The buzz of voices around me suddenly became quiet.

Cautiously, I peered over the edge of my book to discover the reason.

The door of the great hall was open and a group of apparently new first-year students stepped inside.

Everything had to be so exciting for them. Their first day at Hogwarts, everything was new and the world was full of possibilties. They might just walk into this hall next to their future best friend without knowing it.

They still knew next to nothing about their magic and what they would be able to do.

I should be so excited too, because it was also my first day here at Hogwarts, but I knew exactly what this year had in store for me.

I would be finishing my final year here instead of at Ilvermorny.

I would be living with my godmother, who was also the headmistress of Hogwarts and would only judge me on my performance, because that was the most important Thing for her and the reason why I was here.

A good degree, for a future that scared me more than I would admit.

At Ilvermorny I would have been too distracted and at my grandfather's request and my godmother's influence, I had come here to Hogwarts to get a good degree.

And just like at Ilvermorny, I would be alone this year, except for compulsory projects in class, I would be avoided by students.

At least that's what I hoped, because that's how I preferred it.

I liked being invisible to others, it saved me a lot of trouble.

I didn't need friends, all I needed were my books. There I could dream myself into worlds that were so much more beautiful than my own.

It didn't matter to me whether they were written by wizards or No-Maj or Muggles as the british called non-magical people, the main thing was to be somewhere else but here.

That was the first thing I did after arriving this morning, I went to the library and browsed through the shelves.

I was quite impressed with the library here at Hogwarts, with all these books I wouldn't get bored for years.

Now if I could just find the perfect reading spot, this school year wouldn't be so bad.

The first years had come out of their initial amazement at the hundreds of floating candles and the enchanted hall ceiling and were now listening like the rest of the students to Professor McGonnagal explaining how they would now be storted up into their houses.

I put my book aside. I probably wouldn't be able to concentrate on its contents anyway.

The sorting hat that assigned the students to their respective Hogwarts houses had already assigned me to my house shortly after my arrival at noon today. Professor McGonnagal wanted to spare me the attention of this public ceremony, which I was quite grateful for when I saw how many students there were here at Hogwarts.

"HUFFLEPUFF" his reply had been, which made me very proud because my grandfather had also been in Hufflepuff in his day and had always said how proud he was of it.

I would write him a letter tonight, as I had promised. A letter every fortnight and one immediately after my arrival.

The hat was now placed on the first head of the new students and after a short pause, "RAVENCLAW" rang loudly through the hall. The table on the right cheered loudly.

What each house stood for had been explained to me by Min (as I called Professor McGonnagal), but I hadn't listened very carefully and I didn't care.

What did a house say about me? After all, it didn't define who I was.

I didn't even know that myself.

One by one, all the new first-years were sorted and each time the table whose house he or she belonged to from now on cheered.

There really seemed to be quite a good house community here at Hogwarts.

Maybe it was due to the recently ended war, which everyone here had witnessed, excluding me. Maybe they were just happy about the normality that came with the start of this school year.

The last student was assigned to Slytherin, this table also cheered and clapped loudly. Their house colour was by all accounts dark green, definitely the prettiest of the four houses. I also liked the Huffelpuff yellow but the green would go so nicely with my green eyes, so colour-wise, Slytherin was definitely my favourite house.

With a spoon, Professor McGonnagal tapped her glass, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"A warm welcome to all new students and of course welcome back to Hogwarts for everyone else.

I am very pleased and speak for my colleagues as well to welcome you back here.

The last year has been difficult for all of us and the losses we have suffered will not be forgotten, however, life goes on, albeit differently than we would have wished.

This place should be a refuge and a home for all of you, despite or because it was of such importance in this war.

Many rooms have been redesigned during the reconstruction so as not to bring back memories, but the common rooms have been restored to their previous form to make you feel at home.

If you have any problems of any kind, please do not hesitate to speak to a teacher or a prefect.

Hogwarts is a community, a home. Hogwarts is us.

Let us live for all those who cannot be here today and let us learn and do our best to make them proud.

And now enough of the boring and sad words, let feast begin!"

And with a flick of her wand, the previously empty tables were filled with a rich feast.

Show off, I thought, rolling my eyes contemptuously and turning to the food that showed up on the table in front of me.

Immediately the buzz of voices around me broke out again and I took a deep breath. Just the feast Daisy, then you can curl up in your bed and enjoy the peace and quiet, I tried to motivate myself.

Next to me sat a group of girls, maybe two years younger than me and they were talking strained. I tried not to listen and just concentrate on my food but they were talking so loudly I couldn't tune it out.

"I always thought the carriages drove themselves, I didn't know they were pulled by these 'creatures'," a girl with brown hair said with her mouth full.

She said the word creatures in an incredibly derogatory way, making inverted commas in the air, and directly she was unspeakably unappealing to me.

"Thestrals," added some other girl.

"Creepy," the first girl interrupted her, shaking herself.

Definitely unsympathetic.

The food was excellent and after I had started to sing random songs loudly in my head, so that I couldn't hear the girls next to me anymore, I left the great hall, full and not in as bad a mood as I had expected.

I was not the first to leave, a few students had already left but the majority were still in a lively exchange.

I turned a corner, making sure no one saw me, and there was no sign of the Hufflepuff girl and in her place sat a small black cat with emerald green eyes.

Animagus was what they called me.

A person who could turn into an animal at will.

There were seven registered Animagi in England. It was a very difficult skill to learn, which is why there were so few. This ability in itself would make me quite special, especially as I was only 16, however this was not the whole truth.

Yes I was an Animagus but I had never learned this ability, I was born with it. Even rarer than an Animagus was someone born as one. So rare that I was the first and only one.

All my life my family had wanted to explain to me what a great gift it was and how unique it made me. The only thing it made me was scary to others. They were afraid of it, which is why I never had any friends.

"What a farmer doesn't know he doesn't eat!" was a No-Maj saying and "What a wizard doesn't know he fears and fights!"

The fact that I posed no danger at all to others seemed to be completely irrelevant. So as soon as my classmates wrote in the letters to their families about me, they were told that I was not good company and that they should stay away from me.

For the first few years at school, it really bothered me that no one wanted anything to do with me, but at some point I realised that I was much better off when I was on my own.

I had a lot of time to read and write, I was good at school because there was no one to stop me from learning.

And I wasn't going to change that here either, because Hogwarts was just like Ilvermorny and a wizard here is like a wizard there, intolerant of new things, sceptical of things he can't explain and only looking out for himself.

Nothing will be different here, nothing at all.