As the Eagle Flies

Chapter Three

Jamie sat at the back of the train, staring out of the window. I must have been absolutely insane to do this, she thought. Her father had told her she should come to this stupid school.

So why did I have to agree? she thought angrily. She had been perfectly fine at home; she was the top student in her class; why did she have to give that all up? Give up all her friends. Okay, just one friend, but it still hurt. It hurt a lot.

Jamie looked down at the note from her best friend- her only friend- Lisa.

Dear Jamie,

I know it's our first time in different schools, but I hope we can still be friends, even though you're entering a different world. Thank you for telling me what is going on even though you're breaking rules...or laws...or whatever in your world. Make new friends, and I won't feel guilty about not being the same as you. Or about not understanding you. Write me often please.

Lisa

Yeah, I'll write you, thought Jamie. If I don't give up and come tearing back home...True, she had read a lot of her Hogwarts books and she even had them very well known but it was only to keep up her reputation as a smart person, not really to get herself deeper into the magical world.

As tears welled up in her eyes, she fingered a lock of black hair. Jamie was rather small and average; not thin, not fat. She had olive skin and curly hair. She wasn't someone who would cause you to look twice at, provided that you didn't see her eyes. For they not only looked as though they saw right through whatever she was looking at, but the right one was a deep, sapphire blue and the left on a deep, murky green.

Pushing the tears away, Jamie pulled out her wand. If she were to wave it and say...a spell, any spell, would something happen? Was she really the witch that she was taken for? She contemplated, then grabbed her quill and said quietly, "Wingardium Leviosa!" Nothing happened. Not that she'd really expected anything to. She wasn't really magic, after all. She'd known it all along. And now, here she was, packed off on a train to some weirdo school where she would be laughed at even more than she had been before.

"You won't be able to do that until a bit later this year," said a voice at the compartment door.

Jamie looked up, wiping her eyes, to see a tall girl with bright red hair falling to her waist. Behind her were two other girls. One was short and skinny, also with bright red hair, but shorter, only coming to her shoulders. The other was tall and slim with straight brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail.

"Holly!" said the other redhead indignantly. "Be nice."

"What?" retorted the girl called Holly. "She won't be able to do that until later this year."

"I can do it," said the brunette. "I figured out how, with help from Ema's mum. She looks bloody smart, I bet she could as well, with some help from us."

Holly gave the two other girls a withering look and skipped off down the corridor.

The redhead rolled her eyes. "First year too?" she asked Jamie.

Jamie, feeling utterly perplexed, nodded. Why were these girls talking to her as though she was a real person? She was not used to being treated like she existed.

"I'm Ema Potter," said the redhead, sitting down across from Jamie and looking curiously at her.

"Ari DeLingues," said the other, sitting down next to Ema. Jamie continued to stare.

"Well, spit it out," said Ema casually. "What's your name?"

"Jamie Lastroni," said Jamie, still staring at the two girls as though she had never seen another girl before.

"Muggle-born?" asked Ari. Jamie nodded.

"Cool, me too," said Ari easily.

"Me not," said Ema. "I'm...I don't know what I am..." she began to mutter, "If my mum is a pureblood and my dad...well, both his parents were magic, but his grandparents on one side weren't...so that makes me..."

"A complete lunatic," said a voice from the doorway. They all looked up and Jamie couldn't help blinking. Yet another redhead was standing in the doorway. She wore glasses and had innumerable freckles.

"Hey, Missy, not funny!" said Ema, but she was laughing, and, turning to Jamie, she said, "This is my other cousin, Artemis, call her Missy, Holly was another cousin."

Missy took the seat next to Jamie.

Finally Jamie found her tongue. "Um, so, what makes you guys think I'm worth talking to?" she asked.

Ema looked surprised. "Well, for one, you're here, this is the only free compartment, you're Muggle-born, like Ari, you're smart, you're a first year."

"What makes you think we wouldn't want to talk to you?" asked Ari.

Jamie muttered something about not being used to it.

Ema laughed, but Ari smiled kindly and said, "Oh, one of those, are you? No worries, Ema and I are the same, only we both ended up here."

"Um, excuse me; is there any room in here? Everywhere else is full."

Jamie turned around yet again to see a blond girl with a slightly pointed face standing in the doorway looking nervous. Jamie, though she prided herself on not being shallow, couldn't help but notice that there was no way to call this girl 'good-looking'. The girl's honey-blond hair was thin and stringy, her eyes rather small, her nose pointed and her face looked like it was made for sneering.

However, this girl was not sneering, but frowning and looking quite awkward, not to mention anxious. "I'm Ronnie, not Valerie," she said, looking pleadingly at Ema and Ari. There was a cut up by her left ear and her nose looked as though it had just barely stopped bleeding.

