prankster || r.w.

2.

Date: 9/1/95, 11:00 am

     The train did in fact leave at exactly 11:00, not a second sooner or later. It was an old red train with black features, the lettering on the sign reading The Hogwarts Express.
     "What year are you in?" Ginny asked the two girls. She was the only sister of the Weasley family, and the youngest sibling. "I'm thirteen, and in my third year."
     "Well, we're fourteen so I guess that means our fourth year," Ozzy nodded, and Hermione looked at the pair weirdly. "Something wrong, 'Mione?"
     "You two look about the twins' age," she shook her head. "You're positive you're fourteen?"
     Elliot nodded her head warily. "Yeah, we're fourteen. We get that a lot; that we look older, but we really aren't. We were born fourteen years ago, me in 1979, and Ozzy here in 1980."
     "What is your birthday?" the girl pressed on. "Mine is September 19th, same year as Elliot's."
     "Mine is Valentine's Day," Elliot smiled. "February 14th, 1979."
     "And mine is March 16th, 1980," Ozzy shook her head. "I didn't get the 'cool' birthday." She rolled her eyes.
     The twins entered the compartment and plopped down on either side of the two Irish girls. "Ours is April Fool's Day," they smirked, saying it at the same time.
     "Yeah, Mum always spends the whole day cleaning due to their stupid pranks," Ron shook his head. "One time they made this green goo and put it in a bucket over the door, and when Bill and Charlie walked in they pulled a string and it dumped all over their heads. Spent about four hours cleaning it up." The twins laughed and high-fived over the girls' heads. "My birthday is March 1st, 1980, by the way if we're still doing birthdays."
     "Harry, when is yours?" Ozzy asked, propping her chin on her fist, her eyes practically making him melt. She did this all the time when she had an attraction towards someone and Elliot shook her head at her friend.
     "Erm..." he cleared his throat, looking away from the girl. "The thirty-first of July, 1980."
     "Great, other than the twins I'm the oldest," Elliot scoffed. "Do I have to be some type of 'role-model' or something?"
     Fred took a bite of a chocolate frog and chewed it quickly, swallowing. "No, that's what 'Mione is for."
     "Thank god," she mumbled. She turned back to the ginger female. "Gin, what's your birthday? I never got it."
     "August 11th, 1981," she replied, stealing George's drink and taking a quick sip.
     The group of teenagers continued to talk for the next two hours, Ozzy still insufferably flirting with Harry and making him all flustered.
     "We're about twenty minutes away from the school," Hermione's soft voice spoke, the sun slowly setting outside. Elliot was leaning back on Fred, his arm wrapped around the girl's torso as her head rested on his stomach, the girl laying in-between his legs. Ozzy was laying on the floor with her head resting on Ginny's stomach, Ron sitting on the bench across from Elliot and Fred with Hermione, and Harry and George were kicked to the floor, the two sitting with their backs against the benches. The two troublemaking girls had never really had a family before, but they felt welcomed and comfortable with their new friends, leaving the girls to now be cuddled up with the red-haired family.
     Footsteps approached the outside of the compartment, and a platinum haired boy peered in. "Hmm, the blood-traitors and the mudblood have gotten some new friends, eh?"
     Elliot peered up at Fred, his jaw was clenched. She could tell that he didn't like them. "Go away, Malfoy," Hermione's voice hissed. "I'd like to spare them from having to meet you, you ferret."
     Ozzy giggled slightly when Hermione said "ferret", causing her to sit up and reach the gaze of the boy. His hair was almost blinding, his eyes a piercing grey, and his jawline sharper than any knife they had used to prepare dinner at their old foster home. "Dear god, what type of hair-dye do you use," Ozzy groaned, holding her hand up over her forehead to shield her eyes. "You're going to make me go blind, whatever your name is."
     The boy rolled his eyes. "I don't dye my hair, mudblood. And my name is Draco Malfoy, only the richest wizard family known to man, and the purest of the pure-bloods. Who are you, you filthy mudblood. You must not be too important to be hanging out with these..." he paused to think of an insult. "...lowlifes."
