A/N: Just to fore warn you there is a bit of fluff in this story. I didn't orginally plan on it but it sort of turned out that way. Please review anyway!

Bad Beginnings that Lead to Good Ends.

Sillenna awoke the next morning with a searing pain going up and down her back. She cringed and inhaled sharply. I forgot my medicine, she thought. But I shouldn't have needed it for a couple of more days. It must have been all the stress yesterday. Her eyes wandered over to the small chest setting on top of her trunk. She started to get out of bed but the pain threw her back down. She inhaled slowly through gritted teeth and pulled herself up trying to ignore the pain. Small step by small step she reached the chest and clutched it to her. She could hear Hermione and the other girls, Melanie and Julie, getting ready. She turned and headed toward the bathroom trying to act normal and not succeeding.

"Sillenna, are you ok?" Hermione asked looking up from what she was doing. The other girls looked up at her with concern in their eyes.

"Just stiff," she managed to whisper as she left the room and entered the bathroom. Luckily the only people were in there were in the shower and couldn't see what she was doing. The chest was decorated in Dragonna lettering. Sillenna began to touch the letters in a pattern while chanting quietly. The chest popped open and a slight bubbling could be heard inside. She glanced around to make sure nobody was watching then quickly removed a flask and downed the liquid. She gagged but refused to let it come back up. Her back began to pop and singe and she grimaced. Deep breaths, Deep breaths. In the long run it would help even if it hurt at first. She replaced the flask and closed the lid. Not wanting to return to her room just yet she hopped in an empty shower and let the warm water soothe her tense muscles.

"Sillenna?" a quiet voice asked. She poked her head out of the shower and saw Hermione standing in the bathroom with robes in her hand.

"I thought you might need these," she said placing them on top of the chest.

"Thanks Mione," Sillenna replied with a smile before poking her head back in the shower. When she was done she got dressed and headed back to her room. Thankfully the other girls had already left. She set the chest down and turned to face herself in the mirror. She squinted her eyes slightly and flicked her hair and it dried magically. Using her powers she opened her trunk and removed her makeup so she wouldn't have to bend over to open it. She applied light makeup and headed downstairs taking the stairs slowly so not to jar her aching back. Her three roommates where waiting on her. She smiled at them hoping they couldn't tell how much pain she was in.

"Come on you guys," she said cheerfully. "I'm starving." When they reached the Hall, Sillenna saw Ron and Harry were already there. They had their heads down sleepily as they stuffed their faces. They simply grunted a good morning when the girls sat opposite them. Hermione rolled her eyes indicating this was how it was every morning. Sillenna chuckled and started eating, glad she didn't have to worry about conversing this morning. During breakfast she happened to glance up and catch Draco staring at her. He smirked that Malfoy smirk. She rolled her eyes and gave him an "I'm not in the mood" look and went back to eating. A few minutes later their schedules arrived and everyone became preoccupied with comparing theirs with their friend's. Sillenna had all her classes with one or more of the gang but unfortunately their first class was Potions.

"What a way to start the year," Ron said and Harry grunted in agreement. Sillenna sighed. Just what I need, she thought. The bell rang signaling the beginning of classes and the four headed off together through the crowd. Sillenna noticed a lot of the girls they passed staring at Harry and Ron. She shook her head in amusement and then saw something up ahead that caused her to grin mischievously. The group of girls from the train were coming their way. She nudged Harry and Ron who were walking on either side of her. The looked up sleepily and she nodded in the direction of the girls. Evil grins spread across the boys' faces and they looked at each other and nodded in agreement. They each hooked their arms through Sillenna's and pressed up against her. Sillenna put a silly grin on her face again and began to chatter about various nonsense, while Harry and Ron pretended to hang on her every word. The girls stopped dead in their tracks when they caught sight of them and watched with mouths wide open as they passed by. Hermione rushed by them trying very hard not to burst into laughter. As soon as the turned the corner they all broke down and laughed till it hurt. When they got to class they were still laughing so hard people looked at them like they were crazy.

