Hey everyone! This is my second fanfiction on this website. This story will be updated every week (or more, if I have time, but definitely not less). This story isn't canon-based, so there might be some changes. For example, Lydia Black is a completely original character, and kind of takes Pansy Parkinson's place. But most events are based off the 5th book. Feel free to leave me a review (make sure you're not anonymous if you want to ask a question). Questions that are anonymous will probably be deleted since I cannot answer them.

Enjoy the story :)

P.S. Drarry is kind of hinted in this story, but will not be an official thing.

***I do not own Harry Potter***

Chapter 1

Lydia Black sighed in relief when she saw her best friend, a pale, grey-eyed boy, sitting in an almost empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express. She smiled to herself and walked quickly to the compartment. Lydia had wavy brown hair and dark eyes, and she was quite tiny for her age. Lydia was always sleek and neatly dressed, and always wore a charm bracelet on her left wrist. She was quite hard-working and mostly quiet, even though she can appear very confident and bold sometimes. She was always tired, worried and stressed, but she simply hid all of that with a smile.

Lydia slid open the compartment door and beamed.

"Lydia! I thought you got lost," Draco Malfoy quickly stood up to help Lydia with her luggage. She laughed.

"I actually did," Lydia said. "and almost had a panic attack." She closed the compartment door behind her and gave her best friend a quick hug. Crabbe and Goyle glared at her with their gorilla-like look.

"Hello, Crabbe... Goyle," she gave them a weak smile. "doing good, Draco?"

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, my summers are never good, but I'm with you lot now." Draco examined his friend from head to toe, making sure she hasn't been hurt. "What about you?"

"Me?" Lydia looked taken back. "I'm good too. Looking forward to our O.W.L.-"

"I heard horrible things, Lyd." Draco cut her, looking concerned. Lydia raised her eyebrows. "I heard about the plan. The Death Eaters are planning to retrieve the- prophecy thing by using Potter. It's at the Ministry of magic isn't it, the prophecy?" Draco asked. Lydia remained quiet. "I heard from my father that you-... you're not joining them, aren't you?"

"Lower your voice, Draco." Lydia looked around anxiously, before pulling out her wand and whispered, "Muffliato!"

"Lydia, please tell me you're not. It's already dangerous for them. And they're adults, and you're new and young," he looked at his friend with a pleading expression. Lydia didn't dare look at him. It hurt her that he always had to check up on her. He was her best friend, not her babysitter.

"You know I don't have a choice." Lydia pictured her father's reaction if she'd said no to the plan. He would probably lock her up in her room until she would change her mind. Her mother would most definitely slap her and yell at her. After all, that was her favourite thing to do whenever Lydia was around. Her parents were both Death Eaters and she'd grown up with the Dark Arts and her parent's cruelty.

"You- you already tried saying no, haven't you?" Draco asked. Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other and Lydia gulped,

"Yes. I-I asked- The Dark Lord, himself. I told him I was not worth joining them, but he knew. He could read my mind, Draco. He knew I was very skilled. He was furious that my father didn't return to the graveyard with the others, so he threatened to kill my family if I didn't agree to the plan..." Lydia whispered. The four Slytherins had one thing in common; their lives were ruined by the same evil wizard. They all knew it was never a good idea to upset him. Draco struggled to find something reassuring to tell her, but found himself stuttering. "It's fine, Draco. You know why they chose me. I'm gifted in the Dark Arts, even you can't deny that. I'm going to be fine, though. There's really nothing horrible about it."

"The plan... the prophecy... you would be willing to hurt Potter and his friends?" Draco asked,

"I guess... But- but we hate them, remember?" Lydia reminded him, "Potter won't die; the Dark Lord wants to kill him himself. And his friends- well... they should've realised it was a mistake befriending Harry Potter in the first place." she thought about the know-it-all Granger girl, and the dumb Weasley. Her heart broke silently at the thought of hurting them. Lydia didn't like Harry and his friends, but she knew they cared for each other dearly... is she that cold-hearted? Is she willing to hurt them, or even kill them?

"Lyd," Draco said, quietly, but Lydia stopped him.

"It's my choice, Draco... Well, I guess I don't really have a choice, but I have to do it, even if I don't want to... which I do. My family will be rewarded." Lydia said this in so much confidence, but inside, she was scared and broken. She was so scared Voldemort would hurt her family, that she was willing to do anything for him. "Lets just worry about school for now, OK?" she said quietly. All of them fell silent, as the train took off. Students leaned out of their windows and waved good bye to their parents. Lydia looked out the window and saw proud looking parents waving at their kids. She felt a painful rush of jealousy.

