She was moping, if you could even call it that. Things had gotten ridiculously complicated far too quickly for her to manage. She just hoped she would be able to talk to Gideon before the word got around to him that she was technically engaged. The small, new, tattoo around her ring finger symbolized her being promised to the Zabini boy.

She groaned. The thought of an arranged marriage in this day and age seemed so barbaric. She knew that was how it worked as to keep the bloodline pure, though she didn't see her parents working around the clock to find a good match for Scorpius. That's the big thing that boiled her blood. She knew her own parents had been arranged, but she was sure that they loved each other in their own way. Or at least so she thought, she wasn't sure anyone would willingly stick around with the dingbat she called her mother if they did not care for her at all.

She was happy to find a free compartment, devoif of people. She did not want to have to sit with people she did not like because the rest were full. This would give her the power she liked to be able to have her friends sit with her. People she did not like generally knew to steer clear of her.

Being alone was the least of her concerns, however. She needed to figure out, and fast, whether or not she wanted to go through with this stupid marriage her parents had set up for her. She also needed to find a tactful way to explain to Gideon the mess she was in. She never meant to hurt anyone but it was tough when she was thrown into a mess she did not belong in so abruptly.

Words?! three hundred and five?!
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The rumble of the Hogwarts Express ran through Matty which only reinforced how she totally out of place she felt in this skirt. Like some skirt flipping updraft... After all she escaped needing wear a skirt for years in America and now in England of all things she was in a new school with a chauvinistically sexist uniform. And Matty had been unlucky enough to choose to come to the station wearing the uniform of all things. It was only had she realized that everyone else were in their day clothes save for a small bunch who she hadn’t identified as part of any particular group yet.

She still hadn’t found a compartment… grief whose bright idea was to use a train? Her mother’s world had floo networks and teleportation of both the personal and mass transit kind and they were using a train. Vibrations burned into her legs, at least this wasn’t like the trains in early morning Tokyo… having some old freak groping her rear was something she‘d like to avoid for the rest of her life.

“Pigs,” she muttered sourly, whoever this headmaster was he was oppressing her right to wear what she wanted. The girl grinned wryly she’d have to see about fixing that fact. Her eyes suddenly caught a door the looked like it had luck on her side.

Ah finally, she peered through the fogged glass of one compartment, it seemed bereft of human life at first glance and that was enough for her. With a single smooth motion she pushed open the door and entered, no bag in sight or any other luggage other than a leather belt on her waist with a number of pouches attached to it. The other addition to the uniform was a bit more obvious though, a bright emerald scarf that shined with iridescent light.

Matty sauntered in and plopped bodily down on the sofa like bench- and found herself staring at a rather older upperclassman wearing the most ridiculous getup she had ever seen. It looked like an attempt to be sauvé, sexy and pearly all at once. The high heels especially put it completely over the edge. And then she realized she was still staring, “um… hull-lo,” she stuttered out.

Word Count: 376

She liked the time on the train. She could figure out why they did it, so students had time to catch up before the sorting ceremony and the opening speech. Otherwise getting a bunch of teenagers to listen would be nearly impossible. It also allowed her some intermediate time away from her parents but also not in school.

She inwardly groaned at the new addition to her compartment. She could only hope it was not some annoying brat that 'fell in love' with her older brother and wanted to know how she could get closer to him. Many of the younger girls had little kid crushes on her brother, well not only younger girls really. He had money power and looks. All the things granted to them by the Malfoy family, at least when one did not look at them from the point of view the mini death eaters did. In their eyes they lost all of their influence when Narcissa betrayed their side. That had always been her favorite story growing up. She looked up to her grandmother like no one else.

"Hi." She drawled, looking up and faking a quick grin. She quickly went back to fiddling with the stupid tattoo on her ring finger. She loved her family like nothing else but she could kill them for doing this to her. She knew it was tradition and all but they put her in an awkward situation. She sighed, figuring she should introduce herself a little more politely.

She held out her right hand to the girl with a smile. "I'm Gemini Malfoy."

[/color] She said. Her hair was slightly curled, but styled in a way that made it look like a bit of a mess. It was long, reaching her hips, and she liked it that way. Despite her Louboutin shoes, and jade accessories she felt like a bit of a bum today. Despite her family's pureblood status she did know of some, only very high end, muggle designers. Her mother had 'discovered' muggle fashion and simply adored it, much to her father's distaste. [/blockquote][/size][/justify]

Words?! three hundred and forty nine?!
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Well aside from the outfit, once Matty barely got pass that without bursting into hysterical laughter… she managed to realize she was in a compartment with a relatively beautiful young woman… model like. A girl in her position would know, she'd been around movie sets for nearly all of her life. Nodding more to herself than anyone in particular that wasn’t… herself, Matty she regained form.

