A/N: Wow, I'm finally posting this story! It's been in my head for over a year and now it is finally time to GET. IT. OUT. Haha. I really hope you all enjoy the wild ride that is this story as much as I enjoy writing it!

I couldn't do it without my incredible betas: dracoterrae9099 and NutHeda. You guys rock!

Some of the later chapters will contain dark themes, but I'll do my best to have warnings before any potentially disturbing material.

At the beginning of each chapter, I'll post lyrics from a song that has helped me to write this story and that I think fits the overall mood of that chapter. If you feel like following along with the songs, I'm sure it would enhance the reading experience!

Buckle up, keep an open mind, and get ready for the slow burn of your life.

Additional note: This is written by someone who enjoys both BC and CL. (Me!) If you love one of them so much that you strongly dislike the other, this will not be the story for you. Same goes for if you strongly dislike Lexa or Bellamy as characters. This will not be the story for you. Thank you!

Disclaimer: I don't own any right to The 100 or Harry Potter. I'm just a big fan and this is pure fanfiction :)

Chapter One:

Begin Again

Shadows settle on the place that you left
Our minds are troubled by the emptiness
Destroy the middle, it's a waste of time
From the perfect start to the finish line

And if you're still breathing, you're the lucky ones
'Cause most of us are heaving through corrupted lungs
Setting fire to our insides for fun
Collecting names of the lovers that went wrong
The lovers that went wrong
Youth - Daughter

"Bellamy!" a voice rang loud and clear above the turmoil of the surrounding station, calling him sharply back to the present. The hubbub of Platform 9 ¾ seemed to swell, pressing around him like a tight glove. Parents ushered their children towards the train, friends reunited after a summer apart, and every so often, the Hogwarts Express let out an ear-splitting whistle reminding everyone of its approaching departure. The amalgamation of noises could have rivaled a stampede of centaurs; in short, it was mayhem. The new Prefects were the only adversaries to this madness as they scrambled around the station, trying to shoo loitering students or pacify concerned parents. Bellamy was supposed to be in the thick of it, among the select few trying to bring order to the chaos, but instead he was standing where Octavia had left him twenty minutes ago, waiting for someone who was late…very late.

"Bellamy!" the shout rang out again, much closer this time. His head snapped around looking for the offending voice. Where the hell was she? He turned fully in a circle, scanning the crowd for a sign. Just when he'd all but given up on spotting her amid the throng of people, his best friend barreled into view. Bellamy barely had time to recognize her honey-brown curls before his vision was completely obscured and long arms encircled him like a vice.

His deep laugh reverberated between them comfortably, "I thought public displays of affection were strictly forbidden, on principle."

"Shut up, Blake." Lexa pulled back and turned around to pick up her discarded belongings, purposefully elbowing him in the process.

"Oof. Easy there, tiger." Bellamy rubbed his side, unable to keep the grin from spreading across his tan face. "I haven't seen you for a whole week and this is how you treat me?"

"Shut up," Lexa repeated matter-of-factly. "We're late. No time for quips."

Bellamy picked up his trunk and followed after her, "You are late. I was here with plenty of time to check in with the beast."

Lexa threw him a disdainful look over her shoulder, "Don't call her that."

"Why not? She scares the shit out of me."

"You just can't believe she picked you to be a Prefect after all the crap you've pulled over the years."

"You mean all the crap we've pulled," Bellamy corrected.

"Sure," Lexa raised her eyebrows in challenge. She was always challenging him. "Indra loves me though."

Bellamy rolled his eyes. "Everyone loves you. We pull the same damn stunts and yet you get away with it and I get detention with fucking Pike."

They shouldered their way into the front compartment of the train.

"I can't help that I was born to the superior sex," Lexa smirked devilishly.

"Something we both can agree—"

"Blake! Trikru!" Bellamy and Lexa jumped as Indra's voice boomed behind them. The imposing professor seemed to appear out of nowhere. She had a knack for suddenly popping up when someone least needed to be caught. Indra stared at them, her dark brown eyes glinting. They were definitely in trouble.

Bellamy opened his mouth, then closed it and opened it again, looking very much like a fish out of water.

"Sorry, Professor," Lexa said, bowing her head in shame. God, she was a good actor. "Bellamy forgot to purchase more floo powder and we had to use muggle transportation. It won't happen again."

Bellamy's face flushed red and his mouth froze half-closed. Indra's eyes scanned Bellamy like an x-ray as if to say 'how typical.'

"Very well. Put on your school uniforms quickly and take the last shift on the station. We take off in twenty."

The pair turned and sprinted into the first empty compartment.

"Bellamy forgot to buy floo powder," he imitated, finally gaining control of his tongue. "I swear you should have been a Slytherin, Lex."

