It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely

- Albert Einstein

Grace was the last to wake. She tumbled out of bed as she opened her eyes, only to see the room was empty. She glanced at clock. Breakfast had just started. She cursed and ran into the bathroom, showering quickly before pulling on her uniform and then running downstairs, forgetting to do something about her perpetually messy hair.

She sat by herself, ignoring the looks more than half the hall were giving her, picking on her porridge and staring at the timetable that Professor Longbottom, the head of Gryffindor had just handed to her with a glare. Teachers didn't seem to be particularly fond of her either, it seemed.

She had arithmancy first, followed by transfiguration, herbology, and then her favourite, defence against the dark arts. She sighed and sat back, thinking that if she was at home, she wouldn't even be awake yet. Lessons with Astoria only started at ten, and finished at three, with a small lunch break. It was going to be a long day.

On the contrary, the day passed by rather rapidly. Arithmancy and transfiguration were both spent explaining the curriculum . Herbology however, was rather unpleasant. There was only one seat left, next to none other than James Potter.

Grace sat down and watched, from the corner of her eye, as James exchanged apprehensive looks with his friends and cousins. Professor Longbottom glared at her everytime he caught her eye. There were whispers, but he didn't stop them like the other teachers had. It was hard to concentrate on what Longbottom was mumbling, as it wasn't the least bit interesting, and soon her mind wandered away.

"The answer Lestrange?" Longbottom said her surname as though he was being strangled.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear the question." she muttered, completely unaware of what was going on.

She heard giggles from across the room and saw James trying to hide a smile.

Longbottom pursed his lips. "What is the Devil's Snare's weakness? Quite a simple question really."

"Light," she answered without hesitation.

Longbottom glared at her but nodded, carrying on with the lesson. Barely five minutes passed, before he tested her knowledge again. This time, with a NEWT question.

"What will happen if undiluted bubotuber's potion is applied to one's face?"

Grace stared at him, flummoxed. He was doing this on purpose, to make her look like a fool. She wasn't supposed to know this, she knew, because Astoria had made her revise every little thing before coming here, and this definitely hadn't been in her notes. She thought about giving in, admitting she didn't know, but then thought better of it. She looked up, into his eyes and watched as he flinched.

Then, she smiled. "Instead of curing acne, large boils will appear on the skin."

Grace watched, satisfied, as he blinked in surprise.

"Good," he said brashly, before continuing with his lecture.

She was questioned three more times, and every time, her answer was right.

James was the last one to enter DADA. Perhaps if he hadn't been too busy hanging out with Dom and Delilah outside, he may have come in earlier and sat next to someone he actually wanted to sit next to. However, when he came in, there were only three seats left. Dom and Delilah quickly sat next to each other, leaving him to settle for the remaining seat. It was next to Lestrange.

For a minute, James just stood there, watching her. Then he turned around and looked at his classmates.

"Switch with me?" he tried, not caring if Lestrange heard.

Even the president of his fanclub said no.

"Mr. Potter! Sit down this instant!" Professor Knuxdon barked.

"Sorry Professor," James mumbled.

He slowly walked over to the empty seat, observing his to-be neighbor. She seemed to be ignoring everything around her, her wild curls shielding her face, as she doodled on a piece of parchment, lost in another world. He sat down and stared at her, but she still didn't look up.

Grace Lestrange did not say a word. She didn't pay attention either. She just read the textbook, while Knuxdon blabbered for an entire hour about what the curriculum would entail and how beneficial DADA was. Lestange was a fast reader, James noticed. She finished three hundred and fifty pages of the four hundred page textbook before class was over. As soon as Knuxdon dismissed them, she grabbed her bag, and left in an instant.

"I'm never coming in late again. That was the most boring lesson of my entire life! I was forced to pay attention, and Knuxdon didn't even say anything useful," James grumbled as he left the room with the girls.

"You could have spoken to Lestrange," Delilah pointed out, smoothing her brown hair as the three of them walked side by side towards the common room.

"No thanks," James shivered.

"Thats mean, James," Delila crossed her arms, giving James a disapproving look.

"She's Lestrange's daughter!"

"So? She didn't do anything," Delilah said, "Just like you didn't save us from Voldemort."

"Her parents are freakin death eaters!" James stared at her, like she was out of her mind.

"And your dad saved us from Voldemort. Doesn't mean you did."

"Its not the same," James argued.

"Dom?" Delilah looked at her best friend, awaiting her opinion.

"She's right." Dom said simply.

"Ha!"

"What- Dom!" James said, surprised, at the usually unfeeling girl.

"Uncle Harry told us to go easy on her," Dom reminded him as they entered the common room.

"Yeah, well, dad's too nice," James sighed, sitting down on an armchair. "And since when do you care what anyone says?"

Dom shrugged, sitting down on the armchair beside James.

"No, you're too mean," Delilah said, frowning at her appearance in a pocket mirror. "How is she any different from Scorpius?"

"The Malafoys didn't want to be death eaters. They had no choice. I mean, Narcissa Malafoy lied to Voldemort about dad being dead, which pretty much led to him saving everybody's asses. Bellatrix Lestrange killed Sirius Black and ended up in Azkaban for life. It is so different."

"Whatever," Delilah replied, sinking into a loveseat.

