Next chapter! As you can probably tell, I took a good amount straight from the book, so: I don't own Hp, JK Rowling does, but I own Bella, and her family, and a few OCs.

this means speaking in Fey~

Here we go!

It became very evident over the next few weeks that Pansy was in charge. She was always in the company of two or three of the other girls, and never stopped telling them when to and how to do things. Bella, who, before Hogwarts had considered Pansy a friend after the few times they played together, was getting frustrated.

Daphne Greengrass also seemed to be increasingly annoyed with Pansy's behavior, but she as well never confronted her about it, preferring to settle for bitter stares and disgruntled scoffs.

The thing that bothered Bella to no end was how nasty Pansy could be. Her first burst of nastiness was displayed very vividly in their first flying lesson, something Bella had been looking forward to. Unfortunately, the lesson was with the Gryffindors, who seemed to be able to make an argument out of anything. At the beginning of the lesson, things had been quite fun, as everyone else had also been looking forward to it too, telling great tales of escapades on broomsticks, the majority of which Bella doubted were true. She only contributed one story, just slightly exaggerated, of a time when she had borrowed Aunt Elena's broomstick and managed to fly into a large orchard, to be chased out by loudly barking dogs at high speeds.

As it turned out, Tracey, Vera, and Rachel had never been on a broom in their lives, as all of fathers or brothers deemed it unsafe and promised they would learn at school.

All of the boys had flown before, and their stories rivaled even the Gryffindors; whether dodging hang-gliders, helicopters, hot air balloons, or planes, all of them had somewhat of the same story.

At breakfast on the morning of the lesson, there was a small disturbance involving Draco Malfoy, Neville, a Remembrall, and Professor McGonagall, but apart from that, the day went smoothly, until the lesson, that is.

At three-thirty that afternoon, Bella, following Tracey and Pansy, hurried down the front steps into the grounds for their first flying lesson. It was a clear, breezy day and the grass rippled under their feet as they marched down the sloping lawns towards a smooth lawn on the opposite side of the grounds from the Forbidden Forest, whose trees were swaying darkly in the distance.

The Slytherins were the first to arrive, to find twenty broomsticks in neat lines on the ground. Bella had heard one of the older boys complaining about the school brooms, saying that some of them started to vibrate if you flew to high, or always flew slightly to the left.

Their teacher, Madam Hooch arrived after the Gryffindors. She had short, grey hair and yellow eyes like a hawk.

"Well, what are you all waiting for?" She barked. "Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

Bella glanced at Millicent Bullstrode, who shrugged, as if to say 'we might as well'. She walked to stand next to a ancient broomstick with a well worn handle and slightly bent twigs.

"Stick out your right hand over you broom," called Madam Hooch at the front, "and say, 'Up!'"

"UP!" Everyone shouted.

Bella's broom lept into the air, but not high enough to catch, so she made a grab for it, and missed. She frowned at the broom.

Why should she be picking it up with her wrong hand?

She hopped over it and said, "Up!" again.

It jumped into Bella's hand, and she caught it this time and grinned.

A few others were having trouble as well, and Bella could tell at once that most of the people who had flown before had been able to do it in their second or third try, while some people's brooms just rolled around.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows, correcting grips. Bella was rather surprised when she told Malfoy that his grip was entirely wrong, after the amount of boasting he had done.

"Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard." Said Madam Hooch. "Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet and then come straight back down by leaning forwards slightly. On my whistle: three - two -"

But Neville, who Bella had always known to be clumsy, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips.

"Come back, boy!" She shouted, but Neville was riding straight up like a cork out of a bottle - twelve feet - twenty feet. Bella saw his scared, white face look down at the ground falling away, saw him gasp, slip sideways off the broom and -

WHAM - a thud and a nasty crack that Bella thought sounded like a broken bone, and Neville lay, face down on the grass in a heap. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher and started to drift lazily towards the Forbidden Forest and out of sight.

Madam Hooch bent over him, her face as white as his and said something Bella didn't catch.

She turned to the rest of the class.

"None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave the brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say 'Quidditch'. Come on dear."

Neville, his face tear-streaked, clutching his wrist, hobbled off with Madam Hooch, who had her arm around him.

No sooner than they were out of earshot than Draco Malfoy burst into laughter.

"Did you see his face, the great lump?"

The Slytherin boys laughed, as did most of the girls, except Bella, Daphne and Millicent.

"Shut up, Malfoy." Snapped Parvati.

