Anastasia Fawley was reading in her family library when an owl flew in. Before looking up, she finished her paragraph and bookmarked the page. Standing, she made her way to the letter the owl had dropped upon the floor. It was addressed to "Miss Anastasia Fawley" and had her address in a beautiful calligraphy-type scrawl. The letter was sealed with red wax and an "H" stamp. As she opened the letter, her eyes searched for the unfamiliar owl, but it was already gone. Shrugging, she made her way back to the couch to read the letter. Almost as soon as she had sat down, Anastasia popped back up and was running down the hall.
"Mother! Mother!" she screamed as she hopped down the stairs. She rounded the corner into the living room to find her mother had guests. Anastasia paused and bowed her head to hide its blush and embarrassed smile. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were having tea with Rosaline Fawley. "I'm sorry to interrupt," Anastasia stated. "I was excited to receive my Hogwarts letter."
"Draco received his this morning. That's why we came by. We were just discussing with your mother when the best time to visit Diagon Alley would be," Narcissa informed the young girl, a hint of pride in her voice.
"Of course. I'll return to my reading now," Anastasia said, allowing her brown hair to hide her face as she turned back toward the stairwell. Hearing the voices pick up again, she stopped before climbing back up to the second floor.
"Rosaline, have you told her yet?" Narcissa said, clearly trying to keep her voice low.
"No, not yet. What am I supposed to say? 'Oh, hunny, your father will be released from prison soon. Would you like to be pulled out of school to see him?' She doesn't even know him!" Rosaline stated.
"It was only a ten-year sentence," Lucius chimed in. "It is a pity he was sentenced at all, but he handled it well. There were simply too many people willing to speak up against a Ministry official as high ranking as him. You know he had not acted on any orders in months, Rosaline. He all but quit when he married you. Besides the meetings, many of us never saw him. He only grew more distant after Anastasia's birth. I believe he should have made an effort to remain more active, but that is not the point. You should be proud of what he did accomplish for the cause."
"Why yes, it was a pity that my husband hasn't seen his daughter in ten years while you've walked free every day despite committing far worse crimes than him! You could have used the imperius curse excuse to save him too!" Rosaline stated through gritted teeth. It took all of her effort not to yell, but the last thing the woman wanted was for her daughter to overhear the conversation.
Anastasia, ironically eavesdropping, was surprised by what she heard. She had never heard her mother discuss her father's imprisonment. In fact, it had been months since she heard the man's name spoken in the house, and she was surprised her mother so openly discussed the matter with the Malfoys. Anastasia knew the Malfoys had been friends with her parents since before either couple was married, but she just assumed no one spoke of her father anymore. She was confused that her mother thought Lucius belonged in prison rather than her father, and part of her wanted to rush back into the living room and ask what was going on.
Sighing, she finally climbed back up the stairs. Anastasia knew better than to try and force answers out of her mother, especially when it regarded her father's imprisonment. All she knew was that he went to Askaban after the war ended and that he would be out just after she started at Hogwarts. Whenever Anastasia stated that it felt like a long time to wait to meet her father, Rosaline reminded the girl that Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, the young girl's two uncles, were imprisoned in Askaban for life. Rosaline was very grateful that her husband would be released and given the chance to watch their only child go through school./
A few days after receiving her Hogwarts letter, Anastasia came downstairs to find a large breakfast on the table. Her mother was reading The Daily Prophet as she ate. Seeing Anastasia enter, Rosaline set the paper down and smiled. "Eat up, little one. We have a long day of shopping for school supplies ahead of us," she said before again picking up the paper.
Anastasia was overwhelmed with excitement. She had been looking forward to shopping for school since the owl arrived, and, once shopping was complete, she knew she was only days away from leaving for Hogwarts. As sad as she would be to leave her mother, Anastasia had been looking forward to Hogwarts for as long as she could remember. Much like her mother, Anastasia loved to learn. Most of her free time was spent devouring books in the Fawley family library, and Rosaline always joked that the young girl would run out of books to read before she even made it to school.
Anastasia ate quickly but made sure not to go so fast as to upset her stomach or to receive a reproachful glance from her mother. She tried to imagine all the new books she would have by the day's end. Spellcasting, history, potions, and so many more! If she planned her remaining days right, Anastasia could have the books read before she boarded the train for school. That would maximize her time at school to read library books, and it would help her get ahead in all of her courses.
