A/N: Tori, Kat and Laoren belong to my friends and i have permission to use them in my story.
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          The weeks went by quickly enough at Hogwarts that I didn’t worry too much about my family. I’d not received any more mail from my family, I was saddened and grateful for this. Saddened as I knew my house had added to my status as the black sheep, grateful as I haven’t received any more howlers. I’ve been spending a lot of time with Kat, Tori and Laoren. Not all my time though, the Weasley twins Fred and George have been asking me for my ideas with pranks. Most weekends I spent Saturdays with Tori, Kat and Laoren, including today.

          We spent the morning looking for a suitable place to hang out. We tried the library first but Hermione, Laoren’s twin, was in there with Harry and Ron (Kat’s twin) and both Laoren and Kat seemed not to want to be near their twins. We tried the great hall, but some third years were having a Wizards duel. We went back to the common room but some silly fifth years were going boy crazy. We eventually end up at the lake under one of the massive trees. We thought about trying the Quidditch pitch but we could see that Hufflepuff was practicing.

          Kat was the first one to sit down and relax, sighing.

          “Tori, I think you're the lucky one of the group here.”

          “Why's that?” asked Tori, brushing off her skirt before she sat down.

          “You haven't got any siblings to worry about!”

          “Yes I do!”

          “What?”

          We all looked at Tori eagerly. She always avoided talking about her family, so we’re not going to miss this piece of information. I rolled my eyes at Kat's surprised expression, we all knew that there was a lot Tori never told us.

          “Come on, Kat, it's not surprising she has a mystery sibling, we know nothing about her family.”

          “Tell us, Tori, Please!” urged Kat.

           Tori looked nervous and her cheeks were red. She sighed and said “Alright.”

          “Go on!”

          “I've got a brother.”

          “What's he like?”

          “Over shadowing.” Tori said a little bitterly “He outshines me constantly in almost every way.”

          “Sounds like my brother.” I sighed sadly, I knew how difficult it was to be the sibling that isn’t in the family’s spotlight.

          “Oh dear...” Lauren says “Speaking of your brother...”

          “What?” I look around and see my brother.

           “Hey Lisa!” he shouted confidently.

           I shook my head. “This can't be good.” I waited till my brother came up to the group.

          “Still hanging with these losers?”

          “In fact, I am. I, unlike you, have genuine friends.”

          “I have friends, Lisa.” he laughed, all the while looking down his nose at us “Good friends who aren't blood-traitors and the like.”
 
          “No, Draco, you have dim-witted followers who are obsessed with you because to them you are the embodiment of the ultimate Slytherin.” 

          He looked pleased with that.  Amazing, instead of being insulted, he seemed to think it was a compliment.

           “I got a letter from mother and father this morning.” Draco said smugly.
This saddened me. I knew my parents were happy with Draco, but I didn't know he was getting mail when I wasn't.

           “They're not happy with you, Lisa.”

           “I know.”

           “At all. Count yourself lucky if they even let you come home at the end of the school year.”

           I finally stood up in front of him. I'd almost forgotten I was about as tall as him. 

           That fact made me feel a little more confident.
 
          “If they didn't let me come home, it would be a blessing.”

          “Where would you go?” Draco smirked.

          “I don't know and I wouldn't care. In a rubbish bin with a family of cockroaches would be more welcoming than home.”

          Kat and Laoren stood up, too.

          “Lisa, if you ever needed to, you'd be welcome at my house.” said Kat, glaring at Draco.

           “Mine too.” Lauren added.

           Draco threw his head back and gave an almost mad cackle.

          “That'd be just fitting! Go live with them! The Weasley house practically IS a rubbish bin!”

          At this point I felt very inclined to hex him, thankfully Laoren stepped in before I got the chance.

          “Hey Draco.” Laoren said assertively. “You know those friends you think you have? Go play with them. You don't want to be seen with the likes of us anyway, do you?”

          “You're right.” he said cockily “I feel dirty as it is just being here.”

          He left us be after that and went back the way he came.

          “I'm so sorry guys.” I said. I was quite upset, but I didn’t want to cry in front of my friends.

          “It's not your fault he's a terrible person.” said Kat.

          “We're used to it by now anyway.” added Tori.

           “Shall we get some lunch?” asked Laoren in a forced cheery tone.

          “Yes!!” exclaimed Kat. 

          “I could do with a pudding or something.” said Tori.

          “Alright, let's go.”

