Mischief Managed

We were sitting only for a moment, when a little girl walked in shyly. She looked like a first year.

"E-excuse me, c-can I sit here? T-this is my f-first year and I have n-no one t-to sit with," she said.

"Of course you can!" I said, smiling. "This is Ava Elkin, it's her first year too."

Ava waved frantically, as did the girl.

"What's your name?" Hermione asked.

"Beth Goham," she said, smiling, sitting down between Ava and I.

"Well, Hogwarts is loads of fun!" Ginny said.

"Yeah, just don't get on Snape's bad side. He's mean, and he's like the dark lord himself," Ron said eerily.

Beth began to frown for a moment, looking quite frightened.

"Ron," Hermione said sternly.

"What? It's true!"

"No, Beth, it's not. Snape isn't like the dark lord. He is quite... well, more unpleasant than the other teachers, mind you," Hermione said.

Beth looked ten times more scared than she did before. I laughed lightly and said, "You're gonna be fine, trust me." She nodded and her and Ava began to talk amongst themselves.

Suddenly, the door opened up and Fred and George walked in with their best friend, Lee Jordan.

"Hey guys!" Lee said happily, sitting down beside Harry, who quickly moved closer to Ron, otherwise Lee would've sat on his lap. George took the seat beside him, and Fred beside George.

"What's up?" Ron asked, as he tried to scoot away from Hermione to give her and Ginny room.

"Nothing, we got bored in our compartment. We figured you lot would be more fun," George said, putting his feet on my suitcase and putting his arms behind his head, letting out a large sigh.

"Oh, get your feet off of my stuff, jerk!" I teased, kicking George's leg.

"Rude," he said, but keeping them on.

Everyone laughed, as I rolled my eyes.

"Lighten up, Ella. To Hogwarts we go!" Fred and George sing-songed together.

"I am lightened up! I just don't want George getting dirt all over my suitcase!" I said, smirking.

"Ella, is it okay if I introduce Beth to Jacob and Caden?" Ava asked me, tapping on my shoulder.

"Of course, have fun!" I said to her, smiling. I really was glad she already made a new friend. Then suddenly, I drifted into memory of my first train ride to Hogwarts...

"Bye Mom, bye Dad!" I called at my parents, as the train slowly started moving. Jacob smiled and we walked together throughout the train.

"Ella, do you want to sit with me, or find some first years to sit with?" he asked.

"I'll look for Ronald, but if I can't find him, I'll sit with you, okay?" I said, taking my things and walking away with a smile on my face.

I saw my best friend, Ronald Weasley, sitting with a boy with jet-black hair and round glasses.

"Ron! Can I sit here?" I asked.

"Sure!" said Ron, as he scooted over.

"Thanks! Hi, I'm Ella Elkin," I said, holding my hand out to the boy.

"Hi, I'm Harry Potter," he said back, smiling. It couldn't be...

"The Harry Potter?" I said in awe. He nodded, with a smile on the face and showed his scar.

"Wow..." I said.

"Right? Imagine, we're friends with Harry Potter, Ella! Isn't that cool?" Ron said.

"Yeah!" I said, smiling. "Ronald, we were going to come with you this year, but we were running late so Mom and Dad just went ahead and brought us instead."

"Yes, Mum told me," Ron said.

"You two already know each other?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, our families are friends," Ron told him.

"Great, more people that already know more magic than I do," he said glumly.

"If it makes you feel better, I don't know much myself..." I said shyly.

"It kind of does, thanks," Harry said smiling.

"Same he-"

"Ella!" everyone shouted at once, knocking me out of my memory.

"Holy shit. Woah. What?" I said back.

"I hate when you zone out like that," Ronald said, shaking his head.

"Me too," Harry added.

"So do I," Ginny and Hermione said together.

"And so do we," Fred, George, and Lee said in unison.

"Okay, okay, I get it, guys," I said, laughing. "I'm sorry, I can't help it!" At that moment, I caught Fred's eye and he smiled one of his half smiles at me. I felt my heart go numb.

"Anything from the trolley, dears?" came the voice of the witch who always brings around treats.

"Sure thing," Harry said, getting up at once. Fred and George followed immediately behind him, but the rest of us remained seated. Moments later, the three came back, hands full of goodies.

"Share," I said, sticking my tongue out at Fred who dodged my hand when I tried to reach for a chocolate frog.

