"Liliana!" I heard my mum yell from the bottom of the stairs for the third time that morning. "We have to go or else you're going to miss the train!"

I quickly gathered all of my things and folded up the copy of the Daily Prophet that I had been reading and left my room. I had received the paper a couple of days ago, but I had been so busy that I hadn't gotten a chance to read it until then. The cover was plastered with the mug shot of a wild looking wizard called Sirius Black who had broken out of Azkaban, something that had never been done before. There was something about the man that I found interesting and I made a mental note to ask Daphne more about him once we were on the train.

"What were you doing up there?" Mum asked with an amused smile as I followed her out to the car to pack my trunk in.

"Sorry, I got distracted by the Daily Prophet. A wizard broke out of Azkaban and apparently he's a vicious murdered."

"Sounds cheerful." Mum laughed. "Got everything? Athena?"

I nodded and pointed at the cage with my gorgeous barn owl, Athena, sat on top of the car. Mum had bought her for me as a late birthday gift when we went to Diagon Alley to get all of my books and supplies. "Got everything."

"Good." Mum got into the car and I went around the other side and got into the passenger seat. "Tell me about this man who escaped."

"It says that he murdered thirteen people twelve years ago and that he is the first person ever to break out of Azkaban." I told her, opening up the newspaper again and looking at the moving mugshot once more. "His name is Sirius Black."

Mum practically slammed on the breaks when I said his name and a look of shock came across her face. "Can I see that?" She asked when we stopped at a red light.

I handed her the paper and watched her eyes go wide for a moment before she collected herself and gave the paper back. "Are you alright mum?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, I'm fine. He looks like a crazy man, hopefully they catch him quickly."

The rest of the ride was surprisingly silent until we reached King's Cross. Mum helped me get everything out of the car and walked with me onto Platform 9 ¾. Once all of my things were stored on the train I turned to mum and she gave me an extremely tight hug.

"Be careful, alright?"

"Mum, nothing bad is going to happen this year. The Chamber has been closed and there's nothing that can hurt me." I assured her.

She pulled away and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear with a soft smile. "I know, I just worry about you."

The train whistle sounded, and I pulled my mum in for another hug. "Bye mum, love you."

"I love you too, Ana."

I gave her one last wave as I boarded the train and quickly walked down the aisles to find the carriage that my friends were in. I spotted Pansy sat with Theo and quickly gave the girl a hug before sitting down. I had heard more from both of the Slytherins over the summer than I had the year before. I almost didn't recognize Theo as I sat across from him because of how much he had changed over the summer.

"Look at you, Nott." I smirked at him. "Not so weird and lanky anymore."

Nott had filled out his already tall frame and he didn't seem so weirdly proportioned anymore. It was clear even from him sitting down that he had grown taller, but he had also filled out a bit more. His fair was a little longer and his features seemed to be more defined that they had been in the past, all things that I knew would make the girls start to swoon over him.

"I could say similar about you, Taylor." Nott smirked back, looking me up and down.

I had let my hair grow over the summer, my black, curly hair had been tamed just slightly because of the length and it suited me much better than it had the past few years. I had gained a bit of weight, but in a way that made me look healthy and fit, rather than sickly. I didn't think I had changed all that much, I definitely hadn't grown at all, but I didn't think I would grow anymore anyways, but apparently the changes that happened over the summer were much more noticeable to Nott than they were to me.

"Ana!" Daphne exclaimed as she entered the compartment. "You look lovely, my goodness."

"So you do! Look at your hair!" Daphne had done the same as me and grown her hair out, leaving her with long, flowing blonde hair. She had definitely grown over the summer and she seemed to have lost some weight as well, leaving her with high cheek bones and a perfectly structured jaw.

Daphne quickly sat down beside me after giving me a quick hug, taking the seat beside the window that I had left open and the doorway was quickly occupied by Crabbe and Goyle who seemed to have only gained more weight over the summer, no doubt from them just gorging themselves on sweets the whole time. Following them in was the other blond of the group, Draco. My breath nearly caught in my throat when I saw my friend, a boy who I had only ever seem with jelled back hair and weirdly pointed features. He was now standing in front of me with his fringe hanging loosely in front of his face, no jell in it whatsoever, and who stood almost a head taller than he had when I saw him last. The most striking thing about him was his facial features, still very sharp and pointed, but it seemed to actually fit his face properly and made him look rather handsome.

Daphne, who seemed to notice my staring, nudged me in the side to get my attention. I felt my face grow hot and heard my friend let out a little giggle at my expense. Draco, noticing that Crabbe and Goyle had filled up the rest of the bench Pansy and Theo had been sat on, sat down beside me with a quick glance in my direction.

"I wonder what train wreck the school has in store for us this year." Draco grumbled.

"Draco, we have barely left the station and you're already complaining about Hogwarts." Daphne shook her head at his with a fond smile. "Give it a rest mate."

Draco did his best to hide his smile, but I caught the corners of his mouth twitch upwards at Daph's scolding. "My apologies, Daphne."

"Thank you." She nodded her head at him with a faux serious look before letting out a little giggle. "Now, I'm sure everyone had an exciting summer, but can we please talk about how Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban?"

"Mum reckons he must have found out a way to kill the guards and the dementors in order to get out." Pansy leaned forward with a very serious expression on her face.

Theo scoffed. "Pans, I don't think you can kill a dementor."

"Well that's what my mum was saying!"

