Willow sighed angrily. She had spent an entire hour searching for an empty cabin. The only seat she had found was beside the blond boy she had already seen at the dressmaker shop. He had sneered upon seeing her and she had quickly left before he or the two monsters guarding him said something rude.

She opened the last cabin and was surprised when she saw one of the redheads with his two friends she had met at King's Cross station. "Excuse me! Can I sit here?" she asked shyly.

"Of course!" the girl exclaimed. "I'm Hermione Granger. Welcome to Hogwarts! These two are Ron Weasley and Harry Potter." She was waiting for some kind of exclamation from the american, but apparently, she had never heard about The Boy Who Lived before.

"It's a pleasure meeting you. I'm Willow Rosenberg."

"So, Willow," Ron started. "In what year are you? Have you met anybody else yet?"

"I'm in fifth year. And no, I haven't met anybody else except for one boy when I went to the dressmaker yesterday. Maybe you can enlighten me. Pray tell, what is a Mudblood?"

Hermione frowned. "You were unlucky to first run into Draco Malfoy. He's a git. Don't listen to him. A mudblood is the name given by Slytherins to all muggle-born witches and wizards. It's an insult. Malfoy calls me that too."

Willow understood what Hermione had told her, but was still unfamiliar with another word. "What's a Slytherin?" For the first time, she heard the gentle and soothing voice of Harry Potter.

"There are four houses at Hogwarts : Hufflepuff for the loyal, Ravenclaw for the clever, Gryffindor for the brave and Slytherin for the ambitious. We're all in Gryffindor. Malfoy is a Slytherin. Every wizard or witch that went bad was once in Slytherin. Beside, *everyone* knows most of the students there are child of Death Eaters."

For once, Willow wasn't lost. The expression was familiar to her. She had heard the older witches at the coven talk about the Dark Lord and his followers bearing the dark mark, a skull with a snake protuding from its mouth. She wasn't sure before that 'Death Eaters' was what she had heard because she didn't know what it was. Now she did. A frown settle upon her face.

Ron imediatly saw the somber expression on the girl's face. "What is it?"

"What if I was put in Slytherin? I mean, I am very loyal because loyalty is the key to make relationships work, I am clever because I have a thirst for knowledge and I do show a great deal of bravery because I believe in my powers. All of those characteristics are related to the stronger one in me : ambitious."

Harry sighed. "You are put in the house where you might elvolve the most. If you are to be in Slytherin, then so be it. But remember this : there isn't *one* Slytherin who isn't pureblood."

[Yeah well, with my luck, I could be the exception.] Willow thought.

* * *

"Come one! First year! Over here! First year!"

Willow looked where the voice came from and was surprised to see the half giant that had helped her at the Leaky Cauldron. Harry walked to her. "It's Hagrid. He's the keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts. Don't worry about the giant factor. He's real nice even if he has a soft spot for strange beasts. You want to go with the first years?"

"No thanks. I'll ride with you three."

The ride up to the castle was quiet and the curious redhead stuck her head out the window, staring for the first time at Hogwarts, an amazing stone castle completly illuminated by candles' light from inside it, visible through the open windows. "Wow," she whispered.

A couple of minutes passed and the horseless car stopped abruptly. Ron was the first to jump out of it, followed by Harry and Hermione, then Willow. A cocky voice made its way to them. "You see that, Goyle? Mudblood Granger will have a friend. A nice little redhead, a poor substitute for the Weasel."

Willow turned around and she stared into the cold grey eyes of Draco Malfoy. Hermione stood at her right side. "Stuff it, Ferret boy!" Ron laughed when the blond Slytherin became even paler than normal.

"Ferret?" Willow asked.

"I'll have to tell you a story someday," Ron told her, holding his side.

They followed the rest of the students up the staircase and soon fell before the main hall. Most of the teachers were already there. Harry bend down to whisper in Willow's ear. "The wizard with the white beard is the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. On his right, it's professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house. Be aware of the black haired teacher over there. It's Snape, head of Slytherin house. He teaches potions and he's a nightmare. He takes pleasure in taking away points from us."

Willow looked straight at Severus Snape and tried to look away when he stared at her... but she was unable to do so! As panic crept us her spine, she could see the confusion settle in his face as he too couldn't look away. Suddenly, she was blinded by a bright flash. She couldn't see the main hall anymore. She was outside of a mansion. She could only see shadows moving around her, no clear faces. Every voices sounded like a whisper. A scream pierced the night.

"Willow!"

Suddenly, Willow jumped back into reality. Harry was shaking her. "What happen? You've been gone for five minutes."

"Sorry," she sighed. "I was just lost in space, that's all." She followed them to the Gryffindor table and frowned when she remembered that she had not been sorted yet.

A firm voice called her from across the room. "Willow Rosenberg! Come with me please." It was professor McGonagall. "It is quite unusual to have transfer students and we were not quite sure how to make it work with your...unusual ways of magic."

Willow's eyes widened. "You know?"

Minerva McGonagall smiled. "Of course. But me and the headmaster are the only one. We don't want that information to land in unwanted hands. Just use your wand like any other students and it will be fine. I see you've made friends with the terrible trio as we, teachers, like to call them. I know you'd like to join them, but only the sorting hat will tell if you are destined to be a Gryffindor or something else. I'll take the first years up the stage to be sorted, then you'll be next. Just wait beside the teachers' table." With that, the transfiguration teacher left the main hall in search of Hogwarts' new students.