I guess we were lucky to have Harry Potter at school with us. I often think that if it hadn't been for him, Ginny would be dead today. Also, Voldermort would have returned. It was rather hard for most Slytherin students to come to terms with Harry being the savour, again, and the professors being useless. Most blamed Dumbledore and his incompetence, saying he should get a proper, and prepared groups of teachers. It was rather hard not to agree with them. I don't want to discredit Harry, and I don't want to go against Dumbledore either. I'm sure he's a great headmaster. I don't know him personally, but Hermione always talks wonders about him. I don't question my sister's judgement. However, Slytherins' arguments weren't that crazy. I guess we should have teachers that guard our safety. It seems pointless, and rather ridiculous, that a 12 year old saves and entire school but teachers that have experience beyond his years and are supposed to be the best, fail to do so.

I didn't want to believe anything Slytherin students said, because it felt like I was betraying my sister and all she stood for if I so much as agreed with them. Some part of me, wanted to. It made me feel like I belonged. Like if I thought in the same way that they did, that it made more Slytherin. Some part of me, a very well hidden one, wanted to be more Slytherin.

Another part, however, fought against it and I guess it was the part that was winning. I didn't know if it would make my life harder. I would have, after all, to spend 7 years of my life in this very same house. With the same people. I would practically grow up with them. The people that I now knew would determine my entire existence. We would share memories; laughs, tears, screams, and fights. We would graduate together. We would try to win the House Cup together, even when we didn't really like each other. We would take the same classes; do the same homework, and present the same exams. We would all cheer for the same Quidditch team. Maybe we would even throw our own private parties, if that was even allowed or if that even happened. We would share the same dormitories, and walk the same halls. Some us would even date in the future, maybe even walk down the aisle and have kids.

Would I ever really allow myself to do all that? I didn't want to.

"You've barely touched your food, Cor. You know, when you get back home nothing will ever taste as good as this. I say, you need to enjoy it while it's still in front of you." Melody said, waving an eager hand in front of my face. "Here, have some pie. It's so good!"

"It's fine. I'm not really hungry." I answered, moving my away from Melody's view before the attacking pie had any chance of collapsing with my face.

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes and ate the pie herself.

I watched as she enjoyed her last Hogwarts meal. It made me feel rather nostalgic, and nauseous. Butterflies were flying all over my stomach, eating away at it. I could feel the gastric juices mixing with the fluttering of their wings, burning. It was revolting; I didn't comprehend why Melody was eating as if the entire food in the universe was going to be gone forever after today.

I turned my head away from her, because if I didn't I was sure I was going to vomit. The last thing I needed was vomiting in front of the entire Slytherin table. I was enough of a target; I didn't need any more reasons for them to bother me. Instead, I focused on every one around me. The energy filling the room was high, electric. No one seemed as sad as I felt. Probably because they hadn't signed their death sentence by agreeing to spend the summer with none other than Draco Malfoy himself, still… something felt off. I couldn't really explain it; it just didn't feel right to leave Hogwarts. Or maybe I just didn't want to.

"You don't look very happy" I heard Matthew as he took a sit next to me. "Actually you look less than happy. Something bothering you?" Something was bothering me, but telling him about it was not going to help.

"She isn't eating." Melody answered for me, which got me an immediate disapproving stare from Matthew.

"Not like that," I said hurriedly, knowing full well what he was going to say. These constant worries over my health were something I could take from my sister, but from Matthew they were just straight annoying and infuriating, "I'm just anxious to see my sister. I can't eat right now." I wasn't entirely lying.

Matthew notably relaxed, a soft expression taking over his face now. "It'll be alright. Madame Pomfrey is the best at what she does. I'm sure your sister will show up any minute now."

He patted my back, and smiled a smile full with encouragement. I do have to admit it felt nice, and it calmed me quite a bit. It was reassuring, time and time again, to have Matthew's support. I smiled back, merely to let him know I appreciated his words, then turned my attention to nothing in particular as Matthew joined Melody and started eating too.

Lisa and John joined us a few minutes later, and naturally joined the conversation as if they had been there the whole time. It seemed rather amazing how quickly this little, strange group had come to be. How at ease I felt with them, and how easily it seemed now to actually trust them. It felt as though I'd known them forever, like they were my family. It made me a little sad to have to leave them behind for an entire summer. What if being apart for so long made them forget about me? What if when I returned they decided that maybe associating with me wasn't a very good idea, after all?

