Disclaimer: I have taken some artistic liberties to the plot and it will become more changed as the story progresses. Because of the impact the OC has in the HP world, it will change things. It will especially have an impact on Draco Malfoy's character development. I hope you all enjoy this story!

Chapter 1

House of Slytherin

Ariana didn't know why she felt as though her stomach was in knots. It wasn't like she never heard of the Great Hall within Hogwarts but not the books nor the movies could have prepared her for this sight. She could feel the excitement of the other students as they looked at the ceiling in awe. It truly was a sight to behold. Not even the most beautiful of sunsets could compare to the magic of this place and all that it brought.

Hermione whispered, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

Lighting the Great Hall were thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables going from one end of the room to the entrance. Students were already seated as their eyes watched the new students enter, walking closer to the back of the room where the teachers were seated.

Oh my god. The food, Ariana thought as she wondered what kind of food they would be serving. She may be a slim and petite girl but food was a weakness of hers. And the orphanage she grew up in did not quench any of her cravings.

For now, all she could see with her green eyes were glittering golden plates and goblets. Just waiting for the moment that they would be filled.

Her eyes moved forward as she watched as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first year students. Her stomach was once again a mess as she spotted the sorting hat being placed on top of the stool.

I still can't believe I am really here, she thought, biting her lip. She felt like she was in a place she didn't belong. I shouldn't have been reincarnated into this story.

She frowned. She knew that for many people that watched the movies or read the books, it was a dream to have received a letter and be brought to Hogwarts. And sure, she always wished she would have some kind of power like magic but she never actually wanted to be part of the story itself. She still hadn't any idea how this could have even happened. She was still confused how she died in her previous life. Or how she was born back in time. But now it kind of made sense to her in a way as she was thrust in the plot of Harry Potter, much to her dismay. She knew about the butterfly effect and she wanted no part of it.

This is going to be a long 7 years, she thought as she sighed inwardly.

Her thoughts were disrupted by the voice that came from the worn out magical hat as it began to sing:

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffis are true and unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The anxiety in her only grew. She had forgotten that this hat would poke inside of her mind in order to sort her into a house. While she began to panic, the whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song.

Ariana looked up as Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment and spoke to the students, "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause as the hat suddenly blurted out, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The Hufflepuff table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down with the rest of her house.

Ariana's mind wandered about many different scenarios. She knew what this year had in store and yet, she didn't know where she would fit in all of it.

"Granger, Hermione!"

Gryffindor, Ariana thought, absentmindedly.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The others kept on going up one by one being sorted into their houses just like it was in the story written by J.K. Rowling, until she was the only one left to sort.

"Zavier, Ariana," Professor McGonagall called her name.

Taking a deep breath in, she hoped that she would be sorted in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. The two houses that did not have any of the key characters. Where she wouldn't impact the story so much.

She gently seated herself on to stool. She took another deep breath, trying to empty out her mind as she closed her eyes when the Sorting Hat was placed on top of her head.

"Hmm," the hat spoke, "How strange."

Ariana wondered what the hat meant about it being strange.

"Zavier is not a name I know to be of a magical descent," it said.

It really wasn't. She met her parents in this world. She had been abandoned as a baby and given a random name. Being named 'Baby Jane Doe' wasn't appropriate, you see. So, she was given a name.

Bitterness entered her heart for a faction of a time, with the single thought of 'how would abandon their own child'? But then she remembered her previous life where she had loving parents that had raised her to be a good person. She had already been lucky once. She had known the love of parents, even if wasn't in this life.

"An orphan, I see," the hat spoke.

She felt discomfort as if someone were poking into her brain.

"Now, now. Don't resist me. It won't be long," the Sorting Hat spoke to her as if to decrease her discomfort. "You are a very strange one, aren't you? It is almost as if… Hm. Yes, yes. I see."

I really hope that it will be Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, she thought, squeezing her eyes even more. She hoped that, like with Harry Potter, the Sorting Hat would heed to her request.

"SLYTHERIN!" the hat shouted for all to hear.

Her eyes immediately widened in shock, "Huh?"

It seemed that her house was just as confused as she was. Hesitant and confused claps were heard but many more whispers were overlapping the fake applause. She already knew that her house did not accept her, a Muggle-Born.

Well, shit, she thought.

As the students around Ariana mingled, her attention was placed and only reserved for the food that had finally appeared before her. She wasn't at all interested in making any friends. Her priority was to just fade into the background.

