Welcoming Feast pt.1

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately," the disembodied words echoed through the walls, cutting Anne's rant off.

Even with the full moon peeking through the trees, the warm yellow glow of the candles in the compartment completely overpower the white beams of moonlight. The sweet chocolate air around me goes perfectly with the blood-flavored lollipop out of my mouth. How did I never know of these! I mean it's no substitute for real blood but it's still pretty good.

"Allb breudy?" Anne questions, pushing her words through the chocolate frog in her mouth. I stifle a laugh as I take the blood-flavored lollipop out of my mouth, careful not to choke on it. I'm so glad she didn't ask to try the "Popping Lollipop" or else I would have needed to do a lot of explaining.

'Chew,' I remind her as I give the room a once-over, illuminating the duality of it. On my side held some muggle fiction, this and next year's school books taken out of my two trunks that were rescued from Potter's compartment. I am so glad they decided to leave the room so late to change into their robes.

On the other hand, Anne's side was a whirlwind of Trevor's bedding from him running all over the place, candy wrappers, and random school supplies around when she double-checked she had everything.

"I leave for just a little bit and ya make a mess ota it," A cool voice, just a hair under deep, jokes as he enters. Peering through the wall of books I've built, a narrow gap allows me a look at the person belonging to the voice. His frame stood tall and strong, his short brown and eyes have a warmth to them, the same as Anne's. The yellow accents of his uniform ease the prickle in my neck slightly.

"Sorry! I'll start cleaning up now," Anne speed talks as she starts frantically shoving stuff into her trunk.

"No, it's fine I'll get someone," the boy about a year above me wave's off Anne's fear as he looks around the hallway. "Penelope! Can you help me with something?" He yells to someone to the left of him. A blond Ravenclaw with a Prefect badge comes into view.

"What's wro- nevermind," She asks only to look into the library at my side and the mess of Anne's.

"Would you? I don't think I could handle a spell that complex. I can do the books," the boy charms. With his charisma, a werewolf would do his bidding. The words bring a blush to her face as she tucks a lock of her hair behind her ear. I slightly chuckle to myself as Anne gives Penelope the side-eye.

"Fine, but I'm not doing this for you; I'm doing this for our first year," She motions to Anne as she tries, and fails, to will an invisibility charm on herself. "Hi nice to meet you, I'm the fifth-year Ravenclaw Prefect, Penelope Clearwater," she warmly greets Anne as she takes her wand out of her sleeve.

With a flick of her wand, she sends the rappers into a ball that rolls to her feet, makes Trevor fly with his bedding into his cage, and neatly packs Anne's trunk.

"Hey, put that down!" Penelope yells down the hall. "Sorry Ced, gotta go," and with that, the blush-filled Prefect runs down the hall. 'Ced'... Could that be short for Cedric? That must mean that he's Anne's stepbrother! I remember his wand fitting; it was one of the first wand fittings I sat in on, very quick and simple.

"Where'd you get the library from Lean- I mean sis," Cedric asks Anne as he finally can enter the compartment.

"They're not mine," She giggles a little, "they're my friends. Actually, you've probably met her before," Anne turns to me, clearly expecting me to give an introduction. F u c k, what am I suppose to do? Do I sign? No, he probably doesn't know it, ask Anne to do it? No that's even worse! Handshaking, I slowly raise it above the books and give a jittery wave.

"Okay... do you want me to help with your books?" Cedric asks, cutting the awkward silence off as he takes a wand out from his back pocket.

Recollecting myself, I spring up to make it into the middle of the compartment, knocking over my library and showering me in the process. The crash slowly gives way to more awkward silence as I lay there hoping they think I'm dead. I hid there in silence as the tension is snapped by the sound of a high pitch giggle. 'Yes, thank you. Sorry for not introducing myself earlier; My name is Catlyn Ollivander. Sorry for being rude for not speaking directly to you,' my notepad pokes through the avalanche on top of me.

"Catlyn! You don't need to apologize for that. She's mute," Anne scolds before explaining the situation to Cedric.

"Oh sorry for being rude, I didn't realize. Wingardium Leviosa!" The books make a loud thump as they fly through the air and neatly stack in my trunk. As soon as the books are off me I pop up to dust myself off. Shock flashes on his face only for pity to fall like a certainty as he glances down for a second at me. I look down to see that my shirt is still unbuttoned, leaving my brand visible. A sharp inhale sucks air into my nose as I quickly fix my uniform.