To Bella's continued disgust, Pansy stepped forward and crooned, "Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom? Never thought you'd like fat little crybabies, Parvati."

"Look!" Said Malfoy, darting forward and snatching something out of the grass. "It's that stupid thing Longbottom's gran sent him."

The see-through orb of a Remeberall glittered in the sun as he held it.

"Give it here, Malfoy." It was Harry Potter, speaking quietly from the Gryffindor crowd.

Malfoy smiled nastily.

"I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to collect - how about - up a tree?"

Bella almost stepped forward, but Harry did first, yelling, "Give it here!"

But, to her horror, Malfoy lept onto his broomstick and took off. He hadn't been lying. He could fly well - hovering level with the topmost branches of an oak he called, "Come and get it, Potter!"

Harry grabbed his broom while someone argued.

"I can't believe it." Muttered Bella to herself. "Malfoy and Potter are willing to get themselves killed, just to spite the other!"

There was a soft snort from beside her, and Bella realized Daphne had heard her.

Harry Potter did it. He kicked off and soared up, with just as much skill as Malfoy, to stop sharply in front of the other boy. Harry's friend whooped and several girls gasped.

"Give it here," Harry called, "or I'll knock you off that broom!"

"Oh, yeah?" Called Malfoy back, looking just the slightest bit worried.

Harry Potter leant forward and his broom shot like a javelin at Malfoy, who only just got out of the way in time. Now, Bella gasped.

Hadn't Harry Potter been raised by muggles? How in Merlin's name could he fly so well?

"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy." Harry called.

"Catch it if you can, then!" Malfoy yelled back, and threw it has hard as he could, before streaking back to the ground.

Harry Potter was stationary for only a second before he dived, gathering speed, chasing the gleaming orb. Just when Bella thought he was sure to die, he caught it, pulled the broom up, and toppled gently onto the grass with it safely in his hand.

"HARRY POTTER!"

Bella cricked her neck from starting to look so quickly. Professor McGonagall was running towards them, and the said boy got to his feet, looking incredibly scared.

"Never - in all my time at Hogwarts -"

The Professor was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously, "- how dare you - might have broken your neck -"

"It wasn't his fault, Professor -"

"Be quiet Miss Patil -"

"But Malfoy -"

"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now."

Once again, after the teacher was out of earshot, Malfoy, the boys, Pansy, Tracey, Rachel, and Vera burst out laughing.

"He's out of Hogwarts before he's even started properly!" Gasped Pansy, causing the boys to laugh even more.

Bella starred. For Slytherins, who were supposed to make allies and connections with influential people, they certainly didn't act very well.

Eventually, Madam Hooch came back, the lesson continued, and by the end, Bella (who had secretly considered herself a decent flyer already) felt much better and smoother in her turning, even on the rusty old broomsticks they were riding. In fact, everyone who had flown before was allowed a few minutes to themselves while Madam Hooch helped the beginners, and the boys quickly turned it into a race, Slytherin verses Gryffindor; from the huge oak to a large bush and back.

Malfoy won, but Bella could tell it was only because Crabbe had knocked all the others out of the way.

Neither Harry or Neville reappeared through the whole class, which Malfoy commented loudly on.

Bella spent her time practicing by weaving through the spread apart lower branches of the oak tree. Then, she glanced at Madam Hooch, who had her back turned, stood on one of the branches, kicked off her shoes, then flew down low over the lake to skim her toes in the water. For the last few minutes of class, she sat on a high up branch and watched the boys argue, not bothering to hold back her amusement.

Finally, class ended, and Pansy gathered the girls together, then, not seeing Bella, yelled, "Bella! Where are you? Come here!"

Bella felt a warm little blossom in her chest that someone had remembered her, and a pang of annoyance at Pansy's bossiness at the same time.

Bella flew down in a huff, got mud and a leaf or two in her socks, and ended up carrying her shoes, but she followed the others up to the castle silently.

But, even while the girls were under tight regulation by Pansy, Bella managed to become rather friendly with Tracey and Rachel. This came in handy, as without them, she would have nobody to sit with at classes or meals apart from Pansy; in fact, the first time Rachel saved her a seat at lunch, Bella almost cried with gratitude.

So while the days were long and slightly muddled, the third, then fourth weeks slipped by.

Bella began to notice little things about Slytherin, in particular, the disregard for rules that happened on a regular basis in the common room. It seemed that almost half of the Slytherin population had a pet that was blatantly against the 'cat, owl, or toad' rule. There was, of course, the huge number of cats, curled up in armchairs, chasing each other around the common room, sitting by the fire, and clawing at your legs if you walked to near. It was such a number of cats that Bella began to wonder if there was whole families of cats around the school, tabbies, tortoiseshell, black, white, grey, spotted and speckled, big and small; so many of them looked alike.

