Awkward Affections (A "Harry Potter" Fanfic)

Prologue

Based off of J.K. Rowling's brilliant Harry Potter series. Enjoy!

I ran excitedly onto the Hogwarts Express for the first time. As soon as I was onboard, I let out a sigh of happiness. I had been waiting to go to Hogwarts for eleven years now, and I was finally getting there.

Students of all ages bustled around me. "Move!" a particularly rude fifth year barked at me. I, however, wasn't fazed at all. I kept on grinning, basking in the happiness brought to me by the Hogwarts Express.

"C'mon, Ava, let's go find a compartment for ourselves," grunted my best friend Oliver Withey from beside me. His voice was surprisingly low for an eleven year old.

"Alright," I said excitedly. I was practically skipping alongside Oliver as we searched for an empty compartment.

"Here, I think this one's empty," Oliver slid the compartment door open. "Oh, sorry, my bad." Inside the compartment were two red-haired twins and a dark-skinned boy with dreadlocks. They all seemed to be laughing hysterically at something. Oliver quickly backed out and closed the door.

We finally found an empty compartment near the end of the train. Oliver and I stuffed our luggage inside just as the train started up. We plopped down in our seats and looked at each other.

"Are you as excited as I am?" I asked.

"Yeah, I reckon I am," he grinned back. I giggled.

I heard some rattling and screeching noises so I turned to look at my owl, Egbert. He was pecking at the cage, wanting to be let out. I opened the window to our train compartment and took Egbert out of his cage. "Now be back before we reach Hogwarts, got it?" I pet his shiny golden brown coat before releasing him.

"You're so lucky, Ava. I wish I had an owl," Oliver said with a wistful expression as he watched Egbert fly away.

"Your mum will give in soon enough, don't worry, Oli," I reassured him. Oliver's mother was quite strict with him and she said she wouldn't buy him an owl until he was older. I thought this was quite ridiculous, owls are dead useful no matter how old you are.

"So, I hear the food's good at Hogwarts," I said conversationally.

"Oh, yes," Oliver said eagerly. "Daniel said the feasts are positively fantastic." Daniel was Oliver's older brother, who was now out of Hogwarts and running a pawn shop in Diagon Alley.

"Well then, I'm definitely looking forward to good cooking." My mum's cooking was, well, terrible. You'd think a witch who'd graduated Hogwarts with twelve OWL's could cook a decent casserole, but apparently that wasn't the case.

The rest of the train ride went by quickly, we talked happily about what Hogwarts would be like, what spells we would learn, and how strict the professors would be. When the food trolley came around, we both stocked up on Pumpkin Pasteys and Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans (Oliver practically choked when he was unfortunate enough to catch a spoiled milk flavored one). We were swapping Chocolate Frog cards when a pecking noise caught my attention.

I saw Egbert outside the window, silently asking to be let in. I got up from my seat to let him in and put him in his cage. I looked at Oliver excitedly. "I suppose this means we're close to Hogwarts."

"Yeah," Oliver said, looking slightly awkward. "Er, should I step out so you change change or...?"

I laughed. "Don't be ridiculous, Oli. What are best friends if we can't change in the same room? All we've really got to do is pull on these robes, anyways."

"Right," he said, still not looking convinced.  He pulled his school robes out of his trunk and started to change, as did I.

"There," I declared once we were both safely into our robes, "we managed to change without any major accidents, eh?"