Chapter 2

Allura was sitting on her bed, trying to process all the information going through her mind. Professor Slughorn had left her a few minutes ago after having showed her the entrance to the dorms as well as where her rooms were that she would be sharing with the other girls. She was already worried enough about fitting in; being in the past just happened to make things all that much harder.

She wasn't particularly worried about the fact that they were Slytherins, after all she was friends with a few of them herself; it was the fact that they were the future parents or grandparents of her good friends. She was afraid of slipping up and calling them the wrong name, or saying something she shouldn't.

She looked at the room around her. It was surprisingly warm for being in the dungeons, but she supposed that probably had to do with the large roaring fire to the side of the room. Its green flames cast a strange glow around the room making her wonder if they were underneath the black lake. Looking at the beds she had to smile at how alike the dorms were. She figured there was must be some kind of generic look with only a change in colors.

The four poster beds were all green and silver, she was almost tempted to see if it was real silver. As she was getting the courage to actually touch the hanging silver curtains someone walked into the room. Looking up in surprise she smiled shyly and couldn't help but stare. The girl in front of her was a blonde beauty whose face went from confused to suspicious to a strange mix of the two; even with the strange look on her face, she looked very pretty.

Cocking her head to the side just slightly the other girl was the first to break the silence. "Who are you?"

"Allura Bryant, although I much prefer Ally."

Recognition seemed to light up the other girls face. "Oh, you are the transfer student! Professor Slughorn stopped me on my way in to let me know about you; he wanted me to make sure you made it to dinner." She smiled before holding out her hand. "Narcissa Black, it's nice to meet you."

Grinning back at Narcissa, Ally took her hand and shook it. "It's nice to meet you Narcissa."

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Narcissa and Allura hit it off from the start, feeling like they had known each other for years. In the span of the two hours between their first meeting and dinner, they had conversed over every subject from having younger brothers, to the annoyance of living in a place where nothing could be kept secret for more than an hour or two. Making their way down to the great hall arm in arm, the two girls walked towards the doors only to be stopped in their tracks when a shadow overtook them.

"Ah, my dearest Narcissa, I have been wasting away in the time I have spent away from you." Both of the girls turned at this and Ally had to hold in her gasp, the young man in front of them was a less effeminate Draco Malfoy, though she would venture a guess that since she was currently standing next to Narcissa, Draco's mother, then the one in front of her would have to be Lucius Malfoy, his father.

Glancing briefly at Narcissa, Ally had to stifle a laugh, even though 'Cissy was rolling her eyes in supposed disgust, Ally had to note the very slight appearance of a blush staining her new friends cheeks. "It has been all of two and a half hours since you last saw me in passing Lucius, so I hardly believe that you have been wasting away." with that, Ally found herself being almost dragged into the great hall. "Let's go Ally, we have wasted enough time here already."

Lucius Malfoy glanced over at Allura in surprise. He hadn't noticed her at first; he had certainly never seen her around his lovely Narcissa before, and he had certainly done enough watching to know the girls she normally hung out with. Before Narcissa could get Allura seated he walked up and took her hand in his. "Enchanté Mademoiselle. I do not believe we have been introduced before," he took a breath to speak some more. "May I inquire as to your name? Also I just have to ask, do you know if your heart is missing, because if not, I may just have to steal it for myself!"

Allura smiled in amusement. "Let me guess, you are the school flirt?" his perfect smile faltered if only slightly; smirking she continued. "I know someone just like you, you know; if you are as much like him, or I should say he like you, then I am sure you and I will get along just fine." She said thinking of his future son Draco.

He looked at her like she had taken a swan dive off the astronomy tower before he just couldn't help but laugh. He held out his hand. "Lucius Malfoy, school flirt and future boyfriend of Narcissa." at Narcissa's indignant look, Ally laughed and took Lucius' hand.

