I'm so sorry that it's taken so long to update! It's been bad with school, and I'm afraid that the updates will only get slower from here. Hopefully this super long chapter will help soften the blow…
Disclaimer: I'm on Fanfiction, aren't I?
Having walked out of the fireplace, Annette was waiting for me with her arms crossed and her foot tapping. Crossing one arm over my chest and using the other to brace my head on, I groaned slightly. She was clutching a piece of parchment, and I could only guess whom that was from. Grumbling from behind my hand, I warily asked, "Alright, what did he say?"
Glaring at me, Annette shook the parchment to straighten it out and cleared her throat, as if she were reading a speech for the Minister of Magic himself.
"To whom it may concern,
Rita has started and led a food fight within my kitchens. She has been sentenced to cleaning the kitchen without magic with my own children and the other children involved. I would like to inform you that she is lucky I didn't inform the Ministry of Magic about her nonchalant attitude towards performing underage magic, even when she attempted to perform some within my house.
As much as she is family, I feel that she needs to have a few rules enforced. In my own opinion, I feel that she should not be practicing constant underage magic at home, and that she needs to learn respect for her elders. Her knowledge of politically correct behaviour leaves something to be desired, so she needs to learn also some basic social skills.
I hope that she is drawn back into line, and I wish to see her on her impending first day at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Yours truly,
Draco Malfoy"
Clearly expecting me to be properly contrite, she was most unimpressed when I just looked disgusted at my cousin's pathetic attempt to regain lost pride with childish tactics that even I hadn't used in years. Annette sighed and picked apart the letter.
"Well, for starters, you know you shouldn't be charm baking in someone else's house, family or not. You do need to learn better behaviour and a concept of respect, but his comment about your 'underage' magic was totally unnecessary. Monetary influence or not, he is not a Ministry official, and because I am the official here, I shall make the final call on what you are and aren't allowed to do."
Raising an eyebrow at her unexpected outburst, I went to get up and go off to the library, when Annette stopped me again, the picture of a furious mother.
"And just where do you think you're going?"
"The library?"
"Oh no, you're not. You are going to your room to learn your lessons. Now get moving or I'll levitate you there."
Sighing and rolling my eyes, I walked along to my room, but not before summoning a couple of books from the library. Once the books were sitting snugly in my arms, I completed my journey to the cave that was my room.
After a couple of hours spent reading on my bed, I closed the cover on the Goblin Revolutions and flopped back to look at the ceiling. Though my room was mostly black, green and silver, my ceiling was a view of the sky. It was one of the first projects Father and I had done. Removing the roof over my room was a pain, and trying to make the shield completely waterproof was a nightmare, but we got it right in the end. I'd managed to spend a few minutes happily cloud watching before Anastasia had covered my face in the attempt to get my attention.
Needless to say, she succeeded.
Sitting up, I stroked her back as she curled up in my lap. My cloud watching went undisturbed for another hour or so before Annette poked her head around the door.
"Rit, I've invited the Malfoys around for dinner. Are you going to come and have something?"
Groaning, I let my head hit the mattress again and grabbed the pillow to cover my face. "No thanks, Annette, I'm not hungry."
Sighing and knowing full well that she wouldn't get anything more out of me at that point, she went to leave. Seeing her about to go, I called, "Give them some cupcakes before they go, there's a fresh batch in the cupboard."
"Which ones? The caramel ones or the red velvet?"
"Which will offend them less, a Hufflepuff colour or a Gryffindor one?" Annette chuckled, thinking of the reaction of the Malfoys if we gave them something in the colour of the houses Draco despised most. "Wait, come to think of it, I think there are still some chocolate mint cupcakes in the pantry as well."
Chuckling slightly, Annette said, "I think I'll give them the chocolate and mint cupcakes. Goodnight, Rit," and then closed the door with a quiet thud.
Putting Anastasia onto the bed beside me, I went to my ebony desk and grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill, before pulling out the chair and penning a letter to the Malfoys, in apology for the scene I created. Wouldn't Annette be proud, she'd been trying to get me to write that letter ever since I first returned to the manor. Better late than never, I suppose.
