Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. J.K. Rowling does.

Chapter 4:

Damn that bloody Sorting Hat. Damn it to bloody smithereens. Damn its ridiculous idea. It's the stupidest piece of rubbish Ron ever knew. Like he needed to grow up. He was pretty mature for his age. Most kids would run away screaming when following their worst fear. Most kids would throw a fit at having to live in another time.

That blasted scheming hat. It probably wanted him to be stuck with future Death Eaters until he could return home. It did ridicule him for his reaction to Harry entering the Twiwizard Tournament. It did dare propose the idea that he abandoned Harry for greed as if he was a bloody Slytherin.

If only screaming in this hallway could help. If only his chest could stop churning. If only he could feel like he wasn't choking on his own spit. But the room kept spinning and the armor kept laughing at him. He could hear it clamoring on the floor.

Hermione would tell him to stay calm. But Ron bloody couldn't. Nothing could change the fact that the hat bloody announced to the whole school that he was a future Death Eater scum. Nothing.

"Weasley!" Someone shouted behind him. Ron refused to find out who it was. The only possibilities were people he rather not converse with.

"Robert Weasley," Another voice called with obvious fake cheerfulness. "I will not lie to you. You are already in Hippogriff rubbish from where I stand, so I would advise you to listen to us. You do not want to ruin your image further."

"Don't want to talk," Ron snapped bitterly. "Leave me be."

"We very much wish we could," the first voice said. "Yet, we still do our job."

Someone stepped around him. It was a rather obese girl with a startling clear face. A Prefect badge shinned on the left side of her chest. "We are the fifth year prefects of Slytherin House. My colleague over there is Cadmus Greengrass…" Of course, Slytherins had to pick such bloody ridiculous names. "… and I am Niobe Warrington."

Ron snickered; she had an even more rubbish name. "Those are the stupidest names I ever heard."

Instead of yelling at him, like Malfoy would have, the girl simply chuckled at Ron's reactions. "Yes. Our names can seem a bit strange. Especially to a low class family such as yours, Robert."

Not that got him. "How dare you. My family is far better than your family can ever hope to be. We don't go killing Muggle-borns and hexing muggles and believe in blood purity nonsense."

The girl smiled at Ron's outburst. "Now, now. Robert. If you cannot accept a critique, do not go out sharing some of your own."

At that point, the other prefect tapped Ron on his shoulder and held out his hand, "It's a pleasure to meet you." Ron's eyes remained clued at the boy's long ponytail. It reminded him faintly of his oldest brother Bill. The boy waited a moment for Ron to shake his hand and then sighed. "I guess your going to live up to Nie's expectations then. Pity."

"As if there was any doubt." Warrington smirked, revealing shiny, chipped teeth. Gross, they looked like a skeleton. "After listening to his outburst in the Great Hall, it was impossible for you to be right."

The other prefect must have noticed Ron's look of disgust because he chuckled, "Its for Samhain. That's why Nie's teeth appear so wicked. A rather brilliant potion, I might add. We could give you some, if you like."

"Gross." Ron grimace became wider, stepping backward nervously. "Keep your grotty teeth to yourself."

The two prefects glanced at each other and after a moment seemed to agree on something. While Greengrass left to go behind Ron somewhere, Warrington asked, "Do you us to continue to freak you out or follow us to your dorm room?"

"Just leave. I'll find a place for myself," Ron replied.

"I thought you would be reluctant at entering the Slytherin dorms." The girl frowned. "Your display in the Great Hall greatly dismayed much of your housemates. You are already in great trouble and I hope you understand that you need to make up for your unbecoming reaction earlier."

"Trust us." Warrington had returned with a dusty suitcase. "You can either reject us again and sleep in an empty classroom or someplace equally uncomfortable or join us and sleep in the best dorm at Hogwarts. I am pretty jealous you have the chance to room in the Seventh year dorm as a Fourth year. So much more cozy than a typical dorm. Merlin, I would have transferred if I known."

"Pretty sure everyone would." Greengrass grinned. "And have begged for Slytherin. From my sources, all the other houses keep everyone stuck in the same room all seven years."

"One of the benefits of belonging to the most noble house." Warrington grabbed the suitcase from the other prefect. "What's inside this suitcase sure has seen better days. Ditto to the classrooms. A bit more ragged than our dorms. So, your choice, Robert. "

"Bugger off," Ron snapped. He had no bloody idea why he was still talking to them. "Go back to your stinking, cold dorm. I want nothing to do with you future followers of You-Know-Who."

The girl threw the dusty suitcase at his feet. "Fine with me." She then turned to her partner. "Think we did enough to satisfy dear Slug?"

"Plenty," Greengrass replied cheerfully, shaking his long ponytail. "Come on, we've got a party to go to. Think they still have some Cockroach Clusters?"

"Please. Michel never runs out. Its more the Firewhiskey I'm worried about."

The two began to walk away, much to Ron's relief, when Greegrass decided to bother Ron one last time. The sneaky future Death Eater whispered in Ron's ear. "One last warning, one of the rules at Hogwarts is staying away from the Forbidden Forest. It's hard to miss. A very wide foreboding woods outside, past a rather munted shack. More than ever, do not dare enter the Forbidden Forest tonight."

RWMMRWMM

At first it appeared that the Forbidden Forest was quiet. When Ron entered the forest, he could only hear the soft whish from the tree's falling leaves and branches. He wished Harry or Hermione was beside him as he walked pass the dark brown trees further into the forest. A chilly breeze ran pass him and a tree branch almost hit his shoulder. For the first of many times that night, Ron wished he never decided to find out what was going on in the forest.

