Title: To Withstand the Shocks of Adversity

Author: Cerulean Asphodel

Rating: PG-13, for later chapters

Summary: I'm not surewhen the drama entered and re-entered my life. My life was pretty much a monotony of routine and lessons. That is, until my first year... where I was unlucky enough to be Sorted into Slytherin. Forgetting the fact my mother pretty much expected me to be in Ravenclaw, like the rest of the family. But it's seven years later. I've grown up, and frankly, I don't really care that my mother doesn't like me all that much, and has turned most of my siblings against me. So life turned back to monotony. At least, until I started mixing up with the Marauders... Especially with one Sirius Black, who seems to pressure my sarcasm to go to new levels.

Pairings: Definite Sirius/OC. Lily/James. Maybe a few others...

Official Disclaimer: I do not, in whole or in part, own any of the Harry Potter characters. Though Delayna Warbeck is my character, and some of her friends are as well, I do not own the world in which they live in.

Chapter One – First Entry

"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation."

-George Washington

Welcome to my diary, curious one. My name is Delayna Warbeck, and yes, I am related to Celestina Warbeck, if you wanted to know. She's my oh-so perfect four-year-old sister that had appeared in the Mini-Talent concert a few weeks ago. Ahead will be entries with my most intimate thoughts and feelings. Be warned. If you have any level of IQ that is less than a 12-year-old's is, you shall not understand a word I will be saying throughout this diary.

Like said before, I am seventeen-year-old Delayna Warbeck. Most people call me Delayna or Warbeck, but my few close friends like Damien and Sandra (nicknamed 'Sandy' because she absolutely loathes her birth name) tend to call me 'D' and 'Layna'. I have not a clue why Damien insists on calling me 'D' when his own name starts with that particular consonant as well.

Anyways, my mother, when she still 'adored' and 'loved' me, gave this to me on my eleventh year of life to record my 'escapades' in. That was the same year I'd chucked it out the window and it fell on Damien's head after I had gotten her oh-so appreciative letter. He brought it back to me afterwards, though, the prat. I guess that's how we became friends and now best friends.

I stand at 5'4, I'm embarrassed to say, and it is very unlikely I will grow any taller. Apparently, I inherited it from my mother's side, those of whom have always been rather little. Though small, I found out in my fifth year that I was one of the strongest girls of my age. Maybe it was because I had always wrestled with Henry because we were fighting over one thing or another.

Henry's my twin, but he now attends Beauxbatons because he and I had fought too much around here and dearest Mum thought it best to separate us note the sarcasm. He looks almost exactly like me, except for the obvious fact that he's a male. We were both born on July 1 after all, him just seventeen minutes ahead.

We both have black hair; mine longer than his, though not by much. While his is jet black, mine has a certain brown tinge from my father. My mother is Asian, while my father is British. Apparently, we took our looks mostly from our mother's side. Dad's pale, Mum's naturally tanned, like Henry and I (I still think he's starting to lose his tan from the lack of sun). Mum has black hair, Dad has blonde, and Henry and I are black-haired twins. Mum had brown-almost-black eyes, Dad had blue, and Henry and I copied Mum (though Henry has a swirl in his eyes that looks suspiciously blue). Overall, I'mconcerned as to whether Dad's really my father or not, but I overcame it. However, one thing I just can't get over is that Henry is taller than I am by a whole foot. He stands at 6'4. How unfair is that.

I'm not terribly curvy, nor am I stick-thin. I come in the middle. No, I don't 'bust' out of my outfits. They fit perfectly well, thank you very much. The reason I'm not so curvy is that I'm athletic. Very athletic. Yes, I do play Quidditch… for three years in fact, until Malfoy kicked me off the team to "clean out" the team. I played Chaser. So now, I stick to Muggle sports. I'm quite good at them, if I say so myself. I'm best at football (the English kind, not American football), basketball, and volleyball respectively, and I'm decent at the other sports, if you tell me how to play the game. I wasn't exactly comfortable with heights at the beginning, because of an incident back when I was five in which Henry pushed me off a branch in our backyard, and I fell off the tree we had both climbed.

That's enough about that. Anyways, I'm comfortable with my looks. I don't really wear makeup, except for the occasional lipstick, kohl, and eye shadow for formal occasions. I don't think I'm exceptionally pretty, but I don't think of myself as grisly either. I think I'm slightly on the higher scale, but I think I'm just past the average by a small margin. That's my opinion on me. As you can tell, I have a decent self-esteem.