The doorbell rang and interrupted Anastasia's planning. The house-elf passed through the dining room to answer the door and returned with the Malfoys in tow. After bowing low to introduce the family, the house-elf retreated back to the kitchen. Rosaline rose to greet the family friends. She hugged Narcissa and accepted a kiss on the cheek from Lucius. Draco came to stand beside Anastasia's chair and took a pastry off the table.
"Your house-elf is a better cook than ours. Ours really is useless," the blonde boy said.
Swallowing, Anastasia retorted, "Maybe if you weren't so cruel to him, Draco. Saying 'please' and 'thank you' instead of kicking the poor thing might make your food taste better."
Draco snorted as a response, and Lucius shook his head and said, "You're filling the girl's head with your nonsense, Rosaline."
"I'm filling her head with manners, Lucius. Something your son could stand to learn from," Rosaline responded, walking back to the table to fold her paper up and set it aside.
Anastasia and Draco stopped chewing at the insult Rosaline so easily threw at Lucius. The two children shared a concerned and confused look. Their parents never fought, not in front of them at least. Lucius always made comments about Anastasia being an unusual and impractical child, but Rosaline typically laughed it off or made a comment about how Anastasia took after her mother. Anastasia had never heard her mother insult anyone, and the insult greatly surprised the young girl.
"Draco is marrying your daughter, Rosaline; you will have to learn to like him sooner or later," Lucius spat back at her.
Anastasia and Draco took that moment to finally swallow and scoot away from the table. Standing by each other's side, almost as if in defense of an oncoming attack, the two made their way upstairs to grab Anastasia's school list and hide from the unusual argument. Whatever was going on between their parents, the two children knew better than to stand around and listen. They might have been curious about the reason behind the harsh comments, but lingering too long would find them in some kind of trouble.
Sighing, Rosaline sat back down. "Lucius, I'm sorry," she said. "I love Draco as my own son, you know that. Our kids love each other, and they will be a perfect match one day. The stress over Allister's release is getting to me. A complaint has been filed that, as a former Death Eater, Allister's punishment should be changed to a lifetime sentence rather than a ten-year one. The Ministry is sitting down to discuss it tomorrow."
Narcissa gasped. "They can't just change the sentencing like that, can they? After all this time? He's supposed to go free in time for Christmas!"
"Why haven't I heard anything about this?" Lucius cried, enraged at the sudden betrayal to his friend.
"I was told it's been kept underwraps to try and prevent an outcry. Allister was a member of the Magical Law Enforcement and months away from a seat on the Wizengamot. People are arguing that his position at the Ministry led to leniency in his sentence. These people are obviously unaware that being guilty of conspiracy has never before sent a wizard to Askaban," Rosaline explained, clearly exasperated at the whole ordeal.
"He will come home to you, Rosaline; I will make sure of that," Lucius promised, striding over to place a hand on her shoulder. "I have already been in conversation with his old bosses to reinstate him within the Ministry. It won't be easy to place a criminal back in the Magical Law Enforcement, but I think we will be able to pull it off. He served far more time than he should have, and he was well-known and admired. It would be a much lower position, but it would give him his life back."
Rosaline smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Lucius. You're an incredibly generous friend." Rosaline stood and leaned against the stairwell. "Anastasia! Draco! We're leaving now!" The kids rushed down and made their way toward the front door, clearly oblivious of the serious conversation their parents had just been engaged in.
"First one to the platform buys the other a chocolate frog!" Draco yelled as he ran past Platform 8 in King's Cross Station.
"No fair! You said that after you had already started running!" Anastasia called to him, trying desperately to catch up. Draco was only half a platform ahead of her, and she had no intention of going down that easy. /
"No running in the train station!" a guard yelled, pulling on Draco's luggage cart to slow him down. Anastasia saw her chance and started sprinting. Her luggage cart was heavy, but she only had a few seconds to catch and pass Draco. The guard was distracted by lecturing her friend, so she ran past him, jumped to place her feet on the bottom of the luggage cart, and slid straight through the pillar between Platforms 9 and 10. Reaching Platform 9 ¾, she placed her feet back on the ground to slow herself. Turning, she waited for an unhappy Draco to make his way through the pillar and tell her that she cheated.
"Just as she had predicted, Draco came through the pillar and started to yell at her. "I'm no fair? You're the one who kept running after I got in trouble! I'm not buying you a chocolate frog!"
"Rosaline, Narcissa, and Lucius stepped through the pillar and onto the platform. "Quiet!" Lucius ordered. "You're making fools of yourselves. We raised you better."
