Chapter 1: The Sorting
September 1991
Hogwart's School of Witchcraft & Wizardry
She clung to her sister's hand and kept her eyes downcast afraid to look anyone in the eye. She knew what they would see. Her silvery-gray eyes were still red-rimmed from the tears she had shed on the train. She felt heart-broken with the revelations of the day and she held to her twin sister's hand like a lifeline as they were slowly lined up to await the moment that they would be ushered into the great hall for the sorting.
She heard the voice of the red haired Weasley boy talking with Harry Potter and she cringed inside. That hateful, mean spirited red haired boy had been part of the reason for her tears.
She had met a cute dark haired, green eyed boy at Madam Malkin's robe shop as they were both being fitted for their school robes. She had conversed pleasantly with the boy. She had soon realized that he did not know who she was or much about the magical world and she had been gentle in a few of her explanations, and she had been encouraging in telling him that he would enjoy learning about their world. Before she left the shop she had asked him if she could sit with him on the train and he had smiled at her and agreed. She had been so happy that she had made a friend, a friend that was not the child of an important family ally. He would not care that she was a Malfoy. He would only care about whether she was a good friend and she wanted to be a good friend to him. It was only when she had rejoined her family that she realized that she had not asked the boy his name.
She had been bursting with excitement when she boarded the Hogwart's Express. She had stowed her trunk with her sister and then soon after she had left to look for her friend. She had found him in a compartment seated with a red haired boy. He had smiled at her until she had properly introduced herself. Once she had told him, "My name is Lyra, Lyra Malfoy." That was when everything had changed. Gone was the welcoming smile. Instead a look of revulsion came over his face. Then the red haired Weasley boy had proceeded to disparage her. He told her that Harry was too good to be friends with Death Eaters. As she listened to the Weasley boy denigrate her family name she kept her eyes trained on Harry. He met her stare for a few moments before he turned away to stare out of the window. He did not look back at her again.
"Harry?" she wasn't sure what she was asking. 'Do you feel the same way as this boy? Do you hate me because I was born into the Malfoy family? Do you hate me for things that I have never done?' She wanted to ask him those questions but they were stuck in her throat and all she could say was his name in a sad questioning voice.
She had been met with a deafening silence. She had stood there, stock still, waiting for him to speak, to tell her that the Weasley boy was way out of line, but he didn't. He stared out of the window and it seemed that he was trying to pretend that she did not exist. She had fled a moment later because she could not keep the tears in check. She had locked herself in the loo and had cried.
When she rejoined her sister she sat morosely beside her and stared out the window, just as Harry had done, and she tried to pretend that the world did not exist.
The boat ride across the Black Lake was pleasant and soothing to her frayed edges. She had always loved water and the rippling sounds of the water sloughing against the boat was soothing. Her sister sat beside her with Theodore Nott behind her. A boy named Blaise Zabini sat behind Lyra. The sight of Hogwart's was very beautiful and it eased some of the hurt within her. The boys disembarked from their craft first and then acting like proper gentlemen they each assisted Lyra and her sister from the boat. Then they were led within and lined up to await the moment that they would be sorted.
She felt her hand squeezed and she glanced at her twin sister. Arya was smiling gently at her. "It will be okay. I don't know what happened on the train, but you must not let it continue to hurt you," she told Lyra.
Lyra nodded her head in agreement and hoped that this would not be a tragic case of easier said than done. It was a relief when the doors to the Great Hall opened and they were ushered within. She glanced up at the beautiful ceiling. It was charmed to depict the sky outside, or so she had read. She idly listened as another girl pointed out that very fact, and that she had read about it in Hogwart's A History.
Lyra watched as the sorting began with a girl named Hannah Abbott. She clapped politely as the girl was placed in Hufflepuff House.
"Hufflepuff," sniffed the girl to her right. She recognized the voice as belonging to Millicent Bulstrode. "I would rather die than be a lousy Puff, wouldn't you?" she asked loud enough for the other children around them to hear.
It took Lyra a moment to realize that Millicent was deliberately asking her the question rather than anyone in particular. "If that is your wish Miss Bulstrode," she said pleasantly to the girl. "Personally, I see absolutely nothing wrong with Hufflepuff House." Nothing aside from the worry that her father might well kill her if she were sorted into that house of course, but no one needed to know that.
Millicent sputtered, "They are the House of the Rejects," she informed her.
