Candice woke early, and found herself in a strange bed. They won. I'm at Hogwarts, she thought. Back at home (the thought made her choke) she had had dance at four every morning. Now it was 3:30, and she had nothing to do. Her magic was almost totally back, but she had used so much yesterday that she was still tired. So I'll sleep in a little longer, then bust out of here, Candice thought.

The next time she woke, she could sense other students already awake. It was now six o'clock. Candice felt a lot better having slept that long and resigned herself to classes, at least this first day. She would be out of here tomorrow, she promised herself. She got up, and realized that she didn't even have her own room. She was sharing it with three other girls! How was she supposed to get any privacy?!?! Candice looked at the hangings covering her bed from view.

"I suppose those will have to do." She said aloud, sighing as she went down to the bathrooms. She took a short shower, spent a while getting on a new outfit and her hair up just right. That took about a half-hour. Shuffling down to the library, Candice began to look up the magical properties of privacy. Although these books were written for wizards, one of the first things the voice, Professor McGonagall, had taught her was how to convert normal spells into ones she could use. There were a surprising number of ways to privatize a small amount of space, and Candice couldn't wait to try some. Some looked rather advanced for her level, but she felt that if she really tried she could do this. She was just about to check the book out when a little voice at her elbow spoke out.

"Dumbledore wishes we to give Miss her schedule!" Piped the small, dirty, house-elf. Candice had never seen one, just read about them, and for a minute she just stared. The she took the paper the house-elf held, thanked it, and watched as it scampered off. Candice looked at her schedule. Everything was where it should be, and the times all elective classes took place were there, a note at the bottom said she should just take the two electives she wanted, and tell the teacher this when she got to class. She noticed that breakfast would be starting about now, and she stopped by the great hall for an apple before going up to the Gryffindor tower. She had never eaten much breakfast, and wasn't going to start now. Getting back to the Gryffindor tower, she found she didn't remember the password. She was surprised she had remembered the way. She sat next to the picture of the fat lady, racking her brain, when the girl from last night, the one she had followed up, appeared.

"You forgot the password didn't you?" the girl asked, still her pajamas, her bushy brown hair still disheveled from the night. She came back with a pile of books; she had been studying too.

"Yeah." Candice said, dully. She did not make eye contact with this girl; she was one of them, the people who would stop her if she tried to escape. The girl raised one eyebrow, and gave the password. She walked into the common room and sat down at one of the tables, opened one of the giant books, and began to read. Candice watched her for a minute, then went through the portrait hole and went back up to her room. Sure enough, now there were only two girls in bed remaining. Candice opened the book she had checked out, and summoned her power. The spell took a little while; she was preventing any living creature from going through her bed hangings without invitation. When she finished, she gave the password, letting herself in, and pulled her trunk in after her. She pulled out her laptop, her wizarding one, and added Internet. This took a while too, as there were spells preventing her from doing such. When she finally accomplished the task, she owl-ordered a dresser. She ordered it out of her own account; she still had quite a lot saved up. She also needed a chair and table for her room; she would steal one from the common room. Next came a spell of silence over her hangings. No one would hear any sound out of her bed. According to the book, the next spell would take about an hour, and that was an hour Candice didn't have. Class started in ten minutes. Candice grabbed her laptop and prayed for a map. No help there. She went down to the common room. Her first class was transfiguration. She couldn't help looking for the girl with the bushy brown hair. She saw her talking to a red-haired boy, and Harry. The common room was busy now; everyone started to rush off to his or her classes. These particular three were all holding large transfiguration books; the same as Candice had on her computer. As she stood debating whether to ask for help or just follow them, the girl with bushy brown spoke to her again.

"What's your first class?" The girl asked, eyeing Candice's laptop doubtfully.

"Transfiguration." Candice mumbled, again avoiding eye contact.

"In that case, you can walk with us, if you like." The girl smiled, and gestured toward the red-haired boy and Harry. Candice smiled and walked toward these three, how could she resist an offer like that?