           Half way to the castle, I stopped walking, causing the others to stop and look back at me.

          “What's up?” asked Kat.

          “I think I’m gonna go for a walk to calm down, I’ll catch up with you guys at dinner.” I say.

          “Alright... Just don't starve yourself. Eat if you get hungry.”

          I tried to smile at my friends to make them think that it was anger that I was trying to hide, but I wasn't sure if it worked.

           I walk to my favourite spot in the castle, it’s the astronomy tower, I’ve never been afraid of heights and the view of the grounds is amazing. I sit against one of the walls and cry, after about five minutes I feel better and I hear footsteps on the stairs.

          “Lisa, you ok?” George’s voice calls out

          “How’d you know I was here” I reply, surprised that he’d found me.

          “We have a special map that tells us where everyone is in the castle,” Fred says as he comes in the door. “But I must swear you to secrecy on that.”

          “I swear. So that’s how you manage to appear and disappear around the castle so easily?” 

          “Yep” George says grinning.

          “Want to talk about what upset you this time?” Fred asks

           “My brother and my family don’t want me around anymore.” tears are starting to flow again

          “Don't worry about them, Lise.” says Fred.

          “You're a part of our family now.” they say in unison, both pulling me into a bear hug.

          “What do you think of this?” they both show off a firework each. We spend the rest of the afternoon coming up with more designs.

           I caught up with the other group at dinner, feeling a bit better. That night in the dormitory, we talked a lot, and did it loudly. Our other dorm-mates were down in the common room getting advice about boys from some older girls. Apart from Hermione, who was probably in the library. Kat threw a Bertie Bott's every flavour bean at Tori. It hit her in the eye and she frowned, then threw it back.

          “You're meant to eat it!” laughed Kat, throwing it back again.

          “One, I’m not participating in this childishness, and secondly, I’m not eating any manky bean you throw at me.”

           Tori levitated the bean with her wand away from her. Kat caught it with her own, “Wingarduim Leviosa” and they battled to make it go the other way.

          “You know,” Laoren said to me I was seated on the floor next to her bed “We could write Draco a letter, pretend it's from your parents, and have it say how disappointed they are in him.”

          I raised my eyebrow at her “You have been hanging around Kat way too much, she's rubbing off on you.”

          At that moment, Hermione practically burst through the door. She walked over to her bed without a word to any of us.

          “Hi Hermione.” Laoren said in an exaggerated tone.

          “Hello Laoren.”

           “Do you... want to talk?”

          “No, I think I’ll just read a bit then go to sleep.”

          “Well, what if I want to talk to you?”

          “Can it wait?”

          “Come on, surely you can sacrifice your pre-sleep reading time for your sister.”
Hermione said nothing, but looked at Laoren with an expression that I couldn't decipher. I was sure Laoren knew what it meant.

          “You know what? Forget it.” Laoren said irritatedly “If you don't need me then I don't need you either.”

          “You're being totally unreasonable.”

          “Really? Me?” Laoren seemed shocked, obviously seeing Hermione as the unreasonable one.

          We looked on, quite surprised. We'd never seen them fight like this before. The rest of the night was spent being very quiet so as to not disturb Hermione. Laoren just ended up helping us with homework, and then we wrote a mock-up nasty letter to Draco from his “parents”, which we never sent.

           I think Laoren and I were the last to fall asleep, we both had sibling trouble on our minds and that often keeps people awake. 

           When I eventually wake up the morning after the sorting I’m the second last to wake. I try to wake Kat by calling her name, she just rolls over and stays asleep. I get dressed quickly and head down to the great hall, just as I open the doors I see that the mail is arriving. Then what I dread shows up, the family owl is flying my way with a red envelope in her beak, one I immediately recognize as a Howler. I catch the envelope and run outside, I don’t want the entire school hearing my Mother or Father yell at me, as soon as I’m out of earshot of anyone I open it, I know it’s worse if you try to ignore it.

          “LISA IRIS MALFOY! HOW DARE YOU BE SORTED INTO ANY OTHER HOUSE THAN SLYTHERIN! YOU WILL GO TO THE HEADMASTER NOW AND BE RE-SORTED INTO SLYTHERIN! IF YOU DO NOT DO THIS YOU WILL NOT BE WELCOME BACK HOME DURING THE HOLIDAYS” my Mother’s voice screeches from the envelope. I find a large tree to sit under near the lake and start to cry.

           “What’s this? A Gryffindor crying on the first day of classes?” A boy’s voice calls out.

