Anastasia Vandolf stood in the middle of the now empty Hogwarts Express. The train had already been moving for about ten minutes, but she still didn’t have a place to sit. There were no empty trolleys left at this point and she couldn’t decide what would be worse; Sitting in a trolley with five other people that she didn’t like, or sitting in one with a stray awkward first year who didn’t know anyone yet. Truthfully, to Anastasia, just standing there for the whole ride seemed like a brilliant idea, but sadly that wasn’t really going to work. Someone’s footsteps stomped down the hall towards Anastasia and she rolled her eyes, figuring that someone was probably coming over to tell her to get in a trolley and sit down.
“Annabelle is it?” The voice asked from behind her. It was Markus Fleeton, the Head Boy. Of course he didn’t know her name. Why would he? Just because it was her sixth year at Hogwarts didn’t mean that anyone had to know her.
Anastasia shrugged her shoulders, not even bothering to correct him on her name. If he didn’t know it now, he wasn’t ever going to bother to learn.
“Well, you have to get into a trolley now, if you haven’t noticed the train happens to be moving,” Markus said in his annoying snobby voice.
Spinning around Anastasia glared at him through her bright blue eyes and walked off in the opposite direction to the back of the train. If there was going to be an empty trolley, she figured that it would be there.
As she walked into the last trolley, Anastasia realized that she was completely wrong. There sat the four guys that she least wanted to see; Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter. They were the four most well known guys in the school and pretty much every single girl was in love with them. All but Anastasia. Everything about them just generally pissed her off. The way they all thought they were the most amazing people in the world, the way that their hair just so happened to fall into their eyes, and how they just assumed that everyone loved them. Peter was really the only one that stood out, he was much shorter than the rest of them, and everyone seemed to prefer the other three. Most people weren’t even sure of how Peter became friends with them... He was always just sort of there. As for the other three, they were all fairly tall and well built. James had the darkest hair for sure, and it was constantly in his face, although, that was probably because he continually brushed it into his hazel brown eyes. Sirius had the same dark hair as James, but it was quite a bit longer, many people guessing that he hadn't had a haircut since second year. Remus looked much more different from James and Sirius. He was taller than the two of them, and his light brown hair was actually well kept. Even Anastasia had to admit that they were attractive, but their attitude just completely ruined any of it for her. Anastasia stood there for a second, closing her eyes and hoping that they would just vanish. It didn’t work.
“Did you want help with something?” Asked the voice that belonged to Sirius. He probably thought that she was new and stupid... willing to fall in the trap that they had placed out for everyone. Anastasia heard them trying to cover up their laughter. What were the chances that they realized she was in their grade? They probably didn’t even notice that whenever Gryffindor had classes with Ravenclaw that she was there.
With her eyes still closed, Anastasia backed out of the trolley and walking into an unknown one, sitting down and not really caring who was there. She didn’t open her eyes for at least seven more minutes, silence surrounding her. Was she really lucky enough to come across an empty trolley? Daring herself to open her eyes, Anastasia realized that she was wrong yet again. There sat Lily Evans and her friends who Anastasia never bothered to learn the names of. They were all staring at her with curious looks on their faces.
When they realized that she had opened her eyes one of them spoke up, “Haven’t seen you around, are you new this year?” She asked, probably trying to be polite, but sounding more like a bitch to Anastasia, seeing as she had been there so long.
Shaking her head to say no, she looked out of the window, watching the trees whip past. Slowly the girls went back to talking how they were before, often shooting looks at Anastasia like she was a diseased hippogryph.
The next few hours dragged on, and Anastasia didn’t take her eyes off of the window. She knew that she could have gotten up and went to a different trolley, but really there was no point. She would probably end up somewhere worse than where she was, and she wasn’t in the mood to risk it. As the trees soon turned into a long expanse of water Anastasia sighed. What she would give to be back at home with her muggle family. It was a weird thing to wish for. Everyone loved Hogwarts, and to most it was like a home. Not to Anastasia. The only reason that she returned every year was for her parent’s sake. They had been so proud of her when the letter first arrived. They thought it was the most amazing thing in the world, and they even wished that they had been given the opportunity to learn magic. If only they knew what it was like to go to a school where literally no one knew who you were. Anastasia was already counting down the days until the Christmas holidays. Christmas and summer were really her only times of freedom. It was when she went home and told her family lies about how much fun she was having. It wasn’t even like Anastasia didn’t know how to make friends. If she wanted to she could... she just didn’t feel like it. There were only a few years left until she was finished with school, and no one really ever stayed in contact with friends from school so there was no point.
