Book One

Prologue:

Sirius Black had tears streaming down his face as he stood outside the orphanage. He didn't have anywhere else to take his sleeping daughter. Remus was in no fit state to take care of her. The Blacks certainly wouldn't take him, not that it was even considered after what his family had just done. The Potters were gone. Harry was being sent to Lily's sister. The little girl's mother was gone, too. It amazed Black that his heart could still beat even though it was shattered. Even now, the idea of leaving his own child at this sad looking little house in the middle of nowhere made his heart crumble even more. His daughter stirred in her blanket made out of his dragon hide jacket. He watched her squirm and then yawn and look at him. Her violet eyes had been marred by the curse. She now had one black one that looked too much like Bellatrix to be coincidence. There were no lights on in the orphanage so Sirius had as much time as he wanted. He knew that he would be blamed for the Potters' death. He had to find Peter and beat him into confessing he had turned on his oldest friends. Sirius clutched his child to his chest. She didn't fuss, she never did. He thought about how happy she had been with Harry and wished he could take her to where they would be closer and could grow up together like they were supposed to have. He took one step closer to the house's porch. A light turned on automatically when he came into sight of the sensor. That caused a light in an upstairs window to turn on. He heard movement and quickly walked up the steps. His daughter started to cry when he went to set her down on the porch. The door opened and the Headmistress was tying her robe. He wiped away his tear and handed his daughter to her. "She will be a handful, if it is ever safe for me to come back and get her, I will. Her name is Renora Lily Black. Tell her I love her." His daughter screamed for him but he backed down the steps and ran off into the darkness. The Headmistress looked at the little girl still crying for her father and tried to calm her. What the woman couldn't see was that just outside the halo of light, a large black dog sat whimpering. When the child would not stop, the headmistress took her inside all the same. The door shut with a quiet click and then the dog padded away down the road.

10 years later.

The day I got my letter, I was sitting in a tree outside the orphanage reading a book about how to fix cars with household items. The grey owl came swooping in almost knocked me off the branch I was perched on. With a screech and flutter of wings, a letter was dropped in my lap. I watched the owl fly away and then opened the thick letter written in bottle green ink.

Miss Renora Lily Black,

It is my distinct honor to inform you that you are, in fact, a witch! Congratulations! You have been accepted into Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The rest of that page was full of school supplies I would need. I didn't know how I would pay for all this, or even if this was a real school. One thing I knew for sure was that I was a witch. It was the only way to explain the things that had been happening lately.

Today was the adoption day this month. Last month the prospective parents had come in and seen my eyes- one violet, the other black-and called them 'absolutely unnerving and unsettling'. I glared at the pompous woman and made her fur coat come alive and attack her husband. The other kids thought it was hilarious. The headmistress of the orphanage had sent me to the basement and kept me away from the other children since that day.

I continued reading the letter, it went on to talk about how my parents had both been incredibly intelligent. I wish it had added their names. It also mentioned a boy that I would be meeting soon, a boy named Harry Potter who I was supposed to look out for. He and I shared a bond that no one knew of: we had both survived death.

I didn't think that I had ever been cursed. I certainly didn't think that I had survived the "killing curse". The letter supported this claim by telling me about the scar I had always wondered about; the crescent moon scar on my left shoulder blade like something had grazed me when I was very young. I reached for it and brushed my fingers against the soft deformation.

The letter was concluded by telling me that someone would be at the orphanage to collect me on August first. I should have been worried about it being a scam. I should have been worried that I was going to be abducted by sex traffickers or sold into slavery. My eleven-year old brain should have been worried and disbelieving about the news I had just received, but I was counting the days.

"Nora!" Nathan yelled. I looked up and dropped out of the tree.

"What?" I tucked the letter in the back pocket of my hand-me-down pants and walked to the porch.

"Headmistress wants to see you."

I climbed up and over the railing. "Office?"

"Office." Nathan gave me a half smiled. "She didn't seem mad? That's good." I shrugged and put my hand on my shoulder.

"That is very good or very bad, start the betting pool for how much longer I'll be here." He smiled.

"I'll start passing out the slips." I ruffled his hair and walked into the office.

I dropped into the heavy wooden chair across the desk from the owner of the orphanage.

"Nora, I have received a letter."

"As have I." I didn't take the letter out of my pocket.

"You have a party interested in adopting you. And to give amble time to make the arrangements, he will not be here until early on August the first." I nodded. "Don't muck it up, Nora." She pinched the bridge of her nose.

"I don't know whatever you mean. I have been good."

"That's what I'm afraid of. Whenever you're on your best behavior it's because you're scheming something big."

"Not always, there was that one time I had the flu." She laughed and shook her head.

"I'll call you back in when I get more details about your new guardian." I stood up and walked out. I got outside and did a victory dance. I turned to see the kids all looking out of the windows. I waved and they all laughed.

At dinner, the little kids kept bugging me to play the piano after we ate and I looked at the headmistress. She nodded and we all ate and cleaned up quickly to go into the front room.

I was pushed to the old upright piano and I sat down, flipping the tail of my jacket out like a suit jacket. "Requests?" A hundred songs where shouted at me. "Alright, we'll work through that set list." I popped my knuckles and started pounding out the music I knew. The kids started dancing around and laughing and I couldn't stop smiling. I would miss this but I knew that someday if I was lucky I'd get adopted.

On the eve of July 31, the headmistress of the orphanage sat me down in her office and looked me straight in the eyes.

"I've made a lot of sacrifices for you, Renora." I wouldn't dare correct her about my name now. "Like the fact that I am letting a man I've never met adopt you. We have corresponded through your new headmaster and he has instructed me that you are to leave with a man named Rubius Hagrid and that he will be your legal guardian from now on." I nodded. Headmaster Dumbledore had sent me a few letters throughout the summer telling me about my new caregiver.

"You are a good girl. I can see how kind you are to everyone, especially the people whom others look over…"

"But?"

"But, you also cause mischief, can be a trouble maker, and do not keep a tight enough hold on your tongue." I nodded. "You have a great chance at this new school, you can change your ways. You will have a real family now, my dear, do not mess that up." I looked over at the severe looking woman with her wiry gray hair pulled back into a tight bun, she had true kindness and sincerity in her eyes as she gave me that advice.

"I won't."

The next morning I was up before dawn, pacing in my little room in the basement. I had packed all my things into a beat up suitcase the headmistress had found for me. I made my bed and watched the sun rise through my window. I was so ready to go that I drug the suitcase up the stairs and sat in the front room and played the piano. It was how I dealt with things; fear, anger, nerves. In the beginning, the children weren't supposed to play, but after I had been rejected for the first time by a set of prospective parents, I sat down and started playing. The headmistress came in to scold me. I glared at her and she sat down in the chair and listened to me play. After about an hour, I stood up, and walked out of the room. She never bothered me when I needed to play. I played a soft lullaby of my own invention. If sheets of music were set in front of me, I wouldn't have the slightest idea how to read it. I never wrote down my compositions, much to the headmistress's dismay.

