"You're my little stardust, aren't you Lyra," his warm voice chuckled as he pressed his cheek to hers. His stubble was rough but his arms around her were as secure as an anchor to a boat. "Daddy loves you very much baby, I'm not going to leave."

"Please don't..." I whispered.

"Who are you talking to, weirdo?" Sasha scoffed from across the room, and opening my eyes I realised I was unfortunately, awake. She was painting her nails, the awful stench creeping into my eyes and nose.

I swung my legs out of my bed, and began brushing my hair, the dream still clinging to my skin with a warm glow. "I dreamt about Dad again," I told my older sister, and she rolled her eyes.

"For Christ's sake Lyra, not this crap again—"

"It was a memory, I swear," I tried to keep my tone even, controlled. "He promised that he wouldn't leave, that he loved us."

Sasha pushed our curtains open so violently that the left curtain almost slid off the pole. "How would you remember that? You were only two when he left—I don't even remember it!"

I kept silent, judging from the anger that surrounded Sasha with her shaking hands and pursed lips that she certainly remembered. I knew I was poking a hornet's nest, but I couldn't help needling. Sasha rarely showed any emotions other than indifference and sarcasm.

"Taken away, you mean." I said softly, continuing to gently brush my hair. "We'll see him again one day."

Our Father, a muggle, had been taken away from us before we could truly remember, for a crime he didn't commit. Mum never said what crime, but she always teared up if I mentioned him. To make matters worse, the prison he resided in was entirely magic-proofed: you couldn't enter without your powers being damaged.

"You're full of shit," Sasha laughed. "He's never coming back—"

"You're such a liar!" I shouted, and my temper snapped like an elastic band.

I leapt from my bed and charged at my sister, grabbing a chunk of her curls in my hand, and pulling hard. She shrieked and tackled me to the ground, nails digging into skin and hair tearing from scalps, the nail polish bottle forgotten.

"Girls!" a sharp voice came from the doorway, and with a flash of light Sasha and I were forced apart by the magic that shot from Mum's wand.

She had sent us each to our own beds, and I rubbed at my scratched cheek, feeling a tiny bead of blood catch on my fingertip. Sasha was scowling at me with a look darker than thunder, her hair scraggly and eyes furious.

"What is going on in here?" Mum demanded.

Neither of us spoke.

"Well?"

"Sasha was horrible—she said Dad was never coming back!" I felt stupid baby tears come to my eyes. "Is that true?"

I thought mum would explode onto the both of us but instead she let out a deep sigh and rubbed at her tired, red-rimmed eyes.

You wouldn't have believed my mum was in her early thirties if you didn't know her, grey streaks already flickering across her brown hair. Recently, she'd been looking more exhausted than usual.

"Just give it a rest would you both?" she sighed. "There's enough going on at the moment, without me having to pay Lucius more for this room—"

She waved her wand, and the black nail varnish stain on the carpet mostly disappeared—though a tiny black smudge remained.

"I can help mum, I've got Christmas money that Molly gave me—"Sasha said proudly, playing the older, responsible sister card.

"No." Mum said sharply. "It's your money, Sasha. Both of you get dressed—Lyra, we're going to the zoo with Cassie, remember?"

I brightened considerably, pushing the subject of Dad to the back of my mind, locked in a secure drawer for the moment. Cassie was my best friend, and she'd been looking forward to this trip for the last few weeks.

"Yes mum," I said brightly, and began making my bed as Mum gave Sasha money for the Knight Bus—she was visiting her friends Fred and George today.

Mum shut the door behind us, and as I fussed around in my chest of drawers for skirts and tights I realised, with surprise, that Sasha hadn't spoken. Usually after every silly fight we had, Sasha would begin yelling and usually threaten to break my ornaments if I did it again.

But instead she was stood staring blankly at the doorframe, worry and anxiety painting her face into creases and a downcast frown.

"I'm sorry I yanked your hair out," I said quietly. "I was just worked up, those dreams really mess me up in the morning."

"Forget about it, you didn't get any of my hair." Sasha turned, and I realised with a frown all her curls were intact—but didn't I grab a fistful of them?

"Oh," I said softly, feeling stupid. "I guess I'm losing it already.... People at Hogwarts will think I'm as weird as I look."

