Year One At Hogwarts - Hidden Scars

A few hours later, the Hogwarts Express rolled into the Hogsmeade station. Harry, Ron, and Teri couldn't be anymore relieved that the train ride was finally over and they were about to enter Hogwarts. The silence in the compartment had been almost unbearable and the tension lay thick everywhere. Teri had dashed off right before the train had stopped, muttering about getting her owl and saying "I'll see you two later."

Ron turned to Harry right after Teri left and shook his head in exasperation. "That girl is...weird. I've never met a more odd person. She goes from hot to cold in seconds. I wonder what her problem is..."

Harry didn't answer, he just continued to stare at the half open compartment door that Teri had disappeared out of minutes before. The entire rest of the way on the train after their encounter with Hermione he had done nothing but think about the cold hearted girl and wondering why she would be rude one second and the next have tears in her eyes. It confused him greatly and made him almost sure of the fact that Teri was hiding something, maybe many things. Ron didn't seem to be as affected and only thought Teri cruel and rude, then again, Ron hadn't seen that single tear escape her eye. Harry did know one thing, he was going to be keeping a close watch on Teri and see if he could gain some trust from her.

Suddenly Harry became aware of a hand waving frantically in front of his face and a loud voice yelling in his ear. "Harry!!!" Ron yelled desperately. Harry blinked as if he was coming out of a trance and jumped slightly before turning his eyes to Ron.

"Goodness, could you yell an louder? I think I might be deaf now," Harry spoke sharply.

Ron drew back his head and looked slightly abashed by the black haired boy's comment. "Sorry, it's just...you've been standing there for the past five minutes doing nothing but stare at the door. Kinda creepy actually...."

Harry relaxed a little bit and nodded slowly. "Sorry Ron, I was just thinking about something."

"What was it?" Ron asked immediately, curiosity clearly evident in his voice.

"Nothing, it was nothing," Harry replied, shaking his head, "Let's get out of here."

The two of them quickly exited the train to find a swarm of students clad in their Hogwarts uniforms, hurrying about and trying to get in the right places to arrive at the school. Harry glanced about quickly to see if he could find Teri but no trace of her was anywhere. Before he could start wondering anymore, a deep, booming voice echoed over the rest of the chatter going around everywhere else.

"Firs' years! All firs' years, right over here! All right there, Harry?"

It was none other than Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. He was known affectionately by most everyone as Hagrid though. He was probably one of the biggest men that anyone had ever seen but was certainly not as fierce as he looked. He was a very gentle, kind man, as Harry knew very well. Over the coming years he would come to be one of the greatest friends of Harry.

"Hey Hagrid!" Harry called out, momentarily forgetting about Teri and smiling at the large man before him.

"All right firs' years! All follow me! Right this way, watch your step along the path!"

All the first years quickly fell in to steps behind Hagrid, trying to desperately keep up with his long strides. The rocky path was fairly narrow and wound around several times before opening up to a clearing right in front of a large lake, that looked black and menacing at the moment with faint flickers of moon and starlight reflecting off of its surface.

But the water wasn't what caught every first years attention. There was a great chorus of gasps of admiration as soon as the castle on the opposite side, resting on large mountain, was seen. It was quite beautiful to look at, even in the darkness. Turrets and towers were located everywhere with high windows twinkling like eyes back at them. The castle seemed to hold an air of mystic about it and the first years shivered with excitement, knowing they were just about to enter one of the most magical places in the world.

Hagrid let them take in the sight fully for a few seconds before calling out over their heads again. "All right now! In to the boats! No more'n four each!" He gestured with a sweep of his large hand to a fleet of boats bobbing gently on the lakes edge. A few of the first years stared apprehensively at the boats before finally getting near them.

Ron quickly clambered into one of the boats with Harry close behind him. Hermione followed after them, much to both of their surprise. What surprised them even more was the person who came up behind Hermione. "Mind if I sit in this boat with you guys?" Teri said before stepping onto the boat.

Harry stared at her in surprise, wondering where the girl had been this whole entire time. Ron merely glanced at her and shrugged before turning back to stare at the Hogwarts castle. Hermione made a "humph" noise and glared at Teri much in the same way the girl had looked at her. Teri completely ignored her and set herself next to Harry. She turned her head and glanced at the castle, her eyes lightly traveling over its exterior. Harry watched her out of the corner of his eye silently, noticing that even though Teri was looking at the castle, she wasn't truly "looking" at it and her eyes held a very distant gaze in them, like she was seeing something that no one else could see or knew about.

Hagrid had managed to get himself into the last remaining boat and then looked around at the others. "Yeh all in? Good! FORWARD!" he called out.