She walked in, silently, and sat on the edge of the bench and played in harmony with me. When I was done, there was knock at the door.

"That'll be Mr. Hagrid." She walked in, there was a hushed conversation. I stood by my things and waited to meet my new guardian. A hulking man stood before me. His beard and hair were thick and only added to his hugeness.

"Hello, Mr. Hagrid." I said with a smile. He had a kindness in his eyes that let me trust him.

He chortled, "No need to call me 'Mister'. I'm Rubius Hagrid." He was nervous, I held my hand out to shake it but thought better of it. I hugged him, my arms not even going around half of him.

"I'm Nora, Nora Black, it's a pleasure to meet you, Hagrid." He smiled at me, not even shocked when I looked him in the eyes with my mismatched ones. He picked up my case, it looked like a doll's case compared to him. We walked out, he had a motorbike with a side car. As he jostled the case into the sidecar, the headmistress hugged me. I looked up at the place I'd lived for eleven years. In the windows, children peeked out, watching me leave. I had made friends, but after my magic manifested itself, I was alienated, a freak. I waved and got in the side car. Hagrid put on a pair of goggles and handed me a pair. I pulled them on and looked at him.

"Ready to go?" I nodded. We took off with a shudder and jerk, flying down the road. When we were out of sight of the orphanage, Hagrid told me to hold on. He pressed a button and the bike soared up into the sky. I held onto the sidecar and laughed with delight. We sped through the sky, over towns and fields.

"Can't they see us?" I pointed to the little people on the ground.

"Muggles? They don't see anything," he pointed to another button on the bike. "Invisibility charm."

"Cool." I held up my hands and let the wind rush past me.

This was freedom.

We landed on a street in London. Hagrid pulled my case out and carried it for me.

"You're going to meet Harry. He's been here," he pointed at a tavern sign, 'The Leaky Cauldron'. "Since yesterday, bloody horrible family, had to give the son a pig tail." I looked up at him in alarm. "I should not have said that." He opened the door for me.

"Hagrid!" A boy my age stood up from where he was sitting at a table. He had round glasses and a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead that I knew all about. I hugged him, and he was shocked.

"Hello Harry, I'm Nora." He readjusted his glasses.

"Hello, you must be the girl Hagrid was telling me about." I glanced up at the scar on his forehead, it looked like the one on my shoulder.

"Well, glad to see you two have been introduced. Who wants to go shopping?" Hagrid clapped his hands together and rubbed them.

"How am I supposed to pay for them?" Harry and I said together.

"Gringotts bank of course!"

"But Hagrid," I said, "I don't have any money."

"Well, I may not be a rich man, but I think I have enough to get your school things, I am your guardian now." I smiled at him. He seemed to be proud that he now had to look out for me.

We three went into a large, lopsided bank. Where there would normally be tellers, there were dreadful looking creatures with pointed ears and wiry hair. I leaned over to Harry and asked him what they were.

He shrugged, just as surprised as I was. "Hagrid, what are those things?"

"Those are goblins, wicked little devils," Hagrid walked up to one of them and cleared his throat. "Harry Potter needs to make a withdrawal from his vault." The mean looking goblin looked up from his paper.

"Does Mr. Potter have his key?" Hagrid patted around on his coat.

"Here it is, and this is from Dumbledore regarding you-know-what in vault you-know-which." He handed the goblin the letter and we were led to a door that opened into a massive cavern lined with what looked like roller coaster tracks. The goblin made us pile into a cart and we took off through the cave, guided by the light of a single lantern. We were swooping around and turning upside down. I giggled. I felt like it wasn't the proper time to throw my arms up in the air, and it also seemed like a bad idea considering I could have them cut off. We came to a sudden stop. I, out of instinct, put my hand out to stop Harry from flying forward. We all clambered out of the cart and the goblin opened the vault. Inside was more gold coins then I'd ever seen in my life. Harry's mouth was hanging open.

"Didn't think that your parents would leave you with nothing, did you?" Hagrid said, handing Harry a pouch to put some money in. We were all piled into the cart again and the next vault Hagrid told Harry and I to stay seated. He walked in and grabbed a little parcel. He put the paper wrapped object in his breast pocket. "Are you two ready to go shopping?" We both nodded.

As we walked down Diagon Alley, Harry read all the supplies that we would need. Hagrid pointed out the shops were we could get some of the standard staples: quills, parchment, robes. He had to run a few errands. He handed me a bag with coins in it.

"Thanks, Hagrid." Harry and I ran off into the shops.

After we had bought the basics, pewter cauldron, feather quills, and parchment, Hagrid met us outside the wand shop, Olivander's. He snapped his fingers.

"There's one thing I forgot to pick up, you two go on in and get your wands." He hustled away down the street. I grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him into the wand shop. There were shelves upon shelves of boxes filled with what I could only imagine were wands of every size and shape.

"Hello there, you two young people here to get your wands?"

We nodded.

"Ladies first, then,"

"I'm Nora Black," I said, shaking the old man's hand.

"Black? That's impossible." He mumbled, holding my hand longer than was normal and searched my eyes for something. He shook his head and dropped my hand. "I think I have one here that will work very well for you." He shuffled around a few boxes and pulled out a few dusty ones. I plucked a plain black wand out and pointed it at the floor. It shot a series of multi-colored flames and I dropped it. "Not that one." He said softly. I put it back in the box and I got the next one, a pale wand with a spiral handle. That one caused the ladders in the shop to slide wildly along their tracks. I dropped that one back in the box hastily. The last wand was a rich mahogany color with rings of gold down the length. I really liked this one and hoped it worked. I gingerly picked it up, nothing happened. I looked up at the wand maker. "Well, give it a wave." Harry prepared himself for an explosion. I waved and a chorus of soft whispers floated through the air, blowing my hair backwards. "Very interesting." I paid him for my wand. He told me it was made from two types of rare wood with a core of thestral hair. I looked at him. He was reluctant to say more. I sat on the dilapidated couch and watched Harry have the same luck I did. He busted a vase of flowers, and caused the drawers to fly out of a cabinet. Finally, Olivander handed him a wand that illuminated where he was standing and blew his hair around wildly.

"Woah," I smiled at him.

"That wand has only one twin in the entire world, the man who gave you that scar owns the other." I looked at Harry. He was shocked. "You will do great things with that wand, Mr. Potter. As did that owner of the other wand-they were terrible, but great things." Hagrid knocked on the window.

"Harry! Happy Birthday!" He held up a cage with a snowy white owl in it. We both ran out and admired the bird. "Nora, I didn't know if you wanted a pet to take to Hogwarts." I shook my head.

"No thank you, you've already done so much." I wanted to show him my wand, but there was a commotion down the street. We all looked and saw a pair of red headed twins running out of the book store. They were laughing and I knew they had caused the trouble. Purple smoke billowed out of the store, the people running out where all dyed purple. I laughed and the two boys looked at me, stopping in their tracks. I ran up to them.

