𝟏.| ✬ 𝒟ℯ𝒶𝓇 ℬ𝒾𝓁𝓁, ✬ {ℬ. 𝒲ℯ𝒶𝓈𝓁ℯ𝓎}

\𝓃𝒾𝓃ℯ\

~

Before anyone was ready, it was September first and the Hogwarts Express was starting to move and the twins, Ron, and Eleanora stayed at the window to wave at Ginny, who started to run to keep up with it. When she disappeared from sight, the four of them started down the aisle, but were quickly stopped by Angelina Johnson, a third year who had been a reserve chaser on the Gryffindor team the year before.

"Go find a compartment, Ron" George said. When they'd finished talking to Angelina, who informed them that she'd be trying out again to be a full time chaser this year, they started down the aisle again.

"Think she'll make it?" George asked, hopefully.

Eleanora nodded. "Oh yeah, we need a new chaser after Michael left and she was really good last year." George looked pleased by this.

"Here's Ron's compartment- oh look, he's sitting with Harry Potter," Fred noticed. He slid open the compartment door. "Hey, Ron."

"Listen, we're going down to the middle of the train- Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there," George said.

"Right," mumbled Ron.

"Harry, did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. This is Eleanora Marks, she lives with us, and this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then." Eleanora was taken aback by the introduction. It hadn't occurred to her that she actually lived with the Weasleys, just that she'd been staying with them. It made her happy, though, knowing that she had a place in the world. Harry and Ron both said their goodbyes, and the three of them were off again. They picked their way through the crowd, greeting people they hadn't seen all summer, until they arrived at Lee Jordan's compartment.

They let themselves in and sat in empty seats. There was still a crowd around Lee, but he smiled when he saw the twins and Eleanora. When the crowd finally dissipated, he opened the box to show them.

"Ooo, it's so big," Eleanora said, gazing at the hairy spider.

"Got her over the summer," Lee said proudly. "Want to pet her?"He grinned slyly as he moved the box closer to Eleanora.

She made a face and squirmed away. "You know I don't like spiders, Jordan." He laughed.

"We should put him in Ron's bed tonight," Fred said, picking up the spider and moving it towards Eleanora.

She flinched. "That would traumatize him, Fred," she said, motioning for him to put it back in the box. He did so, still laughing at her.

"What's her name?" George asked, reaching into the box and petting the spider.

"Stella," said Lee, proudly.

"Oh, that's a pretty name," said Eleanora.

They heard a rattling from the corridor. "Anything from the trolley dears?" the trolley lady called. Fred and George didn't move, but Eleanora and Lee got up to buy sweets. They both got more than they needed, knowing that Fred and George wouldn't want them to explicitly buy them candy. Eleanora spread hers out between herself and Fred.

They picked through the food for the rest of the train ride, talking and watching the land fly past the window. Eleanora loved the ride to Hogwarts. It was some of the prettiest scenery she'd ever seen, even in movies.

Just as Fred was recounting to Lee the tricks they'd pulled on Percy over the summer, the compartment door slid open. A bushy haired first year girl, already in her Hogwarts robes stood in the doorway, not seeming intimidated at all by the older students. "Have any of you seen a toad?" she asked shrilly.

George snorted. "A toad? No, thank Merlin I haven't."

The girl frowned at him. "Well Neville, two compartments over, has lost one and could really use some help looking," she said, looking at them expectantly.

They all stared at her in silence until Fred, seeming to snap out of a daze, said "Well if you're asking us to help you look, you've come to the wrong compartment. Sorry."

The girl looked around at them, annoyed. "Well anyways, I expect we'll be arriving at school soon, so you'd best put on your robes." Then, she disappeared down the aisle.

"Maybe we should've helped her," Fred said. "First years get really worked up about that stuff."

"You're the one who told her no," Eleanora said, laughing. "Now all of you get out. She's right, I've got to change into my robes." The boys left to stand in the corridor and Eleanora quickly changed into her school skirt, button up shirt, and robes. When she opened the door to get the twins and Lee, an unfriendly face was staring back at her.

"Ahhh, Eleanora. I was just talking to your servant boys," Marcus Flint said.

"Listen, if you're going to try and insult my friends, at least come up with something clever," Eleanora said, leaning against the doorway.

Flint's mouth curled into a cruel smile. "Fine then, I was just talking to the blood-traitoring filth you like to associate with, not that it makes any difference to you, mudblood."

Eleanora pulled her wand out at "blood traitoring filth" and the twins had theirs drawn as soon as he called Eleanora a mudblood. "Take it back, Flint," Eleanora growled.

He only laughed. "What're you going to do, disarm me? Face it, you can't duel to save your life."

"Stupefy!" Eleanora said, sending Flint flying down the aisle. Fred and George howled with laughter until they saw the murderous looks on Flint's friends' faces. Eleanora didn't break her scowl. She marched up to Flint's friends, looking much braver than she felt. She pointed her wand at the neck of the tallest, biggest one. "Get out of my sight, or I'll hex you off of this train," she said calmly. The boys didn't flinch or move. Eleanora decided to try something she'd only read about over the summer. She concentrated hard, waved her wand and...

The Slytherin boys ran down the aisle at top speed, yelping in fear. The twins and Lee were bent over laughing.

"Was that a bat bogey hex?" Lee asked her, impressed.

She nodded proudly but shoved her hands in her pockets to hide her shaking. "You boys should probably change, I expect we'll be there soon." As she leaned against the wall, waiting for them to finish, she heard an unintelligible yell come from the direction of Ron and Harry's compartment. She looked in that direction just long enough to see three boys, two of them very large and brunette, and one of them quite a bit smaller, with white blond hair, race out of the compartment and down the corridor. She smiled a little to herself, wondering if the younger boys had had a scuffle similar to theirs.