AU Warning! This is gonna be a little slow.

This chapter is OC's pov, but that'll change with each chapter.

Chapter One

I

I was already wide awake and fully dressed when I heard a knock on the door of my room. I checked my pocket-watch for thirty-sixth time in the last twelve hours. Eight o'clock precisely. From the other side of the door I heard my grandmother's voice telling me it was time to wake up and get ready. She left without waiting for my reply.

'Time to wake up', I smiled as I walked downstairs to the dining-room, as if I had been able to fall asleep at all last night.

As soon as I walked through the double-doors I was greeted by grandmother's disapproving gaze.

"You are going dressed like that?"

Well isn't this a nice start of the day?

I frowned and looked down at my clothes. Jeans, shirt, sneakers. All clean. "What's wrong with these?"

She looked at me like I had asked something really stupid.

"You're a Crowley for Merlin's sake!" When she realized her words didn't have the desired effect on me she added, "Would it kill you to dress more presentably? More feminine?"

I was about to agree when I heard someone laugh behind me. "I don't think her clothes are going to bring disgrace to our family, mother." It was my uncle, Sairus. "She's going on a long ride, it's sensible to be dressed comfortably." Then he smiled at me with excitement, "So, are you ready to embrace the new chapter of your life?"

His humorous tone made me smile and I nodded. The breakfast passed mostly in silence. After finishing the meal he turned to me, "Come walk with me a little, if you don't have any more packing to do."

My things had been packed for at least a week now, so I stood up and followed him out in the garden that surrounded the house from behind. It had been raining the night before and the morning air was filled with the smell of earth and grass. It was a nice day, even if a little cloudy.

We walked to the bench that overlooked the small lake and set down.

"It's a bit chilly out here; you're not cold, are you?"

I said I wasn't and waited for him to continue. I knew this was hard for him; seeing me off to school made him remember his son, my cousin Peter and the day he left his home when he was eleven. This thought made me think of my parents, who along with Peter and his mother lied in the cold tiles of our family tomb. Deep inside I knew I should have thought of my parents more, but somehow I never felt connected to them. I didn't remember their faces or voices, I never knew them and it was hard to miss something I didn't know.

"I'll never forget the day I went to Hogwarts for the first time." He began suddenly. The sadness from earlier was now partly replaced with excitement. "I was so nervous I forgot my wand at home."

I stared at him in disbelief. How could anyone forget their wand? I hadn't let mine out of reach from the moment I purchased it from Olivander's at Diagon alley. Walnut tree, 10 ½ inches long with dragon heartstring core. Even now it was safely held in the extra pocket of my jeans.

Uncle laughed at my expression, "Yes, I was so embarrassed. I wanted to owl my parents as soon as I realized it, only to discover that I had forgotten the owl as well."

I couldn't hold back laughter anymore, "Wow, what did you do then?"

"Well, luckily for me your grandmother heard the owl when they got back from the station and found my wand on the bed. I received them shortly after I arrived at Hogwarts, along with a remembrall."

I chuckled, "I'll be sure to go over my things once more before we leave."

"I know that children are often worried about the Sorting ceremony and which house they get sorted in," He began as we walked back to the house, "I'm sure you'll get in Gryffindor, seeing our entire family studied there, but if you won't don't let that bother you too much. After all, the house doesn't define who you are. What matters in how you use the potential it has to offer." Then he added humorously, "I can't vault for your grandmother's actions if you get in Slytherin, though."

I laughed, not giving much thought to the matter. The sorting never worried me somehow. Everyone from both sides of my family had studied in Gryffindor, even my great grandfather Magnus, who was said to have been very strange man and later accused in being involved with wizards of questionable reputation and dark magic. So, I was sure I'd end up there as well.

I have never been so wrong.

II

"Alexandra Crowley." Announced the tall woman with peculiar glasses. I think professor McGonagall's her name.

Walking to the chair with the sorting hat appeared to be more difficult than I had expected and feeling couple of hundred eyes on my back wasn't helping the matter either. Crowded places always unnerved me so it wasn't too difficult to imagine the grim look that was on my face.

When the hat was placed on my head I heard its voice, "Hmm… the last of the Crowleys…" and then it shouted for everyone to hear, "Slytherin!"

It didn't even hesitate! Shocked is a very weak word to describe what I felt in that moment.

I heard cheering from one of the four tables and went to sit with my fellow Slytherins mechanically.

What a great way to start the school! I doubt I could have disgraced and disappointed my family, or what was left of it, any further even if I had tried. The daughter of two noble Gryffindors who had died fighting against the dark lord ends up in Slytherin. Grandmother will be thrilled!

As I was measuring my chances of being disowned when familiar name caught my attention.

"Jane Rizzoli."

Oh! That must be my cousin Jane. I thought they had moved to Italy several years ago, but guess they're back now. Well, at least Jane is. The girl with dark hair, dimpled smile and confident stride went to sit on the chair. Yes, it was definitely my cousin Jane.

"Gryffindor!" Shouted the hat as soon as it touched her head. Her smile grew even bigger as she skipped to the table that stood furthest from us.

At one point over the feast I caught her eye. She waved at me and gestured something, which I interpreted as 'I want to speak to you', sadly we didn't get the chance that night. As soon as the feast was over we were led to our dormitories by the prefects.

Seeing Jane made me remember the times I had spent with the Rizzoli family in my (very) early childhood. Those had been the most exciting experience of my life so far. I even had several scars to prove that. Ah, those were good times, when I was still a careless, not Slytherin witch.

