Lumos

Felicity grimaced as Malfoy told yet another story of some heinous thing his father had done to the family’s house elf. Although she’d wanted to like him at first, the past half hour had proved him to be pompous, entitled, and an overall rich brat. She was eager to escape the compartment, but Sebastian had his feet up on the seat opposite him, blocking the door, and she felt it would be rude to step over him. The girl, Katrina, had moved next to him and Felicity was left to sit between her and the window.

Soon enough, the conversation turned to Harry Potter.

“So you’ve seen him?” Katrina was asking Sebastian.

“Yeah,” he shrugged.

“They say he’s got a scar like lightning on his head,” said Goyle, sounding impressed.

“From where You-Know-Who tried to kill him?” asked Crabbe.

“No, from falling off his broom,” said Sebastian sarcastically. “I only glimpsed him in Diagon Alley. Felicity talked to him, though.”

All eyes turned to hers. Malfoy, his cold eyes holding a glimmer of interest, asked, “What was he like?”

Felicity shrugged, awkward under so many eyes. “Just like any other boy, I expect. He was nice enough.” She didn’t feel like sharing the details of their bonding over shared insecurities.

“Did you see his scar?” Malfoy demanded, sounding fascinated. “Did he talk about You-Know-Who?”

“I didn’t know to ask. Didn’t know who he was.”

“Well, what did he look like?” pressed Malfoy, obviously irritated Felicity’s lack of information.

“Lay off her, Malfoy, she probably can’t remember,” Sebastian cut in. Malfoy looked surly at that. Crabbe cracked his knuckles menacingly, causing Sebastian to let out a bark of a laugh. “Go on and hit me, then. I know spells that could have you hanging by your ankle with your trousers missing.”

Crabbe scowled, but stopped the knuckle cracking.

Katrina, rolling her eyes at the boys, turned to Felicity and asked, “Who did he have with him, then? He couldn’t have been alone.”

Felicity looked at Katrina with surprise - the only acknowledgement the older girl had given her was to look her up and down and scowl before returning to checking her makeup. Her frost-blue eyes were lined with dramatic, black makeup with green sparkles. She seemed to check it every few minutes, almost as often as she tossed and fluffed out her thick hair. Felicity had subtly looked at her clothes, but saw nothing wrong with her pink blouse, khaki skirt and white flats.

“I dunno,” Felicity finally said. “He was alone when I saw him.”

“I heard he was raised by Muggles,” Malfoy sneered. It struck Felicity at that moment how much Malfoy, with his drawl and his pointed face, reminded her of a weasel. “How much can we possibly expect from the great Harry Potter.”

“About as much as we can expect from you,” said Felicity before she could stop herself. Once again, all eyes turned to her. She felt herself blushing under their intensity, but wasn’t about to back down now. “He’s got no reason to be any better or worse than you or me and he doesn’t deserve to be sneered at.”

“I’ll sneer at whoever I want,” said Malfoy angrily. His cheeks were tinged pink. “Who do you think you are, talking to me like that, anyway? You’re lucky to even be here, aren’t you?”

“What are you talking about?” demanded Felicity.

“You’re practically a Muggleborn,” spat Malfoy. “Your mother’s an embarrassment to our families. Just like you will be, I’d bet anything.”

Felicity’s hands curled into fists and she looked at Sebastian to see if he had anything to say. She wasn’t sure what she expected - for him to rise to her defense, she supposed. But all he did, slouched down in his seat, was peer at her with his pale-green eyes, giving her an expression that clearly said let it go. But she wasn’t about to let it go.

“I bet Harry Potter will turn out to be twice the wizard any of you could ever hope to be,” Felicity said, allowing her eyes to flick over each of the compartment’s occupants. “And I promise I will be.”

Standing, Felicity shoved Sebastian’s legs out of the way and left the compartment. She paused in the hall, turning to meet Sebastian’s gaze once more. “Well? Are you coming or staying?”

Sebastian’s eyes widened as he looked up at her from his seat, his expression bordering on tortured. Ever so slightly, he shook his head. Katrina, who couldn’t see Sebastian’s face, said snidely, “Of course, he’s staying. No one wanted you here, anyway, Muggle-lover.”

Blinking away tears, Felicity slammed the compartment door shut and stormed off, nearly colliding with a flock of first-year girls that had been hanging around, taking turns peering into the compartment she’d just left. She heard one giggle and say, “He’s so gorgeous.” Supposing they were talking about Sebastian - Malfoy being only tolerable and Crabbe and Goyle being just short of repulsive - Felicity shoved her way past them, glancing into the passing compartments for an unoccupied one.

For awhile, Felicity paced the corridors, unable to find a compartment with enough space for her. She paused outside one, within sat Harry Potter and a red-haired boy. For a moment, she considered asking to join them, but couldn’t bring herself to bother them.

Felicity had just passed a compartment with the curtains closed and was so lost in her melancholy thoughts that she walked right into someone…two someones. It was the red-headed twins she’d seen talking to Felix.

“Sorry,” Felicity muttered. She realized there was a tear trailing down her cheek and quickly wiped it away. The action was met by two curious, brown-eyed stares.

“Everything alright?” one twin asked.

“Need us to jinx someone?” the other offered.

“I’m fine,” Felicity insisted, holding her head high and looking between the two. They were both quite tall and had violently red hair.

“First year?” the first twin guessed.

“Yeah.”

“Nervous?”

“A bit.”

