A/N: I'm back, and I'm not dead. I'm aware of how long it's been so I won't waste any more of your time here, but if people have been wondering where I am or are interested in the future of this story, then there is a second, much longer, author's note after this chapter.

o0o0o0o

A School of Magic

Hermione's first day at Hogwarts was going far better than she could have hoped.

Immediately upon entering the Great Hall for breakfast, she knew that she was in the right place. People all down the length of her table were reading books or newspapers over plates of eggs and bacon. When the timetables were handed out by the tiny Professor Flitwick, she overheard people from all years discussing their upcoming classes together.

She had spoken briefly with some of her fellow First Years at this point. While she wouldn't claim to actually know any of them, she could still recognise a few. Two of the girls in her dorm had introduced themselves as Mandy Brocklehurst and Padma Patil. Mandy was a fair-haired, plain-looking girl, while Padma was darker, in both her skin and her hair. They, in turn, had pointed out several others to her, such as Michael Corner, Terry Boot and Sue Li; a pale girl who wore her long hair in a ponytail.

Soon enough she was off to her first lesson of the day, Herbology. She had to say, it hadn't quite been what she was expecting. They had mainly gone over the rules of the subject and how to use the tools and equipment found in the Greenhouses safely and properly. The only practical work they'd done had been when Professor Sprout gave them all a selection of different cuttings to identify against a chart, to see if what she had told them all had sunk in.

The second lesson had been Defence Against the Dark Arts. Hermione hadn't really been sure what to expect from this class, but it was still easily the most disappointing part of her day. Professor Quirrell seemed to know a lot about the topic he was teaching, however he also seemed utterly terrified by it. He stuttered so much that Hermione struggled to make out most of what he told them. However she had to admit that, from what little she could understand, it sounded very interesting.

By the time lunch arrived, Hermione was still yet to have a class which required her to cast a spell, but she couldn't find it in herself to complain. After what Ron and Daphne had said on the train, she had guessed that they wouldn't be doing magic straight away after arriving.

Speaking of people she had met on the train, Daphne Greengrass had just entered the Great Hall. Hermione had noticed her at breakfast as well and she couldn't understand what had happened to the blonde Slytherin. On the train, Daphne hadn't seemed to hate that Malfoy boy, however she had made it clear that she wanted to stay with Hermione, Harry and Ron.

Now though, she was at the centre of Malfoy's little gang. At first, Hermione had thought that the Slytherins just liked to move in a huddle, but there were two other Slytherins who didn't seem to be a part of this group. She could only conclude that this select group were all the right sort that Malfoy had talked about on the train. She had to admit that it stung to see Daphne among them.

She couldn't help but wonder what they were saying over there. Had Daphne reverted to calling her a mudblood to make nice with Malfoy, maybe she had come up with some convenient story about how she had been roped into helping said mudblood? Thinking about it made Hermione twitchy, but thinking about the two boys she had met on the train wasn't much better. They too seemed to have found groups within their houses. Were they saying similar things about her, or maybe they'd already forgotten about her? She wasn't sure which one made her feel worse.

It was the only dark spot on an otherwise perfect morning.

'I'm being paranoid,' she reprimanded herself, 'Just because they're talking to other people, that doesn't mean that they've forgotten about me or anything. It's not even been one day! I need to stop worrying so much.'

She couldn't help it though, these were the first proper friends she'd ever had. She didn't want to lose them so quickly.

o0o0o0o

Ron had grown up in a very crowded environment. His home wasn't particularly spacious, at least not for a family of nine, and he had been one of the smallest for a long time. Growing up surrounded by so many people who were bigger than him, he had gotten well used to living with crowds.

That said, he hadn't quite been prepared for how overwhelming Hufflepuff could be. He only had to go downstairs to the Common Room that morning to see that he had greatly underestimated how large this house actually was. There weren't just more people here than in any of the other three, this house must have made up nearly half of the school on its own.

