(A/N: Ok.. this is just the first chapter for my first Harry Potter fanfic. I have alot of the story planned so far - just a matter of writing it ; - heh... so be kind... I was introduced here by blumarshins - so special luffles to u dear! Check out her hellsing fanfic - IT ROCKS! A quick note on the story, it's based after the fifth book aaand since it hasn't been released don't dagger me when the real story comes out ;;. Main charrie is completely (c) to me as she was used and created for an rp. Hope y'all enjoy! There's plenty more to come! )
-Chapter One-
The cold breathe of winter drew upon her neck as the mid-morning sun drew slowly through the glassed windowpanes of the Hogwarts Express. An odd time of year for a student to be traveling, she appeared to be the only one aboard. Although, given the circumstances of this particular student it was understood why she would be sitting alone, the Daily Prophet gently in her hands as she leant against the padded cushion seats. Too preoccupied to even read the paper, passersby would surely state out of slight concern, or be it gossip, that she looked sad. Her head hung slightly, it was hard to see her features. Though as the sun made it's way into the strained windows, her long silver white hair glimmered as though it were of the best quality satin. Reflections of the past strained her thoughts, while her expression remained emotionless. Why… Why now… The same words echoing throughout her mind. It wasn't until a bubbly woman with dimples drew her large meal cart into the open door of her carriage compartment, that the young girl was drawn from her sorrow filled thoughts.
"Anything I can get you, dear?"
The girl gave a slight soft smile and shook her head, by means of 'No Thank you'. Taking this indication the bubbly dimpled woman just gave a nod saying, "Alrighty, It's best you changed dear. We're approaching Hogwarts now."
Having said this she tromped on, clanking the rickety metal cart further down the hall. The girl, hearing that she was nearing her destination, drew towards the window. Far off she could just grasp what looked to be an aged castle. Despite the excitement one would feel of coming to a new school, nothing could lift the dismay fallen upon her. She clutched the Daily Prophet in her hands as she stepped up. Before leaving the paper upon the cushioned seat and closing the compartment door, securing the room so she could change into her black school robes. Upon the newspaper lay an image of a happy cheerful family of three posing and looking to each other every once and a while. The headline; "Conjuring Catastrophe Reduces Family of Three to Single Orphan. Details page 6"
As she stepped down and away from the Hogwarts Express, the girl was greeted by a buff, hairy looking man towering a good 2 ft above her. The shock was evident in her expression, although the man seemed to take no notice of this as he waved his huge arms for her to join him calling out; "Welcome! Welcome! You'r Pearl, right?"
Slowly, gathering her grounding she made her way over to him, her luggage dragging uneasily upon the gritted earth below. Once before him she offered a courteous half-smile and nodded with a soft; "Yes"
"Aye, glad to have ye aboard. Here, I'll take those for yeh. I'm Hagrid. If ye' jus' follow me, yeh'll be home sweet home in no time." He said this with a minor lisp as he reached down to pick up several of her belongings, mainly a large charcoal suitcase in which Pearl packed her heavier items. She did have quite some difficulty struggling to trudge the load before, though Hagrid simply whisked the trunk in one hand with not an ounce of stress. This caused Pearl's face to cringe with annoyance, though remembering that she didn't have to lug the load around anymore caused her to shrug it off. Once settled with her gear, Hagrid started to lead the way towards Hogwarts. Pearl fastened her extra backpack upon her shoulder and trailed along behind with her head down rather low. Not being able to see what was before her she kept her gaze upon the dirt gritted path until her eyes caught sight of water. Glancing around, Pearl encountered a large scathed lake with small rowboats at the water's edge. She looked to Hagrid as though demanding an explanation as to why there was a lake between Hogwarts and where they stood. Hagrid merely leached forward plunking Pearl's luggage in of the boats before walking over to the other. He said cheerfully as he looked back to Pearl; "Ye take that boat with your luggage n' follow me in this boat. We'll be at Hogwarts before ye know it."
Pearl gulped, as she looked over the lake - never being a "water baby" as such. Never been much for swimming either as a matter of fact. The dread of drowning began to rapidly consume her, which caused her hands to fidget uneasily. Hagrid noticing this started to laugh heartily; "Aw… not afraid of the water are ye'?"
Hearing Hagrid, Pearl straightened herself up and shook her head defensively, "Of course not. Lead the way," as she strode confidently over to the small rowboat Hagrid had loaded with her belongings.
Hagrid shook his head laughing yet again. He took a few steps over to the lake's brink and carefully edged to a comfortable position before checking the lanterns, located at the front of the boat. By this time Pearl had traipsed her way into the rowboat clutching her shoulders as though to keep her nerves intact and to stop herself from shaking with fear. Once set, the boats began to swift away from the earth's edges and out into the lake's watery depths. Hagrid sat calmly in the boat as he called out to Pearl, whose boat diligently neighbored his; "So… have ye' been to Hogwarts before?"
