Author's Note—
10/6/06
So I've done it again—I've revised. I've gone back through all the chapters and fixed some errors or little things that were bugging me. Tweaked a conversation here, elaborated a tad more there…nothing very major, and if you could actually spot the changes, I'd be very happy because that would mean you paid attention the first time 'round.
Oh wait, I did change some stuff—namely chapters 9 and 10. Changed them a lot. I overhauled that part for many reasons—the main one being that I didn't like the direction it was going. And since I hit a wall and hadn't been able to write for the past year (really, very sorry about that) I went back and revised to try and work my way out of the corner. I hope you'll like the changes.
Disclaimer—
Nope. I'm poor. I think I might have a quarter somewhere. Maybe a dime. But that's about all you would get out of me.
Chapter Four—Dawn of a New Day
Pumpkin juice. Why would someone drink pumpkin juice? Sarah pondered that concept as she stared into the questionable depths of a pitcher containing the aforementioned liquid. "When in Rome…" went the old saying, but somehow, Sarah just wasn't ready to take such a leap into a new culture. A glass of orange juice went perfectly fine with her breakfast.
There were only a handful of students in the Great Hall. It was the first day of classes and even if Sarah hadn't been so excited, sleeping later would not have been an option, due in large part to the gigantic clock and bell tower on the school grounds and the sudden lighting of the wall sconces and fireplace at exactly 7 a.m. In a place without alarm clocks, it was a good enough substitute.
Most students were still stumbling around, bleary eyed and reluctant of the new day when Sarah was done dressing and almost pacing in excitement. She'd avoided the crowd in the girls' showers (enjoying being able to dry her hair and smooth it down in a flat minute thanks to a nifty hair-care product line called Lady Godiva's Hair Treatment for Every Possible Occasion Including Day-To-Day and Formals) and headed up to the Great Hall before anyone else. She'd only gotten lost twice; both times a kindly portrait had suggested the proper corridor to take.
"Nivanos Es. That's quite an honor—the Dream teachers are getting notoriously selective with the students they choose to tutor."
Sarah looked up in surprise to see Draco Malfoy before her, arms folded imperiously across his chest. She'd been briefly introduced to him last night as well as to Professor Snape, the unpleasant head of her House. The professor had snapped out the rules in a voice that was both sinister and compelling and handed out their class schedules for the year, turned abruptly around and strode out the entrance of the room, the robes he wore flaring up behind him.
Draco Malfoy had drug a first year boy out of his seat, sat down, kicked his feet onto an ottoman and proceeded to tell the room that since he was Head Boy, he wouldn't be staying in Slytherin Dungeons with them, but in his own room with his own private bath and a house elf assigned only to his needs. Sarah had watched him in something close to disgust for about two minutes before she tuned out his bragging and went back to her room.
"Why is everyone so preoccupied with my former teachers?" she asked, focusing her attention back on her food.
Pale, ice-eyes looked her over, "Because they only take students from a wizard family with pure blood."
"Yes. So?"
"Pure-blood witches and wizards are becoming a rarity. The Great families are dying out as people marry Muggles or half-bloods and the lines get contaminated."
Sarah looked up at him with a slight scowl. "I take it you're a pure-blood, then?"
He laughed. "Of course I am."
"So, you feel you're superior to someone with a Muggle parent?"
"I know I am. Don't you?"
"I don't believe a person's merit should depend on the family bloodlines," Sarah replied, in what she hoped was an end to the conversation.
"You're a Mudblood sympathizer?" he asked, the smirk on his face turning into a look of revulsion. The cool, gray eyes gave her a quick once-over, reassessing that first, misleading glance. He dropped his arms to the table and leaned across, his shadow a disturbing darkness reaching out for her. "How'd you get in Slytherin? Your kind isn't welcome in my House."
She set her fork down next to the knife on her plate and stared Draco in the eyes. "Are you threatening me? Aren't you supposed to be some sort of student role model?"
"I am—and I promise I will make the other Slytherins follow my lead." He drew back from her, his arm slyly sweeping out and knocking over the glass of orange juice, the liquid running across the wooden table and spilling into her lap. Sarah jumped up with a cry and grabbed for napkins to pat her robe and skirt. "Clumsy me," Draco said and walked down to the other end of the table where a few Slytherins sat laughing and staring in her direction. Sarah looked to the faculty table and saw only a tiny man in a pointy hat almost hidden behind a newspaper.
That petty little bastard, she fumed, her face darkening in anger as she mopped at her clothes with a linen napkin while her plate and silverware disappeared from the table, the sticky trail of liquid wiped away by invisible hands. If Draco Malfoy had thought to make her cry with his little threats and bullying, he was dead wrong. She was currently doing her best not to rush after him and punch him right on his pure-blood nose.
Gathering her book bag she left the Great Hall, ignoring the snickering coming from the growing crowd of Slytherins as more students trickled in to breakfast, and headed back down to the dungeons for a change of clothes. What a great beginning to my first day. The rumble of thunder and flash of distant lightning through the windows seemed to agree with her.
