Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Harry Potter or Warner Brothers. It belongs to J.K. Rowling, respectively.

Author Notes: This is my first English fiction, for I am a German girl. I hope my style isn't too bad. Tell me if it is, though. Thanks go to my fabulous beta-reader Andrea! Thank you so much.

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1: How life changes ....

I did not hate Draco. He had always been the way a Malfoy is, and I saw him breaking way more hearts than mine.

I crossed his path when I had just turned 13.

My parents had both been killed a few days earlier and one of the hooded strangers murdering them had lifted me up after hours of crying and had brought me to some distant place.

I did not understand then why my parents had been taken away from me, and I did not understand why I had been left unharmed, but most of all I did not understand why the very murderer of my parents had taken me to some kind of manor and placed me carefully on a satin-sheeted bed.

So there I lay. Shivering and crying. My raven black hair spread over the wood-green material. I was dirty, and tired, and cold.

I knew those hooded creatures were wizards. Just as my father had been a wizard. They had fought and killed him by pointing their wands at him, muttering some strange-sounding words which I did not understand. My mother was killed the same way.

I, just like my mother, was a Muggle. I had no magical talent and had spent my life in an almost perfectly normal world. Well, except for my father disappearing now and then to work for the Ministry of Magic.

My father had been a great wizard, or so I thought, and I knew that his work and his greatness had been the reason for his and my mother's deaths.

I looked down at my ankles. They were bruised, and blood soaked the green sheets. I felt the tears on my face dry up slowly, and when I looked up from my ankles I saw the man that had brought me here standing in front of me.

He looked down at me. His long silver hair framed his face beautifully. His steel gray eyes stared straight into my dirty green ones.

He stepped closer and I could feel my heart starting to jump uncomfortably in my chest. He stared at me and then opened his mouth:

"You are at the Malfoy Manor. You will be staying here for some time, Anja."

I neither knew why I had been brought here nor where this man knew my name from. I was scared to death.

The idea that all of this had been a dream popped up in my head and I waited for my waking.

But I did not wake up ... I never woke up!

The beautiful silver haired man simply looked at me and when he turned and left my room, I could feel tears welling in my eyes again.

Ugly little creatures entered my room, and wrapped me in heavy blankets.

Tears were streaming down my cheeks, but sooner or later I found the sleep that I so desperately needed.

I woke up from the sound of a soft voice the in the middle of the night.

"Silence in steam ...

Dreaming a dream ....

Seeing you see ...."

I opened my eyes, but could not find anyone near me.

"... don't cry

it isn't easy to be!"

But when I looked up, I saw a silvery, almost non-existent thing hovering in midair over my bed.

I drew in my breath heavily when I reckognised that thing for what it was.

A GHOST!

I could not believe it. A young beautiful girl looked down at me. She was not much younger than I was. She looked perfectly normal, apart from the fact that her body seemed to consist of fog.

The girl smiled and blew a kiss at me.

"Go back to sleep ...

I'll hold you and protect you from the other ones

The evil ones ...

Go back to sleep!"

Then she turned around and floated away.

She had almost disappeared through the walls when I recovered my voice, „but there is no such thing as ghosts!"

The girl turned around and gave me another one of her sweet smiles, " Ohhh ... isn't there?"

But before I could ask any more questions – and I sure had many to ask – the girl had vanished.

I could not believe what I had just seen.

Was I in a fever? Did I see things that were not there? I would have panicked if the thought of all this only existing in my imagination would not have been the most comforting and easiest explanation of all.

After the girl had left for some time I went back to sleep. This time it was an uneasy sleep. I dreamt of the deaths of my parents.

I saw myself being bound to a bed. I saw once again how the hooded strangers laughed when my father sucked in his last breath, and once again I heard my mother plead for her daughter's life - my life.

I was kind of relieved when a stone-cold hand brought me back to the real world.

"She's feverish. Bring me some potions!"

I reckognised the voice of the silver haired man, and when I opened my eyes his face was right above mine.

"Don't worry. Everything will be allright."

His voice appeared much softer and much warmer than it had the day before. It was still the voice of a cold and heartless creature, but at least it made me believe, that he was, after all, maybe part-human.

A young woman stumbled into the room. She handed the man a little bottle.

He opened it and brought it up to my mouth.

"Drink!" His voice sounded harsh and commanding.

I did drink and felt much better immediately.

The man stroked the thick, black hair out of my young, innocent face and then he left the room.

The two women standing next to my bed started to get me ready for the day at once when he was gone.

I still felt dizzy, and I could not do much but look at them while they washed my dirty body and wrapped me in dark red robes.

I had never worn robes before. I had seen them on my father several times, but I myself thought them quite out of fashion.

When the women were done with dressing me, they started to work on my hair.

They combed my long black locks and then tied them up here and there. When they were done with that they seemed to feel quite satisfied with themselves and smiled at my reflection.

I wearily smiled back at them through the mirror being placed in front of me.

"Master is awaiting you downstairs in some minutes. He doesn't like people being late. So you should be on your way downstairs at once."

I nodded, but then thought of the many questions that had tormented me all through this night.

"But who is your master? What is his name? Where are we here? What is expected of me?"

The girls shook their heads, "It's not for us to tell you that! You'll have to ask him yourself!"

Great. Asking the murderer of my parents all the stuff running through my head was not the best idea I could think of.