Pearl drew her attention away from the rudder, in which she felt was swaying almost too awkwardly, to meet that of Hagrid's; "… uh… no. This is my first time… though I've heard a lot about it from my old school."
Carrying on the conversation, Hagrid inquired; "Oh? Which school is that?"
"The Durmstrang Institute in Europe. A few years ago, we versed Hogwarts at the Tri-Wizard Tournament I recall." Pearl smiled softly remembering the stories back in the dorms at school about their star seeker being matched equally. "… Is it true… that Harry Potter attends this school?"
Hagrid chuckled, being rather fond of Harry he warmly noted back to Pearl; "Aye… at that he does. I'd say you'd be around the same age as 'Arry wouldn't you Pearl?"
Pearl just nodded and gave a soft smile to Hagrid before gazing up towards the monstrous castle binding closer and closer towards them. The thought crossing her mind: I'll finally get to meet the legendary Harry Potter…
After many inquiries from Hagrid and silent complaints about not being strong enough to lug heavy luggage around from Pearl, the two soon found themselves approaching Hogwarts' fielding grounds. From the looks of the place, being deserted, it was figured that the students must have been in their dorms or lessons at the time of Pearl's arrival.
Hagrid was rambling on to Pearl about the importance of maintaining eye contact when approaching a Hippogriff and how wonderful it would be to raise a Chimaera, as three figures stood alongside each other at Hogwarts' main entrance. As she neared closer, Pearl could pick out that the three figures were all dressed in cloaked robes. An elderly man with half-moon spectacles and a warm inviting smile stood out the most. To his left a stern looking woman with dark grey hair in a neat bun and black and red robes stood holding a large book in one hand and a dusty hat in the other. To Pearl, she appeared to be quite respectful, but nowhere near as much as the man whose arms opened slightly as she approached them. Hagrid trailed a few steps behind. Pearl almost didn't recognize the figure to his right. A middle-aged man dressed purely in black robes, dead-as-night black hair and his arms folded tightly – she knew who he was. To others he was feared, but to her he was simply Professor Snape, Severus Snape. Pearl stood mere steps away from the trio as the warm elderly man with half-moon spectacles drew forward saying, "Welcome… to Hogwarts. We have been expecting you. I'm Albus Dumbledore – the headmaster of this school. To my left is Professor McGonagall. She will help you with your timetable. But before that, you must come eat and rest. I assure you had a safe trip."
Pearl couldn't help but smile at the warm welcome she had received as Dumbledore slowly led her through the main halls of Hogwarts and towards the meeting hall. McGonagall and Hagrid followed along after. As Pearl trailed alongside Dumbledore through the large castle doors her gaze caught that of Professor Snape. Without a word, the gaze struck until she had walked past him and out of sight. There was a moment of silence before Snape prominently trailed in after Hagrid, closing the castle doors behind him.
As Dumbledore led Pearl through the to meeting hall, the doors swung open revealing hundreds of students chatting excitedly and gossiping amongst themselves. Heads started to turn and an odd silence drifted through the four rows of tables each laden with a different coloured cloth and symbol, as Dumbledore glided through the center aisle and to the front pedestal. Pearl, McGonagall, Hagrid and Snape in close pursuit.
Whispers echoed around the room.
"It's the transfer student!"
"I hear she knows Viktor VonKrum."
"I hear she's a bit strange… in the head. If you know what I mean."
The chatter began to up rise again as Dumbledore took the stand and waited for silence. Smiling he stated loudly and clearly; "Students of Hogwarts. It is my pleasure to announce that we have another student gracing us to our school. I assure that you will all make her feel welcome. Miss Pearl Snape."
Several gasps were heard at the mention of her name. Followed by an inept silence. It took a few moments but Dumbledore broke the silence and motioned towards a wooden stool with a dusty old graying hat placed upon the top.
