"I've been practicing," Leo assured Regulus as he continued to agonize.
Narcissa glanced at her, and she could see the moment in which her mother realized she wasn't speaking to anyone real. She looked away, thin-lipped. Draco wasn't quite as fast.
"I know," he groused. "You need to learn to not be so bloody loud in the middle of the night."
Leo glanced at him and didn't mention he wasn't supposed to be in the conversation. "At least we know who will do better in class." With that, she followed Lucius through the barrier.
Draco nicked her with his trolley as he came through, the wheel clipping against her ankle. "At least I won't be an awful roommate."
"You're both going to be perfect," Narcissa interrupted. She was already crouching down, gathering Draco's hands in hers and turning towards Leo.
Leo had already gotten a few feet away before she turned to face them. Her eyes were focused on the air in front of her brother, just to the right and above. "I'll do my best," she said to no one.
Draco scoffed. "Good luck."
Leo's gaze dropped to his, and she smiled while already turning her trolley. "Likewise, Chou." Then she separated, going her own way to the train as she scanned the First Years that were milling about.
"There," Regulus said, floating towards the boy. Harry. Two somewhat familiar redheads were helping him get his trunk onto the train. "Prewetts," Regulus concluded.
"Weasleys," she corrected. The redheads—twins, she noted—had scampered off already, and Harry had disappeared inside the train. "Everything will be fine," she assured him. Needlessly, of course. He could never believe such a thing.
She paused at the edge of the train and wrestled with her trunk for a moment. Regulus scoffed at her, and she stepped back with her wand raised. She'd been practicing, hadn't she?
A simple but shakier-than-Regulus-approved-of Wingardium Leviosa lifted the trunk into the train. From there, she released the spell and started dragging the trunk along with her, stopping to glance in each compartment as she went. He was in the second, and she paused in the doorway. "Harry," she greeted. She'd like to make her voice warm when she talked to him, but she wasn't sure how people managed that. "Do you mind if I join you?"
Harry jerked away from the window he'd been peering out of to stare at her. He lit up, clearly happy to see someone he recognized. "Leonis! Yeah, sure!"
"Leo is fine," she reminded him, pushing her trunk in. Then she levitated it up onto one of the storage shelves.
"Whoa," Harry gasped. "You already know magic."
"I know a bit," she conceded, sitting down on the bench across from him at the end farthest from the window. Farthest from him. "You don't?"
He shook his head. A whistle sounded, and he stared up at her trunk. "I've never been to Hogwarts before. When did you start?"
"I haven't. This is my first time."
The door to the compartment opened, and a redhead—a new one—looked in. "Anyone sitting there?" he asked, focused on Harry and pointing at the seat directly across from him. When Harry shook his head, the boy moved in and started lifting his trunk into place. His gaze skipped across her, and he jolted in surprise.
"Hey, Ron."
Two redheads—the same ones as before—were back at the door, leaning in.
"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train."
As the first twin talked about a tarantula, Leo cocked her head at them. She was a twin, of course, but she'd couldn't imagine looking exactly like Draco. She'd feel awful if Draco looked exactly like her.
"Oi," the second twin said, poking the first to interrupt him. He was staring straight at her. "Blimey is that—"
"You are," the first one said, turning to look at her too. "You're the Malfoy kid."
The other redhead—Ron, she was guessing—whipped around to stare at her too. Regulus was hovering near the ceiling, looking more interested in Harry than any of the discussion surrounding her.
"Leonis Malfoy," she greeted.
It was the first twin again that said, "Is it true? If I touch you, will I die?"
She didn't want to be touched. "Yes," she said simply. "It's always awful, what with the screaming and the legal issues. I don't particularly want to hide another body."
The twin's eyes widened as he grinned and the other one laughed. Then they were both laughing as they stumbled over each other to move on their way.
"You're the weird one," Ron announced. When she and Harry both turned to him—neutral and confused respectively—he said, "Dad says there's somethin' wrong with you."
"An awful gossip, is he?"
Ron pulled back and narrowed his eyes. Then he turned away to look at Harry instead.
"Are all your family wizards?" Harry asked.
While they spoke, Leo took the opportunity to study Harry. Know your enemies, Regulus had said once in the midst of the night while he was sobbing. Know your friends. Know you have all of one and not the other. Know everyone. Know everything.
It was the use of Tom's fake name that drew her back and made Regulus snap down from the ceiling to hover just in front of Harry, all but snarling.
"You said You-Know-Who's name!" Ron exclaimed. "I'd have thought you, of all people—"
"I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name. I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn. I bet . . . I bet I'm the worst in the class."
