Disclaimer: Still not British.

It wasn't until nearly ten that Ginny woke up, sunlight streaming in from the windows. Although she had been awake bright and early yesterday, she was not a morning person. Yesterday had been the exception. Stretching, she frowned when she realized she was surrounded by blue instead of familiar red and gold. Blinking a few times, she remembered the re-Sorting, and suddenly bolted up. She was supposed to meet with the new teacher today! She glanced around the room, and saw her belongings in a neat pile to her left, next to a table. Grabbing some jeans, a tee shirt, and her toothbrush, she pulled open the closest door only to find herself staring into an empty closet. She shrugged, and tried the next door, this time meeting with success.

Only fifteen minutes later she was running across the grounds to Hagrid's old hut, hoping the new teacher hadn't changed location. She was in luck, she realized, when she saw a pack of third years moving towards the hut, albeit at a more sedate pace than herself.

She stopped, about fifty feet away, when someone emerged from the hut, his back turned to her. The man turned, as if sensing her, and waved, "Hello Miss Weasley, Headmaster Dumbledore informed me you'd be visiting this morning," the professor said with an accent she couldn't quite place.

"Hello Professor…" She trailed off, having no idea whom the professor-in-question was.

"Caradoc Dearborn."

"Nice to meet you sir," Ginny said, a slight frown on her face. She recognized the name…she just couldn't remember from where. She shrugged, and surveyed the Professor she would be working most closely with for the next year. He seemed to be middle-aged, of average build, with graying black hair.

"If you'd be so kind as to wait in the hut, I will dismiss the third years…"

Ginny nodded, and walked into the gamekeeper's hut. Idly, she wondered if Professor Dearborn was the new gamekeeper, but dismissed the idea out of hand. The Professor just didn't seem the type. Glancing around, she was struck by the numerous stacks of books lying everywhere. Books on every possible creature and theory relating to the Care of Magical Creatures- some open or with bookmarks in them, but most seemed to be in pristine condition, just…stacked. She understood that the professors were supposed to be prepared…but this seemed a bit…excessive, to say the least. There wasn't much else in the hut, beyond the books, a table, and two chairs. She shrugged, and sat down in one of the chairs.

A few minutes later, Professor Dearborn strode in and sat down in the other chair, across the table from her, "Now…Miss Weasley, I am aware that you will be taking other classes, but I would appreciate it if you were here to assist me as often as possible. The Headmaster has told me you are very good with animals, and has also given me permission to pull you out of your other classes if I have need of you." He paused, seeming to gather his thoughts, "Once your schedule is worked out, I will be receiving a copy…" The Professor laughed suddenly, "I sound like a pompous windbag, don't I?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "I'm just afraid I'll forget something…teaching is a lot harder than it seems!"

Ginny nodded wordlessly, a little puzzled. When the Professor didn't say anything more, she spoke up cautiously, "If you don't mind me saying so…you look a little flustered. How about I just stay here and help you with the classes today, Professor?"

Professor Dearborn brightened, "Thank you, but that won't be necessary, all I'm doing is canceling classes for the week. Call me Caradoc, by the way. Professor Dearborn makes me feel old. Not that Caradoc doesn't sound old…but at least it's my first name. Besides, you aren't a student in my classes…I'm babbling, aren't I?"

Ginny nodded again, more than a little puzzled and confused by the behavior of the new professor, "Um…okay?"

"Look, Miss Weasley…I've only just arrived, and barely had time to unpack all of my books. I know Professor Dumbledore wanted us to meet…but I have no idea what I'm going to need you for! Let's just meet when you've gotten your schedule, okay?"

"Yes, Prof- Caradoc."

"Alright then. Off with you! You're young enough, go find something fun to do with your day of freedom," he said, shooing her away.

