AN: Yeah, so I might have put an obvious Twilight reference in, but I don't know any other names of noble houses – if anyone could help with that and names of Slytherins that would be great as I'm really not good at making up names, and tend to just steal them from books (= this was going to be one chapter, but then I realized I was over 2,500 words and I really wanted to get it out, so the next installment of the first night should come soon.

Finally, a bushy haired girl stood there. Hermione Granger was her name. Strangely enough, Dumbledore had mentioned her as not muggleborn, but living with muggles. It was suspicious to say the least. Even more suspicious was when she was sorted into Slytherin, the first 'muggleborn' there for over 200 years.


Whispers started amongst the Slytherins both new and seasoned who sat at their house table; traditionally this was the house for old and respectable families, and no one had heard of Granger. Unless she was a half blood, which would mean that she would not be too high on the social order in their house, a muggleborn would be even worse. It was totally unheard of, no one had ever heard of a muggleborn being in Slytherin for a long, long time. The last time was over 200 years ago, a dangerous time. That wizard never graduated. Millicent Bulstrode and Vincent Crabbe had been sitting with Draco on the express in his compartment, they didn't hesitate in telling them about her uncertain blood status. Needless to say, the Slytherins were all together too impressed with their newest addition.

Meanwhile, at the other side of the hall, two of Hufflepuffs new additions were Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones as themselves and their parents had expected. Those two girls were also shocked, however they proved they were Hufflepuffs; unlike the Slytherins they had decided to stick by their new friend, regardless of inter house relations. It would of course be a pretty awful seven years if she was ignored by everyone in her house.

Completing the foursome that had made up their group on the train was Mandy Brocklehurst; the new Ravenclaw who had quickly gotten over her homesickness. Unlike the others, she had no idea why the Slytherin table had broken out in shocked whispers when it was announced that her new friend was going to the house of snakes.

Hermione herself was rather nervous indeed, the books that she had read before her arrival at Hogwarts hadn't helped that much. Nearly all of them described Slytherin as a house for evil purebloods, or the house for dark arts and death eaters. It was only in one of them, Hogwarts: a history that she had been able to find slightly less biased account of the houses. This book described Slytherin as a house for people with ambition, and were cunning. Weighing up the evidence, she had to decide that the popular books and authors really didn't like Slytherin, or that they were right and it was a house for evil people. She didn't know which would be worse. If she seriously thought about it though, she was a Slytherin. Ambition was one of Slytherin's traits and she certainly had plenty of that, always aspiring to go just that bit higher.

So, she pulled the hat from her head and placed it upon the stool before walking over to Slytherin table with all the dignity she could muster, barely even noticing 'Greengrass, Daphne,' take the hat after her. Searching for a space, she tried to discern who would be best to sit next to, even though she barely knew any of these people.

In the time that it had taken her to linger over to the Slytherin table, the girl behind her called Daphne Greengrass had been sorted and was now following behind her, practically standing on the back of her feet. Eyes darting about, she pulled up the nearest seat, forgetting about where the best place to sit would be. It turned out that was one of the few seats left, and Daphne chose to take the empty seat next to her. Maybe it wouldn't be all bad then, she might be able to make a few friends in her house.

The sorting continued while the rest of the hall sat in silence, each person wondering whether the first year on the stool would be their houses newest addition. Although Hermione had been perfectly fine throughout the rest of the day; when she was on the train and being sorted, the nerves had chosen now to kick in, and found herself grateful for the silence. Slytherin gained five more people after her and Daphne had sat down. Gregory Goyle was a rather large boy, who had quite a stupid look about him. Blaise Zabini reminded her of someone who had unfortunately been sorted into this house also; Draco Malfoy was the boy who has snubbed her on the platform, needless to say she wasn't looking forward to sharing classes and a house with him. Pansy Parkinson was another who she had had another unpleasant experience with. However, whilst they all chose to sit at the other end of the table from her, Daphne and a girl who had quietly introduced herself as Tracy Davis, Theodore Nott took a seat with the trio.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that there were some serious politics going on in Slytherin, she would have to start learning about them straight away. Any false move might trigger a whole host of consequences. Hopefully though she had some allies, she would have to start talking to Theodore, Tracy and Daphne, that would sort out Slytherin as she already had Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Hm, maybe she was more suited for Slytherin that she thought.

As soon as Blaise had sat down, the man in the middle of the teachers table who was clad in purple, starry robe with a long white beard cleared his throat. Instantly, the hall was silent. After taking a second glance at him, she realized it was the acclaimed Professor Dumbledore, no wonder everyone had so much respect for him.

His speech was strange to say the least, and it left her distinctly unimpressed. Instead of acclaimed headmaster and wizard, he seemed like an eccentric old professor. Hermione raised her eyebrows, her face clearly displaying a skeptic expression, glancing over to an older Slytherin she said – "Is he really mad?"

"Unfortunately," replied the Slytherin "Most say he's the worst thing to happen to the school, but that's just mainly Slytherins, and I suppose we have a reason."

Hermione nodded, and the Slytherin continued and then introduced himself. "Well, most of the school hates Slytherins; Dumbledore isn't an exception, just he doesn't show it as much. Gryffindors would be able to get away with something that a Slyherin would be expelled for. I'm Adrian Pucey by the way, third year and I'm a chaser for our Qudditch team,"

"Hermione Granger," smiled Hermione. "So, why does everyone hate Slytherin so much?"

"I'm sure its been going for a while now," Theodore spoke up. "When my father was at school, everything was the same."

"Oh, are you Theodore Nott?" asked Adrian. "I'm sure I've seen you at some of the parties and balls my parents have held, you too."