"Miss Williams! Do you know the answer or not?"
"The petals of a Macabre Bloom, a rare plant which flowers only on nights of the New Moon and only during the winter months, must be ground with a silver pestle and added to the brew only after the cooking flame has turned blue. If you add it before the flame changes, the potion is ruined and the cauldron tends to melt."
"Correct. Five points for Slytherin," Professor Snape said, his lips twitching.
It was her first Advanced Potions lesson and Sarah had already learned a very important lesson: Professor Snape expected you to pay attention and learn. It was a small group, only seven students, most of them Ravenclaws, and if you could not answer a question correctly, you were treated to a copious tongue-lashing and loss of House points. She was thankful her tutors had been so thorough; she wasn't behind as she feared she might have been. If anything, she seemed a little ahead of the group. She'd covered protective potions against zombies and other night-walking, flesh-eating creatures nearly three weeks ago.
She had been taking notes, quietly rejoicing that she had chosen calligraphy as a high school art credit, when a shadow had loomed over her. An inscrutable look had been in the professor's eyes as he assessed his new Slytherin. He'd asked her a question and she had replied, the answer popping out of her mouth before she really had a chance to think.
Twenty minutes later, Slytherin was up twenty-five points. Sarah had stopped volunteering and chose to sit as quietly as possible hoping to dissuade the professor from calling her name. Her plan hadn't worked very well.
When the bell rang she gladly gathered up her supplies and slipped out the door. Trudging up the stairs and out of the dungeons, Sarah plodded to a padded window seat, sat wearily down and tipped her head onto the cool glass. Good Lord. Someone kill me now! I don't think I'll be able to survive any more classes like that. The thunderstorm from before had settled down into a subdued rain, the patter of drops against the window a calming noise.
"Sarah?"
Cracking her eyes open, Sarah saw a girl with a mass of brown hair and a tentative smile. She was the one who raised her hand in class when no one else would, but whom Professor Snape refused to call.
"My name is Hermione Granger, I'm Head Girl. I haven't had a chance to welcome you to Hogwarts yet. Have you enjoyed your time here so far?"
"Yes, thank you. You certainly seem nothing like your counter-part," Sarah said with a grin as the two girls shook hands.
"You mean Draco Malfoy?" Hermione asked, her slight smile disappearing. "You don't care for him?"
"I'm sorry if he's your friend, but I've known him for less than twenty-four hours and he did not make a good first impression on me."
Draco came strolling down the hall then, Pansy on his arm and two slabs of human meat called Goyle and Crabbe trailing right behind them. All four of them glared at the sight of the girls talking but passed by them without incident or comment—perhaps it was due to the number of students making their own way to and from classes. Or it could have been because of the two professors having a chat outside a classroom door. Two other boys, a redhead and one with black hair and glasses, were walking slowly after the group of Slytherins but stopped a short distance from Sarah and Hermione. As she didn't know either of them, she assumed they were waiting for the other girl.
"No, Malfoy and I aren't on friendly terms, either. What on earth could you have done to make them dislike you so quickly?" Hermione asked as she watched the four Slytherins round a corner at the end of the hall.
"Oh, Draco asked me something this morning and I told him my opinion," Sarah shrugged. "He didn't agree with me."
"And he's turned his group of Slytherins against you?"
"Apparently."
Hermione looked at her with concerned eyes. "You're not upset about that? The Slytherins will follow his example. You might end up being ostracized by all of them for the rest of the school year."
"Yeah, I figured that out after breakfast this morning when none of the older Slytherins would give me directions to the classroom. Word traveled quickly. I don't think Draco's gotten to the first-years yet, I give them about half a week to fall into step."
She stood up from the seat and hefted her bag back onto her shoulder. "You wouldn't happen to be able to show me the way to Headmaster Dumbledore's office, would you? I'm supposed to have a meeting with him in ten minutes. I believe my assigned tour guide was Draco but I really just don't trust him right now and I'd rather not resort to running up and down the halls looking in every door to see what's where."
"You'll get the hang of Hogwarts soon enough. That or wander into someplace you shouldn't and go missing for a couple weeks," said the tall redhead as the two boys finally joined them. "I'm Ron."
"I'm Harry," greeted the kid with the glasses and the flop of dark hair over his forehead. Both boys had cautious, undecided looks on their faces. They exchanged a three-way glance with Hermione and Sarah pretended not to notice.
"I'm Sarah; it's nice to meet you. Were you joking?"
"No," answered Ron with a shrug. "Of course, I'm pretty sure my brothers meant to get themselves lost. Mum wasn't too happy with them. They spent the entire summer after their second year catching up with all the schoolwork they missed."
"Didn't they end up on a fishing barge over by the States somewhere?" asked Harry.
"Bermuda Triangle, actually. I have no idea how they got there, and they won't tell."
