Silvia finished packing just as the clock struck twelve. She became increasingly glad that her older sister had given her a magical trunk that opened up to different compartments to fit all her stuff in. She couldn't wait till the next morning, when she would be heading back to Hogwarts. Yes, her summers were fun (she loved her family, esepciealy her sister and her sisters new fiancé) but nothing compared to her friends at Hogwarts. Silvia looked back over to a picture of her and her friends that sat on her nightstand. The picture showed the four of them right before the third task of the Tri- wizards Tournament.

On the left was her friend Brianna Brantly. The girl of about average height, a little shorter than her but not by much, had her curly blond hair tied up. Her blue eyes held their mischievous sense to them. Brianna was extremely out going and great to talk to, but if she didn't know better, Silvia might have thought that Brianna was related to the Weasely twins. One might also not think she belonged in Ravenclaw, a house based on intelligence and cleverness, by the way she acted, but if test scores were any indication, Brianna would have been Rowan Ravenclaw's first pick for her house.

Next to Brianna was Elliott Haven, Silvia's best friend. Elliott and Silvia had met on their first day of Hogwarts on the train. Elliott had helped her kick Trent Slithers and his idiot lackey's (who had gotten held back in first year three times) Connor James arses. They later discovered that Elliott was a sensitive, which in wizarding terms meant that he would always show up in the nick of time when some one was in trouble. Elliott used to be incredibly shy, but once he discovered why he would show up at the scene of fights and feel compelled to help out, he began to open up a little. At last year's Yule Ball, Elliott happened to be one of the most sought after guys after Cedric, Victor Krum and Harry. Between his longish brown locks that all ways seemed to be in the right place at the right time and his soft hazel eyes, it was no wonder.

After Elliott came her own image. Silvia Dillaon smiled widely. The young musician's blue eyes were sparkling with delight of being with her friends. Blond hair that just touched her shoulders hung straight down around her face. Currently, her skin was a bit darker than it was at the time when they had taken the picture. Her sister Elizabeth's boy friend had taken them to Italy. The young many spoiled the two girls. Evidence of that was lying out as her outfit for the next day, an outfit by some Italian designer that Silvia couldn't remember. She felt almost embarrassed, but her future brother in law would not take no for an answer.

On Silvia's right was Jenny McCormick. Jenny was the shortest of them at 5' 2". Her thin brown hair was tied back, as usual, and held in place by a couple of clips. Her pale skin accented her beauty mark just above her lip. Her eyes kept flashing from the camera to the behind them where a ten-foot high hedge covered her precious Quidditch pitch maze. Her green eyes would flash with momentary anger when she looked to the pitch, worried about next year's season.

Silvia looked towards the clock next to the picture that now read 12:10. She'd better get some sleep because She was going to have a long day tomorrow.

"Grandmother said to walk right through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10," Sebastian Beasley said to his sister, casting a suspicious look at the barrier in question. It looked pretty solid, and his grandmother was, well, a bit eccentric. He and his sister, Tanisha, had just come to live with their grandmother in England after 14 years in Norway following their parents' death in a death eater raid when they were around one year old. They had attended Sealscar Academy of Mysticism and Conjuration for the last 4 years and now were entering Hogwarts for their fifth.

Even though they were in the same year of school, they were not twins. Sebastian just happened to be older by 11 months. Sebastian was tall and athletic looking. His muscles were toned from many years of Quidditch. He had short brown hair and green eyes, with dark olive skin from spending hour outside, practicing Quidditch, and a small mole right under his chin. The only thing Tanisha held in common as far as looks with Sebastian (or Sebby as she, and only she, would sometimes call him) were her eye and hair color and the small mole under her chin. Her hair though was a lot longer, tied back in a braid that almost reached her waist. She had olive skin too, but it was extremely light from spending hours in the library. She was extremely short, the exact opposite of her brother. Tanisha was very pretty, but had never been asked on a date because of a combination of her bookish tendencies and her older brother's over protectiveness of her.

Sebastian continued to look at the wall, to see if there was some trick to it, like a button to press or a lever to pull, but no luck there. Tanisha was about to help when a group of four people passed them. One of them was wearing an expensive white off the shoulders shirt with a short red checkered skirt. Sebastian imminently labeled the girl pricy princess. The guy on the side of the person wearing the get up was wearing ordinary jeans and a blue tee-shirt. There were 2 girls, one with brown hair wearing jeans and a pink vintage tee and the other with blond hair was wearing plaid capris with a black three quarter sleeve shirt. The four of them walked up to the wall and disappeared through it.

Tanisha looked towards the wall, to her brother, back to the wall, shrugged and walked towards it. She closed her eyes as she neared it. When she opened them back up, a totally different scene lay in front of her. There was a monstrous scarlet steam engine, around the platform, mothers and fathers were saying good-bye to their children, friends were meeting up, and kids were taking their trunks and pets (mainly owl and cats) aboard the train. Her brother came through the barrier and up beside her, scanning the same situation. The four people who had passed them earlier were standing among the chaos.

