The train station was full of parents sending their excited kids away to Hogwarts. Parents nearly in tears about sending their eleven year olds away for the first times, other parents looking rather pleased about getting their children away from the house for a few months. One parent in the crowd looked neither upset nor relieved, he looked rather frustrated.

Theodore Nott stood over the eleven year old girl, looking quite tired with dark bags under his eyes and his long dark hair was in a mess. "Darla, please, just get on the train," he begged, putting his hands on the girl's shoulders.

Darla stood stiff and stuck her hands in the pockets of her black dress pants. "No," she said firmly and looked away from her father. Her choppy black hair fell casually over her dark brown eyes as she turned, but she didn't make a move to fix it. Instead, she stared off at the platform sign.

Theodore, annoyed, turned his daughter around and poked her in the back with his cane to get her to move. "You'll go, and you'll like it, and you'll have fun, I'm sure you'll make friends, and you, please, won't attempt to set anyone on fire."

Darla dug the heels of her black Mary Jane's into the concrete. "First of all, I didn't attempt to set anyone on fire. I succeeded. Secondly," she argued. "I was making my dear cousin better."

Theodore stopped poking his daughter and stared blankly at her. He leaned on his cane and sighed. "How was that…you know what? Never mind, I don't even care." Theodore massaged his temples. He was beginning to think that 'Darla' wasn't the proper name for his daughter. Perhaps 'Mora' would have been better, or 'irritation', if he wanted to be perfectly blunt about it. Of course anyone would get irritated if they had to listen to an eleven year old rant and rave about how much she didn't want to go to school. For the past month that was all Theodore had gotten to hear.

Darla glanced around the platform, no one she saw really seemed like they would be friend material. She spotted a gaggle of Hufflepuffs chatting a few feet away, she could only tell because they were already in their robes. "I'm going to be in Slytherin, right, Daddy?"

"I don't know," Theodore groaned, though he really didn't have any doubts about what house Darla would be sorted into. She wasn't the most studious girl, nor was she terribly brave, nor was she the most loyal. What she did have was a certain drive, and a very annoying stubbornness about her. "Nor will you if you don't get on the train."

Darla crossed her arms again and stomped her foot on the ground. "No," she said in a very shrill voice. "I don't wanna go. There are people there and I don't like people. And what if they want to talk to me or something? Or touch me? I hate being touched!"

"Darla, you're causing a scene," Theodore said, mustering all his patience.

"I'm not causing a scene!" Darla glanced around and lowered her voice a bit. "Oh, I guess I am causing a scene…"

Theodore nodded and gave Darla a moment to calm herself down. Darla took several deep breaths and closed her eyes. "If I go will you send me fudge?"

"Who the hell is fudge?"

That small remark caused Darla to crack a smile. "Do I have to make friends," she asked in an overly childish voice.

Theodore raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think it would be better for you if you did? Just, you know, be yourself and you'll make the right kind of friends."

Darla didn't know how to be anyone other than herself, she didn't think that the phrase made much sense. Who would she be other than herself? Besides that, Darla had to disagree with her father. From what she had learned from story books friends were more of a hindrance than anything else. Beside, none of the really good characters had friends. Snow White had the dwarves, and she found them to be quite rude and they caused Snow quite a mess. Now, Beauty didn't have any friends and her life turned out, in Darla's mind, the best. Friends weren't something she really understood, nor were they something she actively searched for. "Do I have to get on the train now?"

Theodore nodded.

With a very loud sigh, Darla pushed her trolley to the train and looked back to her father. "I really, really hate this, but, whatever, I'll go I guess" she said as a goodbye.

"Well, good. Otherwise I might've had to throw you on the train," Theodore said, Darla couldn't quite tell if he was joking or not.

She glanced around at all of the other parents and children. Many of them were embracing or laughing. Darla looked back to her father, he didn't look like he was ready to throw his arms around her or kiss her on the forehead. She stood there awkwardly for a moment, playing with a loose string on her shirt. She wanted to give him a hug, but she wasn't sure how he would accept it.

