My First Mistake

I find a new compartment where I barely pay attention to the occupants this time. If I don't watch my attitude, I'm going to become problematic within the first day. I am feeling so torn between who I should be here. One part of me wants to try to blend in and the other wants to stand out in the crowd. And while I'm figuring that out, someone else is figuring out who I am.

After finding a nearby restroom, I switch into the robes from my black bag that Mom has packed. I guess I'll order my house tie after I get sorted. It begins to dawn on me just how important the house sorting is. It didn't seem like it mattered when packing my trunk, but now that I'm closer to the verdict, I'm realizing what it means. And I've already made a fool of myself in front of potential Slytherin mates. I'll have to hope that the company that comes along with the house is better than what I've already experienced.

I follow the crowd off of the train and as I clamber up the windy road to the castle, I spot Draco getting into the carriage behind me. He makes eye contact with me and gives a small grimace before turning away again. Whatever, I'll deal with that later. I decide to make a better effort after getting sorted.

The castle is breathtaking as we come into the courtyard. Its turrets and towers seem to loom miles above us. To explore all these halls must take years. A challenge I make on my own to find out the secrets hidden inside. Dad used to talk about a particular room that would appear only to those who needed it most. I never paid much attention to his stories when I got older, and I wish I would have. They could come in handy now.

I spot a woman at the front gates and make my way to her. "Excuse me, but are you Professor McGonagall? I'm Kira…" I move a little closer and whisper "Kira Saunders."

"Ah yes," says the old woman looking down at me through her spectacles. "If you'll please follow me this way."

She takes me off down hallway after hallway and once we reach a statue, she turns to me. "You will be sorted in the Headmaster's Office. I'm afraid it's rare that we accept a case in your particular…circumstances."

Circumstances. Right. I wonder how Mother got to pull this off, me being accepted and all. This school sure does look like it needs hefty donations to keep afloat so I'm sure she put money down that could make a small village happy.

"Sherbet Lemon," she speaks to the statue and it moves to reveal a staircase. She motions for me to move forward up the stairs and I hesitantly do so, trying not to stare at the moving portraits on the walls.

Once upstairs, I'm taken into a room full of books covering tables, spilling from shelves, and piled all around the room. There's a stool sitting in the middle of the room with a hat and this is where McGonagall goes to wait for me.

I approach and she removes the hat for me to sit. I'm not sure what's going on, so I take a seat. I thought I'd have to take some kind of test but she's just holding the hat looking at me with a slight impatience. She then places it on my hat and steps back.

I laugh, feeling stupid. This can't be the test I was dreading. Just as I open my mouth to ask McGonagall what I'm supposed to do, a voice sounds in my ear as though someone was talking next to me.

"What have we got here?" It can only be coming from the hat. "There's a lot going on in here, it's almost impossible to keep one thought on track."

"You're telling me," I mumble.

"There's a lot of potential for power here. A darkness calls to you, I see."

He's getting too deep and personal. I hope he doesn't reveal anything. I wish for it to hurry up and sort me before it speaks something I won't be able to come back from.

"Impatience will make my task harder," says the hat. "But as you wish. Slytherin!"

"Wait, what?" I say as McGonagall removes the hat. I was almost positive I would get sorted into Gryffinclaw or something, the house Dad talked about hating so much. After all, we were complete opposites. And anything to keep him as far away from me as possible.

She's already moving toward the door. "You've heard him. Slytherin is your new house. Now, please follow me to your table so we can get this to the first years in time."

I do as I'm told, but still trying to figure out what it means to be sorted into the same house as my father. Does this mean that I'm already going down the wrong path? The one that the darkness calls to me from?

We enter into what she informs me is the Great Hall, which is absolutely beautiful. Hundreds of floating candles illuminate the room and the starry night sky is seen above on the ceiling. The stories Dad used to tell me are slowly coming back and I'm suddenly feeling like a character in my own made up story. Never did I imagine I would be walking where he used to walk. Before he became the man that he became. Maybe this is where it all went wrong.

McGonagall drops me off a table full of students wearing the Slytherin colors and I try to appear more confident than how I feel. Again, I spot Draco sitting a few places down and gladly take my seat at my new home. I meet the eyes of Blaise and he gives me a small nod. Maybe I managed to not look a fool to everyone.

Immediately, the girl to my right, with long purple hair turns to me and sticks out her hand. "Name's Fey. Haven't seen your face around here before."

I shake her hand. "I'm Kira and I'm new."

"All brand new," says the girl with curly black hair across from me. She sticks her tongue out playfully and I catch a glimpse of a tongue ring. "I'm Trinity."

The girls are eager for something new around here, and now I'm it. I don't get any major bad vibes so I'm happy to answer any question they have. I make sure to keep my reasoning for coming here vague and scoot around the specifics on my family. They seem pleased that I'm engaging with them and I don't mind their curiosity…not too much anyway.

"Here come the freshies," Trinity says turning around in her seat as the front doors open.

In come a long line of scared looking children and I am ever so grateful I don't have to tower over them in hopes of being sorted. I'll have to let Mother know she saved me from embarrassment. Once the students are all sorted, we're joined by a few more Slytherins, who I try to smile brightly at.

Then, up at the front of the hall stands Albus Dumbeldore. I recognize him from a paper that Mother had bought at the station. He's as old as can be, but he speaks with a loud booming voice that echoes throughout the hall.

"Welcome, students. To what will undoubtedly be another magnificent year here at Hogwarts."

"Magnificent for who?" whispers Fey and Trinity gives a small "Ha!"

"Just a reminder to keep away from the Dark Forest and to keep up with your house points. The two are only related in repercussions. This year can be whatever you make it. And with that, let the feast begin!"

