Ginny sat stunned on the three legged stool. The school was as shocked as she was. She wished dearly that the hat would suddenly laugh out and yell out that it was kidding. But nothing happened. Professor McGonagall slowly lifted the hat off her head. She looked as sick as Ginny felt. "Move along, Miss Weasely," she said in a quiet voice.

There was no cheering, no applause, as Ginny stepped off the stool and walked to the other end of the hall from the Gryffindor table to the Slytherin table. Everyone, teachers and other students, all thought that she would be put into Gryffindor since she was a Weasely. But no, she was put into Slytherin, the last house that anyone would have expected. The hat hadn't even given her a chance to think not Slytherin before it yelled it out.

She sat at the very end of the table, closest to the other teachers and away from everyone else and kept her head down. She met no one's gaze. She couldn't believe it. She, Ginerva Molly Weasely, a Slytherin. She felt like crying, but kept the tears to herself. The last thing she needed was letting anyone else thinking she were weak. She glanced at the head table where the teachers sat. She saw Professor Snape watching her. He looked confused and concerned. Ginny looked back down and tried to convince herself that houses didn't matter. She was there for an education, nothing more. Still, inside she was thankful the Ron and Harry weren't there, for whatever reason. She could only imagine Ron standing up and exclaiming that there had been a mistake and demand a resort. She was surprised that the twins didn't do just that.

The rest of the sorting and the feast flew by in a blur. Ginny didn't eat much. She felt too sick. She kept expecting someone to walk over and ask why she wasn't sitting at the proper house table. But it never happened. After Professor Dumbledore's speech Ginny stood up and followed the Slytherin Prefect down to the dungeons. She was scared. Meals were one thing but now she was to live with them. Sleep in the same dormitories, share the same classes. She barely heard the Prefect say that the password at a blank stone wall was Parseltongue. It opened and Ginny trudged in behind everyone else. The stone wall closed behind her. "On the left and down the stairs are the girls' dormitory," said the Prefect in a bored tone. "And to the right are the boys'. You'll find your things already in your rooms."

The wall opened behind Ginny again and she turned. It was Snape. He looked at her and indicated for her to follow him. She followed out of the common room and out to the main stairway where McGonagall and Percy Weasely were waiting for her. Her brother looked nervous. "Percy wanted to talk to you," McGonagall said softly and Percy took Ginny a little ways away.

"What happened?" he asked quietly.

She opened her mouth to answer, found her mouth desperately dry, closed her mouth and shook her head. Percy continued. "I already asked Professor McGonagall if we can redo the sorting but she refused. Once you're sorted you're sorted and not even the headmaster can change that."

"Percy," she said nervously in a scared voice. "I can't be in Slytherin. I... I'm a Weasely. They'll tear me apart in there. Please, Percy, don't make me go back down there!"

Percy pulled his sister into a tight hug. "You'll always have us to talk to talk to, Ginny. Just try to keep your spirits up."

At that moment the two professors approached them. "You two must get back to your common rooms." McGonagall said softly.

They separated. Snape escorted Ginny back to the common room and left her to say the password and step inside. "So," said a drawling voice when the wall closed behind Ginny. "A Weasely has been put into Slytherin. Isn't this a surprise, boys?"

Ginny avoided Draco Malfoy's eyes. She'd only seen him a few days ago in Flourish and Blotts while buying the Lockhart books. She'd snapped at him to leave Harry alone and he'd only sneered at her and had they been in the hall and she had been put in Gryffindor she would have told him to shove off. But she was in Slytherin and surrounded by Slytherins who all had a grudge against one or another of her brothers. She tried to edge away and get to the girls' dormitory but Draco stepped in her way. "I can't say that any of us are feeling particularly welcoming to the daughter of a blood traitor."

She knew he was talking about her father but she couldn't find the courage to stand up for him. She kept her head down and hoped that he would move and leave her alone. He snarled, grabbed her hair and shoved her out of his way. She stumbled forward, much to the other Slytherins' amusement, and hurried towards the dorms. She found her name on a little plaque with three other girls and she hurried in. Her trunk was at the bed on the far side. She rushed over and climbed into her bed without changing and closed the curtains. She began to cry silently. What would her mum and dad say? What would Bill and Charley say? What would summers be like now that she was the first Weasely in history to be in Slytherin? She couldn't bare it and fell asleep crying.

The next morning Ginny woke with dry eyes. She rolled over and looked at the clock on her bedside table. Six o'clock in the morning. No one would be awake yet so she stood up and dressed silently. She took her bag and walked silently out of her dorm and into the common room. The fire had burned itself out and the room was cold. No one was there. Ginny bolted to the wall and pushed it open. She didn't stop running until she reached the warm and well lit stairwell. From there she made her way to the great hall and almost sat down at the Gryffindor table. At the last second she swerved and sat down at the Slytherin table.

The only food on the table was toast, pumpkin juice and tea. She solemnly munched on a piece of toast and drank her tea. She still felt numb with the realisation that she was in Slytherin. She didn't know what a bigger disappointment was, her in Slytherin or Ron crashing the car into the Whomping Willow. She half expected a howler from her parents. Or getting pulled out of school and going to another one. Loads of nasty ideas filled her head as she munched on her toast and she didn't realise that the Slytherin prefect had sat down in front of her. When she did notice she only looked away. "You shouldn't be in Slytherin." He said softly, almost concerned. "No Weasely belongs in Slytherin, especially you. You're brothers can at least hold their own."

