Disclaimer- Everything you recognise is owned by JK Rowling but everything else is mine.
The house was full of sunlight as always during the day but this didn't wake Feronia, she was accustomed to the morning light. Her room was decorated in shades of green, which connected it with the natural scenery outside the large floor to ceiling windows that covered two of the walls.
There was a tap on the windows which roused Feronia and she moved to the glass and opened it using a concealed latch. The creature that had tapped on the window ruffled its wings and let her fondle its head before flying off towards its roost in an old oak tree. She watched its graceful flight; it looked almost like a small dragon with the head of a lion and tawny fur. When the creature alighted on the tree Feronia shut the window and went to get ready for the day ahead.
At breakfast she was munching toast and re-reading the heavy sheets of parchment that had marked her acceptance into the famed school of Witchcraft and Wizardry; Hogwarts. Her mother came into the room wiping dirt from her clothes and let down her white-blonde hair, which her daughter had inherited.
"We have to leave now Fer, Dad's going to meet us at the station."
"Ok Mum," Feronia finished her toast and put the letter away in her bag, "I'm ready now."
Her mother kissed her and went to load the car with her trunks.
"Luna!" A black haired man with his characteristic lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead ran over to meet them when they arrived at King's Cross Station.
Her mother embraced him, "Harry, it's so good to see you! We're here for Feronia's first year at school; can you believe it's that time already?"
"Yeah, I remember my first day; of course it was a bit different then," his eyes clouded slightly and then he grinned at Feronia, "Look at you! I can remember you as a little baby."
She blushed in embarrassment but then she spotted her Dad, "Look Mum, there's Dad!" She rushed up to the tall figure of her father and hugged him tightly; she hadn't seen him for a month while he was away trading for particularly difficult to obtain potion materials for the Ministry.
"Hi Draco," Harry shook hands with him, "good to see you again."
The man had white-blonde hair and pale blue eyes like the rest of his family and his skin was tanned from travel to exotic climates, where it had been pale when he had been at school with Harry and Luna.
"Hello Harry, Hi Darling," he kissed his wife and then his daughter, "I couldn't miss this special day; my only child going to Hogwarts!"
Feronia buried her head in her father's robes and so missed the significant look that her mother gave her father on these words, "Ok, if we don't get you on the train you'll not get a good seat so let's go."
They walked towards the train, through the milling crowd and piles of trunks waiting to be loaded onto it. The train was a beautiful scarlet colour that made Feronia think of winter berries and steam poured from its funnel, which made it look even more exciting and mysterious to her.
When she said her goodbyes to her parents and Harry she boarded the train and looked for a carriage that looked like it had friendly people in it. Being an only child and her parents also having been only children she had no relatives to sit with or to ask about Hogwarts, but her parents had tried to tell her all they could about their days at the school, though their experiences had been far from normal. She knew that there were at least six Weasleys at Hogwarts at that time and one Potter boy but she wanted to make new friends as well as those she had known from when she was a baby. She found a carriage with three people in it, two girls and a boy, and she entered to ask if she could join them.
One of the girls with short black hair said, "Hi, my name is Ania Cole, what's yours?"
"Feronia, Feronia Malfoy. Good to meet you Ania."
When she heard Feronia's name the other girl stared, her blue eyes full of surprise, "Malfoy? My parents told me about a Malfoy in their year; that must be your Dad?"
"You mean Draco, yeah, he's my Dad," she answered proudly, but she knew that her father's past had not always been a nice one, "who're your parents then? Did they know him at Hogwarts?"
The girl nodded, "Yeah, I'm Zoe Longbottom, my Mum and Dad were at school with your Dad."
"Neither of my parents went to Hogwarts; they're both muggles." Ania noticed that Feronia was still standing, "Come and sit down."
Feronia stowed her hand luggage away, took a seat and put her small black owl down next to her.
"Wow, I've never seen an owl that black before! Where did you get it?" Ania let the owl nibble her fingers.
"My Dad brought her back from one of his trips to Australia; he gave her to me on my third birthday. Her name is Fuscienne."
