So...the last we'd heard, Draco had just abandoned his sister to fend for herself...

Now, it's on to more exciting things...like trolls, and Christmas! "Wait!" you cry, "How can Christmas without family be exciting?" Well, family doesn't necessarily mean blood family...

Everyday Draco would sit in his sister's room and read from her diary, hoping to get a glimpse of her life behind the ink on the page. His heart leapt every time he saw his name, or anybody else that he recognised.

Days passed by, and Draco stuck to his routine, while Lyra remained an ice statue on the bed. If he didn't know any better, she could've been dead. Sometimes he expected her to sit up and shout, "Surprise!" and then berate him over his idiocies.

But she never did. So Draco was left floundering in the world she left behind, the world of words that she'd woven in her diary. Events passed by him each day. Here Lyra sat in common room with Hermione while the pair practiced the Levitation Charm on their quills. Here she attended her first ever Potions lesson and witnessed Professor Snape humiliate Potter. Draco paused before a particular entry.

Thursday 31st October 1991

Today the four of us took down a troll.

Haha, I just wanted to start this entry with something exciting. It was anything but that. It was terrifying.

That night, a special feast was organised because of Halloween. Consequently, there were spooky-like things around the Great Hall that night, including live bats (how did they manage to survive among all the light?), and hovering carved pumpkins. For once the many ghosts of Hogwarts didn't look out of place.

I was sitting next to Harry, who was opposite Ronald or Ron, the youngest Weasley so far to attend Hogwarts. As usual, the red head was stuffing his face. He has no table manners to speak of, especially in the presence of good food. Harry was trying to make him feel guilty about mocking Hermione earlier ("It's Levi-O-sa, not Levio-SA! Honestly, it's no wonder she's got no friends!"), while I just listened. I spotted Draco at the Slytherin table, eating and laughing. If he felt my gaze he gave no sign of it. I pushed away the pain. I remember on the train, when he'd said, "What would you do without me?"

I have the answer now: Survive. Live. Be happy.

At least I hope I could.

The Weasley twins were joking about something, I'm not sure what. But suddenly I found myself included in their conversation.

"Malfoy looks like such a pig, doesn't he."

"Yeah, I prefer the Malfoy we have, don't you?"

"Well, nobody else will have her now."

"Hey Malfoy." I jumped when one of the twins (I think it was Fred) addressed me. "Is it true that you got dumped by your family?"

I stood up so fast that the whole of the table looked at me. I felt my lips trembling as I stared at the pair of them. I heard the one that hadn't spoken before whisper, "Uh-oh."

I didn't know what to say to them. How could they be so flippant about my life? Why couldn't they just leave me alone? Why couldn't everyone just leave me alone?

Because I didn't know what to say, I ran from the room.

I hid upstairs in one of the girl's bathrooms. I thought I would be alone-hardly anyone uses this one-but to my surprise, Hermione was there too, still crying from what Ron had said about her. The Weasleys can be such pigs sometimes. I guess that comes of having only males in the family. I guess I wasn't the only one who was scared of being alone. Hogwarts can be a very big castle sometimes. We sat there in silence, sharing the cubicle, neither of us saying anything for the fear of shattering the peace. Finally, by unspoken agreement, we stood up to leave.

A troll stood in the bathroom.

Harry and Ron would later tell me that Professor Quirrel, the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, had burst into the Great Hall not long after I'd left, screaming about a troll in the dungeons, before fainting on the floor. All students had been sent to their dormitories…except Harry and Ron, who had gone to search for Hermione and I. It felt nice to be noticed for something other than my last name.

Hermione and I backed up fast. The troll followed us, grunting, and took a swing at us with its club. I wasn't sure which of us screamed, but it was probably both. We ducked into our just-vacated cubicle, only for it to be demolished when the troll took another swing.

"Hermione! Lyra!"

Harry had arrived, and from the sound of footsteps behind him, with Ron. The two boys stood there, horrified. Quickly Harry snapped into action, grabbing debris off the ground and throwing it at the troll. Ron followed suit.

"Hey! Peabrain!" Ron was trying to get the troll's attention. His name-calling didn't work (well, trolls do have very tiny brains so it probably didn't understand Ron's taunt), but the piece of wood that smacked the troll in the side of the face did. The troll turned slowly.

The two of us took the opportunity to start crawling, ducking and screaming when the troll noticed our movement and took more swings at us. Eventually Harry grabbed the club as the troll prepared to swing…and somehow ended up on the thing's head. The troll shook himself violently…and Harry's wand went straight up its nose. Gross.

It ended with the troll holding Harry upside down by a foot. "Do something!" he shouted at Ron.

"What?" cried Ron.

Harry dodged the club once. "Anything!" he yelled, his voice desperate, as the troll prepared to strike again.

Ron drew his wand. I heard Hermione beside me. "Swish, and flick," she said, staring at Ron as if he could hear her.

Maybe he did. In any case, when he yelled, "Wingardium Leviosa!" the club stayed in the air. The troll stared at its hand, then looked upwards with a dumbfounded expression. But what goes up must come down, and the club did that…straight on the troll's skull. With a groan, the troll reeled and collapsed.

"Cool," Ron murmured.