"I can't believe the Sorting Hat let a Muggle-Born like her into Slytherin," Ariana heard a girl speak opposite of her, "It must be getting too ragged."

Ariana rolled her eyes, "Whether you like it or not, princess, I'm here so you know, deal with it or whatever. I don't particularly care."

"Excuse me? You dare speak to me like that, mudblood!" she shrieked at Ariana as if some kind of banshee.

Ariana laughed, "Aw, you thought calling me that would upset me? How cute."

The girl looked red with anger, "Do you know who you are talking to?"

Ariana leaned her hand on top of her palm with a smirk on her lips, "Nope. Don't care."

"I'm Pansy Parkinson. A Pure-blood," she spat at her.

"Congratulations," Ariana said to her without an emotion. She sighed as she shrugged, "But that doesn't mean anything to me. Call me mudblood, call me anything that you want. I really couldn't care less. People with true power do not need to put down those who are weak to prove it. You must be very weak minded, Parkinson."

Well, her plan to fade into the background had crumbled to the ground. She just couldn't let someone believe that it was okay to push her around simply for the fact that she was Muggle-Born. She wanted to show that she was not bothered.

Her parents in her past life had always taught her to never let anyone bully her into thinking she was less than she was. They taught her to be confident in herself. To be true to herself. They taught their daughter how to have strength of heart and to be kind to others because she never knew the struggles that they may be facing. They had also taught her that bullies only bully because they have something to prove and aren't as confident as they let on. That is why the words that this Pansy Parkinson spoke meant nothing to Ariana.

"You- you low-born-"

Ariana laughed again, "Keep them coming. I'm entertained."

The girl huffed, "You are not worth anymore of my precious time, mudblood."

Finally, Ariana thought, hoping this would make the girl ignore her existence from then on. She took a fork food of tender meat in her mouth, savouring the taste. She felt eyes on her. The little back and forth had gained the attention of many of the other Slytherin students around the table. She heard them whisper but shrugged it off. She proved that bullying her would only backfire on them. She would not grow upset and cry like they wanted her. They would most likely leave her alone.

"I'm curious," a boy spoke a few seats to her right, "What do you mean by 'People with true power do not need to put down those who are weak to prove it'?"

"Who cares? You think a Mudblood would even know the meaning of what true power is?" Her eyes darted to someone she swore she would stay under the radar from. He smirked at her, "I doubt it."

She had to admit, Draco Malfoy may have the same silver-white hair and grey eyes as the movies but this was not Tom Felton. For an eleven year old, he was a cutie. Ariana briefly wondered what this version of Draco Malfoy would grow up to look like.

"Do you?" she questioned him, an eyebrow raised.

His smirk was wiped off, looking taken aback, "Of course I do! I'm a Malfoy! Not a lowly stupid mudblood like you."

"You know," she began, "Slytherin is meant to value cunning, resourcefulness, leadership, and ambition but I do not recall that meaning becoming an egotistical bully who looks down on others for some so pathetic as who your parents are. For, as far as I know, no one has the ability to choose who they are born from. And you are telling me that it is alright to treat them poorly for that simple fact? Does that truly make sense to you?" She shrugged, "Have it your way then, Malfoy. As you said, I am just a lowly mudblood. I don't know anything."

He fell silent as if he was trying to come up with a witty comeback, "I will have it my way, mudblood."

She chose to ignore him and turned to the boy that asked her the question before Draco had stuck his opinion in, "To answer your question, true power is the ability to take on any challenge that is presented to you and even if you are at your limit, you push past it and you help those that need it. You guide them. Lead them. But don't walk all over them."

The table fell silent at her words. Some of them were angered by the fact she spoke poorly about Pure-Bloods but they just did not know how to even tell her off as no matter who called her names, she wouldn't be affected by it. Some were already plotting ways of making her life at Hogwarts hell so that perhaps she would quit and leave them. She was a thorn on their beliefs and she was going to get cut out of the garden that is the House of Slytherin.

Ariana had dark circles underneath her eyes as she sat alone on her table. The last few days she hadn't been sleeping well. She was plagued with the same god awful nightmare every night. The kind of dream where you see your entire family be killed right before your eyes. She was becoming sleep deprived and no one in her house cared to even ask how she was doing or even help her find her way through the large castle to her classes. She had to do it all on her own. It took her some time but she found her way around.