"Sure, sit down," said Missy, standing up. There would have been more seats but Ema had insisted on putting Star in one and Ari was not going to put her bag, containing Shadow, anywhere but next to her.

"I don't want to take your seat..." said the girl hastily. "It's okay, I'll find somewhere else to sit; don't worry about it, really."

Missy grinned, "I'm not worrying about it, I'm going to find my other friends; I'm not going to spend all my time with my cousin who's destined for bloody Ravenclaw."

Ema stuck out her tongue and Missy's back while Ronnie, looking incredibly anxious, took Missy's place and Jamie looked at Ema for some explanation.

"Oh, right," said Ema quickly, realizing that she was required to give introductions. "Ronnie, this is Jamie, um...Jamie...what was it? Right. Jamie Lastroni. Jamie, Veronica - Ronnie - Malfoy."

"Your grandfather was caught as a Death Eater," said Jamie.

Jamie felt instantly bad when Ronnie blushed scarlet and looked at her feet without answering.

"I'm sorry!" Jamie squeaked. "I didn't mean...I just...sorry...I mean, I just get...carried away..."

"It's okay," said Ronnie quietly. "My whole family is into the Dark Arts, I'm the only exception. Well, my grandmother and I, I guess."

Jamie was still feeling really bad when Ema said, "So, what house are you two thinking of being in?"

"Oh, um," Jamie was caught by surprise at this light-hearted change of subject. "I was thinking, maybe, actually, Ravenclaw or Slytherin." She raised her head defiantly. "I know they say Slytherin's are bad, but there's nothing in the house description that says so, it says: ambitious. There's a difference."

"I know," said Ema, shrugging. "I put Ravenclaw first though, Ari too. Well--" Ari had just glanced at her "--not Ari, but Ari will end up in Ravenclaw, you'll see. Anyway, if you want Ravenclaw more than Slytherin, you'll probably get it; you usually get what you want."

"How 'bout you Ronnie?" asked Jamie, still feeling really bad about her insensitivity before.

"Oh, I don't know," said Ronnie, "Whatever I get put in, I suppose, but I doubt I'd be Gryffindor. My mum tells me I'd be in Hufflepuff, but I don't want Slytherin, because I don't want to be with my sister." She touched the cut by her ear as she spoke.

"Bloody hell, did she give you that?" asked Ari in alarm.

"Wha--Oh, never mind, not a big deal," said Ronnie trying without success to cover up the cut.

Ari felt even more alarmed, but dropped the subject as it was clear that Ronnie was not keen on it.

Jamie did not. "What? Your sister did that to you? Why?"

"Nothing, it's nothing. It's not a big deal."

Jamie too dropped it, though she disagreed.

The Hogwarts express continued to rumble along the countryside. The witch with the food cart had passed and Ema had bought, in Ari's words, "enough food to feed a band of fifty starving elephants."

"And it's a wonder you stay so bloody thin!" said Ari, helping herself to Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

"Ah bod we oo, ah vu apped," mumbled Ema through a face full of Pumpkin Pastie.

"Say what?" asked Ronnie while Jamie looked revolted. The four girls had, in the last hour, achieved a level of friendly conversation that would have looked to an outsider as though they'd known each other for years.

Ema swallowed. "I said I don't mean to, it just happened."

Ari laughed, "Yeah, but it took you so bloody long to chew and swallow that I can't remember what I said. No, Jamie, swish and flick."

Jamie was still having trouble with the levitation charm.

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

"Bage da erg wong," said Ema, now shoving five or six Chocolate Frogs in her mouth.

Jamie looked up. "Would you mind eating like a civilized human being?" she said, unwrapping her own Chocolate Frog with dignity and biting off the head.

"Bo," said Ema, swallowing. "No," she translated. "I am not a civilized human. And I was saying to make the gar longer."

"What?"

"In Wingardium Leviosa, make the gar longer."

Everyone looked at her.

"My Aunt Hermione told me," she said, shrugging.

Jamie grinned and held out her wand. "WinGARdium Leviosa!" Her quill flew up into the air and hovered a few inches from her lap.

Suddenly, there was a commotion caused by Ema's owl, Star giving a loud hoot and Jamie shrieking, causing the quill to drop again.

"Star!" said Ema. "What's the matter?" for Star was rocketing around her cage and flapping her wings in panic. At the same time, Ari's tiny cat, Shadow, started mewling loudly from inside her bag.

"Erm...Ema?"

Ema whirled around. Ari was pointing to the doorway of the compartment.

