Disclaimer: Anything you can recognize from the Harry Potter series I do not own. I hope you enjoy.
Harry stood waiting for her name to be said. It was fairly nerve wracking. She was just glad she wasn't going to be at the bottom of the list. Still, both her new friends were sorted before her. Tracy was placed in Slytherin and Daphne followed her into the house shortly after. The first two people she had ever become close to placed in a house she would only be half welcomed in. Her name was called, and everyone gaped at her as if she was the newest toy in stores, whispers spreading around as she stepped to the front and the hat was placed on her head. It made an already nerve-wracking experience even worse.
"Hmmm, interesting, not what I was expecting Miss Potter."
She was initially startled by the voice in her head but quickly realized it was the hat. "What were you expecting then." she thought.
"I see, you have already figured out I speak in your head then," The hat said pleased. "Bright girl...you hold a lot of wonderful traits. Intelligent, Honest, Kind, Brave, Bold, Cunning, Ambitious. Each of the founders would be proud to have you placed in their house.
"Somehow I doubt that," she said self-deprecatingly.
"You think too lowly of yourself, there is one place that you will rise to greatness, I can see it now. you will bring the house to the for front of greatness if you can just make your point. And luckily, I believe you will be pleased with the placement Miss Potter. Good luck and be sure not to let them walk all over you. SLYTHERINE..."
Everyone froze except Tracy and Daphne who clapped nodding to her as she gave a bright smile sitting the hat down and bowing to it.
"Good luck Miss Potter," the hat said tipping the top of it towards her as she went to sit beside her friends. Despite the lack of applause and support, she felt happy with its choice. She was with her friends after all. Hopefully it wasn't the wrong one.
"Well Haronna, I believe this shell be interesting," Daphne said with a smirk.
She looked around, hiding her uneasiness. "I wonder when anyone will begin moving again," Harry said since the room was dead silent and everyone was gaping at her shocked since that was the last place they expected her to be placed. "You would think they were dying of shock. Is my sorting truly such an interesting point."
"I believe they are," a boy said from Daphne's other side. "Theodore Knott, a pleasure to meet you Miss Potter."
She was grateful to his introduction as it broke up the silence at their table. "Haronna please," she returned taking his hand. He brought it to his lips kissing the back as McGonagall cleared her throat and began sorting the next student.
"Haronna it is," he returned as she blushed slightly. "You have definitely begun turning heads there Haronna."
"Yes, well it is there problem if they had expectations on someone they had yet to meet," Harry replied without hesitation. Her life wasn't some spectacle they had the right to make judgements on. She was a person not entertainment. "They do not know me so therefore they should not have expected me to be any one thing. I am who I am, and I change for no one."
Her statement drew some interest from a fair few students, but others looked at her with distrust or outright disgust. "Good, it will be a pleasure sharing a house with you then," Theodore stated Since he had not expected her to be so...normal. It was a good change from their expectations.
The sorting had continued, and she was drawn from the conversation as a student, the final to be sorted took a seat beside her. "Hello," she said to the boy.
Her looked at her amused, her sorting drew his interest. He was never a big fan of the myth of Harry Potter however, a girl from a family of Gryffindor's as a Slytherin was something to keep their attention. "You miss potter, stopped a sorting, I have never heard that occurring before," The Italian said amused.
"Yes well, I just did as I was supposed to, sat on the chair, put the hat on. I hold absolutely no blame," Harry stated, the amount of interest in her sorting unsettling her.
"Blaise Zabini, it is a pleasure to meet the girl behind the myths."
She relaxed slightly at that. At least someone was acknowledging the pure hogwash of the whole girl-who-lived nonsense. "Haronna Potter, and for the record myths are just stories Harry replied with a nod keeping calm just barely since all eyes were on her. The meal began, and Tracy could catch the slight fear in her eyes so she kept her talking and once again Harry found herself calming under the familiarity. She counted herself extremely lucky to have met them in the train ride.
Diner could not have ended early enough for the girl who was being watched by everyone and they were all escorted into the dungeons to their common room. Instead of the normal introductions, some of the older Slytherins decided to put the half blood girl-who-lived in her place, not wanting her sort within the dungeons. She didn't belong here. They didn't want her here and they'd be damned if she ever thought otherwise.
She was uneasy at their approach. Seeing no one that could help her though her friends from the train ride remained relatively close by her side. She suddenly wondered if she should have taken her friends advice about the Slytherin house and the danger she could be in. "Harry Potter, in Slytherin," an older Slytherin sneered stating the obvious. His tone of voice clearly threatening.
Harry decided that she would not be chased off. She had enough of that in the muggle world. No she wouldn't let it continue here. She would stand her ground. She only hoped she wouldn't be hurt for doing so. "So, I am," Harry returned. All the Slytherins attention was on the confrontation in front of them.
