Fate vs. Free Will
By Jay

Prologue


 Kayla Ross set down her Game Boy sadly. Her mother had finally come through on her threat.

‘If your room isn’t clean by Friday, I’m stealing your boyfriend away until it is.’

Her boyfriend being a pocket sized electronic toy, it wasn’t much of a challenge. Her mother took it away, and Kayla sat on her bed, disgusted. She didn’t have time to clean her room. She was busy with other stuff…really important stuff. Like getting Dominic to notice her. Hanging around the basketball court in his neighborhood seemed to do the trick, until he discovered her complete and total lack of hand-eye coordination. Plus, he lived in Yonkers, and it made her late, having to take the train back home to Manhattan.

Her parents were starting to worry.

Maybe she should just give up. Maybe Nicole was right. Maybe Dom was gay.

“Oh, damn it all to hell,” Kayla muttered, searching beneath a pile of clothes on the floor for her wand. She could at least clean her room faster, and get her Game Boy back. At least it had never ignored her to stare at another boy’s ass. God, she’d been blind. And she’d made a complete fool of herself, once Dom remembered that Kayla lived in Manhattan. And then she’d tried to play basketball. Ugh. That had been pathetic.

Kayla found her wand at last, and proceeded to put everything in its rightful place as fast as possible. If she was doomed physically, and couldn’t fly a broom to save her life, then at least her work with a wand was second to none. The slacks and jeans appeared to fold themselves, and slip onto hangers and into drawers as if by magic. Which it was. Kayla was a student at the Manhattan Intra Secular School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and she had just completed her fourth year.

And this was supposed to be the summer that she got a boyfriend who didn’t run on batteries.

Kayla sighed, and looked at herself in the mirror. She pushed her hair out of her face. Maybe it was her hair. It was black, just past her chin, and chemically straightened. Naturally, without a perm, it was a kinky nightmare that looked like it belonged in a shower drain somewhere. But she’d taken care of that, and hopefully, no one remembered how she’d looked when she was eleven, anyway. Her eyes were brown, but so dark they appeared to be as black as her hair. She had dark brown skin like her mother’s. Some said they looked alike, but fortunately, Kayla’s nose was not nearly as large as her mother’s. Her father had a smaller nose, which she’d inherited, and lighter tan skin, which she had not. It was all for the better anyway, Kayla thought. He scarred and sunburned far too easily.

Kayla stopped analyzing her features long enough to put away the last of her clothes, only to hear her father yell up the stairs,

“KAYLA!!!”

“I’ve cleaned it, I swear!” she cried. It had only looked so bad for a few months, he shouldn’t be that mad.

Kayla stuck her wand in her back pocket, and raced down the stairs.

“Give me my boyfriend back, Mother. I cleaned my room. Go look, if you don’t believe me.”

“I believe you, dearie. Here, take the freeloader,” said Ebony Ross in her smooth Georgia accent, handing Kayla her Game Boy.

Mrs. Ross then turned to her husband.

“Now what was so important that you had to use that dreadful bellow, hmm?”

Charles Ross sighed. It had seemed like good news when he’d left the office, but now he had to tell his family. Gulp.

“I’ve been promoted,” he started.

“Hooray!” shouted Kayla.

“That’s wonderful, Charles!” Ebony hugged her husband tightly. Strangely, he didn’t hug her back.

“It’s the kind of promotion that you can’t refuse.”

“That good, huh?” smirked Kayla, who was oblivious to her father’s dreary undertone.

Ebony was not.

“ ‘Can’t?’ ” She repeated warily.

“Apparently I’ve done so well here, they want me to represent our product in another area. Permanently. I’m to go there and stay with it, until it sticks, and remain to see it through till the end. Which is my retirement, it seems.”

Charles’ rich voice had lost all of its cheer. Kayla was reminded of Grandfather Ross’ voice when he told her that her puppy had gone to Jesus.

“Where?” Ebony asked, fear evident in her voice.

“London.”

Silence. Then…

“WHAT!?!”

“First we have to leave Atlanta to come here, and now this? I don’t believe this crap!”

“It’s not my fault. I don’t know what to tell you. I’m sorry, but it’s either this, or I try to find a new job-”

Poor Charles felt the burn of two sets of identical coal black eyes staring at him angrily.

“Which would be difficult if I left my current one under such circumstances…”

The heated glares reduced slightly. Kayla and her mother looked at each other and sighed. They turned back to Charles. He had no idea what was coming; he hated it when they seemed to communicate with their eyes alone, and ganged up on him like this.

