A/N: Second chapter! Please review, follow, and favorite! Constructive criticism is much appreciated, but flames mean as little as mint does to me. And I hate mint. XD THIS STORY IS UN'BETAED! ALL MISTAKES MADE ARE MY OWN. FEEL FREE TO NOTIFY ME OF ANY ERRORS!
-IAILA
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter franchise and am not trying to make money from writing spinoffs from the series. All rights reserved.
Screams. Darkness. Cold. Confusion. Sheer, unadulterated terror.
Feeding. Hunting. Preying. The man is a source of food, nothing more.
He shrieks, black shadow descending upon him.
His heart stutters. His fear escalates. A hooded figure leans over; it's gaping mouth inhales. The soul enters, sucked in. Feeding done, it's gone. Slumped over, eyes glazed; the man's as good as dead.
Roof tops rushing below. Flying overhead; cold, miserable despair.
A storm is coming. And when it strikes, He will return in flurry of fire and rage.
The Hogwarts Express was well on it's way to Hogsmeade Station. Like any other first year, Mariah was, of course, nervous, a frown marring her dark face almost constantly. She was, however, positive as to which house she would be sorted into. It had been so with every other person in her entire family tree and, quite frankly, didn't want it any other way with herself.
Mariah sat in the same compartment as other kids in her year; a seemingly mental Luna Lovegood, the blood traitor Ginny Weasley, and an overly excited Colin Creevey. Every single one of them drove her crazy. Mariah stayed silent for the majority of the ride to Hogwarts (as Lovegood rambled on about Sumplekorned Corkhacks or whatever the bloody hell they were called, Creevey chirped animatedly about the "famous" Harry Potter, and Weasley shot not-entirely-friendly glances at her), only speaking to suggest they put on their robes.
When the Hogwarts Express finally pulled into Hogsmeade Station, Mariah all but ran out of her compartment, getting to the door of her car before people even began filing out into the aisle. Leaping out of the door, she looked around for a few moments before hearing a booming voice. "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" Glancing up, Mariah groaned. A huge, mountain of a man was wading through a pool of students that had quickly formed. She had heard of this oaf from her relatives. His name was Hagrid.
"Follow me." After walking for a bit, Hagrid spoke again to the sea of first years. "Yeh'll get to see Hogwarts in a sec." Gasps resounded through the crowd as they rounded a bend. There was also a loud "Oooh!"
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called out, pointing to the fleet of boats stationed on the shore of a big dark lake before them. Naturally, Mariah was stuck with the three other goons from the train. Huffing, she stepped into her boat after staring at it's other occupants ruefully. "All righ'? Everyone in?" Hagrid yelled. "Right then- FORWARD!" The boats all moved in sync, leaving the shore at a brisk pace.
"Heads down!" Their guide yelled as the boats reached a cliff below the castle. Gliding through a curtain of ivy, the first years found themselves in a dark tunnel, sailing into an underground harbor of sorts.
Following Hagrid through a passageway in the surrounding rock, they emerged under the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps. "Everyone here?" He raised a giant fist and knocked three times on the castle doors.
"The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room." A stern looking woman named Minerva McGonagall was saying.
"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.
"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as possible until then. I shall return momentarily." Professor McGonagall left the chamber they were standing in.
Mariah sighed. "It's not like we even need a Sorting Ceremony anyway." She grumbled quietly. "I'm sure that over half of us first years know the house we're gonna be in."
"Hear, hear!" A fellow first year muttered. Mariah glanced up. The person who spoke was a pretty blonde with long, wavy hair and bright hazel eyes. Mariah already knew that, by the telltale glint in her eyes, they would get along quite fine.
Finally, Professor McGonagall returned. "The Sorting Ceremony is about to begin. A few ghosts streamed through the opposite wall. Many students screamed, but McGonagall just said "Form a line and follow me."
The Great Hall was a splendid place. It was huge, with four long tables for each house and plates, as well as goblets, laid down neatly upon them. Thousands of candles were floating around and the ceiling was very obviously bewitched to look like the night sky outside.
Professor McGonagall placed a four legged stool in front of the first years. She then proceeded to put down a frayed, patchy, and very dirty wizard's hat. Mariah knew that it was the Sorting Hat. A few first years looked at it apprehensively. With a sneer, Mariah realized that they were Muggle-borns.
The hat sang a song describing each of the houses, and then the sorting began. There were many names and many houses called out, but Mariah only heard (or at least slightly recognized) a few.
"Burke, Tanya!", the blonde girl from the harbor, was placed in Slytherin, true to her family's name. She probably spent her free time having tea parties with the Hand of Glory in her father's shop. Muggle-born Colin Creevey was placed in Gryffindor and Luna Lovegood in Ravenclaw.
"Rist, Mariah!" McGonagall called out. Many people knew her family, and was familiar with the powerful name 'Rist'. Mariah walked up to the stool confidently, her head held high in a fashion that many would probably call complete arrogance.
