Victoria looked at the starry ceiling above her in wonder before casting her glance on what was in front of her and her peers. Lying on an battered stool was an worn hat. Almost as old as the school itself.

"Godric Gryffindor himself put his personality into the hat," she told Eridani. "History says that the founders wanted to find a way to sort the students, so the hat was Godric's idea."

She looks around the table for her guardian. Seeing him sitting next to an fidgety young man wearing an purple turban on his head. Severus doesn't smile but he gives her an little wave. Then she focused on Professor Dumbledore, seated in the middle of the table. When she locked eyes with him, she made sure she smiled.

He did seem to have that grandfatherly appearance about him.

"When I call your name." Professor McGonagall unrolls the scroll, "You shall come forth, I will place the Sorting Hat on your head, and you'll be sorted into your Houses."

Whatever leftover conversation there was ceases as she gazes at the scroll.

"Abbott, Hannah!"

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, and Professor McGonagall placed the hat on her head, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moments pause –

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Victoria saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.

"Black, Andrew!"

A few murmurs follow as Andrew makes his way to the Sorting Hat.

"Didn't his da' kill an bunch of those people ten years ago?" asked an boy with an Irish lilt.

"One of them only had a finger left of them."

"Wouldn't be surprised if he got Sorted into Slytherin. His dad was Gryffindor, but the rest of the Blacks have gone into Slytherin. Mum went to school with them."

Oh, how Victoria wanted to shut them up. If people thought he would be in Slytherin, it would be an minute before they be proven wrong. For the Sorting Hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The applause from Gryffindor table is gradual and slow as Andrew joins them. With one of the prefects patting him on the back as he sat next to him.

Millicent Bulstrode, who was on the boat with Victoria, Eridani, and Andrew, nervously walked up to the stool when her name was called. Clenching the stool as the Hat was placed on her head.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Her face is pink as she goes over to the Slytherin table. Where Alphard and his fellow prefect greet her.

The knot of students dwindle as each of them is called up. With some taking longer then others. It didn't surprise her that Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe went to the direction of Slytherin House. While Hermione Granger was made an Gryffindor. The discomfort of her sorting obvious on Ron Weasley's face.

His brothers were in Gryffindor, from what she heard from Severus.

"Greengrass, Daphne!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Hopkins, Wayne!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

When "Lestrange, Eridani!" was called up, Victoria wished her good luck as she nervously made over to the Hat. Squinting her eyes as it was placed on her head.

"SLYTHERIN!"

She didn't miss the dirty look that she gave the Hat before joining her siblings at Slytherin table. When Neville Longbottom was called up, if he wanted to be in Hufflepuff, it seemed that the Sorting Hat had thought that Gryffindor was the place for him instead.

And oh, how she wanted to wipe off the smirk in Draco's face as he went to join his friends in Slytherin.

"Mulciber, Victoria!"

Victoria swallows. Her palms sweaty as she approaches the stool.

"Okay, relax," she tells herself. She already knew where she was going, but one couldn't help but be nervous.

Ah yes, muses the voice in her ear once the Hat is placed on her head. There's that learning and wit there. Something that Rowena Ravenclaw would favor. Alas, there's also that determination and thirst to prove oneself. And yes, a talent shared by Salazar himself.

Victoria swallowed. She was told that the Hat would know everything about her. Severus even told her that it knows what she doesn't know. Regardless, it still freaked her out that it was sentient to know that she had an ability that greatly contributed to her fear of snakes.

While Ravenclaw wouldn't be an bad choice, I foresee that path towards greatness for you. Therefore, it's best to place in…SLYTHERIN!"

The last word was said aloud, and Victoria hopped from the stool towards the cheering students at the Slytherin table. She thought she saw Harry give her a sad smile as she went to join her Hogwarts House.

Almost as if he was sorry for her for being sorted into Slytherin.

"Hey, you can sit next to me!" said Eridani, patting an empty spot between her and an tawny skinned boy with auburn hair.

"Hello," the latter greets her shyly as she takes her seat. "Name's Kevin Entwhistle."

Victoria takes his hand. "Nice to meet you, Kevin," she greets, before turning her attention back to the Sorting.

