Chapter 11: New Things for Everyone

"They're almost here!" Dawn said in an excited squeak that Sunday evening. She was bouncing on her feet while Faith was pacing back and forth. Mordred was even worse, as he was tapping away on everything with his wands like they were drumsticks. Buffy was the only one who was able to stay in one place, but even she could not deny the excitement that she was feeling for the upcoming school year.

"There's the carriages now!" Dawn piped cheerfully. "Can you see them?"

"Do you think we should get to our tables now?" asked Buffy smartly, "or should we greet them at the door like a hostess or something? And would you STOP that!" she yelled at Mordred, causing him to retract his wands with a sheepish grin full of pointy teeth.

Dawn ignored her while Faith began cooing at Mrs. Norris, who had come in to investigate the four students. The cat yowled at Faith, getting ready to run off to Filch, but before it could move Mordred rushed over and punted Mrs. Norris like a football through a window.

"GOOOOAAAALLLLLL!" He bellowed, raising his arms in victory as the cat fell down to smack one of the carriages. Faith punched him in the gut as hard as she could, dropping him to his knees.

"You bastard, what'd the kitty ever do to you?" Faith demanded as her voice filled with outrage. Mordred got up off the ground, chuckling through his wheezes.

"Ah, come on, that was funny." He said, before waving one of his wands and fixing the glass with a spell. He was just in time too, as Filch came in looking for his cat. After the caretaker left, the four students each went to their House tables to wait for the other students to arrive.

Soon enough, various students were filling up the four long House tables. Buffy had stayed standing up, so that she could sit near enough to Harry and his friends without being too obvious in trying to get close to him. The "Slytherin Triumvirate" as they dubbed themselves, had just sat down in the middle of their House's table, just daring anyone to sit next to them. Sure enough, Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sat across from them.

Buffy found the Golden Trio along with Neville, and she sat down where she'd be able to talk with them without shouting over a din. She was stared at by some of the others, but was ignored by the Trio themselves, who were in deep conversation.

"Maybe he's not back yet." Said the black haired, scar-headed boy Buffy took to be Harry to his friends in a conspiratorial whisper, which Buffy could hear clearly with her Slayer-enhanced hearing. "You know, from his mission, the thing he was doing for Dumbledore over the summer."

"Who's that?" Said the bushy, brown haired girl that Dawn told Buffy was Hermione.

Buffy was about to answer, but then realized Hermione was pointing over her head towards the middle of the staff table. Buffy looked over and saw one of the most hideous women she had ever seen in her life, including Demons. The woman looked like a failed cross between a toad and a warthog, with a fluffy pink cardigan over her robes that matched the horrible pink band that was placed on her mouse-brown hair. Ugh, what on Earth was that woman thinking when she left home today? Buffy thought. Does she even own a mirror? Her thoughts were interrupted when Harry began speaking.

"It's that Umbridge woman!" Said Harry, surprised.

"Who?" Asked Hermione.

"She was at my hearing," answered Harry, "she works for Fudge!"

"She works for Fudge! What on earth is she doing here?" Asked Hermione before her eyes went round. "No, no, surely not . ."

Buffy remembered what Dawn had told her about Umbridge, and was about to start talking to the Trio when she was asked who she was by someone else.

"I'm Buffy Summers," she said to the nervous looking boy, who was holding onto a pet toad. "Who are you?"

"Oh um, I'm Neville Longbottom." He replied in a small voice. "This here is my toad Trevor. Is it true you're from America?"

"You betcha, born and raised in sunny California." Answered Buffy, who had taken a liking to Neville despite his sheepish mannerisms. She then turned to the redheaded twins who were staring at her. "Ok, which one of you two is the evil twin?"

"He is!" they both said pointing at one another, grinning. Buffy gave a big fake pout before saying, "I like evil twins . . ."

"I am!" Both twins proclaimed, getting a laugh from their fellow Gryffindors before their younger brother spoke up.

"So you're American?" Ron asked.

"Gee, you could tell?" Buffy asked sarcastically.