He sneered. "You think your welcome in here," He mocked. "A good for nothing little Half-blood welcome in the house of Slytherin? You don't belong here." Harry was slightly taken back by the vitriol leaking out of his mouth but more then use to comments like that from the muggles. She was use to not belonging. Being the freak.
His comments however did not just hit her but a fair few of the other Slytherins. "Watch it Avery," someone growled at him since it was a well-known fact that most wizards were no longer purebloods, many half-bloods were around the room and took offence to the third years statements. They weren't going to stand by and let their blood be insulted even if they agreed that the first year shouldn't be a Slytherin, that was not based on her blood type.
"What, you want her here," he returned not caring who else he was insulting by his comments, "a pretty little light princess in the bowls of the snakes' nest."
Her new friends weren't going to let her be chased off though. Just because they were Slytherins did not mean they weren't loyal to their friends. "She was sorted here and therefore she is a Slytherin," Tracy returned having been taught that rule by her father. Slytherins supported each other, they may not be friends but they never created enemies from inside the house. They had enough enemies outside it.
"Shut up half blood..." He sneered knowing the Davis were half-bloods.
His comments once again annoyed the other students. "Avery watch it," one of the boys growled. Avery ignored him as he stalked towards the first year, going directly in front of her. Harry just glared at him refusing to be intimidated, he had nothing on her uncle.
"What do you think you are doing here Potter," he demanded roughly.
She glared up at him, impressing some students with her nerve, they didn't step in, wondering how the golden girl would handle him. "I think the hat placed me in Slytherin since it believed I would do best here."
He growled angrily, "After you killed the dark lord. You believe your welcome in his house you piece of filth?"
She glared unable to understand how people could accuse her of defeating a grown wizard. "I was 15 months old, what do you think I did," she returned challenging wondering if any of them actually had an answer for her. "Frankly I wish someone would tell me something besides that I survived the killing curse and killed him. Some facts would be nice.'
That statement through them off guard. How could she not know her own story. She was one of the most famous witches in the world. "You don't know Draco Malfoy asked unable to keep the surprise from his voice.
"15 months old," she returned as if it was obvious, "No I don't know a bloody thing about what happened. I was a child and the only witnesses are dead. How could I be at fault for anything?"
Avery caught his bearings once again. "Potters don't belong in Slytherin," he returned as if just stating it made it true, "what would your griffindork parents think, there little light princess."
The comment was supposed to hurt her but it didn't, not really. "How the hell should I know," she returned coldly at the mention of them, not liking to hear about them but whether or not they'd approve of her, didn't really matter to her. She didn't know them. She didn't even know anything about them except the lies her relatives spat out. "I don't even know what they damn well look like let alone who they were as people. So, I don't know what they would damn well think and frankly I don't care."
Seeing his statements ignored, he shoved her and she fell back words into the ground roughly and she couldn't stop a gasp of pain that escaped her.
She was angry now, the magic world was to be her escape from overgrown bullies who liked to knock her around. "Piss off," she growled getting angry.
"Make me halfblood," He mocked.
"I have done nothing to you ssssooo (P) pissss off and leave me the hell alone. I sssswear I will find a way to make you..." Harry stopped breathing deeply as she saw to her shock people stepping back away from her gaping at her especially Avery who was looking at her slightly horrified. She wondered how she could mess up things now. "What did I do now," she asked curiously wondering if she shouldn't have just asked the hat for Gryffindor.
Blaise was the first one to answer her, everyone else was in too much shock. "You just spoke parseltoung," Blaise offered absolutely amazed at the fact. He never thought he'd hear anyone speak the language of serpents. Let alone a witch from a light family. "Well Potter, I don't think anyone will say you don't belong in Slytherin."
"Parseltoung," she said confused. She had never heard the word before.
"Snake speech," Tracy said knowing she was raised muggle and would not know what that was. "You were hissing, I will explain later Haronna, just know it is a gift that the founder of Slytherin and various dark lords had. Means you are a natural Slytherin. Go with it."
She nodded having not even realised she was speaking a different language but if it got people to leave her alone she would be happy. "Alright," she said.
Seeing that the fight was finished, Snape stepped out of the shadows. "Enough," The professor growled he had intended to step in when he had seen the shove but the parseltoung was shocking enough he hesitated. Overall, the conversation he just witnessed definitely gave him something new to think about in response to Lily's daughter. He wondered when he started seeing her as Lily's daughter and not Potters. He would think on that later. At the moment, he had a group of Slytherins to discipline. "We are Slytherins, we do not fight like barbarians. If she was placed in this house, then she belongs here and will be treated like a true Slytherin Avery. Miss Potter are you injured?"
"No sir," she said hesitantly.
He nodded to her. "Good, now we are Slytherins, we act like Slytherins. This house gets enough problems from others then to be fighting from within. We are Slytherins, Cunning and ambitious. We stay unified or else it will cause us problems. Prefects show the first years their rooms."
