Disclaimer: Characters are from the lovely HP books written by the amazing J.K Rowling...except for like two, which are mine.

Edited by Mandy

I refused to meet anyone’s eye and I glanced out the window instead. It was unfortunately true, one of the many reasons why I was eventually expelled from Blitzen. I would have never shriveled up a guy’s dick unless I had a really good reason for doing so, and I did.

Ron nervously laughed and adjusted his collar. “You’re joking, right?” he asked.

I arched an eyebrow and didn’t answer. I really didn’t feel like getting into the whole story then and there; Nicole didn’t even know. The only people who knew were the old Headmistress at Blitzen Academy, the guy, and one of my close girlfriends from Blitzen...and she wouldn't be telling anyone soon.

“She’s not serious, Ron,” Harry spoke. Something about the tone of his voice forced me to look at him, and his eyes showed that he did think I once shriveled up a guy’s dick. It was almost like he was seeing past all my protective walls to the truth, and it was beginning to annoy me.

“That’d be a little cold if you did,” Ron said, sounding relieved.

“What if he did something horrible and deserved it?” Nicole asked him. Ron shook his head.

“There’s nothing on earth horrible enough to deserve having your dick shriveled up.”

“There are some things,” I said, glancing out the window again as the train lurched forward, leaving the people at the platform behind.

XXXX

I had fallen asleep for the majority of the train ride listening to my iPod, and I only awoke because someone was shaking me. It was Nicole.

“Get changed into your school robes,” she told me, tossing them at me.

“Here?” I asked groggily, looking around the compartment at Harry, Ron and Hermione. I almost laughed at Ron’s hopeful look.

“No,” Nicole rolled her eyes. “In the bathroom, it’s up the way to the left.”

I followed her instructions to the bathroom and had to wait in a line of girls waiting to change. When it was my turn, I changed quickly and got out of there as fast as I could. I hate waiting in lines. My mother used to say it was because I’m an impatient person.

I thought about her as I walked back to the compartment. I loved my mother in all, but I was really pissed off at her. There was so many things she had lied about, and I didn’t even know if the ‘truths’ she actually told me were truths.

That was why I was in London: to find out. I knew she had just been trying to protect me, but those lies that she had told me throughout my life were the reason why I had begun to hate her. We both knew that if I stayed in America with her any longer, I would eventually detest her.

My stepdad was kind enough to help her realize that. My stepdad was a prick, another reason why I was in a hurry to leave. He had married my mom three years after we left London. He didn’t like the fact that she came with the baggage of me, but he never told her that. He hated me more after he found out I was a witch. My mom never told him she was a witch, and she made me promise I wouldn’t either.

Unlike my mother, I kept my promises.

When I got back to the compartment, Ron and Harry were playing a game of Exploding Snap. The sun had set a while ago and it was getting darker out.

“When are we going to be there?” I impatiently asked.

“Any minute now,” Hermione answered, just as the train began to slow down.

Five minutes later the train came to a complete stop at a train station. I grabbed my book bag and Nicole shook her head at me.

“What?” I asked, confused. “Leave it here, it’ll get taken up to the castle,” she said.

“But my computer!” I whined.

Nicole rolled her eyes and gently yanked the bag off me and carefully put it in my trunk. “It’ll be safe there.”

“You have a computer in that bag?” Ron asked me, trying to peer around Nicole and into the bag. “Uh, duh,” I said, rolling my eyes. “How does it fit?”

“It’s a laptop Ron,” Hermione sighed. "And Stephanie, it's not going to work at Hogwarts."

"Why not?" I asked, a little more then frustrated.

"Too much magic in the air. Plus there are no electricity plugs, internet jacks or anything like that," Hermione explained. I glared at Nicole, wondering why she hadn't told me that valuable information earlier. I wouldn't have brought it if I had known it would be completely pointless.

"Will my iPod work?" I questioned, feeling hopefull. My music calmed me down and lulled me to sleep.

"Nope," Hermione replied, looking at me with understanding.

The weather matched my sudden new mood; it was spitting out outside, and we followed a group to where about fifty carriages were waiting. They were being drawn by really ugly-looking, reptilian horses with wings.

“Those horses are really ugly,” I commented, wrinkling my nose. “Why can’t they have something better-looking to pull the carriages?”

“You can see those horses?” Harry asked, interested. He was standing a little too close for comfort. I stepped back.

“Duh, can’t everyone?”

“Only people who have seen someone die,” Harry replied. “They’re called Thestrals.”

Well that was a cold slap to the face, wasn’t it? We walked towards one of the empty carriages and all got in. I was a little surprised Harry, Hermione and Ron were still with us, I had figured they were going to go find their own carriage. But Harry climbed in after me, followed by Ron and Hermione.

It was a bumpy ride, and the entire way to the castle, Harry stared at me with an interested look on his face. I couldn’t see out the window, so there was no point in trying to look out it to avoid conversation, and myiPod was beginning to malfunction, so I couldn't drown him out with music.

“Who was it?” he asked softly, so the others wouldn’t hear. Ron and Hermione were fighting over the ugly ginger cat she was holding, and Nicole was busy watching them with interest.

“A friend,” I replied, narrowing my eyes. “But I don’t think it’s any of your business.” I added, sounding somewhat bitchy. Harry raised one of his eyebrows and didn’t press me on the subject, which was a good thing too, because I would have ended up crying.