Disclaimer: I don't own HP or any related characters or material.
A/N: Hey everyone!!! I'm writing this to get it out of my head… I kinda lost my steam with Crazy Transfer Students… so if anyone out there is really wanting to see the end of that tell me and I'll start back up.
""
Black Sheep
(Of Mice and Malfoys)
""
"Shaula! Pick up your feet!" Draco Malfoy and his family walked briskly down Platform 9 3/4, his youngest bringing up the rear. "If you do not get on the train, you will have to wait until next year to start school!"
"Draco!!" Pansy looked at her husband.
"You don't have the time to take her all the way up to Hogwarts, do you?" At Pansy's silence Draco continued, "Well, neither do I. I had to plan to take today off yesterday of last year… and I almost didn't get it!"
'Why is it so important that you see me off?' Shaula thought at her father. 'You haven't gone to the station with Scorpio since his first year… Hypocrites.'
"Here we are…" Draco walked into one of the compartments in the front of the train, glaring the occupants out and moving aside so that one of his employees could hoist Shaula's trunk into the rack. "Only the best for a Malfoy."
'I'll just move to the back later…' Shaula looked at her father's back with a raised eyebrow.
"Ugh… the other prefects are so common this year." Spica, Shaula's Third Year sister, entered the compartment. "I've already said good-by to Mother, I need to make this quick so I can teach some Second Years a lesson on blood lines…"
Shaula shook her head at the sister's words and looked at the other girl. Spica was a babe. In every sense of the word. She was tall and thin. And she had inherited the Malfoy hair. It was long and flowing, reaching all the way to her waist. Her eyes were light blue, like her father's. She was the ultimate "It" girl.
"Hello father… I'm here to good-by as well, Captain Bulstrode wants to talk about our Quiddich season…" Sheratan, Spica's twin entered behind his sister and smiled at his father. Sheratan, or Tan, was almost the mirror image of his sister. Only where she was curved, he was angled and hard. With his short white-blond hair slicked back from his head, he looked very similar to Draco in his school days with the exception of having brown eyes.
"Good. You two do me proud this year." Draco looked over his two children. "Give some Gryffindors hell for me!"
"Do you even have to tell us?" Spica asked as she turned toward the door.
"Take care of your little sister!" Draco shouted at his oldest daughter's back. He turned to Tan, "You make sure that she and Scorpio watch out for Shaula. Malfoys stick together."
'Until one of us does something to smudge the family name…' Shaula sighed and looked out the window as her father and brother talked.
Out on the platform a sea of red swarmed through the invisible entrance to Platform 9 3/4. Shaula looked in awe at the huge family with hair every shade of red imaginable, with a few brunettes and two or three jet-black heads were mixed in.
"Ugh!" Draco sneered as he too looked out the window. "Make damn sure Shaula doesn't mix with that lot."
"Of course, Father." Tan said with an equal sneer on his face.
'What's wrong with them?' Shaula thought. 'They all look so happy… nothing like the Malfoys.'
"I have to go into the office and make sure the building is not engulfed in flames." Draco looked down at his youngest. "I look forward to your brother's letter telling me another Malfoy is in Slytherin."
Shaula bowed her head as her father left the compartment. Tan dropped himself into the seat across from Shaula and laughed. "So where do you want me to move your trunk, La-la?"
Shaula smiled at her brother's nickname for her, "Somewhere in the back, please." Her voice was quiet and small, like the rest of the girl. Shaula Malfoy was short for an eleven year old, and everything about her was tiny. Form her small hands to her tiny waist, her entire being screamed small and insignificant. She didn't look anything like the rest of the Malfoy's, she even looked different from her mother who had married into the Malfoy name. She had blue-black wavy hair that hated to be conformed or tamed by hair spells and potions, and her complexion was more olive than creamy white like the rest of her family from a summer of swimming and reading books out in the middle of the Malfoy property. Her eyes were the only thing that linked her to the Malfoy looks, but instead of the traditional icy blue hers were a bright, deep sapphire that had gotten her noticed many times, much to her dismay.
As Tan got up to grab Shaula's trunk, the compartment door opened to show Scorpio and Spica. The entered the compartment, Scorpio holding a small basket with a green and silver ribbon.
"You're both here, good." Scorpio drawled. "Shaula, the twins and I have decided to give your birthday present to you out of the eyes of Father and Mother."
Tan smiled and grabbed the basket from Scorpio. "Yank the stick out of your ass, Bro, she doesn't need a lecture! It's her Birthday!!"
"You need more decorum." Scorpio replied with the patented Malfoy sneer.
"What ev…" Tan thrust the basket at Shaula, "Happy Birthday, sis."
