PART ONE

CHAPTER FIVE: CANDLE

Sorry for the really late update!

Reviews:

BabaLooWho: yeah, I agree; Snape and her kind of have the same personality, and she and Sirius both have awful parents

Word count: 1,220

ONTO THE NEXT CHAPTER!

Hestia Jones was terrified.

A part of her wanted to run back to her mum instead of boarding the Hogwarts Express, run back to her warm hugs and warmer smiles. She was already feeling cold, literally; goosebumps prickled at her arms.

Or maybe she was just anxious. Yeah, that made more sense.

But instead of following her gut, she just turned around and gave her mother the brightest, most excited smile she could muster. It wasn't hard at all; she really was excited to go to Hogwarts. She was just scared, too.

But she swallowed her fears. She was eleven, now, and turning twelve soon; she had to be strong.

(She always had to be strong, but now, she had to be exceptionally strong.)

And so, she started forward, walking away from comfort and into the unknown.

Hestia was torn between her natural instinct as an extrovert to go and talk with everyone and her insecurities that held her back. She paused in front of so many compartments, just about to knock, until she heard laughter. People were talking with their friends in there. She didn't want to intrude. Eventually, though, she didn't have a compartment, and the train had started moving, so she resolved to ignore that little voice in her head and just go to the next compartment; luckily for her, she was now at a compartment that was almost empty except for one girl, who was looking out the window.

Hestia took a deep breath, steeled her nerves, and opened the door.

She immediately regretted it.

The girl turned to her sharply, and Hestia felt her breath get taken away. It wasn't because she was beautiful—although she was pretty, with her glossy black hair and pale, unblemished skin. She might've been even beautiful, if it wasn't for her eyes.

They were a gorgeous shade of silver with tints of green and faint aqua, like sea foam, and framed with dark eyelashes. She had never seen eyes like that. They were beautiful, but they were so... lifeless.

She looked about the same age as Hestia (eleven, maybe twelve), but her eyes were thousands of years old. They were terrifying. Hestia wanted nothing more than to run away from there... except that would be incredibly rude. So, instead, she focused on the fact that this was the first person she was meeting at Hogwarts and channeled that excitement into her smile.

"Hi!" she chirped, wondering if her voice was too high and cheerful. She toned it down a little. "Can I sit here?"

Almost lifeless. That was the only way to describe her expression. If she wasn't so obviously aware of Hestia's presence, she would think that she was asleep. She seemed to be assessing Hestia, trying to judge her mettle. It was seriously intimidating, and Hestia wanted to run so bad, but she was rooted in her place with fear when the girl nodded, because there was a glimmer of satisfaction in her eyes. If she felt satisfied... did that mean she had already figured out Hestia's worth—or lack thereof?

Hestia shook herself out of her stupor. No. That was impossible. Besides, she was just being dumb; the girl didn't look soulless because she was evil of something, but because something had happened to her, and it would make her evil if she judged her for that.

She sat down, facing the girl. "I'm Hestia Jones," she introduced herself, holding her hand out for a handshake. She hoped it wasn't trembling too visibly.

As she clasped the her hand, she chuckled a chuckle so dark, it chilled Hestia to her bone more than the freezing temperature of her hand.

"I'm Raven."

Hestia thought her name suited her. Ravens were pretty birds, no doubt, but mysterious, and they looked like they were wondering what was the best way to stab your eyes out with their beak, but also making you think that going through that pain was a good thing at the same so they could continue taking food. Then, she wanted to slap herself for thinking something so judgmental. She had to remind herself that Raven was only this terrifying because something traumatizing happened to her in her past (probably). Everyone dealt with trauma differently. Just because Hestia became meek, it didn't mean that Raven couldn't become intimidating.

To distract herself from her thoughts, she asked, "Are you a first year, too?"

Raven hummed in confirmation.

"What house do you want to get into?"

Raven shrugged. Hestia waited for any more of a response, but when she didn't get one, she started for the sake of conversation, "I kind of want to be a Hufflepuff,"

Raven's eyes, which had drifted towards the window and out to the grey, cloudy sky, shot back to Hestia.

"I know everyone says that they're stupid, but my parents were both Hufflepuffs, and the Hufflepuffs I've seen are nice, and..." She trailed off. Why was she spilling all of this to Raven? Even with normal—other people, she wouldn't say so much. Raven was just... surprisingly easy to talk to?

No, that wasn't it. Raven actually looked like she paid attention. In general, people's attention seemed to wander unless they were talking about themselves. At least, Hestia's did. She loathed to admit it, but she did. Now, Hestia didn't think that everyone was like that, but at least some other people had to be the same way, right?

But Raven was absolutely the opposite of that. She seemed to do her best to not talk about herself, but when it came to others—even ugly, annoying strangers like Hestia—she gave them her full, undivided attention.

Maybe she wasn't so bad...

Hestia felt her face heat up with embarrassment. She couldn't believe that she had been so judgmental about her. The only way to make up for that was to... to treat her like a friend.

So, she finished, "And I know it's naïve, but I think that kindness really makes a difference in the world."

"It is naïve," Raven agreed nonchalantly—but then she added, "But it's... sweet, so... that makes up for it?"

Hestia had to fight back the urge to laugh. How could she ever be afraid of her? Raven was so awkward!

A giggle slipped out. "You know, you're strange." She smiled. "But in an intriguing way."

In a good way, she wanted to say, but was glad that she didn't when Raven blinked like that was the weirdest thing she had ever heard.

Raven smiled back—although it looked more like a grimace. "Yeah..."

Hestia didn't care if they weren't friends yet, because she knew the only reason she'd stop trying would be if Raven told her to stop.

Questions:

1. Favorite quote from chapter five?

2. Do you think Hestia's assessment of Raven is correct?

And, remember; please review!

~Sarcasticsnark13