No one ever argued with the professor. Especially when they could all see he was extremely angry. "Yes sir," they agreed doing just that.
Once settled in the room, harry turned to Tracy. "Parseltoung," Harry asked quietly.
"Parselmouths are people who have the ability to speak parseltoung. It is extremely rare and since the last dark lord, the one who killed your parents spoke it as well as Salazar Slytherin its considered a dark trait. It means you speak to snakes," She explained.
Harry didn't know what she was talking about. "I was speaking english."
"No, you were not," Daphne stated though she did know why Harry would think that if she had not even known snake speaking was a possibility, "it is a well-known fact that unless you train yourself, parselmouths aren't even aware of speaking it. Since the founder of the Slytherin house spoke Parseltongue it is more likely that you will be accepted into the house even with being the girl who lived."
While relieved that she would be accepted, she was still uneasy about the trait. A skill she wasn't even aware of having. "Is it really that rare?"
The girls nodded, not wanting to scare her but she deserved to know the truth and not be caught unaware of what the trait could mean. "The last known English Parselmouth was he-who-must-not-be-named," Tracy stated. "It is extremely rare but extremely sought after by purebloods. Its more common in places like India and China though. Still a rarity to be able to speak it. Mostly people will think you are a dark witch though if they don't know the history of it. Truly it is just a magical ability so don't worry. Same as being Slytherin does not make you a dark witch being able to speak Parseltongue wont either. It is just an ability that you were given by magic. A gift and it will likely make your stay in Slytherin much more comfortable as it's a trait from our house."
Still not completely sure what she thought about it, there was absolutely nothing she could do as of right now, so she had to accept it. "Alright she said nodding since that made sense too. It was just an ability. How could an ability be dark? Her thoughts went then to the slightly terrifying man who had interrupted the fight. "Was that our head of house?"
There was another nod of confirmation from both girls. "Severus Snape, he can be a bit nasty if you piss him off, but he looks out for our house," Tracy said, "My brother Trever is a fifth year and told me about him. My brothers also likely going to beat the piss out of Avery for insulting me. He was pissed. Trever said that Professor Snape sort of favors us but if we do something wrong he makes sure we know it. Also, if you manage to get on his bad side it is not good. He looks out for the first years though and is a good head of house. He is the youngest person ever to get a potions mastery and he teaches here which means we have the best, but he does not like slacking in his class."
That was very good to know before going to class. "So in other words, read through the text before his class," Harry said nodding, he was not someone she wanted to piss off. "I do not quite know much about potions but I enjoyed what I have already read. I do not really understand it though."
Their conversation was interrupted by another of their roommates. "Everyone gets potions," Parkinson sneered. "What were you raised in a barn."
Tracy glared at the other girl, not her biggest fan. "Watch it, Parkinson," Tracy returned annoyed at the insult. She quickly turned her attention back to Harry though. "If you want I can help you with the basics. Muggle raised students usually get a short tutorial there first week or so to make up for their lack of knowledge."
The muggle raised made them look up curiously, "Muggle raised," Millicent asked hesitantly. Curious about what they meant but she was also hesitant to but into there conversation.
Harry nodded, it wasn't something she could really hide. "Yeah I was raised with muggles."
Instead of looking disgusted, Millicent looked interested by the prospect. "What is different about the muggle world?"
"What are you a blood traitor Bulstrode," Parkinsons demanded but was silenced by Tracy and Daphne's glares since she was completely outnumbered especially as Lily Moon sat on the side of Harrys bed as well and Harry waved so Millicent joined them.
"Haronna told us the most brilliant thing about the muggle world," Tracy said excitedly. "She even said she would show us in the summer."
The two other girls perked up interested. "What's that," Lily asked.
"There are entire stores filled with just shoes," Tracy said quickly. "Filled floor to ceiling with shoes of all different types."
The girls looked amazed by the idea. "Entire stores that only sell shoes," Lily said surprised as Harry nodded. "Brill...we don't have that. Would you be willing to show us too maybe. I would love some new shoes. I think even my mom would let me go to the muggle world if I picked her up some."
Harry grinned feeling all her worries about fitting in fading. "Yes definitely, it would be fun."
"You know, it is funny, there goes all the stories of you since I don't think one of them says you were muggle raised. Probably with your mother's family right? I know most of your fathers was killed in the war," Lily said.
Though slightly bothered by the fact her roommates probably knew more about her family then she did, Harry just nodded, "Yeah my aunt and uncle," she replied not fond of the fact in the least though she hid it well.
Millicent however was still caught on the idea of a store filled with shoes. "What else is there?"
"Well, electricity and television, phones, I don't really know what's different because I don't know much about the magical world to compare," Harry said.
The girls just gave her kind smiles, "don't worry Haronna, we will teach you," Tracy promised. "We are Slytherins and Slytherins stick together.
"Thanks," Harry said grateful for the hat placing them in this house as they all spoke for a while learning things about each other that you would never have guessed.