Copyright: To JK Rowling. What is familiar is hers and what is not familiar does not belong to me, either – some of it belongs to Voldemort and some of the other stuff belongs to no one. I am not a slavedriver, therefore, I own no one.
Chapter 1
"Kimberly, are you up there?"
"Yes, dad!"
"Can you come down here for a moment?"
"Yes, dad!" The fifteen-year-old girl hopped down the rickety staircase into the run-down kitchen. "Yes, dad?" she asked pleasantly.
A few Death Eaters from the corner snorted.
"Wormtail, we're off. The Dark Lord has called a meeting in five minutes and we need to be off," Bellatrix Lestrange said from the corner and Disapparated with a 'pop'.
"I'll be there," Kim's father replied, nervously. Why he was nervous, Kim didn't know, but it seemed like the normal thing now a day.
"What did you want, dad?" Kim asked, as the last Death Eater Disapparated.
"I wanted to talk about your education," he replied.
"My what?" Kim asked, unsure that she had heard her father properly.
"Well I realize that you've been home-schooled in magic by the Death Eaters and myself," he cleared his throat, "but the Dark Lord told me that it was time that you got some proper education."
"So are you saying..." she trailed off.
"Yes. It's time that we sent you off to a wizarding school," he finished, wringing his hands. "I must leave now, but I will discuss this further with you later." With a 'pop', he was gone.
Kim stood there, shocked for a moment. Then a grin broke out upon her face and she jumped into the air with joy. She was finally going to school!
"Now," Wormtail said, sitting down on the edge of Kim's bed that night. "We can talk about your education further. Which school-"
"Hogwarts!" Kim cried.
Wormtail frowned, "I was thinking more along the lines of Durmstrang-"
"No, dad... Hogwarts!" she repeated happily.
"You've given this a lot of thought, haven't you?" he said frowning.
Kim grinned.
"I'll speak with the Dark Lord. It was he, himself, who suggested Durmstrang. He is very interested in your future, you know. He wants you to marry Bellatrix's son-"
"Eww! You mean Karl? Gross!" Kim replied, revolted.
"Let me speak with my Master."
Wormtail threw some powder by the fireplace into the grate and stuck his head inside. "Master?" Wormtail asked timidly. "I've spoken to her, she wishes to go to Hogwarts instead."
"Good! We can work this to our advantage! But first, she must change her name, yours under the nose of that Muggle-loving fool is not a smart idea..."
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"Remember, Kimberly, your name is Kim Barkley. Kim Barkley-"
"I get it, dad!" Kim exclaimed, "really, I'll remember it!"
"I'm just trying to protect you-"
"I know, dad, I know."
Kim stepped into the train station with a rat in her pocket. This rat was really her father: he was an Animagus, meaning that he could change into animals. He had wanted to go with her to see her off, but Voldemort had insisted that he at least change into his Animagus form.
Suddenly, Wormtail began to squeak noisily and hid deep inside of Kim's pocket. Kim looked around to figure out why, but saw no one out of the ordinary. She looked to her left and here was a redheaded girl that looked about her age. She looked to her right and saw a man that had very light brown hair that was flecked with gray. He was seeing a girl off near a solid brick wall between platforms nine and ten.
She walked over to the man and the girl, who had curly sand-colored hair down to her waist.
"Excuse me," she said politely, as Wormtail continued to squeak in her pocket. "Could you tell me how to get onto..." she looked at her ticket, "Platform Nine and Three Quarters?"
"Absolutely!" the man replied, "What's your name?"
"My names is Kim..." she paused, "Barkley."
"Pleased to meet you, Kim," the man replied as the squeaking increased, "My name is Remus. Just watch my daughter, Natalie. She's going to Hogwarts as well. You just walk straight through that wall right there, don't stop, or it won't work."
"Okay," Kim said and watched as Natalie gave her father a hug good-bye and ran headfirst into the wall and disappeared through it.
"All right, your turn," Remus said cheerfully, "but I wonder, is there something the matter with your rat?"
"My... rat?" Kim asked puzzled.
"He seems to be making a fuss."
"Yeah, he's... er... always doing that," she replied, thanked Remus again, and ran into the wall, half-expecting that she would smash into solid brick.
But she didn't smash into anything at all. She was on the platform, just as Remus had promised. Happily, she wandered over to the train and tried to heave her trunk inside. However, all she managed to do was bump her head several times and give up in exasperation. As she sat there, Wormtail crawled out of her pocket. She said good-bye to him, and for a split-second he was human and then Disapparated. She sat there in dispair and anger with her father for not helping her, as the guard on the platform began to signal that the train was about to leave.
Kim tried once again to heave her heavy trunk onto the rack above her, but she wasn't strong enough.
"Need some help?" a voice asked. It startled Kim so much that her trunk hit her head again and slumped back onto the ground.
"Ouch!" Kim exclaimed, then surveyed the girl that had offered her help. It was that girl from the platform, Natalie, whose father had helped her onto the platform. "Sure."
Together they eventually shoved both of their luggage onto the rack and then slumped onto the seats in fits of laughter.
