MARGRET POV

SHOPPING

"Yes, Mr Méfiance, a copy of each of the first year's books, and a copy each of Dark Deaths of the Middle Ages and The Fascinating Potions Book Collection. It's Margret's birthday, you know, and she asked for them. I always knew that my lovely daughter would like Dark Deaths of the Middle Ages. Unlike that ungrateful bastard." The first part, Gretchen Lestrange, Margret's mother, purred, but the last sentence she growled in an undertone. The eleven year old understood. Gretchen hated her older daughter, Viviana. To put it simply, she stood out. Viviana didn't follow directions; she didn't wear green, but red; she wasn't afraid to show the world who she was. And then, worst of all, when Viviana had come to Hogwarts, she had gotten sorted into Gryffindor, not Slytherin. It was, as Gretchen often put it, a disgrace on the family name.

Personally, Margret didn't understand it, but she could never say that aloud. The youngest Lestrange did have plenty of rebelliousness in her, but it came out in small revenges that could never be seen as anything other than an accident, like her father's potion exploding out of the middle of nowhere. Of course it came to nobody's mind that someone could have added a thestral tail hair to a potion that contained a pegasus feather, resulting in a boom in exactly three minutes time. From Margret's potions books, she gathered that no one even knew that, which was ridiculous. People actually thought that pegasus feathers stopped explosions. Please. Just because once exactly one experiment worked that way, Marcus Gaunt, doesn't mean it always will.

Margret quite honestly admired her sister's ability of not giving a fig. While it seemed to come as second nature to Vivianna to act such, Margret couldn't to save her life. It was more in character for her to be the quiet girl who was flattering guests or reading or playing Wizarding games on her laptop. (a/n yes, in this AU wizards have laptops and don't consider them to be muggle stuff so the purebloods allow them. Who knew? And yes, of course they have Wizarding games. Why shouldn't they?) However, beneath the surface surged a very prankstery (a/n I don't care if that's a word or not) nature.

While Margret had been musing, Mr Méfiance (a/n it's French for mistrust, meaning fiance means trust. Weird, right?) had returned with the desired books. Scooping them up and saying a polite thank you, Margret slipped outside of Death's Bookstore, Knockturn Alley, where he worked.

Several stores of wizarding supplies and a trip to Ye Olde Curiosity Shop (for another present, which turned out to be a silver-and-onyx bracelet that would make her feel cold if she was near someone with ill intentions. Sounded a bit like a Sneakascope and Margret was willing to bet it was made similarly, but more advanced) later, the Lestranges headed into Diagon Alley to pick up her wand, owl, and robes.

The owl Margret chose was a black one speckled with whitish spots. Her blood-red eyes stared deep into the girl's soul in a very intimidating way. Deciding that the owl (whose name was Carmine, after her eyes) would be perfect, she bought the huge bird and wandered into Ollivander's.

There it took Margret half an hour to find a wand that suited her. Eventually, she landed on a wand of the wood of the cypress tree and a core of unicorn tail hair. Gretchen was ecstatic, as according to Ollivander, the longer it took for you to find a wand the better of a witch/wizard you are.

In the robe shop when Margret came to get fitted, there was another girl undergoing the same thing. Her chocolate hair was gathered into a high ponytail, revealing her sharp face. Her first thought when the stranger looked at her was, holy shit, I do not want to see her mad. New girl's high cheekbones slightly hid her tilted hazel eyes and her gaze was calm, assertive.

"Hi. You starting Hogwarts, too?" new girl asked.

"Yeah. Margret Lestrange, how about you?"

"Heir Bulstrode. Melina Bulstrode. Your dad is the Head of the Department of the Improper Use of Magic Office, isn't he?" Ah, one of the Sacred Twenty Eight. I memorized them.

"That he is. Doesn't stop him from messing around with potions all the time when he's at home." Margret decided she liked this girl. Melina clearly was the type who had a rare gift to discover anything. For instance, Margret had accidently just told her, in context, that she knew potions and would therefore know the answers to that homework.

