Two Worlds Apart

Chapter 1

There are so many places I can start this story; the middle, a fourth of the way through, toward the end, or when I first talked to him. But I think you would have a better understanding if we started from the beginning; from the first time I saw him.

I was standing nervously near the end of the train, waiting for my friend who was a fifth year like me. I heard someone call my name repeatedly.

"Meg, MEAGAN!"

She moved through the crowd of robed students toward the sound of my voice. I waved at her as she approached, dancing in my spot.

"We're back!"

"Yeah I'm so happy to be back!" I chanted.

"C'mon, we need to get on the train it's about to go," she said pulling my arm.

But I didn't move. My eyes were glued to an incredible boy who had just come through the barrier. He was nothing like I had ever seen before. Something was different about him, but I couldn't figure it out. Victoria gave one final tug that brought me into the train, but not before I got one final look at him. Then, I disappeared into the train. It didn't take us long to find a compartment to ourselves.

Not long after we sat down, the train moved from its spot beside platform 9 ¾. Everything was quiet. A few people we knew stopped by. Some people, who we had never seen before, passed. One boy with silvery hair stopped at our door to ask our names for the fourth year in a row. We told him once again; before he left he took one more glance at Victoria. In my mind I was hoping the tall boy with black hair and glasses would come past. He never did.

In no time the train pulled into the Hogsmeade station. I stepped out of the train in my Hogwarts uniform. Victoria stepped out of the train, in her uniform, right after me. We went with the flow, getting pushed toward the carriages.

"All first 'ears, this way. First 'ears!" someone yelled from my right.

As I turned, I saw Hagrid, a gigantic man who could crush me with his left boot alone. We walked past him with the flow heading to our rides to the castle. We hopped into the carriage with two other fifth years from the Ravenclaw house.

The horseless carriages brought us up to the castle, and we all got out and trooped into the large stony place that I called home. Peeves met us in the Entrance Hall, as stink pellets where thrown our way. Everyone scattered into the Great Hall. Sitting down, we waited for the first years to come and join us.

Professor McGonagall entered through the door beside the teacher's table. A line of frightened looking first years followed her into the Great Hall. She lined them up in front of all the teachers. The sorting took forever. My stomach growled every couple of minutes. I clutched it wishing the sorting would end very soon. Finally the last first year was sorted--"Zinks, Charles" "RAVENCLAW!".

Professor Dumbledore stood up. We all sat on the edge of our seats anticipating his speech so we could dig into the food. He waved his hands in front of him and said, "Now we eat." We all cheered and the food appeared on the five tables, which groaned under the weight. Victoria and I exchanged grins and we dug into the meal. I had just about three helpings of everything, and nearly two helpings of the pudding for desert.

Professor Dumbledore stood up once again to make his real speech.

He began, "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. I'd like to welcome back Professor Lupin to the Defense Against The Dark Arts position."

I joined everyone who had had Lupin before as a teacher and stood up and applauded.

Dumbledore smiled and continued, "I would also like to say again that the Dark Forest is out of bounds to everyone. Now enjoy your school year everyone! Good Night!"

Everyone applauded. We left the Great Hall to go to our common rooms. Victoria and I reached the Fat Lady with the rest of the fifth years and up.

"I have the password. Excuse Me!" It was Hermione Granger, a 7^th year. "Locomortamortis" she said breathlessly and we all entered the common room.

Nearly everyone looked as tired as us, and they headed for the dormitories without chatter.
Victoria and I changed into our sleep clothes and talked non-stop. After the fifth sigh of frustration from our fellow fifth years, we decided to hush up and get some sleep. I fell asleep thinking of the black haired boy that I had seen on the platform.

* * *

All of the school work, homework, and classes drew the black haired boy out of my mind for the longest time. I barely remembered him actually. He just seemed like a blurry picture of what I saw on the platform. Late at night, I would try to remember what he looked like. Every time I was not successful.