"I hope you don't mind if I come into this compartment," Natalie said after she'd stopped giggling, "everywhere else is full."
"No, it's fine," Kim replied, "I could use some company."
The girls spent the entire ride getting to know one another. Kim learned that Natalie was just starting Hogwarts in her first year and that her eleventh birthday had been only the day before.
"Happy Belated Birthday, then," Kim said with a grin. "Know what house you're going to be in?"
"Well, my father was in Gryffindor, so that might be where I'll end up," she replied. "I just don't want to end up in Hufflepuff or anything."
"What's that?" Kim asked, curious.
"Woah! Wait a minute, I thought you said you were a pureblood!" Natalie exclaimed.
"I am, but what does that have to do with-"
"Well your parents should have told you the houses then, right?"
"Well my dad did tell me about Slytherin. Everyone who lives in my house was in Slytherin-"
"What do you mean 'everybody who lives in your house?'" Natalie wondered curiously.
Kim could've smacked herself. She'd almost let slip that there were Death Eaters living in her house! She'd have to do some serious lying this year if she wanted to even get through the first month.
"My, uh, family," she replied unconvincingly.
The train began to slow.
"We've reached the grounds," Natalie whispered excitedly. "Then we get to sail across the lake!"
"Ooh, I don't fancy that idea: it's a bloody thunderstorm out there!" Kim replied as she stuffed the last Cauldron Cake from the snack trolley into her pocket.
"Well it's tradition," Natalie replied, apparently not relishing the idea either, "besides, my dad said there was a giant squid in the lake!"
"Oh THAT'S reassuring, now I REALLY want to sail across the lake!"
Natalie couldn't think of a reply to this, so she kept her mouth shut. They were about to get off the train, when Kim had an idea.
"Wait!" she said, rummaging through her trunk and pulling out her wand, "I remember a spell that my... uh... aunt taught me." She muttered a spell and pointed it at Natalie and then at herself.
"Watch where you point that thing-"
"Nat, look!" Kim stepped off of the train and into the rain and stayed completely dry. "See? We won't get wet!"
Natalie stepped off of the train as well, "Hey, you're right! Wow, am I glad that you're already experienced!"
"Firs' years over here!" a large man called. He held a lantern and was standing in front of a fleet of boats.
Natalie and Kim walked over to him, still dry as the rest of the first years made their way to him as well, their bodies already soaked.
Kim and Natalie were followed into their boat by a couple of scared-looking and sopping wet first-years that looked as though they were twins. They sat down, ready to row the boat, but Kim offered to help and they gratefully accepted the offer. The two boys sponged out their robes, making the water level that was inside the boat rise slightly.
Kim glanced at Natalie, whose feet seemed to be repelling the water that was swarming around them and grinned. Natalie became friends with the first years as Kim rowed the boat through the lake, staying completely dry and comfortable.
"What are your names?" Natalie asked the boys.
"I'm Ethan and he's Eric," said one of the boys as they began to get their robes even more soaked just by accidentally splashing each other. They finally gave up trying to get a little less wet when they realized that it was a fruitless task and looked at Natalie and Kim, envying their dryness.
"You're not a first-year," Eric accused Kim, "it's obvious."
"You're right," Kim replied, "I'm going to into my fifth-year."
By the time they had reached Hogwarts, Eric and Ethan were leaving for the Entrance Hall with Natalie and Kim.
"What are your last names?" Eric asked, being the more outgoing brother.
"I'm Natalie Lupin," Natalie replied, standing on her toes and looking over the heads of her peers.
"I'm Kimberly Barkley."
"What? Are you serious? OUR last name is Barkley!" Eric exclaimed.
Kim smiled and pretended to act as surprised as they were. However she realized that this would make things a whole lot easier. People wouldn't give her much of a second thought if there were other people in the school with the same last name. Everyone would just assume that they had to be related somehow and wouldn't tie her in with Voldemort at all!
"Attention first-years!" a professor's voice yelled over their heads. "The Sorting Ceremony is about to begin."
A very nervous boy that was next to Kim twitched so violently that she almost got knocked over.
"Why are you so nervous?" she asked him, trying to calm him down.
"My brother told me what we have to do," he whispered as though divulging some secret.
"What, you mean try on the hat?"
"No, you have to EAT the hat," he replied in terror.
"Then how would you know what house you're in?" she asked him, trying to prove her point.
"You burp it up," he replied simply. This kid's brother was clearly a prankster.
The professor began to lead the first-years away before Kim could tell the kid that you don't have to eat the Sorting Hat to be sorted.
"How on earth would the people after try the hat on, then?" she whispered to Natalie.
Natalie shrugged, "Maybe that's what he's so afraid of."
"When I call your name, you will come forth and try on the Sorting Hat," the professor called. She was a witch wearing robes of deep emerald green. The nervous boy in front of Kim relaxed. "Asthertet, Lilly."
"SLYTHERIN!"
The table to the far left clapped wildly as Lilly got up from the stool and joined them. Kim looked over at the Slytherins as "Azaka, Harold," was being sorted into "HUFFLEPUFF!" The Slytherins looked like a mean lot. She wondered why her father was so keen on getting her into that particular house.
