By the time they reached the Great Hall, most of the other teachers were already there, however, the same few seats at the High Table were still empty. Raven assumed that those teachers were arriving on the Hogwarts Express along with the students.

Snape stopped by one of the long wooden tables and pointed to it.

"Sit." He said and Raven rolled her eyes at his back as he marched off to his seat at the High Table.

Raven sat down at the Ravenclaw table at the end nearest the doors so she could see when her brother finally arrived. After ten minutes of waiting she grew impatient and took out her wand to practice some charms. She conjured a small flock of bluebirds, that were almost the exact same shade of bright blue as the Billywig she had seen earlier that day, and watched them fly about above her head. She laughed as one of the birds sat on top of her head, nesting itself into her long blonde hair.

Too caught up in her amusement, Raven never notice the obsidian eyes that watched her from a distance.

The sound of multiple footsteps approaching caught her attention and she instantly cancelled the charm, placing her wand back into her cloak pocket. A few seconds later, students of all ages entered through the doors and bustled into the Great Hall, chatting with the others around them.

The noise gradually grew until Raven could barely hear herself think. Although to be fair, it was the start of a new term and many of the students hadn't seen each other over the Christmas holiday.

Raven kept her eye out for Draco but despite his platinum blonde hair that was so bright it looked like it could reflect light, she found it difficult to spot him in the mass of students entering the hall.

"Raven!" She heard her twin yell over the crowd and she hot in the direction of his voice. However, this only proceeded to her getting lost in the swarm of people.

SIghing in exasperation, Raven turned to head back to her table when she felt Draco's arms fling around her so quickly that she almost fell over.

"You seriously need to stop lunging at me every time you see me Draco," Raven laughed and ruffled his hair, mirroring their reunion almost four days ago.

Draco grinned and dragged her over to the table where a bunch of Slytherins sat, patting down his hair at the same time to try and make it look presentable. He stopped in front of a group of students who were vaguely familiar to Raven.

"Everyone, this is my sister Raven. Rae, this is Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy..." Draco pointed to each of them. "...and this is Theo, although I'm sure you remember him." He wiggled his eyebrows at Raven and she elbowed him in the ribs.

"It's nice to meet you all," She said with a smile.

They all smiled back at her and Draco pulled Raven down to sit next to him.

"So Draco told us that you were expelled from Beauxabtons because you set fire to loads of things." The girl, Pansy, said excitedly. She had long black hair that was thrown in a ponytail and her eyes were brown that reminded Raven of chocolate.

"Pansy!" Draco hissed.

"It's okay Draco." Raven touched his arm to stop him from hexing the Slytherin girl. "It was an accident really but I've been prone to outburst of fire for the past few months. You should have seen Madame Maxime's face when I accidentally set fire to her desk though! It was so funny, I almost died laughing!"

"It's a shame you're not in Slytherin. You would've fitted right in," Raven's smile faltered at what Pansy said.

"Hey, listen I know you aren't in Slytherin but you're always welcome to hang out with us. I don't want the fact that we're in separate houses to stop us from being friends." Theo piped up and the others nodded, agreeing with him.

"Thanks," Raven said.

The Ravenclaw breathed a sigh of relief and looked around, realising that most of the students had sat down at their house tables. She stood up and Draco followed her over to the Ravenclaw table.

"You're going to be fine, Rae. We can talk later, I promise." Draco reassured her.

At the exact same time, they both looked up to the High Table and saw a young, brown-haired man walk into the Great Hall from the side door, his grey robe floating behind him.

Raven stared in shock at the man who was barely a few years older than her.

'This cannot be happening!' She panicked in her head.

"Hey, isn't that-" Draco said, realisation dawning on him.

"Yes," Raven breathed, not taking her eyes off the brown-haired wizard.

"You know Professor Stagburn? I thought I recognised his face in that photo!"

"Leave it, Draco."

Raven's heart was beating so fast she was convinced it would break out of her chest any second now. Shatter her ribs and rip through her skin, as though it was fighting for a breath of fresh air like she was in that moment.

'Why is he here? ' Raven thought.

"Are you okay?" Her brother asked, noticing her silence and reaching out to place his hand on her shoulder.

"I'm fine," She told him all too quickly.

"Rae-"

"Not now Draco. I'll see you later."

Draco nodded and headed back to his table but his eyes flicked back over to his twin, a look of concern evident within them.

As much as she wanted to run out of the Great Hall that had suddenly become extremely claustrophobic, Raven stopped herself knowing that she didn't want to attract unwanted attention. She desperately hoped that Stagburn hadn't seen her and quickly seated herself at the Ravenclaw table, as close to the door as possible.

Once everyone had arrived and was seated at the correct table, Professor Dumbledore stood up from his throne-like chair to make a speech. Raven didn't half of what the Headmaster had said. She couldn't focus on anything apart from the fact that he was here. The only thing that she could recall from Professor Dumbledore's speech was:

"Our new Defence Against the Dark Arts apprentice, Professor Stagburn, along with a few other professors, will be setting up a duelling club this term for those of you who wish to improve your defence skills. If you have any questions about the club please see Professor Stagburn in his office."

Raven swallowed a lump in her throat.

As much as she wished she was dreaming, Cassius, one of the guys from the photo that Draco had found in her trunk a few days ago, was at Hogwarts and Raven had no doubt that he was following her so he could finally get what he wanted.

Cassius, who used to be her friend, had been apprenticing at Beauxbatons but had evidently decided to follow her to Hogwarts and continue his apprenticeship at the castle.

Raven knew what he wanted but there was no way she would ever give it to him. Especially after what he did. Especially after he betrayed her; he was the reason that her best friend was dead.