Chapter 1
I was beginning to fall asleep to the gentle sound of horses' hooves clicking against a cobblestone road, paired with a subtle creaking produced by the worn wooden spokes below my feet. My rest was abruptly brought to a halt only by the loud voice coming from the seat opposite to me.
"We're almost there!" It was my best, and possibly only friend, Willow. She was as excited to go back to Hogwarts as ever; her eyes, green like forests, shimmering with an optimistic glee. I, however, was not nearly as enthused. The years of bullying and belittlement made me loathe the very idea of returning to this God-forsaken place for a seventh year. "Ebony! Get up!" Ebony. Oh, how I hate that name. My curse, blessed upon me. 'Ebony Raven Way,' with my hair, black as ink, only existing to reflect that horrid title, and hardly helped by the purple and red dye scattered throughout it messily.
Persisting through my exhaustion, I forced myself up and gazed out the window at our destination. The gigantic castle towered over us, seemingly reaching the heavens. There was a light drizzle, causing a sort of foggy glow around the school, which only aided in making it appear even more magical. After several long minutes, we made our final stop. Willow and I stepped down from the carriage onto the ground, making sure to avoid the small puddles that had formed. On our left and right, all the other students also unboarded their separate carriages, and started to ascend the winding path going up the grassy hill that led to the main building. Willow immediately sprinted off to get to the doors, dropping a few books and losing a shoe in the process. I really love that ditzy girl. As I was trudging my way up, I felt a sudden sting, and looked behind me to see that I was struck with a medium-sized stone, by the hand of one of my peers.
"Look what loser decided to show up! I thought you'd be too embarrassed to come back after last year's incident in potions class." She let out a pretentiously reserved laugh and gave me a rude gesture. Her clique behind her seemed to think this just as humorous. All I wanted was to extinguish this situation and get to my dorm room.
"Can you please just stop? Just for one day? I mean, for God's sake, we just got here."
"Um, can you just stop existing? Then yeah, I could stop. God, what an irrelevant bitch."
I heard an aggressive voice shout down at the group from higher up on the hill.
"Hey! Fuck off, will you? Leave her alone!" I immediately recognized the voice as Draco Malfoy, a 5th Year at the school. Many tended to call him a bully too, and I've heard some awful rumors, but ever since he came to Hogwarts, he's tried to protect me, and I think very highly of him because of it. "Come on, Ebony. Don't let these asses bring you down." I ran to Draco and he escorted me inside the building, chatting along the way to catch up with each other. We sat down at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, beaming with the energy of the crowd of students, new and old. Some time passed before Albus Dumbledore, our headmaster, walked to the podium and began the entrance ceremony to welcome the student body to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.