~ Aella ~

Aella Black is a stubborn, quick witted, and sometimes sarcastic young girl. Her heart is kind and pure, but she defends it with ice, resulting in hardly anyone getting to know her. Although those she loves are very few, she'd do anything to defend and save them. She is fiesty and stands up for what she believes in. However, in addition to being cold and closed off, she does have a mischievous side, and loves playing pranks and causing trouble.

Aella has only an older brother, Isaac, who is 5 years older. Her and Isaac were abandoned by their parents when they were very young, Aella was only 1 and Isaac was 6. Their aunt took them in and cared for them, that is until she married into the Black family and became Death Eaters. Aella despised her "father" and resented her mother for staying with him. However, she didn't realize her mother was only doing it to protect her and her brother. Aella's real parents were practically nonexistent to her, her brother had told her about them, but she was too young when they left to remember them, and all she felt was numb when they were mentioned.

When Aella got her Hogwarts letter, she was extremely excited to go, but she could never admit it to her family. She knew that they had already had her life planned out, the second she graduated, she would be expected to become a Death Eater. She was only a child, naive and unaware of the shit she was going to be put through.

When she first arrived at platform 9 3/4 with her older brother, who was returning for his 6th year, she tried to contain the excitement that was written all over her face. Isaac let out a small laugh and shook his head. "You don't have to pretend with me, you know that. It's good that you're excited,". Aella nodded with a grin. She loved her brother more than anything, he was the one person that was there for her. It was him that held her at night when she was too scared to go to sleep, him that checked up on her when she wasn't feeling well, she didn't need anyone else. When the train arrived, he guided her into an empty compartment, before sitting opposite her. Aella stared out of the window, seeing a mixture of first years and older students in their house robes, smiling and greeting one another. Isaac stared blankly at the floor, before eventually glancing up at her. "Aella... You need to ask to be placed in Slytherin,". he sighed, seeing the hope drain from her eyes as she turned to look at him. He knew that she wanted more than anything to be in Gryffindor. "I had a feeling you were going to say that," she smiled weakly, shaking her head. She had hoped that Hogwarts was where she could escape the strangling environment and expectation at home, but she knew that was unrealistic. "I'm sorry, Aella, I just need you to do that for me. Please, just trust me, it's for your own good."She looked down at her lap, fighting tears. "But... yes I understand." She knew he was only trying to protect here, but it still stung nonetheless. "Thank you," Isaac said, letting out a relieved sigh. His friends began to pour into the compartment, some of them nodding at her in hello. She painted on a fake smile and tried not to show her disappointment, picking her bags up and leaving without saying another word.

By now most of the compartments had been taken, but Aella didn't want to stay in a room with a bunch of her brother's friends talking complete BS. She entered a random one. "Mind if I sit here?" Aella asked hopefully. The three boys inside looked at each other and grinned, before rushing to make room for her. "I'm Seamus, he's Dean and that's Oliver Wood," a boy with scruffy uniform and a cute Irish accent said eagerly as she sat down with a grateful smile. "I'm Aella Black," she said, waiting to see their disappointed reactions. The only one that seemed to recognize her last name was Oliver, who was clearly a bit older than the other two, as he had the Gryffindor logo on his robes. "A member of the Black family? Should be interesting," he teased, knowing she was unable to control her family's reputation. Aella got on well with them, and it was needless to say she enjoyed the rest of the journey. They made her laugh, distracting her from the reality of the sorting ceremony. But she especially got on with Oliver, he was mature and could hold a real conversation with her. He could tell she was anxious and was supportive throughout. These were the type of people she wanted to be friends with, but somehow she didn't think that's how it was going to turn out.

Aella arrived at Hogwarts for the sorting ceremony. She watched as countless other students were sorted, quite frankly she was bored after the third person. Seamus and Dean were placed in Gryffindor, no surprise there. They sat next to Oliver and left a small space for her, which only made her feel worse. Her name was one of the last to be called, and she slowly walked over to the hat and sat down. She glanced at her brother, who was sitting on the Slytherin table staring at her anxiously. The hat took a while to decide, "Oh very loyal...but cunning...extremely intelligent...but brave...". Aella rolled her eyes, wanting to be anywhere but there in front of everyone while a saggy hat did a personality test on her. Her eyes trailed over to the three boys waiting for her at Gryffindor. "Hm, I sense you wanting to join those young lads that have acquired quite a liking to you, and you them, no?" The hat said thoughtfully."Er..." Aella turned red, hoping only she could hear the hat. "Oh, but what's keeping you back? Loyalty to your brother? Yes, yes, a Gryffindor trait, you would exceed very well there." "No, please, I need to be in Slytherin." She thought hard, hoping the hat would hear. She wanted nothing more than to join her newfound friends at Gryffindor, but one glance at her brother told her what she had to do. "Hm, alright, if that's what you truly want... Better be Slytherin!" The houses began clapping and Isaac sighed in relief, before turning back around to talk with his friends. Aella strolled over, trying to keep her head high, and sat at the end of the Slytherin table, next to another first-year. The girl kept clicking her fingers in Aella's face for all of dinner because she wasn't listening to her- she was too busy staring at the boys she had met on the train. They looked kind of confused by the hat's decision. Oliver just looked disappointed, as he knew the odds of a Black being placed in anything other than Slytherin were very low but he had hoped she would be placed in his own house anyway. He occasionally glanced across the tables and met her gaze with a small smile.

Aella went to bed that night knowing her brother was happy, which made her happy, but sad that she couldn't be in the same house as the boys from the train. She held on to the hopeful thought that she'd still be able to maintain their friendship, though deep down, she knew that would most likely be impossible. What a great start to her first year, she thought sarcastically, eventually drifting off to sleep.

(Work In Progress (: )