My head began spinning way too fast, and suddenly I was nauseous again. So I did the only logical thing I could think of without alarming my new Slytherin friends; I ran to the Gryffindor table. But of course everyone noticed my panic.

I was looking for my sister, of course. But since she was not yet there, my second best choice would have been Ginny. Except, she had just gone through quite a lot the night before, and I didn't want to bother her with my problems. But then, to whom was I actually running to? Where was I going? What the hell was I doing?

My paced slowed down once my sight fell on the closed doors of the Great Hall. I needed an escape route. I needed to get some air. Pure, fresh air.

By the time I had arrived to the girls' bathroom, my hair had completely lost its colour. It resembled Malfoy's hair, long and silky and very much white. The nausea had returned yet again, and this time it was because looking in the mirror reminded me that I had doomed myself to an entire summer with the Malfoys. Was it an entire summer? I didn't recall. I didn't remember which had been the exact words that Mrs. Malfoy had used; the only thing swimming through my mind at that moment was Malfoy's utterly annoyed and disgusting face.

I was so done for.

Breath in.

Breath out.

It was fine. I could handle it. Besides, I could totally back down on the deal, right? It wasn't as though I was forced to actually go and spend the summer with them. My parents wouldn't let me go. What kind of parents would they even be if they blindly allowed me to spend the summer with a group of complete strangers? Hermione would obviously object too! She would call on their bad parenting. Yeah, I could trust Hermione.

Breath in.

Breath out.

No need to worry.

-L-

It was the last minute before the Hogwarts express left for London. Everyone was saying their goodbyes, more directed towards the professors and, of course, to Hagrid; especially since he had just come back from Azkaban. I still didn't know what Azkaban was, though. However my interest in finding out what this Azkaban place was, wasn't a priority. What I wanted to do now was to find my sister. I had sadly missed her entrance during breakfast time, and also Hagrid's, for that matter. I knew about it because Matthew told me about it when I bumped into him on my way to an empty compartment. I wanted to run and find my sister's compartment before I even settled in the compartment my friends were now occupying, but it wouldn't be of any use. I tried squishing past a group of girls that had, quite annoyingly, positioned themselves at the very entrance of my compartment. I couldn't leave to find my sister, and it was useless. I'd have to wait until everyone settled down. So, quite begrudgingly, I sat next to Matthew and simply stared at the stupid girls blocking my way. One of them noticed, but she simply laughed and pointed at me. I decided she was now at the top of my hate list. Right above Malfoy. Who the hell did she think she was? I stared harder, anger boiling inside of me. I was not going to be the object of any sort of joke.

The girl's smile dropped, and she went notoriously whiter. She said something to her friends, and after that, they all left rather hurriedly. I didn't know why they left, but it pleased me. In some wicked sense, I was proud of the fear I was able to inflict on her. It made me feel strong, powerful. I liked the feeling.

The train stared moving just as the aisled cleared. My mind was less fussy, and I wasn't nauseous anymore. The atmosphere inside my compartment was nice, soothing. The conversation that sparked between John, Alice, Matthew, Melody and me worked to calm my nerves down or whatever it was that I was feeling. They all promised to write to me, and they seemed sincere. I just hoped they kept their promise. I supposed I'd have to trust them.

"How'd you like your first year, girls?" John asked, directing the question to the obvious first years in the compartment; that meaning Melody and me.

"It was alright." Melody answered, picking at her nails. "I was expecting more fun, though."

"You're calling us boring. I feel hurt!" Matthew exclaimed, a faked hurt expression on his face and a hand resting on his heart.

"I only speak the truth."

John laughed at Melody's answer, and Matthew simply dropped the subject. Everyone knew by now that arguing with Melody was no use; you could never prove her wrong even if she was indeed wrong.

"Give it a chance. You still have 6 years to go. Corinne?" John tossed an apple to Matthew, who tried to catch it with only his mouth. Of course, it didn't work. It hit him straight in the eye. The sight was a funny one, and it caused an eruption of laughter from every single one sitting there.

"Ow! You bloody idiot, you were supposed to aim lower!" I know Matthew was trying really hard not to laugh, but the laughter of floating in the air got the best of him and he eventually joined, too. His eye was quite red, though. "This is gonna leave a mark, isn't it?"

Alice tended to his "wound" while John kept on teasing him. How I'd found myself surrounded by these idiots was beyond me, but I was glad I was in their company. These were the people I would be glad to graduate with. The people I would gladly work with to win the House Cup. The people I'd cheer for whenever there was a Quidditch game, because I knew of John's interest in playing and Matthew's too (even if he played it cool). I wouldn't mind being part of Slytherin if it meant being part of them. I was really happy these were the people I got to grow up with. I was dying for Hermione to meet them. She'd like them.

