A/N - Wow, I'm like an updating ninja. Reviews are appreciated.

I own nothing.

The hall was alive with excitement as the feast began, students hungrily tearing into food as though they were starved as they chattered enthusiastically, babbling incoherently through mouthfuls of food, slurping their drinks noisily as they clanged cutlery together, talking over each other as they shared extravagant tales of their holidays. Twirling his food around his plate absently with his fork, Fred Weasley couldn't help but feel distracted, intrigued by the stranger sat at the end of the table. He was fascinated by the air of mystery surrounding the girl, who hadn't uttered more than a disinterested, but polite, 'thank you' upon being welcomed at the Gryffindor table. Her actions did nothing to quell his interest, sparking more fascination from him as he watched her sit, scraping her fork across her plate as her amused gaze roamed the room, drinking everything in as she behaved seemingly oblivious to the whispers surrounding her. He discreetly stared, peering at her over his goblet, taking in every inch of her appearance. Her hair was the first thing he noticed, her long raven tresses tumbling down her back in wild curls as she absently twirled an inky lock around her finger. The second thing he noticed was how luminous her pale skin was, a haunting glow surrounding it in the flickering candlelight as wax trickled down from the floating lights above. As if she knew he was she was being watched, her head suddenly jerked up, and her gaze focused on him. Her lips quirked up in a smirk as she held eye contact, and for the first time he noticed the amused glint in her wide, electric eyes, as if she knew something that he didn't. Smiling back, he raised his hand in a slight wave and she did the same, the corners of her lips tugging further upward, her eyes still glimmering with that mischievous glint.

The contact was suddenly broken with a tear when George roughly nudged Fred, slamming him into the disgruntled third year sat on his other side.

"Oi, what was that for, you git?" Fred shoved George in return, who merely laughed, while the third year student muttered an insult, shuffling further down the bench.

"You were away with the fairies mate," George chuckled, raising his hands in defence.

Fred flushed slightly, realising George was right.

"So what's got your wand in a twist?" George asked, an amused smirk on his face.

"I was just thinking about stuff. Important stuff." Fred shrugged.

"Ah yes, because you're so well known for thinking about deep philosophical stuff at the dinner table, aren't you?" George snorted.

"Shove off," Fred muttered, elbowing his twin as a grin spread across his own face.

George said nothing, instead he laughed again, shovelling a forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

Fred glanced over at the new girl once more, gaping in surprise when he saw that not only had that slimy git Malfoy approached her in the time he'd been looking away, but that they were seemingly deep in conversation, the smirk having been wiped from the girls face.

Draco sneered something inaudible and in a flash the girl had her wand digging into his throat, her lips curled into a snarl. Malfoy smirked and nodded towards the teacher's table, both Fred and the girls gazes following to see the toad from the ministry watching closely. Reluctantly, the girl lowered her wand and hissed something darkly, though Fred was unable to catch any of her scathing insult as she rose to her feet and strode out of the hall without another word.

Draco flushed red; looking around in embarrassment to see if any Gryffindors had heard. When his eyes locked with Fred's, Fred simply smirked, causing Draco to stalk off angrily, returning to his oblivious lackeys, who remained planted at the Slytherin table, messily shoving handfuls of food into their mouths with their grubby fingers, washing it down with greedy slurps from their goblets. Fred took one brief look at the door, bemused as to what had gone on between the girl and Malfoy. She certainly was something different, he thought, before shaking his head and launching into conversation with George and Lee Jordan, cramming all thoughts of the girl in a box and pushing it to the back of his mind.

~MischiefMismanagedMischiefMismanagedMischiefMismanaged~

Astrid Black was ticked off.

Fury pulsed within her, white-hot rage coursing through her veins as she stomped through the deserted corridors, grumbling about all the ways she could murder Malfoy.

Her guard had been down when the twit had approached her, her mind elsewhere as she distractedly watched the red haired boy opposite her, wondering why he was blatantly staring her way. That wasn't the kind of social etiquette she'd been taught. Draco had clearly noticed the opportunity to approach her, and had seized the chance to saunter over; his head held high as arrogance oozed from every pore.

"A Gryffindor, how rich!" He'd bit out a harsh laugh, pulling her attention to him.

"I fail to see the humour in that." She'd replied coldly, her wavering smile quickly beginning to fade.

"Wait till your parents hear about this – they'll disown you!" He chortled, a satisfied grin twisting his features.

"Oh, will they now?" Astrid arched a brow, looking the pompous boy up and down, "Just because I'm not a Slytherin like dear ickle Draco?"

"Of course! You'll be the biggest disappointment to the Black family since that filthy blood traitor sister of my mother married a muggle, you might even be as bad as Sirius Black!" Draco sneered, leering over the girl.

As the venomous words spilled from his lips, Astrid snapped, all rational thoughts grinding to a halt as she roughly grabbed him by the collar and whipped out her wand, ready to hex him into next Tuesday.

She'd watched, a sick satisfaction boiling inside her, as fear flickered in his eyes, etched all over his face. Within a second, it was gone; his wide-eyed terror replaced with a smug smirk as he diverted her attention to Dolores Umbridge, the sickly sweet ministry worker, who had her beady eyes trained on the pair, a sickening grin spread across her toad-like face. Frustrated, Astrid huffed; irritation marking her face as she slowly lowered her wand, tucking it away. She released the balled up fabric from her grip, sending Draco stumbling backwards as he chuckled, brushing himself off. A revolting grin marred his face. Anger bubbled within her, her muscles tensing as she leaned close to him, her eyes narrowed as she coldly looked at the boy with contempt.

