I am so sorry about the confusion last chapter! I honestly didn't catch the typo concerning her middle name. It's supposed to be Titania IVY Potter, not Marie. To be fair I had trouble coming up with her first name, so that's likely the cause. Sorry about that! And yes, I am aware Xion is Replica, not a Nobody, but she identifies herself AS a Nobody first and prefers not to think about the truth considering resulted in her death.

Tania was eager for her first trip to a magical school. Shadow was once again playing the part of a 'doll', at least until they got on the train. He didn't mind being carried around in a large bag.

Petunia looked the girl over. She was dressed in casual clothes, but she had warned her that she might have to change into what the school considered an acceptable 'uniform' soon enough. Which mainly meant switching her shirt and possibly putting on the 'robe' which still made her click her tongue in disapproval.

At least Tania had adjusted it to something close to 'modern' compared to what they had given her to work with. Adding a few additions after buying them using the skills Petunia had taught her (namely the use of a sewing machine) had made the woman pleased.

Even if all she did was add a thick silver thread around the collar to tighten it, a silver chain that kept the robe relatively closed around the opening near her neck, and a thick zipper that she had to have Petunia help her add that ran down the lining that could close it to keep her warm during winter.

Though because of her inexperience, the zipper was upside down and she hadn't realized her mistake until it was too late. Considering it just made her look like she was expressing herself, rather than appearing like she was wearing a very outdated uniform, Petunia had allowed it.

At least it didn't make her stand out for more than a second or two.

"Did you pack everything?"

"Yes, auntie. I made sure everything was properly organized before we left the house," said Tania, her voice a little less toneless than it was before.

"That doll of yours is definitely a good influence on you. Did you pack your cell?"

Tania reached into her bag to pull it out. Shadow had performed some Moogle magic on it so that it would still pick up a signal, even in the most saturated of magical areas. Apparently magic had a bad habit of overwhelming regular technology.

She suspected he had found some piece of a Gummi ship and used that to bolster her new phone.

"I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures, auntie," said Tania.

Petunia's normally sour expression softened. She had always wanted to see Hogwarts, but she had a fight with Lily and her sister never thought to take photographs to show her.

"Just be careful. Most of the time what these people say and what they actually mean are two very different things, and they've put you on a pedestal ever since that night."

Petunia had been horrified, and properly so, when she discovered an entire section of books on her niece that weren't even properly labeled fiction. It was abundantly clear that they expected far more from Tania than they should reasonably expect, after they literally dumped her on Petunia's doorstep without so much as a by-your-leave.

And that left her infuriated.

How dare they. How dare they?

And to make matters worse, Petunia recently identified that nosy woman Arabella Figg as part of the conspiracy. She had always though that senile old woman suspicious.

No one owned that many cats and still managed to support them all without a husband or job without something else going on. Obviously she was a spy planted in her neighborhood, because she moved in a full month after Tania came to live with them.

Petunia was going to have the old woman thrown out of the neighborhood before Christmas, and have the cats removed. They were a serious nuisance and they yowled every single night.

"Where am I supposed to be boarding this train?"

"See that pillar between nine and ten? You walk through it and get onto THEIR platform. Unfortunately it's keyed to magic, so I can't go with you."

"...Go through the pillar?"

"Apparently there's some enchantment that allows you to walk right through it. I never understood why they couldn't just use a normal train track, or why they insist on a steam engine," said Petunia.

Tania was about to move her trolley to the pillar Petunia indicated, but in an impulse move she hugged her surprised aunt.

"I'll see you on Christmas, Auntie," said Tania.

"Behave when you can. Make their lives a living nightmare if they hold the fact you were raised by normal people," said Petunia ominously.

Anyone who held the fact she was "muggle-raised" and had a "muggleborn" mother against her didn't deserve to be friends with her niece. And the best defense against such people was to present a strong offense...that was how Lily managed.

"I will, auntie," said Tania, her eyes sparkling with the idea of mischief.

"Now go on. You don't want to miss the train," said Petunia.

Tania waved goodbye to her aunt...before she took a running start into the pillar and vanished.

"That was strange, kupo!" said Shadow. Now that they weren't around 'normal folk' as Petunia tactfully put it, he didn't have to hide. He promptly floated to sit on Tania's shoulder.

"I agree completely. Now we should probably put up my trunk so we can have a chance to read," said Tania.

She had bought a few extra potions books, including one that the shopkeeper missed (there was a "restricted" stamp on the shelf she found it on) for Shadow. She knew he was much better at potions than she could ever be, but she wanted to at least learn the basics of healing...even if that had always been Roxas' specialty.

