"So what are you looking forward to most?" Veronica asks, idly kicking her legs. She's sprawled on her stomach in the grass, picking a stray daisy to pieces.
I look over at Kathleen, who's trying to skip rocks, and then turn back to Veronica. "I don't know. Defence Against the Dark Arts. Charms. Potions. You?"
Veronica rolls onto her back, daisy forgotten. "Flying. Defence Against the Dark Arts. Doing magic in general, really. I can't wait to actually learn some real spells."
By now, Kathleen has given up on ever achieving more than two bounces and has come back over to flop down next to us. "I'm looking forward to Transfiguration," she declares, tossing a small rock she's still holding up and down. "You have a parrot, you wave your wand, poof, it's a cake!"
I giggle, narrowly avoiding her vigorous gestures. I have no desire to get knocked out by a housemate on my first day at Hogwarts, thanks. "I'm not sure I'd want to eat a cake that was once a parrot."
"My cat got turned into a parrot once," Veronica says thoughtfully. "Samantha's fault. Next summer I can get back at her, though." She smirks. "She can find out what it's like to have purple hair for a whole week."
"What's your cat's name?" I ask, idly tracing patterns in the dirt with my finger.
"Fluff. Her Royal Highness for short."
Kathleen snorts. "That's not short."
"I guess not," Veronica grins. "But it suits her. Have you two got any pets?"
I shake my head. "I keep trying to get Mum to get me an owl, but no luck yet. I was hoping that maybe I could convince them to give it to me as a congratulatory present, so to speak, for starting school and all that, but now that I'm in Slytherin..." I trail off.
Veronica pulls herself into a sitting position. "That shouldn't make a difference. You're still their daughter, right?"
I shrug, not meeting her eyes. "As far as I know, yes."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kathleen inquires.
"Only that Dad said he'd disown me if I wasn't in Gryffindor," I mumble.
Kathleen stares at me incredulously for a moment, and then bursts into laughter. "Seriously, Rose? I'm sure he didn't mean it."
"He wouldn't actually disown you, would he?" Veronica wonders. "I mean, can you even do that to an eleven-year-old?"
I shrug again. "I don't know, I've never asked."
"Why all the long faces?" someone asks from nearby.
We all look up to see another first year standing there, one of the boys who was Sorted into Slytherin with us yesterday. I frown, trying to remember his name. Andrew, or something like that?
"I'm Adam, Adam Vaisey," the boy in question announces, sitting down next to us. Ah, so not Andrew then. I was close. And you are?"
"Veronica Nott," comes a quick response from my left. I can hear the smile in Veronica's voice without needing to look in her direction. Kathleen seems a lot more suspicious though, judging by how curtly she gives him her name.
"Kathleen Richardson."
I open my mouth to introduce myself too, but he forestalls me. "And you're Rose Weasley. I noticed you last night."
I narrow my eyes at him. "It's Rose. Just Rose."
"All right then, Just Rose," Adam says cheerfully. "I thought I'd come over and introduce myself, since we're going to spend the next seven years as classmates, we might as well get to know each other, right?"
Veronica giggles. "Might as well. Where are you from, then?"
"Dorset, proud home to the Wimbourne Wasps. What about you?"
Kathleen raises her eyebrows. "Don't tell me you support the Wasps."
Adam's smile is charming, but I can see a steely look behind his eyes. "Course I do. Why, you're not an Arrows fan, are you?"
Kathleen tilted her head. "I am, as a matter of fact. Problem?"
"Not as long as you don't start firing arrows at me," Adam states.
Veronica rolls her eyes. "No one is going to fire arrows at anyone, okay? We can't even figure out how to cast a spell to warm our dorm up – "
"So we weren't the only ones who were freezing last night," Adam interrupts in a satisfied tone. "I told Scorpius it was cold, he just kept going on about how it seemed quite warm to him in comparison to the drafts his manor gets – "
"Oh, please don't let's talk about Malfoy," Veronica breaks in in turn. "New topic – um, Rose, what's your Quidditch team then?"
