CHAPTER ONE | happiness
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IVANNA BLACK FOLLOWED by her brother, Finnian, made their way inside King's Cross Station. It was shortly before their third year, and with their father's recent escape, they stuck together like glue. They were about as opposite as opposite got. Finn was known, he was a Gryffindor, quidditch player, and very socially involved with everyone. Everybody seemed to like him, it was hard not to, he had this charm that could hook anybody in one conversation. Ivanna was a Slytherin, very quiet, and hung around the same friend group every day. She could be rude to people, instead of being that sunshine figure her brother gave off.

She grabbed ahold of his arm, spotting in the distance Harry Potter and his two friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. Ivanna and Harry never got along, she couldn't even manage to be friendly with him. Finn, although they weren't necessarily friends, the two got along well being housemates, roommates, and teammates. Finn let out a slight eye roll and he approached Harry and his friends. "Hello." Finn greeted calmly.

She stood behind him, not saying a single word. Harry looked up, only making eye contact with Finn and completely disregarding the fact Ivy was there. "Hello Finn, how was your summer?"

He nodded "Alright." He said, with a short shrug to follow. "And yours?"

"It was fine, thank you." He said, glancing over at Ivy for a second, expecting her to speak but she just shook her head.

"How was yours, Ivanna?" Hermione asked, getting a slight glare from Harry but she ignored it. Hermione had always tried to be friendly with Ivanna.

"It was fine." Was all the girl said, she then spotted her best friend Maisie Fairchild in the distance. "I gotta go, I'll see you later Finn."

She walked off towards Maisie, who had a grin on her face. "Harry Potter?"

She shook her head, visibly annoyed. "Shut up." She hissed under her breath, grabbing ahold of her friend and dragging her onto the train.

Maisie looked back behind them, giving Finn a wave who returned the wave. "You should be more like him." She teased.

Ivy looked at her and shook her head. "Har har, very funny." She said sarcastically. Maisie knew how much she hated hearing that. "I don't understand how he can be so social while our father is a murderer and out walking around right now. Especially to Harry, since our father... well."

"Morbid." She said as they sat down in a compartment, across from one another.

She looked over at her and smiled. "Like Harry hates me why doesn't he hate Finn?"

"He hates you more because of the whole Slytherin thing." She said. "Plus he and Finnian barely get along."

She shrugged. "I know."

"Why do you hate him?"

She had to think about it, people usually just shrugged it off when a Slytherin hated a Gryffindor as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

She sighed as she looked over at her. "He's arrogant and the whole celebrity thing is just a lot."

She smiled at her and Ivy rolled her eyes. "Have you even ever actually talked to him?"

"Why the sudden interest Maisie?" She asked, a sudden annoyance in her voice.

She shook her head as she crossed her arms. "I'm just curious Ivy. Calm down."

She nodded slowly. "For the record, I have talked to him. First year, remember?"

"Yeah, three years ago."

Ivy could clearly remember the day she met Harry Potter, the first time she ever spoke to him. It was after the sorting, that she tried starting a conversation, but he didn't seem interested. Ron pushed her away as he started up a new conversation with Harry.

Finn watched from afar.

As the memory went through her head she heard a familiar voice, the voice of someone she disliked but was forced to be in the presence of.

She looked up and spotted the platinum blonde taking a seat beside Maisie. The two greeted each other while Ivy stayed quiet. Maisie got along with almost everyone, nobody seemed to hate her. She didn't hate anyone either. The time she spent when it wasn't with Ivy, was with Draco. He and Ivy had never gotten along, there was always some sort of feud between them. Something that started an argument. He annoyed her, constantly, she made backhanded comments in his direction.

"Ivy," Draco said, acknowledging her presence. She just nodded in his direction.

"I'm going to buy something from the trolley," Ivy said as she stood up and stepped outside the compartment, spotting the trolley. She could feel eyes on her. Everyone had already heard about her father's recent escape. She paused for a moment, closing her eyes tightly, before opening them again a few seconds later.

It was a habit she had, whenever she was nervous or scared.

She bought some chocolate from the trolley before heading back to the compartment where Draco and Maisie were still having a conversation. She sat down across from them and looked out the window, the train was just starting to move. Speeding up second by second, until everything was going by in blurs.

She hadn't even realized Maisie trying to talk to her. "Earth to Ivy." She questioned, kicking her playfully.

She snapped out of her short daydream as she looked over at her. "Hm?" She signaled towards the door to the compartment, Ivy glanced and spotted Finn standing there, signaling for her to come out.

She sighed "What now." She mumbled to herself as she stood up, opening the compartment door, and stepped out. "What?"

Finn put his hands up in surrender, but his lips curved into a grin. "Ivy." He said he started to walk away, which caused her to follow. She raised an eyebrow, trying to get him to say whatever he needed to say. "Remus is on the train." He said as he stopped.

"Remus?" She questioned before the familiar name came to her head. "Lupin?"

He nodded slowly. "I'm pretty sure it's him." He added.

"Pretty sure?" She questioned, shaking her head. "What do you mean you're pretty sure? Also, what would Remus even be doing on the train?"

He shrugged "I don't know. I think... I think I saw him in Harry's compartment, but he was sleeping."

"Harry's compartment?" She asked. "Finn, why does it even matter?"

"We might finally be able to get some answers." He said, nearly in a begging tone. Finn was always more optimistic about their situation, that there had to be an answer. "He might take us in."

She shook her head with a scoff, which got a confused look from her brother. "I'm pretty sure if he had any care in taking care of us he would have done it the night our father was taken to Azkaban, saying he's my godfather."

Before he could say anything, an eerie darkness grew upon the train. Ivy breathed out, she was able to see her breath in front of her and then she shivered. The train jerked and Finn grabbed ahold of his sister to stop her from falling.

He pulled her into a compartment, unluckily it was Harry's compartment. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all looked scared. Finn was right, someone was sleeping in the compartment.

The train jerked again and Ivy gripped onto her brother for balance before she sat down, gulping as she looked at Harry.

She could feel every ounce of happiness being sucked from her body. "Bloody hell..." Ron mumbled. A cloaked dark figure entered the compartment, looking around. Finn wrapped an arm protectively around his sister, she heard Hermione's cat hiss.

Once it looked at Harry, it started to, in a way suck the life out of him. None of them knew what to do. The sleeping man stood up, pointed his wand and a large light came out, pushing the figure away. Finn was right; it looked like Remus.

Ivy closed her eyes tightly and after a few seconds opened them again. Harry was unconscious on the floor. She just stared at him, still unsure of what had just happened.

authors note . . .

first chapter! sorry it took forever to get published, but i hope it was worth the wait.