Year One

"Dear Miss Black,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"I can hardly even wait!" I exclaimed, an excited grin stretching across my face. I looked up to my Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted, who scoffed at my enthusiasm.

"Don't worry, love," my aunt said, pinching my cheek affectionately. I stuck my tongue out at her. "The entire month that you have to wait will go by faster than you think."

"Bout time they mailed you! I was thinking they didn't want you," teased Uncle Ted. He snatched the letter from my hands. "Are you sure this is real? Perhaps they sent it as a joke."

"Oh, Ted," Aunt Dromeda exclaimed, smacking his shoulder. I could tell she was hiding a smile, though. She took the letter from him and examined the list. "We'll have to go to Diagon Alley for your supplies. How about tomorrow afternoon?"

"Deep breaths," I told myself as I dragged my things behind me and tried to find an empty compartment. Several more minutes of this, and I finally found one and sighed with relief. I shoved my trunk into the corner and sat down.

As I watched other students of various ages hurry up and down the corridor, I wondered if anyone would come to sit with me. My face burned with embarrassment every time an older student looked into the compartment and continued without a second glance. Suddenly, I wondered if it was too late to go back home with my aunt and uncle.

Hearing the compartment door slide open, my head shot up to look at my guest. I almost sighed with relief at the familiar face.

"Draco!"

"I can't stay long," he said, sitting in the seat across from me. "I only have a few minutes before Vincent and Greg come looking for me."

"Vincent and Greg?" I smothered a laugh behind my hand. "Aren't you getting a bit old to call them by their first names?"

"Shut up, you," Draco said, lightly kicking my foot. "I supposed we should start calling each other by surnames. It's probably what father would want."

"I expect you'll be in Slytherin, then," I said.

He shot me a sly grin. "Of course I will," he said. "I don't belong anywhere else. What about you? I figure Slytherin is the last house you would be sorted into."

"I don't know yet," I replied with a shrug. "It's been years, and yet Pansy's not any less obnoxious. Not sure I want to spend the next seven years stuck in a dormitory with her."

Draco laughed, pink flushing into his cheeks. "Fair point," he said. "You better decide soon. You haven't got much time left."

A whistle sounded overhead, and we both jumped at the noise.

"I better go," Draco said, standing up. He paused as he looked at the door. "Looks like someone wants to join you."

I looked over to the compartment door window and saw a round-faced boy peeking in at us, a hand clutching a fat toad.

"I'll see you," Draco said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. As he exited the compartment, the other boy flinched away from the door.

"Hey," I called to him. "You can come in and sit if you like. It's just me in here."

The boy shuffled in, struggling as the sliding door closed on his trunk. I watched him in amusement as he pulled it through, the toad slipping from his hands.

"Oh dear," came a voice down the corridor. A girl with bushy brown hair appeared in the door just as the boy finished putting away his trunk. "Was that your toad out there?"

"Yes," the boy said, turning his pink face down to the floor. "His name's Trevor. I'm awful at keeping up with him."

"Oh, well, he's gone now," said the girl matter-of-factly. She looked around the compartment, her eyes falling on me. "Do you mind if I sit in here as well? I've been searching for a seat somewhere but haven't had much luck."

"Sure," I said, motioning for her to sit.

She took an empty spot to my left, while the boy sat across from me. He gazed shyly at the pair of us, before awkwardly extending a hand out to me.

"I'm Neville," he said. He didn't offer a surname. I didn't ask.

I shook his hand, glad that he hadn't offered the one that previously held a toad.

"I'm Lucy," I told him. I turned to the girl expectantly.

She stuck her hand out, as if she were excited to be introducing herself. "I'm Hermione Granger."

"Nice to meet you," I said. Neville echoed my statement.