“Don’t worry,” the other twin said. “First years get off easy. Watch out for the Sorting, though. It’s tricky, innit, George?”

“A real boggler, Fred.”

“Thanks,” said Felicity flatly, her stomach clenching miserably. She hadn’t even thought about there being a test. “Any tips?”

The twins grinned identically and George - or was it Fred? - said, “Can’t give anything away.”

“Yeah, don’t wanna spoil the surprise.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” The twin - Felicity still wasn’t sure which one - looked concerned at the way she was grimacing. “Do you have somewhere to sit? You can join us.”

“If you’re not squeamish.”

“Yeah, Lee’s got a giant tarantula in our compartment.”

“I’ll pass, but thank you,” said Felicity, not quite desperate enough to endure sitting so close to a great spider. The twins parted, allowing Felicity to continue down the corridor.

“Oy!” one of them called, causing Felicity to turn back. He grinned at her and said, “Make sure you’re in Gryffindor.” Then he and his brother turned and were off.

Felicity, feeling worse than ever, continued to peer into compartments. She was just about to give up and sit down in the corridor when she turned and spotted Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle heading toward her. They hadn’t spotted her yet and Felicity seized the chance to slip into the nearest compartment.

Once she had shut the door, Felicity turned to find her new compartment occupied by three people - a round-faced boy sniveling by the window, a girl with bushy hair, already dressed in her Hogwarts robes, and a boy with overlong brown hair and large, blue eyes.

“Sorry,” Felicity mumbled, “I was just… can I join you?”

“Of course,” said the blue-eyed boy, sliding over to make room for her between himself and the round-faced boy. The other seat was taken up with books, through which the bushy-haired girl was rapidly flipping. Felicity sat down, ducking her head in case Malfoy happened to peer in - she needn’t have bothered, as they never even passed their door.

“I’m Ulric,” said the blue-eyed boy. “That’s Neville and over there’s Hermione.”

“I’m Felicity.”

“Are you a first year, too?” Hermione asked eagerly. “Have you learned any spells yet? I’ve only tried a few simple ones, but-”

“Not everyone memorized the course books, Hermione,” said Ulric patiently.

Hermione opened her mouth, looking irritated, but Felicity cut her off, asking, “What spells have you learned?”

This seemed to please her, as she pulled her wand from her robes and demonstrated several small spells. Felicity drew her wand from her pocket and attempted to copy her, but none of the spells worked for her. She was just growing tired of failing at every spell when an opportunity to stop presented itself in the form of the compartment door sliding open, revealing an elderly woman.

“Anything off the trolley?” she asked.

Felicity, not realizing how hungry she was, hurried into the corridor, but found that she didn’t recognize anything on the cart. There were Chocolate Frogs, Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum, Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, Pumpkin Pasties… She looked at Hermione, who looked just as confused as she was, but Ulric was quite at his leisure as he purchased an armful of sweets.

Catching Felicity’s expression, Ulric asked gently, “Muggleborn?”

“Something like that,” Felicity murmured, watching as Ulric tipped the armful of sweets onto the seat next to him. Shoving aside Hermione’s books, Felicity sat across from him and eyed the food suspiciously until Ulric, grinning, tossed a handful onto her lap - a cauldron cake, a pumpkin pastie, and a chocolate frog. “Oh, you don’t have to-”

“Don’t mention it,” said Ulric dismissively. “Go on, Neville, have some sweets. Hermione? Pasty?”

Just as Felicity was wrestling with the packaging on her pumpkin pasty, there came a series of thumps and yelling from several compartments away.

“Wh-What’s happening?” Neville sniffled, looking toward the corridor.

Hermione had already jumped up and was out the door. Felicity stood, peering into the corridor. She saw Malfoy and his cronies leaving a compartment three down from theirs. Not wanting to talk to them again, she ducked back into the compartment and took Hermione’s seat across from Neville.

“Are you alright?” she asked him. “You seem...upset.”

That was putting it mildly. Neville’s eyes were bloodshot and his face was shiny from tears that never seemed to stop coming. “I’ve… I’ve lost my toad.”

“Oh,” said Felicity blankly. She’d never met someone with a pet toad and wasn’t quite sure what to say to console him. “Have you looked-”

“I’ve looked everywhere,” he said miserably. “No one’s seen him.”

Just then, Hermione appeared in the doorway and announced, “I’ve just been to see the conductor and we’re nearly there, so you should change.”

Felicity’s stomach clenched - her trunk was back in the compartment with Sebastian and his group. There was no avoiding it; she’d have to go get it. Offering this explanation to her current company, Felicity left the compartment and trudged down the train. She was halfway there when Ulric hurried up next to her, pulling on the last of his robes.

“Mind if I join you?” he asked. “You looked like you could use the company.”

“I could,” said Felicity, relieved. “Thank you.”

The knot in her stomach unclenched slightly when they reached the compartment and found it to be empty. While it was nice not to find Sebastian, Katrina, or Malfoy waiting for her, it meant that she could run into them literally anywhere else on the train.

Leaving Ulric in the hallway, Felicity shut the compartment door and quickly changed. As she was pinning on her nametag, a voice sounded through the train, “We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes’ time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.”

Felicity joined Ulric out in the corridor, which was quickly becoming crowded with students. She tried to stay close to Ulric, but people were pushing from all sides. Everything was happening so fast. They were being pushed toward the front of the train; they were passing the last compartment; the door was in sight; Felicity grabbed Ulric’s hand.

Then, together, they stepped off the train.