The plates in front of us all fill magically with delicious foods of all sorts and I immediately dive in. I didn't realize how hungry I was until his little speech began. I'm barely speaking to anyone, too busy trying every piece of food I can get my hands on.

"Slow down there," Trinity says looking at me from behind her slab of turkey on her fork.

"It's been so long since I've had proper food," I say with a laugh. "My mom isn't the best of cooks and I inherited that trait, unfortunately."

"Wait until dessert comes," Frey says clapping her hands together. "This is my favorite thing about being here. The rest…not so much."

I catch on to her sour attitude about the school. "What's so bad about Hogwarts?"

She shrugs. "Sometimes it's easy to get lost in the sea of students, you know?"

Trinity rolls her eyes before leaning in to me. "There's people here that you'll find that know how to get what they want, those that accept things given to them, and then the sad bunch that don't even know what they're missing out on."

Is this some kind of riddle? She seems like she's pleased with herself for letting me in on the secret and goes back to eating. Just then, the plates change to the anticipated desserts. I'm overwhelmed by the tarts, puddings, and—

"Chocolate!" I say excitedly grabbing a slice of cake. "Is this school serious? Forget about the freshmen 15, this stuff will give me 15 times my weight!"

I'm suddenly starting to ease my nerves with random chatter and laughter with the girls. Maybe I shouldn't have to worry so much about what to expect, it seems like the flow is going in the right direction for things. I look up from my second slice of cake to see a man with slick black hair and a piercing black eyes looking at me.

"Professor Snape," pipes up Fey. "How was your summer?"

"Uneventful," he says, eyes still on me. "And you are Ms. Saunders, I presume?"

I sense Fey tense beside me, but when I look at her she's busy devouring her apple pie slice.

"Yes," I say to Snape. "Am I in trouble for something?"

"Should you be?" He asks with a raised eyebrow.

I can't pin if he's being humorous or not, seeing as his facial expressions are barely changing. "I don't think so."

"Let's keep it that way," he says and hands me a paper. "You've managed to pass into all the same classes as your peers. Congratulations."

It's my schedule. I compare with Fey and Trinity and luckily find that I have either one of them or both of them in my classes, all except for Astronomy at midnight. What kind of school has a class at midnight? But I'm not worried about the classes at all. Mother has prepared me after all these years to handle anything.

Just as I stretch, backwards, I knock into someone behind me. I look around and see a tall guy with warm brown eyes and a dimples in his cheeks.

"I am so sorry," I say quickly.

"It's alright," he says and I feel myself falling into his soothing voice.

Our interaction is brief, but as he exits the hall followed by a shorter guy, I find myself following him with my gaze.

"Who's that?" I say turning back to the girls. "He's absolutely delicious!"

"I think his name is Dean," Fey says nibbling on a cookie. "He's in Gryffindor."

Trinity scrunches up her nose in clear distaste. "You can't be serious, Kira."

"What?" I laugh. "Are we not allowed to mingle between houses?"

Fey waves her hand to dismiss the idea. "You can do whatever…or whoever you like."

"Easy for you to say," Trinity mumbles and Fey throws the rest of her cookie at her.

"Come on," she says to me. "Let me show you our common room."

As I'm walking, I am trying to take in other people that I had not seen on my way in. There's a lot of different faces among the crowds and although it may be frowned upon to intermingle with other houses, I don't want to limit myself already.

Suddenly, I trip over something and fall to my knees. I look around and spot Pansy giving me a dirty look before sticking her leg back in.

Fey helps me to my feet as Trinity steps to Pansy. "Watch it!"

"Oh, piss off," Pansy laughs.

"Its fine," I say, brushing off my knees. "Soon, she'll realize I'm not the one to play this game with."

I look around for my schedule and spot Malfoy sneaking a look at it on the ground. I snatch it up and he doesn't look my way. Maybe he was checking to see if we paired in any classes. It's going to be inevitable that we're going to have a class together, I'm sure.

"Are you coming?" Trinity asks me and I follow her to the exit where she turns to me. 'What was that all about?"

"I had a bad run in with Draco and his group," I say with a shrug. "I can handle it."

"Mistake number one," Trinity says seriously. "Don't underestimate Draco and his crew. They are not the best people to be around."

I give a slight laugh as we head down a flight of stairs. "I could have figured that out."

Fey is quiet as we descend and I find that odd seeing as she is a lot more chatty than Trinity. I was sure she'd have some words about Pansy. I look up and watch as the stairs change. Another challenge I'm going to have to deal with. My sense of direction is abysmal.

"We live in the basement of the school?" I ask as we walk down a long dimly lit hallway.

"You don't like dungeons?" Fey turns to me with a wink.

"I doubt this is the kind I'd like," I laugh.

We stand outside an archway and before a stone wall. I'm wondering if this is some kind of trick. Maybe I should have been more careful in wandering off so fast with girls I barely know. But no harm could really come to me on this campus, right? I begin to panic internally.

"Did you get the password from your lover boy?" Fey asks to Trinity.

"Dingleberries." Trinity says to the wall and it opens to reveal an entrance to a room. She turns to Fey with a smirk. Maybe this is where they take me to torture me because they really are friends with Draco and it was all a prank.

As we enter, the room opens into a larger space the sight of the common room is enough to ease my anxiety. I spot luxurious furniture all around and while a fire is going in the fireplace, it fills the room with a warmth that I gladly soak in coming from the chilly hallway. It looks like a lot of money was spent in furnishing this room. I can only imagine what the bedrooms look like. I tried to be humble growing up, despite coming from dirty money. And now it looks like I'll be able to indulge in luxurious surroundings that I don't have to worry about where they came from.

"Impressed?" Fey says nudging my side. "Wait until you see the bedrooms!"

She'd read my mind.