Author's Note:
Dear Reader, I'm a total potter fan. I have been since fourth grade. However, this is my first ever fan fiction. If I'm doing something wrong, please do inform me! This story is a... write as it comes type thing. I don't have a plot lined out but the characters have been bouncing around in my head. I really hope you enjoy it!
PS: Hufflepuffs rule
PPS: Please rate, review, subscribe, follow, like, or whatever else suits you - I'd love, love, love to hear from anyone who might read this!
Chapter One
Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. Her brother. Twin, specifically, but he didn't know that. Hardly anyone did.
"Nana, are you sure I should do this?"
Grey haired and bearing small crows feet on the corners of her eyes, Nana had aged gracefully. She'd been older before Talulla Potter had ever been put in her care, but neither of them talked about things like that. Time was a touchy subject.
"Tally, we've been through this. Albus Dumbledore never meant for the two of you to be separated for forever. He asked that you attend Hogwarts rather than Beauxbatons for this last year of school-"
"But Harry-" her voice broke a little, "won't even be going to school this year - and I graduated last year! Going through another year-"
"You don't have to take whatever exams they take, all you have to do is… integrate yourself. You'll be given a private sorting-"
"I have to be sorted too?"
"Would you please stop interrupting me Tally?"
"Only if you'll stop interrupting me."
Nana leveled her a look, "This isn't up for discussion Tally."
"It should be!"
"Why?"
Tally stood despite the rocking of the train compartment. The Hogwarts Express had traveled up to the school this morning, but it was making a second trip just for her and Nana. Because it was so late, she could see only the shadows of the countryside. Staring out the window anyway, she placed a hand on the window and tried to steady her emotions, "I've lived my entire life in France. I loved my school, I loved our home, and I just don't see why any of that has to change."
"You have a brother Tally, a twin brother. Don't you want to meet him?"
She started to say no but stopped herself. They'd already had this fight, several times in fact. It always ended the same.
She grabbed her bag, "I'm going to go change into the bloody uniform. I'll be right back."
She took her time, fixing her hair and make up. Going to school with girls with veela ancestors had definitely had it's benefits, beauty lessons being one of them. She had bright green eyes and black curls that couldn't be tamed by anything less than magic which she used liberally. Straight, shiny, and hung down to her waist, she'd been told her hair was her best feature. Ironic considering it wasn't real.
By the time she returned to Nana, the train was slowing in the cute little village of Hogsmeade. She remembered it from the short Triwizard tournament visit she'd made for the first task. Internally, she shivered. She hadn't thought about that day in a long time. She stepped lightly onto the platform, turning and grudgingly helping Nana down the steps. Even if she was angry with her, she loved the woman. Nana was like her mother. Tally flinched away from that thought too, quick enough that she skipped the usual sting.
"I'll be going up to the school with you but the train leaves in three hours so I won't have long. Let's go."
They were greeted by a tiny little professor who introduced himself as Flitwick then walked up some stairs and down long path. Waiting was an open carriage, in front of it a black skeletal horse-like creature. A thestral. The creatures weren't very common in France, in fact she'd seen her first one the first time she'd been in Hogsmeade.
"This place-" Nana shot her a sharp look so she finished, "is beautiful."
Flitwick smiled excitedly, "Yes, but wait until the first snow - it is simply magical!" He smiled at his own words, drawing a forced laugh from Nana and a lip twitch from Tally. Nana and Flitwick spent the rest of the ride up to the castle exchanging comments about various points of history.
They stopped at the front doors and she alighted first, handing down Nana. When the professor moved, she hesitated. To help or not to help. Tally ended up stepping away, letting him leap for the ground on his own.
Inside, he guided them to a small room off to the side of a pair of massive doors, the doors that led to the Great Hall. She could hear the excited chatter of the welcoming feast. It brought back memories.
"In here please, we'll get you sorted in no time at all. Unfortunately, the feast will be over in a few minutes so you'll have to eat in your dormitory…" a frown shadowed his face, but only for a moment. Obviously he didn't agree with the decision to isolate her. "Anyway, if you would sit down there-"
"Another one? And not one of the squirming little ones either, how curious."
She twisted, catching sight of the old bedraggled hat placed neatly on a simple pedestal to the side of the worn wooden stool. It was small, obviously built for first years, but she sat obligingly. Beauxbatons had its traditions too, so long as she was being forced to attend, she'd humor Hogwarts.
Flitwick stood on his toes to place the hat atop her head then, quietly, he gestured for Nana to leave the room with him.
Quietly, in her ear, she heard the hat speak again.