Ginny didn't reply. She knew what he said was completely right. But there wasn't anything she could do about it. Especially if the Headmaster couldn't put her into Gryffindor. The prefect sighed. "Look, I'll keep an eye out for you because I owe Percy a favour. But don't expect me to sabotage my reputation for you."

Ginny nodded and took a sip of tea as the prefect walked away from her. Some other students were starting to trickle into the great hall now. The ones who saw her started muttering to themselves. Soon enough the entire hall was completely filled. She saw the unmistakable heads of her brothers, Harry and Hermione. They were all huddled together and Ron had smashed his fists onto the table and looked around at her. She sighed and looked down. She guessed that Percy, Fred, George and Hermione had told Ron and Harry that she had been put in Slytherin. She hoped that Ron wouldn't come over. The last thing she needed was a row with Ron right in front of everyone. She was saved when she heard her mother's voice scream over everything in the howler that had been sent to him. She listened intently for any mention of her, but there was not a word.

A piece of paper was dropped in front of her and she looked at her schedule. Transfiguration was first. Potions was last. Charms, herbology and History was Magic was in between them. She decided that she would spend every second she wasn't in class or at meal times at the library. The less time she had to spend time in the Slytherin common room the better. She doubted that any Slytherin in her year would want to be friends with her. Soon enough when she stepped into the transfiguration room a group started laughing. A boy, who immediately reminded Ginny of Draco Malfoy, stood up and started speaking. "According to my brother," he said giving Ginny an evil look. "The Weasely family have more children than they have money."

The group laughed and Ginny skirted to the last seat in the back. The laughter ceased immediately when Professor McGonagall walked in. She looked from the other students, to Ginny to the other students again. "Welcome," she said. "To Transfiguration. Here you will learn the art of turning one object into another. This is a highly difficult class and must be taken seriously unless you want to find yourself turned into a slug."

The class was silent. Whatever thoughts they had of an easy class was wiped out. McGonagall turned to the chalk board and tapped it twice with her wand. Many notes appeared and there was a mad scramble for parchment, quills and ink. Ginny copied them down in silence and started attempting to turn her toothpick into a needle. By the end of the class she managed to do it. McGonagall passed her a note saying that ordinarily she would have praised her in front of the class but considering her current situation she didn't. Ginny mouthed a thank you and McGonagall gave her a rare smile.

The day seemed to get a little better. The other students in her year were too busy with the notes that Professor Flitwick had given them on levitation. It took the entire class to copy them down. Lunch was uneventful. Ginny was reading a textbook to help her with the essay McGonagall assigned them as she ate alone at the end of the table. After lunch Ginny had Herbology, the first class that didn't provide notes. They were set to work on the Mandrakes that hadn't been re-potted by the second years. Ginny worked alone and successfully re-potted three mandrakes before they were sent to their next class. History of Magic was followed by more notes and many snores of Ginny's fellow classmates.

The last class of the day, potions, took place in the dungeons not too far off from the Slytherin Common Room. Snape told them to prepare a simple sleeping potion on their own on page twenty seven. Ginny read through the ingredients and directions while listening to Snape point out key points of the potion. She proceeded to make the potion slowly and carefully. At the end of the class Snape stopped at her cauldron. He looked down his hooked nose at her potion. "Well done, Weasely," he said clearly so the whole dungeon could hear. "Ten points to Slytherin."

Ginny smiled slightly. She wondered if he only did that to prove that she was worth being in Slytherin. But then again, when had Snape ever praised a Weasely for any reason? She pulled her books back in her bag to avoid the glares of the boy who'd insulted her in Transfiguration. She was the first out of the class when the bell rang. She ate dinner quickly and practically ran up to the library. She was sick of the staring and whispering that was so obviously about her. How Harry did it she didn't know.

In the library Ginny wrote her essay on how it would be easier to transfigure like-objects than objects that have nothing to do with each other. Her examples were that it was much simpler to transfigure a bush into a tree than a boulder into an animal. She had just finished it when there was a loud thump as Ron dropped his books on the table she was at. She didn't look at him. She knew he was angry but she didn't have the courage to look him in the eye. "What are playing at?" he said in a venomous tone. "Why didn't you tell the hat you didn't want to be in Slytherin?"

"Well since you weren't there you didn't see that I didn't have enough time to say anything to it." She said thickly. "McGonagall only let go of it when it sorted me."

"Did you go to Dumbledore?" he snapped.

"Percy did. There's nothing he can do."

Ron stood there, flabbergasted. "My sister in Slytherin. What mum and dad must think..."

"Oh yes," Ginny snapped, tired of everyone talking about her being in Slytherin. "Because they're really going to concentrate on me and ignore you're crashing a flying car into the Whomping Willow. I mean, why wasn't I the one getting the Howler? Why am I being completely ignored? Why aren't I the one being pulled out of school? Trust me, Ron," she stood up and started yelling. "If I had any say in the bit I would have been gone as soon as I was sorted!"

She slammed her books shut and shoved them in her bag with her essay and stormed off.