"How did you do that?" I pointed at the purple people coughing and searching for the boys. They pulled me behind a cart of flowers.

"Why do you want to know?" They said in unison.

"Because it was magnificent." They smiled at each other.

"Are you going to Hogwarts?" I nodded, "We'll tell you when we see you next." They gave each other a wicked smile and continued running down the street. Hagrid called my name and I couldn't help but laugh. I loved pranks. Harry was trying to cover up his laughter. The people looked ridiculous, all powdered with purple. We took our supplies back to The Leaky Cauldron. I kept looking at my wand.

During a lull in the conversation at dinner, I asked Hagrid what he did at Hogwarts.

"Grounds and Game keeper." I nodded. "I also do enjoy raising animals."

"Do you raise thestrals?" Hagrid dropped his spoon and slashed his stew into his beard.

"What do you want to know about those for?" I sat my wand on the table.

"It has thestral hair in it, and the wand maker wouldn't tell me what was special about it."

"It's a kind beast that lives in the dark forest, that's all you need to know." I felt more unsettled the less people would tell me about my wand.

I looked at Harry, "So are you excited about starting at Hogwarts?" He nodded animatedly.

"Oh yeah, I think anywhere is better than back where I lived; my aunt and uncle and cousin are absolutely horrid." I nodded.

"Me too," I saw that there was a piano in the corner. "If you'll excuse me." I looked over at the lonely man sitting at a table in the opposite darkened corner on my way to sit at the instrument. I think Hagrid introduced him as a professor at Hogwarts, Professor Squirrel… no, Quirrell."Sir?" He looked up at me, he'd been talking to himself.

"W-w-what do you n-n-need?" I tilted my head a little, a smile on my face.

"I was just wondering if you were okay, you were sitting over here all alone. I'm sure you're welcome to join Hagrid, Harry, and I." He shook his head.

"N-no need, young l-l-lady, I'm waiting on someone to meet me." He readjusted his turban and turned away.

"Okay, if you say so. Have a good night." I walked over to the piano and sat down. There weren't very many people in the room. I started playing an upbeat tune with a bouncing tempo. I hummed nonsense lyrics to go with it. Harry and Hagrid came closer to watch me. A young man in the pub grabbed a guitar and started playing. Others clapped to continue the beat. I laughed and picked up the speed. The people sitting at the bar tapped their tankards to add to the music. Professor Quirrell stood and left. I ended the song with a drawn out chord and the young man playing the guitar smiled.

"You're bloody brilliant, want to play another song?" I looked around, everyone was watching me, my heart thudded in my chest, but it was a good feeling. Harry nodded at me with a smile. Hagrid did the same.

"Thanks, but maybe you should take the lead this time?" The boy smiled, he had slightly crooked teeth and sandy hair.

He started with a mellow speed, he started singing a song about his childhood follies even though he was a child himself. I interjected with simple chords as to not over power his nice voice. He played quietly while he let me solo, I sang the chorus to myself.

The boy and I kept playing for most of the night, somewhere along the way we gained a girl singer and a boy playing the clarinet. We had people dancing and laughing. I felt good about making people that happy. Hagrid finally told me that Harry and I needed to be getting to bed. I waved at the people who had joined in our music making. The boy smiled at me and bowed, never taking his eyes off mine. It made my heart flutter.

"Let me take you two out on the town," Sawyer, the sandy haired boy with the guitar, said. We had become friends over the last few weeks. Harry looked over at me, my mouth was full of oatmeal. I blushed and swallowed before I spoke.

"I don't know, we're leaving for school tomorrow." Sawyer was a young wizard who wasn't going to Hogwarts. He went to Muggle School and hung out at Diagon Alley because his parents owned a magical antique store.

"Come on, you'll love it. How many times does someone get to hang out with the Harry Potter." I rolled my eyes, even though I now knew my friend was a huge deal in the magical world.

"Fine, but just for a little bit." There was a ruckus in the upstairs part of the tavern. The two red headed boys from a few weeks ago came running out. One had an apple and the other was holding a scrawny rat. A younger boy ran after them, yelling for them to give him back his rat.

"Great, hurry up and eat," the twins jumped over a table and laughed. I smirked at them when they looked my way.

Harry, Hagrid, and I were all making our way through King's Cross Station. Hedwig cooed softly as I helped Harry get his trolley down the steps. Hagrid just heaved mine up and carried it down to the platform. He handed us our tickets, and said something about getting the special package he'd gotten at Gringotts to Dumbledore. Harry and I read the tickets and when we looked up, the immense man was gone.

"Platform nine and three quarters?" Harry asked me.

"Maybe we should try nine and ten? Or ask a conductor." We pushed our luggage up to the man in a conductor's uniform.

"Hello, sir, can you help me find platform nine and three quarters?" The man looked funnily at me.

"Think you're being witty, girl?" I shook my head, "Get lost." I turned and saw a flash of bright red heads rush past.

"Packed with Muggles like always." I pulled Harry after the woman who said this, she must be a witch. She had her first son run at the brick pillar between platforms nine and ten. He disappeared when he should have slammed into the wall.

"Excuse me, ma'am, how do I get to platform nine and three-quarters?" Harry asked the kind woman, and she smiled.

"First time, dearies?" She looked at both of us, and she wasn't fazed by my eyes. "Don't worry, its Ron's first time, too." I looked at the young boy with the rat from the tavern. The two red headed twins were there. They grinned at me.
"Go along Fred," one of the twins queued up to run.

"I'm not Fred, he is! Really woman and you call yourself our mother." He scolded her light heartedly.

"Oh, sorry George, hurry along."

"I'm only kidding; I am Fred." He ran onto the platform. George nudged me and I shook my head, smiling. George ran after his brother. I made sure Harry got through and had time to move out of the way before I went.

We put our luggage with the other students' making sure we had our robes in our bags to change into on the train.

I smiled at everyone I passed. I would be spending the next seven years with them, might as well make a good impression. Harry and I found an empty place to sit. The train chugged along for a little while, I watched London slip past us. Harry was telling me about his summer, he'd released a python at the zoo. I laughed.

"That's awesome, how'd you do it?"

"I just talked to the snake. It understood what I was saying. My cousin Dudley ran over and started hitting the glass and pressed up against it after he pushed me out of the way. Then poof, the glass was gone, Dudley fell in, the snake came out and the glass was back in place."

"Wow, you're weird." I said jokingly.

"Where'd you learn to play the piano?"

"Where'd you learn to talk to snakes?"

"You first."

"I can just do it, some things just comes naturally to me. I taught myself to read, write, stuff like that. I'm pretty handy to have around actually. But you, snake boy, I think that it's not common for people to be holding conversations with reptiles."

"I just talked to it, normally."

"That's cool." Ron Weasley, the boy with the rat, knocked on the door.

"May I?" He gestured to the empty seat with his rat's cage. "Everywhere else is full."

"Sure!" I grabbed my bag and put it above my seat.

