Phantom Girl

Chapter Seven - By the Blood of the Moon

When I had regained my senses, I was back on the Hogwarts Express. My body had taken the form of an eleven year old as the compartment was full of first years along with Harry. Thankfully, I was standing at the door so it didn't look like I just materialized out of thin air (which I technically did).

"Hi," I said, capturing everyone's attention. "I'm Rella." Good. I remembered my old name. Centuries of being referred to as Phantom Girl rendered the memories of my past forgotten. "May I sit here?"

Harry recognized me immediately and gestured to the empty seat next to him. As I went to sit down, he quickly introduced his new friends. There were three of them.

"This is Hermione." A bushy-haired girl peered at me curiously through coffee eyes. "She's a Muggleborn, so she was raised by Muggles like I was!" He sounded so relieved. Probably because it meant that he wasn't alone in his cluelessness when it came to magic.

The girl (and the other two boys but not as much) stared at my white hair, skin and dress. It was a bit rude but since they were eleven, I let it slide.

Next was, "Blaise Zabini," he said himself, not waiting for Harry to introduce him. Like a gentleman, he took my hand and kissed my knuckles. "Pleasure to meet you, miss."

I was impressed. Then again, Blaise Zabini was a pureblood so I should expect nothing less than perfect decorum. While the Zabinis were purebloods, the family was neutral in the war. As a result, Blaise sat quite comfortably next to Hermione.

The last was a quiet boy but intelligence shone brightly in his eyes. "Theodore Nott," he introduced himself as and repeated the same gesture that Blaise had demonstrated. I was really impressed. Youth these days don't have manners as impeccable as this. "But just call me Theo or Teddy, if you would?" At this, I nodded my consent.

We chatted about our summers. Hermione had gone to France as her family had a summer home there. Blaise and Theo had gotten together to play numerous rounds of Quidditch.

"I went to America," I said when asked. "I studied the Salem witch hunts. It's fascinating, really." I wasn't lying. I did go to America and witch hunts are fascinating but they didn't have to know that I was trying to convince a Dark Lord in the making to turn himself into the Muggle police.

Theo looked at me curiously (which these first years seemed to be doing a lot). "Funny how Muggles perceive magic, isn't it? The witch hunts were a cover-up story for when one of the Old Families hunted werewolves. Then Muggles began hunting 'witches'. Most of the ones executed were just Muggles being weird and people settling petty grudges. Funny how they think magic is work of the devil, eh? The family who caused the hunts was exiled."

All of us stared at Theo in shock. I didn't know that wizards had that committed to memory. That was the story of my own family. The family of Dranlei. They didn't know that we hunted werewolves to drink their blood and turn into wolves ourselves for a short time. Funny how stories lose the most important parts.

Hermione was completely enthralled. She looked like someone who completely immersed themselves in textbooks and information.

The conversation turned to Houses. The four first years commented on which they wanted to be in. Blaise and Theo wanted to be in Slytherin or Ravenclaw and took the time to explain Houses to Hermione. Surprisingly, they were very unbiased. Hermione was eager to be accepted into the Ravenclaw house by the time the two had finished explaining.

Harry didn't know where he wanted to go.

"What about you, Rella?" Hermione asked.

Damn, I was hoping to avoid this. "Uh..." C'mon, what's the first one that comes to mind? It's not like you're actually going to get sorted! "Hufflepuff," I decided.