WAITING FOR THE VAN TO COME (open)

[BETSY AMELIA CLARK]

Betsy had awoke bright and early that morning, earlier than necessary perhaps, and woke her parents with a loud squeal of glee. Before her parents had even gotten out of bed, Betsy was dragging her trunk down the stairs with a loud THUMP as it hit each step. The Clarks, though excited for their daughter, didn't appreciate all the noise so early in the morning, so their moods weren't as good as Betsy's. They remanded quiet during breakfast while Betsy gushed about how excited she was to get back to Hogwarts and how she couldn't wait to wear her new Beatle pins that she had gotten that summer on her robes. After loading Betsy's trunk, broom, and cat, Rocky, in to the car, the Clark family set off to London to get Betsy on the Hogwarts express.

The train ride to Hogsmeade had been long just as it had been the past three years. Betsy had sat in a compartment with other with other members of the Hufflepuff quidditch team. While they insisted on talking about all the quidditch events they had been to over the summer, Betsy just wanted to talk about the Beatles. Even after three years at Hogwarts, Betsy still had a bit of a hard time fitting in. Maybe it was because of her excessive need to talk about the Beatles all the time, or maybe it was because of her talkative nature in general. She was a muggle born so sometimes wizarding things fascinated her where purebloods would be used to it. She loved quidditch, yes, but being a muggle born, she wasn't able to be as in touch with quidditch events over the summer. Eventually, Betsy got the point and kept her mouth shut and only listened to the others discuss the games. She didn't mind not being involved in the conversation so much; sometimes it was better to just listen so she could be more in tuned with things going on. Still, it would have been nice to have some sort of opinion on the matter.

Some time into the journey they all changed into their school robes. Betsy excitedly pointed out her new buttons and they others were nice enough to humor her even if they didn't know who the Beatles were. At this point it seemed like the majority of them were used to her obsession and just thought it best not to put her down for it. Betsy appreciated the thought.

Eventually, they arrives at Hogsmeade station. In the shuffle of everyone trying to leave the train at once, Betsy nearly got lost a few times, but was able to find find her friends once she was on the platform. She had to keep a tight hold on Rocky because he was a bit pron to wander off when things got a little too exciting for him. While she followed her friends to the carriages, she had to put of a lot of her energy into restraining Rocky before she got him to calm down. Unfortunately, their party was one too many to fit in a carriage so someone had to wait for the nest one. Betsy volunteered to do so as she was always quick to do anything she thought might make people like her better. So, Betsy just stood there holding Rocky and waited for the next carriage to come by.

[ALLISON WINIFRED MADLEY]

Allison didn’t have any close friends at Hogwarts, and that was unfortunate. She had been shellshocked as a first year. Her parents were Hufflepuffs, everyone in her family had been. Maybe one or two Ravenclaws, a Gryffindor perhaps, but for the most part the Madleys were known for their kind natures, helpful ways, and Hufflepuff Alumni. Being sorted into Slytherin felt wrong. It was confusing, and she felt like something was wrong with her. Since her first year had been so full of self-judgment and uncertainty, her second year left her with no real friends while everyone else had made close friendships and bonded over being sly and cunning and hating Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors. Hating the people Allison had been raised to be like.

Sure, she was on good terms with her fellow Slytherin 4th years. After all, They had lived together for the past three years, and it was impossible to not get to know someone after that long. But she was sure that they knew of her past, and sensed her insecurity, and because of this none of them had ever really shown a great interest in getting to know her on a deeper level, and she hadn’t pursued the subject on her own. Even her twin siblings, both in their third year, were Hufflepuffs, and so for obvious reasons she couldn’t be seen hanging around with them. Associating with them, even if they were relatives, was probably not the best for her appearance if she hoped to make herself more popular amongst the Slytherins this year.

And this was why Allison Madley found herself sitting alone on the train, again. Which was fine, because she had snuck on board one of her smaller books on the Dark Arts. She couldn’t believe how much information there was out there that people were trying to hide away! She had acquired this recent addition to her personal library from a shady figure down Knockturn Alley. That had been an adventure of its own, as she was certain now that fourteen year old girls from Hufflepuff-bred families were never meant to wander the unfamiliar streets of Knockturn Alley alone. She took the chance to busy herself with reading during the ride here.