“Charles, dear, it is not your fault you’re the best sales associate they have, and they want to use you to their advantage,” Ebony started soothingly.

“But you could stand to develop a backbone, Dad!” cried Kayla desperately.

Charles decided to use the last weapon in his arsenal.

“My pay has increased to a six figure sum.”

Ebony was silenced.

Kayla was not.

“I still have to change schools. Again. It’s not fair.”

“There’s a good wizarding academy in Scotland…”

Kayla put two and two together.

“I have to go to a BOARDING SCHOOL!?!”

Charles shrank from the thunder that was Kayla’s angry voice. Yes, she had indeed inherited his bellow. And from a female it could be deadly.

“I’m sorry, honey. I’ll do anything to make it up to you.”

Kayla shut her mouth immediately. Her mind went to work.

“At least twenty regular season and five playoff Braves games, every season, until I graduate.”

“Done.”

“Sir, we have a deal.”

Kayla shook her father’s hand and ran up the stairs to pack, shrieking with happiness. So she had to move. Who gave a damn? She was going to at least twenty-five Braves games every season for the next three seasons. She practically drooled. She had to buy film. Screw that, a video camera. Oh, wait until Nicole found out. She was going to die.

Kayla put her favorite CD on, and turned it on as loud as she could.

Ebony heard the familiar opening sounds and rolled her eyes.

“Yes, yes, yup!” said Kayla happily.

“You’re too easy,” Ebony told her husband, who sighed.

“Welcome to the Kayla extravaganza…” Kayla continued.

Charles put his head in his hands. At least his daughter was happy. And it was better than hearing her bellow, right?

Kayla sprinted down the stairs and began to sing and dance to her favorite song,

“…Can’t touch the untouchable, break the unbreakable, shake the unshakeable, it’s Kayla, baby, can‘t see the unseeable, reach the unreachable, do the impossible, it‘s Kayla baby, can‘t move the unmovable, stop the unstoppable…”

Modified a bit, obviously.

Kayla, the biggest Jay-Z freak in the Eastern hemisphere, continued to shake and shimmy, posing and placing emphasis on the mention of ‘unwrapped the gift and the curse in one session,’ and winking at her father, who couldn’t help but laugh along with her.

Ebony was on the phone, complaining to her twin sister.

“I tell you, Opal, it begins again. This time it’s permanent. I thought that we’d have to spend a year in New York, and then get to come back home. But it’s not to be. What! Mother says she knew this would happen? Put the old biddy on the phone, Opal. I can’t believe this.”

The song died down, along with Kayla’s exuberance. Grandma Merewether did have accurate predictions occasionally. She went upstairs to turn off the stereo.

“Kayla,” her mother called. “Grandma wants to talk to you.”

Kayla picked up her extension and waited for her mother to hang up.

“Hello Kayla,” started her grandmother.

“Did you know about this?” Kayla demanded.

“I knew that the waves of change had not ceased their motions upon your shore.”

“Lovely,” muttered Kayla. As usual, her answers were cryptic and obscure.

“I wish to speak with you about your gifts.”

“Which ones are those now?”

“The ones you inherited from me. The power to feel the emotions and energy of others.”

“Oh. It doesn’t really work, Grandma.” She only felt things from members of her family, and could only sense the energy of someone she knew. She couldn’t tell that Dom didn’t like her, she thought bitterly. What was the use of having empathy if it only worked with people who you knew so well they would probably tell you what was bothering them anyway?

“It must. It will. It passed your mother, therefore it belongs to you. It will speak, and you must listen. Never ignore a sign from your heart. You are one who is to be guided by your feelings and senses.”

Kayla sighed. This was a new angle, but it was the same Grandma. She didn’t have the power like Grandma did. She certainly couldn’t see the future. Divination was a joke to her.

“Okay, I’ll pay attention to what my senses tell me, but honestly, Grandma, they really don’t say much.”

The old woman’s voice turned to steel. She was not to be ignored.

“This time they will be saying plenty. And they will be split. I can see the divide as clear as day.”

“Split? My senses will be split? What does that mean?”

“You will be divided. Your mind will be confused. There will be a fork in the road. But you will know where to go.”

“I sure hope so,” Kayla grumbled. Grandma could be scary sometimes. But you just knew she was right. Well, because she was. Always. It was a lot to live up to. Kayla was supposed to be the heir to all this. But she wasn’t a seer. And Grandma never said she would be. It would probably be Nicole, she thought. Aunt Opal didn’t get the gift either. It was nice to know that she wasn’t alone. Nicole was going to sucked into this too.

