~Chapter 3~

" Well, Sonea, your father is—was—He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

Sonea could barely think as that washed over her. "Oh. My father's Voldemort." That's all she could get out. Her mother watched her anxiously while Dumbledore seemed calmer than before if that was possible. Standing up slowly, Sonea nodded to Dumbledore and her mother in turn. "Nice meeting you Professor."

"Nice meeting you as well, Sonea," He replied. With that, Sonea walked away and up the stairs. As she left she could hear her mother talking to Dumbledore.
"Why does she need to know?"
"Her teachers will know and some may give her a hard time and she needs to know why."
"But I still think-" Sonea couldn't hear her voice anymore once she shut the door behind her.
Walking outside she had to squint her eyes because of the bright sun. But she didn't stop. The door opened behind her.
"Sonea!" Sonea could hear Eric's clear voice. "Where are you going?" She shrugged without a word. "Sonea!" But she wasn't listening anymore. The thought of Voldemort as her father...
As she kept walking, she made her way to a park. Sitting on the only swing that wasn't broken, she thought about what she just learned.
First: Dumbledore wasn't as bad as she first thought. But he was smart and truthful.
Second: She was Voldemort's only child.
Third: Dumbledore was only interested in her because she was Voldemort's daughter.
That last thought bugged Sonea more than the others. Not so much that it was Dumbledore. But more that people who knew would treat her differently because of it. She was so lost in thought that she didn't realize that someone was coming towards her until he was close enough for her to see the whites of his eyes.
"Oh. Sorry," he muttered as he looked up to see you. He had been staring at the ground.
"S'all right," Sonea replied. The boy had messy black hair and startling green eyes. But he did have an interesting scar on his forehead. Almost like lightning. "Nice scar," she commented before looking ahead again.
"Uh, thanks?" he almost asked. It was like he wasn't used to people saying that about it. There was a long silence. "Who are you?" Sonea turned to look back at him with a slight smile. Normally, that's the first thing people ask.
"Sonea Direm. I just moved here. And you are?"
"Harry Potter."
"Ah." The name seemed familiar. "Why does that name sound familiar from somewhere?" She thought about it for a second. "Are you the one that the neighbor called 'trouble' and a 'hardened hooligan?'" He smiled at bit at her. It almost looked like he was happy about that.

"Yeah, I've been referred to as that."

"Ah." For some reason she felt that there was one other place she knew his name from. Something she really should know…

She shifted in her seat to wrap her arm around the chain holding the swing up. Harry just stood next to her in silence. Both of them lost in their own thoughts.

"Hey, what's that?" Sonea looked up at Harry who was pointing towards something in her pocket. Her wand. She cursed herself in her mind for being so reckless and letting her wand show in front of a Muggle.

"It's nothing," She said hastily shoving it deeper into her jacket pocket.

"Is that a wand?" Harry asked. Sonea narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Are you a witch?" Slowly, Sonea nodded. Harry took out his wand as well to show her. "I thought I was the only wizard here."

"You probably were," Sonea replied, putting her wand in her pocket again. "At least till I moved here last night." Once again she smiled a bit at him. Then it hit her. She remembered where she heard his name. "Wait, are you the Harry Potter?" He nodded but he looked like he wasn't too happy that she remembered.

"Yeah, that's me." Sensing that he wasn't thrilled about it, Sonea decided to act like it was nothing.

"Oh, cool." She could almost feel his relief that she didn't pursue him as a topic. A group of boys came into view riding bikes. Harry stiffened at the sight of them. "Who are they?" Sonea asked.

"The pig is my cousin, Dudley. The rest of them are in his gang," Harry told her. He suddenly sighed. "I guess I have to go. My Aunt and Uncle with lock me out if I'm home after Dudley again."

