Disclaimer: Ok, I'm sure you all know this, but I don't own any of the characters – all except Leah of course! I don't mess with the power of "god" (aka J.K. Rowling) just wish that I belonged to her magical world!
A/N: Alright, here's the fact – this is my first fanfic ever and so I'm not so experienced in the art of fiction writing… so just bear with me please. If there's something wrong or you want to let me know of any mistakes or anything else as a matter of fact, just review me or you can send me an email. Well, hope you enjoy! Happy reading, Mia xx
Chapter 1: First Impressions
A pair of hazel eyes looked up from a fur-lined grey hood to the huge castle with thousands of tiny pinpricks of light coming from with in. A lock of dark brown hair fell into those eyes, and hand bearing a silver ring in which a ruby was crested between two serpents, hastily brushed it behind her ear. She struggled to keep up with every thing that passed her eye sight, but failing to take in everything. She sat forward on the edge of her seat in the silent carriage as she took in a deep breath. Her gut made a slight somersault when the carriage stopped suddenly after pulling up a steep driveway, right in front of a pair of great oak doors. Her knees bucked a little as she stepped down from her carriage and up the stone steps. She turned to see the carriage roll away and slowly faced the deep oak doors. Her hand shook too, as she lifted her fist and paused for a moment and grasped the brass door knocker. She gave three strong knocks and she stood waiting in the night. The door opened almost immediately and a short, grouchy man came to stand in front of the opening, his eyes slightly bulging.
"Yes?" he snapped, a little too loud.
She recoiled somewhat but regained her confidence and replied, "I'm sorry to call to late, but I'm an exchange student from Durmstrang Institute…"
"Ah, right you are. We were expecting you around now," he hastily said. He continued, "Just come this way, and your luggage should have arrived in your dormitory by now. The students are having dinner just now, and I'm guessing you haven't had supper yet. You'll be a little late, but that won't matter." The man wore a mouldy brown coat that showed off the hunch in his back as he dragged his feet a little.
She followed behind him, unwilling of his presence. After climbing several stair cases, they arrive at yet another oak door, but slightly smaller this time. She could hear a crowd of people behind the door and delicious smells of roast and warm gravy waft to her nose. It was only then that she realised how exhausting her trip was. She could almost feel the empty hollowness in her stomach as she ached for food.
The man opened the door to reveal four long tables stretching down the great hall and at the furthest end, another long table where there were adults seated, busily talking and eating. All along the tables there were students, all in black, seated with plates piled with food and talking loudly and happily. Curious faces turned as the man lead her down the middle isle to the teachers' table at the far end. Slow, it felt as she followed the man, and she could see people whispering and pointing at her. A cold zap of electricity ran up her spine as she realised how vulnerable she was. She was in a new school, with people she didn't know, and with new experiences and new things to learn, she didn't know what to expect and what to do. But nothing prepared her for what came next.
As she finally neared the head table, she came to notice a tall man who you could tell of his age by his beared, long enough to reach his stomach. She peered in amazement at his features; bright blue eyes and a crooked nose. For he was 'wild' it seemed, but she could not place any other word except this. But perhaps, only 'wild' to a certain extent, as his smile shone with kindness and wisdom that could make you think that 'wild' would be the last thing you could expect of him. He sat at the centre of the table, obviously showing his importance in the school hierarchy.
"The exchange student from Durmstrang, Professor Dumbledore," the man introduced.
"Thank you Mr. Filch, that will be all," the headmaster replied. As the man walked away, the headmaster gave her a warm smile. "Welcome Leah, I'm sure your journey to Hogwarts has been long and extremely tiring. I invite you to sit and make yourself at home. You will be spending your time here with those of Slytherin House, whose table is to your far right. I'll be getting your Head of House to guide you and find you a friend to look after you during your stay with us. Severus!"
A man with a large hooked nose and greasy black shoulder length hair came striding up to stand by her side. He hardly wore a smile, let alone show any lips compared to the head master and didn't wear any feeling of welcome either.
