Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or anything else that may be referenced in this chapter. The bold, italic, underline text are direct quotes from the Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets books respectively.

A/N: Gigantic thank you to you all for reading, reviewing, following and favouring and I hope you all enjoy this chapter! :)

Twitter: Prof_McGonagal

Chapter 5: A Better Life

When night came and lamps in their compartment and the carriage outside it flickered into life, Rachel, Pansy and Millicent got to their feet, took their robes from their trunks and left their compartment for the bathrooms to change.

Rachel couldn't help but marvel at her uniform to herself as she finished tying her tie. So much had happened since this time last year- she never would have thought then, that today she would be tying a green and silver striped tie around her neck; and that she would be happy about it.

Taking her wand from the pocket of her jeans, Rachel slipped it into the pocket of her robes and set about folding her Muggle clothes into a neat pile. Picking up the pile, Rachel slipped it into her bag and hooking it over her left shoulder, Rachel left her cubicle and approached the sinks and mirror to fix her hair. Millicent was already standing at the sinks, looking at herself in the mirror as she tied her tie.

"Excuse me, please."

Rachel ceased to comb her hair briefly as she and Millicent moved to one side, making room as Hermione Granger entered the tiny bathroom and started to edge around them to get to the cubicle Rachel had just left, her own bag over her shoulder. She looked rather anxious and forlorn. But Rachel did not have time to dwell on Granger's apparent upset before Pansy emerged from a cubicle, running a tube of lip balm over her lips.

"I hope they have those pumpkin tart things at the feast tonight," she said, squinting at herself in the glass. "They had them at the end of last year- they looked really good but they were all gone before I could get to them."

"Pumpkin?" Millicent repeated, frowning. "They weren't pumpkin, they were custard."

"Really?" Pansy stared at her in surprise. "I could have sworn they were pumpkin…Rachel?" she turned to the girl.

Rachel shrugged, returning her comb to her bag. "I didn't even notice them."

"Are you sure they weren't pumpkin, Millicent?" Pansy asked, slipping her lip balm into the pocket of her robes.

"Positive," Millicent nodded amusedly.

"Huh," Pansy raised her eyebrows as the girls left the bathroom and made their way down the train towards their compartment. "Well, I'm still going to get a hold of some at dinner if they're there."

"Meoow!" the plaintive mews of Millicent's cat, Ryan, greeted the girls as they entered the compartment. His forehead was pressed against the bars of his cage, and he eyed all three girls with an air of great distain.

"Is he alright?" Rachel asked.

"I think he's just a bit restless," Millicent answered, "he's had full run of my house all summer and he's been shut up all day- and, honestly, Ryan is a bit of an attention seeker… it's alright," she murmured, slipping her finger through the bars on the front of Ryan's cage and stroking his nose. "It won't be long now we're nearly there… that's it, relax." She smiled as Ryan licked her finger and yawned, closing his eyes and settling down.

Not long after, the train started to slow down, and soon enough the train came to a stop at Hogsmeade station to the accompaniment of chatter and the screeched, news and croaks of various pets. Having made sure that their trunks were securely locked and their pets were safely in their cages, Rachel, Pansy and Millicent left their compartment and joined the crowd of students filling the corridor of the carriage in disembarking the train onto the platform, carrying their pets in their cages.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

Hagrid's booming call echoed around the small platform as his great shadow approached the students, the lamp in his hand preceding him as it had the previous year. A number of nervous looking eleven-year olds separated themselves from the crowd of students on the platform and shuffled towards him; watching them, Rachel couldn't help but think back to the previous year, walking over to Hagrid with her old friends, Terry Boot and Lisa Turpin.

"Merlin, that's making me remember how nervous I was last year," Millicent said, leading the way in following the rest of the school from the platform and out onto the rough dirt track that lead to the carriages that would take them up to the castle.

"Me too." Rachel agreed. "And Marcus and Oliver tried to convince me that the Sorting Ceremony involved fighting a Sphinx."