There was also a few toads and frogs, croaking nastily from shelves or the shoulders of their owners, and on occasion jumping onto an unfortunate person's head.

The owls, Bella found out, lived in the Owlery, and visited their owners at meals.

But, apart from the norm, there were also: rats and mice, bats and crows, ferrets, gerbils and hamsters, parrots, sparrows, and doves, and once, Bella swore she saw a little terrier on a sixth year's lap.

Every now and the, the odd stinkbomb would fly, or a brief flurry of spells to settle an argument.

Apart from that, she also saw the occasional bottle of firewhiskey or gigglewater, and even a large case of red wine. There was also the seventh years with cigars or smokers (the wizarding equivalent of cigarettes) hanging from their fingers or mouths.

In Bella's opinion, the Slytherins took the 'as long as you don't get caught' rule a bit far, but she didn't say anything to a teacher or anyone, or for that matter, except Emily, in her weekly letters.

By Friday, Bella was in eager anticipation for Sunday, on which she would be visiting with her grandmother and going to the sea. As it turned out, instead of visiting Grandmother's house near Canterbury, they were Flooing directly to Bella's mother's family home: a huge stone cottage that Bella technically owned because the majority of her mother's relatives preferred not to be human for more than a few days. It was on one of the northmost Orkney islands, and sat comfortably on a little outcrop above the sea.

On Fridays, they finished classes at lunch, so they had a long free period. Originally, Bella had been sitting with Tracey and Daphne, but after Tracey dragged them over to Pansy, Bella made an excuse and slipped away.

She wandered down the side corridors, full of light from the windows, and small groups of students, lolling around with cloaks over shoulders and ties undone. After a little bit of exploring, she ended up tripping on a stone and falling through a tapestry and into a little winding staircase. It was rather dark, but a bit of light bounced off the curved wall a ways up, so Bella began to climb. And climb, and climb.

The stairs must have climbed up at least to the seventh floor by now, she thought, and she finally came to a tiny landing with a good amount of light from a small window. She peered out, and saw that she most certainly was near the top of the castle, what felt like miles above the glinting lake.

The landing she was on ended the stairs, and on one side, there was a little wooden door, while the other had a slanted, crooked ladder, leading up through a little hole in the ceiling. Bella decided to just take a peek up the ladder, and stuck her head up the way, to see a small circular room, full of birdcages, windowpanes, and plants. Confused, Bella decided to look through the little wooden door instead.

She pulled the little bronze knob, stepped through and promptly fell down. The door opened a painting that was a good four feet off the ground.

"Oof!" She said.

Looking in around, she found herself in a perfectly normal corridor, one she had never been in before, so she knew it was on the seventh floor.

The door snapped shut, and Bella heard footsteps around the corner.

"Oh my!"

"Dear me!"

"What is a little, ickle, snakie doing up here?"

It was the redhead Weasley twins, standing above her, looking almost as wicked as Peeves.

"I fell…" Muttered Bella.

"Really! That's impressive -" Began one.

"- I've never heard of someone who could fall upwards!" Said the other.

They looked at each other, then said seriously, "But I do believe that's called flying…"

If it was in different circumstances, Bella would have found them funny, but sitting on the floor with two wicked tricksters poking fun at her was not where she had hoped to be that afternoon.

"I fell out of there." She pointed at the painting she had just fallen through, which depicted a group of young witches swooning over a tall warlock that reminded Bella of one of Beedle Bard's Tales.

"Oh." Said the one on the left. "How on earth did you find that? The only ones who know about that stairway are us, Filch, and that bloody cat of his."

The other crouched down and looked at her, eyebrows raised. "Why did you use it? You trying to find the Gryffindor common room? Trying to infiltrate it?"

Bella gaped at him. "No!" She exclaimed. "I just wanted to get away fro- fr- from th… them."

And, to her own surprise, she began to cry.

"Oh - oh no." She heard. "I didn't mean it; it was a joke!"

But she just buried her face in her hands and shook her head.

Someone patted her awkwardly on the shoulder. "What's the matter, firstie?"

Bella doubted they heard her when she said, "I - I don't want to be a Slytherin!"

To her surprise, the twin who had been crouching, sat down beside her. "Don't worry about it. You've got to be there for some reason."

