It was a new school year at Hogwarts. The Express had just pulled in to the school. Hagrid could be heard bellowing for the first years to follow him. Many familiar faces got off the train. Harry Potter, of course, was one of them. Despite most people now being used to seeing "the boy who lived", he still got some stares. Also present were his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. Ginny Weasley was also hanging around them, seemingly irking Ron.

There were many new arrivals, mainly first years. However, there was one exception. There was a transfer student, transferring directly into her 7th year, something nearly unheard of for Hogwarts. If you didn't get in at the age of 10 for your first year, then you weren't getting in.

This girl's full name was Ivory Sorceria Magus Emrys-Caledonensis. She was a pureblood wizard unlike any that had come before her. She was a direct descendent of Myrddin Caledonensis (sometimes known as Myrddin Emrys, Myrddin Wyllt or Merlin the Magician.) and also has blood from perhaps the world's first true Wizard in her, Simon Magus. Even a family as stuck up as the Malfoys admitted the extent of her pureblood ancestry made them (the Malfoys) look like Mudbloods at best.

Her family had educated her up to the equivalent of a 6th year Hogwarts student. However, her family felt it was important for her to spend her final year of education in a more social environment. Saying she had a 6th year education was a bit misleading, to tell the truth. She had the book education up to that point, but her magical abilities were beyond anything known before. Whispers spoke of her magical ability being even vastly superior to that of Albus Dumbledore's. She merely had to hold a wand and desire an effect for it to happen. In fact, with less complicated feats (such as simple levitation or an easy transmogrification), she didn't even need a wand. She could practically will it to happen and it did.

As she got off the train, she was unsure of where to go. Surely, she didn't belong with the first years. Perhaps, she decided, she will follow Harry Potter. It was really the only person she knew, even if in name only. She was following them to carriages that appeared to be pulled by nothing. A quick willing to figure out the truth revealed to her only that they were actually pulled by some sort of creature she didn't recognize. The only name she could think of for them was "nightmare horses", so she decided to call them that. She wasn't sure she wanted to be around these nightmare horses. Happily, this was not to be the case. A witch flagged her down and pulled her to the side.

"My name is Professor McGonagall," she said, "Headmaster Dumbledore asked me to escort you personally to the school, due to your exceptional circumstances."

Ivory smiled and thanked McGonagall. Surely, this is the sort of treatment she'd get throughout the year. After all, she had the blood of the greatest wizards of all time in her veins. If anyone deserved special treatment, it was definitely herself.

A note should be made here about her ancestry. While it is true that Ivory is descended from Myrddin Wyllt and Simon Magus, most in her family do not share her ability. Though they are all exceptionally powerful wizards and witches, they are all constrained by the normal laws of magic. (Such as needing a wand, needing to say trigger words for spells and so on.) Though, Ivory herself was not. True, she needed a wand in order for complicated magic to work, she didn't need trigger words. She surpassed limitations known to every other magic using person, including Lord Voldemort and Albus Dumbledore. (As an aside, one branch of the family, universally disdained by the rest, married into a Muggle family. Though none of the Emrys-Caledonensis family is aware of this, due to the disowning of that branch so many generations ago, that branch eventually spawned James Potter, and thus Harry Potter himself. Ivory was completely unaware that she was Harry Potter's very distant cousin. Had she known this, she most certainly would not have been wondering how to get him in bed.)

Ivory was escorted by Professor McGonagall to a special seating area away from the rest of the Houses. It would be inappropriate for her to sit with any one house since she had not been officially sorted yet. Of course, it would also be vastly improper for her to be sitting with the staff. So, a special area was set up for her, with a simple charm on it so she wouldn't be noticed by the other students. Ivory was slightly disappointed in this, as she wanted to stand out and be noticed. She considered breaking the charm, a trivial feat for the likes of her, but decided to respect the staff's decision.

She watched as nervous first years were sorted into the various houses. It seemed to her this year's population of students had an awfully high number of students in Ravenclaw. Slytherin seemed to have the lowest. She wondered if this was normal? She caught herself almost using magic to scan the student's minds to see how the distribution was. Again, she wanted to be respectful of the staff's wishes, at least for her first day. After that, she felt, she should have the right do whatever she wants magic-wise. After all, she had the blood of Simon Magus himself in her. The sin of Simony was named after him! Surely they can't expect too much in the way of good behavior after the descendent of a man who inspired a sin.

After the feast was over, Professor McGonagall came to Ivory and escorted her to the office of Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, intently observing a glass sphere, some sort of crystal ball it seemed, apparently perplexed at what he saw. He seemed slightly worried as well.

"Headmaster?" McGonagall asked, "The new student, Ivory Emrys-Caledonensis, is here to see you, as you requested."

"Oh yes," he said genially, "please, show her in. We have much to talk about." Ivory walked in and took a seat.

"Yes, Headmaster?" she asked as sweetly as she could. Having Dumbledore as her ally would surely allow her to do as she wished with no repercussions at Hogwarts.

"Miss Emrys-Caledonensis," he said, "Your family has requested you to be enrolled here for one year. Of course, I was only too happy to make these special arrangements. No previous member of your family has been educated at Hogwarts. They've all chosen to learn magic from their parents and other relatives."

"Yes," said Ivory with so much sweetness dripping from her voice that Dumbledore had to fight down the urge to brush his teeth, "It's an honor to be able to come here to Hogwarts."

"I'm happy you decided to come here," he said, "As I just said, it is quite an honor to have a member of the esteemed Emrys-Caledonensis family attending. There was some speculation that your father was going to send you to Beauxbatons instead. However, there are a few matters to attend to. First, we need to have you assigned to a house. Even though you will only be here one year, you still need to have a house. We decided to do it personally here in my office, as we felt it would be awkward to do in front of all the other students, considering your age and circumstances."

Ivory cringed to herself. Would she have to wear that awful hat? It can't possibly be in fashion this year. It might mess up her hair! How can someone with messy hair influence the powerful!

Dumbledore chuckled, seemingly anticipating what she was thinking. "Of course," he continued, "you'll need to wear the Sorting Hat to be properly sorted."

Visibly cringing this time, she put the floppy hat on her head. Oh, you are a complicated one she heard in her head. The hat was talking to her? Your destiny is not what you would expect, young one. But very well, I see now where you must go.

"Slytherin!" the hat bellowed, and then went silent.

Slytherin! Ivory was stunned! It was the most uncouth of the houses! This was awful!