Chapter 1

The Muggles who happened to find themselves at Kings Cross Station before 11 o'clock on the 1st of September each year would often wonder about the strange sorts of people that would arrive, many of them simply disappearing. Not that there was anything particularly strange about the people themselves, rather, they were men and women dressed in oddly thick cloaks, and strange robes that brushed against their ankles. Even the children, many of them dressed in school uniforms, all of them the same but with different colours, some with green and silver, others with red and gold, blue and bronze and yellow and black, and then a handful of younger ones with plain black. The children too wore strange robes, seemingly part of the uniform, and carried heavy cloaks, and pointed hats. They had owls, real live owls (that made a terrible racket), sat in cages, and cats in wicker basket, or some that merely followed their owners around on their own four legs, and a few even carried toads. They had strange looking broomsticks, and heavy trunks and an awful lot of them walked around with funny looking sticks in their hands. All these odd people seen in the station on September 1st seemed to head towards platforms 9 and 10, however those few curious people who did follow them found them to disappear into thin air when they got their. They didn't board the trains, and there was no other exit. It was like magic.

On September 1st of 1994, a wet, windy and altogether rather miserable Sunday for the commuters of London City who were being drowned in the downpour, a tall, fit young boy of 14 joined the throngs of strange people pushing trollies towards platforms 9 and 10. His luggage consisted of the large, heavy trunk, a funny looking broomstick and a huge snowy owl asleep with its head under its wing in a large silver cage. He was dressed in a school shirt and trousers, but lacked the robe and tie adorned by some of the teenagers around him to whom he shouted and laughed with amongst the people jostling past them. He was somewhat muscular, normal height for a boy his age, with jet black hair that was a total mess and bright green almond shaped eyes behind round glasses. As Harry Potter approached the barrier with the others around him he was laughing, and to those Muggles who may have been looking too close, he seemingly disappeared.

In reality Harry found himself on platform 9 ¾, staring up at the large scarlet steam engine before him. There was a lot of smoke in the air, mixing with the sounds of parents chatting, students greeting each other and animals hissing and screeching just because they could. Glancing behind him briefly, Harry smirked as two men came stumbling through the barrier, both of them out of breath.

"Trouble keeping up?" He asked innocently as the two men leaned over with their hands on their knees. The first one, youngish and ruggedly handsome glared at Harry.

"We're not all super Quidditch stars" he spluttered through the breathlessness "and I don't run in the rain!"

"Sure you don't Padfoot" the other man said, having seen the funny side in his recovery and was now laughing. He was slightly taller, tired looking, with worn out robes and scruffy facial hair, looking as though he hadn't slept very well the previous night.

"Come on then!" Harry said impatiently, steering the trolley down the platform, but stopping only short distance away, nearer the front of the train and looking around him. He craned his neck around the crowds of people, until finally a shout of "Potter!" came from a few feet away. Harry turned and his face split into a grin as his eyes fell on the pale, blonde figure of his best friend.

"Malfoy!" Harry launched towards him and the boys stopped in front of one another, as though sizing each other up. Then both smiled.

"How was your week without me? Tragic I imagine" Draco grinned arrogantly. Harry rolled his eyes and gave him a playful shove on the shoulder before turning to the grand, blonde couple stood behind Draco.

"Mr Malfoy" Harry nodded at him "Mrs Malfoy" he gave her a smile which she returned. Draco was busy greeting Harry's escorts, so Harry began to load his stuff off the trolly. A moment later him and Draco hauled it onto the Hogwarts Express onto the racks above a table in one of the carriages that served as a whole compartment. They jumped down back onto the platform to where their guardians were conversing and looked around them.

"Where's that cousin of yours?" Harry asked, shoving his hands deep into his pockets and rocking forward onto the balls of his feet.

"They're on their way last I heard" Mrs Malfoy spoke, looking around them. The platform was incredibly busy. Narcissa wrinkled her nose at a family nearby. The parents were clearly none magical and both had their arms locked tightly around their small daughter, apparently a first year, all of them bawling their eyes out. The Malfoy's were the sort of upper-class, pure-blood family who did not engage in such public displays of affection or emotional outburst.

