Sorry, sorry, so so sorry! Yes, it's been a month since I last updated and I promise I have an excuse! Kind of. My teachers have been giving me a lot of assignments and stuff plus there were the end-of-term tests and assessments. Then, after that, I had work on my other stories on some other websites. I have a co-author but, tbh, I do most of the writing. I also co-author her/his story, The Other Grace, and she/he wants me to help her/him write that. Then I had this other story called Amaranthine (which I hope to one day turn into a real book even though that's unlikely). So I had to work on Amaranthine which my friends irl were reading and giving me feedback on.

There were also a couple of times where I got grounded for about a week or so. And then I wanted to healthier and stop spending so much time on my laptop and other electronics so there's that. Between all of that stuff, I kind of forgot that I had stories on this website - heck, I forgot I even had an account on ! I'll try to update more often but I'm not promising anything!

"GRYFFINDOR!" It shouted.

Horror.

Shock.

Disbelief.

Denial.

Fear.

Aurelia blinked her eyes. No. Please no. Hell no. Great Salazar, please! Merlin help her, she was doomed. Before Professor McGonagall - her new Head of House, her mind told her - could take the Hat off of her, she wrenched it off harshly. Aurelia gave the Hat a glare of hatred. She knew where the Hta lived. She was getting her revenge.

"Professor, please. I-I can't go to Gryffindor!" Aurelia whispered.

"Miss Malfoy, off you go." The professor replied curtly.

"But - !" Aurelia protested.

Professor McGonagall leaned towards her. "You will find that Gryffindor is not so bad as it seems. Go on."

Aurelia walked to the Gryffindor table, staring at the stone floor. She sat down, sniffling. There were some cheers from the golden table. A few patted her back and said some nice things to her. She glanced at Slytherin's table, where Lucius was staring back, stone-faced. Aurelia mouthed sorry to him and he nodded curtly. She could tell he was not pleased.

"I didn't think you were a lions girl, Malfoy." Sirius smiled.

She didn't reply, staring forlornly at the golden plate before her.

"Hey, cheer up, eh?" He whispered, softening. He shifted closer to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's not that bad."

Aurelia scooted further away from him, grumbling. Stupid Hat. Her parents were going to kill her. They'll send a Howler and then disown her and Lucius would hate her. The very thought of it made her feel horrible. But what of her Seer powers? She was a valuable war asset to them and she hated that. She wanted to escape that fate but she loved her family. She didn't want to be disowned. Her feelings were a mess.

The Sorting soon ended. Aurelia listened to the chat as she stabbed at her food that was nothing compared to what she normally had.

The talk turned to their parents and their professions. "My dad is an engineer," Lily said.

"Does he work for the ministry?" Longbottom asked, confused.

"Um... no. He maintains engines. It's a muggle job." She added at the blank stares. "Both my parents are."

"Oh! You're a mudblood?" Sirius exclaimed excitedly.

Aurelia cringed; she had learned from a blood traitor that muggle-born was the politer term. Everyone gasped and a few looked disgusted. Marlene McKinnon whipped around, glaring angrily at a bewildered Sirius. "What did you call her?!"

He spluttered, confused. Aurelia sighed, looking up.

"Muggleborn," Aurelia corrected for him. "We come from blood purist families so we don't really know that it's an insult."

McKinnon didn't stop glaring. Sirius apologized profusely, blabbering apologies.

"So tell me more of the wizarding world. I'm kind of new." Lily said, accepting Sirius' sorry.

Aurelia sighed, deciding she might as well as make some friends while she was at it. "There's the Sacred 28 but you seem to already know so I won't bother. There are eleven wizarding schools in total. If you don't know, there's a war going on. Some self-proclaimed Dark Lord who hates muggles and muggle-born. My family thinks of me as a war asset so there."

"There's a war?" Mary McDonald asked. "I thought it was just a rumor."

Sirius laughed humorlessly. "Our families have already taken sides. It's real alright."

"My father knew the Dark Lord in school," Aurelia told them. "Another reason for the Malfoys to side with Mr. Flight of Death." They all looked at her in confusion. She sighed. "Father says he calls himself Lord Voldemort which means a flight of death in French."

A few flinched at the name.

The topic of the conversations soon turned to a lighter one and Aurelia sometimes offered her opinion. Sirius didn't speak as much due to the mudblood accident as it was clear that a lot of them were giving him the cold shoulder.

At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent. "Ahem - 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." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins. "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 now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Aurelia noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed. Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.

"Everyone, pick your favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!" And the school bellowed: "Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,

Teach us something please,

Whether we be old and bald

Or young with scabby knees,

Our heads could do with filling

With some interesting stuff,

For, now they're bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of fluff,

So, teach us things worth knowing,

Bring back what we've forgot,

just do your best, we'll do the rest,

And learn until our brains all rot.

Everybody finished the song at different times. Aurelia sealed her mouth shut, only mouthing the lyrics. She was not singing that. At last, only the Prewett twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.

"I swear, the Founders were drunk when they wrote that." Aurelia whispered to Sirius.

He laughed quietly.

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

The Gryffindor first years followed a prefect with dyed green hair through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the marble staircase. Those around her yawned but Aurelia didn't. She wasn't tired and not the slightest bit hungry despite having had nothing except for a spoonful of her favorite ice cream and the sugar quills from the train which was hours ago. They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Aurelia was just wondering how much farther they had to go when they came to a sudden halt.

At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.

"Password?" she said.

"Orena Casse," said the prefect, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs.

The perfect directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase - they were obviously in one of the towers - the first-year girls found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Aurelia changed into her acromantula silk pajamas and lied down on her bed.

"Goodnight, everyone," Lily said.

Everyone echoed it back but Aurelia just pulled the hangings shut. Soon she was lulled to sleep by the whispers of the girls who were still awake.

1285 words.