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Chapter Text

1st September, 1989

The girl sat on the emerald-green settee, playing with the hem of her robes, shoes tapping on the flagstones of the entry-way floor. Hushed voices could be heard from the drawing room next to her, but the door was closed and an Impertuable Charm had been placed on it. She couldn't hear distinct words, and she didn't strain to hear anything more. Curiosity killed the cat.

Apart from that, the manor is silent except for the quiet clicking of her new shoes. Click... Click... And then a thump as her heel whacked against the trunk next to her. The owl in its cage hoots angrily, and the girl shushed it out of habit, feeling the hairs on her arms stand on end at the unfamiliar noise. Not that the noise matters, really, it's just sacrilege to disrupt the silence around her. Her brother is still asleep upstairs, and her mother has already scolded her for making an ounce too much noise in bringing the trunk down that morning. 

She sighed, and put her head in her hands. Her heel thumped against the trunk again, but this time Celeste the Owl ignores it, focusing on a forgotten owl treat lingering at the bottom of the cage. How much longer will she have to wait?

As if by magic - and it might have been, you can never be sure in the Wizarding World - the door to the drawing room opens, and the girl looked up.

"Come on, Selene," her father brushed past her, grasping the trunk in one of his thin, pale hands. Celeste's cage is left, and Selene picked it up in her smaller hands, reaching the other one up to take her father's hand. "We'll be late."

"Is mummy coming?" Selene asked, glancing behind her at the open drawing room door. Nobody appeared from behind it, and her father tugged at her arm impatiently. 

"You know your mother isn't well right now, darling," although he uses the pet name, his voice is icy and thin, and barely masks the anxiety in his tone. "We need to go. Now!"

Selene sighed again, risking an eye roll. "Bye mummy!" she called back, but Narcissa didn't respond. 

Lucius growled, any patience he had now long gone. "You can't be late for your first day at Hogwarts," he griped, as the door to the manor swung open, hitting Selene with a gust of cold air to the face. "We can't have you disappointing us now, can we?"

"Yes, father," Selene said quietly, allowing herself to be pulled outside into the cold September day. "I don't want to disappoint you or mummy."

That, at least, was true, and the fervent nature of Selene's small voice obviously reached her father. He slowed, and turned around, smiling at his young daughter. "That's my girl," he said indulgently, waiting for Selene to return his grin until he continued. "You'll do well at Hogwarts. You've always been proficient."

The advantages of growing up with a Pureblood family were mostly the private tutoring you got before you started school at the age of eleven. Selene had been taught some basic-level Charms, a good standard of Latin, some Arithmancy and could just about transform a mouse into a teacup. Not that it mattered - anything she was taught by her tutors would be covered in First Year - but it was still nice to know some things before going into such a new, unfamiliar place. 

"Keep up!" her father barked, his earlier good nature now fully gone, and Selene picked up the bottom of her new Hogwarts robes, running as fast as she could to catch up with Lucius. 

They paused by the entrance to their maze, and Lucius grasped his daughter on the shoulder. "Ready?" he asked, but before Selene could respond, she was being pulled and stretched through a long, elongated tube.

Her stomach jolted as she was set onto solid ground once more, and Selene swallowed the bile that had risen in her throat from the unpleasant experience. But then she fully took in her surroundings - and she gasped.

It was full of Muggles! Old men with newspapers and briefcases, shiny businessmen with bowler hats and suit jackets slung over one arm. Women waving goodbye to their children, kids in shorts and trainers running around and giggling. And the trains! Selene bit down the smile that threatened to rise on her face as she looked around, noting the big shiny 'PLATFORM 9' sign emblazoned on the side of the train platform. She wasn't meant to look so pleased with the non-Wizarding World, she knew. But it was so shiny and new, and-

"Come on boys!"

Her attention was drawn from the large diesel train that had just pulled up to Platform 8 to a group of rag-tag redheads, spearheaded by a woman pulling along two identical boys. Lucius tightened his grasp on his daughter's shoulder as they passed, his mouth straightening out into a firm line.

"The Weasleys," he spat, and Selene grimaced, remembering the tales her father brought home from work of Mr Weasley's silliness and his obsession with Muggle artefacts and all the problems he caused for her family back in the War. Her parents didn't like them, and although they looked nice, Selene knew that looks could be deceiving. "You don't want to be talking to them."

The eldest of their number - a tall redhead with hair swept back in a ponytail - overheard Lucius's words, and glanced behind them, scowling at the blonde man before his eyes looked down to the small, pale girl now holding her father's hand. His gaze softened, and he shot her a small smile.

Selene was about to smile back, but her father's words about the Weasleys rang in her head, and she frowned back, unsure of how to respond. Then, after a moment's thought, she stuck her tongue out, narrowing her eyes as she did.

The redhead spluttered a laugh, cackling as he walked off with the rest of his family, the matriarch's calls of 'hurry up! hurry up!' echoing back to where Lucius and Selene still stood. Selene smiled as the boy left, wondering if he was at Hogwarts too, and if so, what House he was in. He looked nice, and even if she wasn't meant to talk to the Weasleys she could still want to be in the same House as them.

Lucius tugged on Selene's arm again, and she looked up, quickly picking up Celeste's cage again as she was directed to the large, brick barrier between Platforms 9 and 10. The Weasleys were disappearing through, one at a time, being ignored by the Muggles walking past.

"Oi!"

Selene started, looking around for the source of the noise. She noticed the two identical gingers from earlier beaming at her, as they stood off to the side with their mum. She looked at them curiously, raising her owl cage in some weird semblance of a wave.

"Are you Hogwarts too?" the one on the left asked, pointing at the owl, who was now hooting in indignation at being moved around too much. 

She opened her mouth to reply, but her father grasped her shoulder sharply. "Yes, she is," he replied icily, eyeing the boys and their mother - the latter of whom glared back. "My eldest, in fact. A credit to Slytherin."

At the mention of 'Slytherin', the two boys wrinkled their faces up and grimaced, and Selene bit back another smile at their antics. What was with Slytherin and all this pooh-poohing? Everyone knew that Slytherin was the best house to be placed into!

"Come on boys," the twins' mother said, eyeing Lucius warily as she directed the young boys towards the barrier. "Go on now. You can talk to your new friend on the Platform."

"You will do no such thing," Lucius hissed in Selene's ear, waiting until she had slowly nodded to loosen the grip he had on her shoulder. 

The first twin disappeared through the wall, and then the second did, followed shortly after by his mother. Then, Lucius pulled Selene closer to the barrier, gently easing her into running through the brick wall. 

She closed her eyes and braced for impact out of habit, but none came. She cracked open one eye, and then the other, and relaxed as the scarlet of the Hogwarts Express appeared in front of her, along with the sign for Platform 9 and 3/4. 

Her running slowed, and she came to a halt next to one of the doors of the train, her face cracking into a grin finally as she looked up at the train that would take her to her new school, and the new chapter of her life.

"Anton, Lucia!"

Professor McGonagall, an older witch with spectacles and a stern gaze looked over the crowd of first years in front of her, spotting Lucia Anton and beckoning her up onto the stage and towards the stool where the Sorting Hat sat. Selene waited expectantly as the small girl sat down, and the massive hat was placed onto her head, almost swallowing her whole. 

Almost immediately, the Hat spoke. "HUFFLEPUFF!" it bellowed, and Selene smiled as the yellow and black decorated table erupted into cheers and yells. She clapped politely, along with the first years and the rest of the other houses, and glanced around at the rest of the students around her. 

The twins from the Platform were stood together, beaming up at Professor McGonagall and the top table. As Selene looked at them, the one closest to her happened to glance her way, and dug his twin in the ribs, until both of them were staring back at her. 

She managed a small smile, but looked away quickly before she could see how they responded to that, just in time to see 'Johnson, Angelina' being sorted into Gryffindor.

Looking up at the table of Professors, Selene glanced across each one, recognising each from her parents' stories. Severus Snape, the Potions Master, was glaring sallowly at a wall (she remembered him from one of her family's many Balls over the years), and the Charms teacher Professor Flitwick was balanced atop a large number of cushions so he could see over the table. He noticed Selene glancing at him, and he beamed down at her.

