Chapter Two

"Pitter pat, the angel on my shoulder, is haunting me tonight. Tick tock, the clock is getting louder, ready for me to decide."

-Erin McCarley, Pitterpat

For the rest of the week, her father kept her in the dark to teach her a lesson about being seen with Muggle-borns. The darkness didn't bother her until her father came and got her, saying that it was time for her to go to Hogwarts. She had lost all track of time until then. The light blinded her eyes that had gotten so used to the dark. It hurt to be out in the sun as her father dragged her by the arm down their long drive way to the emerald green car he owned that was a family heirloom, though he used it grudgingly and only when she had to go to Hogwarts. Otherwise, despite that it was a magical car, he felt like a Muggle in it. He tossed her into the back seat and she pressed her nose against the leather seats that always smelt warm. She kept her eyes closed the entire ride to King's Cross Station, begging for them to adjust. When the car lurched to a stop outside of the station, it was her mother who helped her out of the car, stumbling over her feet like a newborn child.

"Cadoc, look at her." Her mother said after she released her daughter's arm and Ismene flopped down onto her trunk, cradling her head in her hands. "The Muggles are staring, she looks like she's drunk."

Cadoc squished his lips to the side in thought before he lifted his daughter into his arms and gestured to his wife. "Get her trunk then and come on." When no one was looking, they slipped through the wall between platforms 9 and 10 and Ismene's ears heard the sharp shrill of the Hogwarts Express train's whistle. Her father set her down, his hands cupping her arms to steady her. The cool tip of her father's wand pressed against her eyelid and he tapped the left one and then the right one before whispering, "Episkey."

Her sight returned to her quickly and she rubbed her fists with her eyes. At least she could see again, though her father was the last person she wanted to see. "Thank you." She said and Cadoc smiled remorsefully before wrapping and arm around her shoulders.

"Have a good term, darling." Cadoc said before Ismene's mother kissed her cheek fondly, "Are you coming home for Christmas holiday?"

Ismene stared at him. It was an odd question since she never came home for any of the holidays and her father never asked. "Should I?"

"Yes." Cadoc replied, "It will be a very special moment in our family if you come home and are accepted by Lord Voldemort for an assignment. Lucius was given one when he first joined."

The girl sighed as she shyly tucked her hair behind her ear. Of course, she should have known that it would have been something of that nature. It was the only time they would ever really want her to come home. She nodded slowly, "I will be home for the holidays then."

"That's my girl." Cadoc said. He lifted his arm and pushed back the billowing sleeve of his robe to stare at his numberless watch. "It's almost eleven, your mother and I will leave everything up to you." Without another worth, they both Apparated from the platform, leaving her with her trunk and thoughts swirling in her head.

The whistle blared again without the aching affects this time and she heaved her trunk after her as she got on, searching for an empty compartment. She didn't have many friends and the ones she did have, she didn't particularly like or want to catch up with. Besides, she told herself the she wasn't very good at small talk. Just as the train was lurching forward, Ismene found an empty compartment toward the back. She shoved her trunk underneath the seat and curled up on it, tucking her knees against her chest as she watched the station fall away. Like with her family, she had never felt that she fit in perfectly at Hogwarts. There were too many people around and it made her nervous that someone would find out about her family and their dealing with Voldemort. Dumbledore often spoke out against Dark Wizards and Ismene often wanted to disappear when he brought it up as he tried to cheer the students against the dark days ahead.

It was embarrassing to be in a house where not many Dark witches had come from. She should've been in Slytherin, but the Sorting Hat had told her that she would do better in Ravenclaw. She could've asked the Hat to put her into Slytherin so her parents wouldn't be disappointed, but she wanted to be where she would fit in or at least appear too. She pulled out the book she had been reading a week ago. Its pages were pregnant with water damage and she could barely turn a few of them before she closed it in a huff and tucked it back into her trunk. She had bought another copy on her trip to Diagon Alley and she fished that one out to read.