There weren't many people left now. "Nott"..., "Parkinson"..., then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil"..., then "Perks, Sally-Anne"..., "Pike, Denmore…"

"Potter, Harry!" Professor McGonagall called after the last one joined them at Slytherin table. At that point, the atmosphere in the Great Hall quickly changed. There were murmurs of awe and tension in the air. Continuing as Harry stepped forward towards the stool. Not far down the table, she saw Draco scowl at him.

Victoria wondered what happened between them on the train. She wouldn't be surprised if Draco was the instigator of it. As he tended to be.

"Fingers crossed," says an chestnut haired girl who was two years above her.

"My money says Gryffindor," says a boy that looked like he could be her twin.

Victoria watched as Harry grips his hands on the edges of the stool. Squinting his eyes shut and muttering. It was as if everyone collected their breath.

"GRYFFINDOR!" shouts the Sorting Hat.

Everyone in the Gryffindor table stands up and cheers as Harry joins them ("We got Potter! We got Potter!" chanted two boys who could be Ron's older twin brothers. Severus always complained how a nuisance they were) as people around Victoria grumble in frustration. The third-year girl's face turns an shade of puce as she slips money into her twin brother's hand.

There weren't too many people left after Harry. Unsurprisingly, "Weasley, Ronald," joined his brothers over in Gryffindor, and the sorting ends with a "Zabini, Blaise," being sorted into Slytherin.

Everyone watches as McGonagall takes the hat and stool while Headmaster Dumbledore makes his way to the podium. "Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before I make an few announcements, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

An ripple of laughter fills the Great Hall, and Victoria could hardly stifle one of her own. Though Victoria notices that an handful of those in the Slytherin table hardly look impressed. Draco, for example, fixed an scowl at the headmaster. "So embarrassing," he mutters.

"To begin with, there's been an couple changes of staff this year," Professor Dumbledore continued. "Charity Burbage will be filling in Professor Quirinius Quirrell's place as Professor for Muggle Studies as he takes on the role for Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts," Headmaster Dumbledore announces. Professor Quirrell stands up and nervously acknowledges the applause before sitting down.

"I would like to reiterate that the Forbidden Forest is forbidden to all students," he continued, his eyes lingering to the Weasley twins at that pronouncement. "And our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has asked me to remind you that the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds unless anyone wishes to die a painful death. Thank you. Let the feast begin!"

"Finally," groaned Gregory as he began to pile lamb on his plate. "I could eat an horse."

As Victoria placed some steak on her plate, the blood-stained ghost at their table says, "You might want potatoes with that."

"Why tell us what's good or not if you can't eat?" Draco retorted, looking uncomfortable that the ghost was close to him. More because of the blood on his clothes. "You're a ghost!"

"I still remember how food tastes," said the ghost. "My name is Baron Hamon Godfrey," he introduced formally. "Resident ghost of the Slytherin Dungeon."

"You're the Bloody Baron?" Eridani asked with awe.

"Only those outside of Slytherin use that moniker," retorted the Baron with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Alas, we've been winning the House Cup six years up and running. I daresay, you lot would probably greatly contribute to our seventh year in keeping the House Cup."

There was an immense pride in the Baron's voice. Especially when gazing towards the Gryffindor table. Where they were speaking with a ghost in a ruff. Harry, Victoria noted, seemed as if this was the best night of his life as he happily chatted away with friends.

"Baron, how was your summer?" asked Alphard. "I hope the Poltergeist didn't take too much of your time."

When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. As with dinner, Greg and Vincent began piling their plates, much to Victoria's disgust.

During that time, Draco fixed dirty looks over at Gryffindor table. Specifically to one Harry Potter.

"What did you do on the train?" Victoria asked. "Not cause any trouble, I hope."

"No, I didn't cause trouble," Draco insisted. "I offered him my friendship and made the point that there were better wizarding families out there. Seems he would rather hang around with the riffraff."

"You only would want to be friends with him because he's famous," sneered Theodore Nott. "As if the Malfoy name is not enough."

Draco's face turns pink. "That's not it, Theo," he retorts. "I was hoping to take him under my wing. Show him the ropes."

"I very much doubt he'd want to be taken under your wing, thank you very much," said Eridani. "With an arrogance as suffocating as yours."

Millicent, Kevin, and Victoria chuckle as Draco scowls at his plate. For all Victoria knew, Draco was determined not to be laughed at for the first year.