Lyra shook her head in disgust. "No. They are the House of the Loyal," she informed Millicent. "Hufflepuff's value Loyalty, Hard-work, and Dedication," she pointed out. "Just because Madam Helga Hufflepuff was willing to take in all that the other houses would not does not mean they are a bad house. They have a sense of fair play and do not want to leave others out."
"You should be a Hufflepuff then," Millicent sneered at her.
"It would be an honor if I were to be sorted into Hufflepuff House," she said easily. After reading about the Hogwart's four houses she had come to the conclusion that she would be content to be in any of the houses. She knew though that she was most likely bound for Slytherin House. Most of the Malfoy family had been sorted into Slytherin. A few of the ladies whom had married into the family had been from other houses though, usually Ravenclaw House. The Malfoy family valued both Power and Intelligence, and Slytherin's were known for their power and Ravenclaw's were known for their intellect.
At long last she heard Deputy Headmistress McGonagall call out, "Malfoy, Arya." She squeezed her sister's hand and watched attentively as Arya walked up to the dais and sat on the stool. The sorting hat was lowered onto her head and she watched as the hat attempted to sort her sister. A few moments passed before the hat cried out, "RAVENCLAW!"
She clapped for her sister as the girl took the hat off of her head and went to join the table of blue and bronze.
"Malfoy, Lyra," Minerva McGonagall called out and then Lyra felt the slightly nervous feeling of butterflies fluttering in her stomach. She stepped gracefully up to the dais and sat herself upon the stool. The hat was placed over her head and she could only see darkness as it covered her eyes.
'Well, well, what's this? Another Malfoy? How interesting. I have not sorted twin Malfoy's in at least four hundred years,' The voice said.
'I am happy to be of service, Monsieur,' Lyra thought in response.
'And such a polite and witty young Malfoy too,' The hat's voice seemed to be amused. 'Hmm… where to place you? You are loyal and you championed Hufflepuff House this night.'
'How did you know?' she asked.
'It is here in your mind, my dear girl,' was his reply. 'Yet you are intelligent and Ravenclaw values one with your gifts.'
The prospect of Ravenclaw House excited her. Then she would not be parted from Arya.
'Ah yes. You love your sister very much,' the hat said and again there was amusement to the tone of voice. 'Yet I think that Ravenclaw suits your sister more than it would suit you. Hmm…you are brave. You bravely sought to make friends with the boy you met in the shop.'
His words made her think of her meeting with Harry on the train and she felt the sting of tears once more.
'None of that now,' the hat chided, but his tone was kind. 'He was not brave enough to look past your surname. Do not give the boy another thought. I think that Gryffindor would only stifle you in the end. No. In that case it better be..'
"SLYTHERIN!"
'Thank you very much, Monsieur. I will try to heed your good advice,' Lyra promised the hat, and then she removed it from her head and gently handed it back to Minerva McGonagall. She arose from the stool and walked gracefully to the table of green and silver. The students of that table had cheered wildly when she had been sorted into the house of snakes.
She watched the rest of the sorting, clapping politely as each child was sorted. She watched as the hat sorted Harry Potter into Gryffindor House and she clapped for him. She noticed that he glanced her way a few times throughout the sorting feast and she felt sad, but she remembered the words of the sorting hat and forced the sadness away. His rejection had shattered some of her illusions. She had been a fool to think that she would have a friend who did not care about her surname. She was a Malfoy, there was no running away from that fact.
It was almost a relief when the Slytherin Prefects called them to order and lined them up to be escorted down to Slytherin's Common Room, which was in the Dungeons of the Castle. Theodore Nott came up to stand beside her and she graced him with a soft smile. She had not often had the pleasure of visiting with Theodore, but he had come to the Manor a time or two when their father's needed to discuss business. He was a quiet and studious sort of boy. She had him pegged for Ravenclaw much like Arya.
As they walked she leaned a bit closer to him to whisper her question "How did you convince the hat to put you into Slytherin?"
Theo stared at her for a few moments and she knew he was carefully weighing his words. "The hat saw that it would not be safe for me at home where I sorted into any other house," he admitted to her.
Lyra felt a surge of anger rush through her at the implication. Theodore was saying his father would harm him due to what house he was sorted into. The anger swiftly fled as she remembered her own thoughts from earlier. Had she not thought that Lucius might do her harm for sorting into Hufflepuff House. She gently tapped the back of his hand with two fingers. "Better for us Slytherin's then to have you," she whispered to him. "You would be bored with all of those Ravenclaw's anyway. You need variety. We will provide it."
Theodore looked amused by her statement but he did not comment further.
