Word Count: 2,674

Marty yawned trying to wake herself up by shaking her head rapidly, not unlike a dog her hair shaking out, the ends of her honey colored locks tickling her shoulders. If she had been awake enough to notice she would have seen that the colors in her hair had changed to a green and silver overnight. But currently, because she had off and on about three hours of sleep she couldn't really give a flying gnome what her hair looked like. She was only woken up from her sleepless stupor when her form collided with another as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Bloody hell Filch watch where you're going!" Draco yelled as he was knocked backwards by her. He looked down to see that she was using him to balance herself and make sure she didn't fall flat on her arse.

"Sorry Draco, not really a morning person. And besides, I'd be a lot more sympathetic if you called me by my name." She grouched standing up and running a hand self consciously through her hair.

"Fine Marty," he spat before he noticed her hair, "Well I have to admit I like the choice of coloring better than the previous ones." She looked clueless for a moment before she turned her head to a mirror hanging on the wall and sighing as she looked at the silver and green streaks.

"Ugh, why can't you behave for once? Really? Always changing over night." She grumbled before turning back to him. "Oh wipe that smug look of your face; it's too early for me to have to deal with that." She turned and started down the corridor mumbling grumpily under her breath about greasy Slytherin's as Draco followed her.

As they entered the great hall she collapsed onto the nearest seat she could find staring at the food unrecognizing. What was the mush in front of her and why did it smell so god awful bad? She made a face and growled out, "What in the hell are we doing here?" She asked annoyed at how loud it was and how he seemed so happy opposite her. Obviously he was taking in joy at her pain.

"It's called eating Filch, a common practice of most humans, and I'm pretty sure even Muggles do it sometimes." He said forking food onto his plate. She made a face rolling her eyes before she crossed her arms and legs choosing to settle on her seat glaring at the plate in front of her. "I've got your schedule hear by the way. Seems it won't be too much trouble showing you around, having the same classes and all. But I do suggest you eat, we have double potions first and it takes forever in that Dungeon. You'll need your strength."

"Well thanks for you're concern but I'll be fine." She muttered. She was slightly worried, since she didn't have any of the text books she saw around her on the table, nor a back pack for quills and parchments which Draco was sorting through now looking for something it seemed.

"Martina," a voice rasped out behind her quietly. The voice was still unfamiliar but slightly comforting to her already, and she found herself slightly warming to its owner's presence. She turned a little surprised to see Filch but supposed he might want to say something to her on her first day of school.

"Filch." She nodded acknowledging his presence.

"Well, um. I know you didn't have a chance to get your things and all, and um, Mrs. Norris wanted to see you off to your first day." He muttered handing her a black backpack, which plopped into her lap, heavy with what felt like many books.

She felt awkward, partly because she didn't know what to say, and because she wasn't used to being given things, though it had suddenly become a new habit of hers. "Oh, erm, well how could I say no to Mrs. Norris?" She said shrugging and scooping up the scruffy cat that mewled loudly and licked her face, the whiskers tickling across her skin making her laugh slightly as she stroked her Smokey fur. "Er… Thanks Filch." She said trading off Mrs. Norris and the backpack as he grunted, smiling as if unsure of what to do before he left her alone.

"Wow, I feel the love in that family."

"Oh, and I suppose your dad showers you with kisses when you come home for the Holidays!" She snapped. He glared down at his food while she glared down at him obviously parents were a touchy subject for both of them. Draco remembered something and grunted as he handed her her schedule, which he had found while rooting through his book bag.

"What's this?"

"Your class schedule Filch. Why don't you try reading it?" He snapped, so she did. The next time he looked up he saw that she had managed to already color code it and was shifting through her bag putting text books and notebooks in order and looking at the beautiful peacock quills she had been given by her… father. That was still so weird for him, thinking of Filch as somebody's daughter.

She looked up at him and asked curiously, "So we have all the same classes?