"Accent." Ron replied evenly.

"Hey," protested Buffy. "You're the one with the accent Mr. England."

"Hear that mates," Ron said braggingly to his friends, "she thinks I'm good enough for a Mr. England pageant for the Daily Prophet."

Buffy was about to continue when there was a sudden hush over the Great Hall. Everyone looked towards the Sorting Hat, where it was sitting on a stool.

The whole school waited with on edge. And then all of a sudden, the Hat began to sing:

"In times of old, when I was new,
And Hogwarts barely started,
The founders of our noble school
Thought never to be parted.
United by a common goal,
They had the selfsame yearning
To make the world's best Magic school
And pass along their learning.
'Together we will build and teach',
The four good friends decided.
And never did they dream that they
Might some day be divided.
For were there such friends anywhere
As Slytherin and Gryffindor?
Unless it was the second pair
Of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw,
So how could it have gone so wrong?
How could such friendships fail?
Why, I was there, so I can tell
The whole sad, sorry tale.
Said Slytherin, "We'll teach just those
Whose ancestry's purest."
Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose
Intelligence is surest"
Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those
With brave deeds to their name."
Said Hufflepuff, "I'll teach the lot
And treat them just the same."
These differences caused little strife
When first they came to light.
For each of the four founders had
A House in which they might
Take only those they wanted, so,
For instance, Slytherin
Took only pureblood Wizards
Of great cunning just like him.
And only those of sharpest mind
Were taught by Ravenclaw
While the bravest and the boldest
Went to daring Gryffindor.
Good Hufflepuff, she took the rest
And taught them all she knew,
Thus, the Houses and their founders
Maintained friendships firm and true.
So Hogwarts worked in harmony
For several happy years,
But then discord crept among us
Feeding on our faults and fears.
The Houses that, like pillars four
Had once held up our school
Now turned upon each other and
Divided, sought to rule.
And for a while it seemed the school
Must meet an early end.
What with duelling and with fighting
And the clash of friend on friend.
And at last there came a morning
When old Slytherin departed
And though the fighting then died out
He left us quite downhearted.
And never since the founders four
Were whittled down to three
Have the Houses been united
As they once were meant to be.
And now the Sorting Hat is here
And you all know the score:
I sort you into Houses
because that is what I'm for.
But this year I'll go further,
Listen closely to my song:
Though condemned I am to split you
Still I worry that it's wrong,
Though I must fulfill my duty
And must quarter every year
Still I wonder whether sorting
May not bring the end I fear.
Oh, know the perils, read the signs,
The warning history shows,
For our Hogwarts is in danger
From external, deadly foes
And we must unite inside her
Or we'll crumble from within
I have told you, I have warned you...
Let the Sorting now begin."

The Hat went still, and the students all cheered, however they did so with some worried muttering and whispering.

"Branched out a bit this year, hasn't it?" Asked the redheaded boy before looking at Buffy and doing a double take. He then held out his hand in a nervous manner. "Hi, my rame is Non . . . I mean, hi, my name is Ron Weasley, what's yours?"

"Well hello, my name is Buffy Summers." Buffy said, shaking Ron's hand. Hermione glared at Ron for a moment, before extending her own hand.

"I'm Hermione Granger." Buffy took her hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you as well," Buffy said before playfully asking, "is this your boyfriend?" while gesturing at Ron.

Both of them went a slight shade of red, while blubbering that they were not, in fact, dating. Harry came to their rescue.

"We're all just friends." He supplied, before holding out his hand. "I'm Harry Potter."

"Nice to meet you." Buffy said. She was interrupted by a poke from Neville, who was pointing to Professor McGonagall, who had managed to stop the other whispering students with a scorching look. She then began to read out the names of First Year students, who had to go up in front of the school and put on the Sorting Hat to be sorted into their Houses.

"Wow, I had a hard enough time putting the Hat on in front of my friends, let a-" Buffy began before being shushed by Hermione. She then waited until the Sorting was over and done, which took a long time. Finally, the last person was Sorted and Dumbledore rose to his feet while McGonagall took the Hat off the stool.

