Author's Note: I updated the chapter and only then realized I could combine it with the next one, as they are both rather short. So here it is, it's like the chapter from before, but upgrated, longer and with different lyrics at the beginning. Enjoy! Any reviews are welcome :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and its characters, they are the property of J. K. Rowling. I don't make any money by this. The lyrics belong to Patrick Wolf.

xxxxxx

What lies beneath the door? What keeps you? Explore!

Do you take the chance to defeat the source? The gates are opening, the choice, the future

the future is yours!

-Patrick Wolf - ' Theseus'

xxxxx

It remains one of the most embarrassing moments of my life ‒ me, standing in a line of eleven-year-olds, waiting to be sorted. This was not a good idea, the line repeated in my head and it felt like nothing else had passed through my mind ever since I got on the train.

The hat was singing its song, but I didn't care to catch a single verse of it - I was too petrified with all the confused looks and mutterings, certainly directed to me. It felt as if I was standing naked in front of everyone. As the hat stopped, the witch in charge of first-years-olds took out a parchment to read out the names. I hoped she would start with me and get this over with, but instead she read out 'Abercrombie, Euan.' My heart sank into my feet. Finally, letter T came and the professor looked at me before reading out, 'Transferred from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, and to be sorted in the seventh year - Tonks, Lollia.'

I sat down on the stool that was way too small for me and the hat was placed on my head. For the first-year students, the hat was too big and it covered their eyes so they were blessed with not seeing all the curious eyes on them. But the hat fit me perfectly so I was sentenced to look over the tables as people went whispering. 'Well, a mind on the crossroad,' I heard a voice in my ears and twitched. This was creepy. 'There is the Black line here, but with other influences... Good wits, yes; quite daring too. Yet with such a potential, a capable mind and wish for power... it would be a shame not to say - SLYTHERIN.'

For some reason, my eyes somehow found Harry Potter's face in the crowd, covered with confusion. I knew he must have been the wondering how could Dora's sister end up in Slytherin ‒ good girls don't go to Slytherin, or at least that's what Gryffindor's idea was. I've heard about the rivalry of the houses from Lin. And while she was not a part of it, she was a careful and amused observer.

I stood up and looked at my future house table where people were loudly clapping, greeting me. No one seemed to clap more eagerly than Draco Malfoy who was sitting at the very beginning of the table. He moved a bit to make space for me as I approached. 'Welcome... Tonks' he said with a noticeable pause, 'Glad to see you joining us.'

I did not bother to answer back. I looked at the Ravenclaw table where Lin was arching her back to look at me through the crowd. When her eyes met mine she winked to me. The voice in my head changed its song now; it was talking in the tone of the Sorting Head and all I could hear was the mind on the crossroad.

On the way to the dormitories, Draco was constantly casting me looks, smirking. I tried to ignore him as much as possible, looking around, pretending I was fascinated by the tapestries covering the walls and the armours and the bloody ghost that was floating around the dungeons. Truth was, I could not stop thinking about Beauxbatons' wide hallways and Justine sleeping with someone else in the room this evening.

'You will sleep here,' Draco showed first-years the way once when we were in common room, 'And you, Lola, here.'

'Alright. Thanks,' I quickly said and got in, before he could say another word.

Five other girls were inside, loudly talking about their holidays. They did not notice me at first. The dark girl with a head full of black curls, whose bed was nearest to the door, was the first to notice me as she nudged the girl beside her. 'Hey, how are you?' she smiled 'I'm Crystalia.' She offered me a hand, but I did not spot it at first. I was still absorbing all around me, and once I did see her hand, it was a moment too late to shake it. Frowning a bit, she put her arm down. One of the other girls snickered.

'Lola,' I muttered, quite shocked at the sight of room for six. Six!? I shared my room with Justine only, back in France. If there was anything I hated it was shared space ‒ I loved privacy and never in my life was I obligated to share space with more than one person. I was screaming internally, panicking about all the possible embarrassing situations that can happen when you are surrounded by five unknown people. Barely noticing what I was saying, I muttered a curse directed at Andromeda under my breath.