Signing my name with a flourish, I snatched the parchment, rolled it up and opened the door to go to the owlery in the east wing by the library. The noise caused Anastasia, whom had been napping on my pillow just seconds before, to hop onto the ground and pad towards the door, black tail puffed out and swaying. Seemingly, she wanted to come with me, but when I gestured to the door, she sat down, her tail curling round her paws. Rolling my eyes, I knew that this was another one of her games, her Kneazle brain getting its fill. She was bored stiff of the manor, I knew that, and toying with me was her vengeance.
"Well? Are you coming with me or not?" I had long since stopped bothering that I was crazy for talking to a cat. She was too smart for her own good, and people thought I was crazy already. I may as well give them something to base their theories on.
Rolling her eyes in the same manner that I had done just seconds ago, she gently walked out of the room, looking back at me once in the corridor with a disdained face, she lifted a paw in the direction of the east wing. Scowling at my kitten that was too smart for her own good, I followed the direction of her paw, preparing to send the letter for my cousin, whom I would meet with his family once again in less than a week's time.
Wading through the muggles that packed King's Cross, Annette, Father and I headed towards Platform 9¾. Father had had to petition to be allowed out of the house to come and see me off, considering his house arrest and reputation of one of the most dangerous Death Eaters of all time. Maneuvering the loaded trolley complete with caged cat through the sea of muggles was not pleasant, especially with Annette worrying in one ear and Father making disparaging comments in German about the amount of muggles in the other, not to mention the annoyed mewls of Anastasia, no doubt complaining about the cage and the amount of people she had to put up with.
Spotting the platform in the distance, I sped up, causing Annette to lurch forward with the trolley and Father to swear under his breath and walk faster. Now facing the platform, Annette gave me the instructions on how to get through.
"Right, so you've got to run, right into that wall, and then you'll be at Platform 9¾. I'll give you the demonstration, shall I? And then you and your father can run through together." She backed up from the wall, braced herself, and then ran full speed into the wall, disappearing from view.
Looking at my father for reassurance, I looked between him, his hands and the trolley, hoping he would get the hint and hold onto the handle so we could run through together. He did, thankfully, and put his hand on the trolley. Looking at me for the first time without some form of disapproval, he counted down for us to run through the wall together.
"Eins." We backed up.
"Zwei." We braced ourselves.
"Drei." We ran for the wall, going through it and landing rather clumsily onto Platform 9¾.
The Hogwarts Express was there in all its glory. It was just like the pictures, shiny black paint with red accents, and the plaque with the words 'Hogwarts Express' displayed proudly at the head of the train. The view was cut off when Annette ran to us as Father dusted imaginary lint off of the shoulder of his robes. I surveyed the area for any sign of my slightly delusional blonde cousin and his family. While I failed to find them, finding the Potter-Weasley clan was a piece of cake. Even I knew that there were only so many redheads on this side of the Atlantic, and the Weasleys made up most of that number. Fortunately, walking towards the sea of red allowed me to find a small island of blonde. Sighing in relief when Astoria waved frantically when she was who was walking towards her, I smirked and picked up speed, causing Annette and Father to jolt and run after me. Thankfully, I managed to stop the trolley just before I crashed into the back of Al. Once Father realised whom I was desperate to meet, he scowled and ground to a stop. By contrast, Annette clapped her hands in excitement and ran faster towards the clan.
"Ooh! I get to meet you all at last! My name's Annette Hamilton. I'm the Ministry employee in charge of the Lestrange family." Annette was attempting to shake hands with as many people as she could, going at a previously unknown speed.
Shaking my head, I muttered, "Annette, could you please act less like a fangirl and allow me to greet my friends and their families properly?" She blushed and scuttled to the side, allowing me to greet the hordes of redheads properly. I went round the female Weasleys, then Potters and Malfoys, and then turned back to see Al's trolley, which had something that I was not sure was regulation.
"Al, how come you have a ferret is a pet?"
The gang burst out into laughter, all except for Draco, who blushed furiously and looked downwards. Mr Potter had doubled over with laughter and no one else could stop laughing for long enough to talk. Mr Weasley seemed to be the first to reach talking point.
"Malfoy… Ferret… Moody… Oh, Merlin!" was all he managed to get out before falling over laughing. Sighing, I crossed my arms and began to tap my foot, waiting for the next person to return to a comprehensible state of speech. Surprisingly, the next was James.
