Clara's heart pounded as she ran from the approaching figure. She could feel the rain stinging her face and taste the blood in her mouth. She must have bitten her tongue at some point... The black shapes were still chasing her and she was starting to falter. Her legs felt numb and loose, and then collapsed below her. She turned quickly onto her back to face her pursuer and his face was like nothing she'd ever seen before. A grotesque silver mask leered down at her, a wand raised like a snake, ready to strike-

Clara awoke with a gasp. The nightmare had been so vivid, so achingly real... but they always were, weren't they? The terrible visions had haunted her ever since her parents' murder at the hands of the Rosier and Gibbon - two of the remaining Death Eaters who lingered around after Voldemort was gone- when she was 10. Clara had lived with her grandmother ever since. Life had been fine, not excellent of course, but passable. The only thing that Clara had really missed was Hogwarts. When her parents died she had been too young to go, and after that her rather eccentric grandmother had insisted on teaching Clara herself. After 5 years, however, Clara had finally managed to convince her grandmother to let her attend. After about the billionth time that she mentioned it her grandmother sniffed and said that she supposed that it wouldn't hurt for Clara to meet a few people like her.

Clara reminded herself of the determination it took to get her here as she stared at her trunk laying open at the end of her bed. She had bought it in preparation for Hogwarts back 5 years ago. Her parents had told her that she was overeager, that she wasn't going to Hogwarts for almost a year, but she had insisted that she had to get something.

She shook herself out of her memories and muttered "oh yes, that's a good idea. Go and get all sentimental the morning of your first day at Hogwarts." This brought her out of her sulk and she sat up straight in bed. This was it! She was finally going to get to be a proper witch, with classes and a familiar and everything! Her cat, Merry, looked at her disdainfully, as if it were embarrassed by her eagerness. Clara shot it a look.

"Oy! Don't look at me like that Merry! C'mon, it'll be fun for you too - think of all the other cats you'll meet!"

"Talking to our cat again, are we Clara?" a raspy voice said from across the room.

"Gran! It's today! Finally finally finally! It's really properly here!" Clara bounded of of bed and gave her grandmother a hug. Her Gran looked surprised, but returned the gesture after a few seconds.

"Yes, dear, and maybe if you were paying attention, you'd notice the time" at her words, Clara whirled around and let out a shriek when she realized that it was already 8:30.

"But we have to leave at 10!" She turned to her Gran with her eyes as big as saucers.

"Yes, Clara. You know how to tell time, good for you. God help your poor teachers who have to deal with your tardiness" She rolled her eyes "go on then, get ready"

Clara needed no more prompting, and was soon packing her last-minute supplies in a whirlwind of quills and papers. She was glad that she didn't have to worry too much about clothes, she'd have her robes on soon, but she still spent several minutes fussing over her hair and makeup.

"Gran!" She called down "It's quarter till, lets go!" Her Gran called back, and soon they were seated in the family's old black car - magically enhanced, of course. After a couple more minutes of tense silence, Clara voiced what had been on her mind.

"Gran..." She started, timidly "um, what house do you think I'll be in?"

Clara knew that it was unusual for a new student to come in and be a 4th year, but she had passed all the exams and had no desire to redo the first three years. Still, she worried about the Sorting like any sane new student would, be them a fourth year or a first year.

"Oh, don't worry about a stupid thing like Sorting." Her grandmother replied.

And Clara tried to take her advice, she really did, but it was so hard and the closer they got to Kings Cross, the more nervous she was. When they finally pulled up at the weathered train stationed, Clara was practically bouncing up and down with anxious energy. She retrieved her trunk from the back, and Merry leaped after it and landed on her shoulder. With a bit of awkward maneuvering she managed to get a cart and with a loud THUNK she dropped the trunk down onto it. Merry licked a paw and then daintily jumped down to rest on the smooth wooden surface.

Clara pushed the cart through the crowd, knocking several people over and shouting apologies at everyone around her. When they reached platform 9 3/4 she paused and waited for her grandmother to catch up.

"Muggles, they think they own the place!" Her Gran muttered.

Clara was silent as she stared at the solemn brick wall. This was it. This was the moment that she'd been waiting 15 years for. She took a deep breath and ran at the wall.

Clara came out the other side to a thick crowd of people. Mothers were waving goodbye, Fathers were giving words of advice, and siblings were looking on with jealous eyes. Clara dropped her trunk off with the rest, and said a quick goodbye to her gran before boarding the train. She was looking around for a compartment to sit in, when she noticed a small girl surrounded by older larger girls. One of the older girls was holding the small one's owl by the throat, and the poor creature was squawking and screeching in pain. Clara edged closer and heard the older girl say

"Now, Lily. When you get back to your little friends, you're going to tell your worthless shit brother this: unless he leaves Rudolphus alone, the bird is just the start"

"But Rudolphus was the one who framed James for the incident in the first place!" The younger girl said, sounding frusterated.

The older girl gripped the owl tighter "Do you need me to repeat your instructions?"

Clara decided that this was the moment to step in. "Um, excuse me but correct me if I'm wrong - isn't that her owl?" Clara nodded towards the smaller girl

"Yeah, what of it?" the older girl retorted

"Well - and again, I may be mistaken - isn't that a prefect? Over there?" She pointed to a boy with a shiny badge pinned to his chest.

