Chapter One: Train Ride & Spiders

The platform was bustling with parents and students. First years gazed with awe at the red steam engine and parents held back tears in seeing their kids off for the year. Everyone hurried to get on the train and find their friends and a compartment.

My two friends stood beside me helping put our trunks into the train. Hermione's gaze fell upon something on the side of the train. I didn't notice her wavered attention until she gasped.

"What is it?" I asked.

            Harry straitened his slipping glasses and finished loading his trunk onto the train before turning his attention to Hermione. We moved towards Hermione curious.

            She had grown up from the bushy haired brainiac we all knew and loved. Her hair had striated enough to give it soft waves and darkened to an appealing chocolate brown. She now wore small square glasses that gave her a professional look.  Her brown eyes still sparkled with intelligence but with an added bit of mischief that being with Harry and I had produced. Eyes were a window to the soul and unfortunately I read eyes very well. She was in love with Harry and after our fourth year Yule Ball I could only step down and allow my friends the happiness they deserve. 

            Harry grew over the summer as well. Of course I was still a good head taller then him. But he still managed to best me in spars of both magic and physical combat. His hair was still as untamable as ever and he managed to maintain the boyish looks girls seemed to go for. He had filled out as any seeker should and Slytherin has yet to beat us in Quidditch thanks to him.

            I of course am not a lost cause. As Hermione had put it I was something of a player. I had grown to a dashing height of 6'3 and as a seventh year I planned to finish my goal of dating all the single girls in Hogwarts three houses. Slytherin girls just weren't that appealing. Harsh yes, but let's face it, even if I had wanted to date on of them, the likeliness of a girl willing to stain her Slytherin hands was…well not likely. By now most of the Slytherins were in-line-Death Eaters and those who weren't soon would be or were ostracized. My flaming red hair was still my trade mark, but luckily my freckles were well hidden by the tan I had acquired over the summer, at least those that were left. I wasn't plain looking and I heard myself be described as drop dead gorgeous of course Hermione said it inflated my ego. I thought it was simply flattery.

           This of course doesn't have anything to do with what she held in her hand. It was probably one of the most well crafted creature God could have made, but the thought didn't cross my mind as she opened her hands to show us. 

 I reached forward and knocked the spider from her hands sending it dizzyingly under the train.

            " Have you lost it completely Hermione!" I cried, "That's a black widow! One of the deadliest spiders."

            Hermione's cheeks colored and she blinked rather dazedly, "Oops."

            Harry looked at Hermione confused  then took her hand, "Common the train will leave with out us if we don't hurry.

   Hours after leaving the platform our compartment door slide open. My sister stood there in her Hogwarts robes. She defiantly changed from the shy first year. After spending a summer with Bill in Russia she became surprisingly confident and pretty. Her hair darkened past the Weasly red and while in Russia she had streaked it blue. Mum didn't much care for it, but she excepted it. Unfortunately being the only brother now in Hogwarts keeping Gryffindor eyes from roaming was going to be something of a challenge.

            "Hullo, mind if I join you." She asked sitting down before we answered.

            I noticed her hair wasn't in her pony tail anymore and her lips stick looked a little rubbed off.

            "Where have you been Gin?" I asked nonchalantly.

            She shrugged, "With friends." But I noticed a slight change in her color and I smirked, but before I could say anything she had jumped out of her seat with a  look of horror.

            "What is that!?"

 Everyone looked at the window. The spider from the platform was there only quite a bit larger. It was about the span of my hand and was growing.

            "Holy cricket!" I cried barrowing Hermione's term. I jump up and away from the window.

            Everyone pulled their wands prepared to fight it. We stood as a group by the door as the spider grew steadily bigger. When it was about the span of my chest the compartment door opened.

            "Whoa! What is that!" an annoyingly familiar voice said.

            "Beat it Malfoy." Harry hissed.

Before anyone could say anything else a blinding light began to pulse from the spider getting brighter and brighter until finally it was gone.

