Chapter 8:

The next morning, when the sun was actually up, Ursella changed into her school robes without looking at the Gryffindors in her dorm. She didn't want to be their friend. She didn't want to talk to them. And it might be the early morning, pre-breakfast sleepiness talking, but she really wanted to watch them all burn. She heard them dress and skitter out of the room, obviously the night's sleep hadn't made them forget about her outburst. It doesn't matter. Ursella thought. Uncle Lucius will fix this and I won't have to deal with any them.

She took a deep breath and turned to leave the girls' dormitory when she heard what sounded like an animal growl from the bed to the left of hers. There was a large lump still in Ginny's bed, and it was snoring ever so softly. Ella rolled her eyes and had almost left the room but then she thought of Ginny's face if she were to miss her first day of school. Damn!

Ella stomped back over to her own bed, gripped onto her pillowcase, and brought it slamming down onto the sleeping redhead. Ginny shot straight up in her bedclothes, her hair making her head look like an odd hourglass shape. "Get up." Ella droned with as little emotion as she could manage. "You're late."

Ginny gave her a big stupid look, like the blood traitor didn't even understand English anymore. "Late?" her morning voice sounded like a frog swallowed sandpaper.

"Yeah," Ursella scoffed, replacing her pillow. "For breakfast."

"Oh thanks," Ginny rubbed her eyes as her brain caught up with the day, which for whatever reason Ursella found extremely frustrating.

"Save your thanks." Ursella turned on her heel and headed for the door. "I wasn't going to let you sleep in after you woke me up in the middle of the night. Oh and Ginevra…" she stopped in the doorway and back at Ginny who was still looking stupid. "If you do it again, I'll blast you straight to the infirmary." Ursella slammed the dormitory door, but not before she heard Ginny mumble,

"That was real?"

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There was no one in the common room by the time Ella made it down the stairs, which was fine by her. She didn't need to deal with the loud rabble that inhabited this house for any more than she had to. And she already had to eat with them at breakfast, and every other meal, and go to class with them, and walk in the halls with them, and listen to them, and talk with them, and oh god, what if Uncle Lucius couldn't do anything, what was she going to do? They all hate her because of what her family did and who they followed. She was already making enemies. She had depended on Draco and his friends and connections for safety when she got here and now she began to realize there are far more foes than friends and the friends are nowhere to be seen.

Ella stopped just outside the portrait hole, breathing shallowly, thinking about what her peers thought of her, what they might do if they ever got up the courage. That shouldn't be very long since it was the house for the brave. She felt her chest tighten and could hear her mother's voice screaming in her head. She was a blood traitor, a disappointment. Her Aunt and Uncle took her in and this was how she thanked them. They were going to kick her out. She'd never go home. Never see them again. Never see Draco again. Never see Mother again. She couldn't breathe. Her heart was racing. Was this fear? Embarrassment? Panic? She thought that she might be dying. No…she must be dying.

She crumpled to the floor as the Fat Lady swung open behind her. A small voice came from above her. She knew it was Ginny.

"Ursella?" hands came down on her shoulders and turned her to lean against the wall. Ella felt her eyes might fall out of her head but she saw Ginny's were just as wide. "Oh jeez, Ursella! Just breathe. Okay just breathe."

"I…can't…" gasped Ella. How could she? Her life was ending. Something as trivial as breathing felt way not important enough to worry about.

"Yes you can," Ginny said very forcefully. "Just breathe with me okay? IN…OUT…" Ella obeyed. "Good, again." And again and again Ella followed Ginny's breathing. As she stopped feeling like she was going to die, she started to feel other things. All of the other things. Tears started to stream unwarranted down her face. "Oh Ella it's okay." Ginny sat next to her and put her arm around her shoulders. "I know it's a lot and you're probably not exactly where you want to be right now. But you can be anything you want here. It's like a fresh start. You get to be your own person. Make your family proud that way."

Ella wiped her face and scoffed. "Yeah sure." She heaved a big sigh and leaned back against the wall. She didn't have the family Ginny had. If she did, she could just "try her best" and be welcomed warmly home for Christmas. But she would have to play the hand she was dealt. Ginny didn't know anything about her family. She didn't know what would make them proud. But Ursella did. "Umm…thanks, I guess." She stood and offered a hand to Ginny.

"Don't worry about it." Ginny gave a small smile as she stood. Ella thought she looked exhausted. Maybe she should have let her sleep in.

"But if you tell anyone, I'll—"

"I know, you'll blast me into next week or whatever it was you said. I got it." Ginny waved a dismissive hand at her and started down the corridor. Ella was more than a little taken aback. Grumpy Ginny was not one to intimidate.