As they started talking and getting to know each other they forgot about the boy in the corner, who was now reading a book, but then suddenly he spoke in a soft voice, "Are you all first years?"
"I am. I can't wait to find out which house I get sorted into." Feronia grinned at the boy in a friendly way.
"Yeah, I am too. I hope I don't get Slytherin." Zoe shuddered slightly and then remembered who Feronia's father was, "Oh sorry, perhaps you want to be Slytherin."
Feronia had thought about what it would be like to be Slytherin, the house that was associated with evil witches and wizards. But she had reckoned that it couldn't be that bad if her father had been in it, even if he was a bully at the time, he'd turned out alright since the fall of Voldemort.
She shrugged, "I don't think I'd be sorted into that house anyway."
"So all three of us are first years, that's great. I don't know that much about the houses but I heard that Gryffindor was the best." Ania said, her brown eyes shining with excitement.
"My Dad and Mum were in Gryffindor," the boy said in his soft voice.
"Were they in our parent's year?" Feronia asked, interested, "I don't remember your name, sorry."
"I didn't tell you. No, they are older then your parents but they did know them. My name is Desiderio Lupin." Only Ania didn't react to this revelation. Both Feronia and Zoe had heard from their parents about the werewolf teacher and his marriage to the Metamorphmagus Auror, Tonks at an older age. "You can call me Desi though." He said into the shocked silence.
Ania looked from Desi to the girls, a puzzled expression on her face, "Is anyone going to tell me what's so significant about Desi's name?" She asked impatiently.
Desi answered first, "My father is a werewolf. He was a teacher at Hogwarts once, when their parents went there."
Feronia struggled to know what to say but she was saved her embarrassment when a prefect opened the door, "We're nearly at Hogwarts, you need to change into your robes." He told them and left.
"Nice to meet you Desi." Feronia smiled at him and then turned to get her robes out of her bags.
Soon after they were all in their robes the train came to a shuddering halt and the hubbub of the students increased as they all tried to exit the train. The four made their way out of the train slowly and found their way to the huge figure of Hagrid, who was gathering all of the first years. The lake was calm with a gentle breeze blowing so their journey across the lake was peaceful and, when Hogwarts came into view, they had an uninterrupted view of the magnificent castle.
The carriage ride through the gates and grounds of Hogwarts scared most of the first years but Feronia had heard about the invisible Thestrals from both her mother and her father so she was less scared then excited. They reached the castle and Hagrid led them through a door into a room.
Feronia, Desi, Zoe and Ania stuck close together while they were waiting with the other first years for the sorting. They were all nervous but excited at the prospect of joining the school.
Finally a short, white haired Professor came to talk to them, "Welcome to Hogwarts, My name is Professor Flitwick, Deputy Headmaster, and head of Ravenclaw house. Before the start-of-term banquet you will all be sorted into the houses that you will be in for the rest of your time at Hogwarts. The houses are; Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. The sorting will take place in front of the rest of the students in a few minutes, please make yourselves ready before then." He told them in a squeaky voice and then he disappeared through a door. As soon as he'd gone the noise level in the room rose with students chattering nervously and excitedly to their friends or anyone who would listen.
"Well this is it then," Zoe announced, "this is where we get sorted into the house that we have to stay in for seven whole years." Her shaking hands betrayed her nerves.
"The sorting hat will sort you to your advantage. The house you get is the one you need." Desi's voice was hard to hear over the noise but it seemed to give comfort to Zoe and Feronia felt her nervousness dissipate as her excitement took over.
"I just hope we're all in the same house, or at least that we can still be friends." Ania said, Feronia knew that she must be scared of being alone and friendless in such a big place as Hogwarts.
"Quiet!" She was surprised that Professor Flitwick's squeaky voice could be heard over the noise, "Now it is time for you to be sorted. Follow me please."
