PROLOGUE

Stuck in the middle of young wizards and witches pushing their way past each other on a cramped train station platform was not how Elladora imagined her first Hogwarts train ride to be like.

Her mother, Cassiopeia Hargreaves, had a firm grip on her shoulder, digging her fingers into a previous bruise that the young girl had gotten the night before from being put in the torture chamber, as she liked to call it.

"Stand up straight Elladora." Cassiopeia ordered, pulling her daughters shoulder back so she was stood with delicate posture. She tried to ignore that she was yanking on her high ponytail whilst pulling her shoulders up, but it was painful.

"Mother, you're pulling my hair." Elladora told her quietly, afraid of the reaction she might get since she was constantly ridiculed or punished for talking back, especially to her parents.

"Do I look like I care?" The older woman hissed, pulling the ponytail again on purpose this time. Elladora winced and showed the small emotion of pain for a split-second until it was quickly turned back into a straight face, void of emotion.

"Okay, on the train. Remember, the only people that matter is yourself and pure-bloods." She reminded the girl, pushing her to one of the entrances to the crimson train. This is how Elladora got taught all of her life, she had never had any interaction with anybody except her parents, her house elf, Ollivander and Madam Malkin.

The small girl nodded and picked up her trunk in one hand, having an owl cage in the other. Like most things in the grand Hargreaves mansion, it was a black barn owl and dare she say, rather ugly.

Turning around to say goodbye to her mother, she realised that the grip on her shoulders had gone and so had the woman. The woman who had taught her to be strong and somewhat fearless.

She took a deep breath and put one foot on the train, heaving her trunk up onto it as well as her owl. Avoiding people as best as possible, she found an empty compartment and slipped in, picking up her trunk and pushing it onto the overhead shelf.

The owl made a hooting noise which caused her to look at it. Elladora edged closer and closer to the bird, wanting to take in all its glory. It stayed silent whilst it watched the girl approach it, only making a loud hoot when she placed a hand on the cage.

She let out a frightened yelp and stumbled back onto the seat before glaring at the owl and sitting up, having perfect posture, just like she had always been taught.

•*•*•*•*•

The ride to Hogwarts was slow and excruciatingly painful, no one had come to sit with her and in a way she was quite glad. Her severe lack of social skills would probably prevent her from having any friends. People would pass by the compartment plenty of times but never take refuge in it. A redhead girl and a boy with long black hair has been past twice. The second time they both had agitated looks on their faces.

With a jolt, the Hogwarts Express started to slow down and eventually stopped all together. Taking that as a sign that they had arrived, Elladora got her trunk down from the overhead shelf and picked up her owl.

Just as she opened her compartment door, two boys ran past in a flurry of excitement, one had short brownish-blackish hair with round glasses and the other had mid-length curly black hair and piercing grey eyes that could be seen in even the darkest of rooms.

When nobody was walking past her compartment anymore, she slipped out and put her trunk and owl where everybody else's was. The owl once again hooted loudly at her, making her back away from the animal.

"Firs' years o'er here! Firs' years this way!" A burly voice accompanied by a large body called out, the man was obviously a half-giant.

Being a first year, it would only be logical for Elladora to follow the man. He led her and a bunch of other students to a large lake where multiple boats sat on the surface, the rule was four in a boat, meaning that everyone paired up with the people they met on the train, leaving Elladora to herself.

"Ye okay?" The man appeared next to her now, towering over her like a skyscraper. She nodded in response and continued to look around at the boats, where they were filled with bouncing eleven year-olds.

"Ah, no boats. Come wit' me." He understood and led her to a bigger boat which he climbed in and made room for her to sit, she hesitantly did so and sat on the edge of the wooden seat with a good posture, staring ahead.

As they turned a corner of the lake, a large castle came into the view, the candlelight from the windows shining out onto the water and onto the students faces. Boys and girls alike had their mouths agape and were marvelling at the stone building whereas Elladora just stared at it, her eyes were brightening up no doubt.

"It's a beaut, huh?" The large man looked back at the young girl, smiling at how attracted her eyes were to the castle. She merely hummed in response and moved up the small boat, next to them were the two boys who had rushed past her compartment, laughing whilst rocking the boat. A boy with sandy hair and scars on his face sat next to them trying to fight off a smile.

The boats stopped once they reached the marvellous stone castle and all the first years immediately scrambled out, following the half-giants instructions to head inside the hall.

"Thank you." She said to the large man, who wore a goofy smile as he stared down at her. His bushy eyebrows and long hair that melted into a beard covered most of his face but his beaming smile and glittering eyes could still be seen.

"What's yer name?"

"Elladora Hargreaves." She replied, staring up at the man with a straight face although he continued to smile down at her.

"I'm Rubeus Hagrid, best get into the castle before yer late." He ushered. With a nod, she quickened her pace to get to the back of the huddle of first years, a small blonde boy was stood in front of her, trying to flatten out his hair.

The group walked up to the first staircase and came face to face with an elderly woman who wore emerald green robes and had a stern look on her face.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." She said, continuing to talk about how they would be sorted into one of four houses based on their personalities, things she had heard from her father when he woke her up at 4:00 to give her a lecture.

The two boys from the boats and the train were stood at the front, the one with glasses smirking at the other cockily once she mentioned Gryffindor, Professor McGonagall, the elderly witch, led them into a big hall that had candles that hung from the ceiling above four vertically placed tables.

In front of the staffs table, there was a wooden stool, accompanied by a tatty brown hat that sat on top of it. The creases looked kind of like a face, it was interesting to the young girl.

Student after student, they were sorted into one of the houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Three guesses which one Elladora would be put in.

"Hargreaves, Elladora."

The applause from the previous student died down as everybody eagerly awaited which house the infamous Elladora would be put in. She did not know of her fame, nor did her parents tell her. They decided to keep it a secret from their daughter that they owned many of the businesses in Diagon Alley, they were a very wealthy family.

Elladora walked up to the stool and sat down, letting McGonagall place the old hat on top of her brown locks. She looked around at the faces in the hall, some of the other first-years gawking at the girl on the stool. It was no secret that she was incredibly attractive, she knew that but she didn't take pride in it, it's just a face, the body doesn't reflect the person you are inside, if it did her face would be horribly deformed.

"Oh hello. Another Hargreaves I see." A voice said inside her head, making her look glance up to the part of the hat that she could see. "You could do great things, oh yes, very great. I can already tell that you are very powerful in its self, already onto wandless magic. The torture from your childhood has made you strong, you know only what you have been taught and you believe it. I know exactly where to put you...."

"SLYTHERIN!"

The applause from the Slytherin table was almost deafening as they cheered for their new wealthy member. Elladora did not show even the smallest of smiles and nodded at Professor McGonagall before walking over to the table. Her parents would be proud.

But unfortunately, pride will not stop the torture and pain she would continued to endure over the breaks away from Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry.

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