But now she was faced with the carriages. She filed along with everyone else, people cramming in to fit with friends and classmates for the ride up to the school. Having no one to latch herself onto, Allison just followed the crowd, waiting for an open carriage. She found that she was standing behind another solo rider, who had not fit into their friend’s carriage before it was full and on its way. That solo rider just happened to be Betsy Clark.

Allison didn’t have anything against Betsy personally, besides her love of muggle things. Then again, wasn’t that enough of a put-off to avoid someone? She was about to turn around and try to sneak back a few more people in the crowd, maybe get on a later carriage, but it was too late. The next one had just pulled up, and they were being hurried inside.

[BETSY AMELIA CLARK]

Betsy bounced on her heals a bit while waiting; she was a terribly impatient person. She couldn't have been waiting for more than a minute and she was already getting anxious. She wasn't impatient as much as just overly excited; if she were waiting to get into a class room, she could be patient, but waiting for something like going back to school to be greeted by a huge feast then learning more magic the next day, that was something that Betsy simply could not be patient for. And nor, it would seem, could Rocky; the cat was already starting to get fussy again. Rocky liked being held, just not for long periods of time. Since he was a young cat, he was very energetic and after sitting on a train all day, the poor kitty just wanted to take a walk. That would have to wait until they got to the castle.

Just as a carriage pulled up, Betsy heard someone come up behind her. Before she had time to look, she was being ushered onto the carriage with this other mystery person. Once she got settled, she finally got a good look at the girl; it was Allison Madley. She was in the same year as Betsy! But, Slytherin. Unlike most of the Slytherins, Allison didn't make fun of Betsy, in fact, she never really said anything at all. The girl was quiet, quite the opposite of Betsy. Maybe she was just shy? Or maybe she was actually nice and afraid to show it in front of her house mates for fear of being shunned! It was only the two of them in the carriage so many being secluded from other Slytherins would let Allison come out of her shell a bit!

"Hello, Allison!" she said brightly, giving the other girl one of her big metal grins. Betsy wasn't as self-conscious about her braces as other girls. As anxious as she was to get them off, she liked to think of them as a cool accessory in the meantime. Not many other kids in Hogwarts had braces because many of them came from wizarding families that used magic to solve their dental issues. Not Betsy! So she thought her braces made her very unique! "How was your summer? My was awesome! I got these new buttons!" She pointed to the new Beatles buttons on her robes, "one of them is from the early sixties and everything! So, how was your holiday?!" In the few words Betsy had said to the other girl she had already forgotten that she already asked the other girl about her summer. This happened a lot to Betsy.

[ALLISON WINIFRED MADLEY]

Allison had watched as Betsy bounced up and down in front of her. She wished that she could be that excited about going back to school. As made painfully obvious by the fact that she was still standing there, alone, waiting for the carriage, she didn’t have a whole lot to come back to. No deep friendships she couldn’t live without. And even the classes… most of it was stuff she could probably teach herself from her parents, or out of a book. All she really had to be excited about was the hope that this year would be different – that this year would be better. This was the year she would finally find her niche in the Slytherin house, make a name for herself, and befriend some more of her peers. She was going to start fitting in, finally.

That hope had been present in her until she realized who she was going to be sharing a carriage with. Betsy Clark, a Hufflepuff girl in her year who was the Seeker for her house team. She didn’t realize it until it was too late, and now she figured her social life was pretty much over. If anyone saw her arriving at Hogwarts with this bouncy Hufflepuff girl, no one would believe she had what it took to be a Slytherin! There had to be some way she could diffuse the situation, right?

The first thing that came to Allison’s mind was silence. If she just sat there, and didn’t say anything, then she could leave the carriage with a stony look on her face and everything would be fine. She tried to look away, out the window, disinterested and unimpressed by Betsy’s attempt at conversation. But Betsy just kept talking, and talking, and talking. Did she just ask how her summer was twice? The girl’s train of thought was obviously not following any sort of coherent track. She thought she could ignore her, but after about 15 seconds the silence in the carriage became awkward.