'Whoa, really nice way to make an entrance,' a girl with long, golden hair from a bed beside mine rolled her eyes. She was a natural beauty, the kind of a girl I might fall for, elegant and feminine. 'I guess you've gotten used to your fancy stuff at Beauxbatons, ah?'

The others laughed, and though it was not a mean laugh, it stung. 'Oh, remember how prudish all those girl were last year?' Crystalia exclaimed, remembering when our students came to Hogwarts for Triwizarding Tournament. 'One would think they sleep on beds made of gold. You don't, do you?' she asked me, as if to make sure.

'Nope.' I frowned, 'It's usually just in… smaller company.' I walked to the bed where my trunk waited for me. So far I've heard many stories about Hogwarts from my friends and not many of them were positive. I was not sure was I so resentful of the castle because of what I've heard, or because it was actually that terrible to be here. It certainly made me glad I strictly refused to compete in the Tournament, because it left me a whole year of enjoying luxuries of Beauxbatons, such as privacy and artistic education, which Lin told me is not one of things Hogwarts really had to offer.

'Well, if you don't like it here you can always go back,' the golden-haired beauty on the other bed said, throwing off her friendly tone 'It is quite rude to come here and make that face. Why did you transfer anyway?'

'Trust me, it was not by my own will,' I simply said, guessing it was too early to mention the story of the Dark Lord.

I was obviously wrong; while blond girl simply muttered, 'That, I can see,' a rather thin and small girl with shorter hair on the other side of my bed laughed a low laugh and said, 'It is because of protection, right? Yours must be panicking considering… well, that your father is mudblood.'

The room felt silent, except the snickering I heard behind me as I turned to the tiny, brown girl. 'No, actually. He is muggleborn. And if you actually thought about it - which might be a complicated task - you would have realized that I was certainly safer in France…'

'Please don't…' the golden girl started to say, but the brown one did not care.

'Considering your mother is also a blood traitor, I guess they found you would only be protected stuck up in Dumbledore's arse.' The ones behind me seemed to have a fit of laughter now. The golden girl clicked her tongue in irritation, but did nothing to defend me, and returned to unpacking.

I was both confused and impressed by how this girl knew my whole family tree. 'And I guess you have a broomstick stuck up your pure blood arse,' I spat out, wanting to end this conversation.

The girl twitched, but I did not wait to see if she would bring out her wand - I was already flicking mine at her and she fell on the bed rolling with screamish-laughter, being hit by my tickling hex. All four girls jumped in to help, but the blonde one was fastest and she quickly cast a counter-hex. Red in the face, she turned to me, 'This, I am reporting to professor Snape first thing in the morning.'

'Splendid! What an entrance I've made!' I exclaimed in false excitement, putting the hanging around my bed and trunk. Before I cast the silencing spell, I heard Crystalia mutter, 'But it was a quite good for a nonverball spell!'

xxxxxx

'Tonks, I need to see you if you're done,' Professor Snape told me while passing by at breakfast. I was obviously not done - he could have seen it - but the way in which he said it meant that I should be done that very moment. A bunch of people sitting near me snickered; the golden haired girl sat tall, looking judgingly at me. I noticed the head-girl badge on her chest. That explained all the prissiness.

I left my half-eaten breakfast and followed the professor. He said nothing before we reached the Dungeons; as a matter of fact, he did not seem to even notice me following him, which felt quite ridiculous. Once in his office, he showed me to sit down, but did not sit himself. 'As you know by now,' he immediately spoke, not once looking me in the eye,' I am the head of your house. You are referring to me if you have any problems during your stay at Hogwarts. As it is your N.E.W.T. year, I am here to offer any help along with your professional training or orientation, if you require some. I received your O.W.L.-level results,' he said looking down at the paper in front of him, 'which are quite decent.'