"Now watch yourself Firsties. Dumbledore sees all within his Castle. He sees all and hears all. It is why he is so feared in the Wizarding World, "the Fifth Year Prefect warned them.
"That is impossible," Lyra said loud enough to be heard by the Fifth Year Prefect.
He turned toward her and gave her a hard glare. "Oh really, how do you know that firstie?" the Fifth Year asked.
"My father has repeatedly outwitted Albus Dumbledore and so did my grandfather before him. If Dumbledore was as omniscient as you claim, then t'would have been impossible for him to be outmaneuvered by anyone," Lyra reasoned.
"Yet how do you explain him knowing things going on within the halls of this school when he was nowhere near at hand? Hmmm?" the Fifth Year Boy's voice had turned nasty and scathing.
"The same way that most of our father's know what we get up to in our own homes," Lyra said to the boy and then she pointed over his head to a portrait of the great beauty Melusine. The woman was preparing her bath but had not yet stepped into the tub.
She watched as heads turned to look at the portrait and then back to her again. Confusion was the dominant expression on the faces of those around her. She sighed softly in disappointment and resigned herself to explain it to them. It was a relief when Theodore spoke up beside her.
"Oh, I see," he said, and she smiled slightly believing that he did indeed see what she was alluding to. "The Portraits report back to Dumbledore. He controls the wards of the Castle and that would include having the allegiance of most of the animate magical objects within his domain such as the Magical Portraits."
"That's absolute preposter-" The Prefect began to call them names but was interrupted by the smooth dark drawl of the Head of Slytherin House.
"Well reasoned," Severus Snape said as he came out of his place in the shadows. "Ten points each to Slytherin House."
Theodore gave a slight bow while Lyra dipped into a deep curtsy, "You are too kind, Master of Slytherin," Lyra said in a slightly teasing tone. Truly it had been too long since she had spent time with Severus. She had last seen him at her Grandsire's funeral and though that was really not so long ago, she had not really paid much attention to him that day. There had been a horrible grief that lay upon her for some weeks after the death of Abraxas Malfoy.
The lips of Severus Snape twitched slightly. It was as though he had wanted to smile but was not sure he knew how. The other Slytherin's stared at the exchange in bewilderment. Their head of House was well respected of course, for he took care of them and stood up for them when the other Professor's seemed prejudiced against them, but none of them would have ever called Severus Snape kind, even in jest.
"Farley, finish escorting these First Years into my house," Severus ordered the prefects.
"Of course, Sir," the female Fifth Year prefect spoke up. "Alright come on you lot," she ordered them. "Please pay attention to your surroundings in the coming weeks. The Slytherin dungeons go deep underground and are twisting and turning catacombs."
"Wicked," the voice of Gregory Goyle spoke enthusiastically.
Lyra could agree with the sentiment. If she had to be underground, at least it seemed to be in a house that had made the most out of their space. She doubted the other houses were truly aware of the amount of space that the Slytherin's actually had all to themselves.
They at last came to a wall and she watched in bemusement as the male prefect whose name she vaguely recalled was Sykes, said the password "Pureblood" to a wall. The wall began to part creating an opening in which the students could walk through.
The Slytherin Common room was dark but adorned with many lamps with green shades that lit off an eerie green light. Rich tapestries that told stories of Slytherin's long past graced the stone walls. A blaze of warmth came from the fireplace and quite a number of the first years walked toward it in order to regain some warmth.
"Alright First Years," Sykes began with a sneer. "Welcome to Slytherin House. "I am Fifth Year Prefect Alexander Sykes and this is the girls Fifth Year Prefect Gemma Farley," the boy began without preamble. "Seated here," he motioned to the sofa to the left of the fireplace "are the Sixth Year Prefects Cyril Meakin and Sylvia Melville."
Lyra swiftly looked over the Sixth Year Prefects. Meakin was a handsome boy with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He had the smooth aristocratic features that most ladies seemed to appreciate. Melville was not exactly a beauty, but there was something striking about her features and she had very pretty blue eyes that even in the gloom of the Slytherin Common Room seemed to capture one's attention.
"And to the right are our Seventh Year Prefects Edmund Spiers and Sadie Baldock," Sykes introduced the pair that stood to the side of the group. The blond haired Edmund Spiers was powerfully built and if Lyra had to guess she would say he played Quidditch in the position of a Beater. Sadie Baldock reminded Lyra a bit of her Aunt Andromeda in her bearing as she stood beside Spiers, there seemed to be that similar mixture of pride and stubbornness that existed in both Andromeda and in Narcissa.
