Annotations
My second story on Portkey!! It'll be longer than the first one (if I can make at least one person stick with it, that is). You'll need to be patient with this one if you're hungry for romance between certain couples. I promise this is going to be marvellous, breathtaking, whatever you want ^_-
I'm not a native English, so please, if anything sounds weird or simply false, your corrections or comments are always welcome ^-^
What else? Enjoy! And please review.
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Chapter 1 - Arrival
The train was rumbling through the night. Every now and then, the wheels screeched eerily, as though to scare away the last passenger they were carrying. Harry Potter was sitting at the window, his forehead in contact with the cold glass, and staring outside into the night.
How come everything had to be so dark? Wasn't there anybody alive out there?
The very moment Harry had finished the thought, a dazzling light hit his eyes, hurting them. He shielded his face quickly, but white specks had already started dancing, and his glasses were fogging from the heat his watering eyes were radiating.
Five years, and he still cried about his grandfather.
Well, naturally, if you lost your only living relative, and were transferred from cold orphanage to cold orphanage, because you couldn't get along with anybody --- ?
"Drop it", Harry told himself sternly. That helped.
He had trained himself to obey his own commands - otherwise, he might have gone mad already.
The door of his compartment flew open. A woman with her black hair in a tight bun - she had already seen the best of her days, as he gathered from the lines on her face - glared down at him.
"You're the Potter boy?"
He nodded glumly.
"The train stopped five minutes ago. Get your bag already", she said crossly, pointing at the sad, ragged pile above his seat.
Someday, Harry thought miserably as he hoisted his luggage onto his back and followed the woman outside. Someday, I'll tell them my name is Harry, not 'The Potter boy'...
The air outside smelled salty. "Are we near the sea?" Harry asked, and was ignored.
They trod up a worn path that wound itself slowly away from the train station, the last brave outpost of civilisation in the area, uphill, where nothing but moving shadows were visible. Harry could not help feeling scared, with the last remainder of light in his back. Was it not against human nature to walk into the darkness?
There was silence, apart from the occasional foot kicking pebbles out of the way. Harry thought he heard waves crashing and roaring in the distance... Somehow, the sound made him feel even lonelier, imagined or not.
After twenty minutes of walking through the darkness, Harry could hardly see his own feet anymore. Was this place real? He had never experienced a night like this. Was it possible for light to be absorbed this completely?
Before Harry could begin to doubt his hands, however, his silent companion stopped, causing him to walk straight into her. He thought she gave him a reproachful stare in return; he could faintly make out the whites of her eyes.
"We've arrived", she said harshly. And they had.
A door was torn open before them, and light spilt out, not quite extending to where they stood.
"Helen, that you?"
"Yes", the woman called back. So her name was Helen. It did not suit her.
"Brought the Potter boy?"
"He was there alright", Helen grunted, moving towards the source of light. Harry stumbled after her, thinking it might be best to follow.
A man was standing in the doorframe, the bulging eyes in his skull-like head staring down at Harry. In fact, he very much resembled a skeleton. His face was neither friendly nor unfriendly; in fact, Harry wondered what it might look like displaying emotion.
The man extended his right hand, and Harry placed his own, clammy hand into the surprisingly sweaty, bony palm. They let go rather quickly.
"I'm Jack Flinch, the housekeeper. Mind you wipe your feet." Jack indicated a muddy, greyish mat on the floor. Harry was careful not to wipe his shoes with too much strength; the mud from the mat might stick on them.
Helen grunted again, waving a small torch. Harry took it as the cue to follow her. He hastily grabbed his bag, leaving a trail of mud and a cross-looking Flinch behind him.
They went up a flight of stairs and through a long, narrow, lonesome corridor. Harry counted nineteen doors on his left and sixteen to his right before Helen stopped at the seventeenth; beyond the range of her minuscule torch, no wall was visible. With a sinking feeling, Harry forced his thoughts away from the image of a jail, in spite of the small windows embedded in the low doors.
"Your room", Helen said, indicating the large red "17" painted above the door on the whitish frame. "Breakfast at seven. Don't be late."
"Erm", Harry gave voice, but she had already turned her back on him and was walking down the corridor, the circle of light fading as she disappeared round a corner.
Resignedly, Harry felt the door and pushed it open.
Naturally, the room was pitch-dark. Not wanting to make any noise in case he had roommates, Harry drew the door shut behind him and knelt down beside his bag. He fell asleep almost immediately.
