WARNING: DO NOT KILL ME FOR HAVING BAD JOKES ABUOT KEN FROM L'AC EN CIEL!!!!

Chapter 10: She Side Story

A few days past by and there was no word of reply from Tsu. Every morning Star would crane her neck to try and spot Isshi in the cloud of owls, but everyday she would be disappointed. Everyday Draco would ask her who she was waiting to hear from, and everyday Star would never say. The week went by slowly; Star passed her quiz on goblin and troll tribal wars (much to her surprise, it wasn't too scary) and managed to understand the bulk of what her other classes were attempting to teach them. Finally, half way through the second week of school, Isshi dropped onto her breakfast with a piece of blue paper in his beak. Star smiled and hugged Isshi, giving him the rest of her food before sending him away.

My Star,

I'm glad you have some friends to keep you company, at least you're not all alone. You should have seen Isshi when he found me! He was tapping on my window and when I let him in and took the letter from him, I swung the windows open to let in some air. He looked at me like I wanted him to leave without sending anything back with him! Like I'd ever do THAT. Anyway, it was really entertaining. Star, I'll just have to come see this castle of yours sometime, it sounds wonderful, I bet you're having more fun then you're letting on, you silly goose. There's no way you could be playing with magic and wands and all those things without having at least a little fun, and if you're not having fun, you'd better START having fun. I didn't send you to that school so you could be miserable! And anyway, Sweets, you'll be seeing me for Christmas. Alex told me that you can come for a visit then. And you'd BETTER come visit me or I'll be mad at you! I think I might get an owl of my own, wouldn't that be fun? I'll see if Alex will take me to the alley so I can get one . Anyway, I love you, Lamb, see you in a few months—write again soon!

Love,

Tsu

Star smiled to herself. Tsu was so great. She slipped the letter into her book bag, figuring she'd put it in her trunk that night.

All day, when Star had a free moment in class, she would pull it out and read it again. She never did put it in her trunk...days and days passed by, and it stayed in her bag. She would read it whenever she could; it made her feel better. She smiled a little more often and became a little more talkative with her friends. Things seemed to be going all right, in fact almost sunny...but then Star had a run-in with Hermione Granger.

The girl must have been having a particularly stinky day (or maybe a bad week or lifetime, Star couldn't tell which). They were passing through a rather crowded hallway between classes when someone pushed Star into Hermione's way. They collided and the stack of books and papers in Hermione's arms went flying about everywhere. Star tried to apologize and help her, but was stopped short by a House-wide glare from the Gryffindors pouring out of Umbridge's classroom. Hermione looked about ready to spew acid at her.

"You awful Slytherins are always getting in the way! Ooo, I could just—just—ooo, you make me so mad!" Hermione swept everything into her arms. "Why don't you just leave us alone?! What did Gryffindor ever do to you?" Star backed off, her hands held up defensively. She saw Hermione glance down at the stone floor of the hall. "And keep your stupid fake mouse out of the way!" She went to give Nao, who must have fallen from Star's pocket when they ran into each other, a kick, but Star shoved her aside. She swept down and grabbed the quivering pile of purple and held her delicately with both hands.

"She didn't hurt you at all, you know, don't hurt my Nao."

Hermione turned the color of her red and gold tie. "How dare you—" But Star didn't wait to hear what she had to say. She slipped Nao safely into her pocket and turned around, stalking toward the dungeons for Potions.

"What is wrong with that girl!?" Star cried, taking her seat between Draco and Luci.

"What girl?" Luci asked, dropping her cauldron onto the table.

"That Granger Gryffindor girl! I bumped into her in the halls and she tried to kick Nao!" She pulled Nao from her pocket and smoothed down her fir.

"Oh, the poor thing!" Luci cried, taking the little purple mouse and cuddling it.

"Granger's had it out for the Slytherins since day one," Draco said darkly. "Her and the other Gryffindors. I tried to accept her pal, Potter, into my circle and help him out with all the things he didn't understand, but he blew me off. Ass."

Star fumed. Granger could be as mad as she wanted at her, but to kick the little mouse? WTF? Well, whatever. S happens.

That night Star's old insomnia kicked back in. She hated it when people were mad at her...she actually felt guilty for making Hermione mad. Star sighed and got out of bed, slipping down to the common room. She didn't hear the footsteps that followed her down.