Finally, it was her turn. "Malfoy, Selene!" Professor McGonagall called out, and Selene straightened up, taking a few confident steps towards the stool. She sat herself down, gazing out at the tables in front of her, and closed her eyes, readying herself for the call of 'SLYTHERIN!' that was expected.

But, as the Hat was dropped onto her head, no call came. Just an echoing 'hmmmmmm' that reverberated around the inside of Selene's skull. 

"You're an interesting one," the Hat said to Selene, making her jump as she realised the bee noises were coming from the thing atop her head. "No need to seem so surprised, I am magic after all!"

"Put me in Slytherin," Selene thought to the Hat, crossing her arms as she waited for the verdict. "I'm cunning, and smart, and ambitious."

The hat chuckled, and Selene grimaced as it hummed again. "You aren't a fit for Slytherin," it said back, making Selene jolt in surprise. "Not all family members are the same, after all - your mother was very nearly a Ravenclaw, and your father could have been a Gryffindor if he hadn't begged for Slytherin."

"Where do I belong then?" Selene thought at the hat, tapping her foot. "Put me somewhere before I burn you!"

"Wit beyond measure is a man's greatest treasure," the Hat chuckled. "You'll thank me for this one day."

"RAVENCLAW!" the Hat yelled into the hushed silence of the Great Hall, and after a second of surprise, the blue and bronze table erupted into cheers. The green and silver table - the Slytherins, looked disappointed as Selene was pushed off the stool and towards her new House. 

As she walked past, she could hear the two twins whispering to each other, and she shot them a glare as she went to meet her new friends. Wit beyond measure is a man's greatest treasure. Not ambition, not cunning or wishes for glory. Maybe Ravenclaw was the right pick, she thought, as a bronze and blue tie was placed into her hands by a jubilant second year student. "Welcome to Ravenclaw!" he grinned at her. 

Chapter Text

"Father's had these tickets booked for months, you know," Draco drawled, leaning against the wooden pillar, glancing across at the bright green fabric that encased the small, rickety staircase. "I'm astounded that your mother didn't get you any for the Top Box, Blaise, even if she can't make it herself."

Blaise Zabini - tall for his age, dark skinned, dark haired, dressed in freshly pressed black wizard's robes - raised an eyebrow and shrugged across at his friend. "I don't see it as that important," he lied, trying to ignore Draco's knowing smirk. "And after all, I'm only one floor below you and your family. It'll be exactly the same."

"Will it, now?" Draco snickered, pushing one hand through his slicked back blonde hair. "You say that when you see what crummy view you end up with. I'll be sure to let you know how amazing sitting in the Top Box was."

"Now, now, Draco," Lucius tapped his son on the shoulder, slowly and noticeably gently, giving Blaise a slightly pained nod. "Don't go making everyone jealous. That simply isn't the done thing."

Draco glanced back at Blaise, making a show of rolling his eyes, but begrudgingly closed his mouth. He knew better than to contradict his father. Leaving his friend behind in the queue for the stands, he double stepped up the staircase on his way to catch up with the rest of his family, falling into step behind his sister.

The Top Box was pretty high up - as it should have been, at the amount of money it cost (although it hardly put a dent in the Malfoy's pockets) - and Draco couldn't help but smirk at the slightly insistent way that his sister was staring at her Omnioculars, rather than anywhere else.

"Having a good time?" she asked him, not giving him a second glance (being far too interested in the object in her hands). "How are your friends?"

"Good," Draco shrugged, pulling the object out of his sister's hands and turning them over in his own. "According to father we'll be sharing the Top Box with the Weasleys this evening. What do you think to that?"

"How did they get the money?" Selene glanced up, looking somewhat surprised. "I know they won the Daily Prophet's lottery last year, but that money only goes so far. And they were in the newspaper for blowing it all on a trip to Egypt, too."

Draco sneered, rolling his eyes again. "I just don't think tonight will be as enjoyable with their sort around with us too. Don't you think?"

"Haven't really thought about it," Selene shrugged, taking the Omnioculars back with a slightly incessant tug. "And anyway, just concentrate on the players. I know you've been looking forward to this for months. Don't let people like them ruin your time."

"Lovely to see you Lucius, as always. Is this your wife?" They could hear Minister Fudge up ahead, as their parents disappeared into the Box. Draco raised an eyebrow at his sister, who sighed heavily and slowly followed, ignoring the jostling hand that her brother was trying to use on her back. The less time she had to spend in the prescence of the Minister the better - he made her skin crawl.

She glanced over the group of redheads - with, interestingly, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger - quickly, before extending her hand to the Minister, along with a charming smile. "A pleasure, Minister," she said, giving her mother a sideways glance. "It's always lovely to see you again."

One of the Weasley boys - one of the ones she didn't know the name of - mimed sticking a finger down his throat in the corner of her vision, and she shot him a dirty look. Even if she was inclined to give the Weasleys the benefit of the doubt when it came to this evening, she still wasn't pleased with them if this is how they acted. She coughed into her fist, and smiled at the Minister as he asked after her wellbeing.

"I'm perfectly fine Minister," she said graciously, "I simply choked on a sweet earlier, you see."

"Oh," Cornelius nodded, and smiled back. "A travesty, but it happens to us all. Now, I believe you're going into your final year of Hogwarts?"

"My sixth," Selene corrected quickly. "Although one must always plan ahead."

"Very true, very true," the Minister nodded, extending a hand towards the crowd of gingers. "That means you're in the same year as Arthur's twins, are you not? Do you know one another from school?"

The twins looked up, and shot identical glances at Selene. She looked back, unperturbed. "Not well, Minister," she said truthfully, reaching her hand out towards the closest of the twins. "Only by reputation, we're in different Houses." and the one time they had dared to pull a prank on her back in third year, she'd got her father involved. 

The twin who was meant to shake her hand seemed surprised by the gesture, but gingerly took it and shook it once before dropping it. "Your reputation precedes you, Malfoy," he said, scowling up at her from his seat. 

Selene smirked, and took her seat behind the other twin, motioning for Draco to sit next to her in the final empty one. "Good," she said simply, before turning her attention back to her Omnioculars. 

Fred and George Weasley were probably the most popular boys in her year, and were up for the title overall in the school once Cedric Diggory and Roger Davies departed at the end of the upcoming school year. Selene had spent her time as Ravenclaw Prefect both cleaning up after their messes and deducting House Points for their various pranks. She was amazed they passed enough O.W.L.s to continue on at Hogwarts at all, but here they were, due to return after the summer. Not a patch on Selene's perfect 10 passes - although that Acceptable in Herbology would doubtless haunt her. 

What reputation the twin referred to, however, was lost on Selene. She liked to keep herself to herself, not draw too much attention or spend too much time with people outside her House. Unless Fred or George were referring to her good grades, she wasn't sure whether they were telling the truth or not. She never spoke to the Weasleys, apart from when Percy Weasley was Head Boy and they had a short, slightly baffling friendship borne of their shared love of the library and Selene's friendship with his girlfriend Penelope Clearwater. Fred and George made too much trouble for Selene, even if they had been in the same House it was doubtful that she would have made an impression on them.

"Selene," Draco snapped at her, bringing the girl's attention back to the match. "It's starting."

The Irish team were decked in brilliant emerald green, and the Leprachauns they brought as mascots rained money from the sky. Narcissa sniffed as the Weasleys in front of them dove to grab as much as they could, with Draco snickering at their antics.

"Leprechaun gold vanishes after a few hours," Selene spoke up, putting her Omnioculars to her face. The twins turned around to gaze at her. "No point in paying Johnson off to suck you off that way, Weasley."

The left twin scowled - Selene assumed he must be Fred judging by his reaction - and Lucius tutted under his breath at his daughter. 

"No need to be vulgar, Selene," he smirked, eyeing the twins beadily. "I expect better of you than that."

"Yes father," Selene nodded, copying Lucius's smirk. "It won't happen again."

She heard the twin Weasleys mimicking her tone and apology as they turned back to the scene in front of them, and she flushed furiously, returning to the device to hide her embarrassment. She didn't want anyone to see her blush - let alone the Weasley twins.

