AN: Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter's world; I only play with it. This is a one shot following an OC first year mentioned in Dark Heirs and the Chamber of Secrets AKA Dad's Diary. It was written in an attempt to get back into writing so I can start on year three. Thank you for reading and reviewing. This is short and somewhat random.
Serpent Ascending
Loraine Eich finished her letter to her mother and looked over at her dorm mate Miriam. Miriam was reading a book which seemed to flicker between two titles. "Miriam," said the muggle-born serpent.
Miriam looked up from her book, "Yes?"
"I have a letter I would like to send to my mom. You and Carol-Anne have stressed how important it is that we never travel the halls alone."
Miriam nodded, "Alright, I have something I was going to send off in the morning, but I can send it now. Let me get it and we can go." The two young serpents headed out of the dungeon and began the long walk up to the Owlery. As they rounded the last hall leading up to the Owlery tower they were stopped by a tall dark haired boy in Gryffindor robes.
"Please move aside so we can pass," was Miriam's polite request to the upper classman who blocked their passage.
"I don't think so little snake," the boy nearly hissed. "Your kind isn't wanted and you need to be taught a lesson in manners." He drew his wand causing Loraine to feel fear crawl up her spine. School had only started a week before and already there were upper classmen bullying her.
Seeing the foolish lion was preparing to attack caused Miriam to release her own wand from its holster down into her hand. She had been quite pleased with Harry's last birthday gift to her. As the tall boy lifted his wand and moved it while beginning a curse, Miriam slashed her wand out and cast the most powerful reflective shield she knew. The boy's spell hit the shield and bounced back, hitting him between the eyes. He fell to his knees vomiting slugs. Miriam replaced her wand, took Loraine's hand and stepped them around the cursed boy.
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Break. Break. Break. Break. Break. Break.
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Do to Miriam and Jared's friendship a dual house study group came into existence. Jared brought three of his housemates and Miriam brought five of her housemates including Loraine. The group of ten first year students quickly rose to the top of their year. This group allowed Loraine to meet non-Slytherin purebloods and talk about some of the things she was reading in the books Miriam had her reading.
Loraine was amazed with the wizarding world. Six weeks into her first year she finally had enough basics of pureblood culture, training and history that Miriam and Carol-Anne were finally letting her interact with upperclassmen. She was astounded to learn that there were magics taught to pureblood youths that were never even mentioned in Hogwarts. From the books she read she knew that training was often bloodline specific and so she was not expecting to be taught any. Miriam surprised her be providing a book about the basics of blood magic.
Loraine spent much of her time looking through family histories when she wasn't reading school books or the books Miriam assigned her. Reading the accounting of various pureblood families gave her a deep appreciation of those students who carried on their family traditions. The public records for the Lestrange, Malfoy and Potter families were fascinating to Loraine. She noted how each accounting of the same events in history differed slightly in each record. The actions of the three families during WWII were perhaps the last truly accurate records, but Loraine would not learn that for many years to come.
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Break. Break. Break. Break. Break. Break.
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Loraine learned the hierarchy of Slytherin quickly under the guidance of Miriam. She was somewhat surprised to learn shortly before Halloween that in spite of her bloodline she held fourth highest rank within the first years. Status within the house wasn't just blood or family. In fact if you weren't Harry Potter or Kira Riddle blood and family meant little to nothing as far as house standing was concerned. She was powerful, smart and ambitious which earned her respect within the house, placing her in a position of responsibility.
She had learned who Harry Potter was when she first learned of the wizarding world; it was Kira Riddle's placement in the house whick confused her until Halloween night. Because Kira's relation to the Dark Lord Voldemort was not spoken of her unofficial rank of first in the house as well as first of the second years had confused Loraine. Learning Kira was the heir of the Dark Lord, and the heir of Salazar Slytherin, caused Loraine to finally understand why Kira was seen as a leader even by the seventh year students.
Returning to the muggle world for Christmas was almost disappointing. Loraine's parents, a barrister and a florist, were amazed by the stories their little girl shared with them. She explained about the culture lessons she was getting from her housemates and her mother was annoyed that culture wasn't a class taught at the school. Lorain also explained that Miriam wanted to make arrangements for her parents to meet Loraine's parents during one of the days of Winter Break.
Two days before the end of break, Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange arrived with their three children for a late tea. While Loraine took Miriam and her siblings to her room the adults sat in the living room to talk. About an hour later the children were called to join the adults. That is when Magical Guardianship was explained to Loraine. She was angry and scared to learn that without her parents' permission the headmaster was made the Magical Guardian of her, and every other muggle-born, the moment they accepted the invitation to Hogwarts. However there was a clause which the Lestrange's were going to exploit on her behalf which would place them as her Magical Guardians without alerting the headmaster. Since he was currently incapacitated his Guardianship could be transferred with the permission of the child and the child's closest blood relatives.
The new term began and Kira asked the House to look for a student possessed. Loraine helped how she could in the hunt for the possessed student, but she had not grown up in the wizarding world so things which seemed odd to her were not necessarily symptoms of possession. When Jared Zabini brought Luna Lovegood to the study session for the first time in mid January Loraine had been sure it was because she was the possessed student. When she asked Miriam about that she was assured that Luna wasn't possessed. The young muggle-born serpent who now held herself as well as any pureblood discovered the Sights and Bloodline Gifts.
The rest of the school year passed with studies, personal research, training in blood magic, alliance making and fun with friends. Loraine decided she loved the magical world and was going to do everything in her power to be the perfect Slytherin and witch. Being as close as she was to Miriam she saw the fear and concern for Kira and Harry during the conclusion of the possession of Ginny Weasley. She did her part in protecting the first year during the last weeks of school and was happy that she was Slytherin. Loraine knew it would have been impossible to go the entire year possessed had Ginny been a serpent, they looked after their own.
Loraine left her first year wondering about the qualities of the houses. Hufflepuff was supposed to be the most loyal, yet if one was observant you could see the one or two students in each year who were left out of the friendships. The house loyalty obviously only worked for those who fit in with the norms of the House. Gryffindor was known for its bravery, yet only the Weasley twins were brave enough to support their sister after her ordeal; Neville and Hermione tried but it was clear Ron was standing in the way. Throughout the year Loraine learned that Gryffindor housed the worst bullies and most did not stand up against their housemates when witnessing such behavior. Ravenclaw was known for its intelligence, yet even after the scores were posted, showing Luna Lovegood as the leader in all but one class, the other ravens treated her like she was stupid and crazy. They were narrow minded and if the information wasn't in a book they didn't want to believe it. Jared's small study group and Luna were the exception.
And then there was Slytherin, the House of the cunning, the ambitious and if you believed the rumors the evil of the wizarding world. Yet here she was; an ambitious cunning muggle-born who had been ignorant of her magic until July of this past summer. She had been accepted, guided, protected and encouraged by the house know for darkness and evil. Sure there were rivalries within the house, but those rivalries never left Slytherin territory. Sure there were some bullies in the house, but they never bullied their own and they protected or avenged their housemates who were picked on by the other houses. And of course there was ambition in an abundance, as well as cunning; keeping a secret in Slytherin House was difficult and succeeding in doing so was an accomplishment to cherish. Loraine decided that of the four houses the Hat could have placed her; she was happy it placed her in the Serpents Den and knew that no other House would have been home.