I don't how much time it had passed since the train started moving, but Matthew said we were halfway there. I didn't know if he was right, but I'd take his word for now. After all, he was in his second year, and knew far more than I did.

We all went to change back into our normal clothes, no more Hogwarts ropes, and I took the opportunity to see if I could find my sister. I didn't, but I wasn't too worried. Of course I wanted to see if she was ok, but I also lived with her. It's not like I wasn't to ever see her again, while I would actually not see my friends for quite a long time. Maybe I just didn't want to deal with going back home, back to the ordinary when I had just discovered the extraordinary. I wonder if this is how my sister felt on her first year. Was this normal? How could it feel wrong to go home? I felt as though I was leaving home, not coming back to it.

-L-

Crowded was an understatement to even being to describe King's Cross. I didn't realise just how many people actually attended Hogwarts until I found all their parents gathered in one place.

As I got out of train, my first impulse was to look for my parents. Except, there were apparently a lot of tall people at Hogwarts and they weren't precisely helping. I sighed, deciding it was best if I just found a way to move away from the really crowded places. Not that there weren't any empty spaces, but I was sure I could find something to climb on to spot my parents.

As I spotted a bench, that looked more or less stable and was actually empty, I bumped into an unfortunate platinum blonde. I was betting everything I had that my luck just couldn't get better. Of all the people I could have bumped into, it had to be Draco bleeping Malfoy. This was just what I needed.

"What where you're go-" he stopped midsentence once his eyes landed on mine. It made uneasy. He had never looked me directly in the eye, and neither had I. "Oh. It's you." His eyes left mine, and instead searched the crowd. He was ignoring. He was actually pretending like I was plain air. Dear heavens! I couldn't believe it! He was looking straight through me!

"Excuse me, I'm still standing here, you know?"

But he didn't seem to even hear me. All he did was walk away. He freaking walked away. I had my answer now; I would have Malfoy throw a million insults my way than having him not even bothering to even acknowledge my existence. I didn't even know why it mattered so bloody much, but it did! I didn't want to be ignored; I'd be damned if I allowed for something like that to happen, especially coming from him!

"Cor!" I heard a voice calling from a distance. I turned, still not over what Malfoy had done to my ego, but composed enough to not have any part of me altered to another colour.

Hermione squished through the crowd with confidence and excitement. Relief washed over me and an extreme sense of joy overtook my anger towards Malfoy and his stupid blond head. Said joy, I couldn't contain. The moment Hermione got to where I was, I immediately threw my arms around her and caught her in a big, bear hug. It felt like ages since the last time I hugged her.

She returned the hug eagerly, and all my worries disappear as if they had never even existed.

"There they are! My two gorgeous girls!" a voice said, but I didn't have to turn around to know to whom it belonged. The sister hugged ended as our father approached us, his smile the biggest I had ever seen on him. Our mother joined soon after, her eyes watery. I had never seen her so emotional, to be honest. But then again, last year she wasn't entirely alone; she had me. This year, both her girls had gone away. I supposed it must be hard on any parent, but I wouldn't know. I was not a parent.

"My gosh, I missed you!" said our mother, hugging us both almost to the point where we couldn't breath.

"Mom!" I tried to push her away, just a little. It was embarrassing the way she acting. I was only gone for a few months, it's not like I had just returned form war or something.

"Come hug your father, young lady." My father said, noticing how embarrassed mom's clinginess was making me feel. I appreciated those moments when my father came to my rescue. Hermione didn't seem to mind too much, or maybe she just didn't care and understood mom's need to have her girls near. Mom was way too needy sometimes.

I hugged mom before I pulled away to hug dad. He received me with his ever-present smile, comforting as ever. It took me back to when we were kids and he would prepare hot chocolate every movie night. Dad had come with the movie night tradition. He said it gave him to spend with his girls. Basically, it happened every Wednesday right after Dad got home from work. He got home early on Wednesdays. Each Wednesday, a different person picked a movie to watch; sometimes it was Hermione's turn, sometimes it was mom's and so on. The tradition started to die slowly, mainly because Hermione left for Hogwarts so it didn't feel like movie night if we weren't all together.

Dad helped with our luggage, while mom told us about the trip they had planned for us as a family. We were going to Italy; a place mom had wanted to go for quite a while now, and before I knew it, I was back to reality.