Anastasia and Draco quieted and straightened their stance. The two obediently followed their parents through the maze of bodies to where the luggage was being stacked. Abandoning their carts for someone else to load, the group made their way back toward the center of the platform. They stood in silence for some time as the surrounding families made tearful and emotional goodbyes. The train was set to take off in ten minutes, and Anastasia and Draco were uncertain of whether or not they should be excited to board or dismayed at leaving their parents for the first time.
Anastasia found herself fascinated at the number of people on the platform. She knew all students who attended Hogwarts rode the Hogwarts Express, but the sheer number of students amazed her. Suddenly she found herself intimidated by all the older students, but she reminded herself that it was a school. Not everyone would be her age, and that was okay. She just wasn't used to being around people so much older than her. Her childhood had left her fairly devoid of friends. With her uncles in prison and Draco's only aunt there as well, they were never surrounded by cousins, and the Fawley and Malfoy families had a tendency to keep to themselves.
Her intimidation waned as Rosaline placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. Rosaline leaned down and whispered in her daughter's ear, "You'll do fine, little one. You're already one of the smartest first-year students, and you already have a best friend. Remember Draco will always be by your side, and you will come to know the people in Slytherin House. Your father and I both were Slytherins, as were Narcissa and Lucius. It's where you belong; you'll find your home there."
Anastasia smiled and found herself feeling incredibly reassured. Her mother was right: she would have a home waiting for her at Hogwarts. She would find herself friends, and, once she wrote home to her mother about all the people she had met, Rosaline would share stories of the children's parents. Perhaps the most comforting part of knowing she would be a Slytherin was knowing that her mother knew the parents of all the other students she would meet. Once at school, Anastasia would be able to find herself among friends and could devote her time to studying rather than acquainting herself with all the strangers that surrounded her.
Still smiling, she turned to hug her mother goodbye. "I love you, mother."
"I love you too, little one," Rosaline said into her daughter's hair. Pushing the young girl's hair away to get one last look at her daughter's face, Rosaline was struck by the girl's bright blue eyes. Anastasia looked almost exactly like her mother except, by some happy circumstance, the girl had inherited her father's eyes. Whenever Rosaline found herself struggling as a single mother, she just had to look into her daughter's eyes to feel the reassurance of her missing husband wash over her.
Standing back up, Rosaline turned Anastasia around and propelled her daughter toward the train. If she waited much longer, her courage to let the girl go would dissipate. Luckily, at the same moment Rosaline was releasing Anastasia, Narcissa was pushing Draco away, a small tear evident on the woman's cheek. It was hard sending their children off to school, but it was for the best. Lucius would be glad to have a silent home for a few months, and being alone would give Rosaline the chance to prepare for her husband's return.
Draco, acting as if his mother's sentiments didn't phase him, began to make his way for the train. Anastasia followed, deciding it would be best for Draco to choose the car they would ride in. The two settled in an unoccupied car and slid the door shut. Neither felt prone to socializing; they both just wanted the train to start. They could almost taste the freedom from their parents. It was just a train ride away.
Surprisingly, no one tried to sit with them. Anastasia assumed there would be so many students that the train cars would have to be full, but it seemed that some were able to remain empty. She could see through the window on their car door that many students were moving from car to car and socializing in the hall, but she was content to sit in silence with Draco. The view through the window was incredible, and she was excited to be able to see the countryside.
When the sweets cart came by, Draco did buy her a chocolate frog. Mirabella Plunkett was on her card, and Newt Scamander was on Draco's. The cards celebrating women were always Anastasia's favorite. She loved all chocolate frog cards because each one provided the reader with a little piece of history, but the ones detailing women were just far more rare.
"Do you know what our parents were fighting about the other day before we purchased our school supplies?" Draco asked as soon as he had finished his chocolate frog. Anastasia looked down. She had a pretty good idea why their parents were fighting, but she felt it was all her fault. The last thing she wanted to do was to tell Draco that people were fighting over whether or not to tell her about her father. "Well?" he asked impatiently.
"I think so…" she began, wishing she was comfortable lying and saying no. "Your parents came for tea the day we got our acceptance letters, and I overheard them talking. They said my father is supposed to be released from Askaban soon," she looked up at him to try and gauge his response.
Draco leaned back into the seat cushion. "Well it's about time. My father says he was wrongfully imprisoned. It certainly took the Ministry long enough to let him out. I suppose we'll have a family dinner when he is released?" Draco didn't seem phased by the news, and it comforted Anastasia. She didn't expect Draco to question her on what details she knew about her father's release, but it was still a relief to know that they could essentially drop the subject. Since she walked away the other day, Anastasia didn't have anymore details, and she was worried the subject of her father might upset her the way it always upset her mother.
