Time had passed all too quickly. I was having the time of my life at Cissy's house. If I had a choice, I think I would have chosen to live with and her family. The summer finally ended. Cissy's parents took a taxi to King's Cross Station. Rema and Tally said very few words to each other. Once we made it there, we kept our eyes open in hopes of finding our friends again.

I walked onto the platform, following behind Cissy's family. Cissy stood beside me; telling me about how excited she was to be heading back to school. We close to being late, but we're making good time in our mad dash through the crowds. I caught a brief glimpse of something running in the distance. All I could make of it was that it was small, and must have been in hurry.

"Did you see that?" I asked.

"See what?"

"I guess it was nothing," I said shaking my head.

"Hey," a familiar face called to us from the distance.

"Oh no," Cissy said", not her again."

I turned to see Jean Reign running towards us. She quickly hugged me and then hugged Cissy. "I missed you guys. How has it been?"

"It's been fine," I responded.

"Oh, that's good, that's very good. Well, I'm off to try and get a good seat on the train. I'll catch up with two later. Okay? Bye," Jean said and continued walking swiftly past us.

We continued walking through the large crowds of people. We finally found the pillar that stood between platforms nine and ten. Tally ran threw first; after her mother made sure that she had everything and made her promise to write. Cissy's mother did the same thing with her. Cissy's mom hugged and I ran threw the pillar.

"Come on," Cissy said grabbing a hold of my hand. "We need to try and get a good seat."

She began pulling me through the crowd. I saw Draco standing in the distance with Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. They were standing with their parents. I saw the small creature standing next to Draco. I tilted my head curiously and stared at it.

"Cissy," I said tugging on her hand. "What's that?" I pointed at the little creature standing next to Draco.

"Oh," Cissy said", that's a house elf. Some wizarding families own them; they're like maids or butlers. Now come on will you?"

Cissy continued to pull me forward. We made our way through the other kids and boarded the red train quickly. It was even more crowded inside. People were trying to move around in this tight narrow area to get to their compartments.

"There you two are," Henry Beause said walking towards us. "We have a compartment already. Follow me," he said turning around.

We followed behind him. It was a challenge for me to see him over the heads of the older kids. I kept my eye on Cissy, she was easier for me to spot. I figured that she had a better view of where Henry was, and was still following him. We finally stopped and entered our compartment. Henry closed the door behind us. I was smiled when I saw John-Claude Verese, Rema Traussle, Keci Thomas sitting in the compartment. I saw something sitting next to Keci, a boy. He looked thin, wore glasses, and had short blonde hair.

"Have a seat," Henry said pointing to two small empty spots.

Cissy and I took a seat quickly. I noticed that Henry was still standing against the door.

"Henry, if you want my seat," I began. He interrupted by holding a hand out.

"I'm fine standing," he responded.

"Marina," Rema began", I've been doing tons of research. I haven't really found any reason that you were able to perform magic without getting in trouble." She sighed and continued", I've tried to find what I could. I'm hoping that the Hogwart's library will have more answers."

"Is that all you're going to do this year," Cissy scoffed ",study and do more studying?"

"Well, sorry if I want to get good grades unlike some people," Rema retorted.

"Who is he?" I asked trying to change the subject. I nodded in the direction of the new guy.

"Oh," Keci said", this is Stuart Campbell."

"Hello Stuart, I'm Marina," I said placing a hand on my chest.

"Nice to met you," he responded with a simple smile.

"Let's just hope that there aren't any vampires around this time," John said with a smirk. "Or we'll have to kill them off again."

"Yea and you'll be the one to do it to," Cissy said with a chuckle.

"You know it, I've been working out over the summer," he said and held up an arm to try and show off a muscle.

Cissy reached out and squeezed his arm. He quickly pulled away, and I could see the expression on his face that said she hurt him.

"It's sensitive, you have to be gentle," John said.

"Sure, gentle," Cissy said.

We all giggled, but tried to hide it. I bit my lower lip to keep myself from giggling with the others. I didn't want to hurt his feelings. The train took off quickly. We chatted about our summers. Most of us hadn't done anything all that special. Cissy told them about Draco calling me a mudblood. The others couldn't believe he would say such a thing, but it still didn't bother me.

We finally arrived to our stop. I was relieved that we could finally breathe. Well, that was after we got off the train. Hagrid led all the first years to the boats. The others walked off in a slightly different direction through the woods. I was still intimidated by the trees. I had grown up in a desert with mountains and flat lands. This was still all new to me.