"Bad luck it happens on the same day school starts." Spica yawned. "Just open it so I can go hang with people I like."
Shaula pulled off the fabric that was draped on top of the basket. She looked in the basket and it looked back. Shaula gasped and pulled a small ball of fuzz out of the basket. The fuzz protested being held so high off the ground with a small mewling sound.
"Well?" Tan asked.
"I love him!" Shaula smiled and held the kitten to her chest.
"Good! I'm leaving!" Spica spun on the spot and left the compartment. Scorpio left with a nod and a sneer.
"Pricks!" Tan yelled at their backs and turned to his sister. "What will you name him?"
"I don't know…" Shaula looked at the emerald green eyes set in a jet-black face. The rest of the kitten was the same black except for a tiny white dot on his forehead. "I could call him Harry Potter…"
"That would definitely piss dad off. I can just see his face when I write him that you are cuddling Harry Potter in the Slytherin Common Room." Tan laughed and Shaula giggled.
"No! I think that would kill father," Shaula wiped a tear from her eye, "I'll think of something."
"Let's get you moved," Tan lifted Shaula's trunk and began moving to the back of the train.
The kitted hissed as they passed a large group of Slytherins, every hair on his body puffed up.
'I hope that's not an omen of things to come…' Shaula soothed her kitten as Tan opened a compartment at the very back of the train.
""
Molly Weasley was beside herself. Six of her grandchildren, five Weasley's and a Potter were beginning school today; Bill, Percy, George, Ron and Harry all had children making their first trips to Hogwarts today.
"Now all of you be on your BEST behavior while at school." The matron of the Weasley family said, looking each of her grandchildren in the eye. She zeroed in on George's twins, Fred and Arthur, they were just as mischievous as their father and his twin had been in school. "If I hear that you are being bad, I will bring you home for Thanksgiving Holiday and I will lock you in your rooms! Without Thanksgiving dinner!!!"
The assembled children groaned, some of the parents joining them. "That was a harsh punishment…" Ron Weasley observed. "Wonder why she's being so harsh this year?"
"Think about it, Ron." Harry Potter chuckled, his arm around his wife, Ginny. "Your twins are only in their second year, Bill's are in the fourth year, AND we're sending George's two off this year. She probably expects Hogwarts to end up a flaming dot on the pages of wizard history…"
"That was unexpectedly poetic, Harry" Percy remarked, laughing.
"Shove it, Percy." Harry said with a smile and playfully punched his Brother-in-law in the shoulder.
"But don't forget that my twins go out to Hogwarts next year… and yours too, Percy…" Charlie said as the mass of red began to get on the train.
"Mum's going to have a coronary next year…" Ron said with a look of horror on his face.
"At least that will be the last of the Weasley's for a while." Hermione said, shifting a tiny baby in her arms. She looked down at the girl and cooed. "Alexia isn't going to be leaving the Burrow for a good decade… Is she? No she's not!!"
The whistle of the train covered the baby's screaming giggle. All over the platform children were running to get onto the Hogwarts Express. As the train began to slowly pull away, Molly waved to her grandchildren from among a noticeably smaller group of redheads. As the last compartment pulled out of sight, she turned to her children and few grandchildren, "Dear Lord, I hope that school is still standing come the Christmas Holidays…"
""
Shaula sat in the corner of the last compartment, playing with the kitten and munching on a few snacks she brought with her, when the door slid open and the noise of about twenty children yelling and screaming came in through the opening. Shaula tried to occupy less space than before and become invisible.
"There's no one in this compartment!" Someone screamed. And six redheads burst through the door. Each of the six wore a knitted sweater with a different theme, obviously made by someone who knew the children well.
"Oh, Sorry! I didn't see you." The small girl who had yelled said as she took a closer look at the cabin.
"That's OK…" Shaula mumbled, her eyes on the back of the kitten's head. The little beast moved from his spot in Shaula's lap and threw himself at a pair of tall boys who looked exactly alike. "No!"
"That's alright, he just wants to say hi," one of the boys said as the other held the kitten.
"What's his name?" the boy petting the kitten's head said.
"I haven—" Shaula began, but a girl at the back of the bunch cut her off.
"Can we come in and sit down or what?" she said pushing one of her companions out of the way and taking a seat.
"There are only six seats…" Shaula mumbled.
"That's OK," the boy with the kitten, said, "You can sit in Fred's lap!"
"What?!?" Shaula yelped as the entire bunch invaded the compartment.
"See! She does have another volume!" Shaula did not see the person who made that comment but it sounded like one of the twins.
