Sitting by herself under the tree next to Black Lake on a cool and gloomy Saturday early afternoon, Gwen had spent the better part of it reading a muggle book. A warm blanket wrapped around her shoulders to ward off the cold, but she didn't mind as it was the peace and quiet that she was more appreciative for. Many of the older students had already left for Hogsmeade and probably wouldn't be back until dinner.

Lily was spending time with some Gryffindors girls named Marlene McKinnon, Mary McDonald, and another girl but she couldn't remember her name. They were her dorm mates.

Sev was with Professor Slughorn discussing their next potion as he was eager to start brewing once more. She thought it was a bit amusing to see Sev light up at the thought of being in the dungeons and brewing potions.

…then there was the four local troublemakers

They said that they would be joining her once they finished setting up their prank for Filch and his cat, Mrs. Norris. They would often use her as an alibi so they wouldn't be accused of pranking their fellow classmates.

An hour had gone by before Gwen finally finished her book that her Father had sent her, only to look up to see upper class Slytherins making their way towards her. This was definitely an odd sight. But not a surprising one as she knew that this would happen as per her Father's warning. Gracefully she got to her feet as she collected her things, praying that they would ignore her and turn away.

Unfortunately, they were ignored.

The trio stopped right in front of her, the boy stood dead center with two girls on either side of him. One girl with long blonde hair tied up, dressed in black and silver while the other girl, a brunette dressed in red and white. She also looked to be quite uncomfortable being there which was a bit odd in her opinion.

"Gwendolyn right?" The boy spoke up "Gwendolyn Donoghue?"

"To what do I owe the pleasure?"

She wasn't going to be rude as her parents had taught her to always be kind, respectful and above all have manners when it came to meeting people. Even if she didn't have any fondness for them.

"Malfoy," he paused for dramatic effect "Lucius Malfoy" he bowed as he offered Gwen his hand to which she took it without hesitation due to her parents ingraining proper etiquette into her

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance" was all she could muster as she could feel the other two girls staring at her after he kissed her hand

"This is my girlfriend, Narcissa Black," He gestured to the girl who wore black and silver.

Narcissa had bright blue eyes that contrasted her fair skin as she bore holes into her person with long blonde hair pulled into an intricate bun. She was fairly short, thin and beautiful as she looked like she had stepped out of those old black and white movies that she often saw on the telly.

"A pleasure," she smiled kindly to her with a small nod

"and her older sister Andromeda Black from the Noble House of Black" Lucius then gestured to the other girl who actually wore color

Andromeda is a dark brunette, fair skin and hazel brown eyes. She was tall, thin and beautiful and had a pretty smile as well to match. It was no wonder that she was beautiful since they belonged to the Noble House of Black, and were pure bloods.

However, they were also cousins of Sirius Black, her friend. Not to mention, housemates with her own cousin, Jack.

"It's nice to meet you," she seemed to be soft spoken as she smiled at her

"How do you do?" Gwen felt a bit of unease regarding Lucius Malfoy's intentions as her stomach twisted up in knots

"We just wanted to properly introduce ourselves to the twenty ninth family," Narcissa spoke with respect but she could hear her lack of confidence

"That is very kind of you to come find me, had I known that you wanted a proper introduction I would have come to seek you out sooner."

Lucius shook his head "It isn't your fault as we're here merely to tell you that even if you're in a different house, you have the Slytherins protection."

"We protect our own," Narcissa spoke up again to which Gwen looked over to the other sister who had stayed silent the entire time

"That's reassuring to hear," Gwen didn't know what that was supposed to mean really as it didn't sound so kind like it was intended to. "I take it that you know of my older cousin, Jack."

Lucius nodded, no reaction given. "We've been acquainted already,"

She took note of how he worded his answer. Something about it made her wonder just what he meant by it as it gave her a queasy feeling.

"Well, if that is all then I must take my leave as I have a prior engagement that I mustn't be late for," picking up her bag she slung it over her shoulder with a smile

"I hope that you might join us soon at the Slytherin table for a meal with the others" Lucius offered

"I guess we'll both find out soon," with another smile she turned her back and made her way back to her castle

The hairs on the back of her neck stood as Lucius Malfoy gave her a bad taste in her mouth, not to mention something about the way he looked at her sent chills down her spine. Pushing away her feelings of discomfort, she focused on getting back inside the safe walls of the castle.

