Chapter One:

It was dark and dingey in the Malfoy house when the two young witch and wizard got their manilla enveloupes that certified their admission to Hogwarts School of Whichcraft and Wizardry.

The time was 9:30 at night, and the family was sitting around the dinner table. Their young servant girl was supplying the dishes from the kitchen, where a trio of house elves slaved making them. It was not your average wizarding household, but the Malfoy's were not your average wizarding family. In the day and age, human enslavement was frowned upon, but they were a very traditional family.

Usually, the little girl went and got the mail in the evening when she was done serving dinner, which was one of her only free moments during the busy day. The family didn't really know her name, she had never said. In this time period, there was a black market so to speak with trading muggles that knew about magic. They could go for a high price if they were young, which this girl was. The family could afford it though, they were ritch and lived in a big house.

She came to the house one day with a large woman, who may have only been normal height but compared to the small, scared eight year old, she was a giant. The unamed woman never mentioned a name, only that she was eight and a hard worker. She left briskly, complaining about having better work to do other than dropping off stubborn children to their new households.

The little girl was small in height, and although she wasn't lacking in weight she wasn't overweight. She was slouching, like she was nervous of the new people. She had long, brownish gold hair and bright hazel eyes. She wore her hair in two long braids down her back, and she came dressed in a grey gown.

However, she still didn't have a name. She had to sleep in the servant headquarters, which were basically a room shared by three, now four, servants of the family. It was cramped and dusty, which was not a good environment for her. The small child was scared of the other servants, and she didn't want to sleep in the same room as anyone else in the strange new mansion, so she crept into the living room because she was cold and sat by the fire. She was very sleepy, and soon the fire went out and she drifted off, landing in the pile of coal and ashes.

The next morning, the missus was shocked to find the servant girl there, all covered in black coal. She looked dirty and ugly, so the older woman screamed, waking the poor child up. She yelled, "Get out of there you vermon and start helping with chores!"

The little girl just laughed though, and said, "Have you ever read Cinderella? I'm just like her now!"

Mrs. Malfoy was confused, and getting annoyed with her. "Get back to your chores! I mean it vermon!"

The name just stuck with the family, everyone called her vermon. The little boy didn't like to call her that though. Actually, he didn't like to even say anything to her. So he never said that, and they had what you might call a mutual understanding of eachother. Not exactly a friendship, but a mutual understanding.

The girl grew up in three years and filled out. Now, she still had the young look about her. Although her hair was still the same gold laced brown color, it was long (about to the small of her back), and she had a very pretty face for a girl of eleven. She was a bit curvier, but not that much. She wasn't stick-like anymore. Her hazel eyes shined just as brightly, even though she had been physically abused by both the father and mother of the small boy. She was still happy, and it seemed that she would be happy no matter what. They were her family after all, she didn't know any different.

The girl was very happy when the Malfoy's had company over. Not only were there new faces to study, she sometimes got a new gown so she could look "presentable" to the new guests. When that happened, she would take extra care to wash her face. Sometimes, she would imagine she was a princess like the ones she had seen pictures of in books she stole to look at from the bookshelf in the living room.

The young girl thought of this as she made her way down the dark path toward the mail box. The path wasn't lit very well, so she couldn't see and ended up bumping into many of the big green trees that lined the pathway. Eventually though, she made it two the white box and saw the owl perched on top of it.

She couldn't help but smile as she fed the brown bird the remainder of her dinner from last night, which wasn't much, but the bird ate it as if it was heaven. Then, she walked back up the path with the two letters.

She quietly tip toed to the father of the family, who she must admit, was the scariest of them all. He grabbed the letters from her without a second glance and looked down to read the labels, perfectly written in writing which she could only guess was cursive.

He frowned, then smiled. "Draco, one of these is for you. It's your Hogwarts letter," said the man.

Although the girl didn't know what Hogwarts was, she was curious and listened as she cleared their plates. The boy took the letter from his father and a smirk appeared on his face, "Well I'm not surprised. But what's the other letter?"

"I don't konw, it's adressed to an October. Must be a wrong adress," replied the white haired man.

The woman frowned, "Dumbledore doesn't usually send letters to the wrong family Lucuis, let me see it."

At this point, the little girl didn't want to speak up. But indeed, her name was October. That was her letter. Then, the man handed it to the woman. She frowned, "It says here that whoever it is lives in the Malfoy Manor."

