My first night in Slytherin was, as I had predicted, hell. Everyone knew I was Hermione Granger's little sister, and you wouldn't believe how much Slytherin hated my sister. There was one in particular that really had it against her: Draco Malfoy. The little bastard laughed at me the moment I sat down, rather unwillingly, at the Slytherin table. Not that I cared much about what he thought, but I soon came to the realisation that he governed Slytherin. This was his reign and I wasn't welcomed.

The idea terrorized me a little. How was I supposed to make friends or allies in a house that, in its entirety so far, hated my sister and thus hated me? I couldn't fight them all alone. It was the entire house against me.

I guess I must say that I am not someone who just remains quiet while everyone is bothering her. No, I am much too proud for that. Call it wise or stupid, but I wouldn't let anyone say things to me just because they felt like it. That was the first mistake I made. I may have (quite possibly) called this Malfoy guy a coward for throwing his frustrations about Potter not being his friend (yeah, I knew the story and I frankly thought it was pathetic) at a younger girl. I earned a few laughs and I knew Malfoy was embarrassed, but mostly I was hated even more for daring to defy the great Draco Malfoy; their prince. As for me, I was beginning to feel the hate my sister felt for him.

Hermione once talked about her first day being a Gryffindor. She said everyone was so nice to her that she almost immediately felt like home. It took her a while to actually make some friends because I don't think she knew how. Hermione always had me to defend her when we were kids and someone called on her obsession with books and knowing things and bragging about knowing them. I was the only one who was allowed to call her names. Only I could call her a know-it-all or a loser, because in the end I didn't say those things to hurt her like the other kids did. I can see why some people might find her annoying, what with her "I'm better than you because I am perfect and I know things that you don't even though I'm probably too young to know them" attitude. Adults are generally impressed, but people her age are not. She's getting better at managing it, though. Because Malfoy brags to make other people feel inferior, but my sister doesn't. She just wanted to know as much as she could about the magic world to not feel like an outsider. I would break the nose of any asshole that dared to hurt her, but thankfully she found really good friends. Harry and Ron would never allow anyone to hurt her, so she's in really good hands.

I wish I could say the same about my Hogwarts story. Something like, yes I was placed in a house full of judgemental monkeys who do not have enough of a free-thinking mind to question the morally-doubtful upbringing of their wacko parents, but hey at least I made a friend who proved that Slytherin wasn't full of brain-washed idiots. But no, Slytherins were still brain washed idiots and no one was proving them wrong. It was disappointing.

"Are you sure there is no way I could change houses?" I asked my sister for the tenth time as she showed me the way to Potions. I had never realised just how big Hogwarts was. In a place like this, and with my poor orientation skills, I could easily get lost and never find my way to class. Thank goodness for older sisters and their excellent orientation skills.

"I checked all night for it, but there isn't any information on that. Apparently no one has ever changed houses since Hogwarts was founded." The concern in my sister's voice shook me. I could see the big, purple-ish circles under her eyes. She had clearly spent more than one night awake looking for a possible solution to my rather horrible predicament. And I was starting to feel guilty.

"Well, then, stop checking"

Hermione stopped abruptly, an angry expression plastered all over her face. I immediately regretted opening my mouth. I was so doomed.

"This is not something that is just going to pass, Corinne. You're going to study here for 7 years! Now, unless you turn out to not be my sister, and actually have pureblood running through your system, they are not going to leave you alone. Especially not Malfoy. He's going to taunt you to get to me, in order to get to Harry. He's not going to stop."

"Well, I'm not going to let him, Hermione. I'm stronger than you think."

"This isn't about being strong!" her voice had grown louder, to the point where she was almost screaming. She looked more tired now, her eyes were teary and her cheeks were red.

That's when I realised that she didn't deserved to be put through this. I was being too selfish. I was doing exactly what Malfoy wanted me to do. I was getting my sister involved in something that was becoming just another weight that she had to carry. I was suddenly becoming a burden.

"Is this Snape's classroom, then?"

"What?"