"Darla," Theodore said, bringing Darla out of her thoughts. "You should get on the train soon. We wouldn't want to dawdle all day."

"Right…no dawdling," Darla agreed, still a bit distracted. "Well, um, I'll see you at Christmas then, right?"

Theodore nodded and ruffled Darla's hair. "Of course, Darla, of course."

Darla noticed that this wasn't how the other parents said goodbye, but she didn't want to drag it out and she, reluctantly, got onto the train. She didn't bother to tell her father that she loved him or that she would miss him. Dragging out the goodbye would have just made it harder for her.

Wandering down the corridors, she finally found an open compartment. It was empty, just as Darla had hoped. She settled down and stared blankly out the window, her father was nowhere to be seen. Darla's stomach seemed to drop. Her father had been trying very hard to get rid of her, she decided, and he had finally done it. For the first time in her life, Darla was completely alone. She blinked several times, her eyes burning with tears she refused to let anyone else see.

"Hoy, you seem to have an open seat."

Quickly, Darla wiped her eyes and looked up at the boy. He was taller than she was, not that that was any feat. Darla was small for her age, she was barely tall enough to reach the dinning table at home. He was already dressed in his Hogwarts robes, his Gryffindor tie was loosened, however, and his shirt was untucked.

"Yes," she said, her voice low. "I like it that way. That's the main reason I chose this seat."

The boy shrugged and ran his hand back through his messy brown hair. "Well, it won't be empty for long. You mind," he asked, gesturing to the seat opposite of Darla.

Darla looked up, her face set with a rather grim look. She spun the end of the hair around her fingers and took a deep breath. She did not want to be seen with a Gryffindor, that was the last thing she wanted to be stuck with. 'Although, Daddy did tell me to be nice,' she thought and closed her eyes, contemplating if she should even say anything.

"What's the matter, cat got your tongue," the boy teased.

Darla looked up and raised an eyebrow. "I don't have a cat," she said, sounding completely baffled.

"No it means…" The boy smiled and sat down. Darla decided not to tell him to go away for several reasons. He was bigger and older than her and she was certain that he could beat her up if he wanted to. Also, he had confidence that actually scared Darla a little. "You seem like you're a little strange there, girly."

Darla puffed out her chest like a rooster and put her hands on her hips. "I am not strange, maybe you're the strange one" she declared. "And my name is not 'girly'!"

Oddly, the boy laughed.

Darla felt her face turn red and she looked down at her hands. She knew she probably shouldn't have snapped, that was no way to go about making friends.

"Well then, what is your name," the boy asked. He relaxed and draped his arm around the back of his seat.

She cleared her throat. "Darla," she told him. "Darla Queenie Nott."

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Huh, Nott. As in 'Nott so Darling?"

Darla wasn't sure if he meant for the comment to be funny, but she didn't think it was funny at all. "Don't make fun of my name," Darla snapped and crossed her arms. "I'll bet you have a funny name."

The boy shrugged. "Not really. James Potter, not many jokes you can come up with for that, Queenie."

"Don't call me that, either," Darla said. She hated her middle name, she thought it was rather stupid. "Potter," she repeated. She had heard that name somewhere, but she couldn't remember where.

James shrugged. "Yeah, but I won't sign any autographs. I'm a humble man," James told her in such a manner that Darla was certain he was not a humble man at all. "So, tell me, why the long face, sour-puss? First time away from home? Getting homesick already?"

Darla hated to admit that she was already homesick. She missed her house and her library. She missed spending hours upon hours reading through her father's books, or sipping coca in the kitchen. "It's my Daddy," she finally said, staring at the floor.

James smiled. "Ah, I see. You miss your father?"

"No," Darla said quickly. "It's just… I'm about 90% sure that my Daddy sent me here to get rid of me. I think he wants to forget about me."

James shrugged and reached forward to clap Darla on the shoulder. "I doubt that, Queenie," he said, making Darla cringe. "You seem far too snippy and loud for someone to forget about you."