The woman Andromeda seemed to look very uncomfortable meeting her or rather just seemed to be very uncomfortable around her sister's boyfriend. It wasn't a surprise to her to hear that the Malfoy's and Black's were joining houses once more in holy matrimony. If that's what you could even call it really as all the Noble families had incest lined into their blood.

Either way though, she knew that wasn't going to be the last time she heard of Lucius Malfoy and the pure bloods. She didn't trust them, it seemed the only one she could trust was Sirius Black, the one who she was lucky to call a friend.

She sent the rest of her afternoon huddled up in the library. Jackie and Toni had joined her as they needed help with their homework. It was Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts that had both girls struggling to remember all the material they'd been taught in class. Gwen, however, was distracted as she couldn't stop thinking about the Slytherins who paid her a visit earlier.

Seeing that dinner was starting in an hour, Gwen and the girls finished up and packed their things as they headed back to Ravenclaw Tower. Jackie and Toni, giggling and talking about boys as they walked ahead.

"What do you think?" Both girls turned to the smaller girl, who had been silent up until now. "Gwen!"

Snapped out of her musings, she blinked at them confused. They shared looks with one another before they parted and looped their arms with their distracted friend.

"Yes?"

"Toni asked you a question," Jackie sighed dramatically.

"Apologies, what was the question?"

Toni clicked her tongue in annoyance, "you've been distracted all afternoon. What is going on? You're usually so focused."

Gwen didn't know whether to bring it up to the girls as she wasn't even sure what to say herself. It was an odd but seemingly normal situation, right?

"Lucius Malfoy paid me a visit earlier," she started, causing the girls to shriek. People who passed them in the halls gave them looks before hurrying away.

"What happened?"

Allowing her eyes to sweep across the semi busy corridor, she clenched fists. Not wanting their peers to overhear, she decided to wait until they were in their dorm room to speak more on the situation. Toni picked up on her silence and kept her mouth shut.

Once in the safety of their dorm room, Jackie has already closed and locked their door. Dropping their things they crowded around Gwen's bed, as she sat there waiting for them to situate themselves before she started recounting the entire meeting. By the time she finished, both girls were staring at her in utter silence.

"WHAT A RIGHT ARSE!" Jackie sputtered in disbelief, "how dare he tell you that you need the Slytherin's protection!"

Jackie was right. What did he mean by their protection? Protection from what? Nobody had yet to show any ill will towards her. The way he talked and looked at her made her shiver in her own skin.

Toni snorted, "the Malfoy family probably all have sticks up their arse."

"Agreed." Jackie had moved to her side of the room as she unpacked her school bag

"Doesn't matter what those snakes think, we're your friends and we'll always protect you." Toni came over and hugged the young heiress

"Ah! No fair, I wanna join the group hug!"

Jackie's small outburst caused them to giggle, she dropped her books onto her bed and joined the two girls in a group hug. They parted giggling as they started unloading their things before heading down to the Great Hall together for dinner where they sat with Olivia and Pandora.

However, the entire time she sat and chatted with her friends. She could feel herself being watched by the table next to her house. The house of Slytherin. It was unnerving but it was something that she would have to endure. Endure it all for the sake of the name that was given at her birth. The same name that her mother bore and her father. She had a duty and responsibility to it.

It was on her way back to her house after dinner when the four resident troublemakers had made their appearance. None too surprised that they were coming back from serving detention. A detention from the pranks they had pulled earlier that day no doubt.

James threw his arm over her shoulders, "How was dinner?"

"Exceptional," she answered "how was detention?"

James rolled his eyes at her question but still answered nonetheless. "made me quite peckish,"

She clicked her tongue, "next time don't get detention and you wouldn't miss dinner."

