Chapter One
A School of Magic
Scarlet played with her long auburn hair nervously as looked around at the large entry hall. She and Harry we're gathered amongst a crowd of first years fallowing Professor McGonagall. They fallowed her into a small room.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the great Hall, you take your seat in your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of house…" Professor McGonagall eventually finished her speech and left for the great hall.
"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" Harry asked Ron.
"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."
"Do siblings usually end up in the same house?" Scarlet piped in.
"Well, all the Weasleys have so far. I don't ever remember hearing of siblings who weren't in the same house. I don't think you have to worry. You and Harry will stay together." Ron assured her. Scarlet felt a little better, but still clenched on to Harry's arm.
Suddenly several people screamed and Scarlet jumped. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall they talked amongst themselves and hardly noticed the first years below. One ghost however did notice them and started to try and engage them in conversation. Ghosts were the lest of Scarlet's fears. Horrible thoughts were circling in her head. What if she and Harry didn't end up in the same house? What if she could find friends like at her last school? What if she did a spell so wrong that she hurt someone and had to be sent away? What if Harry got so popular that he would forget about her? She thought back to the Leaky Cauldron when Harry was practically mauled by fans. Scarlet had been left to stand by herself watching Harry nervously shack hands with everyone, because apparently they all already thought they knew him for some reason. No one had even bothered to look at Scarlet.
"Move along now," called Professor McGonagall. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."
One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.
"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and fallow me."
Scarlet nervously filled in behind Ron and Harry. The Great Hal was filled with students watching them walk up to the Head table. Scarlet felt the large knot she had acquired, grow to reach her throat. She swallowed hard and fixed her gaze on the back of Harry's head.
Somehow she survived the walk up to the front of the great Hall. She now stood in line waiting for her name to be called. There was a stool for the first years to sit on while being sorted. It's dark wood pattern started to resemble flames. The hat that actually sorted them was even scarier. It was an old wizard's hat with patches all over it. Some of the patches seemed to resemble a face. The brim would open up ever once and a while to shout out which house the unfortunate soul sitting beneath it was sentenced to. Scarlet started to wonder if she did want to be a witch. Maybe she was better off safely among the Dursleys.
"Potter, Harry!" rang out Professor McGonagall's voice. Scarlet jumped a bit at hearing her last name announced so loudly. The rest of the Great Hall had erupted into whispers.
"Potter, did she say?"
"The Harry Potter?"
Scarlet watched as Harry took his seat on the stool and his eyes were covered by the Sorting Hat. She wrung her hands together as she waited for Harry's house to be called. His house would be the one she would want to be in. And after Harry was done, her name would be called. She hated hearing her name called.
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. The Gryffindor table erupted into cheers and a slight chant of "We got potter" could be heard as he sat down. He hadn't even looked at Scarlet when he went though. She brushed it off as him just being excited as Professor McGonagall called her name. One again the Great Hall erupted into whispers, but they were very different.
"Harry has a sister?"
"Was her family daft enough to change their name to Potter?"
"Is she trying to make a name for herself by taking some one else's?"
"Is that his cousin or something?"
"I hope she's not in our house."
Scarlet felt her face get very flushed, as she walked to the stool. A weight gathered at the corner of her eyes. She held her breath and closed her eyes to keep from crying. A voice whispered in her ear.
"My my, you have a lot of potential and a remarkable amount of talent. Though there is something hidden deep inside you I believe…" Scarlet hardly heard what the hat was telling her. The whispers kept circling over and over in her head. It was taking all her strength to keep from crying. Then finally one of her own thoughts managed to wriggle it's way through the others. "I hate Harry."
"I believe I have decided," whispered the Sorting Hat. "The house to best bring out your full potential is… SLYTHERIN!" Scarlet's eyes flew open. The Great Hall was staring at her I silence. Never before had Scarlet heard such quit as this. Not one sound could escape the void. Slowly someone behind her at the Head table began to applaud and the rest of the Great Hall fallowed suit. As she made her way to the Slytherin table Scarlet noticed that Harry was looking at with his mouth gapping open. She sat down next the Bloody Baron, who seemed to be the only person at the table with a smile on their face.
"Don't worry. We're not that bad. I think you'll fit in fine," he whispered to her. The girl on Scarlet's other side gave a kind of scowl and scooted over. Scarlet felt as though she could combust into ashes at the moment. She rested her forehead to the table and held her stomach. Through almost the whole banquet, she sat like that; only occasionally picking up her head to take a piece of bread or a tart.
The banquet finally ended much later than Scarlet had hoped, and they all left for their common rooms. As the Slytherins broke off from the group to go to the dungeons, Scarlet spotted Harry. He was walking up the stairs with Ron, and oddly enough they both had smiles on their faces. How could Harry smile when Scarlet, for the first time in their lives, would not be sleeping in the same room with him?
Scarlet felt a strong tug on her arm. She turned and found herself staring into a pair of very blue eyes.
"Watch where you're going Potter or you'll run into some one." Draco Malfoy let go of her arm and walked ahead to where his lackeys, Crabb and Goyle, were. Scarlet decided to take the comment as a "Hey, you hit me" comment. She felt so empty and out of place by the time she reached her dorm. None of the other girls in her dorm talked to her. Though, they happily conversed with each other. Scarlet let herself sink into her soft bed. A little while latter she heard the other girls talking about her. She stayed where she was, but listened to the conversation.
"Can you believe we got stuck with her?" whispered one girl. "I don't think I'll be able to stand it. I mean shouldn't she be attached at the hip with Harry Potter?" said a second girl.
"Well it might be kind of fun. Just imagine how many spells and potions we can test on her." Said yet a third girl. All of them started to giggle. The rest of the night, as Scarlet remembers it, the girls discussed all of the horrible things they would do to her. The finally went to bed, and a couple hours latter Scarlet finally went to sleep on a tear soaked pillow.