"I j-just want -" Bella sobbed. "- to b-be Hufflepuff! I'm n-not evil!"

"Hey! You know, me and George almost went to Slytherin." Said the boy who was still standing.

"That's true - but we're not exactly ambitious, we don't pay attention in class at all, so I think that's why we ended up here."

"Come on… Don't worry! Slytherin isn't really that bad, the only ones we hate are the Prefects, and the Quidditch Team, but that comes with being Gryffindor, doesn't it!"

Bella wiped at her eyes and looked up. "Does everyone really hate us?"

The boy standing in front of her looked uncertain. "Well…"

George, still at her side, answered slowly, "I'm sorry to say that a few people do. It has to do with the fact that a lot of Slytherins are related to - well, Death Eaters." He whispered.

The other twin nodded, trying to look casual. "And, they did kill quite a few people, in the war that is."

Bella gave a hiccup, and more tears streamed down her face. "They killed my mum and dad." She said hoarsely.

Now, the other twin sat down. "I'm sorry." He said, and for the first time, he sounded completely humorless. "We lost our uncles."

Bella rubbed her eyes again, then said, "I'm sorry too."

"Come on, cheer up a bit. You're still alive, and that's pretty important." Said George.

"Here, let's introduce ourselves properly, Gred." Said the other twin.

"Right! I'm Gred, and he's Forge!" Said George, pointing at his brother.

"Actually," said the twin, "I'm Freorge, and he's Geord!"

Bella smiled.

"See?" Said George.

"There's a smile!" Exclaimed Fred.

"Now, who are you?" They said together, reminding Bella of the Blue Caterpillar.

"I'm Bella Dagworth-Granger. Nice to meet you."

Fred grinned. "It is ever so nice to meet you!" He said pompously.

George nodded. "Now hurry along, Miss Dagworth! You've got all day to explore!"

Then, the twins helped her up, laughing and joking, and promised to prank any Slytherin who bothered her, and sent her on her way.

Bella did in fact explore for the rest of the day. She wandered along the long, tall corridors with huge windows, the narrow little passages between unused classrooms, small stone bridges suspended between towers, and oh, so many staircases. Slowly, she made her way down, noticed that everyone seemed to be gone, and realized it was dinner. Bella ran down the marble stairs to the Great Hall, and slipped into a seat in-between Millicent and Rachel, as Tracey was sitting right next to Pansy. She had a bit of soup, but her mind was elsewhere. Ever since her conversation with the twins, she had been thinking about how many of her housemates' parents could very well have worked for You-Know-Who.

Bella glanced at Rachel, who was talking animatedly with Samuel Wilkes about Quidditch. The Averys were a well-known dark family, but all of the expansive family was either incarcerated or dead, excluding wives and children.

How could Rachel be related to them? She could be a bit mean in her gossiping, but she wasn't evil.

Bella looked at all of her classmates. The Bullstrodes worked for whoever paid the most, but during the war, that was You-Know-Who, so Millicent's father had most likely worked for him. Samuel Wilkes' father was in prison, leaving no questions, both the Crabbe and Goyle families were like the Bullstrodes, and the Parkinsons were supposedly a grey family, but everyone knew that they dabbled in the dark arts. Malfoy was a dark name, and the Notts were heavily involved in the war.

Blaise Zabini, on the other hand, was neutral, mainly because he hailed from Italy on his mother's side, and the Greengrasses were on no one's side, while Vera Knighton and Tracey's families were half-blooded and stayed grey in every form of political strife.

Bella listened to these children's conversations, wondering if they really were evil.

0 0 0

It seemed that the day had more adventures in store for Bella. After dinner, she finished as much homework as she could before the weekend, then sat with the girls up on the balcony, talking about the teachers and other houses.

They eventually went to bed, but Bella couldn't seem to sleep. She lay curled in the corner of her bed nook, watching the lake's dark shapes shift around outside the window. Her locket warm in her hands, Bella decided to go take a bath, so she pulled on her robe and was halfway out the door before she heard soft, murmuring voices. She checked the clock at the end of the hall: two o'clock.

Who in Circe's name is awake now? She wondered.

Softly, Bella crept down the hall, the soft rugs muffling her footsteps. The voices were certainly coming from the common room.

"Now - third order of business: the first years."

Bella stopped dead. It was Elliot Sterling, his deep and casual voice distinctive.

Bella took a deep breath a made a decision. She tiptoed along the corridor to the short flight of stairs that led to the common room.

