Nothing Goes Better with Grief Than Being the New Kid
I huffed as I sat on my trunk, begging for it to close. I pulled with all my effort and finally the blasted thing closed. I puffed the strand of my hair out of my face and sat, trying to catch my breath. If I could have only used my wand this would have been much easier, but mom has a no magic in the house rule. I was transferring to Hogwarts in my 6th year, because losing a dad mean that the last familiar thing should be changed as well. We moved from the United States of America to England, after his death, which meant I had to go to a different school. It had only been a month when mom told me we were moving closer to her family. Both of my parents were from England but we moved for dad's work. I was nervous about transferring but I would not pass up the opportunity to go to the best Wizarding school in the world.
“Olive, hurry up.”
“I’m ready! I just need to put Cumin in her carrier” I yelled as I struggle to carry the trunk downstairs.
“You packed light.” My mom said sarcastically as she helped me carry the heavy trunk downstairs. I smiled as we left the new apartment and continued to the car. We loaded the taxi and Mom handed me the ticket.
“Platform 9 ¾” I smiled as I remembers the rush of running to the platform that the muggles can’t see, not even my mom could understand. I ran back into the house and grabbed my cat, she meowed in her carrier and I sighed. I looked at this place I have been living at for about 2 weeks, photos were up of memories that were now too painful to remember. My mom was attempting to make new apartment a home. I walked back outside and put clove in the taxi.
“I love you honey, wish I could go with you!” I hugged my mom and smiled. I got into the car, and pray that I wouldn't be too much of the odd one out. I wave out the window as the car starts to leave.
“Boarding school?” the taxi driver asks.
“Something like that.” I mumble as I look out the window.
“Let me help with the trunk.” The taxi driver gets out of the car with me and helps me pull out my trunk, “let me run and grab a trolly.” He walks away as I stand by my singular trunk and Cumin. We had to sell a lot of things before our move, and I never really cared for many things, I only kept the important stuff. The taxi driver helps me load my trunk onto the trolly.
“Thank you!” I smile and wave as I start to walk to the station. I push my stuff and look back at my ticket. I see the platform I am supposed to go on and smile. I start to build speed and run into the pillar.
The train is huge and the platform is busy with parents hugging their kids and kids greeting old friends. I shrug away the loneliness that was creeping in. Great, everyone already has friends and I will be the weird American. I push my cart to the luggage area start to board the train. I look for a car that is empty and find a space for myself. I sit down and wait for the train to go.
As the train starts to move there is an announcement. “Please change into your uniforms before we arrive to Hogwarts.” I look into my bag and change into my uniform.
The train ride was lonely, I could hear the groups of friends laughing with each other, it just reminded me of how I would have to make friends all over again, which was hard but even harder when I didn't feel like myself. I closed my eyes and fall asleep.
The rain is falling hard of the pavement, I am standing on the sidewalks watching the street. I watch the cars drive by waiting for the familiar car. I see my dad’s car start to pull turn at the intersection, I start to run to tell him to wait. “DAD Don’t turn! Another car is comin-“ I hear the screeching and a loud crash as a car rams into my dad’s car. I fall to the floor sobbing, knowing he is dead in the driver’s seat. I look up and see the other driver get out of his car and run away.
I wake up to a gasp. It has been a while since I have dreamt of dad’s death. I should have told him. I rub the sleep from my eyes and look out the window. I saw it happen the night before, I should have begged him to not leave. It is so easy for me to forget, I can just imagine that he is away for work, will come home any moment, but my dreams always make me remember. The train comes to a screeching stop, and I collect my things.
I start to follow a group of students who were walking towards Hogwarts, but I am stopped by a woman.
“You must be Miss Olive.” A woman asked me. She was old and looked as if a cat was a human, which was scary looking. “I’m Professor McGonagall, follow me.” I follow her and look around at the beautiful building, as we start to walk up.
“Now we will do the transfer student sorting first, you are the first transfer we have had for several decades. Professor Trelawney has talked about your divination abilities, hopefully they live up to the expectation.” She walked in front of me and I was struggling to keep up. My transfer paper including me predicting three people’s deaths… My grandfather, father, and a boy I don't know yet.