"Well yeah, I suppose that Snape and Dumbledore did that on purpose, since you're new to the school. Common, it takes a while to get to the potions class, its best we start heading out." She nodded and slung her messenger bag over her shoulder as they started to walk, still looking curiously at her schedule.

"So, Potions is pretty self-explanatory, it's all in the name right? But what about these other classes like Dada? What is that?"

Draco seemed reluctant to help someone since there was nothing in it for him, but it sounded like he might be stuck with her for a while, so he might as well be reasonable… ish. "It's not Dada. It's D-A-D-A. Defense Against the Dark Arts. Not all magic is good, and there are things in the magical world that aren't entirely safe either. That class is to teach you how to live through such things."

"Okay. What about Flying? Do we sprout wings or something? Or do all magicians have the power to levitate."

Draco snorted and continued explaining as they walked into the Potions Classroom, "We can make things levitate, with a spell and a wand, but Flying is where you learn to fly on a broom. Once you learn how to control flight while on an enchanted broom than you can learn about the best thing in the wizarding world, Quidditch." Marty looked to be brimming with questions, but this was one thing she actually knew.

"Oh yeah, I found a book on that in my room, Quidditch Through the Ages. It sounds amazing; I can't wait to give it a try."

"Actually we're not aloud to try out for the team, we're only first years."

"Oh, Really? That's rotten luck."

"That is unless you're golden boy potter. Gryffindor team is so bad that they let him skirt the rules and become a Seeker. And they're supposed to be the honest ones. I'd bet my wand that they'd brake every one of their precious rules if there was something in it for them."

"Unlike the Slytherin who you expect to do that any way? Not betting of wands involved at all? What is that by the way, a wand? You keep saying it but I have no idea what you are referring to. Do you mean like the wand waving and such that you read about in Muggle children's books?" Other people were starting to file in and Harry, Ron and Hermione gave her a wave which she returned. Draco however was too preoccupied with her to notice.

"You mean you don't have a wand?"

"Um... No?"

"What the hell, you can't do magic without a wand, not until you get a lot better. What… What are you doing at a wizard's school without a wand?!"

"Mr. Malfoy, if you would kindly sit down so that we can continue with class." Mr. Snape said his sneer tight lipped as his eyes slightly bulged with anger. Obviously this wasn't a very good day for him. Marty sat down quickly and pulled out her notes and textbooks, practically vibrating in the chair with excitement as he strutted to the front of the room.

"Blimey, I got stuck with a Slytherin form of Granger." Malfoy moaned to himself.

"As you all know there is a New Student in class, Miss Filch." Snape said; command seeping out from every pore. "So that I can catch her up on the classes she has missed there is a relatively easy potion up on the board. Even you, Longbottom, she be able to finish it without any fatal injuries. Go, Now." He said and student immediately started scuffling around for supplies, not eager to catch Snape's wrath.

Snape strode over, his cloak billowing impressively and Marty tried to hide a smirk in the corner of her mouth as she thought about how long he spent practicing that. "I am your head of House, Severus Snape; you will call me Professor Snape. Any questions?"

"No, Professor Snape." She said nodding. He nodded as well as if confirming something and grabbed her text book. He flipped through it marking various pages with his wand, talking as he went. "I'm marking the potions we've already discussed, and the methods we've done homework on. Here is the Homework that has already been assigned and to catch you up quickly you will come here every afternoon, after class and before dinner until you catch up. We will also meet for two hours on Saturday.

"These meetings will not be delayed if you end up with Detention, which means you will also receive detention for skipping my class. Now start by reading this unit here, than complete the potion at the end. Ask Draco if you have any questions. Marty nodded glancing over the long list of lengthy list of assignments, essays, and other homework's. She put it down and took the book back obediently nodding rapidly.

He swooped away and she sat down, reading the page rapidly, her eyes darting back and forth across the page. Draco worked quietly, snickering about Granger getting stomped on repeatedly with Crabbe and Goyle who were at the desk to his left, while Marty read to his right, close to the wall and muttering under her breath as she soaked up the information eagerly.