The worry seemed to melt off Sasha's face in an instant, being replaced with a rare smile. She warily crossed the bedroom and put an arm around my shoulders, squeezing gently.

"You are not weird—okay? You're beautiful, sis, I call you weird sometimes because I'm a total bitch, don't take it personally."

"Thanks, Sasha." With Sasha's unpredictable moods, this certainly was a turn for the books. I couldn't wait to tell Cassie about it.

"Now go on, shower quick—I need to do my make-up."

I darted into our shared bathroom and turned on the shower. Leaning against the sink as the shower heated up, I glanced into the mirror, and took a double take.

Sasha had definitely scratched my face enough to draw blood, and looking at my finger I could see the dried patch of blood. But then, why was my face free of dried blood, or even a small mark?

Suppressing a shudder, I hopped into the shower, not caring as the water burned my skin.

**

By the time I was showered and dressed, Sasha had already left for the Knight bus, her side of the room immaculate as usual, and the memory of my spotless face washing away.

My chest tightened as I looked at the room I had only ever known—just over two months left, and I would never see this room again.

"Lyra! It's time to go!" Mum called from the front door of our flat. "Cassie is here!"

Grabbing my cat shaped backpack, I hurried through our flat, almost falling over my kitten Sooty. As usual he gave me a stupid look, surprised that lying across the floor would lead you to being trampled.

Mum was stood by the front door, her make-up a heavily made up mask on her face and her wand stuck into her bun like a pen. Cassie gave a little wave when she saw me, but of course didn't say a word.

"Hi, Cassie!" I said brightly, giving her hand a squeeze.

I missed you she traced lightly onto my forearm with her free hand. As usual she had her small owl shaped handbag which I knew contained two glittery notebooks, three black sharpies and lip balm. Her usual whistle hung around her neck, bouncing on her bony chest.

"I saw you yesterday, silly," I smiled, and she gave me a pouting face saying that didn't matter. Over the years I had managed to interpret almost all of Cassie's facial expressions, so that the words didn't particularly matter.

"You can have a catch up over lunch girls," Mum looked anxious. "Lucius said we had to use the floo network by noon---he's having a meeting in the drawing room."

Linking hands we hurried down the narrow flight of stairs which separated our flat from the rest of Malfoy Manor. We had lived here as long as I could remember and yet outside our flat didn't feel like a home, just a bigger complex we happened to live in.

We reached the drawing room where the floo network access point was, and Mum tapped lightly on the door. "Come in," Lucius Malfoy's voice drawled from inside.

The room was massively long, the dining table the length of our entire flat. A giant chandelier hung from the ceiling, which I knew Dobby religiously took care of, as this was where most functions happened.

"Hello Cara, Lyra," Lucius was sat by a winged armchair by the fire, sipping what appeared to be firewhisky. "Cassie darling, do you have everything you need?"

Cassie nodded fiercely at her father writing Yes Father in big letters on her notebook page. He nodded, satisfied, getting to his feet.

"Why the zoo, Cara?" Lucius wandered over to us, my mum's posture seeming to straighten in his presence. "A bit.... Muggle oriented, isn't it?"

Lucius Malfoy confused me. He knew that Mum had married a muggle, that Sasha and I were half-blood, and yet still liked to poke and prod at mum to try and annoy her. Mum had worked as a live-in tutor for the Malfoy's since I was five, and yet Lucius didn't seem to particularly like her even though Narcissa, his wife did.

"I think the girls deserve a treat," Mum said politely, though her eyes said otherwise. "Seen as they're off to Hogwarts soon,"

"You might see some... dogs there, hmmm?" Lucius said, almost giggling.

"Yes, we might." Mum said dryly, and Cassie and I shared an equal look of confusion as Lucius said his farewells and sauntered out of the dining room.

**

The floo network let us out in a secluded area of King's Cross. It wasn't too far away from where we would be going through to Platform 9 and ¾'s next month. Just the thought of going to Hogwarts, the place where my mum went to school, where she always spoke of with such reverence, was thrilling.

Not to mention the fact that Cassie and I would be able to spend so much more time together. While we did technically live together, mum and Cassie's parents were wary about us spending so much time together.

I think it was because everybody in Cassie's family (ever) had been in Slytherin house. My mum had been a Hufflepuff, and so was Sasha. I didn't really mind which house I was in, though the thought of Cassie by herself sent me into a wave of anxiety.