     "Ozzy Dunbar," she smirked, standing up and approaching the boy. "You look like you've had a hard life...Draco," her tone seethed. "Most likely been bullied, just want to be noticed and loved because 'daddy doesn't love you anymore'? Well, if you thought your little daddy was bad, oh baby, I'm your worst nightmare."
     The tension between the two grew, their eyes glaring into each other's. "I feel like they're either going to beat the shite out of each other, or they're going to ride on the ground," Elliot tilted her head back to whisper to Fred in a tone only the two could hear.
     "Personally, I hope it's the first option," Fred replied, then he looked down slightly. "Wait, what does 'ride' mean..."
     "Irish slang for 'sex'," Elliot replied, still in a soft tone. "It's like your slang, 'shagging', but we just say ride."
     "Oh...alright. Yeah, still hope it's the first option."
     The duo watched as Draco slowly walked off, the compartment silent. "Well, he's a prick," Ozzy shrugged, turning around. "What's the story there?"
     "Poor bloke introduced himself to Harry the first day he got here," George shook his head. "I'd feel sorry, but then he insulted Ron so I don't feel as bad. But, you're correct, he's a prick. Calls us 'blood-traitors' because we aren't afraid of having relations with others that aren't pure-bloods, and calls ''Mione that derogatory term." He shook his head.
     "W-what's it mean?" Elliot asked warily. "I don't mean to offend you but..."
     "No, you're fine," Hermione responded, sitting up slightly in her seat. "It's just another term for a muggle-born, but it's offensive."
     Elliot nodded. "Oh, alright. Ozzy and I are muggle-borns as well. And Harry's a half-blood and all of you red-headed buggers are pure-bloods."
     "Well, you figured that out fast," Fred chuckled slightly as he sat up, making Elliot sit up as well so they could change into their robes. "Who told you?"
     "The woman who adopted us," Ozzy replied, the girl pulling on her robes over her shirt and buttoning it so she could pull on her skirt without flashing anything. "I think you guys might know her. Minerva McGonagall?"
     Ron choked slightly on his Pumpkin Juice. "Your mum is Professor McGonagall?"
     Elliot nodded. "Yeah, Minnie's our adopted mam. Why's that matter?"
     "Well, the two twins happen to have quite a history with your mum," Ginny voiced smugly.
     Ozzy turned to George. "You didn't...DID YOU GET THE RIDE WITH MINNIE?!"
     "Oi, you blundering idiot shut up," George groaned. "We didn't shag McGonagall. We just happen to get into a lot of trouble with her."
     "'A lot' is an understatement, George," Hermione shook her head, now dressed in her robes as well as all the others. "You two get into trouble every two days with that poor woman."
     Elliot examined her robes, and then walked over to Ron and ran her finger over a patch.
     "May I help you?" he asked, looking down as the girl looked at the patch, a lion embroidered into the fabric.
     "Why is they're a lion and 'Gryffindor' stitched into your robes?" she asked. "Ozzy's and mine are plain."
     "When you get to Hogwarts they sort you into houses. There's four; Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw," he explained, the train coming to a stop and the girl beginning to follow him out of the compartment and off the train, the others walking ahead of them. "Gryffindor, mine, Harry's, Hermione's, and all of my sibling's house is for the brave and chivalrous who are always open to adventure. Slytherin's are the sly, cunning, and ambitious. Hufflepuff is the kind and loyal. And Ravenclaw if the wise and witty."
     "Okay, so basically you're sorted based on your traits, even though most people have all of those? And then, I'm going to guess none of you really like the people in Slytherin since they're looked at as villains for their cunningness and their slyness?"
     Ron's eyes drooped a little. "Yeah, I was raised to believe we didn't really like Slytherin's, and that not a single person sorted into Slytherin wasn't going to come out as evil, but that's just the stereotype and I don't agree with it much anymore."
     Elliot nodded. "Right. So you guys won't hate me or Ozzy if we just do happen to get sorted into Slytherin?"
     "'Course not," he smiled slightly, glancing over. They came to a stop outside by a wagon pulled by something invisible. Their friends had already managed to get into a carriage that held all of them, and Ron and Elliot were the only ones left. "Come on, guess we're riding alone."