The cover was much the same as when she had bought it at Flourish and Blots. The red binding was perfectly unmarked leather with gold lettering embossed on the cover and spine, the title Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against Dark Arts, was still shimmering. But when Ismene opened it, she swore loudly. Her father must have replaced it when she had been locked in their dungeon. Instead of a book about defensive spells, she was staring down at Secrets of the Darkest Art. No doubt, her father thought he was clever for switching the text. She hoped Lily or maybe even Sirius would lend her a copy to switch back. She wasn't dumb, she just didn't know her father thought she was.

For the majority of the train ride, she was alone until she was awoken from the nap she had fallen into by the sound of her compartment door banging open. A slightly plump boy with mousy brown hair stood nervously in the doorway, his watery eyes studying her carefully. "What is it?" Ismene said, the irritation obvious in her voice. "D'you come to look at me like I was on display?"

"I was looking for an empty compartment." The boy said. His voice was squeaky and irritating. Ismene hoped he wouldn't talk anymore and would go away. Instead, he stepped inside and sat across from her and folded his hands into his lap.

"This wasn't an empty compartment." Ismene retorted.

"It's just you." The boy said.

"Since I'm a person that means it isn't empty." She said. She stood quickly and walked to the boy and seized him by the collar of his shirt. Even standing, he barely came up to her shoulders and she wasn't very tall herself. "Get out."

"Easy, Malfoy, easy, don't break Peter."

Ismene dropped Peter's shirt and stomped back to her seat. Sirius Black wandered inside, his school robes billowing behind him in an imaginary breeze. He sat across from her, propping his feet up in her lap. She shoved them off quickly not knowing that was how he had balanced himself and he fell to the floor. He stared at her and she could only laugh. "I'm sorry." She said and helped him stand up. "I didn't know."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say it was your goal this year to embarrass me at every turn." Sirius said. He sat down again and this time he placed himself all the way on the seat, his hands tucked behind his head. "First Diagon Alley and now the Hogwarts Express."

Peter looked excitedly from Ismene to Sirius. "How did she embarrass you at Diagon Alley."

"Keep out of it, Peter." Sirius said, "I'll explain it to you later, but I'm trying to talk to Ismene here."

"There's nothing really to explain." Ismene said, "I didn't embarrass you either, Sirius."

"You walked away from me!" Sirius said.

"And that's embarrassing?" Ismene asked as she pursed her lips. "Poor Sirius Black, not getting what he wants. Oh it's a tragedy that you are going to have to get used to."

He ran his fingers through his hair and let his fringe flop back into place. "Are you always this sharp?"

"You tell me." Ismene asked, "You know my family, they're just like yours if not worse. You should come to expect it."

Sirius laughed. "That's a crude excuse to bring up. You aren't your parents."

"How so?" Ismene asked. She had always compared herself to her parents. They had raised her after all; she was what they had made her. She had never chosen anything for her life on her own. Instead, she had taken whatever she had been given with a smile and a show of appreciation. She wasn't like Sirius. She wasn't brave enough to stand up for what she believed in even if she believed in anything. She didn't see a point in alienating the only people who had given her everything she ever needed.

"You wouldn't be sitting here talking to me if you were." Sirius said.

With those words, Ismene stood up and stormed out of the compartment, her ears burning red. She walked as quickly as she could down the aisles. She smashed her hip against the side of the candy trolley, knocking a few treats to the ground. She stooped and picked them up before the witch who managed the trolley could say anything to her. Ismene shoved a First Year out of her way when she found the lavatories and locked herself inside. Tears came quickly and she didn't know why she was crying. Her eyes burned with the salt despite the fact that her father had fixed them. Her head ached with thought. She didn't know why Sirius Black affected her. He wasn't right. He barely even knew her.

How dare he? How dare he say things like that? Who does he think he is saying that I'm nothing like my parents? He's an idiot blood traitor, that's who he is. Her thoughts were venomous, but true. Then she remembered the text book her father had edited and how it was full of dark spells and hexes. How could he say that she wasn't like her parents when she didn't immediately destroy the books in her possession? She was like them, she knew it. It wasn't something that she could deny easily. She was her father's daughter.