Selene knew something was wrong when her father left their tent in the early hours of the morning, and Narcissa said nothing. She knew by the way he shrugged on his robes, and his mouth was smiling in a manic, insane way. And then, as the door closed behind him, her mother was waking her and Draco up, insisting that they got dressed and got ready to go. 

"But father-" Draco started, but hushed as their mother shot him a look. 

"Your father is busy," her voice was strained, tight, and she seemed almost twice her age in the light from Selene's wand. "Selene - I want you to take your brother and hide. I need to sort out some things and wait for your father to return, but it's not safe for you here right now."

Selene raised an eyebrow, murmuring Lumos Maxima to better illuminate the tent's inside. She blinked in the harsher, brighter light, and grasped her younger brother's hand as her mother glanced back at them. "Yes mother," she said quietly, turning to Draco and looking him up and down. "I... I can Apparate-"

"You can't do Side-Along Apparition yet," Narcissa snapped, not looking at her daughter as she began to pack away some bedding into a bag. "And you haven't passed your test. Even if your father is high up at the Ministry, he'll be angry if I let you flout the rules, especially right now."

The tone in her mother's voice told Selene that pressing the subject would potentially be a very, very bad idea. So, she swallowed her questions and her indignation, and pulled on her coat. "Draco, get your wand," she said sharply, leaving her mother to her packing. "Do as mother says."

Draco glared at his sister (he didn't like being told what to do by her at the best of times), but did as he was told, pulling his coat on and grasping his wand from atop his bed. "Yes Professor," he mocked under his breath, ignoring the twin glares he received from his mother and sister as he did. When they were angry, they looked almost identical. 

There was a bright flash of light from outside their tent, and loud scratchy laughter. Selene glanced back at her mother, but quickly pulled Draco out of the tent and out into the cold early morning. She stopped still, looking up at the sky, and towards a point in the near distance. Four figures, suspended in the air. Panic seized her.

"You're fucking kidding me," she swore, grabbing Draco's hand and skirting a peacock, ignoring the intense wish to blast it out of the way. What was it with her family and intense, ludicrous decorations when they were least needed?

The Muggles in the sky were spinning now, and Selene could see four hooded figures, wands aloft, controlling the poor people. From this far back, she couldn't see under the hoods, but she knew, in the pit of her stomach, that one was their father. 

"What the hell is going on?" Draco asked, yanking his hand out of his sister's grip as soon as he could. "Father said nothing like this was due to happen! I thought mother said that he'd stopped all of this since You-Know-Who fell!"

"You think he'd tell you?" Selene snapped, trying to steady her breathing. "Draco, just stay here, I need to keep you safe, at the very least, whilst I find a way out of here, mother be damned."

"You're staying here!" Draco grabbed his sister's arm, holding her in place. "Mother will be terrified if she comes back and you're not here, and you know it!"

"And wait for us to be completely annihilated by whoever comes along?" she glanced over and shook her head fervently. "We need to get out of her, at the very least. Maybe I can make a Portkey, I'm sure we could explain it to the Ministry if we tell them what the circumstances were…"

"You're insane," Draco shook his head, in abject disbelief. "You can't just make a Portkey! That's massively illegal! And you might get it wrong, do you even know how it works?"

"Shut up," Selene pulled a face in his direction. "And no, I'm not insane. It's a good idea. We can use any kind of object, it's not like any Muggle is going to come along and just pick it up. Do you see any Muggles around here? And I know how to do the incantation, I looked it up last school year."

"Of course you did," Draco sneered. "Go on, then, play the hero. Get us home. We'll have to enter you for the 'Annual Heroic Idiot of the Year' Awards, although you'll always come second to Potter."

"Stop being rude," Selene sighed heavily, looking around. "And it's hardly heroic. It's running away, although that's mostly so any particular haters of our father can't find us and try to drag us into an interrogation."

"Oh for Christ's sake," Draco rolled his eyes. "It's not like You-Know-Who's back or anything. We'll be fine. Father knows better than to go getting himself into trouble, too."

There was a loud, bellowing yell, an incantation, and the siblings jumped, Draco quickly tightening his grasp on his sister's arm. And then, slowly, as one, they both stared up at the sky, where a cloud of grey and dark green smoke was slowly arranging itself into a horribly familiar symbol.

Selene's breath was stolen from her lungs, and she gripped Draco's shoulder with her free hand. "No," she whispered, remembering the picture from one of the many books she perused, and most tellingly, right from the depths of her memory, she remembered standing in front of a house with that very mark above it. "No!"

"Selene, what is it?" Draco said quickly, noticing his sister's distress immediately. "What does it mean?"

"It means-" Selene frantically looked around her, noticing the people running both towards and away from the luminous Dark Mark floating in the sky. "It means we're in a lot of shit, Draco."

One of the runners caught her eye, and she reached her hand out on reflex, grasping the individual's arm. "Weasley," she said, noticing the red hair. "Take my brother."

"What?" the Weasley and Draco chorused, looking at each other in revulsion. 

"I don't want to go with him," Draco scoffed, but cowered at his sister's responding glare. 

"Take him, and run," she grimaced. "I... I need to-"

"Woah, there," the Weasley gripped Selene's shoulder as she made to run off in the direction of the forest. "It's not safe."

"You think I don't know that?" Selene snapped, glaring at the redhead. "I need to go there, and-"

"Selene," whoever this Weasley was, he knew her by name. Her head snapped up in surprise. The Weasley managed a low chuckle. "Yes, I know your name. I remember you from school, it was quite a surprise when you were placed in Ravenclaw."

"Yes, yes, good, you know each other," Draco snarled. "Pleasantries over, what the fuck are we going to do?"

Selene stopped for a moment, taking a deep breath in, and looking around at what remained of the campsite. The tents were all trampled, there were fires everywhere - but at least the Muggles had been put down, and that meant that her father was safe. For now, at least. 

"Charlie!"

The Weasley looked around, dropping his hand from Selene's shoulder and grasping his sister tightly as she ran towards him, dodging the fires as she did. "Ginny," he breathed, taking an audible sigh of relief. "Great, you're safe, where are the others?"

"Ron, Harry and Hermione ran off," Ginny gasped from her elder brother's arms, looking questioningly at Selene and Draco. "I didn't know you knew the Malfoys, Charlie."

"He doesn't," Selene replied shortly, noticing their father's frantic expression as he came towards them. "Now, if you'll excuse us-"

Before she could finish her sentence, her father had grabbed both her and Draco and pulled them along into Side-Along, squeezing them through a tube until they were unceremoniously popped onto the doorstep of Malfoy Manor.

"He can't be back," Lucius muttered, waving his wand at the front door to unlock it. "He can't be... He can't be! The Mark-" at this, he looked at his children and grimaced. "Selene, Draco, bed. NOW!"

Selene bit back a retort, and instead settled for a nod, gripping Draco's hand and tugging him upstairs. "No. Questions." she said curtly, seeing the millions behind Draco's curious, scared eyes. "I'll talk to you in the morning."

"Selene-"

This time, when Draco spoke, his voice trembled. Selene paused, relaxing her stance somewhat, and turned to take her brother in properly. He was covered in grime, and soot, and he looked like he was about to cry - Selene wondered if she was in a similar terrible state. 

"We'll be fine," Selene said, pre-empting his next question. "We will be. I promise."

She didn't think he believed her. Their father was still mumbling and swearing downstairs in the foyer, and their mother was wide eyed and panicked. But she smiled at her younger brother, squeezed his hand and dropped it. "Tomorrow," she promised.

Chapter Text

1st September 1994

"No, we aren't waiting for Cho," Draco said, determinedly not looking anywhere near any Muggles, as if they might corrupt him. "Straight to the Platform-"

Selene laughed, glancing over to where a large diesel train was pulling into Platform Nine. "You can't tell me you're not even a little bit interested," she teased, with a grin. "Just a little?"

"By Salazar, must I always mind you?" the boy sniggered, ignoring the girl's fascination with the Muggle trains. "You're supposed to be the older one..."

"Shut up, Draco," the girl glared - somewhat playfully - at her brother. She glanced across to where a large familiar group of redheads were waiting, and Selene scanned them quickly, trying to ignore the suspicious glances from the youngest son and the two identical twins, who, along with Harry Potter, were watching Draco with outright hostility.

