Chapter 1: A Deal with the Devil
A tall raven haired pre-teen walks into the car, the door sliding shut and minimized the noise of the train - glancing into the compartments in search of a certain blonde. It wasn't until the teen walked to the far end of the train that a familiar voice rang clearly in the clamor of the train.
Curious as to what business he had found the pre-teen wonders on over to him. It doesn't take long for the brunette to locate the blonde, flanked by two boys whom the pre-teen hesitates to name as friends.
"This is Crabbe and Goyle," the blonde is introducing himself to someone inside the compartment, "And I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."
There's a faint noise of someone snickering and the brunette notes Draco's face becoming frigid, his pride and name insulted. "Think my name's funny, do you?" there was a sneer in his voice. "No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."
The brunette sighs and pinches the bridge of their nose, Malfoy pride strikes again.
Draco turned his head to someone else, possibly the first person he had been talking to. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."
He held out his hand to shake their hand, but whoever it was they didn't take it.
"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.
Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks and that was her cue to step in.
"Draco," the brunette calls, pushing away from the wall and crossing over to him.
"What do you want," the boy snaps before he turns his eyes towards the brunette. "Meissa."
The brunette grins at the change in his tone, turning from cold and distant to moderately warm.
"What brings you here?" he asks.
Meissa walks up to him, narrowing her eyes at his friends and causing them to back away. Next to Draco she turns her gaze into the compartment and sees a red head - a Weasley as Draco had identified - and a bespectacled boy.
"I thought you might be up to something," she remarks.
"I am offended you might think that!"
She smirks at the blonde before turning her gaze to Crabbe and Goyle.
"Leave," she gestures to the two brutes.
Out of the corner of her eyes she could see their unsure faces before she narrows her eyes at them. "I know you're impaired but leave now before I do something."
Draco looks at Meissa, studying the way she stood and acted.
"Let's go," Draco says as he steps away from the brunette.
"Draco," the brunette calls over to him and when he turns to acknowledge her, "Stay out of trouble." A slight head tilt was all she got in response.
Without the three boys breathing down her neck she turns to acknowledge the boys inside the compartment.
"I offer my sincerest apologies for Draco's behavior," she bows slightly. "I cannot offer apologies for him personally but I offer apologies nonetheless."
The red head narrows his eyes at her as she simply crosses her arms and raises a brow at him. "Anyone who is a friend of Malfoy sure isn't our friend."
"Perfectly understandable," she remarks with a sly grin, dark brown eyes glinting in the light. She glances over to the brunette sitting quietly opposite of the red head.
"What do you want?" the bespectacled boy questions.
She casually leans against the frame of the door. "I know Draco and he's not one to let any slights to his pride rest."
"Your point?"It was the red head who said this.
"My point is I can curb the worse of his anger, if we make a deal."
This got her suspicion from the red head - something she had expected from the pureblood traitor as Draco would have put it.
"What would you gain from the deal?"
She smiles at the brunette. "Perhaps a favor to be paid at a later date?" she inquires, wondering how smart the brunette is.
"No," the boy immediately dismissed.
She grins at him in approval. "Smart," she states simply.
He narrows his eyes at her.
She laughs. "At the moment, I have nothing to gain from making a deal with you. So I propose this. A deal in which I may ask for a favor, within reason, at a later date. In return I will prevent Draco's ire with you from reaching dangerous proportions for the entirety of this school year."
"Is that all we get?" the brunette inquires.
"It is as far as I am willing to go," Meissa retorts. "If you want more then I am willing to discuss it again next year on our return."
The boys exchange looks with each other.
"Okay then."
She offers her hand, "My name's Meissa. Yours?"
"I'm Harry and this is Ron."
"Pleasure," she shook hands with one and then the other. "Now, if you'll excuse me," she turns on the spot, intending to leave.
Until a warm body hits her, causing her to jump as a pair of arms wrap around her waist. Her body stiffening as bushy brown hair appears in her line of sight.
"Oh! I'm sorry!"
Wide brown eyes met equally dark brown underneath wild bushy hair.
She quickly separates herself from the slightly smaller girl, locking her hands behind her back. "My apologies," she bows slightly to her before beating a calm retreat.
"Who was that?" she distantly hears the girl asks the two boys before she steps into the next car, the rattle of Hogwarts Express deafening out everything.
~MJB~
Meissa narrows her eyes at the blonde, crossing her arms as she stares him down.
"What were you thinking?"
