to her. The chocolate frog had jumped out of the package and caught Odette off guard.
"Oh!" laughed Xia as Lola grabbed the chocolate frog from the window, "I forgot to warn you, sorry."
Lola held out the chocolate frog for Odette to take.
"It's bewitched," said Xia, "So it's not a real frog, don't worry."
Odette took the chocolate frog warily and debated whether or not she really wanted to eat it after it jumped around the compartment.
"I'll eat it if you don't want it," said Xia.
"No, I'll eat it," said Odette, "It's just bewitched chocolate, right?"
The two girls nodded and Odette took a bite, her eyes widened.
"Woah, that's a lot of chocolate," she said.
Xia and Lola laughed, "It's good though, right?"
Odette nodded, "Yeah."
Xia and Lola were a lot easier to talk to in Odette's opinion. She wasn't sure why, but Mei's friends intimidated her a bit.
Eventually, the train started to slow down and Xia let out a sigh with a small smile, "It's time for another year at Hogwarts."
"Be more excited than that!" said Lola.
"What? Do you want me to jump up and down in excitement?" said Xia.
"Why not?" said Lola, she stood up and started to jump on her seat.
Xia rolled her eyes, "Let's go, Odette."
"Don't leave me behind!" said Lola, jumping off the seat and following after Xia and Odette.
"Hagrid might already be aware of your arrival," said Xia, "So don't worry about a thing."
"Except for all the stares," said Odette.
"You'll be fine," said Xia.
"I hope so," mumbled Odette as they left the train.
"Look, that's Hagrid," said Xia, pointing to a very tall man calling out for first years, "Go with him."
"You sure I have to?" said Odette.
"You'll be okay," said Xia, "The firsties can't really do anything to you."
"That's what Mei said," said Odette.
"You'll be fine, go on now."
Odette nodded before she walked over the first years, or firsties as Mei and Xia liked to call them.
"Yer a firs' year?" said the man.
"Technically," said Odette, the tallest of the group. Although, there was a boy who was almost her height. He was definitely a first year though.
"Odette?"
She nodded. He introduced himself as Hagrid before they started to move along. Odette hid her face during the walk to the boats. She sat on a boat with two other first years, who stared at her the entire time and made her feel very uncomfortable. However, she tried to ignore them and took in the view.
They were met by Professor McGonagall at the door. She gave a short speech about the houses, which Odette believed should have been how the Xun sisters told her about the houses rather than throwing in their very unnecessary opinions.
Professor McGonagall came up to Odette, "Stay behind me," she instructed.
Odette nodded and looked down at the floor as Professor McGonagall opened the doors to the Great Hall. She followed Professor McGonagall, trying her best to shake off all of her nerves.
"When I call your name, you will come forth. I shall place the sorting hat on your head and you will be sorted into your houses," announced Professor McGonagall. Odette was told to step aside as the first years were sorted.
She looked at the Ravenclaw table and met Xia's eyes. Xia smiled at her and Odette smiled back nervously. She saw Mei, who waved at her. Odette nodded at her slightly. She looked over at the Gryffindor table and saw Lola, who gave her a thumbs up. It was hard to ignore the other students that stared at her curiously.
After all the first years were sorted, Dumbledore stood back up.
"I am sure you all are very curious. Hogwarts has accepted a transfer student. I hope everyone welcomes in whichever house she shall be sorted."
He gestured for Professor McGonagall to continue. Professor McGonagall looked at the parchment before looking back up, "Lefébvre, Odette."
Odette climbed onto the stool and the hat was placed above her head.
"Oh, what is this? A new student," whispered the hat. Odette had to bite her lip to prevent herself from letting out a gasp.
"Very determined, are you?" continued the hat, "You wish for nothing more, but to find your family and learn of your old life. You're quite resourceful, aren't you? You don't have the answers, but you're using what you have. I think you'd do good in — "
Odette thought back to what The Xun sisters told her when they talked told her about the houses.
"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the house, "In that case, I shall put up in RAVENCLAW."