Five months after the disappearance of Jason Blossom, three months after we discovered that it was actually a murder I found myself at the edge of the Great Lake holding Jason Blossom's letterman jacket. It was meant to hold the truth, my father told me so.

I put the jacket back into the bag and closed it up and threw it aside angrily. I had expected more than an article of clothing that belonged to the deceased.

There were voices coming from behind me. Who else was this far out by the lake and how did I not see them come? Not wishing to be seen, I moved behind some trees.

I heard voices I didn't recognize, but what they were saying was very concerning.

"Precisely. Random mob violence seems more likely than targeted killing." One of the mob replied to an unheard question.

"You don't think anyone will suspect anything?"

"It's Snape. Nobody will miss him."

Snape was not a common name. It had to be Severus Snape, my closest friend from Hogwarts.

I spotted Severus tied up in the middle of a mob. I needed to get help. I ran as fast as I could for the castle. As soon I was inside, I ran towards the headmaster's office. At the griffin that guarded the door, I practically ran into Archie and Betty.

"Severus is in trouble," I gasped, clutching the stitch in my side. "It's going to be too late."

Chapter 1: Hogwarts, the Escape from Real Life

How did I end up at Hogwarts?

In August I heard the news about an exchange student opportunity. With the news that the drive-in theater was closing and that Archie was going to go on the exchange trip, I, Jughead Jones, had thought going to Hogwarts for a year would be the best experience ever. I would have a nice place to live, full meals every day, foreign living experience, and staying away from my father's troubles. Little did I know I would land in the middle of a conflict by mere chance.

Sorting was a weird thought. It was weirder that they had an old hat do it. I had hoped that I would be put into the same dorms as Archie and Betty, but it was not the case. No, I went to Slytherin with the girl who claimed to be from Riverdale (I had never seen her before or heard of her name) who fit in quite perfectly with the rest of the rich snobbish girls in the house.

The next interesting fact about the Slytherin house was that they strongly cared about your magical heritage. I wished I had bumped into Severus earlier as that would have saved me half my struggles, but it had been this problem that had led me to become his friend. Yes, I, the great Jughead Jones, am a mudblood (pardon my use of the offensive term).

"What's your name?"

"Jughead Jones."

"What type of name is Jughead?"

They laughed. That was normal.

"An unusual name for an unusual boy."

It was easier to get that out of the way.

"What does your family do?"

"My mother works in a shop in Toledo and my father terrorizes the south side of my town."

"Is your father a dark wizard?"

That was new, they were showing interest in me.

"No, he's a no-maj." I wanted to add a few more choice words about my father, but I restrained myself. No need to spill your soul to the guys who will decide you are too weird in a few more days.

"No-maj?"

"You know, no-magic. A person with no magic."

"Your dad's a muggle?"

"If that is your term for someone born without magic, then yes."

"How does he terrorize without magic?"

"Sounds like Snape's dad."

That elicited a few laughs. I noted that there was someone else people felt fine mocking.

"What about your mother?"

"No-maj as well."

The room got oddly still and quiet.

"You're a mudblood?"

"You keep throwing out these terms like I should know them. If you want me to confirm or deny, then you will need to define the term for me."

"None of your parents or relatives have magic?"

"That is mostly correct. My younger sister is magical too."

"Ok, but are all your parents and grandparents non-magical?"

"Yes."

This conversation was getting tiresome.

"How about you guys? Are you from magical families?" I asked to throw the conversation back in their court.

"We're from the best wizarding families in Britain."

"Sytherin is the house made for purebloods. How did you manage to get in?"

"I just put on the hat and it told me this is where I belonged."

"Wilkes, go tell Slughorn there's been a mistake. There's no way a mudblood is in Slytherin."

One of the guys got up and left.

The rest stopped talking to me. I felt that was appropriate. Now they knew I was a weirdo and would leave me alone. I unpacked and got ready for bed.

Wilkes turned out to be the prefect (still not sure what all that is) and he returned.

"Slughorn says it wasn't a mistake. He belongs here and is going to stay here."

There was a collective groan. I noticed that a bed was still empty. However, I didn't feel comfortable asking after the awkward conversation. I had earned a position in the background by being a mudblood, better sooner rather than later.

"What if we kick him out by ourselves? He can't stay if we don't let him."

At that moment, another guy entered the dorm. He was dripping wet and looked like he had a black eye developing. I also couldn't help but notice that he had an abnormally large nose and robes that looked ratty.

"Where have you been Snivelly?"

"Shut up." The wet guy spat.

The other guys sniggered.

"You showered! But, just so you know, normal people take off their clothes before showering."

"I said shut it!"

The rest of the guys snickered. I was intrigued to see that the tormenting switched so quickly to this guy. It looked like I had competition when it came to being the outcast.

"Oh, just so you know, you got a new pet," said the guy closest to the door. I was catching on that this guy was the leader of the pack. He was pointing at me. How was I a pet?

The wet boy headed towards his bed which was at the end, right next to my bed.

"Woo!" The wet boy responded sarcastically. "We got one of the exchange kids."

Everyone was watching the wet boy.

"It's another mudblood," the leader-boy suddenly was very close to me. "I think this one is a runt. I think you might want to drown it in favor of your other pet."

The boy shoved me down on my bed. I looked from the leader-boy to the wet-boy, unsure if I should stand up for myself or not.

"She is not my pet and she is not a mudblood!" The wet-boy snapped.

The other boys sniggered.

"I mean it!"

"But the most worth a mudblood can have is as a pet. If you aren't going to claim him, we might as well chain him up like a dog."

The leader-boy was stroking the side of my face. It was creepy.

"I'm not a dog," I retorted, I had enough with the weird stroking. I pushed him away. "You better not try to treat me like a dog or any other pet."

The other boys jeered.

"Or what?" Leader-boy replied.

"You're going to get in trouble for mistreating a student." I retorted lamely.

At that, everyone but the wet-boy laughed. I looked to the wet-boy and saw a sympathetic look on his features. It was almost as frightening as the laughter.

"Oh, wow," the leader-boy said in between laughs. "This boy doesn't know how things work. He honestly thinks—"

"He's right," the wet-boy said, with his wand out. The rest of the boys in the dorm eyed the wand warily.

"He's a mudblood and looks as poor as you," the leader-boy mocked, grabbing me so I couldn't pull away as he stroked my face again. "Nobody will know if we drown the runt puppy. It's what you are supposed to do to runts. If you try and stop us, you will only get yourself drowned, though it looks like someone already tried."

They laughed again. The wet-boy pointed his wand at the leader-boy.

"The new kid is right," wet-boy repeated. "If anything happens to him, it has to go through the ministry, to the foreign ministry, and then to his school. This isn't just stuff you have to slip under Dumbledore's nose."

The leader-boy appraised the wet-boy and his statement. It was clear wet-boy had a point that they couldn't laugh off and the leader-boy let me go, shoving me towards the wet-boy.

"Well then, if you want the mudblood, take him. It will only make us think lesser of you."

The wet-boy watched until the leader-boy grew discomforted and withdrew to his own bed. Then he used his wand to dry off. He then went to the mirror and cast a spell on his face. The bruising went away. He was a weird sight. I wondered if I should introduce myself now or wait until tomorrow.

"Will you please stop staring?" Growled the formerly wet-boy as he pulled pajamas from his trunk.

"Sorry," I copied the actions of the other boys and drew the curtains around my four poster bed.

The bed was nice. The dorms were fancier than anything I had lived in. However, it seemed my roommates were going to be a a pain.