Alice is just 11 years old when she finds out she's a witch and has to attend a magic school. Her life's been pretty ordinary; although she has never known her true family, she's found one in her foster parents. However, everything will change when...
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Something happened when Alice returned home after her second year at Hogwarts. Her foster parents didn't come to pick her up at King's Cross station, as they had the previous year. When she got home, they weren't there. They had moved out and hadn't told her where. Alice had to go back to the orphanage she used to live in to ask if they knew anything, but she was left with no answers. That summer was horrible for her. She didn't get close to any of the other kids in the orphanage, she celebrated her 13th birthday alone, and to top it off she couldn't write to Daphne or to Hermione because she didn't have access to an owl.
She told everything to her friends when they saw each other on the Hogwarts Express by the end of August. "It's like they disappeared." Alice explained, still with bitterness towards her former foster parents. "I had to go back to the orphanage."
"That's horrible, Al..." Said Hermione, showing true compassion of her friend.
Daphne did as well. "I'll write to my parents to see if they'll let you stay with us next summer." With us, she meant her and her younger sister, Astoria, who was just starting her first year at Hogwarts and was sitting next to Daphne in the train compartment.
"That would be awesome." Alice smiled. She wanted to believe that she would stay with her from now on and everything would be fine. However, she was reluctant to think her luck would change. "Thank you." Her eyes fell on Astoria, who had been quiet since they first met and was obviously nervous about the sorting ceremony.
The first thing Alice thought when she saw the other Greengrass sister was that she didn't look like her sister at all. Astoria was the absolute contrast to Daphne. Her eyes were dark, just like her curly brown hair, and her facial features were sharp. Daphne, on the other hand, had a faintly rounder face, blue eyes and straight blond hair. Alice couldn't help but think that she looked more alike Daphne than her own sister.
"You'll be sorted into Slytherin." Alice tried to comfort her. "I'm sure of it. Siblings usually go in the same house." Astoria's expression lightened up a little bit.
"Not necessarily." Hermione corrected her. "Look at Parvati and Padma Patil: they are identical twins. Parvati is in Gryffindor, but Padma was sorted into Ravenclaw."
"Still, Astoria is a Slytherin. Look at her!" Alice tried to make Hermione understand that she wanted the eleven-year-old not to be nervous at all. Hermione took the hint.
"Oh, yes..."
Daphne couldn't keep a laugh from scaping her mouth. Soon enough, the four girls were laughing together, even Astoria, who looked much relaxed now. Nonetheless, that moment of sheer happiness was stripped away when a cold presence took over the Hogwarts Express. It was like all the light had just vanished and the only thing left was dark and cold sadness. If Alice was already feeling down because of what had happened to her during the summer, now it was even worse. She felt a sudden need to cry, to start weeping and never stop, and the more she tried to contain it the more it hurt. Then, a black shadow passed by the window of their compartment and the whole room got covered in a thin layer of frost. The air felt frigid for a minute before the temperature went back to normal. All four girls looked at each other in bewilderment.