Anastasia looked at her reflection and frowned. She knew that she was lying to herself. She wanted friends, who didn’t? She wanted someone that she could lean to when things were hard. No one just wanted to be that person for her. Looking closer at her appearance in the glass, she thought that maybe it was her looks that stopped people from liking her. She had a pretty face and all; light blonde wavy hair that fell just below her shoulders, startling bright blue eyes, and a slim face with a sharp jaw line. But she didn’t try at all. Anastasia couldn’t remember the last time that she put on makeup or let alone did something different to her hair besides leaving it down. That in resuly made her look about two years younger than everyone else in her grade. Her eyes flickered over to the other girls for the first time in what felt like hours and she sighed. They all looked so pretty, so put together. Lily’s bright red curls were perfect, not a single stray hair anywhere and her smile just looked so warm and welcoming. All of the other girls were the same. It was like they spent hours getting ready in the morning, trying to achieve a look that said they didn’t try at all. And it sure worked. Looking down at her toes, Anastasia decided that she might as well give up. She was hopeless.
There was a giant bang and Anastasia almost jumped out of her seat as two guys appeared at the door of their trolley. James had just walked in, smashing the door as he did so with Remus quietly appearing behind him. James flung himself in between Lily and the girl beside her, placing his arm around Lily’s shoulders.
“Hey ladies,” he said, a smug smile across his face.
Meanwhile, Lily looked utterly disgusted, picking his arm up off of her and letting go like it was garbage. “What do you guys want?” She asked, an annoyed tone in her voice.
“Oh come one Lil,” James put on a fake puppy dog face, “I know you’re glad we showed up.”
“My face is not what a glad person’s face looks like,” She grumbled, and as she did so Anastasia let out a small laugh. She didn’t mean to, but it was just so nice to hear someone insulting James instead of swooning over him.
There was an awkward pause and then Remus leaned over, whispering to Lily, “You know her?”
“No, she just kind of showed up here and hasn’t said anything since,” Lily said, her voice softer now that she was talking to Remus, someone she could actually stand.
Remus’ eyebrows knit together in confusion as he turned back to Lily. “Anyways, the prefects are supposed to be heading up to the head of the train ready in their robes. Were here soon, and they need some help getting the first years organized. So just get ready, and meet me up there.” Remus finished talking and then left the trolley.
“Right, well I don’t really know why you even came here James, but I need to get changed in to my robes, so it would be nice if you could leave.” Lily said, standing up and pushing James to the door.
“I came here because I knew you were dying to see me Lil, and don’t you want me to stay for that?” He half joked as Lily’s friends all giggled.
“Ugh, just get out you pervert!” She shut the door behind him and quickly changed into her school robes, heading up to the front of the train.
----------
James dragged himself back to his trolley, disappointment written all over his face. He would have thought that after the past five years of trying to get Lily would have meant that something would happen this year. Didn’t he try hard enough? Didn’t she care that he really loved her? Padfoot was with a new girl every other day, never getting close to anyone, and Remus had dated his share of girls aswell. James always just tried for Lily... That had to count for something. He shook his head, trying to push the thoughts away and sat next to Sirius.
“Why so upset mate?” Sirius asked, “Lily turn you down again?” He and Peter laughed for a second until James glared at them both; clarifying that he was actually upset.
“Hey, don’t worry about her alright? You know bloody well that any girl in their right mind would kill for you, just forget about her.” Sirius knew that his words were useless. James wasn’t going to give up; he never did until he got what he wanted.
“Yeah... whatever. We have more important things to talk about anyways,” James said, the frustration slowly draining from his voice as he turned back into his normal self. “I have to say, starting off our first night with a full moon is going to be pretty awesome.”