McGonagall leads me to a group of kids, all eagerly talking to each other and clearly nervous.
“Get in line children. We will do the sorting ceremony shortly. Now there are four houses you can be sorted into, which are Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin. Now follow me.” She started to walk towards the main hall again.
Everyone started to cheer as we all walked in, hoping I didn't blend in with the group of 11 year olds, I tried to hold my head up, but also focus on not tripping in the robes. This uniform was weird, I miss my American uniform, it was much more practical.
“Welcome to Hogwarts! I am Professor Dumbledore! Now before we do the first year sorting, we have exciting news.” I try not to fiddle too much My heart was pounding and I was struggling to focus on the ground. I’m fine, I start to tap my forefinger to my thumb, then my ring finger to my thumb, trying to calm my nerves.
“We have a transfer student” I start to hear the students mumbling, “she is entering her 6th year from America, so we will first do her sorting, then we will continue with the first years. Olive Henderdragon, please step forward.” I walk up and am directed to a stool. I sit down and lift my head up. I swallow as I see hundreds of students staring at me, some are whispering to each other. I look back out into the crowd and I see two boys, they have flaming red hair and look the same. One of them makes eye contact with me and smiles, nodding encouragingly to me. I smile back and close my eyes, he looks familiar, but I can’t quite place it. Professor McGonagall brings out an old looking hat and places it on my head.
“Hufflepuff!” I stand up and walk towards the direction McGonagall points me to.
“Welcome! I’m Cedric, nice to meet you.” I smile at the boy. He has light grey eyes and dark hair, very handsome and looks like he knows it. He has the sort of handsome face that looks like it was on magazines, which is probably why he looks familiar. The rest of the night was a kind of blur. I am directed to my room and my trunk is already there and Cumin has already perched herself onto a shelf. I unpack a bit and lay on the bed. “Welcome to our new home babes.” I pat her and close my eyes, as I am about to fall asleep, I remember a face I have seen often. My dreams about the future have not been clear since my dad died.
I wake up to the sun in my face, yawning and stretching I get out of bed. I pat Cumin on the head and get dressed for classes. I grab my tie and wand and head to the common room. I put my wand behind my ear. I start to tie my tie and I bump into someone. “oh my, I am so sorry!”
I look up and see the tall handsome guy I met yesterday, “Cedric right?” I ask unsure if I recalled his name correctly.
He smiles at me “good memory, bad at watching where you are going.” He laughs, “Heading to breakfast?” I nod and he walks with me. I was perfectly content walking in silence, I have found talking is too much energy, and I barely can get out of bed some days.
“So do you guys play Quidditch in the States?” Cedric asks me.
I nod my head, “we have it, but it was not that big at my old school, just was kids passing time mostly.”
“You should come see us play! We play against Gryffindor soon.” He smiles and holds the door to the main hall open for me.
“I will,” I smile and blush a little. “What class do you have first?” I ask trying to keep a conversation going. Oh, no one knows my dad died recently, I can be normal, I am fine.
“Oh, I have potions with some Slytherins,” he sits down and I sit across from him, “you?”
“I have Divination with Gryffindor I think.” We start to eat breakfast as students trickle in.
“Nice I can take you to the class room if you-”
Two red headed boys sit on both ends of me, “We have divination too, want us to take you to class?” One of the boys winks at Cedric and he rolls his eyes. I look at them both and their familiarity sits in, one of these boys reassured me during the sorting, just I don’t know which one.
“Aren't you two supposed to be at Gryffindor’s table?” Cedric asks annoyed.
“Oh, come on, you are all about the house purity things? Can't mingle with the others?” The one who talked before teases Cedric.
"are you entering your name in for the Triwizard tournament Cedric?” one of the boys asked.
“Triwizard tournament?” I ask, confused.
“Oh, it's a tournament that allows the schools to learn who is the best wizarding school. It’s very dangerous.” The boy smiles devilishly.
“Oh, are you entering?” I ask to the boys and Cedric.
“Yes, I am, am I taking you to divination?” Cedric changes the subject quickly.
I smile “I don't want you to be late to potions, I hear Professor Snape is scary, I can go with…” I hesitate realizing I don't knowing either of their names.