"Tornadoes, am I right?" Adam says, eyeing me.
I stare at him. "How did you know?"
"I saw you at the game against the Harpies last season," he explains quickly. "I remember seeing your whole family there. It was like a big Weasley outing. Ginger hair, loud mouths, the works. Almost overyone was wearing green and cheering for the Harpies. But I saw exactly one of the group wearing blue. Somehow, I have a feeling you don't enjoy conforming to your family's standards as much as the rest of them do. Were my deductions correct?"
I giggle at the self-satisfied look on his face. "Yes."
At that moment, someone comes down the slope from the castle. "Adam! Adam! Package from Mum!"
Adam looks up. "Coming, Caro," he calls back. Then he turns to the two of us. "I've got to go, but I'll see you round. Bye, Veronica, bye Kathleen. Bye, Just Rose."
We all respond in turn, and then as Adam heads back up to the castle, I turn to the other girls. "So, any particular ideas as to what to do now?"
"We could try to find our way back down to the common-room," Kathleen suggests.
Veronica jumps to her feet. "Good idea, I wanted to see if I could unpack anyway."
"And where are you going to unpack into?" I inquire as we make our way back up the lawn. "You surely can't fit everything that's in your trunk into that tiny nightstand."
Veronica shrugs. "I can move some things over, at least. Then I'll have more space to rearrange the rest of the stuff in my trunk."
"I prefer just keeping it all in one pile," I say, laughing. "I tell Mum that I always know where all my things are – they're all somewhere in that heap."
"And how do you ever find anything?" Kathleen says incredulously, climbing the steps to the doors.
I shrug. "It's all there, I just have to look. It never takes me very long to find things. Any signs of ginger people?" I add warily as we step inside.
Kathleen casts a quick look around the hall. "Not that I can see."
"Why are you so desperate to avoid your cousins, then?" Veronica asks. "You wouldn't even look at that first year one, what's his name, Albus?"
I shrug, keeping an eye on the uneven flagstones at my feet. "I just—don't know how they're going to react."
"To your House?"
I nod.
"It's like I said earlier," Veronica says determinedly, looking me in the eye. "They're your family. If they're really as loving and friendly as the media make them out, then they won't care."
"You saw Fred's reaction," I mutter, trailing one hand along the wall. "He thinks I'm a traitor."
"Fine, so one of your cousins is an idiot. Ignore him. The rest of them can't all be that thick."
I laugh involuntarily at the tone of her voice, and abandon the subject.
We wander around in the dungeons for quite a while, trying first one corridor and then another, but none of them seem to lead us to the right blank wall. By the time we reach the fourth dead end, I'm getting a bit irritated.
"You'd think they'd give us a map to this place or something," Kathleen voices my thoughts. "How are we ever supposed to find our way anywhere? Was this place originally a rabbit warren or something?"
Veronica tugs on my arm, indicating a student who's just turned out of a side corridor ahead of us. "Look, he's in Slytherin, I'm sure he can tell us where to go."
We slowly approach the student, who looks to be about a fourth or fifth year. Veronica's apparently lost her power of speech, so I step forward. "Um, excuse me?"
The boy turns, a friendly smile appearing on his face when he notices the colour of our ties. "Yes?"
"Can you tell us the way to the common-room?" Kathleen speaks up from my left.
The boy laughs. "Lost, are you? Not to worry, we all were our first year. It's just down here, second passage on the right."
I nod gratefully. "Thanks."
"No problem." Then the boy looks at me again, taking in my face. "You're Rose Weasley, aren't you?"
I cross my arms, not willing to get more looks like Samantha was giving me earlier. "I'm Rose."
The boy holds out his hand. "Howard Simons, pleased to meet you." I shake his hand, a bit bemused. "Welcome to Slytherin, and if you ever have any trouble with some of our, ah, more Pureblood members – ", he leans in closer, "then come ask me and I'll teach you this handy little spell I know that will change green and silver to red and gold. Comes in handy sometimes, especially if you add a trigger on it."