Quite decent!? My face melted ‒ I was among the top ten in the class in almost all of the subjects. I had absolutely the best marks from runes and defence. My results were not "decent" ‒ they were perfect. I bit my tongue in order not to reply to him, as anything I would say could be considered rude, to say the least. He was still looking over the papers and I was sure now that he was doing it on purpose, just to ignore me. 'As you also did not have the session about career advice with me in the fifth year, I am required to ask you whether you have some career path planned?' he asked in a voice that told me my career path was the thing that least interested him in the world.

'Performing arts,' I mumbled, still angry.

He finally raised his head and looked at me, seemingly surprised. 'Arts?' he asked.

I've come across this a lot ‒ no one was sure why was I so mad about having good grades if I wanted something 'as silly as performing arts'. The first reason was because I could not stand not to have good grades. The second was because I always valued having complete knowledge that I might combine with arts later. Being an artist did not erase the possibility of being a good witch, and I planned on being both. 'Yes. Arts. They do require at least four N.E.W.T.s levels with at least Outstanding for Royal Paris Wizarding theatre.'

He was still examining me, looking now as if he was amused by me, but also found me insane. I decided slowly that I didn't like this man.

'Very well,' he finally answered. 'I see you chose your subjects, along with extra curriculum Wizarding arts. Considering you are not taking potions, I guess we will not meet as much, but, as mentioned, you can find me here if you need something.' He made a slow pause for a dramatic effect, 'That being said, I am also the one to whom other students and professors refer to if they have any problems with you, which, I'm afraid, has already happened. Head girl, Lilith Rosier, reported me that you caused some distress in the girls' dormitory last night.'

Rosier. That was my grandmother's surname. So, the golden girl was probably my cousin. Slytherin started seeming like a mad family reunion.

'I was defending myself. Sir.' I said sharply.

Snape raised his eyebrows, but his facial expression otherwise stayed unchanged, 'Did Percel Macnair attack you first with a wand and it was not reported to me?'

I frowned at another familiar name. Macnair ‒ this one I was sure that I'd heard while living in Lestrange manor. Was the tiny brown girl a Death Eater's daughter? 'No, sir, but‒'

'If,' Snape cut me off, 'Macnair attacked you only verbally, hexing her is not considered defence, but an attack.'

There was a silence as I sulked, like a child. 'I did not know the rules,' I finally said stubbornly.

'Really, now?' he said in silky voice that pointed out he will have none of my shit, 'So, I am sure it was perfectly reasonable to have duels in the dormitories of Beauxbatons.'

'Maybe the rules are different here. How would I know? No one told me,' I said, raising my head more and more with each sentence.

'Sir,' he added, 'And now you know they aren't. I am sure you are quite eager to show off your powers, but it will not be tolerated. Considering you are Slytherin, I will not take the house points, but you will have detention with me this Saturday...'

'Detention?' I yelped, 'On the first day?'

'The first day was not a problem when you attacked another student, Tonks,' he replied with a small smirk on his lips. I opened my mouth to argue, but Snape cut me off, not smiling anymore. 'And learn how to talk to your professors. I know that arrogance is a valued trait in your family, but it will not be tolerated here.'

It felt as if he had slapped me. Not being able to answer anything in shock, I nodded and stood up. 'Saturday at 2 afternoon I expect you here, Tonks,' he turned his back to me, as I left the room, trying to process what has just happened.

xxxxxx

'Snape knows who I am,' was the first thing I said to Lin when we met to go to lunch.

She raised her eyebrow. 'Yeah. Your name is written on your records.'

'Not like that, smarty pants!' I hissed, 'He know my real identity.'

She rolled her eyes, turning in the direction of the great hall, 'No he doesn't. He never mentioned anything to me and I would remind you that we are sisters.'

'But he said ‒ and I quote ‒ "I know arrogance is a valued trait in your family". 'And I am pretty sure he was not referring to dad as Ted is not known for his arrogance. He sounded, you know- knowing.'

Lin rolled her eyes again. 'He was referring to Blacks in general. Please, how could he know?'