Slowly Hermione and I came out from our hiding spot. "Is it…dead?" asked my friend timidly.

"No," Harry replied to her, "just knocked out I think." He pulled his wands from the troll's nose.

"Ugh! Troll bogies."

Running footsteps were heard before Professor McGonagall burst into the room, followed by Professor Quirrel and Professor Snape. Our House head gasped and reeled back. "Explain yourselves, all of you!" she managed to say.

The boys floundered, but Hermione cut in. "It was my fault, Professor."

Professor McGonagall stared at the girl in shock. "Miss Granger?"

"I went looking for the troll. See, I'd read all about them and thought I could handle it. But I was wrong. Lyra came with me to try and stop me. If Harry and Ron hadn't found us, we'd probably be dead." I nodded mutely in agreement, struck dumb by her words. Hermione lying for us? That hadn't seemed possible.

"Well," whispered the Professor, "be that as it may, you were lucky you weren't all killed. 5 points from Gryffindor, Miss Granger, for your serious lack of judgement. As for you three," she added, looking from me, to Harry, then Ron, "you were all lucky to get out of this unscathed.5 points for your courage, Miss Malfoy, though you may want to consider things before rushing in headlong next time. And Mr Potter, Mr Weasley, 5 points for each of you…for sheer dumb luck." With that, she turned on her heel, and led the four of us out.

So, yes, today the four of us did take down a troll. I must say that it made for very good bonding. I don't think there is a more extreme way of making friends. Though I would be happy to never so much as look at a troll again!

Draco stared at the page. His sister had taken down the troll in first year? Granted, she'd mostly just hid their and screamed, but she had survived. Draco was stunned, to say the least, though it did explain how she had suddenly gone from having just Hermione as a friend to having the Weasley boy and Potter as friends. After all, taking down a troll together to save lives was a great way of making friends.

Draco continued to read. Here Lyra watched her first ever Hogwarts Quidditch match, and cheered for Gryffindor when Harry caught the Snitch. Here she finally mastered the Incendio Charm. Here she spent her first Christmas at Hogwarts.

Draco stopped, biting his lip. While he'd gone home and spent Christmas with Mother and Father, his sister had been left at Hogwarts to fend for herself, forgotten. Swallowing own the lump in his throat, he looked down the page and forced himself to read.

Wednesday 25th December 1991

Today is Christmas Day. I spent the morning in the common room, watching the snowflakes through the window while others hung out with friends, laughed, and had fun. It hurt, to say the least.

I slept in today, so the common room was already empty by the time I'd gotten up and gotten dressed. I expected to be alone-that was how I'd planned it. I didn't want to see anybody today. I knew that this would be the hardest day to endure. Today was supposed to be a time to spend with family. Instead they'd dumped me to run off on holiday for a few weeks. No doubt Draco would come back with exciting memories while I'd spent the day in solitude. I knew I couldn't hang out with my friends today.

At least I thought I couldn't.

When I headed downstairs, Harry and Ron were waiting for me. "Merry Christmas!" the two chorused, each giving me firm hugs. I felt tears spring into my eyes. Who needed a family when you had friends like these? The two boys sat with me, laughing and sharing their chocolates (Mrs Weasley sent them every year). Harry hadn't received much, but then his Muggle aunt and uncle hated magic about as much as my family hated Muggles. A thought-maybe they'd get on well together.

The biggest surprise of the day was Harry's mysterious gift. It turned out to be an ancient silvery cloak. Out of curiosity, the boy pulled it on, and Ron and I were astonished when his body disappeared.

"I know what that is!" Ron exclaimed, eyes wide. "It's an Invisibility Cloak. They're really rare. Where did you get it?"

"I don't know," Harry replied. "The note just says 'Use it well'."

After a while of staring at the thing, Harry put it away.

The next surprise came in the form of the Weasley twins. They stopped to apologise for their words on Halloween. While it had taken them a long time to apologise, they'd also included some of their chocolates from their mother (I suspected Percy might have something to do with that, but then again, they both could be nice when they made the effort).

The last surprise came at the end of the day. The three of us were relaxing in front of the roaring fire when I was startled by a tapping at the window. I opened it to let the owl in, which hovered in front of me.

"A letter? Who would send a letter to me?" I muttered, surprised.

Dear Lyra,

Merry Christmas! I hope you're well. By the time you read this I'll probably be out skiing with my parents. Anyway, I just wrote to let you know that I'm thinking of you and hoping you're okay during this time.

See you in a few weeks!

Hermione

The letter made me cry. I realised then that I did have a family.

Draco didn't realise he was crying until a tear landed on the page. He frowned and touched his cheek, feeling the wet track the tear had left, then dug in his pocket for his handkerchief. "So much dust in here," he muttered, swiping at his cheeks. Oh, who was he kidding? He might as well cry. Nobody else was here. He was alone in the room.

Alone.

Lyra has a family...just not one she'd expected. But it's a family nonetheless :)

Is it not ironic that Draco has to suffer loneliness after his sister had done so for seven years? Or maybe that's called karma. Don't worry, there is a light at the end of the tunnel...provided Draco's strong enough to walk all the way to the end in the dark.

Please review!

~ MagicalLeaves