I woke up in my dirty clothes. I got up reluctantly from my bed and opened my nearby trunk. I pulled out a new set of robes and changed. Then I went out to the common room, which looked deserted. The girls in my dorm were still sleeping, and I was too shy to wake them. I felt lonely. I didn't know anyone in this school, and I was starting to doubt whether I ever would. I sighed as I headed toward the door, even though I didn't know where I was going to go.

"Guess I'm not the only one up early." A voice behind me made me jump. The pale boy from the Sorting was sitting in a chair in front of the fire, his ashen face orange-yellow in the flickering light. I could feel my heart thumping heavily in my chest.

"You scared me!" I breathed.

"Sorry." He stood up and walked to the door. "I was up early and wanted to see if they've started breakfast, yet, but I don't remember where the Great Hall is."

"Neither do I," I admitted apologetically. I felt lame, with nothing to say.

"That's alright," he said, and shrugged. "We can find it together."

Encouraged, I followed in his wake up the hall. After a while, we came upon two staircases leading in different directions. One went up, one went down.

"Which way do we go?" I asked quietly.

"Up, I guess." He answered. "We were going down the whole way there."

We continued to retrace our steps as best we could for a while, not talking at all except to point out a familiar sign or mark. Then I heard a noise from somewhere ahead of us. I looked to the pale boy, but he didn't seem to have heard anything.

"Did you hear that?" I asked casually.

"Hear what?" He asked blankly, scrutinizing another fork in our path.

"Never mind, I thought I heard a sound from up ahead."

We stood in silence as the pale boy tried to decide which path to take. Then, all of a sudden, something shot out of the left fork, right past my head. It made a frightening, cackling noise as it zoomed a circle around me. I couldn't hold it in. I screamed shrilly as the flying thing whooshed over me. I tried to get away, but before I could move, something stung my arm. I looked down with a gasp of pain and shock. There was a small red mark near my left elbow. Then it hit me again and again. I finally realized that the flying thing was chucking bits of chalk at me as it zoomed around me.

"Come on!" The pale boy grabbed my arm and we ran down the left path, chalk pelting after us as we ran at top speed. My lungs were about ready to explode when we found ourselves quite alone on the ground floor. We stopped and took a moment to catch our breath. I leaned against the corner of the wall, clutching the stitch in my side, while the boy bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for breath. "What-was-that-thing?" He choked out.

"I-have-no-idea!" I wheezed in reply. I looked around. Yes! We were just outside of the Entrance Hall. I led the way to the Great Hall, which was open, despite the fact that the sky-mimicking ceiling was black and stars shone. Apparently, the storm had cleared up. We walked over to the Slytherin table. We were the only ones in the Hall except a Hufflepuff and two Ravenclaws. It seemed that Gryffindor thought themselves above early rising.

There was already food on the table, and running from flying, chalk-shooting monsters really worked up one's appetite. I tucked in without ado, piling my plate high with eggs, sausage, and toast with jam. I looked over at the boy, who was sitting beside me. His plate was empty. On a whim, I picked up a plate of eggs and spooned a mound of them onto his plate. At first he looked a bit perplexed, but then he gave a weak smile and took a few small, timid bites. He had a nice little smile. Despite the state of his hair and clothes, his teeth were straight and white. His eyes softened a bit when he smiled.

After about twenty minutes, the Hall began to fill gradually. The Gryffindor table was the slowest to fill. I was just helping myself to a strip of bacon, when the boy called out to someone.

"Lily!"

I turned and saw the redheaded girl look over. She had just been about to sit down, but straightened up, smiled and walked over.

"Good morning, Severus!" Lily waved. Severus stood up as she approached, and they hugged each other in greeting. The two began to talk about the common rooms. Gryffindor's sounded much warmer and nicer than ours.

"Oh!" Severus exclaimed, turning to me. "Lily, this is…" He trailed off nervously.

"Sylistia," I filled in for him. "Sylistia Fawkes."

"Sylistia, this is Lily Evans, an old friend." Severus pointed to her. She was so pretty, with her vivid green eyes and shiny red hair. How could my black, limp hair and pale gray-blue eyes hope to stand up to that?

