"Yes, mother," Del replied. The women had been berating her for the past hour about leaving her wand on the table instead of on her person. "I understand."

"It doesn't seem like you understand," the women countered and the girl had to do everything in her power not to roll her eyes. "This isn't the first time."

"I forgot it after practicing for Transfigurations," she informed her. "Not that I'm even supposed to be using my wand outside of Hogwarts but I did upon your request." Del crossed her arms over her chest, "I'll try to remember next time."

"Don't try," Walburga countered. "Do not forget next time."

Del's jaw clenched instinctively, "I won't." So much for going a day without getting scolded for something ridiculous. At least she didn't-

"You're starting to act like Sirius," she stated and Del shook her head in disbelief. "That Potter boy rubbed off on him, I wouldn't want the same thing happening to you."

"Believe me, I stay as far away from James Potter as I can get," she replied simply. And it was the truth. As a Slytherin, their houses were on opposite sides of the school and seeing as she refused to talk to Sirius since the incident, she had no reason to be near the boy. And why would she want to? "Is it alright if I head to bed?" she requested, "I don't want to accidentally oversleep tomorrow."

"You may go," she agreed with a nod. "Make sure you've packed everything."

"Yes, mother," she replied before making her way to her room with a huff. She closed the door as soon as she entered her room and let out a breath of relief, leaning against the door.

Del had been walking on eggshells since Sirius's departure. Everything seemed so much worse now that he was gone and she wasn't sure if it was because her mother and father were livid or she missed having her twin there with her. It doesn't matter, she scolded herself. He's gone and it's just you now. She looked over at the picture on her nightstand, Well, you and Regulus.

The following day, Regulus and Del were escorted to the Hogwarts Express by their mother and father, Walburga and Orion Black. She could feel the eyes on them as soon as they had stepped onto the platform. It may have always been like this but that didn't make it any more enjoyable.

"Remember what I told you," Walburga spoke up and Del had to once again fight back her immediate response.

"Yes, I remember," she nodded in agreement.

"And stay away from-"

"James Potter," she finished for her.

"I was going to say Sirius but him too."

Del frowned slightly, "Got it." It wasn't as though her and Sirius were even on speaking terms but that didn't mean she never wanted to speak to her brother again. She didn't have a choice, however, because whatever Walburga Black says, goes. Everyone was afraid of Walburga and Orion Black, their own children were no exception.

The train whistle sounded and Regulus and Del turned to look behind them. Del looked back at her parents, "We should get going before we miss the train."

"We'll be expecting you at Christmas," Orion informed her.

Del plastered on a smile, "Of course."

As soon as she had turned around, the smile dropped from her face and she pulled her brother along and onto the train. She looked down for a moment as they boarded and did a double take of the boys forearm.

"What is this?" she hissed as she gripped the boys wrist in her hand. She pulled him into an empty compartment quickly, making sure no one had seen what she had, "You can't be serious."

"The Dark Lord chose me," Regulus explained. "He said I'm worthy."

"So you became a Death Eater?" she whisper-shouted. "I don't think you understand how bad this is!"

He pulled his arm away from the girl and covered the dark mark with his shirt sleeve. "Mom and dad were proud."

"Of course they were proud!" she replied. She thought she had helped him enough that he understood how wrong their family beliefs were. Clearly she had not. "Do you understand what the Death Eater's stand for? What he stands for?" she demanded. "Because I don't think you do."

"I understand just fine," he countered, allowing his hands to drop to his sides, "And if you were in your right mind, you would to."

"If I was in my right mind?" she gaped. "They want to kill anyone who was born to muggles. Hell, they want to kill all muggles. Murder, Reg, actual, cold blooded murder."

"Bella said-"

"Bellatrix lost her marbles a long time ago!" Del exclaimed and she stood up straight to see that people had stopped outside the compartment to watch them. She dropped her voice to a hushed tone, "You need to be careful."

"I know what I'm doing," he replied, grabbing his bag off the seat he had put it on. "I'm not a child, it's time you stop treating me like one."

"'Defy the crowd,'" she recited. "'The crowd isn't always wise. It can also lead you down a path of silliness, sub-optimal choices, and downright destruction. Enchantment is as necessary for people to diverge from a crowd as it is to get people to join one.'"

Before she could say anything else, he left the compartment, slamming the door shut behind him.