"I'm not seeing anything wrong."
"Oh, really? You insulted one of the boys and then turned around and offered the other friendship."
"Again, nothing wrong."
She rolls her eyes and her hands moved to her hips, giving Draco an impression that he was in serious trouble.
"If you wanted to offer the boy friendship I doubt that insulting the boy whom he's with would be brilliant plan."
Draco shakes his head stubbornly. "Why would I expect him to side with a filthy blood traitor?"
She sighs as she runs a hand through her thick long hair.
"You made a serious misjudgment," she remarks.
"Bugger off," he gripes.
Another sigh escapes her before she reaches over and grips his shoulders. "I know you're young, but try and think next time."
She gets a huff from him and instead of bothering to smooth out his anger she grabs her uniform and robes and leaves to change. Hogwarts was due to appear soon and like the girl that had rushed into her, she wants to change.
A white buttoned shirt, a grey V-neck jumper, and instead of a skirt she chose to wear trousers. She had no doubt that the professors would be onto her the moment she stepped onto the school grounds but her mum had always taught her that she should remain true to herself. And wearing skirts just isn't who she is.
~MJB~
She leans casually against the railing, her eyes watching Draco watch Harry and his friend Ron. Nearby was the girl that had ran into her just outside the boys' compartment. It was clear to her that the boys had made fast friends and Harry's wide eyed awe was amusing for the raven-haired girl.
It was clear to her that he was raised in the muggle world, she could see that clearly.
Ron - much like Draco had observed - was a Weasley and thus a pureblood so it was clear to her that he wasn't in awe of his surroundings. In fact, wasn't he the youngest boy in the family?
She was still leaning against the railing when someone screamed, causing more than a handful of students to jump. Startled from her thoughts she looked about to find that roughly twenty ghosts had just steamed through the back wall. Recognizing them as the resident ghosts she settles back against the railing as she watched the varying expressions on the First year's faces.
She tuned out the arguments the ghosts were having about another and was thinking about something when Professor McGonagall, a tall black-haired witch with a stern face, returned to the entrance hall. Ushering them into a line and instructing them to follow her.
The Great Hall was just like she had been told and Meissa was lost in her thoughts and old stories when she registers a singing voice. Tuning in to what was happening she couldn't stop the chuckles at the last few lines. Though she did quickly sober up when McGonagall pulled out a long roll of parchment.
It was time to begin.
Meissa was quick to get bored, it couldn't be helped at all really.
"Granger, Hermione," McGonagall calls out first after everyone had moved into the Great Hall.
She smiled to herself at the anxious way the bushy haired girl parted from the crowd and stepped up to the stool. Though the smile quickly dropped when she overhears Ron's whispered comment.
Maybe she should've left him to Draco's ire.
"Gryffindor!"
She smirked at the relieved expression on the brunette's face. "Congrats," she mumbles softly as the next person called went up.
Her lips twist into a smirk when Draco was called - a laugh nearly burst out when the hat declared his house just before it touched his crown.
Then it was…
"Potter, Harry."
Wait, what?
She straightens up and narrows her dark eyes. Harry Potter? Harry Bloody Potter? The Boy-Who-Lived?
Her lips pulled back in a silent snarl before she schools herself. The boy from the train stepped forward and sat on the stool.
Harry Potter is the same boy whom she offered and agreed to provide protection?
Bloody Hell…
She crosses her arms and angrily cursed herself. Why hadn't she asked for his surname?
She listen to the hat's mutter and grumble as he turned Harry's head left and right. On several occasions she heard the hat mention Slytherin but in the end it was declared that Harry's home for the rest of his time in Hogwarts would be, "GRYFFINDOR!"
She scowls to herself as she swore repeatedly to herself. Until she heard her name. Though in hindsight, it should've been called a long time ago.
"Bla-," the Gryffindor Head Professor chokes at her surname.
The old woman clears her throat and tries again.
"Black, Meissa," McGonagall repeats herself.
There was a collective gasp all across the Great Hall at her surname and she walks up to the stool. Making herself comfortable on it, she meets McGonagall's eyes with a sly grin on her face.
She could imagine what the old woman is seeing in her face. It's the same face she sees in old family pictures. She has long thick shiny dark hair, thin lips, heavily-lidded eyes with long eyelashes, and a strong jaw, much like a certain woman renowned across Great Britain.
Anyone that knew her would see her in her.
The hat slid down slightly and she huffs at the brim.