"This is Professor Snape, your Head of House and also your Potions teacher," Dumbledore introduced. Snape curtly said, "Come this way," and stalked past her. She walked behind him with reluctance to a table furthest to the right.
Faces turned again as she walked her way towards the middle of the long table. Snape finally lead her to a group of girls who seemed a little annoyed at the interference to their cosy conversation.
"Ah, Miss Parkinson," Snape said as he faced a girl with black hair and features not unlike a pug. "This is our new exchange student from Durmstrang, Miss Leah Harrison. She will be staying with us for the course of this year, and I expect you to make her feel very welcome. She will be sleeping in your dormitory and you will be looking after her until she finds her feet." The girl didn't look so pleased, but seeing as it was her duty from her Head of House, she took on. Snape, despite his word of welcome, didn't match the tone in his voice. He faced Leah and said, "I'll hand you your timetable tomorrow morning at breakfast," and with that, he turned and left.
Leah sat down at the table next to the girl and immediately went for the mashed potatoes. "So…" was the girl's attempt to start up a conversation. She repeated, "So, you're from Durmstrang, eh? We've heard a lot about you."
"Oh, really?" Leah looked up from her plate piled high with food. "Like what?"
"Vell, ve though you vould be speaking like zis."
"I live in England, unlike some people from Durmstrang you've met, who live locally."
"Oh, right." Showing little interest, Leah doubted that she even listened at all. The girl continued to persevere in conversing, "Well, I guess you're part of the Harrison family. You're well known among us, pureblood families. Oh, by the way, my name is Pansy Parkinson." Pansy extended her hand, and Leah took it some what gingerly. Pansy looked to her side, as if just realising that her group of friends were beside her, "And this is Blaise Zabini, Elise Gashmorre, Millicent Bullstrode and Melissa Evans. Everyone, this is Leah Harrison. She'll be joining us in Slytherin, girls. She's our new best friend," she said giggling, which Leah didn't take to, too easily.
It was only when Pansy and her friends got back into their conversation and Leah had finished what she had on her plate, that she realise who she was sitting next to. She turned to see a boy with broad shoulders, over shadowing her. But as she tried to see her way past him, she saw another boy of similar stature sitting next to him. She tried to keep from staring at the boys, until her attention was pulled away by the tables clearing of the nearly empty dishes and reappearing with platers of cakes and pies, and bowls of jelly and ice cream.
She dug in once more and decided she'd try some custard pudding to her left. Too far to reach, she asked the boy next to her, "Sorry to interrupt, could you just pass me that bowl of custard pudding?"
He turned and looked down at her to say, "Er…" when he was interrupted by a cold drawling voice.
"Here," a blonde boy with cold grey eyes to match his voice, grabbed the bowl and placed it in front of her. "Don't mind him. You must be that exchange student. I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, and this is Crabbe and Goyle," he waved carelessly towards their direction. "So, what's your name again?" he asked.
"Leah Harrison," Pansy piped in. "She's from Durmstang if you didn't know. And she'll be staying with us Slytherins."
"Pansy, please stop stating the obvious. And if you don't mind, I was asking her," he drawled on, putting a little force in his tone to warn her of his annoyance.
"Sorry," she said sulkily. Malfoy rolled his eyes and kept on going, "Part of a pureblood family, eh? You might already know of my family being pureblood. My family's one of the oldest in England, actually," he went on boasting. "So, what do you think about the other families? You know, those half and full muggle families? Personally, I don't think they deserve to be here. Father always says that magical education should be restricted to those of full magic blood."
"Well, I don't think it matters," she said.
Malfoy chose to ignore her comment and continued to talk to his friends, who looked at him blankly, not quite catching on to what Malfoy was saying.
Taking some dislike to her new acquaintances, she continued to help herself to the custard pudding.