"To our newcomers," said Dumbledore in a ringing voice, a beaming smile on his lips and his arms stretched out wide, "welcome! To our old hands, welcome back! There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"

With that, the audience cheered as the tables all filed up with food. Ron began stuffing his face full of food, while the other two began talking with Buffy while also eating.

"Does the Hat always give warnings like that?" Asked Buffy. The others shrugged their shoulders, but Nick, the Nearly-Headless Ghost, came in and answered.

"Oh yes," he said, gliding between Buffy and Neville, "I have heard the Hat give advice whenever there has been a perceived threat to the school. The advice is always the same: stand together and be strong from within. A united school is needed to fight against any enemies we encounter."

"Ow kunnit nofe skusin danger ifzat?" asked Ron, with his mouth so full of food that it was quite an achievement for him to make any noise at all. He swallowed while Hermione looked away disgustedly before asking again. "How does it know the school is in danger if it's a Hat?"

"It's a talking Hat that can read minds," answered Buffy, "I'm sure it's bound to pick up information, especially since it's in the Principal's office."

"The who's office?" Asked Ron curiously.

"Principal Rumblecore." Buffy replied.

Harry gagged on his food, laughing at the new girl's mispronunciation of the Headmaster's name. Hermione ended up having to explain things to both Ron and Buffy.

"A Principal is an American Headmaster." Hermione said, her mouth twitching slightly. "And his name is Dumbledore."

"Ok, sorry." Buffy said chastised. Harry tried to change the subject.

"The Hat wants all the Houses to be friends?" he said while looking over at Slytherin. "Fat chance."

"Didn't your other three friends end up in Slytherin?" Asked Hermione curiously, while Ron looked on in interest while shovelling food into his mouth.

"Yes," replied Buffy, "my sister Dawn, and my two . . . cousins, Mordred and Faith are all in Slither thing." Ron spat out his food, spraying both Hermione and Harry.

"Your family is in Slytherin?" He asked in shock, while Hermione scowled at him darkly. He was about to say something else when she kicked him in the shin, causing him to spit up more food that he was chewing. Harry decided, that since Ron's behaviour wasn't putting Buffy off, then a few questions wouldn't either.

"I hate to be rude," he began, "but which two out of the four of you are Parselmouths?"

"Parsel-? Oh yeah, talk to snakes." Remembered Buffy out loud. She pointed over to the Slytherin table. "My sister Dawn – that's the light brown haired girl, and my 'cousin' Mordred both can talk to snakes."

They all looked over, and saw Faith and Dawn talking together while Mordred was swallowing an entire loaf of bread packed with various items whole. Even the other Slytherins, some whose table manners were quite atrocious at times, were watching on in wonder and horror as Mordred opened up his mouth to a near impossible width, his jaw making loud cracking noises. When it was all the way open he slowly but surely shoved a huge sandwich with various things ranging from meats to vegetables to sweets on it down his throat. It was like watching a python swallowing a warthog whole; it was that disturbing. Hermione look on and gagged, while the boys just stared in awe.

"Wow, and I thought you had terrible table manners." Harry said to Ron, who only grunted.

Meanwhile, at the Slytherin table, Mordred finished off his sandwich and then drained a nearby pitcher of pumpkin juice.

"You've got quite an appetite," said Draco from across from him, "you going to leave any for us?"

"Do you speak Parselmouth?" Asked Mordred, staring at Draco. Draco gave him a look of total confusion, and Mordred repeated the question to some of the others. Dawn broke in.

"Harry's the only one who speaks Parselmouth." She said, pointing over to the Gryffindor table. "He's the one with the scar."

Mordred looked over to where Dawn was pointing, seeing a waving Buffy. Dawn waved back at her only to get scowled at by Draco.

"Sorry to see your sister's a blood traitor." Said Draco meanly while Mordred stuffed some more food, this time an entire ham, down his throat. "Not everyone who's Pure-blooded acts the way they should. Some of them even associate with Mud-Bloods and Half bloods."