Victoria was full by the time the food vanished from their plates. Signaling the end of the feast.

"This way, first years," prompted a girl with black hair.

"First years, follow us," came the voice of Alphard Lestrange. Gesturing to the doors. Victoria, Eridani, Millicent, and Kevin joined the throng the first years exiting the Great Hall through the double doors.

The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws followed their prefects upstairs as the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins followed their prefects to doors on the ground floor.

"This way towards the kitchens," called one of the Hufflepuff prefects while Victoria and her fellow Slytherins followed Alphard and his partner. Descending down to the dark dungeons. Everyone whispering around her.

"This is creepy."

"If it weren't for the torches, we'd wouldn't know where would be going."

"We're under the lake are we? Father said that the common room was under the Black Lake."

The last was said by Draco as they turned an corridor. Victoria sighed and she thought she heard Theodore Nott mutter, "As if some of us don't know."

The corridor ended at what appeared to be an non-descript wall. Where they stop around the prefects.

"To get into the common room the first time, you need to recite your blood status followed by your name," said Alphard. "After that, it's just your blood status you need to say."

Victoria bit her lip as she felt the unease of some of her peers. Salazar Slytherin was known to believe in the superiority of those from pure blood magical families. And it was his belief that Hogwarts should only be exclusive to magical families that led to him leaving the school.

"Pure blood," said Alphard's companion, and the wall slid open. When Victoria stepped into the common room, she would have thought that she was in a room of an ship at the bottom of the lake. The giant squid passing by the windows as she observed the leather sofas by the fire and the tables placed sporadically across the common room.

In spite of it's gloomy setting, it still looked quite cozy. Especially with the fire burning in the hearth.

"Dormitories are this way." Alphard points to his left. "Girls are on the left with the boys on the left. All of your luggage is waiting up there for you."

The dormitories were in a small circular hallway on top of a small set of stairs. When Victoria and the other eight girls entered theirs, she could see nine four poster beds against the stone walls. All with green silk curtains and top blankets with silver thread designs (she could see an gray and yellow-eyed cat kneading on one of them). On one of the walls, there was an windowpane with another view looking into the depths of the lake.

All of them full of food and too tired to say anything, they just changed out of their robes. Millicent talking to the cat in the as Victoria drew the curtains around her. She went to sleep right when her head hit the pillow.

When Victoria have woken up first thing in the morning, she was pleased to see that the Slytherin sigil replaced the Hogwarts seal on her jacket. It now had a dark green lining too. The black ties now green with silver pinstripes. Perhaps the uniforms were charmed to slightly change their appearance upon a student's sorting.

"They say that Charms is good," Millicent muses as they descend down to the common room from their dormitories. "Mum received an O.W.L on her Transfiguration, so she wants me to do well on those classes."

"It's Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts for me," Victoria says, as she sees a portion of the first years gathering around the bulletin board.

"You're looking forward to that joke of an class?" Pansy Parkinson sneered before finishing with an derisive giggle. Laelia Carrow and Esme Sewlyn joining her.

They didn't need to get closer to see what it was on the bulletin board, for Draco loudly proclaimed, "Flying lessons with the lions this Thursday. Maybe I'll get to show Potter that I'm better at some things then he is."

A loud statement that didn't sit well with a few of those within earshot.

"He wouldn't give Potter this much attention if it weren't for Potter's notoriety," Blaise said as they entered the Great Hall for breakfast. "It's sickening."

"Try living with him," said Eridani.

Kevin rolled his eyes. "I think term would be enough. It's bad enough just sleeping in the bed next to him."

If Draco couldn't get anymore embarrassing, he managed to show just how much he could be when Severus began passing out their timetables.

"Potions," said Draco. "You know, Professor Snape is a friend of father's. Has been since they have been in school. He'd come to the manor the previous holiday to tutor on potions."

Victoria groaned before leaning into Millicent and whispering, "I literally live with our Head of House, and I'm not bragging about like Draco is doing."

"He's your guardian?" Millicent asked with wide eyes.

"He's an old school friend of my brother's," Victoria answered. "Mum sent me to live with him after my father and my brother got hauled off into Azkaban. When he'd go teach, I'd spend those months with the Malfoys. Maybe father was seeing other women, which was why it was easy for her to send me away."

