Chapter I
Dmitri Lestrange wearily walked with his daughter down to King's Cross Station from the pub into which they had apparated. He hadn't bothered putting on muggle clothing, as muggles never seemed to notice anything anyway. His daughter, however, was more comfortable wearing denim and an unmarked gray sweatshirt. She liked to go unnoticed. He decided this was better for her anyways.
He didn't want her to be recognized by any shady characters before she was safe at school.
The summer had been full of Lestrange checking the Daily Prophet constantly, to make sure the mass breakouts he was expecting hadn't happened yet. For now he and his daughter were safe. But he wasn't naïve enough to believe it would last for very long.
No words were exchanged between the pair in the ten minutes it took to walk to the busy station. The place was packed with muggles, all ready to get onto their trains for their morning commute. The man dressed in flowing black got some double-takes as the pair whisked by, but his daughter blended in beautifully.
Lestrange kept shooting glances over his shoulder, as if to make sure no one was following or had seen him. This was ironic, as almost all the muggles near him were giving him nasty, judging looks; as if he was crazy for wearing his eccentric clothing in their presence.
He judged these muggles straight back, however, as they were the naïve ones. They had no idea how much danger they would be in soon enough.
It was a half an hour before eleven o'clock on September first. Lestrange slowed down his brisk jaunt as he came to platform 9. After only the slightest of pauses, both father and daughter strode into the brick barrier between platforms 9 and 10 as casually as if it was only a curtain. But a curtain it might have been, as both disappeared into it, and reappeared in what we can guess to be the other side, marked by a sign that announced it as platform 9 ¾. As they had walked through, a crowd had passed the barrier and the pair had gone unnoticed by the muggles who had stared at them moments before.
Almost as soon as they had arrived, Lestrange curtly nodded to his daughter, and lumbered off back through the barrier, as if he was nervous someone would see him on the platform. Karida sighed as she watched her father dissolve into the brick, and turned off to find her bags that had been delivered prior to their arrival.
After scanning the platform for a while (which was difficult because of all of the bustling people in assorted color clothing), she found an area of unclaimed luggage. Karida awkwardly walked through the rows of baggage and found her trunk, marked with her family crest. She wanted to rip it off. She looked around again and found an unused trolley, and rolled it over to her trunk to load it on. The other side was emblazoned with her house crest. That she could do with ripping off as well.
It was quarter till eleven when Karida finally got moving, and picked a random door of the train to board. On her way toward it, she had to steer her trolley clear of a big black dog that looked like it was enjoying the attention of some first years, who were pointing out of their windows at him. She managed to reach the door without tipping the trolley like she had last year, and had some help from a conductor with her heavy trunk. The fifth-year was weighted heavily with her bag, and didn't want to go very much farther with it. She settled for the first empty compartment.
It was only after sitting down that she realized, with a jolt, that the compartment was indeed not empty. A Ravenclaw girl, by the looks of her robes, was reading a magazine upside down in the corner. Karida could tell why she had not realized the compartment was taken, as so far the girl had not looked up to ask what she was doing there.
After a couple of long minutes of feeling awkward and not knowing what to do in this situation, Karida decided it would be best to leave this girl alone. That way she didn't have to start any small-talk conversations. She had just started to get up and pull her trunk out from under the seat when an airy voice wafted from behind the magazine and stopped her.
"I don't mind, you know," it said. Her magazine slowly dropped an inch, revealing two slightly protuberant blue eyes. "Nargles don't like it when there are too many people. They're sure to be kept away now."
Karida had never heard of nargles before, but was unfazed. The upside-down magazine gave her somewhat of a hint of what this girl might be like. Karida still did not know how to reply to this, however. Luckily, the girl had saved her the trouble by retreating quickly back behind her magazine.
Both girls were silent for another few minutes – though it seemed to Karida that the girl wasn't straining for some way to start a conversation like she was. She stood up and started to drag her case out again, when a clumsy Gryffindor in her year, Longbottom, almost stumbled into their compartment with some sort of cactus.
The awkward boy took one look at Karida and seemed to recognize her from around school – as she had some classes with the Gryffindors as well as her own house. He retreated a little, and his eyes shifted to the floor. His gaze fell upon her family emblem, and it seemed to frighten him even more. He coughed to give the pretense of just accidentally stumbling in, and backed out as quickly as he had come.
