Okay, so I gave the Bloody Baron a new look because I hated how he had been portrayed in the movies… This is how I imagined him, and when you hear his description no laughing at me, I just imagined him this way and needed to change him to meet my story. Felt like I needed to, cause he isn't supposed to look like a dead, bloody fat guy! So please enjoy!

Her breath came in pants as she ran through the dark and eerie dungeon corridors trying to get away from the ghostly figure laughing manically as he wafted behind her. He kept chanting:

"Ickle little first year,

Come out and play if you dare…"

The spiteful figure punctuated his rhyme by throwing rotten tomatoes near the girl's feet to keep her running. This had been going on for at least an hour when another ghost passing by spotted Peeves in the midst of his cruel act.

"Peeves, what in hell do you think you're doing?" Came a low growl, echoing from the darkest corner of the hallway. Peeves dropped his load of tomatoes then and there, whirling to look behind him towards the source of the noise. He rubbed the back of his neck as he slowly floated backwards, away from the darkness. The girl he had been chasing had hidden in an alcove, smartly keeping out of sight.

"W-well, Baron… We were j-just h-havin some fun…" Peeves looked pale, and not his normal opaque visage, but sickly, 'I'm going to die…' pale. It made the small girl snicker quietly then pale again, for anything that could scare her tormenter was most likely worse than the first.

"Leave Peeves, before I change my mind about you and tell Dumbledore to rid the castle of you." The ominous voice threatened and Peeves was gone in a blur of apologies and promises never to do it again. Kyla had begun to shake at the thought of the next ghost come to harass her… he certainly sounded scarier than the squeaky voiced Peeves. She heard a sinister sigh echo down the hallway and pressed her face into her knees as she awaited her doom.

But doom never came as the Bloody Baron stared down at the girl who had curled up into a tight ball. Finally he shook his head and floated close enough that the hem of his ghostly robe brushed her cheek. She shivered, but stayed perfectly still, not wanting to provoke the specter.

"What are you doing? Get up, get up!" The voice growled once more and Kyla shot up, staring at her feet as she stood before the specter. The Baron didn't know whether to be amused or annoyed with the girl. "Girl, look at me!" rumbled the Baron, choosing to be annoyed. She slowly looked up at the ghost who didn't sound very friendly at all. "Why are you in the Slytherin Dungeons, Hufflepuff? Take the wrong staircase? Or did Peeves chase you here?"

The girl didn't speak for a moment, taking in the sight of the bloody robes that clung to his shoulders and chest. His strait long hair that had been the color of the Black Lake in life was now silvery white and hung clasped at his nape, falling to mid-back. His eyes looked as though they had once been as piercing as a hawk's now were dull and lifeless, with no spark to light their inner fire. His frame was tall and thin, spindly almost, and his face was gaunt with pain. He was not unattractive, but he had certainly not died on the best day of his life. His eyebrow quirked up as he stared down at her. "Well?" He asked, awaiting her reply.

What she didn't know is that that, while she had been appraising him, he had been reviewing her as well. She was tiny, smaller than any first year he had ever seen. She looked far younger than her age, with the proportions of a nine-year-old. Her hair was a deep mahogany and fell to her waist, framing her face, and torso making her look even smaller. Large, dark eyes stared out from her pale face, giving off a 'deer in the headlights' vibe. Her face was childlike and innocent as she stared up at the much taller phantom. She mumbled something under her breath, trembling slightly as she spoke.

"Speak up, girl." Baron barked, startling the girl and making her cringe.

"I'm not a Hufflepuff… I'm a Slytherin…"

The Baron just stared, slightly confused because he didn't remember seeing her after the feast… wait! She had been sitting at the corner of the table, silently so that no one had noticed her… odd, how was she sorted into Slytherin? She acted like a frightened Hufflepuff, not a sly snake. The Baron sighed once more as he looked at the diminutive child in front of him. "And you probably have no clue where the Common Room is, I'm assuming?" the Baron began to float away and the girl whimpered at the thought of being left alone. "Well, are you coming?" Baron called over his shoulder, and waited to hear the girl scurrying behind him.

He led her back through the dungeon hallways she had gotten herself lost in, all the way to a section of wall that looked exactly like the others around it. "This is the door to the Common Room; you can recognize it by taking thirty paces… in your case forty paces away, from the stairs down the main hallway, push the brick slightly larger than all the others and whisper the password which, at the moment is Salazar. Passwords change often so be sure to keep it memorized, and if not, prepare to sleep in the hallway." Baron informed her as she stood beside him, "Now I'm off to find Peeves."

Kyla watched as the Bloody Baron floated away, and then followed his instructions to get into the Common Room. The bricks folded aside much like the entrance to Diagon alley through the Leaky Cauldron. When she slipped inside it was loud and boisterous with children of all ages yelling across the room to each other and no one was trying to stop it. Some people had noticed her walk in and started whispering to their friends. The room slowly got quieter as she stood there by the door, nervous about the stares. Finally a fifth year spoke loud enough for the whole room to hear, "Hey look, it's the little first year that Peeves rounded off. I thought for sure she'd be in the infirmary… or did Peeves go soft on you cause you sat in a corner and cried the whole time?"

The room burst into laughter at her expense and she stood there, allowing their ridicule. Finally they lost interest at poking fun at her and went back to their previous conversations, while a female prefect walked up to her with a scowl. "You must be the Finnian girl? Well follow me."

The girl led Kyla to the stairs on the left of the fireplace. "Your dorm is first door on the right; your belongings are already there." She sniffed and walked away, leaving the girl to fend for herself. The girl ran down stairs and into her dorm, finding her things at the end of the bed, waiting to be unpacked, but they would be there later; right now all Kyla wanted was a good cry. Unhooking the curtains to surround the bed in darkness Kyla cried until she couldn't anymore, and fell asleep as her sobbing winded down.