Lucy was, suitably, stunned. McGonagall took the hat from her head and put it back on its shelf. No one in her family was a Slytherin. She'd heard the stories, of course. With only a few exceptions, Slytherins were evil. They'd cause the last few major British wizarding conflicts and had a penchant for fanaticisms over blood purity.

"Miss Weasley?" said McGonagall, waving a hand in front of Lucy's face. Lucy turned towards the Headmistress.

"I can't be a Slytherin" argued Lucy. "I'm not a pure blood for one. My mother is a muggleborn!" McGonagall put a hand on Lucy's shoulder to reassure her.

"Many Slytherin students are half-bloods, Miss Weasley. The Hat has lifted many of the restrictions it once had" she explained.

"But Slytherins are evil, aren't they?" asked Lucy.

"They aren't 'evil'" noted McGonagall "Often they just make poor decisions and choose the wrong people to follow. Sounds a little like you, doesn't it" Lucy put her head in her hands. "Well, Miss Weasley, I have to make arrangements for your luggage to be delivered to your new dorms but first I better call you a prefect." McGonagall walked towards a portrait on the wall and tapped the frame. A silver haired witch appeared.

"Minerva, what can I do for you?" asked the portrait.

"Dilys, can you get Miss Hawthorne, please?" asked McGonagall "I believe she'd be in her common room now" The portrait nodded and walked out of the shot of her frame. McGonagall turned back to her newest student.

"Miss Hawthorne will be here in a moment or two, Miss Weasley"


True to McGonagall's word, a few minutes later there was knock on the door to the office.

"Come in, Miss Hawthorne!" called McGonagall. The door opened and in stepped a blonde student that Lucy guessed to be a sixth year.

"Professor, is this the new student you told us about?" asked the blonde.

"Yes" answered McGonagall "Miss Hawthorne this is Miss Weasley" The blonde's eyes widened

"A Weasley! We've never had one of you in our house" she exclaimed. The blonde stepped forward and shook Lucy's hand. "I'm Henrietta Hawthorne, it's a pleasure. I'm sure you'll love it here"

"I'm Lucy" Lucy said through gritted teeth "Are you going to take me to my dorm now?"

"Of course" said Henrietta "Follow me" Much like McGonagall, she sped out the door, leaving Lucy little chance to catch up. Henrietta was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

"Now, I assume the Headmistress took the long way here, right?" asked Henrietta. Lucy nodded. "I thought as much, there is a shortcut however" Henrietta took the opposite corridor to the one McGonagall had taken and stopped in front of a portrait of an old man dozing.

"Abernathy!" shouted Henrietta, tapping the portrait. The old man woke up.

"Yes! I'm awake! Yes!" said the portrait. His expression softened when he saw Henrietta. "Oh, Miss Hawthorne, what can I do for you?"

"I'd like to use the shortcut, Abernathy" she explained

"Password?" asked Abernathy. Henrietta motioned for Lucy to step closer to her.

"Butterscotch" she answered. The portrait swung open, revealing a dark staircase.

"Come on, Weasley, don't be scared" laughed Henrietta as she entered the staircase. Lucy followed her down into the dark. They walked down the steps for a few seconds until they got to the back of a portrait which also opened, revealing the entrance hall.

"There are dozens of shortcuts like that all around the school" Henrietta explained "We Slytherins know them all, of course. We invented most of them"

"Cool" Lucy said under her breath. She was already thinking of what she could use them for. Henrietta lead Lucy down a smaller steps next to the main staircase. This lead to the castle's dungeons.

"This is where we live?" asked Lucy. "I thought the Slytherins were all rich, couldn't they afford something nicer?" Henrietta just laughed.

"Wait until you see our common room, that will change your mind" she said


Lucy and Henrietta walked through the labyrinth that was the dungeons.

"There's a portrait shortcut for this too. But I'll show it to you later" said Henrietta. They kept walking until they got to a seemingly average portion of wall.

"Parsletongue" said Henrietta and the wall slid open to reveal a small passage. They took the passage and entered the Slytherin common room. It was large, that was for sure. On one wall there was massive windows that gave an underwater view of the lake that Lucy had seen when she'd flown into Hogwarts. The window gave the whole room a green colour. Of course, this wasn't exactly hard with all the green everywhere. There where green carpets, green lounges, green lampshades and green cushions. The thing that struck Lucy most, however, was the large television one on wall.

"McGonagall said that technology didn't work here" Lucy said, dumbfounded. Henrietta smiled.

"Believe me. If a Slytherin wants something, chances are they'll find a way to get it" she explained. "It took a lot of charm work to get that up and running but we got it in the end" Henrietta pulled Lucy away from staring at the television and lead her to a flight of stairs. "I have to study but if you take these stairs and find the door that says '5c' you'll be at your room" Lucy nodded and took the stairs and entered a long corridor. She walked down it until she found the door she was looking for. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. It was time to meet her new room mates.