"Yeah, yeah." Lexa quickly locked the door and pulled off her jacket, "You and the sorting hat both."

Bellamy turned slightly and began to take off his own clothes. This wasn't the first time they had changed in front of each other and it probably wouldn't be the last. Bellamy knew Lexa trusted him implicitly and he, while probably the more awkward of the two, had gotten over his infatuation with his friend long ago. Besides, they shared an appreciation for the female form that went well beyond art.

"How was your week with Anya? Were her parents as terrifying as you expected?" Bellamy asked after he pulled on his black slacks. He began working on the buttons of his white oxford, turning back towards his friend. Lexa was sitting already fully dressed in her uniform, pulling on her black loafers.

She laughed, "Anya was pissed that we didn't spend more of the summer together, but I made her forget about that pretty quickly." Lexa wiggled her eyebrows suggestively then turned her attention to fastening the red and gold tie around her neck. "Her parents were actually really amazing." She paused mid action, her hands stilling against the colorful silk, and Bellamy recognized the old sadness in her eyes. He waited, knowing that Lexa would only share on her terms. No amount of asking could pry information from that woman; she was a steel fortress.

Lexa sighed. "It must be nice to have parents that care about you and accept you for who you are… no questions."

"Yeah, yeah it must…" An old, familiar ache took hold of Bellamy and a long forgotten face swam before his eyes - the face of a mother he'd barely known. He shook his head, clearing the image. "Here, do mine and I'll do yours."

Bellamy held his tie out to her and ducked as she stood and swung it over his head. He tightened and straightened the accessory around her neck as she did the same to him. Silently, he pulled her in for another hug. They had known each other for over ten years, since she was five and he was six. She was his family; he would protect Lexa and her heart with his life.

"I'm glad you're back. It was weird without you," Bellamy said, pulling away and reaching for his school robe.

Lexa nodded, needing no words to communicate, and straightened her uniform. "Let's go reign terror on the first years, Blake."

"Absolutely."

The brunette paused, "How the hell did we get chosen to be Prefects?"

"Dumb luck?"

"Good enough for me!"

In lighter spirits, they made their way back out to the platform, relieving a pair of Hufflepuff Prefects who were assuredly not annoyed by the delay.

Lexa smiled, approaching a family who was having a hard time convincing their son to get on board. She managed to cajole the boy onto the train after a few minutes of careful persuasion, while Bellamy answered the questions of a muggle couple who had already said goodbye to their offspring.

"By the way, where is Octavia?" Lexa asked quickly in between ushering a group of absent-minded fourth years and reminding a second year that the train would leave with or without her.

"Probably off flirting with Atom or Murphy or her latest conquest and giving me an ulcer at the same time," Bellamy muttered caustically.

"Oh for fuck's sake, Bell, give her a break. She's just realized that she can have any heterosexual male in the school that she wants and now she is trying to rationalize not having them all at once."

Bellamy's face went white and then red, causing Lexa to chuckle.

"Joking!" She raised her hands in defense, "Really Bellamy, you are going to have to let her explore her sexuality sometime. She is only a year younger than us and having you constantly sheltering her is not winning her any brownie points."

"I don't want her winning any brownie points," Bellamy whined, his face simultaneously petulant and disgusted. "She's my baby sister."

"Well she's not a baby anymore and you have to accept that."

"Who's not a baby?" Octavia's raspy voice cut through their conversation, accusingly.

"Your brother, obviously," Lexa replied easily. She grunted and made fists, beating them against her chest. "He has finally become a man and shed his virgin coil by lying with a large breasted woman."

Bellamy laughed and shoved Lexa away, giving his best glower.

"Gross," Octavia said without humor. "Like I don't know you lost your virginity to Caroline White when you were thirteen."

"You know about that?!" Bellamy choked, appalled.

"Oh please, the entire school talked about it for a month after Indra caught you. I was young, not stupid." Octavia turned to Lexa, "Also if you're going to talk about me, come up with a better lie next time. You two are pathetic."

Lexa smiled sweetly and bowed her head, making a formal curtsy. "Yes, your highness."

Octavia rolled her eyes in the Blake fashion. "Whatever," she huffed. She turned back to her brother, "Look Bell, if you have a problem with the guy I'm seeing then come talk to me about it… or better yet mind your own damn business!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Bellamy pantomimed, "I would, but it's hard to keep track of your ever growing roster."

"Bellamy," Lexa hissed.

"Butt out, Lexa," Octavia snapped, angrily.

"Fine." Lexa grimaced, knowing a full scale Blake war was about to commence. "Find me later, Bell."

Octavia watched Lexa head towards the nearest carriage door; her triumph was soured by regret, so she pushed both down. The younger Blake turned her attention back to her brother, who seemed distracted by the departure of his best friend as well. Lexa had that effect on everyone.