"I'll walk with you," Sonea stated not wanting to go home yet. Harry smiled at her, thankful for the company. As she got off of the swing she noticed how dark out it had become. The moon and stars were clearly visible and beautiful. Harry began walking down along Magnolia Road with Sonea following him at first them walking beside him. They caught sight of the gang of boys again once they were saying goodbye to each other at the entrance to Magnolia Crescent.
"Wait," Harry said grabbing Sonea's arm and pulling her under the shadow of a large tree.
"What?" Harry held up a finger for silence. The gang continued to talk about beating up some kid before Dudley went off by himself.
"Come on." Harry and Sonea hurried to keep up with the humming Dudley. "Hey, Big D!" Harry shouted at him. Dudley turned around.
"Oh. It's you." Sonea fell a bit behind Harry. This was his fight, not hers.
"How long have you been 'Big D' then?" Harry asked.
"How long have you had a girlfriend?" Dudley retorted looking at Sonea.
Ignoring Dudley, Harry continued. "Cool name. But you'll always be Ickle Diddykins to me." Sonea struggled to keep her face impassive.
"Shut your face," snarled Dudley. The corner of Sonea's mouth twitched into a smile.
"You don't tell your mum to shut her face. What about 'popkin' and 'Dinky Diddydumms,' can I use them?" Sonea couldn't help but laugh quietly. Dudley could barely contain his anger so he said nothing.
"Har-Harry," Sonea stammered through her laughs. "Be nice to your cous-cousin." Dudley led them into a narrow, empty, and dark alleyway.
"You're just like him, aren't you?" Dudley suddenly said.
"If you mean she's a wizard, than yeah, she is," Harry responded.
"You both think that that thing makes you better than the rest of us, don't you?"
"Our wands?" Sonea asked Harry.
"I think." Sonea and Harry both pulled out their wands. Dudley looked sideways at them.
"You're not allowed," Dudley said at once. "I know you're not. You'd get expelled from that freak school you go to."
Before Harry could reply, Sonea said, "But I just moved here from a place where I can use magic. I won't get expelled."
"And how d'you know they haven't changed the rules, Big D?"
"They haven't," said Dudley. Harry laughed quietly at the lack of conviction.
Harry began to reply to that but something happened. As one, the stars blinked out and the moon vanished. Sounds surrounding them fell silent. Both Sonea and Harry looked around for the source of the darkness.
"W-what are you d-doing? S-stop it!" Dudley's petrified voice could be heard clearly in the darkness.
"I'm not doing anything! Shut up and don't move!" Harry replied impatiently.
"I c-can't see! I've g-gone blind! I-"
"I said shut up!"
A cold descended all around. Goosebumps rose on Sonea's arms. She could almost hear her heart beating. She heard Dudley say something then Harry reply but she was focused on something else. Something- no four something's- where in the alley. Each one drew a long rattling breath and let out freezing air. Fear froze Sonea where she was.

"Harry," she said trying to get his attention. Running footsteps going away from her caught her attention.

"DUDLEY, COME BACK! YOU'RE RUNNING RIGHT AT IT!"

After a sharp yell, the footsteps stopped. She cold feeling got closer and she knew that Harry could feel it too when he lit his wand. Dementors.
The cold feeling was closest on Sonea's left. Turning around with her wand raised, she saw a hooded figure gliding towards her. Harry had turned around to face the Dementor that was behind him.

Screaming erupted in Sonea's mind. Her mother's long scream and her first step-fathers short scream. Calls for help were thrown into the screaming mess of her mind.

"Expecto Patronum!" Only a ghost of her Patronus came out. She needed a happy thought. The fourth Dementor was coming directly at her from between her and Harry. Sparing a quick glance at Harry, Sonea could see a tiny silver wisp coming from his wand as well.

More screaming exploded through Sonea's mind. In her mind, she could see pools of blood that belonged to the numerous bodies around. Happy. I need happy! Thinking of being chosen as the fourth year champion, she tried again. "Expecto Patronum!" Still nothing more than a whisper of her Patronus.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" A silver stag emerged from Harry's wand. Seeing it momentarily fought off the fear embedded in her mind. Focusing on Kristen, Chris, her old school and her old home, Sonea found her happiness.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" she shouted as well. A sleek, panther came shooting out of her wand. It pounced at the Dementor knocking it back into the darkness. The panther then spun around to pounce on the next closest Dementor. Harry's stag galloped towards the fourth Dementor attacking his cousin. Sonea's panther hit the cousin with silvery claws outstretched. Floating backwards, the Dementor escaped into the darkness as well.

"Thanks," Sonea muttered to the large cat before it disappeared. Spinning around, Sonea saw Harry crouching next to Dudley. She raced over to kneel beside him. "Did they kiss him?" she asked quickly. A small giggle escaped her. Maybe it was the terror she just felt, but the idea of Demetors kissing people to get their souls was just amusing.

"No. He'll be fine."

Footsteps made both of them look up at an approaching woman. Harry, who had pulled out his wand again, tried to hastily put it away.

"Don't put it away, idiot boy!" she shrieked. "What if there are more of them around? Oh, I'm going to kill Mundungus Fletcher!"

Sonea barely followed the conversation. Soon she was helping to carry Dudley back to Harry's Aunt's and Uncle's.