"We're Muggle born." Said Faith challengingly, while Dawn glared at Draco. Before Draco could reply, Mordred reached over and grabbed up an entire spotted dick, which he then swallowed whole in the same fashion as he had the sandwich. Draco and his friends began grabbing up food items before they were all gone. When Crabbe made the mistake of grabbing a treacle tart Mordred had grabbed, Mordred looked at him and snarled very loudly, causing Crabbe to slink his hand back in fear.

When the rest of the students had filled up and began talking mostly, Dumbledore got to his feet. Everyone except Mordred, who was still pounding back as much food as he could possibly swallow, stopped what they were doing and listened to what the Headmaster had to say.

"Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term-notices." Said Dumbledore. "First Year students ought to know that the Forest is out-of-bounds to students, with the new exception of three of the four new foreign students," the other students looked at Buffy and the Slytherin Triumvirate, "due to religious reasons of their own. I would like for you to not ask them about it, as it is between them and their faith, not anyone else." Dumbledore shifted into a more light-hearted tone.

"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to remind you all that Magic is not permitted in the hallways, along with a good many other things that are all to be found on his list on his doorway. Also, we are very pleased to invite back Professor Grubby-Plank, who will be teaching Care of Magical Creatures, and we are also delighted to invite Professor Umbridge, our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."

He tried to continue, but Umbridge, who addressed the school as if they were all infants, interrupted him. Buffy tried to pay attention, but after five minutes of Umbridge's speech she almost fell asleep. Hermione was the only one of her table that paid attention, and she got angrier with every second as she listened to Umbridge's speech. By the time Umbridge was done, most of the school was chattering animatedly with one another while some students looked as if they'd fallen asleep (Mordred was still busy eating as if he'd never seen food before in his life).

"Well, that was illuminating." Said Hermione in a low voice. Ron and Harry looked on in surprise, but Buffy beat them to the punch by answering their questions before they asked them.

"She means to say that the new teacher is the Ministry's way of keeping tabs on the school." Said Buffy. "She's a Gestapo agent for Fudge so that we can all be seen goose-stepping to the same beat."

When Ron looked on in confusion, Hermione decided to make it easier for him.

"What she means," she said through gritted teeth, "is that the Ministry's interfering at Hogwarts."

"Yeah, one thing I do remember her saying is that the O.W.L. year students will all be sharing every class with the same groups," said Harry, "so it'll be just our luck to get stuck with Slytherin for not only Potions, but every class they take."

"Not every class." Hermione said. "Just the main ones, I'm sure our electives will be have different classes depending on how many students take them. We could have up to all four Houses in one class if it's small -"

Before she could finish, the school was dismissed and everyone started standing up ready to leave the Hall. Hermione jumped up, looking flustered.

"Ron, we're supposed to show the First Years where to go!" She said to Ron.

"Oh yeah," said Ron, who had obviously forgotten. He then pointed at the first years and shouted. "Hey you lot! Midgets!"

"Ron!" Hermione hissed, while Buffy burst out laughing.

"Well they are, they're titchy . . ." Ron countered while Buffy was still laughing. They all got up and tried to get everyone together, but Buffy saw Harry going off by himself, so she followed him. He made it to the Fat Lady's Portrait, but didn't know the password.

"Mimbulus mimbletonia." Supplied Buffy, getting the portrait to open up. They both went inside, where Harry went up to his dorm without saying a word to Buffy. Buffy went up to her dorm and waited for the other girls to show up. When Hermione showed up Buffy waved her over to show her the note she had from Dumbledore regarding her nightly patrols. Hermione almost asked what it was for, but then remembered Dumbledore's pleas not to do so, so she kept her questions to herself.

Meanwhile, in the Slytherin Common Room, things were a bit more heated between the Housemates.

"So, it's true then?" Draco said in a snarling voice. "A bunch of filthy Mud-Bloods has finally clawed their way into Slytherin. The Hat must be off its rocker." Dawn rolled her eyes while Mordred and Faith stared at him.

