Hello again! Unfortunately updates usually won't be this quick I just wanted to have two chapter out there to start this up:) thanks again for reading! Review please! :)

Cassia

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER, ECT. ECT...YOU GUYS KNOW THE DRILL

Chapter 2: Ravenclaw Common Room

I departed from Draco as soon as the carriage stopped and I hurried away to talk with my own friends as I saw Pansy coming over to reclaim Draco.

"Where were you?" Lucy asked loudly.

"I tripped and sort of fell behind," I admitted sheepishly.

Shortly after the Sorting ended and we welcomed the new Ravenclaw first years, we suddenly saw the doors to the great hall slide open and Harry Potter (covered in blood) entered along with a self satisfied looking Snape, his dark robes billowing behind him. I found myself unconsciously glancing sideways at the Slytherin table, where Draco was miming what looked like a broken nose and what must have been blood spurting everywhere, than an overly dramatic heart clutch and a pitiful whining face. He caught me looking at him and I turned around quickly, hiding my blush with my curly blonde hair.

Wait.

Blushing? I thought to myself.

It's a bit hot in here, that's all. I silently chided myself.

"Ready for 6th year?" I asked as I helped myself to the delicious, melt in your mouth dinner rolls.

"N.E.W.T.S...don't remind me," Julie groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "That's like, what, twice as much studying as 5th year for O.W.L.S!"

"What's up with Harry?" I asked curiously, nudging Lucy and pointing to him just as Hermione was magically removing the blood that had been soaking the front of Harry's clothes just moments earlier.

"Dunno..." But why isn't Granger in Ravenclaw again?" Sarah asked for about the thousandth time.

I felt extremely cold and goosebumps broke out all over my skin as the ghost of Bloody Baron drifted through our table, and right through me..

"I hate when he does that!" I shuddered, whispering. I took a giant bit out of my pudding which added a rather strange sound to my strangled gasp as I caught sight of Dumbledore's blackened and withered hand. I wasn't the only one who had caught sight of his injury; a wave of gasps rolled through the Great Hall. Dumbledore merely smiled slightly and shook his sleeve down, obscuring his hand from view. Professor Mcgonagall looked at him nervously.

"Nothing to worry about," he quelled the whispers that had undertaken in all four tables.

"Now, to our new students, welcome! To our old students, welcome back..." I tuned out his speech, thinking back to this summer. I had concluded a couple things from the visits of Voldemort's followers this summer almost positively-one was my parents couldn't have angered them too much or they, and I, would be dead. So that would be my signal for when they were no longer doing whatever they were doing; when they were killed. The next was that the Death Eaters had a plan this year revolving around the Malfoys.

I immediately made up my mind to make note of anything suspicious, but not to get anywhere near Fenrir Greyback. I shivered with a flashback of what he'd whispered in my ear-

"I've got my eye on you, Ravenclaw...remember this...I love to eat pretty little girls...and especially blood traitors at that..." he took a deep, mocking sniff as I stood stock still in fear, rooted to the spot.

"The Dark Lord is very talented in making sure those who oppose him breathe their last."

That was, thankfully, the last I had seen Greyback this summer but his voice lingered in my thoughts and haunted my dreams.

I was jolted back to present day as Dumbledore's voice increased in volume a bit, almost as if he knew he was losing me.

"We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year-Professor Slughorn." he stood up to an unenthusiastic smattering of applause, his rotund belly visibly straining his brass buttons. What little hair he had left was carefully combed and parted.

"-is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post as potions master."

"Potions? He'll be teaching potions?"similar phrases rang out below the lit candles as students turned to each other to discuss this new development.

"Professor Snape, meanwhile," Dumbledore continued, raising his voice to be heard over our whispering, "will be taking over the position of the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher."

"No!" came a cry from the Gryffindor table, its source Harry Potter.

This was almost drowned out by the general outburst of applause coming from the Slytherin table, although those who heard turned to see an angered Harry talking feverishly to his two best friends.