Pansy laughed. "Sebastian tried to tell us that we had to fight a giant spider that lives in the forbidden forest. We didn't believe him but it was still a relief to find out the Sorting was the Sorting Hat." She said as they reached the lines of hundreds of stagecoaches.

"I know the feeling." Rachel nodded, closing the door behind them as the three girls climbed into an empty, slightly mould-and-straw smelling carriage. As the carriage creaked into life and started to bump and sway its way in the direction of the castle, Rachel could not stop herself from thinking back to this time last year, when she was still friends with Terry and Lisa. Back then, she would never have thought of herself starting her second year as she was, no longer friends with Terry and Lisa at all, sharing a carriage with two Slytherins who were her friends and closest confidants outside Marcus; and dress proudly in Slytherin robes, a Slytherin herself. Rachel pushed her glasses up her nose and glanced surreptitiously at Pansy and Millicent as the carriage passed through the pair of superb twisted iron gates bookended by stone columns crowned with winged boars that served as the entrance to the castle grounds, and felt a surge of happiness and contentment. She may have lost Terry and Lisa's friendship, but now she had friends who had stuck by her during her most difficult times, who liked her for who she was and trusted her, as she did them.

The carriage increased its pace as it made it's away up the long, sloping driveway that lead up to the school. Hogwarts Castle towered over the coaches, its many windows glittering welcomingly as the coaches swept around the top of the driveway and swayed to a halt. Leaving their pets in the carriage to be taken care of by the house elves, Rachel, Pansy and Millicent clambered out of their coach and joined the other student in making their way up the stone steps, through the great front doors and into the the cavernous, echoing Entrance Hall, which was illuminated as ever by flame filled torches. The large crowd of students made their way across the Entrance Hall, peeling away to sit at their respective House tables as they entered the Great Hall.

"Oh my Merlin look!" Pansy exclaimed, freezing in the doorway and grabbing hold of Millicent and Rachel's arms. "It's Gilderoy Lockhart!"

Following her gaze, Rachel and Millicent looked up at the staff table. Indeed, at the far end, sticking out rather jarringly in robes made of some aquamarine coloured material, sat Gilderoy Lockhart himself. His wavy blond hair seemed to almost glow in the light of the candles illuminating the Great Hall, and he looked to be having a conversation with Professor Flitwick, though Flitwick did not look very happy about it.

"I can't believe he's really here; and he's going to be teaching us!" Pansy gushed as she, Millicent and Rachel continued over to the Slytherin table. "It almost feels too good to be true- it would, but it is true!"

She was not the only one who was excited. Several students were gesturing towards the staff table as they entered the hall, nudging and whispering to their friends and many continued to gawk openly at Lockhart as they sat down at their house table.

"Let's hope he's a good teacher," Millicent said as she, Pansy and Rachel found seats halfway down the Slytherin table.

"He has to be- he's written almost the entire booklist," Rachel said as they sat down.

No sooner had they done so, however, then Pansy's cousin Sebastian descended upon them, sitting down beside Millicent.

"What do you think, then?" he asked, his quick gaze flickering interestedly between all three girls.

"About what?" Pansy asked.

Sebastian's gaze paused on her, his brow creasing. "The car!" he said, as though it was obvious.

Pansy frowned back at him confusedly. "What car?"

"Seriously?" Sebastian looked at Millicent and Rachel, his brow creasing further as he saw they looked as confused as Pansy. "It was all over at least half the train and its probably all over the school by now- haven't you seen the Evening Prophet?"

"No," the three girls shook their heads. Shaking his head, too- but in evident amazement- Sebastian reached into the pocket of his robes and pulled out a tightly folded copy of the Evening Prophet.

"Look," he said, unfolding the newspaper and laying it down on the table in front of them, pointing to the headline.

