PROLOGUE
The girl sat there, twisting the hem of her skirt as she waited. She heard footsteps and stood, knowing it would be him. No on else would be wandering Hogwarts grounds at night.
"Millie…" he said softly, hugging her and kissing her in that sweet way she loved… But she couldn't let him distract her.
"Tommy," she said as they sat, stroking his hand. "We need to talk."
"Alright… What about?" he stroked some hair out of her eyes, and she pushed his hand down. "What's wrong, Millie?"
"Tom, I… I saw you. The other night. In the restricted section of the library." he froze. "Tom, that book you were reading… It wasn't normal."
"Millicent, I can explain…"
"No, Tom. I don't want you to. I've seen you do these things before… This is our last night at Hogwarts. This is our last night ever too, Tom."
"No! Millie, I love you!"
"That just isn't enough. Goodbye, Tom…"
She didn't let him see her tears as she walked away, and pretended not to hear his cry of anguish, which turned to fury and hate as she left him behind. He didn't talk to her on the train the next day. And later, looking back, Millicent Drake knew she had been witness to the last breaths of Tom Malvolo Riddle.
CHAPTER ONE
The girl blushed as she whispered to the people, trying to push through and find her brother.
"Sal…" she said softly. "Sal?"
"I'm over here, Agora…"
She ran over and clutched his hand, biting her nail as she had a tendency to do when she got nervous.
"Stop that… we're on our way to Hogwarts. We have to look grown up!"
She blushed more and nodded as they found their way into a compartment where two boys and a girl were sitting. Sal spoke, in the confident way he had that made people want to listen.
"May we sit here." He didn't say it like a question.
"Alright," the oldest boy said, and they did. "What's your names, then?"
"I'm Salazar. Salazar Zein."
"Salazar?" the girl said. "Like Salazar Slytherin? I'm Rose, by the way."
He sneered the slightest bit. "Yes, like the great Salazar Slytherin."
"I'm Agora!" she blushed again and smiled nervously.
The older boy smiled kindly at her.
"My name's James Potter, and this is my brother Albus."
"Hi!"
"After Albus Dumbledore? And Harry Potter?"
"Yes!" he grinned proudly.
"James, what house are you in?" Agora said, feeling like these people would be her first friends at Hogwarts.
"I'm in Gryffindor. What do you hope to be put into?"
Salazar laughed quietly and mockingly.
"We want Slytherin, of course. That's the house our mother was in. And our grandmother."
"But our father, mother says he was in Gryffindor…"
"And what a great bloke he was. Got himself killed, that's what he did…"
She looked down at her hands and her lip trembled.
"I'm sorry Agora… You know I didn't mean it though. Don't you."
She nodded and he squeezed her hand lightly. Albus looked angry at him for a second, but then he looked fine. A voice came on over the train's sound system.
"Attention, Hogwarts students… we will be landing at Hogwarts in twenty-five minutes. Returning students, please dress in your robes, and first years and prefects please come to the front car. Thank you!"
"All right, Al and Rose. Go get 'em!"
The four children left the car, two of them nervous. They fell behind to whisper.
"Albus?"
"Yes?"
"Are you nervous?"
"Yes… are you?"
"Oh, yes… I am so frightened to be separated from Salazar… He and I are very different, but I do love him ever so much! I do hope we aren't in different houses…"
They made it to the front, and were given a speech by some teacher. She didn't really pay attention, for she could see a dark lake, and boats behind. Finally they were put on them; Rose, Albus, Salazar, and Agora were in the same one. They stepped into the school, and Agora's eyes went wide as Rose began spouting facts about the school which they all found so fascinating.
"Now students, you must follow me, this way."
They walked into a great chamber, the ceiling looking like a vast expanse of stars. Agora gasped quietly, and Salazar sneered. All the students were sitting and smiling at them, as the first years gathered in the front. As they began to call names, Agora noticed Albus was nervous. She watched as he stood, and the hat proclaimed Gryffindor! She cheered louder than anyone in the room, including his brother. Then Rose went, with the same result and the same cacophonous cheers. When it came to them, the professor, Professor Longbottom, they had said, gestured for her to walk forward.
Slowly she did, careful with each footstep, and squeezed her eyes shut as the hat was placed on her head and was silent.
"Hm… You, my dear girl, are a difficult one to place, very difficult… I have only seen one mind like this, in all my days… twenty-six years, it has been… Oh, I see… well, then, I suppose it had better be… Slytherin!"
One table, full of mean-looking brutes, cheered loudly, as did James and Rose. Albus looked noticeably upset, but still smiled and cheered when she looked at him. Salazar did nothing but nod curtly as he walked up. The hat didn't even wait for the itself to settle on his head before it spouted out Slytherin.
The headmaster, a woman named Professor Zhian stood. She had a pretty smile, and a voice that made you feel safe and a little sleepy, Agora thought.
After she spoke she clapped, and an elaborate feast appeared before her! All the students grinned and began to eat. For what seemed like hours all she did was eat and listen to the people around her, the people she would be living with. She waved to Albus as they went to their common rooms.
The further they went into the castle, the more nervous she got. They were heading to the dungeons.
There was a secret that no one, not even Salazar, knew about Agora. She was afraid of the dark. Ever since she was a child, nothing frightened her more than not being able to see. She had never told anybody… she merely kept a lit candle in her room. But now, living in one room with other girls, she didn't know how she would hide it… and something inside her told her she shouldn't let the other girls find out.
When she didn't think she could take it any longer, they came to a dark sinister door. On it were silver snakes. She smiled at that a bit, and they walked in. Their prefects gave them a tour of the massive chambers which, if they weren't so dark, were more cozy than she had expected…
She walked with the other girls to a room for the girls, and hurried to a top bunk by the only window. At least she would have the light of the moon… and the windowsill would be a good shelf or storage place. But, looking at the other girls around her, she realized that anything precious must be kept close. Already the girls looked around with sharp eyes to find some trinket to help another misplace.
Slowly she looked out the window, grateful to the moon it shone full on this night, and covered up with her blanket. When she was sure all the girls were asleep she took out a little purple snake, which had been coiled in her pocket.
"We're here, Sabina… This is our new home. Do you like it?"
The snake looked around with beady blue eyes"
"It's dark… but yes. Why are we not in the place where pans crawl?"
She was talking, of course, about her previous home, in her mother's kitchen cabinets.
"We are at school… we'll stay here, almost all year… is that alright with you?"
She nodded her body and curled up on the windowsill as Agora laid down and closed her eyes. This was another secret which nobody knew.
Agora, unlike anybody in her family, could speak to snakes.