starstruck || hannah abbott

1 || train ride

She stood alone on the platform. Wisps of smoke drifted off the train and dissolved underfoot of anxious students pushing to get the best seats on the Hogwarts Express. A dull roar of chatter and friends reuniting covered by an occasional blast from the train's horn. It was time to board.

Anastasia Dorhn waded into the crowd, her faded green trunk in tow. Her brown eyes were searching for last year's friends. She tucked her long brown hair behind her ear as she scanned the witches and wizards all around her.

"Hey, Dorhn!" A nasally voice called out and she glanced over her shoulder.

A girl with long black hair and an upturned nose wove her way expertly through the mass of students and greeted her.

"Hi, Pansy," Anastasia returned the greeting quietly.

"We've already got a compartment, what took you so long to get here?" Pansy fell in step beside Anastasia as the two headed over to load her trunk.

"My grandmother and grandfather seemed to purposefully want me to be late. They never want me to leave the house, especially with the Triwizard Tournament escapade from last year," Anastasia explained dryly as she and Pansy hoisted the trunk into the baggage car and made their way onto the train.

Weaving through the students, the two girls found the back of the train and entered amongst the other Slytherins. Pansy plopped down next to Draco Malfoy and laid her head against his shoulder. Anastasia sat near Theodore Nott who was arguing with Blaise Zabini over Quidditch. Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe were already asleep and snoring.

"Theo, keep it down," Pansy mused from Draco's side and Theodore rolled his eyes.

"Why don't you keep it down, Parkinson," he fired back.

"No one cares about Quidditch anyway," she drawled, ignoring his rebuttal.

"I do," Blaise and Theo fired back in unison and Draco scoffed at them.

Anastasia shook her head and resorted to staring out the window as the train left King's Cross Station en route to Hogsmeade. The journey was rather uneventful with a few more outbursts from Blaise about Quidditch and Pansy making stupid comebacks. She complained a little about her hair and the upcoming term but other than that, the group mostly kept to themselves.

Anastasia herself wasn't very fond of Pansy Parkinson but she got on well with the boys ever since being sorted into Slytherin. Pansy was, apparently, part of the package meaning Anastasia would tolerate her for the sake of her other friends. She secretly hoped that Draco would break off whatever "on-again-off-again" relationship he had with Pansy and rid them all of her snide comments but the hope was in vain. Blaise and Theo shared her views but the three wouldn't dare approach Draco with such a notion for fear of his reaction. Crabbe and Goyle remained complacently indifferent to the whole ordeal.

After a while, boredom and fatigue had set in on the whole group save for Anastasia who needed some air. She excused herself from the compartment and went to change into her robes. Once that was complete, she turned to head back to her compartment but found herself face to face with a rather blonde Hufflepuff. Anastasia froze, her feet suddenly rooted to the train's floor. The girl in front of her had long blonde hair, curious blue eyes, a soft spoken face, and faint pink traces of lipstick.

In a manner of seconds, the Hufflepuff apologized and scooted around her to go back to what Anastasia could only assume was her compartment but Anastasia remained for a moment longer, still awed. How had she never seen this girl before? She looked old enough to be either in her year or one year below her but never had she laid eyes on someone so. . .pure?

Anastasia shook her head as though go clear her head of such intrusive thoughts before hurrying back to her friends. Hufflepuffs and Slytherins never got along and never certainly formed lasting friendships. Why suddenly was Anastasia overcome with such an urge to befriend this girl? Her cheeks flushed as she took her place back by the window. She closed her eyes and smoothed her robes but that did nothing to quell her thoughts. Thankfully though, her friends didn't appear to take notice of her blushing cheeks and fidgeting fingers as the train, at last, pulled into Hogsmeade.

"Finally," Pansy grumbled as she and Draco rose to leave. Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise, Theo, and Anastasia followed the couple out onto the dark platform, night having already closed in on the grounds.

The tall outline of a Rubeus Hagrid brandished a large lantern and called out to the first years as everyone else wandered toward the Thestrals that drew the black carriages along. Anastasia couldn't see these bony creatures despite the tragic death of both her parents when she was only twelve. Their house had burned down and only Anastasia had escaped, but the images of her parents' bodies burning thankfully not cemented into her brain. Every school year brought that memory back as she exited the train and followed Theo. He, himself, could see them having witnessed his mother's death when he was younger so they shared something regrettably in common that way.

As they approached the carriages, Draco spat something at the Golden Trio as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger walked by.

"—I expect there's a cell in Azkaban with your name on it!" Was all Anastasia heard being so far back but she saw Harry make a lunge at Draco only to be held back by Ron.

She pitied Harry and all the terrible things that had befallen him and never understood why Draco was always so maliciously intent on bullying the Potter boy. She knew that he had refused Draco's friendship their first year and the two were in rival houses but why must he incessantly insult him? Was it anything to do with an underlying factor like Anastasia?