Catherine's POV
Heading to Hogwarts was fun and exciting. I sat down in a booth on the Hogwarts Express and soon another girl came in.
"Hello, may I sit in here?" She asked. I nodded happily. Once she was situated, she straightened her posture. "My name is Hermione Granger by the way." I smiled.
"Catherine Riddle-Smith." I said, holding my hand out. She took it and shook it. "What year are you?" I asked.
"I'm a first year." Hermione said. "What about you?"
"I'm a first year too! I hope we can become friends." Hermione smiled back at me.
"That would be nice." The two of us talked and got to know each other pretty well before we changed into robes, my back facing away from the windows facing the corridor and Hermione. Once we had sat back down, a boy came in, introducing himself as Neville Longbottom and asking if we had seen his toad. Hermione and I shook our heads, but agreed to go searching for the amphibian. We couldn't find him, and arrived at the Hogsmeade station. We were brought to the castle by boat lead by a large man, the Keeper of Keys and Grounds, Hagrid.
Once inside the castle, all of the first years stood in front of a large door in front of Professor McGonagall. She told us about the sorting process, and the four houses. During her speech, Longbottom seemed to have found his toad, Trevor. I was happy for him. Professor McGonagall went to get everything ready, and a boy stepped up from the side.
"So what they were saying on the train were true. Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts." He said, introducing himself a second later a Draco Malfoy. I watched as he stepped in front of a boy, saying something about wizarding families, and some being better than others. I scrunched up my nose. I didn't know the Weasley's, but I was sure they were nice people. My grandparents also raised me not to judge someone for their birth status, and that included families.
But Harry Potter told the boy that he didn't need his help in anything. At that time, Professor McGonagall returned and brought us into the Great Hall. It was amazing to see. And I saw Snape sitting at the staff table at the head of the hall. I smiled, but refrained from waving. But as we got closer to the front of the hall, my back began to feel weird. Like a slight burn.
I ignored it once Professor McGonagall started to call names. Hermione was sorted into Gryffindor, and it made me kind of sad. But we'd see each other in class, and maybe on breaks, so I'm sure we'll still be friends.
"Catherine Riddle-Smith." Professor McGonagall said. I held back from running up the two steps leading to the stool and the sorting hat, sitting happily and waiting to be sorted.
"Slytherin!" The hat called loudly. I smiled wide as I headed to the table sitting across from Malfoy. I turned to watch the rest of the sorting, clapping as students were sorted into Slytherin house. The feast began and finished in what seemed like the blink of an eye and before I knew it, we were heading to the Slytherin Dormitory in the dungeon. The head boy told us where our rooms were and that our things were already there. I headed in and saw Sevy hanging upside down in her cage eating a peach I had left in there for her.
"Hey Sevy." I said as I opened the cage. She finished off her meal and flew out, grabbing my robe with her feet and hanging upside down. I laughed lightly as she swung slightly from my clothing. "Oh Sevy. Come on, I'll set up a spot for you in my bed." I grabbed a few of the things I had gotten with Sevy from the Magical Menagerie, and put a bat house up in the corner. Sevy still didn't move from my robes though. I pet the winged mammal gently and got a purring sound from her. After changing into my bed clothes on my bed with the curtains closed, Sevy came in and latched onto one of the silver tassel cords and hanging from the canopy, eyes open as her head turned and focused on where the curtains would move before doing a quick investigation and returning to her 'perch'.
"Aw, are you going to keep an eye open for me, girl?" I asked, petting her head and getting a small purr from her. "Thank you. I'm going to sleep now. Can you wake me for breakfast?" She made a small clicking noise before I laid down to sleep.
I awoke to Sevy clicking loudly over my head. I smiled as I pet her, handing her a pear, and then changing and heading to the Great Hall. I sat with the first years, who were probably going to stick together until we made our own friends. I ended up across from Malfoy again. We made eye contact for a second, but that was it.
Our first class was Transfigurations, and I noticed there was a spot open next to Hermione. I smiled as I approached her.
"Good morning Hermione, is it alright if I sit next to you?" She turned me to and nodded.
