The Malfoy Mansion was much like the Malfoys themselves: elegant and unfeeling. It had probably cost millions of Galleons, Sylvia hypothesized as she took in the deserted garden, ominous gates, and looming house. A dark forest grew right up to the edge of the garden, daring nerves of steel to set foot inside its border. The moment they entered the massive front doors, a small house-elf was there waiting, ushering them in.

'Take Sylvia up to her room, Bailey.'

"Yes, master.' Bailey said, and ushered for Sylvia to follow. Sylvia followed, glancing at the second level rooms, as she walked up the spiral staircase with her few possessions in a satchel slung over her body. Scorpius followed behind, his room being on the second level. On the third level, Sylvia was led to a guest room at the end of the long hall. Bailey opened the door magically, and ushered Sylvia into the room with many 'masters.'

'Thank you.' Sylvia said, making the elf turn a soft pink at the cheeks before making a hasty escape.

Conquest had flown up to the window of the bedroom, and Sylvia opened it.

'Don't make a mess.' She told him. He gave an indignant hoot and went to sleep on a post at the foot of the bed. The room was very nice. It didn't have any color to it, but held a desk and chair in front of the window, a comfortable bed, an attached walk-in closet, and an attached bathroom. Sylvia hung her satchel over the back of the chair and looked quickly at everything. She was about to open her satchel, when a knock made her turn.

Astoria Malfoy walked in. She was a pale, sharp-faced woman with blonde hair, much like her husband and son. She took in Sylvia's appearance with a sweeping glance and introduced herself quickly. Her voice was much softer and sweeter than her looks implied. Sylvia could tell that the voice could become very sharp and cold if needed, though.

'Dinner will be ready at 6.00pm sharp.' Astoria Malfoy said as a last note. Sylvia opened her satchel, pulled out a few boxes of powders. One read, " Mending Kit for Clothes Down to Threads!" and the other declared, "MagiClean! Sparkling clean clothes in minutes!"

Sylvia went to the bathroom, and turned the shower on. She went to her satchel and frowned. No shampoo or soap. She shrugged mentally. Returning to the bathroom, she undressed, put her clothes in the bathtub, threw a handful of both powders on top and took a shower. It was the first time she's washed her body in 3 months and 6 days. It was the first time she'd taken a shower in a year, 2 months, and 25 days.

At six, she walked down the stairs to the dinning room with brushed hair, mended and cleaned clothes, clean fingernails, and clean skin. Astoria's eyes showed approval, Draco seemed surprised, and Scorpius looked like his mouth was about to drop open. She was nearly unrecognizable compared to the dirty girl who had been in the orphanage. The only thing precisely the same, was her eyes, which still proclaimed her alertness, and complete distrust in everything.

'Good Evening.' Draco Malfoy said politely.

'Evening.' She replied, and took her seat next to Scorpius.

'You'll be in level 4 this year. Father arranged it all with the Ministry and Hogwarts. 'Scorpius and Sylvia were walking towards Ollivander's wand shop in Diagon Alley. Scorpius was dressed in a white, button-up flannel shirt tucked into black jeans. His hair was, as usual, stiffly gelled into place. Sylvia's hair was loose and natural. She was dressed tidily in dark blue jeans and a long-sleeve dark purple crew-neck. Her dark green satchel was slung across her body and already held her books and robes for the school year. A faint bell rang out as they entered the wand shop. A young man, about age 25 or so, stood behind the counter. He looked up at the newcomers.

'Hello.' He greeted them, ' I'll get grandfather.' He disapparated, and then a minute later, apparated back behind the counter, this time with a very sharp-looking old man. He spoke at a moderate speed, but with a intellectual accent to his words, making it seem like everything his said had many thoughts connected to it, and he was searching through it all.

'Scorpius Malfoy.' The man said, glancing at Scorpius, 'Elm, vampire fang, 10inches, quite temperamental, I recall.'

Scorpius nodded.

'Powerful wand none the less… well? Who is this? I haven't seen you before, young lady.' He paused, ' Oh, you're the Ms. Lioness they've just found. Finally came for a wand. An amazing magical ability you had… wand arm, please.'

Ollivander took measurement, and then took ten wands down from a perfectly organized library of wands.

'Yes, well, try this one. Holly. Dragon heartstring, unicorn tail. 11 inches. Good, strong built wand.'

