Never Jump Off a Flying Broomstick

She took a deep breath. She had made it. The platform between nine and ten was swarming with people; parents were waving their children good-bye, and kids were laughing as they saw their friends for the first time after the long summer holiday. Most students found it hard to believe that September had come around so quickly this year. Now that she had arrived safely at Kings Cross Station, jet lag was beginning to kick in after her seven hours plane ride from JFK to Heathrow airport. Oh well, she thought with the disgruntled sigh of a wearied traveler, I can just sleep on the train.

She stepped onto the scarlet steam train and moved towards the back. Most of the compartments were already full, but finally she found one that was empty. As she slid the door open she quickly realized her mistake. She hadn't seen them because they were leaning against the same wall as the door. The girl had dark brown hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. Her ears had numerous piercings, and the girl's hands were littered with rings, much like Elizabeth's own. The boy's white blonde hair was slicked back. He was already wearing his school robes, the Slytherin badge worn proudly on the front. The girl was still in her muggles clothes, which consisted of jeans and a midriff-bearing shirt, revealing a pierced belly button.

Elizabeth blushed profusely, but since her intrusion hadn't seemed to disturb their activity she left, quietly re-closing the door. As she walked the length of the train she realized she should have arrived earlier, and as the train began to move, she still hadn't found an available seat. She felt too awkward to interrupt the parties of friends so excited to be reunited. So she walked the length of the train, wondering if she had made the wrong choice to transfer schools after all.

From behind her she heard a voice call out, "Now where the hell did Crabbe lope off to?" Turning around, she saw the girl she had accidentally walked in on snogging with her boyfriend leaning out of her compartment, stretching her neck to look for this Crabbe fellow. When the girl's head turned to face Elizabeth, her eyes looked her over, stopping at the piercings, jewelry, and look of bewilderment so common on new students before her lips parted in a smile. "Do you need a place to sit?" she asked, much to Elizabeth's surprise.

"Yeah, actually," was the only reply Elizabeth's brain could muster.

"Come on in," the girl said with a flick of her head in the direction of the compartment. Taking a moment to gather her senses and wonder and her good fortune, Elizabeth squeezed past a trio of students to get into the waiting compartment. One of them lecturing the other about having to constantly repair their glasses while the third one, a boy with shockingly red hair just smiled at her shyly as he passed.

Inside the compartment, the boy was sitting there, staring at her disinterestedly with his intensely gray eyes while the girl sat, legs draped across the boys lap, leaning against the wall, arms folded across her stomach, and peering at her intently. "You're obviously not a first year, but I've never seen you before either," the girl said.

"I'm transferring schools," Elizabeth explained. "My old school was in New York but my parents thought it would be better for me to attend a more privileged school."

The girl's eyes lit up at this remark. "My parents felt the same way. They sent me here as a third year from New York too."

"I'm surprised we didn't run into each other."

The boy stood up more gracefully than any person Elizabeth had ever seen and said, "As fascinating as this conversation is, I'm going to go find Crabbe and Goyle." He left before the girl introduced herself as Lindsay and explained that her boyfriend's name was Draco. Elizabeth presented herself likewise.
"Do you like Quidditch?" Lindsay asked, aimlessly shuffling what Elizabeth guessed were tarot cards.

"I love it. I played Chaser for my old team."

"Me too! Who's your favorite team?"

"The Irish. My mom's side is Irish and I have to be true to my roots," Elizabeth said with a laugh.

"Were you able to see the Quidditch Cup at all back in New York?" Lindsay asked.

"Yeah it was great, except for that asshole Malfoy who put all of those restrictions on which teams were eligible."

Lindsay let out a laugh at this statement. "What's so funny?" Elizabeth asked.

"That's Draco's father," she explained.

"Your boyfriend is Draco Malfoy?" Elizabeth remembered hearing about the Malfoys back home. Everyone knew that Lucius Malfoy had been a Death Eater, that now Voldemort had fallen played the Ministry for power, and that his son Draco would probably grow up to be the same.

Lindsay laughed. "So you've heard of them too."

"Most people have," said Elizabeth, still trying to believe that the boy she'd seen five minutes ago was a Malfoy.

They sat for a moment in silence before Lindsay asked, "So what house are you in?"

"I don't know yet. When we arrive at the station, someone is supposed to take me to Dumbledore's office so I can be sorted."

"That sucks," Lindsay said. "You're going to miss the feast."

"Yeah, I know, but I'll get to see everything tomorrow morning at breakfast. We start classes tomorrow, right?" Elizabeth asked.

Lindsay nodded and garbled a reply, a chocolate frog in her mouth. The rest of the train ride was spent daring each other to eat Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans and other numerous candies. By the time the train pulled into the station the two were laughing hysterically as Lindsay gagged on a sardine flavored bean and tried to get rid of the flavor by eating a second bean only to discover it had been grass flavored one. Tall lampposts lit the station as the full moon shone from above. Horseless carriages awaited all of the older students, while a tall, giant-sized man collected the first years.