However, the positive side of that was that there was always a Hufflepuff around to help you out, and they were quite the helpful bunch. On the way to their first lesson of the day, Ron, Zach, Roger and Wayne had managed to get themselves completely lost almost immediately. Just as quickly though, they had run into a Second Year from their house, who pointed them in the right direction to Transfiguration.

Ron had been disappointed to find out that they wouldn't be learning magic straight away. He'd been hoping to get started as soon as they arrived, but it seemed there was more to it than he'd realised. He had been equally let down by Defence Against the Dark Arts. Despite how cool the name sounded, the lesson itself had turned out to be a bit of a joke.

At Lunch, Zach had voiced these exact same problems to the rest of their year.

"I thought a school of magic would be teaching us more- well, magic," he complained over a bowl of soup.

"You can find problem with anything, can't you Smith?"

"He has a point Ernie," said Susan Bones.

"Yes, I'm going to have to side with Zacharias on this one," said Justin, in his overly formal way, "I for one was very excited to start learning how to actually do magic."

"It's been one day," pointed out Hannah, "And you heard McGonagall, we need to know what we're dealing with first."

"Quirrell doesn't have that excuse," argued Sally-Anne Perks.

"I'm not defending him," said Hannah with distaste, "But McGonagall clearly knows what she's talking about."

"If it were easy enough that we could get started so quickly, then wouldn't there be people who'd already learned some before coming here?" asked Ernie.

"What about that girl Weasley mentioned?" said Zach, turning to Ron, "The one from the train- you know- er-"

"Oh yeah!" said Roger, "You told us about her. The muggle-born- what was her name?"

"Hermione Granger," supplied Ron.

"That's it!" said Zach triumphantly, "She was already doing magic."

"She's the one with the big hair, right?" asked Susan, "I saw her in Quirrell's lesson. I think she was the only one who could hear anything through that stutter."

"Oh come on," said Lisa Turpin disbelievingly, "There's no way that a muggle-born could learn all of this that quickly."

"It's true," Ron assured her, "It caught us by surprise too, but she made it look easy. If it's really all as difficult as McGonagall says, then she must be a natural."

"I hope you're not offended if we don't believe you, Weasley," said Justin, "Since you also said that you'd met Harry Potter on the train."

"I did meet Harry Potter," said Ron sharply, ears burning.

"Well, that oneyou can prove," said Zach smugly, "We have Herbology with the Gryffindors this afternoon. You can introduce us all to him."

There was a lot of murmured agreement at that. Everyone seemed to like that idea.

"Ooh, maybe he'll let us see his scar."

"I've heard so much about him, it would be nice to separate fact from fiction."

"Do you reckon he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"

"Uh-" said Ron uncomfortably, "I-I'm not sure if that's the best idea-"

"Why not?" scoffed Ernie.

"I just-" Ron paused, remembering how defensive Harry had been about his fame, "It might be a bit rude- I mean, I'm not sure if- uh-"

"Are you scared of him, Weasley?" asked Susan, "Or did you never actually meet him at all."

"I think it's the first one," piped up Zach, "It would explain why the hat didn't put him into Gryffindor with his brothers. The reds can't abide a coward, even a Weasley coward."

"Shut up, Smith!" spat Ron, turning red.

"Yeah Zach, you're being a bit harsh don't you think?" added Hannah.

"I take back what I said about being on your side," said Justin, "If Ron thinks it's a problem then-"

"No- no it's fine," said Ron quickly, "I can introduce you all- er- if you want. There's no problem."

All of their faces brightened at that and Zach, beaming the widest of all, patted Ron on the back encouragingly.

"I was only joking," he laughed, "You don't need to be red to have guts. Though, looking at your face, it seems you don't need to be in Gryffindor to be red either."

Ron flushed further at that and a few others laughed along. He quickly hid his face by taking a long drink from his goblet of pumpkin juice. Part of him wished that he'd never told Zach about what had happened on the train.