Outside, she heard the voice of the First Year speaking with someone and there was soon a fist pounding on the door of the bathroom. Ismene rolled some toilet paper onto her hand and wiped the tears off her face. The reflection in the mirror was not something she wanted to present the world with. Her cheeks were flushed and blotchy. Her blue eyes were weak and watery. She splashed cool water from the taps onto her face before she pulled out her wand and mutter a simple spell to fix everything. "Alright, I'm coming out." Ismene said. The lavatory door bumped the First Year who rushed past her, knocking her against the train's wall. "That little brat!" She raised her wand unconsciously to hex the girl for bumping her. It was only instinct. "Furnunculu-"

"Don't do it, Mal-Ismene." A large hand encircled her wrist and pushed it down to her side.

She turned her head to the side, only barely noticing that it was Sirius standing there, his hand on her wrist gently. "I am just like my parents." Ismene said, her voice was barely above a whisper.

"Alright." Sirius replied, "Alright." But the tone of his voice told her that he didn't believe her.

--

Sirius and Peter left her alone in her compartment soon after their two other friends, James Potter who Ismene swore could have passed for Sirius' twin, and Remus Lupin, the new Gryffindor prefect, had found them. Ismene changed quickly into her Hogwarts uniform, letting her blue and bronze tie flop over her chest until she found her wand to magically tie it. Outside her window, night was falling slowly. The sky was striped indigo, violet, and magenta as the sun set over the Scottish Highlands. Ismene sighed, watching the stars prick their way into existence. When she had been little, the first time she had seen the stars and knew about her parents' prejudice, she had longed to be as far away as those little spots of light. But now that she was older, all she wanted to do was stay in her parents' good graces. If she stayed there, she would stay alive.

The train came to a shuddering halt at Hogsmeade station and Ismene waited until the halls where clear before she walked out into the cool night air. Hogwarts stood in front of her, illuminated like a million stars in the sky. It was the prettiest thing she had ever seen and every year it never failed to take her breath away somehow. It wasn't like her own home that looked as dark as the wizards who lived inside. Hogwarts was a gem no longer incased in coal. Ismene made her way at the back of the crowd and crammed herself into one of the carriages. The Thestral pulling it curved its skeletal neck around and exhaled loudly, the puff pushing Ismene the rest of the carriage.

Her companions were all younger then she was, second years from Hufflepuff. Their faces were still plump and rosy, but their eyes gave away just how tired they really were. Ismene let her head drop against the side of the carriage, the jarring of the wheels in the rutted path keeping her from allowing her eyes to drift shut. She had been able to see the Thestrals since the start of her third year. But no matter how many times she saw them, she could still never get used to them.

The carriage ride did not end soon enough and Ismene tumbled out, her robes catching on the door and ripping loose. She swore loudly which caused the little Hufflepuffs to jump. She ignored them and followed her classmates into the Great Hall. The magical night sky above them was a swirl of stars and Ismene thought she saw one shoot across the sky. The moon gazed down on them, his face watching anxiously, waiting for something, anything, to happen.

Dumbledore stood behind his podium that resembled a large bronze owl, his wizened hands outstretched to calm the hubbub. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! Now, before we can begin with our scrumptious feast, we have some first years to sort!" He waved his hand toward the great oak doors and in came Professor McGonagal leading a parade of wide eyed first years behind her. They all oohed and awed over the long tables where their future classmates and mentors sat, wizards in training like them who had succeeded in their learning. One blond boy waved at Ismene and she half heartedly raised her hand, her heart breaking that he recognized her. Ajax's boy. Her own nephew. She had forgotten that he had turned eleven this year.

It was a pity that he would never know his father, the best Malfoy Ismene had ever known about. She had been four when he had been born and Ajax had only been sixteen. Her nephew was the product of a brief fling with some Muggle girl he had met once in London. When the girl, Ismene couldn't remember her name, told Ajax that she was pregnant, Ajax ran away with her. He didn't return until much later, during her third year, to tell their parents where he had been and that they were grandparents to a beautiful little boy. Ismene closed her eyes, drowning out the names that were being called. She didn't want to remember the next part.