So much for the silent treatment. Allison hated awkward silences more than a lot of other things, and she didn’t want to be the cause of it. Then again, maybe if she kept her mouth shut for just a little bit longer Betsy would just start talking again, and not stop until they reached the castle.

“Hey, Betsy,” she finally muttered, unable to sit there without speaking for any longer. ”My holiday was fine.” Allison felt bad, like this was going against everything she had ever been told. Well, it did go against everything her family had ever told her. Being nice to everyone, making new friends, being open to different sorts of people… but no. Because the sorts of people she needed to be open to now were Slytherins. They were cunning and ambitions, and most of them wouldn’t be caught dead talking to a muggle-born. Maybe Betsy would pick up on her short answers and leave her be?

[BETSY AMELIA CLARK]

It took Allison a little bit long to respond; it was almost as if she was trying to ignore Betsy! That was weird! What would she want to ignore her? Betsy was probably just imagining it. Allison was probably just thinking about her answer or maybe the other girl was just shy. Not everyone could just start talking right away like Betsy! She often for got that most people liked to think before they spoke.

"That's good!" said Betsy, "My holiday was pretty nice, kinda boring at times though. See, since I live in a muggle town I can't really do any wizard things so I haven't been on my broom since June! Oh, I hope I haven't gotten too rusty because I don't know whether or not everyone is going to have to re-try out or not! I mean, I've been good enough to be on the team for the last four years, but who knows if someone better has come around? I really hope not! I can't imagine not being on the team! If I get kicked off it would almost be as bad as when the Beatles broke up. . . Well, I don't think anything could really be that bad, but it would be pretty close!"

Betsy had a tendency to ramble. Sometimes, it got so bad Betsy started talking to herself rather than the person she started the conversation with. Fortunately, Betsy caught herself this time before it got too bad. "Oh sorry, " she said with a small giggle, "I know a ramble a bit sometimes. I guess it's pretty bad right now cus I really haven't spoken to anyone all summer. I have friends, it's just that letters aren't the same as being able to talk to an actual person. I live next to my grandparents sheep farm so I get to talk to the sheep, but I can only do that for so long before it gets boring. But, I do get to name the sheep and that's fun!"

At this point, Betsy had allowed Rocky to wander around the carriage; his head was out the window and his head kept moving back and forth as he tried to keep his eye on the trees as they passed by. "Anyway!" Betsy continued, "Do you like quidditch? I don't know whether or not you're on the team because I actually don't pay much attention to that stuff. I have to focus on my own team because otherwise I would get far too distracted!"

[ALLISON WINIFRED MADLEY]

”You? Get distracted? I never would’ve guessed,” Allison said, her voice not obviously dripping with sarcasm though the underlying intent was there. She had already forgotten over half of what Betsy had just said. For one thing there she was talking about a thousand words per minute, but even worse than that was all of this talk about muggle things. Sheep farms and beetles and other things that Allison’s ears just sort of tuned out automatically. After all, she had a hard enough time remembering everything she wanted to remember in life, let alone useless facts about muggle music and animal farms.

There was one thing in the very beginning that had peaked her interested, though, and that was flying. The first thing she mentioned was not being able to be on a broom all summer, since school let out. ”I honestly don’t know why you bother. Can’t you convince your parents to move to a magical neighborhood for you? I mean, what good is having magic if you don’t use it?” Allison didn’t comment on the fact that she was a muggle born, since it wouldn’t have benefitted anyone for her to start a scene with just the two of them.

After some more talk about random things, Betsy brought the discussion back to the subject of Quidditch. This time it was in the form of a question directed at Allison, who almost missed the invitation to speak because she had been slowly losing focus during the talk about the farm and animals. But she had asked if Allison played quidditch. This would be the perfect opportunity to talk about being a seeker. After all, Betsy seemed like a nice person, and she certainly loved to talk. If she could get her to say something that might give her an edge when it came to trying out for the seeker spot, well, then there was no harm in that.