Once they were on the train, it took her a few moments before she was able to find a compartment meant for trunks. After seeing how high up the storage shelves were, and realizing there was no way she'd be able to reach them, much less haul the trunk up that high, she went looking for someplace else to put it.

She was, after all, already in her uniform and modified robe.

That done, she found an empty compartment (Petunia had brought her very early to insure she'd get one) and sat down. Thanks to the door being open, she heard how rude the older children were and took steps to prevent being thrown out simply because they were bigger than her.

She jammed the door track in a way that it would be left open, but not enough that an older student could get in. Half an hour before departure, and most of the older students had already gotten their own compartments, she removed the nail she used to jam the door and opened it properly.

More students passed, but most chose a different compartment after seeing Shadow. Those that recognized him scowled for some reason, or sneered at Tania for owning the 'beast'. Considering he was in her lap with a book, and she had a book of her own, they paid them no mind.

It took Tania a few moments to realize that there were two people in the compartment with her.

One was a rather pudgy boy awkwardly handling a toad, the other was a bushy girl with a book of her own.

"Um...hello?"

"I'm so sorry. We were so tired from trying to find a compartment that when you didn't respond we just invited ourselves in," said the bushy girl.

"That's okay. I tend to zone out while reading. My name is Tania, and this is Shadow."

"Pleased to meet you, kupo!"

"Ah! It's the white imp!" said the nervous boy with a toad.

"White...imp?" repeated Tania, looking at Shadow.

The boy nodded.

"There's this weird imp that when he's bought at a store will get into potions cabinets and cause mischief. They say it has a big red nose and a weird red ball that hangs off it's head. And it talks, saying 'kupo' all the time," said the boy nervously.

Shadow puffed up in annoyance.

"Just because I can brew potions better than most pure bloods is no reason to call me an imp, kupo! They're the ones who keep yelling at me when I try to improve on their faulty potions, kupo!" said Shadow with a pout.

"Did you ask permission first?" asked Tania.

Shadow suddenly became embarrassed.

"Well no, but they were always yelling at me anyway for doing things like sitting on chairs or trying to make my own food, kupo. So it was hard to tell the difference between yelling, kupo."

"If you want to use my potions kits between classes, or improve on what we learned during the day, just ask. There's a reason I bought extras," said Tania.

"...I hate to be rude, but this has been bugging me since I saw him. Is he a...Moogle?" asked the girl carefully.

"How did you know?"

"My sister plays a lot of fantasy role playing games, and the Final Fantasy series is her absolute favorite. Though recently she got into a new series called Kingdom Hearts that came out last year, and they have animals that look like your...pet," said the girl. She squinted at Tania, and said "You look almost exactly like one of the characters from that game. I think her name was 'Kairi'."

Tania and Shadow shared a look.

"So...what are your names?"

"My name is Hermione," said the girl.

"N-N-Neville," said the nervous boy. He held up his toad. "This is Trevor."

"What book are you reading?" asked Hermione, curious.

"'Household Basics for the Everyday Witch'. I think Shadow was reading and advanced potions book though," said Tania.

"Really? Have you practiced many spells?" asked Hermione eagerly.

Tania shook her head.

"My uncle doesn't like magic at all, and my aunt barely tolerates it. She made it clear I wasn't to use magic to get out of doing chores because it's just a small step towards becoming a lazy person, which she hates. She barely tolerates how slothful her son is," said Tania. She looked at Shadow. "She also said Shadow wasn't allowed to brew anything in the house, but she would turn a blind eye if she didn't have to smell the fumes if he did it somewhere else."

"Oh. Where did you get your robe? I didn't see anything like that at Madame Malkins," said Hermione.

"I adjusted it myself. My aunt helped with the stitching, but I didn't like how bland it was so I added a few things. Though I did get the zipper upside down by accident."

"I was never good at feminine tasks myself. I can barely cook," admitted Hermione.

"I'm better at g-g-gardening, myself," said Neville.

"I love flowers. What sort of things do you like to grow?" asked Tania.

Neville seemed to cheer up, and his stutter disappeared the longer he talked about his greenhouse. It was clear he wasn't often allowed to talk about his hobby, and having someone who appreciated it for what it was made him a little more confident. Hermione likewise found a kindred spirit, as Tania read a lot of books and knew most of the ones Hermione mentioned.

It wasn't until after the trolley came and went (Tania only got a few things, as Petunia had packed a decently sized lunch) that Neville realized that his toad was missing.

Fortunately there was a spell in the book she had been reading that she could try out.