"We better get on," he said to Tanisha. Tanisha nodded.

Sebastian and Tanisha were settled into a compartment. Tanisha was reading a tattered copy of Gone with the Wind. She knew it practically by heart already, but loved reading it anyway. Sebastian was reading up on the latest model of broom, Nimbus 2002 series, in Quidditch weekly. The broom, he summed up was good, but not as good as a Firebolt. It was obvious, at least to any one who knew brooms well, that the Nimbus company was just trying to put out a new broom to compete with the Firebolt.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here," a voice said from the doorway of the compartment. The siblings looked away from their reading material to see a boy with slicked back black hair and menacing green eyes. Behind him stood another boy with spiked blond hair and shifty brown eyes. It was easy to see that he was incredibly stupid and the only purpose he had in life was to stand behind someone and look intimidating. Sebastian already knew the type, the ones who endlessly tormented his sister when he wasn't around.

"I don't know, Trent," the stupid boy said, not to put too fine a point on it, stupidly.

"Who are you?" Trent asked.

"What's it to you?" Sebastian replied.

"Just trying to be friendly," Trent replied, cool smile on his face.

"Hah. You, friendly? Catch me, Elliott, I think I'm going to faint in shock!" Sebastian and Tanisha looked pasted the boys in the doorway to find the four people from earlier. The girl who Sebastian had labeled as "prissy princess" was the one talking.

"What do you want, Dillaon?" Trent snapped.

"Just wanted to tell you to get out of these fine people's faces, cause your and your thug's stupidity is permeating the entire zone," Dillaon replied coolly.

"What did she just say?" asked the stupid one.

"And what if they don't want us to leave?" Trent asked, in a bratty sort of way.

"Why don't you ask them?" the guy, who must have been Elliott, said.

"Fine, Haven, don't you fine people want me to stay and tell you how to get in the best house at Hogwarts, Slytherin?" Trent asked in such a fake sweet voice it would make anybody listening to it want to puke.

"Go away," Tanisha said, in a barely audible whisper.

"Huh," Trent said putting his hand to his ear, like an old man trying to here what someone a cross the table was trying to say. "I can't here you."

"She said go away, you S. O. B." Sebastian said.

Trent gave Sebastian a look that could send shivers up your spine. "I can either be a great ally or a powerful enemy," Trent said in a cold voice. "You have just made a bad mistake, my friend." He turned away, motioned for his goon to follow him, and stalked off down the hall way.

"Sorry you had to meet him," the girl with curly blonde hair said. "There are many nice people at Hogwarts. Trent Slithers just happens not to be one. My name's Brianna Brantly."

"Brianna, it's a good thing to breathe. My name's Silvia by the way," the first girl who spoke said.

"I'm Elliott, but I guess you could have surmised that already," the guy said.

"Jenny," said the last girl.

"I'm Sebastian and this is my sister Tanisha," Sebastian replied in a voice that clearly said Go away and leave us alone.

The four of them quickly got the hint and headed back to their own compartment.

"Friendly people aren't they," Brianna said once the four of them got back to their own compartment.

"Brianna, be nice," Jenny said. "They probably have their reasons."

"Jenny, would you blow someone off who had just defended you against Trent?" Silvia asked.

"No," Jenny admitted.

"I don't think the girl was that bad," Elliott said. Brianna, who was sitting next to him, hit him. "I don't mean it like that Bree," Brianna hit him again. "Sorry Brianna."

"You should be," Brianna said, huffily, "Bree, what am I, a horse?"

"I just mean that she was just shy, like I was when I first got here. Coming to a new boarding school where you don't know anyone can be a little scary," Elliott said.

"They looked kind of old to be first years," Jenny commented.

"They probably aren't," Silvia said. "Remember in our prefect letters, Jenny and Elliott, they said that we are going to have to new students starting in fifth year this year."

"Why wasn't I made a prefect?" Brianna pouted.

"Because, you about tie with the Weasely twins in most detentions," Elliott said matter of factly.

"I better go see my brother," Jenny said to Silvia as Brianna and Elliott began to argue again. Their rows were known about as well in the Ravenclaw house as Hermione and Ron's were in Gryffindor.

"Jenny, don't do this to your self again," Silvia begged. Jenny's older brother, Jim, was a Death Eater. He was taken in by Death Eaters after Jenny and his mother was killed by them. Jenny hadn't seen him for years until she came to Hogwarts, but when she first saw him she knew it was him right away. He had the same brown hair as her, but while she was on the slim side, Jim was skin and bones. Jim's pale skin gave him a sickly look. Jim was taller than Jenny's short 5' 2" frame, at about Silvia's height, 5' 11". Year after year, Jenny would go off and talk to her brother, hoping for some speck of good so she could lure him back over to the light side, and Jim would try to get her to the dark side.

