Kayla had stood with the parchment in hand, a grin on her face. She had aced her O.W.L's and was one step closer to her dream of becoming an Auror. Ever since she had first attended Hogwarts she had lapped up magic. The idea of being able to do what other people couldn't was a strange and intriguing idea. Nevertheless, she had quickly stood out from her peers as one of the finest duelists the school had seen in some time. Practical magic, it seemed, came easy to her. There was a price, however. All the theoretical and reasoning seemed to escape her as her mind filled with new ways she could beat anyone who challenged her.

It was hardly a shock either, when looking back, that she had been assigned Gryffindor. Some called her brave, others reckless, but even as young as 13 she had been willing to challenged the older students to magical duels, and in some cases even win. Her thirst for knowledge was ever increasing, but despite that hunger, it seemed to only manifest when it came to fighting. Otherwise Kayla showed herself to be a very shy girl, not willing to risk interacting with too many other people. Dueling had helped her overcome that, to a degree, but she still preferred, when possible, to stick to her close group of friends. Sadly she would not be seeing them often as they had all chosen slightly different subjects for their sixth year, having herself chosen Charms, Transfiguration, Defense against the Dark Arts, Potions, and Care of Magical Creatures.

The year had only begun a week ago, and already she felt there was more homework to do than she had been given in all her other years here combined. Thus it was off to the library to study, if she could get some peace and quiet between the swarms of Gryffindors asking her about tryouts for the Dueling club, of which she had been named president. Thankfully the harsh librarian meant she could get some much needed silence away from everyone, but especially the worst thing about the entire school...the Slytherin girls...

Sen yawned as she sat in the library mulling over her books. She was quite happy with herself today. She had done an awesome job on her O.W.L's. Her mother was so proud of her, she had a letter from her in her robe pocket. She began remembering of her first time she ever stepped into the school. How proud she felt when she was sat on the chair. How happy she was to be placed in Slytherin, she was going to prove people wrong. Just because her father was a death eater, did not mean she was as bad. Look at Severus Snape for instance. One of the greatest Slytherin's of all. She wanted to be like Snape.

One of the main reasons she wanted to become an Auror was because she wanted to prove people wrong. She can, is and will be a good person. Just like Snape she wanted to be good at Potions, the Dark Arts and Duelling. Though this made people think she was evil. Because a Slytherin cant be good at Potions or Defence Against The Dark Arts or Duelling unless they are evil. She also loved animals though, but people never seemed to care about that.

Her chosen subjects for the year were Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration and Charms. The only people that seemed to accept her for who she was, were the other Slytherins, a lot of them were misjudged also. Though some were of course judged correctly. She knew she would have some friends in each of the classes at least. Most Slytherins stick together as no one else seems to like them thanks to their families.

She saw a few Gryffindor's come into the library and rolled her eyes a little. Here come the schools golden house.

Slinking quietly into the library and rapidly separating herself from the gaggle of other Gryffindor sixth years, she found herself a nice quiet spot where only a few people had claimed space. Unfortunately one of those was a Slytherin. Though she didn't really recognise her, she was sure she had been in her classes during the past week. Thankfully she had avoided most Slytherin's over the years thanks to having different classes, but this year it would be different. She had a whole host of Slytherin students in Defence classes, as well as Potions. The other subjects they seemed to be a little more scarce, but there would be no getting away from them this year.

Kayla opened her book and prayed no one would disturb her so she could finish this damned essay for Potions homework. Unfortunately she would not be so lucky. Not sixty seconds after putting quill to parchment did a couple of younger looking Gryffindor students appear before her. They stood a few feet away from her table, muttering quickly to each other, occasionally glancing over at her. Eventually one of them approached her. He was a boy with messy brown hair and his shirt untucked. This seemed to irk her for some reason, though she wasn't sure why. He stood in front of her table for a minute, struggling to find his words. Kayla mentally sighed. If she wanted to get any work done she was going to have to help the kid along.

"Yes young man, how can I help?" she asked softly, but with an authoritative tone, but she did not look up from her parchment.
"Well...you see...we were wondering if we could join the dueling club. We were too young last year, but we watched you and we all agreed we wanted to be as good as you are! Please let us!" the boy asked desperately.
So they were third years then. That had been the age limit set in place for the club for safety reasons. Plus that would be the year they started to learn to hold their own with magic.
"Sign-up sheets are in the common room. Please tell anyone else you know to stop asking me in person please. It's getting kind of annoying..."
"Oh, of course. Thanks miss!" he said, running back to his friends who all quickly bolted off out of the library.
Finally, maybe some peace and quiet Kayla hoped.