Jamie looked up and saw...Ronnie? But Ronnie was right next to her. "Ronnie," she hissed, "Evil, demented, dangerous and really smarmy sister alert." She turned to Ronnie's sister. "Who are you?" Time to play innocent.

"No one of your concern," said the girl, whose eyes were on Ema. Then she turned as though suddenly seeing what Jamie was. "Or maybe I am someone of your concern, Mudblood. Yes, you might want to be concerned."

Her eyes fell upon Ronnie and they hardened. "Hello, dear sister. I thought you'd sunk low enough consorting with these two and the other who is not here," she said, pointing at Ema and Ari, "didn't think you had the guts to take up with another Mudblood."

"I'm not taking up with anyone," snarled Ronnie. "I, unlike you, have got friends."

"Valerie Malfoy," said the girl to Jamie. "I'd shake your hand, but, don't mean to be rude, don't want Mudblood germs all over me."

Ronnie pulled out her wand.

"Yes, I thought I might just provoke you," said Valerie, speaking, in Jamie's opinion, like one just out of the thirteenth century. "But you see, I do have friends...ones Father approves of."

Two girls walked into the compartment.

Ari stared. They were, for eleven-year-olds, humungous and not in the least bit fat, but big and muscular.

"Um, I'm sorry," said Ari, pulling out her wand as well, "But did you two get bloody lost on the way in? I could put up signs up on the train, you know, so you can find your way back to your own bloody compartment."

Jamie couldn't help thinking that that hadn't been the best insult. Well, she thought, let's be honest. It was pathetic. But it had gotten the girls angry. Jamie guessed that Ari had only said it because the other two (not Valerie) looked incredibly dim.

"Don't you dare, you Mudblood," sneered Valerie, noticing Ari's wand. "Oh, allow me to introduce you. This is Justine Crabbe, and Louise Goyle. Both, I might add, purebloods."

Ari rolled her eyes but Ronnie and Ema both looked livid.

"Look, guys, don't, we don't need trouble before school even starts," muttered Jamie.

"Shut up, Jamie, she's not going to get away with this," said Ronnie. She raised her wand but...

"Incendio!" shouted Valerie.

Flames shot out of her wand, scorching Ronnie and Ema who both shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

Jamie and Ari exchanged looks of fear and awe. Ari never knew that Ema knew this much magic already. Not to mention Valerie knowing the incendio charm.

Valerie's wand shot out of her hand as did the two broad-shouldered girls'. They all ran forward to catch them.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" shouted Ema, causing Valerie to be lifted off her feet and hover a bit off the ground.

"Ronnie!" shrieked Jamie and Ari together as the large girls ran towards their friend, flexing their muscles. Ronnie stood, petrified as they loomed ever closer...

* * *

"Harry, stop fretting right now!" scolded Ginny. She, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George were sitting around the living room of The Hollow, discussing Ema and Ari.

"Look, Harry," said Fred, who was sitting in a corner with George, testing their newest joke shop merchandise. Harry wasn't sure what it was, but it was emitting large bangs and causing Ginny and Hermione to exchange looks of disapproval. "There really is nothing to worry about now, nothing's happening at Hogwarts, Margothten's not coming back this instant, it's not like he's just going to pop out of the ground randomly and put Ema in danger."

"It's Ari who's in the most danger," said Hermione yet again. "We'll have to tell her head of house. They've both got to be watched, but Ari...Gryffindor set his will against the two of them, but Slytherin's will is against Ari and only Ari..."

"So? Who's Hufflepuff against?" asked George, lightly.

"Would you mind showing a little more concern for my daughter's well being?" asked Harry irritably.

"Well, Hufflepuff is not going to make their lives too difficult, but she's involved," answered Hermione.

"Our biggest problem," said Ginny in a worried tone, "is how the two of them are going to react if the four dead founders turn up in their lives. Those reactions can change everything..."

The device that Fred was prodding gently with his wand suddenly blew up and caused pickles and chicken soup to rain down upon them all.

"That's it. OUT," shouted Ginny, sending jinxes in their directions while they ran out of the house, hands over their heads.

* * *

"Ronnie, DO SOMETHING!" shouted Ema, sending sparks at Ronnie's attackers.

"St-Stupefy?" (118) said Ronnie weakly, smartly choosing a spell she wasn't supposed to know till fourth year. A jet of red sparks shot out of her wand but far from stunning Louise, they merely caused an angry red welt to come up on her nose and a punch to land on Ronnie herself.

Ronnie screamed, and fell to the floor. She then curled into a ball, trying, Jamie presumed, to present a smaller target to her attackers.

"What's going on?" asked a voice.

