Chapter 1.

The journal was haunting her. Why oh why had she been so inclined to purchase it! OF course, the little pink flowers and beautiful moving butterflies fluttering around it had attracted her. What girl in her right mind wouldn't fall in love with it at first sight?! She had gone in for a quill! A simple little writing utensil was all she wanted. But no, of course she had to leave the store with a journal, too. She didn't even know of many others that even had them. Especially not in Ravenclaw. They were known for their intelligence – and memory was a key factor in being intelligent. You had to remember what you studied obviously. So why a journal! She knew her being a sucker for cutesy things would eventually get discovered and exploited. This was the key to her undoing. She knew it. ...but since she had already bought it, she should just put it on her night table, right? She figured it couldn't hurt just to have it laying there. If any of her room mates asked she would claim her mother had sent it to her and, being the good daughter that she is, she just had to put it somewhere where she could see it – to be reminded of her mother. Of course, she wouldn't tell them that she didn't actually know her mother. Orphanage raised was what she was. She didn't mind, though. The other kids and the head of the place had been like her family.

She might as well write in too. Just to try it out. She didn't want the journal to weep with sadness because her pages were empty. She decided that she would record her school year. It was her last year after all. She would be graduating into a full-fledged witch and probably take up some job that required her to be incredibly smart – which is what she was. Even by Ravenclaw standards she was above average. Which is why she knew she needed to write about every last detail.

Dear Journal,

I do not want you to be soaked in melancholy tears because all your pages are blank. I realize the ridiculous thought processes that would normally ensue with, but I feel an attachment to you. But, enough about that matter. Here's how my train ride went:

Really, it wasn't entirely too different from any other year. I took to sitting by myself in a compartment with a few of my books and old parchments scattered across the seat opposite the one I was sitting on. Well, it was more like they were placed neatly in a pattern that didn't look entirely too put together from someone passing by. I spent at least ten minutes arranging them so it wouldn't look like I was a perfectionist. (Please, no comments journal. Yes, I realize how crazy that may come across.)

As expected, the train was quite noisy. I mean, what do you expect when you pack a bunch of kids together? Honestly. Anyway, this just meant I had to tune out everything I did not want to hear out. Which is a skill I tend to pride myself on, I didn't acquire it until my third year at school.

However, I apparently wanted to hear the loud screaming and hooting that insinuated that a fight was going on somewhere nearby my humble compartment. I was trying really very hard to ignore the noise after I initially heard it. I wasn't quite interested in what other people did.

Having written that, I will record here that I don't have that many friends. I've been told that I tend to be cold and unfeeling. Which, I really don't mind all that much because not many people come to me asking ridiculous requests anymore, and boys tend not to bother with me, leaving me more time to focus on studies and making those studies perfect. (Yes, journal. I know how that sounds too...)

Sadly, I couldn't ignore the noise or the fight once one of the participants slammed into my compartment door, utterly destroying my concentration. I didn't care who it was, I had been in the middle of re-reading one of the transfiguration essays I had written last year, and it was annoying enough to see all the mistakes I made, let alone having someone trying to break down my door!

Now, I admit, maybe I shouldn't have interjected. I should have quite possibly ignored all the fuss and waited for it to die down and eventually leave me alone. I was in no such mood. I had been finding mistakes in my past work that I had previously overlooked and that was wearing on my nerves already.

So, I stood up quite forcibly, dropping the essay in my hands onto a pile of similar ones scattered next to me before grabbing the handle of the compartment's door. I slammed it open just after the boy who had been leaning on it got off, thankfully. It would have been much more embarrassing if he had fallen backwards onto me (if I had even been able to open the door with someone leaning on it in the first place). Anyway, I slammed open the door, startling most of the onlookers that had formed a sort of semi-circle around two boys (and since the boys were in front of my door, consequently a semi-circle had been formed around my door).

I have to admit, this is certainly not the first time I have made an outburst about being disturbed while studying. The Ravenclaw common room always seems to be nice and quiet whenever I have my things laid out on a table.

After both boys, who I figured were the ones fighting since they both had blood on their faces, had turned and looked at me, I stuck out both my hands and pointed one finger at each of them.

"You two!"

At first, that was all that I could think to say. I didn't usually just started yelling, no, when I yelled it was a well thought out response with every possible outcome already hypothesized in my mind. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to think about this considering I was interrupting a violent brawl. I mean, you know, disrupting the fight that was disrupting my precious studying time.

"Y-you have brought all the these simple-minded and easily amused little pea-brains to gather around the compartment of someone, who unlike you, is trying to concentrate and review last year's material before this year starts!"

I have to mention that being interrupted while reading is really the only time I snap (usually). Normally I ignore people just fine, but when reading it is just simply inexcusable.

When no one seemed to be opening their mouths in apology, I looked to the two I was pointing at just to see who they actually were. Though, I wasn't surprised, it was Sirius Black and Severus Snape. I was ashamed to call them fellow seventh years. Always fighting and being obnoxious.

I had noticed that a few people in the back of the crowd started to turn to friends, mutter, and slowly walk back to their own compartments, which made me happy. The less people in the hall, the crisper the quiet would be.

Come to think of it, I had never really interrupted a fight before. Only just yelled a few loud sentences at groups being too loud in the common room. Suddenly I was very nervous. If it had been some younger students I could have just shooed them away and been done with it. It was a pair from my own year, though. And I have to admit, I was not all that confident. Slytherins have always scared me, I usually steer clear of them.

"What the hell?"

I knew it was Sirius who had spoken before I looked at him. I had an odd (well, not too odd considering I have an excellent memory) capability of recognizing people by their voices, and I knew most names after just hearing or seeing them only once. Well, I knew most anything after hearing it once, which was why I didn't really like people talking around me. It was because, whatever they said, I would know it longer than they might. Gossip is really quite annoying.

"Sirius! There you are? What have you been doing?"

That one was James Potter.

"Well, I was beating Sevvy here into a bloody pulp, but then she," He pointed at me, without looking away from "Sevvy". "Started yelling about studying."

I shrank back. How dare he try and make me sound like I had interrupted! But, my adrenaline had worn out, and I was back to being a not-so-confident girl who happen to be quite afraid at this time.

"Blimey, you really were." James said after sliding through the crowd and inspecting Severus.

At this point I was just standing there quite stupidly. Thankfully I had lowered my arms sometime during the silence. I really very much wanted to just go back into my solitary compartment then, so I took a few steps back and slowly closed the door. Thankfully a prefect happened by and everyone's attention was shifted away from me.

I'm still a bit worried that Sirius might hold some sort of odd grudge against me.

She sighed and closed the journal. Reliving that experience in her mind was a bit unnerving. One of the more frightening experiences on the train, she was sure. However, she scoffed at it now that it was over and done with. She knew not many stood up to that group of Gryffindors, and practically no one stood up when a Slytherin was involved. She had a small silent victory to keep wrapped up in her infinite memory. She did still worry about a grudge showing up later, though. It had been a while since that day, though. Nothing interesting happened except the normal studies she was involved in. While there was an eensy bit of her that wanted something memorable to happen in her last year here, she easily squashed the rebelling stroke and was hoping to just get on with her classes.

That's all she wanted - to study. That was the logical goal she was striving for.