She ran a hand over her face before grabbing the books off the seat. "Evans!" she could hear faintly but she ignored it as she opened the compartment. She stepped out and someone ran into her causing her to drop her things.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!" she exclaimed in disbelief. She looked up at the culprit and rolled her eyes. "Merlin, of course it had to be you," she huffed as she bent down to gather her things. He bent down as well but she pulled her wand out and waved it, organizing all her stuff into a neat pile before picking it up. She stood up and looked at the boy, "Do you ever watch where you're going, Potter?"

"Do you?" he countered.

"You ran into me," she pointed out.

"You were standing in the middle of the walkway."

"I was stepping out of a compartment," she explained, gesturing to where she had come from. "It's not my fault that you were too busy gawking at Lily Evans to pay attention to where you were walking. While most of us are equipped with the skill of walking in a straight line, you clearly weren't," she informed him and he watched her curiously. "Might I suggest you start paying attention to where you're walking to avoid these sorts of situations?"

He crossed his arms over his chest, "How do you know who I'm gawking at?"

"The whole school knows who you're gawking at, Potter," she replied simply. "It's not as though you make any effort at being discreet."

His nose wrinkled slightly at the accusation, "I'm discreet."

She grew amused at this. She looked behind the boy, "There's Lily now." He turned around quickly and her name died in his throat. He looked back at her with narrowed eyes, "Very discreet."

"What have I ever done to you to make you hate me so much?" he asked the girl and he was clearly expecting an answer.

She rolled her eyes, "More than you know." Del stuffed her wand into her back pocket, "I have places to be. Have fun chasing after the redhead who will barely give you the time of day. Wish my brother well for me, would you?"

Del walked off after this, ignoring whatever he had said to her. She navigated her way through the train which had departed the station some time ago. She felt a hand grab her wrist and she moved to grab her wand but stopped upon seeing it was just Angela.

"Merlin's beard, Ang," Del huffed as she took a seat next to the grinning girl, "I almost hexed you."

"What a shame you didn't," Axel spoke up from where he laid on the other side of the compartment with his head resting in Cynthia's lap. "I would have killed to see that."

Angela stuck her tongue out at the boy before turning to face Del, "What took you so long? I've been third wheeling for way too long."

"Sorry," she apologized, using her wand to place her books on the top shelf in their compartment. "Ran into some trouble."

"Was it anything serious?" Cynthia asked.

"Nothing I couldn't handle."

"We noticed Sirius arrived with the Potter bloke again instead of you," Axel spoke up, curiosity laced in his expression. "What's that about?"

"You didn't notice," Angela pointed out. "Cyn told us about it and you're just snoopy."

"He left home is all," Del replied simply. She was surprised more people haven't figured it out. It had been a year after all. But they hadn't really talked about it. "Was bound to happen eventually with all of his Anti-Black propaganda. If he didn't leave, I'm sure my mother would have kicked him out soon enough."

"Ooh, what happened this time?" Cynthia inquired and Del raised an eyebrow.

"Doesn't matter," she shook her head. "He's gone, that's all that does matter." Some people were clueless. She knew what she sounded like. She sounded like she was happy that he was gone and of course she wasn't. But she couldn't let them know what she was really thinking because then she would appear weak. And the last thing you want during a time like this is to appear weak. Especially now that her little brother had joined the Death Eater's.

"Someone's keeping secrets," Axel mused as he sat up.

"Someone needs to learn to mind their own business," she countered just as the trolly showed up with food.

They spent the ride to Hogwarts discussing various things. Anything from what they did over the holidays to some joke one of them made two seconds prior. Everything had been going fine until Cynthia brought up the one topic Del had been hopeful of avoiding.

"He came to our house," she explained. It wasn't uncommon. He came to Grimmauld Place often but that may have had more to do with his new recruit now that she thought about it. "I think my parents have tasks from him," she explained, "They're hoping that if my brother and I help them, he'll accept us into the inner circle."

"And are you?" Angela inquired. She was probably the one most hesitant with all of the stuff going on. And who could blame her.

"What?"

"Going to help?" she explained. "So that you can join him?"

"Um, I don't know," she replied with a slight frown, glancing up at Axel. "My brother seems to like the idea but I don't know if it's really my thing."

Axel placed his arm around Cynthia's shoulders and pulled her towards him, "It's an honor, remember?"