"Bulstrode, Millicent." Said another voice as Bella stepped onto the first stair. "Father - Morgan Bulstrode, mother - Viola Bulstrode nee Jones. Pureblood. Relations - two uncles and an aunt on her mother's side and an uncle on her father's. She's got a few cousins."

"My sister." Called out someone else. "She's alright, for a sister, she's pureblooded obviously, and we might be able to wrangle a marriage contract between her and Connor Macmillan, that third year."

There was a rustle of paper, and another person spoke. "Dagworth-Granger, Sabella."

Bella froze on the third step down. She could see the light from the fire dancing on the dark floor, and many long silhouettes moving around. "Half-blood, by record. Father - Ernest Dagworth-Granger, dead, mother - Elizabella Dagworth-Granger nee Thorne, dead.

"There's a document on her mother, but I can't get to it - it's 'highly classified', and so are all of the remaining Thorne family."

Bella was on the fifth step down now, and could see a part of the group. There must have been almost eighty or ninety people*, perched in the armchairs, sprawled on the carpets, and crowding in and around the sofa pit, all facing towards the head boy, who was sitting cross-legged on a pouf in front of the fire.

How do they know this? Wondered Bella desperately.

"Comments?" Said Sterling.

"Well…" Said a smaller voice. "She's related to two rather influential Slytherins. But, she seems like a bit of a Hufflepuff, to be honest."

There were a few murmurs, and Bella stepped onto the seventh and final step, concealed by the corner of the passage and a dark green banner. Someone else said, "Sometimes quiet is the best way to be."

One of the boys whose back was turned shrugged, and a parchment was passed to an older girl, who read, "Davis, Tracey. Half-blood. Father - Edwin Davis, mother - Sarafina Maxwell."

"Cousin of mine." Called a boy closer to Bella. "She's pretty smart, generally plays it safe. I think she's friends with the Greengrass girl, and the little Parkinson. I dunno much else, but her father's working his way up in the Ministry."

And on it went, all twelve of her housemates were analyzed and characterised by relations of theirs. Bella couldn't believe how much they seemed to know, even the simple things like blood status and parents. It was rather frightening, and Bella found that she was shaking, pressed against the cold stone wall, not daring to make a sound.

A few of the older students were smoking, and a bottle of a golden liquid was being passed around, somehow skipping over the younger ones.

Bella took a step back and was about to run for it, but she felt something brush past her leg and had to clap her hand over her mouth to stop from shrieking. I small black shape was slipping down the next few stairs and running across the common room. She only realized it was a cat when it's abnormally long tail was flicking behind it.

The cat wove itself around the legs of a girl stirring on the other side of the room. She looked at it and Bella saw her lips form the words 'What's wrong?'.

Then, to her horror, the cat spoke; not English of course, but Fey, the language of magic.

~Intruder~ It said, the wreath of silver-grey mist spilling from its mouth that only speakers could see.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Elliot." She said loudly, pausing the soft conversation of the room. "But we have a guest."

And she pointed right at the staircase where Bella stood, frozen.

That was it. Bella knew that she was about to die. And all because of a bloody cat.

"Well, do come out." Said Sterling, his voice pompous once more.

Bella didn't move.

"Come on. Someone go get her." Called one of the boys near to Sterling.

A very tall girl near the dorms passage got up and peered up at Bella. "It's just a firstie!" She said in surprise. "Come on, poppet. Come down."

Bella stared at her. Why was she being nice?

I don't have much of a choice, do I? She thought.

Slowly she walked down the steps, and the big girl took her shoulder and steered her towards the head boy.

"You're Sabella, right?" He said.

She nodded, thinking: It's not like you don't know everything about me.

To her surprise, he then asked, "How much did you hear?"

Bella's lip trembled, but she bit her cheek and responded. "Since you started to talk about Millicent. I didn't mean to overhear, I was just going t-to the bath!"

There were a few laughs, and Sterling raised his eyebrows. "At, what -" He glanced at the clock. "Two in the morning?"

Bella clutched her robe closer around her. "I couldn't sleep - and I just wanted a hot bath."

"Couldn't sleep?"

"I was thinking." Said Bella honestly.

"Well, Miss Takes-A-Bath-At-Two-In-The-Morning, while you're here, why don't you sit down? We can play a game of cards."

Bella hesitated.

"I insist!" The head boy said cheerfully. "Sit there-" he pointed at a spot on the ground near his feet. "Louise will shuffle."

A girl with red hair sitting in the lowered sofa got up, shuffled a deck of cards and said, "How many?"