With an odd expression on her face, Ginny left the hut, and headed back up towards the castle. She couldn't really think of anything fun to do, but she could pull a Hermione and go see if she could find anything about Lijanhorn in the library. After, that is, she got some food from the kitchens…she was starving! Her mind made up, she picked up her pace, rushing through the empty hallways towards the kitchens. She paused for a minute outside the fruit portrait to catch her breath before reaching out to tickle the cherry…or was it the pear? She frowned, and just tickled all of them until the portrait opened.

Stepping in, she was immediately bombarded by several house elves asking her what she wanted. She smiled faintly, "Just some breakfast please." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, a good five house elves set about preparing as much food as possible. Not a minute later, said five house elves appeared with trays laden with food. Impulsively she reached out and grabbed an apple as one of the house elves asked if she wanted the food brought up to her room. She was about to say no, but decided that, if the food was in her room, she could unpack and get settled in before going down to the library, instead of just getting in the way here. She nodded, and the five elves disappeared.

Shrugging, she walked out of the kitchens…and realized she couldn't remember how to get to her room. She sort of remembered telling herself to remember how to get there…but, as to the actual remembering, she was drawing a blank. She had to smile at that- only she would remember trying to remember something, yet forget what she was trying to remember in the first place. She would just have to wander around the school and hope she came across something that jogged her memory.

And wander she did. Quite unsuccessfully, too. She would have continued wandering, possibly forever, only she noticed a definite chill to the air, and mentally kicked herself. Of course she would just have to wander into the dungeons, which was the residence of one of the two Houses she just happened to be avoiding at the moment. Quickly, she started retracing her steps, glad that it was the middle of morning classes. Suddenly, she heard voices coming up behind her, and she ducked behind the closest statue trying to figure out who could be wandering the corridors during class aside from herself. There was Peeves, of course, but he would be throwing objects, not having a three-way conversation with himself, or Filch, but Mrs. Norris didn't talk back, so it couldn't be him, either. Besides, there were two very masculine voices and a third that she recognized…Pansy! Oh shit…of course Slytherins wouldn't have any qualms about cutting classes, she thought, mentally kicking herself again.

"Come out, little Weasley, we know you're behind the Cobra statue," one of the first two voices said silkily.

A Cobra? Of course, she hid behind a snake, she thought distantly as she stepped out from behind the statue, her hand instinctively going to her wand when she recognized Draco as the speaker, "Malfoy. Parkinson," she said, her voice much steadier than her heart. She had to run into two of the more well known, and probably more powerful, Slytherin 7th years. The third Slytherin had black hair and was taller than Malfoy, but Ginny didn't recognize him.

"Don't forget Zabini," Pansy said, almost sounding…cheerful, "What? Don't look at us as if we're going to eat you," she snapped, shattering the happy image, "'Cause we're not…" She trailed off and looked at Malfoy questioningly.

"No, we're not," he said coolly. Malfoy had certainly grown over the summer…he had to be nearly six feet. Idly, Ginny wondered if he would continue to play Seeker now that he no longer had the build for it.

"If you aren't planning on eating me…or hexing me, or killing me, or…well, anything for not being re-Sorted into Slytherin, can I leave?"

"Why don't you come to our common room?" Pansy said, in what seemed to be a friendly tone.

"Why?" Ginny asked suspiciously, expecting a trap, and, at the same time, not expecting them to tell her as much.

"Because these two oafs aren't much for conversation, and, if I'm going to miss class, I may as well do something fun," Pansy said as if it were the most logical thing in the world.

Ginny thought about it, and nodded. The Slytherin seemed sincere, and, after all…what would they be able to do to her that they wouldn't get punished for later? "Okay," she said, and felt compelled to add, "But I haven't eaten yet."

To her surprise, Pansy laughed, "Don't worry about it, we have tons of food. C'mon, most of the 7th years didn't go to class, so you can meet them."

"Meet them?"

Malfoy spoke up, "When Pansy extended our friendship to you, I assumed that you would be sorted into Slytherin. You weren't, but you didn't get placed in any of the other Houses either, so I see no reason for us to revoke our offer."

