Title: Eventually

Summary: A student with a horrific past comes to Hogwarts. A Slytherin like none have seen, she is mysterious, feisty, and fair. Through eager friendships, an unlikely alliance is formed. Will the need to uncover the enigma be enough to unite the most opposite of people?

Rating: R for language, rape, and eventual sex.

A/N: When I began this, my first fic, I had a vague idea of the plot line. Now that, nearly two years later, I have solidified both it and my writing, I ask that you give it a try. Lorelai is a new character, but she is not a Mary Sue. The Draco/Ginny action does not begin until chapter 6. And the writing is pretty much crap compared to what my skills are now. The new chapter is Chapter 10, so if you find yourself at all interested in the storyline, please wait until then to make your decision. Of course, that decision lies with you.

I would go back and redo chapters 1-9, but I am lazy and too excited about finally having the muse to update, and frequently, to revise it.

Chapter 1

Lorelai Jacynda Green now stood in the Great Hall. She never was very comfortable in crowds, and it was perfectly embarrassing to be grouped in with a cluster of first years. But, as a transfer student, she had to be sorted into her house. She felt particularly conspicuous, for not only was she a full head taller than the students she stood with, but she had unfortunately been late, and hadn't had time to change out of her Muggle clothes; an orange and gray top, blue jeans, and orange shoes that matched with her light red and green hair. She should have listened to that Granger girl on the Hogwarts Express and changed while on the train. Lorelai willed her cheeks to stay their pale color as she could sense the stares of the students already seated at their respective tables. There was a hushed whisper as the secret of her origin was being spread, no doubt by that meddling Granger; that not only was she a Mudblood, but she was an American as well. To veil her discomfort, she focused her green eyes on the sorting hat.

Her mind was whirling with everything she needed to remember; she needed to try really, really hard to fit in, she needed to become friends with as many people as she could, she needed to try to respect her teachers, but most importantly, she had to hide everything she was.

No one could find out her true lineage! No one knew, except Dumbledore, from when she wrote him, and Severus Snape, and her previous situation with Snape certainly needed to be masked. She risked a look behind her at the Gryffindor table. She locked eyes with Granger, who gave her a sympathetic smile. Maybe I should give her a chance, Lorelai thought. She managed a small smile back, and noticed who was seated across from Granger; the famous Harry Potter! It seemed he was looking right through her, and she began to blush furiously and she turned away from Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, the boy she needed to protect.

As the head of Gryffindor, Professor....uh....McGonagall?, began calling out names for the sorting hat, Lorelai let her mind go for a jog. She contemplated the previous summer; falling in love with a man twice her age, 16, and not having a care about it. However, that relationship ended when her father tried to assassinate the "lech" by using Lorelai, his daughter.

To everyone else at Hogwarts, Lorelai Green was a Muggle, a Mudblood, someone of no significance.

But Dumbledore and Snape knew the truth. Her father was a very powerful wizard; there were only 5 or so wizards that could challenge him, and they would never do so. Her parents were never married...her mother was a one night stand to her father. Father pretty much stayed out of the picture until this last year, and in one year, Lorelai had experienced a thousand deaths, each more painful than the last. She shuddered as the memory of the last punishment ran through her, and she had to bite back a yelp. She came back to reality when a blonde, cherubic first year tapped her on the shoulder.

"Um, excuse me, but would you like to borrow my cloak?" He offered with a smile. Lorelai opened her mouth to reply, but a shrill, "Lorelai Green!" interrupted as she was summoned to the sorting hat. She quickly smiled and shook her head. She could feel every pair of eyes on her as she sat on the worn stool, as was custom. The sorting hat was placed firmly on her head. The hat wriggled around for a moment, trying to make itself comfortable, and the students, even Lorelai, laughed. Suddenly, it stilled, and the strangest sensation overtook her. It was as if her memory was being examined, like when her father would deactivate the mind-block she'd set when she tried to hide something from him. Well, as long as it could read her mind, she may as well do her best to communicate with it; after all, who could you trust, if not a sorting hat?