"Yes, I think I must have seen you before," agreed Daphne. "It seems like everyone in Slytherin meets each other before the sorting at their parents events."

"Oh, I didn't realize that, is it a tradition or something?" asked Hermione, curiosity evidence in her eyes, Tracy looking the same.

"What do you mean?" asked Adrian, suddenly looking rather uncomfortable, as the boy next to him also tensed up. Yes, clearly one wrong move in Slytherin could be deadly.

"Don't worry, they wouldn't let a mudblood into Slytherin," sneered another boy, one who looked like an older version of Crabbe or Goyle who were also in Slytherin.

The boy who was sitting next to Adrian turned out to be called Terence Higgs, he simply told him to leave it.

"They're Slytherins now, they must have done something right. You didn't even bother to ask them either," pointed out Terence, who seemed to be taking a much more diplomatic approach to the whole matter than any of the other Slytherins who had now started listening into the conversation with no effort to cover the fact that they were.

"Well?" demanded Aaron Rosier, the fourth year clearly wanted answers. "Are you two mudbloods or not?"

Tracy and Hermione exchanged nervous looks, before Hermione quietly kicked Tracy under the table, indicating she should answer first. After all, Hermione had no idea what a mudblood was and didn't want to look stupid.

"Urm… I'm Tracy Davis, a half blood. My mother was a pureblood from the ancient house of Cullen and my father was a muggleborn. We are allied with the house of Greengrass, including Daphne," said Tracy.

"Hmmm," said Aaron, looking thoughtful. "The house of Cullen is one of the most ancient and noble houses, apart from it starting to die out. Your mothers house even used to sway toward the dark arts, particularly blood rituals, which are pretty dark. I suppose you'll do, but it's a pity about the father. You?"

Hermione felt his attention turn to her, and had quickly deduced that a mudblood was a muggleborn; someone with muggle parents, like she had thought. There was no need to lie; sometimes the truth was the best option.

"I don't know," she admitted.

Laughter broke out along the table. "How can you not know if you're a mudblood or not?" asked Aaron, his voice full of scorn. "You know, when there's no magic for the first eleven years of your life, its kind of a giveaway."

Everyone continued laughing, and Hermione couldn't help but wonder if he was some sort of unofficial leader of Slytherin. It was time to explain.

"It's quite simple really," she said, matching Rosier's scorn. "I don't know who my parents are since I was adopted, so I don't know whether my parents where magical or not."

That silenced the table, it certainly was a revelation.

"Well, isn't that interesting," muttered Theodore.

"I agree," replied Terence with a shadow of a smile on his face. "You know though, there are ways of telling your family tree. Just requires a bit of blood."

Daphne looked shocked. "Blood rituals? You cant be serious, that's dark arts and highly illegal,"

"Well, Slytherin is the house for dark arts," said Hermione, repeating a sentence from a book with a laugh.

"True," admitted Tracy with a grin.

"Looks like we'll make Slytherins of you yet," grinned Terence, to which Adrian and Aaron laughed heartily at.

"Shall we eat?" asked Adrian. Unbeknownst to the seven of them who had been rather engrossed in their conversation, the food had been on the table for a minute or two now.

"Sure," replied Hermione with a grin, rather thrilled that everything had turned out so well. They didn't hate her, and, she might be able to know who her real parents were. Things were looking up.

Now, delicacies of all sorts filled the table, and she realized just how hungry she was. Everything from fish and chips to sushi to lemon torte to ten different flavors of ice cream to Caesar salad was there, along with a few unfamiliar things. Grabbing a plate, she decided it probably would be best to heed the Grangers warnings about sugar; by following it she had managed to stay reasonably healthy so far. The meal continued one with intervals of pleasant small talk for at least what Hermione took to be another hour.

Then, it seemed like perfect timing, although most people had been totally full for a while now, the plates and glasses disappeared just as the final person had taken their last swig of pumpkin juice.

Headmaster Dumbledore stood up once more, presumably to make another speech – "Ahem – Just a few more words now we are all fed and watered. I have a few start of term notices to give you. First years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older pupils would do well to remember that as well," At this point, Headmaster Dumbledore's twinkling eyes glanced over to two red headed twins sitting at the opposite end of the room at the Gryffindor table.

"I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used in between classes in the corridors," Many Slytherins laughed at this statement, one muttering 'not bloody likely,' another muttering 'wonder how long that will last?'

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term, anyone interested in paying for their house team should contact Madam Hooch," Terence and Adrian definitely perked up at this point, after all Adrian had introduced himself as a chaser.

And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third floor corridor is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death. And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song"

Hermione was about to point out that there was no way she knew the words, but then Dumbledore raised his wand and a long golden ribbon flew out of it which rose high and the arranged it self into the words. It seemed she was one of the few actually bothering to sing, most of Slytherin seemed to just be miming.

Everybody finished the song at different times, and once the last line was sung, it was off to bed.

An elegant looking girl with shoulder length ice blonde hair stood, "First years follow me please. I'm your prefect, Amelia Swan,"

They all arose and began to follow Amelia through the maze of corridors and passages that led to Slytherin house, they encountered many interesting things along the way that people were rather curious about. Amelia however wasn't so bothered, and took up a quick pace, telling people there was no time for dawdling.

"I don't know how I'm ever going to find my way around here," admitted Hermione to Tracey, who nodded and agreed.

After what seemed like a never ending trip of twists and turns that they would surely never remember in the morning, they had arrived at the entrance to Slytherins common room, the door was covered with an incredibly large portrait of a man that Hermione recognized from Hogwarts: a history. Salazar Slytherin.

"Password?" he asked.

"Parseltongue," replied Amelia, and the portrait swung open, granting them entrance to the common room…