“Fred,” The one on my right says, “and this here is my twin, George.”
“Nice to meet you,”
“Don’t bother trying to tell us apart, our own mother can’t” I laugh a bit, but I thought it was strange, they look different to me, Fred had a long face, while George had a rounder face.
“I’m Olive.” I smile and look at George, Cedric clears his throat.
“I am going to go to class, um.. olive, I’ll see you around?” Cedric stands up to leave.
“OOOOOOOOOOH” Fred starts to wiggle his eyebrows. I laugh a bit, Cedric was cute and all but I don't really think I have feelings about anything really, so I just brush off the implication. I just have been functioning on autopilot for the past month and a half, it was easier this way. I would rather spend my whole life on autopilot then the tidal wave of emotions that I am sure will follow.
“Sure, I’ll see you around” I smile and look at Cedric as he leaves.
“Well, Olive, you ready to go to class?” George asks me.
I take a deep breath and start to follow them, they both slow down and walk on both sides of me. I was very curious about divination class, I met with the professor for my interview but I wonder what she was like as a teacher. I kept walking without listening to the twins but I started to tune in again, realizing I was being rude.
“There are 3 challenges this year, I think if we do an aging spell we can get our names in George”
“what do you think Olive?” George smiles.
“What?” I ask processing for a second “it wouldn’t work. Why is there an age limit anyways?”
“They stopped the games for some years because too many students died. But this year they are taking extra precautions... like the age limit.”
“Why hasn't Dumbledore announced this yet?”
“He did, yesterday at dinner.” George says, “It was like the talk of the night, minus the surprise transfer.” He looks at me and I look at the floor as we keep walking.
“is it just you two or do you have any more siblings?” I ask wanting to know more about them.
“yeah, but we have 5 other siblings, 4 more bothers and 1 sister. They are all Gryffindor’s like us.” George answers and I smile at his voice, it was very calming, his voice seemed to break through the wave of empty that seemed to consume my every waking moment.
“Oh wow, your poor sister.”
“do you have any siblings?”
“Nope, it’s just me and my mom…” That felt weird to say, I have always been close with my parents but I never realized how lonely it was that it was no longer the three of us. I ignore this new feeling and squeeze my eyes. “Do you play Quidditch too?” I quickly change the subject, not wanting to talk about home or my family otherwise I will have to acknowledge my feelings.
“Yeah, we both do, we play as the beaters. We play against Hufflepuff first when the season starts.” Fred nudges me a bit at Hufflepuff and I laugh.
“Oh now I am definitely coming,” I smile and we walk into Divination.
“Do you play?” George asks me.
“No… My dad did, but I couldn’t grasp the balancing required.” I smile to myself as a supressed memory comes back.
I was eight and flying around the yard with dad. “Dad I caught the snitchIII” I hold up a ball and show him proudly. I lost my balance and started to fall. I landed on the ground and looked at my hand and realized I wasn’t holding the snitch. We were only 2 feet off the ground so the fall didn’t hurt. Dad ran up to me quickly checking to see if I was okay and was baffled to see me laughing. “Are you okay Angel?” He sits next to me and I look up at him with tears in my eyes, “I am holding an walnut.” He starts to laugh with me until we couldn’t breath.
“Olive… olive.” I come back to and see George and Fred staring at me.
“Where did you go?” George looks at me and I try to smile it off.
“Nowhere, just got distracted.” We keep walking and walk into Divination.
“Olive! Welcome, I am so glad you came here!” Professor Trelawney walks up to me. “I think we will develop your abilities to perfection.” She starts to talk about my potential but I don’t understand, I don't want these abilities. I want them to stop, I want to sleep and not be scared of whose death is next.
I sit through divination next to Fred. He kept passing me funny notes which kept the class interesting. I leave Fred and George after divination and go to my other classes. Classes for the next few hours were rather boring. I was leaving Charms class when I almost bump into someone again. “Are we making this a habit now?” Cedric looks at me and smiles.
I smile up at him, “nope, I just think you should watch where you are going more often.” I start to walk with Cedric to lunch.