"I don't believe we've been formally introduced, I'm Nora Black, and this is Harry Potter." Ron's eyes grew wide.

"The Harry Potter?"

"Yeah," Harry said self-consciously.

"Do you have the… the…" he drew a lightning bolt on his forehead.

"The scar? Yeah." He pushed up his hair with a smile.

"Cool." Ron glanced over at me and then quickly away.

"What?" I asked him.

"Your eyes."

"Oh, yeah, it's called heterochromia, if you're interested. A lot of people think it's freaky."

"It's cool, but weird." I pulled one of my legs up to rest my chin on my knee.

"Are your brothers always troublemakers?"

"Fred and George? Yeah, they are bloody menaces. Smart, but neither of them made top boy on account of their discipline record." The sweets trolley rang up outside our door.

"Anything sweet for you three?" Ron held up a mangled ball of sandwich.

"No, I'm good." I gave Harry a very pointed look.

He looked over at the sad red head. I could tell he wasn't from a wealthy family.

"We'll take the lot of it." Ron's head snapped up in disbelief at the handful of gold galleons Harry pulled out of his pocket.

The sweet trolley lady piled candy all around us. I opened a box of jelly beans.

"Better be careful which one's you pick of those." Ron said through a mouth full of licorice.

"Bertie Botts Every-Flavor Beans?"

"There's mint and chocolate, but also ear wax and cod." I picked one out and tried it and gagged. I opened the window and tossed the offensive sweet out.

"Liver." I put the rest of the box of beans into my bag for later. I dug through the mounds of candy. "What are these?" I held up a packet that had chocolate flies in it.

"Just what they say, hexed chocolate flies with different fillings." I opened the bag and quickly grabbed one, closing the bag as to not let any more escape. I popped it in my mouth. It had a nougat center.

"Chocolate frogs?" Harry looked up from the pretty purple box. "It's not a… real frog, is it?"

"Nah, it's just a charm." I watched Harry pull the wire to open the box, inside was a beautiful frog shaped chocolate. It ribbited and jumped out of the box and then jumped once more out the window.

"Sorry Harry, I'll get you another one."

"What a waste, they only have one good hop in them to begin with, but it's the card you want." Harry pulled the card out of the bottom.

"Albus Dumbledore," Harry moved the card, I looked over. It was a really cool 3-D card of a white bearded man. I finally got to put a face with the letters I'd received.

"That's cool," I touched the picture, it was flat. I looked at Ron.

"I have about six of him." I grabbed a chocolate frog and opened it carefully. I caught the frog mid-leap and handed it to Harry.

"Thanks." He bit the frog after it stopped moving. I looked at my card.

"Who's this?" I handed the card with the wild looking man on the front.

"Bloody hell, that's 'Mad-Eye' Moody!"

"If it's that exciting, you can have it. I don't collect cards." The ginger haired boy's eyes grew wide.

"Really?" I nodded.

"Yeah, of course, I don't want it, keep it."

"Thanks, Nora." I smiled.

"I think I need to go change into my robes." I grabbed my bag and went to the loo.

When I came back, Harry and Ron were changed too.

"Harry! Your glasses are fixed!" He smiled.

"Yeah, some girl came round asking if we'd seen a toad, fixed my glasses, and told Ron he had dirt on his nose."

"I always miss the good stuff, dangit." Ron was trying to rub the smudge of black off. I licked my thumb and cleaned it.

"That's gross."

"But now you're clean." He grimaced and I sat down next to Harry.

We unloaded from the train and Hagrid was there to greet us. I introduced Ron. A bushy brown haired girl ran up to us,

"I see you took care of the dirt." I raised an eyebrow at her tone. "I'm Hermione Granger." I smiled at her.

"I'm Nora." We were herded to a series of enchanted boats that took off across the water when we sat down. Everything was happening so quickly, it made my head spin.

Harry and I just smiled at each other when we first laid eyes on the place we would both call home. The pack of first years all ran excitedly into the school. A woman in green robes and hat stepped up.

"I am Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor House. In just a moment I will lead you through these doors and you will be sorted into your houses." She nodded to us and left us to chatter excitedly. A round faced boy bumped into me.

"Sorry," he said, searching the ground.

"What are you looking for?" I asked, looking around. Harry and Ron were talking to each other.

"My toad, Trevor, he's about ye big, red-ish brown." He gestured with his hands.

"I'll help you look," he looked at me and I smiled big, like I always do.

We searched around the steps. Professor McGonagall came back and I saw the toad by her feet. I bumped the boy and pointed. He ran up saying, "Trevor!" The professor stopped what she was saying and gave him a withering look as he slunk back to stand with me.

"I'm Nora, by the way," I ran my finger down Trevor's back.

"Neville," he gave me a crooked toothed smile.

I'll always remember that first time I walked into the Great Hall. The candles levitating, the charmed ceiling that looked like the night sky. Too soon I was stopped and told to wait to be sorted by a manky old hat. I had stopped near the end of the table. Someone pulled my robe and I looked at them. The two lanky Weasley twins were grinning at me, both wearing their pointed black hats. I smiled at them.

"… And Mr. Flich has asked me to remind you to stay away from the third floor corridor on the left side unless you wish to die a long and agonizing death. I believe it is time for the sorting to commence." The woman from before held up the hat and unrolled a piece of parchment.

Reading the first name on the list she said, "Renora Black." I felt the twins push me from their seats and I made my way through the crowd. Without hesitation I stepped up to the stool and sat, looking out over the people whose eyes were locked on me. The hat came to life, murmuring in my ear.

"Black… it has been quite a while since I had one of you." I squared my shoulders. "I could put you in Slytherin, you could find out about you family tree…" I shook my head. Hagrid had told me about the four houses at Hogwarts. I wanted to be put into Gryffindor. "Or you could learn about your parents, oh yes, you want that. Decisions, decisions." The hat hmmed and haaaaed.

"Please." I said quietly.

"That's it. GRYFFINDOR!" I looked back at Hagrid, he was grinning like mad. I hopped off the stool and sat next to the twins.

"Welcome to the club, Nora Black." George said with a wink. I was introduced to Percy, Ron and the twins' older brother, a prefect.

"Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you." I smiled as I said it.

"Hello," the older boy smiled in spite of himself. I'd been told my smiles were infectious; that's why I smile all the time. I like seeing other people smile. I clapped for everyone who got sorted, but it was a bit quieter when the person was sorted into Slytherin. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville all got sorted into Gryffindor. Dumbledore congratulated us and told us to enjoy ourselves. Before my eyes the table filled with every type of food imaginable. I filled my plate with treats I never could have dreamed of and scarfed it down just as fast.

We were dismissed to go to our dormitories after we had finished eating. I stayed close to Harry, but talked to Neville about his toad. We stopped on the steps. The Weasley twins swooped in and laced their arms through mine, escorting me into the common room of the Gryffindor house.

They spoke together, "You're gonna love it here, Nora Black, we'll make sure of that." With a wicked grin, the two boys released me and went to talk to their friends. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I looked around at all the pictures and relics lining the walls.

