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Tia glanced at the table she was eating at. There was a ghost sitting at the head, gazing at her with a scared expression on, and all the boys were looking at her curiously. Tia ate a little bit of her food, and glared at it as if it had offended her.

Since she had come to this school with Dumbledore, she hadn't a chance to send a letter out to her father, and anyway, it was probably better that she didn't bother him for a little bit. Tia shuddered as she remembered the last time that she was caught and taken to Azkaban, then escaped.

Once Tia finished eating, she glanced around the room. The room's ceiling was bewitched to look like the sky outside. Tia examined the walls and the whole set up. There were four vertical tables, each holding a different house-Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw-and there was one table going horizontal at the head of the room which held all of the teachers. Tia looked over at the Slytherin table. That greasy-haired kid, Snape was looking over at her again. She could tell as soon as she laid eyes on him that he was going to Slytherin, that is why she told the hat to put her in Gryffindor.

From the very first word that Snape said to her, Tia was repulsed by him. His oily tone, his ignorant words! It was almost too much to not hit him! But Tia told Dumbledore that she would follow his rules, and if there was one thing that Tia felt strongly about; it was keeping her oaths.

Tia's attention returned to the kids at her table. One in particular was eyeing her strangely. His name was James Potter. He saw that she was looking over at him, and he grinned and winked.

He leaned over to her, "so your name's Tia, right?" He asked.

"Yes," Tia responded coldly as she glared at him.

He started to say more, but then the plates were cleared, and Dumbledore stood up.

Everyone turned their attention to him as he spoke of the rules. "The Forbidden Forest is, as always, off limits, the list of items not allowed on school property is in Mr. Filch's office if any of you care to view it. The Quidditch trials will take place as usual. Tomorrow night the field will be open to all teams to try-out people for open spots. And uh… well, I guess that that's all! If the Prefects would kindly direct the first years to the dorm rooms." Dumbledore waved his hand for them to go, and the prefects stood up and started ushering the first years out with the older years trailing behind a little.

In the rush to get in line and then out, Tia lost sight of James Potter, and she wasn't disappointed either. "To have friends, is to have human weaknesses," her father had told her. And she stuck to that, but a small part of her yearned for friendship. Tia tried to forget about that small part, but it wasn't easy.

While she followed, still trying to banish that small part of her, James Potter sidled up to her.

"So Tia, where are you from?" He asked.

Tia ignored him, and continued walking.

She could feel that he was hurt, and a little angry in his emotions, but she kept walking anyway.

"Fine, if you won't even respond to me, that only shows that your parents did a pour job or bringing you up," James retorted.

Tia whirled on him, stopping dead and glaring at him, "not that it's any of you business, my mother died when I was born, and my father… well…" Tia laughed harshly, as loyal as she was, she knew that her father had never really been a father to her. The only person that had actually "fathered" her would have been… no forget it, it solves nothing to think about that.

"I'm sorry," James apologized sincerely.

"Yeah, right." Tia turned around and continued walking with a bitter expression on her normally expressionless face.

James caught up with her again, "no really, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed anything."

Tia glanced at him over, and saw that he was sincere, more than that, she felt it. When her father's supports apologized, they were never sincere; all they wanted was to save themselves from a few moments of pain. But this kid, he really was sorry.

Tia nodded, and walked on. James seemed, for the moment to give up, and he went back to talk with Sirius Black. Tia held her head up high, clenching her teeth from calling back to him. Despite her father's teaching, Tia suddenly desperately wanted to become friends with him.

They arrived at a picture of a fat lady.

The fat lady immediately asked, "password?" as it became evident that they meant to go in there.

"Toad spawn," the prefect answered as the portrait swung on open. The prefect pointed to the staircase that the boys traveled up, and the one that the girls traveled up, and everyone said a parting, "goodnight!" and went up their separate staircases.

Tia went stonily up hers, and went to the bed that she had been sleeping in for the past month, ever since Dumbledore had adopted her.

The other girls came in and found their beds. Tia stayed awake long after the talking had died down, thinking.

The past month, Dumbledore had taught her the law of the land, and it made Tia question her father's teaching. Her father had always taught her that killing was all right, if you had power, anything was all right. There was no right or wrong, only power. And since Tia had loads of power, she naturally was entitled to whatever was in her power to get. Dumbledore had taught her differently. Sighing, Tia wasn't quite sure who was right. She wished that she had another person's opinion on the matter. Tia rolled over on her bed, and closed her eyes. That was for another day, she thought as she drifted into sleep.