Everyone settled into their seats as Dumbledore rose from his chair.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts. I'm sure all of you had a good summer but now, we must welcome our new students who are to be sorted into their houses."

As he said this, a small army of 11 year olds swarmed into the hall, following Professor McGonagall. She resumed her usual spot infront of the teachers table where she read out everyone's names from a scroll of yellowed parchment. The sorting hat was held up by Dumbledore and after the first kid had sat on the chair, he placed it on her head. Holly started to zone out, remembering what her sorting had been like. She still imagined what would have happened if she had been sorted into Slytherin like the sorting hat wanted her to. Just as she was thinkig this, the people around her all exploded with applause and Holly copied them to make it seem like she was paying attention. After everyone had calmed down, Holly fell deep into thought again. She was now thinking of what Sirius had told her.

"I'm going to miss you!"

"If you do just look in the mirror, I wont be too far away!"

Those words kept replaying in her head. She had only just arrived and she already wanted to shut the curtains on her four poster bed, cast a silencing charm and talk to Sirius- hiw was she meant to make it to Christmas?

After the welcome feast was over, everyone was taken to the common room by the prefects. Now that they were 5th years, they had been pushed even farther back in the queue to get in!

"Periculum autem comr!" Shouted the head boy to the portrait of the fat lady. "Did everyone hear that?" A crowd of nodding heads answered him. "First years stay in the common room everyone else can do what they want until ligts out!"

Holly, Hermione and Ginny all went up to their dorm rooms together. They said goodbye to Ginny as she went into the fourth year rooms and they continued up the stairs. Considering how many stairs were at Hogwarts, Holly was very tired after climbing up to the fifth year rooms! She followed Hermione into the room- they were the first ones there but there were only two trunks in the room- one of them with the letters 'HG' on it and the other with 'Holly Potter' engraved onto it which Sirius had done for her in the holidays. Hedwig had obviously already been put in the owlery as her empty cage was placed on the floor next to her trunk.

"Guess it's just us this year!" Hermione said, sitting on her bed. "Let's hope it doesn't get too lonely!" Holly smiled up at her. She was actually really glad that she would only be sharing with Hermione. Sometimes when the room was full, Holly found it hard to concentrate on anything over the noise of 5 teenage girls! Now all the noisy people were in the other rooms and Holly and Hermione could finally focus on their own thoughts! At 11pm, the head girl came to tell the two girls that it was lights out and they needed to get ready for bed. They nodded at her and got up from their beds to dig their pyjamas from their trunks. Holly took her unruly hair out of the messy ponytail it had been in and let it fall down to her hips. Not ever being allowed a haircut because it was 'a waste of money on someone like Holly' meant that it had got to be very long ever since Aunt Pertunia stopped trying to cut it when Holly had been 10!

Hermione started attempting to scrape her puffy hair into two braids as Holly strted putting her pyjamas on. When she looked over to the girl doing her hair, Holly noticed that her mouth was hanging wide open.

"What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?" Holly said, confused as to what Hermione was staring at.

"Holly. Your even tinier than you were last year! Did you even eat anything before we collected you?" Hermione said letting go of her hair with a furrowed brow.

"Yeah. I had a few snacks every now and then." Holly said- trying not to admit that she went every other day without eating.

"Well how long is every now and then?" Hermoine said while walking up to her and grabbing Holly's bony wrist that looked like it could snap if she held it too hard.

"Umm... I ate something every other day!" Holly finally admitted because Hermione was staring into her soul, forcing the truth out of her. When she said this, Hermione seemed to stop breathing for a moment before letting go of Holly's wrist and bringing her hand to her mouth.

"Holly!" Hermione's voice cracked as though she was about to burst into tears on behalf of her friend. "Promise me you wont keep going back there. Actually promise me you wont go back there ever!" Hermione had a glossy sheet over her eyes as she stared at the malnourished girl, waiting for an answer.

"I promise." Holly said before Hermione physically started crying. "Now go to bed. It's not that big of a deal!" Holly said- knowing Hermione wouldn't let her say that.

"I'm not going to argue with you on this. Yes it is! You were being starved! Stop trying to make it less important than it needs to be!" Said the glossy, slightly red rimmed eyed girl while pulling Holly in for a hug.

Holly and Hermione both drifted off to sleep. Hermoine's beeing alot deeper as within what must have been an hour or two, Holly woke up. It wasn't Cedric this time, it was something similar to the one she had experienced on the train ride here. Her scar hurt even more than it had done before. She gripped her forehead in pain and dug her nails into her leg, trying to lessen the pain seering through her head. She winced as her nail actually managed to scratch through her skin and draw blood. If Hermione had been awake, she probably would have marched her over to Madame Pomfrey so she could be put on some sort of medication to actually put something on her bones that wasn't just skin!

Soon, Holly fell asleep again. The breif talk she had shared with Sirius earlier that night had calmed her alot. Talking to his face was alot better than seeing him made out of ash and embers in a fireplace. It made her feel more at home- like she was talking to him in person. But it still wasn't the same. In a way, Holly wished she had stayed at Number 12 Grimmauld Place so she could see Sirius- the only proper guardian she had left! Of course, the Weasley family had never failed to take her in but she just felt a little distanced- like she didn't really belong with them. Seeing their whole family all together just reminded Holly that her's was gone and she could never bring it back!