My family consists of Ravenclaws. Yes, Ravenclaws. This is why my parents and two other siblings other than Henry, Celestina,Kiana(who Celestina looks up to), Delilah,and Trista (yeah, I have alot of sisters... and also two younger brothers, but they don't hate me)despise my very being. It's because, at the age of eleven years, three months, and two days, I was Sorted into the House of Snakes. Yes, most-likely-stunned reader, I was Sorted into Slytherin. Imagine that, ai? I guess I can't blame them though. I think they would have accepted Hufflepuff, but being in Gryffindor or Slytherin apparently breaks their rules of 'neutral-ness', if that's such a word. Oh well. It happened, can't change it now. I've lived with it for seven years, after all. Why change it now of all times when I'm already used to it?

Now – (¸.·'´(¸.·'´ '·.¸)' ·.¸)

I hate it when they throw pillows at me.

The other girls in my dorm are laughing this oddly high-pitched laugh now. You'd think they'd already hit puberty with the way they practically bust out of their outfits, but their voices are still annoyingly high-pitched. Here a smilie is drawn, rolling its eyes. I probably shouldn't do that too often. Sandy says that if you do that, your eyes will get stuck in the back of your head. Sounds gruesome. Morbid, almost.

I really despise Narcissa and Bellatrix Black. They're plotting some 'evil' scheme to get backat another of theBlacks in Hogwarts, Sirius Black, and his best friend James Potter for pranking them on the first day back. They're both in my year, and they're great pranksters, but being a Slytherin means I sometimes get the brunt of their devious jokes. They're both, I am reluctant to say, very, very pleasing to the eye.

James Potter. Peh, he's made for that Lily Evans. She's one of my closer friends, though we have a very odd friendship. We tend to banter in the Gryffindor Common Room where, naturally, everyone gives me the evil eye.I've always wondered how they manage to do that. I've stood in front of a mirror and tried to do it and it neverquite looks liketheirs.Nevertheless, we also laugh at every Gryffindor that does because well, honestly, we both think that the rivalries between Slytherin and the others houses, especially Gryffindor, is plain amusing.

Sirius Black and I tend to clash. I go wherever Lily goes, and wherever Lily goes, Potter is bound to be somewhere near --with his friends, Lupin, Black, and Pettigrew. I get along with Lupin well enough, and Pettigrew I tolerate to a limit, but my sarcasm is up in full near Black. Black is attractive, yes, and I admit his pranks are hilarious when they're not directed towards the whole of Slytherin house, but otherwise, he annoys me to no ends.

First, he's reckless and jumps to conclusions. In addition, he always teases me about one thing or another. Whether it is that my clothes are on inside out (which often happens when I wake up late for classes), or that I'm short, he teases me mercilessly. My height is a sore spot, I tell you, and he just seems to hit it every time he's near. Though I respect his intelligence (and sometimes I envy it), I tease him greatly as well. Being the quiet brooder that I am, I tend to hear any gossip flying around. Naturally, I use that against him. He has a short temper. Riling him up is a great hobby. You should try it if you ever meet him; it's great entertainment.

Even though we just don't mix very well, I've always had a special connection with him because he and I were both 'disgraces to our lines'. He was a Gryffindor from a Slytherin family, and I a Slytherin from a Ravenclaw family.

Speaking of Houses… Lily Evans and James Potter made Head Girl and Head Boy. Although Black (Sirius) and I tend to disagree (okay, so maybe we're really close to hating each other), we both agree that Lily and Potter were meant to be. I'll have to meet with him sometime to get in on what we're going to concoct in terms of pairing the Head Boy and Girl together.

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Agh. Sometimes, you really hate being a human. This is one of those times. I fell asleep on my diary. I think there's a tad bit of drool over there… Ah yes. That's my saliva all right. Insert exasperated sigh here. I must sleep. A new day shall shine tomorrow and unfortunately, so does my last year of Hogwarts.

Here thus end my first entry in this journal.

- Delayna Warbeck

Author's Note: No, I am not abandoning Two Worlds, One War. I am simply trying to find inspiration. I will be working on this on and off, depending on the amount of inspiration I have. This is just a side-story. Who knows? I might finish it or I may not. Time will tell. Although, I do warn you, I am not one for happy conclusions. I like making my readers feel attached to the story enough to cry at the ending. If I get few reviews for this, it will be fine. This is just a side-story after all.

No, Delayna is not a Mary-Sue. Her personality if actually mostly based on myself. I felt that the World needed someone like her. Moreover, I see that most stories include ridiculously tall female OCs. I have nothing against them whatsoever, but I felt envious of them and I decided we need some short ones too.

- Cerulean Asphodel

6/02/05 - Looking back on this Author's Note, yes, I did abandon Two Worlds, One War in a sense since it's in hiatus and this has become my main priority. There is some information on my website (click the link in my profile) about this story that I am working on. It contains theWarbeck family tree and a character profile of Delayna herself.