"Mr Malfoy got turned into a ferret by Mad-Eye Moody in DADA in their fourth year!" And with that, he too was once again lost to the uncontrollable laughter. He came back down to Earth when Mrs Potter slapped him upside the head and scolded, "Don't make fun of Malfoy, James, no matter how much of a ferret we know him to be." Grumbling under my breath, I braced my head in my hands as I waited for the mob of Weasleys, Potters and Malfoys sans one to stop laughing. Thankfully for me and quite clearly my cousin, the end was near. Sadly for Draco and everyone else, the sober mood was brought on by the reappearance of my father. The aforementioned man stood behind me, and judging by the look on Draco's face, I could tell that he was wearing one of his more common looks. A disdained expression, complete with a raised nose and snootily looking down at whomever you were attempting to intimidate. Intimidate it did, as the Hogwarts-aged members of the clans scrambled to get their belongings before muttering quick goodbyes and tripping over each other in their haste to get on the train. As I opened my mouth to start the awkward introductions to the remaining audience, the whistle blew, signaling that we all had to get on the train quick smart. Not wanting to miss a seat on the train, I quickly nodded to Annette and to Father before grabbing my things and running towards the train.
"I know this is rude, but can I please leave you to introduce yourselves? You're all reasonable adults," I said with pointed looks at Draco and Father, "and I think you can introduce yourselves. Plus, it would not be terrible for our reputation if I were late for my first day of school, for something as menial as missing the train. Goodbye, everyone. Annette, I shall owl you and Father when I get sorted."
And with one last look, I took my luggage and boarded the Hogwarts Express.
Finding a seat was harder than I had first thought. Most of the cabins were full already, everyone already having found their particular clique. Running into the back of Jade was unexpected but welcome, until I saw her look of distress.
"We're taking up the two cabins at the end. One for all the older Weasleys and Potters and one for the everyone else, Malfoys included." She smiled apologetically. "I'm really sorry, but there's just no room, unless you want to sit on the floor, on top of your things…"
Shaking my head and putting on a small smile, I replied, "I can find my own cabin, Jade. I cannot rely on your family or the Potters or the Weasleys to help me all the time." She smiled once more and ran off to join her brothers and the others. Walking back along to the other side of the train, I noticed a cabin that was empty, bar for two boys. Knowing this was as good as I was going to get this close to departure, I opened the door fully and sat on the opposing seat. I levitated my bags into the overhead compartment and looked to the two boys across from me.
"Can I let my cat out or not? She's going to go crazy if she stays in her cage for much longer." They had been sitting in stunned silence, but the boy on the right managed to say, "Sure, why not, she can roam for a bit. What's her name?"
"Her name's Anastasia." I shook my head, disbelieving that I had forgotten my manners so quickly. "Forgive my rudeness, what were your names?"
The boy on the right smirked. "Anastasia, eh? Sounds a bit stuck up, if you ask me. I'm Michael Cloaks, fourth year Gryffindor. I'm called Mads, for reasons you shall discover later." He said that last part with an evil undertone; a familiar tone when one lives in my house, if you could call it that. Turning to the boy on his right, he nudged him and said something in his ear that I couldn't hear. The boy who was nudged glared at his friend and looked at me to introduce himself.
"I'm Wolfgang Archibald Quenton, second year Hufflepuff. Call me Wolf, I refuse to respond to any other name, especially when my name sounds so stuck up. Hey, speaking of stuck up names, can we call your cat Ana? Bearing in mind that I'll call her that anyway."
Crossing my arms and screwing up my face, I was about to state that there was absolutely, under no circumstances that my cat was about to be called something as revolting as 'Ana' when a flamboyant blonde opened the door and flung herself in. Clearly having not noticed the appearance of a stranger, she grinned widely and stated, "Who missed me?"
"Lexy!" Wolf had jumped up and ensnared the vivacious blonde in a hug, the prey laughing all the while. Mads had just let his smirk grow, putting in his own two Knuts' worth of, "Good to see you, Miss Riddle." I felt my eyes widen, that could only mean that she was a descendant of the infamous Lord Voldemort. Yet, he was dead, so there had to be another explanation.
"Excuse me, Miss Riddle? May I please know your name?" The blonde whirled around, before noticing me on the seat across from her friends.