The rest if the night, Holly probably got around another hour of sleep altogether. Thankfully, Hermione didn't wake up really early as she usually did last year in order to wake Holly up so she wouldn't be late. Today, Holly woke Hermione up at 7.04am. This was very frustrating for her as she was a whole 14 minutes behind her morning schedule. Holly found it strange that Hermione felt it necessary to have a set morning routine but then again, she was the most organised out of anyone in the school- including the teachers and she had a homework plan for what time she does each subjects homework!

Holly was ready within half an hour since she didn't care much for her hair being perfect or her uniform being perfect. She just got dressed and got on with her day.

"Well your hair is straight and mines a frizzy mess!"

"Yeah but if you just leave it then it will be fine!"

"But if I leave it then by first period it will have puffed out so much that I wont be able to see!" Holly just rolled her eyes at Hermione. She didn't care that her hair wasn't perfect, she only cared about being able to see what she was meant to do that night for homework! After about 15 minutes of attacking her hair with a hairbrush, Hermione finally got it into a ponytail.

"Ready?" She asked Holly who had been sat staring at the bed post for 20 minutes. In response, Holly raised her eyebrow and walked out of the room laughing. It was nice for the two of them to be alone in the room. It was comforting that she could talk to people staying at Number 12 Grimmauld Place and not be worried about people seeing Sirius and getting the two of them thrown into Azkaban!

As Holly and Hermione entered the Great Hall, they saw Ron sat with Neville and Ginny on the Griffindor table.

"Morning ladies!" He said as the two girls came to sit down. "A bit behind schedule are we Hermione?" A flustered looking Hermione stared at him with unblinking eyes. Scared for his life- or just his face- Ron snapped his mouth shut and inched away from Hermione slightly. After all, him and Holly- and especially Draco- had experienced her exceptional right hook!

Holly checked her timetable after she finished eating- and Hermione made her eat more than she usually did after the previous night. Great! Potions first thing on the first day! Holly, Hermione and Ron all made their way to the classroom near the dungeons and grabbed a seat. As the rest of the class settled down and stopped talking, Professor Snape glided out of his office.

"It's lovely to see all of your ugly faces return to my class this year!" He said with a sneer, making sure to make eye contact with Holly as he did. "I wonder how many of you will actually pass your OWLs, nevermind get a grade good enough to do it at NEWT level!" He said, once again looking at Holly with a smirk. "Over the past four years, I feel as if I have been much too nice to all of you. Now you are in you OWL year, I feel it necessary to create a seating plan for all of you. Get up and stand at the front the lot of you!" Snape pointed harshly at the front of the classroom and glided to the back of the room so he could observe all the fifteen year olds at once. He glanced quickly at his register and listed names off, making sure no two people from the same house were placed next to each other and taking a favour to the Griffindor, Slytherin combination. There was only one person left. Holly was stood on her own at the front.

"Potter. Your here!" Snape gestured to the empty two seater desk infront of him before resuming his usual position at the front of the classroom. As he began copying out the recipe on the chalkboard, one last person walked through the door.

"I was with Dumbledore." Snapped the harsh tone of Draco Malfoy before Professor Snape could interrogate him on his whereabouts for the first ten minutes of his lesson.

"Mr Malfoy please sit in the empty seat next to Miss Potter." Said Snape in a cool toned voice, not looking away from the chalkboard.

"You've got to be taking the piss!" Hissed Draco. "You really think that's a good idea?"

"It is my classroom I will do as I please. Now go and sit in the empty seat next to Miss Potter!"

Draco unwillingly made his way over to the back right corner of the classroom to where Holly was sat, mouth slightly parted from shock of having to work with this nutcase for a whole year!

"Trust me. I'm no happier than you are about this!" Holly whispered loudly to Malfoy.

"I never said I wasn't happy about this. Do you realise how good a bullying opportunity this is? I can get to know how much you fail!" Holly just rolled her eyes and waited for Professor Snape to finish the recipe on the board. "Anyway, I already have some leaverage against you and it's the first day back." Holly raised an eyebrow at the platinum blond haired boy with an evil smirk painted across his face.

"And that is?" Holly asked, wanting to know what she could have possibly done. Could Draco have found out about Sirius? No! They had been much too careful when talking and writing to each other!

"I mean that little fainting fiasco in the third year seems like nothing compared to what I saw!" Malfoy whispered at Holly. "One moment you were just sleeping, you must have had a bit of drool on your chin aswell, the next moment you were having a full on seizure! It was hillarious!" Holly scowled as Draco sat laughing at her. "Anyway- stop being so lazy and get the ingredients!"

"But your a foot taller than me! You can actually reach the top shelf!" Holly argued.

"We are in a magic school. You have a wand don't you? I'm sure you can think of something!" Draco said, cutting Holly off from the rest of her argument.

"But..."

