Chapter 1: Hogwarts At Last

Nervous. That was all Astoria Greengrass could feel as she exited the Hogwarts express, even though she had her very protective older sister, Daphne was right by her side. It also didn't help when she saw a swarm of students all crowding on the platform to enter the school, and a huge giant-man was yelling for first years to climb aboard some small rickety wooden boats that looked they would sink at any second. She exhaled. It was her first year at Hogwarts, but she was fourteen. And it was all because of an illness.

One damned illness that had been with her since birth. It was called "Albraxnia" (A/N: That is not the name of any existing illness or disease that I know about. I literally came up with it 5 minutes before typing this), and it was worse than most illnesses. It was extremely painful, one that would eat her up from the inside, slowly and terrifying. If it weren't for the expensive treatment her parents could afford, being one of the 12 remaining Pureblood families, she definitely would not be alive right now. The special rehabilitation center she went to, or rather spent nearly three quarters of her life at was called Madam Maher's Home for Incurable Cases. She had mildly enjoyed her years there, as there were many extracurricular programs, such as , and she did have a private tutor, Ms. Muse, to teach her what she was missing during Hogwarts, including spells and potions, so she did have a wand.

She had bought it from Ollivander when she was 11, though she wouldn't be attending Hogwarts, which she had wanted to do badly ever since Daphne. It was quite simple, a bit over 15 inches long, slender, black, and with a spiral design on the entire thing. The core was made of unicorn hair, and the rest of dragon heart string. Astoria had always found it amusing that a hair from a sweet, gentle creature from a unicorn, and then something from the heart of such a fierce, vicious dragon had ended up in the same wand. Then the thing actually worked fine, not bothering to realize that two animals, with drastically different personalities, were combined within it. Nevertheless, both creatures were beautiful in their own way.

She winced as she felt the familiar sensation within her, and made a mental note to take a potion later. The scientist her parents had hired 1 year ago, a brilliant young wizard named Vicnur Aldor, had recently made a breakthrough. He had discovered a drought to, number one, reduce the pain, and, number two, to take away the illness from her system permanently. But to do that, she had to take a certain terrible tasting potion for three months. But it didn't matter. Compared to how she would feel when she still had the illness, it was nearly umpteenth times better. All she had to do was take 2 of the draughts Mr. Aldor had brewed for her a day, and, in exactly 2 weeks, she would be alright. No illness. No worries. She could enjoy her time at Hogwarts freely.

But still, she shuddered just thinking about the feeling of when she still had Albraxnia in her system. During peak times, the pain was unbearable. It was indescribable. You could only come close to how the pain felt when it was described like this: Imagine eating something spicy, really spicy, then the aching burn at the back of your throat. Then picture yourself crying, and trying to hold in the sobs and the screams. Feel the hurting in your throat, like a tiny ball of flames, pent up inside, waiting to escape. Last, picture being just inches away from a raging fire. Then imagine yourself being engulfed in that same flame, the small tendrils of heat painfully tickling your feet, slowly inching up to your knees, then your chest, then swallowing up your face, and your entire head, causing your eyeballs to boil in their sockets, your blood to bubble, resulting in torture beyond recognition. It was like there were dozens of white-hot feathers kicking and screaming inside of her, pushing up against her thin layer of skin. Like hundreds of prickling needles poking her vigorously, scratching up her insides, so they would never heal, even scarring her heart and her chest. At serious times, this was exactly how Astoria felt, and she would scarcely have the energy to writhe around in her bed, much less even scream.

(A/N: I hope that description was painful enough.)

But really, that was only a way to describe the feeling of the pain. To describe how much agony she went through. What really happened was that some type of acidic poison in her blood would start to attack her internal organs and her muscle tissue, her abdomen, and clog her heart vessels, making it difficult to breathe. Finally, it would push at her skin, slowly eating it away. The real problem was that it began to kill her blood-cells, causing her to pass out and go unconscious at bad times. But it had stopped, since Mr. Aldor had created a substance that would kill the poison in her bloodstream, and turn the dead poison cells into red blood cells, so she wouldn't suffer from blood loss.

She had the illness because of a curse. Decades ago, Astoria's Great-great-great-great-Grandfather, Andrei Greengrass had attended a banquet with his pregnant wife, Blanche Greengrass. He had gotten drunk, and had begun to boast about how he was from the purest, richest, and most powerful family present. Abraxas Malfoy, Leonard Nott, and Philip Runcorn had all disagreed, but let it go because Andrei was young, foolish, and drunk.