Quite a few of the people in the sofa pit raised their hands.

Bella looked around, hoping for an improbable escape route.

"Sit down, Bella." Said Sterling, more firmly.

She sat where he pointed, shifting away from the fire uncomfortably. "Have you ever played Cluich?**" When Bella nodded, he grinned and said, "We'll play together anyway."

Louise, the redhead, placed the cards face down in front of Bella, then sat down again.

"First?" Called Sterling.

"I'll put down a sickle." Said the girl on Louise's right.

Louise, who Bella could tell was the dealer, tossed a sickle into the center of the sofa pit.

"Sickle." Said the next player, a boy with long, black hair.

Bella picked up the cards while the next players placed their gambles. She grinned, then quickly smothered it, and Sterling, who looked over her shoulder must have caught on, because the corner of his mouth quirked then quickly turned it to a poker face.

"Sickle." He said, at their turn.

The next girl pulled a card, then added a sickle. So did the player after next. Then, just before their turn again, a girl raised to a galleon.

"Galleon." Sterling repeated.

A few more draws, and a brown haired girl folded.

When it was almost their turn again, Sterling glanced at her, and she mouthed 'two'.

He smiled just slightly and called, "Two galleons."

A few raised eyebrows, two more folds, some draws, and two more of their galleons went to the pot. Seven players left, including them.

Another raised gamble, and four more people folded. Three left.

Bella nodded when Sterling said, "Five galleons."

The black haired boy swore loudly, and threw down his cards. Bella grinned.

They went back and forth, increasing the gambles to seven galleons.

"Oh, just show already!" Called a girl.

A few other people agreed. "Show the cards!"

"Come on, be done with it!"

The girl seemed to have a personal vendetta against Sterling, as she was staring at him, unblinking, as she added her gamble again.

"Come on, Barkova! Let's just show already, you know you've lost."

She scowled. "Alright." She had a noticeable accent. "Just this time, Sterling."

They both lay down their cards.

Barkova had been bluffing. She had two warlocks, an ace, a mage, and a ten.

Bella and her partner had been bluffing as well, but with slightly better cards: three mages, and two sorcerers.

"You von." She said bitterly.

"Well," replied Sterling. "As you already knew that, you shouldn't take it personally."

He turned and faced to the room as a whole, which had continued with murmured conversation. "How far have you lot gotten?"

A girl braiding another girls hair said, "We're just discussing tactics for Quidditch this year."

"Perfect. Relay them to all to Flint, or get Sullivan to write them up. So we've covered classes, external connections, first years and Quidditch?"

Nods all around.

"So, internal connections. Anyone?"

"The Patil cousins." A small voice from the back called.

Bella furrowed her brow. What were they talking about now?

A girl in front of Bella wrote the name down in messy cursive.

Someone else said, "Macmillans, too."

"Averys!"

"Parkinson."

"Malfoy, of course!" People muttered and commented on that one.

"Greengrass."

"Longbottom, maybe?"

"Potter, certainly."

"Dagvorth." Said a voice, and Bella looked up sharply.

It was the stubborn girl, Barkova. "It vasn't just Sterling behind those cards."

Bella looked around wildly, and found that everyone was looking at her, many with calculating looks in their eyes.

"If it vas not my final year, I vould adopt her myself." Added Barkova, to Bella's confusion and alarm.

"That's not a bad idea. Anyone willing to?"

Almost fifteen hands raised into the air.

Bella looked back at the head boy, hoping for an explanation, but he was looking around at the people with their hands up. "I think, since she's just a firstie, we should keep it at just fourth years."

Hands went down.

"So, we've got Butler, Ankhra, Holcombe, Pince, Sharrow, and Bungs." He looked at Bella, who gazed at him pleadingly. "You've got lots of options, don't worry." Turning back to the rest of the council, he continued, "Well, introduce yourselves!"

A girl with light brown hair and a pointed face stood up. "I'm Poppy Butler, fourth year, obviously, and I live in Germany."

"I'm Rehani Al'Ankhra, and I exchanged here from Uagadou, in Africa, and decided to stay." Said a thin girl with wild black hair framing her head.

Then a boy with honey coloured hair and light eyes. "Valerine Holcombe, nice to meet a Dagworth-Granger. I live in Canterbury, and have a little sister a year younger than you."

They all seemed to be talking directly to Bella, for some reason, and she was getting more and more confused. How could they adopt her? Aunt Elena and Grandmother had dual guardianship over her, and she was certain whatever was about to happen was illegal.