Yawning she watched as some young Gryffindors came in. She raised her brow as she watched them curiously. They wandered over to a Gryffindor in her year. They were nervous? About what? Then she over heard the conversation, hearing what the read head said she just shook her head. 'Seems like a bitch, they were only curious.' She thought as she picked up her quill once more. Then the thought occurred to her. Maybe she should join this club too? I mean, it'd give her some good practice after all. There weren't any Slytherins in it as far as she was aware. She knew there were no sign in sheets in her common room either. 'Hmm...'

Sen stood up, slowly and quietly made her way over to the seemingly bitchy red head. Her hands in her pocket she made her way closer, until she was eventually stood by the sitting girls side. "Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could have a few sign in sheets for my common room? We don't have any...Or is it a house club?" She spoke quietly but her voice was naturally soft. She generally wasn't a nasty person or spiteful like most other Slytherins. But for the longest of time that's just how Slytherins have been portrayed.

Kayla couldn't help but stare in shock as the Slytherin sat herself beside her and proceeded to ask about the duel club. She sat with her jaw hanging open for a few moments before closing her mouth and drawing her head backwards. She took in the visage of the girl sitting beside her. She was quite pretty, you know, for being a Slytherin and all. It soon occurred to her that she had been sitting for a good thirty seconds just staring at this girl and not even saying anything.

"It's mostly just a Gryffindor thing. I've been trying to get the other houses involved for the longest time, but generally no one seems interested. I think a lot of the younger Gryffindor students just want to join to see cool magic, not to really do any duelling. We have a handfull of Ravenclaw and two Hufflepuff, but no one from Slytherin yet. Maybe you could start the trend? It would be great to get enough students to finally have some house competitions like Quidditch has."

She took a moment to breath from letting her excitement build. Ever since she had joined the club she had watched it grow and grow, and now her imagination was starting to run wild with what it could become. Finally reigning in her thoughts, she turned her head to the girl.
"Hey, don't we have a lot of our classes together?" she asked, having a hazy recollection of seeing her in several of her lessons since this year had begun.

Sen nodded as she listened. She was a very good listener. "Well as a Slytherin, there may be no one from my house joining as theres no advertising for it in our common room..." she said as she shrugged. "But if you have any flyers and sign up sheets, Ill happily take them and put them around the common room for other students. Might be able to get some people join and it'd definitely open up to contests and more diverse duelling then." She nodded and smiled.

She nodded once again as she mentioned their classes. "Yeah I think we have all the same classes together." Sen smiled. She was pretty much on her own for some classes as not many Slytherins took certain subjects for fear of being accused of following Voldemort. Even now after all the time that has passed, no matter how the teachers tell the students that everyone can participate in all classes, there is still that stigma there. Sen has been accused as a Voldemort supporter many times and like some other Slytherins is known to the rest of the school as a Voldemort supporter but that doesn't make it true. Sen is isolated even in her house as other members want stay away so they aren't lumped with her stigma also. Whenever she walks down the hallways of the school she can hear the whispers and feel the stares. She has very few friends because of her fathers ideals. All she can do is try to prove them wrong by living her life how she wanted to.

Kayla looked over at her for a moment. Her face was definitely ringing a bell, but for some reason other than sharing classes. That's when it hit her. She had remembered one of her friends mentioning that a few of the Slytherin students that would be starting with them were children of former Death Eaters. The image was hazy, but this girl's face was among those she had been pointed out. Now she had to decide, would she let this girl in? If she had cruel intentions, she might ruin the very thing that had been built, the one thing she treasured in this school more than anything.

Kayla sat and thought for a long moment. Despite her reservations this girl seemed genuine and not looking to cause trouble like she expected most Slytherin students to be inclined to do.
"You seem like the right person to help get more people into the club." she said as she leaned down into her bag and fished out some pieces of parchment. She quickly annotated them with the needed information, but stopped when she was nearly done.
"I just need to write who they should speak to, but I uh...I'm afraid I don't even know your name." she said, trying to not offend the girl with her tone.

Sen could see the thoughts going through her head, she noticed a small change in her features as she looked her over. She was recognising her as the child of a Death Eater. She saw it all the time. She braced herself as she waited for the 'No Death Eaters' quip. Then. Nothing, she said yes? Sen looked surprised but happy of her acceptance. Maybe she didn't know her 'status'. Though as soon as she told her her name, the red head would know.

She took a gulp of imaginary courage and opened her mouth. "...Its Sen... Sen Kurosawa..." She said softly. She hated her last name. She wanted it to just vanish. Her family name had brought nothing but despair. She came from a Family of Death Eaters. The only reason her mother wasn't part of it was because her mother and father were divorced. She looked at the girl again "My family were Death Eaters, yes." She added. It was better to be honest and let her know in case she didn't know. It would be unfair to put her club at risk if she wasn't aware of her lineage.