"That was too much fun," Sillenna said when she was finally able to talk again. The others just nodded vigorously and plopped down beside her.

"You guys are terrible," Hermione said through fits of laughter. Just then the door slammed shut and everyone snapped to attention. Professor Snape walked to the front of the room and turned and slowly scanned the room with his cold gaze. Sillenna took a deep breath. If I can make peace between warring solar systems then I can handle one human teacher. Can't I? She thought to herself. His piercing eyes landed upon her and one eyebrow arched slightly.

"Ms. Miller?" he asked, his voice dripping with dislike.

"Yes sir." She replied with as much confidence as she could muster.

"Tell me, since you went to a muggle school up until now, exactly what kind of magical training do you have?" he asked icily.

"My parents taught me when I was younger and lately I had been teaching myself out of various books, some of which are used here at Hogwarts," she answered. He was trying to belittle her in front of the class and she wasn't about to let him.

"How delightful," he said sarcastically and some of the students, mostly Slytherin, snickered.

"Oh Professor you have no idea how much one can learn when they're not hindered by…shall we say "the classroom environment."" She replied hotly. Now the rest of the class snickered but were quickly silenced by his cold glare. He stared her down for a minute but she simply stared back. He flicked his wand and an assignment appeared on the board.

"Due tomorrow," was all he said before he took his seat behind his desk.

The rest of the day was a blur as the teachers poured on the homework. Their last class was Care of Magical Creature with Hagrid and the four were looking forward to the relief. Hagrid recognized his young friends and waved them over.

"Hagrid, I'd like you to meet our good friend, Sillenna Miller," Hermione said introducing Sillenna. Hagrid shyly offered his large hand, which Sillenna took with a sweet smile.

"ello," Hagrid said timidly.

"It's good to finally meet you, Hagrid," Sillenna said. "I've heard so much about you." Hagrid mumbled shyly under his breath and ushered them toward the rest of the class. It didn't take Sillenna long to realize that this was going to be her favorite class. She couldn't wait to meet all the new animals.

As they walked back toward the common rooms, the four friends were quiet except for the occasional sigh. They all crashed on the couches and dropped their books on the floor with a thud. Hermione was the first to pull out her books and get started. Sillenna was next followed by Harry and Ron with the help of a lot of goading. Of course they didn't spend the whole evening doing homework, they snuck in some "breaks" when Hermione wasn't paying attention. Ron and Harry had a spit ball war but were taken by storm by Sillenna's surprise attack.

When they finally headed to bed, none of them had trouble getting to sleep. As Sillenna drifted sleep, she couldn't help but thinking that maybe Earth wasn't so boring after all.

Weeks passed about the same at Hogwarts. The four friends grew closer and the teachers piled on the homework keeping them up until the early hours of the morning. In the back of her mind, Sillenna was always reminded that she was keeping secrets from these people who had so readily welcomed her into their lives and hearts. But then they had never told her the Voldemort story; but then again she had never asked. She was probably afraid that if they told her their secrets, then she would be expected to tell her own and there was no way she could do that no matter how much she wanted to. The attraction between her and Harry had grown and try as she may she could not fight it. The relationship between Ron and Hermione was blooming slowly with a little help from Sillenna.

It was the Friday before Hogsmeade and Sillenna and Hermione were trying their best to finish their homework. Ron and Harry came into the common room and Ron started to hurry right past them but Harry grabbed him and pushed him toward the reading Hermione. Sillenna gave him a questioning look but he simply smiled and shook his head. Ron stood in front of Hermione and shuffled nervously from one foot to the other.

"Uhh….Her..Hermione," Ron stammered and Hermione looked up from her book.

"Yes, Ron?"