"I wonder what's happened to Dumbledore's hand," Luna observed loftily, smiling at me from across the table and down a bit. "He could have possible upset a red-footed steamgrazer." I smiled back at her eccentricity, wondering how she ever managed to come up with such whimsical creatures.

Sarah whipped her head back around at the sound of Dumbledore clearing his throat, silencing the circulating whispers.

"Now as everybody in this hall knows, Lord Voldemort and his followers are once more at large and gaining strength," I found myself glancing at Draco again, who was preoccupied by levitating his fork, not seeming to be effected by anything Dumbledore was saying.

"I cannot emphasize enough how dangerous the present situation is, and how much care each of us at Hogwarts must take to ensure that we remain safe." Luna was staring raptly at something fixed on something 6 inches above my head, and I resisted the urge to wave my hand around up there to see what it was that held her attention so raptly.

"-in particular, the rule that you are not to be out of bed after hours. I implore you, should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, to report it to a member of the staff immediately. I trust you to conduct yourselves, always with the utmost regard for your own and others safety." he smiled wanly, and opened his mouth to finish the speech. "But now, your beds await, as comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your first priority is to be well rested for your lessons tomorrow. Now, let us therefore say goodnight! Pip pip!" the great hall immediately broke into loud talking and laughing, accompanied by the sound of everyone getting up at once.

"Whadya think of that?" Julie asked me, linking her arm through mine. Sarah and Lucy had fallen back to talk with several of our other friends.

"Slughorn and Snape? Interesting. I wonder if Snape will last over a year as our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. No other one has," I said thoughtfully.

"Aaaaaaand...you excited to see Malfoy again on a daily basis!" she said in a cheery voice, knocking my shoulder with her own.

"Hadn't even thought about it," surprising myself that I actually had. We followed behind nervous first years, who followed the prefects like leashed puppies. They drunk in every detail with eyes the size of plates, whispering to their neighbors rapidly.

"Now we'll let the first years have a go at the riddle, so all of you older students stay quite for a moment!" shouted a pompous prefect, Jason something or other.

"Remember when we were that age?" giggled Lucy as she, Sarah and Luna appeared behind us.

"They seem rather frightened," I said, drowning out the sound of the riddle.

"Anyone know?" a prefect asked. "Come on now, don't be shy-you'll have to do this every time you're admitted into our common room! Of course, you are Ravenclaws, so I don't think you'll have too much trouble!"

A little redheaded girl tentatively raised her hand.

"Yes?" she was nodded at.

"Is the answer...no one on the first three days, but everyone on the last four?" she whispered.

Sarah elbowed me, saying,

"Remember when you got the first year riddle?" she grinned just as the bronze knocker said,

"Perfectly phrased. Welcome to Hogwarts."

"That's how we met!" I replied as the door swung open.

We stepped in, smiles pulling at the older students cheeks as the younger ones gasped in delight.

The majestically high domed ceiling had been painted to look like the night sky abundantly dotted with stars-it was a brilliant effect. The paint was magical, it looked three dimensional. There were so many more stars than the normal night sky, which you could compare with the view from the huge, gold framed windows showing the picturesque mountains below the endless sky. The window seats were stacked high with blue and bronze pillows that matched the Ravenclaw colored silk draperies on the wall. More bookshelves had been added and shined to perfection, magnificent quills with peacock feathers sitting in intricately carved inkwells for anyone who had been burdened with heaps of homework.

To the right of the crackling fireplace sat the statue of the original Ravenclaw, Rowena. The circlet on her head read, "Wit beyond measure is a man's greatest treasure," reminding us every day that what set us apart was our intelligence and wit, and that we were to smart to fall for the world's cruel pranks.

Lucy, Sarah, Julie and I raced upstairs to our rooms, passing our rooms last year labeled 'fifth years.'

"Whooo!" Hope, my tawny owl hooted indignantly as I reached the foot of my bed where my trunks and owl cage sat. She stared at me with her large honey eyes, an unusual color for an owl.