We were not yet three months into school. I had some new friends. Quidditch had also started. It was the day of the first match; Slytherin verses Gryffindor. All the students were out on the grounds enjoying the perfect weather conditions. I was talking to a little group of friends, chatting about this-and-that.

As usual, I was just scanning the grounds for other people to talk with and just to see who else was there. That was when I spotted him; the black haired boy who had for once, slipped my mind.

He seemed to be talking to a group of seventh years. I could not help but stare. This was the first time I had seen him in almost two months. It was like having everything come back to me. I actually felt happy.

"Meg, Meg!" Someone said pulling on my arm. "Are you listening to me?"

It was Victoria. She obviously was trying to tell me or ask me something. So I got out of the trance I was in, to listen to what she had been talking about. I took my eyes off the black haired boy.

"Er...what were you saying?" I asked trying to sound like I had forgotten what she said.

"I said, who do you think is going to win?" she asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"We are of course. No doubt!" I said scanning the ground. The black haired boy was no where in sight.

In no time, it was time for the match to begin. My group of friends and I went off to the field with the rest of the school. We went straight to the top seating and sat next to a group of first year Ravenclaws. As soon as we sat down, the players flew out onto the field. My eyes flew to the very familiar looking seeker. Gasping, I realize it was the black haired boy. Not soon after I heard the announcer Dean Thomas say "And Gryffindor Seeker and Captain Harry Potter!"

It took only a split second for it all to sink in, that I like Harry Potter, Quidditch captain and the most famous person at the school. In the background I could hear Dean's commentary.

"And Weasley passes it to Creevey. Creevey passes it to Creevey. Can he get it past Nott to score?" The crowd groaned. "Oh it looks like Nott blocked it. He throws it to Zabini, who heads straight toward Weasley for the goal. And will Ron be able to block it?" The Slytherin crowd cheered.

"No. Zabini scored, 90 to 0; Slytherin." The rest of the crowd booed. "Weasley throws it to Weasley, who gets hit by Zabini"

The Gryffindor's yelled.

"Zabini throws it to Baddock...MacDougal. Gets hit by a bludger, sent his way by his own teammate Goyle. Weasley recovers it and tries to send it past Nott, but Nott blocks and throws it to Baddock, who zooms to the other end of the pitch toward Weasley. C'MON RON BLOCK IT...NO! Slytherin scores again 100 to 0 Slytherin."

I snapped out of my daze and noticed Slytherin had scored four more times while I thought of Harry. The score was now 140 to 0. All the Gryffindors hung their head in disbelief and shame. We were getting massacred and it was only thirty minutes into the game. Dean continued to do commentary but I do not know how he was able to. He probably felt like the rest of the Gryffindors; ashamed.

"Weasley has the quaffle, she passes it to Dennis Creevey. But look Potter and Malfoy seemed to have spotted the snitch. They're neck and neck."

Everyone stood up to watch Harry and Malfoy dive for the snitch. I held my breath hoping that Harry would be able to catch the snitch and win.

"Potter gets a head of Malfoy by a foot and grabs the snitch the game is over! GRYFFINDOR WINS! 150 TO 140!"

Everyone erupted in cheers, except the Slytherin supporters. Victoria and I danced in front of our seats. Gryffindor had won by a hair! We were all so excited. There was screaming all the way to the Great Hall. There was so much chatter at dinner about the game.

When the Gryffindor Team walked into the common room that night, they were greeted with applause and cheering. I wanted so badly to go up to Harry and congratulate him, but I jut stayed in my seat by the fire. I did see him glance at me a couple of times and smile, but maybe he was looking behind me. I decided that he had to have been smiling at Kelly Martin. She was the most popular girl in my year, and that was much more understandable.

A couple of hours later and extremely tired from the days events Victoria and I went up to our dorms. We chatted play-by-play about the game till about 11 o'clock. We soon fell silent as we drifted quickly off to sleep.