A/N:I am gonna update every Wednesday from now on.

I dedicate this chapter to:
littleteddybearstitches … Amuto4Lifee …
kendraxxxdarkangel


"SLYTHERIN!" The hat shouted.

The whole hall were silenced at that announcement.

I looked at the table Draco had gone to and I caught his eye. He must have caught my panicked expression because he started clapping and nudged the people around him to the same. Soon enough, all of the Slytherin table had started clapping and then the teachers, so the rest of the schools followed.

I looked up at the strict professor looking down at me. She looked eerily pale but she managed to put a small smile on her face before I hopped off the stool and gave her the hat and started skipping to the Slytherin table.

I walked past Harry on my way there and even he looked shocked. But why? What's wrong with my house? I gave him a weak smile before I sat down opposite Draco at the silver and green table.

Harry was called up after me and he was put into Gryffindor, not a surprise really. I think that if he wasn't put into Gryffindor, he would have gone into Hufflepuff because of his loyalty but you never know. He could have been put into Slytherin with me…

Everyone else was soon sorted after us. Blaise Zabini was the last to be sorted, he was put into Slytherin and he sat beside me.

"Blaise Zabini." the boy beside me introduced himself. I smiled widely, he was the first person to actively talk to me since the train ride. "Catalina but most people just call me Lina."

"Yes. Catalina Potter… I would never have thought you'd be in Slytherin…" he replied.

I raised my eyebrow before asking, "Why? What's wrong with Slytherin?"

"Nothing. I just didn't expect our Golden Girl to end up in the 'house of the snakes' as most people call it."

Before I could reply, the headmaster, Dumbledore stood up and said, "Welcome, welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

"What?" I asked incredulously and several students beside me, copied my sentiment but we all ignored it at the sight of the food that appeared beside us.

Roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs. What to eat?

Eventually I decided to get Yorkshire pudding, gravy, roast potatoes and pork chops. I'm sure that they'd give us dessert so I best leave some space for that. I dug into my meal with easy grace. If there was one thing Aunt Tuny taught me, it was manners and etiquette. I guess it'll all pay off now. It helped a lot at Beauxbatons so it might help us here…

Suddenly, ghosts started to appear all around us… Wow. It's quite amazing to be here. And to think, mum and dad used to be here too!

A ghost stained in silver blood appeared beside Draco. He didn't look particularly happy to be sat next to the unpleasant so I decided to help him out.

I turned to the ghost and smiled, "Hi! My name's…"

"Catalina Potter. I know. You are quite the talk between the other ghosts. Especially when you ended up in this house. I remember your mother. If you're anything like her, I'm sure this house will thrive."

I smiled even wider at the mention of my mother and he nodded as he floated away from us. I turned away from him and saw Draco looking at me curiously.

"What?" I asked him. He just shook his head violently before ignoring me

You were staring at me and now you're ignoring me?

"Whatever…" I muttered before finishing my meal. Soon enough dessert arrived. I caught sight of treacle tart and immediately grabbed a slice.

"Hi! My name's Daphne Greengrass!" The girl on my other side suddenly said.

"Oh… hi Daphne. My name's…"

"Catalina Potter. I heard."

"You and the rest of the school apparently…" I drawled out. Then I smiled at her and we carried on talking for the rest of the meal.

When the tables were cleared, the headmaster called our attention, "Ahern - just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well. I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

He then led us through the school song. It was truly, a horrible experience but the Weasley twins did make it bearable when they sang the song as a funeral march.

"Ah, music," he said as he wiped his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

The Slytherin prefects then started heralding all the first years to the entrance hall. We were leaving just as the Gryffindor students were and there seemed to be a dispute at the front of the line. I grabbed Daphne's hand and lead her to the front of the line. When we got there, I saw that it was the Weasley's eldest boy that was at the front arguing with our male prefect. Harry, Ron and Draco were at the front as well as a girl with bushy brown hair and a girl in my house who had a pug face.

I couldn't stand the arguing so I said, it was meant to be angrily said but I said it quite innocently - not my intention - "What's keeping the line up?"

They all stopped arguing and looked at me. I had the urge to blush but I held it back and raised an amused eyebrow before turning to our prefect, "Shall we go? We're all tired after our journey so we all wanna get to our rooms."

The Slytherin prefect smirked before glaring at Percy and then he started leading us away. I was about to follow but Harry's voice stopped me. "Lia?" I looked at my brother and smiled weakly before saying, "I'll see you tomorrow big brother!" I was pulled away by Daphne and I turned away from one of the only constants in my life.


The prefect led us to the Slytherin dorms in the dungeons. He led us to a stretch of damp stone wall. We all converged around him and he turned to us and said, "Listen carefully. This is the entrance to the Slytherin common room, you have to say the password to get in. The password changes every month. The new password will be put up on the notice board in the common room. However the password right now is 'Aconite'.