"Now we will see which team Pearl will be apart of. Whither it is Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw." Saying this, Dumbledore turned to face Pearl swaying his hand towards the Sorting Hat. Pearl stepped forward from behind the pedestal and edged towards the stool but was halted in her tracks as Snape leant close and breathed something in her ear. Pearl didn't face him as he spoke but continued walking past him towards the wooden stool. McGonagall removed the hat so that Pearl could take a seat before placing the hat gently upon Pearl's head. The hat seemed to be somewhat too big and flopped right over her eyes, blocking her vision and just sitting upon the brink of her nose. Almost immediately after the hat was placed upon her head, a voice echoed throughout her mind; "Well, well… what a gem we have here. Pearl SNAPE is it? Contradicting name really… Name of a Slytherin… hmm… but there's courage here… and sadness… a broken heart at that." The words were spoken softly so that only Pearl could hear, through a rather large tear resembling a mouth upon the dusted hat. Two indented sockets for eyes, it was as though the hat had a mind of it's own. A living object. It carried on scavenging through Pearl's thoughts like a raven would pick at a shiny button, reading her like a book: "Ahh… name of a Slytherin but heart of a Gryffindor! You would go far in Gryffindor, possibly even Ravenclaw…"
Pearl quickly spoke up murmuring with a slight desperate tone, "Please… Slytherin… please…"
"Slytherin? You wish to be put into Slytherin? Are you sure? You would greatly suit Gryffin–"
"Slytherin!" Pearl mumbled stubbornly.
"Alright…" But this time the entire hall had fallen silent awaiting the Sorting Hat's announcement. Luckily they hadn't wait any longer.
"SLYTHERIN!"
The table to the right of the middle let out an outrageous uproar whilst others clapped. Some rolled their eyes, mumbling about prior rumor's accuracy. Pearl took off the hat and hurriedly stumbled over towards the table laden with emerald green cloths and several students standing to give their retribution to Pearl's arrival. She took the spare seat facing a boy with platinum blonde hair and two rather big lugs either side. A girl with raven brown hair offered a sly grin, shaking Pearl's hand as she sat down.
Slowly the chatter began to die down as Dumbledore announced that lunch be served and drew back away from the pedestal. No sooner than it had been said – the four wooden tables magically became laden with food. The smells were tantalizing though as Pearl sat there she didn't feel hungry.
Just as the chatter and rejoicing commenced the platinum blonde haired boy stood rather posh and announced towards Pearl; "I am Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius Malfoy – most respected in the Ministry of Magic. I'm sure you've heard of me." He gave a tooth-bared smile and his steel blue eyes sparkled as he offered a hand out to Pearl. Appearing as though he were the greatest and bravest of all heroes. But before Pearl even had the chance to reply a girl's voice mockingly made it's way over to the Slytherin table, "Oh great… another toy for Malfoy to manipulate."
"No-one asked for your contribution mudblood!" Draco retorted darting a glare towards her then to the boy sitting directly opposite her. The boy caught Pearl's attention. He had short black hair with bright green eyes hidden beneath odd spectacles. He was quite handsome though what caught her interest the most was the little etched scar upon his forehead, shaped like a lightning bolt. Harry Potter? It had to be him. The rumors were true. Pearl was in such a daze that she almost didn't realize a red haired boy stand up out of his seat and growl at Draco, "Watch your tongue Malfoy!"
The boy with the scar groaned silently to the red-haired boy, "Ron… sit down."
Malfoy sniggered hearing Ron's words. He laughed; "Or what? You'll send Potter onto me? Or perhaps you'll stoop as lowas mudblood Granger?"
The two lugs either side of Draco began to laugh along with him as the boy with the scar forced Ron and the girl to sit down. "Just ignore him, he's got nothing better to do."
The three turned back to their table, eyeing back every now and again, even towards Pearl as though she had said something dreadful to them also.
Draco merely looked triumphantly back to Pearl smiling rather confidently with his hand outstretched. Pearl looked to him blankly; not exactly impressed by the language or tone he had befallen upon the other three. With a mocking tone she inquired, slowly looking up from his outstretched hand to the look of glory upon his face; "Are you always this impolite to other students or do they just get special treatment?"
Draco withdrew his gesture and immediately bit back; "They are below me. They don't deserve formalities!"
"Everyone deserves respect. How can you expect it from others when you don't offer it in return?" Pearl spoke rather calmly towards Malfoy, leaning back in her seat. Those around her at the Slytherin table gawked shocked stares towards Pearl, some of the girls – most likely Malfoy's fan club – glared evilly towards Pearl at her comment. Malfoy couldn't believe his ears. Someone was ridiculing him! No one EVER told him what to do or how he should treat others. Slowly, all eyes shifted towards Malfoy – expecting a humiliating comeback. Though they received none. Malfoy merely shifted in his seat, straightening up his back, before remarking cautiously to Pearl, "You'd do best to watch who you make enemies with, Snape."
Before another word could be spoken Dumbledore's voice reigned loudly over the chattering students, announcing that lunch was over and students were to return to their lessons. Malfoy stepped up out of his seat with his two lug's quickly hurrying to their feet. It seemed he controlled them like dogs on leashes. Pearl stood also adjourned by several girls and students around her. Malfoy leant forward towards her and muttered loudly; "We'll settle this later. Crabbe! Goyle!"