"Oh, my God!" said another. "STUPEFY, STUPEFY, STUPEFY, STUPEFY!" (119) The punching stopped and Ronnie looked up, crying. Jamie rushed over to her but Ari stayed where she was.

The stunner was none other than Ema's cousin Tilla, the prefect. But she had stunned Ema too.

"Why did you stun Ema?" she asked, staring at her friends form, "She wasn't doing anything...erm...too wrong..."

"I'm sorry," said Tilla, looking near to tears, "But I am a prefect and it's my duty to stop fights like this. CLEAR OUT!" she shouted to the people cluttering the corridors, trying to see in.

Tilla knelt next to Ema, "Enervate," she muttered. "I'm sorry Ema," she said as Ema opened her eyes. "I had to stop you. I'll take these three--" she motioned to Valerie and her friends "--We're almost there anyway, but I'm going to have to report you, Ema, and you, Veronica, and you two--" she nodded at Ari and Jamie "--As well as these three. I'm sorry," she said again.

She levitated the other girls and left the compartment with them.

"Report us?" asked Jamie in a squeaky voice. "But...we'll be in trouble!"

"Oh, there's the fiery apocalypse we've all been waiting for," snapped Ema. "Honestly, Jamie, we're first years, worst that'll happen is that we'll get detention and lose some house points."

"But this is awful!" said Ronnie. "You two, Jamie and Ari, I mean, you didn't do anything!"

"Whatever," said Ari. "If you're in trouble, we are, we're not leaving you two to get murdered by the teachers."

* * *

They reached Hogwarts just as the stars began to come out. Jamie was skipping on every other step.

"Honestly, Jamie, it's alright! We're not going to get beaten with metal rods or anything," said Ari. She was nervous herself but, compared to Jamie, she felt quite confident.

"Firs' years ov'r 'ere! Come on, now, firs' years!" Ari followed Ema and Ronnie into the wake of a huge man. The man was, in Ronnie's opinion, as tall as two men and as wide as four. He had wild gray hair and dark eyes. Though quite old, he gave the impression of great energy among the girls.

"Hi Hagrid!" said Ema excitedly.

Hagrid peered down at her, "All righ' there, Ema, are yer? And 'oo are these?"

Ema quickly introduced Ari, Jamie and Ronnie but they didn't have time to say much else. They got into small boats which set off automatically towards Hogwarts Castle.

* * *

"Welcome to Hogwarts School, my name is Professor McGonagall, your Deputy Headmistress and head of Gryffindor house. You will wait in this hall until the school is ready for you."

Ema amused herself for a moment, trying to do the math to figure out how old she must be now. Nearly eighty, she thought. Not that anyone knew how old she had been when Harry was at school, but he had once told Ema that he guessed McGonagall was about sixty at the time.

As McGonagall made to leave, she beckoned to Ema and Ari and Jamie and Ronnie and also to Valerie's crowd, "The--" she counted them quickly "--seven of you have been reported for fighting on the Hogwarts Express..."

"Not Ari or Jamie," said Ema.

"I repeat, all seven of you have been accused and therefore all seven of you will see your heads of houses after you are sorted. Woe betide you if it is I."

Jamie looked petrified but Ema could have sworn that Professor McGonagall winked slightly at her before sweeping out of the small hall.

* * *

Finally, after what felt like years of waiting, Professor McGonagall came back and took them into the Great Hall.

"Look at the ceiling," whispered Ema. "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. Yeah, Dad told me," she added in what Ari thought was an unnecessarily superior tone.

The other three looked up and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars.

A three legged stool was brought out by a short bald man. On top of it was a patched and frayed black hat. The hat opened the hole in the brim wide and began to sing.

Oh, I may not look just beautiful
I don't know, you tell me,
But what I have is loot, if all
You will please look and see,
For within this patched and dirty hat,
Dwell brains that are divine,
And I can tell you in what house you'll most likely shine...

It will be Hufflepuff if you obsess about good doing
If sometimes you're accused of being fair and hard-working
It will be Slytherin if you are more keen of lurking
In the shadows and showing true colors in times of need and wrong.
It will be Ravenclaw if your mind is strong
If to learn a spell doesn't take you very long.
It will, of course, be Gryffindor if you are brave and witty.
Alright, so come forward now, come and have a sitty,

Put me upon your head
And hear what I have said,
To many people of old
To people I have told
Where they belong,
Now let's not prolong
My lovely little song.

Come forward now
Hear my loud din,
Don't be nervous, be excited!
Let the sorting now begin!

Everybody clapped for the hat. Ari joined in but couldn't help but think that the hat was a bit stupid.