FLYING FORD ANGLIA MYSTIFIES MUGGLES

Sebastian gestured to the article, running his finger along the lines as he read aloud, "'Two Muggles in London, convinced they saw an old car flying over the Post Office tower… at noon in Norfolk, Mrs. Hetty Bayliss, while hanging out her washing… Mr. Angus Fleet, of Peebles, reported to police…' about seven Muggles, all convinced they saw the same thing- too many to be a coincidence, don't you think?" he arched an eyebrow, looking around at the girls.

"I guess," Pansy nodded, shrugging. "So what?"

Sebastian rolled his eyes. "So," he said, "The Weasley twins- you know, from Gryffindor- were in the compartment opposite mine, and their friend, Lee Jordan- the Quidditch commentator- and a couple of other people from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw in their compartment got their copy just after I did, when the lights turned on, and I am a rather a good lip reader. It turns out that the Weasley family owns a flying Ford Anglia and the Weasley twins went up and down the train and they couldn't find Ron Weasley or Harry Potter who was staying with them and travelled to the station with them, and as you can see, they're not here." He gestured towards the Gryffindor table; and following his gesture, Rachel, Pansy and Millicent scanned the Gryffindor table and saw that he was quite right- while Hermione Granger sat beside Neville Longbottom, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were nowhere to be seen. Granger, Rachel noticed, now looked more anxious than upset. Her apparent upset on the train, too, now made sense- if Potter and Weasley really hadn't been on the train, then Granger wouldn't've been able to sit with them. Whether she had other friends in Gryffindor or the other houses, Rachel didn't know, but Granger was certainly close to Potter and Weasley, so it would make sense that she would be forlorn or worried or anxious, or all three, if she couldn't find them on the school train or in the Great Hall.

"So- you think they're the ones in the flying car?" Millicent asked as the girls turned back to Sebastian. "Potter and Weasley?"

Sebastian nodded. "That's what people are saying."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Draco Malfoy's voice sounded scornfully from behind Rachel suddenly, and turning her head, she saw him drop down into the empty beside her; leaning forwards to address the group. Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle sat down beside him, listening. "Potter's such an attention seeking show off, I bet he thinks he's too good to travel on the train."

Rachel frowned faintly. Potter may have gotten himself into a lot of trouble and danger by all accounts last year, but in all honestly, she doubted Draco's words, and her first impression of Potter remained; that he didn't seem as self-assured as she thought he'd be. "You know; he doesn't really strike me as an attention seeking show off." She said.

"Nor me," Pansy agreed, nodding.

"Really?" Draco raised his eyebrows at them both. "Then what would you call all that stuff that Potter did at the end of last year, if it wasn't attention seeking?"

"Saving the wizarding world from a lunatic who was trying to bring back the Dark Lord?" Nott replied bluntly, raising an eyebrow back at Draco as he sat down on the other side to Pansy to Rachel; Zabini beside him as always.

Draco scowled heavily at Nott. "What, are you the chairman of Potter's fan club now or something?"

"I neither like or dislike Potter," Nott replied calmly. "But the fact remains that what Potter did last year wasn't attention seeking- it was stopping Quirrell from bringing back the Dark Lord."

"Yeah?" Draco retorted, "Then if Potter knew that Quirrell was going to try and bring the Dark Lord back, why didn't he go to a Professor? Why did he go after Quirrell himself? Because he didn't want his being the Boy-Who-Lived to be forgotten, because he's an attention seeking show off." He folded his arms, smirking smugly.

Nott stared at him for a moment, then rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

CRUNCH!

A strange noise, like a great load of metal hitting thick, heavy wood echoed into the Great Hall suddenly; loud enough that it made heads turn the the direction of the large window behind the staff table, but faint enough that it was clear that it was coming from outside, somewhere in the grounds.

"What was that?" Millicent asked as murmurs broke out across the Great Hall.

"Sounded like a car crashing into a tree," Nott replied, "I saw a car cash into a tree in Muggle Spain, no one was hurt but it sounded like that, I remember."