"I have class." I said before turning my back on my sister and rushing out of her sight. I was already in the dungeons, where my common room was located, and I knew that somewhere here was Snape's classroom. I couldn't be too far from it.

As I was walking at a rather slow pace, I found Ginny. She had Potions too, so I was thankfully rescued and we walked towards our Potions class together.

The conversation with my sister still circled around my head. It was clearly going to be a distraction in class. I had to come up with a plan to make her think that I wasn't having such a bad time at Slytherin, and she had to fully believe it. Else, she wouldn't let it go.

Class was surprisingly boring. We didn't move far from basic first year introduction to potions, and the fact that Snape's voice resembled that of a drone; I was very close to falling asleep. But I knew I had very little time to figure out a way to get Hermione off my back, and back to sleep.

I wasn't much of an expert in biology, but I knew that lack of sleep affected the human body a lot. I couldn't really name the specific chemical reactions or what happens to neurons specifically, but I knew that the effect of not sleeping is similar to that of being under an incredible amount of stress. It wasn't healthy for my sister, and I didn't want to damage her health.

An idea struck as my attention was focused on the answer my roommate was giving. Her name was Astoria Greengrass, and she was a pureblood. Actually, her sister, Daphne Greengrass, was part of Malfoy's annoying set of monkeys. But Astoria seemed different. First of all, she wasn't mean to me when I first set foot on my room. She didn't even look at me. I was honestly expecting a nasty comment about having to share room with a muggle-born, maybe an overly exaggerated act of drawing a line and ordering me not to ever cross it. But none of that happened. She even let me choose which bed I wanted to sleep in and said I could use the bathroom first if I wanted to.

We had another roommate, and her name was Melody, but she wasn't mean either. I do not think she even knew I was the Granger girl Malfoy had sworn to make every Slytherin hate. I didn't speak to them, though. However, maybe I should. If I do so, Hermione will be less worried about my safety inside Slytherin. It was a plan I was willing to try.

So after class, I asked Ginny to meet me at the Lake. I needed someone who knew about the magical families. Ginny was born into this world, and she probably knew more about the Greengrass family than I could ever learn from research. Plus, she had soon become quite possibly my only friend so far. Someone I could talk to whose surname wasn't the same as mine. She accepted and now all I had to do was wait down by the Lake after lunch.

Lunch was an unfortunate part of my day. The reason being that I had to sit at the Slytherin table. The same went to breakfast and dinner. That day I didn't feel like eating, so I skipped lunch and decided to go to the Lake and wait for Ginny.

The lake provided beautiful scenery and a strange aura of tranquillity. Exactly what I needed after everything that had happened: peace.

As I waited, I decided to skip rocks to keep me entertained. I didn't know how much time Ginny was going to take so I might as well do something. Except, I wasn't very good at skipping rocks, so I got bored fairly quickly.

"You're Malfoy's new target, aren't you?" a deep voice said from behind me. I turned too quickly, managing to get a little dizzy as a result, what with being in Slytherin with no allies at all the only person I can rely on to watch my back is me.

"Do I… know you?" I blinked rapidly trying to blink away the colourful spots that now adorned the figure that I didn't know. It wasn't hard for me to not know someone. I was a first year, and I had only lived in Hogwarts for a few weeks. Also, the fact that my house hated me didn't really allow me to become socially involved or even included.

"I think you've seen me around. Slytherin, second year." He reached out to shake my hand, but I held back. He was a Slytherin. I wasn't going to trust him that easily. So far, any Slytherin was my enemy, as far as I knew at least. Even more second years, because that was the grade Malfoy was in. "Okay, not gonna shake my hand. I'm Matthew, and I'm not with Malfoy if that's what this is about." The disdain in his voice when he pronounced Malfoy took me by surprise, but he could just as well be acting.

I stood rooted to my spot, unconsciously crossing my arms and closing myself even more. I nodded and forced a small smile. Far behind him I saw Ginny coming towards us, and a huge sense of relief washed over me. The less Slytherins were near me, the better.