'If you roll your eyes again, Lin, you'll get dizzy. And did you see my face recently?' I asked rhetorically, but Lin answered.

'Unfortunately.'

'I look like mother. He must have noticed that.'

'Lollia, you are paranoid now,' she sighed, 'How could he know mother? I mean, sure, he might know what she looks like, but I doubt they ever really met and that he would have a grudge against you because of her. She is older than him for sure, so they weren't at school at the same time, and she probably run off right to You-Know-Who as soon as she stepped out of Hogwarts. Where could they meet?'

'I know, but they might have crossed paths! Maybe Snape was in the game too...'

At this, Lin laughed loudly, 'Yeah. I am sure Dumbledore would hire an ex-Death Eater. That was exactly the thing he looked for on a job application.'

I was about to answer her when I saw the redheaded Weasley twins running towards us. 'Hey, Tonks juniors!' one of them yelled, 'We have an important matter to discuss!'

I looked at them semi-worried, fearing they might have heard something about Dora before I did, but then the other twin ran up beside his brother and said, 'Slytherin? Really? Tonks' sister is in Slytherin?'

They took me by surprise and I laughed, 'You are right, it is of absolute serious importance‒'

'You don't see how grave the situation is because you are not from around here!' the left one explained. 'Didn't you teach her anything?' he scolded Lin, 'Lucky that you have us so we can share the secret wisdom with you ‒ Slytherins are douches.'

'Oh, I see! Are you suggesting I'm a douche?' I asked, amused.

'We're still trying to determine that here. Being Slytherin is kind of a bad starting point,' the right one answered. 'But you are Tonks' sister; you, little one, seem alright enough' he nodded approvingly to Lin. It was funny he was calling her "little one" considering she was as tall as he was. 'Geeky Ravenclaw, but alright! But you, senior-junior Tonks, are what worries us! You don't look like a lying, sly cockroach to us. Now, that's why we are curious!'

I crossed my arms over chest and smiled, 'Well, like you mentioned, I am not from around here, but as far as I know, Slytherins are ambitious, cunning and goal oriented, none of which spell douche for me.'

'They are also an evil snotty army of egoists led by the king of anti-shampoo advertisements!'

I pretended to think this one over, 'Hmmm... I must have missed that part of the sorting song yesterday...'

'It goes unsaid because everyone knows it!' the left one explained, 'I mean, it's just such a shame because we have to hate you now and Tonks is a cool person.'

'Wow, you really take the whole Gryffindor vs Slytherin thing to a whole new level here, guys.'

'Those are the rules!' the right one shrugged in fake regret, 'And you know, we worry about the rules so- very - much!'

'Break the rules,' I smiled looking from one twin to another, 'I dare you! I double-dare you!'

They both made mocking shock sounds, 'It's gonna ruin our reputation!'

'Good thing you have an evil Slytherin around then; I'll just go and curse anyone who says something.'

The left one considered this, 'Ah, my Gryffindor heart can't say no to a double dare...'

I nodded in appreciation, 'Glad I'm worthy of breaking the tradition. Thanks- urm...' I stopped, looking from one twin to another, trying to tell them apart.

'Fred,' he answered, grinning.

'Thanks Fred.'

'You're welcome!' the other one replied.

xxxxx

It seemed that the Weasley twins were the only ones that could pass as my potential friends in the castle. No one from the other houses would approach me because I was Slytherin, yet Slytherins on my year were too closely bound together to be fond of me after I attacked one of their own. It did not make me too sad ‒ I hated them all, along with pretty much everyone else at the castle.

The only exception out of all the Slytherins seemed to be Draco Malfoy who would still smirk whenever he passed me by, trying to point out that he knows who I am.

'Father and mother are truly pleased you are Slytherin,' he said one day at the breakfast, reading his mail.

'Well, how nice. People I've never met or saw are happy for me! Now I can finally sleep calmly at nights. What's in it for them, anyway? Didn't they disown my mother,' I stared boldly at him.