Mechanically her right hand extended, dark maroon-chocolate skin freckled with white accepted the hand, “Akira-“ she paused sighed, two months in Japan as a respite between here and America and she had already fallen back both into tradition and strong Japanese accent. She took a breath and spoke again in crisp Englishman’s English, “sorry, Amatsunou Akira-McDougal.” Her voice was scratchy as ever but she recovered from the slip of etiquette. But something was bugging her now.

Her mind once it was back on track replayed the last two groupings of words, a greeting and a name… Gemini Malfoy… The inflection the latter’s latter seemed to indicate something. The name was familiar, her mother talked often enough about the happenings during her time in school. But something about a Malfoy rang a bell, a distant one but a bell nonetheless.

“Something tells me I should know the surname Malfoy… is it an influential name?” she said a bit less breathlessly and then winced.

Good lord, she might as well just have spat in the girls face. She prayed both to God and her family's guardian spirit, take her now. The first person she met outside her home’s common room and she probably insulted some all-powerful wizarding family. Probably the Minister’s daughter no less!

Maybe if she was lucky she'd think Matty was only a first year...
Word Count: 311

[/justify]

"Foreigner then." She said with a smile. She did not say it in a way that was discriminatory or distasteful just stating an observation. She knew her father worked hard at making the name of Malfoy a respectable, truly respectable, one again. It didn't always stick and Malfoy ended up a highly gossiped about name. Mainly when it came to which side of the war they were actually on. Anyone who knew anything about her family wouldn't need to ask. They truly and completely switched sides at the end of the Battle of Hogwarts. Not that they could get around it when Narcissa's betrayal became known. Her family would have been ridiculed and tortured by the hands of Death Eaters, had they not switched over.

"Father works for the Ministry as an Auror now, he just got switched from the Improper Use of Magic Office. He's also the owner of Malfoy Apothecary." She said with a smile. It wasn't like her father needed to work. His inheritance from his father was a large sum, and the money that fell onto him from the black family wasn't anything to scoff at either, but he liked working, it helped them gain a more positive image. "Mum is just a pretty housewife and heiress." She said with a shrug.

"Depending on who you ask my family is a pretty powerful pureblood family in these parts, to some but we get a lot of hate." She said. It was more likely that the girl knew their family because of negative things said about them, whether it be by the light or dark. Though in school it was a different story. Between her and her brother the light they were seen in was pretty good, unless the girl talked to the few Death Eaters within it.

Words?! three hundred and seven?!
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“Isn’t that the case with all old world families, someone is always on the hated side of some disagreement?" Matty questioned.

Shrugging at her own lack of knowledge, she gave a flick of her wrist and her wand slid out of her robe’s sleeve. It was a deep maroon and perfectly matched with equally deep green dragon hide grip. With a simple motion she pointed it towards her side and quietly enunciated, “Libecanis Paria”

Immediately blue and gold smoke began to issue from the shaft before congealing almost like a liquid into what appeared to small animal. She had fixed a simple image in her head and as the animal become more defined, pink skin solidified and sprouted pure white fluffy hair and black nose. Within a second or two an snowball of a golden retriever puppy was snuggled into her side. With another flick, her wand was yanked back into her sleeve. The whole thing was absentminded with no real pause between her words before and after.

Looking up from the puppy Matty force herself to look back towards Gemini, “My mother always says she has stories about her first year about such things but she won’t tell me until after I’m in my fourth year next year… something about now prejudicing me.” Matty snorted derisively, “It’s not like I won’t get that this summer when I go back to our family’s Inn in Godric’s Hallow- Oh my mother and uncle work the Nine Lives' Inn..”

She paused and tried to consider how to explain her father's particular occupation, "My father is something of a television show consultant."

Word Count: 279

Gemini yelped at the appearence of the puppy, immediately picking up her feet from the floor. "D...dogs are NOT allowed at Hogwarts." She stammered. She was terrified of dogs, whether they were big or small. Vicious evil little creatures. This was exactly the reason she should have dought out Scorpius on the bus, and sat with him and Albus. Despite the fact that the first thing any of her friends would see was the damned tattoo on her ring finger, she would not have to deal with vermin in her carriage.

Her grandfather had dogs when she was little. Big hulking things. She had been in the garden with her grandmother, she was playing a game in the hedge maze that the woman conjured for their entertainment. She was cornered in the maze by a large dog. When she moved to get away it bit her in the face. There was pain and blood. Luckily her parents have access to the best healers, they were able to prevent her from both bleeding out and also retaining any sort of ugly scar that would have resulted in it. She does have a small scar just at he hairline under her jaw. The right side of her face had been taped up for weeks. The dogs were locked up tight by her father every time she visited her parents after that. She never got over the fear of the beasts.

