"Hurry up, Sirius!" A short giggle left me as I ran off to the other side of the Black estate. Pitter patter, pitter patter, pitter patter. Sounds of shoes hitting the wooden floor with each step echoed around the house. Those same noises followed me, and out of the need to win the game, my legs began running faster. There was no way he'd catch up to me, not if I kept going like this-

Thud.

Warily my eyes looked up, widening as I noticed who it was I ran into. Bellatrix Black. With her unruly hair, cruel eyes and menacing voice, it'd be a surprise to discover that she was anyone's first choice for a conversation partner.

"I-I'm so sorry, Bella." Even to my own ears my voice sounded meek and I was left to look at the ground in embarrassment. That was something which always hit me when I saw the other girl; this feeling of fear mixed with a trace of respect. Despite her distasteful personality, I'd heard several compliments about her magical capacities. Could I ever be as powerful as her, if not more? That question always seemed to strike me when I heard people sing her praises.

My train of thought was broken a moment later when the footsteps of my best friend, or only friend to be precise, could be heard followed by a loud snigger. "Don't you underestimate me, Tristy! I caught up to you... Along with Trixy, it seems."

The girl in question glared down at us, her messy curls bouncing around as she looked in our direction. "Shut up!" Snarled Bellatrix, crossing her arms. "The two of you are in my way, and don't be so loud! We're discussing something important."

"Of course Bellatrix. I'm sorry!" I called out after her, as she pushed the two of us aside with her left forearm, huffing as she marched off towards the dining room.

"She's insufferable." Sirius sighed, shaking his head at himself before shrugging his shoulders. "Suppose she's got a point though, there's nothing to here. Let's go upstairs."

I nodded, following after him. "What do you think they're talking about?"

"Probably how much they hate muggles." He scoffed, raising his words to match the pitch of his mother. "Mudbloods in Hogwarts? Pish posh! Dumbledore must be losing his mind. They should be locked in a cage, Merlin knows what they're plotting! They'll sell us out to their ministry."

"She doesn't say stuff like that. Don't be so rude." Nonetheless, a giggle left me and I hastily covered up my mouth to hide my amusement. "But what do you think, Sirius? Lucius says Dumbledore's wrong for allowing them to study in Hogwarts. Something about how it should be kept between families who've got a clue about the wizarding ways. Most of these people haven't even heard of Hogwarts before they get their letters, he says."

The dark haired boy rolled his eyes at my words, walking up the stairs and leading me to his room. "That's preposterous! Do you believe him?"

I shrugged my shoulders at him, averting my eyes. "Maybe."

"Well I think it's silly," He responded firmly. "They're still wizards."

Sirius had a point, though it seemed ridiculous to argue at this point. As children we hardly paid much attention to any of this, yet at some point our opinions on the matter began to differ. Mine resembled those of our families whilst he was, as Walburga once mentioned, being led astray by the silly fantasies in his mind. After so many disputes about the matter, I decided to give up. If his parents were unable to change his mind then I wouldn't be able to either. Besides, I didn't want to sacrifice our friendship because of something which didn't concern us yet.

Though, I suspected those quarrels would arise more after a while. We had a little more than a year until we received our letters, then we'd be sorted into Slytherin. Everything sounded so planned out, as much as I would sometimes loathe it. It was strange, yet still thrilling in some way.

"Don't look so down." Sirius patted my shoulder as we walked into his room; the same place where we would always sit in whilst the 'grown-ups' talked downstairs. It'd been that way for the past nine years, though neither of us minded it by now. After all this time, there were so many things that hadn't changed. The bed was still messy, the teddy bear I'd bought him for his sixth birthday sat on the corner of the desk, the light was still somewhat dim, only one curtain was drawn back and his books were stacked in the bookshelf instead of being neatly placed. It'd annoyed me to no end the first few times that I had come up here, now it didn't bother me all too much. Funny how things grow on you after a while. Though I hadn't anticipated I could ever say that about Sirius Black so long ago.

The story of our friendship is quite typical; We initially didn't get along and even decided we had a distaste for one another, much to the dismay of our parents. But one day we ended up bonding over our mutual interest in dogs one day at a park near Grimmauld Place. Unusually, only the two of us were present that day. Maybe because it'd been dark, or because it'd been a snowy night in the middle of December. Regardless, an unlikely friendship blossomed – One I couldn't have been happier for.

"Anyway, Regulus was asking about you the other day." Sirius told me, kicking, what looked like, a soldier figurine under his bed.

At his words I raised an eyebrow, taking a seat on his bed. "What did he want?"

In response he let out a yap of laughter, picking up something from his dresser and handing it over to me. "He made you a card. Maybe he thought it was your birthday, though I reckon it's since he fancies you."

