DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately we all do not own any characters/story of Harry Potter and neither do I. But I do own Alanis Dumbledore and she will be mine for all time.

Hi, guys. This is my first story in here and I hope that you will enjoy as much reading as I enjoy writing it. Please, please forgive me any mistakes in the story, because I really tried hard to write this English story with my best efforts.

Please enjoy it and PLEASE REVIEW! Do not hesitate correcting me, it would only be helping improving my English skills! ;-)

"Patricia Calgott."

The whole hall went silent for another time as the sorting hat was about to announce in which house she will belong.

"Hufflepuff!"

It's voice yelled through the entire hall and Alanis could hardly bear it, also as the Hufflepuffs started to applaud the tiny little girl who jumped off the stool to teeter to her new house-table.

"Alanis Dumbledore."

Although the whole hall whispered as Alanis took her steps forward, she was relieved, that she wouldn't have to wait any longer to be chosen for a specific house. She wondered which house would be the best for her, because she attended Hogwarts school very, very late. She swallowed down her nascent grief, but was hardly able to do it.

Several months ago her parents were killed by death eaters and her grandpa Aberforth, the brother of Albus Dumbledore, had to take care of her. She had to begin a new life, had to skip her old school of wizarding and move to Aberforth, who barely was amused to take care of a teenage girl, but she hardly bothered him with anything. Albus therefore, was more gentle and loved her and had introduced her immediately to Harry Potter and his friends.

But she wasn't able to get around the sorting ceremony and had to enqueue to the first class members, although she now would be sixth form with Harry, Hermione and Ron, who welcomed her in the most kindly way she'd ever imagined. It gave her most of all strength to keep going forward.

She sat down on the stool and let Professor McGonagall put the stinky hat on her. It whispered in her head which caused in her the urgency to put him immediately off:

"I see overwhelming desire in you, although you still suffer a lot from the death of your family. You'll have to be brave. Bravery is where you belong to, actually. From there I hope you'll agree with me that I say - GRYFFINDOR!"

She sighed another time with relief.

Alanis quickly headed to the Gryffindor table and embraced Ginny. As she saw Hermione and Ron clapping with joy, she reckoned that her eyes were filled with tears. I'll be safe here, she thought, that's where I belong.

"Where is Harry?", she asked.

Their faces grew worried, but Ginny almost jumped off her seat, as she saw Harry entering the hall, pressing an ensanguined handkerchief to his nose.

"He's covered in blood! Why is he always covered in blood?"

Draco Malfoy sat there on the Slytherin table bored as always when the sorting ceremony took place. He hated those little filthy first years, their pleasure and joy. He almost never felt that when he was coming to the castle. Fortunately, this would be his last year in there anyway.

His fate had great plans for him. He would be able to regain honour for his family, especially for his weak father who'd ruined everything. Draco felt nothing but disgust for his father.

He let his pumpkin juice swirl around in his goblet and rested his chin on his arm, looking more bored than ever. But he raised his eyebrow as the whole hall began to whisper, as McGonagall read out loud the names of the first class students.

"Who the hell is she?", asked Pansy Parkinson next to him and he followed her eyes and looked at a girl who was definitely not a first class.

She had a most agreeable figure, brown hair which shone golden and looked as if she was blanking out her whole surrounding, as a result of great nervousness. To his astonishment she looked very interesting to him. But as the old, dirty hat yelled out "Gryffindor!" his sympathy for her died away as if somebody had blown out a candle, more likey a whole candleholder. With disdain he watched her joining the little Weasel girl.

There were enough girls in this old, bloody castle anyway, which he could meet if he needed it. At least there would always be Pansy, although he'd already got tired of her, but she would serve in physical matters.

He had to admit to himself that losing that girl was a pity. He smirked another time. But in real masculine urgencies also he could forget the house-policy of this bloody castle.

"Can you imagine which relation she has got to Dumbledore? I mean her name is Alanis Dumbledore! Could she be his grand-grand-grand-child or something?", Pansy giggled and caused Draco to grunt bugged.

Ok, this girl should definitely not be his. She was a damned Gryffindor and a Dumbledore! The Dumbledore's seemed to be his curse!

But why did she attend Hogwarts this late? She seemed to be fifth or sixth form like he was. The skin of his left arm got goose bumps as he discovered the possibility. If his supposition was right, she could be an easy target for him, because she would need love, even if there was only one particular love that he would give her.

As Pansy suddenly asked, why Potter was late and his face entirely covered in blood, he smirked to himself another time. Breaking Potters nose was the best thing he'd done for ages and he enjoyed it, however, it had also been a bit of revenge for his father.

