Summary: It is normal to be in the house that your ancestors were in, right? Of course, that doesn't mean that it always happens. Follow Ryan as she and her friends unlock the secrets that were left behind by the Golden Trio, and Voldemort himself. Lets not forget the problems inbetween, family, friends, and... romance?

Disclaimer: Alas, I don't own Hogwarts, or the New Generation kids. But I do own a few of my own characters, and the plot o'course.

Chapter 1: Defying Thy Mother

The sky was cloudy. As cloudy as it could get without being totally overcast. This was the type of morning that people would wake up to and think: God, one more day like this and I'll just start to sleep all day. They forced themselves out of bed anyway, lazily tying their tie and grabbing a granola bar before departing the house. Not many people were happy today. It was pretty safe to say that no one was happy today, aside from the several of children who had come from all over to London, all with the brightest of smiles of their faces. Most of those grinning younglings were spotted at the Kings Cross Station. The ordinary folk that go to the Station on a regular basis were greeted by a surprise that they couldn't help but find weird: caged birds on trolleys, oddly dressed people, and that constantly used word "Muggle". Any "normal" person would have just shrugged it off and went on with their business. But any one who could be categorized as "abnormal" would defiantly have noticed.

Noticed that they left their toad under some Muggle's transportation, that they might've possibly forgotten their copy of Advanced Potion Making, or noticed that it was September 1st and all their friends and family had gathered in between Platforms 9 and 10. All clumped up and whispering excitedly to each other. And if one of those genius Muggles cared to even look at a very real, and very solid brick column planted in the middle of the platforms, they might notice a robed figure occasionally slip through and not bother to come out from the other end.

No one noticed, as scheduled, and eventually the crowd standing around the column got thinner and thinner. No Muggle knew that they had just shifted their position to a non-existent platform: Platform 9 ¾. The excitement grew from everyone. Well, almost everyone.

"If I get one bloody letter about you being in any house other than Slytherin, you are coming home immediately, and not returning!" Yolanda Ridge yapped in her gruff, unwelcoming voice to her daughter, Cassandra, whose hair all of the sudden looked a little more red than brown. The girl tried to conceal the change from her mother, but she noticed, "What's this? Oh no, don't you go thinking that you will be using your powers while your there. You are going to be a normal witch!"

Cassandra nodded and forced her hair back to brown, she felt an odd twitching in the back of her head so she lifted on of her long locks to verify the color, "Yes, mum."

Mrs. Ridge wrinkled her nose, and smoothed out her garments, "Good. Now go, and no letter from Headmistress about any trouble making!" Inhaling sharply, she turned and left without another word.
Cassandra frowned as she watched her mother walk away, What? No goodbye? No "have a nice term"? She grasped the handle of her trunk, arranged her robes, and began to haul her luggage toward the scarlet train. She lifted it off the platform and onto the train. Forget her, you won't have to deal with her until Christmas. A whole 3 months to Hogwarts. With that happy thought burning in the front of her eyes, she headed down the corridor passing the already full compartments.

After a couple of minutes she arrived at an empty compartment at the center of the train. Guess I'd better sit here. Using the small amount of strength that she had in her, she pushed the trunk up on to the rack after removing her copy of A Standard Book of Spells from the inside. She nestled down in the corner of the compartment and looked out the window. Staring at all the families that were hugging and saying goodbye, she recalled a black haired boy hugging his red haired mother, another ginger girl looking around wearily as her ginger father patted her on the back. Even a blonde boy with a rather stern looking father that had the same white-ish glow to his hair was looking a little sad to see his parents go.

Should I be sad? Cassandra wondered, Should I be missing my mother? Part of her said no, that her mother treated her badly enough and there was no emotion between them. But the other side of her heart told her yes, I'm suppose to miss my mother, I'm suppose to love her! But you don't...

Creak... Cassandra's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the wooden compartment door opening. She looked towards the noise and saw a rather pointed boy standing in front of her. Literally, pointed. His nose was long, but didn't exceed to far from his face, his hair spiked out softly from the sides of his head, he was taller than her, but only just.

