This is my first attempt at a fanfiction. If anybody actually reads this: enjoy and let me know what you think. I'll try to update it once a week, but schoolwork might get in the way, and for that I am prematurely sorry!

-SarWolf

Chapter One

"You're being an idiot, Alyss."

My little sister's big eyes pleaded with me from across the compartment on the Hogwarts Express. I was surprised she wasn't angrier with me – I was being more pig-headed than was usual for me, even after all that we had been through in the past few months.

"I know. I'm sorry, Scar." I sighed. I hated disappointing Rosalynd Persephone (nicknamed Scarlett because her name was far too girly) – she was the only real family I had left, and it was my job to keep her close, safe and loved. Which, to be quite frank, was a lot of pressure for an almost-seventeen year old. But with our parents gone, I refused to let anybody else take that job, especially not the "aunt" who took us in. I didn't know why we couldn't just live with the Malfoys, our family friends!

Scorpious Malfoy. Ugh, I was SO annoyed that he wasn't yet around, because we were dropped off at the train station so early. But I supposed that it wasn't his fault, just like it wasn't his fault that he was Head Boy. Or that he wasn't able to sit with us for the first part of the journey to our new school, Hogwarts. I missed him, one of my closest friends, and hadn't seen him since my parents' funeral.

My sister and I were unique in the wizarding world. While half-blood witches, we grew up in South African muggle society and our parents wanted us to finish muggle school before truly joining the wizarding world. Our father (the wizard) had home schooled us in fields of magic, so we were technically ready to start at Hogwarts, but they had kept us close for a reason. When they died, "Aunt" Mae insisted on transferring us to Hogwarts. At least I had matriculated from our muggle school early, but at fourteen, Scar still had three years before finishing.

"Stop scowling! I can feel you overthinking everything, Al." She glared at me balefully, and I looked at her in astonishment.

"I hadn't realized you were well versed in the arts of occlumency, sister." My voice was icy, and I turned my heavy scowl onto her. "Don't pretend you can possibly understand what's going on in my head."

"Oh, get off your high horse and stop being silly. Come on, Al! This is what we've been waiting for since you turned eleven! And I know it was wrong of Mae to go against Mummy and Daddy's wishes, but she meant well." She lightly kicked my shin.

I sighed, grudgingly pacified by her quick smile. "She didn't take kindly to my incredibly witty remarks in the car yesterday, and I'm not sure I can forgive anybody, let alone Mae, that grievous offense."

"She is a bit dour," admitted Scar, "but it doesn't matter, because we are going to Hogwarts, where we don't have to deal with her, and by the end of next year, you'll be old enough to inherit the family home and I can live with you! So stop brooding and get, like, super pumped!"

By the end of the phrase, she had adopted a mockingly airheaded voice – the kind most people expected from her, that went along with her long, straight blonde hair, big green eyes, elfish, delicate features and willow-y (but slightly gangly) build. I looked at her, wanting to smile but unwilling to let go of my dark mood. It wouldn't be fair to – especially with regards to circumstances of my parents' death. It was all my fault.

"I like brooding," I sniffed. "It goes hand in hand with my look."

"What, the angelic sweetheart bit?" Scarlett raised her eyebrows at me, and laughed at me. "Oh, look at me, with my metal music and my dark fantasy and my brand new spanking-hot nose stud that can't take away from how utterly adorable I am on a day to day basis. How dark, mysterious and sexy am I! Watch me brood in my pretty skirts and converse shoes! Honestly, you look more like a hipster than anything else, and you can't brood to save your life."

I gasped, feigning outrage. "Don't forget the extra earrings and the tattoo Scorp dared me to get when I turned 16! And I'll have you know that I can be a total bitch. And you can attest to that."

"Yes, yes, you're an evil genius whose plans are the best, I know," she said impatiently. "But you need to let go of the past and embrace the future. Go forth with an open mind!"

Let go of the past? How could she even think something like that? It had been 6 months since the funeral, which rendered us officially orphaned, and it was hard enough to stop thinking about everything while I wrote my final exams and graduated. I could feel the expression of tentative happiness fall from my face like quicksilver.

"Stop that." Scar looked at me, annoyed. "Stop thinking that everything is your fault, and accept that our parents would have wanted us to be happy and insane and as we usually are. Let's take Hogwarts by storm! This is our year, Al! The Little sisters are in town, and the school won't know what hit it!"

She was wrong about everything, but I decided to humour her. I would no longer be sad in front of her. I would be strong. She needed me strong.

But I wouldn't let her get off that easily.

"Fine," I snapped, surprised at my sudden bad mood. "But I'm not being super friendly and happy-go-lucky on my first day. I'm going to be prickly, because ew. People."

She looked at me again. She looked, for wont of a better phrase, so done. "Fine, you don't have to be besties with everyone right away. I think people are finally starting to arrive on the platform, though – we were way too early this morning."

"Go meet people," I grumbled, " and leave me to my music."

"Um, you realize that there isn't anybody on the train yet and we have Doctor Who on your laptop, right?" Great, now she thinks I'm insane, judging from her face. "And besides, how can we be the Mysterious and Sexy Little sisters without people discovering us? I think we should wait for Scorp to show up, and then be social."

Ah, there was my baby sister. She certainly had a one-track mind. And that one-track mind revolved around her favourite shows. The witch-turned-fangirl. I was similar.

"Shouldn't we discuss what house we are going to be in and how we're finally not in a single-sex school? And the hot boys and… stuff?" I flicked my dark blonde mess of curls over my shoulders, where it hung to the small of my back, and batted my dark brown eyes at her sweetly.

We looked at each other, and burst into peals of laughter. "You realize that electronics barely work at Hogwarts, right? And who needs hot boys when David Tennant is the doctor?" Scarlett gasped with mirth.

She had a point. Doctor Who on my laptop it was, as the Hogwart Express filled with curious students who didn't know if they should stare at the new girls or their strange muggle contraption.