***
He was lying face-down in a pool of yellow, shimmering liquid oozing from large splintered shards. His eyes were glued shut. He knew that his friends were by his side. He wanted to shout, but then he realised he did not remember their names. Then someone pushed him, hard.
"Get up", said a cold voice. Harry wrenched his eyelids open. A tall, slender boy with a pale, pointed face was towering over him. The room was suddenly full of light. Confused, Harry blinked.
"Get up", the boy repeated. His voice had not risen, yet Harry shivered as though he had just been threatened. He scrambled to his feet.
"What are you doing in my room?" the boy demanded quietly.
"I'm your roommate from today", Harry answered, remembering. "Harry Potter." He extended a hand. The boy ignored him.
"I don't want a roommate", he said, pushing roughly past Harry and slamming the door shut behind him, leaving Harry to ponder over what he might have done wrong this time. He heaved his trunk onto the four-poster bed near the window, the only one that looked unused. He did not have the heart to unpack just yet. And he was right.
A moment later, the door flew open with a bang, and Helen entered, a stern look on her face. Harry involuntarily cowered as she marched towards him.
"Take your things", she ordered. "You're not staying in this room."
Relieved, Harry took his back and followed her outside.
The corridor was very different from the night before; it was buzzing with voices. People shot covert glances of curiosity at Harry as he passed them. He was equally interested in them, but could not gather strength to look into their faces.
"Room number 23", Helen said finally, indicating the door. To Harry's surprise, she did not walk away like she had the night before. Instead, she entered the room after him and closed the door.
"I must warn you not to run foul of Tom", she said.
Harry stared at her, puzzled. "Miss, I, erm..."
"Helen", she said in her harsh voice. "And I am serious. Tom gets angry over the smallest things, and he does not discuss with you. Bad things have happened, very bad things..." Her voice trailed off. Harry shuddered.
"Helen... I haven't done anything wrong today, have I?" Harry asked tentatively.
"Well you were sitting in his room unasked for, and you made him late for breakfast. Enough to make Tom burn with rage." Helen told him. She considered Harry for a minute with an almost kind look.
"And speaking of breakfast..." Harry's stomach gave a loud rumble. "You had better head down to the cafeteria quickly, or there will be none left. You can unpack later."
***
Chatter and the clanking of dishes greeted Harry as he entered the cafeteria. The noise at the long table died down momentarily. Harry, who was uncomfortably aware of being stared at, looked around for a vacant seat. There seemed to be none; only Tom was sitting by himself, cold indifference written into his face. After their recent encounter and Helen's words, Harry found he could not quite work up the nerve to sit with him. He thought about coming back later when someone touched his shoulder. He turned around. A very small girl was smiling up at him shyly. Her honey-coloured hair was flowing around her shoulders in waves.
"I'm finished. You can have my seat", she said in a small voice, pointing.
"Oh, thank you", Harry replied, startled. He gave her an uncertain smile, at which her cheeks turned crimson, and walked away towards her seat. To his horror, he realised he would be sitting between girls - in his former orphanages, this had been absolutely forbidden. He was not used to girls at all. "Better finish quickly", he thought wildly, and settled down next to a girl with long fiery red hair.
"You're new?" she asked in a hard voice, grabbing the slice of bread the boy sitting opposite them had been about to secure for himself, and handing it to Harry.
Surprised, he nodded, unsure what to say next.
"Me too", she remarked. "I arrived an hour ago. I was living with a foster family, but we didn't get along. I'm Ginny, by the way. Ginny Weasley. - And you?" she asked when Harry did not reply immediately.
"Harry Potter", he mumbled between bites. "I arrived last night."
"Oh, so I'm actually more newbie than you." Ginny laughed and shook her hair. She thoroughly seemed to enjoy the notion of being new.
Harry was spared the trouble to come up with a suitable answer, because a gong echoed through the cafeteria, and with a loud clatter, everyone put down their knives. Chairs scratched on the wooden floor as people lined up for the exit. Harry was keen to put distance between himself and Ginny and ended up bumping into Tom.
"Watch your step", Tom said icily.
"I'm sorry", Harry told him hastily. Near the door stood Helen, her eyes narrowed at the sight of them. He gave her a feeble smile, which she did not return.
Back in his room, Harry found he did not have any roommates. He took the liberty of occupying more than half the cupboard, and again chose the bed near the window.