She was done quickly and left looking for ingredients before she returned to the table, setting her cauldron bubbling over the fire pleasantly as she threw in dashes of the few ingredients. Stirring occasionally and watched gleefully as it changed from a golden orange into a tomato red. She ladled it out into a small vial and corked it, labeling it and then putting it aside on the desk.

She drew out a piece of parchment and looked at the homework he had assigned on the topic before flipping to another page in her book before she flipped through the textbook. She found what she needed and started jotting down the information on the scroll quickly. There were quiet scratching noises as she jotted down notes on the properties of Slugworms and why they were used commonly in simple Potions.

Snape swooped over later, looking surprised at her already finished potion and picking it up, carrying it to the desk up front. Marty hid a smile behind her hand as he tested it by tasting a small part of the potion. It was a derivative of a pepper-up potion, not quite as strong but made of natural resources one could find while traveling. He jotted down notes on his clipboard and emptied out what was left of the vial, though she thought she was the only one who noticed that he had poured it into his tea.

Snape took a sip of the still boiling tea and she saw him visibly relax. What on earth had kept him up so late the night before? He shouldn't be that tired that a little pick-me-up affected him that much. She shook her head refocusing on the essay, and finished scribbling the last inch as the great bell rang for classes to change the first time. Everyone in the class remained though, and she was quickly reminded that it was a double potions class.

She rolled up the parchment tightly putting it in her bag before she marked it off of the list in front of her. She then turned to the next unit in her book and read through it just as excitedly as she had the first. Draco however, was having a bit of trouble with his headache relief potion. Instead of turning its deep blue color as it was supposed to it was more of a pale sky blue and he muttered under his breath as he tried to find out what he did wrong.

Martina heard him and looked up from her notes at his cauldron. "Uh oh.." She muttered as he tried to add a pinch more porcupine needles to try and get it to a brighter color, but instead it turned into a sick looking green. "Erm.. May I give it a try?" She asked quietly glancing up at Snape in the front who was bent over a stack of papers.

"Sure go ahead, It's already unfixable." He said making a face. It was her fault, if she wasn't so jittery than he might of actually had a chance to pay attention to his potion. She cleared her throat with a cough before taking the stirring utensil away from him before she added a dash of beetle eyes and about two Slugworms to the mix before she stirred counter clockwise four times and then clockwise in a steady rhythm as the potions started to turn from green, to a light blue, and slowly grew to the brilliant blue it was supposed to be. Both she and Draco had become so interested in the results that they hadn't noticed that Snape was now standing beside them, watching as she fixed his royal screw up.

"There you go." She said grinning overjoyed looking up at Draco. When she saw Snape behind him she yelped and returned surprised back to her own work, starting to write notes as her potion simmered for a time.

"Miss Filch, how did you do that?" Snape asked coldly.

"Well I just added some-"

"I know what you did, but how did you know what to do was my question."

"Oh well… I saw the notes on the board, and the properties of the porcupine quills, and I have a photographic memory, so it's easy for me to recall information like that."

"Even then, how could you know it would work like that? And the turning clockwise first, to speed up the reaction of the beetle eyes to neutralize the excessive porcupine quills, how did you know to do that?"

"Oh... Um, I don't know. I just did it. I suppose it's one of those things that people can just do…" She said. She didn't think it was all that big of a deal. She was just trying to help Draco.

"Hmmm… You will have a potion test this afternoon at your catch up period. I wish to see how extensive this 'just doing' is." He stalked away, looking scary but also pensive and Marty fidgeted in her seat.

"Did I do something wrong?" She asked Draco nervously.

"Uh, no I think you did something right. Which disconcerts the old codger, considering as he refers to every new 1st year class as a bunch of dunderheads, which essentially most of us are when it comes to Potions. It's harder than magic because it can't be influence by a force of will. So I suppose you surprised him is all."