Prologue
Callista Caine blinked into the sunlight as she tightly held onto her father's hand. It was Coltam Caine's daughter's first year at Hogwarts, and the hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley was frightening her. They'd already been to Ollivander's, where it had taken more than one try to find the right wand, which was also leaving her flustered. In the end she left with a thirteen inch wand made of Willow with a core being a hair from the mane of a Kelpie. Her father assured her this was good, that that core was the best for all spells. Callie, as she preferred to be called, led her father next to Eeylop's Owl Emporium to pick out an owl. She already knew what she wanted, she had been dreaming about it since the day her older sister first got her letter to Hogwarts. When they entered the store, there were tons of people milling about, but even more owls. She stood on her toes to see over the heads of her peers. That's when she saw him. Nuka, as she had already named him, was the most gorgeous snowy owl she had ever seen, and his piercing green eyes were staring right at her as if he already knew he belonged to her. She grabbed her father's hand and ran over to the cage. Her father picked it up for her and went to pay for it.
Before she knew it Callie was running through platforms 9 and 10 at Kings Crossing. She had her trunk filled with her robes from Madam Malkin's and all of her school books, including some parchment and quills. Nuka was in his cage on top of her trunk, happily fluffing his wings. Once she said goodbye and got on the train, she immediately found her best friend, Pansy Parkinson in one of the compartments. "CALLIE! I'm so glad to see you!! Aren't you so excited for this year?!" Pansy squealed.
"I am! I cannot wait! I just hope I get sorted into Slytherin, I know that's where Draco will be after all," she sighed. Callie had been in love with Draco for as long as she could remember. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were her parents' best friends, so naturally they had been forced to play together as children. Although Draco had basically ignored her for 11 years, she was determined to win his heart. She knew that she already had an advantage to most girls. Draco's parents adored her. Coltam Caine worked in the Ministry of Magic but was a Death Eater for the Dark Lord. He had been a Death Eater for as long as Callie can remember, even when they lived in Greece, where Callie was born and lived until she moved to England at age six. Lucius adored her, even though it was out of character for him. He bought her everything and even had faux duels with her when she was little. He'd take out a fake wand and hand it to her and she would shout charms and curses at him until she would finally just Avada Kedavra him to finish the duel. He would laugh and pat her on the head in the most loving of ways.
Narcissa was the exact same way with her. She would constantly take her shopping for dresses and jewelry, paying for all of it. Narcissa loved her so much that she even set aside a special room for her next to their own in Malfoy Manor. It was one of the coveted five rooms surrounding the hexagonal master bathroom/lounge. There was the Malfoy's room, Draco's room, Blaise Zabini's room, the Zabini's room, and her own room, along with a door leading out of the lounge, as Narcissa called it. Narcissa had decorated Callie's colossal bedroom beautifully, just like the rest of her expansive home.
Callie was too busy thinking about Malfoy Manor that Pansy had to yell her name 3 times before she snapped back to reality. The Hogwarts Express had pulled into Hogwarts and everyone was getting off. The two girls scrambled off the train and walked towards the largest man either of them had ever seen. He introduced himself as Rubius Hagrid and led us to a large number of boats. Slowly, little groups of first years got on the boats and started towards the castle that was Hogwarts. Callie and Pansy got into the last boat, only to realize that Draco Malfoy was in there along with Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and Blaise Zabini.
Callie let out a gasp as she walked into the Great Hall for the first time. It was gorgeous. There were candles floating in mid air and you could see the night sky clearly. Callie knew it wasn't actually the night sky, the ceiling was simply bewitched to look like that. She'd read up on it in Hogwarts: A History. She anxiously gripped Pansy's sleeve as the group of first years walked towards the sorting hat in the front of the room. Callie waited patiently while the names were called, in no particular order it seemed. One by one her friends got sorted into Slytherin. Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise, and Pansy had all been sorted once her own name was finally called. She eagerly jumped up onto the stool and the hat was placed onto her head.
"My, my, this is interesting, very interesting. You are no doubt, your father's daughter, Miss Caine," the hat pondered aloud. She beamed at this; her father was a proud Slytherin. "However, you are no doubt the bravest in your family, am I right? Gryffindor could definitely use a witch like you. Oh? What's this, you have a heart of gold as well? Then possibly Hufflepuff, for your kindness. No? Well I see you are also sharp tongued, quick witted, and pure blooded. Salazar would have loved to put you in his house. Yes, I have reached my decision. It shall be RAVENCLAW!" the hat finally bellowed. Callie's jaw dropped. The hat had just finished saying how perfect she was for Slytherin, why was she possibly put into Ravenclaw? She grimaced as the hat's words sunk in. She stalked over to the Ravenclaw table and sat down, ignoring the friendly hellos and welcome gestures.
Once the feast was served Callie looked back toward the Slytherin table, where all of her friends were. What she saw made her face contort with anger and jealousy. Pansy was sitting next to Draco, laughing at something he had said to Crabbe. Blaise sat next to Draco on the other side and had a happy smirk on his face. Draco simply looked emotionlessly content as he ate. Just as Callie was about to turn around to eat, she felt Pansy's eyes on her. She looked at her, and gasped. Pansy was glaring at her from across the room. She put her hand on Draco's arm and smirked at her. Callie spun around in a huff so quickly that she didn't see Draco rip his arm from beneath Pansy's hand in disgust.
The rest of first year went by in a similar way. Callie refused to befriend anyone in Ravenclaw, but all of the Slytherins were still ignoring her. All in all she was friendless. Draco didn't even bother to be polite when she went to Malfoy Manor that summer; he simply looked straight through her, like she wasn't even there.
Second year was similar, Draco made the quidditch team, simply to spite Harry Potter, but he was good. Also, Pansy had a meltdown and claimed she was almost petrified by the Beast of Slytherin, which Draco arrogantly pointed out to her was impossible, because she was in Slytherin.
By third year, Callie had developed a strong dislike for Draco. She had realized he was arrogant, obnoxious, and cruel. Once in care of magical creatures Draco got attacked by a hippogriff and broke his arm. Professor Hagrid had forced Callie to take Draco to Madam Pomfrey. Once she had gotten him safely there, he hadn't even said thank you.
And this year, their fourth year, Professor Snape forced them to be Potions partners. This made Callie hate Draco even more, because he barely paid attention to her and only spoke to her unless he absolutely had to. Once, they got out of potions late and weren't on time for the first task in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. There were barely any seats left, but ended up having to sit next to each other in the last two seats.
Callie had, by this point, become basically mute. She talked only to professors, her family and Lucius and Narcissa. Thankfully, they hadn't rejected her because of her Ravenclaw status. When Narcissa found out, she chuckled and said, "It's because you are too smart to be a Slytherin my dear. Ravenclaw is the closest house to Slytherin in purity and in honor. Be thankful you aren't a Hufflepuff or Gryffindor." Lucius had animatedly agreed with his wife on this.