There she was. Today's outfit was one of a black tank top with tight- fitting jeans, the like of which Harry hadn't seen since his years in Dudley's school. Her hair curled nicely down her back, and was again in a half ponytail. She looked a bit majestic today, her pale skin made such a contrast with her black shirt. She carried nothing but what looked like a muggle laptop, and a little quill, inkwell, and sheet of parchment, all wrapped up in her bag. Right now she was looking around, those eyes of hers flashed confusion before returning to her blank mask. Harry noted that she was very good at masking her feelings, especially if you didn't know to look for that flash her eyes gave when she changed emotions. Hermione jerked him out of his daze.

"Harry come on! We're going to be late for class!" she said, tugging at his robes.

"No! Wait, Hermione, look!" Harry said, nodding toward Candice.

"I don't see anything particular!" Hermione snapped, looking impatiently at her watch.

"Wonder how she's getting away with all those clothes?" Ron observed, obviously checking out her very flattering clothing.

"She doesn't know where to go!" Harry said, giving Hermione a look that clearly said 'Fix it'. Hermione sighed, rolled her eyes and approached Candice.

Soon after Candice was walking beside them, now flanked by a very curious Harry and Ron.

"I'm Hermione Granger. Tell me, why do you carry a laptop?" Hermione asked, past Harry and Ron's stares.

"It contains my course books, and I just added Internet. It's actually quite a new thing. I read an article on it just last week 'Wizards and Useful Muggle Technology'. Since I was raised by muggles, it makes things easier to use combine both wizardry and muggle studies in my work." She answered. As Hermione was muggle born, she was very interested.

"You were brought up by muggles, or were you muggle born?" Hermione asked, clearly interested.

"Brought up, my parents died when I was little." She looked right at Harry when she said this. Harry opened his eyes wide. He couldn't tell if she recognized him or not.

"I'm Harry Potter." He said rather hurriedly.

"Obviously." Candice replied, nodding at Harry's scar without looking at it. Harry blushed.

"How come you didn't have to go to school until now?" Ron asked, without introducing himself.

"Well, the school sent me this laptop, and that professor of yours, McGonagall, would leave me daily instructions. Being a mind magician and all, I had to follow a different learning program for the first three years."

"Oh. Can you create animals and stuff?" Ron continued.

"If I knew how." Candice answered shortly.

"Don't I know you from somewhere?" Harry suddenly blurted out. She didn't answer; she just raised an eyebrow at him. By now they had reached transfiguration, and Candice sat well away from Harry. Professor McGonagall frowned at Candice's clothes. Candice gave her an insolent smile. Hermione shook her head.

"How is she getting away with breaking the dress code?" Hermione whispered, right as class started. Professor McGonagall seemed in a bad mood, mainly because Candice was in this class. It didn't help that Candice was obviously a good student, she answered as many questions as Hermione.

Next class was History of Magic, and here Candice exceeded Hermione. She went as far as correcting Professor Bins, making the most interesting history lesson since Hermione has asked about the Chamber of Secrets in second year. Hermione didn't seem to mind at all. On the contrary, she loved having someone to compete with. Hermione and Candice were happily chatting about the finer points of "Hogwarts, A History" all the way through lunch. Candice decided on her electives, with help from Hermione, and sarcasm from Ron. She figured she'd be good at Arithmancy, as she'd been doing math for so many years, and Ancient Runes, as it might help her read the few books in the library written for mind magicians, in the old language. So Candice went with Hermione to Ancient Runes class, and Harry and Ron trudged down to Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid decided they should study centaurs, so Harry and Ron had a surprisingly interesting lesson in which they asked Ronan and Bane questions about centaur life. How Hagrid had convinced Ronan and Bane to come out of the Forbidden Forest and talk to fourth years Harry and Ron would never know.