            In its place was a girl. She looked to be only sixteen yet her eyes held the wisdom of year beyond that. Her face was covered in sweat and as she stood there she visibly trembled. She was beautiful in an dark kind of way. Her hair was a widow black but the sun from the window made her hair shine red. Her eyes were almond shaped and framed by thick eyelashes, they were dark pools with a halo of blue around the pupil. Her skin was pale as if it had not seen the sun for a while. She wore a black dress that flowed from her hips to her knees. There was a red hour glass on her skirt that marked her as the black widow. The dress looked almost like a night gown. She wasn't wearing shoes.

            She looked surprised and exhausted, almost ready to collapse.

I stepped forward, "Are you alright?"

            She opened her mouth but only a moan escaped before she pitched forward.  She fell easily against me and I  gently laid her on the bench. For a split second it felt as if something in me fell into place. I traced her face with my fingers mesmerized. I pushed back hair that fell across her face and was surprised by it's softness.  When she moaned in pain I realized I should probably find help. Gently laying her head down I looked at my friends.

            "Is there a mediwizard on the train?" I asked urgently.

            "No Ron only the trolley lady." Hermione said.

            "Is she all right Ron?" Ginny asked stepping forward.

            "I don't know Gin."

            "Anybody recognize her?" Harry asked.

            "I've never seen her at Hogwarts."

            Another moan came from her and I turned back to her. Her eyes fluttered open.

At first I  couldn't see clearly only a red blur above me. After blinking a couple times I made out the rather handsome face of a seventeen year old boy. His chocolate brown eyes  looked down at me in concern and my heart fluttered just a little with an unfamiliar feeling.

            "Hi." He said with a half smile.

            "Hi." I replied softly my voice sounding strange even to me.

            "Are  you alright?" he asked, his brows knitting in concern.

I was almost speechless, no one had ever looked so concern for my well being since…well since I'd seen my uncle.

            "I-I'm fine…I think. Who are you?" I asked and tried to see where I was in my position.

            "I'm Ron. Ron Weasly. Who are you?"

            I blinked a couple times, Weasly? I'd met a Weasly before.

            "Do you know who you are?" he asked.

            I felt my cheeks warm, "I'm Chandra Blake."

            "Do you think you could sit up?" he asked.

I shrugged it probably looked silly laying down. I lifted my head and his hand seemed to automatically reach out and help me up. I blinked unaccustomed to his kindness. Sitting up I noticed that it wasn't just the two of us. Three others stood by the door their wands out.

            At least they're all wizards, I thought in relief.  Ron seemed to remember his friends as well and the tips of his ears turned red in embarrassment.

            " These are my friends." He said. Pointing to the only other boy, "That's Harry Potter, " I recognized that name as well, something nagged at the back of my mind that I should remember something. Ron continued, "That's Hermione Granger." He pointed to a girl with squared glasses and brown hair. "And the one with the blue streaks is my little sister, Ginny."

            They all looked at me unsure. I smiled, "Sorry, I must have given you quite a fright fainting like that. It's hard making a transformation like that after being a spider for so long."

 "I think it was the transformation that scared us the most." Ginny said with a smile.

She seemed to immediately warm up to me. "I must say I've never seen an animugus transform quite that way."

            I sighed, "I'm not an animungus."

 They all looked at me surprised, "You're not?"

            I looked down at my hands folded them and then unfolded them, "It's a long story."

            Ron sat down and everyone else followed, "We have plenty of time."

   "It's not exactly something to tell everyone."

            Harry looked at me and smiled humorously, "We aren't exactly everyone. Anything said between us stays between us."

            Everyone nodded in agreement, "We're always looking for a way to spice up Hogwarts."

            Ginny snorted, "Not that they need to look, trouble finds them often enough."

 I almost laughed, "Trouble must really like you. I don't think I'll be anything but."

