𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 | 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲 BOOK ONE

twentyfour.

We boarded the Hogwarts Express, and for the first time, I decided to sit with my brother and his less than entertaining friends. I'd passed the cabin with my own friends, but there were already six of them in one cabin, with Feyre De Gaulle taking my usual seat between Draco and Noctis.

Pansy and Daphne begged me to stay, and it was Warren who flirted shamelessly by insisting I sit on his lap for the whole train ride. The glare he received from Draco had been murderous for that.

I continued onwards into the only cabin with enough room for us and that had been saved. "In here," I called back, excited as I took my seat next to Remus.

Even though his face was covered by his overcoat, I'd recognized him anywhere by now.

The others clamored into the tight space. Their own faces filled with questionable gazes.

"Who's that?" Ron asked, eyeing the empty bottle of brandy at our feet.

"Uncle Moony!" I called to the man, nudging him to wake. "Look, it's Harry! I finally found him!"

Remus didn't make a peep, fast asleep and sleeping off the alcohol.

My shoulders sagged.

"Uncle Moony?" Ron and Hermione repeated.

I rolled my eyes over them to look at Harry. "Professor Remus Lupin, I guess. He's going to be our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. But I call him Uncle Moony," I explained to him.

"Do you think he's really asleep?" Harry questioned me.

I reached over, and flicked Remus in the temple while the others gasped in horror. When Remus didn't move or scold me like he tended to do, I smiled toward Harry. "Yep!" I chirped.

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, while the others only stared at me with slacked jaws.

The rest of the train ride was rather dull.

Harry was explaining the whole Sirius Black business to his friends while I leaned almost entirely on Remus and my legs propped up on Harry's legs, resting my eyes myself.

My thoughts were lulling me into my own world rather than this one.

I pictured the beautiful Malevolent in her pretty dress after winning Miss Hogwarts. How she was laughing and smiling at Sirius who had stolen her crown and placed it on top of his head. How she was clinging to Regulus and James.

But then I pictured her in the only other memory I had of her. When she was suddenly in 1945 and meeting with Tom Riddle in the library in secrecy. How they both stared at each other so lovingly and leaned their foreheads together to find comfort in one another.

A love like that couldn't be fake—there was so much more to this history, and it all linked back to Malevolent Sakaris.

I was determined to get answers this year.