"The first rule you need to understand is that for the first few weeks none of you will be allowed to wander this castle on your own. In fact, a buddy-system shall be engaged for the entirety of your time in this school," Sykes stated firmly. This had some of the first years shifting uncomfortably.
Gemma Farley, the Fifth Year Girls Prefect took up the speech from there. "We know it seems ridiculous to be told that you cannot go anywhere alone for the entire time you are in Hogwarts, but I assure you it is for a good reason," she said.
Lyra frowned at that. The only reasons she could deduce would be so there would be strength in numbers, yet that seemed wrong somehow. It wasn't enough of a reason for this edict.
"We are Slytherin's," Edmund Spiers spoke up, his deep voice capturing the attention of Lyra and the other first years. "As such we are hated a persecuted by the entire school. You will find that to the rest of the school's inhabitants being a Slytherin means by vile, sneaky, and traitorous. It will not matter that you are honest and dedicated to your studies. They will decide that you must have cheated to get so high a grade on your test. They will believe you used your cunning in a nefarious way instead of better time management, better study rotations or practice rotations for Quidditch," at this his jaw clenched and Lyra suddenly understood that the Slytherin Quidditch Team was probably often accused of cheating by the other houses.
"You will find that some Houses will treat you worse than others and you will also find some of the Professor's to be biased against you because you were sorted into Slytherin," Sadie Baldock informed them. "The reason why you will not go anywhere alone unless strictly necessary is because Slytherin's are so often accused of wrong doing. If it is a lone Slytherin then it is their word against a throng of Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, or Ravenclaws. You will find the Professor's tend in those instances to just punish the lone Slytherin. However, two Slytherins or more makes the matter more complicated to resolve the issue and so at the least both parties are punished," she said.
"We know it is not ideal," Spiers said after seeing the dismayed looks on the faces of the First Years. "But it beats Slytherin alone being punished."
Lyra clenched her fists and nodded her head in agreement with Spiers. Yes, it really was better than only Slytherin's being singled out. In fact, she liked the cool logic behind the idea that since the other Houses would seek trouble against them that if the Slytherins had to go down then they would drag those other Houses with them. She had hoped that Hogwarts Professors would not be biased but it seemed that her hopes were yet again to be dashed today. If the Slytherin Prefects were to be believed, then most if not all of the staff were biased against Slytherin students. She had expected that the troubles she would see at Hogwarts would be due to being a Malfoy not due to being a Slytherin. She really could not resolve which she thought the more unjust.
She began to focus again when she heard the voice of her God-father, Severus Snape Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House begin to speak. "I am sure by now you have received the hard facts that being sorted into Slytherin does not promise you an easy road ahead of you here at Hogwarts," he began in his calm measured tone. "To be a Slytherin you must be cunning, as the sorting hat said. However, you must be more than that. You must be fierce enough to overcome any obstacle and survive it. Though it is regrettable how Hogwarts treats students from this great and illustrious House, we are Slytherins and we shall be triumphant in the end," Severus said to them, and Lyra noted that it relaxed the tense atmosphere of the First Years. "You will receive your time tables tomorrow morning after breakfast in the Great Hall. Slytherin House will march down to the Hall at seven-thirty sharp. Be ready! Friday evenings I shall be in the Common Room from seven to nine in the evening to assist any who are in need, whether it is with homework assignments or a more personal problem in which they need counsel. Saturday Nights are tutoring nights for you First Years. You will be assigned during the course of this week to a mentor who will assist you in learning more advanced spells in order to protect yourselves against the other students," he sneered the last. "This training is mandatory so do not presume to get out of it. Last, but not the least is this rule," he paused to look each of the children in the eye with Lyra being the last he looked upon. "What goes on in Slytherin stays within the House. Petty squabbles between you will not be aired in the halls of Hogwarts. House Unity shall remain firm. You will resolve your differences in the privacy of Slytherin's Sacred Halls."
"Yes Professor Snape," several of the First Years replied. Lyra smiled slightly at her God-father as she nodded her head in agreement.
"Very well. I shall see you all in the morning," Severus stated, and began to turn away. Yet before he got far he called out, "Miss Malfoy, a moment of your time."
Lyra moved away from her fellow First Years and obeyed his command. When she was beside him he turned to look at her and put a hand gently upon her upper arm. "Your eyes were tear-bright when you came into the Great Hall," Severus said softly. His voice was no nonsense, gruff, but there was a tenderness in his eyes that belied his tone. It made Lyra smile at him despite the fact that she really did not want to think about why she had cried.