"Must've been a pretty big tree," Pansy said.

"Maybe it was the Whomping Willow," Nott suggested, "You know that massive tree in the grounds?"

"Never seen it, but yeah," Pansy nodded.

"It's the only tree big enough to make a noise that audible, I reckon." Nott concluded.

"Snape's going to investigate, by the looks of things," Sebastian said, nodding towards the staff table. Turning their heads, the second years saw that he was right- Professor Snape was sweeping around the side of the staff table and starting to cross the Great Hall. Rachel's gaze passed him to run the length of the staff table, passing Professors Sprout and Flitwick, then a few teachers she had never met, then Professor McGonagall's empty seat, Professor Dumbledore, then Gilderoy Lockhart, then Hagrid, the game keeper.

"He doesn't look happy," Nott remarked, watching Snape. Rachel turned, joining the others in doing the same.

"It's Snape." Pansy pointed out as Snape moved across the Great Hall and out of the double doors at its end in a matter of moments, his long black robes billowing out behind him and his eyes glittering malevolently.

"I hope he finds Potter," Draco said, a grin unfurling across his face.

"That's if the Whomping Willow doesn't get Potter first." Sebastian said.

"All the better if you ask me," Draco's grin widened.

"Did I, though?" Sebastian inquired quietly, adjusting the fork in front of him so it was closer to his plate.

Millicent snickered. Draco looked indignantly at Vincent and Gregory but when both of them looked back at him confusedly, he turned back to Sebastian, his eyes narrowed. Before he could speak, however, the door to the Great Hall opened and Professor McGonagall entered, carrying the patched, aged Sorting Hat and the sorting stool; and followed by a crowd of incredibly nervous-looking first years.

Rachel turned around in her seat to watch McGonagall lead the first years to the front of the Hall. But as McGonagall set down the Sorting Stool in front of the staff table, and the Sorting Hat on top of it, Rachel caught sight of a flash of red out of the window, to the right of the headmaster. The Sorting Hat started to sing at that moment, but Rachel didn't pay attention to the song. Instead, she leant back in her seat to get a better look out of the window, a theory rapidly unfolding in her mind. Moment's later, her theory was confirmed- Harry Potter and Ron Weasley were outside, looking into the Great Hall through the window.

"…Hey," she whispered slowly, nudging Pansy. "I think Potter and Weasley are outside, looking through the window."

"What?" Pansy sat up straighter, her gaze flicking towards the window, too.

"Look to the right of Professor Dumbledore," Rachel whispered.

"…Oh Merlin they are, too," Pansy's eyes widened. "Potter and Weasley are outside, look to the right of Dumbledore." she murmured, nudging Nott beside her.

"… I see them." He muttered back after a moment, nodding. "Look over there." He muttered, elbowing Zabini and nodding towards the window.

"What?" Millicent whispered from across the table; Sebastian turned his head, too, listening.

"Look out of the window, to the right of Dumbledore." Rachel whispered, joining in with the applause that echoed around the Great Hall as the Sorting Hat finished singing.

Millicent and Sebastian looked towards the window; but they were not the only ones. Draco's head turned, too; clearly he had heard Rachel's whisper.

"Is that… Potter and Weasley?" he asked as the applause faded away, a small smile twisting his face.

"Looks like it." Rachel nodded.

"Creevey, Colin!"

Professor McGonagall's call echoed around the Great Hall, attracting the attention of the Slytherins to the Sorting. A very small boy with mousy hair emerged from the crowd of first years, approached the Sorting stool, sat down and put the Sorting hat on his head; his face as white as a sheet and trembling from head to foot all the while. A moment passed in silence as the whole school watched, then the gash close to the brim of the hat that was its mouth opened wide-

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindors cheered and clapped as Colin Creevey got to his feet, replaced the hat on the stool and hurried over to the Gryffindor table, collapsing into an empty seat and smiling around as his housemates.