"You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families, and they learn quick enough."
"You could be," Leo mused.
"Of course you would think so," Ron groused. "You're a Malfoy."
"I work hard," she corrected. "I would imagine that's what really determines where you fall in a class. Not everyone can be great at everything, but I couldn't bear to be awful in any subject. So I doubt I would be." Then she smiled and stood on her seat to retrieve a book from her trunk. "Don't let me disturb you," she said, sitting down with her copy of Magical Drafts and Potions. She hadn't needed to buy a new one for Hogwarts, although this one was getting cramped in the margins.
The sweet trolley came, and she was distantly aware of Harry buying the whole lot of it—Sticky fingers, Regulus had jested, finally coming back to himself when she'd nicked a Cauldron Cake without the boys seeing—while she wrote out a note between text lines about moonstone and another about Sleeping Draughts and another about what it might be like if she didn't have dreams. She scratched dreams out. "What's another word for it?" she asked Regulus. "An accurate one."
"What word?" Harry asked as he popped another bean into his mouth. He winced, and she wondered what flavor it had been.
"Ephialtes," Regulus supplied.
"Outdated," she told him. Then to Harry, she said, "Have you looked much at potions yet?"
"I looked through all my books," Harry admitted. "But I don't understand much of it yet."
"There is quite a learning curve if you're coming from a Muggle background, I would imagine," she mused. "There is a lot you don't know, even outside academics."
Harry looked sullen at that for a moment. And then he brightened. "Oh, my wand! It's not fir, like you said it might be, but . . . ." He held it out for her to see.
Leo stared at it, quite sure the implications behind handing your wand over to someone was one of the things Harry doesn't understand. Regulus was practically buzzing with excitement. All in equal measure, she supposed. She withdrew her own wand from its pocket within her robes and passed it to him just as she took his wand. "Thank you," she said. She held the wand flat on her palms, tilting her head. "Holly," she concluded. She looked up at Regulus. "Interesting, don't you think?"
"What do you mean? Does holly mean something?" Harry asked.
"Everything means something," she countered. "Holly most often means protection, if nothing else. What core is it?"
"Um, phoenix feather."
"Picky," she concluded. "Strong. Yes?"
Harry shifted. "I wouldn't know." He stared down at the foreign wand he was holding. "What's yours?"
"Hawthorn. Dragon heartstring."
"And hawthorn?" he asked, leaning forward. "What does that mean?"
"Anything and nothing," she offered up. "The hawthorn tree's leaves and flowers are good for healing potions. If you cut the tree itself open, you'll regret it." And then, "It's the same wood as my brother's. That means, something, I suppose."
He nodded and hesitated.
"The core," Regulus prompted.
There was a lot she could say about dragon heartstring, and some of it she knew wouldn't sit well with either Potter or Weasley if they understood it. So instead, she said, "Dragon heartstring is expressive."
Harry didn't look like he understood, but he switched wands with her again nevertheless. "What does fir mean?"
Someone knocked briefly on the compartment door and then leaned in. "Sorry," he said tearfully, "but have you seen a toad at all?"
Harry told them they hadn't. Once the boy had left, Ron huffed and then proceeded to pull out his wand to demonstrate some magic. Leo could feel her shoulders drawing up at the sight of his mangled wand, and Regulus had started laughing.
The compartment door opened again, and the boy was back with someone else. His name was Neville, apparently, and the girl was quickly distracted by Ron's visual promise of magic. Muggle-born, then. And she recognized the name Neville as being associated with the Longbottom family. Regulus had only met Augusta once; he was very glad he didn't again.
"I'll help," Leo said, standing as the other girl sat to watch Ron's magic. It was getting too crowded, she thought. She stepped out and closed the compartment door. "Your toad," she prompted.
Neville nodded, wiping at his face. "His name is Trevor. I lost him at the platform."
Not much hope, then. "I don't know any tracking spells," she confessed. She sought out Regulus's gaze. "But I'll find help where I can."
Regulus had found Trevor under the seats in a compartment full of Fifth Year Hufflepuffs. Neville had been terrified, but Leo had gone in, introduced herself as Leonis Malfoy, and been left alone as she levitated the toad out. Neville had thanked her through more tears, and she didn't mention that Harry's parents had been Gryffindors, and that she figured that he would probably be more open if he'd seen she'd helped someone. Also, Augusta Longbottom was a powerful and terrifying political force. Instead, Leo had finally told Neville her name—just part of it, just Leonis—and then returned to the compartment she'd been in before.
