//------------------------------//
// Chapter 11:  The Way Home RW 
// Story: The Girl who Didn't Just Live 
// by computerneek 
//------------------------------//

When the Hogwarts Express reached Platform Nine and Three Quarters, nothing could dampen Silversong’s good mood- not even the fact that she had to remove her necklace before she left the train!  The reason was simple:  Bonbon had, bless her heart, offered to remove Draco Malfoy from the attendance lists for her second year, to be replaced entirely by Silversong- complete with an assignment to the girls’ dormitories.  The girls’ dormitories that she already frequented with ‘sleepovers’.
She technically hadn’t given the girl an answer, though one would have to be really stupid to fail to guess what her reaction meant.  She’d been so delighted by the offer that she’d hugged and kissed her- right on the lips, as a matter of fact, even though she’d aimed for the cheeks.
Bonbon had been so stunned it had taken her minutes to recover, and- with Hailey laughing herself silly the entire time- had finally explained.
“That was the first time anyone has gotten that close to me that fast in living memory,” the girl had muttered, still visibly stunned, “and it was for a kiss.”  She’d paused.  “I’ll take it as a yes, then?”
That had only been a couple minutes ago- and now, her heavy trunk on a cart in front of her, she made her way to where her father was waiting.
“Have a good year?” Lucius asked immediately.
“Better than I could ever have imagined,” she answered promptly, hardly even noticing the grating unpleasantness that was her male voice.
“Where are Crabbe and Goyle?” he asked next, his eyes narrowing.
“No idea,” she told him honestly.  “Last time I saw them was when we were getting ready for the Sorting.”
“You mean you ditched them?”
“No, I mean that the school had us alphabetize ourselves by last name before going into the Great Hall for the Sorting, and that was the last time I ever saw either of them.”  She shrugged, electing not to mention that she’d heard about them multiple times since; the two boys had some of the lowest grades in the school, and Bonbon had lamented about not having enough teachers- or instructors- capable of handling ‘special needs’ students like them.  As a result, they had been among the five people that had failed their end-of-year exams and got held back.
“Then who was your bodyguard?” Lucius asked, worry creeping into his voice.
“Didn’t have one,” she answered promptly.  “Would’ve been handy a time or two, but I managed.”  She wasn’t about to tell him that, in each of the three cases when other students had tried to bully her into doing something with her high-ranking noble influence, Hailey had appeared out of nowhere- once quite literally, thanks to her Invisibility Cloak- with a Professor in tow to hand them detentions.
How the girl had predicted it each time, she would never know.
He stared at her for a second, then sighed.  “C’mon,” he instructed, before taking her arm in one hand and the handle of her trunk in his other and taking them both to the Malfoy Manor via side-along apparition.
He immediately overbalanced, her trunk crashing straight to the floor.
“Careful, it’s heavy,” she informed him.
“So,” he began, stumbling back upright, and turned to her; Narcissa, having heard their arrival, was walking out of the kitchen to meet them.  “Gryffindor, huh?”
She glanced down at her House patch; since she had known her father wouldn’t take her through the main station, and just apparate directly from the platform, she hadn’t changed out of her Hogwarts robes.  “Yeah,” she answered.  “The Hat sounded a bit confused when it saw me, then said that it would normally expect a Malfoy to be in Slytherin and that I would be a poor fit for that House.”
“Huh,” Lucius muttered, rubbing his chin.  “Do you think that girl from Madam Malkin’s might have been a part of it?”
She paused, thinking for a second.  “Hmm…  Yeah, Hailey probably did set the ball rolling, didn’t she?”  She rubbed her chin.  “I mean, back in Madam Malkin’s, she made me question everything I knew- then on the train, she did it again.  And now?”  She shrugged.  “It’s like she set me free, somehow.”
“Is that…  her name?  Hailey?”
“Uh, yeah, that girl from Madam Malkin’s was Hailey.  She’s the Head Student Instructor for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and one of my friends.”
“Hmm,” he muttered.  “Is there anyone that might be willing to serve guard duty?”
She looked at him.  “I’m sure there are,” she muttered.  “Hailey would probably recommend a half dozen off the top of her head- but they won’t be necessary.”
“They won’t be?” Narcissa asked, finally speaking up.
“Why not?” Lucius asked sternly.  “Your safety is paramount!”
She allowed herself a smile.  “Because I have a friend…  that happens to be a Royal.”
The silence rang for several seconds.
“You…  what?” Lucius asked.
Her smile grew.  “I have a friend that happens to be a Royal,” she repeated.  “The same one that derailed the Hogwarts Express by accident, as a matter of fact.”
“Y- You mean- You mean the one that crushed the Avery family in one savage blow to their son?”
“That’s the one,” she nodded.  “All because said son tried to get my friend Hermione to kill herself.”
“Why would he do that?” Narcissa asked.
