Just A Girl From the USA

~Chapter One~

The Train...

Alexandra was nervous as she got on the platform. Who wouldn't be? It was her first year at Hogwarts, but not her first year at a wizardry school. She had been going to Salem (U.S.A) for five years, but her family had moved back to England because her mom missed being in her "home-country". So she had arranged for her dad, who was a Muggle, to get a job. They had moved during that summer.

She kissed her mom and her little brother Brian goodbye, took her trunk and began walking towards the train, searching for an empty compartment.

When she finally found one, she couldn't get her trunk through the door. That was kind of embarrassing because people starting to stare at her. Suddenly, a tall boy walked over to her, put her trunk on its side and pushed it into the compartment.

"Umm...Thanks, I thought I was going to die of embarrassment out there," she said.

"Well, to tell you a secret, the same thing happened to me on my first day," he said.

"Oh, sorry," Alex said, "I'm Alex. Alex Collins."

"I'm Roger Davies. Isn't Alex a boys' name?"

"Well, yes, but my name is Alexandra and it is so long that people just call me Alex."

"Oh, all right. Wait, I've never seen you before and you seem to big to be a new year, are you a transfer?"

"Yep, I am. I'm from the USA. But anyways, thanks for helping me, but I think you've got friends waiting for you," she said, turning around, and walking into the compartment.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" he asked, following her.

"Oh no! Not at all, it's just, I thought, this guy probably has a lot of friends; he won't want to stay with me, so be as nice as you can and thank him."

"Well, to tell you something, it didn't come out that nice. By the way, what makes you think I have 'a lot' of friends?"

"I don't know. You just seem like that kind of guy."

"What kind?"

"You know, the 'leader', the captain of the Quidditch Team, the guy every girl wants to be with, the cool guy, the..."

"Yes, OK, I get your point. For your information, I am not that 'kind of guy', although I am the Captain of the Quidditch Team." He said the last part with a proud smile.

Alex smiled; he really seemed like that kind of guy.

"So," Roger said after a pause, "can I stay here or do I still have to go?" (He was still standing in the doorway.)

"Yes, of course you can stay, that way you can tell me some things about Hogwarts", Alex said excitedly. She put her glasses on and began reading Hogwarts: A History.

"Sure, let me go get my trunk," he said.

In less then five minutes he was back with a huge brown trunk. "Wow! I'm guessing, either you don't know how to save some space or you have a huge wardrobe," she said, giggling.

He smiled. "It would be the second thing. My mum made me some sweaters over the summer."

"Yep, I know just how that is, my mom did the same thing once. I had to leave one and she freaked out. So, do you have any siblings?"

"Nope, I'm just an only child. You?"

"Yes, a little brother named Brian. He's coming next year."

"Any ideas of which house you may be in?"

"I guess Hufflepuff; my mom was in it."

"Your dad, too?"

"Oh, no, my dad's a Muggle."

"Ah, half-blood. One bit of advice - don't tell any Slytherins."

"Why not?"

"Didn't your mom tell you!" he sounded a little preoccupied.

"What? That most of them turned to the Dark Side and that they can't stand half-bloods and Muggle-borns like me? Who cares?!" Roger pulled a strange face as if he was telling a wall to watch out instead of a person. "You know, I won't tell them voluntarily, only if they ask for it!"

"But why?" he finally got out.

"Why? Hasn't anyone ever told you never to be ashamed of what you are or where you come from?"

"No, actually they haven't."

"Well. It's true, and it's a very important lesson, too. By the way, which house are you in?" Alex asked.

"Ravenclaw."

After that they talked about family and the differences between their countries. Everything was fine, until they started talking about Quidditch...

"The Chudley Cannons are much better then the Purple Dragons; they have an excellent seeker!" Roger said.

"They may have O'Malley, but that doesn't make it a better team. The Purple Dragons only have a slight problem with the Beaters," Alex said, "and they already found replacements for them."

Roger looked as if he was trying very hard to come up with something, but finally he said, "Ok, you win. I can't find a answer for that one." Alex stuck out her tongue, and they both started laughing. Alex looked out the window; she saw it was getting dark.

"What's wrong?" Roger asked.

"Nothing...it's just we're almost at Hogwarts, and I've got to get changed," she answered. "Could you please turn around?" she added, and began taking her robes out of her trunk.

"Why?"

"Because...you don't expect me to get changed in the corridor, do you?"

"Nope, actually here we have restrooms for that," Roger said, smiling. Alex turned slightly red.

"Oh," Alex said simply. "Where are they?"

"You turn right, walk until the end of the corridor. It's the door on the left."

"Thanks." She took all her clothes and walked out. When she reached the restrooms and opened the door, she had to stand in the doorway for a while because it was filled with all kinds of perfume.

"Hi!" a voice said. "Who are you?"

Alex could barely breath, it was as though something had turned the perfume into a gas and sprayed it all over the restroom. She had never liked it very much, although her mom had forced her to wear it on occasions when they had to go to important parties.

"I'm---Alex," she said in-between gasps for air.

"I'm Lavender and this is Parvati," the girl said, pointing at her friend. "So, are you a transfer or just a tall first year?" The two girls giggled at this joke. Alex just smiled weakly.