"Good morning Catherine. How was your first night?" Hermione asked as she finished setting up her book, quill and inkwell.
"Alright, I turned in early to make sure I got enough sleep. I need to make sure Sevy was situated before bed as well." I said simply.
"Sevy, who's that?" Hermione asked as the other students filed in.
"Oh, she's my pet fruit bat. She's very protective of me, was watching over me all night." Hermione nodded slowly at that. Professor McGonagall came in and set us to work, shorty changing into a cat and sitting on her desk. "That was brilliant." I said.
"She's an Animagus." Hermione said, before beginning to tell me what she's read about them. I nodded slowly, writing what she said on a different piece of parchment before returning to our previous task. The doors opened suddenly, and in came Harry Potter and one of the Weasley boys, if I remembered correctly. They had apparently gotten lost, and after they had taken their seats at the front of the room, I giggled lightly.
"They probably also slept in." I said quietly, continuing with my assignment. "I don't think I saw either of them at breakfast this morning." Hermione just shrugged as she continued writing.
"Is the Slytherin dorm really in the dungeons?" Hermione asked as she wrote. I hummed.
"It is. Under the Black Lake in fact. Sadly, there's no windows, and it's sort of bland, but that's fine. It means that it should be less distracting when studying later." I explained. Hermione nodded and we didn't speak again until we left the classroom, heading for potions. I was practically vibrating.
"I need to go get my potions supplies. I'll see you in class?" Hermione asked. I nodded happily.
"Of course." We split so we could get our things. I bumped into someone on the way, getting knocked flat on my bottom. "Ow, sorry." I said when I looked up. It was Malfoy, and he didn't seem pleased.
"Watch where you're walking." He spat, brushing off his robes. "Dirtied my robes." My eyes narrowed as I stood up.
"I'm sorry, should I be kissing your arse for forgiveness." I hissed. "I apologized. I wasn't paying attention because I'm excited for our next class." With that thought, I continued heading to the Slytherin dorm to collect my materials. I joined Hermione as we walked down to the potions room, but sat with some of my house mates so Hermione could sit with a few of her own. One of which was Harry Potter.
When Professor Snape entered the room, my talking ended and I sat straight in my seat. If I failed Potions, Snape would have my head. And be disappointed. I hated disappointing him. Snape started talking about what we would learn in Potions, before snapping at Harry for not paying attention. I wouldn't be able to tell you if he was or not because I was sitting in front of him, but Snape shouldn't have been asking him the questions he was. It wasn't fair. I may or may not have glared at Snape slightly when he returned to the front of the class. And he was not impressed with it if I could say anything.
"Miss. Smith, stay back at the end of the class." He said, and while a few of my classmates gave small huffs of amusement, knowing anything further would not help them any, I narrowed my eyes slightly. Once class was over, I approached Snape's desk. "Would you like to tell me why you have been glaring at me for most of the lesson."
"That wasn't fair." I stated. "Asking questions to someone before the class even began. He's a first year. Not everyone has you as their Godfather or the willingness to learn like Hermione." I pouted then. "You shouldn't be so mean to someone who saved my life, Papa." Snape narrowed his eyes slightly at the slip up. "No one's here to hear it. I'm just saying that you need to be more fair." Snape sighed.
"I am the professor, and as such, I shall do as I see fit in my classroom. Some people need to be taken down a few notches in order to properly learn." He said. I frowned.
"Make sure you take down Malfoy's pride a bit then. He's a bit pompous." I noticed how Snape seemed slightly confused by that. "I bumped into him between Transfigurations and Potions and he looked at me like I had insulted his mother. And I'm the one who got knocked onto the ground. Malfoy's are superior to Weasley's my arse."
"Catherine." Snape warned. I rolled my eyes.
"Yes, I know. My language is less than ideal. But he started it." Snape pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Don't you have Flying Lessons?" Snape asked. I jumped slightly.
"You're right! If I'm late, you better tell Madam Hooch it was because you held me back!" I said as I hurried out of the room.
Oh God, this chapter. I want to have Hermione and Catherine be friends, and I want their to be interactions with Draco, but it's harder than I thought it would be. But I will make it through this!