“I wouldn’t watch where I was going if it meant I keep running into you.” I blush a bit and don’t comment back. “Did the Weasley’s give you a hard time?”
“Fred and George? Not at all, they are very sweet!” we go to get food and sit down. “How were your classes?”
“They were good, Herbology seems like it will be sucky this year.” I nod and let the lull continue.
“so quidditch?” I ask awkwardly. We sit at the Hufflepuff table and start to eat.
“Yeah, what about it? You ever play?” He looks at me
“um, no not really. My dad was a big fan of the game, but it’s not big in the States. What position do you play?”
“I play seeker, and am the captain of the team! We have practice today after lunch. You should come and watch. If you like the game you can try out.”
“um, sure, why not.” I smile a little at the idea of playing Quidditch at the school my dad went to.
We ate the rest of our meal in silence, afterwards I followed Cedric to the practice field. He takes me to the stands and tells me to sit there, after practice he will come meet me to take me back to the common room. Seriously Hogwarts was a huge maze, I wonder how students are able to find their way around in general. I sit and stare off into the distance, watching them warm up. My vision comes into focus and I see George standing in front of me.
“Oh, hi George!” I smile and look at him, “where is Fred?”
“Getting dressed, you already know we go everywhere together I guess?” He chuckles, “can I sit with you for a bit?”
I nod and move my stuff so he can sit next to me. “You getting ready to practice?”
“Yeah, what are you doing here? You don’t strike me as a groupie?”
“Cedric invited me to watch, wanted to see if I would try out” George nods and looks out at the Hufflepuff team.
“Nice guy, I think you are too distracted to be up on a broom for extended periods of times.” He teases at me. I smile and look at him, his presence was so much easier to focus on. “So how did you know it was me not Fred? I mean I am obviously more handsome” He smirks at me and I smile.
“I um… you guys don't look that much alike to me,” George looks at me funnily, “I mean it’s obvious that you are identical twins, don't get me wrong. But like Fred is lankier and his face is longer, while you have a rounder face and you also have one dimple.” I look at my nails.
“Thanks for taking the time to notice a differences, no one really does.”
I laugh at his joke, “well you do preface every new person you meet with a “don’t bother trying to tell us apart” type of attitude.” I smile.
“Georgie, where are you?” Fred yells.
“Do you by chance want to help me later with Divination homework? I am really bad at it and you seem to know what to do, what with the Professor praising you the second you walked in” George stands up.
“Yeah, you and Fred look like you needed help.” I joke and he nods, rubbing his neck and laughs.
“Yeah… me and Fred, um…I have to go, but what about Thursday? 8 at the library?” he walks away and I smile.
Cedric walks up, he nods to George as he passes him. “Did you enjoy watching practice?” he asks.
“Yeah, it looks like a fun sport.”
“You going try out,”
“Oh I will think about it, I think I will wait to see how I manage the work load here first. Thank you though.” I nod, he smiles and lets it go.
“Nice,” He smiles and we start to walk back to Hufflepuff. “So I am meeting friends for dinner later, do you think you will be able to find your way to the dining hall?” I nod and we walk back to Hufflepuff and I go to my room.
I do a bit of homework and feed Cumin before I head down to dinner. Homework was difficult to do, my mind kept wandering to Cedric and conversations with him. I smiled without realizing. Shit, was I feeling? I start to walk down to the common room. I am able to find the dining hall myself, which was a big accomplishment. I was worried about getting lost. I walk into the room right as Fred and George walk in.
“Want to sit at Gryffindor?” George smiles and I nod. I sit next to George and see two red headed people, they must be Fred and George’s siblings.
“This is Ron, our younger brother.” Fred gestures to a boy with a pale face and freckles. “This is Ginny, our only sister.” He points to a young girl with doe eyes.
“This is Hermione and Harry.” Ron point to his two friends, I have seen them around.
“Hi, I am Olive”
Dinner with the Gryffindors was a welcome distraction, I kept thinking about Cedric. Was I forming a crush?
“Now, as you all know the Triwizard Tournament. Put your names into the Goblet of Fire before the end of the week. The champions will be chosen from all of the schools on Friday, and the tournament will that Monday.”