For the first time since she had gotten on the train, Darla smiled. "You think so, Mister Potter?"

"I'm a good judge of character," James told her. "And don't call me 'Mister Potter'."

"Don't call me 'Queenie."

Again, James laughed. "Alright, alright. Darla and James, then." He sighed and glanced out the window. "So, what house do you want to be in?"

"Slytherin," Darla answered quickly.

James raised an eyebrow. "You don't act like a Slytherin. You act like a scared little girl."

Darla shrugged. "And you don't act like a Gryffindor, you act like an egotistical prat."

Darla expected James to get mad, usually insulting people made them angry. To her surprise, James simply smiled again. "I like you," he told her.

Darla didn't quite know what to make of this. She wasn't sure yet if she liked the boy or not, and she couldn't understand why he liked her. She hadn't been kind to her at all. In fact, she thought she had been quite rude to him. Maybe her father was right, maybe she did just have to be herself and she would make the right kind of friends. Or, at least, she wouldn't make too many enemies.

"Well, you might want to get changed into your robes," James told her.

"You'll have to leave."

James smirked. "Don't worry, I won't look."

Darla crossed her arms. "I'm not changing in front of you," she said. She might now have known much about people, but she knew she wasn't supposed to change in front of boys.

"You're a little pert," James told her as he stood up. "But, alright, I'll leave you alone." He walked to the door. "Come find me sometime, you're interesting."

James left and Darla pulled her bag out. James was strange, she decided. But, he wasn't strange in a terrible way. People were very confusing, Darla decided. Even if James was strange and confusing, Darla knew it would be a good idea to have an older student around. That, she decided, would help her if she got lost.

Darla changed clothes and stared out the window. It was nice to be left alone for a while. Thus far, Hogwarts didn't seem like it would be terrible.

The compartment door opened. Darla looked up, expecting to see that James had returned. Instead two identical boys around eleven years old stood in the doorway. They had very light blonde hair and large blue eyes that seemed almost too big for their faces. Both of them were already dressed in their Hogwarts robes.

"See, Lysander, I told you that if we just looked around then we'd find a place to sit.

The boy, Lysander, looked over at his brother before he looked down at his hand. "Lorcan, I think I got bit by something." He looked up to the ceiling and blinked several times. "Maybe it was that gnome that lives in the neighbour's garden. Its good luck to be bitten by a gnome, isn't it, Lorcan?"

Lorcan shrugged and looked like he was trying very hard not accuse his brother of being mad. "Yeah, sure, why not." He smiled very slightly and looked over at Darla. "Pardon my brother and me intruding, but would you mind if we were to join you in here? You seem rather alone and no one else would let us sit with them."

Darla understood perfectly why no one else wanted the twins to sit with them. However, she felt bad for the two of them standing alone. "Sure, why not," she said and offered them the seat across from her.

"Oh, there are several reasons why not," Lysander told her as he sat beside his brother. He was smiling broadly and his eyes were darting around the compartment as though following a bug. "Would you like me to list them for you?"

Before Lysander had the chance to list any of his reasons, Lorcan, thankfully, interrupted. "I'm Lorcan Scamander; this is my twin brother, Lysander. We're both just starting here this year." Lorcan seemed to be the sanest of the two.

"Darla Nott," she introduced herself. "I'm also just starting this year." She refrained from admitting that she was more than a little afraid.

"Oh, Darla Nott, that's an interesting name," Lysander interjected, still staring at the wall. "It's as though you're saying you're not Darla, which would be very odd since you are Darla." He paused and looked away from the wall and gave Darla a questioning look. "Do you have a middle name?"

It obvious to Darla that something was wrong with Lysander. She wasn't sure that a school was the best place for him. Maybe his own room in Saint Mungos would be better. "Yes, it's Queenie," she told him, a bit unsure of what he was getting at.

Lysander clapped his hands as though this was the best name anyone could ever have. "Excellent! I will call you that!"

