Zina Gryffindor
The moment that I got my letter, dread filled me. I knew that my parents would be expecting me to do something amazing like my great-great-great grandfather, Harry Potter.
After shopping for everything and spending many nights pacing back and forth until early morning the faithful day came.
“Good luck, and study hard. I won’t accept anything less than an O on your O.W.L’s” my mother scolded me. I nodded somberly and walked to the train. The moment I stepped on the train relief flooded me. I was getting away from the hold of my parents and getting the chance to meet new people.
I found an empty compartment and put my stuff in the overhead storage container. I watched the window for a while until someone opened the door to my compartment. It startled me so much I fell off of my seat and hit the floor like an idiot.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you” a deep male voice said. I looked up at the figure. He had dark brown hair, bright blue eyes, and a warm and friendly smile. He held out a hand and I took it gratefully. Regaining my balance I stood up to face the boy. “It’s alright”
I got a better look at him. He had a nice build, not extremely muscular but when he moved you could see his muscles and he had a little white scar on the left side of his jaw. He was very handsome now that I think about it.
“I was wondering if I could sit with you?” He asks. I really wanted some company and he seemed pretty nice so I nodded and motioned to the seat across from me.
“Thank you,” he says. He reaches up and puts his stuff away while I stare at him. Realizing that I probably look like a creep I sit down and fix myself, dusting off my robes and fixing my hair.
“You missed a piece” He reaches out and puts a piece of my hair behind my ear. His fingertips linger just a moment too long before he pulls them back. I let out a low breath. My skin was still tingling and warm from where he touched my cheek. He sits down and gets comfy. At first we didn't talk.
“I didn’t catch your name” He blurts out. I look at his bright blue eyes and smile a little.
“It’s Zina, what’s yours?” I ask. He hesitates and I wonder why. Does he not like me? I turn and look out the window, convinced that he wants nothing to do with me. It hurts more than I'd like to admit.
“It’s Blake,” He says. “Blake Malfoy '' Dread and sadness fill me in waves. I sink further down into the seat and look away. Then white hot anger pulsates through me.
“So are you related to Draco Malfoy?” I blurt out, immediately regretting it. That's probably why he didn’t want to tell me.
“Yup, he’s my great-great-great grandfather. People usually run off when I tell them that so that’s why I didn’t want to tell you” He says. I think about how my parents would react if I told them that I had a friend who was related to Draco Malfoy. They would flip out. The thought of that made me want to be friends with him even more.
“My last name is Gryffindor. My great-great-great grandfather is Harry Potter.” Disgust fills my voice “My parents want me to be like him. Do amazing stuff and all that crap.” I look at him dead in the eyes “I don’t think that’s going to happen.” I say and smile.

“My parents have chosen to ignore that. They believe that we should put all that behind us and move on” He reaches out and puts his hand on my knee. “I’m sorry that your parents can’t do the same but I hope we can still be friends” He asks and locks eyes with me. His eyes are pleading with me. I knew that it was wrong but there was no way I was going to tell him no.
“I would love to be friends with you” I say and place my hand over his, which was still on my knee. He looked at my hand and smiled. We sat like that for a while and then the train started to slow.
“I think we're almost there, I better grab my stuff” I say. I stood up and opened the overhead cupboard but our stuff wasn’t there.
“It’s magic, once we get sorted into our houses they’ll appear there.” He says and nudges me back to the seat. Nervousness fills me. I want to be in the same house as Blake. I start panicking and biting my nails. He gently reaches out and pulls my hand out of my mouth.
“It’ll be alright, even if we aren't in the same house we can still hang out” He says and I feel a little better. I nod and look at him, grateful that I met him. Emotions roll through me.
“Thank you.” I’m feeling a little brave so I reach out and pull him in a hug. He was startled at first but then he wrapped his arms around me and we just stood there for a minute. He smells like cologne and I can feel his muscular body through his robes. Tears well up in my eyes at the thought of leaving him and I let them leak out, when we pull away I wipe my eyes and look at him, embarrassed that he saw me this vulnerable.
“Sorry” I say as I pull myself together. I look away from him.
“It’s okay. He says and wraps me in another hug. It’s weird how much I am attached to him even though I've only known him for an hour or so. The train pulls to a full stop and we break our embrace. I open the door and we walk out. He stays by my side the whole time we walk through the train.
“First years this way!” Calls a voice. The owner of that voice is a tall female with light grey eyes and long blonde hair. She leads us to some tiny boats and the first two people get in. The line continued forward until it was mine and Blake’s turn. I gently got in and he got in behind me.
“Don’t rock the boat or you’ll flip and this water is freezing” The female teacher pushed us away before we got the chance to respond and the boat took off by itself. We made sure not to move at all. I knew that each inch closer we got the closer I was to facing my worst fear. I was very close to passing out when Blake leaned forward and whispered in my ear.
“Everything’s going to be okay, I promise” he squeezed my shoulders and I nodded. Soon, we made it to land and he helped me out of the boat. We walked into Hogwarts and my breath was taken away. It was freaking HUGE I mean I could easily get lost here. There were owls and portraits of people everywhere. We continued walking and taking in the sights and then the female teacher from earlier stopped us in front of huge golden doors.
“These doors lead to the great hall. Once I open them you will follow me to the platform and wait for me to call your name to be sorted!” she shouted so that everyone could hear her.
There was a chorus of “yes” and “yes, ma’am”. Then the doors opened into the biggest room I had ever seen in my life. She led us in and I started focusing on all of the students instead of the sorting hat. The noise drowned out as I took it all in.
“ZINA GRYFFINDOR” The hat shouted. I looked at Blake and he nodded and gave me a little smile. That gave me enough confidence to be able to walk up there without falling on my face.
But as soon as I sat down, all of the confidence drained out of me. They placed it on me and I waited. After about ten seconds the hat shouted “SLYTHERIN”. I stood up in shock and headed over to the table that was filled with green and silver and took a seat at the end. All of the other noises drained out until they called his name.
“BLAKE MALFOY” the hat shouted. His eyes met mine as he sat down. The hat took way longer than it did with anyone else until finally, it called out “SLYTHERIN.” Relief flooded through me and filled me to the top. Blake walked over with a huge smile on his face but when he was about halfway, I couldn’t contain myself. I got up and ran to him, wrapping him in a hug. He wrapped his arms around me and buried his face in my neck. Then I realized how we must look, standing there in each other’s arms slightly swaying back and forth. But the weird thing was I didn’t care. We broke apart and walked to the table.
“How long have you guys been dating?” One of our fellow slytherin’s asks me.
“Oh, we aren't dating, we're just friends,” I say. I look at Blake but he is staring down the other slytherin that’s talking to us.
“Well, in that case, my name's Noah Glover,” He says and winks at me. I let out a laugh.
“My name's Zina Griffindor and this is Blake Malfoy” I say.
“That’s a pretty name, perfect for a pretty girl” Noah says. I blush and look away.
“See you around, Zina” He gets up and walks off. I look at Blake and shoulder bump him. “I don’t like him,” He says. I look at him and we start eating. The same lady shows us to our dorms and I tell Blake goodnight and go to bed replaying the conversation between me, Blake and Noah. Why did he react like that? Was he jealous? And if so, why? I quickly fall asleep.