"Could you…ah…help me with….ah…some homework," He asked in a barely audible whisper. Hermione went wide-eyed, sure she was dreaming, and when it finally sunk in, a huge triumphant grin.

"Of course," she squealed scooting over to make room for him.

"Uhhh, could we go somewhere quieter?" Ron asked blushing slightly though Hermione didn't seem to notice.

"How about the library?" Hermione offered and Ron simply nodded. The two walked off, Hermione smiling happily, Ron staring at the ground. Once the portal had closed behind them, Sillenna literally pounced on Harry.

"What was THAT?" She asked, shaking him as if to shake the information out of him.

"What do you think it was?" He asked with an evil grin. She looked at him for a minute, searching for the answer. Then her eyes grew wide as it hit her.

"NO," she whispered.

"Yes," he said laughing at her reaction.

"You finally talked him into it, I'm impressed."

"Well don't congratulate me yet. Who knows if he'll actually get up the guts to ask her."

"This is so perfect," Sillenna said airily as she leaned back on to the couch.

"Well actually it's lacking one thing that would make it perfect."

"And what's that?" Sillenna asked still staring dreamily into space. Harry gently turned her face toward his and looked deep into her eyes.

"If you were to go to Hogsmeade with me," he said in a soft whisper.

"Wha..What?" Sillenna stammered unsure of what she had just heard.

"Will you go to Hogsmeade with me?"

"YEEESS!" Sillenna squealed wrapping him in tight embrace. Harry hugged her back soaking in her smell and feel. He couldn't imagine how he could have considered his life before Sillenna a life at all. She seemed to fill him with a happiness so wonderful he thought he would burst. She finally let him go and sat grinning at him. The two sat on the couch whispering quietly when they heard the portal open and Ron and Hermione walked in with shy grins on their face. Harry and Sillenna crossed their arms and gave the two proud parent grins. Both Hermione and Ron turned bright red and looked down at the floor.

"How did the studying go?" Harry asked with a sneaky grin causing Sillenna to snicker.

"Uh, it went good." Ron looked at Hermione for conformation. She simply smiled shyly and sat down and reopened her books. Ron sat cautiously next to her and couldn't seem to decide how close to sit.

"So what have you guys been up to?" Hermione asked trying to change the subject.

"Studying." Sillenna said slyly. At first Ron and Hermione took this at face value and then their face snapped up in realization. Harry simply laughed and loosely draped his arm around Sillenna's shoulder. Hermione looked like she was going to pop, so Sillenna motioned for her to follow her up to their room.

"Come on Hermione, I need to show you that "thing" I was telling you about," Sillenna said linking arms with her friend and heading up the stairs. Once they got to the room and the door was shut behind them both girls let out a huge squeal and started jumping around holding hands.

"This is so GREAT!" Sillenna squealed.

"I know!" The two girls spent so much time talking about their dates that they totally forgot about the two boys setting down stairs waiting for them.

"Oh no!" Hermione said realizing the time. The two girls rushed down stairs to be met with an empty common room except for Ron and Harry. The two boys gave them accusing glares.

"Well that must have been one hell of a "thing" you two were looking at." Ron said gruffly.

"Sorry guys," Hermione apologized, "we lost track of the time."

"You can say that again," Ron huffed.

"Well if you guys feel that way then I guess we can forget about Hogsmeade tomorrow," Sillenna said with a sigh and Hermione simply shook her head dejectedly and the two started to head back toward the girl's dorms but were stopped by to two anxious boys.
"NO!" the two boys yelled as they jumped up and grabbed them. The look on their faces was of pure horror. Hermione and Sillenna couldn't help but laugh at their desperate expressions.

"It's ok guys," Hermione said patting Ron on the arm reassuringly.

"Yeah, we were just joking," Sillenna said trying to keep the guys from having heart attacks. The guys just smiled weakly.

After a few minutes of reassuring the guys that they were still going to Hogsmeade with them tomorrow, the four headed off to bed.

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