Lorcan groaned and leaned back in his seat. "Ly, you can't just call someone by their middle name because you don't like their first name. Why don't you just call her Darla?"

If Lysander heard his brother he didn't act like it. He jumped up and grinned. "I think I saw a bug in the corridor," he exclaimed. "I must go and catch it!"

"Don't eat it," Lorcan called to his brother as Lysander ran from the compartment after his bug. "I'm sorry about my brother. He's a bit…well, he certainly is Lysander."

"That he is," Darla agreed and stared out the window. The light was starting to fade and she was certain that they had to be getting close to Hogwarts.

Lorcan stood up and sighed. "I should go check on him. Merlin only knows what kind of trouble he's gotten himself into now."

Darla nodded. It did seem like Lysander would be the type to accidentally get himself into some kind of trouble. Lorcan left and closed the compartment door and Darla tried to relax a little. Maybe she had been wrong before. Maybe Hogwarts would be absolutely terrible. Maybe she could write to her father and convince him to let her come home. Of course, she was thoroughly convinced that Theodore didn't want her there. Darla pressed her forehead against the window and groaned. She didn't know what to think anymore. There seemed to be good people, like James, but there also seemed to be insane people, like Lysander. Although, Lorcan didn't seem to bad.

The train started to slow down, and Darla was feeling quite sick. She stopped looking out the window, she didn't even want to see the castle. She wanted to see her house, the house she was used to, a place where she didn't have to worry about making friends, a place where she didn't have to avoid her cousin.

Then again, Darla thought, she couldn't back out. She couldn't be weak. She decided she would give it one week. She would stay at Hogwarts and test it out for one week. No more and no less

The train came to a stop and Darla glanced outside. The sky had turned dark and the stars were quite clear. Had Darla not felt so nauseous she might have thought it was pretty. Slowly, she gathered up her things and squeezed into the corridor. She was very nearly trampled, it seemed that everyone was bigger than she was and they all seemed to be in much more of a hurry.

Darla tried to keep up, but it was rather difficult. She was shoved out of the way by several people. It was like being caught in a storm.

Suddenly, there were hands on her shoulder. Darla squeaked and jumped a bit.

"C'mon, just walk forward."

Darla relaxed a bit, feeling quite thankful that James Potter had managed to find her. The again, no one else needed help, why should she?

"I can do it by myself," she told him. Darla tried to squirm away, but James kept a tight hold on her.

"You're small," he said, as though Darla might not have noticed. "You're likely to get crushed here."

Darla scowled. She did not like having to be helped on her first day. Still, she let James lead her off the train. They stepped out into the cool night air and Darla gasped.

She couldn't ignore the castle in front of her. Across a large lake, that looked black in the moonlight, was the school she had been dreading so much. It seemed to glow. The dark towers twisted up and Darla could have sworn she could touch the stars from the top tower. It was intimidating and made her feel very, very small. Darla might have thought that the castle was ominous, but there was something very inviting about it.

James clapped her on the shoulder. "Close your mouth, you're letting flies in."

Darla looked up at him. "There are no flies," she informed it.

"You are a strange one. Now, just go over there, you'll get in a boat, and then you'll get sorted."

"You're not coming," Darla asked, suddenly afraid. She didn't know what had made her think James would come with her, she was certain he had his own friends.

"Nah, kiddo, I've got to get to the carriages."

"There you are," a tall boy the colour of mocha said, running over to James. "Hoy, Potter, thought you'd gotten lost." His dark hair curled around his face and hi his eyes.

James shrugged and smiled again. Darla noticed that James was usually smiling. "Just doing my part to help a fellow student, Freddie."

The boy, Freddie, raised an eyebrow. "This is part of some great prank that you forgot to tell me about, isn't it?"

James shook his head. "Nope. Freddie, Darla, Darla, Freddie."

"'Ey kid," Freddie said sounding cheerful but still confused.

"Hello," Darla said, trying to sound polite.