The boats all slid forward in the water at once and began to glide swiftly through the lake. The castle kept edging closer and closer, growing bigger and bigger with each inch that the boats gained. No one could take their eyes off the castle, enraptured by its magnificent beauty.

Teri suddenly spoke in a very soft voice off to Harry's right, it was so soft he could barely hear it but the words spoken from her mouth had a huge impact on him, though they pertained nothing to him.

"It's beautiful.....isn't it?" Harry turned his head quickly to stare at the girl in shock, his green eyes wide. The emotion flowing off of those words had struck something deep within him. It was an emotion he had never heard from her before and he doubted he would hear it again any time soon. The words expressed happiness and sadness, pain and awe, all at the same time.

Harry kept his eyes transfixed on Teri's face, hoping she would finally turn her own eyes to his. And eventually, she did. She flung her gaze away from the castle and locked her hazel eyes on his green ones. For a few fleeting seconds, a connection was made between the two of them and neither dared to break it. Then Teri gave him a soft smile and took her eyes away from his. The moment had been broken and the emotional look in her eyes had been quickly replaced by the hard coldness once again.

After watching her for a few more seconds, Harry drifted his gaze away and looked out across the water, away from the castle, towards the forest that stood along the edge of the lake. Many thoughts were swirling through his head at the moment and were all becoming a jumble. Why exactly was Teri like this? Having so much emotion coming off of her at one moment, and the next being completely cold and empty of anything. Harry was desperate to know what was wrong with her, he had this feeling that something was incredibly wrong with Teri and he truly wanted to help her. He had one small problem though. How was he to get Teri to trust him and be his friend?

Harry didn't have any more time to dwell on his thoughts though. A hand roughly shook him and he snapped his head up in surprise to see Hagrid before him, a look of concern on his large face.

"All right there Harry? Yeh seemed to be out o' it there."

"No, no, I'm fine. It's all right Hagrid, I'll get out now," Harry quickly replied, feeling slightly embarrassed. He looked up to see that every other first year was standing on the rocks of the small harbor-like area and staring at him, a couple of them were even snickering behind their hands. Harry blushed a little bit and quickly climbed out of the boat to join everyone else. He moved next to Ron who was giving him a very curious look.

"You sure you're all right?" Ron questioned, "I mean, you wouldn't respond to anyone there for a few minutes."

Harry noticed that both Hermione and Teri were watching him with interest so he gave his head a quick shake. "I'm fine, really. Let's just drop it."

No more was spoken between them and the group of first years hurried up the stone steps behind Hagrid to come to a set of large, oak doors. Right before he knocked, he called out about having a toad and Teri saw the boy from the train that had been with Hermione, Neville, step forward happily and take Trevor into his open palms.

The next second, Hagrid reached up and gave three loud knocks upon the door, with all the first years waiting with eager anticipation. Even Teri couldn't help but give a small shiver of excitement as the wide doors suddenly swung open.

Everyone looked up with wide-eyes to stare at the tall, stern-looking witch before them. Her black hair was pulled back into a severe bun and she wore dark green robes. A beautifully carved marble staircase could be seen behind her as the first years strained to look into the castle. "Thank you for bringing them Hagrid," the witch said, "I will take it from here." She stepped aside and the first years quickly scrambled in.

The entrance hall was incomparably stunning, with large lit torches hanging from the stone walls and the ceiling stretching up out of sight. Once all the first years had settled inside, the witch spoke to them. "Welcome to Hogwarts, my name is Professor McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress of this school and head of the Gryffindor House, please follow me." She turned and began striding up the marble staircase. They quickly went after her.

At the top of the stairs on the first landing before another set of large, engraved oak doors, Professor McGonagall turned to them again. The first years filled in on the stairs below her and most of them noticed how the staircase continued curving upwards, seemingly endless.

"All right now," Professor McGonagall started, staring down her nose at them with a stern look in her eyes, "You are about to enter the Great Hall to have the start-of-term feast. But, before that, you must be sorted into your Houses, which will become your family here at Hogwarts throughout the next seven years." She paused and glanced at a few of the young faces before her, most of them holding a look of slight nervousness. She then continued, "The Houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin."

Out of the corner of her eye, Teri saw a boy standing near her turn to someone behind him and mutter something. She glanced more fully at him and when Teri saw who it was, she rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh. It was Draco Malfoy. Teri's thoughts were then broken by McGonagall again.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place momentarily. Please prepare yourselves." With that said, she turned her back on them and swept through the doors before them, the noise behind them building suddenly before being dulled again.

As soon as the door shut, a cold, drawling voice rang out above everyone else's. "Well Potter, are you ready to be humiliated in front of the entire school?"