"We haven't introduced ourselves." The first girl said as she took the seat across form Shaula. "I'm Lilly Potter. The twins over there are Fred and Arthur, Arthur is the one that has your kitten and Fred's the other one." Lilly pointed to the last boy in the compartment, a redhead with almost strawberry blond hair. "That's Mark. This pushy girl is Coriandre, but we just call her Cori." She pointed out the girl who had pushed Mark earlier. Lilly then turned to a girl with dark auburn hair and freckles across her nose that smiled at Shaula. "And that's—"
"I'm Kieara." The girl cut Lilly off. "What's your name?"
"I'm… Shaula." She smiled at the group. "Was that your family out on the platform?"
"Yah," Mark replied. "That was the Weasley clan."
"Almost all of us." Lilly said, pulling a deck of cards out of her pocket. "A few of my uncles and aunts had to work today… You know how to play spoons?"
"What?" Shaula asked.
"It's a Muggle game." Fred said as he grabbed the deck from Lilly and began to shuffle. "All you have to do is try to get the same four cards and the grab a spoon. But you also have to watch to make sure that if someone else gets four you grab a spoon. If you don't, you're out of the game."
"But that's the rules to the quick game!" Cori protested. "Why can't we play a long game?"
"Because Shaula needs to learn," Arthur said, as he took the deck from his twin and started dealing. "You can only have four cards in your hand at a time so that means when you come across a card you want, you have to discard one of your cards."
"So this game is about choosing the right cards to hoard and then speed to get a spoon before everyone else?" Shaula asked. She looked at the cards Arthur had dealt her: two aces, a queen and a four.
"But watch out," Kieara said, also picking up her cards and smiling. "This game gets dangerous."
"It can't be too bad…" Shaula frowned.
"Until you have a person flying across the table to grab the spoon you just grabbed…" Arthur laughed. "To be safe, let's put you in between Fred and me."
"Fear not! Fair maiden, I shall protect thee from the savages!" Fred said as he moved to Shaula's right and Arthur moved to her left.
"Dorks! I'm starting…" Lilly giggled and smiled. She had the rest of the deck in front of her and picked up a card, she looked a the card and passed it face-down to Kieara who did the same, passing it to Mark who passed it to Cori who slammed the card in front of Arthur and so on. The only problem was that by the time Lily had put down the first card she had picked up another lightning fast and passed it. each exchange, picking up the card looking at it and then passing it, was too fast for Shaula, who was having troubles first picking up the card then registering what it was and then passing it on to Fred. By the time Cori had snatched the first spoon, Shaula had a large pile of cards she was still trying to look through and she missed the others diving for the remaining spoons. The group laughed good-naturedly at the look of frustrated confusion on Shaula's face as she looked at the chaos of cards on the table.
"How…" Shaula began.
"Don't worry," Fred said as he and Mark began picking up the cards. "It takes a while to learn how to pick up the cards and recognize quickly what you are seeing."
"My dad hates this game." Mark said as he picked up the last few cards and passed them to Fred who started shuffling. "He always complains about how the wizarding youth never play traditional games any more. He only complains because he isn't good at it."
"Alright you sissies," Lily said as she started dealing the next round. "I say it's time you stop talking a start playing before our new friend starts to think badly of the Weasley Clan for being a bunch of jack-jaws!"
Amid the cries of playful insult, Shaula spent the rest of the trip to her new school with a high spirit. 'Maybe this year isn't going to be too horrible…' she thought. The kitten purred in her lap almost like an affirmation of her thought. Later, when the others streamed out to fined food, Shaula looked the tiny kitten in the eyes and said to him. "I dub thee, Spirit. May you always bring me the good luck you have given me today."
"Hey, Shaula!" Fred poked his head in the compartment. "The rest of my family has the food trolley cornered halfway down the train. If you want anything, you'll have to come and get it before the vultures."
"Coming!" Shaula set the kitten down and left the compartment, missing the slight magical glow to the cat's eyes and the look she received from the Weasley who followed her down the train's halls.
'What fun we will have at Hogwarts, Shaula Malfoy, I cannot wait to find out!' The voice echoed around the cabin on the purr of a tiny kitten with emerald eyes and a white spot on his forehead.
""
A/N: phewww!!! That took a long time to get out! I started this last year and I just couldn't get it to a point where I liked it enough to call it finished. But I did tonight, July the 7th, at 2:42 AM! I need to sleep.
Well tell me if you liked it. And if you want to see more. I wrote it as a one shot but I have fallen in love with Shaula and Spirit and I will continue it if anyone asks me to. Even if it is one person. So ask if you liked!
Luvs and Chocolate Bunnies!!!!