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Summer was over and for the first time, Veronica was actually quite excited to be going back to Hogwarts. She woke up early the morning of September 1st, buzzing from anticipation. As her and her parents got to Kings Cross Station and crossed through the barrier onto Platform 9 and 3/4 Veronica saw Ernie preparing to step onto the train, Hannah close behind him.
She said goodbye to her parents quickly, before rushing off to catch up with the two friends. Ernie turned and saw Veronica coming after she called out his name, "Veronica hey, you'll never guess what" he starts off, his eyes wide and a smile growing on his face. Simultaneously, he and Hannah pull out prefect badges from their pockets as if they'd practised it just now.
"Oh wow, congratulations guys!" Veronica says, immensely proud of her Hufflepuff companions for being chosen as Hogwarts prefects. However, she was slightly disappointed to find out that it meant they had to spend their train journey to Hogwarts in the prefects' compartment discussing their future tasks and doing rounds of the train.
They soon left Veronica and took off wondering who else was chosen as a Prefect and what they would have to do over the next year. She watched them go before turning to find a compartment for herself, like she's done every year before, but on her way around the train she bumps into Ginny, and another girl with white blonde hair and whimsical eyes called Luna and they invite her to sit with them.
Veronica was pleasantly surprised to find Harry in their compartment, but once they started talking he quickly informed her that he was in a similar situation as Ron and Hermione had both been selected as Prefects. Neville also came to sit with them and soon enough they were on their way to Hogwarts.
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The journey was interesting, to say the least.
Neville had decided to bring along some plant he got for his birthday called mimbulus mimbletonia and while Harry was asking about it, the Longbottom boy thought it'd be a good idea to demonstrate it's defence mechanisms and prodded the surface. The plant then proceeded to cover the entire compartment and the people inside with a sticky green substance called Stinksap that was one of the worst smells Veronica had ever experienced.
The door to their compartment opened before they had the chance to react and once Veronica wiped her eyes she noticed Cho Chang stood in the doorway, looking around at them in shock. "Oh sorry Harry, bad time?" she said looking at the boy wiping his eyes, that were protected by his glasses, before shutting the door and moving along.
This made Veronica feel slightly suspicious of the Ravenclaw and her eyes were narrowed through the whole interaction, luckily no one noticed due to them being preoccupied with the gunk in their faces.
They soon got cleaned up after a quick scourgify before Ron and Hermione turned up to tell them how the meeting went. The two teens not surprised to find Veronica seated next to Harry, sharing a look but didn't say anything in front of the Hufflepuff, instead they warned Harry about the newly appointed Slytherin Prefects.
As if he heard his name being mentioned, Draco Malfoy swaggered into their compartment followed by his fellow Slytherin cronies. Veronica usually stayed far away from the Slytherins, avoiding confrontation, but it was a little harder to do when stuck in an enclosed space. She shrunk down slightly as Malfoy poked fun at the boy next to her, throwing a few choice words at him and then leaving after sending Harry a threatening warning.
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It was sad to leave the group after they reached Hogwarts, as Veronica found herself really enjoying her time around them. The carriage ride up to the castle was filled with discussion over the apparent winged creatures pulling the carriage as Luna informs them they can only be seen by people who've seen death. Even though the conversation was dark, Veronica found it thrilling to be learning so much about the magical world surrounded by friends.
Of course, she has Ernie and Hannah to chat to, so she happily wandered over and sat with them just before the feast began. She was in the middle of asking them about the meeting, even if she'd heard the same information from Ron and Hermione when Dumbledore stood up and the Hall soon went silent.
Veronica listened to Dumbledore address the students and introduce new members of staff, including a sickly sweet woman dressed head to toe in pink called Professor Umbridge, who was their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
A small 'hem hem' echoed around the Hall, interrupting Dumbledore mid-speech. Everyone was quiet as Umbridge trotted forward, her chunky heels sounding dramatically loud against the wooden floor.
She began a longwinded speech that bored Veronica as soon as the woman had opened her mouth, and she found it easy to tune out the high pitched frequency and forced politeness that this so-called 'professor' was feeding to them. She glanced across to the Gryffindor table and made eye contact with Harry, shaking her head in obvious confusion and he sent her the same look back.
After what felt like forever, Umbridge sat down and they finally began eating following a rather quiet applause from few people, most of the students staring at her with blank expressions.
But Veronica didn't take her eyes off of the pink lady for a few more minutes, getting a bad feeling in the back of her mind as she stared at the faux wide smile on the woman's face that failed to reach her eyes which would haunt the girl's dreams for a few nights.
She knew that the annoyingly fake DADA teacher would stir trouble for her friends, and was not looking forward to it in the slightest.
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YOU ARE READING
Undistinguished (H.P.)
Fanfiction[adjective] lacking distinction; unexceptional. Veronica Green is a simple and average half-blood. Hidden in plain sight and blending into the background are what she does best. Until her fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, wh...
