Chapter One:

Neville Longbottom sat beside Hermione Granger, listening to her worry about the whereabouts of their friends Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, when Amalthea Malfoy was called forward to be sorted. Hermione's jaw snapped shut and Neville felt a cold wash over him as they both turned their attention to the young Malfoy making her way to the stool. She did not swagger like her brother but she walked with an air of grace that basically oozed her proud upbringing.

When the Sorting Hat was placed on her head, it did not fall over her eyes but instead sat in a way that almost made it look like a fashionable accessory. Neville figured that only a Malfoy could make a patchy and dirty hat look good.

Unlike Draco, whose head was barely touched by the hat before it screamed out Slytherin, Amalthea spent a good amount of time in front. She did not look worried; in fact, she looked like she was having a conversation with the hat before it shouted "SLYTHERIN!"

The entire Slytherin table exploded in applause, and maybe some other Houses clapped as well, but all Neville could do was watch Amalthea sit beside Draco and think: "Oh no. There's another one."

It was no news to anyone that Draco Malfoy and his gang found it particularly entertaining to pick on young Mr. Longbottom (most of his first year was spent being the butt of Draco and his friend's jokes) and knowing that another Malfoy was going to be attending Hogwarts, well, Neville wondered if he would survive the year.

Hermione, noticing Neville's frigid posture, placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't worry Neville. Maybe she's not as rotten as her brother."

"But she's a Malfoy, Hermione," Neville gulped, "I'm pretty sure she was brought up to hate people like me."

"Even so, she's a year younger than us. If she's going to pick on anyone, it would be those in her year," said Hermione before she turned her attention back to the Sorting Ceremony.

Neville tried to follow Hermione's lead but he found himself looking over at the Slytherin table, several times throughout the sorting. For some reason unknown to him, his eyes would always land on Amalthea.

Amalthea, from what Neville could see from his seat at the Gryffindor table, had blonde hair a shade darker than her brother's but they had the same pale complexion and sharp, pointed features. Neville supposed that the similarities between the siblings did not end there and the idea of her taunting him with her brother scared him.

Neville decided to add Amalthea Malfoy to the list of people he should not cross alone.

...

The bell rang, signaling the end of Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Neville, along with his other classmates, made a mad dash out of the classroom to escape the chaos. His ears and bum burned from being lifted onto the chandelier by the pixies Lockhart released and later falling from said chandelier when it gave way. He could not believe that, once again, he had been targeted by misfortune.

Well, that's a lie. He could believe it.

Why is it always me? Neville thought to himself just as he ran into someone full force. He let out a yelp as the collision forced him to fall backwards onto his hands.

"Oh dear, are you alright, Amalthea?" A voice asked in a somewhat distant and dreamy manner. Neville felt his heart dropped to his stomach when he looked up to see that he had knocked over none other than Amalthea Malfoy.

Amalthea was sprawled on the ground (her bag had fallen open and Neville saw one of her ink bottles had cracked and spilled) and let out a groan, having hit her head. Her friend – Neville took note that she was a Ravenclaw with dirty blonde hair and had her wand tucked behind her left ear – helped Amalthea back to her feet. Amalthea picked up her bag and her books fell to the floor.

"I'm fine, Luna," Amalthea said, taking out her wand. Neville flinched, thinking that she was going to jinx him, but, to his surprise, she only flicked it at her things, muttering a spell under her breath, and everything on the floor returned to her bag.

Neville had not realized he was gaping at her until she gave him an uneasy smile.

"Are you okay?" Amalthea asked him kindly. She held out her hand to him and, again, Neville flinched. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"I – uh – I'm sorry," Neville sputtered out, scrambling to his feet. He hastily looked around the halls and saw that they were the only three students there. "I'm sorry," Neville repeated when he looked back at Amalthea and her friend. "I'm so so so–"

"I heard you the first time – It's fine," Amalthea let out a small laugh. "You didn't answer my question though. Are you okay?"

"It looked like a pretty nasty fall," the Ravenclaw – Luna, was it? – said.

Neville blushed and stuttered, "I...I'm alright."

"That's good. Well, Luna and I have better get to class," Amalthea looped her arm with Luna and the latter did not seem to notice as she was looking out at the sky. "It was nice meeting you..."

"N-Neville."

"Well, N-Neville," Amalthea teased, already leading Luna the down the hall, "I do hope we run into each other again."

Thank you for taking the time to read my new Harry Potter fic :) I hope you liked it! Please don't be shy to leave a review!

I only own what I own.

See you in the next chapter!