"Look. I'm tired of guys running for the hills after you've 'talked' to them. I don't know what you said to Atom, but he won't even look at me anymore. This has to stop, Bell."

Octavia watched as something similar to shame swept across Bellamy's face, "I know. I'm sorry." He seemed to struggle for the right words. "I just…want to keep you safe."

"And I love you for that, big brother," Octavia said slowly, trying not to bristle at his wording. "But one of these days you're going to have to let me live my life. So, no more scaring the guys I like. Okay?"

"Loud and clear, Chief." Bellamy saluted her, then at her somber expression he said seriously, "I hear you, O."

The train's whistle screamed shrilly across 9 ¾, bringing all those left on the platform to attention. Octavia gave her brother a small shrug before turning back towards the compartments where her friends were waiting.

How many times was she going to have to tell Bellamy to lay off? Octavia hoped that this would be the last, but history proved otherwise. It didn't take any imagination to understand why Bell felt so protective of her. They had grown up in less than ideal circumstances, but that all changed six years ago. Hogwarts saved both of them, but somewhere, deep inside of Bellamy, he hadn't accepted that yet. He was still living in fear, but Octavia couldn't tell him that. Her brother was great at taking care of everyone except himself.

"Jesus, Blake, watch where you're going!"

Octavia looked up in time to halt in her tracks before running head first into John Murphy, notorious Slytherin asshole.

"My bad," Octavia quipped. "You're skin is so pale, I thought I could just pass right through you."

Murphy sneered, resting his arms on either side of the hall walls to thoroughly block her path, "Please, be my guest."

Octavia crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back, "Could you want me any more? Really, Murphy, it's pathetic."

"Sorry to disappoint, but I'm spoken for, Blake."

"Oh, that's right," Octavia said, nodding and stepping forward, "the Hand sisters."

"What?" Confused, Murphy lowered his arms.

"It must be so hard to choose between your right and left hand." Octavia side-stepped Murphy, raising jazz hands in the air and laughing as she made her way down the corridor. His response was incoherent.

As it let out one last plaintiff whistle, the train lurched forward assisting Octavia down the hallway. She threw open the compartment door, still on a high from her showdown with Murphy.

"I'm back bitches," Octavia yelled, throwing herself down between Monty and Jasper and partially sitting on both of them… not that they minded. Though Harper did not look altogether pleased.

"How'd the talk with Bellamy go?" Jasper asked, trying to sound disinterested and failing.

"About the same as the last five have gone. I say he's an idiot and ask him to stop, then he says he wants to protect me. Then I tell him to stop and he agrees, but usually does the opposite! Be glad you don't have siblings, children."

Monty tried to interject, "You know the definition of insanity is repeating-"

"How many times have you told me the definition of insanity, Monty?"

"A lot."

Octavia stared at him, "Enough said."

Jasper laughed, grinning at Octavia; Monty sat back and raised his eyebrows at the pair.

Octavia looked around and, not seeing her best friend, asked, "Where's Raven?"

"Huh?" "Dunno," the boys parroted each other, looking around as well.

"She left a while ago. Said something about the bathroom," Harper replied without looking up from her book.

Octavia made a move to stand up, but Jasper pulled her attention back to the room and away from her missing friend.

"Sooooo, are you going to talk to Atom? You know, straighten things out?" Jasper prompted without looking at her, becoming very interested in unwrapping a chocolate frog.

"Ha!" Octavia scoffed, "He couldn't even look at me after Bellamy talked to him. What a pussy."

"Hey!" Monty said, defending all mankind. "Your brother is very intimidating."

Octavia scoffed again, but less convincingly, "Nevertheless, I am going to go find Raven."

"You've found me."

All eyes turned towards the compartment door. Raven Reyes, sunshine goddess and all around Mother Teresa of Hogwarts, looked terrible. Her eyes were suspiciously red and her husky voice lacked its usual spark. Octavia knew better than to ask Raven directly about what was going on; the girl was too selfless to intentionally burden anyone else with her own problems. Octavia had learned quickly that Raven had to be pushed gently and skillfully into asking for help or she would willingly suffer in silence.

"Hey," Octavia moved over to sit across from Raven, mentally strategizing her plan of attack. "Atom stopped talking to me." Good, Octavia thought, talk about yourself and then get Raven vulnerable and unsuspecting.

Raven looked up, momentarily emerging from her fog, "God, Octavia, I'm sorry. That sucks. I know you really liked him. So… what happened?"

"Bellamy."

Raven flushed slightly, almost imperceptibly, and hoped Octavia didn't notice. She did not want to think about the older Blake at the moment. There was more pressing shit in her corner.

"He can be such a…"

"Asshat?"

"Pretty much." Raven nodded.