I have to get out of here, she thought, otherwise I'll die of lack of oxygen.

"Alex... Alex!" Lavender said. "You didn't answer my question!" Apparently she wasn't used to that because her giggling face now looked kind of serious.

"Oh! -Sorry-I'm-A-Transfer-Sorry-Got-to-Go," she blurted and, still holding her stuff, she walked out of the bathroom, back to the compartment. She just burst in and started to take of her shirt (she had another one underneath, it was a cold day).

"Wow!" she heard Roger say. "As much as I've dreamed of this, I want to know what's wrong."

"What?" Alex asked, beginning to take of her shoes.

"Well, you burst in here and start to undress. Is that normal American-girl behavior?"

"Oh, no, it's just...I went to the bathroom and there were two girls in there who seemed to breathe perfume instead of air."

"You mean the air was so full of perfume you could barely breathe?"

"Yep, so I thought, I prefer for a boy to see me naked than to stay there and die."

Roger's eyes got dreamy; "I get to see you naked?"

"No," she said, in an obvious tone. "You'll have to turn around."

"Bugger!" Roger said. He grinned and turned to the window. "Ok, you can get changed!"

Alex crossed her arms. "Hey, mister smarty pants, face the door." They both laughed. Roger turned to the door, and she began to change.

"So, I can see you have experience in this. Did you have a lot of male friends at Salem?" Roger asked.

"Yes, actually..." Alex thought for a moment. "I only had male friends."

"Why?"

"Done! You can turn around!" she said. "Because...have you ever seen a girl who would skate and not cry after she broke a nail?"

Roger laughed. Suddenly he stopped and realized what Alex and just said. "You skate?!?!" (He was a half-blood too).

"Yep," she said with a proud smile.

"Wow! Who taught you? Where did you practice?"

"We had a little skating park."

"Wow, bloody hell!! Snape and Filch would go mad if we had one of those!!"

"Who are Snape and Filch?"

"Snape is the Potions teacher. You wouldn't want to annoy him; he's the head of Slytherin and hates anyone who isn't from his house. And Filch, he is the caretaker. He makes sure that no one breaks the rules."

Alex sighed. "Wow, this is going to be some year, isn't it?" Roger nodded. "In which year are you, by the way?"

"Sixth, you?"

"Me too! Maybe we'll have a class together!"

"That would be great!" said Roger, and suddenly he went as red as a tomato. "Alex, do you have a boyfriend?"

"Nope," she said calmly, "do you have a girlfriend?"

"No," he went back to his normal color. "Has anyone ever proposed?"

"Yes." She didn't look at all cheerful, saying this.

"Was it nice?"

"No, not at all."

"Tell me!" he said eagerly.

She smiled. "OK, but you'll have to promise you won't tell anyone."

He put his hand on his heart. "I promise."

"Well, remember I asked you if you were that 'kind of guy'?" Roger nodded. "Well, we had a boy like that in Salem, his name was Christian Stevens. He was the Quidditch Captain of Kirk Castle. That was one of our houses," she added, when she saw that Roger was about to ask her what that was. "I was in Cathair Castle. Well, Christian was kind of cute, but he wasn't really nice, he was arrogant and would tease people a lot. I always tried to avoid him, because everywhere he went, a crowd of girls and friends followed him. But he always seemed to follow me. He would be in the skate park on the weekends and he didn't skate. When I was walking through the halls, I would always hear his crowd walking next to him. One day, I went to the library, I had this huge Transfiguration test the next day. Someone walked into the library and sat next to me, I turned to see it, and was him. When I went to grab my stuff to leave, he leaned in and kissed me. Well, it wasn't exactly a kiss. It didn't even last five seconds, because I pulled away and slapped him across the face." Roger laughed.

"What's so funny?" Alex said, smiling.

"Nothing.... go on," he answered.

"Well, a week later, he found me, grabbed me and dragged me to the grounds. He said something like, 'You're not like other girls, you don't care what people think about you, you don't hang with girls, you skate, you don't wear makeup, that's why I like you.' I told him I didn't like him, but that we could be friends, only if he promised not to bug anyone else and never kiss me again."

"So, after that you were friends?"

"Yep, and it was a beautiful friendship," Alex said, and sighed.

"Why aren't you friends anymore?" Roger asked.

"Well, on our last day, on the train, he kissed me again. He had promised he would not do that. When you break a promise, it's like breaking a bond between you and the person, so we aren't friends anymore."

"Wow, you're pretty strict," Roger said, raising an eyebrow.

The minute after those words left his mouth, the train stopped at Hogsmeade.

"Well, I have to go with the first years. Wish me luck!" Alex said nervously. To her surprise, instead of wishing her luck, he hugged her.

"Thanks," she said hugging him back. "I'm sure this'll bring good luck."

"You're welcome. It's a tradition in my family to hug people instead of wishing them good luck."

"Why?"

"Because they say that with a hug you can transmit the good luck."

"Cool! I'll remember that," she said, smiling.

A/N: Hi! Well, thanks Sarah for beta-ing this chapter, without you this wouldn't have been possible.