"How rude, boys, you didn't even tell me that we had company. Alexis Riddle, second year Hufflepuff along with our dear Wolfie here." She rubbed his hair for emphasis, to which he scowled and shoved her away gently. Alexis scoffed and sat between the boys, slinging an arm around both of them. Seeing my face of disbelief, she rolled her eyes and explained, "Yes, yes I am the granddaughter of Voldemort. Yes, yes I am a Hufflepuff. Yes, yes you can remain nameless. I'm sure that with family like mine, yours is sure to be an improvement."
Letting my annoyance mix with hers and set in, I made myself known.
"I am Rita Lestrange, though I prefer Rit, as it causes fewer hexes to fly, and injuries such as that are such a pain to cover up. I'm a first year this year, quite obviously, and my cat is called Anastasia. And you may not call her Ana." The last sentence was said as Alexis opened her mouth to ask what Wolf had asked not minutes before.
The blonde opposite me grinned widely, and hugged the two boys flanking her tighter.
"You know, I think I like you, Rit. Got a lot of spunk. Plus, it'll be a nice change from these punks. Won't shut up about football and West Ham and nonsense." She saw Mads open his mouth to say something, which she intercepted with, "I don't care that your fathers are friends, nor do I care that I'm not interested in that particular part of Muggle culture. I refuse to join the Muggleborn and the other Half-blood for summer to watch something as mind-numbing as football."
Mads huffed like a small child and turned away from Alexis, his hulking pubescent form making the scene all the more amusing. Wolf just rolled his eyes and started fishing for something in his pocket. The girl in the middle just smiled and commented, "Call me whatever you want, so long as it's not my full name."
Wolf turned back to her and smirked. "Does that mean I can call you 'Sexy Lexy" again?" She slapped his shoulder in response, huffing, "Not if you want to keep your balls, Quenton."
"Anything from the trolley, dearies?" Wolf handed over a few Sickles and requested some Chocolate Frogs, Alex purchased some muggle licorice and Mads spent a little on some Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. I purchased two Sugar Quills, eating one myself and giving the other to Anastasia, who snatched it and clambered to the overhead locker to eat her prey. Chuckling quietly to myself, the four of us quickly lapsed into a comfortable silence, each eating our treats. Once all was eaten, bar a few beans, which Mads stored for later, Anastasia made a return by leaping from up high onto the lap of Wolf. He caught her and forced her to stay as he petted her. She swapped between glaring at her captor and glaring at me, the owner whom was clearly not going to come to her rescue. Alex picked up Anastasia, pulled her into her own lap and proceeded to pet her in the same manner that Wolf had done, only this time the kitten purred happily. The response caused the younger boy to pout slightly and cross his arms.
"Why didn't she do that for me?" He whined in the direction of his friends.
Alex chuckled, before retorting, "I just have that 'magic touch', dear Wolf. Also, she may have smelt Pepper on your clothes. Merlin knows that cat has the touch of hell written all over him."
Glaring at Wolf before he could open his mouth to retaliate, Mads snapped, "Could you two please behave for the remaining half an hour we have on this train? It's not going to kill you to keep calm for the remainder of the trip." Glowering among themselves, they all settled down and we returned to the quiet we had experienced only minutes before. After some more stroking of fur and a couple of stomach scratches, Alex looked up and said, "This little kitty really needs a nickname. Don't get me wrong, Anastasia's a pretty name, but it's a serious mouthful. If we can't call her Ana, can we call her Sia instead?"
I mulled over the new nickname. It was much easier to say than Anastasia, and wasn't quite as mundane as Ana, and the kitten sure had enough personality to be worthy of such a unique nickname. I eventually conceded and nodded my head in agreement. Wolf and Mads' jaws hit the floor. Mads could barely contain his shock, Wolf couldn't contain his frustration. He got up, moved to sit on my right and started an animated conversation about muggle football with Mads. Alex just rolled her eyes spoke again.
"Their fathers are best friends, basically brothers. Wolf's a half-blood, his mum's a witch and his dad's a Muggle. Mads is just flat out Muggleborn. The four boys always bond over football, though at Hogwarts these two tend to bond more over Quidditch. Mads is the Keeper for the Gryffindor team and Wolf wants to be a Chaser for the Hufflepuff team. I'm the Seeker for them, actually." She turned to look at me. "You play Quidditch?"