I bumped into a boy who was a few years older than me, "Oh, sorry I hit you." He grinned at me.

"Oh, it's fine," the friend he was talking to was called to someone else. "I'm Oliver Wood, most people just call me Wood." I smiled and shook his hand.

"I'm Nora Black, but everyone calls me Nora." I said with a sassy smirk. He laughed.

"Aren't you a little spit fire?" I nodded.

"Sure to raise some hell with us two as friends." The twins were back, leaning on my shoulders.

"Oh boy, Nora, you've fallen in with this lot, whatever will we do with you?" Wood grinned and shook his head.

"Old Wood here is a fifth-year captain of the Quidditch team."

"And these two are the finest beaters this school has seen in years. They're practically human bludgers." I shrugged off the arms of the older boys.

"I really should be unpacking, big day tomorrow." They all wished me a good night.

I loved this school already.

The next day, I started classes. Harry, Ron, and I ran in to Professor McGonagall's transfiguration class late.

I sat down in the back next to Neville and sighed because the severe looking woman was nowhere to be seen.

Everyone was already writing down something on their parchment. I groaned, the teacher was in her cat form on her desk. She leapt off and transformed into a human.

"I'm glad to see that you three could join us." She looked at the two boys and then over at me. I shrugged. We had gotten lost on the way to class because the stairs changed when we were halfway down them. I asked Neville what the assignment was and started scratching it out on the paper.

Later that day, I ran to potions. When I slid into my seat, I was next to a brown haired boy. I smiled, "Hi, I'm Nora." His accent was thick when he spoke,

"Hello, the name's Seamus." The professor walked in, slamming the door. He had long black hair to match with his black robes.

"Quiet, students." He went on a long spiel about what we would learn from this class and how it would benefit our lives, I was only half listening. I noticed Professor Snape glare at Harry as he took down some notes.

I don't normally notice people or see what they're trying to hide. Since I got to school I'd been looking for things to notice about people. I noticed the glint of remorse in Snape's eyes when Harry looked up. The more I watched him, the more I saw the deep pain that was inside him. He'd obviously lost someone close to him. It was either that or he was honestly a really foul git. I'd tuned out what was going on around me until Seamus jabbed me in the ribs to bring me back.

"Do you know how to make the potion?" He whispered, putting his cauldron in front of him. I did the same. I opened my potions book and sighed. I didn't know how to do this. We were making a potion to heal mild burns. I skimmed over the directions and went about throwing stuff in the caldron. I was not particularly following the directions. I just knew what to do. It is how I've always been, everything came easy to me. Snape came over to scold me when I told him I was done before anyone else was even done gathering supplies. Seamus looked over in shock at me.

"Professor, I think I'm done." Snape looked over at my cauldron, the softly bubbling liquid was the correct shade of sea foam with pieces of the herb suspended throughout.

"Miss Black," he said my name with a hint of distaste. "I-" he looked at Seamus, reaching to keep him from adding too much fire-eater powder to his cauldron.

Neither of us were able to stop him, his potion blew up and splattered all over us two first years. I looked over at Seamus, his hair was plastered straight up and his face was covered in green goo. I failed in trying to hold in my laughter, it just came bubbling out. Seamus looked at me and started laughing, too.

"Clean this up, now." Snape ordered, shaking off some of the goop from his sleeve. I waited until Snape had his back turned and pulled out my wand, winking at my partner. I closed my eyes and waved my wand in small circles. The goo floated up and started spinning in a mini tornado. I guided it back into Seamus's cauldron. His eyes were wide. I pressed a finger against my lips and shook my head.

"Our secret," I smiled at him. He nodded.

"Black, stay after class, I need to have a word with you," Snape said without looking at me.

After class, I waved Harry, Ron, and Seamus goodbye and walked up to where the professor was sitting. "Yes, sir?" I had my bag slung over one arm and messed with a loose thread on my robe sleeve.

"You were raised in a non-magical house, were you not?"

I nodded, "An orphanage, yeah."

"Where did you learn to make potions then?"

"I don't know." I answered truthfully.

"Don't lie to me."

"It just comes naturally to me, everything does."

"Really…" he drifted off as he finished the sentence he was writing. "Like thinking you can use magic in my classroom without my knowledge?" I frowned.

"It was quicker than trying to use a rag."

"How did you learn that spell?"

"I didn't learn any spells, professor."

"Stop lying." He said with anger edging into his voice.

"I'm not lying to you!" I dropped my bag with a thud. "I really do just know what to do, is that so hard to believe?"

"Yes." His gaze pierced mine.

"You were in love with Harry's mother." I said, shocked at the revelation and the fact I had said it out loud.

"What?!" He slammed his hands down on his table and stood up.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that." I backed away from him.

He looked like he was about to kill me, "Get out." I grabbed my bag and ran out of the classroom. I ran into Professor Dumbledore in my haste.

"Sorry!" I tried to get around him before he could see the tears welling up in my eyes. I hadn't ever been able to read people like that before I came here. I don't know what was going on. The weird part was that I didn't think it was bizarre, and it had happened as easily as breathing.

He grasped my shoulder and I looked up at him, using the sleeve of my robes to dab my eyes. "Walk with me, my dear, I think we need to talk." He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to me. I wiped my nose once more. We walked up to a statue in an alcove. "Sherbet Lemon." The Griffon spun around and a stair case started to spin upwards. I stepped up and rode the steps to Dumbledore's office. "Why were you crying, Miss Black?" I looked around his amazing office filled with various knick-knacks and artifacts.

"I was sad, when people are sad, they cry." I didn't want to tell him, it was Snape's secret, not mine to tell.

"You saw into his heart, didn't you?" I sat down in a chair. I saw a beautiful red bird ruffle its feathers. I watched it watch me.

"Maybe," I didn't meet his eyes.

"Why are you protecting a man who just yelled at you?"

"Because his heart is broken."

"Is? Present tense?" Dumbledore sounded surprised. I stood up and reached to stroke the bird, I made sure that it had given me permission before touching its scarlet feathers.

"Yes." I didn't need to explain my answer to him.

"Why do you think that?"

"Harry has his mother's eyes."

"And?"

"And it reminds Snape every time that he sees Harry that he lost the girl he loved more than anything twice." I smiled as the bird brushed against my face.

"Twice?" I looked over at the elderly headmaster.

"Yeah, once when she married Harry's father, and then again when she was killed by Voldemort."

"You are certainly much more gifted than I had thought."

"Good." I ran my hand over a framed picture, a man with unruly black hair stood with another boy, both wearing Gryffindor uniforms and bright, mischievous smiles. Something in the first boy reminded me of Harry. "Can you tell me about my father?" I knew if I looked at him, my eyes would give away the hope in my heart that I'd be able to learn about my past.

"I will tell you when the time is right. I knew your father, he was a trouble-maker, but a great man. I also know that for a fact he would not want me to tell you about him at this moment." I snapped around.

"Why not?"