"Isn't that-" Cedric's question gets cut off midway as the train jerks to a halt. I thank Merlin for the escape as we make our way out of the compartment. As Cedric opens the door, the chaotic noise bursts into the room with the scent of warm bodies. The wave of sent knocks me over in an electrifying shock of hunger.

"Catlyn?" Anne calls to me as she moves closer. Feeling the pulse of my eyes glowing and the itch of my fangs, I push Anne back, making sure to keep my face covered as I curl up into a ball. The itch of my fangs spread to my teeth, mouth, and even my hands. The feeling of soft skin being punctured fills my mind as my entire body itches to be let free, to feast.

And something new enters my mind. A constant desire to eat... nothing, or nothing tangible at least. It's like I'm in a sea of blood, swimming in it but I can, or at least I shouldn't, succumb to it. Biting my cheeks, I force myself through the pain as I suck out my own blood until the urge subsides.

"Are you okay?" Worry raps the words coming out of Cedric's mouth as I'm finally able to understand my surroundings. Looking up, I find myself in a ball, on the floor of a small, dark, train station with Anne and Cedric kneeling over me. Anne's cheek seems to be swollen and her hair is definitely faded.

**Leanne Diggory**

"Catlyn?" I wearily ask over the crowd outside of the door, causing Cedric to close the door. I start to move closer to her, wanting to comfort the almost feral look in her eyes, only for her arm to come sweeping, knocking me back with a surprising amount of force and slamming me into the door.

"What did you just do!" Cedric asks, wiping around at Catlyn with fire in his eyes.

"Wait! It's not her fault, something's happening, get back!" I yell in response, putting myself in between her and him.

Looking back at her, She seems to have curled up into a ball. Her entire constitution seems to be shaking like a building during an earthquake. Her tie and upper buttons became undone, one sock fell off, no longer the prim perfect uniform it once was. "What should we do?" I ask in desperation, looking at Ced as I can feel the color drain from my hair and eyes.

"Uhhh... I'll slowly approach her. If she doesn't attack I'll move her outside, it might do her some good to be in the fresh air," Ced answers as I look back at the cowering Catlyn, I nod as I move to the side. With caution, Ced approaches slowly Catlyn only stopping when she makes a sudden movement. He carefully touches Catlyn only for her not to attack.

He waves me over as he cradles her, "Did she say anything about this?"

I shake my head as we begin to exit the train, "No, although from what I do know about her, she hasn't had the best life."

"I'd say. You see this?" He motions to a stop symbol singed into her chest, "That's a silencing rune, it's for making sure sound doesn't escape something. Whoever did that to her never wanted her to be able to make a noise ever again."

**Catlyn Ollivander**

"You ok?" Anne asks after I finally force my way out of the sea of blood. Getting my bearings, I look around to find that I'm on the floor of a random train station in the middle of darkness. The creeping darkness surrounding the station is warded off by the soft light from the lanterns peppered around.

Shakily, I nod as I look around for my notebook. With some difficulty, I manage to get them to give me my notebook.

'Sorry for bothering you, I have a weak constitution and have anxiety attacks,' I lie. Well, it's not much of a lie, I mean sure the first part is completely false but the second one happens from time to time. 'Did I hurt you?'

"No you didn't and it's fine. Are you feeling up to moving? Because we need to catch up to the others," Anne asks as Cedric gives her the side-eye. I simply nod as they help me to my feet.

"Let's hurry," Cedric says as we start speeding out of the cobblestone station, and onto a narrow path through the moonlit forest with Cedric taking the lead, Anne following behind and holding my hand. I scan the area, making sure we don't get attacked as we hear a voice in the distance.

"jus' round this bend here," the heavy Scottish voice says as the trees open to a dock hidden from the most part, with the rest of it being illuminated by the lantern swaying in the hand of the massive man in the middle of the crowd of first years. The full moon reflecting off the dark blue lake gave a soft glow to the area. Across the lake stands a massive castle of stone. Its walls, windows, towers, just exude magic.

"Un' who migh' you be? Cedric? Ye' do know yer suppos' to be on the carriage?" A massive man with a thick long hair beard approaches us.

