Spellbound- Chapter 2

Ea was quite impressed with how her cousins kept her attention for the two weeks that she was staying with the Potters. She shared a room with Lily, and they were up all night sometimes, talking about boys and Quidditch. And when she wasn’t giggling with Lily, she was roughhousing or actually playing Quidditch with James and Albus. She did chores with them, and helped them finish up their summer homework, and they took her to Diagon Alley to go shopping or just to hang out.

But now, the warmth of the crowded alley was replaced by the steely cold of the train that rushed them towards a new year at school. Ea was not eager for this. She had been dreading coming to a new school as a second year, and was not ecstatic to be going to her uncle's old school. Now she would probably be seen as "That-New-Second-Year-Girl" or "Harry-Potter's-Niece." She didn’t want to have to live up to those uncomfortable and impossible standards.

She had finally gotten away from her overbearing and obviously concerned family, and was able to sit in a cubicle that had blessedly been left empty. In the quiet, with the soft chugging of the engine as background noise, Ea was ears deep in an advanced dark arts book, when a flurry of robes landed in the seat next to her, squishing her toes under it.

Startling gray eyes landed on her when she gasped, and a small grin spread across its face. He leaned forward and gently laid his finger across Ea's lips before she could shout in irritation.

"Don't say anything." The boy's roguish face smirked again, before disappearing altogether, instantly followed by a ruckus outside of her compartment. Curious as to what was going on, she moved to get up, but an invisible hand held her leg hostage. 

Just as she was about to ask what he was doing, the door flew open and a tall, lean boy in black robes with a green and silver scarf stared down the bridge of his nose at her. 

"I'm looking for someone." was all he said.

"I do believe that I qualify as someone." Ea said smartly. She was tired of people barging in on her solitude. "Last I checked anyway."

The transparent hand on her leg squeezed, and she gathered up the strength and swung her legs out from underneath him. Standing straight up to her impressive six foot height, she easily looked the boy in the eye, "If you are done intruding, I do believe it would be wise of you to leave. At once." She swept her arm out towards the door, and waited. 

The now sputtering boy looked totally poleaxed, "How dare you? I'll have you know, I am a prefect of Slytherin house! You will resp-" her wand against his throat silenced him. 

"You're going to leave. Now." The air around her began to move, as if charged by fire and electricity. The ends of her hair moved with the air just so , alive, snapping, as the tip of her wand sparked.

Mr. Prefect took his cue and left. Ea stood in place quietly, fully aware of the invisible boy in the corner, watching her. 

"You should leave too." She said over her shoulder, but squealed loudly as the stranger pinched her butt. Her elbow jerked up and into solid mass, likely the boy’s chest since she heard his expulsion of breath. Anger flared, and crept up her neck to her cheeks, but as she opened her mouth to growl at him, she felt him slink past her. She clamped down on the feeling and snapped the door closed, only to have it jerked open by Albus.

"Hey! Where have you been? You know you have, like, family? We’ve been looking for you!" He looked around the compartment she was in, "You haven't been in here freaking out have you?" He asked softly. Out of all of her family, she felt most connected to her second cousin. She nodded a bit and sighed when Albus wrapped her in a big hug. 

They stayed like that until Ea moved away and grabbed her book. Albus opened the door and put his arm over her shoulders and they walked down the small hall. 

They got to an almost full compartment that she had heard since one car away, and her name rang out. 

"Ea!" 

"Hey Maddy! How ya been?"

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe Ea made it!"

"Albus! You've been keeping her to yourself haven't you? That's not fair!"

"Yea! I want a turn!" At the deep baritone, she looked at Teddy. A few years older than her, her adopted cousin had always intimidated her when he wasn’t splitting her sides with his awful jokes.

"No Ted, you would snap her in half, the way you roughhouse." Said Lily, who was still sporting a bruised chin and equally bruised ego from the last tussle they had, one regarding Teddy smelling like chocolate when Lily's candy frogs had conveniently gone missing. “She can take care of herself, I think, Lil,” came his amused response, but Teddy knew when to back off. Lily was also exceptional (much like her mother) at wickedly sharp charms and jinxes.

Ea laughed good-heartedly at her family's antics; it cheered her up knowing they were comfortable around her. Moving into the room she picked a spot next to Lily and they chatted for a while before prefects and heads of houses moved around to let people know it was time to start getting ready to get off the train. She excused herself and went to the compartment that her things were in.

