Chapter 1:

Crap. Crap. CRAP! He saw me! Angela Crenshaw hid behind her book in Transfiguration and tried to calm her fluttering heart. She could feel her forehead perspiring and felt the piercing eyes on the back of her head from a boy she once knew from her past. And that's exactly where she'd like to keep it. In the past.

Professor McGonnagall began teaching the lesson, but Angela hardly noticed the faint words that did not process any meaning in her mind. She was solely focused on the stares she felt from the boy sitting behind her.

He was supposed to still be at Durmstrang! Angela quietly argued with herself against the possibilities that he could be here, of all places, attending her class! He has some nerve showing up here uninvited like this! Why is he even here? He couldn't be spying on the headmaster..? But wait, that doesn't make sense. Maybe I just saw wrong. She started to calm herself a little with this complacent thought. It really did make no sense that Noir Solace, the prince of Durmstrang, suddenly decided to show up at Hogwarts and take a few classes. That was ludicrous!

Angela couldn't take it anymore. She had to confirm or deny her suspicions. She tentatively turned her head to the left praying that she was wrong. What she saw was a pair of silver-blue eyes staring intently back at her. It was as if she could instantly tell his eyes had never left her the moment they walked into this classroom, which now seemed to be getting stuffier at the moment.

The sight made her gasp, even though she had already known that her eyes had not deceived her previously. Noir Solace was in her class, and he was staring at her. Her heart began to pick up once more until it felt like it was in her throat. She couldn't breathe, and didn't dare to look away. It was as if the moment they locked eyes he pulled her into some sort of trance she couldn't escape. This wasn't a reaction toward him physically, although he was devilishly handsome. He had short blonde hair and a pair of screaming silver-blue eyes. A hair was never out of place when it came to Noir Solace. He was cool and collected. He was a high-class, respected gentleman. He came from one of the highest caliber of Wizard family, a big name to live up to, but he didn't seem to mind.

But no, it wasn't his looks or his status that had Angela's heart beating like a hummingbird trapped in her chest, it was fear. Fear of what he might do or say to ruin any future for her that she might possibly have here at Hogwarts. Being a figure from her past, he was someone who knew much more of her than anyone at Hogwarts did, even her best friend Jason didn't know about her past. When she first started attending Hogwarts she had made the decision she would reinvent Angela Crenshaw. So far, she had been successful and no one at Hogwarts knew who she used to be, who she hated to be. Until now.

The trance was broken when Noir broke the gaze to look up at Professor McGonnagall. Angela felt like she was breathing for the first time, in short quick breaths. All she could hear was the pounding of her heart in her ears as her mind concocted all kinds of theories and explanations of why this was happening.

"Miss Crenshaw!" came Professor McGonnagall's shrill voice. Angela jerked her head up quickly, almost giving herself whiplash, and saw the teacher's stern face looking down upon her in disappointment.

"Y-Yes?" Her voice shook a little as she quickly answered her professor.

"Perhaps you would be so kind as to inform the class of what incantation is used to return something that has been transfigured to its original state?" The professor looked ominous at Angela who simply flushed. She knew the whole class had now stopped what they were doing and was staring at her.

"No professor," Angela muttered barely intelligible to those around her. She could hear the snickering of the Slytherins who were sitting at the table with Noir. One of the boys even nudged Noir in the ribs and nodded toward Angela. However, Noir himself had an unreadable expression on his face which made Angela even more on edge.

A hand shot up in the table in front of her. McGonnagall nodded toward the girl and she promptly said "The spell to return transfigured objects into their original state is 'Exemplar.'"

"Very good Miss Granger. Five points to Gryffindor." McGonagall started walking towards the front of the class as she weaved gracefully between the student's desks. "This is a N.E.W.T. level class. Those unwilling to put in the work will fall behind, and I hope that you all remember that and do your best in the course." Although the professor addressed the entire class, everyone knew when her eyes paused momentarily on Angela that the message was singled out for one person. Angela sunk down in her chair, suddenly feeling very hot and embarrassed.

Transfiguration dragged on so that it felt like the slowest class of Angela's life. She tried to re-establish her rapport with Professor McGonnagall by making sure she paid attention and participated in discussion. However, it was so hard to focus when she knew just one row back that that boy was staring at her again. How could she NOT feel the penetrating gaze of those eyes?

Angela's items were already packed up by the time McGonagall dismissed the class and she darted for the door as soon as she could. Angela was the first one out the door, but Noir closely followed.