"Er, thanks?" I say, unsure of what to make of this student.
Howard winks. "I found it extremely useful my first year." Then he smiles at us all. "Well, I must be off, but have a nice day!"
I turn to the other girls as he disappears off down the corridor. "What was that all about, exactly?"
"He's a Muggleborn," Veronica explains. "First Muggleborn to be in Slytherin for the last, oh, about thirty years. I don't think he had it too easy his first couple of months."
"That charm he mentioned..." Kathleen says thoughtfully. "I wonder if you could reverse it?"
"What, turn Gryffindor colours to Slytherin?" I ask. "I guess you probably could, but why?"
Kathleen smirks. "Let me put it this way, any more of your cousins act like jerks, you can let me do the talking."
I laugh as I realize what she's getting at. "You're on."
Veronica giggles as we head down the corridor Howard pointed out. "Somehow, Kathleen, I have a feeling that I never want to get on your bad side if at all possible."
She raises her eyebrows. "Let's hope you never do." Then all three of us are laughing, the noise echoing slightly down the stone corridors.
We find the common-room easily enough now that we know where we're going. I give the password, and watch the wall slide away. I may have grown up in a magical household, but things like this still impress me. The fact that the room beyond is green instead of red, though, is still a prominent thought in my mind. I wonder nervously if Mum and Dad have gotten my owl yet.
As we step into the common-room, I catch sight of a bookshelf in the corner, and almost subconsciously drift over towards it. Veronica laughs behind me, watching me getting lost in thought as I trail my fingers along the spines.
"I take it you like books, then?"
I nod, smiling at the shelf. "I can't get enough of them. I'm looking forward to seeing the library."
"That's where we should go later," Kathleen says excitedly. "The library."
Veronica rolls her eyes. "Why are you two not in Ravenclaw, again?"
"Because I asked for Slytherin," Kathleen and I respond at the same time. Then we grin at each other.
"I didn't want anyone comparing me to my mother," I say determinedly, turning back to survey the shelves. "I get enough of that already, I was tired of everyone assuming about me."
"You've certainly blown all their assumptions out of the water now, with wearing that," Kathleen says, nodding towards my green and silver tie. "I don't think they can compare you to anyone in your family now, hmm?"
I shake my head. "Far as I know, I'm the first Weasley in green."
"You're definitely a trailblazer, that's for sure," Veronica puts in.
I look her directly in the eye. "Good. I intended to be. I'm tired of following along."
"You'll never get anywhere in life if you just keep following other people," Kathleen says firmly. "I, for example, intend to be Minister for Magic, and I won't get there by following society's expectations."
I giggle. "Minister? Really?" I can't actually tell if she's joking or not.
Kathleen shrugs. "Why not? You can be anyone you want if you set your mind to it."
We stand there in silence for a moment, looking at each other. I smile at Kathleen. "You're right. I can."
Then the spell is broken as I turn back to the bookshelf. "Would you two mind terribly if I abandoned you for a bit?"
Veronica sighs dramatically. "I knew I couldn't keep you away from the books for long. Farewell, my Rose. If and when you reappear, you'll find me waiting."
I laugh. "You're ridiculous. Go organize your teensy cupboard or whatever it was you wanted to do, I'm going to read."
Veronica sticks her tongue out at me. "I was going to do that anyway. Enjoy."
She disappears in the direction of the dorms, and I turn to Kathleen. She's running her eyes along the shelf hungrily, and as I watch, she pounces on a book lower down. "Bingo!"
I take a look at what she's holding up. "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes?"
Kathleen nods in a satisfied way. "Seems I'm not the only one around here who appreciates Muggle literature. I love these books."
I shrug. "To each their own, I guess. I've never been that into mysteries, I prefer fantasy if I'm reading Muggle stuff."
Kathleen winces. "No thanks, give me a good murder mystery any day."
"Go ahead," I mutter, finally spotting a title that seems interesting. "But I'm going to go read by the fireplace."