I shook my head, contemplating the famous game. "I have never flown, to be honest, and I have never seen a game, but I've read several books about it. I think I would be better suited down on the ground, in a library somewhere. But I am fascinated with the thought of flying, so I would love to have a fun game at some point."
Alex gaped at me. Turning to the boys in the corner, she hissed in disbelief, "She's never played Quidditch. Never even watched it. She's never bloody flown, for Merlin's sake!"
"WHAT!?" Wolf shrieked as Mads fell off of his seat. Wolf was up and pacing, while his friend was stuck rubbing his head on the floor, dodging the incessant pacer. "You've never played Quidditch? You've never bloody well flown? We're going to fix that right away. As soon as you've got access to brooms at- Colt!"
His ranting was interrupted by the arrival of Colt, whom was standing in the doorway, scowling at Mads, whom had fallen over as he was leaning on the closed door. He looked up and regarded the others in the room. "Hey Wolf, Alex, Rit. I don't suppose you've seen my snake?"
Wolf paled slightly while Alex rolled her eyes. Mads sat up, rubbing his forehead and muttered exactly what I was thinking; "Why the bloody hell have you got a pet snake, man?"
Glowering at the older boy, he snapped, "I happen to love my snake, thank you very much. As a matter of fact, I happen to think that your owl is- Hissy!"
Mads glared back, getting up and preparing to lecture the blonde. "I'll have you know, my owl is called-"
"No, you imbecile, my snake is called Hissy! He's up there with the kitten!" Getting up and glancing up at where my bags were, I spotted Sia playing with a scarlet kingsnake. Assuming that was Hissy, I picked the two of them and handed the snake to Colt. "Out of curiosity, how come he's called Hissy? That's slightly childish for you, isn't it?"
Shooting me a patronizing look, he replied, "I made the mistake of letting Jade name him when we were little. Now I want to change it to something more respectable, he refuses to respond to anything else." He shifted his gaze to the snake in his arms and the kitten in mine. "Our pets seem to get on, regardless of his ridiculous name."
While contemplating how Colt could ever think that Sia batting Hissy's head with her paw was 'getting on', Mads voiced another concern.
"Isn't that a coral snake? You know, something poisonous?"
Shaking my head, I put Sia down and explained. "Hissy is a scarlet kingsnake, which are very similar to the coral snake in appearance. To quote a popular Muggle saying to remember the two, 'Red touch yellow, kill a fellow. Red touch black, friend of Jack.'"
Getting up and taking Hissy out of Colt's arms, Wolf slung the snake around his neck and smirked. "I had wondered why he hadn't bitten anyone, especially me and Lexy." Alex giggled while Colt rolled his eyes and took his snake back. Looking out the window, he head for the door, but turned over his shoulder to call out, "As a heads up, Molly Weasley's Head Girl." And with that, he turned and left.
Mads looked like he wanted to throw up at the news, while Wolf and Alex looked as if the world had ended. Looking between the three of them, I dared to raise the question, "What is the problem with Molly Weasley as Head Girl?"
Wolf looked at me as if I had asked what train I was on. "The better question to ask is what's not wrong with Molly Weasley the Second. She's as scary as her namesake when she's pissed, she's as swotty as her dad Percy and to top it all off, she's inherited the famous Weasley temper. To make everything worse, she's a Head this year. We'll be stuck with her constant fury!"
"If you're quite done insulting my cousin."
We all snapped around to spot Rose, standing in the doorway of the cabin. I swear I heard Alex mutter, "What is it with all these visitors today?" before Rose spoke again.
"I know Molly's a pain in the arse, but she is Head Girl and you're just going to have to deal with it. Now, Rit, is there any way that you can look after Lily and Hugo for me? They won't let anyone else know, but they're scared stiff… and is there anyway you could look after Jade, too?"
Wolf looked at the redhead questioningly. "Colt's little sis?"
Rose nodded. "Yeah, that's the one. Scorp won't say anything about it, but he's worried sick about his baby sister starting school… please, Rit, can you look after them?"
I raised an eyebrow at her. "You do realise I'm the same age if not younger than your relatives and Jade, don't you? Plus, I don't have any older siblings or relatives to look after me. Don't you think it should be you offering to look after me, or getting your brother and cousin to look after me, instead?"
