←O-O→

Q U E N T I N

I was on the Hogwarts Express by myself, sad that I'd have to talk to strangers to make friends — I hated how that's a necessary step, unlike fantasizing about book characters — but also excited to see what was supposedly the best wizarding school in the world.

I hadn't expected to make any friends so early, but I was quickly proven wrong when a girl wearing pristine black robes flung open my compartment door and carefully placed her orange trunk inside without even a word of greeting.

"Hello?" I ventured uneasily, politely putting my mystery novel away.

"Hi, sorry!" she straightened and pushed the door closed with her foot. She smiled widely, and her brown eyes shined with excited mischief. Her hair, I couldn't help but notice, was quite a mess. The kind of mess that made you wonder what lived in it.

Her voice was chipper as she explained, "Other rooms are occupied by people who look happy without me, but you seemed lonely and nice!" She held out a doodle-covered left hand, "I'm Carolina Fernández, the coolest Spaniard you'll ever meet."

I fumbled for a moment before putting out my left hand as well to shake hers, careful not to do it too firmly as to ruin her art. "Quentin Stuart."

Carolina nodded vaguely, retracting her hand. "Wonderful name. You can call me Caro." She pronounced it like Cah-ro, with a slight roll over the r.

She heaved her trunk up so it was on the chair across me, then sat down next to it, cross-legged. She hummed as she adjusted it, placing a protective hand on the top. It was oddly positioned; I could only see her palm and the inside of her wrist.

Caro straightened her legs, then changed her mind and re-crossed them. I felt like she was acting a little strange, but I didn't want to be rude. I was such an introvert that it wasn't until the train chugged out of the station that I mustered the courage to ask, "You're a first year?'

I wondered if it was also a stupid question. I mean, she'd entered looking for a friend, didn't she?

"Yep," she said cheerfully, unfazed. Then she pulled a brush out of her pocket and began dragging it through her messy curled hair. The hand on the trunk stayed where it was. "I'm assuming you are, too?"

I nodded, trying to ignore the frightening sounds of the brush tearing through the tangles. I guess me being a first year was obvious to her. I was quite short for my age, so even if I was a second year I'd get mistaken for a new student.

"What House to do you want to get in?" Caro asked conversationally, putting the brush back. She appeared to have given up half-way into her endeavour, but her hair did look much better.

I was tempted to lie but decided there wasn't much point. "Slytherin," I admitted, not sure how she'd react. I felt like she'd be a Gryffindor, and that House wasn't known to be a huge fan of the house of snakes.

To my relief, she clapped with delight, "Hey, same! Now we can definitely be friends!"

Two things were revealed to me in that instant. Her right arm had been burned. Rough pink skin with many parts black extended from the tips of her fingers into her sleeve.

The second thing was a muffled bumping sound from her trunk. I courteously pretended I hadn't seen her arm and peered at the source of the noise. "Did that come from your trunk?"

"Did what?" she asked in confusion. Her hand was back on the trunk in that unnatural pose.

"The..." I decided that perhaps I'd imagined it. "Never mind." Even so, I continued to stare at her luggage. There were holes in it, I realized. They kind of resembled bullet holes.

The trolley witch came by, sliding open the door. "Anything from the trolley, dears?"

I nodded and gave the answer I'd rehearsed in my head a hundred times, "A cup of iced pumpkin fizz and a Chocolate Frog, please."

The witch nodded kindly, handing me the items. I paid, and turned to be horrified at Caro eyeing the cart with almost maniacal glee.

She began listing out everything she wanted, "That treacle fudge, a box of Bertie Bott's, two Cauldron Cakes, five packs of that gum over there, one of those Jelly Slugs, ten Fizzing Whizbees, a Liquorice Wand, and some Pepper Imps. Oh, and a Gillywater because I want to be healthy."

I watched with barely suppressed terror as the witch piled the requested candy and drink into Caro's arms. The Spaniard paid and thanked the woman, who strolled off, not even surprised.

"Are you planning on throwing a party?" I blurted, having been stunned to silence.

"Good joke," she chuckled. She drew a sequined gold coin purse out of her pocket and dumped half of the sweets in, popped a Fizzing Whizbee into her mouth, then took a refreshing and delicate sip of her Gillywater. "Ah, to be healthy."

When she capped the bottle she seemed to realize her injury was in full view. She also caught me looking at it. "It's okay," she smiled awkwardly, "it'll stop being interesting to you eventually. I'll tell you about it if I decide I can trust you."

Before I could reply, there was a loud yip from her trunk, then scratching.

The holes were air holes.

I gasped, "Do you have an animal in there?"