Once the password was uttered, the wall slid aside which left a rectangular hole in the wall leading to the Slytherin common room. He led us inside and said, "That's the notice board. You can stay here during your free periods. You'll be getting your timetables tomorrow, Professor Snape, our head of house will give them to you at breakfast. I don't know what the other dormitories look like but the Slytherin dorms are under the lake so we have the most space in the school. Because of that, all Slytherin students are permitted to get their own rooms should they get permission from our head of house. However, as first years you will all be put into rooms of your genders until further notice. Now. Salazar Slytherin expected his students to act with respect so the dorms were not separated. All the dorms are beside each other but the boys dorms are opposite the girls dorms. Boys are on the left side of the corridor and girls are on the right." He paused before grinning, "I'm done with my duties now. You midgets can do whatever you want… As long as you don't kill each other so welcome to Slytherin!"

He walked off leaving us all alone, awkwardly standing by each other. It got annoying after a while so I grabbed Daphne's wrist and starting to drag her to the room leading us to the dormitory corridor. It seemed I wasn't the only one who thought that and Draco Malfoy walked forward as well. We reached the door at the same time.

We stared at each other for a while before he smirked a held his hand out in a you-go-first gesture. I smiled thankfully before continuing onwards to find our room. I found it eventually. I claimed the bed furthest from the door and was underneath a window with a view of the lake. I saw that my things were around my bed but I didn't pay any attention to that. Daphne claimed the bed beside mine and the other girls soon filtered in. I learnt that the other girls in my room were Tracey Davis, Millicent Bulstrode, Pansy Parkinson. There were only five of us girls sorted in Slytherin.

The five of us, four mainly - Pansy didn't really talk much but the other girls were quite friendly. We talked well into the night. Our chatter slowly died off and we all fell asleep.


The next morning, I woke up at the usual time of five thirty. I had gotten used to waking up at five thirty in the morning because at Beauxbatons, no, school didn't start that early but I got accustomed to walking around the school grounds. I shrugged off the earliness and showered and got changed into my school robes. I got my small bag from my trunk and the charm book for experts. I looked up the undetectable extension charm and carefully followed the instructions.

After two failed attempts, it eventually worked. To be fair, it's a seventh year spell, it was hard to cast! I made to fill the bag with my books but realised I didn't know what lessons I had today so I just put in some wills, pens, pencils and parchment and a charms book that I was interested in. I then realised that the bag may get heavy so I cast the feather light spell on the bag. I had preformed that spell before so it was easy.

I put the bag on and I quietly left the room.

I headed out of the common room and started to explore the school. Seeing as it only took me 25 minutes to shower, get ready and cast the charm, I had at least until 7:30 which is when breakfast started but hardly anyone would be there. After that, classes start at around 9:45 so I have at least 1 hour and 35 minutes and at most, 3 hours and 5 minutes which is plenty of time to explore the castle.

And explore the castle I did. I had managed to find most of the classrooms for Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Defence Against The Dark Arts and I knew that Herbology would be outside. Astronomy was in the tower which I decided to find at another time because my stomach started rumbling.

I got to the Great Hall to find it empty. I looked at my wrist to find that it was only 7:45. I sat down at my table and food started appearing around me. I grabbed some bacon and egg, several pieces of toast before I got my charms book out and started reading the book.

Soon enough students started filtering in at around 8:15. The hall was full by the time it was 8:30. My fellow first years joined me where I sat, actually Daphne joined me so the other girls did too. The boys soon followed afterwards.

At around 9:00, the man who I was looking at yesterday, Professor Snape, our head of house, came down from the head table and started handing out our timetables.

As soon as he did that, I thanked him, drank the rest of my pumpkin juice and stood up. The other girls looked up at me and Tracey asked, "Where are you going? Breakfast isn't over yet!" I responded, "Well, we have classes in fifteen minutes and I still gotta brush my teeth and collect my books…"

The other girls looked startled at each other and got up. The boys looked up when they noticed we were all leaving so Draco asked, "Where are you all going?"

Pansy immediately answered, "We're heading back to the dorms to collect our books wanna come?"

"Do you even know your way around the school Parkinson?" he drawled in reply. She blushed before looking at us. The other girls looked at me so Draco did too. I nodded my head and went to turn away but he asked, "You sure you know where you're going Potter? You've only been here an evening and you've spent the rest of your life with your muggle relatives I believe…"

I slowly turned around and glared at him, hurt, before steeling my features, "I woke up early today and walked around the school…" I walked away and the other first years scurried after me.