"Besides," Pansy said reasonably, "It's not like you have a common room or other members of your House to relax with, so he doesn't see why you can't be an honorary Slytherin of sorts…right?" She said the last bit as if she were unsure of what she were saying, and looked to Malfoy for confirmation.

"I suppose."

Ginny couldn't help but notice how Pansy showed deference to Malfoy; it was just odd. She knew that he was their Prince, of sorts, but she hadn't known he made decisions regarding their House as a whole. "Er…I see. I'd like that, I guess."

"Well…we don't know much about you, beyond the fact that you're the Weasel's little sister," Pansy said amicably.

"Well…I love Quidditch…I made Chaser last year, and I love animals," she paused, trying to think of what else to tell them. For all their professed friendship, she still didn't feel comfortable telling them she adored Muggle movies, hated prejudice, or that Colin had gotten her interested in still photography last year, so she shrugged helplessly, "I guess that's it. I have a rather large family…but you knew that already."

Pansy nodded, but stopped walking in front of a blank wall, "Here we are…"

"Pogrebin," Malfoy said tersely, and the wall shifted to reveal a door that all of them filed through.

The first thing Ginny noticed about their common room was the overwhelming green. The entire place had a greenish cast- even the lights were green. It wasn't the green of plants; it was just green. Overwhelmingly so. Beyond that, it felt…welcoming. There were a few students just relaxing on the piles of plush pillows, another two playing a rather intense game of Wizard's chess, and a couple enjoying themselves in a corner. It wasn't much different from the Gryffindor, except that Ginny herself felt welcome here, which she had never felt in Gryffindor.

"Welcome," Zabini spoke up for the first time, rather dryly, "to our lair. Make yourself at home," he said, and, following his own advice, threw himself down on some of the pillows.

Shrugging, Ginny followed suit. After settling in, she noticed that all eyes were on her. No, she corrected herself; all eyes were on Malfoy, who was seated behind her.

"This is Ginny Weasley. She's welcome here," he addressed the room, "Introduce yourselves."

Obediently, all of those present did so. The first two came as a surprise to Ginny, from what she remembered they were just the goons who followed Malfoy about, incapable of playing such a complicated game as chess. But playing it they were, and quite well from what she could tell from atop her pile of pillows.

"Greg Goyle, 7th year."

"Vincent Crabbe, 7th year."

"Teddy Nott…Theodore, I mean, 7th year."

Ginny smiled at that; who would have expected a Slytherin to go by the nickname Teddy? She would have laughed, if it weren't for the key fact that he was, in fact, a Slytherin, childish name or not.

"Millicent Bullstrode, 7th year."

Hmm…wasn't she the one that Hermione had tried to turn into and had ended up turning into her cat? Even the snogging couple in the corner had stopped to introduce themselves.

"Daphne Greengrass, 7th year…actually, all of us here are 7th years. Idiot," she glared at Goyle who had started the fad.

"Terrence Higgs…and, if you don't mind…"

Ginny smiled at that; he reminded her of the dragon trainers.

"You seem to know Pansy and Draco already, I'm Blaise Zabini. What d'you want to eat?"

Already feeling more at home than she had expected, "Eh. Cereal. Fruit Loops," she blurted out without thinking, forgetting that it was a muggle food.

"Sorry…I don't know what those are…do you want fruit?" Zabini queried politely.

Realizing her slip, Ginny nodded, "Yes…that'd be nice." Well, if the Slytherins were going to be friendly, she might as well give them her quirks now and have them kick her out, rather than wait until she got to know them, and have them pissed at her 'betrayal,' "Fruit Loops are a muggle breakfast food," she announced, a little louder than she had planned…and got no reaction.

"I see. I'll ask the house elves if they can find any," Zabini said, snapping his fingers. He spoke in hushed tones to the house elf that appeared; then settled himself down next to Ginny.

"Do you know much about muggles? My parents wouldn't even let me take Muggle Studies, but they're so fascinating, don't you think?"

She couldn't help herself, her jaw dropped, and she said the first thing that came to mind, "Are you sure you're a Slytherin?"