"Ready to go yet?" Draco said, blissfully ignorant of their audience. "Or are you going to try and chat up a Muggle?"

Selene shot Draco a stern look, and shook her head cautiously, worried in case that her parents were watching them somehow, as they inevitably were.

Even though they had officially left the two of them alone fifteen minutes ago.

"Of course I am," she said, deadpan, pulling Draco back to let the Weasley family (plus the two extras) through the barrier first. "Muggles are the only decent shags I've ever had."

"Why are we letting them through first?" Draco glared, giving his sister an insulted glance. "They're Blood Traitors. If only father could see you now."

"Because it's polite," Selene snapped, taking his hand. "And don't call people that. It's a term we should be above. Just like Mudblood, and you know that."

They were getting some very nasty looks from the redheaded family, especially from the youngest - Ron - who was glaring at Draco like he'd eaten his Puffskein. Harry Potter didn't seem very pleased to see him either, honestly, although Selene could hardly blame him, judging by the intense rivalry he always seemed to have with her younger brother.

The Weasley matriarch, on the other hand, evidently not recognising either of them, gave Selene a bright smile. "Thank you, dear," she said cheerfully, and Selene gave Draco's hand a meaningful squeeze. "You know what it's like… Seven children, it's such a hassle."

Selene nodded politely, smiling back as the woman began to bark instructions at her brood, pairing them all off and instructing them to go through. Selene pulled Draco's arm back, just in case, and waited patiently, feeding her owl a couple of treats, ignoring the sharp nips on her fingers.

It took a while, but finally all the family were through, the mother with another final bright smile and sentiment of thanks, and she finally let go of her brother.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. Draco just scoffed, pushing himself and his trolley through the barrier, Selene following suit a few seconds later.

"Selene!" Cho grinned, running over to her friend the second she saw her. "You're late!"

Selene checked her watch and laughed, shaking her head. "So," she began, pulling her trunk off the trolley and moving her owl off the top. "Fifteen minutes before is late now?"

"You said you'd be here at least thirty minutes before, in your letter!" Cho complained, grabbing the other side of Selene's trunk and helping her friend shift it onto the train. "I should know better than to trust you, you liar!"

"Mother wanted to make sure we were okay," Selene explained, summarising the fifteen minute hugging session that her mother insisted upon (not that Selene was complaining) in as little words as she could. "And I had to make sure that Draco had packed everything as well. You know how brothers are."

Cho just rolled her eyes, gesturing to the trunk - now lying right in the middle of the corridor - and looking meaningfully at her friend. "We might need to shift this," she said, raising one eyebrow.

"Allow me, ladies," Roger Davies cut in from behind them, giving Selene and Cho a winning smile and pulling himself up onto the train in front of them, picking up the trunk in one fell swoop and moving it into an empty carriage.

Roger was a Chaser on the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team, along with Cho, and fancied himself quite the playboy. The problem with this was that his enormous ego was well-earned, as he had dated half the Ravenclaw girls - which, unfortunately, had included Selene, some time ago. Even now, he still did occasional favours for her, for reasons she didn't quite understand but accepted all the same. Or maybe that was just to inflate his ego even further.

"Thanks Roger," Cho called, grinning sideways at Selene. She never lost an opportunity to play the field either. "So, what did you do over the summer?"

Selene had no interest in what Roger Davies had done over the summer, so she turned away, looking back onto the Platform, picking out individuals with her eyes and recognising them. Vincent Crabbe was being kissed goodbye by his slightly trollish-looking mother, whilst her brother was talking to Theodore Nott - a deeply unpleasant individual with a perchance for nasty curses. 

They all looked so... So happy. None of them were plastic, or transparent, or just robots pretending to care. Her stomach squirmed uncomfortably. 

Normally her parents would be here, on the Platform as well, but her mother was taking a Portkey to Berlin for an important gathering of society women, and her father most likely had to meet with the Minister. Selene shivered at the thought - not only did Fudge give her the creeps, but after the World Cup she didn't even want to imagine what lies her father was feeding him. It had been a lucky escape as it was, as Arthur Weasley suspected Lucius from the outset, but luckily the Imperius Curse excuse was still working.

"Come on!" Cho called, startling Selene out of her daydream. "I have some fortune tellers I want to try on you!"

So, Selene turned away from the families kissing their children goodbye, the families that made the feeling stir in her stomach, and towards the Hogwarts Express, smiling quickly at Cho to disguise her earlier expression. It wasn't wholly fictional, her smile. Going to Hogwarts again always made her smile. But there was a hint of insincerity in it, a sprinkling of sadness as Selene climbed onto the train, trying not to wish for a mother that wasn't too busy organising society events to see her children off, and a father that didn't lie to live.

"May I join you ladies?" Roger asked, with a grin, and didn't wait for an answer as he pushed past Selene to hold the door to an empty carriage open for them. "It's the least I can do to be in the company of two such stunning individuals."

"I'm not going to sleep with you again Roger," Selene smirked, but flopped down onto one of the seats in the carriage all the same. "You can't butter me up that easily."

If Roger was disappointed, he managed to hide it, instead sighing and taking a seat opposite Selene, with Cho sitting to his left, up against the window. "So, ladies," he smiled indulgently at a couple of second year girls who were walking past the windows facing out into the carriage corridor. "What are you excited for this year?"

Cho brightened up at these words (she'd been waving a sad goodbye to her parents through the window), and sat up a little straighter in her seat. She self-consciously smoothed some of her hair down, and took a deep breath before saying; "Well, I was hoping that Cedric would ask me on a date this year!"

Selene chuckled, ignoring the glare from her friend in response. "Of course," she responded lightly, glancing out of the window as the Hogwarts Express pulled away from the station. "Who could ask for more than Diggory's cock?"

"Oi!" Cho pulled a face, and Roger laughed heartily. "It's not all about sex, you know! Some of us believe in love, too."

"Unless love's what comes out of Diggory's wand," Roger smirked, clapping a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "Hey, hey, we're only teasing! I'm happy for you and Diggory, even if he is a bit of a wet sausage."

Cho's head was buried firmly in her hands now. "I'll hex you," she warned, although none of the other occupants of the carriage could take her words seriously.

"You're a Prefect now, Cho," Selene pointed out, flicking her wand at the curtains on the window to block out the outside world - and hopefully some of the first day back racket with it. "You can't just go around hexing people."

"Too true, Malfoy," Roger nodded, gesturing to his and Selene's matching Prefect badges on their robes. "Newest Ravenclaw Prefect, in fact."

Cho was the year behind Roger and Selene, in her fifth year at Hogwarts. How Selene had forged such a close friendship with the younger girl, being in different classes and having completely different electives, Selene wasn't sure. But it was a friendship that worked, maybe because opposites attract and Cho's outgoing, friendly, sometimes slightly ditzy personality clashed astonishingly with Selene's wish to keep herself to herself and not speak to anyone she didn't absolutely have to. Her friendship with Roger was one entirely fabricated by her fellow Prefect, and was borne from the idea at he still had a chance with her.

If Cho wasn't so enamoured with Cedric Diggory, Selene would have long since pushed Cho into Roger's arms full-time, but luck wasn't on her side with that particular plan.

"Anyway!" Roger grinned, getting to his feet. "I guess we'd better do a sweep of the corridors, Malfoy!"

Selene groaned, and followed Davies in getting to her feet, shooting Cho an apologetic glance. "We'll come pick you up and take you to the Prefect's carriage on the way back," she promised, pausing in the doorway at Cho's lack of response. "...Cho?"

"Tell Cedric I said hi," Cho responded feebly, still not looking up from her lap. Still, the corners of her blush could be seen peeking out from between her hands. 

Selene snickered, and left the carriage, closing the door behind her. 

The corridors of the Hogwarts Express were mainly empty now, save for the few ragtag latecomers who were yet to find a carriage to sit in. Noticing Marietta Edgecombe among them (a fifth-year girl Selene heartily disliked but still pretended to get along with for Cho's sake), she pointed her in the direction of Cho's carriage, murmuring something about Cedric. Marietta nodded gratefully, batting her eyelashes at Roger as she passed the Prefects in her rush to meet up with her friend. 