He watched Potter coming up to the Gryffindor table and greeting the newvDumbledore-girl. And then they both looked right to his direction. He hated to read the question marks in that girls expression. Draco looked down to his goblet.

In fact, if he'd been in the mood, he would already have told the other Slytherins and demonstrated how Potter's nose had broken, but things changed. As much as he hated it, he wouldn't be able to live a normal life from now on. His mission caught his attention entirely and there was no space for fancy jokes or underwear-adventures.

Alanis loved that old castle, although it was still very difficult to find her ways to the classrooms. There had to be some secrets hidden in that ancient walls which waited for her to be discovered.

Harry's and Hermione's stories of their last years at Hogwarts were extraordinarily terrific. Harry gently tried to avoid stories which were related to You-Know-Who, but she had at the end get over with her pain of her parent's death anyway. Harry felt with her, but she doubted he really could imagine the difference between their losses. He never really got to know his parents, while she had lived with them for almost seventeen years.

She grabbed her bag tighter and hurried up to the inner courtyard. Her Transfiguration class was on top of her Friday's schedule.

She hadn't got any problems with the learning matters at Hogwarts and easily continued with her studies, but Hogwarts and its surrounding outranged her old school in Norway utterly.

She loved Transfiguration and Charms the most, was even able to overmatch Hermione as she performed some transfiguration spells in front of class to demonstrate McGonagall her skills and transfigured a pair of dragon hide protective gloves into a small version of a Norwegian Ridgeback. Professor McGonagall was very pleased to see Alanis being that skilled.

She perhaps inherited the skills of her father, who was brilliant at fixing and constructing magical artefacts, like dark detectors, pensieves or rotating towers and had worked at the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects at the Ministry before her family moved to Norway.

Hermione was quite upset about Alanis outrangin her, and still, after so many months still, pretended it to be, but never would have dared to admit that she was pleased to have Alanis as companion with intelligence and background. In the meanings of friendship, they were already close.

But there were subjects that Alanis completely failed, too.

She hated herbology and potions, which were locked to each other in some terms like herbs or ingredients. She hated the fumes that emerged from the cauldrons, the heat, and in spite of her trying to brew properly, she always failed and even did worse than poor Neville and that's saying something. Professor Slughorn kindly pulled down her lack of success and knowledge to her personal familial loss and still wanted her to be in his "Slug club", although she knew that her potion-skills would never ever improve. Therefore she admired Harry coping with the potion classes so easily this year as he immediately became the favourite student of Slughorn, even if it was due to this strange book of Advanced Potions which was originally owned by the curious Half-Blood-Prince.

Hermione abominated that book, but Alanis liked that little conflicts about it between them because those cheered her up, in fact because they prevented her from thinking of her parents. But if the death of her parents had not been the cause of her moving to this castle, she would have been very glad to be here. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and treated her with no pity, which would only have increased her pain. She was accommodated with acceptance and kindness.

Alanis ran down the portrait gallery, turned around the corner and bumped right into another student.

"Watch out!" he grunted angrily, as Alanis picked herself up and collected her stuff.

"I'm sorry!", murmured Alanis and as she looked up she faced the heated gaze of Draco Malfoy.

She first got to know him as Harry told her that he had broken his nose in the Hogwarts Express. Harry told her everything about Dracos family, that his father was a death eater, now locked up in Azkaban, and Draco an evil git, who loved to abuse his position as Prefect and harass other students.

But in all her first months in Hogwarts she never saw him bullying some first class students, at most laughing at her or Neville proceeding some potions which looked like tar and smelled like...well, let that be put to fantasy... or hardly teasing Harry and even his stupid companions Crabbe and Goyle. If she didn't know better, she rated Malfoy being nothing more than an average Slytherin.

Funnily enough he looked too handsome if things that worse should match with his pretty face. Some strands of his otherwise properly combed blond hair were now loosened and covered his forehead and his intense grey eyes stared at her with intensity.

"Sorry." she repeated clumsily and looked down to the floor. He didn't wear the school uniform, but some black suit and robes which fitted perfectly. Perfect for someone of whom stories were told like Harry did.

Malfoy became different, Harry had already noted that. He'd changed. Draco seemed becoming more neglectful with his school-work, as he didn't hand in some Transfiguration homework assignments, skipped some lessons and received detention for it, but never cared to attend. Professor Snape already taught him lectures, even in the Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons, but Malfoy no longer seemed to admire him and spoke ill towards him.

"It's you...," he said angrily and looked her over, backed away as if he would contract a disease from her, ",watch your steps next time!"

Alanis nodded fiercely and he moved on, obviously skipping the Transfiguration class, as he always was likely to do.

However, that day she obviously faced his friendly side, didn't she?