"Why should I?" he pouted.

I rolled my eyes and quickly grabbed a chocolate frog from George's handful.

"Hey!" he said, trying to grab for it, dropping the rest of his treats.

"Hey, all right!" Ronald said, laughing and jumping to the ground to get the fallen candies.

"I don't think so," George said, jumping on top of Ron, wrestling him.

"Oh please," Hermione sighed.

Meanwhile, Harry, Ginny, Fred, Lee, and I were almost rolling on the ground laughing.

"You two need to grow up," I said between laughs.

"Ron, why - didn't you - buy your - own - food," George said, breathing heavily.

"Because I - could - just take - yours," he replied.

"Fred, aren't you going to help your brothers?" Hermione laughed.

"Nope," he replied, popping the 'p'. Then, he handed me over a chocolate frog. "Here you go."

"What's this for? I already got one of George's," I smiled.

"Well, now you can have two," he said, smiling back.

"You're so silly, you know that?" I said, opening the frog.

Hermione loudly coughed, but I couldn't help notice she was watching me the whole time. I gave her one of my just-shut-up looks and she quickly looked at the ground. Okay, so I liked Fred. But oh well, we're friends. And just that. She would just have to accept that fact and move on with her life. I caught Ginny smirking at me, too, and I returned the smirk with the same look I had given Hermione.

"We're almost there," Hermione smiled, looking out the window. Then, George and Ron got up. Ron accepted that George won the mini battle, and settled for a handful of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans.

"Throw me one, Ron," Harry said. Ron did as told, and Harry stuck his tongue out right after he put it in his mouth. "You would give me the vomit flavored one."

"Sorry, mate, I just picked one," Ron said, holding back his laughter.

Suddenly, Harry spit his bean out and it landed on the empty seat next to me.

"Gross!" I said, laughing, trying to blow it away with my mouth.

"How's that working for you?" Ginny said, smiling.

"Not well! It's all... slimy with Harry's spit!" I said, making a face.

"Get over it, wimp," Ronald said.

"Hey Ronald, why don't you sit beside me?" I said laughing.

"I can't, Fred is," he said simply.

"There's an empty seat on my other side though."

"I can't, the bean is."

I looked beside me and saw, suddenly, that the bean wasn't beside me anymore.

"Bloody hell," I said in awe. "Where did it go?"

Everyone burst into laughter at my confusion, as I looked around. Then, I saw Hermione slyly tuck away her wand into her bag again, while she acted completely innocent.

"You're a loser," I said to her.

"I take that as a compliment."

Suddenly, the train stopped.

"Are we here?" Ginny said, looking out the window.

"Almost, but not quite yet..." Hermione said, getting up and looking out of the compartment. Others were as well.

Within moments, over the loud speaker came a voice, "The train has broken down, but we are sure to fix it in no time. Please just stay in your seats. About another two hours and we will arrive at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall have already been notified of the delay, and it will in no way affect your feast. Sorry for the inconvenience."

"Another two hours?" Fred and George groaned together.

"Bloody hell," Ron sighed.

I looked out the window and saw that the rain had started to pick up. I grabbed a pillow out of my bag and laid it down in the empty seat next to me.

"I don't know about any of you, but I'm tired so I'm taking a power nap before we get there. I don't want to fall asleep during the feast," I said, yawning.

Everyone else nodded in agreement, and grabbed small pillows as well. Soon enough, I drifted off into a shallow sleep.

With what seemed like a second later, I was shaken awake by Ava and Beth. I looked around, realizing that my head was laying on Fred's lap. I quickly picked my head up and saw that everyone else was still asleep. I shook my head for a second, and then Hermione woke up.

"Are we -" she yawned, "there?"

"Almost," Ava said. "Someone just said in about fifteen minutes."

With the talking, everyone began to slowly stir and sit up straight, all yawning. We all sat in silence for a moment, as we woke up more, and then within what seemed like a second, the train stopped.

"We're here!" Ginny said, excitedly. Everyone began to get up, and Hermione rushed right over to me with the biggest smile on her face.

"You're so... cute when you sleep," she said, grinning from ear to ear. I heard George cough and I looked over, just as he playfully hit Fred who was turning a light shade of rose.

"And it looks like you weren't the only one who enjoyed it," she added, walking away swiftly.