Tru woke up the next morning when someone purposefully bumped into her couch hard enough that she was knocked off onto the floor. She rolled over, confused and disoriented, expecting to bump into the wall of her old apartment – instead, she almost rolled into the dying fire.

She sat up and looked around. Draco was nearing the magical wall, laughing with some of his friends.

"Draco!" she shouted, slightly relieved.

He froze, didn't look around, his shoulders hunched like someone who is caught after stealing a midnight snack from the refrigerator. His friends continued on a few steps, then noticed he had fallen behind, and turned around. They didn't notice her, as she was mostly hidden behind the couch, and were instead looking at Draco's expression with wide eyes.

Very slowly, he turned to look at her. "Sod off, bitch," he said, just loud enough to carry over the slowly crowding common room.

Tru felt his hostility toward her like an icicle hammered through her heart and out the other side of her ribcage, slowly melting, but the whole always gaping. "I– But– But didn't that pomegranate we shared last night mean anything to you?"

A girl to his side raised her eyebrows and gazed at Tru icily. "What pomegranate?"

Draco said in a low voice, "Oh Merlin," and turned away from them all. "I'm hungry, I'm going to breakfast."

His friends eventually followed, rocks falling after the larger boulder in an avalanche, and the girl was the last to go, finally tearing her eyes away from Tru's face. The common room was silent again. Tru stood up slowly, and Chas crawled out from beneath a pile of blankets, looking worried.

"Well, I'm hungry, too," Tru said.

The dining hall was packed and noisy. Tru stood in the doorway uncertainly, looking for faces she knew. She saw Draco first, but he gave her a rather rude gesture. On the other side of the hall, she saw Ron's bright red hair, and decided to head over to them, her true friends.

"Er, hi," she said, holding Chas draped around her neck like one of those dead foxes that ladies of high class usually wear – except that Chas was moving and breathing and was also very hungry and eyeing a plate of bacon.

Numerous pairs of eyes turned toward her, her soft, bell-like voice seeming to demand attention, even though that wasn't her intention.

Hermione looked up first, scowled and turned back to her plate as though she was afraid her food would start walking off with quick, spider-like legs down the table.

Ron looked up next, eyes widening, and stared for a long time at her raven-dark hair, flowing down over her shoulders like a finely woven veil of raven feathers. He blushed and said, "Hullo, Tru," and only turned back to his food when Hermione accidentally spilled her grape juice on his lap. He jumped up and fell over backwards as his knees caught on the table's edge. "Bloody hell, Hermione!"

"Oops! here, let's go clean you up," Hermione said.

Harry was slightly delayed in responding to her greeting by the spectacle his friends put on, the clowns before the main act in a circus. But as Ron scurried away with both hands over the front of his pants and Hermione stormed after him, Harry turned around to see her. "Hi, Tru," he said.

"Er," Tru said, looking nervously after Hermione and Ron. "Will he be all right?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." She looked around and caught a few groups of people staring at her. "Er, can I sit here? I don't have anywhere else to go…"

"Oh, sure," Harry said, scooting aside so she could avoid the wet spot on the chair, like a blood stain in the side of a warrior who has just finished a battle, carrying home the head of his vanquished enemy.

The first thing Tru did was to put together a plate of bacon and eggs for Chas, who immediately started devouring her meaty offerings like a hungry gorilla.

Harry watched with a combination of fear and disgust, but he said, "So, er, did you sleep all right last night?" Tru looked over at him and he blushed.

"Yes, I did, thank you for asking."

"So, Malfoy didn't give you a hard time or anything?"

Tru blinked. "Draco? Oh no, no no no. He was very polite; he gave me a pomegranate."

"He– What?"

"He gave me a pomegranate," Tru said more slowly.

Before Harry could respond, there was a quiet cough from behind them. Tru realized that the whole hall had fallen silent. They both looked over their shoulders slowly.

Dumbledore stood behind them, smiling quietly, his blue eyes mirroring the vibrant blue of the sky above, the same blue as a jumper given by an aunt to a new baby boy. "Good morning, Tru."

"Good morning, sir," she said hesitantly, feeling her way through this surprising situation like a blind person trying to cross the street filled with silent cars and without the cheerful pip-pip of the signal.

"Would you come with me, please?"

Harry said quickly, "She didn't know that she wasn't supposed to sleep there, Professor; she's new here and so–"

Dumbledore laughed softly. "No, Harry, it's nothing like that." He turned to Tru, smiling the mysterious smile of a new grandfather. "Tru, come with me, won't you? This is private business."

She looked at Harry and they shrugged – innocent accomplices. She followed after him, running slightly – he walked quickly for such an old man.

As soon as they were out of the hall, Tru said, "Sir, what is it? What have I done? Am I really not magical after all? Do I have to go back to Canada?"

"Not at all, Tru," he said. "No, today we're going wand shopping!"

a/n: sorri that took sooo long 4 me to update, but im v busy. PLZ R&R!!!!!! I WILL LUV U 4EVER!!!!!!