"Right. I'll see you round." He said smiling before he turned away and walked away. The awkward encounter left me feeling uneasy. No Slytherin talked to me. Period. It was a rule that King Malfoy had written. Yet here he was, trying to initiate a proper introduction. It smelled like funny business to me, and I didn't like the rotten smell.

"Hey Gin, how was lunch?" I asked once she was close enough to hear me

"It was fine. Hermione was asking for you, seemed worried," said Ginny dropping her things near a tree, and sitting down. "So what's up?"

"Yeah, she's a worrier." I rolled my eyes and sat down next to her. "Well, do you know anything about the Greengrass sisters?"

"The Greengrass? Well, they're popular for the same reason that the Malfoy family is. Influential purebloods. Their dad works with my dad, not in the same department of course, but in the Ministry. He is not fond of muggles. Honestly, he is like any other pureblood stuck up. Why?"

"So, his daughters are probably like Malfoy copies?"

"I don't know. Never met them. Daphne is Malfoy's friend, though. More like follower."

"Right."

"Are they pestering you too?" she asked annoyed, possibly ready to quick their asses too, if she had to. The thought almost made me laugh.

"No, although they might in a future. Malfoy's the king of Slytherin. That guy just now, probably a new plan to really crush me."

"You mean Matthew Fitzgerald? Oh, please. There is no way he is with Malfoy."

"Do you know him?"

"No, but my brother told me about what happened between them last year. Ron said it was genius. That guy completely humiliated Malfoy. Called him a coward right in front of the entire Slytherin house. Much like you did, actually. But, Matthew's a pureblood, so Slytherin didn't turn against him. Malfoy lost a lot of credibility after that. His father had to buy the Quidditch team new brooms and Merlin knows what else."

"So, you're saying Matthew and Malfoy are not friends?"

"Quite the contrary. Matthew hates Malfoy's guts." Ginny paused for a while, and then leaned closer, almost as though she was telling a really big secret. "If you're looking for an ally inside Slytherin, Matthew's your guy. He is almost as influential as Malfoy is, if not more. It's like Salazar Slytherin was the king, and Matthew and Malfoy were the princes who were fighting for the throne. Plus, he's nice to like at."

"How you know that?"

"Did you not look at him just now?"

"What?"

Ginny laughed and said, "It's history. You can ask your sister. There are only a selected number of wizarding families who are 100% pureblood. There aren't many that still remain entirely pure today, but among those few are the Malfoys and the Fitzgeralds."

"But, wouldn't that mean that Matthew probably has the same prejudices that Malfoy has?" I asked feeling the hope drain out of my body.

Allying myself with Matthew Fitzgerald would grant me a high rank inside Slytherin social circles, and it would also mean that my sister could finally stop worrying about me. However, if Matthew was so pure-or whatever-, what were the odds of him not hating muggle-borns as much as Malfoy did?

"I think you're forgetting that some families don't care about that." Ginny signal her whole self, and I couldn't help but smile. "Anyway, gotta run. Catch you with you later?"

"Sure thing."

"Oh! By the way, your condition," she said marking the word condition in a mocking tone, "it's called being a metamorphmagus. It's not a sickness, and it is actually pretty cool. You should feel lucky, it's almost as rare as being a 100% pureblood." She winked and then stood up. She helped me up and we both began walking towards the castle between jokes and friendly punches.

I didn't ask anything further about what being a metamorphmagus was about, because that wasn't what worried me at that particular time, and I already kind of knew. I knew I was that because McGonagall saw how my hair went from my natural blonde to a fire red when Malfoy said he would rather die than eat in the same table as a mudblood. Only a few saw that (because they were too busy laughing at Malfoy's wit and congratulating him. Bunch of idiots), but I was later explained how the thing worked. I was also learning to control it, and someday I was going to use it to my advantage and get back at Malfoy.

On another note, I was mostly preoccupied about Matthew Fitzgerald, and I was seriously planning on letting him inside my master plan. I didn't really have a master plan, but if I could get Matthew on my side I knew it would make Malfoy so angry. And I just wouldn't miss a chance to get him upset. It was just so fun.