Cygnus Ravinde, a man from another pure blood family, also happened to be heavily drunk. Unfortunately, he got very angry and lost his temper. He was an ancient old man, who was at least 150 years old. He knew countless spells, charms, and hexes, and he did, of course, get offended. Raising his wand, he cursed, not Andrei, but his wife, Blanche, to have a baby who would carry a illness so dangerous that it would ruin Greengrass females and kill them, painfully and slowly.

Andrei got equally angry and a duel broke out. In the end, both men were injured, and the two families remained rivals for many years after that, until the Ravinde family died out, as a certain heir decided he didn't want to marry or have children.

"Astoria!" Daphne's sharp voice cut in, and her tone made it clear it wasn't the first time she had called out her little sister's name. Astoria jumped, and yelped, startled at the sudden sound.

"Astoria, are you feeling alright?" Daphne inquired, a note of worry in her voice. She felt her sister's slender, long-fingered hand clamp down protectively on her shoulder.

"Y-yes. I'm fine. Just a bit scared, that's it." Astoria managed. before she stopped walking and gasped. Hogwarts was beautiful! Way better than Daphne ever described it. It had what seemed like thousands of crystal chandeliers, and intricately weaved tapestries on nearly every single wall. Daphne told her that there were more than a hundred stairwells in Hogwarts, and that many even shifted! There were even "trick steps" that you could sink your foot in, and fake doors that were really walls. Why, there were even ghosts! There was one for Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff!

That reminded Astoria. Her sorting! How was that going to take place? She hadn't gone with the first years in the boats to be sorted! What now? She wasn't even eleven! Her cheeks burned. Did this mean she would have to get up from the tables and get sorted? How embarrassing! Surely, everyone would laugh at her! They would make fun of her! A 14-year-old getting sorted with a group of first-years! Panic rose in her throat, and her heart began to beat faster.

"Daphne!" she whispered. She didn't seem to hear her. "Daphne!" This time, Daphne heard her.

"What is it, love?"

"How am I supposed to be sorted? Or will I just be in Slytherin?" Daphne cracked a grin.

"You're going to be sorted separately. In Dumbledore's office, before everyone else. Don't worry, Mother and Father got it all figured out." Daphne smiled. "Come on. If we want that to become true, we'll have to hurry and go to the old codger's office. If you ask me, anyone would run this school better than that geezer. " she finished, still rambling on about how Albus Dumbledore should have gotten replaced by someone better ages ago. Astoria knew that all her family hated the man, but she didn't share that same viewpoint. She didn't even like being under the rule of the Dark Lord. But she never told anyone, not even Daphne, who was probably the one person she trusted the most, even more than her own parents. Her father, Edmund Greengrass, was even a death eater, though she was sworn to never tell an outsider.

"SLYTHERIN!" the sorting hat bellowed. They were in Dumbledore's beautiful, circular office. It was elegant, with the portraits of previous headmasters, and many detailed little figurines on his polished mahogany desk. There was even a breathtaking sword in a glass showcase, in the corner. It's hilt was made made of deep red rubies and the blade was gleaming.

But that wasn't important. Astoria was now a Slytherin. Slytherin. She was really hoping for something different. Like Hufflepuff, or even Ravenclaw. Well then, maybe it was destined for her to follow her family's tradition, after all. She tried to hide her crestfallen face.

"Oh my god! Congratulations, Tori! I knew you would probably follow family tradition!" Daphne squealed, not even bothering to notice the flicker of amusement in Professor Dumbledore's eyes, which did not go unnoticed by Astoria despite his half-moon glasses.

"Very well then, Ms. Greengrass. Congratulations. Now now, you must go back to the Great Hall. I am definitely sure your sister has many things to catch up on with her friends. As for you," he said, gesturing toward Astoria, with a twinkle in his eye, "you have many friends to make, I'm guessing?"

"Right, right, come then, Tori, let's go." Daphne replied curtly. Dumbledore nodded politely. If he noticed her sister's distaste, he didn't show it.