That wand didn't work. The next wand came. 'Oak. Unicorn horn, werewolf hair, 9 inches. Temperamental -Birch. Dragon Scales. 10 inches. Strong wand -'

The trial and error went on for a half hour. Scorpius looked like he would fall asleep. Ollivander finally came our slowly with a black, leather box. Slowly he said, 'This wand is my last experimental wand. I had two. They were wands from my young years a long time ago. Put a large overdose of magical ingredients in them, I did. This one is Willow, dragon scales, vampire fang, werewolf hair, unicorn horn, Ferefox fur, goblin nails, house-elf skin, and the feather of a winged being a long while ago. 13 inches. Very powerful and the only one left in the world, besides its twin.' Ollivander pulled the wand out of its green velvet cushion and handed it to Sylvia delicately. Scorpius had come back to attention. A wave of warmth filled Sylvia. Like a draught of butterbeer in the dead winter. Like being reunited with a long-lost friend thought to be gone forever. And though no one saw it, the edges of her lips curled up in a small smile as the rush of pure partnership and true friendship flooded through her blood.

'It was to be predicted that you'd have great magical abilities. To be predicted.' Ollivander muttered. Sylvia tucked her wand into the edge of her satchel, paid him, and she and Scorpius left. They were walking towards the Apothecary shop, and Sylvia was fighting a wave of memories in her mind. Then, suddenly, Scorpius flinched instinctively as a very scarred Great Gray owl dived down, and pecked at Sylvia's shoulder irritably.

'Hello 'Quest.' She greeted him, and took the day's The Sorcerer from his talons. She glanced at the front page, which featured her adoption. She scanned through it quickly and then disintegrated it magically with her hands, forgetting she had a wand now.

'Is that yours?' Scorpius asked, revived from his short fright of being shredded by owl talons.

'Conquest? Yes.'

'I didn't know you had an owl.'

'There are a lot of things you don't know about me.' Was the ominous reply.

'No?' Sylvia didn't respond.

'What did you do to the paper?' He tried another question.

'Disintegrated it.'

'How?'

'Magically.'

'Can you show me?'

'No.'

'Why not?' Some-what demanding.

'I don't want to.' Coldly. He was very displeased with the answer, but didn't protest.

They got their materials from the Apothecary quickly and then, since they had time to spare, they headed to the local broomstick shop, Broomstick Emporium. The store was featuring the new MonarchFlyer 5000, a sleek black-handled, golden-bristled broom.

'The fastest and sleekest yet.' Scorpius read aloud.

'They say that every year.' Sylvia responded, taking in all the features of the broom, figuring out the magical formulas that were probably used on it.

'Did you come here often?' Scorpius asked curiously, meaning Diagon Alley.

'Yes.'

'What for?' She didn't deem a reply necessary. Sure enough, Scorpius' attention soon drifted back to the broom, and inevitably, Quidditch.

'I think I'll get father to buy me the broom.' He informed her, 'After all, I am Slytherin Seeker.' This last bit rather arrogantly.

'Who are the other seekers?'

'I don't remember, but they were all really bad. Ravenclaw should've lost points they're Seeker was so terrible.'

After a fortnight of Scorpius' criticisms, Sylvia had realized that Scorpius made very biased opinions and that very often they were extremely exaggerated and barely trust-worthy.

They finally pushed through the crowd to see the broom up close, and a floating sign reading DO NOT TOUCH hovered over the broomstick. Scorpius ignored the sign, and reached out his hand to stroke the shiny handle.

'Don't touch!' Sylvia hit his hand away, 'Can't you see the sign? There's a spell on it, you idiot!'

'Oh.' Scorpius had no good retort and his pale cheeks darkened a shade with humility.

'Hey! There's Trace and Goyle. We can go see them.' They left the shop, to find that Trace and Goyle where, in fact, not there. Sylvia rolled her eyes to the sky. What an excuse. Luckily, Draco Malfoy arrived before Scorpius could be embarrassed any more. He led them off towards a big stately building of the Ministry of Magic. Apparently, they had to clear a few things up in order for Sylvia to be accepted at Hogwarts as a 4th year.

First, she had to get tested in various areas to make sure she was 4th-year material. She was asked to make potions, cast spells, and transfigure objects, and perform defensive spells, all of which she passed with extremely high grades. Her moderator had given up trying to hear the spells Sylvia was muttering as she preformed her spells. Her words, spoken in a whisper, seemed to be the best way for her to communicate between her wand, and the moderator decided it wasn't worth it to make Sylvia to speak louder.

'Silence is a great fighting tactic.' The moderator commented, "But I don't see why you would know it this soon, especially if you've never been to school.'