She shrugged.  “Because Hermione’s muggleborn,” she answered.  “Why else?  But with a Royal protecting her like that…”  She trailed off.
“Nobody dared touch her,” Lucius muttered.
She shrugged.  “More like nobody- but Hermione- knew who the Royal was, nor who she was protecting.  Then around Christmas, she gave me something and revealed who she was.”
“Who?” Narcissa asked.
She shook her head.  “She asked me not to tell,” she muttered darkly.  Hailey had explained to her that she didn’t want her political power, and she figured that her father would probably force the girl to use it at some point, in some way, if he found out…  so she was deliberately making it sound like Hailey and the Royal were different people, without ever saying as much.
“So…  what did she give you?” Lucius asked, evidently uncomfortable, but also evidently unwilling to cross a Royal’s will.
“A…  pendant, of sorts,” she muttered, drawing her necklace from an inside pocket.  “She said she enchanted it herself, and, ahh…  it does not like to be taken from me.”  That was fairly strictly true; she could give it to people just fine…  but only if she was willingly giving it to them, not if they were coercing her or taking it.  It had a habit of burning the hands of anyone that tried, as she’d found out a few times, when people had tried to bully her while she was walking the school as Silversong.  She always wore the necklace proudly on top, where everyone could see the gleaming diamond sparkling against her black robes.
Lucius looked at it.  “Isn’t that a necklace?” he asked.
She shrugged.  “Yeah, it kinda is, isn’t it?”
“What does it do?” Narcissa asked.
She looked at it.  “It was enchanted by a Royal,” she answered.  “When I’m wearing it, and only when I’m wearing it, it lets me use the Royal powers that she invested in it.  That’s come in handy a fair few times as well- especially when you consider it makes me invulnerable.”  She paused.  “And that’s why I don’t need bodyguards.”
She plucked the two ends of the chain from the tangle, allowing the necklace to hang down from her hand- and watching as it almost instantly untangled itself.
“That would do it, wouldn’t it?” Lucius muttered.
“It’s a nice necklace,” Narcissa observed.  “A shame you have to hide it down your…?”  She trailed off, her eyes going wide.
“I guess I forgot to mention its other effect,” she mused, having just put it on- and almost habitually used the Royal powers she’d mentioned to teleport her LSI badge into its place on her chest.  It had been an interesting day when Hailey had explained those to her, and helped her learn to control them.
Both parents stared wide-eyed for several seconds.
Narcissa was the first to speak.  “Silver…song?” she muttered slowly, her eyes having tracked down to her nameplate.
She nodded.  “I need a colorhead name when I look like a colorhead, don’t I?”  She shrugged.  “And I like being Silversong anyways, so Bonbon reassigned my teaching assignment from Draco to Silversong.”  She glanced down at her badge.  “Then apparently I quickly became one of the best instructors in the school, so she gave me the lead slot.”
“Only for your year and House?” Narcissa asked, tilting her head.
“Yeah,” she sighed.  “Bonbon’s the Head Student Instructor for Potions school-wide- and she’s definitely better qualified for it than I am.  I mean…  she’s in the same year as me, but she brewed Felix Felicis under her bed in the Ravenclaw dormitories.  Successfully.  Without anyone finding out.”
Lucius picked that moment to recover from the shock, then reached forward to take the necklace in his hand.
“I wouldn’t do that if-!” Silver began, but too late- he gave it a solid tug.
Exactly as expected, she didn’t feel the pull at all.  Instead, the chain glowed suddenly white-hot and, with a sizzling sound and the stench of burned flesh, it sliced his fingers right off.  When it dropped back down against her clothes, it was comfortably warm, no longer insanely hot.
He let out a gasp of pain and clutched at his injured hand.  No blood came; the wound had been instantly cauterized.  “What the-?” he began.
“Didn’t I already tell you?” she began, holding up a hand to use the necklace’s powers to heal his fingers with a gentle green glow.  “It doesn’t like to be taken from me.  At all.”
“You’re a boy,” Lucius barked.
“I’m a girl, thank you very much,” she answered sharply, folding her arms under her breasts.  “Are you blind?”
“You’re a boy,” he commanded.  “Take it off at once!”
“Lucius!” Narcissa gasped.
“No,” Silver barked straight back into his face.  “I am a girl and I’m not going to give it up!”
“You are not-!”
“Lucius!” Narcissa half-yelled into his face, stunning him into taking a couple steps back before she turned briefly to Silver.  “Go, Draco- er, Silver, sorry.  Let me handle this.”
She tried to ignore the shouting behind her as she effortlessly carried her trunk up to her bedroom.  Lucius was…  exactly what she was afraid of:  He rejected her change.  Frankly, she’d been surprised by her own willingness to fight for it, but she was more than willing to leave it to her mother…  who, aside from always talking about how much she wanted a daughter, seemed to have accepted the change.
She found herself hoping that her choice wasn’t going to rip her family apart at the seams.