Chapter I: Newcomers

We walked into the great hall and went to the front of the huge room where the headmaster was waiting. As we approached I looked around the room and smirked when I saw that everyone was looking at us.

"Ah, so you made it." Dumbledore said with a smile when we stepped up onto the platform with him. He stepped up to the podium and loudly cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"Everyone, this is a very special evening and will surely be remembered for years to come. Tonight I am proud to announce the arrival of two very special students Damian Kingly and his sister Sadie Kingly. For the past five years they have been taught privately by their father Thomas Kingly. I want you all to make them feel welcome here. Now, we need to get the two of you into your houses." Dumbledore said looking back at one of the teachers who stepped forward with a hat. He had each of us sit on a stool and placed the hat on our heads. Daniel went first and was put in Slytherin House; then it was my turn. I sat down and they put the hat on my head and we all waited. It took the hat a few minutes to decide which house I would be in, but finally it put me in Slytherin with my brother. I smirked and walked over to the table where my brother made room for me to sit next to him. As we ate dinner with the rest of the students I couldn't help but notice that a boy a few seats down from us on the opposite side of the table was staring at us. On the way to the dorm I made sure to stick close to my brother. As we walked into the Slytherin commons area I saw that our belonging were there waiting for us. I quickly walked over to my stuff and pulled the black cloth off of my owl's cage and smiled when I saw him sitting there. Opening the cage I let him perch on my arm and walked back to my brother who had also gotten his animal.

"Are you going to send a letter to father?" Damian asked as I took out a piece of parchment and my red quill.

"Yes, I wanted to let him know how we're doing." I said softly as I started writing.

"What's the point Sadie? He's not even going to read it anyway." Damian said looking over at me.

"Damian, he may have sent us away but he's still our father. He deserves to know how his children are. Besides, I want to send one to Emma as well." I said calmly. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Damian move as he quickly snatched the paper from me and tore it up.

"Why did you do that?" I yelled jumping up to stand in front of him.

"Sadie, when are you going to get it through your head? He doesn't care about us anymore. He doesn't care where we are, how we're doing, or what's happened to us! He doesn't care!" Damian yelled back before storming off to his room. I stood there glaring at the space where he had been standing and quickly realized that the one other person in the room was staring at me. Snapping out of my daze I quickly picked up the pieces of the letter and took my things to my room. When I reached my room I sat down at a desk by the window and began another letter. When I was done writing the letters to my father and sister I sealed them in an envelope and walked over to my owl.

"Titan, take these letters to father. Come back here as soon as you give them to him." I said giving the large black owl the letters. I walked him over to the window and watched as he took off into the night. I climbed onto my bed and quickly fell asleep to the serene sound of silence. Sadly, like every night for the past month, I dreamt of my family.

The Dream

"Mother, can we open our presents now?" Emma asked looking up at our mother as she and our father walked into the room.

"All right dear, you can all open your presents." Mom said with a smile. All three of us jumped off of the couch and ran over to the Christmas tree with smiles on our faces. Each of us got ten presents and, once we had them sorted out, we tore tem open to see what we had got. Damian went first in opening presents since he was the oldest and I patiently waited my turn. Before he could even open the last present the lights and the fire in the fireplace went out. Startled by the sudden darkness Emma huddled close to me. I had exceedingly brilliant night vision and could see everything clearly. We all heard the front door creak open and drew our wands. By then all of our eyes had adjusted to the dark and we could all see, so we all stared at the doorway to the kitchen in anticipation. I was the first one to see the figure with the silver mask walking toward us. I knew what it was and I tensed at the sight of it; a Deatheater had found us. I must have passed out from the shock of it all because when I woke up the lights were back on. As soon as I opened my eyes I knew something was wrong and quickly sat up to see if everyone was alright. As soon as I sat up I saw my father sitting on the couch with his head in his hands and my brother and sister sitting on the floor crying. As I looked around I noticed the blood on the floor and saw my mother's lifeless body lying in the middle of the living room floor. No one really knew who it was, but we knew that everyone heard the pained piercing scream that echoed through the streets that morning.

End Dream

I sat up quickly in bed and tried to catch my breath as firm hands gripped my shoulders.

"Sadie, are you alright?" Damian asked sounding very concerned. I looked up at him and took a shuddered breath before asking what had happened.

"You were screaming in your sleep again. You scared everyone half to death. What happened?" He said staring at me.

"I…I just had a bad dream, that's all." I said finally calming down. He let go of my shoulders and stood up before walking out of the room with the others. I quickly got out of bed and took a shower before changing into my school clothes and heading to class. I couldn't tell Damian that I dreamt of our mother. He'd just tell me to deal with it like he had and move on. If there was anyone in our family that didn't care it was him.