"Come on, Tori. I'll introduce you to my friends. You'll love Pansy and Violet. Oooohhh! Tashiana is also in our year! You'll get along with her just fine..." and with that, Daphne spun on her heel and left the office, presumably buried in her own thoughts. Astoria stayed a moment longer to continue admiring the beautiful room, and the quite alluring phoenix she had just spotted in the corner. The bird was majestic, with scarlet wings and a tall frame, probably 3-4 feet or so.

"I doubt you'd want to miss the first meal of the year, Ms. Greengrass." Professor Dumbledore cut in, "Hurry along, now. It should be starting any minute. Maybe you can come in here another time and meet Fawkes." he told her cheerily, snapping her attention away from the astonishing creature. She looked up at him. He was a weird man, eccentric in every way. Especially his blue robes that seemed to fade from sky blue to dark blue , and ebony black wizards' hat with the white pearls sewn onto the brim that sat crookedly on his silver hair. Both were, ironically, printed with white wands and crescent moons. His long beard, that had to have measured at least two feet, was neatly combed and tied with what looked like a bright red witchs' hair tie. Realizing that she had stared at the man's attire far too long, she quickly averted her eyes.

"I , er, I- yes, sir. I'll be on my way." she managed to squeak out meekly. Much to her chagrin, the headmaster had probably noticed the way she looked at his wardrobe. Without a second thought, she quickly turned away from him and practically ran from the office.

Once outside, she had herself a fine job, figuring out how to get back to the Great Hall.

Draco's Point of View

Draco Malfoy leaned on the table, and could practically hear his mother yelling at him to stop slouching. Quickly, he snapped his back straight and began to use his wand as a drumstick on the table. once again, he heard his mother snapping at him to "quit making such an obnoxious noise". Grudgingly, he stopped doing that, too. For some reason, Narcissa Malfoy always seemed to be on his case nowadays.

It was all because of the Dark Lord. Since last year, his father had noticed whispers of the Dark Lord's return. The Dark Mark had begun to turn more swamp green than a dull grey on Lucius Malfoy's pale white skin, and he was feeling an...evil presence. Especially a few weeks ago, when he was at the Quidditch Cup. His father had noticed "signs" of the Dark Lord coming back, and, after meeting up with a few fellow Death Eaters, he had decided on a little "stunt", in order to please his master. If the Dark Lord had been pleased with Lucius leading a bunch of hooligans to torture the muggle and his family, he certainly hadn't shown it until much later, when the Dark Mark appeared in the sky.

Now, any sensible Death Eater would have run to the Mark and search for whoever cast it, presumably so they could find the whereabouts of their fallen master. Instead, to Draco's dismay, his father, along with his companions, had bolted away from the huge black skull in the sky. When Lucius Malfoy burst into the spot in the forest where he had told Draco to wait, he looked unnaturally scared, no, terrified. He could see the fear his father had tried to conceal in his flashing grey eyes, the same ones he had inherited.

"Father, what's wrong?" he had asked lazily. At first, he had mistook the fear in the flashing grey eyes for excitement. But without a word, his father had soundlessly grabbed him firmly by the upper arm, and apparated with him to the tent. Once he recovered from the feeling of being compressed in an airtight tube, Draco had then managed to wriggle out of Lucius' sweaty grip, and was a bit alarmed.

"Father, what happened?" he tried again. No answer. Instead, his father waved his wand, and the tent vanished.

"Father-" he began, but was cut off when his father grabbed his collar rather forcefully and apparated back to the manor. They arrived on the doorstep, and still not letting go of Draco's collar, Lucius walked inside.

On the way to the drawing room, Draco only got a silence as the answer to every question he asked. His mother, Narcissa, was standing in the middle of the hall, looking rather confused, as the tent Draco's father had vanished was now upside down, just a few feet away from her.

"Lucius? Draco? What's happened? I thought you weren't coming home for a few more hours! Are you both okay?" she asked, eyeing her husband's disheveled hair, and Draco's stretched collar.

Waving off his wife's questions, Lucius practically ran into his study and slammed the door shut behind him.

"Draco, what's happened to your father? And why did you come back early?" his mother inquired, her brow now furrowing.

"I don't know." Draco answered stupidly. What was happening? Never before had he seen his father that shaken. Lucius Malfoy was a man of pride, who would not act like a lesser servant to anyone.

"Draco, tell me what happened!" his mother's sharp voice cut in. She stepped toward him aggressively and placed both hands on his shoulders, lightly, but firm.