Come and have a sitty? she asked herself and suppressed a snort. Then she tried to think of what else rhymed with 'witty'. She couldn't think of anything. Okay, so maybe the hat wasn't that bad...

"DeLingues, Arwen!" shouted Professor McGonagall.

Ari jumped slightly and then walked forward, blushing. She placed the hat on her head and it fell over her eyes. She heard a little voice in her head.

"Hmmm...I can tell this one easily...a definite mind of Ravenclaw."

Ari smiled but was thinking still about rhymes for 'witty'.

"I see, you're still thinking of that, weren't you?" said the hat. "Well, yes, it is quite difficult to find a rhyme for witty, that's why I chose 'sitty'. I had another choice too but it was extremely inappropriate, come and have a... RAVENCLAW!" Ari heard it shout out the last word and took it off her head to roars of applause from the Ravenclaw side.

She couldn't help laughing at what she'd just heard.

"Congratulations!" said a girl with curly black hair, "I'm Amy, Amy Clearwater, and I'm a second year..."

"Welcome, Arwen, I'm Greg Moon, it's a pleasure..."

"Hope you're up to scratch, Arwen, we haven't won the house cup in since the founding! I'm Hannah by the way, Hannah Norton,"

Well, thought Ari, the sorting hat did seem to leave out how very talkative the Ravenclaws were...

"Lastroni, Jasmine!"

Jamie stumbled forward looking extremely nervous. She put the hat on...

~

Ravenclaw, please, Ravenclaw...

"Are you merely saying that because Miss DeLingues is there?" asked the hat.

Well, maybe, but I think that Ravenclaw sounds the best, I've always been the top of my class...

"Makes sense..." agreed the hat.

"RAVENCLAW!"

~

"Yes!" cried Ari, jumping up and hugging Jamie as she came over and got bombarded by a hoard of Ravenclaws.

"Name's Jacob, call me Cub, I'm in third year, hope you like it here in Ravenclaw..."

"Oh, Jasmine! You look really smart! I hope you earn us lots of points! My name's Cayla Smartte by the way..."

"Malfoy, Valerie!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"No surprise," muttered Ari and Jamie nodded.

"Malfoy, Veronica!" Ari could hear mutters on their table:

"Born Slyth, isn't she?"

"Damn, I hate the whole family..."

Ari couldn't help it. Her eyes filled with tears as she watched Ronnie put on the hat. "It's ok Ari, she'll be in Ravenclaw..."

"I know, but listen to them." Said Ari, willing herself not to cry...

~

"So, I see you are friends with Misses DeLingues and Lastroni. Would that mean you're going to beg to go to the Eagle House?"

No, thought Ronnie. Put me in the house that's best for me.

"Well, that's a very Hufflepuff attitude. I can see you're not overly ambitious, brave, but not necessarily daring, definitely smart, and a hard worker. Could go either way, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. I have always wondered why they don't have a Ravenpuff house. But I can see you're leaning on the Eagle's side. Very well: RAVENCLAW!"

~

The hall was silent as Ronnie made her way over to them.

Silent except for Ari and Jamie, who both jumped to their feet and clapped and yelled as though the whole Ravenclaw table was clapping with them.

"Ronnie, you did it!" cried Ari.

Then Ema joined in, even though she wasn't sorted. The Weasleys at the Gryffindor table all joined too, though Ari couldn't think why...until she saw the look Ema was giving them. Gradually applause broke out at the Ravenclaw table.

"Well, I must say, this is a pleasant surprise...oh, right, my name's Ivy Martin, and you prefer Ronnie?"

"I'm glad to know the lot of you isn't awful, my name's Julia, Julia Brickner..."

"Thought we'd be up to our head with two Malfoys, but you're in Ravenclaw, excellent, I'm Louis, Louis Nenka, third year."

"Potter, Ema!"

"Potter? Harry Potter's daughter?" whispers filled the hall but Ema seemed utterly unperturbed as she sat down.

~

"My, my, another Ravenclaw?"

Yup.

"Oh, my, I see you've got the Twilight Prophecy hanging over you,"

You keep your brim shut about that.

"Well, with an attitude like that, you could easily go to Slytherin"

Only you're going to put me in Ravenclaw, you bloody git, or I'll rip you to pieces.

"Fine. Honestly! Just doing my job! RAVENCLAW!"

"Excellent!" said Jamie and Ronnie.

Ari had just noticed something though...a tiny man with a good quantity of white hair was making his way towards them, at the same time, a hook-nosed, sallow-skinned man with dry, stringy gray hair that looked almost cracked was leading Valerie and her gang away from the Slytherin table.

Author notes: Feedback as welcome as always!