Meanwhile, Eridani was entertaining some of the other kids in their year – including a handful from the Gryffindor table next to them – by changing the color of her hair. Changing it to green upon the request of Tracey Davis.

"How do you do that?" asked Gryffindor's Dean Thomas with wide eyes.

Eridani shrugged. "I got it from mum's side of the family. It mostly skips every generation. Aunt Cissy would say that Grammy Druella's hair always turned an fiery red when she was angry."

"Alright, can you stop entertaining some of the riffraff, Eridani?" Cassiopeia sneered. "It's spoiling my digestion."

Yet, her lips form a rather nasty smirk when she gazes at Neville Longbottom. The boy oblivious to her gaze as he cheerfully talks with Andrew. Victoria hoped that Cassiopeia won't try and do something.

The Slytherins and Gryffindors both trooped down to the dungeons for their first Potions lesson. With Victoria and Eridani taking an seat an row behind Harry, Ron, Andrew, and Neville.

And upon taking roll call, she saw that Severus was trying not to be subtle in his dislike for Harry Potter. "Ah, yes," he said softly. "Harry Potter. Our new – celebrity."

Draco, Vincent, and Greg snigger behind their hands while Andrew mutters something under his breath and Severus locks his eyes to him. "That is one point from Gryffindor for your insolence, Black, and the lesson hasn't even started."

Victoria shook her head. She had been expecting this, but that didn't mean she'd like it. Behind her, she could see both Millicent and Kevin exchanging apprehensive looks. "This is not going to be pretty," said Daphne Greengrass.

He finished taking attendance and looked up at the class. "You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, 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."

As if signaling out Harry Potter wasn't enough, Severus had just had to humiliate him before the whole class. Followed by him docking an point for "his cheek."

Victoria frowned at her guardian and if he saw it, he ignored it. As if he didn't think it was the time to address it. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. Having done this potion three times over the summer, she was familiar with the process.

Severus swept behind them as they worked. He stopped behind her and Eridani's cauldron. Giving them a slight nod of approval before moving onto Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan's station. He sneered, "It appears the contents of the cauldron could blow at any second, Mister Finnegan. Evanesco!"

"Now," he continued, as he stopped by where Draco was working with Denmore Pike. "Mister Malfoy has the contents of his cauldron at the right temperature."

Just as he's speaking, Victoria looks up just in time to see Neville adding the porcupine quills. The cauldron still on the fire. Oh, no!

"Neville!" she shouts. "You're supposed to add the porcupine quills after you take the cauldron from the fire, not before!"

But it was too late. Severus was interrupted by green smoke and loud hissing filling the dungeon. Andrew's cauldron was melting in an twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.

"Idiot boy!" snarled Severus, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.

"Take him to the hospital wing, unless that's above you," he spat at Andrew. Who scowls at him as he takes Neville with him. Victoria thought she caught the words, "Stinking Snivellus." Severus proceeds to round at Harry and Ron, who were working next to Neville and Andrew.

"You – Potter – why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."

Victoria frowned. Shouldn't Severus be reprimanding her for not speaking up in time? Out of all the class, he would think that she'd know better out of all of them. For they covered all of the potions she was going to study for the year. But he had to round on Harry because of an grudge he had with his father.

It seemed Harry was going to say something, for she heard Ron whisper, "Don't push it. I've heard Snape can turn very nasty."

At the end of the lesson, they all turned in the vials of their potion. Leaving class after they were assigned an foot long essay on the potion and what they did right or wrong.

Harry, predictably, was gloomy. She couldn't imagine her first class in Hogwarts as terrible as his.

"Cheer up," said Ron, "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George."

"If it comforts you, you don't have to see him during the summer holidays like I do," Victoria said to him. "He's strict, but not unpleasant as he was to you and the others from your house."

"You live with him?" Ron asked, the horror present in his tone. Looking over at Harry, she could see he was trying not to think about such an possibility.

"He's my guardian," she said. "Has been since dad and Dominic have been hauled off to Azkaban. Anyways, I should be going to Herbology. See you at lunch."

The greenhouses were in stark contrast to the dungeons. The sun bathing them as Professor Sprout taught them to manage Dittany. The Hufflepuffs were pleasant enough.

With one outstanding exception.

"Did your parents and uncle torture that couple until they were incapacitated?" sneered one Zacharias Smith from across the station where they worked.