Draco was standing just inside with Crabbe and Goyle. The girl had left, but Ron and Harry were still there. Goyle was howling, and there was a rat—Ron's rat—latched onto his knuckle with his teeth. Goyle shook him off, and they all turned. It was Goyle that cowed when he saw her, but Draco just grinned. "Rex," her brother greeted proudly.
She stared at Goyle. She opened her mouth.
Goyle was the first out, yelling for her to shut up and not say a word. Crabbe was close behind, and Draco snarled at her as he stepped out. She blinked at him innocently. "I did nothing."
"See you in Slytherin," he said, his tone milder than his expression would imply. "Don't get distracted by shiny promises from elsewhere."
"I could never," she intoned. "I'm offended at the very thought. You should be ashamed."
"Completely."
"Out of my sight," she sighed.
He grinned and then spat a vulgarity at her—Narcissa would have his hide if she ever found out—before retreating.
The door to the compartment had closed, and she moved to slide it aside when Regulus shrieked.
It was loud enough and unexpected enough that Leo flinched and dropped her hand. "Why?" she hissed, turning.
The girl approaching stopped and stared. "Hello," she greeted. "Do you know what happened?"
Leo followed her gaze and looked down at her feet for the first time. There was a handful of scattered sweets on the ground. Leo stooped and collected them. It wouldn't do to let any chocolate frogs go to waste. "I don't," she said. Then she slid open the compartment door.
Harry was looking at her differently. She wasn't quite sure how he'd looked at her before, but it wasn't like this. And then the girl was at her side, saying, "You'd better hurry up and put your robes on. I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there." She eyed the fact that there were even more sweets on the ground in here. "You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there."
"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," Ron protested with a scowl. "Would you mind leaving while we change?"
Hermione huffed and stepped back. She made a comment about other passengers on the train being childish and a second about Ron's nose. Then she closed the door.
"I'm Leonis," she finally greeted.
"Hermione Granger," she said. "You've been wearing your robes the entire time. Have you been to Hogwarts before?"
"I haven't. This is my first year. How long have you known?"
Hermione flushed, eyes wide with excitement. "Oh, I found out in July. I haven't looked forward to anything but this since! I've already studied our books, so I hope that will be more than enough to help me catch up with everyone that's known their entire lives. Like you! Right? How long have you known?"
"I've known my whole life," Leo said, and then quickly moved past that to, "You've studied? I'm sure you'll do well, then."
"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time," the conductor announce to the train. "Please leave your luggage on the train. It will be taken to the school separately."
Hermione squeaked in alarm. "I need to go! We're almost there!" She rushed off down the train.
Leo lingered for a moment before moving towards the train car's exit. The train came to a stop, and students start pouring out of the compartments. She was one of the first outside. She followed Hagrid's call for First Years and the light of his lantern, but she did throw a look over where the older students were heading. She could see dark figures and carts in the trees. Then she slipped and had to refocus on traversing the narrow path with the other First Years. She's wasn't quite good at Lumos yet—Dobby had to put out more than one fire while she struggled with it—and Regulus chattered incessantly about allies and power and allies being intimidated by power. Would Lumos count as power?
She'd seen Hogwarts before, but mostly in nightmares of being seventeen and digging through the restricted section and Regulus's lungs growing tighter with each passing day. Now, she heard everyone around her gasping. She had little time with that before Hagrid started ushering them into small boats. She found herself in one with Harry and Ron and Hermione, and she was careful to draw herself small to avoid touching them. At Hagrid's word, the boats all started to move forward of their own accord, sailing steadily towards the castle.
Regulus started sobbing, and Leo stared down into the murky water as a small boat—too small, too small—carried her along all on its own. She couldn't breathe, and her lungs screamed, and—
"Heads down!" Hagrid yelled.
Leo barely registered the order in time to duck. "You didn't tell me," she gasped out. "You didn't warn me."
Regulus was still sobbing, and no one heard her over everyone's murmuring as they entered the tunnel. Leo dug her nails into her palms until it hurt. She was in the boat. She wasn't in the water. She was in the boat. The boat. She was in the boat—
The boat slid onto land, and Leo was the first of everyone out, scrambling up onto the pebble shore. Her foot slipped, but a ragged and desperate sticking charm caught her. Everyone else moved up across the grass and towards the castle steps while she tried to get the charm to release, her feet unmoving.
A figure lingered at the back of the crowd for just a second. When she looked up, Draco jerked his head to her and then moved to keep pace with the others. Regulus was still sobbing, and it took Leo another few seconds to get unstuck.
The doors were already opening when she got there.
