The Life of Bells Potter PART ONE

7) Above the Hogwarts Express

"Who are you?" A bushy-haired girl, with brown eyes and large front teeth, faced me.

"Bells Potter," I answered as if I were being questioned by a teacher.

"Are you really? I've read all about you, and mostly about your brother in books. I'm Hermione Granger." She spoke all of this so fast that I barely had time to register that I was still standing there and talking to her.

"Oh hello, Hermione." I shook her extended hand, and feeling that our conversation was over I turned around and walked away.

As I had predicted, I was invisible to the Hogwarts students who were loitering about or sitting in their compartments. I saw Percy, one of the Weasley twins talking loudly with a burly boy. I slipped past him. The train seemed to go on and on, teeming with students, until I could see a spiral staircase leading to what I assumed would be the roof of the train.

Intrigued, I climbed up. Who should I meet, but one of the Weasley twins?

"Bells!" He said exaggeratedly.

"Chimes!" I responded in equal force.

"I'm Fred Weasley. What are you doing here though?" He folded his arms.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned his question.

"I was going to go and-" He stopped, eyebrows knitting, "What's that got to do with you?"

I laughed and pushed him aside to climb ahead.

George, his other twin was sitting on the roof of the train, dangling his legs, and did not look too surprised to see me.

"Ah, the cranky Bells Potter." George considered me, "Fred's told me a bit about you."

I decided to ignore the twins. They already thought of me badly, and they were a waste of my time. I walked ahead, the wind blowing at my face and playfully toying with my hair. My face lit up in the soft sunshine and I inhaled deeply.

Fred and George were still there, eating their packed lunch. They offered me a sandwich which I took hesitantly.

Honestly, I was not too eager to go to Hogwarts. I already imagined what I'd be there. I'd be constantly compared to the famous Harry. I'd suck at everything because I never listened to anybody. And within no time, I'd break thousand school rules, get told off by all the teachers, and then I'd be a disgrace.

Fred and George helped me a little. They told me of all their jokes and escapades involving the Hogwarts caretaker: Filch.

"You'd have to be careful with Peeves the poltergeist, though." George warned me, "He doesn't know secret passageways through the Hogwarts castle, but he plays a lot of tricks and gets students into trouble."

"We haven't made it to the Forbidden Forest though? Have we George?" Fred gazed at the distance, while I keenly sat cross-legged listening to their stories.

"No..." George replied sadly, "Hagrid caught us last year and the year before last. We hope to make it through this year though." He told me.

"It's your third year?" I asked them casually, and the two of them nodded.

Our conversation continued, with me giggling at their incidents, and understanding that perhaps Hogwarts was home for weirdos like me...

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