"What animal?" she scoffed.

I silently pointed at her luggage. "I admit your tone is entirely convincing, but there is clearly something alive in there."

Ruff! Ruff ruff!

"It's a dog?" I shrieked. "That's kind of against school rules."

Caro, resigned, opened up the trunk, and out popped a small black Shiba Inu. It wagged its tail, tongue out, and my heart instantly melted into the floor.

"Oh no," I moaned. I tried to peel my eyes away, but it was futile. "My weakness."

"See?" Caro cried. "Can you say no to this face? To his tiny little paws? You must help me smuggle him into Hogwarts. I can't live without him. He's my precious precious treasure." She picked up the joyful puppy and cradled him against her chest. "Mi corazón," she whispered to him dramatically.

"Is that his name?" I asked, wide-eyed.

"No, he's called Taco."

"What?"

She got defensive, "I like tacos, and I like him. So there. Xavier hates it, my brother hates it, my parents hate it and think I'm betraying their country, but I love the name."

"Taco..." I said under my breath, still in disbelief.

Caro's expression was exaggeratedly pitiful, "Are you going to help us?"

I buried my face in my hands. Never had I imagined I would get mixed up in something quite like this. "You know why dogs aren't allowed?" I sighed. "Along with most animals? They're noisy and wild. They poop everywhere, chase other animals, and tend to grow really large."

"¡Basta!" she shouted fiercely, though I had no idea what the word meant so it didn't affect me. "That's enough out of you, Quentin Stuart! If you want to part me from my soulmate, so be it. You will be glad to know that Taco now hates you."

She made the Shiba Inu face her, and looked deeply into his dark eyes. He barked happily. Caro went stern, pointing at me, "That boy over there despises you. He wants you to be unhappy. He wants you to have a miserable life without me. He's an animal abuser. He's a —"

"Okay okay, stop!" I cried. I didn't want to help some crazy girl break the rules, but I didn't want the pupper to hate me either. "I'll help you."

"Thanks!" she beamed, petting the puppy, who wriggled out of her arms. He sniffed around her robes and pulled her wand out of her pocket with his teeth.

"No, drop it!" Caro scolded, alarmed. "That's not a stick!"

I watched the scene unfold. "It is, actually."

As I opened up my book again, I spotted her trunk, which was filled with chew toys and dog food. "Hey, where are your school supplies?"

Caro managed to wrestle the wand away, and an orange spark hit the side of the compartment. "I traded them for the dog."

I facepalmed, "Merlin help me."

←O-O→

Merlin did not help.

Caro had tearfully left Taco in her trunk on the train so they could be magically transported to her room, and I had to physically drag her onto a boat. She seemed to recover, but then ended up scampering to the end of the boat. And to the horror of my poor fragile heart, she stood up and stared wide-eyed at the castle like a demented savage.

The two other boys and I had to sit at the other end of the boat to counter her weight, and we'd barely survived.

The Sorting, however, quickly took my mind off the Shiba Inu.

Caro was Sorted before me, and was placed in Slytherin before the Hat even touched a hair on her head. She squealed and skipped off to the table under the green banners, waving at me.

It was a few minutes before Professor McGonagall, a stern-looking woman, called my name, "Stuart, Quentin." I was going after Louisa Skull, who was taller than me, which made me a little self-conscious.

I was nervous. Not just of which House I'd be placed in but on the fact that the Sorting Hat could literally see my whole life, down to the most embarrassing details.

I wondered if being the son of two Muggle-borns would affect my chances, or if the purity thing was just a myth like my parents said.

I also worried that it would find out about Taco, but luckily it didn't seem to happen.

The hat was placed on my head, and I heard the sound of it thinking deeply.

You are shy...but quietly determined...your social anxiety gets the best of you sometimes, but you have your own confidence...especially with your intellect...Ravenclaw?...no no...ah...you aspire to become a leader and make the world better? Very well, better be...

"SLYTHERIN!"

I sighed with relief, and took my seat at the cheering table, Caro next to me and shaking my arm excitedly.

The old headmaster gave a speech, and he honestly seemed very interesting, and the farthest from the bore I'd expected. He ended with "Kipper! Boxty! Clapshot!" and the Feast materialized.

←O-O→

Caro did end up having her family send over her school supplies, which she'd given to her little brother in exchange for him letting her take the puppy. Astoundingly, her brother said he'd continue to pretend Taco was in his room.

Which did not help my situation.

She kept him on her bed, mostly. Her roommates quickly found out about him, but warmed to him just as fast. When she ran out of dog food, Caro took scraps from the Great Hall.