"Digby, Isabella!" Professor McGonagall called; a tall, pale girl with long blonde hair approached the Sorting stool and sat down.

HUFFLEPUFF!"

The Hufflepuff table burst into applause, cheering as Isabella Digby approached them and sat down.

"Diggle, Lillian!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Easton, Elouise!"

"RAVENCLAW"

"Fawcett, Howard!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Fulton, Ella!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Fulton, Gabriel!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Fulton, Luke!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Potter and Weasley aren't at the window anymore!" Draco hissed suddenly.

Joining in the applause as three small, dark first years with identical noses and the same mischievous looking hazel eyes sat down together at the Slytherin table, Rachel turned her head towards the window and saw that he was quite right: Potter and Weasley were nowhere to be seen; nor, she saw, looking towards the Gryffindor table, had they snuck in and sat down.

"Bet you they've been caught!" Draco grinned triumphantly. Rachel shrugged non-committedly, returning her attention to the Sorting up at the staff table.

"Garrick, Emma!"

"GRYFFINDOR"

"Gladstone, Ryan!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Graeme, Rose!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Harper, Hamish!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

Hayes, Alexander!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Hayhurst, Samuel!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Lovegood, Luna!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Merlin I wish she'd hurry up," Nott's mutter sounded from down the table as a small girl with long dirty blonde hair and protuberant silvery eyes sat down at the Ravenclaw table. "I'm starving… Blaise have you got any food in your pockets? ...Blaise? Oi, Blaise!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Rachel saw him elbow Zabini, who was staring expressionlessly at the goblet in front of him. Zabini started slightly as Nott's elbow dug into his side, and looked around at his friend.

"What?" he asked, sounding slightly annoyed.

Nott didn't appear to care. "Have you got any food on you?"

"No," Zabini shook his head.

"Not even one Pumpkin Pasty?" Nott sounded disbelieving.

Zabini rolled his eyes. "No, and if I did I would keep it- you know I need them," he replied. "Anyway there's only a couple of first years left… look they're sorting the last one now."

"Weasley, Ginerva!"

Rachel turned her attention back to the Sorting, watching as a small girl with flaming red hair approached the sorting stool and sat down, putting on the Hat as she did so. She was, Rachel realised, recognising her by name and face- before the hat fell over it, Ron Weasley's little sister, who's second-hand Transfiguration textbook had been mocked by Lucius Malfoy in Flourish and Blotts.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table burst into applause. Ginerva Weasley, pink in the face but grinning from ear to ear, got to her feet, took off the Sorting hat, placed it back on the stool and hurried over to the Gryffindor table, collapsing into the first available seat.

As the applause died down and Professor McGonagall rolled up the Sorting Scroll, picked up the Hat and stool and carried all three from the Hall, Professor Dumbledore got to his feet and beamed around the Hall and beamed around.

"Welcome- welcome back students and staff old and new!" "I only have a few announcements to make this evening, but I'm sure you are far too hungry to pay much attention to anything, so I will wait until after the feast."

"Thank Merlin for that!" Nott sighed, reaching for a plate of friend chicken wings as food appeared all along the five long tables in the Hall.

Up at the staff table, however, Professor Dumbledore did not sit down. Instead, he walked around his chair and along the back of the staff table, and around its side to the rest of the hall.

"Where's he going?" Millicent asked, watching as Professor Dumbledore swept down alongside the far side of the Great Hall and out the doors to the Entrance Hall. She was not the only one looking; the eyes of at least half the school had followed the headmaster from the Hall; some, Rachel and Draco Malfoy amongst them, even turning in their seats to watch.

"Isn't it obvious?" Draco asked as the doors to the Great Hall closed behind the headmaster and the talk of students filled the room as they swung back around in their seats. "He's going to expel Potter and Weasley for being seen by all those Muggles!"