“Hey Grandma, can you put Nicole on?”

“All right, dear. Remember what I said.”

“Yes, Grandma.”

Nicole picked up the extension in her room, which looked extremely similar to Kayla’s. In other words, both rooms resembled miniature Atlanta Braves Halls of Fame. The girls themselves looked alike too, seeing as their mothers were identical twins.

“Hello?”

“Hi Nick-Nick!”

“Kay-Kay! What’s up?”

Kayla didn’t even mention that she was moving to London.

People in Atlanta turned around, wondering where all that screaming was coming from.

Chapter One- First Impressions

Author’s Note: Okay, we’ll be skipping all of those Braves games (aw, shucks!) to go straight to September 1st and get to where the story really begins. I don’t like using first person, so the point of view shall remain omniscient. Okay, let me shut up so you can get to the story.


Chapter One: First Impressions

“Dad, we’re going to be late!” Kayla shouted. She was supposed to catch the train to her new school at eleven o’clock sharp, and it was 10:30. She looked at her mother nervously.

“Five more minutes and we leave him,” Ebony assured her daughter calmly.

“Oh, good.”

Kayla checked for the tenth time that she had everything she would need for the next nine months. She hated going away from home. Not that she was used to calling this place ‘home’ at all. But she didn’t have a choice in the matter. They’d left New York a few weeks ago. Charles had sent an owl to the headmaster of Hogwarts (what a ridiculous name, Kayla thought.), and she was transferred into the most prestigious wizarding school in Europe. According to the rag that passed for a periodical around here.

“Okay! Let’s go. See, I didn’t make us late.” Charles huffed, having finally found his left shoe.

“And with thirty seconds to spare,” muttered Kayla.

They drove to the station and made it in time. Ebony and Charles tried not to make a big deal out of it, but Kayla had never even gone to summer camp before, much less boarding school for the better part of a year. The only thing propelling Kayla on was the signed baseball in her suitcase. And the picture of Andruw Jones with his arms around herself and Nicole.

Two more years of ‘Meet and Greet the Atlanta Braves’ was enough motivation for Kayla to walk through Hell. She would deal with Hogwarts.

Kayla took a deep breath, hugged her parents tightly, and pushed her cart through the enchanted column that signified Platform 9 ¾.

She went through with her eyes open, and saw black, and then a very busy platform, with many tearful goodbyes between parents and children, and people lugging suitcases that resembled hippopotami. She shook her head, and wheeled her cart to the luggage car. Kayla took out her wand and arranged her things neatly, and then folded up the cart and put it in her purse.

She noticed people glancing at her occasionally. Well, she didn’t know anyone yet, so she smiled back, and waved a little. And then she would have to find somewhere to sit. She decided to walk straight to the back of the train, remembering a game she had played with Nicole, trying to terrify each other to death.

‘Worst case scenario,’ Nicole would say. ‘You sit in the front of the train to be near to the conductor, so you won’t miss your stop, and you’ll be the first to know if something went wrong.’

‘That sounds all right,’ Kayla had said, puzzled. ‘What’s the scenario?’

‘The tracks are out, and you’re the first to know, but when the conductor pulls the emergency brake, you’re too close to stop in time, so he detaches the rest of the passenger cars to save their lives, and you die with him.’

‘What’s wrong with you?’ Kayla had cried. Then she thought for a moment. ‘Wait a minute. Is this before or after the Braves’ next World Championship?’

‘Oh,’ said a horrified Nicole. ‘Before really would be a worst case scenario.’

Kayla smiled at the memory, and peered into the entry of the last passenger compartment. Sitting inside was the most beautiful boy she had ever seen. He was reading a book, and hadn’t noticed her. She silently thanked God that she had decided to wear the Braves jersey that was tailored to fit her body, rather than the large authentic jersey that dwarfed her already slight frame.

“Hello,” she said hesitantly, clutching her purse as she hovered in the doorway, waiting for the blond haired angel with pearly skin to look up.

He did, and then looked back into his book again.

Kayla frowned. She crossed the threshold of the compartment and sat down next to him.

He turned, apparently surprised that she was still there.

“In case you haven’t noticed, this compartment is occupied.”

Kayla answered right back,

“In case you haven’t noticed, there’s plenty of room for one more.”

The boy opened his mouth, and then shut it again. He stared at her.

“Who are you?”

