Disclaimer: Lalalala. Do you really think I would be typing this up on a fan fiction website, if I owned the rights to Harry Potter?

A/N: I've just had so many reviewers bombarding me with requests for more chapters that I had to post again today (notice the sarcasm). I still love you all, though!

Chapter Five:

Alexia sat in a corner of the compartment, staring out the window at the rugged country side. The other people in the compartment, Chase, Maya, Fynn and Johnny were busy with other things. Fynn and Johnny were playing Exploding Snap Deluxe. Chase and Maya were discussing the recent Quidditch World Cup. In the end it had been Italy against Mongolia, and Italy had won, though narrowly. Alexia hadn't seen it. She had begged to go, but it had been very shortly after her dad had died, and her mother refused to take her. It sounded like a brilliant match.

Alexia sighed as the train passed through a foggy swamp. She shivered. The fog reminded her of those awful creatures, dementors, the ones that sucked the sole out of people.

A swirl of mist pressed against the window, and Alexia drew back. She didn't want to think about Melody, but she couldn't help it. Her darling baby sister. Melody had been born when Alexia was just four. She had been beautiful. Brownish-red hair and green eyes, she already looked like her mother. But then there had been that picnic… Logan had been six, Alexia was five, and it was Melody's first birthday…and it had been all Alexia's fault.

"Come on Lexi. Don't dawdle."

Alexia had grasped her mother's free hand as they walked through the sunny wood. She could see her father and Logan up ahead, picking out a spot to spread the picnic blanket.

They had been eating and talking and playing for over an hour, when Logan and their father had gone off to the stream to sail Logan's toy boat.

"Stay right here Lexi, and mind Melody for just a minute, alright?" said her mother. She had gone off into the trees after Logan and Harry.

But Alexia was bored. She didn't want to sit alone on a hot blanket with a sleeping baby. She got up and went in the opposite direction, into the woods. She was walking alone, humming, when it got cold. Alexia began to cry in fear. She saw a tall, hooded figure, and screamed. She tried to run back to the clearing, but tripped. She crawled as fast as she could, before getting to her feet and running on her short legs. The thing chased her, gliding. But when Alexia got back to the clearing, no one was there. They were all still by the stream.

"No! No!" Alexia screamed as the thing came closer and closer. But she felt weak. She fell to the ground again, shivering and crying. Melody had woken up and began to cry too. The thing passed so close to Alexia that she could feel it. And the smell. She could hardly breathe. There was a swirling fog all around. The thing was approaching Melody, and then Alexia fainted.

Melody's body had died shortly after that day. They usually do, the people who have been kissed by dementors. Alexia hadn't really understood what had happened until she was older. By the time she was seven, she knew that it was her fault that Melody had died, and couldn't forgive herself.

"Er… Alexia? I asked you something."

"What?" Alexia look round into the compartment. Everyone was looking at her. She blushed.

"Do you want to come with me while the boys change into their robes?" repeated Maya.

Alexia stood up quickly, blushing deeper, "Right, OK."

The two girls left the compartment, and the boys let the blinds down. Maya giggled.

"Do you want to come meet my sisters?" she asked Alexia, after an awkward pause.

"Sure," Alexia answered, and they walked down the swaying train, "So, how come you're not sitting with your sisters?"

"Well," replied Maya, "They're always together. There's three, and they're triplets, and they're older then me and they all have boyfriends. When ever I'm with them, I'm left out, you know? So I decided, when I came to Hogwarts, instead of hanging around my sisters all the time, I'd go out and meet new people and stuff. Expand my horizons, la la la."

They'd arrived outside a compartment about halfway down the train. Maya didn't bother to knock. She slid back the compartment door and marched in, pulling Alexia with her.

Inside the compartment were three girls and three boys. Alexia could right away tell they were triplets, but they looked nothing like Maya. Maya was rather plain, but these three were stunning. They had dark chestnut hair down to their waists. They had intent, blue blue eyes. Their skin was smooth and creamy, and each had a single beauty mark, one on her chin, one above her eyebrow, and the last near her nose. Alexia stared.

"Alexia," said Maya, "I'd like you to meet my sisters. Yekaterina, Yelizaveta and Nicola. Katty, Lizzy and Nikky, this is my new friend Alexia."

The girls all smiled very prettily, and said in unison, "Hello, Alexia."

And then one of them (was it Yekaterina?) said, "This is Gard."

And the next (Yelizaveta?) said, "This is Herb."

And the last (Nicola?) said, "and this is Monty."

Alexia smiled painfully, and said, "Nice to meet you."

"See ya," murmured Maya, and pulled her from the compartment. They began walking down the corridor, "See?" said Maya, "Yekaterina, Yelizaveta and Nicola. They're named after Russian Tzarinas. And they're blokes, Gardner, Herbert and Montgomery. What kind of names are those?"

Alexia laughed, and they continued down the corridor.