FicWad

The seventh year of her seventh school. Each time was different but each time it was the same. Like each of the times before she would dig into the foundations of its students and rip them up. Each school she had left had been left in chaos. She had no doubt in her mind that this school would be any different. None of the others had been. The only trouble was getting accepted by the people, all the people; and with a school with rival houses there was no flawless way of doing this.
Nicole had been sorted before coming. She was in the Slytherin house, no surprises for that was the house she had expected to be in. The cold house, the sly house, the pureblood house. She fitted all of those descriptions and more. There was no denying that she, Nicole Hart, was a Slytherin girl.
She was sitting alone on the train. She had come early, much to early, but she did not want to be bothered by the general hubbub of people as they clattered aboard, as there was now. People moving about in groups or on their own. Parents waving goodbye to their children, younger siblings crying. Her mother never came to see her off. She was always left with the house elf, who she always sent back before reaching her destination. There were no house elves here.
The opening of the compartment door caught her attention. A boy, possibly around her age stood in the doorway. He scratched his nose and flicked his longish dark hair out of his face. ‘Mind if we sit here’ he muttered, not put out by her long stare. Nicole nodded, and a group of boys, sauntered in. The first was the tallest. Muscular, Handsome what most girls liked. The second was small and almost mean looking. He did not seem to be part of the first boys group but nether-the-less he was there. The third was slightly shorter than the first. He had thin, light brown floppy hair and brown eyes. He wasn’t handsome, but he wasn’t too hard on the eyes all the same. The forth, and last in the carriage was slightly shorter than the third boy, with short messy hair and glasses.
Nicole ignored them after assessing each with her eyes and continued to watch the people on the platform. They started to talk loudly about their exploits over the summer. Curious, Nicole listened in. At once she doubted half the things the boys had said they had done were false. Boys will be boys after all. Eventually, and to Nicole’s mind thankfully, the train started to move and the noise in the compartment dimmed as the boys watched the platform roll away.
Reluctantly, the boy with the messy hair stood up. He made towards the door. Nicole watched intently, interestedly. ‘Hey James’ called the first boy, ‘Where you going?’ The boy, James, looked doubtful, half-ashamed.
‘I’ve..uh..got a meeting’ he said casually.
‘Meting’ laughed the first boy. ‘What are you now head boy?’ he said jokingly. James’s face coloured, and none of the others seemed to notice for they were laughing hard at the ‘joke’. Nicole smiled.
‘Well Done’ she said, and the boy seemed to notice her for the first time. He frowned and the others quieted. She stared back resolutely, her blue eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
‘Who are you?’ he asked suspiciously. ‘I haven’t seen you around here before. What house you in?’
‘I transferred from a school in Russia’ she replied quietly ‘So you would not have seen me here before. I’m in Slytherin’ immediately the other boys seemed to stiffen. These must be Gryffindors. One reached, casually for his wand. ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you’ Nicole snapped. ‘I’m not an idiot, if you think I’m going to let you draw your wand on me’ the hand drifted away from the wand. ‘Thank-you’
James’s eyes watched her; ‘I’ve really got to go’ he glared at her for a couple more seconds then sauntered off. Nicole rolled her eyes, and took a book out of her bag, ignoring the watchful eyes. ‘You aren’t related to the Malfoy’s are you?’ a voice asked dripping with dislike. She looked up and met the eyes of the boy with the long hair.
‘Aren’t all Purebloods related’ she asked with a shrug. ‘Lucius is my fourth or fifth cousin, may times removed’ she offered with a shrug. ‘Who are you then’
‘Sirius Black’ he said proudly. Nicole raised her eyebrows. How interesting, a Black as a Gryffindor. ‘This is Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew’ Nicole nodded her head at each. There grew an uneasy silence. Nicole wasn’t going to give up information that easily. ‘Who are you?’ came the unavoidable question.
‘Nicole Hart’ she muttered and turned a page of her book. ‘So Remus Lupin’ she said staring at him, ‘Do you have anything to do with wolves’ she asked, noting the obvious ties with his names. Remus and Romulous, the twins raised by wolves. Lupin sounded like many languages, name for wolf. French – Loup etc. There was another uncomfortable silence. ‘Wrong question I guess’ she muttered and returned to reading her book.