Lucius started leading her over to their table when Ally heard something that sounded distinctly like spluttering as Narcissa attempted to catch up. Sitting down next to Narcissa she was quickly moved aside so that Lucius could sit between them. Ally couldn't help but look around her. Everything was so much different than she remembered. Her eyes strayed over to the Gryffindor table searching for that oh so familiar head of messy black hair; it was no-where to be found, and she felt the tears start to build up.

Allura had never really realized how much she relied on the familiarities that she was so used to; her brother and his friends, the teachers at the high table, and the blue and bronze place settings of her normal table. Before her she had none of that, there were silver and green place settings, as well as quite a few unfamiliar teachers. She dropped her head down and let her hair fall in front of her face to hide her eyes. The long dark auburn hair flowing down around her shoulders and effectively blocking out the world in front of her.

She couldn't stop what she was sure was going to come. The laughter and continuous chatter around her continued on as her world shattered around her; her world was being destroyed and yet life went on. She could hear both Narcissa and Lucius arguing with each-other over everything and nothing; neither noticing her silent tears.

Ally heard greetings exchanged as someone else joined them at the table, though there was no indication that whoever it was had taken a seat. She tried to fight the shaking that her body was trying to do; the quiet sobbing wracking her body and causing her to shiver uncontrollably. Her arms wrapped around her body in an attempt to keep a hold on to the small bit of pride that kept her from sobbing hysterically and running out the door.

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Tom Riddle found himself rolling his eyes in disgusted amusement. He couldn't figure out how the two people in front of him weren't together, after all they were already fighting like a freaking married couple. Lucius clearly adored Narcissa and even though Narcissa was fighting with him, she clearly enjoyed every moment of his courtship; enough so that they seemed to be completely oblivious to the shaking girl right next to them.

He had never seen her before, and yet he couldn't stop himself from staring. What little he could see of her indicated that she was roughly around his age and that she had a delicate face; which had tears streaming down it. His eyebrow raised in surprise before it hit him; this girl was the new transfer student. Professor Slughorn had mentioned her to him in passing, after all as Slytherin Prefect it was his job to make sure she was shown around and made quite welcome.

His eyebrow raised even higher as she continued crying while Lucius and Narcissa kept up the arguing. He couldn't believe they hadn't seen her yet, or at the very least felt the movement next to them. His inner Slytherin demanded that it was every man, or woman, for themselves and if she wanted to greet the entire school like a messy blubbering idiot than that was her prerogative. Unfortunately the prefect in him demanded he make her feel welcome since she was a member of his house; something in the back of his head told him to follow his inner prefect.

Tom normally wouldn't think twice about not following the advice of the voices in his head, not that he heard them often mind you, but on the rare occasion that he did, he tended to go against what it told him. So far disobeying the voice hadn't led him wrong, but something in his gut, he would almost call it instinct, told him to actually follow the voice. So he turned on his heel and made his way up to the Headmaster.

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Ally had finally found it in her to make an attempt at curbing her break-down, because as oblivious as the two love-birds next to her were, they were bound to notice her eventually, and she really didn't want to go down that road right now. Squaring off, she took a deep breath and stiffened as a hand fell on her shoulder. "Stand up calmly and walk out of the hall like nothings' wrong."

The voice that had spoken in her ear was a rich tenor, which for some reason made her feel safe. Deciding to follow her gut she carefully extracted herself from the table and looked up to see whom the voice belonged to. The boy had already turned away and was walking towards the doors leading out of the Great Hall. His sable hair reached the nape of his neck and his school robes billowed behind him, reminding her fondly of Severus Snape.

Following calmly behind him she exited the Great Hall and had to look around in confusion, the boy wasn't there. Glancing to the left, she barely caught the flurry of black robes heading down the stairs towards the dungeons. Hurrying to catch up, she made her way down the stairs and continued following the boy all the way to the common room.

She hesitated outside the entryway, after all she had never met the guy as far as she knew, and seeing as he was a Slytherin, who knew what he was planning. However he made up her mind for her, "I don't bite you know, so you can stop worrying that something is going to happen."

Following him into the common room, where he was standing with his back to her facing the open flame in the large hearth to the side of the room. He indicated to one of the black leather couches and said something that sounded awfully like "take a seat." She flopped ungracefully into a very comfortable armchair.