"If you ever say that again, I will not hesitate to use an unforgivable curse on you, you snot-nosed, pompous, little git." She'd hissed, her words coated in spite. Draco's cheeks flushed pink as she pushed him away from her, disgust rippling through the girl. Draco opened his mouth to speak, but she'd already flounced out of the hall before he'd managed to stutter a single syllable.

Now, as she paced the quiet corridor, she shook with fury, her heart pounding in her chest as she struggled to calm herself.

"How dare he compare me to Sirius Black? I'm no murderer!" She spat in disgust, thinking of the last Black that was sorted into Gryffindor. The only Black, for that matter. Well, not anymore.

As good as, the familiar voice piped up, how is watching your death eater family kill while you sit and do nothing any different from casting the spell yourself?

"Oh sod off," Astrid muttered darkly, answering aloud. She waited for a smart-arsed retort, but it never came. The voice remained silent.

Oh, the silent treatment now? Real mature, she thought to herself, goading a response, but the voice still said nothing.

Sighing, Astrid flopped down on the cold stone floor, stretching her legs out in front of her as she rested her head back against the wall. Despite the fact that she was absolutely livid with that arrogant tosspot Draco, she couldn't help but feel grateful that he'd seemingly forgotten about another relative, much closer to home, that had been disowned much more recently. She knew that if Draco had rubbed that in, comparing her to him, she would have lost it, then and there. Exhaling, her mind began to wander back to Draco's words, and she began to question whether he was right. Would her family disown her? From the moment the hat had bellowed a name that most certainly wasn't Slytherin, she knew her parents would be ashamed, embarrassed and most likely furious, but it had never crossed her mind that they would go as far as disowning her. Astrid quickly shook this thought from her mind. She sighed once more, closing her eyes and tilting her head back as it dawned on her that she had no idea where the Gryffindor tower was.

After a moment of soaking in the silence, she groaned and rose to her feet, dusting herself off. Chewing her bottom lip thoughtfully, bathed in the soft glow that illuminated the stone corridor, she began retracing her steps back to the Great Hall in search of someone to point her in the right direction. This was going to be a long year.

~MischiefMismanagedMischiefMismanagedMischiefMismanaged~

The Gryffindor common room was like nothing Astrid had ever seen before. Banners and garlands of gold and scarlet were draped across the dimly lit room, which was crammed tightly with plush crimson armchairs and cosy sofas, all surrounding a roaring fireplace, with tables and chairs dotted across the room, dim table lamps sat on top of them. Students were spread across the room – sprawled out on the sofas; curled up under thick, scarlet blankets; leaning against the tables as they all talked animatedly. Astrid had never felt so far from home.

As her gaze roamed the room, her mind was pulled back to thoughts of her cold and unwelcoming home at Thornwood Manor, residence of the esteemed Black family, where the sparsely filled rooms contained sleek, uninviting furniture of little comfort, set in shades of deep emerald and slate. This was a whole new world for her. Never in her life had she been in a place that looked so, for lack of a better word, homely.

Astrid was snapped out of her daze and brought back to reality with a dull thud by the sound of someone clearing their throat behind her, a hand gently tapping her shoulder. She whirled around to find herself face to face with three girls, all of whom were looking at her expectantly.

"Yes?" She raised an inquisitive brow, waiting for them to speak.

"Hi, I'm Angelina Johnson," The middle girl, the one that had tapped Astrid, spoke first, beaming as Astrid looked her up and down sceptically.

"And I'm Katie," The girl on her left piped up, jerking a thumb at the third girl, "That's Alicia."

"Oh, hello," Astrid spoke slowly, still bewildered as to why they had approached her, "I'm Astrid, Astrid Black."

"As in Sirius Black?" Alicia asked, finally finding her voice, gaping at Astrid with wide, fearful eyes.

Angelina nudged Alicia, elbowing her in the ribcage to silence her as she noted Astrid's flushed cheeks.

"Anyways," Angelina swiftly changed the subject, "We wanted to introduce ourselves since McGonagall says you'll be sharing a room with us," She smiled kindly, and Astrid could see that it was genuine.

"Oh, well isn't that dandy," Astrid replied, itching to get away, disinterest creeping into her voice as she scanned the room. She never had been good at focusing, her attention span equal to that of a flobberworm. Besides, she didn't care much for her peers. She'd never quite seemed to click with them.

"So, what school did you go to before? I'm guessing it wasn't Beauxbatons, otherwise we would have seen you here last year for the Triwizard Tournament." Katie struck up conversation, and the three girls all looked to Astrid, awaiting a response.

Beauxbatons? Sounds pretentious, the voice let out a derisive snort.

It's French, you moron, Astrid shot back.

"My mother home-schooled me." Astrid answered finally, pushing the voice to the back of her mind.

"What made this year different?" Angelina asked, her curiosity sparked.

"I finally wore my mother down with my constant begging for her to let me come here." Astrid lied airily.

Liar liar, pants on fire, the voice cheerfully chirped.

There's no need to tell them my parent's nonsense views about Dumbledore being corrupt, she defended internally.

"Oh, well I'm sure you'll love it here!" Katie said excitedly, "Just stick with us and you'll be fine,"

"Sounds great," Astrid felt a smile tugging at her lips. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe making friends wouldn't be so hard after all. Just maybe.