Her father's voice still rang in her ears. The redness of his cheeks were still burned in her memory. She couldn't remember much about Ajax. He had his arm around his girlfriend…no…wife who held their son's hand, but she had been ushered out of the room before the argument escalated more. Ajax wanted to protect her. He was kind. Lucius had been there, raging at his cousin who was the closest in age to him. It had been Lucius who had spun out of control the most, enraged by what he considered to be the greatest of all treacheries- marrying a Muggle because she was carrying his child.

"You can't do that, Ajax." Lucius had hissed, "Where is your pride?"

"My pride is where your morals are." Ajax retorted, "Can you tell me where those may be?"

Lucius had sneered. "You're pathetic. You always have been. Pitiful little Ajax Malfoy and his good heart. You should have just left well enough alone. The boy never needed to come here. He doesn't need to act as if he can be one of us. He never will be."

"He's my son!" Ajax shouted. He had then turned to Ismene and bent at his slim waist, cupping her chin in his hands. "Don't be like them, Is, make your own bloody decisions."

"Don't touch her." Lucius had snatched Ajax by the shoulder and pulled him away. "You'll only dirty her up and she's…" Lucius had looked at her with a strange look in his eye and Ismene had remembered backing up toward the door. "She's so pure."

"Don't look at her, you bastard!" Ajax whipped out his wand, the look of malice in his eyes could've cut through diamond. "Crucio!"

Lucius had crumpled into a heap on the floor. His entire body convulsed on the floor and his eyes looked as if they were going to pop out of his skull. Ajax's eyes were still focused on his cousin who lay in the floor, wand repeatedly jabbing toward Lucius as he wordless intensified the curse. Ismene felt like she was going to be sick watching her noble older brother torture the boy he had grown up with. She had never known Ajax to sink so low, but he was doing it to protect her. But in a single blink, a single intake of breath, the entire scene changed.

There was a flash of green light and a deep throaty yell. Lucius had gotten to his feet and had his wand gripped in his white knuckled fist. He had been laughing slowly as he stepped over to Ajax and nudged his body with his foot. "You've always been pathetically weak, Ajax." Lucius said and then looked wolfishly in her direction. "Big brother isn't here to protect you anymore, Izzy."

Ismene had stared defiantly at Lucius and when he stepped closer to her, she had tossed a handful of Floo powder into his eyes. She ran after blinding him and had found her sister-in-law and nephew huddled in the foyer. "Where's AJ?" the girl had asked. Her hand was resting on her nine year old son's blond hair. Ismene just ignored her and ushered her toward the door where their car was parked.

"Get away from here." Ismene had said cruelly. "Ajax is dead."

"Malfoy, Tristan." McGonagall's voice drew Ismene from her memory and she turned her head to watch her nephew step toward the Sorting Hat.

He was tall and looked just like Ajax. His hair could use a trim, white blond fringe falling into gray eyes. He was her little half-blood nephew and she didn't want him to be in Slytherin. They would eat him alive there. All of a sudden, she was worried about him even though she had only seen him once two years ago when she watched his father be murdered by his cousin. Even then it had only been a glimpse. She didn't know him to love him. All she knew was that he was Ajax's son, the son he had given up everything for and she had done nothing to help.

The Sorting Hat fit over his eyes and by its movements, you could tell it was mulling over where to place the boy. Ismene felt her heart pounding in her chest. "Not Slytherin, please not Slytherin." She murmured to herself, wishing she was powerful enough to perform a Confundo charm on the hat to place him anywhere but the house that would destroy him.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Ismene didn't think she could be more relieved when she watched Tristan take a seat a few places down from Sirius Black.

--

A/N

I don't know where I got the time this week to write this chapter. There's probably some assignment I've forgotten to do…oh well, I needed to write. My life has been so stressful and disappointing as of late. 20 is too young to have to do soul searching.

But many many thanks to my incredible reviewers!

Jenea Cappoen- You were my first reviewer! Thank you!! Hopefully you will continue liking what I have written!

Anonymous- I wish I had something else to call you, but thanks Mouse, keep checking in and I hope you'll keep reading and reviewing!

Aiden I- Haha, I know, I love skeezy Lucius and he only gets more and more skeezy because it's so fun to write him like that! I imagine if he wasn't a wizard, he'd have a molester 'stache and drive a windowless van. And thanks, I'm glad you like all the descriptions!