There was something gloomy about England, Cassius noted as he looked around the station. It wasn't just the end of the holidays, in fact it was probably more of a relief for him to return to Hogwarts.

Families all around him were hugging one another and crying as they said goodbye. His own parents stood along side him, standing stoically as they seemed to evaluate him and his sister.

"Take care of Octavia," his father said shortly, a command at it's finest. Keeping his face neutral, Cassius nodded at his father before giving his mother a quick hug. His sister hugged her afterwards as he grabbed their trunks beginning to carry them to the train. Octavia had followed behind him quietly, the same blank mask on her face as they calmly boarded the train.

It was easy for them to navigate amongst the other students. Cassius, at 17, had reached a height of almost 2 meters, and with the amount of muscle he'd developed from Quidditch practice he had a rather intimidating appearance. Handsome, yet very intimidating.

Sitting in his usual compartment, he gave a small smile aimed at his sister the moment the door was closed. Slowly other Slytherins would start to join and fill in, and then Octavia would leave him to join with the Slytherins in her own year. But for the next few minutes it would just be him and his sister.

"Ready for school?" he asked, a sarcastic edge to his voice as he smiled. Octavia rolled her eyes at the boy, a small smile showing on her face.

"You know exactly what's going through my head," the younger Slytherin replied. She was right of course, both of the Warrington's were more than happy to be getting away from home, but at the same time the only place they truly felt comfort would be in the Slytherin common room. Far away from the rest of the school.

They'd been dealing with crap from all the other houses since they had been sorted, it was something that was normal by now. Something that they claimed didn't bother them. Something that all Slytherins claimed didn't bother them.

But if the truth was told, occasionally it did.

Not that any of the rest of the school would ever care. They hadn't for the past millennia and it was certain that they wouldn't anytime in the duration that Octavia and her brother would be at school. It did however unite all of those in the green house.

'United we stand, divided we fall,' was a line that Octavia had kept in her mind as long as she could remember. It was part of the speech that a prefect had given in their first year, and the notion was repeated by Snape, their head of house. From that moment it was an unspoken rule that you didn't defy another Slytherin. It meant going along with the crowd in public, raising questions only in the private comfort of those you could trust. And even amongst the Slytherins it was rare for someone to actually trust another.

Her dark brown eyes lifted to the door as it was pulled open. Marcus Flint stood there, his large teeth prominent. Octavia figured that if he fixed his teeth he'd at least be able to attract people with his wealth. His stupidity on the other hand was something that was a lot more difficult to fix, as was demonstrated given he should've graduated last year.

"Cassius," Marcus greeted, before his grey eyes crossed over to Octavia. "Ava," he added in acknowledgement to the girl who sat across from her brother.

"Nice to see you again Marcus, but I should go to find my own year," Octavia greeted politely, a fake smile on her face as she brushed passed. The brunette would've considered remaining in the compartment if it was anyone other than the Slytherin Quidditch Captain, but he had always creeped her out.

Slipping out of the compartment she began the search for her friends.

It didn't take long for Octavia to find Draco, his bragging was loud, obnoxious and incredibly easy to track. She vaguely noticed the 'Golden Trio' of Gryffindor as she walked by their compartment, but she pretended she hadn't in an effort to avoid a confrontation. For Octavia, it would be successful if they managed to avoid any troubles before arriving at Hogwarts this year. Especially after the incident with the Dementors last year.

Draco Malfoy stood there, taller than he had been last year. It seemed that he had continued on with not slicking his hair back, something that was definitely an improvement. His grey eyes had found Octavia quickly, and she knew that he was glad to see that she was in fact there. The two had grown up together, along with Theodore. As such the trio had always been very close, and those two were probably the only people that Octavia actually considered to be friends. Perhaps also Daphne Greengrass, who was surprisingly nice the majority of the time. In return, she knew that Theodore and Draco both considered her as an equal, and she figured that made them view her as a friend too.