Taking a seat, McGonagall lowered the hat. It was still inches away from touching Mariah's brown locks when it screamed "SLYTHERIN!" That was the fastest anyone had been sorted that year, and possibly in the last century, maybe longer. Grinning smugly, Mariah pranced towards the Slytherin table. There was a deafening roar of approval from the rowdy lot, though almost everyone wore identical expressions of malice. They were definitely going to be testing the new first years. Even though they were sorted into Slytherin house, there were always more… personal tests. Mariah noticed a group of meek looking students off to the back end of the table. They were very obviously the outcasts of the house. She had no intentions of joining them any time soon.
Mariah sat down across the boy from Flourish and Blotts, Draco Malfoy, who had two thugs accompanying him. Next to her sat Blaise Zabini. They exchanged glares that weren't unfriendly, but were much cooler than necessary.
"Weasley, Ginevra!" Professor McGonagall called out, after a few more names. Said witch flushed at her full name. She shuffled forward, head down.
"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat roared immediately.
"Of course." Malfoy sneered. Mariah glanced back at the Gryffindor table where a small battalion of redheads sat, whooping and welcoming their youngest and only sister.
"Zaorgan, Geoffrey!" was made a Hufflepuff, and McGonagall rolled up her long list of names. She took away the stool and hat. Mariah marveled (not for the first time in her life) at the wide variety of surnames in the wizarding world. They ranged from Squashpatch to Cornish to Gorgon, and one was just simply Toad.
Dumbledore stood up. "Welcome, to the first years, welcome! To the older ones, welcome back! There are a few staff announcements I would like to make. First, please give a warm welcome to Miss. Aideen Malfoy." Mariah stared at the auburn-haired witch, stunned. This must be her big surprise. Many mutters erupted from the students. They obviously recognised the surname 'Malfoy' and were taken aback by her red hair in a family tree of platinum blondes. Mariah began clapping excitedly, her hair turning bright, dandelion yellow (many people stared at this) as Aideen walked out of a side door, smiling nervously. The rest of the students hesitantly joined. "She will be giving a helping hand to anyone who needs it around the school, students and staff alike." Malfoy looked as if someone had pissed on his homework; not sure whether or not to be happy that his homework was ruined and he didn't have to do it or be upset that he wouldn't get marks for it (or, in this case, happy for his aunt or shun her like the rest of his family).
"Also, I would like to welcome Mr. Gilderoy Lockhart!" Dumbledore continued. "He will be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor!" This statement was met with much more eager applause. Lockhart stood up, lazily flashing his award-winning smile and waving. Many witches swooned in their seats. Dumbledore coughed slightly.
"Now, I would like to say a few words before the banquet. Here you are: Abibliophobia! Codswallop! Logorrhea!
"Thank you!" He sat back down. Many people cheered.
The plates before them filled with every food you could think of, including Mariah's favorite, roast beef. Piling her plate high, Blaise looked at her incredulously. "Are you gonna eat all of that?" He compared his plate to Mariah's. They had the same amount of food.
"Umm, yeah." Mariah answered, already shoving a chunk of herb roasted potatoes in her mouth, somehow managing it with all the dignity necessary of a pureblood. "Got a problem?" She asked, arching a dark, well-groomed eyebrow. Blaise raised his hands in surrender. Malfoy snickered and many of Mariah's housemates stared. Obviously, Blaise backing down was not a common occurrence, even in the one year they've been in Hogwarts the previous term.
After finishing her dinner and dessert (which she ate a lot of), the Slytherin prefect, Gemma Farley, lead them down into the dungeons to the common room (as many students muttered about Harry Potter and Ron Weasley's extravagant entry via crashing a flying car into the Whomping Willow). On the way, she said that the password was Pure-Blood, a very creative name in Mariah's opinion. Note the sarcasm. Though her father and mother were both magic-folk, some Slytherin's were not.
Farley stopped beside a tapestry of Samphy the Sumptuous and reached for her wand, tapping a slightly loose stone brick thrice. "Pure-Blood." She said, loudly and clearly. The stone popped out, acting as a handle. Farley gave a slight tug and a twist and the bricks in front of her folded away.
There was a small corridor that lead to the Dungeon behind the stone wall. Mariah ran her fingers over the worn brick surrounding her. She heard the ghosts of the past whispering in her ears. Literally. Many of the first years looked around, trying to figure out the source of the raspy noise. "Spirits of past Slytherins are trapped within these walls." Farley explained. "No one really knows why it happens, or even how."
After a short walk, the group found themselves in a vast room with glowing green lights and windows that opened out to the murky waters of the Black Lake. Silver and green were the main colors of the room. Furniture was placed in a disorderly organised way and tapestries adorned the walls. A fire crackled away in a large hearth taking up most of one wall. "Welcome," Farley said grandly, flourishing her hands. "to the Slytherin Dungeon."
A/N: Tell me what you think about the little scene in italics in the beginning? I was thinking about doing one of those every few chapters or so. Also, I didn't actually put in the Sorting Hat's song because Harry and Ron missed it in the second book. I didn't feel like making it up myself.
Drop me the meaning(s) of any of the words Dumbledore said before the banquet in the reviews if you know them!
Please review, follow, and favorite! Constructive criticism is much appreciated, but flames mean as little as mint does to me. And I hate mint. XD