Tania went outside the compartment, took out her new wand (she hadn't really been paying attention to what it was made of, outside of finding out that there was a shattered piece of a keyblade as it's core) and did a few practice waves before she enunciated the spell.

"Accio Trevor the toad," she said clearly.

Shadow had been around the magicals long enough to know that enunciating was very crucial if you want to get the spell right. Some people try a dozen times and never get a spell to work if they didn't learn to enunciate the syllables correctly. It was a common mistake with children and lazier wizards.

The escaped toad flew into her waiting (and gloved) hand.

"Who cast that? There's no spells before school!" shouted an irate and rather pompous looking red head. He had red and gold on his collar, and a rather posh looking badge.

Tania stared at him as he stomped up much like an angry dragon.

"Who gave you permission to use spells? There's no casting before classes start! Well?"

"There wasn't anything in the rulebook I bought that said we weren't allowed to cast small charms on the train. I was just getting my friend's toad back," said Tania, shrinking in on herself.

Hermione watched with anger as the red head in red and gold gave Tania the riot act, before stomping off because she was a first year and he couldn't give her detention before she was even sorted.

"That was absolutely horrible! What house was he from?" said Hermione furious. She had bought the same rule book and nowhere did it say that they couldn't cast charms on the train. It clearly stated that the train was considered "school grounds" and that any punishments made on it would count once the school year started.

By that reasoning, casting small charms wasn't against the rules at all, since there weren't any mundane people on board!

"I t-t-think that was a Gryffindor Prefect," said Neville, shrinking in on himself. Tania had only helped him get his pet back. It wasn't right that a prefect would take out a minor use of magic on her for it.

He had always heard that Gryffindors were the good wizards. Slytherins were supposed to be the mean ones.

"Well I know two houses I'm not going to join," said Hermione upset.

"What's the other?" asked Tania.

"The silver and green one, they were extremely rude to us when we tried to find a compartment earlier. I think they're called Slytherins."

"What does that leave?"

"Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. I've heard rumors that Ravenclaw has a private library though," offered Neville.

Hermione perked up, but Tania looked pensive.

"Hufflepuff is the house of loyal and hardworking, right?"

"And Ravenclaw is for the clever and studious," said Hermione.

"I'd much rather be loyal or clever than brash or ambitious," said Tania.

They nodded in agreement.

"Slytherins get a bad rep, though most of them take it too far. I've had a few 'owners' who were Slytherin that treated their house elves like slaves, kupo."

"What are house elves?" asked Hermione.

"House elves are brownie spirits that serve magical families in exchange for a small portion of their magic, kupo. When non-magical blood started to cut away the forests, their magic started to die so they made a deal with wizards, kupo. In exchange for acting as housekeepers, they were able to survive. Being given clothes is considered a high offense, but some wizards have forgotten their origin and treat them like dirt. They forget that the fair folk are more often stronger and tied to the land, kupo," said Shadow.

Neville blinked. He didn't know that.

"That sounds horrible," said Hermione.

"Actually it doesn't sound too far fetched. I mean there are countless stories of people leaving out saucers of fresh cream or milk, and having their house cleaned or their minor chores done in the middle of the night. Wasn't there a story about a man who left food out and little elves made shoes for him while he slept?" said Tania.

Hermione blinked.

"I think I've heard of that one," she admitted. When she put it like that...it was hard to be too offended.

The three continued their discussion on what house they would end up in, before they realized that they were getting closer to the school. Neville left to get dressed, seeing as how Tania was technically already in her uniform and Hermione was a girl.

Tania waited patiently with the other students, but she avoided the red head on principle. He looked too much like the boy from earlier to be a coincidence, and the blond was very rude when he saw Hermione and Neville. She didn't really pay any mind to the ghosts, and while the enchantment on the sky was very interesting, it couldn't really compare to her memories of sitting on the station tower looking out at the sunset and eating sea-salt ice cream with her friends.

She almost missed her name being called, but alerted to the fact they were going alphabetically she caught it in time.

"Potter, Titania!"

Tania walked up to the stool, and waited patiently for the teacher to put the dirty hat on her head.

She was so going to wash her hair after this.

Well that's quite rude.

Considering the amount of hair gel that last kid had...?

...I'll concede that point. Now, where to put you, young Key Blade bearer?

Not Slytherin or Gryffindor, Tania stated flatly.

Yes... you're brave, but not brash, and you wouldn't fit Slytherin at all. Now, which house would you prefer? The one near the library or the one closer to the kitchens?

I have no idea.

Well, let's try another way.

Flashes of her memories went through her head, until the hat suddenly shouted "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Tania sat next to Neville, who had also been sorted into Hufflepuff.