"Can't stand that girl," Selene said idly, as they passed a carriage full of excited first years. "How she ever got into Ravenclaw astounds me."

"Family tradition or whatnot," Davies pushed a hand through his hair and winked at a fourth-year girl, who subsequently turned bright red and ran off giggling. "Ah, darling, it's time you got back to your carriage!"

Selene whacked Roger with the back of her hand, rolling her eyes at his attitude towards the younger girls. "Cradle-snatcher," she hissed, stepping ahead of the other Prefect in their patrol. At least she was halfway capable of handling her Prefect duties without flirting with everyone, she thought, as she deftly confiscated a wrapped sweet from an unsuspecting Gryffindor. "What's this?" she asked sharply.

The Gryffindor student paused, stunned at her quick eye, and stumbled backwards, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to think of some kind of excuse. "Uh... um..." he spluttered, looking from Selene to Roger and then back again. "It's... It's a sweetie?"

Selene eyed the wrapping paper of the 'sweetie' turning it over in her hands. She didn't recognise the logo emblazoned on the packaging, but it seemed pretty homemade, and not done very well at that. "Who gave this to you?" she asked, trying to soften her tone somewhat. Scaring the younger students on the first day back wasn't something she tried to do. Although regulating her voice didn't seem to do much, as the student was still gaping and gulping like a Grindylow. 

Roger grabbed the sweet from Selene, and tossed it back to the student with an eye roll of his own. "Go on," he smiled, waving the student past. "She's a little over-zealous is Malfoy."

"I am not," Selene glowered, looking down at the student in front of them. "Look," she spoke quieter this time, crouching down to meet the other student's gaze. "If you just tell me and Davies who gave you that sweet, you can go."

The student started gulping again, and Roger pulled Selene back by the sleeve of her robes. "You can go," he said, firmer this time. "You don't need to tell her."

"I just want to know, Davies!" Selene snapped, getting to her feet and glaring at the other Ravenclaw. "These could be dangerous!"

"They're just sweets, Malfoy," Davies laughed, gesturing for the younger student to finally go past them both. "Seriously, you can go!"

Selene huffed and pulled her wand out of her pocket, pointing it at the sweet that the other student was still holding in one clammy hand. "Revelio," she muttered, waving it over the sweet and watching closely.

Nothing happened. The student looked around awkwardly and finally scurried off in the direction the Prefects had come from, Roger laughed and Selene groaned, putting her wand back into her pocket. "I'd never seen those before," she said, by way of an explanation. "They look... Homemade."

"So a kid got sent off to school with homemade sweeties from his mum!" Roger took the lead now, brushing past Selene dismissively. The girl narrowed her eyes at his back, more ashamed by her actions than she would ever admit to anyone. "You've got such a stick up your arse, Malfoy. Sure you don't want me to take it out for you?"

"No!" It was a struggle to catch up with Roger, who was slightly taller than she was, but when Selene finally managed to meet his strides, she managed to gain control of her words and senses again. "I was just being cautious. Surely you don't want students to get hurt?"

"No, but I want students to have fun as well," Roger smirked, glancing into one of the carriages. "Ah! Weasleys, how was your summer?"

Selene groaned inwardly and slowed her pace, giving herself as much time as possible mentally to cope with the onslaught of annoyance that was about to happen. She hadn't seen hide nor hair of the Weasleys since the Quidditch World Cup (apart from the Platform, but that hardly counted), but she'd heard enough from her father that Arthur Weasley was making his life a living hell at the Ministry, and she wasn't about to go in and make friends with the carrot-tops anytime soon.

"Did we see you at the World Cup, Davies?" Selene recognised the voice that responded as belonging to one of the Weasley twins - she heard it enough in their Defence lessons, after all. "It was a great game!"

"Yes! Me and Chester went together," Roger grinned, turning to Selene as she walked up to his side. "Malfoy and I were just patrolling the corridors. Usual Prefect duties, you know the drill!"

Selene scowled, fixing her gaze on the occupants of the train carriage. Sure enough, two identical redheads were sat in there, along with two other people - Selene recognised them as the Gryffindor Chaser, Angelina Johnson (uptight, pain-in-the-arse) and Lee Jordan, whose Quidditch pundits made her want to tear her hair out. Not the best group of people in the world, and they clearly thought the same about her, judging by their glares and narrowed-eyed suspicion. One of the twins was gazing at her with one cocked eyebrow, as if he was trying to remember her from somewhere, whilst the other was just glaring. Johnson scoffed and turned to stare out the window, whilst Jordan was trying to hide something under his right leg. 

"Jordan," Selene said shortly, pushing past Davies to stand properly in the doorframe. She held her hand out, making a beckoning motion with her fingers. "Hand it over."

"I don't have anything!" Jordan attempted to protest, but his words were offset by his determination to properly hide the contraband from the Prefect's view. He desperately tried to push whatever it was out of sight, but Selene just shook her head, and beckoned again. 

"Do I really have to dock points before we've even got to Hogwarts?" she asked, raising an eyebrow coolly. "Jordan, hand it over and we'll hear no more of this."

Lee scowled, shooting a look at the twins sat across from him, but reluctantly pulled the object out from under his leg, placing it in Selene's hand. She glanced at it, and then snorted, holding it out towards Roger. 

"It's another of those sweets," she noted, holding it outstretched in her palm. "W, W. That wouldn't be anything to do with Weasley now, would it?"

"Try it!" one of the twins piped up - the one that hadn't been glaring. "We made it ourselves, Angelina thought they were pretty tasty for a first try!"

"As if I'd fall for that," Selene rolled her eyes and pocketed it, ignoring the twin's crestfallen expression. "I wasn't born yesterday. Even if your silly friends would fall for that, I won't."

Roger fiddled with the collar of his robes, noticing the tension in the room and deciding not to comment on it. "Right!" he said cheerfully, in an effort to pull his fellow Ravenclaw away from the situation. "Now that's over and done with-"

"Oi, Davies!" Jordan spoke up again, something glinting in his eyes. "If Malfoy won't try it, why don't you?"

There was silence for a moment, as Selene tried not to strangle the Gryffindor boy and Roger thought the preposition over in his head. "Sure, why not," he said jovially, holding his hand out to be passed one by the twins. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Oh, they could poison you?" Selene bit back, crossing her arms and sitting down to watch her friend fall to a Weasley prank, making sure to sit as far away from the Weasleys as possible, as if their proximity might burn her. "No, go on. I'll just pull out my handy Bezoar."

"Lighten up Malfoy!" the angry twin (that was the only distinction that Selene could be bothered to make at this precise moment) said, gesturing for Davies to unwrap and consume the sweetie. "They're perfectly safe!"

"I fucking hope so," Selene said darkly, thinking of the student she'd stopped in the corridor. If it reacted badly to Davies, she wasn't sure if she could forgive herself. She knew something was up with the sweet, the kid seemed so anxious about being caught with it. At least, maybe now she'd have some idea of what they did, and would be able to catch the Weasleys on their act if they tried anything funny with them over the school year. 

Roger unwrapped the paper and popped the toffee in his mouth whole, chewing a couple of times before swallowing. Selene sat, leaning forward in her seat slightly, waiting expectantly for something to happen. But nothing did.

"Oh," the twin closest to her said, sounding slightly surprised. "It seems we took a little bit too much out."

"No harm done!" Davies said, grinning despite himself. "I'm just glab you dibn't... Oh shi-"

The twins jumped to their feet and hi-fived each other as Roger's tongue immediately began to swell, growing to immense proportions in just a few seconds. Soon it was drooping out of his mouth, about to drag on the floor before Selene could blink. 

"Ton-tongue toffee!" the other twin, the one opposite Angelina, crowed, beaming widely at the display. "Give it just a few more moments and it should start shrinking."

Selene shook her head, giggling under her breath despite herself - although that was mostly at Roger's expense (at least, that was what she told herself). He looked honestly stupid, his tongue lolling and his eyes wide in shock and astonishment. If only she had a camera to hand to take a photo to show to all of his future conquests. 