"Miss Crenshaw" he called out. His voice was casual but carried an air of importance to it that made her hesitate momentarily, but then start up the pace again. She didn't want to deal with this here. He walked past her and leaned against a wall with his shoulder, blocking her path. "Well it is so wonderful to see a friendly face at a new school."

Her face wasn't exactly friendly at the moment. He had taken her breath away again with those screaming silver-blue eyes that stopped her in her tracks. "Hello Noir." Only then did she realize how nervous she sounded. She started to feel self-conscious, knowing that all the students filing out of the class were glancing at her with the new kid looking like they've known each other for years. Little did the other students know, the two actually HAD known each other for years. They were both in their 6th year, and both transfer students from Durmstrang, although Angela was determined to keep that part of her life behind her and she wasn't about to let some boy mess that up.

Noir smiled a crooked smile that Angela had grown accustomed to over the years. It meant he was amused. Angela wanted nothing more than to smack that smile off his face, but fought against the urge seeing as they had all of their classmates filing past them. "I expected a proper greeting when I came to Hogwarts. Aren't you the least surprised to see me?" What was he doing? Teasing me?

"Surprised might be an understatement." Some Slytherins, including Malfoy and his gang slowed down as they left the classroom to eavesdrop. They were also probably asking themselves why a Slytherin such as Noir was conversing with a pretty, yet somewhat mundane Hufflepuff. Those two houses did not often make the best of friends in history's past. "Want to go for a walk?" Angela asked quickly well aware of the lingering Slytherin boys. Besides, the hallway was not the best place to have a conversation with Noir, especially since she was so afraid of what he might bring up.

"Lead the way," Noir obliged and followed Angela out the hallway and toward the entrance of the castle. They heard some jeers behind them from some of the boys she didn't know that sounded something like "Go get her Solace!" Angela tried to shake that comment from her memory so she could focus on what she needed to say from Noir. What was she going to say to Noir? What do you say to someone who knows things about you that you'd rather just forget and put behind you? And how much could she actually trust him and expect him to keep those details to himself? Noir was sorted into Slytherin after all which, in her experience, hasn't been the most trustworthy house. These thoughts flooded her mind while they walked in silence until they reached the warm rays of the sun outside.

Noir was watching Angela's face contort with concentration as these thoughts passed through her mind. It amused him slightly and the right side of his mouth curved up into a smile as he watched. "You haven't changed a bit," he stated in a matter of fact way.

"Yes I have!" Angela said offensively. She automatically stopped walking and turned on Noir. If she had any height on him it might have looked like a threatening pose. "Listen Solace, just because we went to the same school together doesn't mean we have to be all buddy-buddy here."

Noir held his hands up in surrender to stop the verbal attack Angela spat at him. "Of course not," he said politely. "I was merely thinking that our past together might have given me a reason to want to catch up." Our PAST! It's true…Angela did go to one of the balls Durmstrang held with Noir, but she got asked to a lot of balls. He was simply another one of those guys in a very long line. There was nothing significantly special about their time together. "I was simply wondering…." Noir started, "Well it doesn't matter I suppose."

"What is it?" Angela asked, surprising herself for taking the bait. Just as he wanted, she thought with a hint of bitterness.

Noir seemed to enjoy that too because he was smiling again. "I was just wondering that maybe things at Hogwarts could be different for us?"

"That's what I'm hoping for," Angela murmured looking at the ground. And then her face flushed when she realized what he actually meant and what she said had completely different meanings. "Uh- that came wrong."

"So…you don't want things to be different between us?" he ventured.

"No! Um…." She started pacing back and forth while Noir took a seat on one of the concrete benches in the garden they had ended up in. Noir raised an eyebrow as she tried to find words to explain herself. He seemed slightly amused by the sight, but kept most of that amusement hidden from Angela knowing it would only irritate her. "What I meant was….I'm not the same person I was at Durmstrang. So things ARE different for me here, and I kind of like it that way. It's a new school and a fresh start. No one is judging me or associating me with things that have happened in the past…" She stopped pacing at that moment and turned to look at him. "You know, those things they said about me at Durmstrang, they weren't true." Her voice was soft now, remembering the hurt she had felt from the judgment of others. The judgment from him. "I suppose you get silly rumors like that anywhere though," she said starting to pick up her voice again in a matter of fact way. "But the point is...you're the only person here who knows anything of the sort. I don't want that to be an issue here."

"So let me get this straight," Noir said after she had finished her speech. "You're afraid that my presence here will bring back your reputation from Durmstrang?"