"Yes. Y'know," he said testily, "Slytherins are supposed to be cunning, not hateful of muggles."

"But-"

"I know, I know. Draco," he called, and the Slytherin-in-question seemed to materialize next to him.

"You yelled?"

"Yeah. Ginny. Misconceptions. Fix. Now."

Draco seemed amused by Zabini, and shrugged, "As you wish, master," and turned to her, "Beyond the Wonder Trio, I don't have a problem with muggles, and neither does the rest of my House. It's was a farce- an act to keep our parents at bay," he had a murderous glint in his eyes, "Our parents are the ones less receptive to other humans, not us. Once Pothead kills Voldemort, we'll thank him. Until then, we'll make his life living hell, because our parents are making our lives living hell."

The logic at the end seemed a little flawed, but, as a whole, it made sense, "Oh."

"If there's nothing else, master, I believe there is a certain Ravenclaw feeling rather abandoned up in my room," he said, smirking, before disappearing in what Ginny assumed to be the direction of his room.

"Did that make sense to you?"

"Yeah…so you really want to hear about muggles?" Zabini nodded. "Well…most of what fascinates wizards about them has to do with electricity. I guess you could say it's their version of magic. Well…not really. I don't understand the details, but I can tell you about some of their devices, if you like."

He nodded again, a rapt expression on his face.

"Well…they have air conditioning, which lets them cool down a room if it's too warm, dishwashers, which clean dishes for them, refrigerators, which store their food at normal temperatures…sorry, my mom's kitchen was just redone with all of them. Not really interesting, I guess. Hmm…they have computers…and the Internet-"

Zabini interrupted, "You lost me. D'you have any of these at school with you?"

"No…but I'm sure Hermione has a few muggle things spelled to work on school grounds with her. If you want, I can ask her to lend them to me so you can see them?"

Zabini seemed a little hesitant about asking one of the Golden Trio for anything, "Okay…but as long as you don't tell her they're for me."

"That's fine."

Just then, an annoyed looking Draco entered the room with a disheveled Patil on his arm…Padma, Ginny assumed, and announced, "Alright guys…pick it up. History of Magic is over, time to go to class."

There were several groans issued by protesting Slytherins as Zabini turned to her, "Shit…sorry we have to leave so soon Weasley-"

"Call me Ginny."

"Alright Ginny, call me Blaise. Sorry we have to leave, but you're welcome here anytime."

"Thanks...you and the other Slytherins can come visit me in my room, I suppose…if I knew where it was. It's behind a rather sweet portrait of a girl named Ariana, actually. I can't find her, though."

"Have you asked the other portraits for directions?"

"Er…no…I didn't think of that," Ginny said, feeling quite stupid.

"You might want to try that," he said, standing up. He offered her his hand, and pulled her up. The Slytherins were grouping together at the door, and Ginny and Blaise joined them.

"Today, I'm thinking we stick to the regular cracks against Wonder boy and his two sidekicks, but lay off on everyone else," Draco was saying as the group left.

When they reached the main floor, Ginny separated from the group and waved goodbye before going in search of a decent portrait to ask directions from. Sure, there were portraits everywhere, but many were apt to give false directions, whether for their own amusement or simply because that's where they thought she should go. She found a nice-looking portrait of a middle-aged, bespectacled man who directed her straight to Ariana.

"Hey sweetie, I've got to go in and shower, but I'll come out and talk to you later, alright?" Ginny said, smiling at the girl, who had been drawing when Ginny found her, "Buzzing bumblebees."

Stepping in, Ginny saw a veritable feast laid out for her on the table, and realized that the house elf in Slytherin had never returned with any food for her. Her stomach growled, but she decided to unpack and take a shower first before eating. That way, when she ate, it would, more or less, be at the same time as the rest of the school. More importantly, it meant that after she ate she could make her way to a fairly empty library, and research her new House in peace. Her plan set in her mind, she started sifting threw her trunk, glad that she wouldn't have to live out of it like most students did for the year.