But it didn't stop. Lee Jordan's eyes widened in terror, and both Angelina and Selene leaped to their feet, the former to shake the twins ferociously and the latter to grab Roger. "WHAT DID YOU DO?" Selene found herself yelling, her voice several octaves higher than it usually was, and much louder than she usually allowed it to be. "WEASLEYS! TELL ME HOW TO REVERSE THIS!"

"Shrink it!" Jordan yelled back, over the din of Angelina's scolding and Roger's choking noises. He was suffocating on his own tongue - in any other circumstance, Selene would have been doubled over in laughter. "You know how to do that, right?"

"Of course I fucking do, Jordan," Selene snarled, grabbing her wand and yelling the incantation at Roger's still growing tongue. She waited with bated breath, wand still outstretched, until his tongue slowly, surely, began to shrink and retreat back into his mouth. 

By the time the carriage quietened again, Selene was shaking, her hands trembling as she put her wand back into her pocket. She could hear that the twins were snickering now the danger was past, and Roger was cracking a smile despite his lucky escape.

"What the hell?" Selene whirled around, grabbing the nearest twin by the arm and yanking it harshly. "You could have killed him!"

"It was just a bit of fun, Malfoy," Roger said weakly from behind her, coughing into his sleeve. "They didn't know it would end like that-"

The twins' guilty faces told Selene all she needed to know. She glared, dropping the arm and walking back to the corridor in disgust. "Yes they did," she muttered, her hands still shaking in anger. "They knew it wasn't safe."

"We tested it on ourselves first," the twin Selene had grabbed said, trying to defend himself and his brother, but they were in too deep with the Ravenclaw girl now.

"Well that just proves you're even more moronic than I first thought!" she snapped, eyes narrowing as she assessed Roger Davies, who was still coughing. "Fifty- no, sixty Points from Gryffindor. Each!"

The twins spluttered, turning purple in their anger. "You can't do that!" one of them said in disbelief. "The competition hasn't even started yet!"

"And detention with Professor Snape," Selene snarled, grabbing Roger's arm. "You knew what you were doing. And you've been giving them out to the younger kids as well!"

To that, at least, the Weasley twins had the grace to look embarrassed and ashamed, even if they were still angry at their detentions and point losses. 

Selene took a deep breath and turned to Roger, who wasn't contesting her choice of punishment (although that might have been because he still was bent over coughing and spluttering, trying to get his breath back properly). "We need to get you checked out," she said quietly, pulling him out into the corridor and slamming the carriage door shut behind them, until it rattled in the frame.

"What crawled up her ass and died?" Angelina rolled her eyes in the direction of the carriage door, fixating her friends with an exasperated glare. "You really just had to go and piss her off before school even started, didn't you?"

"We really didn't know Davies was going to react like that," the twins had calmed down a little now, although Fred was now huffing and glaring out of the window, focusing on a spot on the horizon. "We thought we'd sorted out the issues."

"Still," Angelina sighed, leaning back in her seat and gazing at the ceiling of the carriage. "Now we're down 120 Points."

"We'll get her back for that," Fred spoke up now, his voice even, although George knew that behind it he was still angry at the Malfoy girl. "She's gone too far this time."

"She's never done anything to you before mate!" Lee pointed out, unwrapping a chocolate frog and popping it into his mouth. "She normally leaves you guys alone!"

"Too late," George smirked, reaching over and clapping Fred on the shoulder. "She'd better get ready for some Weasley-flavoured revenge."

Chapter Text

Later that evening...

With Roger patched up and checked for permanent injury, Selene could finally relax and focus on her upcoming sixth year at Hogwarts. As she'd been informed by her father, and alerted to in the Prefect's carriage, Hogwarts would be home to The Triwizard Tournament this year - a mistake if she'd ever heard one, and further proof that Albus Dumbledore was a crackpot. Yes, let's reorganise and hold a deadly tournament that had claimed many, many lives over its 700 plus year career. It hadn't been held since 1792, because of the high death toll, but doing it again 200 years later was a great idea, obviously. Even if her father spouted some absolute shite, his distaste for Dumbledore was becoming more and more true to life.

She was completely lost in her thoughts as she stepped from the train, pulling her robes up above her head to shield herself from the downpour of rain that was so endemic to Scotland. The glinting, welcoming lights of Hogwarts sparkled up ahead, but more tempting was the nearby carriage that Selene made for, speeding her pace up to grab it before anyone else could. 

"Hey!" 

Selene looked around, pausing her strides to allow the speaker to catch up with her, her expression softening at the person that approached. 

"Cedric," she greeted warmly, motioning to the carriage. "As much as I'd love to catch up here-"

"Yes, carriage," the Hufflepuff nodded briskly, speeding up himself and giving Selene's paces a run for their money. "It's tipping it down!"

Selene grinned, nodding at Cedric as he held the door open for her, climbing inside quickly and pulling her robe down again, smoothing down the wrinkles that appeared in this misuse. Her hair stuck up slightly, and she made to smooth it down, glancing in the window of the carriage to check on her progress in taming it. Her normal smooth, blonde hair was darkened slightly by the rain that had gotten to it, so she used a quick Ventus charm to aim a blast of warm air at it. 

"Me too," Cedric sat across from her, waiting for her to aim the spell in his direction before settling back into the seat. "Ah, that's better."

"How are you?" Selene pocketed her wand, leaning over to the door to open it again to allow a couple of Ravenclaw second years to join them. "Come in- Letty, isn't it? And Alfred?"

The two younger students nodded, and Selene smiled slightly, pulling her wand out again and aiming the spell in their direction, which they gratefully accepted. "Thanks!" Letty said cheerfully, settling back. "Hi Cedric!"

Cedric grinned and waved, which earned him a blush from Letty (and she, in turn, an elbow to the ribs from Alfred). "Nice hols?" he asked Selene, turning his attention back to her as the two younger students resumed their conversation.

"Can't complain," Selene shrugged, pulling up the sleeves of her robes to show off her tan. "I spent a couple of weeks in Marseille with Fleur and her family - Draco was spitting mad that he didn't get an invite."

"Looking good Malfoy," Cedric winked, chuckling at her responding eyeroll. "Don't give me that attitude! I saw you and Davies earlier - you guys back together?"

Selene scoffed, crossing one of her legs over the other and shaking her head quickly. "I would rather eat a Doxy," she shuddered at the thought of her ill-gotten relationship with her fellow Prefect. "There's a reason we split up, even if he does have a big-" she glanced at the kids, who were absorbed in a conversation about Quidditch. Even so, she gestured to the area in between her legs. "...you know."

Cedric guffawed, although his expression was gentle. "You're too pretty to be single, 'Lene," he noted, adjusting himself as the carriage began to move. 

"Don't call me that," Selene pulled a face at her old childhood nickname. "Okay, Ce-dick," Cedric winced at that nickname, and Selene laughed. "You forget that I'm not really in control of my life in that department."

Both being from Pureblood families, Cedric could appreciate the sentiment, but still grimaced. "Still don't get why your family insist on that old tradition," Selene shrugged, but he continued. "Isn't it a bit 1600s?"

"I'm perpetually single, Diggory," she pointed out, glancing out the window to look at the lake, and the sea of boats that floated the new first years across to the castle. "There are worse ways of getting laid."

Their conversation slowed, enjoying each other's company in their silence. The second years were still nattering about Quidditch and the World Cup, and Selene smiled softly as she overheard their conversation about Krum's Seeking tactics, and his epic Wronski Feint. 

Cedric looked at Selene then, and she knew what he was asking. She nodded, crossing her arms over her chest and grimacing. Tell you tomorrow, she mouthed, looking sideways at Letty and Alfred.

He nodded back, shooting her a look of sympathy, and Selene bit back a scowl. She didn't need his pity, and if it came down to it she didn't need his friendship either, although it was certainly appreciated. Childhood friends had to stick together, and she wasn't about to be going off rejecting him. 

"So!" Selene broke the silence after a while, seeing the castle near from the carriage window. "Cho Chang."

Cedric blushed slightly. "What of her?" he asked nonchalantly, but even in the half light Selene could see his reddening face. 

"She has quite the crush on you," Selene smirked as the blush deepened. "Should I encourage her?"