Grace left the empty dormitory three hours later, her stomach grumbling for dinner. She stood at the entrance of the dining hall, and peered inside. Students sat with their friends, laughing and reminiscing, seemingly having the time of their lives. The Gryffindor table, especially one half of it, was positively glowing with happiness. There, the Potters/Weasleys sat, altogether in a group with a few other friends, talking, laughing, having fun. At the Ravenclaw table she could see Scorpius sitting next to the two Weasley/Potters not in Gryffindor, Rose and Albus. They had accepted him so readily. She remembered Scorpius writing to her about his first day, how he had been sitting alone at the Ravenclaw table feeling sorry for himself, and how Rose had come almost out of nowhere and sat beside him. Albus had joined them later, and ever since then the three of them had been inseparable. Scorpius often went over to the burrow in the holidays, and Rose and Albus had even visited once or twice. She had fled to her room, locking the door in case Scorpius tried to introduce her.

Scorpius was okay. His parents were good now. Draco was one of the best aurors, alongside Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, and Astoria worked for the education department in the ministry, receiving many awards for her work in various schools. But her father was dead, and her mother was lying in an Azkaban cell, and would be till the end of her time.

But it was more than that. Scorpius was good himself, whereas, she wasn't really sure about herself. Her thoughts were nowhere near as extreme as the extermination of all muggles and muggle-borns, but at the same time she knew she was no angel. Narcissa had told her enough times.

"Just like your mother!" She would exclaim whenever Grace misbehaved or argued.

And when she was silent, sullen, and snappy, which was always, she would get a "just like your father!" from her, which was strange, because Lucius had once told her (back when Lucius was still alive) that Rudolphus had been the life of the party.

She scared people too, she knew. Even Draco and Astoria were afraid of her, though they tried not to show it.

"The way she speaks..It reminds me of.." Draco had once said, as he stood in the kitchen with Astoria, and then he had shuddered.

She wanted desperately to know who exactly she spoke like, but Astoria had glared at him so menacingly, he had shut up right away.

Grace didn't want to be like her parents, and it scared her that she seemed to have so much in common with them. Was she good? Was she evil? She didn't know. She felt out of place, unsure of herself, unsure of life. And now she had been sorted into Gryffindor. That had to mean something, didn't it? She couldn't be evil if she had been sorted into Gryffindor, could she?

She continued watching everyone eat and laugh, and try as she might, she couldn't imagine herself acting the way they were. She had never had friends before. She rarely even left the house except to get a breath of fresh air for five minutes.

Grace turned around and walked up the staircases to the seventh floor, where she knew the room of requirement was.

I need a quiet place where I can be alone.

And some food, she added.

Immediately, a doorway appeared.

She stepped inside to a cosy room, with a comfortable looking couch, a bookshelf overflowing with books, and a small table, with a mug of hot chocolate and a feast on it. She hurriedly sat down and ate the food, before picking out a book with great difficulty (there were so many choices!). She sat down and drank the hot chocolate, eyes fixed determinedly on the pages. This was almost as good as home.

"Ahem."

The Potters/Weasleys looked across their shoulders to see the headmistress, McGonagall, staring at them.

"Oh..er hi professor," James said, as silence washed over their part of the table

Fred and Roxy quickly hid their latest inventions, Louis stopped talking about his secret stash of firewhiskey, and they all looked up at McGonagall, wondering what she could possible want.

"Good evening, Potters, Weasleys," McGonagall greeted, not bothering to list every individual.

"Where is Lestrange ?" she enquired suspiciously, her beady eyes looking at them as if one of them had hidden her somewhere.

"Um..We don't know?" James answered for all of them, looking confused.

He was the self appointed leader of their clan.

"No?" McGonagall gazed at all of them in turn. They all shook their heads.

"Well, as she has not come down to dinner, I fear she may be lost. Could one of you be so kind as to find her? Mr Weasley, , perhaps?" she nodded at Fred and James.

"Thank you," McGonagall said, turning around.

They boys stared at her incredulously.

"But she could be anywhere!" Fred burst out, "and why us?"

He had a list of first day pranks to attend to with Roxy, and did not fancy the idea of searching every nook and cranny of the castle for Lestrange, of all people.

"I doubt it will take you long," McGonagall said, answering both his questions, "you do have a map, don't you?"

They all stared at each other as she left.

"McGonagall knows about the map?" James asked, horrified.

"Course she does. I mean, your grandparents made it, your parents used it, she must have seen it sometime," Delilah said, reaching over to grab the salt.

"But she can't just read it, she has to know the magic words," Fred pointed out.

Delilah shrugged. "She could have seen someone using it. She is a cat, after all."

"And she didn't confiscate it," James grinned.

"Minnie loves us," Fred concluded, fist bumping James.

"Have fun looking for Lestrange!" Delilah teased.

They all laughed as the boys groaned simultaneously.

"Typical," Fred said as they watched Lestrange's dot on the Marauder's map, "room of requirement."

"How does she even know where it is?" James said, as they waited for the staircases to change.

Fred shrugged. "Scorpius?"

"Yeah, probably."

They carried on climbing until they were outside the room.

We need to find Lestrange, they both thought.

The doorway refused to appear.

Please review!