Then, October spoke up. "Uh, I think that it's mine."

The dinner table went silent. They hadn't taken into account that the girl had a name, much less possesed any magic.

In a harsh tone, Mrs. Malfoy was the first to speak. "I thought that you didn't have any powers."

Then, a fist banged on the table. "It is not her place to speak in this household. That lost you your dinner for tonght vermon, It cannot be the little vermon's letter, she doesn't have any magic. It's not possible, end of story."

October frowned, but she wasn't going to let the strange people know that she was upset by what they said. Instead she said timedly, "Well, can I at least have it?"

Mr. Malfoy's face got red. "You are NOT going to pull anything tonight, and that's final! I'm not giving you the letter back!"

Little baby tears started pouring down her face, she didn't want anyone to be upset at her. She began sweeping as the family left to do their own duties. She just wanted to have her letter back. It was in fact hers, it had her name on it.

She watched Mr. Malfoy very closely that night, and she watched him throw it into the fire that she liked to sleep by. It gave her a wonderful idea.

Late, about 11:30, she tip-toed into the living room. It was big and warm near the fire. There were two couches and they were both made of green velvet. The shades on the bay window were always drawn, and two bookshelves were on either side of it. There was also an oak desk in one corner, which remained spotless because they all had their own seperate offices anyways.

Then, started poking around in the remains of the fire until she found the reminants of her letter, scorched and burnt like a crisp. She was still happy though, it was hers. She hadn't really posessed anything of her very own, and the aspect of it caused her to cry again. She curled up into a ball, her braids had come out and her loose hair hung over her head and shoulders like a curtain.

Although she tried to be very quiet about her crying, the boy had still heard her. He came downstairs, treading lightly on the creaky floorboards. He came to a hault when he found October crying in front of the dying embers of the fireplace, the letter grasped in her hands.

"Why are you crying? It's just a letter," he said harshly. But October wasn't one who took anything to heart, she was too happy most of the time for that.

"Look at my letter! It's mine, no one else's!" she said happily, "But I can't read it."

He held out his hand, as if he wanted her to give him her precious letter. "Come on, I'm not going to take it. I just want to see if I can read it."

Finally she gave him the letter, but he was confused. You could still make out most of the letter, only unimportant parts of it were burnt. "Well I can read it, it's not in that bad of shape."

Her cheeks turned red, "It's not that it's too burnt, I can't read anything." She didn't really want to admit that, but it was the only way to explain why she was sad.

Again, Draco didn't understand. "Didn't your parents teach you how to read when you were young?" he asked.

She shook her head, "No." She didn't want to elaborate on the subject, it was a little personal considering that it was pracically the first time they had a real conversation aside from brief run ins while she was completing her daily chores.

"Oh. I didn't know that," he said. They sat there for a minute, Draco trying to think of something to say. He couldn't just teach her to read in one night, that would be silly. Suddenly, he had an idea.

"Well, since you can't read it, how about I read it to you?" he asked her. October nodded her head vigorusly, she wanted to know why she of all people was getting a letter.

"Dear October, you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please arrive on September first to platform nine and three-quarters, the Hogwarts Express leaves at 11:00 AM sharp. You are allowed to bring a frog, cat, or owl for the duration of your stay. We have attached a supply list of things that you need for your classes, if you need financial help please contact Gringotts Bank for more information on our school scholarships. Thank you, Professer McGonagal."

She was in awe. Although she didn't know exactly what it meant, she wanted to ask him. "What does that mean? Does it mean that I'm a witch?" she asked.

He nodded, "Yes, at least I think so. There is a supply list attached here on the back if you need."

She was shocked, maybe she could go to a school like the other children that she had occasionally seen. "Will you read me the supply list?" she asked.

Although Draco would rather be sleeping (he was tired enough from this night, it was almost 12:30), he agreed to meet her in the same place, same time tomorrow night.

"Thank you! See you tommorow Draco!" the hazel-eyed girl said happily.

"You're welcome, sleep tight October," he replied with uncertainess. He had never said her name out loud, then again he hadn't known it until that very same night.

She tucked the burnt letter under her pillow in the servant's quarters.

What do you think? This is only chapter one, so I'm still experimenting a little bit, but does anyone like where this is going? Do you like October? And if later in the book October was going to have a nickname, what should it be? I tried to think of some, Ocky, Oct, Octopus... I really don't know anymore XD

Thank you! It means a lot to me if you review and follow!
Josie