"Not long now, girls," Mum smiled more brightly than she had done in the house. She always seemed happier outside, as if it gave her a new lease of life.

We walked down countless London streets until we made it to the zoo—and the back of a very, very long queue (and that was if you had already bought tickets).

As we meandered in the queue Cassie and I started playing eye-spy, which was very good at passing the time, though I kept getting distracted.

"Mum, why are people staring at me?" I whispered, pulling on her coat sleeve.

"They're jealous; of how pretty you are darling." Mum said, pulling both Cassie and I closer to her. She had a smile on her face, but I could see her hand toughly clutching the end of her wand, which was in her pocket.

This happened more in the muggle world than the magical one, though I still got stares in Diagon Alley and the like. I looked a bit... different than other children. Sasha and my father both had long dark curly hair, and Mum short brown, but I on the other hand had white blonde hair.

When you paired that with my light golden eyes, I looked more like a statue than a little girl. The only answer mum ever gave me was that she had a stressful birth with me, and hair turns white with stress.

While that never explained my golden eyes, I just had to accept it until another explanation came. The only thing that kept me sane was that the people I knew: mum, Cassie, Sasha and her friends—didn't make a big deal out of it.

I was just me.

I liked it a lot more than I did when I was little (I used to always wear big hats to try and cover my hair up) I still felt familiar prickles of anxiety all across my body when men stared and widened their eyes at the sight of me.

IGNORE THEM.  Cassie had written this in big letters across her notebook and had a very, very fierce expression on her face. While she didn't speak, Cassie had a temper that sometimes made her made small squeaking noises if somebody she loved was hurting.

"I'm fine," I promised her, which was half true. I squeezed her hand and she smiled at me, satisfied. That was enough to make her feel better, which in turn made me feel better as well.

Finally we made our way into the zoo and the stares subsided as there was something finally more interesting than me for people to watch and ogle. We made our way slowly around the zoo, mum periodically taking photos of Cassie and me outside enclosures.

The zoo was so massive that it almost seemed there wasn't enough time to see everything, but somehow we managed to see the tigers, sloths and birds which were the main attractions.

"We should probably start heading back now," Mum said after a couple of hours, checking her watch which didn't actually have hands but a swirling constellation. "We can get some burgers before we get the floo network back---"

Cassie started tugging on my mum's jacket and pointing towards the reptile enclosure. Please, she wrote on the notebook, pulling a really cute face.

"Go on, mum—snakes are really, really wicked," I said. That was a lie, I didn't like snakes, but I knew Cassie did and I wanted her to have a really good day.

Mum rolled her eyes. "You two go ahead, I'm getting a coffee." She pointed towards the coffee cart which wasn't far away. "I'll meet you both in there."

The reptile enclosure was a spacy low-lighted room where only a few families were quietly observing the reptiles. It was a nice, cool relief after the heat and hustle-and-bustle from outside. Cassie and I walked very slowly, Cassie fascinated by everything while I kept my distance from the creepy things.

Oh my God, Cassie wrote excitedly on her notebook. They have a Caiman lizard here!!!

I'd seen on of them in one of Cassie's many animal encyclopaedias. "Hmm, you find it yourself; Cass... that thing freaks me out."

Cassie rolled her eyes at me, and lightly squeezed my shoulder, which meant she wouldn't be long. She held up her whistle, another sign that meant she would blow it if something was wrong.

"See you," I laughed as Cassie dashed off towards this lizard she loved so much, practically dangling over the enclosure to see the weird thing up close.

I meandered along slowly, examining the enclosures from a distance. I didn't know what it was, but snakes really freaked me out. They just set off a sense of anxiety deep inside me, as if they were going to leap around at any moment to try and poison me.

Soon I came across the most terrifying beast yet: a boa constrictor which could easily wrap itself around two cars.  A very fat man with his equally fat son were taking up most of the viewing space, the only other occupant a very small and skinny boy who looked embarrassed to be near these people.

"Make it move." The fat boy whined to his father with a huff. The father loudly tapped on the glass, but nothing happened. The snake was asleep, so it was very obvious these were some very rude people.