The three boys spent the rest of the train right plotting out how they were going to spend their night. Full moons were always their favourite. Remus had been pretty freaked out in the second year when they found out his secret, but they had all been amazing about it. Ever since they got their animagus’ down it had been the best part of Hogwarts to them. They had explored so much of the grounds that they couldn’t before when they were together on those nights, and after a long summer away from each other they were dying for another opportunity. As the train slowly came to a halt the three of them put an end to their conversation, not wanting anyone to figure out what they were up to.
“Come on,” James called out to Sirius and Peter as they started to walk out of their trolley and look for Moony. “We can just meet him back in the castle, he must be too busy with his prefect duties.” The three of them snickered as they made their way to the carriages. Ever since Remus had first gotten his badge they had constantly been finding ways to make fun of him for it. The four of them were usually known for causing the trouble, not putting a stop to it.
They were still joking about Moony as they sat down in a carriage without realizing that there was already someone in it. Severus. It took them a few minutes to realize that they had stolen the one that he was probably saving for people, but at this point it was already moving... and besides, why not take the opportunity to bother him a bit.
Sirius was this first to notice, “Prongs, Wormtail, look who wound up with us,” He said pointing to an angry looking Severus in the corner. There was no one to protect him, and the look in his eyes showed that he knew he was dead.
“Hey Snivellus,” A devilish smile crept onto the faces of the three of them as they all cast different hexes at him, resulting in Severus to have several large exploding green warts pop up all over his body while his hands swelled to the size of dinner plates each of his fingers turning a different color. Severus tried to shoot a spell back at them, but it appeared that one of the three of them had used a tongue tying curse on him and it didn’t do anything.
To them a little joke on Severus was the perfect way to start of the year until they reached the gates of the school. There checking off everyone’s names was the potions teacher, Professor Slughorn.
“Shit,” Sirius called out to Wormtail and Prongs. “Look who’s there.” He pointed at the professor, worry plastered on his face. “Do you have the cloak with you James?” He asked, making themselves invisible was their only hope at this point.
“Ugh, no I shoved it in the bottom of my bag...” James started to dig through his bag when their carriage reached the professor.
“Hi Professor Slughorn,” Peter said, his voice unsteady and filled with worry.
James gave up looking, knowing that they were hopeless. Maybe they would get away with just a few house points being taken.
“Evening Peter,” He said checking who else was there. “Sirius, James...” His voice trailed off as he saw Severus in the back of the carriage. “Merlin’s beard! What happened to you boy?” He asked, already putting it together that the three of the four people who hated Severus the most were sitting in the same carriage. “You three.” He growled, staring right at Sirius, James, and Peter. “Detentions. My office tonight at eight. I can’t believe it, first night and you three are already tearing up the place.” The Professor shook his head as he moved on to the next carriage.
“Professor, please! It’s the first night back,” James called out, knowing that it was no hope. He jumped out of the carriage and walked towards the school. “He has to be fucking kidding me.” James ran his hands through his hair, whether this time because of habit or anger no one knew.
“Moony is going to kill us...” Peter muttered to himself, and it was the last thing any of them said all the way to the great hall where they took their seats. James was even too pissed off to bother trying to get a seat by Lily.
Eventually Moony made his way over to them, sitting down beside James. “What’s going on?” He asked them, seeing the looks on all of their faces.
“Long story short,” James said, his voice sounding dead, “While you were off on your prefect duties the three of us got detentions. For tonight.”
Lupin rolled his eyes at them and was about to say something when Dumbledore stood up for his usual speech.
