An American at Hogwarts: Book Two

Chapter Sixteen

Once we finally managed to get all the way caught up on each other's summers, I decided to take a field trip down the train to say hi to some of our other friends.

"You guys wanna come?" I asked, standing and heading for the compartment door.

"No, that's alright," Angelina said, speaking for all my friends. "Tell everybody hi!"

She and Alicia shared a look that made me raise an eyebrow, but I honestly decided I didn't want to know what that was all about.

"Alright, I will. See you guys in a bit."

I backed into the corridor, ready to shut the door behind me, but I ran into something before I could. I turned around to see exactly what I'd hit and found Cedric, looking at me from the small hallway of the train.

"Hello, Alexa," he said with a grin. Then, leaning around me to the rest of our friends: "Everyone."

"Cedric!" I smiled and gave him a big hug as the rest of our friends waved. We were both all but glowing as we pulled apart. "Come sit down and chat!"

"I'd love to," he said with a smile, following me into the compartment. I started heading for my seat, but Alicia literally, physically shoved Lee over to the window and then moved with him, so Cedric and I would be sitting together no matter what. Part of me wanted to kill her, and the other part wanted to hug her.

We sat down together, and thankfully Cedric didn't comment on Alicia's move. He even sat a little closer to me than strictly necessary, which made me smile.

The seven of us talked for a long time, and I would've been happy to stay like that for the rest of the ride to Hogwarts. Unfortunately, our group still wasn't quite complete, and after about an hour of talking I couldn't ignore that anymore.

"Alright, anybody else missing two slightly grumpy Slytherins?" I asked as Lee wound down a prank story. I was met with a chorus of nods and 'yeah's, and I took that as a cue to stand up. "I'll go get 'em."

"Good luck Alexa!" called Lee as I headed out the door. I stopped and turned back to him.

"And exactly what do I need luck for?"

"You're going into enemy territory!" Fred answered.

"Yeah, Adrian and Myrah are sure to be with the other Slytherins!" George agreed. I just rolled my eyes.

"All right, stop being dramatic. I'll be back in a few." I slipped out the door before anyone else could say anything, not glancing back as I headed up the train. 'Enemy territory' only applied if there was a threatening enemy in my way. I was actually on pretty good terms with most of the Slytherins, and I was confident I could handle anything the other ones could throw at me.

I walked through the section of the train that was mostly Ravenclaw, waving to Cassidy, Lillie, Calvin, and David as I passed them. Not long after, I reached the Slytherin section of the train. I got a couple of glares, but honestly, they were earned. I didn't know what compartment Adrian and Myrah were in, so I had to look in all of them as I passed and I can't lie, I accidentally scared a couple of people.

I was most of the way through this section of the train, so I knew I'd be coming up on Adrian and Myrah soon. Figures I had to run into somebody else first.

I peeked through the window of the next compartment in my search, and instead of my friends, I was greeted with the silver-blond hair of the one and only Draco Malfoy.

I was planning on just walking past, but unfortunately he noticed me and shot out of his seat before I could sneak away.

"Stark!" he called, sliding open the compartment door and stepping into the hallway. I sighed heavily and turned around, one hand on my hip.