Despite all that, the friendship was not that obvious at Hogwarts. Theodore Nott had always been self-assured and nonchalant about situations, it meant that he had never truly felt pressure to join any particular faction within the Slytherin house. His blood status and reputation, along with intelligence, also led all not to doubt him and to accept him.

Octavia similarly was quite confident in herself, often found with Daphne Greengrass and the other girls. Though, she was similar to Theodore in the tendency to float from group to group, occasionally spending time with either of the boys she had befriended in her childhood.

Draco. He was an entirely different case to either of his friends. He had the same confidence of the other two, though it manifested in arrogance. Added to his enjoyment of his reputation, it led to a tendency to brag when in public or in a group. The white haired boy was the one who knew that people would flock to him, and didn't have it the other way. On rare occasions when there weren't too many people that would notice he sought out either one of his two real friends.

"Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defence rubbish we do," she heard him say, and raised her eyebrow at him.

"That defence rubbish is a lot more useful than the Dark Arts, it means that you can actually do something in case anyone would attack you, learning Dark Arts is only useful once one has knowledge about defence," Octavia commented bluntly, a sly smile on her face. It was bait, an obvious challenge to enter into a discussion with her.

Draco knew that all too well.

"Nicely played," Zabini commented, a flirtatious smile on his face. He had a tendency to constantly flirt, something that had developed during their last year. It had developed around the same time that he had worked out that his appearance wasn't unattractive.

Octavia nodded in acknowledgement towards him.

Currently it was still only the three of them, though it was undoubtable that Pansy would be attracted the moment that she showed up. She had a habit of clinging to Draco, perhaps hopeful that one day he would actually care for her. There was a misguided hope that one day he might care for her and marry her.

It was a shame that her great grandmother was a half blood. It meant her blood was too tainted for Malfoy to ever enter into a serious relationship with her.

Blaise motioned for her to enter the compartment, acting like a gentleman for once. Octavia was all too aware that it was part of his technique for flirting. It was something that would definitely work on some of the other girls, but not on her.

"Thank you Blaise," she murmured as she passed him, sitting herself at the window. Blaise and Draco had followed in behind her, sitting themselves down and preparing for the long trip back to Hogwarts.

One thing that Cassius had to say was he was glad that he wasn't a first year this year. He was also very glad that it wasn't his sister's first year, given the stormy weather. He'd only been out of the drain for about a minute and he was certain that if it weren't for the spells he'd cast on his own clothing, as well as that of his sister's, he would be completely soaked through already.

The hood of his cloak was however pulled over his head, and his sister had done the same. The warming spells and water repellant spells keeping them fairly comfortable, though they continued to walk with their heads down amongst their friends.

"I hope one of the mudbloods falls in, it'll be one less to deal with," Cassius heard Marcus comment, causing an amused smirk to appear on Cassius' face.

"Maybe that giant oaf will fall in this year, I've always wondered how those bloody small things ever managed to hold him," Cassius retorted, gaining a chuckle from his friends. Marcus, Adrian, Terrence and Cassius had all clambered into the carriage that would take them to Hogwarts. All of them were quite relieved to be inside the carriage, pulling the hoods off their heads. All of them were still dry, but the feast would be interesting. No doubt most of the students from other houses would all be sopping.

And the mudblood first years? There was definitely no chance that they were going to be warm until late this evening.

The conversation between them stayed quite light and trivial, even as they wandered into the halls of Hogwarts. One thing that would never get old would be the way in which younger students scampered away as they walked.

It was partially their status as 7th years and predominantly the fact that they were Slytherins. It was probably the only advantage of the reputation that they had as being part of Slytherin.

Suddenly shrieks were echoing around the corridor, people pushing and shoving one another. Glancing at his friends, Cassius tried to figure out what was going one before he saw the poltergeist

"Peeves!" he heard McGonagall's familiar voice bark. The entire situation was almost amusing, from their location they could only see Peeves, but they knew that ghost was mocking the old witch. The angry shouts of threats gave that much away, although considering he was already dead, Cassius wondered if there was a true way in which one could actually threaten a ghost.

