Mischievous-A Marauders Fanfic

Prologue-Halley

I leant out of the window of the Hogwarts Express, waving madly, even though I didn't actually have anyone to wave to. My parents hadn't come through the magical barrier at the Platform Nine and Three-quarters, because they didn't like magic. It interfered with their normal, boring lives.

The man with the strange clothes that had come to our house three weeks ago had said he was from the Ministry of Magic, which was essentially like another Parliament, but for witches and wizards. Witches and wizards, I thought. It seemed crazy to think that I was a witch, and my parents weren't. They were Muggles, the man with the strange clothes had told me, and that because they were my parents, I was a Muggle-Born.

I took my big suitcase and began to lug it down the corridor of the train. I wanted to find somewhere to sit. All the compartments I'd passed were filled with older students, and even though I thought I could hold my own against them I still wanted to find some people in my year.

I passed a compartment where there was just one girl sitting there, on her own. She looked young, so I dragged open the compartment door and beamed at her.

"Are you first year?" I asked. She nodded shyly. She had quite pale skin, not like mine, since I'd been on holiday to Spain, and quite a pretty face, deep blue eyes, and a irritatingly natural dirty blonde bob cut just below her shoulders, with a solid straight fringe that hung just below her big, square black glasses, and she reminded me a bit of a sparrow in the way she sat, hunched over with a book on her lap.

"Can I sit with you?" I added, and when she nodded I dragged my bag into the compartment and hauled it up onto the rack.

"I'm Halley Derwent. I'm a muggleborn. What's your name?" I held out my hand firmly to the girl, who took it, after a minute.

"My name is Samantha Spinnet" she said quietly. "I'm a pureblood."

"It's nice to meet you, Samantha" I smiled, settling myself on the seat opposite her. "Do you want to be friends? I don't know anyone here at all."

"I'd like to" Samantha replied steadily. She spoke very slowly, really emphasising on her words as they came out, or maybe that was just nerves, I thought to myself.

"But it depends on what house we both get Sorted into." Samantha looked worried.

"I don't know what that is" I shrugged. "Can you tell me?"

She paused, gathering her thoughts.

"Okay."

She began to explain everything to me, about how there were four houses at Hogwarts, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, and how when the first years arrived they were all Sorted into one of the houses, and wr would stay in that house for the rest of our time at Hogwarts.

We were interrupted by the compartment door sliding open with a bit of a bang, and three boys piled in, all about our age.

"Sorry ladies" the boy at the front, a skinny one with dark blackish brown hair, high cheekbones and round silver glasses smirked. "Everywhere else is stuffed. Do you mind?"

I looked quizzically at Samantha, but she was watching the boys like a rabbit watches a car coming to crush it, so I jumped to my feet.

"What are your names, since you've all just barged on in here?" I asked, putting myself between the boys and Samantha and staring their leader down.

"I'm James Potter" the leader said arrogantly, holding out his hand like I had to Samantha before. "This here is Remus Lupin, and this is Peter Pettigrew. It's good to meet you."

"My name is Halley Derwent, James Potter" I replied coolly, taking his hand and giving it a firm shake. "This is Samantha Spinnet. We don't mind you sharing our compartment."