"You should be nicer to your friends you know." The Fat Lady had decided to chime in.

"She's not…" Ursella turned and glared at the portrait. "Never mind. Not a word, you hear me witch?"

"My dear girl," The Fat Lady began, very condescendingly, "I have been the keeper of Gryffindor Tower for centuries. I am not a gossip."

"I'll remember you said that." Ella turned and ran down the corridor to catch up to the trudging Ginny.

"You really need to keep your emotions in check." Ginny grumbled as Ella caught up to her.

"What?" Ella was starting to get whiplash with all of Weasley's mood swings.

"You know the fireplace in the common room, that's supposed to be out?"

"Yeah"

"It lit itself and seemed to be trying to set the whole room on fire when I was on my way out." Ginny wiped the sleep from her eyes again. "And lo and behold I find you freaking out just outside. I might be a bloodtraitor but I can out two and two together just fine."

Ella felt her face flush out of embarrassment. She always had an affinity toward magic, specifically objects commonly controlled magically, like fireplaces that light themselves. Fire was always a thing that kept popping up in her meltdowns as a child and with special coaching she had been able to learn to control it, like she demonstrated to her new friends back in the dormitory. "Yeah," she said through biting her lip, "I've been working on that. My entire life actually. I'm usually pretty good about it."

"Uh huh," yawned Ginny, unimpressed. "Well, Ron's been talking nonstop about how you shoved him off Malfoy in the bookstore. He thinks you are the epitome of evil."

Ella chuckled. "Am I not?"

"You seem to like me," Ginny said very matter of fact.

Ella stopped in her tracks. "What…no!"

Ginny barely broke stride as she looked over her shoulder, "Don't get your wand in a knot. I won't tell anyone you have a soul." She rolled her eyes and descended the staircase toward the entrance hall.

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Ella caught up with Ginny as she entered the Great Hall. They both paused and took in the room as owls were already swooping around with the daily mail. Ginny recognized where her brother was sitting and started across to the rest of the Gryffindors. Ella could see Draco's toehead over with the Slytherins and realized she missed him. But mostly still hated him, even if she could see that he was in fact scribbling on some parchment and attaching it to the family Eagle owl. It's probably the letter he said he'd write to Uncle Lucius. Maybe everything was going to be alright. She took a deep breath and followed Ginny to the Gryffindor table, prepared to play her part.

As she took her seat next to Ginny, she noticed a peculiar tension around the table. Harry Potter was only a few seats away looking at a scarlet envelope in Ginny's brother's hand. Ron was looking horrified and a round-faced boy was telling him to open it and get it over with.

"Morning Ella!" Colin Creevy had taken the seat across from her, towing his giant camera around his neck.

"It's Ursella, Creevy." She drawled. "And you're going to want to get your camera ready."

"Huh?"

Just then, a voice exploded from the center of the table. It sounded vaguely familiar and then Ella realized she had heard it that day in Diagon alley when Ginny's mother was yelling at her dad. Only this time it was disembodied, exponentially louder, and fully well pissed.

"—WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE—"

Everyone was looking. All of the sheep had swiveled around in their chairs and were trying to find the source of the noise. Ella could literally feel the table shaking from the sheer volume of the little envelope. Potter had his hands clapped over his ears. Ron was trying to hide in his chair. Granger was peering curiously over her book, as if she might want to dissect the envelope to see how it works.

"—AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME!"

And then it was over. The envelope burst into flames and the whole room was caught in this awkward ringing silence. It was hilarious. Did no one else think this was hilarious? She couldn't help it, Ursella just started laughing.

With the silence finally broken, normal breakfast chatter resumed and people went back to their own business. Ursella was wiping tears from her eyes when she saw the youngest Weasley brother glaring daggers at her with a purple face. "You think that's funny do you?"

"Yeah," she panted, recovering normal breathing. "I do. It's pretty funny. Right Creevy?" she turned to the blonde boy with the camera. He was still trying to figure out what just happened and didn't reply. "Creevy!"

He jumped, "What?"

"Are you going to get a picture of the very first time you heard a Howler or not?" she drawled slyly.

"Oh, right," Colin broke into a grin as he prepped his equipment.

"No, wait," Potter actually looked terrified of getting his picture taken. "Colin now's not really—" But he was interrupted by the flash of the camera bulb. He and honestly the rest of the table in that direction tried to rub the spots out of their eyes as he spoke directly at her. "Happy?"

"No." Ursella said, turning back to her food. "But that helped."

There was a flutter by her ear as a giant black raven landed next to her plate. It had another crimson envelope clutched in its beak…and it was looking straight at her.

