Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Dantalian no shoka, each of which belongs to their own respective owners.

Dalian's past has never been revealed. What if she was someone the world never thought about? After losing Huey Dalian is visited by several strange men who say that her name is Ivy Potter, sister of the boy-who-lived. And they want her to attend the greatest school for witchcraft in the world. Dalian thinks the entire thing is rather pathetic. Contains Fem!HarryisDalian, past DalianxHuey, Manipulative!Dumbledore, Alive!James

"Each person bears a fear which is special to him. One man fears a close space and another man fears drowning; each laughs at the other and calls him stupid. Thus fear is only a preference, to be counted the same as the preference for one woman or another, or mutton for pig, or cabbage for onion."

― Michael Crichton

The Wizard and the World

Chapter 4

Rivalries and Friendships

Dalian huffed as she passed through the barrier at Kings cross station ignoring her 'father's' pleas to wait along with Alex's sneers. She had already had a glimpse of the madness waiting on the other side of the barrier and Dalian wanted no part of it, thank you very much.

Viola had handed her off to the Potters several hours earlier claiming she had something important to take care of. Before she had left Viola had assured Dalian that there would be a surprise waiting for her at the school. It seemed that James had finally seen fit to tell Alex that she was his 'sister'. That stunt forced Dalian to endure Alex's rabbling rants about how 'awesome' of a brother he was going to be and how lucky and fortunate she was to have someone like him around.

Honestly though, the entire culture is insane! Dalian thought as she dodged the many reporters and photographers trying to get a glimpse of the-boy-with-far-to-many-hyphens-in-his-name. Another thing Dalian hadn't noticed until she had returned home from shopping were the oh-so-clever wizarding names. Really, Diagon alley? Diagonally, Nocturne alley. Nocturnally? The wizarding world was probably going to rub off on her observational and thinking skills making them dull and useless. Before the year is out, they'll probably be completely gone.

Efficiently and quietly she removed her trunk form the cart, mentally thanking James for putting a featherweight charm on it. Dalian took a quick glance around the platform and smiled. Him again. Neville was standing near an older woman who was probably his grandmother with another man scolding him.

She quickly walked over to talk to them, at least then she would have pleasant company. "Good morning, I never got to properly introduce myself before. My name is Dalian Disward."

Neville's eyes lit up for a second before he glanced at his Uncle Algie. Gran merely tilted her head and returned with a polite smile.

"I see, you must be the girl from the bookstore. I'm glad that my grandson was able to help you." Gran studied the girl, and apparently she must have approved of Dalian's conservative outfit, because her expression warmed slightly. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Agusta Longbottom."

"Actually I was hoping that-"

Dalian was quickly cut off by Uncle Algie. "Him? Neville? He helped you? I suppose if he somehow managed to miraculously keep things from getting worse! Then he might have helped you!"

Neville lowed his head in shame. It was true he was barely more than a squib, and clumsy at the best of times. He watched his Gran's face flatten with fury on his behalf. Then he sneaked a quick glance at Dalian.

Her eyes were alight with righteous fury even though he face was blank. "Yes, he was very helpful. The time is close, come on Neville lets go make sure we can get a compartment. It wouldn't do to make the journey with anyone unpleasant." She nodded at gran and gestured for Neville to follow.

For a few moments he was silent, then ever so quietly, he said "Thank you."

Dalian turned to him in surprise. "Think nothing of it. It's not even worth thanks. Besides I was getting quite sick of that man and his attitude. Just who does he think he is?" Here she began to desend into a mini rant about rude people as she climbed aboard the train.

Neville smiled despite himself. It was much more than that, no one except for Gran ever even tried to rebuke Uncle Algie. They all considered him a useless squib and an utter embarrassment on the Longbottom name.

"Out of the way Mudblood!" Draco Malfoy venomously pushed Dalian down and climbed aboard the train.

Neville just barely managed to help keep her upright. But she dropped her trunk and a small black box fell out of her bag.

Neville dropped to the ground and pulled her trunk up then reached for the small box. As he touched it there was a sharp 'click' and the box popped open. Neville picked up the box and stared inside, despite another part of his brain saying that it belonged to Dalian and he should return it to her.

He couldn't stop himself. On the deep indigo pillow was a small golden key. He faintly registered that Dalian had gasped in shock. He gently ran the tips of his fingers over it in reverence. This key . . . is very important. Why? How do I know something like that? Just what is this?

"If it's you, I think I can entrust her to you, and the Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian." The distinctly male voice floated through Neville's ears.