"Gross. Someone has woken on the ugly side of the bed this morning," she heard Draco make fun of her, causing the other Slytherin's in the classroom to snigger along with him.

She turned around and smiled at him, "That is very sweet of you to notice that I haven't been sleeping well and to call me beautiful before my lack of sleep."

His facial features fell, "You must have heard me wrong. How dimwitted can you be?"

She looked at him, questioningly, "But you noticed that something is wrong with me. That I'm not looking my usual self. For that I thank you."

"Are you off your rocker?" the girl Ariana recalled as Pansy chipped in from a table near them. "He called you ugly. Which you are."

Ariana shrugged, "You have your opinion. I have mine. I am giving Malfoy the benefit of sounding like a gentleman rather than a prat." She looked at him, "Did you want to be a gentleman or a prat?"

He sent her a glare, unable to say a single word.

She smiled in victory before turning back to look at the front of the class. She knew that this earned her more pranks and possibly more nightmares. She was almost certain that the students at Slytherin were the culprits for her nightmares. She never once had those kinds of nightmares before. Not about her past life. Not to mention that she would sometimes wake up with a new 'gift' on her bed. The latest was a nice little rat with blood and mud staining her sheets. She thought it to be somewhat clever of them to do. Rat was like a prey to snakes and the mud and blood to symbolize her being a mudblood. It was brilliant, really. Thank goodness for magic. But she would always clean up the messes after the other girls would be out of the room.

Ariana's mind wondered again as her teacher called the student's names one by one. She was analysing Severus Snape's appearance. He was rather handsome for an older man. Sleek black hair and well structured face. Though he did seem to look more on the dangerous side, kind of scary even. Scary in the way that he could intimidate students easily.

Not like the movies, she thought, But then again, was I expecting them to look like actors? She became slightly amused with herself.

"Ah, Yes," Severus Snape said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new — celebrity."

Ariana heard Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle snigger from behind her. She didn't exactly understand what was so funny.

"And Ariana Zavier." She silently raised her hand to show her presence. Black eyes pierced right through her, "Ah yes, the rare witch that doesn't need a wand. I heard about you from Dumbledore."

Her cheeks flushed as all eyes were on her. She cursed inside of her head. Though, it was a matter of time that they would take notice that she was without a wand. No wand would choose her for the simple fact that she did not need one. In the summer prior to coming to Hogwarts, after receiving her letter and discovering she was a witch, she had undergone personal magical lessons to understand how to control her magic. She had met Dumbledore on one occasion, before he showed her who would train her. But that is a story for another day.

"Uh, yes sir," she said, still feeling awkward with the attention she had gotten herself.

The students began to whisper around her. She suddenly wished she were just a fly on the wall. Small and away from this all.

"No wand?" some questioned as if they wanted an answer. An answer she was told to keep to herself. She had no problems doing just that as she still hadn't known exactly what it meant anyway.

"Alright, alright. Settle down. There will be time for you to question Miss Zavier after class. You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making," Snape quickly changed the subject so as to stop the gossiping students from getting off topic too much.

Ariana was thankful, though she would have liked if this hadn't come at that moment. Even if they would have found out eventually, she still felt like there was a time and place and this wasn't quite it.

"As there is little foolish wand-waving here," he looked at her before turning his attention back to the remaining students in the class, "many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses.…I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

Ariana's lips turned downward as Snape began to put Harry on the spot asking him a series of questions he could not answer. Putting it on blast that fame wasn't everything. She thought back to her past life and even this life in a regular 'muggle' school where teachers would call upon a student just to humiliate them. She hated that about school. This was no exception. Though she knew that Snape wasn't the bad man that he seemed to be, she still didn't like this part at all.

"Sit down," Snape suddenly snapped at Hermione, causing Ariana to come back to reality and began to finally write down what was necessary, "For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"

Ariana smiled as she knew to start writing before it was said. She watched as the others began to write, a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Having already written things down, Ariana let her mind wander once again.

Even though she was lost in thought, she heard Snape say, "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter."

Ariana knew what a mess the potions class was going to be and tried to block most of it out. Snape showing favoritism towards Draco while scolding Harry at every little 'mistake' he made. It was something she didn't want to even be involved in.

This is harder watching in person, she thought, biting her lip. She wanted to speak up to the professor but kept it back. Fade into the background, she reminded herself. Yep, this is going to be a long 7 years.