Disclaimer: I don't own all of these characters, well, maybe one or two, but as for the rest of them, they are property of J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers.

The clock in the heart of London had just struck quarter to eleven when a young girl with bright blue eyes and sunny, blonde hair – probably no more than sixteen years of age – and a woman who anyone would have assumed was her mother, appeared on one of the busy platforms of King's Cross station. If anyone had been paying attention they would have sworn the two had appeared out of nowhere, however, everyone in the station seemed to be in such a hurry they hardly noticed the odd clothing the pair were clad in.

"Hurry along Clarissa," Claire's mother insisted, pushing her daughter almost roughly towards the wall between platform nine and ten, as she tucked her wand back into her midnight blue cloak.

Claire obeyed her mother walking briskly at the wall then disappearing through the stone wall as quickly as she had arrived. As she emerged through the wall, her eyes fell upon a familiar, large, scarlet, steam engine; steam spilling from the chimney as a piercing whistle sounded. Claire's mother soon fell into step behind her, hurrying her daughter toward the train. "Tell Father I send my love, won't you?" Claire asked of her mother, kissing her on the cheek and bidding her farewell. As her mother disapparated, Claire let out an almost relieved sigh and let her shoulders slouch for the first time in two weeks. It was tough being the daughter of such a noble, pureblood family.

As she stepped onto the train, she had barely heard someone shout her name before the impact of someone literally throwing themselves at her had nearly caused her to topple over.

"Brooke, you're crushing me…" Claire moaned in pain as her best friend, Brooklyn Mailey, tightened her arms around Claire's waist, making it difficult to breathe. Brooke released Claire from her grip.

For a tiny girl she sure did have a strong grip. Brooke only stood about 5'3", her frame petit and slender. Her dark, red hair curled in perfect ringlets down to the middle of her back. For a Slytherin, Brooke was very intelligent and always rather chipper, but as all Slytherin's did, Brooke had her dark side and it was not very pretty. They had been friends since their first day of school and had remained so through the last five years they had spent in Hogwarts.

"It's so good to see you!" She exclaimed, excitedly, "I was afraid you had a little too much fun gallivanting in America over the summer and were going to leave me all alone with Tracey."

"And here I was thinking you missed me," a sarcastic voice said from behind Brooke.

Claire smiled widely at her other best friend as Brooke's smile faltered, before she turned around to face Tracey Davis, her smile just as vibrant as before.

"Of course I missed you, silly! Whatever gave you the impression I didn't" She asked rhetorically in her sugary sweet voice.

Tracey rolled her eyes.

Claire had known Tracey since they were very little. Their mother's had been close since they themselves had been in Slytherin when they were in school and since it was usual for the pureblood families to stick together, it was only natural for their daughters to do so as well. Tracey was a few inches taller than Claire; her dark, brown hair was straight and shoulder length. Her frame was slightly bigger and muscular although she was still a rather slim girl.

Tracey turned to Claire with a smile, "Shall we go find our seats than?"

Claire and Brooke both nodded before following her down the hall, chatting excitedly about the upcoming school year. They had found an empty compartment somewhere closer to the end of the train just as it pulled out of the station.

"Yes, well this year I think Parkinson's in for quite the shocker," Brooke explained with a maniacal grin.

Tracey surveyed her friend with a look of suspicion and amusement, "what are you planning Brooklyn?"

With an exasperated sigh, Claire stopped paying attention to the conversation and flopped down onto the compartment seat her eyes falling shut as she pretended to sleep. It had been an exhausting summer, and she had gotten little time to herself. Brooke and Tracey chatted quietly as Claire opened her eyes and stared blankly out the window for a moment. She jumped in her seat as the once closed compartment door slammed open and a pug faced girl with dark hair, dark eyes and a haughty expression stamped across her face peered into the compartment. Two girls stood by her side both with idiotic grins playing on their freshly glossed lips.

"Well, well look what cat dragged in," Pansy Parkinson sneered, eyeing the girls in the compartment with disgust, "I'm surprised you came out of hiding Brooklyn. It must have been devastating for you, not to have been chosen as a prefect this year."

Pansy smiled smugly and puffed out her chest to make sure everyone saw the gleaming, green and silver badge pinned to her chest.

"Well," Brooke started smartly, "I figure if you dare to walk around with that hideous mustache growing from your top lip, I don't really have anything to be embarrassed about now do I?"

Pansy's eyes widened as her hand flew up to cover her mouth, "Well I never!" She glared at Brooke than at Claire as they all began to laugh before slamming the door and storming off, her company quick behind her, cooing words of comfort like: "They're just jealous" and "You're beautiful."

Claire, Brooke, and Tracey all broke out into a fit of giggles once the door had closed.

"Someone really needs to burst that inflated ego of hers," Claire laughed.

"I'm not even sure how she still fits though the door with such a big head," Tracey continued.

Just then there was a small knock on the door, Brooke being closest to the door stood up and slid open the door once more. A young boy stood in the door way, a silver and green serpent patched to his robes. He looked no more than his second or third year, Claire thought though she could not remember seeing him at school before. He fumbled with something in his hands.

"I – I was instructed to give this to Clarissa Levesque," he stuttered, standing straighter now as to appear more confident than he was, in a room full of 6th year girls.

He held out the scroll of parchment that was fastened with a red ribbon, obviously not sure which of the girls he was instructed to give it to. Claire took the scroll from his hands and thanked him. The young boy looked up at her and flushed a bright red before hurrying out of the compartment.

Tracey let out a chuckle and Brooke merely raised an eyebrow, clearly more interested in what the letter said. Pulling the ribbon loose, Claire unraveled the scroll.

'Clarissa,

I would be delighted if you would join me for a bite of lunch in compartment C.

Sincerely,
Professor H. E. F. Slughorn'

"Who's Professor Slughorn?" Brooke asked bewilderment clear on her face.

"The new defense professor, I'd imagine," Tracey said taking the letter from me and reading it over, "are you going to go?"

Claire pondered the idea for a moment before nodding, "It couldn't hurt, but I wonder what it's about…."

Standing up, Claire announced that she would be back soon. If worse came to worse and she got bored she could always leave right? With that thought in mind she made her way up to the front of the train to compartment C.