Draco appeared for the first time since he had left their compartment, this time flanked by two boys closely resembling gorillas. Elizabeth only assumed that they were the previously mentioned Crabbe and Goyle. Following Lindsay she stepped into a carriage along with the three boys. Most of the ride was spent in silence as the moonlit scenery swept past them, except for the occasional grunt that passed between Crabbe and Goyle.

An older woman dressed in a dark green robe with tortoise shell glasses approached her. "Miss de Moll, I am Professor McGonagall. If you would follow me please, I will take you to Professor Dumbledore's office. He'll want to speak with you."

"See you later." Lindsay waved as Draco steered her towards the large double doors with his arm around her waist. "Good luck with the sorting!"

Following Professor McGonagall through a series of strange corridors, she eventually made her way to Professor Dumbledore's office, a dusty and rather old looking circular room lined with shelves and littered with books. Pictures of what she took to be former headmasters were toasting each other for the beginning of a new school year. After she had been sitting for some time in a high-backed leather chair, Professor Dumbledore swept into the room. His hair was white and his eyes twinkled behind half-moon glasses. Sort of like Santa Claus after being starved for a week, thought Elizabeth. Or maybe a couple weeks, she added to herself with a laugh.

"Good evening. I trust you had a pleasant trip. I apologize that you could not participate in the feast this evening but I thought it would be better for you to be sorted privately. As I'm sure you would like to see your dormitory as soon as possible, I won't let this take long. Professor McGonagall, if you please?" He indicated an old, tattered hat sitting on one of the shelves. Professor McGonagall walked over and placed it on Elizabeth's head.

As she sat there patiently, she began to hear it think. "Nervous, eh? Afraid I might put you somewhere you won't fit in? Not to worry. Ah, but you want to be in Slytherin with your new friend. I'm afraid that just won't do." And then aloud she heard it shout, "Gryffindor!" She sat there fighting a smile as the hat was removed from her head and placed back on the shelf.

"Congratulations," Professor Dumbledore said. "Being the Head of Gryffindor House, Professor McGonagall will lead you to your dormitory. I hope you will enjoy your time here at Hogwarts. Good night."

Once again Elizabeth found herself following Professor McGonagall through strange corridors and this time up a number of staircases. Eventually they were standing in front of a portrait depicting a particularly obese woman. Elizabeth had never thought it nice to call people fat, but in describing this painting she might consider using that word. The password Professor McGonagall spoke was "Gillyweed" and the portrait swung open revealing a doorway. The common room was all in gold and red with plush couches and fireplaces. It felt surprisingly empty since all of the students were still at the feast.

She made her way up to the girls' rooms and found her trunk already at the foot of one of the four-poster beds, along with all Gryffindor scarves and ties. Grabbing her book, she walked back down to the common room and awaited the arrival of the other students.

After a while, students began filtering into the room. "People watching" was a favorite pastime for Elizabeth, especially when the people were extremely gorgeous guys. One in particular caught her eye. Carrot-top, she thought, instantly recalling a memory of the actor back home as she spotted the boy she passed on the train. But then she saw the way he laughed with two of his friends, one was a girl with somewhat wavy brown hair and the other was a boy with messy black hair and round, black glasses. She almost choked on her tic-tac when she realized who the black-haired boy was. He was Harry Potter.

Everyone knew who Harry Potter was, and by everyone, people meant everyone. Thanks to a woman named J.K. Rowling, an angry squib who wanted to get back at the wizarding world, the whole world could now read about Harry Potter and his "adventures" in hardcover or paperback. Of course, his adventures at school were all made up; Voldemort had been captured by Harry's godfather Sirius Black after the attack on Harry's parents, but that didn't change the fact that all the muggles knew about things like Quidditch and platform nine and three-quarters. Elizabeth had lost track of all the muggles with concussions from trying to walk through walls at the platform at Kings Cross Station. However, Harry was still considered a miracle for surviving the attack as an infant.

By the time she'd gotten over the shock of seeing "The Boy Who Lived" (to quote one of the ridiculous novels written by Rowling), most of the students had gone to their rooms. Exhausted from traveling, she ascended the spiral staircase to her room where she found the other girls were already sleeping. So Elizabeth was quiet as she got into bed thinking there was no point in pissing them off on the first day.

In the morning, two of the other girls introduced themselves at Parvati and Lavender, and the girl she had seen talking to Harry Potter introduced herself as Hermione. They helped Elizabeth make her way to the Great Hall, a room impressive enough to make Elizabeth stop for a moment and stare. Four long tables filled the room providing seating for the students while a separate table was placed at the head of the room for the professors. Hermione babbled on for a bit about the ceiling being bewitched to resemble the sky, but Elizabeth was too busy watching the clouds move across it to pay any attention. When she finally did start to pay attention to her fellow students, she saw Lindsay sitting at the Slytherin table with Draco. When Lindsay looked up and smiled, Elizabeth waved.

"You know her?" Parvati asked with a disgusted look on her face.

"Yeah, is there something wrong with that?"