"Hey," A quiet voice called from the door between common room and dorms. Star jumped and whirled around. There stood one of the girls Star shared a dorm with. Her name was Shannon. "Sorry," She smiled, "I didn't mean to surprise you." She walked toward Star, brushing short blonde hair from bright green eyes. "I'm Shannon." She held her hand out to shake.

"Star." She replied, complying. "So what brings you to the common room?"

"I dunno, I couldn't sleep." Star couldn't help but notice the very American sound hidden below the slight Irish accent. "And I wanted to talk to you." Shannon smiled. She was very cute. Not in the same way as Tsu, but she was cute. Shannon had a very friendly face. Star recalled seeing her around every so often. She was always smiling and cheerful. Star couldn't help but notice how everyone seemed to be drawn to her. She had a boyfriend, too; a Gryffindor named Fred. Apparently they lived near each other and had known each other awhile.

"So..." Star felt a little awkward asking this, "So when did you move Ireland?"

Shannon grinned. "I lived in Arizona for thirteen years, but then my dad moved me and my brothers to Ireland to be near his new girlfriend. How could you tell?"

"Your voice. The accent didn't sound authentic."

Shannon laughed. "Fred thinks it's cute."

Star laughed. "I don't think my accent will ever go away."

"You'd be surprised what Europe can do to an American."

The two girls were quiet for awhile, but strangely, Star didn't feel awkward. This girl made her smile...and she lived in America, which gave her a small sense of security in this strange place.

"So when did you move?" Shannon asked after a time.

"A little over a year ago." Star smiled sadly. "My older brother got stationed here."

"He's in the army?"

"Marines."

"Ah. So where're your parents?"

Star faltered, looking away. "They...died two years ago."

Shannon's eyes shown with concern and her hand flew to her mouth.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't know..."

"It's alright," Star said, smiling sadly, "It's time for me to talk to someone about it..."

"You don't have to if you don't want to..."

Something about this girl reminded Star of Tsu; she was gentle and soft. She liked her already...and Star couldn't say that about many people. Shannon just seemed like a cool person.

"My house burned down over the summer while I was over night at a friend's house. We saw the smoke and went to see what was up, and it turned out to be my house. My parents an my little brother didn't survive."

Shannon and Star had curled up on the floor in front of the cold hearth.

"How sad...so you moved in with your brother?"

"Ya, and his wife and daughter."

Shannon smiled. "How old is she?"

"Five."

"Aww...I love kids."

Star grinned. "She's a bratty goth-in-training."

Shannon burst out laughing. "Learning well from her aunt, I hope!"

Star smiled. She couldn't help it if Keira wanted to be just like her aunt...

"I used to want to be just like my uncle." Shannon said, drawing on the stone hearth with a piece of charcoal.

"What's he like?"

"A cold, icy, militant lesbian boy."

Star stared. "Buh?" Why do I always sound so lame when I say things like that?

"Guess who my uncle is. You know him." Shannon grinned.

Star stared some more. "Uhh..." Oh yes, Star, SO intelligent.

"Okay, you'll never guess—Uncle Severus. But he makes me stay quiet about it."

Star busted up laughing. The first time she'd done that since the summer.

"Prof. Snape?! Seriously?! You?"

"I know! We're nothing alike. His younger sister's my mom, and after she and my dad split up he became ultra protective of me. You should have seen him when he found out about Fred and me!"

The two girls laughed and enjoyed themselves throughout the entire night of insomnia, not even caring that they'd be falling asleep all through their classes the next day.

At around four am they snuck back into their dormitory and slipped into their ironically-next-to-each-other beds, staying up just a little longer to talk just a little more.

"Ya know...Uncle Severus isn't really as bad as everyone makes him out to be...he's very kind and protective, I've always been able to trust him to take care of me."

"I never really thought he was evil like most people do..." Star said, curling comfortably around one of her pillows. "He intimidated the crap out of me, though."

"He's a good person, even if Harry always says weird things are his fault."

Shannon yawned. "Anyway, I'm gonna snooze."

Star smiled and said good night. She would have asked Shannon what the 'weird things' were, but since it was after five in the morning, she decided it could wait.

She lay awake a little while longer, thinking. She liked Shannon a lot and she really enjoyed having someone to talk to that night. She didn't even feel that impending doom oh-she's-gonna-hate-me thing she usually did when she met someone. Shannon felt truly genuine. Star couldn't explain it, but she some how just knew she had a new friend now, without having to ask or push or anything. Shannon wanted to be her friend and she wanted to be Shannon's friend...she'd have to introduce her to Tsu sometime, they'd really get along...