Under Control

I pushed my heavy cart, complete with a black owl in a cage on top of the trunks, through the overcrowded King’s Cross Station and tried ignoring my mom’s continuous nagging. I let out a sigh of relief when the sign for platforms 9 and 10 appeared in the near distance, and pushed my cart faster. Once I had made it through the barrier, I stopped my jogging and waited for my mom to appear by my side.

“Now, don’t forget what I told you,” she said still talking, “I don’t want another owl from Dumbledore telling me about the trouble you’re causing with those twins.”

“Alright, mother,” I said letting a smirk play at my lips, “I’ll just stick to making trouble with Lux and Jess.”

“Watch it, I’ll make sure you don’t get that gold for Hogsmeade this year,” she said wiping my smirk from my face.

“Fine, I’ll behave,” I said partially admitting defeat, “But I better load this and find the girls, I’ll owl you sometime in the next week.”

“Alright sweetie, be safe,” she said pulling me into a hug and kissing my cheek, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” I said pulling apart from her, “Tell dad I love him too.”

She promised she would, and I took my trunks, with the help of a nearby male, and pulled them onto the train. I stored them in the designated area, before walking down the hallway of sorts to find the compartment that was sure to be filled with my friends. I had just peered into an already filled compartment, smiling at Ron, Harry and Hermoine when I heard the unmistakable angry voice of Lux at the end of the train.

“I don’t care if I’ll get expelled, I want to beat her up,” I heard her basically shout as I got to the doorway.

“Who are you beating?” I asked causing everyone’s heads to snap towards me.

“Elissa!” Lux said, shrugging Seamus off and pulling me into a hug, “And just Alexandra, she just insulted you and your family! She’ll only do it when you aren’t around!”

“She’ll get what’s coming to her one day,” I said with a sour look.

We continued to catch up, myself taking the window seat across from Lux, and waited for the rest of our friends to show up. Jess came into the compartment only a few minutes after my arrival, and was already in her uniform, telling us she hated changing on the train, and sat by Lux. I made a joke of how I was the loner of the group, and laid myself down across the bench, teasing them that I would be able to enjoy a nice nap while they would have to sit up.

“Oi, look Fred! A whole bench to ourselves,” was all I heard before I could feel George sitting directly on my stomach.

“Get off you git,” I said pushing him as hard as I could and sending him to the floor.

“Nice to see you too Liss,” he said with a fake pout, causing me to sit up and help him up.

“Ello, George,” I said huffing as he took my window seat, “Fred.”

He nodded, taking the seat next to the door, and there was a short bout of silence before talking filled the compartment. I was talking to Fred about the Quidditch World Cup, trying to forget the horrible events after the game had ended, and both of us were gushing over Irelands win. We were in an animated talk about one of the more dazzling plays, when the Trolley lady appeared, causing me to stand up and order a chocolate frog, licorice wand and a pumpkin juice.

“I’m so happy to have this in my stomach again,” I said biting off a bite of licorice, “I believe this is what I missed most?”

“What? Being a fatty,” Lux said with a snort causing me to laugh too.

“That, and all of the sweets! Muggle candy is only good for so long,” I said patting my obviously flat stomach, “I mean, look at me, I’m famished.”

“You’re a nutter,” Jess said peering up from a textbook, “This train ride needs to go faster, I’m getting restless already.”

I merely told her to read more, before announcing I was going to try and take a nap. Luckily, George wanted to as well, so I was able to rest my head against his shoulder as he slung his arm around my shoulder. I made sure no one would wake me up until it was time to change, and pulled my hood up over my head to cover my eyes.

After was seemed like a mere five minutes, I was being prodded by Lux, telling me we had to change. I groaned, not wanting to leave my comfortable jeans and sweatshirt, before nodding, and grabbing my pack from under the seat that held my uniform. We ushered the boys out of the compartment before drawing all of the shades, and turning away from each other so we could change. I pulled on my skirt, followed by my white shirt and tie, before pulling the gray sweater over my head.

“I hate these damn things,” I said making sure everything was tucked in accordingly, “You think after 5 years I wouldn’t care, but I still hate having to wear this 5 days a week.”

“At least we can wear plain black tights this year,” Lux said from behind me, “Instead of just those gray socks all of the time.”

“I like those socks!” I said pulling mine on.

She just laughed, and I sat down, securing the boring black shoes to my feet. She looked almost identical to me, except for having Ravenclaw colors, and tights instead of socks. She had also put a headband into her blonde hair; whereas I had pulled my brownish red hair to one side and put a braid into it. I pulled on the shades, letting them rise up, and moments later the boys rejoined us. The rest of the ride went quickly and by the time we pulled into the station the sky was pitch black. We filed off of the train, the sound of Hagrid’s voice booming over everything, and made our way towards the carriages that would take us to the school.

As we were shuttled up to the castle, we all pointed in wonder at the giant carriage parked on the grounds, and the boat bobbing up and down in the black lake, curious as to who they belonged to. When our carriage made it to the front steps, I hopped out, with some assistance from George, and padded up to the doors with my arms linked with the Lux and Jess. We separated once we were in the hall, heading to our respective tables, now noticing two extra tables added on either side of the Great Hall.

“Do you think this has something to do with that ‘special thing’ Dad kept mentioning this summer?” Fred asked George earning a nod.

“Special thing?” I asked as we sat down near their brother and his friends, “There’s a special thing going on this year?”

“Yeah, Dad wouldn’t utter more than that when he told us to stay out of trouble though,” George said with a mischievous grin, “Which only makes,”

“Us want to misbehave even more,” Fred said finishing for George.

Dumbledore silenced the hall a few moments later, and begin his annual start of the term speech. He gave us the explanation for the tables, telling us two schools would be joining us for the term for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, making the whole hall gasp collectively, and friends to start whispering together hurriedly.

“Silence!”

Everyone quickly stopped, and turned their attention back to Dumbledore, who was introducing the girls of Beauxbatons as they fluttered through the doors in their blue silk outfits. All of the boys couldn’t take their eyes off of them, and I could easily tell that they all possessed the qualities of having Veela in their blood. After they had taken their seats at the table next to Ravenclaw’s, Dumbledore announced the next school. The boys of Durmstrang walked in, fierce looks on their face and everyone almost recoiled in fear. After their entrance, they took their seats by Slytherin, and their headmasters joined the Hogwarts staff at their table.

After the rules had been laid out, causing everyone under 17 to be quite unhappy, the feast appeared on our tables, and we all chowed down. We finished in record time, and left the hall just as Lux and Jess were leaving. We all headed for the hidden staircase, knowing it would allow us to talk, and slipped behind the tapestry unnoticed.

“Do you know any good age potions, Lux?” Fred asked as we walked up the stone steps.

“No, no way, uh-uh,” I said shaking my head, “You are not entering that tournament.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t tell you if I did anyways,” she said curtly.

“We’ll just figure it out on our own then,” they said simultaneously causing me to roll my eyes.

When we reached the top of the staircase, we all went our separate ways towards our common rooms. I walked towards the portrait of the Fat Lady, leaning on George, suddenly feeling tired, and let him say the password. I decided against socializing in the common room, and gave each of the twins a quick hug before heading up the stairs to the girls common room, and finding the bed with my trunk by it. I pulled my robe and uniform off, putting on a pair of pajamas and climbing into the ultra-soft bed. I couldn’t help but to wish that I had someone’s shoulder to lay my head on, like I had on the train, and secured the hangings around my bed with a flick of my wand.