AN:

I was consulting my roommate on a few things and have come to two conclusions:

1. Being the daughter of Sirius Black would make Andromeda, Narcissa, and Bellatrix Lillian's second cousins, not her aunts.

and

2. Apparently there is no such thing as god-siblings.

So, this is what I'm going to do. Considering both of these facts are technicalities I'm going to disregard them. If these two facts shook the very foundation upon which Harry Potter was written, well, that'd be different. So, Andromeda, Narcissa, and Bellatrix are Lillian's aunts for all intents and purpose; and Harry Potter is Lillian Black's god-brother as she is his god-sister.

Special shout outs:

Guest: Thank you for bringing to my attention the age issue! I got my math a little off. Lillian is actually a first year, I was basing my math on Harry being nearly two when his parents were killed, but he was barely just 1, so I've altered her age making her a little over two years old when the Potters were murdered. (If it helps, her birthday is December 30, 1979, making her 7 months older than Harry - and 12 going into her first year of Hogwarts). In regards to writing it as a series, we'll see. :) I'm sort of writing this as a fly-by-my-pants kind of thing; which should be interesting because I haven't ever really written a story like that before. :D

SwiftAlice: I'm glad you're enjoying it so far! If you have any questions, feel free to PM, review or email me; I'd be more than happy to help clear a few things up, and maybe they're common concerns and I can address the story as a whole to make things more clear, and better for you as the reader! :) I'll try to do my best to keep updates consistent and not too far stretched. Hope you enjoy this next chapter, and have a great day! :D

x

"Black, Lillian!" The cheers for the Abbott girl died immediately, everyone turning to watch as the unassuming-looking young girl made her way towards the hat, leaving behind a rather disgruntled pale-skinned boy, and a rather indifferent looking dark-skinned boy.

Curious by the sudden silence, muggle-born and half-bloods began to murmur amongst themselves, inquiring as to just who the young dark-haired girl was to inspire such severe silence. Various jaws dropped, a few eyes almost jumped out of their sockets, and more than a few turned away in open disgust as the petite girl clamored onto the stool and patiently, expressionlessly, waited for the hat to be placed upon her head.

"Ah, Lillian Black. It's been awhile since I've felt a Black's mind."

"Like what you see?" She mused wryly, it chuckled.

"What I think I see isn't what I actually see though, is it?"

"How am I to know what it is you think you see?" She countered.

"Intelligence in spades." The hat mused softly, "Too much intelligence for Ravenclaw I'd say."

"Do people who covet intelligence really ever consider there to be a level of intelligence too great?"

The Hat ignored her parry, "Your heart is large, but wounded. You're suspicious, and though you are accepting, you'll never be as blindly accepting as a Hufflepuff. You've got courage; you wouldn't have survived the bloody pits of pureblood society without it."

"But how did I survive cutthroat purebloods?"

"By being cunning, but you already knew this," The Hat seemed rather amused by the whole situation, "You don't have to convince me of where you belong. SLYTHERIN!"

None besides the Slytherins clapped, which wasn't a surprise to her, Lillian hadn't expected the other houses to rejoice that another snake was among them; she was young, but she had never been naïve.

Having recognized most of the older Slytherins sitting at the House table from Malfoy functions in years passed, she elected to sit away from them and towards the head of the table, surrounding herself with empty seats instead; she knew the older Slytherins were the type of people she would never choose to willingly socialize with.

The two Slytherins sorted after her chose to sit next to the older Slytherins, leaving her unaccompanied until a Devon Maccabee was called and sorted.

The girl was rather skinny, with tawny brown hair – hair that kind of reminded Lillian of a lion she once saw in a painting – and heterochromatic eyes, one green and one brown; and when Devon took one of the many empty seats directly beside her, Lillian was admittedly surprised, even more so when the other first year decided to speak to her.

"I won't care if you're a Black if you don't care that my parents are muggles." She whispered beneath her breath, eyes on the sorting still taking place at the front of the Great Hall.

"Being a friend to me will get you even more blacklisted than you would just being a Muggleborn." Lillian responded without thought.

"The other houses already hate me for being a Slytherin, Slytherin's will hate me as soon as they learn I'm a muggleborn. I'm already blacklisted." She whispered back.

"If you're positive." Lillian glanced at the girl on her left.

Devon met her gaze, her heterochromatic gaze hardened in a way that suggested she had already learned where muggleborns stood in the world of magic. "Never been more sure about anything in my life."

Lillian gave an affirming nod before returning her gaze to the sorting hat that had just screamed Slytherin whilst barely even touching Draco's meticulously slicked back hair. "Welcome to the dark side Devon."

"It's only the dark side if you don't know any better." She countered softly as the pale-faced boy strode to the Slytherin table, claiming the seat beside Lillian with a flourish of pride that had the other houses sneering and the older Slytherins smirking – they'd all be fools if they didn't know who Draco Malfoy was.

When it was all said and done, Lillian was facing the upcoming year with solid support at her back. She had Draco, and though he'd never blatantly say it, he would thoroughly bully anyone who dared make an attempt to hurt her, either emotionally or physically. She had Devon, a muggleborn who had firsthand knowledge about condemnation that comes with a genetic makeup you couldn't control. And she had Blaise Zabini – who sat across from her at the more secluded end of the Slytherin House table – words had never been exchanged between them, not really, but she knew he would be an ally if she ever requested it of him, knew that because of the few glances they had shared since their encounter on the train.

Hope you enjoyed!

Feel free to let me know what you think.

Until next time,

x