'Sen' that name certainly sounded familiar, and she was told why when the girl revealed her family had been Death Eaters. A look of realization washed over her when she spoke. She had the urge to get up run away back to the Gryffindor common room and hide herself away. But she didn't. She could see the sadness resonating, not from the daughter of a Death Eater, but a young girl who wanted to escape the shackles of her family's mistakes.

"Sen, nice to meet you." she said, trying to repress any sound of fear that might be etched into her voice.
"My name is Kayla, and I reckon together we're going to make the dueling club the best thing since wand bread!" she said, not caring about the giggle that escaped her mouth. She took a cursory glance up at the time and sighed.
"Looks like it's time to go to class. Potions I think. Shall we head there together? We can discuss the club on our way."
Kayla packed her stuff away and stood up, waiting for Sen to join her.

Sen saw the flash of fear in the other girls eyes. It was something she had grown accustomed to. She hated her families roots. If it wasn't for them she'd have a normal life right now. Not one where all she had to do was say her name and it brought fear or hatred.

She was slightly shocked at how Kayla supressed her emotions and she smiled a little, thankful. "Nice to meet you Kayla." She was even more shocked when she was asked if she'd like to accompany her to Potions class. "E..erm, y-yeah sure!" She said shocked and a little bit too loud for the library so she got a hissy shush from the librarian. She blushed a little from embarrassment. She felt excited. Her entire time at school she didn't really have any friends so the feeling of possibly making one took over a little more than she anticipated.

As Kayla walked to class with Sen, she couldn't help but hear whispers from all sorts of people as they walked along the path towards the Potions classroom. She couldn't help but sigh with sadness for the girl that was next to her. She was sure there would be rumors that would spread like wildfire. Children were fickle, some more than others. She knew already what she might endure, and it would only be a fraction of what this poor girl might have been through, all because of something she couldn't control.

When they finally had sat down in the classroom, a girl with bleach blonde hair sat herself the other side of Kayla, looking uneasily at Sen as she did.
"Uhhh, Kayla, could I have a word?" she asked tentatively, her gaze avoiding Sen as much as possible.
"Of course you can Tess, but if it's about Sen then perhaps you shouldn't." Kayla spoke kindly but firmly.
Tess looked at her, then at Sen, then back and forth a few times, opening her mouth once or twice before finally stopping herself and unpacking her books, though she sat with an uneasiness.

As Sen walked down the hallways to her class with the red head beside her she felt happy. She heard loud whisperings and saw stares of shocked faced. Something she was used to but she hoped it didn't bother Kayla. She felt bad again, inflicting this kind of thing onto someone innocent and nice.

When they reached to class she watched as a blonde came over with what seemed a panicked look as she saw what semed to be her friend and a Deatheater together. That's what people saw her as. Not only the child of a Deatheater but herself as one. Because obviously everyone who is related to a Deatheater is one themselves. Sen sighed as she expected Kayla Kayla to leave with her friend. She was quite shocked though when she heard what Kayla said. 'if its about Sen then perhaps you shouldn't' ...She had never heard such kind words before. She was...sticking up for her? She felt herself getting emotional. She managed to keep herself composed. She was so touched. Kayla had only just met her really and yet she was being so kind to her. Why?

She turned her attention to the teacher and pulled her books out of her bag as she sat down. She had a feeling today was going to be a good day.

The class proved to be somewhat uneventful. It was mostly just a theory lesson, the kind that Kayla disliked, mostly because they usually ended with being given a massive essay to do for homework. As the lesson dragged on she could feel the eyes of the class occasionally turning towards her and Sen, and hushed whispers spreading around. There were two Slytherin girls in particular that kept shooting daggers at both of them every single chance they got, to the point they nearly even got detention for not paying attention. This alone made Kayla smile with glee. Yet at the same time an uneasiness spread through her. She knew how cruel and vindictive those girls could be, and they would no doubt be planning something. Kayla herself would be protected by her fellow Gryffindor's who relished any chance to get back at them. She worried about Sen though, who had to spend more of her time near them and was probably a bigger target for them to do some horrible things to...

Sen had noticed the glares from the other Slytherins and paid them no attention. She was used to it. As the lesson drew to a close they were given a wonderfully long essay they had to complete for next lesson. "Awesome, my first Essay of the year." She thought sarcastically as she signed and made her notes so she wouldn't forget about it. Once class was over she packed her bags and turned to the red head. "You know, if the glaring and stares are too much for you, I understand. I'm used to being on my own anyway, so if you'd prefer you don't have to walk or sit with me." She said softly. She had quite a soft gentle voice. She wasn't the wicked witch everyone seemed to think she was. She ignored the glares from passing by students as they left the classroom. Eventually just leaving Herself and Kayla in the room alone.