It had seemed like such a good idea at the time. When talk at breakfast had turned to Harry Potter coming to Hogwarts, he hadn't been able to stop himself from telling them all. Of course, nobody had believed him except Zach, but Zach had just pestered him for more details, which might have been even worse than the disbelief.

Ron continued to worry all through lunch and into their first Charms lesson. Professor Flitwick was apparently going over something similar to what McGonagall had that morning, so he could get away with being distracted somewhat. He recalled how defensive Harry had gotten once they'd found out who he really was.

'He must have had questions from his own house though,' Ron thought, 'A few more won't hurt, right?'

Herbology soon arrived and the Hufflepuffs made their way down to the Greenhouses. The lesson itself was the standard drill that they had gotten used to for the first day. It was mainly just rules and theory, with not a single bit of practical work at all. It wasn't long before they heard a distant bell, signalling the end of both the lesson and the day. They all filed out alongside the Gryffindors and began the walk back up to the castle.

"There he is Ron," said Zach, pointing to a small boy with dark hair.

"Go on," Susan egged on, "Go and say hello, we'll be right behind you."

Ron glanced behind him, then back to Harry, and hesitated. He was currently being followed by at least six of his housemates, but who knew how many more would gather around once he started talking to Harry. Those already here looked very excited to meet the boy who lived.

With a long sigh, Ron jogged over towards the boy.

"Hey, Harry!" he called.

The boy turned and smiled at him. "Hi Ron," he greeted him.

"You all right?" Ron asked.

"Yeah," said Harry, "Yeah, I'm good."

Ron's eyes moved to the two people stood behind Harry. One was a boy with sandy hair, while the other was a darker girl with black hair.

"Uh- this is Seamus," said Harry, pointing to the sandy-haired boy, "Seamus Finnigan, and this is Parvati Patil."

"Ron Weasley," Ron introduced himself with a smile, "And this is- uh-"

He turned to introduce his own housemates, but discovered that there were several more than there had been a moment ago.

"All of Hufflepuff, from the look of it," laughed Harry.

"Zacharias Smith," said Zach, stepping forward and holding out his hand, "Ron told us that he met you on the train, but this lot didn't believe him."

"Harry Potter," said Harry, shaking the boy's hand.

A few Hufflepuffs sniggered behind Ron.

"I don't think you need to introduce yourself," said Ernie, "Everyone already knows who you are."

"Do you really have the scar?" piped up Hannah.

Harry nodded and lifted up his fringe, showing off the famous lightning bolt. There were various sounds of awe from the crowd that had gathered and a quick shuffle as people tried to get a better look.

"Did it hurt?" asked Susan.

"I don't remember," shrugged Harry sheepishly.

"Do you remember anything?" said Roger.

"Well, no," said Harry, like it should be obvious, "I mean, I was only a baby. I don't even-"

He stopped abruptly, looking like he'd said too much.

"Well, how did you do it then?" asked Justin, "This You-Know-Who was a Dark Lord, wasn't he? He's supposed to be the worst of the worst. Why couldn't he kill a baby?"

"I don't know," said Harry, looking uncomfortable now.

"Where have you been all these years, though?" asked Ernie, "Everyone thought you were dead."

"Yeah actually, you never did tell us about that Harry," said Seamus.

"I heard you vanished without a trace," added Parvati, "Why didn't we hear anything about you?"

"Er- I, um- I don't-" Harry was looking very flustered now. Everyone had been moving inwards slowly, unintentionally boxing him in.

"Oh!" exclaimed Ron suddenly, an idea coming to him, "I've left my quill in the Greenhouses. I need to go back and get it."

"I'll help you look," offered Harry, looking thankful.

"I'll come too," said Zach. Several others nodded along with him.

"I don't think we'll need everyone," said Ron firmly, "I'm sure we can find it on our own. You lot head back to the castle. I'll catch up."

"Yeah," said Harry, "I'll see you later Seamus, Parvati."

The two boys quickly moved away, walking down the hill the had just climbed. They walked side-by-side in silence for a bit, until they came within sight of the Greenhouse walls.

"Sorry," said Ron suddenly.

