Chapter One - The Express

Steam flowed from the coal-black engine in clouds as a whistle screeched through the air. That did not help my splitting head ache.

"Mariette, take care of your sister," Father told her sternly. "Keep her in line." Then, he turned to me and took my shoulders. "Never stop striving to be the best, Rosalie. You are a true Slytherin with honest ambitions. Make me proud, and lead the best Quidditch team Slytherin has ever seen."

Yes, it was true; I had been chosen as Slytherin's Quidditch captain, and I'd never been more joyful. Mother hadn't been interested in the least bit, but Father had been so pleased.

"I will," I told him, kissing his scraggly cheek. He gave me a pat on the shoulder before turning to say goodbye to Mariette.

"Good luck, little sister," Marcus II said to me, shaking my hand formally.

Mom just nodded her head at me, blonde hair barely making any movement because of her lack of enthusiasm. I didn't respond to her, only turned to walk behind Mariette with my trunk in hand.

I hated having to be so polite with my family. Why couldn't we joke around, laugh, and hug each other like a real family? I couldn't bring myself to understand why they despised me so much.

Following my light-haired sister, we boarded the Hogwarts Express in silence. The mindless chatter of other students filled the long corridors, some children in large groups while others stayed side by side with someone else.

I didn't really have any friends or acquaintances at school. The group I usually hung around were other pure-blooded Slytherins, my age or older. I even had a boyfriend, Matthias Avery, who I was very careful around. But none of these relationships felt true. I'd certainly turn on any of these people if it meant more glory for myself, and they'd do the same for me. Our connections were like glass; if someone threw a stone, it would shatter.

I sound like a villan, I know. The evil and detested protagonist, so engulfed in pride and narcissistic views. And thats the truth, I'm afraid. Long ago, I accepted this fate and personality when I discovered that nothing would ever change. This is who my parents raised me to be; a monster. So if you were looking for a gleeful, light-hearted story with gushy feelings and happy endings, turn away. For you will not find it here.

"I'm going to find Regina," Mariette told me dismissively, waving her hand. "I'll see you later, Rosalie."

I nodded my head stiffly and kissed her cold cheek before sliding a compartment door open. It revealed all of my companions at school: Matthias Avery, Blake Zabini, Georgiana Ruthford, and Veronique Goyle. Slipping into the tense room, I easily levitated my trunk onto the rack above the sitting area and closed the compartment door.

"Rosalie Flint, how are you darling?" Georgiana asked lazily, not bothering to get out of her seat. She looked so much like her mother, Pansy.

"I'm well, Georgiana. And how was your summer?" I took a seat next to Matthias, who wrapped his arm around me possessively, and then crossed my legs politely.

"Good," she replied. "My family went to Paris for our annual summer vacation and stayed at one of the most expensive hotels in the city, no doubt."

I nodded before turning to look at Matthias. "And how are you?"

He grinned down at me. "Wonderful, but lonely without you, my love." And he kissed my forehead.

I'd always felt slightly uncomfortable with Matthias. He was rough and unconsiderate in many ways, and also very pushy and demanding. He would get angry with me often, and once or twice he had hit me. But I'd always forgiven him, verbally if not whole-heartedly. The only reason I had kept up this relationship was because I was slightly afraid of him. Mother approved of our relationship totally, saying that maybe he could knock some sense into me.

Its a shame she didn't know just how true that statement was.

I let Matthias play with my ebony hair as I listened to Georgiana and Veronique talk about the feast that was sure to be grand that evening, like always. Blake remained silent in the corner of the compartment, sometimes glancing at us but mostly looking out the foggy window.

"Hogwarts is so dreary," Matthias commented to me tiredly, watching me with cool blue eyes.

"I know," I replied, playing with his left hand. "Its terribly boring and full of stupid mudbloods and traitors. Why my parents even allow me to go to this school is incomprehensible."

He nodded in approval. "Soon, we'll be rid of this place, Rose."

I looked at him with empty hazel eyes, but he didn't seem to notice my dispassionate expression.

"Just you and me."

My throat choked up, though I still hid any emotion. I didn't want to spend the rest of my life married to an abusive man like Matthias. But, somewhere deep inside, I knew it was most likely going to happen. I wasn't stupid enough to believe in the illusions of happiness; I was doomed to this fate and I knew it, like I said before. I would never get to marry for love or live a joyous life like James Potter would.

Why couldn't he see how great he had it? Why did he continue to try and chase away any sanity I might have left?

At that moment, my hatred for James burned hotter than ever before. Why could he have joy, when I could not? How was that fair?

Matthias continued to touch my hair, brushing through it softly and gently. I shut my eyes for a minute; it felt sort of good.

When our compartment door slammed open with a loud crack, I shot up, shocked for a moment. A grin appeared on the intruder's face as he said hastily," There's a meeting in the Prefect's carriage."

I scowled. "Well, there was no reason for you to barge in here, certainly?"

His grin faltered. "Oh, just get to the carriage."

I stood up slowly, as did Blake. I smoothed out my skirt obsessively until all of the little creases and folds had been fixed.

I had been made Prefect last year, much to Mariette's unhappiness. A girl named Freya Morkinton had shoved her up way to the Prefect position after my sister had worked so hard to earn it. When she learned I'd been assigned as one of the fifth year Prefects, she'd thrown a fit.

"See you later," I told Matthias before leaving the compartment with Blake and relieving a breath I hadn't known I was holding.

Blake looked down at me with slanted, brown eyes. "If you are so uncomfortable with Matthias, why do you continue to date him?"

