Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I wouldn't be writing this if I did.
Chapter Two-
Over the next few weeks my father and I began going over various ideas on how to get on the Potter kids good side. We went over old papers that had articles in them about him, and my father asked other death eaters who had been face to face with "the boy who lived" about him as well.
We found that he was an awkward, big headed, mudblood loving, do-gooder, who's success depended on his friends, and virtually the complete opposite of anybody that I could ever dream of being friends with.
I was solemn, sarcastic, ambitious, independent, and wistful, that last one added by my father. I was a true Capricorn by definition. This may be harder then we thought; I had never been the best of actresses, but I suppose just being nice wasn't too big of an act.
"So, what you pretty much have to do," My father was saying as we sat at the kitchen table, a piece of paper in the center, Harry Potter's personality, friends, achievements, goals and all other sorts of things I should know about him on it, "Is be the exact opposite, of you."
I couldn't help but smile. "Well, at least we have an idea then, it's not like I have to try and remember pacific things…it's just everything!" My father laughed.
"The only problem, I think, might be the houses. Apparently this "sorting hat" can see everything about you when it puts you into a house." He said shuffling through some papers in front of him. "If that's so, you'll be put in Slytherin for certain,"
I blinked. "Well maybe I could learn Occlamency and fool the hat?" My father only laughed. "You serious? You can't learn Occlamency in two weeks!"
I rolled my eyes. "Well fine, I'll just have to be a damsel in distress who was wrongly placed and is absolutely miserable having to spend all her time with such dreary people!" I said putting my hand to my chest and making an overly dramatic face that only made my father laugh harder.
"Well, I hope that works for you." He looked at some more of the papers. "Well maybe you can try getting into Ravenclaw. Perhaps this hat takes requests," He said looking back up at me.
"Ravenclaw it is!" I said slamming my hand down on the table as if this would make it final. "Watch it! You nearly knocked over my coffee."
"Oh to hell with your bloody coffee! I'm going to be friends with Harry Potter! The boy who lived!" He said sarcastically grinning.
My father glared at me. "You best not come back like one of them, Id hate to have a bloody saint skipping around my house." He said his once jolly expression turning serious. "Impossible. I'll probably be dead within the week from an overdose of mudbloods anyway." I said putting my chin on my hands and staring down at the plastic tabletop.
"I'm going to miss Durmstrang." I mumbled. "They supplied the books for you, like a school should, and the castle was beautiful, you didn't have to wear a stupid uniform. I bet Hogwarts will be bloody awful!"
My father looked at me sadly. "Well I hear they have a nice quiddetch pitch." He said in an attempt to comfort me.
I looked up at him. "Do you think I should join the quiddetch team?" I asked him. He seemed to think about it for a moment.
"Well, you're not going to get into Gryffindor, so if you did play quiddetch you would be putting yourself against him. That's never good." He said, beginning to shuffle through more of his papers.
I grabbed one that I had found earlier about an old girlfriend he had. "Yeah, but this girl was a seeker on another team! That's even worse, and he still went out with her! So maybe I would just impress him." I said in triumph. In all honesty, I really just wanted to club some people. I was a beater, and a damn good one at that.
He seemed to think about it for a moment. "We'll figure it out when you get there." I thought about it for a moment. "Deal."
The next two weeks seemed to just slip away and before I knew it the day had come. I woke with a start as my father began to knock on the door. "All right love, get packed, the train leaves in three hours." He said.
There was silence for a few moments. "Sophie?" He asked. "I'm up!" I yelled in annoyance, swinging my legs out of bed.
I walked over to my closet, swung the door open and grabbed a trunk pulling it out and into the center of the room. One good thing about living with a wizard was that I didn't have to worry about magic, because they couldn't tell who was doing it.
I grabbed my wand off the nightstand and gave it a flick. At once all of my pants began neatly folding themselves and lowering themselves into one of the six magically enlarged compartments of my trunk. I flicked my wand once again and all of my tops folded themselves into another compartment. Next came my undergarments, then my books and other school things, then my broom and quiddetch supplies, and lastly my school uniform.
I packed all of my makeup and jewelry into a separate box, which I attached to the top of my trunk. I closed the lid with a soft click before heading off to get ready.
I took a long shower that would have been soothing if it had not been for my father coming in and asking were his tooth brush had gone.
After that I dried my hair and made a vain attempt at curling it, the curls lasted for about ten minutes before quickly turning dead straight once more. I did my make up with the same mascara, eyeliner, eye shadow and lip gloss that I had used the night I went to the meeting. The makeup I had packed was all new, I had bought it with the spare money that I had from what the Dark Lord had given me.
