"It's probably best if we're not seen interacting," Draco murmured, as we made our way out of the Room of Requirement. "Keep a few paces behind me."

My heart was fluttering in my chest. I felt panicky at the idea of mingling with a bunch of witches and wizards. Part of me wanted to stay hidden, but I could see Draco's point. I would eventually go flipping crazy.

As we entered the Great Hall, my stomach clenched uncomfortably. Draco gave me a discrete nod in the direction of a long table filled with students in cloaks like mine. The Hufflepuffs.

Without a word, Draco walked off and I watched as he made himself comfortable at another long table at the far side of the hall. He was immediately joined by two burly boys. I recognised them from the time they had wandered into the playground flanking Pansy.

My heart thudding, I forced my feet to move me towards the Hufflepuffs. I spied a friendly looking girl with a long orange plait falling down her back.

"Hello," she smiled as I took a seat next to her. "I don't recognise you, are you new?"

I nodded, feeling a flicker of relief at the kind welcome.

"You look too old to be a first year," she said, frowning as she helped herself to a sandwich from a large platter in the middle of the table.

"I- I transferred from Beauxbatons," I said, remembering what Draco and I had rehearsed.

"Which year? I'm in sixth," she smiled.

"Fifth," I said, grateful that she told me hers first. Draco had also advised me to say that I was in a different year to whoever I spoke to. It would raise too many suspicions if they realised I had no classes with them.

"My name's Susan, by the way," she smiled warmly, taking a huge swig of something that looked like orange juice.

"Astrid," I smiled back, deciding to pour some juice myself. As I took a sip, I almost spat it straight back out.

That was not orange juice.

"What is this?" I asked, not being able to hide the disgust from my voice as I forcibly swallowed it down.

"Pumpkin juice, of course!" Susan laughed in amusement, "didn't you have that at Beauxbatons?"

"Err... yeah, I just didn't like the sound of it. Isn't there any orange juice?" I asked, looking up and down the great length of the table.

"Orange juice? How peculiar." Susan tittered.

I tentatively inspected the sandwiches, half afraid that they would contain something gross like frogspawn.

"So, how've you survived your first morning of Hogwarts?" Susan asked, "Have you had the pleasure of the dastardly Snape yet?"

From what Draco had told me, I knew Snape was the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. The head of Slytherin. A fellow Death Eater.

"Not yet, no," I answered shaking my head, "is he that terrible then?"

"Well, not to the Slytherins - they are all his favourites, of course," Susan wrinkled her nose, "especially Draco Malfoy."

She spat his name with such venom and revulsion that I couldn't disguise the surprise on my face, not unnoticed by Susan.

"Oh, you'll get to know about Malfoy soon enough," she whispered conspiratorially, her eyes darting over to the Slytherin table. I, too, looked over and saw Draco whispering something furtively to the two burly guys either side of him. "He's the absolute worst, and his own father just got locked up in Azkaban for his Death Eater activities."

She shuddered in disgust.

"They killed my family, you know," she went on, her voice dropping to a sad, melancholic whisper, "including my aunt this summer."

I stared at her feeling a new kind of horror as she wiped away a lonely tear from her cheek.

This wizarding world I had just discovered was in the middle of a terrifying war.

And, as my eyes flicked over to the white blond haired boy on the Slytherin table, I realised that I was very much affiliated with the wrong side.

...

Draco watched the dark haired Muggle as she chatted to the Bones girl.

He felt a funny kind of feeling in his stomach whenever he looked at Astrid, as though she was very much a part of his world now.

If truth be told, it was all he ever wanted. He just wished that it wasn't in these horrible circumstances.

"If you care about your balls, Malfoy, then I wouldn't let Pansy see you ogling that little hottie."

Startled, Draco looked up to see Theodore Nott, who had just taken a seat on the other side of Crabbe.

"Shut the fuck up, Nott," Draco sneered, snatching up another sandwich. "As if I'd ever look twice at a stupid Hufflepuff."

"I dunno," Theo shrugged as he eyed Astrid up, "when they come like that, makes me wanna come, too."

Fury boiled at Draco's insides and he clenched his fists under the table.

"Who is she, anyway?" Theo continued, "I've never seen her before, and I'd definitely remember a scorching little thing like that."

"Transfer, I expect," Draco muttered, trying his damnedest not to send Theo sprawling across the table.

"I can show her a thing or two about transfers," Theo sniggered, making Crabbe and Goyle guffaw along with him.

Draco couldn't take it anymore, he pushed his seat violently back, shaking with rage as he stood up.

"What's up with you?" Crabbe grunted, raising his eyebrows.

"Don't mind Malfoy," Theo sneered, looking up at Draco with a glint in his beady eye, "he's just sulking because his family are no longer favourites. Isn't that right, Malfoy?"

"Just shut it, Nott," Draco snarled before storming off. He gave a quick furtive glance down at Astrid as he passed the Hufflepuff table. Her eyes cast upwards to his and he felt that familiar twisting sensation in his stomach.

He suddenly longed for the evening when he could be with her again. Just him and her and no one else.