“Kayla Ross. And you?”

“Draco Malfoy. You must be new here.” He said this with a peculiar look at her.

Kayla smirked.

“What, are you the school leper and no one remembered to tell me?”

“Of course not.” Draco glanced at her shirt. “What are you wearing?”

Kayla glanced down at herself, wondering what the big deal was.

“It’s a baseball jersey. I wear it to school all the time. What are you wearing?”

She pointed to Draco’s black cloak.

“What’s wrong with my cloak?”

“It’s boring. Don’t tell me that’s the school uniform.”

“No, but you will get house robes to wear after you’ve been sorted. I wonder what house you’ll be in,” Draco mused.

“What are you talking about?” asked Kayla, mystified.

“You are a first year, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m not. I’m a fifth year. I transferred from Manhattan Intra Secular.”

“Didn’t they have houses there?”

“No, they had classes. Well, I suppose a boarding school would be different than a day school. What year are you in, Draco?”

“I’m a fifth year as well. Ross, hmm? Are all of your family wizards, then?” he asked casually.

“Well, we don’t really have a sign outside our door saying so, but everyone on both sides is capable of performing magic. Satisfied?” she teased.

“Not even close. Why did you transfer to Hogwarts?”

Kayla sighed.

“My father has a wonderfully mundane job promoting and selling products. His company loves him so much, they want to use him everywhere. This is the second time I’ve moved in a year’s time. I can’t take much more of this. It seems every time we move, it gets colder and rainier.”

Draco laughed quietly.

“Welcome to Scotland.” He pointed to the window. Sure enough, it was raining.

“Oh no,” Kayla gasped. She immediately opened her purse and searched for her collapsible umbrella. She imagined herself putting one foot outside of the train in that horrid weather, and her hair. She didn’t even want to think about it.

Draco watched Kayla rummage through her bag, and couldn’t help smiling a little. She had walked right in as if she had no idea who he was, and it turned out that she didn’t. Even after he told her his name. And had she actually insulted him? It was a clever joke, he had to admit. Why should she fear him? Part of him wanted her to, wanted her to learn what the name Malfoy meant. The other part rather liked having someone around who was neither a servant nor an opponent, like everyone else in the school was. The other Slytherins feared him. They weren’t really friends.

And everyone else was so self-righteous. Like they were better than him or something. She didn’t act like that. Draco noticed that the pile of odd items from her bag had accumulated. He poked at a few of them. One beeped at him. Kayla looked up and laughed.

“Want to feed her for me, Draco?”

“Feed who?”

“Licuadora,” said Kayla.

Draco just stared blankly at her.

“My cat. No, I did not put a live animal in my purse. It’s a digital pet. I named her blender in Spanish because-well, it’s a long story. Give me that blue thing over there.”

Draco handed her the thing that had beeped at him.

Kayla turned it so Draco could see the little cat on the LCD screen.

“See?”

Draco saw, but he still didn’t really see.

“What’s the point?”

“It gives you something to take care of. Something to love. I’ve been having trouble finding real ones, myself.” Kayla mentally smacked herself on the forehead. She couldn’t believe she had said that. Great. Tell the cute boy that no one will date you. He’ll start to wonder why, and decide that you can have the compartment to yourself and leave.

“I don’t see why. You’re pretty enough, and nice too.” Draco wondered why he had told her that. Yes, he thought she was pretty, but- She was looking at him now. She looked like she was trying not to laugh. He glared at her, angry with himself. He never should have-

“Thank you, Draco. I appreciate the compliment. You’re too kind.” Kayla gave up and allowed the huge smile she had been fighting back to present itself. Draco had a very odd expression on his face. At first he’d looked as though he was about to scowl at her, but now he looked very confused.

“Draco?”

“Yes?” He snapped out of it.

Kayla decided to throw caution to the wind and be forward.

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

Draco decided to put Pansy Parkinson in the rubbish bin where she belonged and be honest.

“No.”

Kayla smirked at him.

“Hmm, I don’t see why not. You’re pretty enough-” she mussed up his hair, causing a very satisfying gasp of shock- “and nice too.” Kayla laughed at the look of betrayal on Draco’s face.

“I couldn’t help it, Draco. Your hair was screaming, ‘Liberate me, Kayla.’ Look, if it’s that serious, I brought a fine toothed comb.” Kayla reached into the apparently bottomless depths of her purse and retrieved a thin black comb.

Draco stared at the handle of the comb. It looked like a sharpened, whittled down silver knitting needle.