"You really think they'll be expelled?" Pansy raised an eyebrow.

"Well… in being seen by all those Muggles in a flying car, they did break the law," Rachel pointed out, reaching for a nearby dish of steak and kidney pudding. "Not just any law, either- the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, which is arguably the most important law there is; it keeps us all safe."

"Exactly," Draco nodded, filling his goblet with pumpkin juice, "And Potter and Weasley broke it: they have to be punished and being expelled seems like the right punishment to me."

"Of course it does- you hate Potter." Sebastian pointed out, carefully ladling stew onto his plate.

"Yeah but he broke the law," Draco retorted, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Sebastian. "But why are you sitting with us second years- don't you have any friends in third year?"

"I do," Sebastian replied coolly. "But I wanted to speak to my cousin and- and I didn't realise I had to run that by you."

Such was the coolness of the icy look Sebastian gave him that Draco paled slightly a turned once again to Vincent and Gregory. This time they both leaned forwards, cracking their knuckles and glaring threateningly at Sebastian, but the second they leaned forwards Sebastian's icy look transformed into a brilliant beam and he waved at the two.

With the exception of Draco, everyone around them snickered.

Vincent and Gregory blinked, evidently confused, and Sebastian returned to his food, smirking.

"Idiots." Rachel heard Draco mutter furiously under his breath, casting a furious look at Crabbe and Goyle as conversation levels bubbled up around the Great Hall around them; though around the hall, several necks kept craning, and heads kept turning in the direction of where Gilderoy Lockhart was sitting at the staff table, cutting up a slice of roast lamb.

"I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to see you this summer," Sebastian was say to Millicent as they ate. "My mother's sister came to stay and she's very…. monopolising. I wanted to get to Pansy's when you were there and show you those figurines I mentioned in my letter but I never got the chance."

"Don't worry about it; I understand," Millicent said with a small smile. "… I was kind of hoping to see them, though; especially the Moran one… do you have any photos?"

"No, but I did bring them with me," Sebastian smiled back. "I can show you them after dinner of you want?"

Millicent's smile widened. "Yeah, that would be great."

"Remind me- why does the king only move one square at a time?" Pansy was asking Nott, her brow furrowed, "if it's the most powerful piece on the board, that's ridiculous; it should be able to do everything."

"I think the King is the most powerful piece because it means the difference between winning and losing," Nott replied. "But really, it's the queen- that's the piece than can do everything, and if you can take away someone's queen it can really affect your opponent's game."

"…It's the fastest broom money can buy," Draco was saying smugly to Vincent and Gregory in between mouthfuls of Shepard's Pie, his anger apparently set aside in favour of arrogance. "There's no way Flint is going to turn down having seven on the team…"

When all plates being eaten off had been cleared, the food lining the centre of the tables vanished, replaced instantaneously by a great range of desserts; everything from apple pies to small pots of Crème Brule.

"Ooh!" Pansy exclaimed, pulling a dish of small tarts towards her and taking a couple. "I was hoping these would be here."

"Pumpkin or custard?" Millicent smirked as Pansy took a spoonful of tart.

Pansy smiled, rolling her eyes. "Custard."

As she spoke, the doors to the Great Hall opened and Professor Dumbledore re-entered the Hall, looking quite content. Professor Snape followed, looking particularly sour.

"If they have tracked down Potter and Weasley, I don't think they've been expelled," Rachel said.

"What makes you think that?" Pansy asked, frowning.

"Look at Snape's face," Rachel said, swallowing a spoonful of apple pie and guesting with her spoon towards the Professor. "He looks exceptionally miserable- and I don't think he'd look like that if Potter got expelled. He hates Potter; you saw how he treated him in Potions last year."

"True," Pansy nodded, "But even if Potter and Weasley didn't get expelled they must have been given some kind of punishment."

"What are you talking about?" Draco interposed contemptuously. "Everyone might think Potter's the most wonderful person to ever exist but he and Weasley- they broke the law. They have to be expelled, anyone else would be."