          “How about we try and cheer her up?” a similar voice asks. I look up and see the Weasley twins looking at me.

          “What’s your name? I’m George, and this is Fred.” the first twin says.

          “What’s that behind your ear?” Fred asks. I put my up to my ear and feel nothing behind it.

          “I don’t feel anything there. Oh, I’m Lisa” I reply.

           “Here.” Fred says pulling a Knut out from behind my ear. I’d read about that muggle magic trick and I can’t help but smile.

          “You know about muggle magic too?” I ask surprised, not many wizards would know muggle magic.

          “You bet!” George replies smiling. “Have you seen this one?” George shows me the one knut in one hand,  pretends to take it into the other hand, shows that hand as open and empty, pretends to blow his nose with the first hand and the knut drops into the open hand.

          “Yeah I do, the coin never left your first hand” I start to giggle, I feel a little better now.

          I suddenly realize that it’s almost time that I should be at class.  “I’ve got class now, I don’t want to be late.”

          “We’ll take you” George starts.

          “We know all the shortcuts.” Fred finishes. The twins then lead me through the corridors and soon I’m outside the classroom. I’m the second to arrive, Laoren was already there with Hermione.

          “Did you get breakfast?”

          I shake my head and she swiftly hands me a small parcel in brown paper. I peer under the edge of the paper and see toast.

          “I grabbed some just in case.”

          “Thanks.” I smile gratefully, suddenly realising how hungry I am.

          “Unfortunately I didn't think to get any butter or jam.”

          “That's alright.”

          “Catch you later then, Lisa.” says Fred.

           “Have a good first lesson!” says George, and they wave goodbye to me before walking away.

          I try to wave back, but they've already turned around and don't see.
Kat, Tori and Lavender show up almost late. As we walk into class, Laoren sneaks them some toast.

           The first week flew by, and I had a lot fun, I knew that it would be a lot of theory before we even get to using magic. The only class that we had practical lesson in the first week was potions. Professor Snape was horrible to Harry, and praised my brother endlessly.

          Of course, we had astronomy at midnight. Professor Sinistra seemed pleased when we entered the astronomy tower on Wednesday night.

          “Oh, you've all got your uniforms on! Well done! Usually I get half a class still in their pyjamas.”

          It was difficult to concentrate considering I hadn’t slept since that morning, I managed to scribble down the positions of the stars.

          The whole first week of school went by really quickly and the letter from my mother was mostly forgotten. By the end of the week I’d made some new friends.

           I didn’t get to see Draco much, but I’m sure that I’ll get to see him properly sometime soon.  He hangs out with two guys that I really don’t like, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. I think Draco only likes them because they're a bit dim and he can boss them around.  The first of my new friends is Laoren Granger. She can be a bit of a know–it–all, but it comes in handy sometimes, plus she's not as bad as Hermione in that way, and is usually perfectly friendly. She’s a muggle-born but I don’t think any less of her (like my family would). She has brown hair that never co-operates with her.

          Next is Kat, she is the most fun of our group, she is much like her twin - always there if you need a laugh or to be cheered up. She has bright ginger hair and lots of freckles, and she's fairly pretty.

          Finally there’s Tori. She has sleek red hair, few freckles and hazel eyes. She’s very pretty and talkative so long as you don’t try to talk about her family. Harry, Ron and Hermione occasionally hang out with us but usually we are two separate groups.

           We wait on the beach for a few minutes. Neville holds Trevor tightly and everyone is chatting.

          “Firs' years, Professor McGonagall.” says Hagrid.

          “Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here.” a stern looking middle aged professor says.

           She leads us up to the door and we follow her inside. She turns to face us.  She welcomes us and explains that we are to be sorted into our houses before a banquet. A few students begin chatting, and one girl in particular whispers profusely to her sister about all the spells they've learnt.  Draco nudges me and I look at him.

          “See that boy there?” he says nodding in the direction of a dark-haired boy.

          “What about him?”

           “That's Harry Potter?”

          “Really?”

          “Yeah. I met him on the train. He's not someone we ought to hang around.”

          “I think i'll wait to meet him and make that judgement for myself.”

          “I'm serious, Lisa, he's already made friends with that Weasley, I already made it clear to them what I thought of them.”

          I frown at him and feel ashamed of what he might have said and how he would have behaved.

          “Why do you do that? Why do you have to be so rude?”

           Before he can reply, Professor McGonagall comes back in.