"Hi," he said flatly, "May I sit here?" he pointed to the seat the farthest away from her, closest to the door.
Cassandra raised and lowered one shoulder. It didn't matter to her who sat here, just as long as they didn't make a lot of noise. The boy lifted his trunk onto the rack next to hers, then sat down. Cassandra tried not to take to much notice of him and opened her book. Chapter One: Basic Wand Movement. The train lurched and Cassandra looked up momentarily to see the waving parents smiling and waving as they slid past the platform. She waited until they turned around the corner before continuing her reading.

After a couple of minutes, the boy next to her coughed. She ignored it and kept reading. He coughed again, louder and harder this time. Cassandra shifted her eyes upward a little bit to see him looking at her. She looked back to her book. Then the boy had the largest coughing fit known to man. It was simply unignorable.

Cassandra sighed and put down the book, sliding her finger in the pages to mark her spot, "Perhaps you would like a drink of water?" she said, trying her best to keep her voice emotionless.

The boy stared at her, "Um..."

Cassandra smiled, so much for emotionless, "I'm Cassandra." She held out her hand.

"Wellington Mason," he shook her hand, "Are a first year too?"

Cassandra nodded, "I can't wait. My mum says that its just all schoolwork, but my neighbor -she's a fifth year- said that its a lot more. Did you know that there is a giant squid in the lake?"

Wellington's eyes widened, "No, that's totally awesome! Why would they have a thing like that there?"

Cassandra shrugged, "I dunno, but I hope we don't see it. I'm terrified of them."

"Squids?"

"Just things that live in the water basically, I like my feet to be kept dry."

"Yeah..." They sat in silence for a small amount of time. Cassandra, wracking her brains trying to find something to say. She didn't like silence, there was too much of it at home.

"So what's your last name?" Cassandra looked up.

"My what?"

Wellington's eyebrows perched at the top of his forehead, "Your last name, you know mine is Mason. Your name is Cassandra...?"

Cassandra wrinkled her nose at the sound of her name, she wasn't too fond of it, "I don't like my name... Cassandra I mean. Its too formal."

"Then what would you like to be called?" Wellington asked.

She thought for a moment, then realized that it was only thing she had ever been called, besides You!, "Umm well, I never really thought of what I would like to be called. I just knew what I didn't like to be called."

Wellington scrunched up his eyebrows, "Got a middle name?"

"Yeah, but its not that great. Its a boy's name, but my father liked it so he named me that. Mum didn't think it was nice, so she changed my name to Cassandra. My father used to call me by my middle name, but that was such a long time ago." She sighed as she recalled her past. It definitely had not been an easy one.

"So what was it? Your middle name?" Wellington pressed on.

"Ryan."

"...there are four houses that you can be sorted into. Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. While you are here, your house will be like your family. You share a common room and dormitories. Doing in well in class will grant you points, but any rule breaking will cause your house to loose points. The house with the most points at the end of the year will win the house cup," squeaked a very excited Professor Flitwick, "Please wait a moment, I shall summon you when it is time for you to come in." Then he disappeared through the giant doors of the Great Hall.

The first years glanced around nervously at each other. It had taken them a while to get rid of the shock of seeing the castle for the first time. The boat ride had been calm, and no matter how many times they checked for the Giant Squid, not a tentacle was spotted. The stars treasured above were practically singing in glee to welcome the new students.

After stepping carefully out of the little boats, they followed the rather enormous gamekeeper- some man named Hagrid- up to tall stone steps and into an Entrance Hall which was lit with candles casting warm glows off the smooth walls.

"What house d'you think you're gonna be in?" Wellington, or Wells as he prefered to be called, asked.

Cassandra... or Ryan, she decided to start going by her middle name here at Hogwarts, shrugged her shoulders and stared ahead at the great oak doors, "I dunno, my mum wants me to go to Slytherin. My whole family's gone there. No one has stepped out. She's so bloody proud about being a pureblood. Even after You-Know-Who got tripped over- we were one of those families that support but don't follow- she kept on spreading the ungratefulness towards Muggles or Muggleborns. 'Course, I don't want to be in Slytherin. I mean, as much as my Mum would like it, I'm not sure that I want to continue yet another seven years of the Ridge family's terror."