Wolf slung his arm over my shoulders. "Are you kidding? You've got us, kid. We'll help ya out."
Looking at the boy on my right suspiciously, I commented, "I was under the impression that you didn't like me." Rolling her eyes again, Alex placed her arm over my other shoulder.
"Don't worry about him, he's just a dick to anyone he's not sure about at first."
"HEY! I resent that!"
"Did I mention he acts like a child a lot of the time? I swear to Merlin, he's never grown up…"
"Shut it, Lexy."
"Can we come back to me now?" Rose was still standing, rather amused, in the middle of the doorway. Feigning innocence, I gestured for her to continue.
"Look, I just want to make sure that Lily and Hugo know someone before they start, whether you're going to get into their house or not. Please promise to help me look after them?" When I nodded, she turned to Mads, whom had managed to get up off the floor and return to his seat in the corner without us noticing. "I hope James and Fred don't give you much grief this year, Mads."
Laughing with a slight bitter note, he replied, "Are you serious? Those two are going to kill us all, and ruin any chances Gryffindor has left of the House Cup."
Grinning, she retorted, "That's what we're counting on. I'll see you guys off the train." Then she closed the door. Quickly turning on Mads, I questioned, "What have you got against Fred and James?"
He groaned and buried his head in his hands. "You've heard of the Weasley twins, yeah?" At my conformation, he continued. "They're just the same, if not worse. Fred takes samples from his dad's shop and he and James prank everyone left, right and centre. They get in trouble and lose more house points than everyone else combined. It's awful, they don't even have the brains that Fred's dad and namesake had, they get caught all the time!"
Wolf slumped down next to his friend. "Mate, you've got to admit, some of their stunts are pretty cool." Mads glared at the younger black haired boy.
"Just because you want to help in their stunts and think they're cool doesn't mean that anyone in Gryffindor will agree with you that they're worth losing the house points over."
Alex's screeching interrupted them. "Damn, we've got five minutes to get into our robes! Quick, chuck them on!" She threw black objects at the heads of the boys, along with a red and gold tie and a yellow and black tie. I summoned my robes from my bag and put them on, along with my black tie, complete with the Hogwarts insignia. We managed to gather our things together before the train halted suddenly, causing Sia and Mads's owl to shift from one of the overhead lockers to another. My kitten was not particularly impressed that there was food in the cage that was squashing her and she had no way of accessing it. We grabbed our belongings and ran, I put Sia in her cage as she left, dodging her rather lethal claws. I managed to bid adieu to my new friends and meet up with the Potter, Weasley and Malfoy clans, as I promised Rose. I had the three youngest members shoved towards me while the older members ran towards a small spat, including suspiciously victorious Fred and James, an irate Molly Weasley and a furious Al, with hair that was messy green and silver as opposed to his normal messy black. There was a lot of shouting involved, largely over each other. I managed to hear the gist of the conversation, if one could call it that, as well as some words I would rather not repeat. The screaming match was cut short with Molly mid-reprimand.
"WHA' THE BLOODY 'ELL IS GOIN' ON 'ROUND 'ERE?"
A greying Hagrid made his presence known, coming closer to the arguing brood. "All righ', what's goin' on 'round 'ere? 'Onestly, you two, I though' you'd be better than that!" He tapped his umbrella on the ground and Al's hair returned to normal. He sighed before continuing. "There, that's be'er. Now shut yer trap and an' get ta school, ya troublemakers. All right, firs' years, follow me."
After a quick boat ride across the lake, Hagrid lead all the new students towards another famous war hero, Deputy Headmaster Longbottom. Thankfully, it turned out that I didn't need to look after Lily, Hugo or Jade after all. Jade had managed to find a friend already and Lily was dragging Hugo towards the school in boundless excitement. She pulled him to the front of the crowd where she said rather loudly, "Hi, Uncle Neville!" The professor chuckled, before telling her it was Professor Longbottom now and that she should let go of Hugo's collar before he passed out from suffocation. Reluctantly, she let go of her cousin before returning to the crowd. Hugo rubbed his neck before following her, muttering something about deranged cousins. Snickering, I followed the professor as he led us through the wooden doors into the Great Hall. As everyone stepped through, we all looked towards the ceiling, charmed to look like the night sky, as I had read many a time in Hogwarts: A History. The floating candles added their own element to the artificial starlight as we headed to the front of the room, in front of what I could only assume to be the professor's table. In the front was a small wooden pedestal, with a worn hat perched on top. It must have been black once upon a time, but it was now grey from being worn so often, and also the treatment it had received during the war. Professor Longbottom strode up to the stool, took a piece of parchment from where his place at the table was and proceeded to read.
