When Phoebe got to the bathroom and saw her uniform for the first time, she was absolutely disgusted. There was no other word for it. She didn't understand how anyone could possibly wear something so dreadful. Rarely any of the other schools she has been to had required uniforms, though the ones that did were awful. So, she did what any other Aphrodite girl would do, she customized it. Being on a train, there wasn't much she could do, however, after 15 minutes she had managed to make herself look less like a nun (honestly, looking at the uniform, you would think it was the 1700's).

She had folded the skirt and held it in place with bobby pins - was there anything they couldn't do? - so it didn't come down to her knees, rolled her sleeves up past her elbows and loosely knotted her tie around her neck. She stuffed her robes in her bag for the moment, because she felt ridiculous in them, and finally left the toilet, ignoring the queue of angry girls waiting outside.

As she walked she thought about what she could say to the three when they asked her about her past again, because she knew they would. Eventually she came up with a half-decent story. She was from a magic school in America called 'Brunner's school for the gifted', it wasn't the best but it would do, and she transferred because her family felt she would be better off continuing her learning at Hogwarts because of it's good reputation. After coming up with that lie she felt rather satisfied with herself.

The trio were inside the carriage, conversing in hushed tones, no doubt about her. Pushing back a wave of self-consciousness, she tugged the door open.

Immediately the talking stopped and three pairs of eyes turned to look at her.

"How do you know Draco Malfoy?" Ron spat out in an accusatory tone, more venom in his voice than the Chimera had in it's whole body.

Before she sat down, Phoebe pulled a book out of her trunk, prepared to use desperate measure to avoid a conversation with the three teenagers in front of her.

"We go to a summer camp together." She replied shortly, sitting down.

"All the way in America?" Hermione asked sounding dubious.

Phoebe nodded, opening the book to a random page, "It's the best place for our kind."

"What do you do there? Learn more magic?" Hermione asked, more curious than suspicious now. If all Phoebe had to do to earn the girl's trust was provide her with knowledge this wouldn't be too hard.

"Yeah basically, but it's more relaxed than school." Lie. Only if you counted sword fighting more relaxed than working.

Phoebe let her eyes wander the page, not actually taking in any of the words and not trying to, she knew it would only result in a headache. Dyslexia made her books hard enough to read when she was paying attention, let alone when her mind was buzzing with thoughts and worries and questions. Also, how could anyone focus with three sets of eyes fixed firmly on them. The weight of their gaze was impossible for Phoebe to ignore.

ϟ

Harry wasn't sure what to think of the new girl. She was beautiful, there was no denying it, and her icy front did nothing to take away from that. She was rather detached at the moment but he wasn't sure whether that would change as she grew more comfortable with them. There were many strange things about her, for one she was friends with Malfoy! Who in their right mind would want to befriend a git like him?

Another odd thing about her was that she didn't seem all that willing to tell them where she'd moved from and why. Harry couldn't think of many reasons why she would be so secretive, other than the fact that maybe she wasn't who she said she was. He hated thinking like that, it made him feel like Moody - suspecting everyone who acted the slightest bit weird - but after all the attacks on him at Hogwarts, he thought he deserved the right to be little bit paranoid. A Death Eater had been hidden in the school the whole of last year and no one noticed a thing, how hard would it be to fool the school board with an innocent teenage girl?

Whatever her reasons for not sharing much information, he was sure that Hermione wouldn't rest until she had found out everything she could about Phoebe's old life. She was like that, always wanting to know more things, some might call it nosy but Harry knew she didn't mean to be, she was just interested, about everything.

Harry didn't know how she managed to make the plain uniform look so appealing, but she did. It was a fate only few could pull off, Cho Chang from Ravenclaw, for example.

ϟ

Luckily for her, the trio didn't ask anymore questions, they had been satisfied for now, though only barely. She didn't doubt that the three of them, along with many others, would have plenty of questions about her past, some that she wouldn't be able to provide an answer to.

For now she would just have to make herself get used to having so many people around her who couldn't know the truth.

~

Word Count: 898

They're still on the train, I'm sorry this is moving slowly, but I'm trying. Tell me if you like it and I'm always open to suggestions!