"Came by yourself?" Goyle asked her in his ridiculously deep voice.

"Not this time. I Flooed to Greengrass's house and they drove me here in their muggle car." Lydia said. The three boys grunted. They were taught to not like muggles, muggle supporters or muggle-borns.

"Those blood traitors." Crabbe growled, "Never liked 'em. The father's obsessed with muggles."

"I dunno, they're pretty nice." Lydia shrugged. "Daphne and Astoria are cool."

"They hangout with that Mudblood Ravenclaw." Draco said, rolling his eyes. Lydia ignored this and said,

"Speaking of Muggle-Borns-"

"Mudbloods. No one's watching us, Lydia. Why is it so hard to say?" Draco frowned.

"No need to use that tone, you know." Lydia shot back, "I don't like them too, and you know that. But that word is just straight up cruel." she waited for him to argue, but he didn't. "Speaking of Muggle-borns, Granger just asked my little cousin to join her elf society thing."

"Granger?" Draco smirked.

"Yeah. I was saying hi to Ben and she sold him a badge that said SPANK, or something. She wants to free all the house-elves at Hogwarts."

"That's not a surprise. Just dirt supporting dirt." Draco said, and Crabbe and Goyle burst out laughing, but Lydia didn't say anything. As much as she disliked Potter and his friends, she was never able to make offensive jokes about them or their blood status. It just felt wrong.

Just then, their compartment door slid open, and two tall, lanky, redhead boys poked their heads in. They were the Weasley twins. One of them in particular, caught Lydia's attention and she felt her hands go cold. He was holding a large box in his arms and wore a look on his face that made Lydia blush.

"Seen Benjamin Black anywhere?" the other one asked, without greeting them. He had shorter hair, and had a shorter face.

Crabbe and Goyle's eyes narrowed. Draco looked at Lydia and she shrugged.

"Probably somewhere at the end of the train." she knew exactly where Benjamin was, but didn't want to sound helpful, since she knew Draco disliked the Weasleys. The one with shorter hair stared at her.

"Who are you?" he asked, clearly not knowing Benjamin was Lydia's cousin.

"Lydia. Lydia Black." she answered. The Weasley twins looked at each other with a weird look on their face. 'Black?' they mouthed to each other and looked back at Lydia.

"Yeah, yeah, Sirius Black's my uncle, what're you gonna do about it?" Lydia snapped, expecting them to say something offensive. But the twins just stood there, and a smirk spread across their faces.

"Huh... she's scary." the one that caught Lydia's attention teased, unbothered by the Sirius Black statement. Lydia turned red. She didn't mean to sound cocky, she was just used to people being disgusted by the fact that Sirius Black was related to her.

"Shut up and leave, Weasley. You got what you wanted." Draco growled.

"Look, Fred, It's the boy who got turned into an ickle lil ferret." The one holding the box said. He was apparently George Weasley. Draco's face turned light pink. Their arrival was so unexpected, Draco struggled to find something to say back.

"Aw, don't say that, he's still a lil ferret, George." Fred sneered, "You better watch out, Black." he turned to Lydia. "Or you might get him mixed up with one of your stuffed animals."

"You-" Draco reached for his wand, but Lydia already got hers out and stood up, pointing her wand at them. The twins stepped back.

"Woah, OK, you've got nerves, Black." Fred put his hands up jokingly. Lydia rolled her eyes and stepped closer to them.

"You know what I don't got?" she said, calmly. "Patience. So please walk away before I hex you." she knew Draco was sensitive about being called a ferret, so being the protective friend she is, she tried to look as intimidating as possible. Fred shrugged and said,

"Whatever you say, Black. Quick tip, you would be more fanciable without that attitude of yours." Draco lunged forward, but Lydia pulled him back. The twins grinned at each other and walked away without closing the door. Draco shut it angrily and slumped down.

"Jerks." he muttered, "Both of them. Don't listen to them, Lyd."

"It's OK, I don't care." Lydia said, truthfully. "Are you good?"

"Yeah... Whatever, I don't really care too." Draco was still pink in the face, but managed to calm himself down. But Lydia's mind was already on something else. She replayed every sentence George Weasley had said to her in her head again and again, with no apparent reason.

The whole train ride was quiet, and Draco made comments about the view every once in a while. Crabbe and Goyle feasted on a pile of chocolate frogs, and Lydia drew in her leather sketchbook. However, she found herself going back to the same thought. George Weasley. Fred and George were 2 years older than her, so she'd seen him here and there in the castle, but she was never interested in them. She couldn't even tell them apart. But now, she just couldn't stop thinking about George Weasley.

...