He put a hand to his heart as he dramatically slumped over, right into Sirius' arms. "You wound me with your words,"

Giggling at the small display between the two, seemed to only encourage them to act more like children to get her to laugh more. Remus joins along as well with Peter just copying their actions. The four boys had her giggling all the way back to her house.

"You guys are very amusing, I didn't realize that I needed that. Thank you so much."

"Always," James accepted her warm hug, before pulling away. "Now get into your house as you don't need to be wandering the castle at night."

Narrowing her eyes at him, she frowned. "Then I best expect the four of you to go straight to your house and stay all night."

The four boys all shared glances with one another, nervous smiles being passed around which only proved her point that they were already up to no good. Which wasn't such a huge surprise as in all honesty they all seemed to enjoy causing trouble when everyone was asleep. When they had the castle to themselves to explore every nook and cranny.

"We'll go back to our dorms," Remus tried to amend

Clicking her tongue, she let out a breathy sigh. "Don't get caught and watch out for one another," with that she turned away waving as she whispered the password to the riddle and entered the tower of Ravenclaw.

Gwendolyn Donoghue was never one to be arrogant.

Her parents made sure of that. Raised away from the wizarding world, her parents had made it their personal mission to keep her away from the watchful eyes of the paparazzi. Always claiming that when she was older, she would come to understand their reasoning behind it. Being only eleven years old, she still had yet to understand the reasoning behind it. However, the one thing she had come to understand was that her parents did everything for a reason. Her parents were logical and intelligent people who always thought things through.

Even growing up as an only child, her parents raised her to be aware of how privileged she was and to always be appreciative of what she had and where she came from. They taught her to always have compassion, courage and kindness for people of all backgrounds and status' as it was one's character that was important. They were also very careful in what media she was allowed to consume when it came to the wizarding world.

Before she had come to Hogwarts, her father had sat her down and explained to her what it meant to be the Heir of the Donoghue clan and all the responsibilities that came with it. At first, she didn't understand and thought that her Father was being rather dramatic about the topic of the families and blood purity. It sounded as though it came right out of a book. However, since boarding the Hogwarts Express, it was only at that moment that she realized she was terribly wrong and that her Father was right about everything.

"My sweet girl, you are now old enough to make your own decisions. To choose what kind of people you will associate yourself with but you must remember that you have a reputation to uphold so be wary of the company that you choose to keep."

Which is why, being a witch of her word, she had taken up the offer of sitting at the Slytherin table for dinner a week after Lucius Malfoy had introduced himself.

Lucius Malfoy, the sole heir to the Malfoy Fortune, sat across from her at the table. An air of arrogance around him as he smiled and chatted with his friends. His arm casually thrown over the shoulders of the girl next to him. His pretty girlfriend, Narcissa Black, sat prettily on his right. Quiet and demure as she smiled, occasionally taking a small bite of her food and dabbed at her mouth with a napkin.

The elder Black sister sat next to her, the only one at the table who didn't wear the house colors. Who wore dark reds and creams under her slytherin robe, the colors of their rival house. Andromeda barely contained her boredom and uncomfortableness as she was surrounded by her house mates. However, the more Gwen looked closely at her, the more she noticed how tense and uncomfortable she seemed.

The sight bothered her somewhat and she couldn't put her finger on it exactly. Something about the scene turned her stomach.

For the past twenty minutes, she sat diligently in her seat, as she listened to the members of the house that wore green and silver proudly. They laughed, talked, and joked. Mostly, they made fun of the Hufflepuff house for their stupidity and kindness. Gwen didn't appreciate their aggressions towards the other houses.

Their opinions disgusted her and she prayed that the pumpkin juice didn't come back up from the way her stomach kept turning. If anything she felt deep discomfort for the short amount of time she had sat with them. They hardly even looked or even spoke to her, but she suspected that they were following orders from their Prefect, Lucius Malfoy. Why? She wasn't sure. All she did know was that this meal was probably the most boring one she had attended since she started at Hogwarts.

"Miss Donoghue," Lucius turned his attention back to her. "How are you enjoying Hogwarts so far?"

It had only been a little over a month since the start of the term. Since she stepped foot on Hogwarts, she has enjoyed her time here, however something in her told Gwen that he'd make a remark on that.

