CHAPTER THREE

Audrina filed out of the train along with the other students, her cousin's hand firmly holding hers for some reason. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought that Zane had a crush on her. But that would be just totally gross. Sure he was attractive, but her cousin. She shuddered as a mental picture appeared that she never wanted to see again.

The students walked along the platform, following a grim looking woman with straggling gray hair and black eyes. Hogwarts students were clustered together in groups of twos and threes, probably with the people they had grown up with. At the end of the platform, there were carriages pulled by skeletal horse like beings. She saw a bunch of the other students point to them and heard one word: Thestral. Of course, most of the students here had seen death, it was a given. Her and Zane loaded into the carriage with four other people that she didn't know.

The ride to Hogwarts was silent between the six of them, most all of them fidgety, looking around at their surroundings. From the carriage in front of them, Audrina heard a few little girls "Ooohhh and Ahhh." She looked up then and saw the castle that she had heard and read about since she was a little girl. "Wow," was all she could say as Zane nodded in agreement.

They reached the front of the castle, the bricks looking ancient and kind of dreary. Audrina took in a deep breath as she stepped off the carriage floor and saw the old woman standing on the steps to the school. "Attention," her voice was just as frail as she looked, though it was demanding. "Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This school has changed much since before the battle, but believe me, it is for the best. Once inside, you shall take a seat at any of the four tables and the headmaster will explain the school to you fully."

She turned on her heel and the large double doors opened, her walking through them and through another pair just across from the entrance. The Entrance Hall, she remembered hearing her brother tell her, and it leads off into the Great Hall where our meals will be. As she walked through the doors of the Great Hall, she looked around curiously. The candles were merely lit, giving the hall a shadowy aura. There were four long dark oak tables that went across the room, a large table near the back. Teachers sat there, looking surly as ever. She herself recognized a few: Amycus and Alecto Carrow were the first she noticed, then came Dolores Umbridge, wearing pink robes, the only real color in the room. Next to her was Fenrir Greyback who looked at the children hungrily. At the edge of the table sat Percy Weasley, a disgusted look on his freckled face, his fire red hair hidden beneath a pointed hat. In the middle of the table, his face pale, his nose just slits below his eyes, sat her father, Lord Voldemort, the Headmaster of Hogwarts. As she sat down at a table, she couldn't help but sneak peeks every few seconds at her father whereas everyone else was avoiding the Dark Lord's gaze completely. It was best not to draw attention to oneself.

She took a deep breath as the rest of the students took their seats, filling the tables up.
Voldemort stood up and immediately the whole hall went deathly quiet. He looked around at the student's faces, smirking almost. "Welcome, my lovely students to Hogwarts," he said, his voice left a chill in Audrina's bones. "After seventeen years since I conquered Harry Potter, our world has changed so much for the better. Mudbloods were killed along with the disgusting blood traitor families."

Audrina looked over at Percy Weasley. Most of his family was killed, though they were purebloods, because they were muggleborn sympathizers.

" Now I know we have older students, and no fear, you will get an…enlightening education here at my school," Voldemort sneered, looking at a few students in turn. "Please beware that punishments here are as the name states, punishing. Professor Greyback will control the disciplinary actions in this school. Now everyone, eat!"

As soon as he said this, food appeared on the tables. It all looked delicious, of course, but somehow…dark. Audrina sat silently, eating the food on her plate while her cousin talked endlessly about what he had heard from one of the students.

"Apparently, since there are no longer four houses, only Slytherin, dorms and common areas will be separated by age. Sixteen and seventeen year olds will be down in the dungeons, where the dorms are easier to enlarge. Fifteen year olds will be down near the kitchens, thirteen and fourteen where the Ravenclaw common room used to be and eleven and twelve year olds on the seventh floor. They'll be more organized once all the years are back to normal, after people twelve and older are out of here. And the classes, oh my god, I can't wait. All of the stuff our parents taught us when we were younger. We will have no trouble fitting in here. Audrina, are you even listening?"

Audrina's attention had gone to one of the windows, where outside she saw a dark figure in a cloak heading into the Forbidden Forest. With a look around the Great Hall, she realized that Steven was nowhere to be seen, actually, she hadn't seen him since he left the compartment on the train.

That was mostly just a filler chapter. I didn't know…how to talk as Voldemort, I haven't quite decided how he should act now that he is the controller of the British Wizarding World. Review and tell me what you think so far