Wells blinked sympathetically, "I expect to be in Ravenclaw, my whole families been there. And you know how the hat chooses the house were your family members were in."

Ryan nodded, "That means that I will be in Slytherin! Phooey." It was louder than she would have preferred it. A few first years glanced in her direction but she didn't care.

"Hey," Ryan turned to see the raven-haired boy from the station, he was a little taller than her, and wore glasses, "My dad told me that if you don't want to be in Slytherin, you don't have to."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah, it does," the boy stepped closer, "You can ask it, my dad says that the Sorting Hat takes your opinion to account."

Ryan sniffed, "And your dad is...?"

The boy shrunk back a bit, looking uncomfortable, he mumbled a response. Too low for anyone to make out.

"What?" Ryan asked.

"Harry Potter!" the boy told her.

Woah! Ryan's eyes widened, she was sure that her mouth hit the ground. She knew that Harry Potter was the one who defeated the Dark Lord nineteen years ago- of course she did, who didn't?- and she also knew that Harry Potter had three kids. Though she had no idea that one of them was in her year.

She blinked, suddenly realizing that she was staring, clearing her throat she said, "S-so that means that you're James Potter? Harry Potter's son?"

The Potter boy reddened and shook his head, "No, James is a third year, I'm Albus." He stuck his hand out. Carefully Ryan shook it.

"Sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to stare like that, its just... I can't believe it! You just look so ordinary..." Oops, that came out wrong.

Albus blushed, "Well, I hope I do. I'm not quite sure I want to be 'Albus Severus Potter the Son of the One and Only... HARRY POTTER'!" He said it quietly, but the name must've spiked up a few heads. Soon all the first years were gathered around Albus, firing questions and talking at an incredibly fast speed.

Ryan found herself being pushed back through the crowd and right into Wells, who had a confused look on his face, "Did he just say he was Albus Severus Potter the Son of the One and Only, Harry Potter?" he asked.

Ryan nodded, "Poor guy, he said he didn't want to get noticed."

Wells opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Professor Flitwick who had come back to collect the first years, "Attention! We are now ready for you!"

He led the way through the big oak doors and into the Great Hall. It was beautiful. It was a giant room, lit with torches on either side, there was no ceiling, just the night sky to look up to. As Ryan looked up at the glittering stars she felt a nudge and saw Wells pointing up to the sky, "Its not actually the sky," he explained, "The ceiling is enchanted to look like it."

"That's amazing!" squealed Ryan, everything was amazing, darn it! They passed across four tables, one for Slytherin, one for Ravenclaw, one for Hufflepuff, and one for Gryffindor. They were cluttered with golden plates and utensils but no food. Maybe the food will glide in through the door being led by pixies or something! She was so excited that her hair almost turned blue, though after some adjusting it became its usual brown again.

They were led to the far end of the hall were a big staff table was placed. At the center of the table sat Professor McGonagall, the Headmistress. She nodded approvingly as the first years stopped at a halt in front of a stool where the Sorting Hat stood. It was old, brown, dusty, and had an unpleasant tear in the brim. Professor Flitwick, being all high and mighty as an elf could be, stood next to the stool and unfurled a long sheet of parchment. The Sorting began.

"Abrams, Caleb." The boy stepped up nervously to the stool and Flitwick- standing on his tippy toes- placed the Hat on his head.

A couple seconds later the tear extended and the Sorting Hat yelled out loud, "Gryffindor!" The Gryffindor table cheered. Ryan stared in shock at the Hat, she knew what it was meant to do, she knew who made it and why, but she never knew that it was this alive. As if the Hat a brain of its own.

Caleb Abrams went to sit at the Gryffindor table, and Professor Flitwick called out the next name, "Bright, Lila." A small girl with a cheery face stepped up to the stool, after the Hat was placed on her head, again it took a few moments for the Hat to scream out, "Ravenclaw!" More cheering.