"It's been absolutely lovely," she answered.

Taking a bite out of her lamb, she chewed slowly as she took note of her response to his question. Gwendolyn wasn't stupid. She had done her research in the week that led to her sitting with the rather dubious House. Especially on the families. Her trunk was filled with several magazines and newspapers on the proud children of the Sacred families.

Lucius nodded curtly, "happy to hear that, isn't that right Cissa?"

Quiet Narcissa, set her gaze on the much younger witch and nodded politely. Never breathing a single word to her. Lucius seemed more than content with her response as he gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

Interesting.

"Is your house treating you as you deserve?"

Gwen heard the slight accusation in his tone, just beneath the surface and it bothered her. Something about the way he said it grated on her. Or perhaps it was because of how he phrased the question. Regardless, how dare he insult her mothers house? Her house?

Clearing her throat, she made direct eye contact with the older slytherin. "Ravenclaw is a phenomenal house. I'm more than happy to have been placed in a house that will satiate my desire for knowledge."

She thought that answer was more than enough of an answer for him without giving herself away. However, she was wrong.

"Wouldn't you have wanted to be with your own kind? The House of Slytherin would be easy for you, you'd automatically have connections in high places."

Once more, she wasn't sure if it was how he phrased it or the way he said it. Or maybe it was both. But it irritated her. She made a decision then and there that she found him to be quite irritating and would do her best to always put him in his place. How dare he think that she wanted easy, that she desired to have connections with people she knew nothing about? Just because they were in different houses didn't mean that she wouldn't be allowed to be great friends with others.

Oh yes.

She would give him a dose of reality.

"What kind would that be?"

Lucius bought her act of innocence and answered without pause, and looked smug as he must have felt like he was bestowing upon her great knowledge.

"The English pureblood families of the Wizarding Community."

Deciding that he had ruined her appetite, she took the napkin off her lap and put it on the table. "Mr. Malfoy, you must have forgotten that I'm not of English nationality which means that I'm not a part of the English pureblood families. My kind are with the Irish and American pureblood families, lest you have forgotten that my family has no relation to any of the English families."

Hiding her satisfaction at his surprised expression along with the shocked looks from his peers. Even quiet Narcissa, did a good job of hiding her amusement behind the guise of dabbing her mouth with her napkin.

She had just verbally sparred with him and won in front of his entourage, his house, and basically put him in his place.

Gwen had messed up.

He wouldn't let this small discretion go without it being paid back as she had just embarrassed him in front of his friends, peers, and admirers, and especially his girlfriend.

She caught the eye of her cousin, Jack, who sat a ways down from them. He seemed to have heard everything as she didn't miss the look of quiet rage in his eyes as he stabbed his chicken with his fork repeatedly.

"You are quite right," was all he had said, but what shocked her was the fact that it was genuine.

She hid how his reaction surprised her and opted to continue eating her dinner quietly.

"Quite intriguing that you aren't quick to jump to agree with me," he stated in a tone that she couldn't discern

"You prefer me to disagree with you?"

He clicked his tongue, "I prefer if you stood for what you believed in."

Lucius Malfoy was quite contradictory. Just what did he want with her and why was he switching tactics? Deciding not to push the young heir anymore, she nodded and was able to finish her dinner without having to answer any more questions.

Once she had finished, she smiled politely, thanked him for the invitation and excused herself as she had claimed that she needed to revise her paper for Slughorn's class.

Not giving them a chance to respond, she turned on her foot and left at a rather brisk pace. She didn't want to be around any of them much longer than she needed to. The atmosphere that surrounded their house was stifling and she needed fresh air. Air that wasn't polluted with false niceties and muddled intentions.

She should have gone back to her dorm, to wash away his words and sleep. But her feet had other ideas, as they led her to the Astronomy tower. She had only been there once before, she had come after classes as she was curious to see what it had looked like.

Taking a seat on the floor, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and forced herself to relax and forget about the interaction she had with the Slytherin Prince and his peers. She continued the small ritual until she didn't feel irritated anymore.

Gwen hated feeling negative emotions.