"Then why is Snape looking so miserable?" Rachel asked.

"He's missed the majority of dinner." Draco pointed out.

Rachel had to admit he had a point. As she did so, the doors to the Great Hall opened again and Professor McGonagall re-entered the Hall, without the Sorting Hat and stool.

"Either she got lost putting the hat and stool away or she's been seeing Potter and Weasley out of the school grounds." Draco said with a grin. Unsure whether or not she agreed, Rachel shrugged none committedly and went back to her apple pie.

When all the plates around the hall had been cleared, Professor Dumbledore got to his feet and the level of conversation around the Hall ceased as once again he smiled around the Hall. "I have only a few so I only require your attention for a short while. Firstly, I am very pleased to welcome acclaimed author Gilderoy Lockhart back to Hogwarts as a member of staff. Professor Lockhart will be your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher; and I'm sure you all join me in wishing him the best of luck."

As applause and even some cheering echoed through the Great Hall, Lockhart got to his feet, and waved flamboyantly around the Hall, tossing his hair from his eyes and grinning widely. Out of the corner of her eye, Rachel saw Zabini, who neither cheering nor applauding, lean forwards and say something quietly to Nott, who nodded, an amused grin unfurling across his face.

Smiling, Dumbledore waited for the noise to die down and Lockhart to before continuing. "Secondly, Quidditch trials will, as always, take place be during the second week of the term; and those who have an interest in playing for their house should speak with Madam Hooch. Thirdly and very importantly, first years, and all other students for that matter, should note that the Forbidden Forrest in the grounds remains very strictly out of bounds."

Loud groans echoed around the Hall, from where the Weasley twins were sitting at the Gryffindor table. Dumbledore chuckled.

"And on that note," he said, "I think it is time for you all to go to bed, so you can be well rested for your lessons tomorrow. Good evening."

Chatter, the thud of footsteps and calls for the first years from the prefects filled the Hall once again as the students got to their feet and swarmed towards the doors to the Entrance Hall.

"The password's Salazar- pass it on; you three as well," Gemma Farley was saying quietly to a fourth year, and to Rachel, Pansy and Millicent as they edged past her and the cluster of first years gathered around her.

Nodding back, the three girls joined the swirling, jostling crowd fighting to get through the doors, emerged through the other side and crossed the Entrance Hall to the stone steps that led down to the dungeons.

Rachel shivered slightly, pulling her robe tighter around her as the temperature around them dropped the further they moved from ground level. The dungeons were dimly lit and the footsteps of the three girls echoed all around them as they made their way through the dungeon courtesy of the hard, stone floor.

"Merlin I can't wait to get to the dormitory," Pansy murmured, curling her fingers around the sleeves of her robes. "The heater will be on, won't it?"

"Hopefully," Millicent nodded vehemently as the girls turned into the corridor that held the entrance to the common room. Heads turned as they made their way down the corridor- a group of third years stood in front of where the door to the common room would appear, including, at the front of the group, Zabini's older sister; Irma.

"Hey, you three- have you got the password?" Irma asked as the girls approached.

"Yeah," Pansy nodded, flicking her hair from her eyes, "Salazar."

Irma smiled as the entrance to the common room appeared. "Thanks," she said. Her friends nodded and smiled, too; following Irma into the common room. Rachel, Pansy and Millicent followed.

Looking around, Rachel suddenly felt rather as though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Admittedly, the Slytherin common room, as well as the walk through the dungeons to get to it, was a stark contrast to what she had imagined for herself this time the previous year, but the sight of the common room was, too, familiar and strangely comforting. The rough stone walls were bathed in a greenish light from the lamps hanging from chains from the ceiling; the tables, chairs, sofas, bookshelves and high- backed armchairs filled the room exactly as they had the previous year; and the large portrait of Merlin still hung on the wall opposite the roaring fireplace; Merlin himself looked as though he was asleep under a black satin eye mask. Not even the nerve-racking sight of the water of the Black Lake sloshing against the large, floor to ceiling windows took much away from the weight Rachel felt had lifted, for here, she could be herself and be accepted.

