It was a stormy night, the wind was howling loudly and the sky was painted in an inky black. It was September 1, and the students at Hogwarts were going back for another year. Once again, she realized, fifth year Allison Raymore would be ignored again. Once again, she would be picked on.

The train halted, and emerged the magical students, waiting to be taken to the castle. "Watch where you're going!" A dark voice shouted, as Allison tumbled to the ground. "Get off me!" A boy, no older than her own age, 15, pushed her off of him, and continued to collect small vials of what she presumed to be potions. He was glaring at her, and Allison looked herself over, she hadn't spilled anything, nor did she actually hurt him. The boy stood up, huffed, and stalked off of the red train.

Rolling her eyes, the brunette stepped off of the near empty train, and headed off to where the thestral carriages stood. She climbed onto a cart, when in strolled in the Slytherin gang. As she tucked her hair behind her ear, the oldest, a blonde named Lucius Malfoy took note of her presence, "If it isn't the mudblood," he sneered at the younger Ravenclaw. Among the pureblood enthusiasts, was the boy she had ran into on the train.

"Ah, Severus," Chortled an unhinged voice, "Miss Raymore seems to be so intent on staring at you," Allison flushed, turning her head to the opening of the carriage. The ride was silent after that, and only the sound of the invisible creatures could be heard, as they finally came to the castle. Suddenly, Allison missed her parents. They were both muggles, and she simply wanted to stay with them to escape the Slytherin's hateful comments.

As if replaying the train scene, she tumbled out of the carriage, landing on the "Severus" boy. "Gerroff me!"

Quickly apologising, "S-sorry Severus,"

He glared at her again, making her wince slightly in fear, "It's Snape, to you," with that, he briskly walked off, following Lucius and his cronies into the castle.

The Ravenclaw seated herself at the back of the table, farthest from the professors, as she watched a new professor lead the first years into the hall. After the sorting was completed, the headmaster spoke up, "Hello, everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful summer vacation, I'd like to say a word, if you please," he paused, waiting for the chatter to die down, "I am retiring from headmaster this year, Professor Dumbledore will be taking my place, and Professor Minerva McGonagall will be taking the role of Transfiguration teacher."

Many applauded, especially the Gryffindor table, after seeing the red and scarlet patch sewn on the front of her robe. The feast appeared in front of the students, and Allison was still impressed, despite seeing this five other times. She had a lawyer for a mother, and a nurse for a father, and neither were very good cooks. She giggled as she recalled her father nearly setting fire to boxed macaroni cheese.

The feast had ended in only an hour, and as a grand-slam intro to the year, the Marauders set a fireworks' show, that ended with a large shoot, that exploded over each house table, in the colours of the four houses. Everyone applauded, including Allison, and headed down to their respective house dorms. Allison smiled to herself, she had this feeling, that this year may be much different than all the rest.