Chapter 1: First Encounter

When I first met him all I wanted was to be alone, but his silent company gave me far more comfort than the solitude I craved ever could.

After Voldemort was defeated the 7th years were allowed back for another year to retake. Many people had left Hogwarts during that year of terror and no one sat their OWLs or NEWTs, there were many people who needed qualifications but due to last years horrors had not been able to get them. Everybody took their years again, because of the events in the outside world most people learned very little due to lack of concentration on the parts of both the teachers and the students so no one was going to suffer.

1st year would be a little bit larger than usual and a mix of different ages but the years intake was much smaller as it was mostly purebloods because many half bloods, muggle borns and their families had been wiped out. Many pupils had been murdered by Voldemort's followers or had died in the final battle so the train seemed much emptier and many people were mourning the loss of friends and relatives. The whole train had a sombre mood not the cheerful expectant one it usually had as it made its way to the start of the new school year.

It was on the train at the start of the year when I first found him. Every carriage was split into four six seat compartments, three seats on either side. I was sitting in a compartment with Harry, Ron, Ginny, Luna and Neville, the usual crowd. Voldemort had torn families and friends apart but the fear he caused and the jubilation at his death had brought many more together. Harry and Ginny were sitting close together and getting cosy, over the summer Neville and Luna had realised what many of us had noticed a long time ago, they would be an absolutely perfect couple. This left me facing Ron, the two couples on either side were murmuring to each other and occasionally kissing but there was an awkward silence between me and Ron.

Over the summer we had succumbed and become a couple after many years of possibility, but it didn't take me long to realise how wrong it felt. He was so cute and keen and we had loved each other for so long but when it came to it he was like a brother to me, I couldn't be with him because it felt like I was dating my brother. I was really embarrassed being around him because I didn't want to hurt him but eventually I broke it off. As we sat there in the carriage he avoided my eyes except every so often he shot me a heart broken look, wracked with guilt I couldn't take it anymore I got up and left. I searched frantically through the train for a place to be alone with my thoughts when I found it, one compartment that was completely empty apart from one boy sitting alone in the farthest corner lost in a book.

I couldn't face sitting in a compartment full of Slytherins. Malfoy, Pansy, Goyle, Nott and Millicent Bulstrode. Many lost their fathers when Voldemort went down, either dead or locked up in Azkaban, Malfoy was lucky not to be there himself. The mood was subdued but although Voldemort himself was gone it was clear they were all still full of hatred. It took much more that the death of Voldemort for them to stop believing that muggles and anyone who had anything to do with then were scum. It made me sick

I was careful not to give myself away; I never said anything against Voldemort. My mother was a fan of his. I was one of the few people who knew the secret of the sorting hat, that it read our minds and gave us our choice. I knew I would be out of place in Slytherin but it was better than to face the wrath of my family, being a disgraced son and an embarrassment to the Zabini family. I was rarely noticed, a made a point of talking to the popular people so no one would ever guess my feelings about Voldemort and the dark arts, but I generally kept to myself. I tried to be as inconspicuous as my mothers fame would let me and stayed alone not making any friends, dedicating myself to my studies in the library or by the lake.

I was sitting in the calm and quiet of my own compartment reading my favourite book, Jane Eyre. I was always careful to never let anyone see me read it as I had read it countless times and my copy was worn and battered. To the Slytherins it would be a filthy muggle book about filthy muggles written by a filthy muggle. But to me Jane Eyre is perfect, romantic and sad, it just makes me wish I had a girl like her. So just sat reading in peace.

I didn't notice her come in, it was only when she said "Jane Eyre, I love that book it's my favourite" that I guiltily looked up into a pair of hazel eyes filled with sadness. Just the sight of them made me want to hold her and tell her it was alright, just to provide some comfort. I just had an overwhelming urge to protect her from any kind of hurt, I quietly went back to my book wondering what just happened.