Blake had always been my favorite out of my group of mates. He was silent most of the time, and when we completed our Prefect duties, the quiet was never awkward. He didn't have much to say about anything, keeping his opinions to himself, and that was admirable. Unfortunately, that meant he was more observant and seemed to always notice my discomfort, and while I was almost touched that he appeared to genuinely care, I wondered why he couldn't just keep that to himself, too.

I sighed. "In all honesty, that is for me to know and you to never find out. Come on, then. Let's go."

He gave me a look before I turned and walked down the long, carpeted hall, Blake following me closely. We passed several other students, some who were trying to find the loo and others who were searching for that ancient trolly lady, the one who looked prehistoric. Really, when was she going to retire?

We reached the Prefect carriage and entered the room. Instantly, the chatter died down and they turned to watch us maneuver around others and take our seats next to other Slytherins. Even then, their judgemental eyes didn't leave us until I gave them a small sneer. That got them to look away.

I notice a waving hand in the corner of my eyes and turned to see Potter, grinning at me mockingly while he foolishly continued to wave. I narrowed my eyes and shook my head slightly in frustration. The audacity.

His brown hair was messy and untidy, per usual, and his light eyes were sparkling with mischief. Beside him sat his cousin and partner, Fred Weasley II, who's olive-toned skin drastically compared to Potter's pale skin. His own eyes were dark and looked at me without amusement, unlike Potter. Fred had always been to more serious one.

The other Gyrffindor Prefects were familiar-looking: the fifth years were Ali Longbottom and Johnathon Thomas, sixth years were Weasel and Potter, and then the seventh years were Dominique Weasley and Justin Goforth. Dominique had been made Head Girl that year, so she was probably assigned to give the boring, introductory Prefect speech.

I didn't recognize all of the Ravenclaws, just Dominique's younger brother Louis and a girl named Rachelle Davies. Louis was, and I admit this without regret, extremely attractive. He had 1/8 Veela blood, and it showed. He had silky blonde hair like his mother and piercing, intelligent eyes like his father. Unfortunately, he was a Ravenclaw and a blood-traitor, and even the thought of persuing him would give my parents a heart attack.

Rachelle Davies, on the other hand, had a quite ugly array of teeth and bushy eyebrows - not really eye candy.

And then there were some Hufflepuff Prefects that I didn't really care about. Everyone knows that you get sorted into Hufflepuff if you don't belong in any of the other Houses; it was the rejection House.

Some more students filed into the room before all of the Prefects were present. Dominique and the new Head Boy, Clark Arlington, stood in front of the group with welcoming smiles on their faces. Well, just Dominique - Clark, a Ravenclaw, looked generally bored.

"Welcome, Hogwarts Prefects!" she began. "Now, most of you know the rules at school and how to enforce them, but I'm going to go over them one more time, for the sake of our newest prefects. Well, the first and foremost rule is..."

And she continued to go on about the rules, and then she gave out the passwords for all of the Common Rooms. I didn't really listen to her, but I was smart enough to appear to be, unlike James and Fred who whispered and laughed until Dominique threatened them. When she finished, she assigned several Prefects their first duty of the year: keeping the children on the Hogwarts Express in check. Of course, being an older sister, she chose Louis, who groaned and nearly begged for her to make someone else do it.

Corridor surveillance was the worst.

But, to my surprise, she decided to assign me, too. Usually, the Head Girl or Boy doesn't give these duties to Slytherins, as they are not the... most suitable for the job.

I raised an eyebrow, but nodded my head. I didn't fail to see Potter's smirk in my peripheral vision.

"You two will take the first shift, and then James and Ramona Finch Fletchley will take the second shift, with Justin Goforth and Christina Yardley taking the last shift."

My turn to smirk; the second shift was thirty minutes longer than the first.

I stood once again, and nodded at Dominique before leaving the carriage with her brother.

Now, I didn't know what Louis thought of me, though I'm sure he's intelligent enough to realize I'm not exactly the nice type. He'd probably heard tons of stories about me from James and while they were most likely extremely exaggerated, he probably took the hint.

"Louis Weasley, I believe we've met before, briefly?" I stuck out my hand in front of him.

He straightened up immediately, eyes now guarded. I was a Slytherin, after all; I couldn't blame him. I was pretty much used to the looks by now. He took my hand and gently shook it. "Yes. Your name is Rosalie Flint."

It wasn't a question.

I gave him a small, crooked smile of affirmation and dropped my hand. "Alright, do you want the first half of the train or the second?" I asked bluntly.

He pursed his lips. "Your choice," he replied politely.

"I'll just take the second half. The Slytherins sit down there, and they're more likely to listen to me. And I'm sure the same goes with the Ravenclaws; they're not very fond of me."

He nodded. "Fair enough. See you in two hours."

I wrinkled my nose and turned on my heel. I withdrew my wand from my pocket gently and grasped it in my hand, walking back towards my compartment to tell the others that I was on Prefect duty for the time being.

I pulled the door open once more and the first thing I noticed was that Blake wasn't back yet. My eyes flickered down to Matthias. "I've been assigned to corridor surveillance, just thought I'd let you know."

He groaned. "But Slytherins are never assigned to that hogwash."

"I know, Matthias. I'll be back in two hours, alright?"

He nodded, and I looked over at Georgiana and Veronique. "See you guys later."

They nodded, too. Georgiana asked almost desperately, "Where's Blake?"

"I'm sure he'll be back soon," I told her icily, then left the compartment. "Hey, no running in the halls, Goyle!"