“Is that a comb or a weapon?”

“Both. Now let me fix your hair.”

“Yeah, right!” Draco jumped up and backed away from her. “After an answer like that, do you honestly expect me to let you use that thing?”

“For goodness’ sake, Draco, I was only joking. I use that end to part my hair, honest. Now sit down.” She pointed at his seat. He sat reluctantly. She went behind him, her chest pressing against his back, knees on either side of his hips. She held in a giggle when she heard his sharp intake of breath; she was so bad, and she knew it. But he didn’t get up.

“I think, that if I weren’t a witch, I’d probably be a hairstylist,” Kayla said calmly, as she parted Draco’s hair in the opposite of the way he usually did. She could tell; there was practically a rift on one side of his head, where he’d combed the hair to the side for years. It wasn’t that visible, unless you were looking for it. Kayla did like to do her friends’ hair.

“What are you doing? I can’t see,” Draco complained. His hair was in his face. He wondered if it was really necessary for her to do his hair from the position she was currently in. Not that he minded…

“Just a minute. I’m giving you a new look. Don’t worry, it’s completely reversible. When I’m done, if you don’t like it, I promise I’ll comb it back into the same boring style it was in before, to go along with that boring cloak you’re wearing.”

“It’s not boring. It’s practical. Besides, I thought you said you were from New York. Doesn’t everyone wear black there?”

“Number one: ‘It’s practical?’ You sound like my father, Draco, and that is not a compliment. He is a very weak man. Don’t be like him. Number two: I’m not from New York; I’m from Atlanta, Georgia. The home of the Braves.” Kayla leaned over his shoulder so he could see her and pointed at her chest with the comb.

“Got it,” Draco muttered.

“Third: Everyone does not wear black in New York. That’s Seattle.”

“Good grief, Kayla. I didn’t ask for a Muggle Studies lesson.”

“And I didn’t give you one. So shove it. Now, how’s that?” Kayla slipped from behind Draco and opened a compact mirror so he could see what she’d done.

“I look like a fop.”

“You do not. You look very attractive to women. Trust me.”

Draco glanced up at her with a raised eyebrow.

Kayla thanked the Lord that her skin was too dark to show a blush. She’d parted his hair and combed most of it to the left, leaving a fringe to curl about his temple. He’d been angelic when she first saw him. Now he looked positively sinful.

“Oh, really?”

Please, God, don’t let him be psychic, Kayla thought desperately.

“Shall I comb it back?” she said aloud.

“No, it can stay.”

Kayla nodded and put away her comb, along with the rest of her things. Two rather large boys paused in the doorway, looking at her curiously. She stared back, and then looked at Draco. He flicked his head to the side, and the boys vanished.

“Who were they? Your henchmen?” she teased, fixing his hair back with her fingertips.

Draco sat perfectly still as she did this, feeling the soft touch of her hand against his forehead.

“No, they’re just in my house. I’ll see them later.”

“I think you’ll see them rather soon. We’re here.”

Draco stood, noticing that he was half a foot taller than her. She glared up at him.

“Don’t feel special. I’m shorter than everyone. No wonder you thought I was a first year.”

“Well, that, and the fact that you actually came into my compartment.”

“How many times do I have to tell you? No one told me it was quarantined!”

Draco hadn’t laughed that hard in years.

Kayla smiled at him and opened her umbrella over both of their heads. Draco took it because he was taller, and discreetly shooed Crabbe and Goyle away, who shrugged and walked ahead. Hagrid was calling all the first years to him as usual. Draco steered Kayla away from him.

“You’re not really a first year. Why don’t you stay with me?” Draco asked.

Kayla smiled back.

“Why not?” She linked her arm with his and they got into a carriage. Kayla laughed at Draco’s efforts to collapse the umbrella, and finally had to reach over and do it herself.

Kayla peered out at the huge castle that was her new school. Draco studied her, watching her reaction to everything. It would certainly be different from anything she had encountered in New York or Atlanta, that was for sure.

Once they reached the school, there was the ordeal of opening the umbrella again (‘I’ll be damned if my hair’s going to get ruined. And I just did yours!’). They walked into the school, arms still linked, and somehow their hands had sought each other out as well. Draco was well aware of all of the eyes on their backs, but Kayla was still looking around in awe of everything. They entered the great hall, and Kayla realized how segregated everything was. Four large tables, and no one was going from one to the other or anything. Not even to talk. She wondered which one Draco belonged to.

Or rather, from the way he was acting, and the way he was looked upon, which one he owned.

