How the Other Half Lives

Chapter One: Don't Miss the Express

"Wait, wait, wait!" a shrill voice called in the general direction of the Hogwarts Express as smoke began to billow from the steam engine at the front. "No, damn it, not again!"

A thin girl of average height ran as quickly toward the red train as she could. Her short, brown ponytail slapped against the back of her neck as she lugged a heavy trunk towards the train. Just in time, she reached the closest entrance and began to haul her trunk on board.

"At it again, are we, Reilly?" sneered a tall, muscular blond boy from just inside the train. Connie Reilly glared up at the boy through her wire-framed glasses and continued to pull her trunk inside as the conductor watched her in frustration.

"You could help, Montbatten!" she responded. Alexis Montbatten, fellow student and foe, watched as she wrestled with the heavy trunk.

"There you are, Connie. I would say we were wondering, but this is getting to be habit, isn't it?" Mack Tanner, a boy who might have, from a distance, been confused with Alexis, appeared over his shoulder. "Here, let me give you a hand. Don't want to have to leave your trunk behind here at the station. Somehow, I don't think your father could owl it to you."

Together they brought the trunk on board and stowed it in a nearby open space. Alexis sneered through the whole process.

"Is there something you wanted, Montbatten? Or are you just here trying to see if we turn to stone while looking at you?"

"Cute, Reilly, cute. But I wouldn't mess with Slytherin. Not this year." Connie huffed and pushed her glasses further up her nose while Mack stepped in between them.

"Why is that, Montbatten? Will you be sending You-Know-Who to get us if we do?"

"Why should I have connections to the Dark Lord? Playing on prejudices there, Tanner. And I would have thought Ravenclaws like you two would be smart enough not to do that. No, no, that's not what I mean at all. Haven't you heard, Quincy Franklin is the new Head Boy?" He paused dramatically. "Have a nice year." With that, Alexis disappeared down the aisle towards a compartment full, no doubt, of his Slytherin friends.

"No, no, no. This year gets worse by the minute. Say it isn't so!" Connie dropped her head onto Mack's shoulder in agony.

"I'm afraid it is," came a voice from behind them. "To my chagrin much more than yours, believe me." Mack and Connie turned towards the prefects' compartment to see a fellow seventh year student, Emily LeSuer, standing in the entrance. "I was excited to be Head Girl until I found out."

"You're Head Girl?" Mack looked at the badge on her robes. Emily nodded with pride.

"Oh, Em, that's great!" Connie smiled. "It's wonderful for you. And for Hufflepuff, too. Too bad that asshole, Franklin, has to screw it all up for you!"

"I'll manage. Maybe I'll actually tame him." The three students chuckled. The train whistle was heard from outside. "Well, since all students are now on board, I guess we really are leaving. You two better find seats." Emily turned back to the prefects' car while Mack and Connie started back down the train.

"Do you have a seat yet?"

"Um... I was sitting with Spencer and Jason, Fred and George, and some of the guys. You're welcome to join us..." Connie laughed.

"No, no, that's quite all right. Far too much Quidditch talk in that compartment, I'm sure. No, I'll find somewhere else. Hopefully in friendly territory." Three compartments from the front, the two friends parted ways as Mack disappeared into a room full of teenage boys.

Connie continued down the train, peering in windows until, finally, she found a car with space and, most importantly, no Slytherins. Two of her roommates, Mariah Everett and Lindsay Calderdale, sat on one side of the compartment along with Lena McCue, a sixth year Ravenclaw. On the opposite bench, fifth year Padma Patil and her twin, Parvati, sat, along with Parvati's best friend, Lavender Brown.

"Room for one more?" Connie stuck her head inside. She received a warm welcome as Lindsay moved over, leaving space by the window.

"We were beginning to wonder if you had missed the train, Connie. I mean, I know you're always late to everything, but this was cutting it especially close." Lavender said, looking up from applying apple red nail polish to her fingernails.

"I... it was harder this year. I had to get myself up and ready and to the train this year. And you guys know I don't run on schedule with someone there to tell me what to do." Mariah and Lindsay nodded, having experienced dragging Connie half-ready to class, breakfast, or any number of other places. "You guys know I just live with my dad. Well, he's an auror, and there's been a lot going on lately, so he wasn't really around to help me this year."

"So, it's true then?" Lena, a muggle born who remained largely out of touch with the wizarding world throughout the summer, asked. "I mean, what Professor Dumbledore said, about You-Know-Who returning?"

"It seems so," Lindsay responded. "And... you guys can't tell anyone this, all right?" The other girls all nodded. "Well, my uncle apparently worked closely with Professor Dumbledore the last time around. And now he's been called off to do something, I think because of all of this."

"Is this the uncle with the funny name?"

"Mundungus..."

Parvati snorted loudly, causing Lavender to jerk her hand and smear nail polish across her fingers. "I'm sorry," Parvati giggled, "I really am, because I know it's not nice. But honestly, that has got to be the worst name in the history of names."

"It really is," Lindsay agreed. "And somehow, my mum got a perfectly normal name. Anne. How do you name one child Mundungus and the other Anne?" The girls all giggled for a moment until they heard a loud crash from the hallway.

Mariah and Padma, who were sitting closest to the door, jumped up and Mariah slid the door open. The new Head Boy, Quincy Franklin, was towering over a trembling girl who looked to be a first year. She was sprawled on her back on the floor, looking up at him, as well as Alexis Montbatten and Calynn Rothschild, a seventh year Slytherin girl.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Mariah, ever the temperamental one, stepped into the aisle. She tossed her brown curls over her shoulder as she stepped over the first year and came face to face with Quincy.

"Not that I have to explain myself to you," he glared down at her. "But she came into the prefects' compartment where, clearly, she didn't belong."    

"I was looking for a seat..." the girl squeaked from the floor.

"That was no excuse to come chasing her down the train. My God, Franklin, the poor girl is scared to death. Why, I ought to..." Quick as lightening, she whipped her wand from inside her robes.

Not to be outdone, Quincy pulled his wand out and aimed it directly at her chest. By now, students' heads were appearing in doorways up and down the corridor. Eyes narrowed and wands aimed, neither Quincy nor Mariah was about to back down.

"Stop immediately, both of you!" a commanding adult voice bellowed out of nowhere. Heads swung simultaneously towards the front of the train as all eyes searched out the source of the outburst.

To be continued...