I once saw Professor Snape, our Head of House, watch her put a finished drumstick in her robes with much confusion and disgust.

It was nerve-wracking. I loved spending time walking around the lake with the enthusiastic and yipping Taco, but there was honestly a lot of fear that we'd get found out.

Nevertheless, I did it, because I loved Taco and was starting to like Caro a lot. Despite her insane ways, she was a really caring and optimistic person. I admired her confidence and how she puts in every effort to accomplish anything that was important to her.

←O-O→

"I've decided to tell you something."

It was October and we were in the library searching for a book that would help us with the ridiculous DADA essay our professor had assigned. I nodded at Caro, "Okay. What?"

She lifted her sleeve and I got a close-up of the scars. "They look cool, right?"

"What...I...yes."

"On a good day I think they do, too," she pulled it down. "They extend all the way up to the bottom of my neck." She pulled down her collar to show me. "The problem is that I don't like explaining how I got them. Yes, I could lie, but I don't want to do that either. Now I'm going to tell you."

"Oh." I decided to stick to short responses so as not to disrupt her but show that I was listening.

Caro checked both sides of the aisle, but we were alone. "I live in a neighbourhood with a lot of kids. Most of them are wizards, too. As you know, I went to a Muggle school since my parents didn't think homeschooling was sufficient. So naturally, a few of these older kids didn't like me.

"One day when I was nine, this girl two years older than me called Olivia told me she was sorry that she and the others were mean to me. It was three days until Christmas, and I was in a good mood so I continued to talk to her. She gave me an orange box wrapped in shiny gold ribbon and apologized again, and told me to open it whenever I wanted to."

I could already hear the end of the story, but I let her continue.

"It was such a pretty box, so I opened it on Christmas Eve. Inside was a Fabergé egg. Gold and sapphire. I was instantly suspicious because it was so expensive. It wasn't like Olivia was rich. Still, I brought it out and touched the tiny button in the middle of it because I was stupid and liked shiny things. It flipped open, and cursed fire blasted out."

I was starting to feel sick, "That's just evil."

She shrugged helplessly, "Olivia planned it with the other kids. She denied having any knowledge of what it really did. Maybe it was true, but she did know it was dangerous and gave it to me anyway. I was screaming so loud that Xavier heard me from three doors down and came running. My mother yelled at the girls and their parents, and my father got Olivia's mom fired from her job for having a Dark Artifact within a child's reach."

I relieved that it at least ended in consequences. Then I grew horrified, "They're not here, are they? Those people?"

Caro waved off my concern, "No, thankfully. Olivia was a first year at the time, so she got expelled and then blacklisted from the other academies. I don't think anything happened to the others; they're just homeschooled because they want to be. Believe it or not, Olivia's mom is actually pretty nice. Just way too careless. She didn't give Olivia nearly enough attention. They ended up moving away last year. Nobody bothered me again."

I was still stunned by the whole revelation. Judging from Caro's constant running around and being so excited she crashed into everything nearby, I'd simply assumed the scars came from another one of those accidents, not a vicious trick by some jealous kids.

"I'm glad you told me," I said finally. "It means you trust me, right?"

"Yep," she grinned. "Truth be told, I trusted you the second you agreed to help me with Taco. I just had to be sure I wasn't deluding myself."

"You're great, Caro," I told her, "I don't know why anyone would want to be mean to you."

Her face had a sad smile, "Thanks. You're great too." Then she grabbed my arm and spun around, dragging me out. "Time to feed Taco!"

"Wait," I protested, "we didn't find that book —"

"Oh, forget that book."

"I'll fail the assignment! The professor will judge me!"

Carolina just shot me the same mischievous smirk when she'd come into my compartment. "Professor Ascot won't make it 'til the end of the year, mark my words."

←O-O→

Our scheme with Taco lasted much longer than I thought it would, but our luck ended in April when Taco got loose from the confines of her room in the middle of the school day.

Professor Ascot, who taught Defence Against the Dark Arts when he shouldn't, was giving the dullest lecture known to wizardkind on the importance of intimidating clothing.

Bark! Bark! MeowWoWWW!!!

Carolina shot to her feet, "Professor? Bathroom?"

Professor Ascot narrowed his eyes, "Young lady, did you just address me as Professor Bathroom?"

"No sir," she said hurriedly. "I asked if I may use the restroom. I am in a state of high emergency and am not thinking straight."

The professor's brows rose in alarm, "Go, dear. Don't ruin those fine robes of yours."

"May I go too, sir?" I asked, raising my hand. The rest of the students gazed at each other with bewildered expressions. The Gryffindor Percy Weasley shot me a disapproving glance for disrupting the class. I heard something outside bang.

