"So you won't bring me to King's Cross Station?"
"And get caught by the Aurors? Didn't think so. Lucius has offered to take you along, and that would also accord with the story we've made up."
Lucius Malfoy had written a ton of letters to the Ministry and the Board of Directors of Hogwarts, explaining the sad case of Miss Crucio Carina Lestrange who currently lived with the Malfoy family, and how it would be much more beneficent for the already cursed girl to be free of her last name and take on the name of his wife. He was a good politician, and he had managed to convince the Board to not call her true name in the First Year Ceremony. Crucie had insisted she kept her first name, no matter how awkward it was. After all, her mother had chosen it and it was kind of the only thing she had left of her.
"Then I will have to share a compartment with that stupid Draco."
"You shouldn't speak bad of your blood relatives, Crucie. Your family is all you've got in the end."
"My family is large enough to sustain me calling one of its members stupid. Because he is, he's a stupid little creep."
Rabastan rolled his eyes.
"I'm only trying to advice you… The advantage of us Slytherins is that we're one big family. Don't place yourself out of that, you could make life very difficult for yourself."
Crucie shrugged.
"Who says I'll be in Slytherin? I mean, for all you know I'm in Hufflepuff."
Rabastan frowned deeply.
"No Lestrange has ever been in Hufflepuff, and a daughter of Bellatrix Black will not be the first!"
Crucie shrugged again.
"Still, there are two other houses next to Slytherin and Hufflepuff, I could be in any of those too."
"Yeah right."
That night, Crucie read the whole Hogwarts History Book and made a list of advantages and disadvantages of the Houses, to determine which house she would like to be in.
Slytherin
+ Whole family is in Slytherin (family pride!)
+ Cunning, Ambitious, Intelligent, Resourceful… (Good qualities, hope I have them)
+ I look good in green!
+ Prof Snape is uncle Lucius' frenemy, so practically family too (family is good)
- "Most hated" of the houses (for some reason? According to the history book?)
- Draco will probably be in Slytherin. Urgh.
- So much family heritage… Living up to a standard and stuff, double urgh.
Ravenclaw
+ Smart people. I like smart people.
+ Rather neutral. Neutrality is good too.
+ Probably least bad of all the non-Slytherin houses, in my family's eyes
+ I don't look too bad in blue either…
- What if everyone's smarter than me?
- Smart-asses and pretentious pricks, possibly
- No family, so no family advantages
Gryffindor
+ Hope I'm at least a bit brave…
- They will hate me for my Slytherin heritage, probably…
- They may not like torture…
- I look horrid in red…
- I might get disowned, like Uncle Sirius…
- I don't think (except for being brave) a lot of house qualities apply to me…
Hufflepuff
+ Apparently nice-natured and friendly people…
- Yellow makes me look fat, and a bit like a hornet.
- My family would definitely disown me… L
- None, but really none of the house qualities apply…
- Let's not even get started about torture… (Sigh)
Slytherin would probably be for the best, she decided. Draco would be a nuisance but at least her family wouldn't be a pain about it then.
(Pagebreak)
On the train, Crucie made sure not to be in the same compartment as Draco and the other death-eater children. They were happy to see her go… Dragging her trunk behind her she looked for a free compartment. She finally found a compartment where a boy was crawling over the floor.
"Err… Hi?"
The boy looked up. He was a little chubby, but with a friendly face. He scrawled up and dusted off his robes, looking mighty uncomfortable.
"Oh… err… I'm sorry… I'm… I'm looking for my toad, Trevor. He's… maybe you don't want to sit here… I mean, you can sit here… if you like… but you might crush him… and then I…"
Crucie smiled widely.
"I can help you find him! When was the last time you had him?"
"I… I was walking through the corridor, and he jumped out of my hand… toads tend to do that, you know… And… well…"
"Where were you at that point?"
"Just two compartments away from this one… I thought I saw him jump into that compartment, but it was full of people and they assured me they hadn't seen him… So now I'm going through all compartments…"
The boy looked sad.
