This was written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Flying Lessons, and is the first instalment of a series of twelve, which will be loosely connected.
Mafalda's initial joy of going to Hogwarts has left her after only a few days. It was everything she always hoped for, becoming an actual witch, even while her father was a squib and her mother a muggle. She still remembers how welcoming everyone seemed when she was sorted into her house, Slytherin. It all seems so distant now, when the questions of her new housemates came. They asked her about her parents, and the rest of her family. And soon enough, they had a new name for her, calling her Mudblood.
That is something that she never knew, no one had ever told her. But there are many who do not look kindly on her, just because of her birth. She hates them, but she doesn't act on it. She mostly is afraid, she hoped that she would make friends, but she has found only enemies. None of the other girls really talk to her, they only sneer and call her names. Or they throw things at her, whenever they see her. And it's not just those in her own year, the older ones are worse.
And that is precisely why she isn't spending her time with those who should be her friends. Even though exams are still many months away, she is making her way to the library. It is difficult, she still doesn't know her way through the castle and if she's entirely honest with herself, has no idea where she is right now. She looks around, really carefully, she already got stuck in stairs twice, and she doesn't want that humiliation again, especially not that one step that wasn't just not there, it was actually sticky on the inside.
She is on a staircase, walking carefully, and checking every step before she puts her foot down, this castle is a hazard, not a school. And then she hears someone from behind, a girl, asking her: "Hello, do you need help getting somewhere?"
Mafalda looks around, and finds herself looking at a girl with bushy brown hair, and then she sees it. She is a Gryffindor, and she knows that those tend to not take too kindly to members of her own house. Not that she has met many yet, but still. At least her fellow Slytherins haven't launched fireworks at her, unlike those two Gryffindor boys. They actually made her robes catch fire, and she could only put them out because she had already done some studying this summer. But then again, this girl looks friendly.
"I, ehm, I'm looking for the library."
"Well, you would be in the wrong place then, these stairs go to the Astronomy Tower. And you shouldn't wander the hallways alone."
"But you are also alone."
"Yes", the brown-haired girl replies, "but I know my way."
"And I want to learn my way around, so, I go looking around by myself. But do you know where the library is?"
"Yes, I'll show you. I'm going there myself."
"Thank you. What is your name?"
"Hermione."