Draco led her to the table near the far wall. He nodded to several people sitting there, and everyone made room for him. She sat beside him, now wishing she’d worn one of those ‘work robes’ her mother had purchased, claiming it was on the list she’d gotten from the school. She would have fit in a lot better. It seemed that the wizarding population in this part of the world was mainly Caucasian. On top of that, she was the only person in the room not wearing a black cloak or robe of some kind. Unless you counted the professors at the head table, but they were wearing brightly colored robes that her mother would have called outlandish.

“I thought you said that the black cloaks weren’t a school uniform?” Kayla hissed at Draco, who shrugged.

“Normally it isn’t. But this is the start of term banquet. Hmm. Maybe I should have said something.” He smiled innocently at her.

Kayla sighed, and then laughed helplessly. She couldn’t be mad at him. She knew it. She was completely smitten.

“So what is this sorting into houses you referred to earlier?” she asked.

Draco’s face became serious.

“You’ll have to try on an enchanted hat, and it just places you where you belong.” He looked into Kayla’s eyes. You belong with me, Draco’s eyes seemed to say.

“What house are you in?” Kayla whispered. Draco opened his mouth to answer.

“Kayla Ross!” a stern female voice rang out.

Kayla stood up automatically, and releasing Draco’s hand, quickly headed to the front of the room. Whispers sprung up all over the room, to her chagrin. Maybe you weren’t supposed to sit at a table until you’d been told to by the hat, she thought. Geez, how formal.

“Sorry, Ma’am,” she apologized.

“That’s all right, Miss Ross. Sit.”

Kayla sat on the chair, and a worn old wizard’s hat was placed on her head.

Hmm, said a small voice in her ear. Kayla muttered to the hat, “Well? Where do I belong?”

You’d be fine just about anywhere, said the voice.

“We haven’t got all day!” Kayla whispered.

But you’re almost equally divided. You’re split, murmured the voice.

“What!” Kayla practically growled at the hat. “Just pick one! People are waiting!”

You care for people, said the hat. That’s the difference. I know where I’ll put you!

The hat shouted loud enough for the whole hall to hear, “GRYFFINDOR!”

Kayla sighed with relief at the hat finally deciding something, and handed the hat back to the professor with a smile. She whispered to her, “Where shall I go?”

The professor smiled back and pointed to the table in the center of the room. Kayla sighed; it wasn’t Draco’s house after all. The students there made room for her, and she sat down, immediately making eye contact with Draco, and shrugging. She didn’t know why she didn’t wind up in his house. He nodded back slightly, but his eyes looked colder, somehow. And he’d smoothed his hair back, away from his face. Kayla looked in front of her at all the food that had appeared, but she had lost her appetite.

“Excuse me,” said a dark haired boy sitting across from her.

“Yes?” Kayla asked wearily. She suddenly felt very tired.

“I’m just wondering, how did you wind up sitting with the Slytherins?”

“The who?”

“The Slytherins.” The boy jerked his head at the table behind the one they were sitting at.

Kayla shrugged.

“I just came in with Draco and sat with him until my name was called. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to sit there. What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that you’re a Gryffindor. It’s just odd, that’s all.” The red haired boy next to him looked like he wanted to say something, but his friend stopped him.

“She didn’t know, Ron. Leave her be.”

“Kayla?”

Kayla turned to see a brown haired girl.

“I’m Hermione Granger. You look a bit old to be a first year. Are you a transfer student?”

Kayla nodded numbly.

“What school did you transfer from?”

“MIS. Manhattan Intra Secular.”

“Oh, what’s it like there?”

“Very, very different. It’s a day school, for one thing. And there aren’t any houses, either. Students are just randomly placed into classes. Why all the segregation? I don’t understand.” Kayla kept looking at Draco. Who wasn’t looking back.

Hermione noticed this. She leaned over the table conspiratorially.

“You fancy him, don’t you?”

Kayla nodded miserably.

“Well, he’s in Slytherin, and you’re in Gryffindor, now. Our houses are enemies, and there’s a really big rivalry. He takes it seriously, and so does everyone else. He might not speak to you any more. It’s nothing personal.”

“Oh, that’s a relief,” Kayla muttered. “I really don’t need this. That damn hat. Arrgh!” Kayla suddenly growled loudly enough to frighten those sitting nearest to her, and stalked angrily out of the Great Hall. Hermione followed, sympathetic. Especially considering that Kayla had no idea where the dormitories were.

End of Chapter One