"Here they are!" Sirius suddenly said and they all turned to watch as a family of three emerged from the smoke from the direction of the apparition points. A tall, slender woman came first. She was incredibly beautiful in an almost terrifying way, with a sharp jawline and high cheekbones, heady lidded violet eyes that seemed to pierce your very soul. She had thick shiny dark hair twisted up into an elegant knot at the back of her head and was dressed in an expensive yet effortlessly casual black dress and robe. She walked as though those around her were beneath her, and the crowd on the platform parted like the Red Sea as she walked through them, even those of non-magic birth sensing it would be wise to stay out of this woman's way. Behind her walked an equally imposing man, impeccably dressed in expensive black robes with wide shoulders, a strong build, a ruggedly handsome face and deep brown eyes, so dark they were almost black, his brown hair brushing his shoulders and he was sporting a clean but unshaven look. There was something quite terrifying about him as well, but the wizarding people in the crowds looked upon this couple with an enormous amount of respect as well as a margin of fear as they strode past them. The LeStrange family was one of the oldest in wizarding Britain, holding an enormous amount of power, influence and wealth, and the man, Rodolphus LeStrange was known for making many changes and decisions and changes within the Ministry of Magic that had greatly benefited both the wizarding government and world as a whole, along with generous donations to good causes and dealing in good, profitable business. His wife, Bellatrix, was also well respected, partly for marrying Rodolphus, partly because she was born into the ancient and noble house of Black, and partly because after graduating from school she had made a name for being a formidable and ruthless dueller. She was an incredibly skilled and powerful witch, and she had proved to the wizarding world that she was not one to back down or to be messed with on the few occasions that she had been crossed by unfortunate witches or wizards. She too conducted good business, and had a good reputation for it, however most of her time was dedicated to her development of ancient and rare magics that most magic folk were not powerful enough to begin to understand or attempt. Everything the LeStrange family dealt with was technically legal, and there were certain things that if you wanted, you only wanted them from the best, and the LeStrange's were the best, no matter how questionable or dark their line of business seemed to be.

Following the couple, with their reputation to live up to, was their 14 year old daughter, Elara LeStrange. She certainly had inherited her parents aristocratic good looks, with her mothers sharp features, slim frame and heavy lids. Her hair was long, thick, curling and a dark brown, with dark, shaped eyebrows and long thick lashes, all contrasting with her shockingly pale skin that was almost pure white. She had her fathers eyes, the almost black all seeing, but she was clearly very much her mother, her face holding an almost identical cold look of contempt, but the corners of her lips tugged into a smile when she laid eyes on Harry and Draco.

"Cissa". Bellatrix greeted her sister with a brief kiss.

"Bella" Narcissa smiled.

Elara stood before the boys, her arms folded across her chest. She was dressed also in just her school dress shirt and the black skirt, and she was leaning onto the toes of her smart black heals as though she'd like to throw her arms around Draco and Harry. However she had not been raised to do such things, least of all in public, so instead she gave them a brief hello before turning to greet her aunt and uncle and Sirius and Remus while the boys loaded her trunk and the wicker basket holding her black cat onto the train. When they returned to the platform it was 10:55.

"Well then pup" Sirius said cheerfully "I'll see you at Christmas."

A look of confusion crossed Harry's face. "But I thought we were staying at school because of the-" he was cut off.

"Oh I expect I'll see you all the same. Couldn't go a whole year without looking at your adorable face now could I?" He grabbed Harry in a bone crushing hug, ruffling his hair and causing Harry's cheeks to go red. Sirius may not have been a real parent, but as his godfather he did an excellent job of embarrassing Harry in public. When he was finally released Harry regained his composure and hugged Remus, not his godfather but basically the man who had made sure Sirius didn't accidentally kill Harry when he was small and being raised by a mad dog.

Meanwhile Narcissa kissed Draco on the cheek softly, smoothing out his shirt and hair, before embracing him tightly. "Write won't you" she said, "that's all of you. And make sure you work hard and behave yourselves. I'll have Severus report straight back home if the three of you are up to any more mischief. But have fun. It should be an exciting year after all." She smiled lovingly at her son before kissing her niece and hugging her tightly as well. Lucius embraced his son somewhat awkwardly, and kissed his niece, nodding at Harry all without a smile.

All this was done with a swiftness that attracted little attention. Elara kissed her father gently on the cheek and he kissed her hair, hugging her very quickly. Bellatrix was not exactly what you would call the maternal type. She neither hugged nor kissed her daughter goodbye, it wasn't common practice for the two of them. Still in a somewhat strange movement caressed her only child's hair and her face, her shoulders and arms. Then after stroking her face once more, gripped her chin in a gentle but firm hold. "Make me proud." It was delivered in the softest of whispers, as it had been on the platform every year before Elara boarded the train in September. Then she pulled her face away and let go, brushing an imaginary speck of dust off her robe. "Write. Every week."

Only those closest to her could have detected the tiniest hint of desperation in the order, the evidence that she really would miss her daughter.

"Of course" Elara nodded and stepped up into the train compartment, blowing a subtlest of kisses to her family as the whistle blew. The LeStrange's and the Malfoy's turned and headed towards the exits immediately, and Elara, Harry and Draco found their seats straight away. Neither party looked back at the other as the train pulled out of the station. They were not that sort of family.

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