"It's fine," shrugged Harry.

"No, really Harry, I shouldn't have dropped that on you," he said, turning to Harry.

"It's all right Ron," Harry laughed it off, "At this point, I'm getting used to it."

"Still-"

"Just drop it," said Harry, "You got me out of it, didn't you? I say we're square."

"If you say so," said Ron. He was glad Harry didn't blame him, but he still felt bad.

"I- er- take it you didn't really leave your quill?" asked Harry.

Ron shook his head and continued walking, past the Greenhouses, towards the lakeside. He found a large rock nearby and sat himself down, slipping his bag off his shoulders. Harry found a seat on a similar rock nearby.

"So," said Harry, "First day over."

"Yeah," agreed Ron.

"How's Hufflepuff?"

"Big," said Ron. They both laughed.

"I dunno," Ron continued, looking out over the lake, "It's weird. I always thought I'd end up in Gryffindor, but this just- sometimes it feels right, other times..."

"Why were you so sure about Gryffindor?"

"All my brothers went there," he shrugged, "My mum, my dad. Weasleys are Gryffindors. It's just how it goes, but the hat seemed to think it was different. It said a lot off stuff I didn't understand."

"That sounds familiar," said Harry.

Ron looked over at him. "What about you?" he asked, "How's your day been?"

Harry paused before answering. "Good," he said finally, "It's- it was good."

"Oh," said Ron, he had expected more of a reaction, "That's good."

"I mean, this place is amazing," continued Harry, "Everything we've learned about magic is so interesting and I can't wait to get started with it, and it's- it's all incredible, but-" he paused again, "I had another run in with Malfoy."

"That spoiled little git?" Ron snorted, "What did he do this time?"

"Nothing really, well nothing more than he did before anyway. We'd just had Potions though, so we were all a bit tetchy."

"Is Snape as bad as everyone says he is?"

"Worse probably," said Harry, "He really has it out for us Gryffindors."

"You shouldn't let him get you down," encouraged Ron, "Him or Malfoy. There just being- well, Slytherins."

Harry looked even more troubled at that. He picked up a pebble, examining its surface with a frown.

"They're not the problem," he admitted, "Not really. I can deal with bullies. The real problem is Daphne."

"Greengrass?"

"Yeah," said Harry, looking out over the lake, "She was friendly enough on the train and she kept telling me that Slytherin wasn't that bad. I thought maybe she actually wanted me to be in the same house as her, but- but now we've been sorted it's like she's another one of Malfoy's cronies. She was acting like we've never met before and I just- I can't understand it."

He slung his arm back and lobbed the pebble across the lake. It sailed through the air in an arc and hit the water with a soft plop.

Ron watched it fall. Hufflepuff had shared a Charms class with Slytherin earlier and he too had noticed the sudden change in the blonde's behaviour. He wasn't exactly surprised, but he would've preferred to have been wrong.

"I tried to tell you Harry," said Ron miserably, "That's just the way Slytherins are. You've no way of knowing what they're really like."

"Why, though?" said Harry frustratedly, "What's so bad about that house?"

"The Slytherin traits are cunning and ambition, Harry," Ron explained, "Their symbol is a snake. Nothing good is ever linked with snakes. Didn't you hear what the Sorting Hat said? Those who go to any means, who aren't afraid to rise. Slytherins worry about themselves first, and they don't care about rules at all. She probably just wanted to be friends with you because you're Harry Potter."

"That's not right, she didn't even know who I was when we first met," argued Harry, "And anyway, didn't the Sorting Hat say that wasn't what it was for? It said it couldn't tell us who we really were."

"I reckon she's already shown us who she really is," said Ron, "Trust me Harry. These old noble families tend to stick together, they don't care one bit about people like us."

"Aren't you from one of those families as well," shot back Harry.

"I'm a Weasley," said Ron, "I'm as far from that as you can get. Everyone in those families grew up with too much. They grew up being waited on by servants and spoiled by their parents, then they come here and Slytherin tells them they can do whatever they want. It's a recipe for trouble. I'm telling you, old families in Slytherin are bad news. I don't care what Greengrass says, that's where the worst of the Death Eaters came from."