She pulled on her robe and pulled her hair back. She had a general idea of what was to happen when she arrived. She knew that she was going to be staying with the first years to get sorted, then after that she was going to bed. The sooner she got out of the eyes of all those students, the better. 

She felt the train start to slow and stuck her head out of her compartment. No one had their luggage so she tapped on the nearest boy's shoulder. 

"What do we do with our belongings? Surely we don't leave them on the train?"

The boy smiled and laughed kindly, "Yes, actually. There’s a bunch of house-elves who come and take the luggage off of the train and to our dorms." He turned towards her and held out his hand, "My name is Sasha. I'm a third year. Can I assume that you're a first year?" 

She shook his hand and shook her head. "No, I'm in my second year, but I've transferred here this year."

His eyes went wide, "Transferred? Where from?" 

She was about to not answer him when the train stopped and a response was jolted out of her mouth, "A… private institute."

Before he was able to question her further, she ducked into her compartment to grab her small bag that she always kept on her person. She slowly counted to ten before she pushed her way back into the throng of students. 

Keeping with the obviously younger and confused kids, she followed the baritone that shouted for them, "First years! First years this way! Ov’r here!" 

Ea safely maneuvered over to a large mountain of a man with a small, but contagious smile and a huge umbrella that he carried around by the middle, instead of by the curved handle. He introduced himself as Hagrid, Professor and Master of the Grounds, beaming proudly when the new students “ooo”ed at his impressive sounding title.  

He used his umbrella much like a pointer to navigate them to a small cove where he herded them into wide boats. They sat there for a moment, then as if he was shocked into motion, the Professor rapped his umbrella on the boat he was in, and suddenly, all of the boats began to move forward through the dark water

The first glimpse of the castle took her breath away. How she longed to sketch the beauty and haunted omnipotence she felt from this majestic building. Glancing around covertly, she made sure no one was watching her, and she pulled her art pad out of the bottomless organizer bag (or Bob, as she called it) Uncle Harry got for her last year that she never went anywhere without. As quickly and as quietly as she could, Ea drew a rough rendition of the castle, making sure to catch the warm lights from within glowing off of the water's cold, glassy surface.  

When she saw people noticing her, she slid her belongings smoothly back into Bob, and returned to admiring the old castle. They pulled up to another small cove and climbed some stairs that led up to the large front doors. 

After clambering up another set of wide stairs after entering, they were stopped by a tall and awkward looking man, who introduced himself simply as Professor Longbottom, the Herbalism teacher. He directed them towards another set of large doors. He stopped in front of them and explained a little about the sorting. It sounded just like Salem's sorting system to her, so she just nodded along with everything.

He ushered them through the doors and Ea, once again, felt her breath catch at the sight of the long, candle-lit hall. What she figured for the house tables were evenly long and lined down the room. All eyes were on them. 

Shrinking as much as she could given her height into the middle of the group, Ea desperately looked around for someone she knew, something to ground her. Her nerves were high strung, her breath coming in small, quiet gasps. She was about to make a dash for the large doors when her eyes passed over a set of clear, twinkling, steel gray eyes and stuck there. There was a small smirk below his smoothly curved nose, but the eyes held her panic immobile. 

She felt her breathing slow and her anxiety leak from her pores. She looked around her. All eyes were on her, and she realized that her name had been called by Professor Longbottom.

"Dursley, Ea? Come on now, it's not that bad," he said, his arm beckoning her towards the stool with the sorting hat on it. As she made her way towards him, his smile stayed in place, "I was so nervous when I got sorted, that I tripped up these very steps and almost fell off the stool." He chuckled and she giggled, a sound very foreign to her own ears.

"My Mum always tells me to watch where I'm goin', not where I've been." She said, once again feeling more comfortable around this seemingly sincere teacher. 

"She sounds like my Grandmother. She must be very smart," he said quietly, as he set the hat on her head.

She was about to respond affirmatively, when a soft, almost elderly voice whispered in her ear.

"I've been waiting for you, Ea Dursley, cousin to Harry Potter. Your young minds are so much alike. So much strength, and courage." She felt discouraged at his words. So now she couldn't even be sorted without her uncle being brought into account. 