Draco was no fool; it took more than my bluffing for him to break the cover. He smirked again. 'Not quite,' was his complete answer ‒ enough to shut me up, yet not to reveal anything.

While I didn't know Draco very well, I realized so far he liked to bring people down at every possible occasion, making himself seem witty and great. I knew that what made him happy was not our dysfunctional family's reunion, but the mere knowledge that he had a weapon against me. We both knew he wouldn't use it ‒ his father probably forbid him to remind the world that they were connected to Death Eaters by any means ‒ but he simply liked to wonder how much I burned on the inside. And while I seemed cool and had a sack of sarcastic comments just for him, it did get to me. The pure reminder that people might know who I was there felt like a stab in my stomach and he knew that. He never picked on Lin because he knew better ‒ he didn't see much of her and he realized that it would never get to her. But somehow Draco Malfoy sensed my discomfort even if I was trying to hide it very well.

I was having tons of homework as it was final year and we had to prepare for N.E.W.T.s. Homework, paradoxically, made me feel better ‒ it took my mind off the fact that I was, with the exception of Lin and occasional chats with the twins, absolutely alone. Back in France, Justine and I had our little clique and people generally liked me. Here people either took me for a stuffy bitch or they didn't care for me and I, quite frankly, did not know which one was worse.

Classes were fine, with the exception of Defence against the dark arts, which was completely and utterly useless. Professor Umbridge was a Ministry worker obviously sent to bust the myth of the Dark Lord's return by giving us pointless theory lessons. Harry Potter's angry outburst on the matter that took place in the first week didn't seem to help either, especially since Slytherins found him responsible for our classes being so boring. The lessons were filled with endless textbook pages and boredom, with the exception of Weasley twins and Lee Jordan, their friend, pulling pranks. I sat in the back row with them as they worked on their new products, jinxed stuff under their breaths and sang Epic about Ugly Toad Umbridge's adventures under their breaths, using their muffling candy that made their voices heard only by few people around. It was impressive that it took them more than three weeks to get detention, but once they did, all hell broke loose.

'Ah, but professor, we were just trying to learn to recognise situations in which defensive magic can legally be used,' Fred recited one of Umbridge's lesson goals, 'and it just so happened to be against Exploding Snaps.' I couldn't help but giggle loudly.

Umbridge did not bother answering. '15 points from Gryffindor and from Slytherin.'

'I didn't even say anything!' I protested.

'And 5 more for talking out of term without your hand up, miss Tonks,' she sang, almost happy. Slytherins in the front turned to give me deathly stares, Macnair mouthing curse words directed at me.

Feeling as if I did not provoke them enough, I raised my hand. Lilith made a gesture trying to tell me to put my hand down but I ignored her. 'Yes, Miss Tonks?' Umbridge asked.

'Professor, when are we actually going to stop learning about situations when we can defend ourselves and actually start learning how to defend ourselves?'

Lilith gave an annoyed sigh as Umbridge stared at me. Her voice was much less sweet when she spoke, 'I am not having this discussion again, miss Tonks. What I had to say, I already said to Mr Potter during the first week and I am sure he can tell you all about it. But let me repeat it once again if your mind is a bit slow and the matter is not clear enough ‒ there is no need to use any kind of defence in the classroom and with theoretical knowledge you will be perfectly able to perform your spells on the practical part of N.E.W.T.s.'

'But will we be able to defend ourselves, professor?' I asked with fake worry, imitating her sweet tone of voice. Lilith gave up and her head was in her palms now.

'Defend yourselves from what, miss Tonks?' she asked, smirking again.

She was daring me, I knew it. She wanted me to answer her, she wanted me to mention the Dark Lord, she wanted to underline that Potter is a lunatic and the Ministry knows the best. I knew it was a trick, but I had already gone too far to abandon the argument with pride, so I bit the bait.

'Dark arts?' I shrugged, 'You know, like the subject name says?'

The grin transformed her face, 'Detention, miss Tonks, because of your vulgar attitude.'