A comfortable silence again filled the train car. Draco seemed to be distracted by the beauty of the countryside just as much as she was. Anastasia was beginning to wonder if they would say anything else to each other before the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station. Just as she was thinking this, Draco spoke. "Do you remember anything about him?"
Anastasia looked at him. It was unlike Draco to ask personal questions. He was the type of person who enjoyed bragging and talking about himself, not about emotions and memories. "No," she began. "We were only one when he was taken away. I've tried asking mother about him, but she's never willing to share." Her gaze found the window again. Talking about her father was painful, but she supposed it was about time to do it. If he was going to be coming home soon, she would have to get used to talking about him.
"Do you want him to come home?" Draco asked, careful to try not to upset her in anyway.
Her gaze found his again. "Of course I do. I want to know my father, but it's scary. All I know is that he went to prison because of the war. Mother won't tell me anything else."
"Mother says you and your mother used to visit him."
Anastasia's eyes widened in shock. She didn't know she had ever seen her father in prison. "Did she mention why we stopped?"
"No. I asked why your father wasn't around once, and she told me he would be back soon. She said he went away for a while, and you and your mother kept him company one day your mother decided to stop visiting, so my mother wasn't able to tell me anything more about your father."
"I know mother and father met through your parents," Anastasia said, smiling at the memories of her mother's stories. Rosaline was always hesitant to talk about her husband and never said much, but she had no problem sharing with her daughter how the two met and married. "Your parents got married, and mother says father saw her that night. She says he just had to know her, and he asked your mother to put them in contact. Mother was with someone else at the time, she said, so father had to wait for that to end before he could sweep her away and marry her." Anastasia knew it sounded like a fairy tale, but she didn't care. She liked imagining her father as a romantic man. If he was a romantic, then she could believe that he was waiting in his prison cell to see her and her mother again. He would come home and sweep away the memories of the time without him, just like he swept Rosaline away all those years ago
"Father told me that before. He said they went to school together and were inseparable. That's why you and I are to get married; it will keep our families together." The two looked at each other and began to blush.
Silence fell on the train car again, but this time is was a touch awkward. Neither knew what to say to the other, so it was a relief when the door opened and two boys walked in. Anastasia vaguely recognized them, but Draco seemed to know them both. "Crabbe, Goyle," he said as a greeting. The boys sat down, one next to her and one next to Draco.
"People have been saying that Harry Potter is down this way," one said. Draco and Anastasia both looked up. They knew Harry Potter was their age, but no one had heard anything about him since the war ended. The Boy Who Lived had disappeared without a trace. To hear that he was on the train just a few cars down was incredible. "We've been looking for him. Are you coming?" the boys stood back up but didn't make their way toward the door. They seemed to be waiting for Draco.
Draco, however, seemed to be waiting for Anastasia. She desperately wanted to meet Harry Potter. He was, after all, a legend, but it felt intrusive to check every train car in search of him. Just because he was a celebrity didn't mean they needed to intrude upon him. After all, he was just an average student like them. The stories said he had some incredible power, and that was how he defeated the Dark Lord. Since he was just a baby at the time, Anastasia found this hard to believe. She was never allowed to learn about the stories anyway; any time the war or Harry Potter were mentioned, her mother informed her that the topic was not welcome within her home.
"I think I'll stay here. You can introduce me to him when we get to school," she said with a smile. She was too shy to go tracking down friends anyway.
"Suit yourself. I'll be back before we arrive," Draco said before leading the other boys out into the hall. Alone, Anastasia closed her eyes and waited for the train to stop.
As the students began to fill the platform at Hogsmeade Station, all of the first-years were directed to one side. An extremely loud voice was yelling, "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" The crowd of eleven-year-olds followed the voice and found themselves gathered before a man who, if she didn't know better, Anastasia would have called a giant. However, she knew that there were almost no giants in the area anymore, and there was no way a school would employ a giant. In addition, giants grew to be much taller than the man before them, but he was an unusually tall person.
Once all of the first-years were rounded up, the man led them down a slippery path and to a lake. On the far side of the lake, Anastasia was given her first real-life glimpse of Hogwarts. The magnificent castle stood before her and glimmered in the moonlight. She was in awe at the size and beauty of the place. This would be her home for the next seven years, and Anastasia couldn't be more excited.
