Chapter 3

Harry's POV

I sat down onto the plush seats of the Hogwarts Express, already gloomy due to the fact that Ron and Hermione weren't here with me.

I risked a glance over at the blonde haired girl Luna Lovegood, who was still holding her magazine upside down. She stared back at me, and I was ever so thankful when Ginny asked: "Have a good summer Luna?"

"Yes," said Luna dreamily, without taking her eyes off me. "Yes, it was quite enjoyable, you know. You're Harry Potter," she added.

"I know I am." I said tiredly, and the conversation ensued. It was quite boring until Neville decided to demonstrate the 'defense mechanism' of the Mimbulus Mimbletonia.

By that time, I was so embarrassed, I just wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. To make matters worse, Ron and Hermione didn't return to the carriage until an hour later, and when they did, they only brought bad news.

"Guess who's the Slytherin prefect?" Ron said with a mouthful of chocolate.

"Malfoy," I replied at once, certain my worst fear would be confirmed.

"Course," said Ron bitterly, stuffing the rest of the chocolate into his mouth and taking another.

"And that complete cow Pansy Parkinson," said Hermione viciously. "How she got to be a prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll…"

"Excuse me?" A voice piped up from the door. Everyone in the carriage swiveled round to face her. "Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full." The owner of the voice was a girl, presumably the same age as I was, with dark hair in a braid and a silver crescent moon pinned in her hair.

"Sure you can!" Hermione replied, beaming at her, falsely cheery. The girl stayed emotionless, although she "If you don't want me here, it's fine…" Her dark eyes were piercing, and I swear, they could stare straight into your soul.

"No, it's fine." I insisted, budging up to make a space for her. The girl smiled softly, but the smile never got to her eyes. She sat down next to me, and all eyes were trained on her as she made her introduction.

"I'm Bianca 'Di Angelo, and this is my first year at Hogwarts, though I will be entering as a fifth-year. I'm a half-blood, but I was raised by muggles of sorts." Her expression was calm, and her posture betrayed nothing.

I could tell the rest of my friends also felt uneasy around her.

"Hi!" I started nervously, determined to break the ice. "I'm Harry Potter, as you know…" Bianca shook her head slightly, indicating that she didn't know.

"You don't know who he is?" Apparently Hermione had seen the slight shake of her head. "But he's the Boy-Who-Lived! The one who defeated You-Know-Wh-"

"It's alright Hermione, it makes a change to have someone not know who I am." I cut her off. "Anyways, I'm Harry Potter," I smiled and stuck out my hand for her to shake, which she complied with." And these are my friends Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna and Ginny." I gestured to each of them in turn.

Bianca smiled. "Nice to meet you! I'm looking forwar-"

She was cut off by the sound of the sound of the carriage door opening. Immediately, I got up, whirled round to see Malfoy and his cronies getting into the carriage. "What?" I said aggressively before he could even open his mouth.

"Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention," drawled Malfoy, whose sleek blond hair and pointed chin were just like his father's. "You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."

"Yeah," said Harry, "but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone." Bianca sniggered, and that drew the attention of Malfoy. "Oh," He hissed, "So you think that's funny, mudblood?" Bianca's eyes glinted.

"Oh really? Mudblood?" She stared back unflinchingly. "Are you sure that your blood is really that pure?"

Malfoy snorted. Obviously, he was not used to being challenged like that. "Pft, as if your blood could even be compared with mine." He stuck his nose in the air. "As you see, my family has been a pure-blooded family for many genera-"

"Oh just shut up will you?" Bianca rolled her eyes.

Malfoy looked as if he had just been punched. He quickly regained his composure and gestured to Crabbe and Goyle, who cracked their knuckles menacingly. I gulped. This was about to get very messy. I leapt forward to restrain Bianca.

"Bianca, I don't think this is a good ide-"

"Harry." Hermione grabbed my shoulder, her face unnaturally pale. "I think you should let Bianca deal with this."

I frowned, and turned to her. "What do you mean?"

Hermione said nothing, and I took that as my cue, to turn back towards the scene of the action.

At first glance, there wasn't much to note. But, then my eyes adjusted, and everything seemed to slow down. It was as if I was seeing a different layer of the world, a different realm, and I realized, that this was the realm of shadow and darkness.

The room dimmed, and small strands of shadows peeled themselves off the walls, slithering across the room, creating a spider-web like illusion, encasing us all inside. And right in the center of the web stood Bianca.

"Still so confident in your lackeys, idiot?" She stood, with the strands of darkness tangled in her hand. "You don't know the meaning of pure." Malfoy and his cronies paled dramatically. "So before you go around reprimanding others for not being pure," She hissed, curling her fingers in a fist, ready to strike. "Take a look at yourself first."

I leapt forward to restrain her. "Bianca! That's enough!" I hooked my arms underneath hers to prevent her from charging forward and punching Malfoy. Not that I would've minded her doing so. "Don't do anything rash!" Although I was pretty strong for someone my age, I struggled to hold her back. "Guys! Help!"

Ron immediately snapped to attention and helped to restrain Bianca. "Bianca! Seriously, you've done enough! Stop it!"

Malfoy took this opportunity to make a break for it. Bianca watched him leave with hawk-like eyes, before calming down when the cabin door finally slammed shut behind his terrified form.

Ron and me let out a sigh of relief as Bianca relaxed.

"Bloody hell, Bianca!" Ron grunted, flopping onto the seat. "You didn't have to go berserk, you know?"

Bianca had the decency to look sheepish. "Sorry about that. I have… anger issues."

"Understatement of the year…" Ron grumbled.

The rest of the train ride passed in an uncomfortable silence. I could tell that none of my friends felt comfortable around Bianca, and from Hermione's expression, I could also tell that the magic she used was very dangerous, perhaps even illegal.

Just who was Bianca, and just how powerful was she?