An immediate silence fell over the group and they all turned to see the blond-haired, gray-eyed Draco Malfoy leaning on the stair railing with a cold look in his eyes and a smirk on his face.

Harry glared at Draco and opened his mouth to reply but before he could, Teri suddenly shoved out of the crowd behind him and stepped in his way.

Teri quickly crossed her arms and locked Draco with a steady gaze. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Draco Malfoy. Still feeling the need to put people under you to make yourself look good?"

Draco looked stunned for a second and then his eyes widened in shock. "Teri?" he asked in disbelief.

Teri raised an eyebrow and smirked back at him. "Glad to see you remember me Draco."

Draco stood in shock for a couple more seconds before his face hardened and he gave Teri a very cold stare. "What are you doing here?" he said with malice in his voice.

Teri's eyes narrowed down into slits and she took a couple of steps forward, keeping her gaze on Draco, before saying, "I'm going to sell some illegal Dark objects," she stated very sarcastically. Then she threw her hands up in exasperation. "I'm gonna go to school here, what do you think I'm doing?!" Teri practically yelled.

Draco's eyes flashed dangerously but before a reply could come from him a couple of gasps were heard from the silent crowd and everyone wheeled away from the scene before them to see what all the commotion was about.

Coming through one of the walls near the first years and slowly going through the wall opposite, leading to the Great Hall, was a line of ghosts. They were a bright silvery color and they glowed brightly in the slightly darkened hall. They seemed to be deep in discussion and only snippets of their conversation could be heard, something about "Peeves" and "giving him another chance."

Suddenly, one ghost turned and looked at the large group of wide-eyed children before him in amusement. "Oh, well, hello there first year students. About ready to be Sorted I presume. Good luck, I hope some of you will be joining my House, Hufflepuff," the ghost, known as the Fat Friar, smiled cheerily and glided after the rest of his kind, through the wall.

When the shock of seeing so many ghosts before them had worn off, the first years began to chat among themselves again, forgetting entirely about the argument that had just taken place minutes before. Draco Malfoy wanted to say more but decided to wait until a later time before he confronted Teri again. He turned his back on her and began speaking to his friends again. Teri let out a snort of anger and shook her head in disgust before turning her back on him as well, thinking the same as him, she'd deal with Draco later.

When Teri turned though, she found herself to be staring at a very angry, Ron Weasley, his face bright red, contrasting horribly with his hair. Confused by why he seemed so angry with her, she only stared at him, waiting for Ron to speak.

"Why did you have to go and do that?! he yelled, "We don't need any help from you! Harry could've handled that jerk by himself but no, Miss I-Know-Better-Than-You had to go and stick up for him, making it look like Harry always needs a girl to stand up for him!" Ron was fuming with so much anger Teri could feel it radiating from him. "You and that nasty attitude of yours, just take it somewhere else. We don't need any of that from you here."

She took a step back in absolute shock, not expecting that. No words could be found in reply of what he had just spoken to her. She glanced at Harry, who stood quietly next to Ron, looking a little embarrassed. He refused to meet her eyes though, and that was all the explanation that Teri needed.

"I see," she said slowly, before turning from them and walking away, anger and painful sadness threatening to spill over from her.

Ron opened his mouth, intending to yell more after Teri's retreating figure but Harry suddenly grabbed Ron's arm, in hopes to stop him. "Stop it Ron, she got what you said the first time, no need to say anymore. Besides, I don't totally agree with you," Harry finished a little more quietly.

Ron spun around in shock, "What do you mean? You saw how she is! She's mean and nasty to everyone, she's as bad as Malfoy!"

Harry slowly shook his head. "I dunno Ron, I think there's something else going on about her that we don't know about." He was thinking back on when Teri had cried on the train.

Ron was about to respond again but at that moment, the voice of Professor McGonagall was heard behind him. "The Sorting Ceremony is about to start. Please form a single line and follow me."

The first years slowly started to fall into a line, some looking positively frightened at being Sorted. Ron leaned over and whispered in Harry's ear. "Fred told me we have to do some sort of test. I hope it isn't too hard, I'd rather not embarrass myself on the first day."

Harry gulped, praying that Ron was wrong, he really wasn't ready for a test, he barely knew anything concerning magic. As Harry fell into line behind Ron, he saw Hermione Granger, muttering many a spell under her breath, probably thinking they would help her. He then saw Teri, out of the corner of his eye, stony faced and completely ignoring everything going on around her, void of emotion. Harry had a feeling she was hiding her true emotions though and he wasn't far from being right. He didn't have time to dwell on it though because at that moment, Professor McGonagall opened the doors and they were stepping into the Great Hall.