Shacking with fear (or is it the train)

Written by Daisy Delacour

Marie clutched her leather suitcase in silence, observing the bustling station of students coming to and fro, batting away the occasional cat that curled up to her. Cats was something that Marie could not understand, and never would. Those creatures did nothing beneficial. Mice could be caught in mouse traps, she thought. Marie has elegant short hair, curled at the edges and well marked eyebrows with a thin rosebud mouth. Her face was crimson with cold slightly, for it was beggining to go cold in September, the warm month of August now fading away as rapidly as it came.

The train was slowing down, and the excited groups of students all made their way to the doors. Marie followed behind cautiously, for she wasn't a fan of huge crowds that pushed people over. Unfortunately, it seemed, at that moment, a few boys behind her tripped and landed right onto her. The weight of a body collided with her, and Marie winced as she found herself close to falling onto the floor in an undignified position.

"Oy, you alright there?" Called a merry voice, yet with no real concern. She stood up, brushing dust of her bright red coat and eyeing the group with distaste. There was a boy, about her age with dark hair spilling from all over his head, making it rather hard to see the round glasses that he wore. There was another one, this time with handsomely dark hair, smooth and long, wearing the same mocking expression. The two chuckled to themselves, but unfortunately for Marie, that was not the last time she saw them on the train.

Stumbling into an compartment and holding back tears, for she was a sensitive girl and hated distruption of any kind. The first carriage was full of laughing girls and boys - the popular group for sure for this year. The next was full of fourth year students, all revising and deep in learning. Marie didn't like to disturb them so continued her hunt for a place to sit. Finally, she found a semi empty compartment with a boy with dark hair and a hooked nose, and a girl with the bright, carrot colored hair. They seemed to be talking to each other and smiling, so Marie risked it to step in.

Both turned immediately to greet her, the red haired girl gave a beaming smile and introduced herself almost at once.

"I'm Lily Evans! Are you in your first year?"Marie couldn't resist a smile.

"Yes, I'm Marie. Marie Noel."

"And I'm Severus Snape, hello." The boy looked at her, a warm smile escaping his lips. Marie, charmed by their kindness, promptly took a seat next to Lily.

"We're talking about houses. What one are you going to be sorted in? Me and Sev decided that we're hopefully both going to be Gryffindor, it sounds far the best." Lily smiled, fingering a bracelet on her hand.

"Oh, sounds nice. I'm hoping to be a Ravenclaw, actually."

"Yep, I-" Severus was cut short of speaking, because the doors were flung open. An unwelcome sight greeted the group. It was those boys that she saw on the platform.

"Oooh look who's here. Snivellus found a girlfriend - or two?" The leader with glasses laughed, "Now look here, you might not want to sit next to him, he's not washed his hair for ages I bet." The second laughed with the first. After a bit of bullying, they left. But an uncomfortable silence stayed, and the jeering echoed silently.

In short, the train journey was not that eventful apart from that. Marie found herself growing close with Lily and Severus, all hoping that they would end up in Gryffindor together at the end.