They were led into a large hall with five large tables, one at the far end of the hall and four down the length of the hall. There were also candles floating it midair and masses of students. Feronia had heard all about it from her parents but the reality was much more enormous and elaborate then she had imagined. They lined up at the side of the hall and as Professor Hagrid brought in the sorting hat and stool the entire room became silent.
Professor Flitwick stood on his chair and addressed the first-years, "When I call your name, sit on the stool and you will be sorted."
The sorting started with, "Apple, Gareth", a brown haired tall boy who was sorted into Hufflepuff. When Professor Flitwick called "Cole, Ania" Ania took a deep breath and walked slowly to the stool. Feronia waited impatiently to see where her friend would be put, hoping for her sake that it was not Slytherin, although she thought Ania might get used to it and even come to like it. The hat took a few minutes with Ania and then declared that she would be in Ravenclaw. Feronia cheered with the Ravenclaw table and hoped that she might get into Ravenclaw as well though she would not try to influence the hat's decision in any way.
After a long wait "Longbottom, Zoe" was called and, when she was sorted into Ravenclaw as well, she joined Ania, who greeted her with a hug.
Not long after that Professor Flitwick called "Lupin, Desidero" and Desi also got sorted into Ravenclaw, where he joined the girls and looked relieved.
When "Malfoy, Feronia" was called she could hear a slight buzz of whispers at her name but she walked up proudly to the stool. The hat was slipped onto her head and immediately she could hear the amused voice of the hat, Hmm, a Malfoy. But not as bound up with Slytherin any more I see. So, you are a hard one to place- I see courage and determination…also intelligence and a love of hard work...but where to place you? Ah, I see, you should be in… "RAVENCLAW!"
Feronia made her way happily down to the Ravenclaw table and sat down on a spare seat next to Desi, who smiled at her.
Next there were "Weasley, Emily", who was sorted into Hufflepuff, "Weasley, Taya", who was sorted into Gryffindor, and "Potter, Kimberley", who was sorted into Gryffindor. Last of all was "Yarrow, Hanna", who was sorted into Slytherin.
"How lucky! We're all in Ravenclaw." Ania whispered to Feronia as a stern woman stood up, Feronia recognised her as Professor McGonagall, the Headmistress of Hogwarts. She gave a rather long speech about the rules, which Feronia hardly listened to as she was yawning so much, and then the meals appeared on golden platters and the noise rose as the students began eating.
"Did you notice the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher?" Feronia turned to look at the staff table, which she hadn't paid much attention to before, "She's next to Snape, looks really nice." The woman seemed to be searching for something and then she looked straight at them and waved cheerfully. Desi waved back.
"What is she waving at you for Desi? Do you know her?"
"Yeah," Desi mumbled, looking awkward, "she's my Mum."
The girls stared at him in amazement, "Why didn't you tell us?"
"It's a bit embarrassing; I hope she doesn't treat me differently."
"No, she looks fair and kind." Zoe decided, "I think I'm going to like that lesson."
The feast was magnificent but by the end of it Feronia wanted to sleep for a week and hoped that her dormitory had a soft bed and big windows. Soon enough they were being shepherded through the halls of Hogwarts towards the Ravenclaw common room by a prefect.
They came to a floor to ceiling bookcase filled with shelves of old, dusty books and Feronia wondered if they were going to have to read books before they went to bed, but then the prefect said, "Liber libri" and pulled a book as if to take it from the shelf. A portion of the bookshelf started moving forward and became a door, revealing a bronze carpeted stair case with blue walls leading upwards. The stair case seemed to Feronia to carry on forever and her legs became leaden like her eyes before they reached the top finally and came out into a room with blue walls and bronze carpet like the stairs. There was a fireplace and armchairs that made the room warm and cosy and, to Feronia's delight, there were large windows that looked over the grounds and showed them to be very high up. The boys and girls were spilt as they went up their respective stair cases from the common room and so the girls said goodnight to Desi. Feronia, Zoe and Ania were put in the same dormitory, to their joy, along with two other first year girls they didn't know. They changed sleepily and collapsed exhausted onto their beds, falling asleep almost before their heads hit the pillow.