The two Slytherin Prefects had rattled him. The way they pretended that they were actually interested in allowing him into their house. The way they acted like they were normal and not evil. They had given him a suitcase full of the crappiest clothing he ever seen. The ragged cape riddled with dust-bunnies was simply vulgar. But the pink and blue dress robe rolling with frills was even worst than the horrendous dress robe Ron's mother had bought him last summer. It had reminded him of a mixture of a ghoul and a clown.

Warrington's final words kept creeping into his mind while he looked through those grotty clothes. The boy future Death Eater had to practically say they were planning on doing something horrible in the forest. They could be hexing Muggle-borns with the Unforgivable Curses or even leaving them to be eaten by the Acromantula. Only a true snake would know what horrible deeds the Slytherins were doing.

The idea of leaving the Slytherins to do those horrible things had made up his mind to try to stop them. But now all he wanted was to leave the creepy woods. Reminding himself that his other choice was to sleep knowing he would never know what the Slytherins' plans were, Ron continued to walk through the darkness. He continued to feel the tree branches bristling pass his hands. He continued to walk alone.

Halloween at Hogwarts had been a night where Ron knew something bad was going to happen to him. The troll first year, facing Filch's accusations in Dumbledore's office second year, sleeping in the Great Hall Third year. He had thought this year was the worst when he lost his best friend. But now he guessed this Halloween would contain the worst event of his life.

He could now hear blatant cheering. Drunken voices singing and hollering so loud Ron imagined for a second he was in the Gryffindor Common Room during a Quidditch Victory Party. But then he remembered he was in the woods where future Death Eaters were probably busy enjoying a night of hurting Muggle-borns. He bet he was going to die tonight. The Slytherin's were going to kill him for daring to infiltrate their plans.

Suddenly, he smelled something disgusting, like turnips. He then noticed it came from him. He sneezed and gagged at the smell. A high laugh followed, followed by the sound of thunder.

"It's a pity you didn't listen to Cadmus's advice," Warrington's voice echoed across the trees. "It goes to show we are right and you are truly a Gryffindor. I really wonder what you did to the hat to have him place you so in a house you simply do not belong to."

"Like I bloody hell now. Get this smell off me," Ron screamed, hating the sound of his horror. "Get it off."

The sound of thunder continued, steadily increasing in volume. The smell on him worsened, turning into the worst blend of smoky firewood and fish. "Hah. Begging never helps. Only answers. If you ever want to be accepted into Slytherin, that's the first thing you need to know."

"I didn't want to be in bloody Slytherin." Ron rubbed his nose, hoping that anything would end the terrible smell. "I'm just going to stop you Death Eaters from hurting all the Muggle-borns."

Warrington laughed. Rain began to fall over his arms and the smell eased slightly. "You are bonkers, Robert Weasley, simply bonkers. You really thought were out here to hurt people. On Samhain of all days." The girl continued to giggle fervently. "We are here to party. The party of the year, many will say. A pity you proved you cannot join us this year."

A bright light flickered between them. He could now see the outlines of the girl's smirking face. Ron clenched his wand tightly, terrified at whatever was going to happen next. This dark forest could be the least place he ever stood.

"Ex…Ex." No, disarming wouldn't do any good. What was a good hex? What was something that would help him? Why didn't he pay more attention in Defense?

"Answer me this." Warrington said. Ron could now make her out from the shadows of the trees. "Are you here to change Slytherin on the inside out because you believe brash people like you are better than us in some way?"

"I wanted to be in Gryffindor." Ron gripped his wand more tightly. Running spell ideas in his mind. That Summoning spell. That hex Ginny blabbered about. That first year spell, Wingardium Leviosa. "The bloody hat went bonkers on ridiculous idea that I needed to grow up."

The light beamed brighter. Yellow glare heated up in Ron's eyes, making them itch worst than when they did after Fred and George put itching powder onto his pillow. "That bloody hat," The Slytherin girl groaned as her shadow swindled around behind her. "That bloody hat."

"There you are Nie." Someone unfamiliar called. The voice's Irish accent reminded Ron of Seamus. "What's keeping your Hinypunk in a rut?"

"Nothing Margaret," Warrington answered. Ron could see a tall girl now standing next to Warrington in the shadows of the trees. "Just dealing with a crasher."

"Ah, the transfer." The mysterious girl walked closer to Ron and he could feel her hand near his face, see her yellow teeth glittering from a small ball of yellow light. "Definitely a Weasley. Like a blind cobbler's thumb they are."

The girl's red ringlets brushed against Ron's chin. He could feel heat rising in his chest. "I'm not the one with horrible yellow teeth. I bet your even more munted in the daylight. Like a arse-faced banshee."

A spell hit him and Ron felt his nose prickled. The redhead girl said softly. "Nah, I think your going to be the monster who scares everyone tomorrow."

"Nice, Margaret," Warrington said. "I think that's your best work yet."

The two girls laughed and the sounds of the party bellowed in the background. Ron continued to scrub his nose, causing his palm to itch from a sharp end. He will get that girl if it was the last thing he did and all those horrible future Death Eaters.

"I'm sorry Weasley, but this party is for true Slytherins only." Warrington's friend said when her giggling subsided. "Crabbe, Avery, can you make sure our new housemate finds his dormitory. I would hate to think we are unwelcoming to our new Slytherin."

AN-

Happy Halloween!

Thank you everyone who is reading When All Seems Lost.

I greatly appreciate your reviews, JeanAndBilius and Arla Logan. Its wonderful to know your opinions of this story so far.

I hope everyone has a memorable Halloween,

HappyTerrier