A/N: I started college, everyone! And I might get a job if I don't screw up the interview next week! College is busy times, but I think it took me longer to do this than my homework! I apologize if it seems a bit boring, I had finished my long three-long history assignment before I started this and I just couldn't stop writing this chapter, so I'm quite tired. To my readers:

sydni: Thank you! I'm sorry it took me so long to update! I feel as if this chapter is really long and monotonous, but I hope you like it!

Pok3monTrain3rBlu3: I'm glad you think it's funny! It's hard for me to put humor in writing, but I try. The original is a little more rusty, and a bit different, but it definitely captured my life at that time. By the way, I'm fan of Pokemon, too!

Siobhan: Thank you, I appreciate your kind words and I hope this chapter lived up to your expectations!

Fred left to go to his class, leaving me standing alone in the Great Hall. Glancing at my schedule once more, I noticed that I had Potions first and started to head towards the Slytherin common room because I felt as if the dungeons were located closely to it. As I walked, I took a closer look at my schedule and smiled when I realized that it was very similar to the one I had back in my world.

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I had Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, lunch, Muggle Studies, History of Magic, and then dinner and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I had Transfiguration, Herbology, lunch, Charms, a long free period, and then dinner. I was surprised that I wasn't enrolled in an Astronomy class, but I didn't feel like questioning it; the more sleep I get, the better.

After five minutes of wandering, I finally entered the dungeons and I was on time! Now Snape doesn't have to chastise me about my punctuality! Carefully, I eyed the side of the classroom where the Slytherins sat and, with all of them glaring at me, I was ecstatic to see Hermione waving me over to her seat out of the corner of my eye. Sighing and smiling, I sat next to the Gryffindor, causing the rest of the Gryffindors to stare at me.

"Ignore them, Kara," Hermione said.

I nodded and before I could say anything, Professor Snape came barreling into the classroom, causing everyone to become silent. He stood at the front, near the chalk board, and the words Fire Protection Potion appeared with the flick of his wand; he then went to his desk and sat down. Hermione and I looked at each other and we silently agreed that she would get the supplies, which were bursting mushrooms, salamander blood, and wartcap powder, while I read more into the process of making the potion.

When she came back, I said, "Alright, first we have to slice the mushrooms with a knife, add it to cauldron and stir clockwise until potion turns blue."

"Okay! I'll cut them and you can add them and stir" While she cut them, The doors to the dungeon flung open to reveal Harry and Ron, extremely late to class.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor. Begin working Potter and Weasley, I expect your potion to be finished and perfect by the end of class," Snape said, not looking up from whatever he was writing at his desk. They sat at the desk behind us and began whispering furiously about how to start the potion.

"Turn to page 394," I whispered behind me, ecstatic that I quoted Snape from the movie. Their mumbling stopped and when turned back to Hermione, it was time for me to throw in the mushrooms. When I did, I immediately started to stir it with my wand and when it turned blue, I stopped so that Hermione could add the salamander blood.

"Now stir it counterclockwise until it turns green," she said, reciting the information. While I stirred, she crushed the wartcap powder in a pestle and added it when the potion was green. "Now we just have to stir clockwise until it turns red."

We waited for about ten minutes and when we decided that the color was right, we stuck some of it in a phial and gave it to Professor Snape.

"You two think it's done?" He glanced at me. "With Miss Loveland's inexperience with potions, this potion may not work." By now, the whole class was watching when he took off the cap and sniffed it. "Do you want to test the validity of your knowledge Miss Loveland? I must warn you that reading off the steps from the book and actually knowing the material may be the difference between the potion working and not working."

I paled, thinking of his edited Potions textbook, but looked him in the eye and said, "I am confident in my stirring abilities." The Gryffindors laughed and the Slytherins scoffed at my statement.

"Alright," Professor Snape drawled. He handed the phial to me and I drank it no hesitation. Immediately, I started shaking uncontrollably because of how cold my body suddenly became. "Now go stand next to Longbottom and Finnegan's cauldron. Together, they will likely cause a fire."

I nodded and made my way over to their table while Hermione sat back down at our desk. I looked over at the Golden Trio and all had sympathetic looks on their faces, as if they expected me to be blown up. I smiled and looked at the two Gryffindors in front of me.

