Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Harry Potter universe; JK Rowling does.

Chapter 6

Perception

Honora sat down at the Ravenclaw table between two girls her age, who scooted apart to make room for her.

'Welcome to Hogwarts!' said a girl with blonde hair and sharp brown eyes. Aside from the eyes, she looked a lot like Freya. It put a wrench in Honora's heart. 'My name is Damaris Turpin, I'm one of the sixth-year Ravenclaw prefects. And this is Kay St. John,' she pointed around Honora at the girl on her other side, a pretty brunette with blue eyes.

'Honora Crowley,' she replied. 'It's nice to meet both of you.'

'So, Honora,' Kay said, leaning on her elbow, 'what brings you to Hogwarts?'

'Well…' Honora paused for the appropriate tragic effect. It was not difficult, since it was not far from the truth. 'I've actually never had a proper education. My family has been in hiding from Grindelwald's forces in Austria,' she explained. 'We had to stay, erm, underground, basically. They found my family, but I managed to escape. Professor Dumbledore helped me get started here.'

'Wow, I'm sorry about your family,' said Damaris. 'How difficult.'

'Thanks,' said Honora. 'I'm just glad to be out of danger.'

Kay and Damaris nodded with understanding. 'Your name, Crowley,' said Damaris, 'is that like Aleister Crowley? The famous alchemist?'

Honora nodded. It was true, after all; the Crowleys were an old magic line. 'The same. Different branch of the family.'

'I'm pure-blood too,' said Damaris. 'And Kay is Muggle-born.'

'Really?' Honora turned to Kay curiously. She had never met a Muggle-born witch; in her time they were all killed before they reached the age of eleven. Kay mistook her interest for ill judgement, however.

'So what of it?' Kay said, casting her eyes down.

'It's good, really! It's just—um—I don't know many Muggle-borns. I think you're really interesting!' Honora enthused.

'Oh!' Kay smiled back at that. 'Well, anything you ever want to know about the Muggle world, I would be happy to tell you.'

Honora grinned at her new friends. If she had to live in this world forever, she wanted to be popular in it. She was introduced to some of the other Ravenclaw sixth-years: a well-muscled boy named Lawrence Carter who was the Quidditch captain, along with the Seeker, a slight but tall fair-haired boy named Ashley Wynn, called Ash.

As she chatted with the Ravenclaws, Honora glanced over at the Slytherin table next to them. The tall black-haired boy from the train was sitting there, looking at her with dark eyes. She held his gaze for a moment, then prettily turned her face away, conscious that his eyes were still on her.

The girls showed her to her dormitory in Ravenclaw Tower later that night and Honora's head was spinning with excitement at her new home. The door was guarded with a portrait of an Arabian wizard on a flying carpet, who winked at her when she said the password. Honora could see she would fit in with the other Ravenclaws and kept up with their fast banter. She loved her four-poster bed, decorated in luxurious blue and bronze. The round common room was a dream, too, with its dark blue velvet sofas and copper accents. It was more luxurious than Honora could have imagined after living her life in a rough-hewn refuge like Polaris.

She had gotten her schedule from Professor Drakkis, the Arithmancy teacher and Ravenclaw head of house. Glancing over the parchment, Honora saw she would be taking NEWT-level Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Arithmancy, Divination, Charms, and Transfiguration. That should be enough to keep her busy. She had also arranged private flying lessons with Jahn, the Quidditch referee. None of the other students would believe her if she said she had never been on a broom in her life, so Honora would have to catch up fast.

The first day of classes, Honora proudly wore her Ravenclaw crest that had appeared on her school robes. She had double Potions first thing in the morning. The Potions Master, Professor Slughorn, greeted the class jovially as they filed in the classroom. Four samples of potions were present, filling the air with interesting smells.

'Greetings, greetings, class,' Slughorn boomed. His blonde mustache seemed to bristle. 'Welcome to NEWT Potions. You are all the best in your respective houses to have made Potions OWLs, so expect this year to take you above and beyond the skills you have developed thus far.' He smiled benevolently at a group of Slytherins in the corner. Honora thought Slughorn liked the sound of his own voice quite a lot.

'Now, class. I have prepared four samples of very difficult potions, just out of interest. Who can identify them for me? We start with this clear one here by my Slytherins,' Slughorn pointed to a cauldron full of a crystal clear, odourless liquid. 'Anyone?'

'Veritaserum, sir,' said a male voice.

'Good, good, m'boy!' Slughorn intoned, pleased. 'Ten points to Slytherin. And what does Veritaserum do?'

