Thank You as always to Emica and Lauren…you two both know I'd be SO lost without you ;)

~DISCLAIMER~ JK Rowling owns everyone except Michelle and her family. There's only one other OC, who will be introduced in the next chapter. Other than that, everyone belongs to Rowling.

The rest of the summer dragged on and on. Michelle packed her trunk with days to spare. Moona was no longer content to bat Michelle's curtains and instead paced restlessly through the house. Michelle tossed and turned the night of August 31st and looked at the glowing numbers on her digital clock at least once an hour. When she did manage to fall into a fitful sleep, the red numbers danced through her mind in a maddening minuet.

The buzz of her alarm was welcome music at 7:00 the next morning. The house was a flurry of activity as Michelle and Diana ran through, packing and unpacking things last minute. Moona and Apollo, Diana's owl, watched the family frenzy with wide, amused eyes.

Finally the car was packed and the girls were convinced that anything they'd forgotten could be mailed later. After an excited car ride, a tearful hug from Marie, and fighting crowds of people on Platform 9 ¾, Michelle found herself alone in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express.

"Hello!"

Michelle suddenly noticed that a red-haired first year had sat down across from her. "Oh. Hi!"

"I'm Ginny Weasley!" the girl said, her voice bursting with excitement.

"I'm Michelle Standish."

"Nice to meet you. Do you come from a wizarding family?" Michelle nodded, but couldn't get a word in before Ginny continued. "Me too. Four of my older brothers are already at Hogwarts. Two more already graduated. All in Gryffindor. I'll probably be in Gryffindor, too. I hope so!"

Michelle just nodded again. Another girl joined their compartment. She and Michelle just let Ginny talk for the entire ride. Ginny was the kind of person who intrigued Michelle the most: very outgoing and bubbly. Maybe it was because Michelle was never like that.

Regardless, she was bursting with excitement when they reached the Hogsmeade Station. It seemed to take the giant groundskeeper forever to get the first years organized. The Hogwarts castle glittered across the water. Michelle couldn't wait to finally enter the castle. Patience was not one of her virtues, and she nearly tipped her boat over due to jumpiness.

When they finally reached the castle, Michelle knew everything was worth the wait. Following the other new students through the halls, she was awestruck by everything she saw. Hogwarts really was as magnificent as Diana had said. The soaring arches, the stone gargoyles that watched students passing by, the flickering torches on the walls – it was all magic.

A flash of light beside her startled her and she turned. A mousy looking boy lowered his camera and grinned at her. "Hello!" he said.

"Hi," Michelle replied a little shyly.

"I'm Colin Creevey!" he said enthusiastically.

"I'm Michelle." She shook Colin's hand and gestured to his camera. "I thought Muggle electronics and stuff don't work at Hogwarts?"

Colin smiled and shrugged, seemingly happy to have made a friend already. "I dunno. This works at least. Maybe it's a special camera?"

She giggled. "Maybe." Colin was a little dorky, but he was nice and seemed like fun. "Will you take my picture?"

"Sure!" He raised the camera and snapped the shutter.

Laughing, Michelle thanked him. But before they could talk any more, Professor McGonagall stopped the crowd. "The Sorting Ceremony is about to begin! If everyone will please follow me."

The stern looking professor led the wide-eyed students into the Great Hall. It was unlike anything Michelle had ever seen. Thousands of floating candles glittered along the ceiling and four long tables crowded with older students stretched the length of the Hall. Michelle saw Albus Dumbledore himself at the head table.

The first years clustered together by the head table waiting nervously for the famous Sorting Hat. Michelle found herself standing next to Ginny. "Harry's not here," the redhead remarked.

"Huh?"

"Look." Ginny pointed to the Gryffindor table. Michelle looked. She smiled at Diana who waved from her seat next to Oliver. "Harry's not there," Ginny repeated.

"Harry…who?"

Ginny looked at Michelle in shock. "Harry Potter!"

"Oh." Michelle knew the name of course. The boy was famous. But honestly she hadn't thought much about attending school with him.

Her gaze wandered over the other tables. The house ghosts had already made their appearance and all of the students looked excited to be back at school. 'That's kind of weird,' Michelle thought. 'No one's ever excited to go back to Muggle school!'

Something white caught her eye. She glanced at the table against the right hand side of the hall. 'Oh wow!' She was looking at the white-blonde boy she'd seen that day in Flourish and Blotts. The silver and green patch shone on the black robes of every student at the Slytherin table.

She caught the boy's eye. He seemed to recognize her and gave her a half smile bordering on smug grin. All of her father's words of warning flew out of Michelle's head when she looked at that blonde boy.

The students all cheered when the Sorting Hat finally made its appearance. Butterflies went crazy in Michelle's stomach as the song of the Sorting Hat was sung and Professor McGonagall started reading names.

"Georgia Alden!"

There was a pause. Finally the Hat shouted, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

More names were read and the House tables began to fill. Colin Creevey was sent on his way to the Gryffindor table. The names climbed the alphabet until finally, "Michelle Standish!" She walked up shyly and put the Hat on her head.

"Hmm…very interesting mix," came a small, tinny voice inside her head. It continued, "A family of Gryffindors. But your courage is deeper. Gryffindor it is…"

'No!' Michelle thought suddenly. She had been raised to be a good Gryffindor, but it was the last thing she wanted.

"No?" asked the voice. "Why not? Gryffindor will make life easy for you."

'I don't belong in Gryffindor.' Michelle thought stubbornly. 'I've always had to prove myself. I'm tired of proving how brave I am. I want to do something else. I want to be different!' Plus, a certain blonde boy played on her mind. She'd never meet him if she were in Gryffindor.

The voice of the Hat sighed. "There is only one other place you would fit. But I do not like the look of this future!"

Michelle didn't really care what the Hat thought. 'Where is that?'

"You are stubborn and feel that you don't have to prove yourself anymore. And there's something else that I sense, although I can't figure out your reasoning. You're trying to trick me into putting you in Slytherin. Very sneaky of you. But why you're doing this, I cannot tell."

'YES! Oh please yes!' Slytherin would solve everything. Her father would see her as an individual and she would finally stand out in her family.

The Hat sighed. "Very well. Your decision is final, I can tell. But I fear this choice may bring you darkness that you cannot deal with."

Michelle raised the brim of the Hat from over her eyes and looked at the other students of Hogwarts – her classmates – as the Hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"

~AUTHOR'S NOTE~ Please remember that this is movieverse rather than bookverse. Em and Lauren are helping me as much as they can, but I'm also a baby HP author. Please forgive me if I get something wrong!

Bohemian Storm Yay! Another OC fan! I too get accused of Mary Sues occasionally. If you search under "(enter canon name here) Mary Sue test," you can test her.

Animefan07 I'm glad you like it! And yes, there definitely will be more of the blonde boy to come. I'm glad you like the story!