He spun around in confusion only to notice that Dalian had a slight grip on his shoulder. Her eyes had lost their previous fury and settled to a very familiar look. Neville knew that she was judging him, he'd seen that face too many times before on his relatives.

Neville didn't notice it but he began to shrink further into himself causing Dalian's eyes to narrow. "Sor-ry don't wha-t I w-as thinking." He apologized. He quickly closed the lid and attempted to return it.

"No." Dalian replied simply though she accept the box with one hand. She sighed in resignation before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small blue ribbon. She quickly pulled the ribbon through a section in the key and presented it to him.

His eyes widened before he began sputtering excuses. "I- can't . .It's- it's yours!"

She sighed again and bit her cheek, before she began to grumble. "I'm giving it to you, just hurry up and except it already!"

"Thanks." Neville said quietly.

Dalian huffed before she eyed him seriously. "Listen to me, never take it off, . . . eventually you'll understand why." She trailed off looking into the distance.

"Huh?" but hid the key under his shirt anyway.

Dalian spun and faced him. "Now, let's hurry up and get on board. I wasn't kidding earlier with your uncle.

They quickly found themselves a nearly empty compartment just before the train started off, all it contained was a young girl whose head was stuck in a book.

Dalian hummed in approval before moving to get out her own. Trying to act as if for all intents and purposes her whole world hadn't just imploded.

She stopped though when she noticed Neville looking around awkwardly. "What house are you hoping for Neville?"

He looked faintly relieved. "Both of my parents were in Gryffindor, so-"

"Ohhh, I've read all about it!" The girl interrupted. "Gryffindor sounds by far the best! Of course I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad. But I really can't image being in anything other than those two houses!"

Dalian waited politely until the girl was done but she kept going anyway. "My name's Hermione Granger. What about you two? Are you from wizarding families? What house do want to go in? Have you tried any spells yet? I've just tried a few simple spells, but they've all worked for me."

Dalian watched Neville sink into his seat intimidated by the younger girl. She raised an eyebrow at the girl's attitude and narrowed her eyes. "Dalian Disward" She said tartly.

"Neville Longbottom." He gave Hermione a nervous smile.

"Well I-" Hermione was cut off when the door abruptly opened.

Dalian had to suppress a groan at the familiar head poking through the door. "Ivy" Alex demanded (whined). "Why didn't you say good bye to dad on the platform? He was looking everywhere for you! He wouldn't let me go until the train nearly left!" He barged into the compartment with his friend, Ron.

Dalian's left eye began to twitch slightly. Just when I'd hoped to avoid him! Alex's eyes scanned the cabin and rested on Hermione. He ignored Neville and addressed her. "And you are?"

"I'm Hermione Granger."

"Never heard of any Grangers before."

Her eyes lit upon. "I'm the only witch in my family, but my parents are both dentists."

"Muggleborn then? I hope to see you in Gryffindor."

"I've read all about it!" Here Dalian almost lost her patience as the child began to repeat herself. "Then again I could also go to Ravenclaw. But I've read that Headmaster Dumbledore himself was in Gryffindor!"

Ron the boy beside Alex (Dalian knew from one of his-boy-who-lived-and-his-friends-monologs) puffed up his chest and spoke with a great amount of pride. "All of my family have been in Gryffindor too. But Imagine being in Hufflepuff" here he gave Neville a pointed look. "I think I'd just leave, I couldn't bear the shame of being a squib."

"Now that's not right," Alex said. "Slytherin is by far the worst! All of them are dark wizards in the making. And entire den of evil is festering in the castle. I don't know why Professor Dumbledore allows it. He should just chuck all of them out and be done with it." He spat out venomously.

"So you're willing to judge the majority of people all on the acts of one man? Without even considering other circumstances!" Dalian wanted to wipe the stupid grins right off their faces.

"There is plenty of evidence that people from other houses are capable of your definition of 'evil'. Or have you forgotten that Peter Pettigrew (yes, she went and read up a bit), your father's own best friend I might add and a Gryffindor, was a traitor?"

"What right do you have to judge people based on a small sample? Do you understand anything other than black vs white? Can you even comprehend anything beyond 'its evil' or 'it's good'?" She asked him point blank.

"I'm the Bo-"

"Yes, we're well aware of that. But in that case you should be ashamed of your actions! You've insulted not one but two groups of people. After all since when was loyalty and hard work a bad trait? Where would ambition and intelligence get you if you never did any work? What point is there to courage, if there is no one to stand beside you, or behind you?"