Finally the plates were cleared once more, and the attention of those in the room had turned to the head table. Dumbledore now stood up and looked around at the faces occupying his school. "I'd like your attention please," he said. "I will be making this very quick, so please bear with me. Tonight, as some of you have already seen or even met, we have a new student in our midst. This of course, is Leah Harrison who is a student at Durmstrang Institute. Because of the current situation with the war against Voldemort, (people around Leah and herself winced) Leah is here on exchange so to strengthen bonds between the schools around us. Now, Durmstrang, as some of you already know, is somewhere north in this world and she has made a long and very tiring southbound journey to Hogwarts. I want all of you to make her feel very welcome and to help her if she ever gets stuck in a problem. For her stay with us, she will be looked after by the Slytherin House, so most of the responsibility to look after her is placed on them, particularly those of sixth year. Leah, I hope your stay with us can be as enjoyable as possible. Thank you, now off to bed!" he finished with a smile.
Leah could feel her face get steadily red during Dumbledore's speech and fiddled with her ring, but now everything was over, people came past to say a quick word or some who weren't as bold, walked as close to her as possible to get a good glimpse of her. Pansy and her friends didn't look so pleased with all the attention Leah was getting and protectively lead her away by the arm and steered her in the direction of their common room.
Corridor after corridor, stair case after stair case, Leah tried to keep track of all the turns as they steadily went downwards into the dark castle. The group finally came to a bear wall of cold stone. Anybody who would have had to lose their way to as far as here would probably miss it totally. But to what seemed to be a solid wall like any other, Pansy said, "Parselmouth."
Leah, who hadn't expected anything, looked at her confusedly.
"It's the password," Pansy explained. "You'll have to know this password, otherwise you won't be able to get in…that is, unless you wait outside for someone to open it for you," she said giggling. "Do you remember that stupid Neville boy sleeping on the stairs because he didn't know the password to his dorm? That stupid git," and they all burst into laughter as they walked into the low, dimly lit common room – that is, all except Leah.
Leah just walked behind them, oblivious to the humour in Pansy's comment. They walked past couches of polished black leather and old-fashioned carved chairs with a low coffee table in the centre. A fireplace was roaring in one corner, perhaps not quite giving off the friendly warmth a fire usually possessed.
Pansy lead her down yet another stair case to a room in the shape of a hexagon. On every second wall, a four-poster bed with green hangings was placed and from one wall was a small passage from which Leah could see another room like the one she was standing in. Pansy walked off with Blaise, Melissa and Millicent into the other room, leaving Leah standing with Elise. Leah looked over to the closest bed on the right to see her luggage at the foot of the bed. She ran to her bed and began to search for something.
"What are you looking for?" Elise, a brunette with long straight locks, said.
"My pet snake," she replied. She was half expecting her to run away screaming, but to her surprise, she became even more fascinated. "Really?! God, I've always wanted one. What kind of snake is it?"
Somewhat balled over at her enthusiasm, she said, "It's a rare species of the Royal Python. Her name's Krysta, by the way." Leah finally found her curled up in her cauldron asleep, and Elise ran to get a good look at her. Krysta, who had woken up with Leah's light touch, opened her eyes and started to coil around her warm neck. Indeed, Krysta wasn't an ordinary snake; her scales patterned in elegant swirls and on her forehead, between her sparkling eyes was a single, square-cut ruby. Elise stood fixated at the snake, fascinated. She finally snapped out to look Leah in the eye and say, "You better not show that to Pansy, she's terrified of them."
"Um, ok, thanks for that," Leah said as she put Krysta back into her cauldron.
It was lucky that Leah had put away Krysta, for Pansy came striding in. "Well, it's you, me and Elise in here, Leah. The other three are in the other room. I guess it's time to get to bed. We can leave 'the ritual' until the morning, can't we Elise?" she said with a mysterious smile, as if trying to suppress herself from saying a secret or a juicy bit of gossip.
Elise looked uneasy at this but said, "Yeah, ok."
Leaving Leah confused, they got changed into their pyjamas and go into bed. Leah thought to herself before she fell asleep, I wonder what 'the ritual' is. Well, I've come this far, I can't go back now. What ever it is, it can't be that bad can it? And with a final yawn, she fell into a deep sleep.