"Not at all my dear, I was merely commenting on the similarities between the two of you."

Ea sighed, "But if everyone is constantly comparing me to him, I'll never be able to be my own person," she thought, "I just want to be normal. No crazy expectations."

The hat actually laughed out loud, something that must not have happened very much because Professor Longbottom and the other staff at the head table, showed signs of concern or interest at the outburst.

"And what's so hysterical?" She silently scolded, embarrassed that the hat had brought more focused, and definitely unwanted, attention to her.

The hat responded in a kind, jovial tone, "No crazy expec- Do you even know wha-” the hat continued scoffing for a long moment, Ea’s obvious ignorance adding to its amusement, ”Well then child, the house you need to be in is..." he paused,

"HUFFLEPUFF!" It said in a cavernous voice, and a table erupted in cheers and whoops. Nervously, she removed the hat that was still chuckling softly in her ear, and handed it back to the Professor. 

She made her way to the waving table and sat next to a few of the newly inducted Hufflepuffs. She got a lot of pats on the back and many people introduced themselves quietly to her. Smiling at her new and very welcoming housemates, she looked over her shoulder towards the table she saw the boy with the gray eyes at, and saw him and many other students clad in silver and green accessories, where her table was in a warm yellow and rich browns.

Right as his eyes landed on her, a voice in her ear snapped her eyes forward. 

"That's Slytherin house. You should be careful around them, they're a notoriously foul lot," said a girl to her right and across the table. Ea couldn't remember her name. Shirley or something. 

"Yea, sure. Thanks Shirley," Ea said absently as she looked back over her shoulder.

"My name is Shannon..." She whined.

"Mhm, that's what I said," she mumbled as she looked back at the other table. 

The minute she did, she was sucked back into the boy's stare. Had he been staring at her this whole time? A blush worked itself into her cheeks, before they're gaze was cut off by a gorgeous girl with red hair leaning into his arm and speaking into his ear. 

Snapping her head forward again, she stayed adamantly focused on the rest of the sorting, cheering when other first years joined her ranks.

Once all of the students were sorted, Professor Longbottom turned over the attention to the Headmistress. An elegant, older woman stood from her large, throne-like chair and addressed them. 

"I've never been one for long speeches, as many of you know," at this, there were many snickers around the Great Hall, which died the second the Headmistress sent a pointed glare at each of them, "So I'll keep this brief. Welcome, students, first years and newcomers." 

Even though Ea knew she was addressing the masses, she could have sworn the Headmistress glanced at her from the corner of her eyes, but it was almost impossible to tell with the glasses she was wearing.

"And welcome back, old students. As ever, we expect you all to provide our new-comers with the proper etiquette of wizarding and witchcraft. And to all, have a wonderful new school year. Now please, everyone, rise and sing our school song!" She waved her wand and words appeared above her, and she began conducting the Houses. 

Once the song was done and everyone had been reseated, she waved her wand once more and food appeared on the table in front of her, and on all of the tables. Flabbergasted at the array of edible items, Ea dug in. 

She ate with gusto. The food was delicious and there was so much of it. Not that she was never fed or didn't eat, on the contrary her mother always kept a solid store of healthy snacks and never skimped on meals. She was just always hungry, but never grew outward, only up, which had its own difficulties. After several concerned glances from people around her,  she slowed down and decided it was time to socialize. Looking over at Shirley, she asked, "So, when are the Quidditch tryouts?"

Her housemate scoffed at her, "Only second years and older can try out for the Quidditch teams. First years aren't even allowed to have their own brooms!" Taken aback at Shirley's hostile tone and irked that her question wasn’t answered, she turned to the boy next to her, effectively cutting Shirley out of her immediate line of sight, "So when are the Quidditch tryouts?" 

The young boy looked to be in her year as well, "In a couple of weeks! Are you planning on trying out?!" He seemed excited.

"Why else would I have asked?" Ea seriously needed to consult the hat on its choice of placement.

The boy looked startled for a moment, shrugged, then hurriedly went back to choking down food. 

What a strange lot... I can only wonder what that hat was thinking when he put me in here.

She hoped that it was a good idea before her attention was consumed by the festive chatter of the filled hall, her eyes occasionally darting back to the other table only to have them caught by similarly questing silver ones.