“Good evening everyone,” He started, his arms raised up to all of the students. “I’m so happy to see so many eager faces here tonight, although I am assuming most of you look like that because you know there is food coming soon,” he took a breath and James thought that he saw Dumbledore’s eyes flicker over to him and his friends who were known for being able to eat more than anyone at the school. “But before I can let you all dig into the food, the caretaker has asked me to remind you of a few things. I don’t know why he doesn’t remind you himself, because really his reminders are the only thing that I ever talk about here,” a few of the kids snickered, “But alas, I will be giving the speech. For one, you all should know this by now, but the Forbidden Forest is still forbidden. Along with this, students are not permitted to go near the whomping willow.” As he said this, James was sure that his eyes wandered over to where Remus was sitting and James knew that it was because the passage where Remus was supposed to go to every month was in the whomping willow. Often times they would wander outside together with Sirius, James, and Peter as their animagi, but Remus still used the shack sometimes. He probably would tonight seeing as the three of them weren’t going to be there with him. “That is all, dig in!” Dumbledore finished his speech and went to go eat himself while the four boys and the rest of the school piled food onto their plates.
Lily had already finished eating all she could manage -which was one plate of food- when James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were all filling up their plates for the third time. “I really don’t want to know how they manage that...” Lily muttered to her friend Perry Darmoth. The two of them laughed at the boys eating habits when James spoke up.
“Ai ahn eer oo, oo oh,” he said, his mouth full of food. This only made Lily’s friends laugh more, but to Lily it was repulsive.
“You should learn some manners you know,” She grumbled, jumping up from the table and walking away to the Gryffindor dorm. Seeing as she was a prefect she probably should have stayed until the dinner was over, but she wasn’t in the mood to. James was just so arrogant.
Lily was so angry when she was storming up the staircase that she forgot about the fake step, her leg getting stuck. She spent a few minutes trying to get it out when she heard some laughter behind her. “It’s not funny!” She called out, turning her head and seeing that it was Remus. “Oh, hey Remus.” She said, slightly embarrassed that she was stuck like this. “Do you think you could ugh...? Maybe help me out?” She asked, shyly.
“Yeah, of course,” Remus said, laughing as he grabbed onto Lily’s hand and pulled her out of the stair. He realized how late it was and was about to leave when he looked at Lily, “Hey Lil, I was wondering if you could do something for me,” he said, a little worried.
“Sure anything.”
“Well, I was just wondering, if you know... you could be a little nicer to James?” He knew right after he said it that it was a mistake. James was a touchy subject for her, and whenever Remus -or anyone for that matter- tried to bring it up she got pretty upset.
“Look Remus. I don’t like him, and I never will. He is self centered and conceited, and a million other things. I’m not going to be nice for him until he learns how to be nice to everyone else.” With that she stormed off, leaving Remus to head outside before he transformed right there in the middle of the castle.
----------
Anastasia stood up from the Ravenclaw table and looked around the great hall wondering where to go. A few of the kids in her year were talking about having a first night party in the common room and she really wasn’t in the mood. Then again when was she ever in the mood? Walking up and down the halls she realized that if she wanted to go somewhere it needed to be fast. It was ten minutes until everyone had to be in their common rooms and now was the only chance that she was going to get. She thought about staying in one of the bathrooms overnight, but they just generally smelt terrible.
Thinking fast, Anastasia looked all around her and when she saw that no one was near ran from the hall by the transfiguration room to the front doors, slipping out, just before they locked for the night. She wiped the sweat off of her fore head that had collected there from her being so nervous.
“Where to go now...” Anastasia whispered to herself. She walked around the grounds aimlessly and eventually ended up by some trees near the lake. She figured that would be the best spot to sleep seeing as it was far away from the forest that she wouldn’t get attacked by a pack of centaurs, but still surrounded by enough trees so that she wouldn’t be seen if someone was looking from the school.
Anastasia took a seat underneath one of the trees and looked up towards the stars and the full moon, just enjoying the night. Out in the distance she heard something that sounded like a rabid dog howling, her heart taking a little jump. She shook her head, laughing that something so small would scare her; obviously there were creatures in the forest. And that is where she makes her biggest mistake.
---------------
Hey everyone. So I'm Elizabeth, and I'm really new to this whole fan fiction thing... This is my first one, and I don't really know how good it is in other peoples eyes, so a review would be supermegafoxyawsomehot (: I hope you all liked it for a first chapter of a first fanfiction, and chapter two is just about done. Thanks!
Oh, by the way, the chapter title is after Regina Spektor's song. Look it up, she's amazing.
Printer Friendly Version