I lock eyes with him and we both immediately know who each other are, Rubeus Hagrid, the half-giant expelled from Hogwarts and the current groundskeeper; And Catlyn Ollivander, the daughter of Laichm Riddle, half vampire, adopted daughter of Garrick Ollivander, and first year at Hogwarts. I researched all the hybrid staff before coming.

"Yeah... Catlyn, the white-haired girl, was having a panic attack so me and Anne, the," He stopped to look over at Anne, "brown-haired girl, helped Anne. I had to escort them over here."

"I see," Hagrid strokes his beard in with his massive hand as he tried to not look at me. Am I going to be expelled already? Was it against the rules to have an attack? "It's fine I suppose. No more'n four to a boat!" He yells to the rest of the students as he makes his way to an empty boat.

"Let's go!" Anne squeals in excitement as she drags the petrified me to a boat Cedric already picked out. Still watching Hagrid, a gleam of annoying pity shines in his eyes as he glances at me. I ignore his look as I scan the other first years. As I begin to look around, everyone immediately starts looking away, as if I gave them a withering stare.

"Everyone in? Right then -- FORWARD!" Hagrid yells, pointing his umbrella forward, as the fleet of boats begins their voyage across the moonlit lake. Why does Anne seem to want to hang out with me? Wouldn't it be better for her to ignore me like the rest? Keep me at an arm's distance?

At the head of our boat sat, well sorta, Anne as she tried to get as close to the water as she could, while Cedric and I sat calmly, probably for two very different reasons. A soft breeze whips through us as I try my hardest to hide in my ill-fitting uniform. Father said he would buy me a tailored one but I didn't want him to waste money on that.

"Don't take it too personally. People are jerks when it comes to anyone even slightly different," Cedric tries to comfort as more eyes linger on our boat. I look to him as he softly pats me on the back. Giving a convincing smile, Anne bounces her way around to us as the boat frighteningly rocks from her movement.

"Why didn't you tell me this place was so incredible Ced?" Anne squeals at Cedric as she moves around as if we weren't one wrong move from tipping over.

Looking back at the terrifying water, the lake stays rippleless even though all the boats are drifting through it. I could just see a creature shooting up, and taking one of us over. On that thought, I move as far away from the edge of the boat as possible.

"Heads down!" Hagrid yells as we smoothly glide through a wall of vines and into an underground dock.

"I did but you never heard me," He responds as the boats slowly slide into the docks. "So what house do you guys want?" Cedric asks as we stand at the fringe of students gathered around Hagrid.

"I don't know. I bet all of them are fun to be in! What about you Catlyn?" We start following Hagrid as her question brings a battle from the back of my head to the forefront of my thoughts. What house will I be in? I'm not brave enough to be a Gryffindor, kind enough to be a Hufflepuff, smart enough to be a Ravenclaw, or cunning enough to be a Slytherin. Is it possible I won't get any house? No that's impossible, at the very least I'd be put in Hufflepuff because 'they accept everyone who doesn't fit with the others.' But would the teachers allow such a monstrous thing to be a Hufflepuff?

Air seems to escape my breath as I desperately try to retrieve it. I dig myself deeper into my head as Anne squeezes my shoulder. Our journey up the stone stairs ends with us crowding, a little too closely, in front of a door.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" Hagrid's knocks on the door echo through the underground docks as a stern-looking witch in emerald-green robes answers.

"The firs' year, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid introduced.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here," She tells him only for her to pause for a moment, studying the crowd, "Mr. Diggory, what are you doing with the first years?" She asks as Hagrid whispers something into her ear. As Hagrid whispers she glances down at me with the same look of pity Hagrid had.

"Excellent work Mr. Diggory, ten points to Hufflepuff. You may join your house now," Professor McGonagall dismisses Cedric. With a final squeeze of Anne's hand, he exits through the doors.

Opening them wider, we're greeted by the sight of a massive entrance hall with a marble staircase lit with torches all around it. I look around in awe as the group follows Professor McGonagall into a room off to the side of where I assume the rest of the school is. I try to join the rest of them in the room, only for Hagrid to stop me.

"Follow me," He instructs as he guides me to a classroom. Nerves run wild as we march through the classroom and my heart starts thumping like crazy. He looks back at me to reveal his once cheerful expression now sits somberly as we walk straight through and into a joining office.