'Well, well, the last Black Heir,' she hears the Hat remark. 'Who knew that this school would be graced with the presence of another and perhaps last of the Black line?'
"Mum warned me about your chattiness," she remarks drily.
'Interesting… why did two different women appear in your mind?'
"The house," she all but bit out.
'Mm… You have the bravery and daring of Gryffindor. The patience and loyalty of Hufflepuff. The intelligence and wit of Ravenclaw. And the ambition and cunning of Slytherin… So where would you fit…'
She rolls her shoulders to ease the tension in them. She feels that her patience is being tested by the hat.
'You have such a potential and would do well in Gryffindor.' A sneer nearly appeared on her face at the thought of being in the same house as Harry Potter. 'Ah, not Gryffindor then. Perhaps then…'
"SLYTHERIN!"
The hat was ripped off her head by her own hand, "Not a word to what you've seen," she growls softly before she hands the limp thing to Professor McGonagall.
She joins Draco's side, sliding between him and a girl, someone who had the potential for great beauty but was already hardened by spite. And she wasn't exactly pleased with the amount of influence Draco's group of cronies - this seems to be the best word for them - have on him.
"They look like their world has just ended."
She snickers softly under her breath. "I think you and I know exactly why."
"Not our fault they're bloody morons."
She moves forward and props her chin on a fist.
"I wonder whom they think I'm the daughter of."
Draco gives her a look and she turns her mouth into her fist to hide her snickers.
"You're serious?"
She pauses to think this.
"Honestly? Not really. I know who my parent is."
He glances at her before looking up when the last student had been called and sorted. "Looks like they're done."
She turns her gaze up towards Dumbledore, narrowing her eyes at him before moving them across the Great Hall. A scowl appearing on her face briefly when she spots Harry Potter with the Gryffindors.
"What's with you?"
An elbow thumps into her side and she turns her glare at him.
"The hell was that for!" she hisses at him.
"Who's worthy enough to earn the Black glare?"
"Bugger off."
"Attitude, cousin, attitude."
"I'll give you attitude if you keep testing it."
He smirks at her before turning his attention back to Dumbledore in time for him to announce that the feast is to begin.
A grin appeared on his face when the food appeared on the dishes.
Meissa laughs softly at his expressions before grabbing a variety of food available. Even making an effort to grab some greens - as much as she wants to make a face at it.
~MJB~
"Hurry up, come on," the Prefect urges to the First-years, her constant drone giving Meissa a headache.
Choosing to linger at the end of the group instead of following her closely like many of the others.
Even from this distance she still could hear her drone and to be frank it was starting to get on her nerves.
Up ahead she saw that Draco and his group of friends were whispering with each other.
"Bloody hell," she mutters to herself, pressing her knuckles to her throbbing temples. She needs to go through her trunks for one of the potions her godfather gave her to last a month. Though if a headache this strong is already hitting her on the first night then she has a problem.
"Something wrong?" she hears someone question, bringing her attention around to her side.
Her eyebrows furrowing momentarily at the person before realizing that it was a girl, a blonde with pale blue eyes. She couldn't put a name to her but the fact was, if she's in Slytherin, she wasn't exactly she was going to trust her until she knows her real well.
"No," she answers, sliding her hands into the pockets of her trousers. She cast a look at the blonde next to her. "You'll have to forgive me if I'm not so inclined to share my innermost thoughts with you."
The blonde gives her a smirk. "You're smart if you're slow to trust."
"Yet don't be too slow," Meissa finishes for the blonde.
"You're going to do well in Slytherin," the girl remarks with a chuckle.
Meissa couldn't help the smirk and offers the blonde a hand. "Meissa Black."
"Daphne Greengrass."
Meissa raises a brow at her surname. "Quite a family you have."
"Not as much as you do." She shrugs her shoulders at the blonde. "How does it feel, to be in the Black family?"
"There isn't really much left of the old family," she remarks drily.
And it was true. Two were in prison, one disowned, and the other married into another pureblood family. Everyone else in the family tree were too obscured to be really considered part of the Black family in her opinion or disowned and been long gone by this point in time. It was clear to her that the Black family will one day be no more, an ancient family soon to be dead in name. Existing only in female lines but someday that may disappear as well.
"This is true," Greengrass remarks before everyone stopped in front of a plain stone wall.
Meissa, who was still supporting a migraine, cranes her head slightly to see what's happening in the front.
"Purus Sanguis," the prefect declares in a clear enough voice that it carried to the back.