"Welcome, first years, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. When I call your name, could you please come up to the stool so that the hat can place you. Baddock, Jasmine."
A short girl with long black hair scurried forward and sat eagerly on the stool, shaking with what I could only assume was excitement when the professor placed the famed Sorting Hat onto her head. Not a moment later, the hat cried, "RAVENCLAW!" and she ran off in the direction of her new house's table, grinning. I tuned out as a few more names were called, but then I heard something I couldn't ignore.
"Lestrange, Rita."
If there was anything I learned from my father, it was the importance of façade. No matter what, one must always pretend that they are full of confidence and self-assured. I walked with my mask in place up to the stool, took a seat and waited for the hat to be placed on my head.
A couple of seconds later, I felt the worn cotton of the Sorting Hat on my head. It began whispering in my ear.
"Very clever, yes, indeed, loyal too. But I feel that you would be bes-"
"Just put me in Slytherin and get on with it, yes? You have people to sort, just stick me in the house of the snakes."
I could feel the hat attempting to glower at me in its response.
"And with that cutting remark, I'll put you in SLYTHERIN!"
With the last word said aloud for the whole of the hall to hear. Proudly, I waltzed across the room towards the Slytherin table, to the music of polite but very much forced applause.
Sitting myself down next to Al, I managed catch Jade being sorted into the same house, a relieved smile on her face as she clambered off the chair and walked towards me. Moving over so she had a seat, I turned to her and said, "Congratulations,", Scorpius leaned over the table to ruffle her hair and Colt looked disinterested. I turned back around to see Lily on the stool, with the hat pondering for a second before proclaiming, "GRYFFINDOR!" loudly enough that some of the candles began to quiver. The Potter-Weasley component of the table stood up in uproarious applause, as the new Gryffindor blushed the famous Weasley red and practically ran to her seat. A girl called Snarsha Remeair was sorted into Slytherin. She strode over to the table, pushed Jade across to the side, and plopped down next to me. She faced me and held her hand out stating, "Remeair, Snarsha Remeair, call me Sa." She grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously as she continued.
"I can tell that we're going to get along just fine. That hair colouring charm? Fabulous. You're Rita, right?"
Pulling my hand out of her grasp, I said reluctantly and cautiously, "Rit, if you don't mind." I looked at her long chestnut hair that was all in ringlets and said quickly, "Do you mind if I cut that tonight? You don't seem like the long hair kind of girl…"
She grinned so widely I thought her face was going to split in half. "Yes, please, I've wanted to have it cut for ages, but Mum and Dad always said no. Can you give me a pixie cut? Please, please, please?"
Recoiling slightly at her blatant enthusiasm, I contemplated her request and nodded slowly. "I can see that looking good on you."
Her brown eyes sparkled in excitement. "Sweet! We'll do it once we've gone to the common room!"
I was about to respond when Al nudged me in the ribs, telling me to shut up and listen to Hugo's sorting. The last Weasley was immediately named a Gryffindor and he sprinted with vim and vigour towards the Gryffindor table, where the rest of his cousins were waiting with open arms and more than enough red hair for one school. Waiting for the hall to settle down, Headmistress McGonagall stood up and made her speech. Relaxing into the small talk that accompanied the feast, I listened to the boys across the table prattle on about Quidditch and some girls further down gossip about the 'hottest guys' in the school. Before too long, we were ushered to follow the Slytherin Prefect, Gale Flint, towards our new common room, which happened to be in the dungeons down by the lake.
He droned on for a bit, quite bored with his role, before he began the useful parts of his speech.
"The current password to the common room is anaconda. Boys cannot go into the girls' dorms as the stairs are charmed, boys' dorms on the right, girls on the left. Our common room is under the lake, so please don't do something stupid like try to open a window or something." He whispered the password to the wall and a patch of the stone disappeared, revealing our common room. "Now get in there, you lazy first years."