"What house are you hoping to be in?" Hermione asked. She stared thoughtfully at a spot above my head. "At first, I thought Ravenclaw would be the perfect house for me. I mean, I love school and I think I could really love being in that house… It's just that I did a lot of reading about Professor Dumbledore – you know, the headmaster of Hogwarts – and all of his accomplishments. He's done loads, so I thought, why couldn't I be in Gryffindor? So I asked my parents what they thought, but they're dentists, so they haven't really got a clue, do they?"

She went on like this for ages. I didn't mind much – she never expected me to answer. But, across from me, I could see Neville squirming with discomfort. After the trolley passed and Hermione had taken up a one-sided discussion of the history of Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, I decided I wanted to retain the hearing in my left ear.

"Fascinating," I said dryly. She didn't seem to notice. I turned to Neville and cut across Hermione's babbling voice. "Would you like me to help you look for Trevor?"

"Yes, please, if you don't mind," he said quickly.

"We'll be back, yeah?" I said to Hermione as we slipped into the corridor. I pointed to the next room and told Neville, "Why don't you ask them, and I'll ask the next one."

He nodded and meandered to the next compartment. I walked past him and knocked on the last door in the carriage. Sliding the door open, I blushed when I realized the compartment was filled with older students.

"Hello, has anyone seen a toad?" I asked. "This boy Neville lost one?" They all shook their heads and I grimaced. "Well, thanks anyway. Sorry to bother you." Glancing over at Neville, I slid the door shut and started towards him.

"…my name?" he was saying. He twirled his thumbs nervously in front of his stomach. "Neville Longbottom."

I froze dead in my tracks. Neville Longbottom. Surely he wasn't… No, he couldn't be… right? No. It had to be a coincidence – surely the universe could spare me one single coincidence.

"Lucy?" Neville was looking at me with his big, round eyes and I felt my heart tremble in shame. "You don't look so good."

"I'm fine," I said, but my stomach clenched and my mouth tasted of bile. As we walked to the other side of the carriage, I asked, "So, what do your parents do, Neville?"

He hesitated, fixing me again with an unblinking stare. "I live with my gran," he said, turning away from me.

One hand on my stomach and another over my mouth, I ran for the restroom at the end of the carriage. The smell of the toilet didn't help as I said a second hello to my breakfast.

There was no denying the evidence: the universe just didn't like me.

Hermione called my name as she knocked on the door. "Lucy? Are you sick? Neville said you might be. Is it alright if I come in?"

"If I say yes, will you stop asking questions?"

The door cracked open, and Hermione peeked down at me. Her mouth dropped into a surprised 'o' shape. "You look terrible," she stated. "Are you going to be sick again?"

I shook my head, the squirm in my stomach significantly less, leaving behind a squeeze of anxiety in my chest.

"Then we better get you cleaned up," she said, stooping down and grabbing my shoulders to guide me upwards. When a dizzy spell had me leaning backwards, she held me steady. "Don't fall."

She handed me a damp napkin and I wiped the residue of sick from my lips.

"Thanks," I said after rinsing my mouth out.

"No problem," she replied, taking hold of my hand. She led me back to our compartment, and I collapsed onto my seat across from Neville. "You stay here. I'll go help Neville look for Trevor."

Neville reached across the aisle. After a brief moment of confusion, I realized he was giving me something. I took it. "Thanks," I repeated.

Alone in the compartment, I stared at the chocolate frog he had placed into my hand with a mixture of frustration and amazement. My entire situation felt like one huge prank from God.

I had always hoped I could find a way to fix the things my parents had done. There was no way to erase the pain they inflicted on so many families. The scars they left were far too deep – even 11 years later. But I could help make things better. I needed to make things better.

But now… But now the Universe was laughing at me. It wanted me to do the impossible, and it knew I would fail.

I opened the chocolate frog, breaking off the legs first before biting the head off. The image of Rowena Ravenclaw stared up at me. She smiled. My stomach flipped. I wondered if this stupid galleon's worth of chocolate was attempting to give me life advice.

"I could really use your wit and wisdom right about now," I said quietly.

Staring out the window, I marveled in the irony of me, Lucille Lestrange, befriending Neville Longbottom.