"All right," said Harry, "Maybe- maybe you have a point, but..."

He went quiet and looked out over the lake. Ron followed his gaze. He didn't like it any more than Harry did, but it was just how things were. Slytherin wasn't a nice place and it didn't attract nice people. No matter how friendly they might seem at first, Slytherins would always disappoint you in the end.

The memory came to him like punch in the stomach, 'Fred and George- imagine their surprise when I thought to put them in Slytherin- rather open to the idea- Percy, he nearly had a panic attack-'

The hat had admitted to nearly sending three of his brothers to Slytherin, but it couldn't be true, could it?

'Weasleys are Gryffindors,' Ron reminded himself, 'The hat would never have considered anything else for them, it must have been lying.'

As he sat there, trying to convince himself, he realised something, 'We aren't Gryffindors. We never were. I'm living proof of that.'

The thought made him feel even worse. Nothing had turned out like it was supposed to and it had left him thoroughly confused. One thing was for sure; next to green, yellow was rapidly becoming one of his least favourite colours.

o0o0o0o

Harry Potter was up far too early. He wasn't sure how he knew, since the space around him was too dark to see an inch in front of his face- wait, where was he again?

It took him a moment to remember, 'The cupboard under the stairs, my bedroom. Where else would I be?'

Shaking off the odd moment of confusion, he reached for the switch by his head. Light bloomed above him and he snapped his eyes shut, throwing one arm over his face. In an effort to get away from the blinding light, he quickly unlocked his cupboard and tumbled out into the hallway.

Sitting up and looking around, he frowned when he noticed that everything looked strangely blurry. Had he hit his head too hard on the floor or something?

'Oh!' he thought and grabbed his glasses from the shelf near his bed, putting them on, 'How did I forget?'

Looking at the state of his cupboard he felt a wave of disgust run through him.

'They call this a bedroom?'

He had no idea where that had come from. This had always been his bedroom, he wasn't sure what was different about it now. Shaking his head clear, he reached back into his cupboard and grabbed his school uniform.

He then began to climb the stairs, taking great care not to wake any of his relatives for some reason. He crept into the bathroom and closed the door softly behind him, before turning to face the mirror.

A tall girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes stared back at him. Her mouth parted in shock and Daphne Greengrass staggered backwards, crashing into the sink and sending a pot full of toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes tumbling to the ground.

SMASH

She immediately flinched and turned away from the mirror to look at the ruined pot. She wasn't sure why, but she knew that the loud noise wasn't going to end well for her. Looking back over at the mirror, Harry paused. His reflection was staring back at him, as normal. In fact, he wasn't sure what had caused him to panic so much in the first place.

Outside, he heard footsteps and the sound of a door opening. Without stopping to think further, he threw open the bathroom door and bolted. He could hear his Uncle shouting behind him, but he ignored it. Something was very wrong here, and he had to get away from this place. He threw open the front door and stumbled out into the cold morning air. He ran straight out into the middle of the street and stared around at the houses surrounding him.

'Where in the world am I?'

He was in Privet Drive of course. He had no idea why that should surprise him, he'd lived here all his life.

Except, he hadn't. Memories began to surface in his mind. Memories of a large manor house surrounded by high hedges and great oak trees. They were not his memories though, they were the memories of a blonde girl- but, wasn't he also that girl?

Daphne finally wrenched back control of her thoughts and fell to her knees on the tarmac, shaking from the cold and shock.

'What is happening to me?'

"I was wondering the same thing."

Daphne looked up and quickly scrambled to her feet. A tall figure was stood before her, but for some reason she couldn't make out any details. Actually, everything around her seemed out of focus. Then it hit her. She was still wearing those glasses.