"Because his name has become synonymous with 'bad' and 'evil' and 'repugnant', all of these things are not true." I turned back to look at the picture, it was moving like the others in the castle. The two boys were playfully shoving each other and holding a trophy between them.

"Why should I trust you?" I watched his reaction.

"You have no real reason to trust a mad old man like me, but I think you will." His bird soared over to perch on my shoulder.

"So you promise that you will tell me about my father when the time is right?" He solemnly nodded.

"I swear." Dumbledore looked from my face to the large red bird. "His name is Fawkes, by the way, he is a phoenix." The bird jumped off my shoulder and went back to his perch.

"He's beautiful."

"I agree." Dumbledore tapped his fingers on his desk. "I need you to watch out for Harry, there are some who do not rejoice in the fact that he destroyed the Dark Lord eleven years ago."

"I already do that, professor." I made my way along the lines of photographs and portraits.

"I hear you are a proficient pianist."

"I'm okay," I said with a smirk.

"Modesty doesn't become you, Miss Black. Never try to be anything you're not, it takes too much effort." I looked at the sorting hat, limp on the shelf.

"What makes you think that I won't just go and look up my family in a book in the library?"

"Because you will find no record of yourself in any book." I walked out of the office and down the stairs in a fog.

My mind was preoccupied as I walked to my next class, Introduction to Flying, from Dumbledore's office. The things he had said weighed heavily on my mind. I wasn't paying much attention as I walked into the Quad to tell the professor where I had been. I saw a set of robes hanging from a wall sconce and the kids were all looking to the sky. Harry came soaring down and held up the Rememberbrall. I ran over with the rest of the students. He held it up in victory. I looked over at Seamus and asked, "What happened?"

"Well Neville's broom went wonky and he dropped the Rememberall. Malfoy over there tossed it and Harry caught it. It was really brilliant." Professor McGonagall came trotting out.

"Potter, come here please." I grabbed the glass orb from him, telling him I was going to give it to Neville. He nodded.

"Thanks." He looked a little scared about going with the Gryffindor House Head. I ran off to the medical wing to see how Neville was doing, he must have been so scared! I heaved open the door and saw the spiky haired professor holding Neville's wrist. The nurse bustled over and waved her wand. I heard a loud crack and Neville whimpered. I hurried over to him.

"Neville! Are you okay?" He looked up at me and nodded quickly.

"Yeah," he blushed. The nurse gave him some potion to drink. The professor looked at me and then her watch.

"Miss Black, I trust you can see that Mr. Longbottom gets where he needs to go safely?" I nodded.

"Yes ma'am." I handed Neville his Rememberall.

"Thanks." I smiled at him.

"It's Harry you ought to thank, he got it from that dreadful Malfoy boy." I stuck my tongue out upon saying his name. "You better drink that," I pointed at the cup of grey liquid. I sniffed it. "It'll make sure the bone heals lickity split." He sipped it and gagged.

"That's disgusting," I took the cup from him and looked around to make sure the nurse was preoccupied. I pulled out my wand and touched it to the rim.

I handed it back to him. He tried a little of it again. "How does it taste now?"

"Like chocolate pudding," he drank a little more, "and bacon." He drained the cup. "How'd you do that?"

"Magic." We both chuckled.

"So you're going to learn how to play Quidditch?" I asked Harry as we walked from the dormitories to breakfast.

"I guess. I'm supposed to meet Wood later to go over the basics."

"May I join you?" I smiled at him.

"I guess, I don't have a problem with it." We were walking to the Great Hall for a late breakfast. It was Saturday. Hagrid wanted me to come down and help him hatch some flobberworms, but I wasn't too keen to do so. I also had a potions lesson with Professor Snape this morning.

"Good morning," the Weasley twins swooped in and wrapped their arms around my shoulders, escorting me to the table.

"Good morning." I sat down next to Seamus, who was trying to turn his water into rum. I munched on some toast and watched as he cast his spell.

"Seamus I think that—" but it was too late for me to finish the thought. We were both covered in soot from his combusted glass of water. I snorted and everyone burst out laughing.

"Sorry," the boy said. I shook my head.

"It's fine." I grabbed a napkin and dunked it in my glass. I washed off the black from his face out of habit. At the orphanage, we all took care of each other. I noticed that everyone had stopped talking and was looking at me. "What?" I said, letting my hand drop from Seamus's face.

"You're cleaning my face for me." He said, eyes wide.

"Ooooh, does that have some weird wizarding significance?" I rolled my eyes. "Do we have to get married now?" I widened my eyes in mock horror.

"No, just peculiar is all." Ron said. I saw Professor Snape walk in and gesture for me to go with him.

"I have to go, see you later." I grabbed my bag and quickly squashed a fried egg between two pieces of toast and ran to talk to the potions master.

Snape and I had made an arrangement. I was a natural at potions so he would have me help him make all the potions for around the school in exchange for advanced potion lessons every morning that my schedule permitted.

"Good morning, Professor." I said with a smile before I took a big bite of my sandwich.

He grunted in response. We always had a brisk pace as we walked to his class room in the mornings.

"It's a nice day out, isn't it? The weather is still very nice, don't you think?" He was unlocking his door.

"How many times do I have to remind you that I don't engage in mindless chatter?"

"As many times as I try to get you to hold a conversation with me." I said with a smug smirk.

I walked inside and set up my station. I heaved one of the larger cauldrons onto the table. I had to stand on a chair to get it up onto the stand over the flame. I looked over at the teacher.

"What are we going to make today?"

"We are brewing a simple flu remedy for the nurse before it sets in this winter." He handed me the instructions. I skimmed over the steps as I collected the ingredients. I turned up my fire, tossing the herbs and bits and pieces in. I looked over at Snape. He was brewing another potion.

"I wanted to tell you that I'll keep your secret about Lily."

"I expect nothing less." I frowned and stirred my potion.

I was walking with Harry and Wood out to the grassy Quad as they carried the heavy trunk full of Quidditch equipment between them. I sat down and Wood winked at me as he opened the trunk.

"This," Wood picked of a large ball that had divots in it, "is a quaffle, the chasers try to get this past the keeper, me." He put that ball back. Two of the balls were chained down and shaking against the bindings.

"What are those?" Harry asked.

"These nasty things are bludgers." He pressed a button and one of them was released. It flew up into the air. "You'll need this." He handed Harry a stout bat with tape wrapped around the middle. The ball came whizzing back. Harry hit it up through the crossed swords of a stone guard.

"Those look dangerous," I pointed out as Wood got the air knocked out of him when he caught the nasty ball.

"But Harry doesn't need to worry about those. This is the one you, the seeker, needs to worry about." He held up a gold sphere the size of a golf ball. Harry took it and the Snitch sprouted delicate wings. It zipped around, faster than I could have seen.

"I like that ball." Harry said, looking over at me.

"You like it now, but it'll be a lot harder to see during the match."

"Wood, what was your first match like?" I said, dusting of my skirt as I stood up.