Having far more than half a mind to hex him, I walked past him into the common room, going down the stairs on the left towards my new dorm. Going down the dark corridor to the last room, I opened it to find three beds, one for Jade, one for Sa and one for me. I claimed the bed in the far corner of the room, put my belongings where I could find them, let Sia out of her cage and waited for Sa to be ready for me to help her with her hair. Jade came in and snagged the bed in the middle of the room. Jade was still unpacking her things when Sa flew into the room, hunched over puffing and panting when she stopped.
"Sorry… I was just… dropping Noccy… off at the owlery…"
Cocking her head to one side, Jade queered, "Who's Noccy?"
Standing up after regaining her breath a little, Sa continued. "Noctowl, my owl." Noticing the blank look on Jade's face, she waved her hand at her. "Didn't expect you to know it, it's a Muggle game I'm obsessed with. You know of it, Rit?"
Nodding my head slightly, I commented, "I think so, I'm pretty sure Annette got me to watch some of the television shows about it. Sa, where do you want to sit so I can do your hair?"
She parked herself on her new bed and said, "Here's good." I was just about to start the charm to cut a section of her hair when Sia jumped onto me from behind. Unhooking her claws from my hair, I placed her next to me on the bed. She gave me the same disdained look that she had worn on the train and put a paw out in the direction of my new roommates. Understanding her gesture, I rolled my eyes and spoke.
"I apologise, you two. This is my cat Anastasia, though she responds to Sia as well. Sia, this is Jade Malfoy and Snarsha Remeair."
Jade continued unpacking as Sa turned around and looked at me strangely.
"Don't you feel a little weird talking to a cat? How do you know that she understands?"
Rolling my eyes again and forcing Sa's head back the way it was, I made some mental calculations as I quipped, "She's part Kneazle and too smart for her own good. I've given up on feeling or looking crazy long ago. I'm almost ready for the final cut, though it may take a while."
Sa nodded and took something out of her pocket and put it into her ear. It was white and long, rather like an enormous white worm. More than a little disturbed, I asked, "Sa, what have you put into your ear?"
Confused once more, Sa faced me and pulled the offending item out. "This?" At my affirmation she continued. "This is a headphone. I'm listening to music on my iPod. It's a Muggle device that stores music. Headphones help me to listen to the stored music."
Comprehending what she was saying, I gestured for her to put the headphone back in and picked up my wand. I made a few initial cuts before tidying, then summoned a mirror and handed it to her. Ecstatic with her new look, she abruptly jumped on me and hugged me, much to my shock. Brushing the remaining hair onto the ground and transfiguring it into a small ball of wool, I threw it in the general direction of Sia, whom snatched and started batting it around the room. Jade opened her mouth to say something when the door swung open to reveal an older Slytherin student, whom I could only assume was a prefect.
"Lights out in ten, I expect no noise after that."
After she had closed the door, I Silenced the room so we could continue. We all went to get changed into our nightclothes when we heard a small rumble coming from the front corner of the room. We found a slightly embarrassed Sa, whom was clutching her stomach.
"Sorry, I'm just a little peckish…" She muttered by way of explanation. Jade looked like she understood, and commented, "My brothers are always complaining that everyone's starving in here. It's too far to the kitchens and even if we did go, the patrolling Prefects'd catch us. Don't worry, Sa, you're not alone."
Contemplating the consequences, I queried, "Should I make some cupcakes and leave them in the common room?"
Jade grinned while Sa looked skeptical.
"If they're your cupcakes, people'll love them, Rit," Jade stated happily.
Sa looked at her, suspicion etched into her face as she argued, "But Slytherins are suspicious by nature. There's no way that people would actually eat them without question."
Waving my hand in her direction, I remarked, "Sa, we're talking about boys and food. They will eat them without question, Slytherins or not. Now, are you two going to help me bake or are you just going to help me carry them out."
Sa conceded and the two of them agreed to help charm enough cupcakes for all of Slytherin house. Quickly and quietly placing them on platters in the common room table, I placed a small placard in front, that read, 'Miss Spirit's Cupcakes – Citrus Cupcakes. Take and enjoy.' Retreating back to our dorm, we soon succumbed to exhaustion, dreaming contentedly about the exciting year to come.
Congrats on surviving the chapter.
Reviews and criticism wanted and required!
Luna