The boats guided the students across the lake and into a tunnel. The whole experience felt like a dream. Anastasia sat in a boat with Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle, and she gazed at the mesmerizing scene before her. The boys had returned to the train car just moments before they arrived in Hogsmeade, so the three were just now discussing their encounter with Harry Potter. From the sound of it, Anastasia was glad she didn't join them. All three seemed frustrated with the situation.
The boats finally reached land again, and the students began unloading. They proceeded to climb a set of extremely steep steps and waited for someone to open the door for them. The woman who did was addressed as Professor McGonagall by the giant-man, and she appeared to be both cold and stern. She informed the students that they would be brought inside shortly and then sorted into their appropriate houses. As she made her way back inside, the students began to chatter, anxiety filling the space.
Anastasia and the boys who surrounded her remained calm. They all knew they would be sorted into Slytherin, so the wait was of no concern to them. One of the boys (she wasn't entirely sure of the difference between Crabbe and Goyle) mentioned that he was ready for the feast to begin. After both the train and boat with only a chocolate frog in her stomach, Anastasia couldn't help but agree.
She was about to inform the boys that she too was hungry when the students around her began to scream. Above them, a group of ghosts was floating and talking. They were in the process of wishing the students well with the sorting when Professor McGonagall reappeared and dismissed the ghosts. She instructed the students to form a line, and she led them into the Great Hall.
The older students and professors had already lined five massive tables. The hall was loud, but it quieted as the first-years made their way to the front. Professor McGonagall placed a stool before them and set a hat on top of it. Much to the surprise of those around her, the hat began to sing. When the hat quieted, Professor McGonagall informed the students that she would call their names and place the hat upon their heads. The hat would sort the students into their houses, and those houses would accept the students for the next seven years.
Professor McGonagall unrolled the large piece of parchment in her hand and began listing off names in alphabetical order. Anastasia patiently waited for her name. Crabbe was called and sorted into Slytherin, and she knew her time was fast approaching. While both of her and Draco knew they would be sorted into Slytherin, being called to sit under the Sorting Hat still had an air of excitement. Knowing also make the situation much less stressful. If they were uncertain as to their placement, they might be concerned about who they would meet and interact with. Instead, the two were able to observe the anxiety of others while they awaited the comfort of their destiny.
Finally, McGonagall yelled, "Fawley, Anastasia!" She strode forward and sat in the stool. She felt Professor McGonagall lightly place the worn and grumpy hat upon her head. Sitting up straight, she smiled and prepared for her placement into Slytherin. Surprisingly, she heard a small chuckle. "No, no, no. Not you, girl. You should know better than that," the hat whispered so softly that only she could hear. "RAVENCLAW," it called out, loud enough that every person within the Great Hall could hear.
Anastasia sat in stunned silence. Professor McGonagall lifted the hat and waited for her to move, but she couldn't. She just sat there. Tears filled her eyes and shame traveled through her body. She had failed. Her whole family was from Slytherin. She was to be a Slytherin. She had failed. Her whole life had been planned for her in advance, and now it was crumbling down around her. It was crumbling down on her small, eleven-year-old shoulders.
As she finally stood and made her way to the cheering Ravenclaw table, Anastasia couldn't bring herself to look at Draco. She was too ashamed of the unintentional betrayal she had just caused. The Malfoys would be disappointed. Her mother would be saddened but would eventually come to accept her daughter again. Anastasia wondered if her father would be able to accept her again as well. She hoped she wasn't an embarrassment to him. It would be a long road as she tried to accept herself and her new home, and the last thing she needed to worry about in this moment was disappointing the father she didn't know.
Upon sitting, she managed a meek smile at her new housemates. She tried to remind herself that being sorted into Ravenclaw was a matter of pride in its own right. Ravenclaws were known as the smartest students in Hogwarts. Anastasia's priority was her education, and there was no better place to advance her studies than within the Ravenclaw House. She would spend the next seven years surrounded by likeminded students who also had a passion to learn. If she focused, her education would be improved by her placement, and she should easily be able to make friends….she hoped.
When she finally had the courage to look up from the table, she saw Draco was staring at her. He must have been looking at me this whole time, she thought. His face was confused, and she knew he must have been feeling a hint of betrayal. The two were supposed to go through school together and be inseparable, but, on the first day, they were already torn apart. The term hadn't even started yet, and she had lost her best friend.
