Fortune of Fate (A female Harry Potter fanfiction)

[12]

  Draco played off his guilt by laughing it off, ''Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?'' Malfoy sneered. 

  ''Unless you get out now,'' Said Ron, wanting nothing more than to run out of the compartment and comfort Rose. 

  ''But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you seem to have some.'' Goyle reached toward the chocolate frogs next to Ron - Ron leaped forward, but before he'd so much as touch Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell.

  Scabbers, the rat, was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle - Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbers finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them dissipated at once. 

  they thought more rats were lurking among the sweets, or perhaps they heard footsteps because a second later, they ran out yelling.

  Hermione Granger came in, followed by a red-eyed Rose.

'  'What on earth has been going on?'' she said looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by the tail. 

  ''I think he's been knocked out,'' Ron said to Rose. She looked closer at Scabbers. ''No- I reckon he's gone back to sleep.'' And so he had. ''You've met Malfoy before?'' Ron asked her after a while.

  And so, Rose explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley. 

  ''I've heard about his family,'' Ron said darkly. ''They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the dark side.'' 

  He turned to Hermione. ''Can we help you with something?'' Hermione huffed. ''You'd better hurry up and put your robes on.  I've just been up to the front of the train to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!''

  ''Scabbers has been fighting, not me.'' Said Ron, scowling at her.

   ''Would you mind leaving while we change?'' He rolled his eyes while Rose flushed pink, for she had never changed in front of anyone before, much less a boy.  ''All right - I only came because I had found poor Rose like this.'' Said Hermione in a sniffy voice. 

  They both glared at each other as Hermione left, Rose stood awkwardly there, not knowing why they were so hostile to each other, they had just met, and everyone was nervous on their first day, so why couldn't they just get along?

  One could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down. She and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black-robed. Rose had to slip her skirt on but she didn't want to do it in front of Ron, so she slipped them on over her pants. Ron's robes were a bit short on him, you could even see his sneakers underneath them.

  A voice echoed through the train: ''We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.'' Rose's stomach lurked with nerves, and she saw that underneath all Ron's freckles, he looked awfully pale. They crammed their pockets with the last of sweets and joined the crowd thronging through the corridor.

  People pushed their way toward the door and out onto a tiny, dark platform. Rose shivered in the cold night air. 

  Then, a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Rose heard a familiar voice yell, ''Firs' years! Firs's years over here! All right there, Rose?'' 

  Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads. ''C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!''

   Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Rose thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.

  ''Yeh'll get yer firs' site o' Hogwarts in a sec, jus' round this bend here.'' Hagrid called over his shoulder.

   There was a loud. ''Oooooh!'' The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

  ''No more'n four to a boat,'' Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. 

  Rose and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione. ''Everyone in?'' shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. 

  ''Right then - FORWARD.'' 

  And the fleet of the little boat moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.

  They all arrived after a circle of five minutes, which were the most magical five minutes of 11-year-old Rose's life. Hagrid was the first one to exit the boat, and from there he started helping people out of them. '

  'Hey! Neville! Is this your toad?'' Rose exclaimed to him, after getting off the boat, she saw a toad and picked it up. Ron made a face. Neville nodded rapidly thanking her over and over again. ''Yes! Trevor!'' He cried embracing the toad. Rose smiled.

Hagrid readjusted his coat and fiercely knocked twice until it swung open abruptly.