"Iness Pince. My great aunt is that monster of a librarian. I'm from York." Was a tall, boney girl with straight black hair.

A girl with a round, pretty face and shoulder length brown hair said, "I'm Lucy. Lucy Sharrow. I'm from Leicester, and I've got an older brother."

And lastly, A shorter boy with freckles and dark red hair. "I'm Hunter Bungs! I live in London with my grandparents."

Sterling smiled at her. "I think that narrows it down quite a bit, don't you?"

"I don't know." Said Bella quietly.

"Which one of them do you want to mentor and help you get used to Slytherin?" He responded.

"Oh." Said Bella, finally understanding. They didn't mean actually adopt, they just meant… Well, something else. "I still don't know."

The head boy leant down and said patiently, "You narrow it down by how they can help you. Pince doesn't seem very excited, so no to her, Bungs is over excited, so no to him as well. I don't like Vale, so rule him out, Ankhra may end up going back to Uagadou, so rule her out too. That leaves you with Poppy Butler, or Lucy Sharrow."

Bella blinked. His reasoning seemed a bit off, but she decided not to argue.

"Go on, tell them." He encouraged.

"Uh…" The common room quieted of the soft conversations around them, making Bella hesitate. "Butler or Sharrow." She said, voice trembling slightly.

The two girls glanced at each other before walking around and standing in front of the head boy.

"No offense, Butler, but you only joined last year, and I don't think you're exactly the right fit for her." He said.

She nodded and shrugged, then walked back to her friends.

Sterling looked at the other girl and said very seriously, "So, we're left with you, Sharrow. Do you promise to mentor and guide Sabella through her next few years in Slytherin?"

The room became silent.

"I do."

"You promise to tutor and help her in any place she may fall behind?"

"I do."

"And you swear to do this all honestly and with the intent of bettering your adoptee?"

The girl nodded. "I do."

He turned to Bella, who was still sitting on the floor. "You are now a member of the Slytherin Council under your adopter. You will not have a vote until you are deemed ready."

Bella gaped, while the council applauded politely.

Lucy Sharrow stuck out her hand, and when she took it, she was pulled to her feet, and received a tight hug. Sharrow let go and held her at arms length, then smiled. "You look a tad confused. Let me explain…"

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Bella woke the next morning wondering if it was all a dream. She looked down at her wrist and saw the multi colour bracelet that Lucy had taken of her own wrist and given to Bella.

She twisted it around her wrist, and at her touch, the colours shifted, matching the soft greens and blues that weaved outside the window in the lake.

Lucy had explained everything rather well, but Bella's head hadn't absorbed all of it. It was infinitely complex, Slytherin politics.

One of the parts that she remembered vividly was the fact that originally, Elliot Sterling wasn't going to be head boy. Instead it would have been Randolph Selwyn, who had been expelled and sentenced to Azkaban for three years for something in his sixth year. If things had gone differently, said Lucy, Slytherin would not be anywhere near as tolerant as it was, with Sterling in charge.

Bella sat on her bed for almost half an hour, contemplating it all, staring at the bracelet, before Tracey ripped back her curtains and informed her, "Pansy says breakfast!"

When Bella didn't react almost at all, Tracey poked her. "Come on, let's go - Pansy's waiting."

What Bella wanted to say was, 'Pansy oughtn't say anything, it'll do us all a favor', what she did say was, "Hm-kay.", and then got up.

On Saturdays, it was free dress, so Bella pulled on a skirt and a comfortable blouse, then went to the common room, waved at Lucy hesitantly, and followed the others to breakfast.

It was a long day for Bella, waiting for Sunday and her escape. People kept asking her funny questions about how she slept, and even a very casual and bored Blaise asked, putting it rather rudely: "You look terrible. Did you sleep?"

Bella shrugged in response to all the questions, and managed to maintain silence until Professor Sprout herself asked if she was feeling sick.

Finally Sunday came, and Bella skipped breakfast to wait outside of Professor McGonagall's office on the first floor.

And, when Bella stepped through the fire into to the familiar old house and her grandmother's waiting arms, she began to cry again, something that had happened a lot lately.

Grandmother, looking alarmed, asked her many questions, hugged and reassured her many times.

"It's f-fine, r-really… It's just… just, so overwhelming." She said into Grandmother's shoulder.

Grandmother helped her out the door, down the rounded stone path, and over the soft sand and tall grasses to the sea.