Offended by Elizabeth's accusatory tone she said, "It's just that no one hangs out with people from Slytherin, especially not Lindsay. She's going out with Draco Malfoy."

"Would you girls lay off it?" said Hermione. "Just because you're upset Lindsay's going out with Draco instead of you, don't be bitchy." Taking Elizabeth by the arm she added, "Come on. I'll introduce you to some of my friends."

Happy to be away from the gossip twins, Elizabeth was glad that she didn't have another tic-tac in her mouth as Hermione sat her down right next to the guy with red hair. Hermione sat down next to Harry, her arm around his neck. "Ron, Harry, I want you to meet Elizabeth. She just transferred." The two started to mumble greetings, eggs and sausages filling their mouths. "Would you two chew and then speak?" asked Hermione with feigned disgust at their manners. There was a moment's pause as the two swallowed and then mumbled something to the point of hello before digging into their food again.
Elizabeth laughed and said, "Nice to meet you too." She decided it had to be love if she could still like the guy after seeing him scarf down that much food.

Once they'd all eaten breakfast, Hermione looked at her watch and gasped. "We're going to be late!" Grabbing their things, the four students raced down to the dungeons for their potions class. Elizabeth found the room rather disturbing with the cold temperatures, dimmed lighting, and various specimens lining the shelves. She wasn't quite sure how it happened, but it turned out that the only seats that were left included one right next to Lindsay.

"So you're a Gryffindor now," said Draco in a drawling voice. "What a pity they'd waste talent like yours on nobodies like them."

"Shove it, Malfoy," said Harry, his eyes glinting behind his glasses.

"You should be upset too, Potter. With her in the class, everyone will learn your secret," Draco continued to drawl

"And what secret is that?" Harry asked, clenching his fists.

"They'll find out just how bad a wizard you actually are when they compare you to someone with actual talent," Draco sneered challengingly.

"You're such a fucking prat," Ron said in an irritated mutter. It was at this moment that Professor Snape walked into the room, his black robes billowing around him. The rest of the class was spent in silence, listening to Snape's start of term lecture, except of course for when a boy named Neville sputtered the wrong answers to Snape's questions. After their morning classes, Elizabeth, Lindsay, Draco, Ron, Harry, and Hermione ended up sitting around on the grass in one of the courtyards together.

"So what are we all going to do?" asked Draco, lazily.

"Who said I'd want to do anything with you Malfoy?" Ron asked.

"Sod off," Draco retorted.

"Doing nothing seems good to me at the moment," said Lindsay, staring up at the sky.

"Well we have to do something," continued Draco, sitting up on his elbows. "Or else we'll end up sitting in an awkward silence in the middle of the commons room, passing a pint around and seeing which one can do the most complicated yoga maneuver before Harry has to be taken to the emergency room for most likely hyper-extending his groin area. And that's a memory Harry, and most certainly I, can live without."

Sitting up Ron said, "You know, you're exactly the type of fucking ass who would think of something as demented as that. If you didn't spend all of you're time getting pissed and snogging Lindsay in one of the booths at the Three Broomsticks, you might have enough brain cells left to think of something good for us to do."

"That's it!" shouted Lindsay, sitting up quickly.

"God, Lindsay. When I said you two were snogging at the Three Broomsticks I didn't mean that to offend you," stammered Ron, turning pink with embarrassment.

"No," said Lindsay, trying not to laugh at Ron. "I mean I've figured out what we can do, finally!" The others all sat up waiting to hear what she was planning. "Meet after school at the entrance." She grabbed Draco and ran off, hopefully to class. Somehow I doubt that's where they're going, thought Elizabeth.

By the time she gathered all of her stuff together, Ron was the only one left. "You really don't like Draco do you?" she asked him.

"Is it that obvious?" he asked with a smirk. Then he smiled at her, a dimple at each corner of his mouth. "Are you going to go out with everyone later?"

"Yeah," she said. "I just can't stay out too late. There are quidditch try-outs tomorrow and all." All the students agreed it was ridiculous. The first day back at school was a Friday, just in time to ruin an entire weekend with homework and quidditch try-outs.

Ron seemed shocked. "You play quidditch? But, but" he stammered. "It's dangerous out there," he exclaimed in indignation.

Elizabeth just laughed. "I'm a girl, Ron, not a wimp."

"Oh, right." He said, raking his hair nervously with his fingers. "I didn't mean to imply girls couldn't play quidditch."

"Didn't Hermione mention something earlier about you playing on the Gryffindor team?" she asked him.

"Yeah, I'm keeper. What about you? Please don't tell me you play beater."

"No." She smiled. "Just chaser." Looking at her watch she added, "I'm running a bit late for class, but I'll catch you later right? You don't want to miss out on all the crazy adventures we'll be having on Lindsay's little field trip."

Now it was his turn to laugh. "Definitely," he said, and then they parted.

Afternoon classes were a bit of a drag after that. The whole time she sat in Divination, Elizabeth's mind kept wandering back to where Lindsay was taking them. It's too bad we haven't gotten to the section on seeing the future, she thought, bored out of her mind.