Ryan watched as the next couple kids stepped up to the podium, but lost interest after a while. She cursed her last name for being so far down the alphabet. She focused on a candle burning farther down hall. It was so calm and peaceful, only the faintest whoosh from a student's clapping hands disturbed it.

Then things got interesting. After "Malfoy, Scorpius" was sorted into Slytherin, Professor Flitwick called up, "Mason, Wellington". Ryan squeezed Wells' arm before letting him move up to the stool. The Hat had barely touched his head when it called out, "Ravenclaw!"

Delighted by his house, Wells jumped off the stool, tossing the Hat to Flitwick who caught it by surprise, and made a beeline for the Ravenclaw table were he sat down in pride. His eyes met Ryan's who beamed at him, knowing that he would be happy there.

"Ottomen, Bristol."

After the Hat yelled, "Hufflepuff!", Professor Flitwick called up another very interesting name, "Potter, Albus!" The Hall was silent. Everyone watched as Albus, the son of Harry Potter, stepped up to the stool and sat down. It took a while, a long while, and Albus' face was a mix of fear and anticipation. As if he was having a small battle inside his head. Then finally, finally the Sorting Hat called out to the students, the Professors, and the beautiful night sky above, "GRYFFINDOR!" Albus' eyes popped open, his mouth had a large grin. He was so excited that he got off the stool, and ran to the Gryffindor table, only stopping for a moment to realize that he was still wearing the Sorting Hat. He gave it back to Professor Flitwick, his face all red but his smile still remaining. Albus Potter joined his housemates at the Gryffindor table who were still peeing themselves with the fact that Albus Potter the son of the one and only Harry Potter was in their house.

Good job, Potter, Ryan thought quietly in her head. Then she turned back to face the stool. The Hall finally quieted down and Flitwick called more students. Ryan waited impatiently as they got closer and closer to the R's. What if I'm in Slytherin? Mum will be proud, but I don't want to be in Slytherin! Potter said that I could choose what house I'm in... how would the Hat know...?

"Hufflepuff!"

"Ridge, Cassandra." Slowly and silently, Ryan felt herself move to the stool. She sat down quietly and looked straight forward at the oak doors of the Great Hall. The Sorting Hat slid over her head and slightly over her eyes. She waited.

"Well then, what do we have here? A Ridge, am I correct?" Was the Sorting Hat talking to her? She looked behind her, no one was there other than the Headmistress who was looking at her sternly, "Stay still my dear, I need to analyze your head."

She sat still, realizing that it was the Hat speaking, Um, excuse me Mr. Hat?

"Yes?"

I was wondering where exactly...

"Where exactly I was thinking of putting you? Well lets see, you have your mother's stubbornness, capable of Slytherin."

No! I don't want...

"Be patient my dear, I'm not done yet." she sat in silence, just thinking "Not Slythern, please not Slytherin, I'll eat a whole plate of that horrible jelly if you just don't put me in Slytherin..." "Ha! Well now I see you have wit, my dear! Yes, wit that plays along perfectly with your cunning. Your brains are from your father I am correct? He was from the Lovegood's correct?"

Her hair turned the faintest bit of red, actually, my dad was a...

"Oh ho! A Metamorphmagus! Well I must say I haven't seen one of your kind since Theodore Lupin strolled through these halls!" Ryan had no idea who Theodore Lupin was, but she did know that she had been here for a long time. The Hall was now completely silent, waiting to see what the Hat's calling would be.

Mr. Hat, I don't want to be in Slytherin! Please, I know my mum will kill me, but I don't want to continue our family's horrible reputation. I want to start anew, I want to be different than the rest of my family!

The Hat was silent. Ryan shifted her eyes to look at Wells. He had a very confused look on his face as he mouthed to her, what's going on? Ryan blinked to him and the Hat continued to talk, "I know, lets put you somewhere you'll fit in. A house were you may already have friends. I'll wish you luck in... RAVENCLAW!"