Bella calmed immediately, drinking in the salty air and drawing a bit of energy from the swelling waves. She kicked off her shoes, slipped off her skirt, shook out her cloak and draped it around her shoulders. Stepping into the water made her sigh and realise how tense her shoulders were.

"Be careful dear." Said her Grandmother's soft voice. "Get back before sunset."

Bella looked up; the sun was still behind her to the east. She had time.

Pulling up her hood she dove, shifting and giggling to herself at the sensation.

She swam hard towards the deeper waters, and dove after a dark, shifting shape.

As it turned out, Bella had found her great aunt, Aherin, who led her back to the colony, a mix of seals and Selkie, who got along and hunted together. The ones Bella was really concerned with were her cousins: Niamh, Guerin, Maxwell and Nora, Helene, Keinith, Gernaim and little Sibvon.

Niamh, her favorite, began to cry when they saw each other, and they circled each other, weaving around in the water, chortling with happiness.

They went hunting, as best as young seals could, and managed to catch a few things, but mainly, they called back and forth, playing games like 'Marco Polo' and catch-me-if-you-can!

Later, when they had tired themselves out, they basked in the lowering sun, while the elder seals told stories, of adventure and tragedy, romance and conflict, and of beautiful seafaring humans that enchanted one of their number away. Bella convinced her mother's mother*** to tell her parent's story, one she had heard so often, she could whisper along.

~ Once, a long time, not so long ago,~ she began in Fey, ~there was a beautiful Selkie, with a pelt as silver as the moon. She was a curious one, always off on a search for a new Song. Her voice could change the tides when she sang, and the winds up above.

~ Now, one dark night in the middle of winter, a foul storm was brewing, and the waves were as high as I've ever seen. The clouds were roilling, water poured down, while lightning shot from the sky and thunder called from the heavens. The mightiest of winds was blowing, from the mainland out to sea, and on that fateful night, a wizard was on a mission.

~This wizard's talent was in brewing spells, and on this occasion, a brother of his was deadly ill, so he had brewed the only magics to save him.

~And so, he was flying through the night on a broom, to save his kin, when the storm blew him off course and he found himself above water instead of land, and very, very lost.

~His eyes were drooping, and head was aching, and he dropped closer and closer to the waters we call our home. The Selkie, who had always wondered at the land above, saw this wizard, this man, and knew at once of all his troubles. Just as a wave took him under, she bore him up, and pulled him towards land, as well as his-

~ Magic cure!~ Chourused all the children, including Bella.

~ Very good. What else did he need to save his brother?~

~The flying broom!~

~Exactly! So she pulled him, the magic, and the broom toward the mainland, laboring through the waves.

~Finally, they got there, and the Selkie slipped off her cloak and pulled the wizard onto land. She woke him, and told him what happened. He thanked her over and over, and told her about his brother, and promised to bring her gifts of thanks once he saved him. She was moved by his dedication and valor, and he by her kindness and courage.

~ And so, as he took off into the calming sky, and she sat on the rocks to wait, they both realized that perhaps they knew what it was like to fall in love. ~

The end.

Well, not really. So, there's a bit of family back story, Bella accidentally getting inducted into the Slytherin mafia, makes some kind of friends, there's some book scenes, and character development (can you tell I hate pansy? She reminds me of someone.)

It's not even Hallow'en yet, so it's going to be an exciting year.

I'm trying to edit better, plz tell me if my writing's improved? Worsened? Was if really bad? Plz tell me!

Lyra

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NOTES:

*It is cannon that there are about 1000 students in Hogwarts regularly, so there should be about 250 kids in each house. As there is about 9-12 kids in each house in Harry/Bella's year, I'm making the depressing assumption that in the last few years of the first war, families were being killed on a regular basis, as well as young adults, so there were less babies being born. This applies to basically Bella's year and the two years above her.

SO, the Slytherin council makes up about 32% of the Slytherin population, making it include about 80 kids out of the 250, and seven of those kids are Quidditch Team.

** Cluich is pronounced [KUOO-itch]. It is my invention of a wizarding version of poker. It literally translates to 'gamble', and is played with a deck of 73 cards.

The suits:

Wands=Clubs

Cauldrons=Spades

Hats=Hearts

Each suit includes 18 cards:

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Mage=Jack, Warlock= Queen, and Sorcerer= King

*** Selkie, like seals, usually don't have an entirely permanent mate, so normally, the lineage is matriarchal. (Traced by the mother)

Elizabella Thorne was a full Selkie, and therefore is traced this way. ALSO: Thorne is the surname of this particular colony of Selkie, and Elizebella is was her given name.