Lucifer

Chapter 1

Three days later

    Faced with a free period before dinner, Evadne Norton put her head down and made her way to the library. Once there, she dropped her books on a free table and, opening one to conceal her face from the world, let her lip quiver. Breathe, she told herself. It could be worse, it could be worse. It could be like Christmas with the cousins.

    Her Muggleborn parents had solemnly alternated years of celebrating with one or the other set of grandparents. Her mother was an only child. Her father was the youngest of four. ALL of whom had kids. Lots of kids. They were a loud and gregarious bunch, most of them living together in the same block, and seeing each other often. Evadne was a strange crow among this chattering bunch of fair children, with her dark skin and hair, and her odd standoffishness and bookishness. And around her, things....happened. Not all the time. But often enough that any hope of being accepted by the cousins was dust by the time she was six.

    At least the kids in my house don't...do...anything. Yet. She had reverted to her default response of silence and invisibility in a corner, and so far it had gotten her through the day. She'd watched Professor Keriell, a tall thin man who looked like a stork, as he discussed the importance of potions in wizarding life. She'd watched Professor Jowett, the compactly built sandy colored Transfiguration professor who was head of her House as he walked in and transfigured a desk and a chair out of a bit of paper lying on the floor and made half the class gasp. She'd watched little Filius Flitwick, a merry little dwarf of a man, as he showed how indispensable Charms were to wizards. She'd watched Professor Poff as he stalked about, waving a scarred hand as he discussed the creatures they'd study that year, and reminded herself not to wear any jewelry to class when they met Nifflers. She'd watched Professor Mugg discuss the basis of Dark Magic and how to tell it from Light Magic, his dark hair flopping untidily over his brow and into his eager face.

    She had watched the redheaded boy glance at her and smile, but she didn't smile in return, and earned a cool nod from one of her housemates. She'd watched Lucius Malfoy, with his coterie of hangers on, and gotten the impression that he was a bit beyond the syllabus, and seen the peculiar little grin that quirked his mouth in Defense against the Dark Arts class, even though he half hid it behind a raised hand, and it vanished like a cloud in the sun when the professor looked his way. And she had listened to the conversation when she went back to her dorm to get her books for the afternoon.

    "Has she embarassed us yet?"

    "Not a word, past "Here" when he called her name," said Lacerta Carlisle's purebred tones, muted with a surprising degree of humility. "She looks like she's shaping to be a swot."

    "Well, if she keeps her head down, she might not prove to be such a great burden on us," said the soft tones of the purebred boy that had interrogated her on her first night. "Time will tell, however. Off to class with you, Lacie," he said, in the teasing manner of an older brother, and Lacerta had merely laughed like a child, before coming out, a pleased smile on her face until she glanced at Evadne. Then it had slipped behind a cool facade, and she had looked past her as if she didn't exist. Everyone looked at Evadne like she didn't exist.

    A sudden movement beside her startled her. A tall angular redheaded girl, a little older than Evadne by the look of her, folded herself down into a seat across from her. "Hi," she said quietly, glancing at Skelton, the librarian. "I see you found the group study table. Whatcha working on, Charms?"

    "Y...yes," she said, nervously. "I...I'll just go..."

    "Hey, you don't have to. We have all houses sit here, and we help each other out. We swots have to stick together," she said, with a kind grin, and Evadne dared a tentative smile in return. "I'm Iolanthe Weasley," the girl said. "I'm pretty good with Charms, and I'm only a year ahead, so I can give you a hand if you want."

    "I...That would be nice," admitted Evadne. "I think I understand what Professor Flitwick was talking about in the different categories of charms, but it'd make me feel better if someone looked at it."

    "Not a problem. How you holding up?"

    "I'm....all right," she said, not daring to say any more. "I study hard, and they're not as bad as my cousins were."

    Iolanthe cocked her head at her like a sparrow. "You're muggleborn, aren't you?" she said, briskly.

    "My mum and dad are wizards. But they're the first," Evadne admitted. "My grandparents and aunts and uncles are all muggles."

    "Mmm," said Iolanthe, but said no more as the redheaded boy in her classes sat down beside her.

     "Hi," he said, smiling a smile that was identical to the redheaded girl. They HAD to be brother and sister. "I'm Arthur Weasley. This is my big sis, Iolanthe. Are you going to try out for the team, Iolanthe?"

    "You bet," she said, with a bit of a wiggle. "Once a few of the others get here I'm going to introduce you round and then go eat early so's it can settle by time for the tryouts. Bet I can be Chaser."

    "I bet you'll make it," he said, with an answering twinkle in his eye. "You're bloody brilliant on a broomstick, and you know it."

    "And so will they, " she said as an older boy, his tie striped in blue and yellow, sat down at one corner of the table. "Hey, Julius, this is my little brother Arthur, and....I didn' t hear your name, sweetie," she said, looking at Evadne.

    "Evadne Norton," she said, very quietly.

    "Can you introduce them to people as they show up? I've got to eat or I'll never be able to fly today."

    "Are you going to come back after practice?" he asked, startling Evadne with a dark rich voice, like chocolate.

    "Probably, yeah," she said. "Keriell slapped us with an essay right away on the uses of dittany." She rolled her eyes and Julius grinned, white teeth startling against his dark skin.

    "I'll be here, so if you get stuck, let me know. I've got Ancient Runes to work on," he said, and Iolanthe mock-shuddered.

    "Better you than me. All right, then, I'm off. Wish me luck!"

    They all did, and when she'd gone, Julius looked at Evadne, and smiled again. "Just so you know," he said, "we don't pay much mind to houses here. We're all doing our best, and giving everyone a hand where we can."

    And faced with the open smiles on the faces of both boys, Evadne decided...they might be telling the truth.

    "All right," she said, and smiled a real smile at them, before she turned to work on her Transfiguration papers.

    They were telling the truth. And gradually, slowly, Evadne found the companionship she'd hoped for in whispered conversations in the library. It made the snubs and slights from her housemates easier to bear.