"Dear Tristana," I began to read out loud, ignoring Sirius' last few words and focussing on the scrawling on the page. "I hope you have a... What does this say?"

"A... Lovely yemonth." Sirius chuckled, leaning over my shoulder to read the card before taking a seat beside me. "I understand that he's seven, but you'd think the lad would understand the difference between a year and a month."

I pushed his shoulder playfully, a small laugh bubbling past my lips. "You prat! He tried."

"Whenever I try, you make fun of me." My friend joked, pouting slightly.

"No way!" I denied, shaking my head quickly. "I'd never do that to you."

"Your last birthday, I gave you a dead pigeon and you-"

"Sirius please, if you talk any longer then you'll figure it all out."

We continued bantering on for the next few minutes, forced to listen to Regulus' complaints whenever we laughed too much or when either of us would get shoved off the bed. Occasionally we could even hear Kreacher downstairs, which never failed to make Sirius cringe. Visiting the Blacks had never been an unwelcome opportunity, mainly since I'd get to see Sirius. As annoyingly cliché as it may sound, I could be myself around him without any fear of judgement. That was the beauty of true friendship, wasn't it? We could be our unfiltered selves around someone who wasn't ourselves. As the two of us grew up, we'd write more and more of the excitement we felt at the prospect of going to Hogwarts. Though now, the day had finally come.

My name is Tristana Malfoy. The younger sister of Lucius Malfoy, and the daughter of Gretchen and Abraxas Malfoy. My role model? Naturally it had to be my older brother. Despite his occasional demands, I knew he loved me. Whenever my parents refused to listen to me, he'd talk to them, attempting to defuse the situation and help me out. If I'd ever be in doubt about anything then he would help me clear it. He only wanted the best for me, that was clear to me, even if he struggled to express it. After he started attending Hogwarts, he'd try to teach me what he knew. Often boasting about his grades whilst doing so.

But no matter what he said or did, he reminded me that at the end of the day he was still my brother. He always would be. Nothing could nullify that.

"You'll be sorted in Slytherin," Lucius assured me, awkwardly patting my shoulder as we walked through the wall at platform nine and three-quarters. Although I had been suggesting otherwise a dozen times, he hadn't yet shown to be angered by my words. Behind us walked our mother, head high and heels clacking with a somewhat forlorn expression on her face. Whilst most people may have been fooled by her act, it was crystal clear that the whole thing was for show. Father had some business to attend to and was unable to make it, which made the whole ordeal slightly more bearable.

"But what if I'm not?" I questioned with a frown on my face. Lucius' lips curled somewhat, and I was unable to tell if he was trying to hide a laugh or not.

"Then you'll probably be sorted into Ravenclaw," He mentioned, though the hint of disgust in his tone was as clear as the sky is blue. "Don't worry about it. I have faith in you."

"Your brother's right," Prompted mother, placing a gentle yet somewhat stiff hand on my back. "You'll be sorted into Slytherin just like the rest of us. You're a Malfoy at the end of the day."

Just as I was about to respond to her words with another complaint, Lucius tapped my arm with a teasing smile playing on his lips. "I think Sirius is looking for you."

Mother let out a small sigh, now realising that her time for saying goodbye had been cut short. "You two be good now." Wrapping her arms around us tightly, she pecked the two of our cheeks and released us. Despite the sorrowful look in her eyes, her lips were raised. "Keep an eye on her, Lucius. Make sure she stays out of trouble. And keep me updated on everything. I'll miss the two of you so much."

"Mum," I whined, rolling my eyes. "I'll be fine." But the look in her eyes when she glanced at me told me everything that I needed to know. Suddenly, I realised that she had simply said those things for pleasantries. Lucius was more of a priority than I was, how could I forget?

Ever the unsuspecting son, the boy nodded, a thoughtful look on his countenance. "Don't worry. Tristana, you go on ahead with Sirius. I need to talk to my mother about something."

It was always like that. How foolish of me to think that perhaps for once, I would have been able to listen in. That I would have been able to throw in my two cents and be included. But in this family, I was the baby. Which meant that everything happened regardless of my opinion. Bellatrix would often joke about it, though maybe she didn't mean to be so malicious. Lucius told me I was too young, that I'd be included after the affairs of our world weren't so foreign to me. A part of me knew he'd been saying that to make me feel better.

"Tristy!" Sirius beamed as soon as he saw me, tugging on my arm to grab my attention. When I turned to him, any of the bitterness towards my mother washed away. In an instant, I threw my arms around him.

"Merlin's beard, it feels like I haven't seen you since... Well, forever!" I rushed out, pulling away to poke his arm. "How's your summer been?"