Sarah shook her head bemusedly and muttered, "Definitely not in Kansas anymore."
Hermione looked startled by that comment but didn't say anything. Instead she readjusted her bag and motioned for the group to join the throng of bodies and move down the hall. The press of students shuffling from class to class was a soothing reminder to Sarah that no matter how far away from home she was and however strange matters seemed, some things were universal.
"I'll take you by Professor Dumbledore's office, Sarah. It's on my way to Advanced Ancient Runes."
"Advanced Ancient Runes, Advanced Potions," Ron ticked class off his fingers, "Arithmancy, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Transfiguration, and Care of Magical Creatures—Hermione, when are you going to have any time to relax?"
The Head Girl turned to her friend with a scandalized look, "Ronald Weasley! You can't be serious! This is our seventh year; we have N.E.W.T.s to prepare for. Relaxation is not an option."
"It's because we have N.E.W.T.s that we need to loosen up, or otherwise we'll all be raving mad by the end of tomorrow. Harry and I just came from Divination with Professor Trelawney and as much as I might prefer the crazy loon to Firenze, I'm already thinking about bashing my head against a wall."
"Well, what do you expect with Divination? I've told you again and again that it's rubbish."
"Watch out," spoke Harry from her left, pointing up a flight of stairs. "That one right there, the fifth from the top, it's a trick step and you can fall through it."
"Thanks for the warning," she said, taking an extra large stride over the harmless looking step. "So, I guess you guys are all in Gryffindor?"
"Yeah."
"Are you all from wizard families?"
He looked at her, startled. His eyebrows lowered, suspicious, but he answered anyway. "No. Ron's the only one with a wizard family. Hermione and I grew up in Muggle homes."
"That's neat. My parents…" she trailed off. The low murmur of voices drew Sarah's attention and she looked around at her surroundings. "Why is everyone staring at us?" For indeed they were. The four of them, three Gryffindors and one Slytherin were garnering attention, other students stopping to point and whisper.
"Gryffindors and Slytherins generally don't get along well," explained Hermione as she dropped her argument with Ron. "The two Houses have a long history of dislike."
"So, us walking together is enough to cause people to stare?" Sarah asked in astonishment. They were currently on a moving staircase in a room full of living portraits. Students and even the people in the paintings were watching the quartet curiously, astonished to see silver and green amidst the gold and red. "Is it really that elitist here?"
"No, not at all!" cried Hermione. "It's just…how it is."
"That's sad."
"You've met the other Slytherins! They're all so preoccupied with bloodlines and power that they don't have time to develop personalities—or ethics."
"Ron, that's unkind," Hermione admonished with a glare.
"It's true. You-Know-Who's main supporters are Slytherins," Ron stated, as if that explanation should have been enough.
The stair had stopped its movement and Sarah pushed her way through the knot of people standing at the top of the landing and continued blindly down a hall, not knowing if she was headed in the right direction. Her three-person escort hurried to catch up.
"You cannot tell me that absolutely every single person with evil intentions winds up in Slytherin," said Sarah, a frown marring her face. "Here. At this school. Maybe a large number of Slytherins did join with Voldemort, but what about the ones who didn't? And the witches and wizards who never attended Hogwarts? The ones who were before his time? His non-wizard allies?"
"Whoa! Okay, sorry!" cried Ron, hands thrown up in the universal position of surrender.
Sarah sighed and slowed to a walk. "I didn't mean to yell at you. It's just…since I'm in Slytherin, I really don't want to be thought of as 'evil' by the majority of the student population."
"You said Voldemort," spoke Harry as the group stopped in front of a stone gargoyle. "You're not afraid to say his name?"
"No. My teachers didn't believe in it, and neither do I. I mean, if we're not saying his name because we fear that he or his followers will hear us talking about him, saying 'You-Know-Who' isn't any different. People still know who you're referring to." Sarah looked at Harry as she spoke and something suddenly clicked in her mind. "Are you Harry Potter?"
"Uh, yes." Harry exchanged a look with Ron and Hermione.
"Huh. Somehow I thought you'd be bigger." That comment startled Harry into laughter and brought a grin to his friends' faces.
Sarah smiled at him and turned to Hermione. "Well, thank you for showing me the way up here. I appreciate it."
"You're welcome. I'd be glad to help any time you need it." Turning to the statue, "Pixy Sticks," and the giant gargoyle rose from the floor revealing a spiraling staircase. "I'll see you later."
The Head Girl continued on down the hall while Ron and Harry said token goodbyes and yelled to Hermione that they would meet her for lunch. The two boys actually turned around and hurried back the way they had come, leaving Sarah disheartened.
No polite requests for the new girl to join them at lunch or meet their friends at the designated hang out. Perhaps it was too early for them to consider her a friend or even an acquaintance, but Sarah didn't think so. The idea to do so hadn't even occurred to them—any of them. She was still just a Slytherin.