The older girl cursed and Clara smiled. "And who do you think you are?" Said the older girl.

"Just a helpful citizen, as far as you're concerned"

The older girl scowled, but threw the owl back towards the younger girl, who smiled gratefully at Clara. The younger girl motioned for Clara to follow her, and hurried down the train, away from the older girl and her posse. The younger girl stopped suddenly and turned to Clara.

"Thanks. Penny can be pretty awful sometimes, though she didn't really seem the killer type to me. I'm Lily by the way. Lily Potter, fourth year." She said all of this very matter-of-factly.

"Hello Lily, I'm Clara. Fifth year" Clara smiled at the younger girl.

"Fifth year? Really? Why haven't I seen you before"

"Oh um, I'm sort of new"

"Hmm. You must be very good, we never get new people coming into any year other then first. I suppose you'll be in class with Ianto and Eleven. Any idea what house?"

"Not yet, pretty anxious about it actually. Sorry did you say Eleven? Is that actually a name?"

"Apparently. No idea how they got them, but there's Nine - he's in 7th year - Ten, 6th year, and Eleven, our year."

Clara was still confused, but went on "and Ianto is another classmate?"

"Yup. He's my best mate"

"Oh. Well, cool. It was nice to meet you Lily" Clara started walking down the train in pursuit of an empty compartment

"Hey!" Called Lily after her "where do you think you're going?"

Clara turned around, confused

"You didn't think I'd leave a newbie all on her own after saving me, now did you?"

Clara grinned and followed Lily to a compartment filled with people.

"Here we are then. Oy! Jack! Stop snoggin' Ianto or I'll tell him about last New Years!" A handsome, chiseled looking boy jumped back from a kindly looking boy. The later blushed, but the boy Clara assumed was Jack just grinned.

"Aw, Lils, you wouldn't dare"

"Try me. Now you lot, this is Clara. It's her first year here, but she'll be a fifth year"

Jack grinned "Ah! Fresh meat! Hello, I'm Jack Harkness" He winked at her, earning a glare from Ianto.

A tall gangly boy, with hair that defied gravity stood up "Hello Clara. I'm Ten. Sorry about Jack, he's hopeless"

a girl sitting next to Ten waved "Rose, hello"

Clara was introduced one by one to 'Eleven' - an even taller boy with floppy hair and a *ahem* prominent chin, River, a woman with extremely curly hair, James, a boy with messy black hair and a mischievous grin, and Martha, a sweet dark skinned girl, who went back to reading a textbook as soon as the introductions were over. Lily explained that Nine and a woman called Donna were both prefects, and had to be in the prefect car.

Clara fit in quickly with this funny group, and within half an hour she was chatting away with James on the merits of different broomsticks. As little as Clara had been exposed to in the wizarding world, she had happened to own an old beet up broom and would fly it around in the woods near her house whenever her grandmother got to be too much to deal with. James, as it turned out, actually played chaser for the Gryffindor team and was apparently pretty good. He offered to give her lessons sometime and she gladly accepted.

It didn't seem like long, but the next thing they knew a prefect (not Nine or Donna, Clara was informed) was telling them to get changed, as they'd be getting there soon. Clara changed into her black robes and smiled at how she was really getting to be a part of things.

As she exited the train, she hear an extremely large man calling "Firs' years! Over hear! Firs' years an' Clara Oswald!"

"Well, that'd be me!" She said cheerily to the group.

Lily accompanied her to meet the man and introduced him to Clara as Hagrid.

"Nice to meet you" said Clara, offering her hand, which Hagrid took.

Once they reached the castle, after a rather tiring ordeal involving boats, Clara waited awkwardly with the eleven year olds. She felt dazed, like she was in a dream as she walked out of the Great Hall and into the Dining Hall. There was an ominous black hat sitting on a lone stool, and after a few minutes it started to sing. Clara couldn't concentrate on the words, though, and was honestly having a hard time standing still. When her name was called she walked slowly to the hat, stumbling a bit, and sat down on the chair while an old, wizened looking woman placed the hat on her head. The sensation was very odd, like a person rummaging messily through you thoughts. Images came up that she hadn't thought of in years, and finally she felt a smug feeling that was most definitely not hers in her brain. The hat whispered in her head "such strength in the face of terrible things" and the voice was old and wise. Finally the brim split open wide and with the same voice shouted confidently "GRYFFINDOR!"

The cheering was ear-shattering, and Clara couldn't help but grin, wide from ear to ear. She proudly took her place at the Gryffindor table, and imagined her mother and father sitting next to her. With their support, she could do anything. But maybe not tonight. No she was so, so tired. After a drowsy (but delicious) meal, she followed a loud girl with reddish hair to a portrait of a plump women. At some words that Clara couldn't really make out, the portrait swung open, admitting the mass of students including one very amazed Clara, into a cheery and comfortable common room. Clara immediately made a beeline for the 5th year girls' dormitory, and flopped down on a soft, warm bed near the window. She buried her head into the pillow and fell asleep in 2 minutes flat. It had been a long day.