Hazel was standing on Platform Nine and Three Quarters ready to embark on her first day of school when she first met Draco Malfoy. Her first memory of him was the scowl on his face as his father, Lucius Malfoy, pointed out which children were 'mud bloods'. Draco and Hazel were told not to talk to those children.

"Don't bring yourself down, Miss Hawthorne. Remember your blood line." Lucius had said, turning his nose up.

Hazel thought he was quite pompous, if she was being honest. Of course she hadn't actually met a witch or wizard who had non-magic parents, but she didn't think they could be too different from herself.

She had never met the Malfoy's before either, but she had certainly heard the name throughout her household growing up. Her father, Hiram Hawthorne, and Lucius were the best of friends during their time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Lucius was not unlike her father. In fact she could see why they had such a strong friendship. They even had the same expression on their faces, it radiated superiority. Draco was much the same, but perhaps slightly less superior, as she had seen his face soften several times when his father would take his eyes away from him. She thought maybe he wasn't so bad, and she decided she would sit with him on the train, as her father had instructed.

Although it wasn't as if she had a choice, she had to do as her father said. He wasn't the type of man you could disobey without consequence. And the consequences were always awful.

He was a stern man with long raven hair and eyes so dark they were almost black. His cheek bones stuck out, and he had deep frown lines creased into his pale forehead.

Hazel didn't look much like her father.

Her hair was raven and her eyes were dark, but her face looked entirely different. Her cheeks were full and her eyes seemed to be permanently furrowed, as if she were sad. Puppy dog eyes, as her mother had called them. She didn't look much like her mother either.

Mabel Hawthorne was fair haired and tall, her face was thin and so was her long nose. She was attractive, but she looked mean, with a personality to match.

Sometimes Hazel felt sure that she could have been switched at birth, had she not been born in her own home, under the protection of her entire family. Her family were very powerful, after all.

But that didn't stop Hazel from day-dreaming about the idea of belonging to a different family. She wouldn't have minded who they were, as long as they were kind.

Her childhood had been filled with memories of cruel punishments enforced by her mother, under the watchful eye of her father. They pushed her to think with her head instead of her heart, but that just wasn't the sort of person she was. She felt everything, and more often than not, she acted on emotion.

This drove her father mad.

Though no matter how weak minded she was in her father's eyes, neither of her parents could deny how powerful her magical abilities were. They learned when Hazel was a very young age that she could do impressive things when she was upset or angry.

She was only three years old when she had lit a table cloth on fire out of anger, when she had been pinched by her cousin, Pansy.

The Malfoy's were seemingly impressed by Hazel's promising powers, and pushed the idea on their son, Draco, that the two would make good friends.

They were right.

As it turned out sitting on the train with Draco that day wasn't so bad. She had thought he was quite funny, and he asked her plenty of questions about her life. Hazel was shy, but Draco thought it was endearing, and tried his best to make her smile.

They were both sorted into Slytherin and they soon became close friends.

However some time after their first day at Hogwarts their friendship had altered.

Hazel had made other friends, and Draco didn't like them. He was jealous, but he would never admit it. He'd grown an interest in her that was deeper than the friendship they'd shared. Hazel was blissfully oblivious. She cared about Draco, but she'd never entertained the idea of anything romantic between them, as much as her father would be delighted at that thought.

Draco's jealousy made him angry, and he would scold her often. He pushed her to spend more time with Pansy and their other friends in Slytherin, but she didn't feel like she fit in. She never particularly liked Pansy, even though they were cousins, because Pansy always seemed to enjoy upsetting her.

Pansy was mean spirited and envied the fact that the Malfoy's thought so highly of Hazel. She also fancied Draco, but he never noticed, as most of the time he was too busy sticking his nose into Hazel's business and taunting Harry Potter.

Hazel didn't like the other Slytherin's either. They all seemed to find Draco's mean streak amusing, and flocked to him as if he were some type of hero. Though she loved Draco and thought very highly of him, he wasn't the type of person she would idolise.

Cedric Diggory, however, was reason to swoon in her eyes. Cedric was a close friend and somebody she deeply admired. It was no secret she was head-over-heels for him, and he enjoyed the attention. They had first met in the library in Hazel's second year. Cedric was in his fourth year, and very popular amongst his peers. She had already known who he was when he spoke to her.

She had ventured into the library that day to read about quidditch after learning Draco had earned himself a place on the quidditch team. She was embarrassed to admit she had never seen a single match before, let alone known any of the rules.

Cedric was sitting a few seats away from Hazel when he noticed her and the copy of "Quidditch Through the Ages" in her hands. He promptly moved beside her and leaned into her ear to question her interest in quidditch. His eyes were bright and shining, and Hazel's heart leapt into her throat at the sight of him.

Like Draco, Cedric found her shy personality endearing, and quickly took her under his wing. After only a few minutes into their first conversation he had invited her to watch his quidditch training that afternoon, and she found herself completely smitten from that day forward.

He made it clear to her that he wouldn't date her until she was older, despite the fact that he would flirt with her at every opportunity he got. This only made her want him more.

Hazel had also befriended Cedric's other friends, and became very close with a girl named Poppy Henley. Poppy was in Hufflepuff with Cedric and was insanely smart. She was kind-hearted and loyal, but wouldn't hesitate to confront anyone who tried to hurt her friends. She was especially protective of Hazel. Not only because Hazel was younger than her, but because Hazel could be perceived as a little naive. The two became fast friends shortly after Cedric brought Hazel into the group.

Hazel wondered over summer if things would change now that she was entering her fourth year at school. She hoped Draco would miraculously lose his mean streak, or at least warm to the idea of her having other friends. She had seen him several times during the break, but Draco was much different outside of school. He seemed to care less about what anybody thought of him. And neither of the two mentioned school or Draco's least favourite topic - Cedric Diggory. She wanted him to like Cedric because they were both very important to her, but she wasn't sure that was ever likely to happen.

She felt like she had matured a lot over the summer. She had a lot of free time to read and learn new things. She hoped that Cedric would finally ask her to be his girlfriend when he saw how she'd altered during the break.

But she had no idea of the horror she was about to face in the year ahead of her.