Later, as I lay awake in my new bad, thinking of possible reasons of my ending up in this house I remembered my uncle's words and felt a little relieved. At least I'd have a place to stay if my grandmother disowned me.

III

An unexpectedly strong poke in the ribs woke me up in the morning. It was accompanied with a feminine voice.

"Hey, wake up, you're gonna be late." She poked me again.

"Aw, quit poking me." I groaned into my pillow. I was about to ask what was she doing in my room and where was I being late when I remembered that I was no longer at home. Turning to lie on my back, I managed to crack one eye open and saw one of my roommates.

"Ah, there you are. I've been trying to wake you for five minutes now." She smiled.

"Oh, sorry, I'm a heavy sleeper." Looking around I noticed that we were the only ones left in the room. "Thank you, by the way."

"It's no problem. Now hurry up if you want to be in time for breakfast." She turned back when she reached the door. "My name's Samara Adler, by the way, but everyone calls me Sam."

"Pleasure to meet you, Sam." I smiled, pulling up my pants. "I'm Alex."

Ten minutes later we were on our way to the great hall.

"You don't seem too excited to be in Slytherin." She observed.

"To be honest, I'm not sure I am. Haven't gotten past the shocked state yet." She looked at me with questioning eyes, which, I noticed, were grey. "My whole family has studied in Gryffindor."

"There's a first for everything." She chuckled. "Don't kill yourself over it, though. My mother's a Slytherin. It's not half as bad as they say. You'll get used to it."

"Don't have much choice anyway." I sighed.

We walked in the great hall and were almost at our table when I felt someone pull me back by the robe. Turning around I saw the smiling face of Jane Rizzoli.

"Dude (she always called me dude for some reason)! What did you pull last night! Always thought you were a harmless kid, but look at you! Gone all bad and… All!"

I felt relieved by Jane's attitude. Even if she was a bit too cheerful it was still so much better than the cold shoulder and disappointed headshake that I expected and feared so much.

"Yes, it was a bit surprising." I agreed.

"A bit surprising she says." Jane laughed. "Tell that to your grandma… or my mother. Oh ma's gonna flip when she finds out her only niece has been sorted in Slytherin."

The conversation was headed in one direction I avoided thinking of, but before I could interject she grabbed me by elbow and whispered, "Seriously though, they don't treat you badly down there, do they?" She eyed Sam suspiciously.

"What? Of course not. Don't be silly." It's not like they had time even if they wanted to. I've been in Slytherin for what? Ten or eleven hours? And most of it I had spent sleeping.

She didn't appear convinced by my answer. "Okay, but don't hesitate to tell me if anyone bothers you."

I smiled in amusement and promised that I wouldn't. "Thanks for not being upset about… you know." I added awkwardly.

"Hey, I wouldn't care even if you were a squib. You're family." She patted my back good-heartedly.

I decided right then that Jane Rizzoli was my favorite person in the world. I think she saw that on my face and smiled warmly, but said," All right! Enough with the girliness! It's time for breakfast, mate. See you later, Alex."

I hadn't seen Jane since we were eight, but I remembered how she used to call every display of emotions 'girliness'. She hasn't changed much – I decided. "See you later Jane. I replied and went to the Slythrin table.

As soon as I set down our family owl, Edweena (always wanted to laugh about the name, but I guess you don't get to do that if your middle name's Lucrezia), dropped the letter in front of me. Well, here goes, I thought as I opened it. Surprisingly enough, turned out I wasn't being disowned. Grandmother just hoped I was feeling well and was asking me to try my best with studying.

Guess everything wasn't that bad after all.

IV

One thing I discovered shortly after joining the Slytherin house was that no one really expected you to behave, except for professor Snape, the head of the our house.

I'm not saying that you wouldn't get punished if you hexed someone or generally misbehaved, because you would, but no one would wonder why you did it. No one would be surprised. Being Slytherin explained it all.

The next realization was that being Slytherin meant your motives would be questioned, always. For example (and I know this from personal experience), if the librarian, Madame Pince, caught you with your lantern too close to the books, she'd think you've been trying to set the library on fire and if you'd insist that you had only been trying to see the authors and titles better she'd think you were a liar too. Though, maybe this particular case had something to do with the fact that Jane and I did manage to set the Christmas tree in the great hall on fire by pure accident that one time. This also was the first time we were punished by having to accompany Hagrid in the forbidden forest. Which was an experience not entirely pleasant but exciting nonetheless.

I've gotten off the subject here. As I was saying students from other houses, even most of the professors didn't trust us, always looked at us with suspicion. Can't say they didn't have reasons for that, to be honest. Some of us really were as evil and cruel as they come, but I think in some cases the actions of our students were simply acts of self defense.

Still, soon enough you stopped caring about everyone else's opinions. You didn't have an image of goody-goody to uphold. Like, if you were Gryffindor you were considered loyal and brave, Ravenclaws were bookworms and maybe slightly mental, Hufflepuffs…well… I think they were trying to be friends with everyone and everything (except for you, of course).

But, if you were a Slytherin. A cunning, egocentric, ambitious Slytherin it was very hard not to lose yourself somewhere along the line. And in some sense it was freeing.

Another thing was that students from other houses avoided you. So only people you could talk to and make friends were your fellow Slytherins. That was the main reason that caused us to always stick together.

Sometimes I wondered if I would have treated Slytherins the same way as everyone else, had I gotten in a different house. And I knew I would have. But being one of them made me see things in new light and by the time of Christmas holidays I was beginning to feel glad about it.

One thing I couldn't get used to was the silver snake on the left side of my robes. Oh dear Merlin, I hate snakes!