Chapter 2: Back in Session

Time seemed non-existent to the Summers sisters, the week leading up to the start of school a blur. The girls had held a quiet funeral for their mother with just the two of them. They didn't know of any relatives on their mother's side and they did not even give the unknown relatives on their father's side a second thought. They had gotten owls from Blaise, the Golden Trio, and the Weasley twins expressing their sympathy and support when their mother's obituary came out in the Daily Prophet.

The ministry sent people to question them on what had happened that night, although they refused to take the sisters seriously when they said that it had been a Death Eater. Every mention of the Death Eater being their father, Donovan Summers, was met with the ministry official's quick assurance of, "Donovan Summers is currently locked up in Azkaban." Reporters from the Daily Prophet came as well to interview them, but left quickly at a death glare from Reina every time. To get away from all of the attention and reporters, the sisters took a day and flooed to Diagon Alley to purchase school supplies.

With their school supplies already purchased and their trunks packed there was nothing left to do but wait and try to avoid thinking about what they would do come next summer. Finally, the day came and Kira and Reina left for the train station.

The rain came down relentlessly as the ministry car pulled into the station. The girls loaded their trunks onto two carts with Kin and Tobias before making their way towards platform 9¾. "Ready for this Rei?" Kira asked quietly as they arrived at the barrier. A small sad smile crossed Reina's face as she heard the old childhood nickname.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she replied. "Besides, school may help distract us a bit."

With that Reina and Kira walked through the barrier onto platform 9¾. There standing by the train were their friends waving at them. Harry, Ron, and Hermione waved at Kira; Blaise and the Weasley twins stood beside them waving at Reina. Kira smiled and raced over to her friends with Reina a little behind her, a smile on her face as well. Kira hugged the golden trio tightly as Hermione said, "We're so glad to see you Kira, and we're sorry about your mum. If there's anything we can do to help…" Kira just nodded sadly and hugged Hermione even tighter.

Fred and George smiled as Reina approached her friends. "How's our fellow criminal mastermind holding up?" they asked each giving her a small hug.

"I'll live…I think," she replied honestly.

"That's the Reina I know," Blaise said pulling her into a tight embrace. Reina closed her eyes, relaxing into the comforting embrace of her best friend.

"By the way, mate," George added, "nice haircut!"

Fred nodded agreement with his twin.

"Ron and I are prefects this year," Hermione told Kira, "so we have to head onto the train. You guys should get settled in too." As Reina pulled away from Blaise, she was surprised to see none other than Draco Malfoy staring at her from the shadows of the Hogwarts Express. He surprised Reina further by nodding at her briefly with what looked to be a small, almost apologetic smile before turning and getting on the train.

"Hey Reina," Kira said waving a hand in front of Reina's face to get her attention. "We'd better get our stuff on the train soon before there aren't any compartments left." Reina just nodded and grabbed Tobias' cage from the cart as Blaise and the twins forced her luggage onto the train.

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The carriages sat waiting for the students as Kira and Reina disembarked with their friends and Luna Lovegood who Harry and Kira had met on the train. Reina heard Harry gasp as they all looked at the carriages. "I assume you can see the thestrals pulling the carriages," Luna whispered to him so quietly that Reina barely heard. Harry nodded.

"I've never seen them before," he said.

"That's because–"

"You were the one who saw Cedric Diggory die last year," Reina whispered bluntly. Harry looked a bit put off at the memory but shook it off.

"If you have seen someone die, then you can see the thestrals," Luna explained. "They're such fascinating creatures."

"You can see them?" he asked Reina.

"I was there when my mother was murdered this summer," Reina replied simply with a bitter edge to her voice.

Everyone climbed into the carriages; Blaise, Reina, and the twins in one and everyone else in another. As the carriages began moving, Fred and George leaned forward towards Reina.

"We want to come up with a prank that we can put in reserve in case the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is horrible," Fred told her.