Irma and her friends headed over to the high-backed seats surrounding the fireplace and, stifling yawns, Pansy, Rachel and Millicent crossed the common room, passed through the door to the girls' dormitories and headed down the spiral staircase towards their old dormitory. The sign on the door now read 'second years.'

"Home sweet home," Pansy said with a smile, pushing open the door to their dormitory.

As they entered the room, the three girls were greeted by a welcome wave of warmth curtesy of the round heater in the middle of the room. The bathroom door faced the girls, and the five four poster beds with their green hangings were were evenly spaced around the room, bookended by large, floor to ceiling windows showing the lake outside and by black, cabinet style bedside tables. Daphne, Millicent, Pansy, Rachel and Tracey's trunks and pet cages stood at the end of the same beds as they had the previous year, marking them as assigned to the respective girl.

"Meow," Ryan jumped off Millicent's bed, running over to her as the girl's entered the room.

"Hello," Millicent cooed, bending and scooping the cat into her arms. "Are you feeling better now you don't have to be in your cage for a while… and your hair is all over me?"

Ryan mewed softly, pushing his head into Millicent's arm as the door to their dormitory opened and its other two occupants, Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davis entered.

"Hello girls," Daphne smiled around.

"Hi," Pansy replied, smiling back. "Did you have a good summer?"

"Yeah, it was nice," Daphne nodded. "You?"

Rachel busied herself with storing Artemisia's empty cage under her bed as talk of the holidays rang around the dormitory. Her own summer had been far from fun, and she had no desire to talk about her family with Daphne and Tracey present- the smaller the amount of people who knew about her home life and family, the better- and she had said all she wanted to about it to Pansy and Millicent during the summer.

"How about you, Rachel?" Tracey asked, turning to her after she, Pansy, Daphne and Millicent had told tale of their summer holidays. "How was your summer?"

Rachel endeavoured to make her tone light and carefree. "Yeah, it was pretty good, thanks," she replied with a smile, casting around her mind for a change of subject. "What about Gilderoy Lockhart, then- can you believe he's the new DADA professor?"

"I know- it's so exciting!" Daphne grinned.

"It's all a bit fishy if you ask me," Tracey said, sitting down her bed, reaching out and scratching Glover behind the ears as her cat ran down her bed towards her. "I mean, why would a famous celebrity author with loads of money suddenly turn around and want to teach?"

"Oh, come on, Tracey," Daphne rolled her eyes; clearly Tracey had expressed her doubts to her before. "…Maybe he's always wanted to teach and now he's taking the opportunity?"

Tracey raised her eyebrows sceptically. "If he's always wanted to teach, why not become a teacher?"

Daphne paused, clearly thinking, "… I don't know," she answered, "But he has to be good or Dumbledore wouldn't have hired him!"

Tracey hesitated, thinking, too. "…Okay," she said after a moment, raising her hands in surrender. "But if Lockhart teaches us how to ward off vampires with hair potion: I told you something strange is going on."

The image of a vampire cowering as Lockhart brandished a vial of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion was so comical that even Daphne laughed.

"If that happens, I agree with you." She grinned, opening her trunk and lifting her beautiful owl shaped alarm clock from within as the other girls started to unpack and organise their things, too; personalising the space around their beds.

Rachel pushed her glasses up her nose, knelt down beside her trunk and opened it. From within, she took a poster of the Weird sisters she had torn from a copy of witch weekly, and with the aid of some Spello-tape, started to stick it carefully to the wall beside her bed, smiling faintly as she did so. Her life at Hogwarts wasn't what she had expected of it the previous year- it was better; and it was good to be back.

A/N: Please review! :)