Disclaimer, etc.

oOo Snow, a Boggart, Daisies, and Sacrifice. oOo

Tony Dolohov had grown up with his mother, Nadia Rosier Dolohov. Getting by had never been easy, but they had worked hard, growing and selling potions ingredients like knotgrass, scurvy-grass and peppermint. They had taken care of each other, and with the exception of that horrible winter with his father, they had lived happily enough.

That winter had been when Tony was six. A gaunt, scowling old man had cracked out of the air like lightning in their kitchen, and demanded their gratitude and loyalty. He had transported them to a snow-bound, solitary town, so far north that the sun didn't dare to rise.

Then three Aurors had come and re-arrested Father. The one Father tried to curse was named Potter, and although Potter had seen to it that Nadia and little Tony were returned safely to their own old life, Nadia had seemed terrified of him.

Tony had gradually learned why. Father was a Death Eater: evil, an enemy of everything good. Harry Potter had defeated the Dark Lord and become a revered Head Auror who worked to root out evil in the wizarding world. He might pity them, a poor squib mother and her little boy, but they would have to keep their heads down in a world that hated the name Dolohov.

oOo

Now Tony was on a train to his first year at Hogwarts. He had left his tearful mother at the front of King's Cross Station because she didn't want to come in, had promised to write often, then made his own way to platform 9 3/4. On the train he had found room in a compartment with another lonesome boy, a second year named Umar who had a wart on his forehead and a slight greenish tinge. Maybe the train was making him sick.

"What is Hogwarts like?" Tony asked.

Umar shrugged.

"What house are you in?"

"Hufflepuff."

"Oh, that's cool."

"Not really." Umar said absently.

Silence.

They both watched out the window for a while. Umar took out a tunafish sandwich and ate it, then a large whole cucumber, and then two pumpkin pasties. Apparently, sick as he looked, his appetite was not suffering. Then he took out "Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2" and started reading it. Tony followed suit, taking his Potions book from his suitcase.

When a lady came through with a trolley of snacks, both Umar and Tony declined.

"D'you bring lunch?" Umar asked.

"No."

"Oh. I already ate mine."

Tony had seen that. He was hungry, but he was used to being hungry once in a while. He asked, "Do we eat when we arrive at Hogwarts?"

"Yup."

When will we get there?

Umar shrugged.

Then there was chatter in the aisle. Girl's faces peered in.

"They look like first years." The girls agreed.

The door slid open. There were four, maybe five girls crowded in the aisle. The redhead in the front smiled.

"Hi! Are you first years?"

"I am." Tony smiled back nervously. Umar just turned back to looking out the window.

"We are trying to meet everyone in our year. I'm Lily Potter."

"I'm Adrianne Edgecombe."

"My name is Lucy Weasley."

"Lizzie Fudge."

"Alberta Peasegood."

Tony nodded. He was sure the only name he would remember was Lily Potter. She was so friendly and confident, radiant. He told himself there was a chance she was not the daughter of The Harry Potter, but he had the sinking feeling that she must be.

"It's nice to meet you." He said. "How long do you think it is until we get to Hogwarts?"

One of the girls said, "My mum said the train arrives at around sunset, before dinner."

"What's your name?" Lily asked.

"Tony...um...and this is Umar."

"Tony what?" Another girl asked.

He looked at the wall, wishing he could escape, grasping for a way to change the subject, but finally muttered, "Tony Dolohov."

Everyone was quiet. Then a couple of the girls behind Lily whispered, "Let's go!" And they were gone.

"As in the death eater Dolohov?" Umar asked bluntly.

"Yeah, he's my father...but I'm not like him! At least, I don't think I am."

"You into dark magic?"

"No!"

"Then you're fine." Said Umar with another shrug.

"I guess I'll be sorted into Slytherin, and everyone will hate me." Said Tony resignedly.

"They'll especially hate you if you're in Slytherin. Slytherin kids are all scared of anything labeled evil; they protect their reputation like it's a million galleons."

Reputation. That was one thing Tony would never have. He had never cared too much before when he was focused on helping his mother, and he did his best to shrug it off now. If he stuck with Umar, he supposed he would learn to get good at shrugging.

oOo

In spite of his discouraging thoughts, Tony was enthralled by the castle. It was majestic, sparkling, and warm. If none of the other first years being led to the great hall by Professor Longbottom became his friends, at least Tony would have a magic castle to explore. Maybe he could talk to the ghosts and the portraits.

In the great hall the first years were called up one by one. The A, B, and C names passed too quickly, and then the moment came when Professor Longbottom said, "Dolohov, Antonin."

The whole room went quiet. Walking up to the sorting hat felt like wading through thick mud. Tony risked glancing out at the hall and regretted it; there was a frown on every face. He looked down again. The professor took a small step back as Tony approached. Did even he find Tony fearful and disgusting?

Tony picked up the tattered hat and put it on.

"Ah, here is something different." Said the voice of the hat. "Where do you belong, Mr. Dolohov? Your parents both went to Durmstrang, hmm... But your grandfather Rosier was in Slytherin."

"Please not Slytherin."

"Slytherin is not so bad these days, but you are right...it is not the house for you. I sense that the extent of your ambition is to live peacefully with those you care about. You are polite. Intelligent...but not exceptional. Protective, which may give you courage under pressure...but..."

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat shouted at last.