"A pleasure," we said in unison, and we shook hands like automatons.

"Lily!" A girl from Gryffindor waved her over. Lily said goodbye to Severus, then skipped off to her new friends. Only one night, and already, she was in a gaggle. Here I'd been running around aimlessly with a creepy boy whose name I hadn't even known. Severus sighed. He must have wanted to be in the same house as Lily. Did he not like Slytherin, either? I decided not to ask. I didn't want to sound like I was dissatisfied with my house, which I was, but would never admit.

Eventually, everyone had made it to breakfast. The Hall was buzzing with a thousand conversations. Then someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned and saw a man, a teacher, standing there. He was a bit short, but taller than I was. He was moderately rotund and had a walrus-like mustache.

"Sylistia Fawkes?" He inquired.

"Yes?"

"Hello!" He said cheerily. He held out a piece of paper. "I am Professor Slughorn, head of Slytherin House. This will be your weekly class schedule for the term." I accepted the paper. On it was a table of the classes I would have and when they would be. "I'm also the Potions Master," he added enthusiastically. "Potions is a very fascinating and important subject!"

He turned and gave Severus his schedule and greeted him very thoroughly, as well. I casually glanced at Severus's schedule. We had all of the same classes, what luck!

...

Our first class was Transfiguration. I shook with excitement, anticipating being able to change people into frogs, but as I expected, it wouldn't be that advanced. Our very first ever magic task was to turn a pepper shaker into a tumbler. It seemed easy when Professor McGonagall, the Sorting reader, showed us how, but I soon found it was near impossible. Severus was trying so hard, I could see a drop of sweat trickling down from his eyebrow. By the end of class, I had only succeeded in causing my pepper shaker to explode, sending glass all over Severus, myself, and a few nearby Hufflepuffs. Professor McGonagall encouragingly told me that my shaker did look slightly wider and flatter, but as there isn't much difference between a pepper shaker and a cup, I doubted she was being honest.

Next was Herbology. The teacher said we were to be studying Snapdragons. They looked like the ordinary flowers, but when I reached out to touch mine, the petals snapped together on my finger, drawing blood. I gasped in surprise. I could have sworn I heard Severus snicker to my right, and I could hardly keep from laughing myself. It was a silly mistake. How could I expect plants in this world to be normal. But then, what was normal?

In Charms class, we learned how to levitate objects. We started with feathers. I tried really hard, muttering "Wingardium Leviosa" as I flicked my wand exactly as Professor Flitwick demonstrated, but to no avail. My feather merely trembled like a leaf, and I was sure that it was only because I was sitting next to a slightly open window.

Then we had Potions. It took us a while to find the classroom, deep in the dungeons. It was like a cold, dark labyrinth. By the time Severus and I found it, class had been in for five minutes. We crept in nervously. Severus spied Lily and made a beeline for her. There was only one empty spot in the classroom, so I sat there. I was between two Gryffindor boys who looked like they wanted me to move, but there was no where else to go, so I just gave them a nervous grin and took notes as Professor Slughorn talked.

Then he split us up into groups of three. I got stuck with the two Gryffindors. Figures. I watched Lily and Severus measuring their ingredients and talking animatedly with each other. The small, nervous-looking, chubby kid next to them just bit his lip and twirled his wand. The two Gryffindors didn't seem to care about our grade. They pushed each other and then began to duel with their wands, sending sparks into my vision as I tried to make the potion by myself. One of the boys bumped the table as I was carefully pouring Eye of Newt into the cauldron, and I nearly spilled half the bottle into it, instead of a teaspoon. The result was a rather spectacular explosion of green and pink smoke right in our faces. The boys coughed and scolded me for not being careful. Enraged, I sat down, arms folded, as they continued to mess about.

At lunch, Lily sat at our table, next to Severus. She ignored the continued glares from other Slytherins. I sat opposite them, watching as they laughed and joked. I stabbed my sandwich repeatedly with my spoon, not really intending to eat it. I almost never ate lunch. At home, I usually didn't eat breakfast, either, only supper. My father had a very low-paying job, and my mother was always too sick to work.

