Chapter One; When it all falls down

Have you ever been so miserable it keeps you awake? So lonely, you feel actual pain? So upset, that crying becomes a second nature?

No?

Well, that's how I felt for the first three years of my magical education.

I was only eleven, sweet and innocent and kind in the way only children can be. It was incredibly exciting, to know I was different; special. I was born to muggle parents, doctors of archaeology. They had the perfect fairytale romance, love at first sight. I was the last of six children, four boys and two girls. Being in such a huge family meant we all strived to be unique, to have something that gave us an edge. Magic was my edge.

My parents dropped me off outside the station. They had to be at a conference in an hour, and still had to take Robert to the hospital. I had a very... different style of dressing to most eleven year olds. I preferred dresses to jeans. Floating, wispy dresses that reminded me of a fairytale. Curly blonde hair spoofed around my face, green eyes obscured by thick glasses. Clear skin that was almost luminous. On that particular day, I was encased in a pale orange dress that tickled my knees, and thick white tights that ended in clunky hobnailed boots. A thick, woollen cardigan that was far too big drooped over my arms as I skipped towards the barrier.

There had been no doubt in my mind that I would make friends. At my muggle primary, I had loads. So naturally I was surprised that when, upon entering a compartment containing other first years I was promptly told to 'scram.' Being a positive child, I shook this off immediately. After searching a few carriages, I found an empty compartment, I settled in, and brought out a book. Thus was my first train ride to Hogwarts.

I stood in wrinkled robes, packed by a mother who had little time to iron. My shoulder length hair tangled into a ponytail. Clumpy Clark's shoes adorning my feet. After an awkward boat ride, we made our way up to the castle. Some were dripping, others shivering, some confident. Most terrified. After discovering that it wasn't, in fact a dragon we had to fight, but a hat. The tension fell into a nervousness. The sorting started after 'Abercrombie, Timothy' was sorted into Hufflepuff. I was unsure which house I wished to be in, I wasn't really sure what the differences were. Only the short quips of information that professor Short had given me on her visit to my house.

Therefore, when 'Banks, Arianna' was called, I entered the stage with an open mind. I sat on the worn three-legged stool, whilst Professor Short placed the hat on my head. I jumped when it first spoke, causing a round of titters and a blush to light my face, But I remained strong, staring straight ahead. I think that that was what made me a Gryffindor. The hat told me I would need all my Gryffindor Bravery in the future, which confused me, although I now know it was true.

When I sat down on the Gryffindor table, it seemed everyone was too focused on the fate of a Mr. James. S. Potter, to notice a small girl. Nevertheless, I brushed it off, vowing to become friends with all my roommates later.

Alas, it was not to be. The girls in my dorm turned out to be the simpering, girly, Barbie loving type, I had always hated. They giggled over boys, and laughed at my clothes. As I went to sleep that night, a single tear rolled down my cheek, but I swore to become friends with the other houses.

By the end of First year, I had realised that nobody actually wanted to be my friend. There may have been some girls, but my Dorm mates soon put anyone of with a discrete hex. I withdrew into myself. My bright personality fading, and the only human contact I had was with teachers, and owling my family. My family had noticed the change; it bothered them that the bright, sunny girl they had sent off had returned a sad, lonely shell of her past self. During the holidays, I found my happy self again, laughing with my family and my friends on the street. This happiness faded when I realised I had to go back to Hogwarts again.

My second year wasn't any better. Taunts and laughs became daily routine, I found myself waking early, so I could eat without any comments. My grades were impeccable, my lack of a social life meaning I spent double the time of everybody else in the library. I researched defensive spells, and became a master of shield spells, which came in incredibly usefully for the hexes that where sometimes sent my way. I learned to cast spells onto my curtains on my bed at night, to prevent the girls in my dorm from pranking in my defenceless sleep. My family became even more worried, hey had thought that maybe I had just had a rough year, and that it would all get better. It didn't.

Third year was even worse. The suddenly hormonal boys and girls had discovered that there was no such thing as 'Boy/Girl germs.' This meant that the boys as well as the girls taunted me, with all the same cruelness. My dorm mates encouraged this, and hopeful boys carried out their wishes in return for a quick snog. I spent most of my free time in the library, or, when that became unsafe, my bed. Following a desperate need for a safe space, I had cast an undetectable expansion charm on my bed. It was where I kept all my possessions, including my clothes, so that they were safe. I surrounded the bed with charms, spells and hexes.

Coming home from Hogwarts, I was a mess. My parents decided that it wasn't getting any better, and that it was time to take drastic action. They mailed Headmistress McGonagall to ask for a transfer to Beaubatons. The relief when they told me was overwhelming. It was a new start, in a new country, in a school as different to Hogwarts as you could get. I couldn't wait.

A new story, I shouldn't be starting one as i allready have a wip. But...

Tell me what you think... Review?

Chloe X