          “Move along now, The Sorting Ceremony's about to start. Now form a line and follow me.”

          We do as she says and follow her through to a large room filled with students already seated.  I look up to the ceiling, it appears not to be there and all I see is the starry sky with a few clouds.

          “It's bewitched to look like the sky outside, I read about it in Hogwarts: A History.” a girl whispers from in front of me. We walk up to the front of the hall to see an old, worn and wrinkled wizard’s hat. After we’ve spread out in front of the hat, a rip near the brim opens and the hat starts to sing.

                   “Oh you may not think I’m pretty,
           But don’t judge on what you see,
           I’ll eat myself if you can find
           A smarter hat than me.
                   You can keep your bowlers black,
           Your top hats sleek and tall,
           For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
           And I can cap them All.
                   There’s nothing in your head
           The Sorting Hat can’t see,
           So try me on and I will tell you
           Where you ought to be.
                   You might belong in Gryffindor,
           Where dwell the brave at heart,
           Their daring, nerve and chivalry
           Set Gryffindors apart;
                   You might belong in Hufflepuff,
           Where they are just and loyal,
           Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
           And unafraid of toil;
                   Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
           If you’ve a ready mind,
           Where those of wit and learning,
           Will always find their kind;
                  Or perhaps in Slytherin
           You’ll make real friends,
           Those cunning folk use any means
           To achieve their ends.
                   So put me on! Don’t be afraid!
           And don’t get in a flap!
           You’re in safe hands (though I have none)
           For I’m a thinking cap!”

           When the hat finishes singing the students and teachers all break into applause. Professor McGonagall then stands behind the stool that the sorting hat is on.

          “When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted. Abbot, Hannah!”

          Hannah was the first to be sorted. After a while the hat shouted “Hufflepuff” the house to the right of the centre aisle applauds and Hanna goes to join them. As more names are called out the hat takes varying lengths of time to decide what house to put them in.

          “Granger, Hermione” Professor McGonagall calls. The girl who was talking about the ceiling walks up and puts on the hat, a short while later the hat calls out “Gryffindor” the table to the far left cheers and Hermione goes and sits with them.

          “Granger Lauren” is next and the girl looks almost identical to Hermione goes up and puts the hat on. It also calls out “Gryffindor.” The girl goes and sits next to her sister. More names are called and then-- “Malfoy, Draco” is called. 
          My brother struts up to the hat and it barely touches his head when the hat yells out “Slytherin.” The far right table cheers and he goes and sits with them

           “Malfoy, Lisa” my name is called out and I’m terrified of each outcome. Half of me wants to be in Slytherin to make my parents happy and half of me knows that I don’t belong there. I place the hat on my head.
           “Lisa Malfoy, I see that you do not think you will fit in with Slytherin. Well then I guess we’d better find a better house for you. You’re smart, that’s easy to see. I know where to put you.”  The hat pauses for a second and I grip the stool tightly “Gryffindor.” 
          I walk over to the Gryffindor table in shock. I sit next to Laoren and a red headed prefect. I look over to the Slytherin table on the far side, they all appear shocked and my brother looks horrified.

           “Hello.” The girl sitting next to me says “I'm Laoren.”

          “I'm Lisa.”

          “Nice to meet you.”

          “Likewise.”

          More names get called out. Then “Parker, Victoria” gets called out then and a very pretty red headed girl walks up to be sorted. The hat quickly yells out “Gryffindor” and Victoria comes and joins us. Next “Potter, Harry” gets called. I see the boy who Draco was being mean to walk up and put the hat on. The hat takes the longest amount of time to sort him, then it yells “Gryffindor.” He walks over to our table as the Weasley twins, you could tell they’re Weasley’s from their hair, catcall “We got potter, we got potter!”

          As he walks past me I touch his arm to get his attention.

          “I’m sorry my brother was rude to you earlier.” I apologise

          “Uh...That's alright. Thanks.” he replies and sits down.

          As more people get sorted the number of people left gets smaller. We end up at “Weasley, Katerina” her twin brother “Weasley Ronald” who was the boy who laughed at my brother’s name. They both became Gryffindors and the last person to be sorted was a “Zabini, Blaise” who became a Slytherin.

           “Welcome!” Dumbledore says “Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin out banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here the are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!”


          I can’t help but smile at the silliness of the headmaster. The plates fill up and the room goes quieter as people eat as much as they can, I look again over to my brother, he looks back and it’s quite clear that he’s disappointed in me. I suddenly lose my appetite and start playing with my food.

