Chapter One

A Train Ride

Harry was sitting in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express all alone. He had never met a wizard, besides Hagrid, the ones that worked in diagon alley, and that blonde boy, who seemed rather rude. There was a knock at the compartment door.

"May I sit here?" Harry looked up.

"I don't mind at all." He answered. The blonde boy smiled at him. His demeanor was very different from when Harry first met him, perhaps that was because nobody was around.

"Thank you." He said brightly.

"You're welcome. I never asked what your name was." Harry was rather curious about this boy.

"Draco Malfoy."

"That's a nice name."

"I'm sure yours is too, what is it?"

"Harry Potter."

"What?"

"Yeah." Harry was expecting him to react like this. His eyes had widened and his mouth opened slightly.

A red-haired boy was next to come to the compartment door, but, upon laying eyes on Draco Malfoy, he wrinkled his nose, turned, and walked away.

"What was that about?" Draco asked.

"I'm not completely sure..." Harry began. "Possibly he mistook you for someone else."

"I don't think so." Draco said hesitantly.

"I'm sure it's nothing personal." Harry said kindly. Draco beamed.

"You're definitely not how I thought you would be, I expected you to be completely conceited." Harry smiled weakly.

"Truth be told, I'm not anything special, I didn't even really know magic existed until just a few weeks ago."

"Really?" Draco's eyes widened again. Harry nodded slowly.

"Looking back I must've been blind not to realize it was magic." Harry began.

"Color of the eye blind." A voice whispered from the doorway.

"What?" Draco asked uncertainly. They both looked toward the door. A girl with very short, sleek, blondish-brown hair and crystal blue colored eyes was standing there, with a very odd expression, that made her appear quite deranged. She put a finger to her lips and backed up straight through the wall of the train.

Harry blinked.

"What just happened?" Draco asked.

"Honestly, I have no idea." Harry answered. "I'm going to pretend I imagined it and leave it at that."

"That's a good idea." Draco said. They sat in silence for a second or two, Harry thinking about the girl. "How did she back through a solid wall?" Harry asked suddenly. He had read all of his text books already, and even went back to diagon alley to buy more. He had been under the impression that passing through solid objects was a power reserved only for spirits, which were transparent and a bluish white.

"I have absolutely no clue." Draco answered. "I was sure only ghosts could do that."

"As was I." Harry agreed. Draco raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you didn't know about magic."

"I didn't," Harry replied truthfully, "but I've read all of my text books for the first year a couple of times and I've read about ghosts in Diagon Alley. I distinctly recall reading that only ghosts could pass through solid objects." Draco blinked.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you'll be sorted into Ravenclaw." He said.

"Not so, to be in Ravenclaw you have to be intelligent and thirst for knowledge, I do not believe I fit either of those requirements." Draco opened his mouth to argue, but then closed it again and shrugged.

"Whatever you say.

The rest of the train ride passed, uneventfully. Harry and Draco talked lightly and laughed for a while, and the lunch trolly came. Harry and Draco both ordered from it, but other than that nothing happened, until she came along that was. She was tall, and looked much older than eleven. She had a Ravenclaw crest on her vest and was wearing a blue and bonze striped tie. She had shoulder-long, wavy, orange hair and pale green eyes. One glance at her and Draco shot to his feet. He dove underneath the bench and curled up there, as though terrified to be seen by her. She looked at Harry and smiled. Harry wasn't sure why Draco was afraid of her, she seemed nice enough. She slid open the compartment door, with a charming smile. Harry noticed a silver badge pinned neatly to her vest on the opposite side as the Ravenclaw crest.

"Hello," She said began kindly, "I'm Isabella, and I'm a Ravenclaw prefect. You're a first year, right?"

"Yes." Harry said.

"Well, I'm glad to see new kids every year. We're getting close to the station now, you should change into your robes."

"Thank you." Harry smiled.

"You're welcome." She replied brightly. "I hope you have a great time at Hogwarts." She turned, and walked away. She poked her head into all the other compartments on her way down the isle, evidently telling them the same thing.

"She seems nice." Harry commented.

"She's not." Draco said, sliding slowly out from underneath the bench.

"Why do you think so?"

"She's Isabella Riddle, she's related to you-know-who."

Harry blinked.

"That doesn't mean she's like him." He said softly. "Maybe she's not like him at all, and she is nice."

"That's what I thought at first." Draco said, seriously with a set expression on his face. "I tried to be friends with her, really I did, but she told me that kindness and friendship make her sick, she almost killed me, Harry." Harry felt his eyes widen.

"Really?"

"Honest truth."

"She didn't seem like that." Harry said truthfully.

"Well, Harry, things aren't always as they seem, especially in the wizarding world." Draco said quietly.

"I'm starting to see that, myself." He agreed. The two of them changed into their robes, each absorbed in their own thoughts. They sat silently for a while, until there was a knock at the compartment door. They both turned to look. There was a girl that looked their age, with bushy brown hair and slightly long front teeth.

"Excuse me, have either of you seen a toad, a boy named Neville's lost one?" She asked.

"No, I'm sorry I haven't. What about you, Draco?" Harry turned to look at him. He had a kind of dazed look on his face and was smiling slightly. He shook his head as though to clear it.

"Sorry, haven't seen it either." He said almost breathlessly.

"Thanks anyway." She turned and left, closing the compartment door behind her.

"She was beautiful." Draco breathed after she left. Harry smiled slightly. "I wonder who she was, I hope we're in the same house." He seemed to be talking to himself, rather than Harry.