'It forces a person to tell the absolute truth for up to five minutes,' the young man said, sounding bored. Honora turned to see who the Potions star was and recognised the same handsome dark-haired Slytherin she had noticed on the train, and in the Great Hall.

'And this one?' Slughorn asked his student. He answered again, correctly identifying Polyjuice Potion.

'Who is that?' Honora hissed to Kay, referring to the Slytherin genius.

'Oh. Tom Riddle.' Honora felt her stomach twist in fear as Kay continued. 'He's by far the cleverest boy in school. Slughorn worships him. It's not good to even think about besting him, even if we are Ravenclaws.'

Honora nodded. Tom Riddle, then. Her target. The person she was sent back to kill. She did not know what she had been expecting him to look like, but she had not anticipated that he would be so normal, indeed so good-looking.

'And this?' Slughorn continued, pointing to the cauldron on Honora's table.

'Amortentia, sir,' Tom Riddle said, 'the world's most potent love potion. It smells of whatever attracts a person.'

Interested in this last, Honora leaned forward toward the cauldron. She smelled sticky toffee pudding, and a sort of fresh pine forest smell, and some other scents she could not quite identify. It was intoxicating. She wondered what Riddle smelled in Amortentia. Probably power and evil and death, she thought cynically.

She snapped her attention back to class as Slughorn indicated the last potion, a small cauldron full of jumping gold. Honora smiled. She knew what this was; her father, Felix, had been named after it.

'And this last. Anyone?' Slughorn smiled, already turning toward Riddle's table for his answer… Until Honora's hand shot up into the air.

The movement attracted Slughorn's attention and his bushy blonde eyebrows raised in surprise. 'Our new student seems to know the answer. Yes, Miss Crowley?'

'That is Felix Felicis, sir. Bottled luck. A full dose creates a perfect day for whoever takes it. Everything seems to go right, and extraordinarily lucky coincidences can be expected to occur.'

Slughorn brought his hands together in a clap. 'Very good, Miss Crowley! I see you were not misplaced in Ravenclaw. Fifteen points,' he nodded to her. Honora gave him a charming smile. She could feel Tom Riddle looking at her from the corner. Probably annoyed that I got the answer, Honora thought.

The Felix Felicis potion would go to whoever brewed the best Draught of Living Death potion that day, and Honora, Lawrence, and Kay all got to work. Potions was not Honora's best subject, but it was not her worst, either. She brewed a very decent Draught, but in the end the Felix Felicis went to Tom Riddle, of course.

Honora avoided looking at him when they left the classroom and instead linked arms with Kay and talked about hairstyles.

The rest of the first day's classes went well, for the most part, and Honora was relieved to discover that she was not behind her classmates in magical training. In fact, she stood out in Arithmancy and Defence Against the Dark Arts. Excellence in DADA was to be expected, of course; in 2112 Defence had evolved highly within the Shadow Kingdoms. If it had not, they would all be dead, victims of Lord Voldemort.

Honora had surprised Professor Merrythought by performing an exceedingly powerful non-verbal shielding spell, Protego Maxima. It was actually invented by Honora's own great-grandfather, Tutmos Crowley, and could protect against even Unforgivable curses for up to thirty seconds. Honora did not mention this property; she merely said it was enhanced version of the Protego spell.

Tom Riddle had given her a hard stare after she demonstrated that spell.

Other than unwanted eye contact with frightening Heirs of Slytherin, it did not take Honora long to fall in love with Hogwarts. It was wonderful enough attending the legendary school with so many learning opportunities and a vast library. In addition, Honora became fast friends with Damaris and Kay, her house-mates and room-mates, and several of the Ravenclaw boys. Although there were school rules and curfews, Honora had more freedom of movement at Hogwarts than she had ever known in her life.

And then there was Hogsmeade. The first Hogsmeade weekend fell in October, and Honora got to wear normal clothes (skirt and blouse and long coat) and go shopping. She loved shopping from her time in Diagon Alley, and spent carefully with her Galleons, but was able to pick up loads of toffee fudge and Chocolate Frogs from Honeydukes, as well as a new set of quills in the Ravenclaw colours. She found herself at the centre of a raucous, cheerful group of fellow sixth-years at the Three Broomsticks pub later in the day, drinking hot butterbeer.

Relations between Ravenclaw and all the other houses were generally good, although the Slytherins were always problematic. The younger Slytherins were all right, but the older ones mostly belonged to Tom Riddle's clique. They had a certain dark glamour about them and the other students gave them wide berth. The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, however, had several nice students and it was a mix of houses at Honora's table in the Three Broomsticks.