"What about it?" Eridani challenged with equal venom. "Don't bring me into things that don't concern me."

"Well, it does concern you," said Smith. "Longbottom might have to be careful, with you and your siblings possibly hexing him in revenge."

"Sod off, Zacharias," said Susan Bones.

Zacharias scowled, but said nothing.

"So much for Hufflepuffs being nice," Millicent said, scowling at the back of Zacharias' head when they returned to the Great Hall for lunch. She turned to Eridani. "It's not your fault that your mum and dad did those things to the Longbottoms'."

"Even if it's bound to happen, doesn't mean I like it," said Eridani. "I doubt that Cassiopeia would help matters any."

Sitting down at the Slytherin table, she could hear Andrew talking nearby at the neighboring table. "…and he's always been trying to get dad, Uncle Remus, Pettigrew, and Mr. Potter into trouble. Trying to follow them in hopes of getting them expelled."

"That's why he hates me?" Harry says. Sounding as if this was information he didn't know that others knew about. "All because of some grudge with my father?"

"He talks a lot about it," said Victoria. "I could say all the things he has said about your fathers, but that would take all day."

"You live with him?" asked Andrew. "You seem fine to me."

At least one thing came from that conversation. Uncle Remus. Hmmm. Mr. Malfoy referred to an 'Remus Lupin' in the fragment of the conversation that she had overheard. And Andrew had confirmed his relations to him. She had to check the alumni books. See if she could easily connect any dots there.

Following lunch, was Charms and Transfiguration back-to-back. With some of her peers stifling an groan as Professor McGonagall regarded the class at the front of the room. The dread possibly stemming from the fact that she was Head of Gryffindor House. Slytherin's greatest rivals ever since the school's early years. Victoria thought that she saw Draco doodling in his notebook as the rest of them took their notes.

"You see how much homework we have to do?" Vincent moaned as they left Transfiguration. "McGonagall gave us a pile of homework on top of the assignments we have to do for Potions, Herbology, and Charms."

"Alphard literally has his O. this year," said Eridani. "He'll say that the workload we have is nothing compared to his."

"I hate to imagine what O.W.L year is like," Vincent says. "It sounds horrible."

Even if he would have preferred for her to get a head start on her homework, Victoria knew that Severus would want to hear from her about her first day before dinner. Gemma Farley, one of the fifth-year prefects that led them to the common room the night before, was happy to point her to his office. As well as draw a little map for her of the dungeons to get a visual idea.

"Come in," he answers crisply as she knocks on the door to his office. Inside, he was at his desk. Appearing to be grading papers with an quill. He looks up from his task when he sees who it is. Putting the quill back in it's inkwell. "Well, come in, Victoria," he beckons. Slightly friendlier then how he was a few hours ago. "I hope this morning's class wasn't such a bore considering that I have gone over the boil cure potion with you three times."

"No, it wasn't," she said. Victoria remembers what she learned about how to put up Occlumency shields and tries to conceal her thoughts regarding this morning's potions lesson. Just to see if it worked or not.

Severus regards her for a few seconds before starting, "Not quite. I can still see what you have been thinking. As for the contents, it appears that you have taken a liking to the Potter boy and Black. Let's call it a life lesson for them: that things will never be fair."

A life lesson? By taking out his grudge against Harry's father on him? She had half the mind to tell him otherwise. That Harry didn't deserve it. However, she kept her mouth shut. That arguing won't do any good in this case.

Not that she argued with him the past. One didn't have to argue with him to get the message that arguing with him would go nowhere.

"Now, I'd like to hear about how the rest of your classes went," he continues, moving the subject forward. Not only did she fill him in the lessons in itself but also her interactions with some of the other students ("Like father, like son then," was Severus' response when she told about the conversation between Eridani and Zacharias Smith. "His father thought highly of himself too. Surprising that he ever made it to Hufflepuff.")

When it was time for dinner, he said, "If you have any other concerns, don't be afraid to come to me. Just as you would at home."

Leaving his office, it seemed that he was watching out for something. Perhaps it had something to do with the third-floor corridor being out of bounds. Did something happen there that the teachers are watching for something else to happen.

Pike is the kid that hung around Malfoy in the film adaptation of Prisoner of Azkaban, though I gave him an first name here.