"I don't know." Draco repeated, dumbly. He himself was trying to process what had just occurred.

"Then tell me what you do know!" Narcissa shouted, exasperated, now shaking Draco by his shoulders.

"I don't know! I was in the forest the entire time!" he thought that would get his mother off of his case, but apparently not.

"The forest? Why the hell were you in the forest? What was your father even doing?" Narcissa looked and sounded equally frustrated.

"I. Don't. Know. Father only came to get me after someone cast the Dark Mark-" he tied telling her, but was, once again, interrupted.

"THE DARK MARK?! WHO CAST THE DARK MARK?" his mother shrieked, now tightening her grip on her son's shoulders.

"I don't know!" Draco exclaimed, now beginning to get frustrated himself.

"WHY DID THEY CAST THE DARK MARK?" Narcissa continued, now shouting becoming hysterical.

"I'm telling you, I don't know! Father told me to wait in the forest, so I did! Then the Dark Mark appeared, so he came to get me! He vanished the tent and then we apparated home, and the tent was already here-" again, he got cut off. Wouldn't anyone let him finish a bloody sentence around here?

"Why did Lucius tell you to wait in the forest in the first place? What was he even thinking, abandoning his son like that? And when it was getting dark, too!"

"I don't know." he was tired of repeating the same phrase over and over again. "He said he wanted to 'catch up' with Uncle Nott, Uncle Goyle, Uncle Crabbe, Uncle Runcorn, and a few other of his friends, so it would be 'just like old times'. They went and played around with a bunch of muggles, or I thought it was them, anyway."

"What do you mean 'played around with a bunch of muggles'? Why the hell would Lucius be doing that? With his past record and all..." Narcissa trailed off, and began to moan.

"Oh, no! What if he gets caught! Are you sure it was him, Draco?" she turned her cold blue yes toward him. They were begging, pleading, for him to say no. To say that her husband had took no part in what had happened.

"I don't know! Ask Father if you want! I've already said it, I was in the forest the entire time!" He hadn't really expected his mother to do so, but she was sprinting down the hall to his father's study in a blink. Draco grumbled, rolling his shoulders. His mother's tight grip had certainly left an effect, and he wouldn't be surprised if there was a bruise the next day.

From his father's study, he heard hushed voices, even his name in the conversation, but couldn't really work out what was being said.

He remembered going back to his room, and he probably fell asleep after that, because he remembered dreaming about flying. He was flying on a broomstick- a Firebolt, to be exact. He saw Potter behind him, on a Cleansweep. He smirked. How pathetic. Then Potter began to yell. He couldn't decipher what, but he was yelling, waving his arms.

Thats right, Scarhead! You're never going to beat me now!" he turned back and shouted at the Boy Who Lived. But then he felt something. It was like a tingling at his skin. He turned his head, and saw a colossal skull. With a serpent traveling through it. The Dark Mark, he realized, his blood stopping cold. He screamed and fell from the broomstick. He fell from the sky. He saw Potter, suddenly on a Firebolt, too, flying down trying to catch him. What? How was that possible? Potter hated him, why was he trying to save him? But that wasn't the significant part. It was the Dark Mark. It was, slowly, moving down to the ground, right in the area where he was about to land, as he was falling in slow motion. Then he woke up, gasping for air, and checking his surroundings to make sure he wasn't falling from the sky.

To his chagrin, he fell off of his bed in the process, as he seemed to have been thrashing around in bed. He was already at the edge of the mattress, and shaken as he was, it wouldn't have been hard to accidentally roll off, as he was groggy to start out with.

"Draco." he heard Crabbe grunt, snapping his attention back to the present.

"What?" was his response. His friend, or rather the useless, overweight lump who couldn't tell one end of a broomstick to another, was sitting across from him, had his plate piled high with food, and had quite a bit of it down his front. He pointed to Draco's tawny eagle, Terrace, who was waiting, patiently, for his tidbit of food. Draco frowned. When had Terrace arrived? He shook his head, he must have been to caught up in his own thoughts.

He had, upon his mother's persuasion, left Terrace at home, so she could send him a package of things he had either forgotten, or some sweets, that she always sent for him daily. It was a sack of Chocolate Frogs and Cauldron Cakes that had gotten Crabbe's attention.

Pointing a chubby finger at the sweets, he asked "You going to eat those, Draco?"