"Actually, you're wrong there, Spike-Alike." She retorted to Draco, making his face contort into an extremely distasteful grimace. "My blood was red the last time I checked it, and I don't recall there being any mud."

"Don't you dare call me that!" he roared. "If you must call me anything it will be Master Malfoy, as that is the way to respect your superiors."

"Master? Superior? Puh-leese!" Dawn countered while casually cleaning under her fingernails, determined to show him that she was better than him. "The only thing you would be superior to me in would be peeing standing up, and even then, you'd need a magnifying glass for that."

Draco's jaw dropped in complete shock, while Faith and Mordred both burst out laughing. Draco closed his mouth and glared at them before responding.

"You'll do what I say because I'm the boss!" Draco roared, causing Faith and Mordred to laugh even harder. Dawn went over to him and patted him on the head.

"You know," she said, "you're kinda cute when you're delusional. But not that cute."

The others laughed as Pansy Parkinson came up the stairs from the girls' dorm.

"Stop laughing at him!" Screamed Pansy, as she was just as shocked as Draco was.

"Why don't you shut up?" Said Faith menacingly.

"What did you say?" Asked Pansy.

"Oh sorry, sorry," Faith said while taking out her wand. "I said 'why don't you -,'" she put her wand to her throat and amplified her voice with a Sonorous spell, "SHUT UP YOU STUPID SOW BEFORE I RIP YOUR FACE OFF!!!" When Crabbe walked up behind Faith after she took her wand off her throat she just merely motioned to him.

"Try it ugly, and I'm gonna do some reconstructive rectal surgery on yah and liberate your brain from your ass with my foot." She said without even looking at him. Goyle tried to grab Mordred, who then gestured with his wand. Suddenly, Goyle was floating in the air, clutching at his throat while Mordred held out his wand in a choking gesture.

"Your lack of brains astounds me. You know what the chain of command is?" Mordred asked looking around the room while Goyle was gagging ion the air. "It's the chain we go get and beat you all with until you understand who's in ruttin' command here." Mordred then turned to Malfoy and Crabbe. "You try anything like that again, and I'll drop both you on those stack of Knuts you call necks!"

He then tossed Goyle into Malfoy and Crabbe, who tumbled to the ground in a pile. Not having expected a retort of that nature, most of Slytherin was struck speechless, which was like music to Dawn's ears. She filled in the silence perfectly.

"Okay, we're only gonna tell you this once. I don't like you, Draco, and it's pretty obvious you don't like me." Dawn said as Draco tried to get to his feet. "We've already showed you that we mean business and we will not be putting up with any of your racist whiney crap. The Hat put us in Slytherin, so deal with it. And don't even think of attacking us because we could each could pound the snot outta you and your goons in seconds flat." Dawn's voice had hardened and had successfully gotten everyone's full-uninterrupted attention.

"Oh and the bullying crap really doesn't work on us cuz we've have faced things way, way, way scarier than you times a hundred back home." She added while smirking at Draco's stunned face. She glanced at her 'cousins', and then back at Draco, who had finally remembered on how to talk.

"But we're - you're – you can't do that to me!" he whined from the tangle of limbs he was in. "I'm a Prefect. I'm the one that's in charge here –" Mordred interrupted him.

"Looks like we're taking over then, yah ass-clown." Mordred said before pointing to the Basilisk head on the wall. "You see that thing there, boy? By putting that there we've declared our own superiority over the entire school. That there's a symbol that actually means something. You want to talk about blood purity?" Mordred lifted Malfoy up in the air with his wand and pressed him against the ceiling as Draco clutched at his throat and choked.

"You want to treat us like dogs, and you expect us to smile?" Roared Mordred at Malfoy, who was cowering and choking while he was trapped on the ceiling. "You remind me of a jack ass, you little mealy-mouthed bastard."