Freddie grabbed James's shoulder. "C'mon, prat, let your new pet get in her boat. We've got people waiting to see us."

James ruffled Darla's hair. "See ya inside," he said before he left.

Darla sighed. Once again, she was alone. She didn't much like being James's 'pet', but she decided she could ponder what that meant later.

A rather gruff man that Darla quickly decided she didn't like directed her to a boat. It wasn't that the man wasn't kind, she just felt smaller than ever as he stood over her.

Darla sat down in a boat with a boy. The boy was a little chubby. He had curls of brown hair falling over his tanned face and he managed a small smile.

"Hullo," the boy said, his voice was softer than Darla had expected.

"Hello, ah!" The boat started moving and Darla jumped.

The boy giggled softly. "I take it you're from a muggle family," he said.

Darla crossed her arms and tried to look a bit more confident. "No, my family are purebloods. I just wasn't expecting the boat to start moving so suddenly," Darla told him, trying to justify herself.

The boy shrugged. "Just asking," he muttered and stared down into the water.

Darla looked down too. Maybe it hadn't been the light, maybe the lake actually was black. She stared at it, wondering if there was a bottom at all. Maybe there wasn't, maybe the lake just went forever and there was another lake exactly like it on the other side of the world.

"I'm Hugo," the boy said, breaking the silence. "My cousin, Lily, is over there," he said, pointing in some vague direction.

"Darla," Darla told him.

Everyone in the boats beside them seemed to be talking excitedly. Darla still didn't feel too excited and she didn't want to talk to a boy who had accused her of being a muggle-born.

"So," Hugo went on, grasping desperately for conversation. "What, uh, what house do you think you'll be sorted into?"

Darla sighed. "I really wish that people would stop asking me that."

Hugo shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I'm hoping for Gryffindor. I mean, Ravenclaw would be alright too…maybe even Hufflepuff. 'Course, I'm not much of a finder."

Darla wanted to tell the boy to shut up, but she knew that would be rude. Scorpius had been right. She was no one here, she couldn't just tell people to stop talking. "Slytherin," Darla said, finally. "I'd like to be in Slytherin."

She had expected Hugo to be a bit put off by this. Instead, he shrugged. "Yeah, my cousin is in Slytherin, and he's not half bad. I mean, he can be moody sometimes, but he's alright."

Darla smiled a little. "My cousin is in Slytherin, and he's a complete bastard!" Darla paused. "What's your cousin's name?"

"Albus," Hugo told her. "Albus Potter."

Darla's eyes widened a bit. "Potter," she exclaimed. "His last name is Potter?"

Hugo rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you're a fan."

"No, it's just…" Darla paused. She wasn't sure if Potter was a common surname or not. "Does he have a brother or cousin or something? James Potter?"

Hugo stared at Darla. "Well, yeah," he said, as though this was supposed to be obvious. "James is Albus's older brother."

Darla brightened a little. Maybe she could make friends with James's little brother, maybe she wouldn't have too many enemies. "I met James on the train," she explained. "He was kind to me, which was odd because I wasn't terribly kind to him. But, he talked to me and he helped me off the train," she told him all this very quickly.

Hugo raised an eyebrow. "James actually took the time to help someone who wasn't directly related to him? What'd he say to scare you?"

Darla thought back. James hadn't told her anything that she thought would scare her at all. He had made a few jokes, but that wasn't something to be afraid of. "Nothing," she said. "He just talked to me a bit."

The boat docked itself and Darla and Hugo climbed out, cautiously.

"Well, that's weird," Hugo told her as they lined up. "James likes to prank people, so watch out."

Darla didn't have the chance to respond. They were led inside by an older woman. Her brown hair was up in a very tight bun and she didn't look like she had ever smiled. Darla decided she didn't like her much. The woman spoke harshly and hard a voice that screamed authority. Darla was reminded of a gargoyle.

"Wait quietly here," the woman told them. "I'll call you in to be sorted."