She paused to collect her thoughts. She did not want to talk about this and yet she knew her God-father well enough to know that he would not let it pass. "I met a boy at Madam Malkin's robe shop. I thought him a Muggleborn or a Half-blood that had been Muggle raised. He didn't know anything about our world. He seemed a bit nervous really, so I tried to make him feel more comfortable. We talked and laughed and he seemed nice. Before I left the shop I asked him if I could sit with him on the train," she bit her lip then and paused trying to think of how to tell him of what had happened on the train.
"Did he refuse you?" Severus asked.
She shook her head in the negative. "He said yes. I found him on the train and he was seated with the Weasley boy. Well I introduced myself properly, I had forgotten to do so at Madam Malkin's." She blushed and murmured, "I'm rather used to everyone knowing automatically that I am a Malfoy. He had not known I was a Malfoy though and when I told him my name, his whole demeanor changed. He was no longer the slightest bit welcoming and he, he turned his head away from me to stare out the window as though I did not matter at all. Then his Weasley friend began to say horrible things about Father and he made nasty insinuations about Mother," Lyra felt the sting in her eyes and hated it. She hated that the words of those two boys still affected her. She wished she was made of sterner stuff so it would never affect her at all. What should she care of the ravings of mean little boys?
Severus' jaw clenched. "What happened next, Lyra?" he asked in a tone that demanded compliance to his will. There was no doubt that any who heard that tone would obey him.
Lyra was no exception. "I left before I shamed myself," Lyra admitted. "I felt as though I was going to cry and I did not think I could hold in the tears much longer. It, it was so wrong. So unfair that I should make a friend only to so swiftly lose them because I am a Malfoy," she whispered. "And what right did the Weasley boy have to say such things about my parents?"
"Who was the boy, Lyra, the one you met at the shop?" he demanded to know and it was only then that Lyra realized that in the recitation of her story that she had failed to reveal that bit of knowledge.
"Harry Potter," she said simply.
She watched in fascination as her God-father's jaw clenched and his frame seemed to vibrate with anger. She felt the swirl of his magic surrounding her. It was violent, fierce, yet soothing and protective. He was angry on her behalf but not angry with her. She reached out and placed her hand over the top of his clenched fist. "I, I suppose I am glad it turned out this way, though it still hurts," she told Severus. His obsidian eyes stared deep into hers for a moment and her lips curved into a gentle smile. "Better that I know early on what sort he is, than lament the knife wound to the back later."
She was a Malfoy, a female one at that and the first ever to one day be the Head of the Malfoy Family. Due to her gender she would be perceived as weak and vulnerable by the men around her. She would need strong friends and allies in the future, and from what she had now seen of Harry Potter, she doubted he could stand by her. If he could judge her by her surname instead of by who she was as a person, then she would rather have no place in his world and he have no place in hers. She was sure she would eventually get over the heartache of her failed attempt to make her first real friend. She really hoped so.
"Yes Lyra," Severus said after a few moments of studying her face. "You are better off without his sort. Do not think on the Potter brat and the Weasley brat anymore." He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it for a moment before he turned away. "Goodnight Lyra," he said gently and then called out, "Miss Farley, show Miss Malfoy to her dorm room."
"Right away Professor Snape," Farley answered in a cheerful voice. "Come along young Miss Malfoy," Farley said as she steered Lyra to a corridor to the left of the Common room. They went down a long set of stone stairs. In some cases, the stair ways splintered off into other floors and Lyra studied these curiously. "Both the House and the rest of the dungeons are really a series of intricate catacombs. I think only Professor Snape really knows the whole of our domain," Farley admitted. "That hall there leads to the Fifth Year Dormitories," She made it a point to tell Lyra. "So if you or the other girls in your dorm need anything you can find me there."
Lyra smiled at her. "Thank you. That is most appreciated," she said.
"So, how well do you know Professor Snape?" Farley asked her.
Lyra glanced at her out of the corner of her eye as they walked deeper down into the dungeons. "Fairly well. He's my god-father," Lyra said simply.
"No kidding?" Farley asked and when Lyra made it clear she was serious the older girl smirked. "Well that might come in handy. I guess what they say about Malfoy's staying well connected is true," Farley said as they came to a cross section. "To the left is the hall for the third year girls and to the left is the hall for the fourth year girls. Now is the funny part. We did all that walking going deeper into the dungeons but now we go up these stairs," Farley told her and then led Lyra up a set of stairs that looked less like stone and more like quartz to Lyra's eyes.