"I swear that owl has sass!" Sarah said as she got to close to Hope, making her crane her neck and hoot. We all got our trunks open at our four identical beds. We had one of the two Ravenclaw 6th year rooms for Ravenclaw girls.

I flung myself onto the fluffy bed, disturbing my deep blue comforter with bronze stitching to match the bronze colored pillows piled high. Our schedules had come early this year, landing with a puff on our beds. After reviewing them I noticed that our major classes were shared mostly with Slytherin. A foreign feeling settling in my stomach.

"Two free periods, yes!" Julie crowed. "And we have the free periods same hour! Aren't you glad we dropped divination and care of magical creatures? And didn't we drop another class too? Anyway..." we compared schedules that were about half together, as she had dropped more classes than I had. Lucey and Sarah had identical schedules, only in a few classes o mine or Julie's.

"I'm so tired," moaned Lucy, her dark hair splaying out around her as she flopped back.

"Than go to bed, girl!" I said playfully. "Snape won't cut us any slack, the concept of easing us back into our school routine for even just a week is a foreign idea to him," I snickered.

"Or even just a day for that matter," said Julie.

"Expect a 13 inch essay on the different types of bone structures in dragons due the next day," I said, getting up as an owl rapped on my tall window. Cold air came pouring in with the ugly barn owl and I shut the window quickly behind it.

"A love letter from Harry, Luce?" I asked playfully, knowing perfectly well about her crush on 'the boy who lived.'

"Of course, thats why its at your window! If anything, its a love letter from Malfoy!" she blushed, causing the rest of us to laugh.

I finally managed to unfold the tightly pressed note; before I could even lay eyes on the first word the owl spread its wings intimidatingly at me and nipped at my leg, demanding to be let out.

"Ow!" I cried as a trickle of blood traced its way down my leg.

"Stupid owl," Julie muttered, practically throwing it out the window.

"Who's bloody owl was that?" Sarah screeched. "And is the note really from Draco?" she snickered. I scanned to the bottom of the note to see who sent it and rolled my eyes. Suddenly the owl's behavior made sense.

"No, worse, Pansy," I spit the name. "But of course, its about Draco," I sighed, handing it to her.

"Astoria," she read aloud. "You are going to stay away from Draco this year. He's mine; always has been, always will be. He would never even touch a filthy blood traitor like you. You ruin the good name of Greengrass, I'm shocked you haven't been disowned. Don't forget-keep your hands of Draco, or there will be hell to pay. Pansy."

"Parkinson's PMSing," I sighed as I tried to forget the disowning comment. "Anyway she's got it backwards, its Malfoy stalking me not the other way around," I said, watching as Sarah crumpled up the note, levitating it with her huge wand into the garbage.

"I wonder if Pansy's nicer once you get to know her," Lucy wondered thoughtfully. I almost choked on my own spit I was so shocked.

"Parkinson?" I practically screamed, my eyes wide. "Maybe you-know-who has a really nice sense of humor once you get to know him, too!" I said.

"Or D-"

"Not this again!" I groaned. "I have told you time and time again that I do not fancy Ferrit!" I said.

"I wasn't going to say Draco-I was going to say Daphne. You thought of that one all by yourself," she smirked. I groaned, the battle was already lost.

"Night girls!" I called, pulling the coverings around my four poster bed. I flicked my wand, making the room go dark.

My dreams were haunted by none other than Fenrir Greyback in werewolf form. But before he bit me, every time I was saved by a boy who's face I didn't quite catch.

It wasn't until morning I knew who he was.

A\N I hope you guys are reading the author's notes cause they may be helpful:) and I hope you guys know who the boy in her dreams is! Well, I guess I'll spell it out for you. D.R.A.C.O.

Plus I just wanted to say this one more time...hang in there, my story is dull at the beginning. And two, there are banners for this story posted on my profile. Thanks for reading! :)