          After dinner we’re instructed to follow our prefects back to the dormitory. Our Prefect was Percy Weasley, whom I assumed to be the older brother of Katerina and Ronald, as he had the same red hair as them and Weasley isn’t a common name in the wizarding world. We all follow Percy to the seventh floor where he says the password to the portrait of the fat-lady. The portrait swings open and he tells us where our dorms are located.

           As soon as we got in the door, a girl dove for a bed and yelled “This one's mine!”
Another rolled her eyes at the first girl.

          “Actually I think you'll find the beds have already been appointed. Look for the one with your luggage next to it.”  The second girl replied.

          We all look around and find out luggage. The order ended up Starting on the left side of the door, it went Parvati Patil, Kat Weasley, Hermione Granger, Laoren granger, me (I ended up in the middle for some reason), Victoria Parker, Fay Dunbar, Lavender Brown and 'Kellah'.

           Parvati suggested we all introduce ourselves, which was straight away rejected by a girl who's trunk just said 'Kellah'. It didn’t seem that all of us were going to get along. Laoren and Katerina start talking. And after a while I close the hangings and stare at the canopy of my bed. I was dreading the morning post tomorrow because I know my brother will have told them all about the sorting. You’d think they’d be happy that their daughter was true to herself but all they care about is the family image. After a while there is no sound from the room and I know that everyone has probably fallen asleep. I open the hangings and walk over to the window. I stare at the stars for about an hour, then I fall back on my bed. Too tired to worry anymore, I quickly fall asleep.

Disclaimer Lisa is my own character and Laoren is Thelky’s everything else belongs to JK Rowling.
This is Laoren’s story. It runs parallel to Lisa’s.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7312243/1/Accio_Brains
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          The Whistle blows and we climb aboard the train. We wander about halfway down the hallway before he turns to me.

          “You wanna sit with me? Or find your own place?” Draco asks.

          “I think I’d prefer to make my own friends” I reply, I can see that he wants to be independent and when I say it he looks relieved.

          “I’ll see you at school then.” He says and surprises me with a hug. He hasn’t hugged me since I was eight, I’ve always hugged him.

          “Thanks Draco, I’m guessing you’ll pick Slytherin?” I ask, not wanting the hug to end.

          “Yeah, what other house would I go in? What house will you pick?” he replies stepping away from me.

          “I’m not sure, but I don’t think I’d fit in with Slytherin.” I sigh. We’ve had this discussion many times before.

          “You do realize that mum and dad may disown you if you’re not sorted into Slytherin.” He says trying to change my mind again.

          “I know, but I’m not like you, mum or even dad. If it wasn’t for the fact that I have the same grey eyes and blond hair as you and dad I’d swear I was adopted.” Once again I was repeating myself but I don’t think he understands how out of place and alone I feel sometimes. I walk away because I don’t want him to see me cry. I haven’t cried in front of my family since my father said crying was childish.

           I find the nearest empty room and let the tears flow. After a while a small chubby boy walks in.

          “Um... A-Are you ok?” he asks me.

          “Fine, I’m just…..” I wipe the tears away, not sure what to say.

          “Is it ok if I sit here?” the boy asks politely.

          “Sure go ahead, there’s plenty of room. I'm Lisa by the way.” I thought that I’d be polite and introduce myself.

          “I’m Neville” he says sitting down opposite me. “I’m glad I got accepted into Hogwarts. My gran thought I might not get in. She thought I might be a squib.” The boy looks around the compartment. Then a look of horror appears on his round face.

          “What’s wrong?” I ask, wondering if he knows what family I’m from and if that’s caused the horror.

          “I’ve lost Trevor! My toad! Could you stay here in case he comes back?” he asks worriedly.

          “Yeah, I’ll stay.” I say and return to looking out the window.

           I change into my robes halfway through the train ride. Soon after, Neville comes back and I wait outside while he gets into his robes. He then opens the door.

          “I’m dressed now, you can come back in” he calls and I walk back in. We talk about magic and what we would like to learn at Hogwarts.

          “I really like plants, so I think i'll like Herbology.” Neville says.

          “Cool, I think I’d like to learn potions and maybe transfiguration, though it's said to be difficult.” I reply. The time passes by quickly with the conversation and after a while we arrive at Hogsmeade Station.

