AN; Please let me know what you think so far, would be much appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer; All people, places and magical things and the whole of the Harry Potter wolrd belong to JK Rowling. This is purely for entertainment only and the only charcter I own is the OC Rayna.

Chapter 1 - Hogwarts

September 1991

Rayna took a deep breath, steadying her shaking hands by clenching them into small fists by her sides. The material of her black robes school robes pooled around her ankles as she sat rigidly on the sorting hat stool. She tried to focus on the surroundings interiors of Dumbledore's office but found she couldn't focus.

"A pureblood." the sorting hat mumbled to itself once it was placed on top of the young girls head. "interesting... a Carrow who is only now joining Hogwarts, curious" the hat spoke quietly. "I think you would do just fine in Hufflepuff, I see your loyalty and kindness. But... would your ambition be wasted here?"

The hat was taking it's time to think, it was unusually strange for it to be undecided so soon, it was a rare occurance when one house didn't stand out immediately. Rayna didn't know when the last time she let out a breath was, her heart was pounding loudly in her chest.

"your mind is clouded, I see your ambition is trying to be heard but you are pushing it further away in to the dark. You would fit in perfectly with Ravenclaw, the right amount of intelligence and cleverness, always driven by common sense, yet Gryffindor is where you will be cherished the most. Your bravery will stand out, they will help you find the light." the hat was still speaking, questioning itself every couple minutes.

Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagle shared a curious look with each other, one that did not go missed by Rayna. Professor Snape was watching from the corner of Dumbledore's office, holding his breath when he heard the hat mention Gryffindor.

"I can see how Gryffindor will be the best for you but your family will not agree. The place for your ambition to break free must only be SLYTHERIN" the hat finally came to the decision. She sighed in relief at the outcome, she was a Slytherin now.

As Professor McGonagle moved to remove the sorting hat, it spoke up one final time.

"you must seek the light in this tunnel of darkness and gloom, for you must listen to your own selfish needs, Miss Carrow"

Rayna's face dropped slightly, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion, her lips parting slightly in thought of the sorting hats odd words. She made eye contact with Professor Snape who wore the same expression of bewilderment.

However, taking in the new found information that she had been placed in Slytherin, Rayna finally felt like she could breathe. Her heart almost dropped at the hat's mention of Gryffindor. Her Father would not have been pleased and her Aunt would have been furious. She knew she would be taken straight out of the school if that was her fate.

Surprisngly, Rayna wasn't nervous about her first day at Hogwarts. She had the whole of summer to worry about it and had eventually come to terms with it. She was controlling her excitement at the thought of finally being able to be part of the wider wizarding community.

She had been home schooled her whole life, dreaming of being allowed to go to Hogwarts and now it was really happening. She was overcome with joy when her Father allowed her to finally go, it only took 5 years of Rayna trying to persuade him. There must have been a deeper meaning to why he suddenly allowed her to go, it was suspicious after all this time. She would be joining for her fifth year which mean't she didn't know many people, she couldn't help but question if her Father had kept her away for certain reasons?

She only knew a couple of Slytherins that her Father and Aunt were associated with.

The Flint family were very present in Rayna's life. Her Father Amycus was good friends with Mr Flint. This left a young Rayna Lee Carrow and young Marcus Flint years of growing up together.

Over the years they had formed a solid friendship, spending alot of their free time playing Quiditch or messing about together when Flint was back from Hogwarts for the holidays. She had always envied him for being able to attend the school.

Rayna had always wanted to be a part of Hogwarts, she spent a lot of time researching and looking in books to find out as much as she could, she was overly excited to finally see watch she had only read of in real life, up close so she could treasure the memories.

Professor Snape had lead Rayna from Dumbledore's office down to the great hall where he showed her to the Slytherin table. She thanked the Professor before spotting Flint and walking over to him.

She ignored the curious stares of people around her, mostly from the table next to the Slytherins. She recognized most of them as Ravenclaws due to the blue ties and badges.

"Rayna" she heard Flint speak, stopping his conversation with those around him as soon as he saw the girl. "welcome to Slytherin" he said as his eyes fell on the Emerald Slytherin crest on her robes.

"it was slightly scary" she said sitting down in the empty space opposite Flint where a Slytherin guy had moved over for her. "The hat was talking about Hufflepuff, then Ravenclaw and then it spoke about Gryffindor for a couple minutes which was when I really started to worry"

"lucky escape there" said a guy sitting next to Flint meeting her eyes and flashing her a smile."Adrian Pucey" he spoke softly holding his hand out to shake hers.

"Rayna Carrow" she replied.

Rayna took a couple minutes to examine her surroundings, her eyes falling on the sky of the great hall. There were candles charmed to float 7 foot above the students, emitting a warm yellow glow across the hall creating an extraordinary atmosphere. She had read about these enchantments in Hogwarts a history and now was seeing them in real.

"Snape gave me Captain this year" Flint told her as first years were being lead into the great hall.

"that's great!" she said, eyes lighting up at the mention of Quidditch.

"it is indeed, you have to be our new chaser" he said seriously.

"that would be amazing" she spoke happily, her smile widening, she had always wanted to be on a Quiditch team, she loved the sport and had spent plenty of her time perfecting her flying skills. "but shouldn't I at least try out first?"

"now I can see why the hat considered putting you in Hufflepuff" another person interrupted the conversation.

"this is Higgs" Flint said " he's our seeker"

"hi" she said giving him a small awkward wave.

"if you're as good as Flint has been telling us over the years then I don't think you need to try out" Pucey said. "plus it would be nice to finally work with someone whose a good of a chaser as me" he winked

"what did you tell them?" Rayna laughed

"oh come on Ray, stop being modest, you know you have mad Quiditch skills to be a chaser" Flint spoke

"also he kept reminding us last year at training that there was this girl who could kick our ass with her eyes closed, which made some of the sexist pigs work harder, because there was no way that they wanted to be compared to a girl." Pucey chuckled.

"well they sound like delightful people, can't wait to meet them" she said sarcastically making those around her chuckle.

"You wont have to" Flint said "they left last year, one of them left school and the other dropped out claiming to search for the Dark Lord" he chuckled.

"how very...interesting" she laughed.

"even if I hold try outs for a new chaser i'm still going to pick you" Flint said "so really there's no point wasting everyone's time".

"well if you insist" Rayna smiled.

"with you on the team, Wood will be pulling out his hair by the end of the year or drive himself into a loony bin" Everyone around him laughed.

"whose Wood?" Rayna asked curiously.

"Gryffindor Captain this year and keeper" he scoffed with dislike.

"well, let's make sure he goes bald then" she laughed.

Note:

Hey guys, I know this is only the first chapter, but what do you think so far? It would be lovely to hear comments and feedback throughout. At the moment i've got most of the chapters planned out and hopefully will be able to update every couple of days.

Thanks for reading!