"I... I mean..." Cedric pushed a hand through his hair, not meeting his friend's piercing gaze. "If... If she wants to...?"

"I'll take that as a yes," Selene said, leaning forward triumphantly, patting his knee. "You two would make quite the striking couple."

"I guess," Cedric had more control over his words now, smiling at the second years as they opened the carriage door and ran up the castle steps to get safely out of the downpour. "I mean, we've got this Yule Ball this year."

"Ask her to that, there's a good boy," Selene patted his knee again, before climbing out of the carriage, allowing the rain to get to her out of pure laziness. 

"Maybe I wanted to ask you," Cedric quipped, jumping out and conjuring an umbrella from the tip of his wand. "Milady?" he asked, offering his arm to Selene.

"My lord," Selene took it, linking her arm with his. "And please don't, Cho would never forgive me."

By the time they made it to the Entrance Hall, there was a large puddle of water on the floor that nobody had bothered to clear up yet - probably because of Peeves, the Poltergeist, who was lobbing water balloons from atop a perch on one of the statues in the Hall.

"Already wet, aren't they?" he grinned down at the Entrance Hall and threw a water balloon at a few Second Years. "Little squirts!"

"I'm not dealing with that right now," Selene muttered to Cedric, who chuckled, and got rid of the umbrella. They unlinked arms, Selene instead smoothing down her robes again. "Oh! Professor!"

Professor McGonagall was ushering students into the Great Hall, looking increasingly peeved by the situation. She looked up as Selene approached, looking slightly calmer to see two high-ranking Prefects approach.

"Ah, lovely to see you Miss Malfoy, and Mr Diggory," McGonagall nodded approvingly, her mouth set in a thin line as she assessed the damage Peeves was doing to the dryness of both the Entrance Hall and various passing students. Selene was privately rather glad that the Transfiguration Professor was fair, knowing of her distaste for Slytherins (and therefore her brother and the rest of her family). Unlike Professor Snape, she didn't play favourites, and got along rather well with the Ravenclaw girl. "Ah- Diggory, could you-"

"On it Professor," Cedric smiled, waving his wand at the large puddle on the floor. It vanished, and McGonagall breathed an audible sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Diggory - remind me to give you five Points after the Cup starts," she smiled, gesturing to the Great Hall. "Ah, go in, the Feast is about to begin."

"About the Cup, Professor," Selene grimaced, remembering the earlier incident on the train. "There was an issue on the Hogwarts Express - the Weasley twins-"

McGonagall waved her off, her expression dropping again. "I should have known," she said grimly, sighing heavily. "Those boys- how many points?"

Selene paused, about to admit to McGonagall about the amount of points she'd deemed fit to deduct, but bit her tongue. "Fifty," she said, giving the Professor an apologetic smile. "And a detention."

"Very well," McGonagall nodded, waving the two Prefects away. "I'll see to it. Thanks for dealing with them, Miss Malfoy."

"Anytime, Professor McGonagall," Selene responded, although truthfully she would be a lot happier if the Weasley twins moved to a remote island in the Pacific Ocean and never saw her again. "I hope you had a good summer."

Professor McGonagall smiled once more, and gestured impatiently to the Great Hall. "Go on!" she said, before turning her attention to the other latecomers. "Mr Smethwick, please adjust your tie!"

The Great Hall, like for every Welcome Back Feast, was decorated in all of the Hogwarts colours - green, yellow, red and blue. Cedric waved at Selene as he set off to the Hufflepuff table, whilst Selene sat down in her usual place, around the middle of the blue and bronze table designated for the Ravenclaws. The ceiling was thundering, like it was outside, with flashes of magical forked lightning illuminating the twinkling stars and moon every few moments. 

"Finally!" Cho heaved a sigh of relief as she sat next to her friend, Marietta sitting across from them along with Leanne, a sixth-year Ravenclaw in Selene's dormitory. "Hit me with one of your Drying Charms! Quickly!"

Selene rolled her eyes but murmured the incantation again, directing the air flow to Cho, and then to her other two companions. After a few seconds, they were all dry, and looking no worse for wear, apart from some slightly frizzy hair and bedraggled looking eyeliner. Cho groaned, predictably, as she was rather attached to her (formerly) pristine hairstyle.

"It's going to be this frizzy all week," she predicted glumly, glancing over to her friend, and stifling a smile. "And I forgot to put my Frizz-Ease Hairspray in this morning. Um... Selene?"

"What?" Selene asked, casting another Drying Charm on her shoes, pulling one of them off to check for any water inside them. "I managed your robes, don't get cocky now."

Cho snorted, holding out a strand of her hair for inspection. "It looks like we've just been fucking in a bush," she said, with a smirk. "My hair is-" She fumbled in her bag, pulling out a small pocket mirror, examining her reflection. "...curly? Oh, this isn't good..."

"Thanks for doing the charm by the way Selene," Selene said drily, ignoring Cho's complaint. "You really helped me not catch hypothermia."

"No problem," Cho grinned, as she smoothed her hair down, muttering a couple of incantations to try and tame it. "How do you manage yours Selene??"

"Genetics," Selene sighed, thinking of her mother and father's almost identical hair - it wouldn't surprise her if they were distantly related, as was the custom in the Sacred Twenty-Eight. "And a lot of luck. How were your holidays Marietta?"

Cho and Marietta were two halves of possibly the girliest girls in the whole of Hogwarts, although you maybe wouldn't expect it from a pair of Ravenclaws. Selene wasn't sure how she had achieved their attention in their first year, but Cho apart from Marietta was perfectly lovely, even if Marietta was about as clever as Professor Snape's nose.

"I can do something about this," Marietta said quickly, pulling out a small bottle, seemingly out of nowhere. Cho leaned forward in anticipation. "Magical Anti-Frizz. My mother got it from Italy."

Cho quickly grabbed the bottle, turning it over in her hands a couple of times. "Can I really use this?" she asked, brow furrowing as she looked through the ingredients. "Fluxweed… This must have been really expensive!"

"Don't worry about it," Marietta waved a hand. "I don't mind. It's to share. I have plenty more at home."

This was how it always had been, and how it always would be. Selene tuned out of the conversation, instead resting her head in her hands and looking over the other tables. Ahead of her she could see the Slytherins, along with her younger brother - who, as always, wasn't looking in her direction. Selene rolled her eyes good-naturedly, knowing that he'd be Owling her for Charms help before the week was up. He was flanked by his two cronies slash best friends, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, who were the two bullies of their year. Draco really knew how to pick them.

Cedric was surrounded by all his Hufflepuff friends on their table, greeting them all with grins and hugs. Not for the first time, Selene noted that if they hadn't known one another as children then she would probably be pining for him, wanting him to ask her to the Yule Ball or take her on a date to Madame Puddifoots'. Urgh, the thought of that just made her groan inwardly. Cedric was attractive, yes, but she didn't like him in the same way that Cho did, by any means.

Then, the Gryffindors. Selene found her eyes drawn to the twins, for the first time, which surprised her somewhat. Having scoured the corridors of the Hogwarts Express for every one of their sweets, Selene's robe pockets were full of the offending Ton-Tongue Toffees, weighing her down. Maybe that was why she was gazing at them now, eyes slightly narrowed, trying to guess which one was Fred and which one was George. Not that it was important, but it would be useful for if an incident like that happened again and she had to recommend either of them to McGonagall for expulsion. 

"Ooooh," Cho dropped her voice, bringing her face in closer to Selene. "Who are you looking at?"

"Nobody," Selene shot back, sitting up straighter and trying to ignore her face, which she knew was getting warmer by the moment. "I'm just waiting for the food to arrive."

"Sure," Cho smirked, pointing her finger in the direction of where Selene had been looking. "Have you got a crush?"

"Definitely not," Selene insisted, rubbing her forehead with the back of her hand. "I'm just thinking about what I'm going to do with all of these sweets that I confiscated from the Weasley twins."

Cho's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but her surprise disappeared as soon as it appeared, replaced with a wide smile. "The Weasley twins, eh?" she snickered, ignoring her friend's glare. "I've heard they like screwing girls at the same time, if you know what I mean."