Darla groaned and put her hands in his pockets. She had never been good at waiting. She looked around the room. It was large with a high ceiling and marble flooring. The lights reflected off the gold in the walls.

"Alright, follow me," the woman said.

Darla fell in line with the rest of the first years and followed the woman into a much larger room. The room was lit by thousands of floating candles that Darla was sure were bewitched not to drip wax onto people's heads. Though, she thought it would be funny to see Scorpius get a glob on hot wax dropped on his head.

Darla was so busy focusing on the candles that she didn't notice the strange hat singing and was surprised by the applause that followed.

She shook her head and clapped along with everyone, trying to look like she had some idea as to what was going on.

The gargoyle woman stepped forward and pulled out a long roll of parchment. "Adams, Charles!"

Darla watched as a skinny blonde hair boy hurried across the room. He sat on the stool at the front, looking quite nervous. The hat was placed on his head, it slid down over his eyes. After a few minutes the hat shouted out "Ravenclaw." The whole room erupted into applause. The boy handed the hat back to the gargoyle woman and hurried over to the Ravenclaw table.

After 'Corner, Justin' was sorted into Hufflepuff, Darla stopped listening. The sorting wasn't interesting to her, so she wasn't going to take the time or the effort to pay attention. Instead she scanned the halls. She looked first over at the Slytherin table. Scorpius was sitting up perfectly straight, watching the sorting ceremony with rapt attention. Darla looked past the Slytherin table and looked over at the Gryffindors. It took her a moment to spot James, he was sitting beside Freddie (who was much easier to spot) and some dark haired girl that Darla hadn't had the misfortune of meeting. James was not nearly as interested in the sorting ceremony as other people were. He, Freddie, and the girl were all leaning over a piece of parchment. James was making quick notes on it.

"Nott, Darla!"

Darla jumped a bit. She hadn't expected her name to be called so soon. Suddenly she wished she had paid a bit more attention, she had only a vague idea of what she was supposed to do. She knew she had to go sit on a stool and have a hat put on her head, but aside from that she felt clueless. With her heart beating quick, Darla took a deep breath and walked across the room, feeling very much like she was heading straight for the guillotine.

Taking a deep breath, Darla sat down on the stool and folded her hands in her lap. She looked up at the Gargoyle woman, hoping she would tell her what to do. The woman didn't say anything, but placed the hat over Darla's head.

Everything went black even though Darla had her eyes open.

You're an intelligent girl, aren't you? Darla heard the voice clearly, though she felt like it was speaking directly into her mind. Perhaps Ravenclaw would be a good place for you.

Yes, Ravenclaw, Darla thought. The people who practically murder each other to get to the top?

Ah yes, but don't you have ambition?

Darla rolled her eyes. I don't care too much about grades. Maybe I'm smart, but I don't care that much.

I see, The Voice mused. You do resemble a Gryffindor, though. You're strong willed, intelligent, and you're stronger than you realize. You would make an excellent Slytherin or a Gryffindor. Where do you think you belong?

Slytherin, Darla said, not taking a moment to think about it. My mother and Father were both in Slytherin. Like you said, I have ambition and you said I was intelligent. Both of those are Slytherin traits, yes?

Hmm, you are also a bit shrewd, aren't you, The Voice asked her, gruffly.

Darla smiled a bit. Well, can we get this over with? I'm getting hungry.

Impatience will get you nowhere, The Voice told her.

"Slytherin," a clear voice said.

The hat was removed from her head and Darla, feeling a bit dizzy, stood up. There was a bit of clapping, but not nearly as much as there had been after the hat had sung its song. Holding her head high, Darla sauntered over to the Slytherin table, making sure she was as far away from her cousin as she could get.

She ended up sitting beside a fourth year boy with neatly trimmed dark hair, coal black eyes, and a very hard face. He looked down at Darla, offered her something that might have been a smile, and introduced himself as Erick Flint.

Darla did not smile back at him. She put her hands in her lap and stared forward. She did introduce herself as Darla Nott, but she made sure she sounded like she didn't care at all.