"Silvia, I have to. He's my brother," Jenny said.

"Brother or not, I hate to see you come back from talking to him. You are always so torn and worn out. Jenny, please don't or let me come along," Silvia said.

Jenny thought about it. Having Silvia along would make it a bit easier. Jenny relented and nodded to Silvia. They left without their friends noticing.

"Well if it isn't my favorite little sister, Jenny, and her oh so beautiful friend, Silvia Dillaon," Jim said silkily, putting his arms over each girl's shoulders. Instead of Jenny and Silvia finding Jim, Jim had found them just as soon as they had left their compartment.

Silvia wiggled uncomfortably under his touch. Jim had changed over the summer. Probably has something to do with the Dark Lord coming back she thought. Jim had lost his sickly look over the summer, opting for a more muscular, tan look.

"Hello Jim," Jenny said. Silvia had to commend her friend's courage. The normally shy Jenny talked face to face with her brother she new was a Death Eater.

"What are you two doing out here with out your other to friends to watch your back. You know I don't want anything to happen to my dear sister or her friend," Jim said in what would have been a nice voice if it had come from any one but him. As he said the next part though, his voice dropped. "That I wouldn't do my self."

Jenny looked at her brother hard in the eye. The look held no mal-contempt for him. It didn't want him to die. All it wanted was to see something beyond the surface, behind the harsh words, something, anything, that would hold hope for her brother to turn back, so they could become a family.

Jim looked back to her, with a look that seemed to be split. Most of it was evil, wanting nothing more to either kill his sister or indebt her to a life of servitude to his master. But the other small fraction, held hope, hope that he could find away over to the side of good, over back to her sister and his father.

Jenny walked away without saying another word, and Jim walked off in the other direction. All Silvia could do was to follow her friend. Jenny and Silvia slipped back into their compartment where Elliott and Brianna were still arguing, but had now moved on to the topic of what to never call each other.

"Did you see the look in his eyes?" Jenny asked. Her voice was elated. "He looked hopeful. This was the first time he looked hopeful since I saw him he was three. Do you understand now why I go and talk to him every year?"

"Yes, I understand," Silvia said.

Tanisha looked nervously at her older brother. They were standing in front of the entire school, were they knew no one, save maybe Trent and his goon and Silvia and her friends.

"And finally this year I would like to introduce two students joining the fifth years this year, Sebastian and Tanisha Beasley from Sealscar in Norway," Dumbledore said. There were a few scattered bouts of applause. "Sebastian, would you come up and please put on the Sorting Hat."

Sebastian put on the old, patched hat. "Hmm, plenty of courage, loyal, oh yes, but you have brains you do, and plenty of them. It better be RAVENCLAW."

Sebastian took off the hat and walked over to the Ravenclaw table, scowling because the only seats left were next to "prissy princess" and her friends. He sat down and looked back to his sister who had just put on the sorting hat.

"RAVENCLAW" the hat said, and Sebastian cheered extra loud, happy that his sister and he were in the some house.

Dumbledore stood up again. "Now I have a few words to say before we eat. Merry Christmas." Sebastian looked at Dumbledore in confusion. Dumbledore was supposed to be the greatest wizard of the century and he had just wished them a Merry Christmas in September.

"Sebastian, eat," Tanisha said. Eat what? Sebastian thought. He looked down to the table, which was now covered with food of almost any kind imaginable.

"Do you eat by staring at the food?" Brianna joked. Sebastian glared at her as he began to pile food on his plate.

"Silvia, this color would look brilliant on you," Brianna giggled. She held out a bottle of blinding bright orange nail polish.

"Brianna, I know almost anything looks good on me, but I think I'd have to call the fashion police on my self if I wore that" Silvia replied, distastefully looking at the nail polish. Jenny and Brianna giggled. The three girls were sitting on the floor of their dorm, for their usual back to school girls' night. No boys, no Elliott, no matter how much he begged and complained that he was bored without them. The three of them would stay up late, painting each other's nails doing each other's hair telling stories of their summers and about their crushes. As they were just getting their breath back, there was a nock at the door.

"I thought we already told you to go away," Silvia said, thinking it was Elliott. She opened the door to reveal the new girl, Tanisha.

"I'll go then," Tanisha said, turning away.

"Tanisha, you don't need to go," Jenny said.

"Yeah, I didn't mean you. I thought you were Elliott again," Silvia said.

"Grab some floor space," Brianna commanded. "I'll do your nails."

"No, thank you. I think I'll just go to bed," Tanisha replied.

"Are you sure?" asked Silvia. "We have other colors than that horrendous shade of orange Brianna is holding."

"I'm sure," Tanisha said climbing into her bed. "We have classes tomorrow."