Adrienne White and the Whispering Hollow

CHAPTER ONE

Adrienne looked sceptically at the dock as she stood alone with her mom beside her. Both were silent as the cold fog lifted from Lake Champlain. It made her homesick for Hogwarts, seeing the lake in front of her. They were early; they valued punctuality, after all. Soon a trickle of students came in. All of them looked to be from sixteen to eighteen, near Adrienne’s own age.  She was slightly relieved; at least she had something in common with the arriving students.

Smiling faces greeted her. Seeing the fathers wishing their children good luck on a new school year brought tears to her eyes, but she didn’t cry. She had more pride than to do that. The Lake Queen soon arrived and all the students began to board.

“Good luck, sweetheart,” Adrienne’s mother bid her farewell as she hugged her daughter fiercely. Adrienne returned the embrace, lingering; not afraid to leave, but not quite wanting to go.

“Thanks, Mom,” was all she could think to say. “I’ll write as soon as I get there.”

“You’d better,” her mother smiled.

After another, shorter, hug, Adrienne filed into the slow trickle of students and followed them on board.

It was a magnificent ship, to be sure: pearl white, with golden accents and red bunting hanging from the rails, and seeming to be every bit as comfortable as the Hogwarts Express. As the ride was expected to be rather short (it was only half an hour to get to the approximate center of the lake, after all) she opted to stay on deck rather than enjoy the wondrous view, rather then go to the spacious rooms below deck. She was enjoying the solitude that was afforded by the deck, and began to become lost in thought, as she started leaning on the railing that separated her from the lake below. She began thinking of England, Hogwarts, her old friends, her old life. Her father. That horrible night at the Ministry…

“Hi! You know, it’s really kind of cold and damp out here.”

Adrienne turned to see a pretty red-haired girl her own agenext to her. She had her hair pulled back into a braided ponytail, and was wearing a dark blue coat, with a skirt and thick purple leggings. Her eyes were bright emerald and looked at Adrienne with suppressed excitement at meeting someone new.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” Adrienne replied a bit sarcastically with a short laugh. “Good morning to you too.”

“Whoa! You’re English? Are you our new exchange student? The one who fought against Death Eaters? I mean, not that there have been rumors or anything going around. Well, there have been but not bad rumors! Just rumors that you’re transferring here, and that you fought against Death Eaters with Harry freaking Potter, and that your father was - “

“Kat! Maybe it’s best to talk about something else, huh?”

The voice belonged to a boy the same age. He was wearing a worn out brown leather coat, with white fur lining the inside of it. He had brown short hair that matched the color of his coat, under which was an orange collared shirt peeking out of a black sweater. He was wearing black cowboy boots, with grey slacks. As he cut off the red-haired girl’s sentence, he put his hand on her shoulder in a protective manner.

“It’s quite alright,” Adrienne replied, a bit overwhelmed by the redhead’s - Kat’s? - incessant blather. “Yes, that’s me, although I’m a bit surprised that I have a preceding reputation.”

“HA! See, Walt, I told you it was true - ”

“But,” Adrienne managed to cut her off this time, “your friend is right. I’ve had enough people ask me about my little adventure with Mr. Potter and friends to last me a lifetime. Perhaps later.”