Candice and Hermione seemed to be becoming fast friends, but Harry wondered about her. Hermione didn't seem to remember how much power this girl had. Harry had tried to shake a tree just this afternoon, with just magic, and had only managed for about five minutes. This girl held a lot of power. Harry still couldn't place how he knew her, but she looked so familiar it drove him crazy. He had almost come to the conclusion that she looked familiar because she resembled him. She had not spoken to him much, but he really couldn't judge her on the first day, that wasn't fair. Harry also noticed that he, Ron, and Hermione weren't the only ones taking an interest in Candice. The whole school had almost constantly been approaching her and asking her questions, and her vibrant clothes attracted eyes wherever she went. She hadn't spoken much to Ron either, but he was still sort of in awe about her, and wasn't very talkative.

Candice almost cried when classes were over. The classes were so interesting, and the people so nice! She had never fit in better anywhere except in dance class. Her studies were more interesting, and hell, she liked magic! It was something she was born for, and she loved it more than she had ever loved school. She fit. But she had fit in dance class to, and Candice could already feel her muscles begin to twitch with lack of use. She lived on dancing, she needed to dance, and she wanted to dance. She had to find a way to either get out of here, or do both. Yes, getting out of here was a problem. She had no method of transportation. So far all she had was walking, and she couldn't walk into the Forbidden Forest, she didn't know enough hexes, and she needed out now. It probably wasn't too smart, but all she could do at the moment was walk out of Hogwarts, and pray for a muggle town to stay in. Candice didn't know why, except for the fact that they would probably find her when she ran, but she wanted to continue personalizing her 'room'. She didn't know what to do with the walls or bed. So she figured she'd finish creating the 'room' before Astronomy at 8:15. Candice took stock of her magical energies. Transfiguration had not taken too much out of her, she figured she still had enough to do the big spell she was about to attempt. This spell would enlarge the space her bed now occupied, without actually taking space from the dorm room. With a word, she could enter in and out of an enlarged bit of small space. The word she had chosen was 'quill', as was the password through her bed hangings. Candice figured if anyone heard her muttering this, they wouldn't think it any more than a mutter. Candice focused her magical energies on her bed hangings, and began the spell. Her eyes closed, the words of the spell seemed engraved in her mind. She pushed the magic toward her bed, and shaped it, told it what she wanted it to do, then she released it, and opened her eyes. Hermione stood right in front of her, wearing a scowl to match Professor McGonagall's. Candice still had a little magic left. Ignoring Hermione, Candice walked through her bed hangings, whispering the password so Hermione wouldn't hear. Candice was pretty sure Hermione had known what Candice was doing, and hadn't approved. For a moment, Candice wasn't sure the spell had worked, then she realized that while the room had shrunk, the bed had remained usual size. Now the bed was huge. Candice sighed, and performed a simple shrinking spell. As the bed shrunk, Candice felt a moment's disorientation. She was now sitting on her bed, surrounded by huge hangings. She now had a decent sized, private, room.

The carpet was scarlet, as was the dormitory carpet. The walls were the hangings, and were also scarlet. Candice frowned at them, she didn't like red much. Maybe I'll read some decorating books later, she thought. That was all for now. Candice whispered the password, and just like it was supposed to, the spell spit her out of her newly made room, and she found herself outside her hangings.

"I don't know whether to say, that's brilliant, or you could get in so much trouble for that." Hermione scowled. Candice sighed, looked at Hermione, and said,

"Hermione, what was your life like before you got your letter? Were you good at any muggle sports? Did you have friends that you didn't like leaving? Did you have your heart set on a certain collage or career to follow? Did your Hogwarts letter ruin anything for you? Mine did. I was a dancing protégé, Hermione. I can dance so well, and it makes me so happy. I was going to Interlochen for high school, bound for Julliard after that, hell, I was heading for the top of the entertaining community! I had a dream, I had a love, and they took it, just like that. I'm an orphan, Hermione. I can't remember anything besides dozens of different foster parents. Dancing was all I had, all I hung on to. I lived it, breathed it. And without it, I am nothing. So here I am, trying to get out of this stupid school, trying to get expelled! I'm not staying here, Hermione. Nothing can make me. And if I die trying to get out, so be it. Without dance, I'm already dead." Candice didn't wait for Hermione to answer; she just went back down to the library to start rehearsing curses and hexes. She wasn't beaten yet! Her spirit wasn't broken! She would live to dance again!