"Do it again." The boy commanded. His father knocked on the glass again, but the snake just carried on sleeping. "This is sooooo boring,"

He waddled off, his father following him. The small boy was left alone by the glass, and with a small flower of bravery latching onto my senses, I decided to stand next to him.

Even though snakes freaked me out, even I could tell this one was bored half to death. It couldn't be much of a life in that prison: stupid people tapping on the glass to wake you up, and the constant flashes of cameras... I almost felt sorry for it.

Then suddenly, the snake lifted its scaled head up its eyes level with me and the boy. The snake winked. It must have been descended from a snake owned by a wizard to have such self-awareness. Now I was interested.

"Did you see that?" The boy's eyebrows were practically in his overgrown fringe.

"I know right," I shuddered. "I wish it wasn't so fascinating."

The snake nodded towards the rude father and son, and I followed his gaze. "He's right," I said. "Those people were rude."

"My Uncle and cousin," the boy sighed, as if it was a massive burden being related to those awful people. Then, I was surprised further when he turned to the snake and began speaking parsel tongue.

A cold shiver worked its way up my entire body. Mum had taught Cassie, her brother and I all about parsel tongue, the language of the snakes. Really gifted wizards could learn to speak it, but it was very difficult unless you were born with the gift.

The worst part: you usually had to be a dark wizard to be naturally gifted with it.

"You're—you're talking to it." My voice was barely above a whisper.

The boy turned to me, a puzzled look on his face. "What? It's not weird, I bet you talk to your pets."

Suddenly it all clicked into place: he didn't realise he was doing it, which meant he was a muggle-born who probably hadn't received his Hogwarts letter yet.

We stood in silence watching the snake uncoil from its massive body, and I took in the appearance of the boy. He was too skinny for his age; wearing oversized clothes I suspected were his cousin's. His hair was messy black, and behind round glasses his eyes were a bright emerald green.

He looked almost familiar, even though I had never seen this boy before.

"My name is Lyra," I broke the silence, deciding to be kind to this troubled boy. "Like the constellation."

"Harry," he held out his hand and I shook it. He gave a little smile. "You're really pretty... I've never met anyone with golden eyes."

I gave a small smile. "I know I'm a freak, but thanks for being kind."

"We'll be freaks together, you can look cool while I talk to the snake," Harry replied, and I smiled so brightly my face hurt a little bit. Strangers were rarely so kind to me because of my weird appearance. 

Distracted with happiness I noticed the snake pointed its tail at the sign on his enclosure: BRED IN CAPTIVITY.

"He's never been to Brazil," Harry told me sadly.

"Poor thing," I said quietly to the snake.

Our contemplation was interrupted by an ugly shout of:  "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"

Harry's cousin--Dudley--came waddling towards us. "Out of the way, you!" he said, punching Harry in the ribs.

Taken by surprise Harry stumbled and fell flat on his back onto the horribly hard and dirty concrete floor. I gasped in surprise, and before I could shout at his cousin: Harry sat up and glared at his cousin—and something amazing happened.

Dudley: who'd been leaning against the glass, fell straight through into the enclosure!

The glass had vanished, and the snake was uncoiling rapidly, slithering on the floor. People began screaming and I pressed myself as close to the wall as possible. As the snake passed us, it winked again. I shuddered, even though it was nice, I hated snakes so much.

I knelt at Harry's side, oblivious to Dudley's wails. His hands were grazed and bleeding from the fall. Almost as an instinct, I took hold of his hands between mine and squeezed.

Everything seemed to go quiet—all I could hear was a haunting song of a bird's cry, and Harry's gentle breathing as a soft golden glow emitted from my hands like tendrils of smoke.

Gasping, I released my grip on Harry only to see that his hands were perfectly fine. In fact, other healing cuts on his hands had seemed to disappear as well. He stared at me, and I stared back.

Then before either of us could react, his massive Uncle stormed over to us breaking the song and our gaze.

"Come along, Potter! You're in big trouble, boy!" his Uncle sneered.

Completely frozen on the floor, I realised as Harry was being dragged away, a very thin lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

Well now things were complicated.

——
A/N Thanks for the lovely comments and votes last chapter—I really appreciate it.

So now we've met some of our characters any thoughts?

What does everyone think will happen next? :)

I'll post chapter two some time this weekend.
-Emily