Lainey stood behind a suit of armour near the entrance hall, and was rather nervous.
She was nervous about this feast, cos she was going to be sorted. Mainly she was nervous cos she knew Severus was head of Slytherin house, and she knew a bit about the houses, and she really didn't think Slytherin was her thing. Still, she had grown quite attached to her father over the few weeks she'd known him, and she didn't want to disappoint the man.
Students had finally begun to fill the hall, and Lainey went out to do some observing. Some were giving her weird looks, probably cos they didn't recognize her and all. Soon Albus was giving a quick speech about her being here, and how she was an American Wicca, who was doing exchange here, and how she'd never used a wand before. The hall was filled with excited buzzing soon after that, and it was time for Lainey to be sorted. The hat smelt of mothballs as it was placed on her head.
"Hmmm.." came the voice in her head. It was the hat that owned the voice. Come on, Lainey wasn't schizophrenic.
"Lily and Severus, eh? Interesting.. Potential is there.. Hmm.. Smart girl. Loyal too. But, no. I don't think Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Hmm… You are cunning, and I suppose with your father.. But your past shows me.."
"GRYFFINDOR!"
The last bit was said out loud, and the table on her far right exploded into cheers. Lainey exhaled and began to walk over to the table.
She glanced at Severus as she walked past, desperate for some kind of approval, but he didn't seem upset. He gave her a small smile, and a nod.
Lainey sat across from three students who looked her age roughly. The girl had bushy hair, the redheaded boy looked surly, and the other guy.. he just looked bored.
Might as well introduce herself.
"Hi. I'm Lainey"
The bushy haired girl was the only one that responded.
"Hello. I'm Hermione Granger. This is Ron Weasley, and that's Harry Potter."
Potter. She'd heard that name recently. Oh well.
"So, how long have you been in England?" Hermione was asking.
"Oh, about three weeks. It's been great though. Just hanging out, you know. This place is seriously cool though. I never knew they had places that taught magic like this."
Now Hermione looked confused. "Didn't you go to school in America?"
Lainey nodded. "Well, yeah, but we didn't learn magic there. Just normal stuff. You know?"
Now Ron spoke up. "Then how did you learn magic?"
"I learnt at home. My dad owned a magic shop and stuff, so I taught myself." Lainey explained.
"You taught yourself magic?" Hermione looked shocked.
"Um.. kind of. But these wands are a bitch to get your head around, you know?" Lainey said, trying for conversation.
"Don't you use wands in Wiccan magic?" Ron asked.
Lainey shook her head. "Nah. See, with Wicca, the magic you use is borrowed. From the Earth. Your body acts as the wand, focusing the raw magic and refining it. With you guys I guess the magic comes from your blood. Kinda like Vamps."
Suddenly Ron and Hermione paled. "Vampires can use magic?"
"Well, I've seen Vamps use Wiccan spells. I dunno about your kind of magic. Maybe if they were Wizards before they were sired?" Lainey took a sip of her pumpkin juice and made a face.
Ron and Hermione were still freaking about the Vampire revelation, when Harry spoke up. "You spend a lot of time around Vampires then, do you?"
Lainey's smile disappeared and she just looked at Harry. Great, another Holier-than-Thou idiot who lived in a very black and white world.
"Yeah, I do actually. My best friend is a Vampire. Why do you ask?"
Harry tried to give her a look that was probably supposed to be threatening. "Nothing. I just thought that with you being in Gryffindor that you would have been, you know, a good person."
"Harry!" Hermione gasped.
"Listen, buster. I know Vampires that have more decency in one little finger than you. And who the hell are you to judge me? You don't even know me, you little shit." Lainey didn't usually flip like that to strangers, but his guy was just like a little male Buffy guy. And Buffy had gotten on her nerves. At least she had a sense of humour though, and a reason to be so judgemental about vamps. This guy was just a dork.
After that, however, Hermione and Ron didn't seem so keen to talk to her, so she ate the rest of her meal in silence, and then, when they were allowed to leave for the common room, she began to write a long and rant-y letter to Spike about stupid Harry Potter stupidhead.
She decided to walk to the Owlery to send the letter. Once she got there, she realized she wasn't alone. Hermione was in the room too, sending a letter using a school owl. Lainey muttered a soft "Hi", and Hermione spun around like a child caught with a hand in the cookie jar. "Oh! Lainey! Hello. I didn't see you there!"
"I figured." Lainey smiled, and called for her new pet owl Dracula to come down from his perch. The owl swooped down, and landed in a very dignified manner on the table in the middle of the room. Lainey looked up at Hermione. "Sorry, just sending a letter to Spike. I'll be gone soon."
Hermione smiled "No, its ok. I'll wait, and maybe we can walk back together?"
Lainey nodded. "Sure." She finished tying the letter to Dracula's leg, and the owl flew off into the night.
"So." Hermione said. "Who's Spike?"
"Spike? He's the vampire I was talking about over dinner. You know, the one I'm not a good person for being friends with?"
Hermione blushed. "I'm sorry about Harry. He's not usually like that. He's just had a rough time lately. But tell me, how does one become friends with a vampire?"
Lainey laughed, and spent the rest of the night talking with Hermione about her friendship with Spike, and the many times they'd ended up completely hammered because of their dysfunctional love lives (Mainly Lainey consoling Spike over Buffy's most recent treatment of him). So Hermione told Lainey about the adventures the Trio had experienced during their time at Hogwarts. So Lainey told Hermione about all the Slaying and apocalypse averting she'd done while in Sunnydale. The girls stayed up late into the night, swapping stories, and Lainey eventually went to bed, content with the knowledge she'd made a nice new friend.