"In that case," Melina's dark eyes gleamed with something akin to mischief, "what will happen if you add a thestral hair to a Pepperup Potion? Come one, this one is easy."

"Yes, it is. You will get the Fever Potion, which gives it's drinker - or should I say victim - a fever that won't respond to anything for three weeks until it will randomly leave. A favorite in pranksters. I have a couple bottles."

"Oh? And what color is Fever Potion?"

"Forest green. To be honest, I don't really have anyone to use it on, so I just put candles in it and hang it up around my room. The light is nice."

"Interesting. My brother made some, but it was a light green."

"In that case, he probably added the hair to the potion when it was cold. It's supposed to be just the right temperature to cause a first-degree burn."

"Well, he might've." A woman called for Melina, who cursed in a foreign tongue. "Sorry, Mother is calling. See you on the train or something!"

"Bye!" Margret called back, feeling lonely. As she was contemplating this, however, her own mother came up.

"Oh, good, you're done. Who was that? A pureblood, I assume. Correct?"

"Yes, Mother. That was Heiress Melina Bulstrode, of the Family and House Bulstrode, One of the Sacred Twenty Eight. Are my robes done?"

"Yes, Margret. Five black robes, lined with silver, for everyday. A green silk dress and dark-green-silk-and-silver dress (with a silver snake on the back) for any parties. The first is Model Forest 4. The second is the second version of The Pride of Slytherin. A forest green cloak. A scarf in the appropriate colors."

"The second version of the Pride of Slytherin! Thank you, Mother!"

THE TRAIN

Head held high, Margret Lestrange, her sister, and her parents, (all with the exception of Viviana wearing robes), walked through Platform 9 ¾. As their parents called to them, the two girls stepped onto the train.

"Marg, I wish I could sit with you, but I'm a prefect. I have to sit at the front. You manage ok?"

Margret smiled at her sister's rough way of speaking. "Sure. I'll be fine."

As the eleven-year-old moved along, it became clear that all the compartments were full. Honestly. The emptiest compartment held a short girl, another first year by the looks of it, with thick dark red hair. Margret knocked. She had been raised well.

"Come in," called the girl, not looking up from her book. Charms Expected from First Years. (I didn't do the Charms textbooks from Harry's time because I felt they would not be around at the time. So Charms Expected from… is the Charms textbook series.)

Margret opened the glass door. Finally closing the book, Redhead looked up. "Hi, I'm Lily. Lily Evans." She smiled.

"Margret. Margret Lestrange." Usually, Margret would introduce herself surname first, but she had the feeling that Lily would remember the first name better.

"Well met, Margret."

"Well met." Lily went back to her book, and Margret sat down next to her (TRUE FACT: PEOPLE FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE IF YOU SIT NEXT TO THEM NOT IN FRONT OF THEM). Taking out her laptop, she went to the app The Story of Amelia. It was one she had just found and, according to the summary, it was about Amelia, who got lost in the woods. Slow, pulsing colors filled the window as it loaded, then cleared into the picture of a dark forest, the words THE STORY OF AMELIA appearing. Clicking "play", Margret waited.

"Amelia was a normal little girl. Her parents worked in Honeydukes. She had many friends. She had good grades and was excellent at magic. But one day, everything changed." Intrigued, Margret clicked continue. It did. After all, anyone whose parents worked in a sweetshop had to be nice.

"Amelia's father was having tea with a friend in London. To introduce Amelia with the friend's daughter, Elaine, he Apparated to their house. Amelia went with him by Side-Along Apparition." Poor girl. Side-Along is the worst. Wait, is Elaine going to be a big character?

"However, as this was her first time, Amelia lost grip of her father's arm and spiraled out of control. Although when she landed she was thankfully not Splinched, she did not recognize her surroundings. Amelia was in a dark forest." Geez.

