The only thing I own from this is my own character, everyone and everything else belongs to Rowling!

Harry sighed as he dragged himself to his next lesson, Potions, with the Slytherins. He would honestly rather be anywhere else. He hated this stupid tournament and the stupid people in this stupid school. How could they all honestly think that he, a fourth-year student, would be able to trick an ancient artefact, magically protected by Dumbledore himself when literally nobody else could?

Ron was being ridiculous. Of course, he was. He'd always shown hints of jealousy towards everything that Harry had done. As if he would enter for a thousand galleons. He had seen his vault before, he wouldn't even notice if five thousand galleons went missing from it.

The worst part was Hermione, didn't believe him either. She had screamed at him calling him a liar and a deplorable cheat. She claimed that he had no respect for the rules, for authority or for tradition. After that, she had stalked off, not even bothering to try and hear his explanation.

Harry could feel his face heating up as he clenched his fists. He felt betrayed, his first two real friends had left him, and after four years of friendship, adventure, laughter and tears, they couldn't bring themselves to think that Harry wouldn't lie to them and he wouldn't betray them in the same way that they had betrayed him.

At first, Harry tried to keep away from it all by drowning himself in the books of the library. He thought he could probably learn something that would help him in the tournament. Unfortunately, he had forgotten how much time Hermione spent in the library and he couldn't stand the looks she gave him every time he turned a page. He really didn't want to argue with her, or Ron, but if they continued like that, he knew he wouldn't hold back.

In an attempt to find somewhere to stay on his own, he had found Dobby who had introduced him to the 'Come and Go room' that he had come to know as the Room of Requirement. He spent the time that he didn't spend in class, in bed or in the Great Hall here, and though it had only been a week, he had easily become accustomed to time alone. He didn't have to deal with the stares of girls who idolized him for acts he didn't remember doing, the glares of classmates who were as quick to turn on him as they were to run on him, and the feeling of disloyalty that stuck in his throat whenever he saw Hermione and Ron walking into the Great Hall and sitting as far from him as possible. It was better to be alone than ostracized and degraded.

As he entered the potions classroom, he took a seat at the very back and watched as more students began to pile in, none partner up with him. He watched Hermione grab hold of Ron and sit him at one of the seats at the front of the classroom. He put his head on the desk and simply waited for the arrival of Professor Snape and another gruelling session of 'How can we humiliate Harry Potter?!'

Suddenly, he felt a presence next to him and looked up to see a young girl donned in Slytherin robes. She looked oddly familiar which made sense as they were, of course, living in the same school. Her hair was long and curled, and pitch black, darker than Harry's hair and her eyes were a striking sky blue. She looked at him with a smile and set her eyes at the front of the room as Professor Snape entered and began instructing the class on the task for the day.

"Alright," the girl smiled as she turned to Harry, "I'll go and get the ingredients and you can read out the instructions?"

"Sure," Harry said, confused as to why she was so willing to talk to him, especially as a Slytherin. They worked quietly, the only real conversation being Harry's reading. Snape, surprisingly, left them alone; Harry assumed it was probably because he was sat with a Slytherin. They finished relatively quickly thanks to this and received a relatively good score for once, probably because marking Harry down would mean marking down one of the snakes.

Harry was prepared to just stare at the floor for the remainder of the lesson when the girl sat next to him began speaking.

"My name's Marissa," she said, smiling as always. Harry noticed that she spoke by enunciating every word correctly which made her sound quite esteemed with hints of Northern England, it was an odd mix for an accent but Harry found that he liked it.

"Harry."

"I know," of course she did, who didn't? "I also know something else about you," she said with a small giggle.

"What?" Harry asked, mildly intrigued. This was the longest conversation Harry had been in in the last week, it was nice.

"You didn't put your name in the Goblet," Harry tried not to look shocked. Obviously, he hadn't, but no one else believed him, why would a Slytherin? "You looked way too shocked when Dumbledore called your name, and besides, you aren't Slytherin enough to pull something like that off," she grinned at him.

"Really, now?" Harry countered playfully, "because I'm quite sure that only a Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor got in. I don't see any Slytherins in there."

"We're too good for your little games," she said in mock aloofness and Harry laughed. For the first time since he had lost his friends, he legitimately laughed and Marissa joined in. She looked as though she was about to say something before she was interrupted by a knock at the door. Colin Creevey had arrived to take Harry for the weighing of the wands. Harry turned around before he left the classroom, seeing Marissa smile and wave at him as he left.

As he walked up silently with Creevey, he couldn't help but wonder, what did she want from him?

I really hope you enjoyed this first chapter and I honestly can't wait to take this story further! Please remember to leave a review!