Karida waited another moment before leaving to find another compartment, to make sure she didn't meet Longbottom again. She slid open the door, and lugged her trunk farther away from the entrance she'd come down. She was so focused on holding her increasingly heavy bag that she didn't notice until after the fact that Harry Potter and the Weasley girl had to squeeze past her. After what seemed like hours with her luggage that was starting to give her calluses, Karida slid into a seat of an empty compartment, exhausted.
Only a couple minutes after the train started moving, Karida became bored. Deciding she would have to go change later anyway, Karida pulled out her trunk and opened it to get out her uniform. After putting the trunk prominently on the seat to show its occupancy (and leaving a lock on it), she left to the bathroom to get into her robes.
She turned right from her compartment back down the way she'd come. Some horrid smell was filling the hallway, and after a few more paces Karida saw her previous compartment was the source. Potter, Weasley, Longbottom, and the Ravenclaw girl were in it, and were all covered in some green substance. So it was a good thing she'd moved, after all.
When she reached the bathroom, Karida realized it had not been a bad idea. The usually long line of girls queuing up wasn't there at this point in the trip. In no time at all, she was in the cramped bathroom herself, doing a funny sort of hop to get out of her muggle jeans. She pulled on the green and silver robes ruefully and stared blankly in the foggy mirror to fasten her tie. The thought of being in Slytherin for another year didn't excite her.
Well, Karida thought, she knew she wouldn't have the bravery for Gryffindor. Conflict wasn't her fancy. She liked difficult charms, sure, but would prefer not to have to do any defensive spells anytime in real life. Although she couldn't exactly see Neville Longbottom fighting any Dark wizard without fear.
But she was smart! She could fit in in Ravenclaw! But her studies weren't that important to her, she realized... Of course she was extremely nervous for her O.W.L. year like anyone else, but during the past years Karida hadn't have worried about her grades too much. She wasn't a perfectionist. Though Granger wasn't in Ravenclaw, but Gryffindor instead…
As for Hufflepuff… She had never really gotten a chance to prove herself as a loyal friend. But Karida was sure if she had the chance she would stand by those closest to her.
Maybe she did fit in the most in Slytherin. She dreaded the thought. What she didn't understand was that she didn't give an enchanted pile of dragon droppings about blood status! Wasn't that what being Slytherin was mostly about? Sure she was a pureblood, but most of the time she was not proud of it.
As far as she was concerned, Karida didn't fit in anywhere. This scared her a little, and she stopped her train of thought quickly, and finished getting dressed.
After snatching her bundle of muggle clothes off of the floor, Karida pried open the bathroom door with difficulty. It was a bit jammed. The line of girls had already grown since she stepped in, and had to be careful to not step on anyone's foot.
Two innocent first-years were standing in line holding hands, and looking terrified. The train gave a sudden jolt and both of them whimpered and drew even closer to each other. Karida smiled down comfortingly at them, but both of their eyes widened and they turned away quickly.
Already somewhat used to this, Karida sighed and shrugged it off. After she got past the crowd of impatient girls, she came to the first compartment again. Potter and his friends had managed to get that green stuff off of them, but by the look on all of their (excluding the Ravenclaw's) faces, the smell might still be right under their noses. Another quick glance into the compartment explained why.
Draco Malfoy.
Karida groaned. She tried to sneak past him and his gang, but Crabbe and Goyle were practically blocking the hallway. Malfoy's little visit ended shortly after she'd arrived, however, and as his cronies stepped back to let him out, Karida tried to flee.
She didn't go unnoticed.
"Ah! Karida!"
Karida debated whether to just ignore him, but she decided it wasn't worth it, and spun on her heel to face him. "Malfoy." She muttered, appraising her classmate. The pale boy had grown at least another 3 centimeters since school had let out the last year, but he had the same pointed face as always. His shockingly bright blonde hair was not slicked back as it had been in her first and second year of knowing him, but falling forward onto his face. Any girl who didn't know his personality could definitely find Malfoy attractive. Karida regretted this bitterly.
"Not on a first-name basis, are we?" Malfoy said, pouting for a moment, and then switching back to his trademark smirk.
"Hardly." Karida squinted, eyeing Crabbe and Goyle wearily.
"Whatever." Malfoy grumbled, shrugging. He puffed out his chest to show off a gleaming prefect badge. Karida was hit by a pang of jealousy. Surely, Malfoy hadn't really been made prefect? She supposed he would be the best choice over his two gargoyle friends, but Zabini was less troublesome than Malfoy. A badge had never arrived for Karida, and she wondered what she had ever done not to deserve it. Malfoy seemed to sense her prolonged silence and broke it.