"Don't honestly remember, Nora," he shrugged. "Five minutes in I got hit by a bludger, woke up a week later in the hospital wing." He plucked the golden snitch out of the air and put it away.

"Ready to practice, Harry?" The young wizard nodded excitedly.

"I just remembered that I need to go talk to Hagrid. Stay safe Harry! Bye Oliver." I smiled and waved at both of them, running down the hill to Hagrid's hut. Maybe hatching flobberworms wouldn't be that bad…

"You know, I've always enjoyed Halloween." I said to Snape as I helped carve the enchanted pumpkins for the great hall.

"And why is that," the professor said in his nasally voice.

"Because it always feels like people are celebrating my birthday by having a masquerade ball." I mumbled the extended levitation spell over the pumpkin and let it float up to the ceiling.

"Your birthday is today?" I nodded.

"Yeah, or at least it was the day I was dropped off at the orphanage." I said.

"I see." I pulled another pumpkin towards me and started on carving it. I spent the afternoon up to my elbows in gourds.

After I had washed the pumpkin guts off, I sat down between the twins at the Halloween feast. Harry and I smiled at each other and I ate a crème filled pumpkin cake. The twins kept bumping into me. At first, I thought it was on accident, but then I watched them and I knew it was on purpose.

"Stop bumping into me." I told them sternly after they knocked my elbow and made the carrot on my fork fall off and splash gravy on me.

"Maybe you should move over by Harry, he seems lonely." I huffed and crawled under the table to the other side.

"They grow up so fast." Fred and George said in a mock sadness as Harry helped me up onto the bench.

I stuck my tongue out at them and resumed eating. "Have you seen Hermione?" I asked Ron and Harry.

They shook their head. "Pavarti Patel said she's in the girls' lavatory, crying. Been there all afternoon.

"Why didn't anyone tell me!?" I stood up to run and get her. "What did you two say to her?" I scolded them. Harry looked away and Ron's mouth was full. I glared at both of them and stormed off to the doors which were thrown open wide by professor Quirrell. He ran past me, screaming.

"TROOOOOOOOOLLLL IN THE DUNGEON! Thought you outta know." He collapsed in front of the teacher's table. Everyone stood up and screamed. I ran out. I needed to tell Hermione. She needed a friend.

I ran in and heard her crying. "Hermione!"

"Go away," her voice was coarse from her tears.

"There's a troll in the school, we need to go to the dormitory."

"No," she said stubbornly. I moved over and said softly.

"They're stupid boys." I waited for a response. "They're intimidated by your intellect." I heard a faint scrape. "Maybe you should try to help them instead of chastise them, which might make them like you more." I heard heavy breathing behind me. I turned and gasped.

"What is it?" Hermione went to open the door.

"Get down," the huge troll heaved its club and took out the first few cubicles, turning them to splinters. I hit the ground. Harry and Ron ran in.

"Nora!" Harry yelled. I scampered over to grab Hermione's hand and pulled her out from under the wood on top of her. The troll took a few lumbering steps closer to us. I had a firm hold on Hermione and yanked her over to attempt to hide under the sinks.

The troll raised its club and crushed the sink just as soon as the two of us had scrambled out of the way. I stood up and jumped on the troll's arm, Harry grabbed the other and he was raised up and grabbed onto the head.

"Ron! Help us!" I yelled, he pulled out his wand and shook as he pointed at the club.

"Wengardium Leveosa," and the club was floating above us.

"Good job, Ron!" I cheered as I climbed up the troll's arm. The Weasley boy smiled and then the big stick conked the ugly troll on the head. I grabbed Harry by the robe and pulled him so he wouldn't get crushed by the falling behemoth.

"Thanks," Harry said as I pulled his wand out of the troll's nose with a grimace. I handed it to him and he wiped it off on his robes.

"Any time," I looked over at the doors and saw the professors ran in. I waited for them to scold us.

"What are you four doing?!" I pointed at the troll.

"Why, we're serving the school by defeating this manky old beast." I tapped the brute's arm with the toe of my sneaker to make sure it was out cold. McGonagall glared at me. "I suspect that should win us a few house points."

"They came to get me," Hermione stepped forward, "I'd read about trolls and thought I could take care of it." Harry, Ron, and I all looked over at her in shock. "Without them, I'd be dead."

"I expected more from you, Miss Granger." The house mistress shook her head. "Five points will be taken from Gryffindor." We all sighed. "As for you three," she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Five points will awarded to Gryffindor for sheer dumb luck." I noticed that professor Snape's leg was bleeding. I met his eyes and he shook his head slightly, as if to tell me not to say anything. I nodded. We all ran up to the common room to share our adventure.

We were sitting at breakfast the next morning, it was the day of Harry's first Quidditch match.

"Harry, eat something or else you'll be sick." I pushed the bowl of oatmeal closer to him. He was pushing his eggs and bacon around his plate.

"I'm not hungry." I glared at him and he picked up a piece of toast and nibbled at it.

"Good luck today, Potter." Snape said.

As he limped away, Harry said something about how Snape was the one trying to steal the Sorcerer's Stone.

"No he isn't," I said, crossing my arms.

"How do you know? He got attacked by Fluffy!" I shook my head.

"He's protecting it, not trying to steal it." He shook his head.

"Potter!" Wood called, hurrying in and carrying a long package. It was a broomstick wrapped in paper. We tore it open and Ron gasped.

"That's the Nimbus 2000! The fastest broom on the market." Harry and I looked up at Professor McGonagall and she nodded at us.

I rushed with Harry to get ready for his Quidditch match.

I walked with Harry to the pre-match meeting and waited for them to line up. I hugged Harry, and wished him luck. I looked over at Wood and he smile at me. I kissed him on the cheek quickly. The twins frowned.

"Why are you giving him a kiss?" They barred my way so I couldn't leave the tent.

"For luck… why, you two jealous?"

"No, we just thought that Harry wouldn't appreciate you kissing other blokes." I shook my head.

"Whatever, good luck Harry," I ducked under the twin's arms and went to stand with the others to cheer on Harry.

The match was going really well until the bloody seeker of the Slytherin team hit Wood with the bludger.

"Oi!" I yelled, "He can't just do that!" Ron pulled me back from the railing.

"He kind of can, there aren't a lot of rules against it." Slytherin tied the score. I watched Harry as he zipped after the Snitch. His broom went wonky and tried to toss him off a hundred feet above the ground.

"Harry!" I tried to find some way to help him.

Hermione pushed her way past me and went to do something. I followed her. We climbed up to the teachers' box and she went up to where Snape was sitting. I tried to get her to stop before she did something to him, but she had already set his robes on fire. I pulled her back and glared at her.

"He was hexing Harry's broom!"

"No he wasn't!"

We both ran out to see how Harry was doing. He pulled himself back up onto his broom and chased after the snitch once again. He was racing along close to the ground and he couldn't reach the flying prize.

"Go Harry! Get it!" I yelled.