 That seemed to spark their curiosity greater and I could have slapped myself for saying it.  I pulled my feet up under me to warm them then I consented to tell my story.

            "I'm not an animungus. I can't change between a human or spider at will. It's a curse. Every year on March 18th I change into a spider. I stay a spider until my birthday September 1st. Today I guess would be the first of September?" They all nodded.

            "I only have minimal control of my mind as a spider. I remember thinking I wanted to see my uncle and I haven't thought of much else since.  I guess that's why I'm here."

            "Who put the curse on you?" Hermione asked, voicing everyone's question.

            "This is where it gets interesting.  In my first year at Hogwarts I met a boy named Tom Riddle, " I noticed a surprised look pass between Harry and Ginny, " After a Potions project which involved the two of us we became good friends. He was always kind of secretive. I didn't know much about his family, only that he didn't have one and that he went to an orphanage every summer. My uncle didn't like him and wouldn't allow me to invite him home for any of the holidays. Between our sixth and seventh year I remember him owling me a whole lot. Asking me questions about my likes and dislikes. When we got to school he became oddly jealous. I never dated," I shrugged "I was just too busy with school. But the few friends I had that where boys he made sure didn't look at me any way then what he liked it got to be infuriatingly annoying and when I confronted him about it he said he was doing it because he loved me. 

            I didn't love him, he was a great person, but the feelings just weren't there. He said I'd learn to love him." I stopped, " I guess I should have taken that as a warning. It was the day before graduation. He cornered me in my Charms classroom. He said that if he couldn't have me then no one could. I woke up later in a cage. It took me three years to escape from him. It was on his birthday right before I would change back into a spider. He had gotten so cruel, he was doing things that no human should even conceive of doing. He was going to 'put his mark on me' I wasn't sure what that implied.  So I escaped. His curse was the only thing that saved me from being caught. But it's never been something I look forward too. His curse did something else to me. It made me immune to time."

            "He made you immortal?" Hermione gasped.

            I shook my head, "Not immortal, only unchanging. If the curse was to be lifted my body would begin the process of ageing again."

 "If what your saying is true." Hermione paused, " You should be almost 70 years old!"

            "I'm still confused. "Ginny said, " Why would he do something like this if you refused Him. Why didn't he just kill you?"

            I shrugged, "I don't know Ginny. I wish he had. Seventeen's a wonderful age but after fifty some odd year, the age gets useless. Especially when I only have half a year to be human."

            "Why are you going to Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"I wanted to see me uncle." I wasn't going to tell them why. something's were personal.             Ron looked at me, something told me he knew I was hiding something.

"Weasly. "I said changing the subject, "Is your fathers name Arthur?"

            Ron nodded surprised, "How'd you know?"

   "About eighteen years ago I came to Hogwarts I was a spider during the time but I remember seeing your father. Severus was an awful git to him, but Malfoy was far worse. How is he?"

            Ron sputtered a bit, "He's fine. You knew Snape and Malfoy?"

            I nodded, "I was Severus's pet… sort of. I could talk to him. He was the first human I could communicate with as a spider." I looked at Harry, "I think I remember your father too. Always stood up for Weasly he did. Nice guy, could be a git though just as anyone else. Did he ever marry Lily? The Slytherins placed bets on them."

            Ginny laughed. Harry looked at me quite serious, " you knew my mum and dad?"

  I could feel there was something important about my answer, "I knew who they were. But we've never met. I followed them around when I was bored. Potter and his friends were always doing something."

            Harry looked hesitant, almost embarrassed, "Could you tell me about them sometime? The things they did and all?"            

            "Oh," I suddenly realized something, his parents were dead, "sure Harry."

" Guys we're going to be at Hogwarts soon. We should change."

Chandra wasn't there when we got back from changing.  We didn't see her again until closer to Halloween.

A/N: Yep EVERYTHINGS different. Personally I say it's better. But I'll leave it up to you. Hope you enjoy this as much as you did the original.

Please Review!! Love ya all!!