The first week was already stressing for Lydia. She had received a letter from her father telling her to try and find Harry Potter's weakness. He said the Dark Lord was trying, but he still wanted her to keep an eye on him as much as possible. Not only that, but the 5th years had every professor reminding them about their O.W.L. exams everyday. They also had a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Umbridge, who annoyed Lydia a lot. Draco kept sneering at Harry Potter whenever they walked pass him and his friends. Harry was more unhappy and easily bothered than usual.

"Give him a break, Draco." Lydia told him, when they were studying in the Slytherin common room. Draco's face was bright emerald because of the light from the Great Lake. "He saw Diggory die, and he probably blames himself for his death. He also saw the Dark Lord return and no one believed him, which is quite amusing to me, but that must be real hard, don't you think?. Don't look at me like that, I don't like him as much as you do. But learn to respect, Draco."

"OK, whatever." Draco muttered, and didn't say anything further.

"Do you need help with that essay?" Lydia asked him, eyeing his empty piece of parchment. Draco's expression lightened.

"Yes, please... Thanks, Lydia." He smiled gratefully.

"No problem. Don't expect me to write the whole thing, though." She started the first paragraph for him with an impressive imitation of his handwriting. Draco spotted a neatly written letter on Lydia's lap.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing to the letter. Lydia picked it up and let him read it. She wasn't that type of person who would answer 'nothing,' when someone asks her something. She knew that it was annoying and unnecessary. Draco read through the letter as Lydia wrote his essay.

"This is ridiculous," Draco finally said, handing her back the letter. "It's only been a week, and the plan's not happening until the end of the school year. I'll keep an eye on Potter for you if you'd like."

"Not for me. I don't want to spy on Potter!" Lydia said, slightly disturbed.

"Yeah, I know, I know... I understand. I always do." Draco said, softly. Lydia smiled.

"Thanks, Draco. I appreciate it. Although... I really don't think it's necessary to spy on Potter. I think you and I already know what his weakness is." Lydia said, matter-of-factly. Draco looked confused.

"What is it?" he asked. Lydia smiled and said,

"Love."

Draco flinched and gagged. Lydia laughed and shook her head. "It's not necessarily a bad thing, though. The question is... who does Potter love?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Draco frowned slightly. "Weasley and Granger. If there's anyone Potter would love, it's them. I heard he hates his muggle family, so it's definitely not them."

"That's true, but the plan, Draco. We can't just kidnap Weasley and Granger." Lydia said.

"Hmm..." Draco and Lydia thought about it carefully. Draco had an idea and said, "What if-"

"No." Lydia suddenly said, firmly.

"What?"

"We're not talking about this. We're not- I'm not like this. I hate the plan, and the thought of us actually planning it frightens me." she shivered slightly, but Draco understood. He, too, felt slightly uncomfortable with the conversation.

"I understand," Draco whispered, "For now, just do your work... my work... whatever." Lydia let out a snort.

"Your work." she said, "This is all your work. I just happen to be writing on it." Draco grinned and said,

"Thanks, again."

"It's all good." Lydia smiled. "Speaking of... I've been wanted to ask you for a while."
"OK, go ahead,"

"I'm pretty obsessed with school work, right?" she started, "And I read a lot and stuff. So why do you hate Granger for being a know-it-all but not me?" it was an easy question. Draco had asked himself this before, too.

"Well, notice how you've never raised your hand up when the professor asks us something, even though you knew perfectly what the answers were. And I think that's pretty badass." he grinned. Lydia couldn't help but smile a little too.

"Thanks,"

"No problem. Wait, what are you thanking me for?"

"For being my friend. And for letting me write your essays. Thanks, Draco."

"No problem."

It was a rainy Wednesday, and Lydia just so happens to have Herbology in the greenhouse. She was day dreaming half the class, mostly because she couldn't hear anything Professor Sprout said over of the rain. Draco was having Potions, and Daphne, her only girl friend, was having Charms. When class was dismissed, the rain was almost gone, but the wind was still crazy. Pools of muddy puddles were formed all over the paths. Lydia walked carefully, trying not to get her school robes dirty, so she didn't have to change before dinner. Just as she was half way through, she suddenly tripped on a rock and fell, head first, into a mini pond.

"AHHHHH-" she was lying on the wet grass, drenched in muddy water. "What in Salazar's name!" Lydia tried to stand up, but slipped and fell for the second time. The wind and the puddles seemed to be taunting her. Lydia growled annoyingly.

"Woah, having a little swim?" said a voice from behind her. Lydia's head shot back, and it was no other than George Weasley. He was alone, without Fred, or any other friends. His hair was damp from the rain, and his robes were muddy. He obviously just had Care of Magical Creatures.