Kathleen wanders off to find a spot with her book, and I let myself fall onto one of the sofas by the fire, opening my book and soon getting lost to the real world. The noises of the common-room around me fade away as I drift off into the pages, and I jump when someone clears their throat at the other end of the couch. I look up, blinking, to find myself face to face with the boy from the train yesterday. Scorpius Malfoy.
He nods at the book in my hand. "What are you reading?"
I'm still coming out of the world I was in, and it takes me a moment to remember how to talk. "Um, a book."
Scorpius rolls his eyes. "I can see that."
I roll my eyes right back at him. "Then why ask a question you know the answer to?"
He shrugs. "For the purpose of making conversation?"
"There are much better conversation starters than asking rhetorical questions," I challenge him, tucking my feet up under me.
"Such as?" Scorpius raises an eyebrow.
I shrug, casting around for something to say. "Good morning?"
"And what do you mean by that?" Scorpius inquires. "Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?"
I pause, closing my book properly. "All of them at once, I suppose."
Then we both laugh. "So where did you come across Muggle literature?" I enquire, turning so that I can face him properly. "You're Pureblood, right?"
Scorpius nods. "I used to sneak out to the library in the village. Never told Dad, although I think Mum figured it out after a bit. She never said anything to me, though."
I raise my eyebrows. "You snuck out to go to a Muggle library?"
Scorpius chuckles. "Go on, you must have done something of the sort yourself."
I laugh. "Well, I never had to sneak to the library. I used to try and hide whenever Mum wanted to take us, in fact. She was big on immersing us in Muggle culture. I just wanted to stay home and ride my broom. There was one place I did used to go in secret, though," I continued thoughtfully. "Whenever we went to Diagon Alley last summer I'd give Mum and Dad the slip and go down to Florean Fortescue's. I always met up with this girl called Nicole Greengrass."
"She's my cousin," Scorpius said interestedly, tucking his feet up as well so he was sitting crosslegged on the sofa, facing me.
"Really? I had no idea. I mean, I knew she was Pureblood. And I knew Dad hated the Greengrasses, for no good reason. So when I first met her last summer I did my best to get to know her. I didn't want to judge anyone by their last name, I figured I needed to know her myself."
Scorpius gives me a contemplative look. "I can understand that. What I can't understand, though," he carries on, "is why Nicole actually made friends with you – I wouldn't have thought that Uncle Thomas would let her spend time with a Pureblood."
I shrug. "I don't think I ever told her my last name. I don't think she ever told her parents where she was, either. Is she here at Hogwarts now?"
Scorpius nods. "First year like us. She was Sorted into Ravenclaw, I don't know if you noticed her last night?"
I shake my head. "To be honest, I was a bit preoccupied."
Scorpius gives a short laugh. "I'm sure you were. Were you expecting to be in Slytherin?" he asks after a moment.
I look down at the fireplace for a moment, gathering my thoughts. "Sort of. I never thought about it much, but I always knew I didn't want to be a Gryffindor. My parents were, and I'm just tired of having to live up to them all the time. Tired of being just one of the Weasleys, of having to fulfill everyone's expectations. And then the Sorting Hat told me I could choose, so..." I trail off.
There's silence for a moment. At last, Scorpius says, "Well, I don't think you're ever going to be classified as just another Weasley again, that's for sure."
I give a small giggle. "Probably not. What about you?" I inquire, looking up to meet his eyes, which are a peculiar shade of bluey-gray.
Scorpius shrugs, studying the pattern of the carpet. "I think I always knew I was going to be in Slytherin. I did have brief moments of wishing that I could maybe choose my own path. But I wasn't brave enough. The Hat did ask me. I could have been a Ravenclaw. But I was nervous about what my parents would say."
I nod, wrapping my arms around my legs. We sit there quietly for a while. Eventually, Scorpius stands up, grinning at me.
"Never mind all that. We're in Slytherin now, so we might as well make the best of it."
I smile, standing up as well. "I'm sure we will."
