The man in the black top hat that had driven us to the funeral showed up the next morning.

Vannessa had simply referred to him as Jarold, saying little to him the entire ride.

"Send your owl to me if you need anything." Vannessa said awkwardly.

After the period of grieving over her dead sister had passed, she wasn't sure how to treat me anymore.

What we had in common was the death of my mom who was also her sister but now that she was adapting to the loss, it got awkward between us.

I didn't blame her, she clearly had no plans of getting married or having a child so having me thrust on her must be taking some getting used to.

"Thanks." I muttered, looking out the window to spare the both of us a painfully awkward conversation.

The car sped past rolling green fields. I was yet to see any other people other than my Aunt, her silent driver, Wilkins, the people from the Ministry, and the funeral guests.

I hadn't seen even one muggle and I had no problems with that, I'm sure they were no different from the people I met every day in my past life.

The Albeline Manor and Vannessa's house were far from settlements and it took a considerable while of driving to get to a town.

It was fascinating to drive through the towns, it was like being taken back in time.

Our destination was King Cross Station.

I wish I could have gone to Diagon Alley but there was no need to, before the calamity befell my family, I had already been taken to get my school materials.

I was dressed in the Hogwarts uniform, ditching my robes for now because they were too eye-catching.

It was no different from my daily wear. I was wearing a white buttoned shirt with a green striped necktie, a gray jumper over it with green stripes at the neck, waist, and sleeves.

I wore fitted black pants, gray socks, and black dress shoes.

I felt expensive, I had never worn a uniform to school in my past life so this was a new experience for me.

The train station was bustling and as soon as we got there I could instantly catch sight of other Hogwarts students.

They were a little hard to miss because they were all struggling with hefty luggage, and noisy pets and all wore a uniform similar to mine.

We got to Kings Cross station with roughly half an hour to spare but I didn't want to spend the time standing awkwardly beside Vannessa.

As soon as we got to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, I got ready to run through the barrier. I would pick running right into a solid brick wall over spending more time around my Aunt.

She was dressed in jeans and a vintage sweater again, this time in earthy tones. She had a mud brown scarf wrapped around her neck.

"Wait a moment," She stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. "Here, have this." She squeezed something into my hand. "It belonged to your mother."

My brows furrowed in confusion, I glanced down at what she had given me, it was a necklace with a locket pendant.

"Uh, thanks." I muttered, still very much confused but there was no time to ask further questions because Vannessa was urging me to run through the wall.

Platform Nine and Three Quarters was terrifying, it didn't help that at the moment that I was running for it, a notification dinged in my head.

=========

<ATTENTION!!!> : Locket acquired

<REWARD!!!> : 50 SP Awarded

=========

I was so distracted that I didn't realize that I had made it onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters till I nearly ran into someone.

Fortunately, I stopped in time, Echo hooting and flapping her wings in irritation from the bumpy ride.

I froze up in wonder, staring wide-eyed all around me. The Platform was even busier than the main train station, Witches and Wizards bustling around.

The Hogwarts Express stood proudly, students filing on. I followed the crowd to get on the train.

 I noticed that my presence was garnering stares which was to be expected honestly, considering the kind of publicity my family's death had gotten.

I quickly looked for an empty compartment, the staring was starting to get uncomfortable.

Fortunately, no one approached me and I quickly found an empty compartment.

I got comfortable, choosing a window seat and staring straight at the window to ignore the people purposefully walking past the doors of my compartment just to get a look at me.

The strange feel of something in my grip reminded me of the locket that Vannessa had given me just before I got on the platform.

It looked like an average locket. It was silver with a small engraved emerald at the center of the locket.

It didn't look special but then again it had given me 50 SP and it also seemed that now I would be given a reason for gaining SP.

It was nice and all but I still had no idea what use the locket had so it wasn't exactly helpful in telling me that I had acquired a locket.

It was fucking obvious, to be honest.

I couldn't yell at the system though so I tried investigating further. 

I opened the locket to find a picture of a familiar-looking young girl, she was laughing and she seemed very carefree.

I was hit with a heavy sense of nostalgia. This was my mom.

Susanne Rosier. 1975.

I gingerly touched the engraving at the bottom of the picture. 

This was when my mom was a teenager, she looked nothing like the woman in the portrait at the Albeline Manor.

Her long blonde hair was left down her shoulders, her eyes were so bright even though the picture was in black in white.

She was smiling at someone to the side, oblivious to the world around her.

"Did you get a girlfriend, Audric?" A sneering voice spoke right beside my ear, making me jump in shock.

I clutched the pendant in my hand so it wouldn't get snatched, looking up to find a tall boy staring down at me with disgust.

I kept my face blank, staring expressionlessly at him and the two boys behind him.

I had a feeling that this was my clique before my family fucked up so they had turned against me but there was one issue. I couldn't recognize them.

I understood that I wouldn't recognize people unimportant to me but these guys used to be my friends. I studied them deeply but still, there was no spark of recognition.

Was the system broken?

The guy that had spoken stared down at me with hard black eyes, hatred dancing in them.

Behind him, one of his lackeys was tall and thin, with a hooked nose and frizzy hair while the other was fat and squat, his small eyes almost completely hidden by his limp hair.

"Not talking, are we?" He leaned forward with narrowed eyes. "If only your father would have kept that same energy."

The boys behind him whooped and cracked up laughing at his words.

I just stared blankly, the joke had truly gone over my head because I had no clue of what they were talking about.

Anger flashed on the main boy's face, I wasn't helping my situation by remaining deathly quiet.

They were all wearing robes, the main boy put his hand inside his robe and before I could react I got violently pushed back against my seat, a white light blinding me momentarily.

I yelled in pain, it felt like a firebrand had struck me in the face. I held my face in both hands, gritting my teeth as I felt it start to swell.

The noise had attracted other students and through the pain, I could hear scolding.

"Sawyer! What is going on here?!"

"I'm not the only one here, Rox, why are you asking me?" I could hear the main boy drawl.

The student that had shown up lashed at him. "It's Roxana to you, Sawyer, and everyone knows that Blythe and Crawley listens to you."

I kept my hands on my face, the pain was subsiding now but even without touching my face, I could tell that my face was swollen beyond recognition.

I hoped that if I stayed quiet enough they would all leave me be. If I even got lucky I would get my compartment all to myself for the rest of the train ride.

I wasn't lucky though because the girl that had shown up walked closer to me and gingerly touched me.

"Uh, Audric? Are you okay?"

I wanted them to all leave, I need some peace and quiet to regroup.

"Don't worry about it..." I tried to dissuade her but it was a little hard to talk so I slightly nudged her away, gently because all she was doing was trying to help me.

She caught sight of my face though and was outraged. "Really, Sawyer? The Stinging Jinx? 10 Points off Slytherin!"

I could literally hear the smirk in Sawyer's voice. "You should have stayed out of this, Rox." He scoffed. 

He must have walked out after that because I could hear receding footsteps.

I felt my heart sink to the bottom of my stomach. 

Roxana had been trying to help but she only made things worse for me. I was also in Slytherin.

Sawyer would spread the news that I had been the one to make Slytherin lose points, and we hadn't even gotten off the train yet. 

My life was about to get much worse.