Wedged between Ash and Damaris, Honora finished her second butterbeer and took the opportunity to taste some of her toffee fudge. The table was full of the latest gossip; Lawrence had recently broken up with his Slytherin girlfriend after a row, and was asking the table for light-hearted suggestions on how to avoid her hexes.

'Hex her first,' suggested Frank Finnigan, one of the Gryffindors.

'Or wear an invisibility cloak for the rest of the year,' said Kay.

'How about Honora's little enhanced Protego? That was pretty nice work,' said Lawrence. 'You should have seen Merrythought's face, he was duly impressed.'

'Thanks!' Honora said, grinning gaily at Lawrence. 'But I think you should try to make amends with her. She's probably feeling lonely…you could offer to put up advertisements around the school to find her another boyfriend!' Laughter greeted this suggestion.

'I think Lawrence is the only boy in school brave enough to date a Slytherin,' added Damaris.

'Yeah, you should have been in Gryffindor, mate,' said Frank. 'Then you'd at least be on a winning Quidditch team!'

'Ooooh!' resounded around the table. 'Challenge!' someone called.

'Now, now,' said Lawrence. 'We'll just see about that. I'm captain this year, and I could hardly call myself a Ravenclaw if I didn't have a few clever tricks up my sleeve.'

This instigated a round of bets taken on who would win their first match. Honora supported Ravenclaw, of course, but not enough to bet on it. She did not understand Quidditch and went to matches for the social opportunity (and, she had to admit, Lawrence Carter looked awfully good in Quidditch robes).

Glancing over at the door, Honora saw a group of Slytherins walk in, Tom Riddle amongst them. A small quiet descended over the pub when they entered, and then the noise picked back up again when the group sat down at a table. Honora decided it was time to gather more information.

'What's with that Tom Riddle, anyway?' Honora asked Lawrence. 'He seems, um, intimidating.'

'Yeah, he's a fine Quidditch player, though,' Lawrence replied. 'But you're right, there's something about him that's a little off. Can't say what it is, exactly.'

Damaris overheard their conversation and added another interesting tidbit. 'I'm sure he'll be Head Boy next year,' she said. 'After all, he got that special award for services to the school last year. He's awfully clean-cut, for a Slytherin. I mean, after all that happened back in June…' she shook her head. 'Who would have guessed that a third-year would be behind it all? Rubeus Hagrid was his name, right?'

'Yes,' Lawrence said. 'Although none of us are very clear on what happened.'

'What are you all talking about?' Honora asked, pretending to be in the dark. She knew perfectly well what they were talking about: as the Heir of Slytherin, Tom Riddle had already opened the Chamber of Secrets and set a basilisk loose on the school, resulting in the death of a girl.

'Oh, it was terrible,' said Damaris. 'A monster was loose in the school, and a Hufflepuff girl named Myrtle died. They almost closed Hogwarts, until Riddle discovered that Hagrid was keeping the monster. They expelled Hagrid, and Riddle got the award. Although, Dumbledore kept Hagrid around. He works on the grounds now. I hardly ever see him.'

'Hmm,' said Honora. What a devious little thing you are, Riddle, she thought to herself. 'What was the monster?'

'We were never told the specifics,' said Lawrence. 'And school adjourned too soon for any more information to spread. For all that Tom Riddle is a bit creepy, he has to be somewhat of a good guy to solve the problem and keep the school open.'

Damaris nodded her head in agreement. 'He'll make a good Head Boy,' she said.

'How are the Head Boy and Head Girl chosen?' Honora asked.

'It's whoever has the highest marks in their class,' Lawrence explained. 'Along with qualities of leadership and responsibility. Naturally, Ravenclaws make up an unfair percentage of Heads,' he finished with a grin.

'Naturally,' said Honora. A plan was beginning to form in her mind. What if she became Head Girl next year? That would give her good access to Tom Riddle. She would have plenty of time and opportunity to take him down, and even make it look like some sort of unfortunate accident. Of course, Dippet would probably choose someone who had been at Hogwarts the entire time, someone who was already a prefect. But if Honora worked hard enough, distinguished herself as a leader…it could work. She was going to have to turn the charm on old Dippet.

She cackled gleefully to herself, causing Lawrence and Damaris to look at her. 'Uh, too much toffee,' she explained. But inside her own thoughts, she resolved to become Head Girl, no matter what it took.

A/N: Re: my references to Honora's relative, Aleister Crowley: he was a real historical figure, a famous occultist of the Victorian era. He was highly ambitious, published many mystical texts, and was involved in several magick-based secret societies. Crowley was also, er, notorious for performing 'rituals' with his wife inside the Great Pyramid of Egypt. I have made that relation into a pure-blood family line here…after all, who knows?

Please review, I love to hear my readers' opinions! Thanks!