A/N: Sorry about missing the update date but I was out of the house most of Saturday and then the computer got a virus so I had to go through and save everything. Hope you guys can forgive me. Maybe these chapters will make it up to you?


Chapter 8: Blood Ties

The new students were given a few minutes to talk to their new house mates before an elderly man stood up at the staff table.

"Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" the old man started. His odd words were met by snickers from all across the hall, especially at the Slytherin table. When he continued though, the entire hall was silent again. "To our newcomers," he said in a ringing voice, stretching his hands wide with a beaming smile on his lips, "welcome! To our old hands, welcome back! There is a time for speech-making, and this is not it. Tuck in!"

With that, everyone began eating as food magically appeared on the plates in front of them. Everyone began having conversations and trying to talk over each other so that the noise level rose. Bella just ate a small amount of food, not particularly hungry. Next to her, her house mates from her year were discussing blood. It was enough to make Bella stop eating completely and wish she could sit elsewhere.

"Of course I'm a pure-blood. Why else would I be in Slytherin?" Draco said to an older boy that looked to be fifteen or sixteen. "All of my family has been in Slytherin too, so I had to be here."

Bella slowly became interested in the conversation as everyone of the first announced to the table that they were also pure bloods and their entire families had been in Slytherin before them.

"How about you Bellatrix?" the older boy next to Draco asked Bella suddenly.

Bella looked around at all their faces. While she didn't want to lie, telling the truth in this instance may not have been a completely good idea, but she decided to use the truth.

"It's Bell. Mum's a pure blood but I don't know about my father," Bella answered slowly as some of her house mates looked at her slightly confused.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Pansy asked from beside her.

"I don't know who my father is. He could be a muggle for all my Mum and I know," Bella stated. She looked at her hands in her lap as the rest of the table looked away from her and began talking amongst themselves without Bella again.

The rest of the feast passed without Bella joining into any more of the conversations. No one tried to start any conversations with her either. Suddenly Bella wished she had been put in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw with all her friends rather than Slytherin.

When the feast finally concluded, all the students were dismissed and followed the older students to the houses separate common rooms.

Bella was able to say a quick good-bye to Jared and Dustin as they passed each other on the way out of the great hall. Dustin smiled at her as he said good-bye while Jared looked at her in sympathy as he waved.

Bella and the other Slytherin first years were led down a few corridors and into the dungeons. There they followed the older boy that had been talking with Malfoy down more corridors until they came to a cellar. The students were led to the back wall of the cellar where the older boy said aloud a word.

"Pure-blood," he said. As he said the word like it was a command, the wall began moving like the entrance to Diagon Alley. Soon all the students had piled into the grand room.

Bella observed that the room was furnished as if it were a palace but at the same time, there was a cold feeling to the room.

"Before you all go to your dorms, Professor Snape will be down here to give you all a lecture on our house rules." The older boy looked around at everyone, daring them to say something out of turn. "Wait here and don't do anything until you are told you can." With that, the boy headed towards a door that Bella assumed led to his shared dormitory.

A few minutes passed in which Bella was able to look around the common room. Again she noticed that there was a cold, emotionless feeling to the room that everyone either ignored or embraced. This feeling was intensified when the wall to the cellar open again.

Bella looked at the man as he walked in. He was tall with black greasy hair and a large nose that looked as if it had been broken a few times. He looked as if he had a permanent sneer on his face just as Pansy had on the train.

"I am Professor Snape," he started in a bored tone. "I am your head of house and as such I have certain rules that you will all follow." He paused while he let his words sink in. When he continued, his tone was more ordering. "The first rule is you will always behave yourselves and any misbehavior will be rewarded with fierce punishments given by myself. The second rule is, as you are all first years, you will have a different curfew than the older students along with a strict lights out. You must be in the common room or your dormitories by nine thirty and be asleep by ten. I expect full cooperation with the older students and all your teachers. That is the third rule; absolute respect for authority."

Once again, Professor Snape paused to let his words sink in. "Now go to your dormitories. It is nearly ten and classes start tomorrow." As soon as he finished speaking, all the students except Bella began heading towards their dormitories.

"Professor?" Bella started. "What about our belongings?"

Snape sighed. "They are already in your dormitory. I assumed that your parents would have shared such knowledge with you before starting here."

"Oh, um, thank you sir," Bella hurriedly said as she hastily turned away towards where Pansy and Millicent were going. "Good night sir," Bella said as she disappeared into the dormitory with her housemates.

It took Bella and her house mates barely ten minutes to be in their pajamas and in their beds waiting for the lights to go out.

"So Bell, what were you talking to Professor Snape for?" Millicent asked from the bed beside Bella's.

"I was just wondering where our trunks were," Bella answered as she read her book on Quidditch. Bella heard Pansy snort from across the room.

"Didn't your mum tell you about Hogwarts at all?" Daphne said from between Pansy's and Bella's beds.

Bella closed up her book and hid it under her pillow as she answered. "Mum's American. She went to Salem Witch's Institute in Massachusetts," Bella yawned. "We'd never heard of Hogwarts before a month ago."

Before anyone could reply, all the lights in the dormitory went out with a small pop.

"Night everyone," Bella yawned as she closed her eyes for the night and blocked out the other girls by clearing her mind.