"No. Take them, if you want." he took package of confections off of Terrace's leg and threw it across the table. Immediately, Crabbe tore it open and began stuffing his face. Goyle also joined in, grabbing for a Cauldron Cake. Wiping the disgusting look off his face, he resorted to reading the letter he had also gotten. It read:

Draco,

Your Father and I hope you have a great year. While you may be caught up in the excitement of the Triwizard Tournament Hogwarts is hosting this year, he reminds you to look after your marks, as well. 476/500 is simply not acceptable when that muggle-born Granger got higher than you. Anyway, I hope our dear little boy has an amazing year at school

Hugs and Kisses,

Mummy

Scowling, he crumpled up the bloody letter and shoved it in his robes. Why did his parents always expect him to excel at every damn thing he did? To be better than the rest? Why did they even care?

Sighing, he looked around the Slytherin table. Many of the first years were sitting by themselves, talking about the first year at the new school. He saw Daphne Greengrass talking to another girl, who looked just like her. She was good-looking, and had the signature Greengrass upturned rose and a slender, graceful build, but while Daphne had waves of blonde hair resting on her shoulders, the other girl (her sister?) had straight, chocolate colored that cascaded to her waist. She also had wide, innocent violet eyes that kept darting here and there. Only first years looked at the Great Hall with such amazement the first few days they were at Hogwarts, so maybe this girls was Daphne's younger sister. But she didn't look 11. She actually looked the same age as Daphne, but Draco had never seen her before. But there was something about her. She looked...a bit jittery. Fragile. As if anything could take her down, and not to mention how nervous she looked. Who was she?

Astoria's Point of View

Astoria sighed, happily. She had managed to find the Great Hall after 10 minutes of searching, but it didn't matter; she was at Hogwarts, and was the happiest girl alive. No more illness. She could attend Hogwarts happily, with no need to worry. She felt like doing cartwheels around the table, but didn't dare. It was likely to get her locked up in St. Mungo's mental ward, if she did. She was grinning stupidly, and that was probably what got Daphne's attention.

"Tori, are you OK?" she asked.

"I'm fine...just really happy!" she said, still smiling.

"Right...anyway, come on, I'll introduce you to Pansy." Daphne gestured for a pug-faced, dark-haired girl to come over.

"Hey Pans! This is my sister, Astoria. I've told you about her, right?"

"Hi!" Pansy squealed, squeezing Astoria's hand way too tight. "I'm Pansy! You're the one with the illness, right? Abrania, or something? Anyway, Daphne, have you decided whether or not to ask out Theo this year?"

Astoria zoned out of the conversation pretty quickly. She could have cared less about Daphne's love life. You'd think Daphne and Pansy were 11 year olds, the way they squealed and over reacted to every single thing. But they weren't. Daphne was actually 14, just like Astoria. The two sisters were only 7 months away, but Daphne often acted like they were 7 years apart, treating Astoria like a two year old, and always fussing over her, like she couldn't take care of herself. It was one of the few things Astoria found irksome about Daphne, but most times, she managed to get away from her sister when she tried to baby her.

Her gaze fell upon another boy, who seemed to be staring at her and Daphne. He was rather dashing, with a pale, pointed chin, a sharp nose, and sleek blond hair that looked like it was gelled back. The one feature she found the most good-looking was his piercing eyes. They were wide, but quizzical, and were a deep, dark grey. She cocked an eyebrow, but the boy continued to stare at her, at her hair, her face, and her hands. She wondered what he could possibly be thinking. He also looked back and forth from her and Daphne. Drumming his fingers on the table. Perhaps he was wondering if they were sisters. Daphne wasn't necessarily friends with everyone in Slytherin, there was a chance that most people didn't know she had a younger sister who had been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness.

Quickly, she looked away from him and continued to admire the beauty and grandeur of the Great Hall. No room in the Greengrass Manor was as huge as this.

She laughed, but it went unnoticed. She didn't care. She was at Hogwarts, her dream had, after 3 long years (she had been wanting to go ever since Daphne had began to attend the school), she was finally here, at Hogwarts.

She was at Hogwarts at last.

A/N: So...how was it? I think I can get at least one more chapter uploaded before Spring Break ends. Pay attention to the dream and Astoria's description of her wand...they are going to come back in later in the story!

Please leave reviews...they are what motivate me to keep writing! I am open to constructive critisicm and compliments!