With that he clicked his fingers, motioning to each of the lugs beside him, before strutting off out of the meeting hall and down the corridor. Pearl rolled her eyes and went to turn towards Dumbledore but was halted by the girl with short raven hair. Her face was very close to hers and up close it was able to see that she wasn't all that attractive. But judging from how she leached over Pearl like a tower – what she lacked in looks, made up for in height. Pearl held her breath from shock and stumbled backwards somewhat. The girl looked angry. For a moment she just stared at her evilly before biting harshly; "How dare you talk down to Malfoy! Who do you think you are?"
Pearl gulped not expecting to be hounded on her first day. She stuttered nervously; "u-u...uh…"
"PEARL!" a quaking woman's voice called out.
Pearl seized this opportunity and smiled baring her white teeth hesitantly, clasping her hands together and slowly creeping past the steaming fan girl, "Oh… my, my… It seems I'm being called. So sorry we couldn't stop and chat… Perhaps another time… another place? Gotta' go!"
Quickly she darted past just as McGonagal called out her name again. She could see the raven haired girl murmur something to a trio of girl's from the Slytherin team before walking off to their lessons. Pearl sighed realizing she just missed a close call. God she looked mean…
Lost in her own thoughts of what that girl could have done to her, Pearl didn't realize she was in someone's way until she bumped right into them, rebounding and causing her victim to drop their books. Pearl instantly regained awareness and hurried down to retrieve the other student's books; "Oh gosh! I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!"
Looking up she was shocked to see the girl from the other table looking down upon her. Pearl gulped offering a nervous smile to her as she stepped up and handed her books back to her; "You're the girl from before!"
The girl snatched back her books rummaging through her belongings to see if any of her books were missing. "Did he tell you to bump into me! What have you taken?"
"Uh… what?" Pearl looked dumbfounded at what the girl had asked. She went to spill her innocence just as Ron and the boy with the scar come up alongside her.
"Hermione – you okay?" Ron asked her.
The girl, Hermione, replied back to him, not having any luck with finding missing items; "I'm fine, Ron… I just bumped into … err…"
"Pearl… my name is Pearl" she edged on adding to Hermione's comments. "I'm sorry… I wasn't watching where I was going. I didn't take anything I swear it." Pearl looked sincerely to the three with their accusing gazes.
It wasn't until the boy with the scar piped up that the accusations ended; "She's telling the truth… I saw Malfoy storm off earlier. I'm Harry by the way, and this is Ron and Hermione."
Once Harry was satisfied, so was Ron. As soon as Harry had said his welcome, Ron leached forward offering a hand out to Pearl and smiling; "An enemy of Malfoy's is a friend of mine!"
Pearl laughed somewhat shaking his hand and then Harry's pausing a moment with his hand in grasp. She leant forward looking up to his eyes and then to his scar; "Are you really… Harry Potter? I've heard so much about you back home. You're a legend back at Durmstrang!"
Hermione still kept her watchful glare as Harry hesitated, his cheeks blushing. He felt awkward, getting quite sick of those questioning him about his identity, though he didn't feel intimidated by Pearl like he had with most others. She wasn't speaking to him just because of his fame – it sounded as though she was asking out of pure interest. Like she had heard of him before but had not gone to seek him out. It took Hermione a moment, but at the mention of Durmstrang her interests were sparked and she cornered Pearl somewhat; "You're from Durmstrang?"
Pearl smiled drawn a back by Hermione's sudden breakout; "uh… yes… My mother taught divination there and…"
She went to go on but was interrupted by Professor McGonagall; "… sorry to intrude but it is best you all went off to classes." She motioned to Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Hermione panicked at the mention of lessons, "Oh no we're late! I have to hand in my report for a History of Magical Artifacts in Europe!" In a rush Hermione grabbed Ron's hand and dashed off to class saying a short farewell to Pearl. Harry chuckled softly before looking to Pearl; "A pleasure meeting you Pearl. Catcha' later?"
Pearl smiled and nodded before he ran off to join Hermione and Ron. Once alone McGonagall grinned widely looking to Pearl, "How lovely to see you're making friends already…"
"Uh… you wanted to see me?" Pearl turned to face her directly, getting off the topic of "new friends" not exactly clarifying that she'd made any just yet.
"Oh yes! I wanted to talk to you about your subjects and timetable…" McGonagall spoke with a soft "grandmother" voice - caring but stern. Pearl knew she could trust her as she led Pearl out of the meeting hall and through the main corridors. Letting her in on what tasks lay before her…
(A.N: So there you have it! Chapter one! Please, if you enjoyed this chapter and wish to read more - review me! I love all u'r comments! Even if u think it sucked and I should quit now - lemme know! heh. Chapter 2 is on it's way as we speak so look out! Thankyou all for reading
Blua)