With a loud cackle, the poltergeist has suddenly zoomed off.

He glanced at his friends once again, shrugging. It made him glad that he ended up on one of the later carriages to arrive at Hogwarts, and seeing his sister only a few meters away he knew that the same thing was probably going through her mind, and that of her friends.

It was too cold on this stormy night to be sopping wet, and it looked as though those that had been hit by the water balloons were already soaked.

Slowly the group began shifting forwards again, finally ending up in the great hall and seated at their respective tables. One of the first things the older slytherin noticed as his brown eyes wandered around the hall, was that there seemed to be a lack of teachers seated up on the staff table.

"I think people might've finally gotten the idea that it's a cursed position," a voice said nearby, and his eyes immediately turned to meet Cassandra Travers, one of the few few descendants from the Sacred Twenty-Eight that was still a pureblood today. It was a shame there weren't more, or at least more than weren't blood traitors.

"As long as people get Hogwarts on their references, I don't think they'll learn," Cassius answered, an amused smirk playing on his face. The giggle that he got in response made him feel a bit more smug. It felt nice to have that kind of effect on girls.

"I suppose it would be a great thing to add on to a resume," the blonde mused, twirling her hair around her finger.

"I wouldn't have thought you'd be interested in teaching," Cassius responded, head cocked slightly to the side as he waited for the girl to respond. She shrugged her shoulders lightly, a smile on her face as she answered.

"It's something that I think would be interesting, but not something I'd think about going into," both purebloods were very much aware that she wouldn't have a career of her own. Instead, within a year or two of graduating she would marry. Definitely a pureblood, preferably one with money, and chances were that it would be her family that would arrange the marriage. It would no doubt involve a dowry, and very little influence on her behalf.

The only way that Cassandra would have a voice in a husband would be if she found herself a boyfriend worthy of her parent's standards and ideas, then they'd consider her own decision for her partner.

Thankfully at that moment the entire conversation was interrupted by the entrance of the first years with McGonagall. As expected, all of them were completely soaked. Everyone's attention immediately turned to the old and tattered sorting hat, waiting for the song that it had created over the last year to perform today.

The hat definitely didn't disappoint. Within minutes everyone in the hall was clapping at the performance, including all of the Slytherin table.

Unfortunately that was followed by the sorting ceremony.

It was something that happened every year, and something that was boring for every year that it occurred. There were occasional exceptions to the boring nature. For example, with his own sister Cassius had been excited. He knew that she, like him, would be a slytherin. And Malfoy and Nott, there was no way that they wouldn't be in Slytherin. They were all situations in which it was exciting. Even Potter's sorting had been exciting, though none of the Slytherin's that had watched the sorting would admit to that.

This year though, there were a few first years that would undoubtedly be Slytherin. And as expected, they were greeted with cheers from the Slytherin table. More usefully they were also greeted with a drying charm cast by some of the older students before they sat down. Cassius felt obliged to help them with the drying charm, and also greet them properly, due to the shiny prefect badge on his chest. It seemed much longer than it really was until Dumbledore had gotten to his feet, though when he did he smiled, holding his arms out in a welcoming gesture.

"I have only two words to say to you, tuck in," he announced, and with that food appeared. The older Warrington was surprised at how little he had to say, and how normal the announcement was. But he still chose not to question it, instead choosing to immediately dig in.

In some ways he was glad to be back at Hogwarts.

A/N:

Soooo I might be guilty of starting another project, but I saw something on tumblr and after scrolling through fan sites and not finding a story like it… I kind of decided to write it myself… I can't promise that there will be all too regular updates in the next few weeks because trial exams start next week and then I'm preparing for my finals.

But I still hope that you enjoy it, and hope that I'll be able to update semi-regularly.