***

Elliot's jaw unhinged slightly as she looked up at the giant school she was to go to, as did Ozzy's, the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione laughing slightly at the two. "I did not know we were going to school in a castle," Ozzy remarked.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," Ginny giggled towards the girl. "You'll love it."
They walked through the doors of the giant castle, its tan, stone walls holding in the cold that made them shiver. They followed the tall ginger twins through the hall and around a corner, up the steps and then into a giant open room with tables and heads of hundreds of students. Ozzy tilted her head up towards the ceiling which looked like the night sky, and floating candles hung in the air. They took a seat with their friends who waved at a large man sitting at the front of the room at a long table with several other adults.
"Those are the professors," Hermione whispered to Elliot. "Hagrid is the big jolly one at the end, he's half giant."
"Half giant?" Elliot inquired, gulping slightly.
The doors at the end of the hall reopened and in came Minerva leading a heard of small children, which Harry informed were first-years and were getting sorted. The girls watched as each child was called up to sit on a stool with a hat placed upon their head which would read their traits and sort them.
"Elizabeth Mannheim," McGonagall called, and the hat followed with a "RAVENCLAW!"
Each child was sorted, and a older bearded man approached a podium on the small stage-like area where the professors sat. "Good evening to all of you, and welcome to Hogwarts," he greeted, his voice sounding wise. "I am Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Now, before we start on this term's announcements, we have three new students this year. Last term, Josslyn Flores came to tour the school and her transfer from Beuxbatons has been confirmed, so please give a warm welcome to Josslyn Flores!"
     The doors at the end of the hall burst open and a blonde haired girl made her way down the section between the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor tables. She swayed her hips, her hands out in front of her clasped together. She was in her robes, but they had been modified. She had stitched lace into the collar, the ends of the sleeves, and the bottom, and her smile looked like pure evil with the way her lips curved and the corner of her mouth curled up.
     "Dramatic much?" Ozzy rolled her eyes, watching as the girl made her way to the front of the room and took a seat on the stool. Before the hat even touched her head he hollered out "SLYTHERIN!" and the girl let out a wicked giggle, making her way over to the Slytherin table as her robes magically changed to have a snake embroidered in dark green and silver on her left side of her chest.
     Dumbledore clapped slightly before clearing his throat to gain the students' attention. "Next we have Ozzy Dunbar, a new witch from Galway, Ireland."
     Ozzy stood up, a smile on her face as she ran her fingers through the hair on her scalp. She looked over at the Hufflepuff table slightly and met eyes with a boy before she turned forward and stepped up to the stool, taking her seat. Minerva placed the hat on the girl's head, the boy she had made eye contact with at the Hufflepuff table watching her intently with a smile on his face. "HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat called out, and the table whistled and clapped as the girl stood up and made her way over to where the boy sat and took a seat across from him.
     "And finally, students, we have Miss Elliot Stewart, also from Galway, Ireland," Dumbledore announced.
     Elliot stood up and began to walk off, the twins clapping her on the back and clapping their hands, wolf-whistling with their fingers. She rolled her eyes playfully and walked to the front of the room, the whole place silent with anticipation. When she reached the stool she took her seat carefully, crossing her hands in her lap as she looked out over the crowd of hundreds of students. The Sorting Hat mumbled words the girl couldn't make out, and Ron leaned forward on his bench seat, his elbows propped on his knees and his hands folded together as they watched intently, the silence deafening.
     "Hmm..." the Sorting Hat though. "Better be...SLYTHERIN!"