"H-h-hello, I'm Kara L-Loveland. How are you t-two on this fabulous d-day?" I asked, still shivering. I hoped that this wouldn't last forever because stuttering has always made me feel like Professor Quirrell.

They looked at me, shocked. "Lovely? You could possibly die before the period's over!" Seamus said, flailing his arms around.

"Yeah, I mean—" Neville started, but, all of sudden, he added full bursting mushrooms instead of cutting them to the cauldron. I was about to fix his mistake when a fireball erupted from the cauldron. My eyes widened in shock as the explosion knocked all three of us back onto the ground.

Groaning, I looked over at the Gryffindors across the room to see that they were singed from head to toe, but were smiling once they saw me. I looked down to see that I was perfectly fine, but I was still shaking from the coldness in my body. Harry and Ron walked away from their potion and helped me up. I turned to Professor Snape to see him with an expressionless face.

"Fifteen points to Slytherin and…two points to Gryffindor," he grumbled. My partner and I smiled at each other and it was at that moment, some type of bell signaled the end of class. All of the students, including me and my friends rushed to leave the awkward atmosphere.

"I can't believe Snape was going to let you get fried! I can't believe you actually took his challenge! I can't believe he gave Gryffindor points!" Ron exclaimed as we walked to DADA.

"T-the only b-backside is the cold," I said, trying to keep myself warm.

"That feeling should wear off in about an hour," Hermione said.

"You, Kara, are officially the coolest Slytherin ever!" Ron said, still excited.

"Agreed," Harry said. I tried to avoid meeting his eyes because I felt as if I would cry if I saw them. Being the exact color as Lilah's eyes, I don't think I could handle looking at them and thinking she was the one I was talking to.

"They at least taught some stuff at your old school, Kara. You did fantastic!" Hermione complimented.

"Thanks! W-when my f-family cooks, I always s-s-stir because I t-tend to screw up e-everything else," I said as we walked into the classroom.

As soon as we sat down, I tuned out Moody's "lecture" because I already knew it and I sincerely did not want to hear it; I also avoided it because I dislike spiders. The name of the last Unforgivable Curse brought me back to reality and, I honestly didn't think that the death of a spider would bother me, but when I heard him say those two words, I got a lump in my throat thinking about what I would do if my sister or one of friends were in that position. Tears came to my eyes as I realized that, maybe it's best if they're back in my world. If they were here, they would a greater chance of dying and I couldn't handle that.

I quickly rushed out of the room, like Neville did earlier, and didn't look back. As I walked down the stairs, I saw Neville looking out of the window, so I approached him.

"H-hey Neville," I said softly, putting my hand on his shoulder. He jumped and when he turned, I saw tears in his eyes, too.

"Hey. Did he upset you, too?" he asked, trying to dry his tears.

"Well, t-that and I d-didn't like the f-fact that he u-upset you."

Because of my height, he looked down at me. "Do you know why I'm upset?" he asked in a small voice.

"N-no." He sat down on the staircase and patted the seat next to him. After I sat down, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as if he was trying to clam himself down.

"I-I'm not sure why, but when I was baby, Deatheaters, the-they—" his voice cracked.

I place my hand on his shoulder again. "Y-you don't h-have to tell m-me."

"Yes I do. I blew you up in Potions and you're still cold! I want to tell you." He paused. "Deatheaters used the Cruciatus Curse on my parents and drove them to insanity. They're in St. Mungo's now and they—they don't even recognize me!" Neville started sobbing, so I instantly wrapped my arms around him and let him cry into my shoulder. "Why? Why?" I could hear him saying.

"N-Neville, I d-didn't know your p-parents, but I know t-that they were b-brave and loyal to the ones they l-loved, you were o-one of them, and I t-think that you'll b-be just like them; t-that's why you're in G-Gryffindor."

"No! You're more of a Gryffindor than I'll ever be!" he exclaimed into my shoulder.

"D-Don't be t-too sure."

I spent the rest of DADA on the staircase with Neville, comforting him and learning more about him. He seemed to open up to me very easily and, after awhile of talking, I told a little about myself and my friends. Eventually the bell sound went off again, so I waited up for my friends while Neville went back up to talk to Moody.

