Dedication: For Ana, because she loves Alice in Wonderland. Disney rocks :)

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

Scenario Two: Platform Nine and Three Quarters

"Astoria? You're looking a little green," Daphne noticed. It was Astoria's first year at Hogwarts and the small girl was shaking like a leaf.

"It's nothing," the little blonde replied, blue eyes nervously scanning the platform.

"Nothing, my arse," Daphne said dryly.

Astoria looked horrified. "Daphne! Mum and Dad are over there! What if they heard you?"

"Oh, hush. At Hogwarts everyone talks like that," the older blonde replied flippantly, waving a hand through the air in a careless motion.

"They do? Oh, Merlin."

Astoria turned greener. She knew there was no way she would be able to fit in now. Besides worrying about her House, her grades, her teachers, her too heavy trunk, her temperamental owl, her promise to write home every three days and the possibility of vomiting right in front of everyone at that moment, she now had to worry about not making friends because she didn't know how to talk like them! This first day was getting more horrific by the second!

Did she even look alright? She self-consciously examined her outfit: a simple, mid-length blue dress with a puffy skirt and a pristine white petticoat underneath, white knee-high socks and black Mary Jane flats. The small black ribbon on top of her head was threatening to slide off her hair but she knew better than to ask Daphne to help tie it more securely.

Before walking through the barrier that led to Platform Nine and Three Quarters a Muggle family had passed by the four Greengrasses and a little boy had pointed at Astoria and called out, "Alice!"

The Greengrasses had had no idea what he meant and were even more confused when the Muggle parents smiled and the mother asked, "Off to Eurodisney?"

Her parents had shrugged it off as another Muggle eccentricity but Astoria suspected the boy had insulted her. Were 'Alice' and 'Eurodisney' some sort of slanderous terms in the Muggle world?

"What is your bloody problem, anyway? Oh, I'm glad that in a few minutes I'll be rid of you until Christmas. You are obviously not getting into Slytherin," the green-eyed blonde said in a bored tone. It wasn't that she didn't like her little sister, but she was such a baby!

"Dad says I'll be put in Ravenclaw," Astoria said quietly.

Daphne laughed. "The smart house? Please, you're getting into Hufflepuff."

"But you said that house is for wimpy people!"

"Exactly! Look at you, you're about to cry!"

Astoria blinked her tears away, not wanting to cry in front of her big sister. Why did Daphne have to make fun of her all the time?

"Oh, look. Those are my friends over there. That's Pansy, she's a huge tart. Vincent and Gregory, nothing much going on upstairs, I'm afraid. Theodore, he's hilarious –"

"But he looks so serious," noted Astoria as she glanced at the boy.

"That's just a façade."

"That's just a what?"

Daphne never answered her because a blond, grey-eyed boy came over and said, "Hello, Daphne."

"Hey, Draco," her sister replied, not overly friendly but not cold either.

Astoria felt curiosity replacing her fear and insecurity for about two seconds. Daphne had never talked about this boy. She always said positive things about Theodore and made cutting remarks about the combined stupidity of Pansy, Vincent and Gregory, but nothing about this other Slytherin.

"How was summer?" the boy asked, not even looking at Astoria.

The short blonde felt even shorter and completely insignificant, her fear and insecurity returning full force.

"Eh, nothing special." Daphne shrugged. She wasn't particularly fond of Draco but was always civil to him.

"Nothing special, my arse."

Astoria somehow managed to look green and red at the same time when two shocked pairs of eyes stared at her. The sea-green eyes she was used to, but the silver-grey ones were unfamiliar and very unsettling. She could feel her stomach lurching violently so she did the only thing she could think of.

She ran.

Draco raised an eyebrow as he watched the girl disappear among the crowd. Having finally noticed the family resemblance, he turned to his housemate and asked in amusement, "Relative of yours?"

Daphne tried to appear innocent but embarrassment clouded her pretty features as she replied, "No. Never seen her before in my life."

He just smirked.

A/N: I see 11-year-old Astoria as a tiny and cute girl who is very afraid and nervous at first, but quickly gaining confidence once she finds herself adapting easily to Hogwarts. Right now I'm imagining Draco telling Scorpius that "when your mother and I first met, she ran away. My presence was just too overwhelming." And then Astoria whacks him upside the head ;)

Daphne never mentions Draco at home because she doesn't find him all that interesting. I imagine her and Theodore being sarcastic to Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle (who never figure out they're being laughed at) but leaving Draco alone. He's smart so it's no fun to taunt him. Slytherins prey on the weak, after all. ;)