A knock on the door disrupted his work. To his dismay, Ginny Weasley entered, plonking herself down onto his bed.
"There's a strange guy down the corridor", she told him without introduction. "Room number 17. He just told Amy not to cross his path again, and that's impossible around here. She's scared to tears. I would be careful around him if I were you."
"I know", Harry said matter-of-factly and returned to folding his socks. "I was supposed to be his roommate, actually. He made me leave before breakfast."
Ginny looked at him incredulously. "He must be nuts. Shouldn't we do something about him?"
"Well, as you said, let's avoid him and we should be fine", Harry yawned. "Erm, would you mind leaving now? Only I want to finish..."
"Oh, right", she snapped. "I was only being friendly!"
And she left the room, her head held high. The door slammed shut behind her. Harry jumped.
"What a lady", he muttered. Well, the good thing was that she did not remotely scare him the way other girls did. Of course, she was quite scary in her own right. Harry grinned to himself. Now he had two people to avoid, which was an achievement for the very first day around.
***
It was nearly lunchtime when he finished packing. Harry's stomach was rumbling again, so he left the room a little early. Halfway down the stairs, however, Ginny caught up with him.
"More people will be arriving today", she said brusquely, not bothering to refer to previous events. Harry felt stunned by her rushed behaviour. Wondering slightly whether he would ever get used to her, he let her continue with her speech. "Amy's just told me. We might get roommates at last!"
"Aren't you sharing with Amy?" Harry asked, feeling dazed.
"No", Ginny replied. "She's been here for ages, so she's in one of the lower numbers. But we were sitting together at breakfast... She's the one who gave up her seat to you."
Harry tried picturing shy petite Amy sitting next to noisy Ginny. He could not blame Amy for giving up her seat.
Helen ushered them to the very end of the long table. "We've got more people arriving. If they are early, they might want to eat. Sit up there, sit up there..."
The next person to walk up to them was Tom. He sat down at the head of the table, leaving two empty chairs between him and Harry. Ginny ignored him, despite her statement earlier that day that she wanted to do "something" about him. To Harry's surprise, however, Tom seemed very interested in Ginny. He was actually staring at her. His fork missed his mouth twice, puncturing his skin. Apparently, he did not notice.
And with reason.
For a split-second, Harry thought he saw the fork bend away slightly whenever it got too close to Tom's skin. When he tried to figure whether this was a trick of the light, however, he was distracted by Ginny, who did not take kindly to being stared at by a recently declared enemy. She shook her hair aggressively, and finally burst out at Tom, "What is it with you?"
Tom's eyes narrowed. They were filled with cruelty as he spoke up, "It's none of your business."
"Fine!" Ginny snapped. "Put your eyes back in, then!"
Silence fell around the table. Harry glanced around at the looks of awe mingled with sheer fright on everyone's faces. Obviously, no one had ever addressed Tom the way Ginny just had.
"Be careful", Tom sneered, although Harry thought he detected a trace of confusion in Tom's voice. "Your - cheek - might come back at you."
"Are you threatening me?" Ginny hissed.
"Yes", Tom said after a pause, "I think that's a good word for it."
The words came out smoothly; Harry, however, noticed that Tom's hand was clenched tightly around his mug.
Ginny resumed eating in what she apparently considered a dignified silence.
The gong echoed, but they did not return to their rooms. Ginny insisted they go outside and wait for the new orphans. Harry raised a feeble objection - it might take hours for the newcomers to arrive - and was ignored.
The landscape outside, however, was breathtaking. They were indeed on hilltop which rose from a pool of mist. In the distance, the sea was discernible. The air was very clean and there were hints of salt in it. A forest enclosed the orphanage in a half-circle disappearing in the fog. Clouds hung low above their heads. Far below them, Harry thought he saw the gleaming railways that had brought him here. There were no other buildings in the area.
"It's beautiful", Ginny said in an unusually quiet voice.
"There!" Harry said suddenly, pointing.
A horse carriage was pulling up the winding path. Ginny creased her forehead. "They're still using carriages around here?"
Harry smiled.
They waited. As the carriage came to a halt before them, they withdrew a little, feeling anxious. Harry could not help wondering whether another Tom would arrive. There certainly were a lot of newcomers at this place.
The door of the carriage opened.
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Coming up: "Making friends". In which Harry learns more about Tom and talks into the night.