He stood up on his broom and kept flying, he jumped off and rolled. It was quiet and then Harry stood up, I realized that I hadn't been breathing. He held his stomach and looked like he was going to be sick. He spit out the snitch and held it up.

I cheered louder than all the rest for him.

I was lying in bed, watching the hands on the clock tick closer to Christmas. The Weasleys, Harry, and I were the only Gryffindors left in the dormitory. I had gotten them all gifts; I hoped they liked them. I waited anxiously for the morning to arrive.

My first semester here had been magnificent. I made lots of friends. Not all of them were Gryffindor either. I had a few in the other houses, even two or three in Slytherin that weren't all that bad. Snape was still teaching me potions, not really teaching, I just picked up a potion to make and made it with his supervision and the occasional snarky comment. We even had conversations now. We talked about books, and herbs, and plants. He never told me about my father, or his past.

One time, a few days ago, after I had brewed up a particularly complicated batch of long term Polyjuice Potion for the Ministry of Magic, Snape let it slip that I reminded him so much of Lily. I smiled and he told me to not let it go to my head. I kept on smirking as I ladled the foul smelling liquid into a jar for transport.

I had fallen back asleep when there was a thunderous knock at my door. I bolted up and threw it open. The twins were standing there with their arms full of presents. I looked at the foot of my bed. I had some too! We collapsed onto the floor with our spoils. They had used their brooms to fly up to the door and bypass the hexed steps that would turn into a slide if a boy tried to get to the girl's dormitory.

I tore open a tissue covered package; it was a violet colored sweater from Mrs. Weasley.

"Mum made it for you, least you don't have your initial on it." George said as he tore open the box I had given him and he pulled out a package of colored dye pellets. I'd enchanted them to be indelible for a day.

"Honestly, it's like she thinks we forget our names. They're obviously Gred and Feorge." I smiled and pulled it on.

"I love it." I picked up a funny shaped box from Hagrid. It came with a note.

Keep it warm.

Merry Christmas.

Rubeus Hagrid

I opened it carefully, inside was a maroon egg with gold flecks. I picked it up and the boys crawled over to admire it.

"Bloody Hell, do you know what that is?" They said in unison.

"No," I looked at the eager glean in their eyes.

"It's a phoenix egg, really rare. Most of them are just caught in the wild and tamed." I watched as the egg shook and then caught fire, burning away the exterior to reveal a tiny chick. Its feathers already drying to show that it was covered in gleaming red down. I stroked its head and it made a happy sound. It nuzzled it against my cheek and I smiled. I sat it back down in its box that had a nest all ready for it. I opened a box of fudge from Hermione. Neville had sent me a moon plant-he was quite the budding herbologist. The twins made me open their present next. I was wary.

"Is it booby trapped?" They shook their heads.

"Just open it!" I tore off the paper and pulled out a box full of little magical tricks and pranks. They'd been getting me into trouble with their antics, but I enjoyed it too much to stop.

"Thanks," I threw my arms around them and hugged them, "This is the best Christmas I've ever had." I looked at my baby bird and looked up. The boys were just looking at me with this funny expression on their faces. It was like they were happy I was happy, but sad that this was the best Christmas I had ever had. I picked up my phoenix chick and announced that we were going to Harry and Ron's room to wish them a Happy Christmas. We burst in and I hugged Harry.

"Happy Christmas!" He smiled. He looked in my box and then furrowed his brow.

"Hagrid give you that?" I smiled and nodded.

"Who else?" We laughed. He showed me the emerald sweater Molly had sent him. I pulled it over his head. "It goes with your eyes. I like it." Percy came in, sweater in his arms, scowl on his face.

"Nora, you should not be in the boys' dormitory." I stood up and smiled.

"It's Christmas, Percy. Did you really think I was going to stay in my room by myself?" I tilted my head to the side a little, still grinning. He rolled his eyes and scoffed. I was adorable.

The twins pulled the sweater out of Percy's arms and forced it over his head. We all ran after them to go feast in the great hall.

There was so much food!

I spun around happily. My phoenix squawked and I gave it little bits of turkey that it gobbled up greedily. The teachers were all enjoying themselves. There were wizard crackers placed every few plates and we all went around pulling them open with a bang. In every one of them two or three live white mice popped out along with a confetti of jokes but there were also real things; I got a rainbow ink set, scarlet top hat, emerald colored pocket watch, and Harry gave me a little satchel that he'd gotten. It was purple with little blue sequins.

"Not my style," he said with a grin. I moved my phoenix chick into that so I could free up my hands to carry my new things back to my room.

I went out wandering while the others slept off their food hangovers. Hagrid had given me a cage to keep my bird in and it was sleeping soundly. The blasted thing ate more than I did at the feast! It particularly enjoyed the sweets. I hope her sweet tooth wouldn't be a habit.

I twirled through the castle, too happy to care that it was a bit colder in the halls than the common room.

"There you are, Miss Black. I was just on my way to see you." The headmaster walked towards me.

"Merry Christmas, professor." He smiled kindly at me.

"I have a present for you and Mr. Potter." He held out two hand mirrors.

"Mirrors? Whatever for, sir?" I asked as I took them.

"Let me show you." He took one from the top and looked in it. "Renora Black." The man's face appeared on my mirror's surface. "See? It's a way to communicate with Harry that isn't through owls."

"Wow, this is amazing, thanks!" I took the mirrors and ran back to the common room. "Harry!" I yelled. Andromeda, the phoenix chick, squawked for me.

"What?" He said, rolling off the couch that he'd been comatose on.

"Here, this is for you." I handed him the plainer looking mirror.

"…thanks?" He said, looking at the mirror.

"Watch this." I ran up to my dormitory. "Harry Potter." The mirror's surface rippled and showed me Harry. "Look at the mirror!"

"Woah! Is that really you talking?" I nodded.

"Yeah! Dumbledore gave them to me. One's for you, the other is for me so we can keep in touch all the time." I slid down the railing on the steps leading back down to the main room.

"These are bloody brilliant." Harry held it up. "I have something to show you." He ran up to his room and brought back a silvery cloak.

I let the material run between my fingers, it was like water. "What is it?"

"An invisibility cloak!" He tossed it around my shoulders and I looked down; my body was gone!

"Cool! Do you know how much trouble we could get it with this?" I laughed and twirled around. I pulled it off and handed it back to him.

"Don't tell anyone," I nodded.

"Of course I wouldn't." I looked at the back of the mirror. Engraved in the handle were the letters I.E.P. "Harry, look at these." I showed him the initials. He looked on his.

"Mine has them, too." He pointed out a scripted S.B. I ran my fingers over them.

"Do you think that they were a set?"

"I don't know, but they really are cool, aren't they?" I nodded and picked up my phoenix. Her feathers were growing fast! She was already completely covered in deep red down with gold tail feathers. She cocked her head to the side and chirped, and using her talons to climb up the arm of my sweater and sit on my shoulder, and nuzzled up against my neck. I sat with Harry and we gorged ourselves on sweets and lounged about, listening to Christmas music play on the radio.