She followed Farley up the stairs until they came to another split in the wall. "Through his door is the Hall for the second year girls. And just up ahead is for the first year girls. It is said that Salazar set it up this way on purpose. The older kids are closer to the Common Room but the younger years are hidden deeper within the catacombs. This way if the Common Room was ever under attack the older years could defend it while sending a few of their number back to keep the children safe."
"That makes sense to me. You would want the most vulnerable to have adequate protection," Lyra said. "Sort of like how Professor Snape wants the First Years to learn protective spells from the older year students."
Farley laughed. "You are pretty astute aren't you? That is exactly right. You know I have actually heard that in Gryffindor Tower they put the younger years hall first on their stairs leading up. Pathetic. If they were ever attacked the first years would be wiped out."
She frowned at that. "From what I read of the Four Founders, Gryffindor seemed a bit arrogant to me. I think he was the cocky sort who thought that no harm would ever come to the children in the Castle."
Farley nodded her agreement and then smiled. "Here we are," she announced with a flourish. "Have sweet dreams our Princess of Slytherin."
Lyra frowned at the phrase "Princess?" she asked of Farley.
"Well, Malfoy's have a long and proud history of being the Leaders of Slytherin House. They are the Princes of Slytherin. Since you are a girl I thought Princess would suffice." Farley explained.
Lyra's brow furrowed in thought as she took in what Farley had said. "Tell the others that I prefer the ancient term of Prince to Princess," she ordered Farley. "And, we shall leave the other Houses guessing as to who rules Slytherin House."
Farley laughed aloud at that. "As you will it, Highness."
With that Farley left her standing outside the door of the Slytherin Girls Dormitory. Lyra watched her go and then braced herself before she entered the dormitory. She needn't have worried. She knew the other girls who had been sorted into Slytherin. Daphne Greengrass and Pansy Parkinson were childhood playmates of hers. She was also well acquainted with Millicent Bulstrode. She was swiftly introduced to the one roommate that she did not know. The girl was a half-blood named Tracey Davis. She seemed a nice enough girl and as Lyra remembered it she was a cousin of Daphne's.
"We chose your bed for you," fellow Heiress Pansy Parkinson declared. Pansy was an only child and the future Head of the Parkinson family. It was due to their similar positions in life that she had Pansy had become friends in the first place. They would always be able to understand each other.
Lyra arched a brow at that. "Oh really? And if I object?"
"We won't listen," Millicent Bulstrode immediately responded from her position at the bed nearest to the doorway. "We chose based on how best to protect you from harm."
Her gray eyes widened at that. "From harm? You think someone will harm me? Here?" Lyra asked of them.
Daphne sighed. "It is not like you to be so obtuse."
"I think she's doing it on purpose," Pansy muttered then sighed. "Look Lyra, you are the Prince of Slytherin, but you are a female and a first year at that. Some of the older year Slytherin's are going to get fussy about being bossed around by an eleven-year-old."
Pansy wasn't really revealing new news to Lyra, but with the disappointment of Harry's rejection she had really not let herself think about the fact that with her sorting into Slytherin she was effectively the ruler of the House, aside from Severus of course. Then again, her father had ruled Slytherin and gone against his own Head of House. Horace Slughorn had been her father's head of House and from the tales that she had heard from her parents and Severus, he had been a horrible Head of Slytherin. His Snakes were not the least bit protected by him during the end of his tenure. He was a man who sought celebrities. Disgusting!
"Very well. Well done," she praised them even as she went to her four poster bed. It was quite eerie looking at the wall across from her bed. They were under the Castle and the wall was made of a sort of Quartz glass. It distorted the view of the lake slightly giving them the illusion of privacy while still giving them a view of the under water depths of the Black Lake.
She began to slowly unpack along with the other girls and she let herself begin to relax a little bit. She was tired and her eyes still hurt from crying earlier that day. She was only too happy to put on her pajamas, brush her teeth and her hair, and then crawl into her bed.
A round of "Goodnights" were murmured by each of the girls to each other and then Millicent went around the room tending to the candle lights. Even so they were not left in complete darkness. Soft green glowing witch lights were embedded in the walls of the room. They were quite dim so they did not disturb a sleeper but they could help one see in the dark. Though their beds had privacy curtains none of the girls chose to close themselves off that first night at Hogwarts, deep under the lake.