"I will take them from here," the woman inside said. Regulus recognized her. She knew he did, or at least he would when he was back in his mind. He'd talked about her before. He'd told Leo that she would like her. Transfiguration, he'd said. You love transfiguration.
McGonagall spoke about the Sorting Ceremony and the Houses and left, and the First Years around her were speculating. A test? You could call it a test if you wanted, she supposed. Regulus had. A test of if he could be a good son. He'd been a Slytherin, so he'd thought he'd passed. He died how he did, so he obviously hadn't.
Someone screamed, and people jostled each other. She drew back from the crowd, but no one noticed. They were far too focused on the ghosts that had poured into the room.
Many of the other First Years were terrified, and she didn't quite understand why. None of these ghosts quite looked like Regulus, and she'd learned to stop being scared of how Regulus looked years ago. It didn't matter that she could see his jawbone.
"Now, form a line," McGonagall said when she returned. "And follow me."
Leo lingered at the back of the line as they followed her into the Great Hall. Regulus was coming back to himself, his breath hitching—they'd had an argument, once, about if he really needed to breathe—as he came to move alongside her. "We're Slytherin," he muttered. "Of course we are. I always was."
Draco expected the same.
"What if we're not?" she mused. "What if I'm not?"
The Sorting Hat split open and began to sing, and Regulus was staring at her. "We're Slytherin," he repeated. "We are, aren't we?"
"So was he," she pointed out.
"I was good. Good, good, good. I was a good Slytherin."
"Only Slytherin likes Slytherin. Not very useful, is it?"
Regulus snarled and sank to the floor and dug his fingers hard into his hair. "Sirius wasn't Slytherin. He wasn't. Why would he do that? We're Slytherin. We're always Slytherin. I was good, wasn't I?"
The room erupted into applause as the Hat finished. The first name was called—Abbott, Hannah—and Leo put a hand out through Regulus to try to get him to calm. These were—allies, enemies, threats, tools—fellow students. It would be good for her to know where they went.
The Hat screamed Slytherin for Draco, and he'd never looked so pleased. As he swanned off for the Slytherin table, he threw her a proud look.
"Malfoy, Leonis!"
There were murmurs, and she was certain that she would be able to tell easily who grew up in the wizarding world, hearing things from their parents, and who hadn't. She's wasn't likely to have ever been a topic in Hogwarts itself, but among those who knew her father? Her mother? The aunt she couldn't remember or sometimes remembered too much?
The Hat was placed on her head, slipping down to her eyes, and a voice said, "Hello again. Well, this is quite unusual, isn't it?"
"Oh," she murmured. "Hello."
"What is he saying?" Regulus demanded over the Hat's musings. "Why hasn't he said it?"
"You can't hear him?"
"You've been here before, haven't you?" the Hat asked. "I remember you. But you were different, weren't you?"
How was she supposed to answer that?
"Maybe not," the Hat said. "Let's look at just you, then. What a mind on you, but that determination. What daring. Audacity, I could think. That's fascinating. But, oh, what a clever sort, you are. You'd do so well in Slytherin. Just like before. So well. But this boldness. What a refreshing trait from a Malfoy. Almost new from a Black. Gryffindor wouldn't be so foreign, would it? Following in the steps of family there. Don't follow too closely. What a Slytherin concern."
She could hear the room beyond the Hat. People were muttering, and Regulus was asking her to talk. Wanting to know why the Hat hadn't said it yet. How long had it been?
"What recklessness. What planning. It's not often the split is between Gryffindor and Slytherin. What a rarity, don't you think?"
"Is it?" she asked, knowing the answer. Regulus had always been bound for Slytherin. Sirius, for anything but. Her father, her mother, had no question in them. Dora hadn't either. Hufflepuff wouldn't make sense on Leo. She didn't have what she needed for that. Dora had told her once that she would eat Hufflepuff alive.
"A choice, then," the Hat prompted.
Leo pressed her lips together. Gryffindor, of course. Gryffindor got along well with Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, while Slytherin sat alone. If she wanted to make people useful, if she wanted them to—
"Slytherin!" the Hat yelled, and she jolted in surprise. It was lifted, and the room was so bright.
"We're Slytherin," Regulus repeated. "We're always Slytherin."
Leo blinked out at the room with only one table excited and moved to join it. Draco was grinning, and the space between him and the end of the bench was open. There was still room between them when she sat.
"A hatstall," Draco hissed at her, eyes alight with mirth. "What were you thinking?"
"I live to entertain," she said dryly.
"What was it?" he demanded. "The other house."
She blinked. "Ravenclaw," she lied.
He barked out a laugh. "Swot," he accused. "You always were smart."
"Certainly smarter than you."