"And as for Slytherin, just what are you planning to do without any ambition or cunning? Laze around all day?"

"YOU CAN'T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT!" Alex roared in response.

"Shut your filthy mouth." Ron defended his friend.

Neville's eyes narrowed and a hard glint entered his eyes. "I think you should leave." He said it quietly, but it echoed so loudly in the room you could have heard a pin drop. There a rigid, inflexible tone to his voice, and Dalian found herself momentarily taken back at the normally quiet boy.

Alex took several deep breaths in an obvious effort to calm himself down but seemed to be failing, it was almost comical.

The he attempted (key word attempted) a cool comeback. "Fine we'll leave." He and Ron turned to the door and walked out, but it seemed he couldn't resist one last barb. "I don't know what dad was thinking, but I can this clearly. I hope you enjoy your stay in the snake den. I'm sure that's where you'll go." Then he slammed the door shut on his way out.

Dalian huffed in annoyance as a distinct frown appeared. "I can't believe you spoke to him like that!" Hermione exclaimed. "He's the-boy-who-lived!"

Dalian turned and raised an unimpressed eyebrow almost as if to say 'so?' She held the look for a few until Hermione began to squirm in her seat.

"Neville, what does squib mean?" She asked remembering the unfamiliar term.

The previously strong expression faded away, and he looked around awkwardly. "It's someone without magic who was born to a wizarding family. . . .My relatives thought I was one for ages."

"Really? How do you know?" Hermione recovered.

"Well . . . My great uncle Algie pushed me off a pier once but I didn't do any magic." He mumbled "But nothing else really happened until they threw me out a window. I bounced all around and managed to land."

Dalian couldn't stop the horror and dread polling in her mind. He sounded proud, PROUD! Why is he proud that his relatives tried to kill him? She closed her eyes. There were times, times just like this when Dalian wished that she had the power to do something.

What they were doing wasn't right, it wasn't anywhere near even acceptable. And this boy held the key. Dalian's key. He had the potential to become her key keeper if she allowed him to.

But the problem was that she couldn't. Introduce Neville to the world of Phantom Books? Especially now? He wouldn't be able to take it. Baby steps. She reminded herself. Besides Dalian wasn't sure that he would make a good Key keeper.

There was no doubt that he was a good person but that wasn't enough to earn the title. Keepers had to be a special type of person and they weren't all that common. But first and foremost among the requirements was Dalian's own approval.

The rest of the journey passed in relative silence as night fell. The only exceptions being when the sweets cart came through, but even then it was just a few quick words. And when they had to change into their robes (Neville left).

Dalian hopped of the train, missing the hand that had been there once to assist her. "Firs' years! Firs' years over ear!" The children could see Hagrid towering over all the other students.

"Follow me! Over ear- any more firs' years? Mind yer step!"

They followed Hagrid down a steep path through some trees. At the end the path opened up and gave a magnificent view of a castle presiding over a large lake. Most of the other children squealed in delight.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid announced with a smile.

Neville entered the boat first, then Dalian hitched up her skirts so she could follow him. Hermione unsurprisingly also joined them, but another boy drifted over and climbed in as well.

"Blaise, Zabini." He introduced himself politely though in a mono tone voice. However his eyes lingered on Dalian or more specifically her necklace for a few brief moments then quickly moved on.

"Everyone in?" Shouted Hagrid who had a boat entirely to himself. "Right then, FORWARD!" He rapped his knuckles lightly on his boat.

The boats lurched forward as one, then began to glide smoothly across the dark lake. The castle loomed over their heads as they came closer.

"Duck!" Hagrid said as they approached a curtain of ivy.

"Where?" Several of the other students (go ahead and guess which ones) had the audacity to ask, then competing the stupidity they actually stood up.

Now if they had remained seated, they would have been fine. What Hagrid seemed to forget was that not everyone was as tall as himself. Thus none of the students actually had the need to even bow their heads slightly.

A further five minutes was spent by Hagrid hauling all of the children out of the water. "But I told yea to duck." He was heard to mumble. Dalian, Neville, and even Blaise had smiles on their faces, while Hermione just tasked in disapproval.

Finally they left the boats and reached a white pebble covered beach. They followed Hagrid up a couple of flights of granite stairs until they reached a large wooden door. Hagrid simply raised a fist and gave three quick knocks.

Honestly Dalian expected the simple wooden door to be crushed under Hargrid's tremendous strength. But it didn't, and instead swung open to reveal the stern Professor McGonagall.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall. " He beamed.