"Yep. So refreshing," Lydia replied, sarcastically. George laughed and watched her struggle to stand up several times. "What a gentleman, George Weasley."

"Oh, sorry, I was enjoying myself." He rushed forward and pulled her up by the arm.

"You mean you were enjoying me." Lydia said, while picking up her bag. George raised his eyebrows and smiled a little. Lydia turned pink and quickly said, "You know what I mean, like, you didn't fall down-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," George chuckled and helped her pick up her things. "Do you want me to do a drying spell?"

"Yes, please, It's getting windy and I'm freezing." Lydia shivered slightly.

"OK, stand still," George ordered. Lydia stood still and closed her eyes, expecting a gush of warm wind, but instead, was hit by a wave of water. Now, she was wet from head to toe. Lydia gasped in shock and looked at the laughing George. "What. The. Hell." George laughed even harder. Lydia stood still, still shocked from the cold water.

"I-I c-c-couldn't help it!" George laughed, and Lydia glared at him.

"Dry me, Weasley!" she said, and when George finally stopped laughing, he properly dried her. Lydia sighed in relief.

"Thank you," she said, "for drenching me in cold water in the middle of a wind storm."

"No problem." George smiled. The wind was getting stronger and stronger. "Let's get to the castle,"

"I can go by myself, thanks." Lydia said, and managed not to slap herself for that. George looked up at the slippery path ahead of them and offered her a hand.

"Don't think you can make it past that. And we're going in the same way already, so we might as well just go together." he waited for her to except his hand. Lydia looked at it suspiciously before taking it. George lead her to the castle, just in time, before it started raining again.

"Are you heading for dinner?" George asked Lydia.

"Yeah, I am. Why?" she asked,

"Because I'm going to walk you there, since we're both going to dinner. I'm not taking no as an answer," he smiled, "I haven't introduced myself yet, haven't I?" he said, when they finally arrived in the hallway.

"I know who you are." Lydia said. "Hell, I can tell you and Fred apart." she blurted out. George raised his eyebrows.

"Really? That's really rare to find in someone. Let's just ignore that then," he winked, "I'm George Weasley. And you are?"

"Lydia Black." Lydia played along, "Nice to meet you," she gave him a dramatic curtsy and George chuckled.

"So," George said, "You're not so mean, after all." he gave her a nudge. Lydia felt her face go hot.

"Not really, no. I'm just an overprotective friend, and your brother was being an asshole to Draco." Lydia shrugged. George grinned and said,

"Brilliant. So you don't hate me?"

"No, I don't." Lydia said, truthfully. "No one hates you, Weasley. If you haven't noticed, the whole school praises you and your brother. You guys are literally what's keeping us laughing while the toad woman takes over. Well... when you're not aguamenti-ing other people." George blushed slightly. He was not used to receiving compliments.

"Thanks," George said. "You haver nice hair." he accidentally blurted out. Lydia's hair was knotted in the messiest bun. She laughed at his attempt to compliment her.

"Thank you." she smiled. They walked together for a few more minutes, and arrived at the Great Hall. There were still a lot of people eating dinner.

"Hey, Georgie, over here!" Fred called, from the Gryffindor table. He was sitting next to Harry and Ron, who both looked upset about something.

"It was nice meeting you, Lydia." George said, with a grin. Lydia gave him a 'are you serious?' look.

"It would be nicer without all that water." she said, and George laughed again. "But other than that, it was nice meeting you."

"Sure, but don't expect me to just not ever do it again." he smirked. Lydia rolled her eyes. "Good night, Lydia."

"Good night, George." she smiled at him one last time, and walked to the Slytherin table. Draco was waiting for her. His mouth was slightly open. Crabbe and Goyle were also staring at her. Lydia, on the other hand, was smiling.

"Hello, boys," she said

"Why were you with George Weasley?" Draco asked, looking at her unbelievably. Lydia motioned for him to scoot over, and she sat herself beside him.

"Long story." she said, but Draco was shaking his head.

"Oh, I have time," he wasn't going to stop.

"Fine, well..." Lydia piled some pasta on her platter. "I fell, he laughed at me, and he told me he was going to dry me, but drenched me in water again, but then he actually dried me."

"What?" Draco looked overly confused. Lydia giggled at his scrunched up face.

"That's literally what happened." she popped a potato chip in her mouth. "Pass me the garlic bread, will you?"

"That can't be what happened-"

"And then, he walked me to the castle." Lydia said. She reached out for the basket of garlic bread but failed. "garlic bread, please,"

"OK, but why-"

"Garlic bread,"