As soon as Equity Riddle dried herself off and unpacked her things, she sat down on her bed and opened her diary.

Dear Diary,

Today I had to take the Hogwarts Express to school. I told a few girls who looked friendly about who my mom and dad were, and they called me a freaky git oddball and ran away. I think I'll keep my, erm, heritage a secret for now. Anyway, it started raining when I was trying to find my way to the boats. Someone (I think it was one of those girls) stuck out their foot and I went flying into the lake. I think that I thought everybody would be nice, but I guess that's not true.

She closed the journal and changed into a pair of blue pajamas. Everyone else was most likely out in the Common Room, playing elaborate games of Wizard Chess and Gobstones until late. Equity sighed and curled up in her bed with a book, The Reign of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Even though her father was dead, it was still nice to know that he was watching her.

She must have fallen asleep while reading, because she awoke to a very sore back and a small dent in the pages of her book. Equity rolled out of bed and pulled on the Hogwarts uniform: Dark wool skirt and matching pullover sweater, green tie, socks and black shoes. It was breakfast time, and she was starving. Her cat, Julio, rubbed her ankles. Equity smiled. At least she had one friend at Hogwarts.