folie à deux

One.

Two Years Ago

Eleven year-old Selina Romanov sat alone in a train compartment headed for her new school. The Romanov family was held in very high regard in the wizarding world, and yet, she felt she had no friends in that world, or any world she belonged to, for that matter. She sat alone in a train compartment full of sweets she'd bought, hoping at least one other person might join. Selina's grandmother had given her plenty of money in her journey to Hogwarts School in Scotland, one of the only good things she'd ever gotten from her. Many other children passed by over the long train ride aboard the Hogwarts Express, but none had come to sit down in her compartment as the hours passed. After little over two hours had gone by, a boy had been walking outside of her compartment and almost passed it, before walking backward, opening the door.
"Oi. Is that cherry?" he inquired, pointing at the box of candies she was eating from.
"Yeah, it is," she nodded quietly.
"Give me some, then," the blond-haired boy demanded, extending his hand.
"That's a funny way of asking," Selina remarked, tipping the box over and dropping a few candies into his hand.

He frowned at her resentfully, taking the candies and popping a couple of them into his mouth. He begrudgingly took a seat across from her, looking around at the other treats that she had gotten from the trolley, as well as from Diagon Alley a few days prior.
"You know, Chocolate Frogs are alright, I suppose, but these will always be my favorite," he said confidently, still chewing.
"Yeah. Cherry's one of my favorite flavors. They didn't have strawberry, though," Selina thought.
"Eh, strawberry's alright," the boy with pale blond hair and blue eyes conceded, "But cherry is simply superior."

They sat in silence as Selina wished she could go back to being alone, looking out the window almost melancholically, drowning everything out in her head with music. Selina Romanov always wished she had friends until she remembered what it was actually like to have friends.
"Say, what's your name?" the young boy, most likely another Hogwarts first year, asked, somehow still sounding rude. "I know you, from some of my parents' parties, and stuff. I don't think I've seen you at one in years, though."
"Selina."
"Selina what?" he demanded impatiently.
"Selina Romanov," she responded dryly.
He nodded quickly. "A Romanov. Now that's a respectable enough family," he determined with an obvious haughtiness.

She just smiled, knowing that upon her mother's death and her father's life sentence to Azkaban prison, she had inherited an entire vault of riches, jewels, and other heirlooms that reached two full floors of twenty feet each.
"My name's Draco Malfoy," he remarked, holding for applause, no doubt. "I knew you looked familiar. Your parents knew my parents. I remember seeing you at the parties, and such from before."
"Nice to meet you, I suppose, Draco," she remarked, underwhelming him with her amount of enthusiasm.
"So. What House do you think you'll be sorted into?" he questioned curiously. "I'm going to be a Slytherin. No one on either side of my family's ever been anything else."
"I can't say for sure. Not all of my family's studied at Hogwarts. Most of the men on my father's side went to Durmstrang," Selina explained. "But the ones that didn't went here. They were all Slytherins, I think."
"Oh, I almost went there," Draco nodded nonchalantly. "But, my mum said no. She and my father both went to Hogwarts."
"My parents went to Hogwarts, too. Both of them were Slytherins, and a lot of my mum's family were Slytherins. She did have a few Ravenclaws on her side, though. I'll most likely be one of those two," she thought. "I'm guessing Slytherin, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too surprising."
"Those are the only two houses worth a damn," Draco Malfoy scoffed wryly.

Selina just rolled her eyes as she looked out the window, unimpressed by Draco's keen memorization of his parents' hot takes.
"I hope we're in Slytherin together," he carried on. "I just came from a car with a few of the others who are going to be in Slytherin. They're easily impressed. Not very bright, either."