Arctic Love

Chapter 3: Home

I walked in to see a shocked Beth and Claire. Maddy had gone to the bathroom, which only reminds me that I never actually got a chance too.  

"Elena, what happened?" Beth said standing up to examine my shirt.

"It's fine, I say "it's just water"

"Who did this?" She asked

I start to panic knowing that I can't say I've been with Draco for the last ten minutes and that he spilled water on me. Beth would go crazy. She'd probably walk right over to Draco and make him apologize.

"I did when I was in the bathroom, I just splashed myself when I was washing my hands," a said trying to sound as convincing as possible.

Beth takes the bait and sits down beside me leaving me closest to the window. Claire offers me her green and black stripped Slytherin sweater for the rest of the train ride and I take it. I look out the window to the green hills and land that seems to stretch on forever.

Then I find myself thinking about Draco and how nice he was to me. I was shocked that he knew my name but even more shocked at how genuinely kind he was. I guess he's one of those boys that put on an act for his friends. I much preferred the nice Draco and I wanted to get to know him.

Putting Draco out of my mind I slowly doze off and fall asleep.

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I wake up in darkness and prop myself up and look across the cabin to see Beth and Claire sleeping on each other and Maddy is reading a book called Mysteries Of The Black Lake. She notices that I'm awake but only gives me a small smirk before diving back into her book. I look out the window to see the night sky full of stars and there's a full moon. I always notice that at Hogwarts there's a full moon, maybe it's a spell.

I notice that I have to go to the bathroom and get up to head for the hall. Maddy looks up at me and I tell her that I'll be right back. I walk down the hall, being fully alert not to hit anyone this time. I make it to the bathroom and look in the small mirror and fix my hair. I go to the bathroom then wash my hands. I step out of the bathroom and start to walk down the hall. I'm almost to my cabin when someone taps me on the shoulder. It's Draco.

"Hey, are you dry yet?" He says in a sort of joking way.

I didn't know what to say. If I wanted to get to know Draco I couldn't act like every other girl in Slytherin. I had to make it obvious that I wasn't going to one of the girls that fawns over him.

"Ya, mostly," I say looking down at my still damp shirt. It was dry enough that it wasn't uncomfortable but there were still some spots that haven't fully dried.

"Good," he said turning on his heel and walking away down the hall. I went back into the cabin and Maddy was still reading and Beth was now up. Claire was still sleeping leaned against the window.

"Hey," I said to Claire who was going through her bag looking for something.

"Hi, do you know where we are?" She asks looking up from her search for the unknown.

Now that I thought about I didn't. I'd just woken up too and didn't know if I had to change into my robes.

"No, I'll ask someone," I say standing to leave the cabin.

Claire gave me a nod and I walked across the car to the opposite cabin. I noticed a boy that I knew was in the cabin and I knocked in the door. The door opened and I stuck my head in. The boy that I knew was named Ben and he had blonde hair and blue eyes. His hair was the same tint of blonde as mine and not nearly as overwhelming as Draco's platinum locks. He's sitting with two other boys that I don't know as well, Olly Silver and Alex Lockwood. Ben smiled when he saw me and stood up. The two other boys waved to me but looked too comfortable or tired to get up.

"Hey Elena, how was your summer," he asked as he walked over to me.

Looking back on my summer it hasn't been all that eventful. I spent most of it with my mom and brothers at home and when I did go out it was only for a few hours. I've gotten into the habit of saying my summer was great because no one asked questions after that. No one really cares about how my summer was they just say it out of politeness. I got the feeling that Ben really did care. He looked as if he genuinely wanted to know how my summer was.

Ben and I had met in first year after we were both sorted into Slytherin. He was in most of my classes and we quickly became good friends. We always sat together in the common room and studied together for the classes we had together. It got to the point where we had to shut down our dating rumors everywhere we went.

"It was...relaxing," I said not trying to sound like I had the laziest summer ever.

"That's good hear," he said leaning against the wall of the cabin.

"So anyway," I said remembering why I was here. "Do you know if we're close to Hogwarts, everyone in my cabin fell asleep," I said kinda laughing at us.

"We're an hour away," he said looking at his watch. "You don't have to rush to get ready yet"

"Thank you, I'll see you later," I said turning on my heel and walking back across to my cabin.

"See ya," he said sitting back down.

I went back to my cabin to tell my friends how much time we had before arriving and they all nodded to tell me they heard me. I sat down and looked out the window. The moon was shining perfectly over the green hills and a small lake that we passed by. I knew we were close.

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We all changed into our Slytherin robes in the cabin. I loved putting on my robes. It made me feel safe and proud. They were mostly black with a black and green tie. There were also green details down the sides and the Slytherin crest on the left side, over my heart where it belonged.

The train stopped at Hogwarts station and Maddy, Claire, Beth and I all got off the train together. We met up with Ben, Alex, and Olly before heading towards the carriages.

The carriages were pulled by invisible creatures for the dark forest. I remember how Luna once told Harry that only people who had seen death could see these creatures and I was no longer interested in seeing them.

I see Hermione, Harry and Ron get off the train together as they usually do and I wave at Hermione. She nudges Harry and runs towards me.

"We're here," she says hugging me.

"I know," I say excitedly. Even though this is my fifth year at Hogwarts I still got excited when I arrived every year.

I give Harry and Ron hugs too and we all share a carriage with Maddy, Claire, Alex, Ben. Beth and Olly.

There's ten of us in one carriage which make us all squish together. Beth is basically sitting on me. The carriage starts to move and we are our way to the castle.