"10 points from Griffindor for talking when work should be being completed!" Called Snape from the front of the classroom. Holly untucked her stool to get up and get the ingredients for the potion. Malfoy was still sat in his chair, running his hands through his hair and swinging back on his chair while Holly had to get everything!

"Are you going to help at all today?" Holly asked, starting to get annoyed that even though Draco was taller to reach the top shelves and stronger to carry everything, he still made Holly do everything!

"Well I can't do anything when I don't have the ingredients." Draco said, his smirk growing.

"Well why don't you fucking get them dickhead!" Holly said, clenching her jaw.

"Don't swear Miss Potter. Another 10 points from Griffindor." Snape called, not even looking up from his papers. Holly didn't say anything for the rest of the lesson apart from the name of the ingredient she needed. She decided it would be best to communicate with Malfoy via death stares and annoyed sighs.

The end of the lesson couldn't come fast enough. Holly couldn't wait to get away from Draco Malfoy- the annyoying dickhead who had been bullying people, including herself since she rejected his friend offer in the first year! Snape dismissed the class and they all swarmed towards the door, fighting to get out of the classroom first. Holly, who now was positioned as far away from the door as possible, was at the back of the small huddle. Soon enough, everyone had filtered out the classroom and was making their way over to the next class. Holly was walking relatively slowly since she couldn't see Ron or Hermione anywhere! Just as she caught sight of a head of fiery red hair, a cold hand grabbed her tiny wrist and she was pulled aside.

Holly and her abductor were in a dark corridor where she could barely see, despite there being light not too far away.

"Who are you? I can't see a thing!" She whispered. As she did, a cool voice spoke.

"Let me add some light into the situation!" A small ball of fire flew from the tip of his wand and lit a tourch on the wall.

"What the fuck are you doing Malfoy?" Holly hissed with a tightened jaw.

"Well I just thought since we need to sit next to each other in potions for the year, it would be a good idea to become friends- if not friends then acquaintances!" Draco suggested while leaning against the wall.

"And scaring me by pulling me into a dark corridor and not saying anything until I ask you who you are is the best way to go about it... Obviously!" Holly said sarcasticly. "If I'd have thought of that method when I was younger, I would have had loads of friends at primary school!"

Draco didn't respond to this comment, probably thinking back to how weird that was. After a few seconds, he held out his hand for Holly to shake.

"Well what do you say? How about we make it work?"

"I rejected you when we were 11 for a reason. And I'm doing it for the exact same reason now!" Holly said before turning away, leaving Draco in the dark corridor alone.

Luckily, Holly had had a free period and she went back up to the common room. Ron and Hermione were there but everyone else had presumably gone to the library to study for their OWLs even though it was tge first day. Either that or Ron and Hermione had managed to scare them off!

"Where have you been?" Ron asked, looking over his shoulder at the small black haired girl who had just entered through the portrait hole.

"I was just asked where to go by some first years. They also asked for my autograph. It never stops being weird!" Holly lied as she sat on the floor next to the fire.

"Well if you want them to stop then you need to stop being so heroic all the time!" Hermione joked as Holly rolled her eyes. The trio carried on with the conversation. Well Ron and Hermione did, Holly sat there- nodding her head every now and again to make it seem like she was paying attention. In reality, she was playing the conversation with Draco over and over again. Why does Malfoy want to friends? Is he doing this because Voldemort wants him to? Why now- after four years of picking on Ron, Hermione and I? These thoughts washed around her mind all day. It got to lights out before she said anything about it.

"Hermione." Holly said as the two sat down in bed, Holly with her glasses off and messy hair down and Hermione with a book on her lap and braiding her hair again.

"Yeah."

"What would you do if someone who had been mean to you all their life just wanted to be like best friends?" Hermione blinked at Holly.

"Well it depends on the person. Who is it?" She asked, a little skeptical.

"Um. Dudley. Yeah he wants to be friends!" Holly knew Hermione wouldn't believe her since she was such a bad liar.

"Holly. I know it's not your cousin. Even if you were an amazing liar, you literally got arrested for assulting him this summer!" Hermione said, looking up from her book and raising her eyebrow.

"Fine. Let's just say it's a hyperthetical question. What would you do?" Holly sighed.

"Well if they just made fun of me every now and then, I would accept their offer but if they went out of their way to make me miserable then I would tell the to piss off."

"Ok. I'll bare that in mind... If it ever happens to me! Cus you know, hyperthetical question!" Holly said awkwardly as Hermione rolled her eyes. What category would Draco fall into? Did he go out of his way? No he's just in all my classed and we go to the same school and our houses' tables are right next to each other in the Great Hall!

The next day in potions, Holly went and sat at the back where she knew Draco would soon come and sit. When the class started to make their potions, Holly replied to Draco's offer.

"I'll try. But only if your nice and don't bully anyone!" Draco looked momenterily confused before smiling.

"Really?" He asked, surprised at the girl's response.

"Yeah... You can start by getting everything we need for the potion!" Draco immediately stopped smiling and rolled his eyes.

"We've been friends for 5 seconds and your already high maintenance!" He said as Holly swung back on her chair with a smirk. This was going to be fun...