"Aha, the second potter. I wondered if I would ever meet you." She wondered how he knew about her, but she'd scarcely finished thinking the question when he answered, "The late Albus Dumbledore and I had several discussions concerning your brother and yourself. It was a topic with which we burned the midnight oil for, so to speak. But I digress, you are here to be sorted into your house. You know them, yes?"
"Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Which one am I in?"
"That depends."
She raised her head, "On what?"
"It depends on what you want."
"What I… what?"
The sorting hat chuckled dryly, "Hufflepuffs are loyal and fun, Ravenclaws are intelligent and earnest, Gryffindors are brave and daring, and Slytherins are- no, I know what you're thinking. Slytherins are not all evil. Seeking power and wealth, having the drive to work for what you want, that is not evil. Yes, there had been bad seeds, but every house has their share of them, I assure you of that Miss Potter."
"So?"
"Have I decided? No, I have not, but you have no answered me yet."
"Answered what?"
"Let me assist you. You have already graduated from Beauxbatons. In truth I do not believe you need any more schooling to help you on your way. You are not here of your own accord and the reason you are here has nothing to do with learning how to wave your wand. Ravenclaw, therefore, would not be a good choice. I can only help that much, the choice between the remaining three rests with you."
She rubbed her face, tired. What was she supposed to choose? She knew Harry was in Gryffindor. If Nana had had her way, she would have been placed straight into his house and skipped the whole "hat nonsense" bit. Slytherin, well that had to be out of the question. It was that house that had fostered the man who'd killed her parents. She couldn't be placed there. The last one, Hufflepuff, it was… well, she didn't really want to dress in yellow to be honest. It was shallow, but it was a valid reason.
"Honestly?"
The hat waited.
"I just want to be happy. Be in the one that I'd fit in with. I don't know which one that is."
He Rather than whisper into her ear, the sorting hat hollered loud enough for Nana and Flitwick to hear him on the other side of the door, "Slytherin!"
Tally barely ate any of the sandwiches provided. Nana watched her for a moment, pecking at her own food, then she stood and straightened her blouse. She could feel the tension as though it was a hand grasping the back of her neck.
"Nana?" She paused, gazing at her expectantly. "I don't know what to say."
"I'm sorry would be appropriate."
Tally stood as well, "I…"
She continued straightening her blouse, efficient and brisk, "You came here to fit into your brother's life. It would have been helpful if you could have at least asked to be placed in his house - or any house but-" she broke off.
"He chose which house I was sorted into, not me. Slytherin is…"
Nana nodded when she couldn't find anything to say, "Exactly." She gathered her purse and placed her little hat atop her hair, "I hope you're happy Tally." She paused when she got to the door, turning back with a softer expression melting away the iron, "I really do hope you can be happy Tally, I do. I love you, you know that." When Tally made no move to reach for her, she turned back for the door, tossing over her shoulder, "Write me my dear, I want at least an owl or two a month. At least."
Then she was gone.
Tally sat back in her chair, gazing about her.
Because of her age, and the fact that she was a first year graduate, she was staying in an entirely different dormitory than the other Slytherins. Apparently, she was nearby, but she hadn't a clue where the real dormitory was so she didn't know if that was true or not.
What she did know, though it was a little darker than she was used to, the room had charm. It was stonewalled, high ceilinged, and luxuriously decorated. Silver engravings and wrought iron details on everything. The mid sized marble fireplace set in the longest wall beat the chill away, seeping into her bones and warding off the shivers.
Across the room from the gilt entrance, two iron circle staircases wound up, leading onto two separate balconies, arched doors mirroring each other at the far ends of each. She idly wondered why, if she was the only student staying in this dormitory, there were two balconies.
Suddenly, the entrance lifted open.
A boy with pale blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a wealthy walk strolled in. Hands in his pockets and head down, he didn't see her immediately.
When he did, he blinked and stopped in his tracks.
"Hello." she offered.
"Who…?"
She stood, holding out a hand, "Talulla Potter. And you are?"
His bright blue gaze took in her robes, the Slytherin colors lining her sweater, and the french manicured hand. After a beat of silence, he reached out and laid his fingers beneath hers, lifting her hand to kiss her knuckles.
Classy.
"Obviously, I am your dormitory companion."
"You'll be staying here with me?"
He nodded slightly, "Apparently, as an eighth year, I am no longer welcome in the main dormitory."
She inclined her head, "I didn't catch your name."
"That would be because I didn't give it."
Tally frowned, "Shall I guess or would you spare me the trouble."
He released her hand and made his way past her, walking with an almost predatory grace. She made no move to follow. When he'd climbed the stairs on the right and made it to the balcony, he looked down at her.
"My name is Draco. Draco Malfoy."