Severus and Lily went outside when they were done eating, and I followed, feeling unwanted, but not too keen on being alone. They stopped under a beech tree and continued talking. I sighed and set my bag down next to Lily. Then I took to wandering around nearby. I crouched down and plucked a blue flower out of the ground. I twirled it between my fingers as I listened to the murmur of the other two talking behind me. I stood up and walked toward the lake, which was much more peaceful than it was when I got here. As I approached the pier, I pulled the petals off of my flower one at a time. When I reached the end of the dock, I dropped the stem in and sat down. I pulled off my shoes and socks and dangled my feet in the water. At first I jumped a little, surprised by how chilly the water was on such a sunny, warm day. Eventually, I got used to it and sat there, dipping my feet in the cool, dark water, watching the ripples spread over the glassy surface.

"Hey, move!" I turned and saw someone standing over Severus and Lily under the beech tree. They were the two idiots from Potions. They looked like they were trying to chase Severus and Lily away. "Why do you hang out with this dirty Slytherin, Evans?" asked one boy. He had very untidy black hair and wore glasses. He looked haughty and a little mean. The other boy had longer, wavier hair that rippled down his back with a sort of elegance most girls could only dream of. He had an air of cruel indifference about him. "You could be hanging out with your own house, you know. You don't have to hang out with little Snivellus," the short-haired boy added.

"Go away, Potter," Lily snapped at the boy with the glasses. "I can hang out with whoever I want."

Potter glared at her. "Fine! Be like that, then! Maybe that stupid old hat should have thought a little harder before it sorted you! Come on, Sirius!" He spun around, and the wavy-haired boy sauntered after him. They disappeared into the castle, shoving a Slytherin boy aside as they passed. I walked over to the beech tree, carrying my shoes and socks.

"Jeez, what was their problem?" I asked. I sat down and pulled on my socks and shoes. Lily looked angry. She must really hate that boy. Severus looked nervous and a little upset. I sat down and leaned back against the tree. I pulled up the grass, bored. I looked up. I could see the mountains. They loomed up in the distance, purple and sharp against the blue sky. It was a calming scene. Then it was time to go back inside. I reluctantly trudged up to the castle, lagging behind Lily and Severus, who had engaged in conversation again.

History of magic was perhaps the most boring class I've ever sat through. For one thing, it had no actual magical relevance, unless you actually wanted to know a horde of useless information. For another, the teacher was dead. Literally. His name was Professor Binns and he was a ghost. He acted like he had no idea he was dead. He droned on through the lesson as if he were addressing himself. I don't think he would have noticed if no one even showed up to his class. His voice was like a sleeping spell cast upon all of us. Lily took notes, and Severus and I tried, but ten minutes into class, I saw Severus passed out cold on his desk and was slowly drifting off myself. Lily shook us awake after class and scolded us both for falling asleep. We ignored her as we all ambled up to Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

This class was only slightly more interesting than History. The teacher was an old man in perhaps his fifties or sixties. He had short gray hair that stuck up in places. He had a frail frame and shook with age, but had a surprisingly loud voice. He introduced himself as Professor Crook. We spent the entire class reading and taking notes on Doxies, little fairies with poisonous claws.

By supper, I was ready to give up. It was just too hard. I was beginning to realize that, despite the fact that my mother was a witch and that things used to explode around me when I was little, I had absolutely no magical abilities. I was not a Witch. I was just a freak. I took a few bites of my baked potato and sighed. I stood up.

"Where are you going?" Asked Severus.

"I just need some fresh air." I walked out of the Great Hall and went to the second floor. I wandered aimlessly for about an hour and a half. Then I figured that supper was over , so I went back downstairs. I found the teachers' lounge and knocked nervously. The door opened and Professor McGonagall peered out at me.

"Yes? What is it, dear?" She opened the door a little wider and looked down at me.

"I-I need…" I hesitated, but I knew I was doing the right thing. "I need to see the headmaster, please."