"After all," George added, "the only good one we've had so far was Professor Lupin."

Reina nodded. "We'll see who the new teacher is at the banquet and size them up. I should have a rough idea by breakfast tomorrow."

"You know one of these days the three of you are going to get caught," Blaise told them. "If Filch had anything to say about it you'd be hanging by your toes in the dungeons."

The trio laughed. "I guess it's a good thing that Filch has no say in it then," Reina said as their laughter subsided.

"Besides," Fred added, "with Reina collaborating with us–"

"We can't get caught unless we actually want to," George finished. Blaise just shrugged whatever as the carriage came to a halt in front of the castle.

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Reina and Blaise sat side by side at the Slytherin table enjoying the opening feast. The food was overwhelming and as Blaise put down the remnants of his pumpkin pasty, he looked over at Reina. "Reina, are you alright?" he asked a bit concerned. "You've barely eaten anything."

"I'm fine," she said with a reassuring smile. "Just not that hungry."

Blaise sighed and shook his head. "Don't make it a habit or I'll make sure I get food in you the hard way." Reina laughed at this, touched by her friend's genuine concern.

"You know," she said, "I'll never understand how you made it into Slytherin. You seem more like a mix between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff."

Blaise gave her a look of mock hurt. "I'll have you know that I find the Hufflepuff part of that comment insulting." Reina just shook her head. "So," Blaise plowed on, "hopefully we'll get to have a relatively good school year this term."

"Well we're all gonna have to study a lot harder," Reina pointed out. "After all, we have our O.W.L.s this year." Blaise just shrugged. Reina playfully punched him in the shoulder. "What's with the shrug?"

"In my opinion," Blaise explained, "O.W.L.s are just another test that we have to pass at the end of the year. They're just a little bit more important than normal."

"Yeah, a test that determines which classes that we take next year," Reina pointed out. "I may be a Slytherin, but that doesn't mean I'm just gonna blow them off like we all normally do."

Blaise laughed. "Alright, alright. When we get close to O.W.L.s I promise I'll take them seriously."

Just then Dumbledore stood up with his hands raised, calling for silence and everyone's attention. "As we near the end of our opening feast," he said, "I would like to introduce Professor Umbridge, who is here from the Ministry of Magic, and will also be this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Reina looked at her in disgust as there was some scattered applause. The woman was short and round and as she surveyed the students, she looked as if she'd eaten something sour and her face had gotten stuck that way. Reina risked a glance at the Weasley twins who were whispering heatedly to each other and trying to control their laughter.

"I don't like her already," Blaise whispered to Reina. Reina nodded.

"If she keeps that up her face is going to get stuck like that," she commented.

"Hey Summers!" Pansy sneered from across the table next to a bored looking Draco. "What's wrong, nothing witty or insulting at all?" Reina rolled her eyes. "Not even that she looks like a toad? You must have lost your touch or become mute over the summer!" Reina disliked Pansy more than anyone else in Slytherin or the other houses. The girl talked non-stop grating on her last nerve, and she clung to Malfoy like she was permanently attached to him. Normally she would ignore her, but after the last week she was in no mood for Pansy's attempts to impress Malfoy.

"Shut it Pansy!" Reina snapped. "I will insult whomever I want, whenever I want, however I want. However, if your simple mind can't come up with the obvious deduction than I'll tell you what I think. She does not look like a toad, only you could pull that off." Pansy opened her mouth to retort but Reina plowed on, not giving her the chance. "She looks like an imp that's had something sour and if she keeps looking around like that, her face is going to get stuck that way."

Pansy opened her mouth as if to say something but than closed it again when she came up blank. "Oh I'm sorry," Reina said innocently. "Did you want to say something?" Pansy just gave her a withering glare, but Reina remained unfazed. She even thought she saw Malfoy smirk at Pansy's pathetic attempts but she couldn't be sure. Finally Dumbledore announced that the feast was at it's end and for the students to all head to their dormitories.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was back in session.