I quickly dressed into a pair of my favorite jeans and a tight fitting lavender shirt that had a square neckline (I always found that these helped make my chest look just a bit larger). I put on a few silver bangles and silver hoop earrings and dubbed myself fit to leave.
I levitated my trunk into the hallway and let it fall to the ground with a loud thunk, signaling to my father that I was ready to go.
He came out of the kitchen, still chewing whatever he had been eating and dusting his hands off. "Ready?" He asked after swallowing.
"Yep." I said simply, putting my wand in my pocket as dad picked up my trunk and carried it outside for me. Once outside he grasped the handle of my trunk and held out his arm to me like he always did. I grasped it tightly once again and there was a loud pop as he apparated us into a dark corner of the train station.
We began at a brisk walk to the entryway of the platform. When we were there my dad released my trunk and turned to smile at me. "Have a good year Sophie." He said leaning down to hug.
I smiled. "That's not why I'm going, but I'll try." I said as he released me. He only smiled.
"See you." I said positioning myself in front of the barrier. I turned to look at him one last time and he gave me an encouraging wave. I nodded and then turned back to the "wall" before starting off at a brisk run through the barrier that led to the platform.
When I was on the platform I found it filled with students, all racing to find their friends yelling, smiling and laughing. I found myself missing my old friends, but if I succeeded at this mission, they would hardly matter.
I quickly made my way to the train and managed to heave my trunk up once I was on it. My plan was to sit with Potter. I would claim that his was the only compartment that I could find with spare room…if there was spare room of course.
I began walking down the long hallway, peering into various compartments. It took a long time before I found the right one, which was almost at the opposite end of the train, and when I did, I found myself feeling slightly nervous as I stared at the mop of black hair in front of me.
This would be my first impression, one of the key elements that would allow me to- suddenly the train gave a great lurch and I was thrown forward, my face smashing into the window in front of me.
"Shit." I said dully I pushed myself off of the glass and looked inside to see all of the people inside staring at me, including Harry Potter. That was a brilliant first impression.
I pushed open the compartment door and stepped inside rubbing the side of my face. "I hadn't been expecting that," I said, putting on a sweet and embarrassed smile.
I could hear someone laughing and looked around to see a boy with bright red hair howling with laughter.
The girl next to him sent him a cold glare and he stuffed his fist into his mouth in an attempt to plug his laughter. The girl just rolled her eyes and turned to me "Hi, I'm Hermione Granger." She said holding out her hand. I made a mental note of this and shook her hand. "Sophie Burden."
"It was probably the nargles that did it." Came a dreamy voice from the other side of the compartment. I looked over to see a peculiar looking girl with blond hair and large blue eyes was the one that had spoken, "I thought I felt them."
I looked at her for a moment. "Nargles?" I said questioningly, looking back to Hermione. She just shook her head. "That's Luna Lovegood."
I held out my hand to Luna and she took it in both her hands and gave it a squeeze. "It's very nice to meet you Sophie Burden." She said her voice still dreamy as she looked up at me. I smiled, this girl amused me.
"This is Ron Weasley, and this is Neville Longbottem." She said pointing at them in turn. I resisted the temptation to laugh when I shook Longbottem's hand. I had herd plenty about him, well, more his parents, from Bellatrix. She was a terrible bragger.
"And this," she said gesturing to Harry, "is Harry Potter." I made my eyes wide, and tried to make and expression as if this was one of the greatest moments of my life.
"Oh it's so nice to meet you!" I said reaching out to shake his hand before sitting down next to him. "You seem taller in person." I said. This was probably one of the few truthful things I would ever say to him.
He smiled. "Thanks, I try." I couldn't help but laugh, it was only too obvious that he didn't. His hair was a mess, and his cloths hardly matched. It was clear that he hardly tried at all. Now that was something I could work with, sarcasm.
There was silence for a moment before Longbottem decided to try making a conversation. "So, what house are you in?"
"I'm actually not in one yet, I'm a transfer." I said taking an attempt at being shy, and failing, miserably.
"Oh really?" asked Hermione, looking interested "Were from?"
"Durmstrang, actually," I said smiling. The girl named Hermione nodded, "You know Victor Krum then?" She asked.
I laughed, oh coarse she would ask about him. What girl wouldn't? Well…I wouldn't, but I don't think I really counted.
"Who wouldn't? Most popular guy at Durmstrang, and probably the world," I thought about that for a second. "Other then you of coarse Harry," He grinned. This was easier than I had expected. "Yeah, he talked about one of the girls he met here actually. He had had a huge crush on her at first. Even went to a ball thing you had with her. He said it was the worst night of his life, poor bloke."