A faint blush touched her cheeks as the eye contact continued. Attention was something she always struggled with, especially from Draco. She wasn't sure why it affected her so much, but it always did. Maybe it was intimidation she felt from his father, or maybe it was the pressure to make her future husband proud. Well you certainly mucked that one up, didn't you? she thought. While Anastasia was embarrassed by her placement overall, she was immediately embarrassed that she had led Draco down. She had abandoned him, and there was nothing she could do to remedy it.
Draco kept his eyes locked on her until his name was called. She watched her friend step forward with his traditional smug smile dancing around his lips. As expected, Draco was sorted into Slytherin. He smugly sauntered over to the proper table where he was met by applause and high-fives. Unlike her, he was where he belonged. Draco found his home at Hogwarts. While still incredibly upset, Anastasia found herself mildly comforted that at least one of them was happy.
She watched his acceptance into the Slytherin House with a smile. Draco was a Malfoy, so his welcome to the Slytherin table was warm. The Malfoys were one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight Pureblood wizarding families, so Draco's placement into Slytherin was a matter of pride. The pride of Slytherin House would have been furthered had Anastasia joined the table. The Fawleys and Lestranges, Anastasia's mother's family, were also members of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. Anastasia was supposed to be guaranteed a home in Slytherin because the house was filled with Pureblood families that had the same priorities as her family. Unfortunately, the Sorting Hat was not concerned with her finding a home or being among like-minded families.
After Draco was sorted, Anastasia found herself spacing out. She was so lost that she couldn't pay attention to the remainder of the names. She vaguely heard Harry Potter was sorted into Gryffindor, but her mind was too numb to be affected by it. The boy was famous, but his life at Hogwarts would have nothing to do with hers. Her life was in turmoil, so knowing the whereabouts of a celebrity was not high on her priority list. Internally, Anastasia was struggling to hold herself together. Despite being only eleven, she was dealing with an identity crisis, and she was not prepared to handle the emotions that were washing over her.
Finally, the sorting came to a close. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore said a few words and magically summoned the food to appear before the students and professors. Conversation sparked as the Great Hall filled with excitement and the clamour of hundreds speaking at once. Anastasia tried to mindlessly eat while everyone around her relayed the excitement of their summers and introduced themselves to the various first years. She heard her fellow students mention their favorite textbooks and classes, topics she would have typically been interested in, but she was unable to take any of the information in.
It was a while before anyone spoke to Anastasia. The girl who did address her spoke in a sing-song voice despite speaking only barely above a whisper. The girl's voice was soft, much like the rest of her. "Will your parents be proud?" The question caught Anastasia off guard, and she finally looked up from her mostly full plate. The quiet girl had soft, blonde hair that traveled far down her back. Her silver eyes were full of kindness and happiness. From first glance, it appeared the girl could only express happiness and positivity. "My father will be. He'll be excited I can learn more and one day contribute to his magazine."
Scrambling to politely gather her thoughts, Anastasia gave a small smile. "I don't think so. My parents have high expectations, and one of those expectations was that I would be sorted into the house they were both in." Her gaze again dropped.
Instead of being a deterrent, the silence seemed to encourage the blonde. "Really? That must be unpleasant. My father just expects me to be happy. I'm Luna, by the way. Luna Lovegood."
The introduction was a shock. Anastasia wasn't expecting a complete stranger to be so kind to her. She looked up and prepared to introduce herself when an older boy, a third or fourth year, cut her off. "Don't speak to her," he curtly stated, giving Anastasia a look filled with hatred. "She'll never be one of us," he continued, never dropping his gaze. "She doesn't belong here, and it won't take long for everyone to realize it. Ravenclaw isn't a place for hate-filled people like you, Fawley. It's over at that table where you belong." His gaze was now focused on the Slytherin table, and his face filled with disgust. Shaking his head, he finally looked away and rejoined the conversation with others in his year.
Anastasia's face dropped back to her plate and her eyes filled with tears. It took all her self-control to bite back the sob forming in her chest. She knew where she belonged, but it wasn't her fault that she was sorted into a different house. It's not like she had asked to be sorted into Ravenclaw. If the Sorting Hat had asked her, she would have requested Slytherin anyway. It's where she wanted to be.
"Don't pay him any mind. What's your name? Fawley, he said?" Luna chirped sweetly.
Looking back up slowly, Anastasia smiled. For some unknown reason, this incredibly happy girl had decided the two would be friends. "Anastasia Fawley," she finally stated. If she could make a friend in her house on the first day, maybe things wouldn't be so bad./p