He turned to her and took a long look at her; she had composed herself in the five or so minutes that it had taken them to reach the common room. And she composed herself well, he had to admit, the only indication that she had cried at all coming in the form of blood-shot puffy red eyes. Everything else about her was perfectly immaculate, just as any good Slytherin would do. He couldn't help but be impressed at her strong will.

She frowned as he looked at her in a contemplative way. "Was there a reason you had me come down here? Or are we just going to hang around here and contemplate the mysteries of the universe?"

Tom blinked at her once, twice, three times before a smirk appeared on his face, "I think we can skip the contemplation since I doubt you could keep up with me, but as for why you are here, you looked like you could use a night to compose yourself." she flushed in embarrassment while he continued.

"Look, there is no reason to be embarrassed, you looked overwhelmed, and I was asked to help you out your first few days here. My first bit of advice to you is this; Slytherins are a hard bunch, living in a world where it's every man for themselves, and loyalty to our own is tantamount, and weakness or those who are seen as weak are squashed like a bug."

She looked up at him with a strange fire in her eyes, "If this is supposed to be helpful, so far it just makes me want to shoot you in the face."

He glared at her, "I am telling you that if you wish to survive this year then crying in the middle of dinner in the Great Hall is not the way to go. You haven't gained the loyalty of anyone in this house as of yet, and so they who don't know your circumstances will only see it as a weakness. That is why I brought you here; to give you time to compose yourself, and a night to yourself, without being picked apart by the eyes of everyone in the Great Hall."

She looked down in shame. "It's been a long day for me, and while that could be considered nothing more than an excuse I guess I should just say that you are right. I am sorry. I didn't mean to come off as ungrateful."

His glare softened, "I understand, this is probably very overwhelming; a new school, new people, nothing familiar at all. I think you should get some rest, I will make sure you get shown around tomorrow." She nodded and headed towards the girls dorms. "Oh, and if you have any questions, or need any help, just ask for me. The name is Tom Riddle." with that he walked out, missing her wide eyed look of confusion.

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"Don't you agree Ally?" Narcissa looked past Lucius and her eyes widened in surprise as she looked around for the missing girl.

Lucius got a lascivious grin on his face, "Oh, Tom led her away about ten minutes ago; that boy works fast if I do say so myself." He got a look of admiration on his face before he continued. "Depending on the reasoning for his stealing our precious princess away from us, I am going to predict he will be back anywhere between another ten minutes and half-way through dinner, unless he gets off early, in which case... OW!" He held his head as he turned around "Tom! Why did you have to go and do a thing like that!"

Tom rolled his eyes as he sat down next to his best friend. "Just because you and Nott are perverts doesn't mean that everyone else is. Hello Narcissa." He nodded to said girl, before continuing. "As for your new girl Narcissa, she is in the dorms; she looked like she needed it, so I took the liberty of sending her to bed."

Narcissa's eyes widened and she got ready to stand when Tom set his hand on her arm. "If she is as tired as I think she is, I doubt that your going to see if she is okay will be all that welcome since you would just wake her up; talk to her in the morning." Narcissa nodded before settling down to dinner; questions could wait until later.

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Ally opened her eyes the next morning and screamed. Narcissa clamped her hand over Allura's mouth and tried to hush her. Ally's eyes were bugging out as she pulled Narcissa's hand off her. "You know, I probably wouldn't have screamed if I hadn't woken up to your face two inches from mine!"

They looked at each other and burst out into laughter. "Will you two keep it down!" A pillow was thrown at them from one of the other girls in the room. Looking at each-other they continued laughing though it was much more subdued.

"Are you ok, I know Tom brought you back here last night, but I didn't get the chance to see if you were ok."

Ally nodded, "Yeah, just a minor break-down, I just got really overwhelmed last night, but I am much better now." She blushed as her stomach rumbled. "Maybe we should head down to breakfast, it seems I might be a bit hungry." They both laughed as they got ready and headed to breakfast.