"Anyways… how was your summer? We didn't get to talk much." Octavia prodded hesitantly. Raven almost laughed, but she didn't. She knew exactly what Octavia was doing. The girl was a lot of things, but subtle was not one of them. She should probably just tell Octavia and save them both the trouble.

"It was… eventful." Raven started out, her throat suddenly feeling dry and scratchy and so very devoid of words.

"How so?"

"You know that Finn and I were having some trou-"

The compartment door slid open, quieting the room for a second before a burst of greeting rang out to the two boys who had entered: Wells and Finn.

Raven stiffened visibly as the room filled. She turned her body more towards the window as if she could physically block out the jovial energy. The seat cushion shifted and her back tensed with painful awareness as a body sat down next to her.

"Raven," Finn's hushed voice reached her ears. "Can we talk, please?"

"No," she bit out, not looking at him.

"Please!" His voice and presence was grating on her nerves.

"I said no, Finn," Raven hissed. She stood up quickly and left the compartment, hoping to escape the feeling of being trapped, but it followed her. Fortunately, Finn did not. She probably had Octavia to thank for that.

Raven walked purposefully to the girls' restroom, breathing evenly and keeping her face neutral. Her composure didn't break for a second until she was safely locked in her own stall. Raven sat down and buried her head in her hands. Her shoulders shook as she tried to fight the tears pulling at her eyes. This wasn't her… this weak, sad person who felt so broken. This wasn't the person she was meant to be. Then again, the person Raven was meant to be never thought she would ever feel this betrayed. The one person in the world who was supposed to love her and respect her and guard her heart had instead smashed her to pieces with one 'mistake.' In her book, that was one mistake too many.

The worst part was not that Finn, her boyfriend of three years had cheated on her. No, the worst part was that Finn, the only person she called family, had spit on her trust. 'I'm sorry,' he had said. 'Forgive me,' he had begged, but she couldn't. He wasn't the same person anymore. She wasn't the same person. Anger rippled through her. Raven wasn't weak, Finn was. Weak, cheating bastard, her mind agreed with her. Her eyes narrowed and she kicked the stall door in frustration.

Raven was angry, angrier than she thought humanly possible. It had been three weeks since she found out and the ache she felt hadn't dulled at all. The emotions came in waves and when anger was at its peak, Raven did things she regretted. Well, not entirely, the little voice in Raven's head corrected her. Sleeping with Bellamy Blake had its perks. For one, he was definitely something to look at. More than something… He also happened to be the one person Finn hated most at school. Check and check. Honestly, she couldn't have picked a better person to have revenge sex with. Except that he's your best friend's brother… That last part was unfortunate.

Raven decided to worry about Octavia later. Right now, she had a very strong urge to find that girl's annoyingly attractive older brother. You're resilient. You're a fighter, Raven told herself. She took broken pieces and made them into something beautiful all the time. This time, she just had to do that with herself. Pick yourself up, Reyes. Breathing deeply, Raven wiped her damp eyes and got up. She splashed water on her face and looked at herself in the mirror. She laughed; her eyes were red as hell. Who was she kidding? Bellamy wouldn't care. He'd screw anything.

Raven left the bathroom and headed further up the carriage towards the prefect compartments, where she was supposed to be sitting anyways. She spotted a head of honey brown hair disappearing around the corner.

"Hey, wait!"

Lexa came back into view, "What's up, Reyes? I'm busy."

Raven brushed off her chilly demeanor; this wouldn't take long, "Wondering where Bellamy is... Have you seen him?"

"Last I saw, he was in our compartment - 603. He was about to take a nap when I left."

"Great, thanks."

Lexa just raised her eyebrows and turned back the way she came.

603. Raven retraced her steps back towards the beginning of the prefect carriage. She halted outside the door. The blinds had already been drawn. Perfect.

Knocking softly, Raven let herself in, ready to forget the boy who had hurt her and the faceless girl with whom he had replaced her, even momentarily. Clarke. Like unwanted articles of clothing, she removed Finn and that girl and this pain from her mind. She only kept her anger, which made her warm inside and pushed her to forget everything in the arms of a stranger.

Across the carriage in a compartment all alone, sat a girl with silvery-blonde hair. She didn't mind her isolation; she preferred it that way, really. The trunk, which had been shoved above her seat, was weathered and faded as if it had belonged to many others before her. The entire piece looked old save for the silver tag on the handle, which shined brightly. The tag held nothing but a name engraved upon it: Clarke Griffin.

The girl - Clarke - stared out of her window and watched the landscape morph into shadows in the fading light. The train raced steadily down its well-worn tracks, taking her towards the last place on earth she wanted to be. Without moving her gaze from the horizon, she sketched a likeness of the sky in charcoal. It was the perfect rendering save one detail… a dark sun was rising.