"Standing up, Amelia began walking. At least get somewhere was her thought. After less than five minutes, a centaur appeared. WHAT DO YOU DO? #1: BOW AND GREET HIM RESPECTFULLY, #2 CONTINUE WALKING, #3 GREET HIM ARROGANTLY." Choosing the first, (never anger a centaur), Margret waited eagerly.

"'Greetings, good cent-'" Margret's thought was interrupted by Lily's voice.

"Where are you from? I'm from Winchester, it's a city near London. What about you?"

Margret shrugged. "London here. I live a five minute walk away from the Leaky Cauldron."

"Wow, that means you knew about this world, right?" guessed Lily. "You're so lucky! I never knew about it here. I just knew that I have freakish powers and my parents told me I'd be fine and my sister wanted them for herself." Dammit, she's a Mudblood. And I thought she was nice. On the other hand, Mother and Father's views aren't always correct. Wait, sister wanted powers?

"Sister?"

"Yeah, Petunia. I love her, I really do, but she's jealous of me." There was a long silence before a knock on the door sounded. The girls exchanged a glance before calling , "Come in!"

It was Melina and another girl Margret didn't know. She had shoulder-length hair that was neither red nor blond, yet somewhere in the middle. What did Americans call that color? (don't forget we're in Britain) Oh yeah, strawberry blond. Anyway, the newcomer had shoulder-length strawberry blond hair that formed slight waves. Nature had blessed her with an hourglass figure that was marked distinctively by her emerald robes. A bit of makeup gave her face an unearthly look, like she was made of light.

"Margret Lestrange, a pleasure." Melina said calmly, as etiquette told her to.

"Heiress Bulstrode, the pleasure is mine." Margret replied automatically before grinning. "So, how's it going, Melina?"

"Good. Meet Miss Alton, Renada Alton. Miss Alton, meet Miss Lestrange, Margret Lestrange." Ok, so Renada wasn't an heiress and wasn't one of the Sacred Twenty Eight. Margret realized that Lily had been staring open-mouthed the whole time. Well of course, she's a Muggleborn.

"Ok, I'm curious. Why does Melina get a title and Margret and Renada don't?" Lily asked.

"Because said title is 'Heiress'. It means you are the oldest child and inherit the family money and land. I have an older sister and an older brother, and I assume Margret does too. Melina only has a little brother and a whole lot of horses, but I doubt they count." That was Renada speaking. Her voice was soft and beautiful but Margret was already secretly plotting to use it to their advantage. Wait, horses?

Melina scowled and rolled her eyes. Ok, it's officially confirmed that she's creepy as heck when annoyed. "Yes, Renada, the horses don't count because they're not human. And no, it's not a lot. Only three. What's a lot is the entire stable. I don't own the entire damn stable. Only Cassandra, Nightmare, and Thunderstorm."

"And God help us if she starts talking about them," whispered Renada. She seemed completely unfazed by her friend being so clearly furious. Margret decided she liked this girl, as well. She had a strange aura of confidence that was hard to battle.

"Anyway, who are you?" Renada diverted her attention to Lily. Note to self. Renada probably has attention issues.

Lily smiled. "Lily Evans. Pleasure to meet you."

"Same." Renada took out a laptop and buried herself in it. Margret noticed that her posture remained perfect. The remaining three girls looked at each other and shrugged in sync, before beginning to talk about favorite candy. When the trolley came around, it was discovered that Lily was in love with licorice wands. Margret revealed her deepest secret: she was obsessed with milk chocolate and bought half the trolley. Melina apparently had a weakness for sugar quills and chocolate frogs. She didn't collect the cards, she sold them. She had quite a bit. Renada was absorbed by what seemed to be a YouTube crime show (a/n yes, wizards can have YouTube too. I'm not that cruel). However, Melina told everyone bluntly that Renada's favorite candy was Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

As they came off the train, they were met by a breathtaking sight. Hogwarts loomed out of the mist that hung into the air. And now for the Sorting.