”You’re the Seeker, right? For Hufflepuff?” Of course Allison already knew the answer to those two questions, But there was no harm in starting off with the painfully obviously. She was pretty bad at this whole making common-person small talk stuff, but she was sure Betsy’s talkative nature would more than make up for it. “I was actually thinking about going out for the Seeker spot on my own team. Any pointers? I’ve never really tried out for anything before… ”

[BETSY AMELIA CLARK]

Even if Allison had used the most sarcastic tone ever, Betsy probably wouldn't have picked up on it. Betsy herself was a user of sarcasm, but she was just simply could never pick up on it when it came from others. Maybe it was her extreme optimism that made her miss such subtle negative tones in conversation. Or maybe she just didn't pay enough attention; if people thought her mouth moved fast, it was nothing compared to the constant tornado of random thoughts that was her brain. There was just too much going on in her head for her to focus on the tone of the person she was talking to.

"Really?" Betsy said with disbelief, "cus usually people pick up on my ADD right away! I mean, I don't really have ADD or anything! I'm not medicated. I just have a very fast moving brain, you know? My brain is kinda like the snitch! Maybe that's why I'm so good at catching it. . . Well, my teammates have said that before, but I don't really know whether or not they were being sincere." Betsy's teammates, though usually tolerance of her, did get a little fed up with her at times. Even Betsy could pick up on it.

"Move to a magical neighborhood?" said Betsy with a scrunched up face, "Well, that wouldn't be fair! My parents don't use magic. . . What would they do in a magical neighborhood? Besides, I know it's not perfect, but I like where I live! I can always move to a magical neighborhood once I get out of school! It would be selfish to ask for that now! I can't even use magic on my own yet so where I live really doesn't matter does it?" Betsy had never once considered moving. Like she said, she likes where she lives! She couldn't possibly ask her parents to move. . . Her father had grown up there and so had she! It just wouldn't be right to ask her parents to move.

"Yeah! I'm the seeker!" said Betsy enthusiastically, "a-and you know what I do to help me catch the snitch? See, I pretend that the snitch is John Lennon and I'm trying to catch him to get his autograph. Of course, it's impossible to catch John Lennon anywhere in England because he lives in New York, across the street from central park in the Dakota apartments, but it's still helpful for me to pretend, so I guess what I'm saying is, that you should pretend that the snitch is something that you really want! Try that and see how it works for you!"

[ALLISON WINIFRED MADLEY]

Allison wasn’t sure if she considered it a blessing that Betsy was very slow on the uptake or not. On one hand, now that she decided to talk to her to get some information about Quidditch, it was helpful that she hadn’t picked up on Allison’s initial reluctance and wish to ignore her entire existence. On the other hand, she didn’t want to talk to her and she did want to try and ignore her entire existence. But now that she had started this, she supposed she might as well keep talking.

Somehow Betsy had managed to miss every bit of sarcasm in Allison’s voice. Or maybe she was just choosing to ignore it because she wanted to keep talking. But no, Allison was pretty sure that Betsy was just oblivious to everything that was going on around her. That must have been nice. “Oh, right.” Was all Allison said in response to her entire rant about ADD and her teammates from Hufflepuff and something about medication.

Allison had to laugh at how opposed Betsy was to having her family move to a magical neighborhood. She forgot that if you had a muggle family you couldn’t get away with a little illegal underage magic in the house. “I’m sure they’d be thrilled with being surrounded by magic. Muggles always are.” Allison pointed out. ”Well, I guess if you like it…” Allison said, obviously doubtful. She couldn’t imagine that anyone would choose to live in a muggle area, knowing what the alternative was. It was just a culture she would never be able to really understand, not that she wanted to. As a matter of fact, she hoped she’d never have to understand the “benefits” of muggle life.

Quidditch was all she really cared to talk about. If she could manage to get some advice that could help her, then this entire carriage ride wouldn’t have been a waste after all. “Pretend that the snitch is something that I want?” Allison repeated with that same tone of disbelief that she had before. Not that she anticipated Betsy picking up on the tone. It really couldn’t’ be something as simple as that, could it? Was that really all t he Hufflepuff girl was doing? “Well, thanks, I guess,” she said. ”I’ll keep that in mind when I try out.” Allison knew that she would just have to keep practicing and working on her technique.