Slytherin Army [HP]

2. A Member of the Skull Family

Aurora tapped her ticket with her wand, and instructions magically appeared. She glared at it. "Why couldn't it be a secret door? Why a wall? This just makes me anxious."

"Why does it matter?" Drew cried exasperatedly.

"I'm worried that this is a trick," Ari snapped. "That this is just a crazy dream. This is my dream come true, do you realize? Getting away to a magical boarding school... how could this be real?"

Drew stared at her, annoyance quenching. "I see what you mean."

Their mother returned. "The conductor says the letter is right. You have to run through the barrier."

"See?" Drew said triumphantly. "Three different sources confirm it, including the letter McGonagall gave us. You don't need to worry."

"Alright," Ari mumbled, crumpling up the ticket in her fist.

They rolled their suitcases to the barrier between Platform 9 and 10. While Mum waved at them, Ari turned to Drew and gestured at the barrier. "You first."

"If you insist," Drew mocked. She ran at the barrier and in no time at all, burst onto Platform 9 3/4.

It was exactly the same as King's Cross Station, only older-looking, with a sign reading, Hogwarts Express, eleven o'clock hanging above her head. Behind her, a wrought-iron archway bore the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.

Drew waited around for Ari to come, but when a half minute passed, she still hadn't. She was probably still steeling her nerves.

They were early because who on earth would risk being late to this? She had a small debate on whether to wait for Ari or not.

When Aurora burst through, Drew made a run for it. She yanked up the handle of her suitcase and rolled it into the train. Why were people so stupid and intent on bringing a trunk instead of a suitcase with some nice wheels on it?

Being so early, Drew found an empty compartment in no time flat. She put her suitcase by the window, then sat down beside it.

Before September, Drew had read up on some simple spells. She flung open her luggage, took out her wand, and poked her suitcase a few times. "Colovaria." She had to poke it a few more times, scold it, and say the spell six times until her suitcase changed from blue to a cross between red and purple.

"Wow," she turned her rowan wand over in her hands, amazed. Because of the Trace, she hadn't been able to test out any spells, but now she could.

She was in the middle of trying out Lumos when the compartment door slid open.

It was a tall girl around the same age as her. Drew noticed her hair first. It was razor straight and black like the dead of night, hanging way past her waist. She had on crisp black wizard robes like hers, and her pale gray eyes gleamed with the light outside.

"Hello," Drew said, smiling. She was trying to sound nonchalant, but this girl was pretty, with a soft face and smiling pink lips. And it intimidated her.

The girl set down her heavy trunk (cringe) and eyed her. "Hello. May I sit with you?"

Drew gestured at the empty seats. "Of course."

The girl pushed her trunk up against Drew's with her foot, then sat down across from her. She had to hold up her hair before she sat to avoid sitting right on it.

The girl held out her hand. "Eliza Skull."

Drew shook it. "Drew Getaway."

"You have a nice name," she commented, letting go. Drew noticed that she had slender fingers, with silver-painted nails.