George was ecstatic as we left the room. 'Slytherin suggesting You-Know-Who has returned! Blimey, Tonks, you really break the code!' I was less energized as it was my second detention in a month. I have barely ever had detentions in Beauxbatons ‒ whatever Justine and I did, we did it so we don't get caught, and we were perfect little teacher's pets with the whole team covering for us. Here, I was alone and, at the moment, pissed at everyone.

'Are you moping now?' Lee Jordan asked, uncertain. I guessed they thought I would be triumphant.

'This is pointless,' I nearly yelled, 'I am wasting my time listening to that Toad's babbling! I was the best dueller at Beauxbatons! I was the president of the duelling club! We won European duelling youth championship! My wand will go stiff if I don't use it. Damn Hogwarts, I should have never come here!'

'Hey, we can always arrange some duels for you, there are a few Slytherins whose arses we want kicked‒'

'That's not the point!' I hissed. 'The point is that this damn school sucks,' I spat out, storming off down the hall. I knew they loved Hogwarts ‒ the whole Wizarding world loved Hogwarts! ‒ but I really wanted to hurt the school; yet since it was a brick castle, I simply took pleasure in hurting people's feelings about it.

I did not find Lin before lunch, breaking our tradition. I wanted to be alone in the library, doing my endless homework, away from everyone. It took me some time to finally make myself go to the Great Hall for lunch, detesting seeing anyone's face again.

As suspected, Slytherins started snickering as soon as I came in. 'Heard about your outburst today,' Malfoy jested, 'It seems it's not only Potter who is crazy around here.' Macnair and her two friends laughed. I didn't need to guess who was the one to bring Malfoy the good news.

'Crazy? Come on, I thought if anyone here ought to believe Potter's claims it should be you guys,' I said staring from Macnair over Goyle to Malfoy ‒ all Death Eater's children, lined up along the table. Goyle did not seem too comfortable, but Macnair didn't even flinch.

'Why, I am confused that you are taking it all so lightly, Tonks,' she smirked. 'One would think you would be more frightened. You know, if those rumours happen to be true ‒ not that I say they make any sense!' she sweetly added, 'But... if there is anything true about them, well, you are in trouble, Tonks. You know, offspring of Mudblood and blood traitor ‒ you are about to become one of the endangered species.'

People around were listening carefully, not missing a word of Macnair's quiet speech. No one was protesting, not even Lilith, but they seemed rather alarmed. At this table, people must have been as scared of the Dark Lord's return as they were at any other table. Those whose family was among his ranks were afraid of possible fights and causalities. Those who were not already running to step into his service were good possible target for recruiting, being mostly pure-blood and Slytherin, and everyone knew that one does not say no to Lord Voldemort without regret.

Maybe the whole crazy frightening atmosphere gave me strength or maybe my seams were falling apart from the whole moth of continued mental disasters ‒ I felt a terrible urge to make them see me as more than just a pretentious newcomer that happened to stumble into their house by accident. I coldly laughed out loud and they all looked at me as if I was mad, even Malfoy. Finally, I leaned over to Macnair and hissed, so only she and a few around could hear, 'Oh, sweetie, don't you worry about my wellbeing. If anyone here is safe when the Dark Lord comes, it's me.'

Malfoy's mouth fell open, but I did not wait to hear any questions. Grabbing a big piece of pie, I took my things and left, feeling insanely good about the reaction I caused. I hated being ignored, and this made sure I would not be.

xxxxxx

Dearest Lola,

Congratulations on your sorting! I am so very pleased you are in Slytherin, although, truth to be told, I would be happy with any house as long as you are satisfied with it. Are you? I hope you are not worrying about all the nasty things you must have heard about Slytherin ‒ I was one, and I like to think I turned out fine. It is a great starting point for you; you can do big things from there.

Please write as soon as possible to tell me all of your impressions! I am eager to know what you think about Hogwarts. You must still be hating it, I am sure, but try to relax and have as much fun as possible. You know it is the best place to be right now.

Loads of love,

Ma.