"The man has been in there for twelve years, he had to have figured out some trick to get past both the guards and the dementors." Daphne chimed in, tossing her hair over her shoulder with a flick of her wrist. "Raging lunatic, he is."

"I'm surprised he did it alone. I would've thought he would try and break out Bellatrix as well." Theo nodded at Draco who shrugged and looked bored with the conversation.

"He was removed from the family, I don't think dear Auntie Bella would go with him even if he offered."

I glanced over at Pansy with a raised eyebrow. She quickly mouthed the word 'later' before turning her attention back to the rest of the group. She quickly pulled Pansy into some conversation about a Witch Weekly article she had read over the summer and Theo was distracted by Crabbe and Goyle telling him a story about only Merlin knew what.

"How was your summer, Draco?" I turned to the blond boy and gave him a smile. I had exchanged many letters with him over the summer, but I didn't know if anything had happened between the time I had spoke to his last and then.

"It was fine. The weather was rubbish when we went to one of our houses in France, so we had to stay inside the whole time, but it was alright." He shifted slightly in his seat so he was facing me more. "How's Athena."

"She's brilliant." I beamed. "I was so happy when mum let me get her, she spent the whole time leading up to coming here in my room and she is extremely sweet."

Draco smiled slightly at my enthusiasm. "I was shocked when you were the one to send me a letter first and an owl I had never seen before was pecking at my window. She kept biting at my ear and wouldn't get off my shoulder when she finally settled down a bit after riling up my own owl by flying around the room rapidly."

I let out a soft laugh. "That just means she likes you, Draco."

"Well maybe she could show her affection in a way that's a little less painful." He smirked, and a small laugh slipped past his lips. "Between your bloody bird and that stupid textbook we have for Care of Magical Creatures, my room was nearly torn to shreds."

Our conversation was cut short when the train suddenly lurched to a stop. "What's going on?" I asked right away. Draco stood up and poked his head out of the compartment to try and see what was going on but sat back down when he couldn't see anything.

All of a sudden, all of the lights on the train went out, plummeting us into darkness. The train lurched forward another time and I instinctively reached beside me and grabbed onto Draco's arm. Only a moment later it felt as though the temperature in the compartment dropped drastically, leaving us all able to see our own breaths. I could see a dark shadow moving outside of the compartment and the hold I had on Draco's arm tightened. It took about ten minutes for the lights to come back on and the train to start moving once again. Realizing I was still holding on to Draco's arm, I quickly let go and avoided looking at him. I excused myself from the compartment and made my way down the train towards the toilets.

On the way back, I spotted Ron and Hermione sat with Harry in a compartment. I opened the door and looked at Harry who was extremely pale and looked sickly. "What happened to you?"

"He fainted. The dementor that came on the train seemed to attack him or something." Hermione explained.

"Oh. Well, I hope you feel better." With that, I left the three Gryffindors and made my way back to my compartment. I took my seat between Draco and Daphne again and told my friends that it was a dementor that was on the train and what happened to Harry.

Draco and Theo kept making jokes about Harry fainting the rest of the way to Hogwarts and continued on until we were sat in the Great Hall. As luck would have it, Harry ended up sitting close enough to us that Draco and Theo were able to mock him for passing out, earning a glare directed at me from both Ron and Harry.

"I don't understand why the dementors are at the school." Draco drawled as we made our way to the Common Room once the feast had ended. "Do they really expect Black to come to Hogwarts?"

"You never know, he is a raging lunatic." Daphne pointed out. "Now, Ana and I are going to bed so we don't have to deal with you lot any longer."

I let the blonde girl pull me into our dormitory and sat down on my bed with me. "Daphne?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange, she's Draco's aunt and she is imprisoned in Azkaban for being a supporter of the Dark Lord. Sirius Black, the one who broke out, is cousins with Bellatrix and Narcissa, Draco's mother, but he was disowned by his mother after he refused to follow along with his family's rules about blood status."

"So, Sirius Black is Draco's… Cousin?"

"Technically." Daphne corrected. "In the Wizarding World, things are a little different than what they might be from the Muggle world. When a person is disowned, while they still contain some of the genetics and surname of their family, they are no longer considered to be genuinely part of the family. So, if you were to ask Draco's mother about him, she would say she has no relation to the man. It's like they are completely removed from the family all together and, despite being raised in it, are no longer part of it."

It took me a moment to process everything Daphne was saying to me, but I eventually understood. "Why is that?"

"Magical families don't want their bloodline tainted by blood-traitors, so it's just easier to remove that person from the family all together than to have that shame hanging over them. Once they are gone, that person can do whatever they please and it won't impact their family bloodline."

"Is blood purity really that important to all wizarding families?" I couldn't believe that some families would completely remove their own children from their bloodline just to keep it completely pure.

"Not all, just majority of Pureblood families." Daphne informed me. "Now that you're all caught up, I really am tired, and I fancy getting to bed early tonight."

Daphne hopped off my bed and made her way towards the bathroom to get herself ready for bed, leaving me to fully process all of the information she just unloaded on me. If Draco's aunt had been a big supported of You-Know-Who, did that mean all of Draco's family had been? I knew that Draco's family were big on blood purity, and that Draco himself believed in it, but was it to the point where he would support such a crazy man? I didn't think that Draco could be capable of the hate that I had come to learn the Dark Lord had possessed, and I just hoped that I was right.