Tony stood up. There were sighs of relief from three of the tables. One blonde boy in Slytherin actually laughed, but Tony's own house looked rather unwelcoming. He certainly didn't want to sit in the front where there was space reserved for first years, so he headed toward an open spot a little further back. The girl next to it shifted on the bench to close the space, and he scanned the table desparately. At the very back, Umar sat alone. Tony practically ran past the whispers of "...death eater...Azkaban break-out...ought to be at Durmstrang...needs to wash his hair..." to sit by the one person who at least tolerated him.

Tony didn't pay much attention to the rest of the sorting, until Professor Longbottom called, "Potter, Lily!"

Once again all attention was on the front. Lily's hair shone in the candlelight as she confidently took the steps up to the sorting hat. Professor Longbottom beamed, and nodded toward the little stool as if it was her throne.

"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat cheered, and the rest of the hall cheered with it. A black-haired boy in the middle of the table next to Tony's started a drumming on the table, which was taken up by the rest of the Gryffindors, until Lily gracefully sat down and Professor Longbottom raised his hand to quiet them.

She was amazing.

"Who's amazing?"

"What? Did I say that out loud?"

"Yup. The Potter girl?"

Tony nodded wistfully. "...but she would never like me."

"That's prob'ly true." Agreed Umar. "You're almost as ugly as me, and I have a gramma who's a hag. But, you never know."

oOo

Tony's first year felt long. He wrote to his mother every day, tellingly her about the castle, the portraits he talked to, and what he was learning. He didn't mention that he was lonely. The other Hufflepuff students weren't all bad; several of them seemed to pity him, and a few even announced to him officially that they didn't blame him for having an evil father. Still, he was only comfortable with Umar. Umar being a second year left Tony with no real friends in his classes or in his dormitory.

Lily sat in the front of their double potions class, and occasionally said hello to him. She called him Tony, instead of Dolohov like the other Gryffindors called him, but that didn't make up for the glares her friends gave him whenever he looked at them.

oOo

In their second year Tony decided that Professor Longbottom must like him after all.

The Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors had Herbology together and Longbottom assigned everyone seats with a partner from the other house, "so you learn to work together with someone new," he said. Tony sat with Lily. That was a dream come true not only because she was kind and pretty, but also because Herbology was Tony's best subject. If it weren't for the insurmountable differences between their parents, and the other students watching him like a bomb that was about to go off, he would have been completely content.

Liam Finnigan and Lizzie Fudge, in particular, sat behind them and considered it their duty to protect the daughter of Harry Potter from the revenge of the Death Eaters. Today they were talking loudly about Finnigan's experience as a beater in Wee Flyers Quidditch and about Lizzie's connections in magical law enforcement.

Tony ignored them as he and Lily began to trim their potted flutterby bush.

"Flutterby flowers are pretty in the pictures I've seen from my Aunt and Uncle's wedding. Have you ever seen them in flower?"

"No," Tony said as he clipped the end off a softly fluttering branch that was growing out in an odd direction, "but the illustrations do look nice. It says the buds darken before it blooms."

"These buds aren't dark. I guess we won't see them bloom." She said and clipped another few leaves. The bush shuddered in protest, and Tony agreed. He didn't really think those ones had needed to be clipped. He had noticed a few times that Lily was inclined to over-trim the plants, but he didn't tell her so.

He looked closely at some buds. "They do have a darker shade around the edges, look."

They brushed shoulders as she leaned close to look. Tony fluttered like the bush and stepped away.

"You're right!" she said, "I wouldn't have noticed. How much longer until they bloom then?"

"Maybe twenty years."

Then Tony noticed that Lily was about to clip off a branch that held three of the roundest buds.

"Don't clip there!" He said urgently, and reached to move her arm away, but she pulled back, startled.

"Stay away from her, Dolohov!" Finnigan yelled suddenly, knocking over his own plant as he leaped up. He fumbled for his wand, and then pointed it at Tony. "You leave her alone or else—!"

Professor Longbottom strode over to them. "What is going on?" He demanded.

Finnigan spoke first, "Dolohov was about to attack Lily, Professor!"

"No he wasn't," Lily countered, "he was just telling me not to clip part of the flutterby bush."

Longbottom turned to Tony. "Mr. Dolohov?"

Tony was so embarrassed he could hardly speak. He simply pointed to the stem where Lily had been about to cut. "This branch, sir." He said softly.

"That branch certainly needs to stay. Mr. Finnigan, I think you overreacted rather aggressively. Twenty points from Gryffindor, and make sure you clean up that spilled potting soil."

Finnigan made a face. "But Professor, do you think it's a good idea to have Lily paired with Dolohov? I mean, Dolohov...and Potter..."

Tony studied the scuffs on his shoes, feeling his face get hot.

"Yes I do think it's a good idea, for one thing because when it comes to plants, Miss Potter has a careless tendency and Mr. Dolohov is more observant."

Longbottom left them, and Finnigan went for a dustpan, still eyeing Tony suspiciously.

After class Lily told her friends to go ahead, then she waited until everyone had left, and she walked back to the castle with Tony. She told him Liam Finnigan wasn't all bad, he was probably just scared. Tony told her it was alright, he understood how the son of a wizard who had done such terrible things would put people on edge. Then they talked about Herbology until they reached the front hall. He had a hard time meeting her eyes, but he was happy to be with her.

For the rest of that year Lily walked with Tony after each class in the greenhouses.