I led the way to our dorms before turning to them. "We have around 25 minutes to get to our first lesson, if you guys aren't ready in 15 minutes, I'm leaving without you…" I flung my dorm room open and went over to my trunk. I grabbed my transfiguration, charms, history of magic and defence against the dark arts books and placed them in my bag. I then went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth.

I was ready in no time.

I walked out of the room and shouted to the first years, "10 minutes guys! If you aren't in the common room in ten minutes, I'm leaving without you!" I headed towards the common room and sat on one of the couches. I reached into my book and grabbed my transfiguration book. I read the first chapter and the notes that I had written in the book in my first year of Beauxbatons.

The first one to show up was Draco.

He hasn't fulfilled any of his promises so far so I decided to ignore him for now, which turned out to be kind of hard because he sat right beside beside me. He pulled my book down to see what I was looking at. He looked at me incredulously when he saw the page filled with notes. At his look I said, "I learnt this at my first year at Beauxbatons"

He nodded before surprising me by carrying on talking to me, "Will you sit beside me in transfiguration then?"

I looked up in surprise and he said, "You do have the notes for it and father wants me to do well in class so I may require some help…"

I was a bit hurt that he only wanted to be sat beside me because of my knowledge but I shook it off. If he wants to throw away two years of friendship then so be it. I nodded in agreement and we waited in silence for the others to come.

Everyone else soon arrived after that. I looked at all the faces around me, Draco, Daphne, Tracey, Millicent, Pansy, Blaise and three other boys. I turned to Draco, "Are all the boys here?" He looked at everyone and said, "Yeah. Best introduce you. That's Theodore Nott, that's Vincent Crabbe and that's Gregory Goyle and you already know Blaise."

I nodded before smiling at them, "Let's go…"

I led them out of the common room, through the maze of the dungeons and up the stairs to the entrance hall. I then led them up the stairs. We reached the first floor when I checked the timetable. Draco spoke up from beside me, "You lost?"

I smirked at him and shook my head, "No. Just checking which classroom we're in." I looked up at the timetable and it had a faint 34 in the corner of the box telling us we were in transfiguration first period. "We're on the third floor so come on…" I hopped up the stairs and eventually reached the third floor. When I reached the third floor, I turned around to see how my other classmates were doing and they were still on the second flight of stairs.

I waited for them to get to the top of the stairs and then catch their breaths. Daphne looked up at me from her hunched over figure, "How did you get up those stairs so easily?"

I just casually responded, "Practise." before I turned and headed for room 34. The others saw me leave and immediately followed me.

When we got to the classroom, we were the first house there. I went to sit down at the front but Draco pulled me to the seat in the back. I looked at him, slightly annoyed but shrugged it off and sat down. He sat down beside me and Pansy huffily sat down in front of us, giving me a slight glare. Draco started taking out his wand, books, quill and ink.

In the meanwhile, I looked around the classroom and saw a tabby cat sat on the desk. Minnie. I thought with a smirk before I turned to get my bag off my shoulder.

"Where are your books?" Draco suddenly asked me. I looked up at him confused before he elaborated, "You can't ave possibly fit all your books in that bag!"

He must have forgotten that I had placed my book in this bag earlier so he looked shocked as my whole arm disappeared into my bag to find my book and other equipment.

I smiled at him smugly and waited for the class to begin.

The bell rang to start the next lesson and a herd of Hufflepuffs came into the room. When they sat down at the front of the class, my whole house had taken up the back of the classroom, we all waited in silence.

Draco went to speak but I elbowed him and said, looking directly at the cat, "Hi Professor!"

Everyone looked at me confused but understood when the cat turned into our transfiguration teacher. She smiled at the looks of shock before asking me, "How did you know I was the cat?"

"No cat ever sits that still professor! Plus, I came across animagus' in my reading so I looked up the registered animals in the country and yours was on there and it said you were a tabby cat so… ta-dah!"

I finished off with a flourish. She smiled before saying, "You have done well. 10 points for Slytherin. Well done Catalina, you are just like your father when it comes to transfiguration."

I smiled before correcting her, "Call me Lina. Everyone does…"

She smiled before carrying on with her lesson. In today's lesson, we were turning matches into needles. I managed to do it on my first go, earning another 10 points from Minnie. I helped Draco after his eighth fail and increasing temper. His mood definitely got better when he received house points as well.

Once the hour was up, I led the other Slytherins to charms to room 2E on the same floor where we shared with Ravenclaw. Draco dragged me to the back again and the class was the same. I managed to do the spell on my first go. I loved how I had learnt these spells before. After doing these spells in my first year of Beauxbatons and still doing it on my first, second or third go, I've become an expert at these spells.

Lunch came after that and the rest of the day soon ended.

The rest of the week soon followed and we had finally reached the lesson I was most excited for…

Potions.