"Barkley, Eric!"
Kim looked up to see her new friend, Eric, climb onto the stool and the hat dropped over his eyes.
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled out.
Eric, his face beaming and his fingers crossed for his brother, went off to the Gryffindor table, whose occupants seemed a lot wilder and more fun than the Slytherins.
"Barkley, Ethan!"
Ethan climbed onto the stool in the same manner as his brother with a grin on his face.
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled. Beaming even wider, Ethan hurried off to join his brother.
"Barkley, Kimberly!"
Kim heard a whisper of, "How many are there?" somewhere throughout one of the tables before the hat fell over her eyes.
"Hmmm, this is interesting," a voice inside her head said. Kim jumped. She hadn't expected the hat to say something in her head, "Very interesting. Your father was a traitor, your mother was an evildoer and your brain seems to want to be like your father, yet in the back of your mind... hmmm, this is very interesting. I'm aware that you wanted to be in Slytherin, yes? Or is that your father's voice speaking? Well, hopefully you won't be a traitor, Miss Pettigrew-"
Kim gasped: so the hat knew who she was after all! Hopefully no one could hear the voice besides her.
"I'll put you in the same house as your father and hope you'll fit in, then," the hat said.
So she was going to Slytherin, then? It seemed a shame because she didn't think that she was Slytherin material.
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted the word to the whole hall.
Kim was surprised, yet pleased as she made her way toward the wildly clapping Gryffindor table.
"AND FIFTH-YEAR GRYFFINDOR AT THAT!" the hat added, before "Buroley, Jacinta," was sent to the hat next.
Down the list went. Finally, "Laurel, Lisa," was sent off to, "RAVENCLAW!" and "Lupin, Natalie," was called.
The hat had barely touched her head when it shouted "GRYFFINDOR!"
Natalie, her face beaming, slid into a seat next to Kim.
"Congratulations, your dad will be happy," Kim whispered and Natalie smiled.
"Yours, too," Natalie replied and Kim forced a fake smile. If truth be told, her father would be severely disappointed with her, and Voldemort... she shuddered, she didn't even want to know what Voldemort would say.
The sorting ended when "Yogi, Clara," was sent to "RAVENCLAW!"
A man in midnight blue robes with a long, white beard and flowing hair stood up. That must be Dumbledore, Kim realized with a pang. From the way Voldemort spoke of him, she had expected different. But this man radiated goodness and love. She grimaced. This year would be harder than she thought.
"I have only two words to say," Dumbledore announced in a powerful voice, "Dig in."
Suddenly, the plates on the tables filled with food magically. Kim had never seen food in such a generous proportion, and she loved to eat (a trait she had inherited from her father).
"So you're a fifth-year, then?" a girl with long brown hair asked.
"Yes," Kim replied, "I've been home-schooled in magic for the past four years." That wasn't true, either. She'd been home-schooled in the Dark Arts before she could even remember. Before she'd been given a wand, it was Potions and Apparating (something she had done illegally) and the Animagus transformation (another thing that she had been taught illegally).
"I see, so you're a pureblood then?" the girl asked.
"Yes," Kim replied proudly.
"Me too!" the girl said happily. "I'm Anna Flest, by the way."
"I'm Kim Barkley."
"Yes, I know," Anna replied, grinning. "I guess I'll show you around tomorrow. Do you know which extra courses you've been signed up for?"
"Divination and I think my, er, uncle wanted me to take Care of Magical Creatures for some reason," she replied, almost laughing because she had referred to Voldemort as her uncle.
"Excellent! We're in the same courses!" Anna exclaimed, piling some steak onto her plate. "There are two other girls in our Dorm," she went on, "Ginny Weasley - she's the redhead over there - and Lauren Buroley - she's the one right next to her."
"I see," Kim replied, taking a good look at the girls, so she wouldn't forget their faces. At the same time, something stirred in the back of her mind: Weasley. She knew that name. Hadn't her father mentioned the name Weasley on more than one occasion? In fact, she seemed to remember Voldemort, himself, mentioning the name once or twice.
"Then there's four boys in our year, too," Anna continued. "Colin Creevy, James Livingston, Orlando Gardner, and Michael Chatfield."
She pointed the boys out, and Kim memorized their faces as well.
"So tell me, what houses were your parents in?"
Kim was beginning to get nervous every time someone asked her about her parents. "Slytherin," she replied bluntly.
"Ooh, are they going to be angry?"
"My dad might just be disappointed."
"What about your mom?"
"She died in childbirth," Kim replied, preferring to drop the subject.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Anna replied immediately.
"It's okay, it doesn't really bother me anymore." She couldn't help wondering, however, that if her father had been in Slytherin, why had the hat told her that it was going to put her in Gryffindor: the same house as her father? True, she'd never been told that her father was a Slytherin, but all of the other Death Eaters were, so it just seemed like the natural thing. Also, what was this business about being a traitor? What, if anything, was her father keeping from her? Could the hat have simply made a mistake?