"Nott," Erick whispered as the hat sorted Potter, Lily into Gryffindor. "Theodore Nott's daughter?"

Darla sighed and glanced over at Erick. "Yes, yes I am. Why?" Darla brightened a little. "Do you hate my father, too?" She was only half paying attention as she was watching Lysander and Lorcan get sorted into Ravenclaw.

Erick raised an eyebrow. "No, I don't hate him. Why would I hate him?"

"I hate him," Darla said and shrugged. "He's a magnificent bastard. Not, of course, that I'd expect you to know that, you don't have to live with him."

Erick seemed a bit uncomfortable. He looked at Darla as though she were the most insulting people he had ever met. "You shouldn't talk about your father like that, it's disrespectful."

Again, Darla shrugged. "Well, it's rude to meddle in other people's affairs, Mister Flint, so why don't you leave my family to me?"

Erick looked away from Darla and instead started whispering something to the boy beside him. Darla had no doubt in her mind that they were talking ill of her, but she ignored it.

After Weasley, Hugo was sorted into Ravenclaw the hall fell silent. Darla felt slightly ill as she watched Hugo walk over to the table; the Ravenclaws clapped and congratulated him. Darla noticed Hugo look over his shoulder at the Gryffindor table and wave sadly.

"Alright," The Gargoyle woman said as she folded up her paper. "That will conclude the sorting ceremony. Now, before we begin with the feast I'd like to go over a few of the school rules."

Darla zoned out during that. She didn't care what rules there were, she knew that if she did know them then she would go out of her way to break them. So, Darla just stared blankly at the wall, trying to remember the ingredients to 'Draught of the Living dead'. She remembered she had to squeeze the juice from sopophorous beans, but she couldn't remember what she was supposed to infuse with wormwood. Asphodel, maybe? Then, what was she supposed to so with the valerian roots?

"Now, let the feast begin."

Darla snapped out of her thoughts and looked down at the table. Food began to appear on the golden plates, but Darla didn't feel hungry anymore. She was starting to feel rather ill. She poured herself a cup of pumpkin juice and put a bit of food on her plate. She wasn't planning on eating, but she thought it would be rude not to at least get part of a meal. She remembered at her house Theodore sometimes forgot that meals were supposed to happen. He would go to his study and work for a while, sometime Darla didn't see him for days. She didn't get hungry easily, she was used to skipping meals.

Darla sat in silence, feeling awkward as everyone around her became engaged in conversation. Darla caught a few fragments of their conversations. A fifth year girl across the table thought that someone named Mars Zabini was attractive. Erick was sure that Quidditch was going to be wonderful and he didn't think that there would be too much rain at the start of the season. To put it simply, Darla was bored. No one seemed to have anything interesting to say. A part of her wanted to go over to the Ravenclaw table, even listening to the two bizarre twins would be better. She glanced over, a few of the Ravenclaws had scooted away from the boys, but Lysander was happily examining a grape.

Dinner seemed to go on for far too long. Darla poked at her chicken with her fork and moved some potatoes around on her plate. Was everyone at Hogwarts this uninteresting? Darla would have loved to have gone to the common room, but she had no idea where it was. Not knowing something made her feel quite small. Small and a bit pathetic.

Finally, Miss Gargoyle, as Darla had named her, dismissed them, but not before reminding them all to obey the rules. Darla moved quickly away from the table, she was ready to get away from everything and into the comfort of her bed.

"Alright, follow me," A tall dark boy said.

Darla didn't get a good look at him, all she knew was the he was a Slytherin and he knew where they were supposed to go.

"Hey, Darla!"

James Potter clapped Darla on the back as he walked past her. "Congrats on getting into the house you wanted," he told her.

Darla wanted to talk to him, she thought he would have something interesting to say. He did seem like an interesting boy. Before she got the chance to say anything, James had mixed in with the crowd walking in the opposite direction.

"What was that," a boy asked her.