Meissa grimaced, her voice cutting into the sensitive nerves.
"Hey," she hears before a hand grips her wrist and pulls her through the opening before the bricks slid back into place. "You're really not alright."
She waves her hand in dismissal, "I'm fine."
"I doubt it."
She shakes her arm free and despite the fact that the Prefect is in the middle of a speech she slipped past her, pinching the bridge of her nose to try and stave off the migraine.
"Hey!" she hears the prefect calls to her, "Get back here!"
She whirls around, her 12 ½ wand already in hand, dark eyes glinting in the low light. "You'll have to excuse me, Prefect Farley. I care not wit about your welcoming speech. Write it all down and send it to me if you really think it's worth my time and attention."
She stood there on the stairs for half of a heartbeat, waiting to see what the prefect would do. When nothing happens she turns and makes her way up one flight of stairs and finding her trunk.
Nearly ten minutes later Greengrass was in the room with two other girls. One of them she recognized as the girl from dinner, another she couldn't but her heavy jutting jaw and large square build of her body was enough to give Meissa an impression.
By the time the girls had come up to the dormitory she was lounging on the bed furthest from the door yet closest to the window, giving her the privilege of watching various oddities swim by.
"Who said you can take that bed," the spiteful girl from dinner sneers at her. Meissa turns her gaze up away from her book and arches an eyebrow at her.
"You think you've earned this one?" she bares her teeth in a grin. A grin similar to the one the most infamous Black would use.
The grin widens when the spiteful girl takes a step back.
"If you believe you earned it, then, by all means."
She takes several steps back and leans casually against the wall, making a gesture for them to take the bed.
Distrust was clear in the girls' eyes, in everyone except Greengrass', and the spiteful girl looked between Meissa and the bed.
But something seemed to make her decide to attempt her luck and she confidently cross over to the abandoned bed. Just as she was going to sit down the drapes came alive and wraps around her, to her shock.
"Pansy!" the heavy built girl cries as the girl in question squirmed and struggled to get free.
"Looks like it has rejected you," Meissa crackles, her eyes sparkling with mirth.
"You!" the girl practically screeches. Meissa brings her hands up and reveals that she was not holding her wand. "Get me down from here!"
She smirks as the girl struggles even harder. "What about you?" she questions the other girls. "Do you wish to try your luck?"The bulky girl - for what other word could she use to describe this one - was quick to shake her head no.
"I didn't think so," Meissa remarks as she crosses over to her bed, picking up her book. She stuck a finger in place as she withdraws her wand. With a casual flick the drapes release their hold on the girl - was her name Panty or Pansy - and settles back into place.
Pansy and her friend - she'll need to figure out her name sometimes soon - were quick to beat a hasty retreat from the dormitory and she settles back down onto the bed. Ever so grateful she had taken the potion as soon as she had gotten to the room.
"How are you feeling?" she hears Greengrass ask before the bed to her left creaks under a weight.
"Why are you so interested in my wellbeing."
Daphne makes a noise that prompts Meissa to turn her head towards the blonde.
"In full honesty? You're different."
"And this is interesting why?"
She watches Daphne raise an eye brow at her. "You didn't grow up with us."
"I'm not really seeing your point."
"…I don't want the life our parents lived."
Meissa tilts her head. "Last I checked your parents were neutral in that."
"They may have been neutral but they were still in the war."
She shrugs her shoulders, seeing no point in arguing this. She finds a bookmark and slides it into place before snapping the book shut.
"To answer your earlier question," she starts, earning a muted smile from the blonde, "I'm feeling much better."
"Good… You do realize that Prefect Farley is a bit narky now, right?"
"Don't care."
"She's a prefect." She gives Daphne a look. "And you still don't care."
"Got it in one."
The blonde shakes her head in disbelief.
"I might have to revise my thought about you doing well in this House," Daphne remarks.
Meissa laughs and all but corners the blonde against a wall. "It would be wise to never assume things about me." Dark eyes meet light blue and she smirks in amusement at the curiosity in Daphne's eyes with only a hint of self-preservation.
"Never forget," she remarks, "that I owe no one alliances except to myself."
Daphne nods her head slowly and Meissa couldn't resist the urge so brings a hand to the blonde's face, cupping her cheek.
"Meissa?"
Reminded of where she is and what's she doing Meissa drops her hand and steps back. She had no words for what just happened so she simply turns away and shuts the drapes around her bed. Shutting out everyone, including Daphne.