"Ooh," Colin was getting his camera ready again. "Is that another one?"

A triumphant shout rang from Ron. "Ha HA! Go on then open it up, Lestrange. Who's it from then?"

"Mind your business Weasley." Draco had suddenly appeared behind Ursella and tried to take the envelope from raven, but it squawked and fluttered out of his reach. Ursella snatched it from the bird with no problem. It was for her after all and ravens from Azkaban don't give up mail to just anyone. "you can't open that in here." Draco muttered in her ear.

"Who's it from?" Ginny had finally looked up from the writing she had been doing under the table.

Ursella saw the Howler had her mother's handwriting on it and knew that there was no way anyone was going to hear it. It very well might have additional curses attached. When her mother gets mad, it's no mere idle threats of violence. It might actually get violent, or at least malicious. But Ursella was too smart for that.

"Not to worry Draco," Ella smiled. "Watch and learn Weasley!" She focused on the envelope, felt the hidden magic inside, grabbed hold of it in her mind and forced it to ignite. Literally. The entire envelope let out one piercing scream as it was engulfed in flames. Ella watched Ronald's face turn to shock and then anger as the envelope crumpled to ash in her hands. She brushed her hands clean.

"Really not keeping a low profile, are we?" Draco drawled, looking down at her and crossing his arms.

"I guess it could be lower," she shrugged and turned to ignore the other Gryffindors. "Did you write Uncle?"

"Actually," Draco's face lightened, "He wrote me first. Said he was going to talk to each governor personally and get this whole thing sorted…in the correct way."

Ella sighed with relief. "That is fantastic!"

"Yes," Draco said. "You should be in your proper House by October."

"Whoa, what?" Ella stood. "A whole month?"

"Be patient Ursella," Draco said, with a fair amount of condescension. "This isn't something that has been attempted before and it takes time to blaze trails. I told him you would be a model student so that the governors would be given no reason to say no." He put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Everything will be alright. Father will take care of it."

"Back to your house, Mr. Malfoy." Professor McGonagall had arrived with a stack of small pieces of paper in her hands. "Professor Snape is handing out your class schedules. You don't want to miss that, would you?"

"You are correct, Professor." Draco patted Ella on the shoulder one last time before crossing the hall back to the Slytherin table.

"Miss Lestrange?" Professor McGonagall had lowered her tone to speak with Ursella specifically. "How are you doing this morning? Are we feeling any better after a good night's sleep?"

"Fine, Professor." Ursella replied through gritted teeth. "I apologize for my behavior last night. It was unbecoming."

"It's quite alright." Professor McGonagall started flicking through her stack of papers. "I know you had your hopes up about the sorting. But…" she trailed off as she handed Ursella her schedule, "I do look forward to seeing you put that talent of yours to good use."

Ursella looked up from the paper to see the older woman looking knowingly at her over the frames of her spectacles. She could tell that Professor McGonagall was going to be keeping an eye on her, that she didn't trust her. Maybe she shouldn't.

"Of course, Professor." Ursella met her gaze with a beaming smile. "See you in class."

Ella took her seat as Professor McGonagall continued handing out schedules. One more month of pretending to be okay. That's not impossible to do. In the mean time she can get ahead in classes and maybe even mess with the Gryffindors. Ronald Weasley has so far been pretty fun to mess with because he already hates her and can't stand to see her get the better of him. Potter seems to get real annoyed whenever Creevy shows up, probably has to do with that obnoxiously huge camera. She logged all that away for later and turned back to her porridge.

"Looks like we have Potions first," Ginny said, studying her new school schedule. "With…Ravenclaw. Hey we know a Ravenclaw."

"Right, the blonde girl." Ella remembered the starry eyed girl from the boat ride the night before. "Love something…"

"Luna Lovegood!" squeaked Colin from across the table. He was pulling out his potions textbook as if skimming through it right before class was going to impress Severus Snape at all.

"Right," said Ginny. Both girls stared at him for a minute before he noticed and looked up.

"Oh, I'm really good at remembering names…and facts…and stuff," said Colin. "Have you all read through this textbook yet? It's pretty fascinating. Although the Transfiguration book is way better of a read."

"Yeah, I have read through them," Ella replied, a little shocked. "I'm surprised you have though."

"Why? Cuz I'm jittery? I get that a lot." Colin turned back to his book.

"No," Ursella started, "Because you're a…"

"Don't." Ginny cut her off. She looked at Ella with a fatigued expression that made Ella back down instinctually. "It's too early for any of that. Let's go. We have to go back to the common room. Neither of us remembered our books."

"Damn!" Ella scarfed the remainder of her bacon and took a toast to go, chasing once again after Ginny out of the hall.

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