'Of course I'm wearing glasses,' thought Harry, 'Why-'

"No!" screamed Daphne, grasping her head in her hands and trying to cling to her slipping identity. She was not Harry Potter, she was Daphne Greengrass. She was a Slytherin, a pureblood, a member of a sacred family.

She felt a wave of dizziness crash down on her and swayed heavily, before losing control of her legs and pitching forwards. She would have fallen hard onto the road, had the strange figure not caught her mid-fall.

"Well, this certainly won't be as easy as I expected," said the figure, but Daphne barely heard it. Her mind was already drifting into unconsciousness.

o0o0o0o

Daphne shot upright in bed.

She clutched her head and hissed in pain. Looking around, she saw the Slytherin girls dormitory around her. At least she had woken up where she was supposed to be this time.

Quickly and quietly, she slipped out from under the covers and tiptoed over to one of the room's four vanities. She looked into the mirror and saw her own face looking back. Only now did she finally relax, sliding down the side of the drawers until she was sat on the floor.

That was quite possibly the strangest dream she'd ever had. Already, the details were starting to slip from her mind, but she remembered Harry Potter had been involved, as well as something about a cupboard.

'Why would I be dreaming about him?' she wondered, 'I barely know him.'

She hadn't just been dreaming about him though, she had been dreaming that she was him. It felt like there was something else important she had forgotten about the dream, but it was getting harder and harder to focus on it. Besides, thinking on it too hard would just make her headache even worse.

Deciding to move about a bit to try and clear her head, she made her way down to the Common Room. Even though she hadn't bothered to check on her dorm mates, she still expected she would be the only one awake. The Common Room itself was dark and quiet, much like it had been when they had arrived the other night. The lamps had all been extinguished and the lake outside was an inky black.

Daphne made her way over to the huge window and leaned against it. She placed her forehead against the glass and sighed at the relief the cool surface brought to her headache.

"Can't sleep?"

Daphne jumped and span around, peering around the shadowy room.

"Who's there?" she called.

A lamp nearby flickered to life, revealing a young girl curled up in one of the chairs. In her distracted state, Daphne hadn't noticed her, but now she recognised her as the auburn-haired girl from her year. Daphne was quite sure these were the first words she'd heard the girl say since they'd arrived.

"What are you doing up?" asked Daphne accusingly, feeling put out at not having noticed her.

The girl raised an eyebrow. "I asked first," she pointed out.

Daphne scowled and turned away from her, looking back out into the waters. "Bad dreams," she said simply, not sure why she was being honest.

"I was thinking too much," replied the girl, "Couldn't keep my eyes shut."

Daphne glanced at her curiously. As far as she was aware, the girl hadn't made even an attempt to speak to anyone yet, preferring to stay silent and away from the group.

"Care to tell me what about?" asked Daphne.

"Not really," shrugged the girl.

Daphne sighed and turned to face the girl properly. She had already given Potter his rude awakening, what was one more.

"Look I get not wanting to talk to us," she said, "Some of us purebloods are- less than pleasant as company, but I'm sorry to say that nobody else in the school is ever going to give you the time of day. You already alienated most of the school when you got sorted here, it might be worth trying to get along with those who did the same."

The girl scoffed and gave Daphne a dark look. "Save it," she said, "I don't think I'm the right sort of person to be hanging around with people as special as you and Malfoy."

Daphne's eyebrows shot up at that, "You- you're not a muggle-born are you?"

"Would it make a difference if I was?" asked the girl defensively.

"Clearly it would," said Daphne, "Or else I wouldn't have asked, would I?"

"Then we really don't have anything more to say to each other," said the girl flatly, before getting to her feet and walking towards the stairs.

Daphne sighed again and moved after her. "You're not going to get on anyone's good side with an attitude like that," she advised.

The girl stopped, her hand on the doorknob and shot a glare at Daphne, "If that's the attitude I need, then I'm not sure I want to be on your good side, or your friends'."

"They're not my friends," Daphne corrected immediately.

"Of course not," drawled the girl sarcastically.

"What? You think I like listening to Parkinson whine any more than you do?" she asked, "You think I actually enjoy spending time with someone like Malfoy?"