"M..many families have prejudice about certain houses." She squeaked. "Mostly Slytherin, because so many dark w..wizards come out of it. They equate Slytherin with e...evil because of it. Also, m..many of my h..housemates are n..not the best people to make your enemies. G..good friends tho if you can gain their trust." She said staring carefully at the puppy.

"I..I'm s...s..sorry. Can you please get rid of that thing." She asked. She was shaking in her seat. She knew it was a dumb thing to fear. It definitely was not her worst fear. A boggart that came in a very old wardrobe they inherited from the Blacks told her that. That wardrobe, now devoid of the beast,sat in her room. It had shown her her brother, her parents, her grandmother, and everyone she deems friend dead, with a dark mark blazing in the air above them. Right now, however, all she could think about was pain and blood and that beast of an animal that nearly ripped her eye out.

Words?! four hundred and twenty?!
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Notes?!it's a good thing I waited to post. I totally forgot Gemini was afraid of dogs the night you posted ?!

Matty almost missed the entire explanation she had been given by presence of the simple unadulterated expression of fear being expressed by a girl at least three years her senior. And over a puppy of all things, that had been conjured and could only be a week or month or two old had it actually been real. Granted Matty felt affection for the little girl but no point in causing problems on her first day of school.

Sighing, she gave her one pat which facilitated a light whining for love and attention, she looked only just now to be waking up after all, "I suppose I can remove her. My parents never let me have a real pet. But better make this painless... Sorry maybe tomorrow tonight Pochi."

With another flick of her wrist her wand appeared in her hand again and she tapped it on the babe of an animal's head once with a practiced motion. Matty spoke the nearly silent incantation "Visduco-" and gave a violent twist and pull. Before a sound could be uttered by the animal, though Matty could feel even the temporary life become snuffed out, the conjuration was transformed with a very simple thought. Fog.

It wasn't a vanishing spell, instead the entire animal's existence expanded like a water balloon being filled with boiling water and then suddenly popping like a soap bubble. Hair turned crystal and flesh dissolved in a gout of white vapor. It fell to the floor where it bubbled, bring with it a sort of fresh outside air sent and moisture. Had it been a real animal death at the point would have been assured as such a transfiguration would like kill. As it was Matty did feel a bit guilty about ending Pochi's time of existence early. Shaking her head once her eyes and attention refocused on the Slytherin girl.

"Right... I remember hearing about this. Houses." She said with a perfectly neutral tone.

Matty fought the urge to try and look deeper into the girl, to stare and study her like an insect. Key would approve. Probably it would approve of her having go at the girl right there on the bench ravaging her... but best not to feed her inner demons inconsequentially. Her finger felt the itch to touch something a bit softer and more living. No puppy to snuggle well. Not her fault.

“Really though Dark Wizards? What do students have to make them dark? Practicing necromancy, creating hopping vampires… That's aways a popular myth, as well as sealing souls in photographs?” She chirped almost musically, though the effect was ruined by Matty’s scratchy voice.

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"I'm sorry. My grandad set a dog on me when I was little. The beast practically bit off half my face, on a logical level I know the puppy wouldn't be able to do much to me, but phobias aren't generally rational." She explained, feeling bad about making the girl get rid of the dog.

Gemini nearly screamed at the girl. There was a bleeding war going on all around them and she had the nerve to ask what made them dark. She wondered if the girl was muggle born or if her parents kept her in the dark about what was happening outside the safety of her walls, whether they be school or her home.

She furrowed her brows. "The darkest wizards to date have been in Slytherin. Voldemort, you know, the wizarding war most of the Students who went here when our parents were our age that happened him. I mean there are exceptions but the dark side attracts power hungry witches and wizards and which house attracts the most power hungry students? I'm telling you now it isn't Hufflepuff." She said with a sigh.

"Try torture rape and murder. Muggles, muggleborns, even some half bloods and a hanful of purebloods they call blood traitors. Hundreds of people have slaughtered for having muggles in their family trees. Just this month week there have been attacks on Wizarding Russia and Romania. A battle in Diagon, again. I swear that place needs to be repaired biweekly. I think they are trying to get a hold of Gringotts." She said, nervously. She could not think of anything else in the area that was particularly valuable to them. She was just stunned that this girl didn't know any of this. It wasn't just Britain anymore. This was world news. It was what everything her and her friends were trying to prepare for.

"There are plenty of non Slytherin wizards who've went evil. Dark magic isn't exactly synonymous with Dark Wizard. It matters not what kind of magic they use but how they use it. There are a lot of very sick and twisted individuals who have some out of our house, they tend to cast a shadow on our house, so the others only see them, and not all of the great wizards that have come out of it." She said with a frown. She could not stand some of the awful things people said about their house just because not all of them were particularly pleasant. Sure, they use their friendships and the people around them to get what they want but that doesn't make them any less human, or any more evil than any of the other houses.

Words?! four hundred and fifty eight?!
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