Nicole wasn’t exactly what you would call sociable. At the wrong times she could be quite observant, and at the right times, she could not be. She only really spoke when spoken to, and rarely gave out extra information. The boys did not ask for anymore. Instead they chatted quietly amongst themselves. An hour passed slowly by. And them another. Soon the sky began to darken.
Then, James burst in, excited and happy. ‘Lily is Head Girl!’ he announced to the compartment at large. ‘Do you realise how much time I get to spend with her now!’ he said quickly.
‘Whoa calm down prongs’ said Remus calmly, and slightly bored as if he had heard all this before. ‘It’s only a couple of hours’
‘But, Mooney she’ll have to talk to me. She’ll realize that I’m not a big headed prat anymore!’ Nicole rolled her eyes. Poor girl.
‘How long till we reach Hogwarts’ she asked pointedly. Remus or Mooney glassed out of the dark window and shrugged. Peter checked his watch. ‘forty-five minutes’ he said in a small voice. It wasn’t squeaky like his face had made her expect, it was quite low and quiet. Like a whisper. Nicole sighed and looked out of the window. Eventually, as the boys began to move restlessly around, gathering up belongings did she, finally pull her robes over her head.
Nicole, strangely, preferred Muggle clothes to robes. Not only were they a lot more comfortable, they were also a lot less formal. Robes had a sense of discipline about them. Glancing out of the window, Nicole began to pack her book away. She checked a small bag at her side for a very crumpled and torn piece of parchment, finding it she smiled and drew the drawstrings closed.
Then the Station came into view. The boys began to relax even more, and began to caught about the teachers and if so and so would be there, or if History of Magic would be any good this year. Nicole drifted out and picked up her bag. Dreamily she made her way to the hallway, where the other students milled around waiting impatiently to get of the train. First years, not much smaller than she, nervously glanced around, and giggled. Then the doors opened.
The students streamed out steadily. All pouring out onto the station. A voice thundered out of the noise. ‘Firs’ years, Firs’ years’. Naomi didn’t stop and stare; instead she followed the head of Remus Lupin, who was busy weaving his way through the clouds. They were making towards a group of carriages, pulled by skeletal horses. Naomi shuddered. Thestrals. They weren’t her favourite creature in the world, and for some reason never seemed to like her.
Looking around she saw she had lost he group of boys. All the others seemed to be getting into the carriages, and Nicole did likewise. A girl, with long blonde hair, much like hers was stepping into a half-full carriage, quickly Nicole darted after her, narrowly avoiding a snap from one of the thestrals. Quickly she sat down in a spare seat as a loud female voice drawled. ‘What do you think you’re doing in here?’ Nicole looked up, and met the other girl’s eyes.
‘Obviously I’m sitting down’ she said coolly, matching her tone. She glanced at the badge. ‘Slytherin?’ she asked.
‘Of course, and you?’ she said smirking.
‘Same’
‘Haven’t seen you’re face before’ Nicole realized this was going to e a repeat of her first meeting. Nicole gave them a quick explanation of who she was, then inquired after their names. The girl who had first spoken was called Bellatrix Black, her sister; with the long blonde hair was Narcissa Black. The other girl was called Isabella Beazley. The males were called, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, Goyle and Crabbe, and Avery. Apparently some others were missing and she would meet them later.
After listening to a couple of minutes of their conversations, Nicole soon realized these people were the pure-blood extremists, like her mother. They were often the first to fall. Nicole shifted restlessly. She didn’t like dark, enclosed spaces. They were asphyxiating. She wasn’t claustrophobic, or at least she hoped she wasn’t. Ass they drew up to the castle Bellatrix leaned over and whispered to her ’Watch out for the Marauders, if they try anything just hex the hell out of them. If they get seriously hurt, don’t worry we’ll cover for you’ and laughed. The rest joined in. Nicole for one of the first times, felt extremely confused.