After saying goodbye to her father, Delphia carried her owl's cage onto the train, struggling slightly with her trunk. She looked up and down the corridor, seeking out an empty compartment. It took her a few seconds to concentrate on all of them at once, but her mind pinpointed that one near the end of the train was available. Dragging her stuff behind her she hurried to the end before anyone else could reach it.
The compartment was dark, but she was just glad it was empty. After setting her stuff down she curled up in the corner by the window, happy that the bench was comfortable. But her heart was pounding, when she had arrived at platform 9 ¾ there were only a few students there. Delphia had insisted on going early so no one would see her. But looking out the window people began to arrive.
The compartment door slid open suddenly and she swung her head around quickly. A boy much older then her stood there with a sneer plastered on his face, his hair was blonde and slicked back that reminded her of a snake.
“What are you doing in my compartment midget?” he growled.
Delphia opened her mouth to say something but her eyes fixed on his right forearm. There was something there beneath the sleeve. She could feel it, almost see it. A sudden fear of darkness washed over her, a dark power she had never felt before.
“What are you staring at?!” He shouted, snapping her out of her trance.
“Um, nothing, sorry...” she gulped, hopping he wouldn't do anything terrible to her. But his silver eyes didn't show anger, but something else. Fear. Delphia furrowed her eyebrows but he quickly slammed the door and left.
The ride to Hogwarts was a long one. But she was glad to be alone in the compartment. Once the train slowed down, she filed out with everyone else. A large giant man came stumbling forward, his hair and beard were long and matted.
“Firs' years, ova' here!” he called out in a booming voice. Nervously she dragged her trunk and owl to him. “Put your stuff here.” he told her, motioning to a small pile of trunks.
Delphia set her stuff down with the others and waited as more younger students her age gathered around the man. With all of them there they set off to a lake where several small boats floated at the shore.
“Three per boat ever'body!” he called out. Delphia nervously stepped into the nearest boat where a girl with bright red hair and a boy with greasy black hair climbed in with her.
“Hi, I'm Lily Evans and this is Severus Snape. What's your name?” the red haired girl asked cheerfully, Delphia felt like she was going to be sick just by knowing someone could possibly be this happy about sitting in a boat.
“Delphia Fay.” she murmured awkwardly and quickly turned away before they can continue talking. The castle loomed up over the dark lake, the lights from the windows glittered over the water. With her heart racing she played with her hands to try and sooth her feelings of unease.
But they worsened once her and the rest of the first years entered through the large castle doors. Instead of going through some more giant doors on the other side they were guided into a small door. A woman with jet black hair that was tied up into a tight bun was looking around at them, her lips pursed. She explained some things to them but Delphia wasn't paying attention, the beating of her heart pounded in her ears.
She soon regretted not listening when they were lead out of the small room and into the huge hall where there were rows of tables, banners hung above them, each table had a different banner. The lady led her and the others down past the rows of students and up to the front. A table was raised slightly higher then the rest, teachers were lined up along the back side. With a wave of her wand a stool appeared in the blink of an eye.
Delphia watched as one by one a kid was called to go sit on the stool and the raggedy old hat would yell out what house they were in.
“Fay, Delphia!” the woman called out. Delphia put her hands into fist to try and stop their shaking, after taking a deep breath she slowly stepped up to the stool and took a seat. Her heart hammering hard in her chest.
“Hmm, such an extraordinary young girl you are. So different. Hmmm...” a voice whispered in her mind.
Feeling as if her blood was being drained she winced as the hat probed her mind. It hurt so much, like being poked repeatedly with a needle.
Get out of my head!
The voice stopped immediately and she sighed in relief. The second the hat shouted Gryffindor she anxiously gave the hat back to the teacher and hurried over to the Gryffindor table. The table was filled with loud people as they clapped and hollered at getting a new housemate. Delphia took a seat next to the red haired girl, Lily, who had been called before her.
“Oh, Delphia, we're going to share a dorm! And we'll probably have the same classes, isn't this amazing?” Lily grinned at her, her green eyes bright with excitement.
Delphia on the other hand groaned inwardly at the thought of having to share a room. “How many girls do you think will be in our dorm?” she asked anxiously.
“Probably just four or five, depending on how many first year girls there are in Gryffindor.” noticing the blue haired girl's concern she added, “Don't worry, we can stick together so we never get lost. Let's eat now!”
Delphia smiled at her, pleased to have at least one person there for her. She looked down at the table to notice the food had already appeared. Grabbing just a few rolls and some butter she looked around the hall at all the other houses. The back of her neck prickled and she swung around to look at the table with a large green banner and a snake embroyled on it.
The boy with the blond hair was watching her, even from across the table she could feel waves of anger flowing off of him. Chills ran up her spine when she realized that more than half of the Slytherins gave off an evil aura,
Once the whole hall had finished eating they were excused to their house's common rooms. Delphia followed everyone up the moving staircases with Lily at her side. Their common room sat behind a lifesize painting of a fat woman. With the password being said they all filed inside and the two girls found their way up to their dorm. Delphia's worries of being outcasted were at ease as she noticed that all the Gryffindor's were not as bad as she had thought them out to be.
Snuggling up under her red silky comforter in her four poster bed she smiled to think that Lily was the third person in her whole life to finally accept her.
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