"Thank you Hagrid, I'll take things from here." She said primly.

Professor McGonagall guided them into what Dalian guessed was a sort of atrium. To the right was another large door and several hundred voices could be heard from within. "Welcome to Hogwarts" She greeted them.

"The start of term feast will begin shortly, but first you must be sorted into your houses. Now this is very important, while you're here your house will be your family. You will have classes with them, sleep in the house dormitory, and spend your free time in their common room."

"The four houses are Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Slytherin" Dalian noticed that she finished on a particularly sour note. "Each house has it's own noble history and has produced outstanding Witches and Wizards. While here your triumphs will earn you points, any rule breaking and you will lose them. At the end of the year the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup. I hope that each and every one of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

"The Ceremony will begin shortly I suggest you straighten up a bit." She sighed before pointed her wand and casting a few spells at the students who fell in the lake. "It happens every year." She muttered lowly.

"I shall return shortly, please wait quietly until then." She turned and walked out a side door.

Dalian raised any eyebrow. She could already tell that there was going to be problems between some of the students. And sure enough not even a minute later a fight broke out between Draco Malfoy and his goons with Alex and his lackeys. And yes Dalian did think of them as lackeys.

She shook her head solemnly. "I pity whoever ends up in their houses."

Blaise who had kept close to them, nodded in agreement. "I'm not looking forward to dealing with him for the next seven years. There's no way he won't be a Slytherin, if not then he'd probably go crying to daddy dearest."

A somewhat tall girl with pale blond hair and icy blue eyes approached the group. "You have my sympathies Zabini, I suppose we must all endure him together. I'm Daphne Greengrass."

"Dalian Disward." She smiled, Dalian could probably get along with her.

"And Fred said we'd have to fight a troll!" A red head a few feet away shouted.

"Really?" Daphne muttered somewhat sarcastically.

Neville on the other hand began to tremble at the mere thought. Dalian took a quick glance around the room and sighed. It seemed as though some of the students actually believed him. Hermione had started to whisper about all the spells that she'd learned and how she planned to use them.

Dalian huffed in annoyance before speaking up. "It's obvious they won't do that. First years fighting against a troll? Just what would they expect us to do? Throw our wands at it? We have not yet learned any spells."

"My father made sure I got the best tutors that money could buy. I wouldn't expect a mudblood could kill a troll." (Three guesses who said that.)

Before Dalian could respond, the attention shifted to several other students who had begun screaming in surprise. Really? Most of them come from magical families and ghosts surprise them? I would have thought them more common in the magical community. "New students!" The one dressed as a friar seemed to be particularly happy. "About to be sorted then? I hope to see you in Hufflepuff. It was my old house you know."

Dalian's mind on the other hand was whirling. If he went to a school for Wizardry then why is he a friar? To the best of my knowledge religious and magical parties have never really gotten along.

"We're ready now, come along." The stern voice broke through the crowd effectively shattering the mood.

"Now form a line and follow me." Professor McGonagall instructed. They quickly shifted into one long column, Dalian stood in between Neville and Hermione, with Blaise and the other girl behind them.

As they marched in Dalian eyes were immediately drawn to the ceiling. It was almost as if it was made of glass, stars and planets could be seen through the ceiling. But no Dalian quickly squashed that belief when she spotted the nigh invisible rafters.

"Ohhhh! I've read about this!" Hermione squealed and Dalian twitched. Is that her response for everything? "It's bewitched to look like the night sky outside! I've read about it in Hogwarts: A History."

"No? It's bewitched? I never would have guessed." Dalian muttered lowly. The other three shot her grins.

Her attention returned to the front of the room as Professor McGonagall pulled a three-legged stool to the front of the dais. On the stool she set an extremely old and ragged looking hat.

Dalian frowned. Now where have I seen that thing before?

So ummm, yeah Hi. . . Oh please don't kill me! I'm really sorry! I meant to have this out ages ago, but well I sort of overloaded myself for my first semester in college. First I would like to thank Fray100 for inspiring me then messaging me to get the chapter done. Thanks ;) Also you might have noticed but Neville doesn't have Trevor, my reasoning behind this is that his relatives are going to be slightly worse than they were in cannon. Honestly though, everyone talks about Harry's home life, but personally I'm shocked that no one talks about Neville's. Don't worry I've also got part of the next chapter done it will be a bit shorter, but it won't take months to get out. Thank you to everyone who's kept up with this story. It really means a lot to me. I hope this was worth the wait.