She smiled tightly, "Yeah, I know." Del and Angela exchanged a look before she continued, "I've just never been one for action."

"Where's Regulus?" Angela asked, clearly trying to diffuse the tension but not realizing it would only make things worse.

"He's with his fifth year buddies, I'm sure," she answered simply, confusing her further. Regulus would normally stop by right before they arrived at Hogwarts but seeing as he hadn't showed up and they were no more than a few minutes out, he wasn't coming. "Let's get our robes on," Del suggested, standing up. Just as she stood up, the train jolted and she ended up falling onto Axel.

He looked down at her with a smirk, "If you wanted to sit on my lap, you could have just asked."

She slapped him on the arm, noting the frown on Cynthia's face. She stood up, "Shut the hell up and give your girlfriend attention, would you?" She reached up and grabbed her bag but ultimately ended up dropping it as the train jerked again, sending the door to the compartment flying open and sending her stumbling backward.

A voice sounded throughout the train. "The train is experiencing some problems," the conductor announced, "We're sorting them out as soon as possible. Stay seated and be patient."

She could hear her friends laughing at her from the compartment. The door had closed again and she moved to stand up when two people appeared in front of her. She looked up to find Lily and James standing there and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

Lily crouched down, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Del answered, swatting the girl's hand away. She pushed herself up to her feet and Lily stood up as well. "Didn't the announcement say for everyone to stay seated? What are you doing here?"

"Couldn't we say the same thing to you?" James countered and Lily narrowed her eyes at the boy. He put his hands up in faux surrender before Lily turned back to Del.

"We're Gryffindor's Head Boy and Head Girl," she explained. "All of us were told to check in on everyone and make sure they were all right."

Del's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, no," she mumbled before opening her compartment door, "I have to go." She stepped into where her friends were and closed the door quickly. She reached down and picked up her robes and slipped them on as she mumbled, "My mother is so going to kill me."

"What is it?" Cynthia asked.

"The Head Girl's and Boy's are supposed to be circling the train right now," she explained as she pulled the pin from inside the front of her bag and put it on her robes, "Guess who forgot she was Head Girl."

"Go, go," Angela urged, "Hopefully Severus hasn't noticed that you aren't out there yet."

As soon as Del opened the door, she knew it was too late. "Delphinus," he greeted with his usual sneer, "How lovely of you to finally emerge."

"Don't get your knickers in a twist," she suggested as she stepped out and closed the compartment door. "So, what do you want?" she asked, her arms crossed over her chest, "What will it take for you to keep your mouth shut?"

"You'll owe me a favor," he decided.

"A favor?" she inquired. "What kind of favor?"

"I haven't decided yet," he shrugged before nodding ahead of them, "Come on, let's go. We just have to get through the rest of these compartments and then meet back with the rest of the Head Boys and Girls."

"Wonderful," she muttered before following after the boy. "Do we know what's wrong with the train?"

"No," he answered as he looked in each of the compartments that the Slytherin's sat in, "Just that it's not working."

"How observant of you," she replied after checking the last compartment. "Okay, that's everyone," she clapped her hands together, "Where are we meeting the others?"

He nodded his head behind her, "At the front of the train."

"Great," she mumbled before starting off in the other direction. "Why do we even have to meet with them to begin with? We each have our own houses that we take care of."

"I don't know," he replied, "I don't ask questions. I just do what I'm told."

She glanced back at him for a moment, amusement clear on her face, "I know."

They arrived at where the other houses Head Boy's and Girl's were waiting. James looked up upon seeing that they had arrived but did a double take upon seeing Del standing there with Snape.

She caught his eye and he looked away immediately, clearing his throat uncomfortably. "Do we know what happened?" the Ravenclaw Head Boy inquired.

"We're not supposed to know," the Hufflepuff Head Girl spoke up, "But from what I've heard, it was You-Know-Who and his followers." Del tensed up upon hearing this, "They managed to prevent them from getting on but they're debating on turning the train around and just sending everyone home."

"They're talking to Dumbledore now," the Hufflepuff Head Boy added. "That's why the train has stopped."

"He won't send everyone home, will he?" Del inquired and everyone turned to look at her, "I mean, Hogwarts is safer than anyone's home could ever be."

"Guess we'll find out when the train starts moving again."