"It better not," Angela said.

"I always knew you were a little bit feisty," he said with a hint of amusement. "Have you no faith in me at all?" The silence was his answer. There was too much doubt and fear there from previous hurt that he knew about too well. He could read it in her face by the way she bit her lip and looked away. "Fair enough. All joking aside…" He picked out a yellow rose from the garden and stood in front of her. From his position, he was slightly looking down on her. He took her hand and wrapped it around the rose, keeping his hand on top. "This is my promise to you, Angela Crenshaw. Your secret is safe with me. Take this rose as a symbol of our friendship. That is my wish anyway, that we can form a friendship. Let's get to know each other more. As individuals, rather than from the assumptions we made about each other at Durmstrang. I know you must have some false pretenses about me as well. So what do you say? How about dinner by the lake this Saturday? As friends of course."

Angela stood there in shock. Shocked at his close proximity to her, shocked at his hand over hers, shocked at his apparent sincere kindness to her, and shocked that she was actually nodding her head yes. Noir didn't seem to mind though. He took the yes without hesitation and smiled his crooked grin once again. "Good, I'm glad we'll have time to sit down and actually catch up. You might want to hurry back now. I think our lunch period is almost over."

As if on cue, her stomach growled. "Oh right…lunch." In the midst of all of this needless worry she had forgotten to eat lunch. She shook her head to clear it of the fuzzy thoughts that clouded her memory. What just happened! It wasn't exactly how she planned on talking to him. She didn't have the satisfaction she was looking for. But at least he had promised that he wouldn't bring up Durmstrang, and that's what she wanted, right?

"I'll walk you back." Noir promptly let go of her hand which now held the yellow flower and picked up his books he had laid on the bench. They walked back mostly in silence. Angela kept stealing glances at Noir, who looked perfectly content. She couldn't help but be suspicious of his intentions. She had no reason to doubt that he was telling the truth and being sincere, but things like that just don't happen that easily. At least she'll have the rest of the week to think of more things to say to him on Saturday.

As they entered the great hall to eat something quickly before their next class, he stopped her by grabbing her hand and placing a kiss on the back of her hand like a true gentleman. "It was so good seeing you again Miss Crenshaw. Until next time." With that, he turned and sat down with the Slytherins, who.

Angela turned right away, her face a funny shade of red as she practically ran to the Hufflepuff table. I can't believe he did that in front of everyone. She took a deep breath to try and think logically. In retrospect, it really wasn't a big deal, she tried to reason with herself. It was just a simple kiss on the hand, nothing to make a fuss over.

But apparently it was, because as soon as she sat down at the table she kept hearing whispers and getting looks from across the hall. Suddenly, she felt someone slide into the seat next to her. She looked up to see the familiar face of her best friend in her house, Jason Baker. He had short dark hair with a boyish face. But his face was contorted with concern.

"You all right?" He asked putting his hand on her shoulder.

Angela laughed out loud. It was a forced kind of laugh that sounded strange even to her. "Yeah yeah, I'm fine," she said trying to regain her composure.

Jason's eyes went from the flower in her hand to the back of Noir's head across the room. "How do you know him? Is he a Slytherin?"

"Yeah," Angela replied after taking a bite of her toast and shrugging her shoulders. "Old friend."

"Just a friend?" Jason raised his eyebrows and touched Angela's check which was still flaming red with the back of his hand.

"Yes!" Angela pushed his hand away and laughed more comfortably. Jason was her best friend, of course he could tell something more was going on there…or had gone on there. It was clear the subject was closed for discussion…for now. Angela couldn't hide things from Jason for very long. She only hoped that he didn't ask too many probing questions.

"You're not getting off that easily," he said taking a bite of his apple and leaning with his back against the table so he could have a good look at the man she came in the doors with. "You're going to have to tell me the whoooole story later, you know that right?"

"Yeah well my schedule is pretty busy," she said changing the subject. "You know I have Herbology, then double potions, then dinner, then Quidditch practice, then homework and I'll probably be so exhausted and go to bed early."

"Funnily enough I'm with you in almost all of those activities," Jason pointed out happily. "You can't avoid the topic forever Ange!"

"I know," she said getting up from the dinner table and motioning for him to follow. "I promise you later." That was all he needed. He gave her a half-smug smile as he draped his arm around her shoulder. She nudged him, but his arm stayed put as they both left the great hall together and headed outside. This felt strangely familiar…

A/N: If you like the story, please review! All comments are read and very much appreciated! =D More to come soon!