"Oh, you see my prefect badge, don't you? Isn't it wonderful? Now Potter and his friends will have to listen to me!" He noticed Karida withdraw a little. "Of course, I thought even Dumbledore would have enough sense to choose you as well, but Pansy already found me and showed me hers. Pity."
Though Karida agreed with this, she shrugged. "Less work for me, then."
Malfoy looked a bit put out that she didn't insult Pansy, but shook it off. "So… Have a good summer then?" He asked, obviously not reading Karida's signs of wanting to leave.
"Er… I've had better… What with You-Know-Who and all…"
"You talking about Potter's cock-and-bull story?" Malfoy sneered, absolute loathing marking his face. "You believe him?" He asked challengingly.
"Well I can't exactly say I don't, can I? And you can't either, you know it." Karida snapped back. She seemed to have touched a nerve, and as she saw the expression of disbelief on Malfoy's face grow, she couldn't help but smirk the smallest bit triumphantly.
"And what exactly do you mean by that?" He growled in his most venomous voice that he usually only saved for Potter. Being easily six centimeters taller, Malfoy glared down at Karida, daring her to say more.
"You know what both of our fathers, actually all of our fathers," she motioned to Crabbe and Goyle, "have done, how they've been involved. You can't seriously tell me you father hasn't been acting strange, Malfoy?"
Crabbe and Goyle looked absolutely baffled behind him, and didn't seem to comprehend what was being exchanged at all. Malfoy continued to sneer, though with much less power than before. He scoffed, and abruptly walked forward past Karida. His gang noticed his movement a moment too late, and Karida had to step to the side to let them pass.
She sighed and followed them in the direction back to her compartment.
Malfoy was somewhat related, but not by blood. Her aunt Bellatrix was his aunt as well. If her father had told her about Lucius Malfoy's being one of You-Know-Who's supporters, Karida wondered how much Draco knew about her father.
After deciding Malfoy wouldn't be able to hold it against her anyways, Karida came back down to earth by nearly tripping over something.
What was her trunk doing in the middle of the hallway? She realized she had walked farther and faster than she had thought, and was already in front of her compartment, which didn't seem to be hers anymore. Gingerly picking up her trunk and setting it next to the door, Karida slid the glass open to compromise with whoever had stolen her seat.
The three seventh-year boys abruptly looked up from their hushed discussion and stared at Karida.
"Er…" she started, now that she was in the room not knowing what to say. "Was… Was my trunk here?"
One of the two gingers replied to her almost instantly. "It was. Wasn't it, Fred?"
"Of course, George!" The other popped in. Karida recognized them as the famous Weasley twins. Well, they weren't really famous in Slytherin… But their antics were well known everywhere. "We just needed a little elbow room, you know?" Fred said, stretching out onto his seat.
"Er…" Karida started.
"Did you need something?" the boy with dreadlocks sitting next to George asked accusingly.
"Er, no… I just… I was sitting here before and everywhere is full…"
"We passed Pansy Parkinson's compartment on the way here; it didn't look very full to me," Fred shrugged.
Karida's face fell. Pansy was one of her least favorite people in school. It didn't help that she had to share a dormitory with her year-round.
George sensed this, and stopped teasing with his brother and friend. "We just figured it was Malfoy's or something, we don't exactly have a problem throwing his belongings across the hall." With this, he stood up and took Karida's trunk from her, and stowed it into the overhead shelf. She hadn't been able to do this herself. Karida mumbled a thanks.
Fred stood up hesitantly. "So we're moving?" He raised his eyebrows skeptically. His brother shrugged.
"I guess we could get some Frankie First Years to move…" He looked Karida in the eye. "Honestly, I wouldn't want to sit near Parkinson either."
"That's true." Fred agreed. "Have you noticed? She looks almost like a bulldog, doesn't she?"
"R-really?" Karida murmured, and then felt her confidence grow and shrugged. "I thought she was more of a pug, personally…"
"That's it! We've been trying to name it for years…" George looked at Karida appraisingly, seemed to linger on her tie for a moment, and looked away and left the room. Fred followed close behind and Lee stood up grumpily and left, closing the door behind them.
After they had gone down the hall a bit, Karida let a grin wean across her face. She had herself two new favorite Gryffindors.
Thanks for reading! It would mean a lot to me to leave a review :D
Constructive criticism is always welcome!
EDIT: I realized while writing the second chapter that Pansy is not the only girl Slytherin in her year that is mentioned, so I fixed that sentence. Not that big of a deal, I just wanted to make sure it tied together.