Maybe it was why she actively avoided confrontation. Her parents always taught her to keep her emotions in check, to always think logically. But how was she supposed to think logically when people like Lucius Malfoy spouted such nonsense? Telling her to be with her own kind? She wasn't even English for one thing.

"Needed a break from eating with the snakes?"

She contained her sigh.

Over the last week, the boys kept telling her it was a horrible idea to spend time with the Slytherins. That she was making a bad decision in tangling herself with the pureblood families and she would only get hurt. They wouldn't understand. James was a pureblood like her but his family had always been ostracized for their views just as the Weasleys and Prewett's. Sirius was also a pureblood, but his unintentional act of rebellion for being placed in the House of Gryffindor was a big fuck you to the families and his parents.

"How did you know I was here?"

Sirius chuckled as he twirled his wand in his hands. Gwen tried to his her smile by turning away but he caught it.

"We were watching you,"

"Sounds a lot like stalking."

He smiled, "can you blame me? you are beauty."

Flustered by the change in conversation, she refused to meet his gaze. Knowing that he'd tease her for her red face, judging from how warm her face had become.

"The dinner was well," she stated politely.

"You barely ate even half your plate," he rolled his eyes as he plopped down next to her. "Plus you had that look in your eye from what you were hearing."

Gwen stopped blushing as she turned her head to the left, she blinked at him, surprised at his observation from being on the opposite side of the hall.

"How long had you been watch—"

He cut her off, "I've been watching you since you took my handkerchief."

Swallowing the saliva that had pooled in her mouth, she took a deep breath. His words had an effect on her, an effect that he wouldn't realize for years to come.

"Sirius…"

"Don't wear it out," he grinned as he bumped his shoulder into hers in a playful manner, causing her to shake out of her girlish thoughts about the young boy.

Clearing her thoughts, she redirected her focus back onto the interaction she had just had with the young Slytherin Prince. She was curious to know and Sirius would be the one to give her a clear and honest answer. At least she hoped.

"Can you tell me how you grew up?"

Sirius stilled beside her. Rightfully so, as she glanced at him and saw how tensed his body became. The fear in his eyes before it quickly flashed into hurt and then landed on hatred. Reaching out her hand towards him, she paused midair, and then dropped her hand completely.

"My deepest apologies Sirius, I was merely curious and I must have overstepped and that wasn't my inten—"

"I'm not sure how it was for the other children in the families, but my parents, mainly my Mother, is a tyrant."

Never in the month she'd known Sirius to ever talk in a tone that wasn't lighthearted or joyful. It unnerved her how cold his tone was and how detached he seemed at the moment. Gwen didn't recognize Sirius at all. No, she could see his family's Slytherin bloodline as she stared at him. He'd fit in perfectly with the House of Slytherin if he had this attitude.

"My childhood was rather unpleasant for a young lady such as yourself to hear…" he trailed off as he stared off into the black abyss of the forbidden woods. "The only saving grace to making it tolerable is my younger brother, Regulus, he's a lot like you. Soft spoken and a bit shy."

Regulus Arcturus Black

The younger brother of Sirius Orion Black and youngest son of Orion and Walburga Black of the Noble House of Black.

She read about him, the Noble House of Black was one of the oldest families alongside the Malfoy's and the Lestrange's. Their matriarch lived to make a spectacle of her family. Always showing them off in the latest fashion, to operas, charity galas and anything that would put their names in the papers.

"He won't be coming to Hogwarts until next year, which makes me really worried for him, being home and all alone."

"Why does that worry you so?"

Sirius went quiet.

Turning her head to the side, she wondered what caused his entire demeanor to change in the span of five seconds. Whatever the reason. Gwen made a silent vow to herself that she would do everything in her power to never see this side of him again. The side that looked too grown up for a boy of his age.

Reaching over she took his hand, that rested in his lap, lacing it with hers before bringing it to her lips and kissed it softly. Gwen could feel his stare on her. Flushed, she smiled at him, and rubbed his hand against her right cheek.

She whispered, "I'll always be here to hold your hand."

"Promise?" He whispered back

"I pinky promise"