We came to the carriages. I saw the horse, or if that's what you could call it, that pulled the carriages. They're faces reminded me of a dragon's face. I walked around it to get a better look. It stared at me with shinning blank white eyes. It had a long black mane that lead to large wings that appeared to be made of leather. I reached forward to try and touch it. It allowed me to pet its snout and whined.

"What are you doing?" Henry asked.

"Just petting the horse, or what ever you call it," I responded walking back towards them.

"I don't see anything," Henry said.

"You don't see it?" I questioned confused.

"No, nothings pulling the carriage," Henry said.

"Are you feeling all right Marina?" Cissy asked.

I was about to say something, but Draco interrupted me.

"Look what's come to Hogwart's, a bunch of mudblood and blood traitors," he said with a sneer. His friends snickered at the comment.

"Like you would know," Rema said crossing her arms.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Draco asked walking closer towards Rema threatingly.

Rema stood her ground. "I just happen to think that you're the biggest coward and blood traitor of them all."

"Why you-"Draco began.

I saw him begin to grab his wand. I rapidly walked towards them. I placed a hand on Draco's chest. "Please Draco; it's not worth getting expelled."

Draco pulled my hand off of his chest and took a few steps away from me. "Don't ever touch me again mudblood. You're right, none of you are wroth it."

"Come on," Henry said pulling on my cloak. "Let's just go."

We quickly got into the carriage and it rode off. I watched Draco and his friends fade off into the distance. I exhaled disappointedly. I still couldn't tell if Draco was a friend or if he was an enemy. When no one else was around he acted like a friend. When his friends, or anyone else, were around he acted like a brat. Cissy placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Just forget about him," she told me. "He's an asshole who doesn't even deserve to be friends with us."

"If you say," I replied. "I just feel bad that it didn't work out though."

As soon as we arrived at the Hogwart's castle rumors were soaring. The most recent rumor was that Harry Potter and Ron weren't seen on the Hogwart's express. One person claimed to have seen Harry about to fall from a car. He was grabbed a hold of the door handle, and Ron eventually pulled him back to safety. As to why they were late depended on who you talked to. I just shrugged it off, and ignored the fact that Harry was popular without really being popular.

The dinner feast was the same as last year. Only difference was that I didn't have to put on the sorting hat. Before we began eating the first years nervously walked inside and were sorted. Stuart Campbell was sorted into Gryffindor, and Abigail Wineheart had been sorted into Slytherine. Once again, my friends were separated into different houses.

Dumbledore gave a few us a few parting words. Then we headed off to bed. I had noticed that Mr. Filch walked into the Great Hall. He said something to Snape and the two walked off. I wonder why they left, and the thought finally dawned on me. Harry and Ron must have finally arrived. I didn't bother to say anything and continued eating. I now knew that Hogwart's had the best food that I'd ever tasted and probably would ever taste again.

"So, are you glade to be back?" Cissy asked me.

"Very glade," I said swallowing my bit of bread. "I'm glade to be away from that orphanage."

"We'll we're glade to have you here," Cissy said smiling.

"What exactly does a house elf do again?" I asked her curiously.

"Well, like I said they're like maids or butlers. They usually serve a single wizarding family, and are bound to that family unless their master provides them with a piece of clothing," Cissy informed me.

"Bound?" I responded perplexed. "Doesn't that mean that they're slaves?"

"Slaves?" Cissy questioned.

"They're slaves to their masters. Those poor creatures," I said looking down at my food solemnly.

"Well that's the awful truth of life anywhere isn't it? Nothing is perfect anywhere," Cissy responded grabbing some bread from the center of the table.

"I suppose so," I responded still feeling bad for them.

After dinner we left to go to bed. The first years were lead by the house prefect to the common room. I watched Stuart follow suit behind the others. He seemed to be very shy. I smiled remembering when I was a first year. That had been the most exciting year of my life. Even though I was always terrified of being kicked out of Hogwart's because I was behind in actually being able to perform magic. Now, I wasn't worried. I knew I could do magic, and knew I had friends to support me.

Our luggage had been placed in the bedroom. Cissy and I hung out in the common room for a while. We held the mirror that Rema had given us and talked to the others. They were in their common rooms as well. After an hour or two, I finally went up to bed. I was sleepy, and was looking forward to meeting my new teacher's for the first time.