"What was her name? Helga, Helena, something with an H…" I suddenly stopped as I saw the look on Hermione's face. Hermione! That was the name! Oh…shit.
"Oh my gosh." I said suddenly. "I am so sorry! I-I didn't realize!" I said babbling out an apology. She simply shook her head. It was truly annoying; to have said something so horrible the first time I met the girl, though under different circumstances it would have been quite funny to watch her squirm.
I glanced over at Ron who was giving me a sympathetic look, then to Neville who looked incredibly uncomfortable, then Harry, who wouldn't look me squarely in the eye. The only person who seemed unfazed by this was Luna.
Eventually we got over this hiccup and we were all friendly once again, though I noticed that Hermione seemed a little more flat when speaking directly to me. No matter though, Harry was over it, and he was all that mattered.
The train ride felt unusually fast, however by the time we arrived it was already dark. How time flies when you're having (fake) fun!
I stepped out of the train, now dressed in my robes, following close behind Ron. When I looked up I saw nothing but a huge black leather wall. On closer inspection I realized that it was actually a coat, and there was a giant person wearing said coat.
"Bloody hell…" I said staring, eyes wide, at the giant man in front of me.
Ron grinned, "That's Hagrid. Care of Magical Creatures professor."
"Is he one of the creatures as well?" I asked looking back at him. Ron only chuckled. "I haven't figured that out for myself yet actually. Nice bloke though."
I followed close behind the five until we reached a small staircase that led to a long tunnel were an incredibly stiff woman stood, looking over the passing children.
"I suppose you need to go see her." Hermione said, pointing out the woman to me. "She should be able to help you with the sorting and what not." By the tone in her voice I could tell she simply wanted to be rid of me. I followed her directions none the less though, since they were the only ones I had.
I walked over to the woman. She looking down her nose at me. "Transfer?" she asked her voice cool and calm. I nodded my head quickly. The woman was slightly intimidating. "Name?" I swallowed quickly "Sophie Burden".
She pulled out a small scroll of paper and wrote my name on it. "Right," she said turning around and motioning for me to follow. "You'll be sorted with the first years." I simply nodded again and followed close behind as we started off at a brisk walk down the long tunnel.
There must have been some sort of spell placed on it, because almost the moment we started walking, the tunnel came out at the other end and I found myself standing in front of the Hogwarts castle. It was no were near as extravagant as Durmstrang, but it had a certain quaintness to it.
I glanced around at the gardens, and a willow tree that was far too active to be just a tree.
The woman looked back at me. "Right, just wait with me," She said. I nodded, rocking back on my heels and stuffing my fists down into my pockets. This was kind of awkward.
Luckily I didn't have to wait that long. The first years came stumbling along within the next three minutes of my standing there. The harsh looking woman eyed them all before speaking. "I am Professor McGonagall. You will enter the great hall in a few moments, and be sorted into the houses, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, or Slytherin."
I looked amongst the small first years and noticed that one in the back was dripping wet. I had to hold back a snort. He must have fallen into the lake, while on the train Potter had explained that first years rode over in boats across a lake. What a bloody moron.
McGonagall led us into the large castle were we waited until she finally led us through another pair of large doors and into a large hall with four long tables, each with the house flags dropping down from the ceilings above.
She led us to the very front of the hall, I found myself walking along side her, not wanting to be mixed among the first years. Once we arrived at the front of the hall, and she stepped up onto a small platform that held a stool adorned with a hat, I found I had little choice in the matter.
It began slowly, she'd call out a child's name and they would sit on the stool and put on the hat. The hat would then call out a house name and the child would go and sit with that house. I hated to admit it, but I kind of liked the whole idea of it.
I was called last. I made my way up to the small stool, dismissing the eye's that fallowed me as I went. As soon as I reached the stool however I looked up to see two soft blue eyes behind half moon spectacles looking at me from the staff table and was hard pressed to look away. It had felt like he was looking right through my eyes and into my very soul. These were the eyes of Albus Dumbledore. It wasn't just his place at the head of the table that gave him way.
I prepared my argument as I sat down on the stool and took the hat in my hands. I was intelligent, I belonged with the Ravenclaws, I would try for being brave, but I knew Gryffindor was hardly a possibility. However when I placed the hat on my head I was stunned to find that it didn't even give me the option of an argument.
"SLYTHERIN!" It screamed loud and clear the moment the fabric even brushed the top of my head. I sat there for a moment, blinking several times before lifting my hand to remove the hat from my head. There was no point in fighting.
Authors Note: All right! Chapter two! Don't expect all of my chapter to come this quickly. This was a one-time deal. Hope you like. Please review!