"But hey," Mordred said suddenly, turning around to the other Slytherins and letting Draco drop back into his goons, "if yah don't believe we're the ones to lead, just check out our score. Snape has already given us extra points for having this head in our Common Room as a symbol. No other House has anything similar, so if you wanna bitch and complain about what the three of us," he gestured to Faith and Dawn, "do, then by all means go ahead and lose those points if you don't want them. No sweat off my ass."

"Who do you think you are?" Asked Draco weakly as he tried to get off the ground. Faith supplied the answer.

"We're the Slytherin Triumvirate." She said evenly. "We're in control here now and if you want to live long enough to see Slytherin go to heights unimagined in the school, you better do as we say."

"We have several plans at work here," said Dawn informatively, "all of which will get us more points and accolades than any of you can dream of, but the catch is you have to do what we say when we tell you to. We won't be doing that often, so don't worry about us taking over your lives, we just don't want to have to put up with any 'Pure-blooded' nonsense." Dawn then began addressing her fellow Slytherins.

"Firstly: As you have noticed, Professor Umbridge here is on loan from the Ministry here. That means the longer she stays, the more power she'll get. That also means that if we get on her good side, we'll be the ones who get the power, enough that any one of us will be able to give and take away points from other Houses." Dawn looked around at awed faces. "It's true, it's true."

"Secondly: Mordred and I are both Parselmouths. That means we can talk to snakes. That also means we can control the snakes to do our bidding. That gives us the chance to spy on the other Houses, see what they're up to for Quidditch practices, any plans to get points, and also any secrets anyone has, so whatever anyone else has in plans, we can find out." Dawn turned to where Draco and his goons were. "That also includes any plans you might have of trying to usurp us, so don't even think of it. We already have some snakes made, turned invisible and deployed, so be warned. If you'd like to add to the cause, ask our permission first before making your own snakes. The last thing we need to do is tip off the rest of the school as to what we're doing."

"And finally: Mordred and I are rather good at the actual school work, so to you younger kids, feel free to ask our help in anything you need to. If we don't know it, we'll find out and help you find it out as well." Dawn said sweetly. "That doesn't mean we'll do your school work for you, it just means we'll help you out. We also have three Nimbus 2001 brooms we would like to sell, so if you want them please see me afterwards. So, any questions?"

"Yeah," asked one Slytherin kid. "How do you know all this?"

"We have it on good authority that these things will happen," answered Dawn evenly. "Next question?"

"Are you the three who will be going out into the Forbidden Forest for 'religious' reasons?" Asked Pansy Parkinson, who had gotten off the ground while Draco and his two goons licked their wounds.

"Faith and Mordred will be out Patrolling, I won't be able to yet but that allows me to be able to help out with school work." Replied Dawn honestly. "However, I will have Mordred's pet PaniChaos," the two-headed bird popped into view and landed on her shoulder after she said his name, "as well as my own personal snakes to guard me, so don't get any funny ideas."

"Look, we're not saying kiss the ass ends of the other Houses." Said Faith in an irritated voice. "We're just saying that by working with the other Houses, instead of against them, will in the end get us more House points than we've ever gotten before."

The others looked on in wonder, some with open greed on their faces, others with scepticism. Faith looked around.

"Mordred and I have to go Patrol now." Faith said as Mordred Summoned his and Faith's brooms as well as Conjuring up a skateboard. "Remember, if we hear anything bad has happened to Dawn while we're away, or if there's any plotting at all against us, it'll be the last things you do. Ciao."

"Take care of Dawn." Mordred said to some of the invisible snakes in the room.

"Will do, boss." They replied.

With that, Faith and Mordred went up the stairs leaving Dawn to auction off the three Nimbus 2001 brooms to the other Slytherins and field any questions from the younger ones (mostly what the US was like and what she knew) before heading off to bed.

Mordred hopped on his skateboard and went soaring through the school over to the Gryffindor Tower, where the students were wary of him until Buffy came out and reassured them he was only there to get her, and they went off to Patrol the Forest with Faith. The three of them encountered only a scant few monsters, as they had wiped out so many beforehand, so they were able to make it back to their dorms before midnight.