The boy shrugged his shoulders at me, pushing my trolley for me. I assumed that he had already taken care of his luggage, which would've made sense seeing as none of his family were here. "The usual. Yours?"

A sigh left me and, just like him, I shrugged my shoulders in response. "Could've been better. I'm surprised I didn't get to see you this summer."

"Yeah," Sirius ran a hand through his hair, averting his eyes for a moment before looking back at me. "Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it." Judging from his expression, it'd be better if I refrained from talking about it. We walked into the train, quickly beginning looking for an empty compartment to sit in. "So, how are you feeling about today? With the sorting ceremony and all."

"I'm praying that I'm not sorted into Slytherin." He grumbled coarsely, pushing open the door of an empty compartment. My eyes widened in shock as I heard his words. Did I hear that right?

Blinking my eyes at his words, I shook my head, trying to ward away my thoughts as I sat across him. "Good joke." I added with a chuckle, deciding to humour him.

"I wasn't joking."

"Oh." I pursed my lips, looking out of the window. "What do you think your family would say about that?"

"Tristy, I know you mean well and all..." Sirius sighed, grumbling something inaudibly under his breath. "But quite frankly, I don't really care all too much."

Biting the side of my cheek, I stifled a sharp response back at him. Getting into an argument with my only friend before the adventure we'd always been dreaming of was hardly going to be a good idea. A few moments passed before he let out a loud sigh, leaning his head against the window. If he wanted to apologise then he hadn't exactly made it clear, though the boy was rather stubborn so I doubted he'd go as far as to do that. As soon as I opened my mouth to change the topic, the rustle of the compartment door opening forced me to shut my mouth again.

A raven haired boy peered in, eyes flickering intently between me and Sirius before slowly beginning to speak. "'Scuse me, you mind if I sit here? It's practically impossible to find an empty compartment at this point and to be honest, I'm not precisely eager to be walking up and down the train."

Sirius glanced at me, nodding slowly as he turned his attention back towards the boy. "We don't mind. But if you're a git then I'm tossing you out."

"Scary." He grinned, flashing his teeth as he took a seat beside Sirius. "I'm James. Who are you?"

"Sirius," Introduced my best friend before nodding in my direction. "Blondie there is Tristana."

James wrinkled his nose at me and for a moment I thought he might've disliked me from the get go. "That's a strange name." Was I supposed to be grateful for that? At least it seemed as though he didn't have anything against me.

"Thanks," I chuckled, scratching my arm. "I hate it."

"Come on, it's not that bad." Sirius assured, offering me a small smile but I shook my head, refusing to say anything else about it.

"What house do you reckon you'll be sorted in?" Asked James, quickly changing the subject which I couldn't have been more grateful for.

Sirius didn't even bother acting as if he had to think about it. With a toothy grin, he confidently announced, "Anything but Slytherin, really. Though I reckon I'll get sorted into Gryffindor."

"Really?" James' dark eyes lit up at that, he straightened up as he faced the other boy. "I do too. What about you Tristana?"

"Just call me Tristy," Would they hate me if I was honest? Lucius always told me that Gryffindor was the worst house to be sorted into. I only hoped my fate didn't lie there, otherwise I'm not sure how I'd be able to face anyone in my family. "I... Don't know." I lied, looking down at my lap.

An awkward silence swept over the room. It hadn't been until several minutes passed and another dark haired boy hastily opened the compartment door and fell in that it broke. The three of us exchanged a look, visibly shoving down the urge to burst into laughter. "What're you doing?" My voice was filled with wonder as I stared at the boy curiously.

"Sorry," He mumbled, brushing his robes off with his hands as he stood up. "Can I sit with you all? I just rushed into the first compartment since I ended up with some people who weren't exactly... Pleasant."

I raised an eyebrow. "What exactly did they say to you?"

"I don't think they took kindly to half-bloods. They were mocking me for my blood status." The boy told me, sitting down next to me since no one had raised any objections. A sense of unease washed over me. A half-blood?

If Lucius saw me now, he'd be disappointed.

"It's fine, Tristy." Sirius whispered, noticing the expression on my face and I gave him a thin-lipped smile in appreciation. It wasn't really fine. My mind seemed to race with a million thoughts, though I decided to trust my friend's judgement for the time being. Unless there were any qualms about the other boy, then there was nothing to be concerned about. "I'm Sirius," He informed, introducing the rest of us who nodded with a grin at him.

"Remus." Stated our companion, who returned our grins. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

The rest of the train journey was a blur. Between sharing the sweets we'd bought, numerous jokes, stories of growing up and the expectations we held, time escaped us. Then, Hogwarts in all of its glory came into view. All of Lucius' recounts paled in comparison to the actual thing and my eyes must've held the wild fascination I felt. This was the start of my life at Hogwarts.