"Please, please don't put me in Gryffindor..." She thought. She released her thoughts, her reasons to him, told him of her need to look after Harry Potter, and her inability to do so in Gryffindor. The hat trembled when it uncovered her mystery, the one she would die to protect.

"Very well," it began. "Your past may be darkened, and your future therein, but your courageous and clever heart could do much good in Slytherin!" The hat had made its final pronunciation.

Lorelai decided that though she'd rather be in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, she'd take what she got.

As she made her way to the Slytherin table, she noticed that none of her housemates were clapping. In fact, the few who weren't staring with mouths wide open were making vicious comments. On her way to seat, she heard murmurs of, "Muggle" and "Mudblood." She sat down, and placed her head in her arms, thinking if she did so, she might disappear. Come to think of it, she probably could disappear, but that might cause a disruption.

As could the information that she could wipe out the entire house, if she so chose.

With that thought in place, she lifted her head, a half-smile on her face. Looking directly across from her, her hope of a smile diminished as she met with the piercing grey eyes of Draco Malfoy.

Draco looked the Mudblood over. She was a cute girl, though he would never admit to thinking so. In fact, if he were forced to take a veritaserum and he was asked that particular question, he might kill himself to keep the truth a secret. He breathed in her exterior hungrily, and the infamous Malfoy smirk that drove the ladies crazy (as proved by many late-night excursions with eager girls in Astronomy Tower), materialized. From her muggle tennis shoes to her multihued hair, and down to her coal-rimmed emerald eyes, he stared. He let his forceful gaze linger on her dampened lips for longer than necessary, and then expanded his smirk into a full smile, a rarity. He couldn't help it, though, when he detected a delicious burn in her cheeks. Still, the Muggle still held his gaze, determination glowing bright.

Ugh! Lorelai thought. This idiot was infuriating! Lorelai was very aware of his stare that jumped between her eyes and modest breasts. She was just as aware that the rest of the Slytherin house had their eyes on her and Draco. Finally, she decided that she had endured this absurdity for long enough. Severus Snape, who had been intently watching the exchange, held his breath as she leveled her stare with Malfoy's. Every fiber of Snape's being was ready for the inevitable swapping of words that was about to commence, ready to stand up and physically defend Malfoy, if needed.

"What is your problem?!" Lorelai burst out in an annoyed tone. Draco was amused that she had the nerve to speak up first.

"Oh, you'll have to excuse me; I believe that this is the first time in Hogwarts history that a Mudblood was sorted into Slytherin. I'm merely curious! Tell me; is everyone in America languid, or is the sluggishness distinctive to only you?"

To his surprise, Lorelai jumped up from her bench, and Draco was conscious of the immediate silence in the Great Hall. Even the professors were closely watching, and Professor Snape looked...apprehensive? Draco cocked an eyebrow and made a mental note to ask him about that. Lorelai stretched to her full height of 5'6" and leaned over the table, giving Draco a suggestion of a view down her shirt. She fabricated the sweetest smile she could manage, and let him have it.

"Look, munchkin, you may be the same year as me, and you may be a Malfoy, but let me tell you something. I don't care who your father is or that I'm American. The truth is, wand or no, I can still kick your ass," there was an audible gasp at this from the students, and she leaned over farther so she could reach his ear, "so watch yourself!" She hissed this last part quietly, burning Draco's eyes with her own. Leaving him blinking and speechless, she turned and sauntered casually out of the Great Hall.

Sir Nicholas tipped his head at her on her way out, but other than that, there was no movement. The entire student body was quiet for a full sixty seconds, and then fell back into excited chatter. Blaise Zabini traced an imaginary line down Draco's face with a blood-red talon, and exclaimed, "Well, I'm impressed! I do believe that that's the first time in your life that anyone's left you speechless!" and she cackled mercilessly. Pansy Parkinson, his wannabe girlfriend, came over and clung to his arm, offering her "services" to make him feel better.

"Parkinson, I do believe I will accept. I have something to attend to, however. Meet me in the common room 30 minutes after dinner." She nodded.

And in the midst of this, no one noticed Snape breathe a sigh of relief or slip out of the door in the direction of Miss Lorelai Green.