Sylvia didn't respond, and simply took her grades and followed the Malfoys out of the building.

'You have everything, yes?" Astoria Malfoy asked.

'Yes, mother.' Scorpius responded. Sylvia didn't respond, she was staring at a building, reliving very harsh memories.

'Sylvia?!' Astoria called, breaking though to her, at last.

'Yes, I'm ready.' She shook her head slightly, as if returning from a daze and Astoria and Draco apparated both Scorpius and Sylvia to an area just outside of the Hogwarts grounds.

They walked a good ways before arriving in from of a gigantic castle at least 15 stories high, not including the watchtowers. In front of the majestic school building, was a huge lake that shone beautifully in the sunlight, but was dark and ominous not far below the surface. They walked up gigantic steps to the huge black metal front doors and Draco used a heavy knocker the size of a plate to knock on the door. They could hear the sound echoing inside. A minute later, a man with short blonde hair, and dark blue eyes opened the door. He ushered them into the longest hallway Sylvia had ever seen. Portraits turned their heads to stare at them, and stairs at the end of the hall were constantly moving to new positions. A young house-elf scurried down another hallway, branching off from the main one, and a few adults passed, looking very busy.

'Hello Scorpius.' He nodded at the boy, and then reached out to shake hands with Sylvia, 'Ms. Lioness, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Professor Stefan Tanzirald, the Headmaster of Hogwarts.' Sylvia glanced at the hand coolly, looking for any type of trap, simply from habit, before shaking. If Tanzirald noticed the skepticism, he didn't show it, and led them all up to his very nice office which contained a huge library, portraits of all the former Headmasters, and stairs leading up to what Sylvia assumed to be his own private sleeping quarters.

'Now. I understand you are to be a 4th year?'

Sylvia pulled out her testing papers and handed them to him. He glanced at them, showed a small sign of surprise, and then put the pages down.

'Right then, so how old are you?'

'Fourteen.'

'Good.'

He reached to the top of one of the bookshelves and pulled out a very old, tattered hat.

'This hat is the Sorting Hat. I'll put it on your head, and then it will tell me what House you should be put in. Houses, are much like teams here at Hogwarts. You are sorted, and then your House will gain or lose points as a whole, and you will learn your primary courses, eat, and sleep with your House. Slytherins are often known to be powerful wizards and witches, who tend to pursue their goals despite all consequences. Ravenclaws are very often classified as the most intelligent; Gryffindors tend to be noble hearted and brave, and the rest who are not able to be sorted in one of these most often go to Hufflepuff. Now, then. If you'll sit down here—' He gestured to a cushioned seat. 'We will allow the Hat to sort you out.'

The hat's brim fell to just below her eyes and then, as if it had suddenly woken up, it began speaking quietly to her.

'Ahh. You're being sorted early. Oh, late comer. I see. Well then, what House to be in… that is the question. Loads of information, intelligence, reasoning. And yet the powerfulness, but you don't care much for power, do you? It's just there. And the bravery is strong as well. Yes… from that wretched past.'

Sylvia hoped the others couldn't hear what the hat was saying. Her past was for her information only, and she didn't need the memories coming back up, nor for them to know about them.

'Oh no, don't worry. They can't hear.' The hat reassured her, ' Perhaps you should be Hufflepuff? A mixture of all… no, that wouldn't work well for you. Ah well then, ought to be… Gryffindor!' and thus she was sorted. And, of course, Scorpius had a lot to say about her sorting.

'It's too bad you didn't get put into Slytherin. I would've asked to be done again, really. I guess it's better than Hufflepuff. I would've died. You're the first to be put in something other than Slytherin. I feel so sorry for you. The Potters and Weasleys are horrible; I wonder if you'll be able to even live in the same house as them. Especially James Potter. He thinks he's so great and struts around like he's this king, where really he has horrible magical skills and did a mortifying job at Beater last year for Gryffindor. It was rather unfair that they won. I think Professor Vitravis was leaning towards them, you know? It was terrible unfair, but Professor Tanzirald….' Scorpius continued on and on in his cold, scornful voice making Sylvia very glad she had not been put in Slytherin. She was also very interested in meeting the Potters and Weasleys that Scorpius talked down on so much, because when the Malfoys talked down on something, that thing very often turned out to be a very good thing.'Here dear! Don't forget your sweets!' Astoria stuffed a bag of candies and things into Scorpius' arms. Sylvia nearly rolled her eyes, and began to climb the stairs onto the Hogwarts Express.