           “Firs’ years this way.” The giant known as Hagrid calls out. Neville and I make our way over to him. He leads us to the boats

          “Everyone into the boats, three to a boat.” Hagrid instructs. Neville and I get a boat to ourselves as the number of students isn’t enough for every boat to be full. The boats then move off on their own accord as they are guided by magic. We arrive at a small beach and Hagrid calls out. “Hey Neville, is that your toad?”

          “Trevor!” Neville jumps out of the boat and scoops up his toad.

Disclaimer: anything you recognise i do not own. Lisa is my character though :)
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          "Miss, Miss, Miss, it's time to wake up." a squeaky voice wakes me from my sleep.

          "Dobby... Can't I sleep some more?" I mumble groggily, not even opening my eyes.

           "Miss, if you don't wake up you'll miss the train to Hogwarts." Dobby replies gently shaking my shoulder. I'm awake immediately, I've been thinking about today ever since I got my acceptance letter to Hogwarts.

           "Thanks Dobby, you go start breakfast, I'll go wake my brother." Draco unfortunately has a tendency to hit Dobby whenever Dobby goes to wake him up. "By the way Dobby, I have a name, it's Lisa. Please use it."

           "Thanks for waking Master Draco up, Miss." Dobby says, ignoring my request again.
He leaves the room before I can ask him to call me by my name again. I get dressed into normal clothes as I'll change into the school robes on the train, I head into my brother's room and shut the door.

           "Draco wake up." I say, he just mumbles incoherently into his pillow. "DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY! WAKE UP NOW OR YOU WILL MISS THE TRAIN TO HOGWARTS!" I yell as loudly as possible. Father had soundproofed our rooms years ago when my brother and I used to yell at each other daily. We'd fight like cats and dogs, we don't fight as often now, we're too excited about Hogwarts to think about anything else.

           "Is it the first of September already?" my brother mumbles with his face still in the pillow.

           "Yes, now get up and dressed, I'm going to breakfast" I say as I walk out of his room.

           I enter the dining room and neither Mother nor Father acknowledges my presence. "Morning Mother, morning Father." I say as I sit down, I don't get a response from Father, but I wasn't expecting one. He's clearly terrified I won't be in Slytherin and has been for a while now. Mother looks up briefly and says quietly "Morning Dear."
Draco was the golden boy, he could do no wrong. Sometimes I get the feeling my parents wish that my twin was the only one born.

           "Morning Mum, Dad." my brother says as he enters the room.

            "Morning Son," Father says looking up from the Daily Prophet.

           "Morning Draco, did you sleep well?" Mother asks affectionately.

           "Fine, mum." My brother says as he sits down. Dobby comes in with Father's breakfast first, and then Mothers then Draco's then mine. That was the order he had to bring out everything, Father first as the head of the family, mine last as I'm the black mark in the family. I refuse to be snobby and pull the 'I'm pure blooded, that makes me superior' thing. Dobby then brings out coffee for mother and father, orange juice for Draco and tea for me.

          After breakfast we use the floo network to get near the train station. I hold my new cat Snowflake's carry cage tightly as I travel, I don't want to lose her. We walk the final distance to the train station. As we enter kings cross station it's packed with people, we make our way over to platforms nine and ten.

           "Now, to get onto the platform you just have to walk through the barrier. It makes it easier if you do it quickly. I'll go first to show you." Mother says and walks towards the barrier, then disappears.

           "Go on Draco, you first." Father says. Draco half runs at the barrier then disappears.

           I straighten Snowflake's carry cage so it's secure on top and quickly follow Draco through the wall to save Father the awkwardness of not wanting to speak to me.
           The moment I get though, i'm struck by the sight of a glorious red steam train, and the platform is packed with witches and wizards seeing off their children.

           Father finally emerges through the wall and turns to Draco and I, "Do behave yourselves. I don't want any disappointments." He says, looking pointedly at me.

           "Make sure you write to us and tell us how the sorting goes." Says Mother as she starts walking us toward the train.

           Draco steps onto the train eagerly, bumping Snowflake's cage on the way past.

           "Draco, wait." Mother says. Draco looks back at her with a look of annoyance. "You haven't said goodbye yet." Ever since we got our letters from Hogwarts, Draco has been feeling a lot more grown up, and gets very annoyed with the fact that mum still treats him like a little boy. Mother signals at the both of us for a hug. Draco rolls his eyes and slowly walks back off the train, but I don't hesitate for a second to take advantage of the rare opportunity.