"That toad was a gift from my great-uncle Algie… and I've never had a pet before… And I just had him for a week!"
He looked close to tears, and Crucie put her trunk away and asked.
"In the one compartment, was there by any chance an annoying blonde guy with his hair all slicked back?"
"Oh yeah, he was really rude…"
Crucie frowned and made her way to the other compartment with big steps, followed by the other first-year who was clearly confused. She pulled open the door of the compartment she had fled only a little while ago and threw her most vicious look at Draco. Immediately the whole group paled…
"Have you by any chance seen a toad, Draco?"
Draco bit his lip and shook his head. Crucie frowned. She hissed.
"I think you do. Now, what's it gonna be, you give it back or I make you give it back?"
Draco was clearly determined to show strength to his friends, so he didn't budge, managed even to throw a provocative look at her. Crucie knew she couldn't downright torture him on the train, so she pointed her attention at the weakest link, Theodore Nott.
"What do you say, I play with Teddy a bit first?"
The boy immediately started trembling, grabbed in his coat pocket and handed her the toad.
"H-he made m-me put it away b-because he didn't want to touch it himself please don't hurt me!"
Crucie granted him her sweetest smile.
"Good boy."
With that she walked away, back to the chubby first year.
"Here's your toad."
His eyes widened and he gave her a big smile.
"Oh wow! How did you do that!? How did you know they had him? Are you a psychic?"
Crucie giggled.
"Nah, I just know that guy pretty well and he would totally hide someone's pet for fun, he's an asshole like that. And I tend to be very convincing when it comes to it."
"That is so cool!"
"What can I say? It's a gift and a curse!"
They both laughed and returned to their own compartment. Another girl was already sitting there now, she was blonde with huge eyes and a very distinct look of weirdness about her. Crucie immediately decided she liked her.
"Hi there!"
The girl laughed back.
"Oh hi! I'm Luna Lovegood. Are you a first year too?"
"Do I look like I'm not?"
The boy coughed.
"Err… actually you do."
"Ah no, I'm just proficient in the art of dealing with assholes. I'm Crucie. Who are you?"
"Neville. Neville Longbottom."
"Cool."
(Pagebreak)
Neville and Luna were nice to talk to, and Crucie found herself hoping that they would be in the same house. Luna talked about all kinds of weird creatures like Nargles and Gulping Plimpies, and it was just fascinating to listen to. Neville was very timid, but as Crucie had guessed also very friendly.
"So your toad is called Trevor?"
"Yeah… my great-uncle Algie gave him to me because I got my Hogwarts letter. I have never had a pet before… my grandmother hates them."
"You live with your grandmother?"
"Yeah… I… I do."
Neville suddenly looked mighty uncomfortable, so Crusie guessed it was a touchy subject.
"I live with my uncle, and he's a total slob. I think most of the time I'm cleaning up after him."
She said, trying to break the awkwardness. Luna put a hand on Neville's knee and just softly smiled, as if she understood something that Crucie had completely missed out on. She decided to put it on Luna's all-round mysteriousness.
"I have a cat. He's called Timor."
To show it, Crucie grabbed the cat bench and freed the now a little bigger kitten. It was fluffy and its pelt was the kind of black that looked blue in the right light. Luna immediately had it on her lap.
"What a beautiful creature… And such a special aura it has!"
"Animals have auras?"
"What is an aura?"
Crucie had learned a lot from her uncles and from the people on Knockturn Alley, like how to bind a curse to an artefact, how to conceal secret clauses in magical contracts and how to brew blood-boiling potion, but auras had never been mentioned.
"An aura is the magical representation of your personality, your being. Some people can see them, they're like radiance around one's head."
"So… what does mine look like?"
Luna just smiled.
(Author's Notes)
I'm aware that Luna is actually a year younger than Neville and Crucie, in the canon. I just like her character too much to not put her in the story right away. Sorry.
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