"If you didn't then you wouldn't do it," she said, like it was that simple.

"If you believe that then you've got a lot to learn about Slytherin," said Daphne, shaking her head, "I hang around with Malfoy and Parkinson because there aren't any alternatives. It's like I said, nobody outside of Slytherin even wants to talk to us."

'Liar,' said a voice in her head, which she ignored.

"You know I'm standing right here," said the girl, "I'm in Slytherin as well, you know."

"It's not that simple," argued Daphne, hating how much it sounded like an excuse.

"Seems simple enough to me."

"Well that just shows how much you know about nobles," said Daphne bitterly, "I don't get to choose who I hang out with, that privilege goes to my father."

"Your father tells you who to be friends with?" asked the girl, looking appalled.

"Of course not," scoffed Daphne, "Didn't I just tell you they weren't my friends. My father chooses who my allies are."

"Your allies?" said the girl, looking bewildered, "This isn't government, it's a school."

"It might be for you," explained Daphne, "But for people like me this is where we learn how our world works. I already knew all of these people long before I got here. Malfoy, Parkinson, Bulstrode, even some of the upper years. We all go to the same parties and gatherings as our parents, and then when we eventually come here, we're expected to make the connections we'll need once we leave. Everyone goes through Hogwarts, everyone. What better place to find the allies you'll need later in life."

"This is a school," repeated the other girl, stepping fully away from the door towards Daphne, "We're here to learn, not play politics. Who cares what our parents want, what they say doesn't matter here," she smirked, "And didn't you hear what our prefects said. Rules don't matter here either. We can do whatever we want, which means we can hang out with whoever we want."

"It's not about what I want," snapped Daphne, "It's not about what my father wants either. It's about what's best for the family. I'm responsible for one of the oldest, purest houses in Britain. I have to start here, so that I don't fail when it actually matters. One day I will be at the head of a sacred family, and there's no way I'm going to be the one to let it fall into dust."

Even before she's finished speaking, Daphne felt a bit queasy at her own words. She sounded just like her father.

The other girl, who was looking amused at Daphne's outburst, yawned slowly. "Whatever you say Greengrass," she said, "I'm going to bed." And with that, she turned and began making her way back up the stairs.

Daphne let out a long, drawn out sigh and turned back to the dark room. Somehow, the conversation had managed to make her headache even worse. She wandered back over to the glass and leaned her head against once again.

'Slytherin just keeps getting better and better.'

o0o0o0o

A/N: Okay, let me just say again that I'm sorry it has taken so long to get this posted. I'm well aware that it has been well over a year since the last update, and I know how it feels to get into a story that just tapers off partway through. The last time I updated this story was not long before I started University, at which point I stopped writing almost entirely. I revisited the unfinished chapter 16 on several occasions over the past year and a half, and it has been near completion for a long time now, but I could never make myself commit to finishing it.

Possibly the biggest reason why I haven't approached this story again is the nature of the story itself. When I first came up with the concept for this story, I was 16 and I didn't quite understand what a monumental task I had in mind. Now I'm nearly 20 and I have a better understanding of the amount of effort I will need to put in, not only to finish this, but to finish it to a good enough standard for all of you to enjoy. The pacing of the plot, as well as the fact that it is shown from 4 different POVs, requires that each book be well over 100,000 words long, perhaps the length of GoF or OotP, and I had originally planned for 7-9 of them in total. This would mean that the story could easily reach above 1,000,000 words in total. This is both an enticing and intimidating prospect for me.

I'm well aware that I'm not even close to that point yet, but I have started writing again and I do still want to finish this some day. I definitely don't want to give up on this story before the end of the first book, so I'm at least going to write up until the end of first year. If people are still showing an interest in this story and want to hear more at that point, then I'll consider it worth the time and effort to finish, however long that may take me.

None of this is an excuse for my lack of updates, I just want to be clear with you all about what's happening Thank you all for your patience and I hope you enjoy what I've written here.