The Chaser [sequel to The Mudblood]

Chapter 2: Year 1

Fred's grand plan was for me to convince the Slytherins to eat Dancing Donuts and then let him and James sneak into the common room so they could just...laugh. I didn't tell him the plan was lame, but it was. Frankly, I had no intention of doing it, but it remained a backup option if I couldn't recover the journal on my own.

For the rest of the train ride, I gazed out the window and daydreamed about Hogwarts while James and Fred volleyed jokes back and forth amongst themselves. I'd never been to the school myself, and my father's descriptions had been boringly utilitarian—"Uh, there's a dining area, and the common room has a fireplace, and...there's food..."—while my mum's had revolved solely around Quidditch. I knew the exact length of time it took to skip from the castle to the pitch, but I had no idea what classes I'd take.

When we arrived, I joined the rest of the first years by the lake, unintentionally finding myself beside Albus Potter. He took one slightly disgusted, slightly alarmed look at me and then scurried to the other side of the crowd.

Sighing, I glanced at the other kids around me, none of whom paid me any mind except the creepy girl on my left. Her pale grey skin shone in the moonlight, wisps of dark hair obscuring half her face, and I could've gotten past all that if not for the way her translucent blue irises bored into me.

"Hi," she squeaked, rapidly looking away.

"Hi..." I managed, grateful that we were being ushered onto the boats now. I hated interacting with strangers, and I didn't know how to make friends. Dad was my only friend, really.

Unfortunately, I ended up on a boat with the creepy girl, along with two redheaded girls. The paler-skinned one had an open book in her lap, while the darker-skinned one was half standing in an attempt to scour the other boats.

"Do you see Al yet?" the reading one asked without looking up from her book.

"No. Hopefully James didn't hex him and leave him on the train. He did seem rather cross that Al ran off and hid with the Cloak."

The creepy girl cleared her throat, earning the other girls' attention. "Um...what are you reading?"

"Hogwarts: A History. It's my mum's favorite book."

Shifting, the creepy girl accidentally brushed my arm with hers and then nearly flopped off the moving boat. "Er—uh...is it good?"

"Good is subjective. But I've read it seven times, if that tells you anything."

The redhead who'd been standing plopped into her seat, causing the boat to rock and the other redhead to scowl. Oblivious, the former squinted at me and gasped. "You're the Pucey girl! My parents say your mum's wicked at Quidditch. I'm Roxanne Weasley."

I leaned forward to shake her outstretched hand. "Alvie...Pucey," I added unnecessarily.

"Rose Granger-Weasley," the other redhead greeted with a tart smile. It faded when her brown eyes drifted in the creepy girl's direction. "Are you...a vampire?"

"No," she sneered, sounding quite vampiric. "My parents are vampires. I'm just..." Her eyes darted to me before she looked down. "...just a witch."

Rose snorted as she returned to reading. "Right, well, I s'pose I'll need to craft some garlic necklaces tonight."

"Yeah, if you wanna repulse everyone." Roxanne rolled her eyes, though they turned sympathetic when they fell on the creepy girl.

Still, neither of the Weasley girls said anything more to her or me for the rest of the boat ride. When we finally docked, I quickly fled the awkward scene, eventually finding myself planted beside Scorpius in the entrance hall. I did a double take at the sight of him because he'd removed his pink makeup and now wore smudges of black eyeliner that made him look like he was about to attend a Weird Sisters concert.