Selene groaned loudly, and shook her head. "I do not like them," she sighed. "They're a pain in my arse is what they are."

"Do you want them to be a pain anywhere else though?" Leanne asked cheekily, waggling her eyebrows. Selene glared, and gripped a fork in her left hand.

"I will stab you with this fork," she threatened, although the words were an empty threat. 

"A good crop this year," Cho remarked, over her lemon tart. "Do you reckon we'll be able to pull the House Cup this time around?"

Selene shrugged, half-absorbed in her thoughts about the Weasley twins and her possible ways to get retribution on them, from trying to ban them from Hogsmede, to confiscating their Zonko's products, to casting a spell that would make them shit themselves if they set foot in Zonko's at all...

"Maybe," she said idly, taking a last bite of the cake she'd selected for dessert. "Maybe if I get hold of their mother's address, I can tell her that they almost killed Davies."

"She's still thinking about the Weasley twins," Leanne stage-whispered, earning a loud giggle from Marietta. Selene sat up again, fixing her friend with a glare. "What? It's obvious!"

"You could at least pay a little attention," Cho said, just as the plates vanished, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet. "We were talking about whether we could win the House Cup this year. Gryffindor have won it way too many times-"

"So!" Dumbledore said, beaming around at them. "Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, whilst I give out a few notices."

Selene silently crossed her legs over, resting her head on her hands and looking over at the Headmaster. She dropped the fork that she'd been using to threaten Leanne with, and instead focused on not listening to her friends' inane ramblings. 

"Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs..."

Selene barely paid any attention, focusing instead on watching the Professors, wondering vaguely what they did on their holidays - Professor McGonagall was still looking rather rattled after the incident in the Entrance Hall. Maybe she had gone on a nice holiday to Barbados. She was looking rather tan. Snape, on the other hand, was still as pale as ever. It was like he'd holidayed in a Muggle freezer.

"...the inter-house Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

"What?" Roger Davies called out, a sound echoed by most members of all four Quidditch Teams. Selene sat up again in surprise. This she hadn't been aware of. Why were they swapping out Quidditch for a potentially life-threatening dick-measuring contest? 

She was not completely aware of the rules of the Tournament, or indeed the reason why it had been stopped (other than the whole people kept dying thing), but Selene was pretty sure that she wasn't going to enter. It sounded far too exciting. And she didn't really want the whole of Hogwarts to realise just how crap at fighting things she was. Too much attention, not her style - she was much happier just passing her N.E.W.Ts.

There was a deafening rumble of thunder, and Selene jumped. She would have fallen backwards if it hadn't been for Cho's swift intervention. The doors of the Great Hall banged open, and the room turned as one towards the latecomer.

A man stood in the doorway - a man that made Selene's stomach lurch unpleasantly. She knew who he was, alright, and by the looks of things most people did as well. Cho stifled a gasp as the man pulled his hood off his face, and Marietta clutched the table for support.

As the man began to limp towards Dumbledore, his right leg clunking every time it hit the flagstones, there was a flash of lightning that threw the man's facial features into illumination. As he passed Selene, his normal, dark eye flickered to her for a meaningful second, before snapping to the front again. His larger eye rolled around as he moved past, exposing white rather than electric blue, and Selene could tell that he was staring at her.

The ex-Auror Alastor Moody reached Professor Dumbledore and stretched out a scarred hand. Then he stomped over to the empty seat, shaking out his mane of dark grey hair and pulling a plate of sausages towards him.

"Is that who I think it is?" Cho asked breathlessly, her brown eyes as round as saucers.

Selene only nodded, concentrating fully on looking anywhere but at the newcomer, despite feeling like he was staring right at her with both his magical and non-magical eye. Moody had been the one to almost catch her father, and he was no doubt incensed that Lucius had gotten away with it. 

"May I introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," Dumbledore said brightly, into the silence. "Professor Moody."

Selene brought her hands together to clap, but quickly changed her mind when Moody's blue eye whirled to the side, resting on her for a measured moment. She flinched, meeting his gaze for a moment before looking away quickly as her stomach lurched again.

"Now- as I was saying," Dumbledore continued, and everyone's gazes snapped to him once again. "Hogwarts has the honour of hosting a very special event this year, one that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"You're JOKING!" someone said loudly, and the tension in the room suddenly broke. Selene laughed, shaking her head, looking at the reactions of Leanne and Marietta, both of which hadn't been in the Prefect carriage to find out this tidbit of information earlier.

"I am not joking, Mr Weasley," Dumbledore chuckled. "Although, now you mention it, I did hear and excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag and a leprechaun who all go into a bar-"

"That's impossible," Cho cut in, as McGonagall cleared her throat to cut Dumbledore off. "Hags and Trolls are notoriously elusive, and Leprechauns have been banned from all Wizard-built buildings since the 1400's."

"I know- didn't the Leprechauns at the World Cup have to get special permission?" Selene asked, her attention wandering.

"The Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore began. "Was first established some seven hundred years ago, as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry - Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the Tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young wizards and witches of different nationalities - until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the Tournament was discontinued."

Selene shuddered, wishing a little that the Wizarding World could come up with something a little safer for once, like a nice chess game. She had been in the Hogwarts Chess Club since her fourth year, and had improved tremendously.

"I'm not going to enter," Cho said, in a low voice. "No system is foolproof." she added.

Not even the mention of the glory (the prize money meant nothing to Selene, as she came from a family that could bathe in a thousand Galleons if they wished) could persuade Selene to enter. She was happy being under the radar, keeping herself to herself.

But her brother was sure to want to enter. Glory appealed to his very nature, and if he had a chance of getting in he would definitely try.

"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," Dumbledore was saying, and Selene raised an eyebrow. "The Heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age - that is to say, seventeen years of age or older - will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration."

"Thank goodness," Selene exhaled, thinking of her brother. She glanced over to where Draco was sitting, just to check on him, and smiled fondly as she saw him, obviously complaining to Crabbe and Goyle. Well, at least he wasn't going to be able to kill himself this year, he would just have to focus on his stupid rivalry with Harry Potter.

"You weren't thinking of entering, were you?" Cho asked, smirking at Selene's annoyed expression. "Just kidding, sorry. Don't stab me with the butter knife. This is a brand new robe!"

Selene just shook her head, turning back to Professor Dumbledore in time to hear the latter half of his next, short speech.

"And now, it is late, and I know how important it is for you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!"

As a Prefect, it was Selene's job to help get the new First Years up the stairs to the Ravenclaw Tower, but as she made to motion the eleven year olds up the main staircase, she found herself being pulled back momentarily. 

"What is it?" she said moodily, putting her hands on her hips as she turned around to address her way layer. To her surprise, it was a Weasley twin - although which one it was, she had no idea.

"Thanks for only taking fifty points, Malfoy," the twin grinned, using his small amount of height on her to his advantage. "I'd watch out though."

Selene sighed, rolling her eyes, but let her arms drop to her sides. "Watch out for what?" she said with exasperation, raising her eyebrows. "I'm not scared of your pranks, Weasley. They are excessively juvenile."

"Are you sure about that?" The twin smirked, moving away from Selene quickly. The Ravenclaw girl started, feeling a sense of dread for a moment. She started to move towards the twin again, opening her mouth to shout something at him - maybe a curse word, or maybe a hex at his expense, but was interrupted by an intense wet feeling dripping from her head, all the way down to her toes.

The twin burst out into laughter as a series of water balloons exploded over Selene's head, dousing her in green paint. "Look out for that!" he chortled, high-fiving his double, who ran across to him from behind Selene - where he'd clearly been enchanting the balloons to hover above her. 

"You look good in green, Malfoy!" the other twin grinned. "Just like your daddy, where you belong."

Selene breathed in, and out, trying to gather her thoughts and her rage. She opened and closed her mouth, trying to find words to adequately express her anger, but felt the paint drip onto her tongue. She retched, ignoring the new chorus of laughs from around her, and instead turned and raced up the stairs, not trusting herself to act like an adult in the face of such utter brats. She didn't answer Cho's calls after her, and focused on getting into her dormitory, and then into the shower, where she turned up the heat on the water and washed away the paint, fists clenched, and holding back the tears that threatened to fall.

Just like your daddy, where you belong.