"What is that ruckus?" the teacher scowled, striding towards the door.

I dived in front of him, spewing out the first thing I thought of, "Sir, I asked if I could go. Not you."

"You know what?" Professor Ascot cried, so emotional his fedora went askew. "I quit this job! You students have no appreciation for my teaching!"

The class erupted into cheering, drowning out Percy's protests, and I wrenched open the door and sprinted to find Caro.

Funnily enough, she really was by the bathrooms, firing the Levitating Charm at somebody's cat, which was yowling at Taco in her arms. "Foul beast!" she shrieked. "Leave him alone! Wingardium Leviosa!"

The charm finally hit, and the grey Siberian floated into the air, mewing with annoyance.

"What is going on!?" a voice shouted.

Unceremoniously, I shoved Caro into the boy's bathroom, and the feline plopped to the floor with a yowl just as a Slytherin in third year came around the corner. He must've also been on his way to the restrooms. His name was Walter Wu, and though he wasn't a prefect, he acted like one that took his job way too seriously. He didn't seem amused to find a grey cat biting at my sneakers.

"Is that yours?" he asked, dark eyes narrowed.

I was about to say no, but he interrupted, "I know it is not, because it is my friend's. Why is she attacking you?"

There was a barking noise from the bathroom.

"A dog!" he shouted triumphantly. "Illegal dogs at Hogwarts? I'll make sure there's detention for you and whoever is in there!"

I started to panic. I had never gotten detention before. Caro had always been able to talk us out of any trouble she ever got me in. What would the teachers think of me now?

At that moment Caro came running out, "Quentin! You dare—?" She spotted Walter, and her tone did a 180, "Oh, hi Walter. Sorry, your girlfriend's cat found somebody's dog and I managed to catch it." She shrugged, "It's not mine, do you want it?"

Walter's victorious expression seemed to seep into the ground. "Oh. Never mind. I retract my threats." He scooped up the cat, frowning as he rubbed its head, "Get the canine out of here."

I sighed with relief, until Walter walked two feet before spinning back around. "You're lying to me!"

"Wh-what?" Caro gasped, and I backed up, blindsided. We were completely unused to her getting caught fibbing.

Walter revealed the small glass top he'd taken out of his pocket. It was spinning and lighting up. A Sneakoscope, and an expensive-looking one at that.

My heart fell. Leave it to the rule-memorizing lunatic to have one on him at all times.

←O-O→

"I think it was for the best," I told her.

Caro's parents heard of what happened grounded her for the entire summer, along with her brother. That also meant I was banned from visiting her.

The teachers had sent Taco safely home, but gave the both of us a week of detentions and fifty points off Slytherin. Luckily our House was doing just fine, and it didn't affect our chances of winning the House Cup and getting our four-year streak. Otherwise, all the other Slytherins would be upon us to deliver their wrath, Walter at the lead.

As for the detentions, I thought optimistically, it would give us time to study for exams.

We were now manually cleaning the desks in the Potions classroom. There was no supervision, but Filch had taken our wands earlier. Caro dramatically threw her rag on the floor. "You're right."

"Yes..." I said, waiting for her to go on, "...I am. Now you can actually focus on your studies."

"We almost made the whole year," Caro went on proudly, ignoring me. "And that was good enough. Xavier would never let me keep Taco here anyway."

I nodded, agreeing with her. Xavier Columbus was her childhood friend who was a few months younger than her. She'd talked about him occasionally, whenever something happened that reminded her of him.

To be perfectly honest, he definitely sounded like the type of person who stopped parties with his mere presence.

Caro found a packet of Fizzing Whizbees in her sleeve and ripped off the top, shaking some in her mouth. I wanted to stop her because she'd said she was on a sugar-free diet, but figured she didn't want to be interrupted. "He's coming to Hogwarts next year," she informed me, hand courteously positioned over her mouth so I wouldn't see the half-chewed candy.

"I know, you've told me." I scrubbed at a mysterious pink stain at the edge of a desk.

"He pretends to hate everyone, including me, but don't be fooled. I'm sure he'll like you. You're smart, and he likes smart people."

I gave up trying to remove the stain. "You've said that many times."

"Sorry, I'm just preparing you. Anyway, stop cleaning."

Pausing, I stared at her. "Why?"

From her right pocket, Caro whisked out a second wand. "I bought two wands from Ollivanders for exactly this reason! Now move aside, Quentin dear. The desk will now clean itself."

I grinned, stepping away. As long as Caro doesn't bring another illegal animal to Hogwarts or try to adopt the giant squid, I was thrilled to spend another school year with her, and to meet Xavier too.