"What happened, Kara?" Hermione asked, concerned.

"Yeah, why were you upset?" Harry asked.

As we walked down the stairs, I said, "I-I Imagined my friends and f-family on the other side of the killing curse and I c-couldn't handle it. I had a nice talk with Neville, so he h-helped me calm down."

"Calm you down from what?" a voice said, right behind me. I jumped and turned to see Fred, and George, looking worried. "Why are you stuttering?"

We entered the Great Hall for lunch. "I have a l-long story to t-tell you!"

We all told the twins about the beginning of my first day and their facial expressions went from happy, to worry, to anger, to surprise, back to anger, and to sympathy while we ate our delicious lunch. At some point, Fred's left arm wrapped around me in an effort to keep me warm, and the redness had not yet escaped my face.

"How could Snape make you do that! Why would Moody do that in front of you! This is outrageous!" Fred exclaimed, still angry.

"I'm fine now—hey! I'm not cold anymore! Thank goodness!" Even after my statement, Fred didn't move his arm; this made me blush even more. "How has your day been so far, friends?" I asked the twins.

"Well, we already got detention for tonight when we pranked some of the Slytherins in our Charms class, and then we got another detention when we—"

"You two shouldn't be getting into so much trouble!" Hermione said, disappointed. "You should be taking your schoolwork more seriously!"

The two looked at each and then back at Hermione. "Nah." I laughed as the bell rang.

"See you guys later!" I was engulfed in a hug by Fred before I left and I waved to George as Hermione and I left for Muggle Studies.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened in Muggle Studies, Charms, or History of Magic. I excelled in Muggle Studies because of my first-hand knowledge, I struggled a bit in Charms because I had no idea what to do beyond "swish and flick", and in History of Magic, I was the only one who paid attention. I had always enjoyed history in high school, so I found that learning about a totally different type of history was utterly fascinating.

After dinner, I headed to Professor Dumbledore's office to see where I would be staying so that I wouldn't have to impose on the hospitality of Madame Pomfrey and he said that he had the perfect place for me and when he told me, I was shocked and almost afraid that the Slytherins would hate me more because of this decision.

"Why don't you stay with the Gryffindors?" Dumbledore proposed.

Hesitantly, I nodded. "Alright."

He beamed. "Great! I already discussed this with Professor Snape and he agreed that it is the perfect place for you to go until he straightens out his students. You will definitely be more safe and you can be amongst your friends! The password is Balderdash, by the way."

I left his office, collected my trunk from the infirmary, and made my way to the Gryffindor common room. After awhile, I finally approached a large portrait with the Fat Lady sitting down in it.

"Um, excuse me?" I asked her.

She looked at me and she seemed surprised at my Slytherin robes. "What is a Slytherin doing here?"

"Uh, I can't stay with the Slytherins because they'll kill me in my sleep, so Professor Dumbledore sent me to stay here." I paused. "My name is Kara, what is your name?"

She seemed even more surprised. "M-My name is Prudence."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Prudence. If you wouldn't mind letting me in, the password is Balderdash."

"Alright." She nodded and her portrait swung open.

"Have a great night, Prudence!" I called as I entered the portrait hole. As soon as I entered, I saw only two colors: scarlet and gold. Everything was decorated with these two colors in mind and it made the room very warm, especially with the fireplace, which was the complete opposite feeling of the Slytherin common room.

"Kara, what're you doing here?"

I turned to see Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the twins. "Well, I get to sleep here now! There's no doubt I would be attacked if I stayed with the Slytherins, so Dumbledore said that I could stay with the Gryffindors."

Their eyes widened and they all jumped up and gave me a group hug. "I get to have my best friend room with me!" I heard Hermione say.

"Well, what if she's rooming with us?" Fred said, pulling me towards him and George.

"Don't be silly she'll stay with me!" Hermione then dragged me from the twins and up the stairs to the girl's dormitory. "Try getting her now!" She smirked, knowing that the stairs wouldn't let up.

"No fair, Hermione!"

"Yeah, that's a low blow!"

I laughed as Hermione lead me to our room "Goodnight, boys! See you in morning!"