Darla shrugged. "That was James Potter," she explained as she walked with the boy out of the great hall. "He's sort of my friend. Well, we talked on the train anyway, and he helped me out a bit. I think he's my friend."

"Well, good for you," the boy said, quite sarcastically. "My brother has decided to make a pet out of you."

Darla looked over at the boy, she could see the resemblance between the boys. Both of them had messy black hair and light skin. The only difference Darla could see was that Albus had bright green eyes.

"You're Albus," she said, sounding a bit too happy. She hadn't known if she would find him or how she was supposed to start talking to him. She was thankful that he had started the conversation.

Albus nodded. "Yeah, Al, don't call me 'Albus'. Only my mother can call me Albus."

Darla smiled and made a mental note of that. "Oh, okay. Yes, Hugo mentioned you to me. He said you weren't a complete bastard."

Albus raised an eyebrow. "Why would I be?"

Darla was going to tell him about how her cousin was a complete bastard and she though most people in Slytherin would be. Unfortunately, the complete bastard himself showed up before she had the chance.

Scorpius smirked and put his hand on Al's shoulder. "If you respect your reputation at all, Al, you should probably just walk away from my cousin."

Darla puffed her chest out and put her hands on her hips. "Scorpius, dear," she said, feeling much braver than she had on the train. "I didn't know that you were in charge of whom people could talk to and whom they couldn't."

Scorpius reached over and swatted the back of Darla's head. "Be quiet," he ordered. "I think that's the best thing you can do at this point. Just shut up and listen to people older than you."

"Well, Scorpius—"

"Wow, what wonderful family bonding," Al said, quite bored. "As much fun as this has been…it's not fun. C'mon, Scorpius, I really don't think a fight is a good way to start off the year."

Scorpius shrugged. "Yeah, I'd like to catch up with Flint, anyway." He looked back over to Darla. "Hey, Darling?"

Darla sighed and looked down at the floor. "What?"

Scorpius smirked and faked jumping at her. Darla shrieked and jumped back, nearly hitting a fifth year girl. Scorpius smiled and left with Al.

Darla was thrilled when they finally left. She followed the rest of the Slytherins down into the dungeons and through a secret entrance behind a tapestry. She was too tired to look around the common room. Besides that, she didn't want to be near her cousin or anyone else.

The Head Boy who had led them to the common room—Darla learned this was Mars Zabini, though she didn't find his flat nose or high forehead attractive—explained where the dormitories were and told them the password was 'levisticum'.

As soon as Darla knew where to go she went. She headed up the left staircase and found a red oak door that said 'first years'. She went in and walked down past the other four beds. She chose the bed furthest away from the door and collapsed on the green comforter. She pulled the dark green curtains closed, pulled a silver embodied pillow close to her chest.

She lay there for a few minutes, trying to figure out if today had been good or not. Finally, Darla crawled out of bed, grabbed a piece of parchment, a bottle of ink and her quill. She laid on her bed and made a list of pros and cons.

Cons: Scorpius still exists. Everyone is boring and probably stupid. No one is going to be bringing me coca. The Gargoyle. Complicated staircases and a completely idiotic layout. I'm going to get lost. I have to deal with people.

Pros: James Potter. Daddy isn't here. I can be alone sometimes. James Potter is kind to me. People actually remember that food happens. James Potter went out of his way to help me. I get to be away from home.

Darla looked at her list and sighed. She couldn't tell if the pros outweighed the cons or not. Darla folded her parchment up and put it under her pillow, deciding that she would add to it over the course of the next week.

Before anyone else ventured upstairs, Darla changed into her pyjamas. She dug through her trunk until she found a small stuffed animal. It was a horribly battered stuffed owl, his wings were held on with very thin string and one of his eyes had been long lost. The poor thing had lost plenty of his stuffing and he was bare of feathers in several places. "Well, we're here now, Prowly," she said to the owl and sighed deeply. "I suppose we had better get used to it, right?" Darla held Prowly close to her chest and climbed under the comforter. She fell asleep faster than she expected.