Chapter 5 - Revelations
Sophia could feel the eyes of the entire great hall on her as she sat down at the Slytherin table. They ranged from inquisitive looks from Ravenclaw, to disbelief from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, and hatred from the rest of her own table. Even several of the staff were looking at her. McGonagall had her eyes rather wide from what she could see. Dumbledore was looking at her with interest too. But the one which intrigued her most was the professor dressed all in black, who seemed to be staring at her with ambivalence. She ignored the people around her as she watched the rest of the sorting ceremony, seeing Hermione go into Gryffindor after sitting there for four minutes. After completely ignoring Dumbledore's speech, she was happy to see that at least her table had manners whilst eating, for it seemed the others were completely bereft of such things, especially the redhead Weasley from the train.
The cold atmosphere that surrounded her with the other Slytherins didn't disappear when they were shown to the common room by the year five prefects. When they entered to the password of Basilisk, they saw Professor Snape standing there, along with the other prefects. As the door finally shut, he began to speak. "Welcome to Slytherin house. In a moment, the prefects here will go over the rules of this house. But before they do, listen well. In this house, to the outside world, we present a united front. Your disagreements stay in these walls. No-one walks on their own. Ms Armitage, a word please." He moved to a dark corner of the room, away from the students who were talking amongst themselves.
"Yes sir, is there a problem?" Snape stares down at Sophia.
"Yes there is Ms Potter." As Snape said her old name, Sophia's eyes darkened. "I don't know what you're used to, but you won't have any pampering here. Don't expect special treatment."
"Trust me sir, I'll won't be much trouble. Unless you call me Potter again, then we will have a problem."
"Don't you threaten me Potter."
"And you shouldn't play a game you cannot win professor." The two stared at each other, not noticing the silence coming from the other students as they attempted to listen in.
"Go and listen to the prefects, Ms Armitage." It was then that Sophia noticed the silence from the other students. With a last glance at Snape, Sophia headed back over to the group of Slytherins. The older male prefect then spoke.
"We will now send you to your rooms, along with your assigned roommate. You will sleep in the same room, you will go to all places together, you will not let the other out of your sight. No matter the distaste you have for them." The last phrase was said with his eyes on Sophia, who rolled her eyes. She was getting bored by how often they had to make it obvious that they didn't like her. The female eldest then spoke.
"Sophia Armitage, you are with Daphne Greengrass. I suggest you go now and get settled in." Sophia moved up the stairs that were indicated, followed by a blonde girl with ice blue eyes, feeling the glares from Malfoy and all the others as she went up.
As Sophia found her suitcases already in the room, she examined the dark room in which she was now to sleep for the next few months. A window looked out to what she believed to be under the water of the lake. With no light, she could barely see anything out of it. She heard the door of their room close, but took no notice of it until she felt the air directly behind her move. Sophia spun around and grabbed the other girl's arm, twisting it harshly and drawing Greengrass closer to her.
"And what do you think you're up to?" She inquired, twisting Daphne's arm harder.
"I was just going to ask which bed you wanted."
"Don't try and lie to me. We both know that isn't true." Daphne was thrown to the floor by Sophia, who reached into her robes and pulled her gun out. She aimed it at Daphne. "So, shall we try that again?" Daphne was clearly no fool, as she quickly answered.
"I was going to show you your place, underneath me." Sophia laughed coldly.
"I think we both know that is no longer happening." Daphne nodded, and Sophia slipped her gun away, but continued to look at Daphne on the floor. "Now that we know which one of us is on top..." Sophia trailed off, before moving her hand down to help Daphne up. "I'm Sophia Armitage, pleasure to meet you." Daphne reached to take it, and Sophia pulled her to her feet.
"Daphne Greengrass. Charmed." Daphne moved to her bed on the far side as both began to get ready for bed, and for the first day of classes tomorrow.
Sophia was woken by Daphne moving loudly around half past six. She got up quietly, and removed her gun from under the pillow. Daphne looked at her.
"Why do you sleep with that under there? No one can kill you here." Sophia shrugged.
"You can't be too careful. Besides you saw the looks I was getting yesterday. I don't feel all that safe." Daphne nodded, before they got ready and headed down the stairs to the common room, to find it empty.
"They aren't up yet, apparently, not as good as us."
"Why do you get up so early?" Sophia asked, and Daphne shrugged.
"Don't know, I just like to get things done in a day."
"Fair enough." Sophia looked around the empty common room. "Well, I'm hungry and I'm not waiting for everyone else. We should go to breakfast." Sophia walked straight out the door, and Daphne shrugged before following Sophia through.
When Sophia and Daphne arrived at the Great Hall, they found it mostly empty, except for a few of the older Ravenclaws, and Hermione. She was sitting all alone at the Gryffindor table, looking quite tired. But when Hermione saw them, she waved them over, and Sophia led Daphne to the Gryffindor table. As they headed over, Sophia noticed Snape and Dumbledore talking intensely, Dumbledore occasionally looking over at her. Snape scowled for less than a second, and then started walking towards Sophia and Daphne just before they sat down near Hermione. He handed them their timetables.
"I would advise both of you to remove yourselves before the others arrive. You do not want to be seen with our main antagonists, fine as this one may be." Sophia and Daphne got the message, and they moved away from the Gryffindor table and towards their own. Sophia looked over to Hermione and saw that she was looking at Snape as if he had just personally insulted her. It wasn't long before the rest of Slytherin house filed in. But it wasn't until towards the end of breakfast that the Gryffindors emerged. Almost immediately the hall became almost so loud that you couldn't hear yourself think. Sophia and Daphne looked at each other, before agreeing silently to leave the hall. They stood up and found that the rest of the first year Slytherins stood up with them. Sophia shrugged at Daphne, before leaving the hall with the first years behind them.
They waited inside the transfiguration classroom for some time, waiting for the Gryffindor's to arrive. It seemed that, even though they had just finished charms, the house of the lions still couldn't be on time, except Hermione. It was only a few seconds before the class started that the rest of the lion house arrived, though Sophia almost commented on the two vacant chairs still in the room. As McGonagall started them off by giving them a chapter from their book to see if they could understand the theory. There were a few gasps around the room as their teacher turned herself into a cat, but afterwards the class by and large were able to concentrate on their books. Hermione was sitting behind Sophia and Daphne, and the three were about to start a whispered conversation with each other, before the ginger boy, Weasley, and another Gryffindor came through the doors of the classroom.
"It looks like the professor hasn't arrived yet." The Weasley boy said. His friend nodded along. McGonagall, still in car form, reverted to her stern look.
"Perhaps I should turn one of you into a pocket watch. Then at least one of you will be on time."
"We got lost." Weasley offered pitifully.
"Then perhaps a map. I trust you don't need one to find your seats." Sophia couldn't hold back a small snicker at the misfortune of the ginger boy who had annoyed her so much on the train here. "Ms Potter, please control yourself." McGonagall turned to look at her before she realised the mistake that she made. Everyone looked at Sophia in shock, even the Slytherins within the room. Sophia was looking at McGonagall with pure anger not only in her eyes, but all over her face.
"Professor, I want to speak to the headmaster." McGonagall tried to get a word in. "Immediately." Sophia picked up her things and stormed out of the room, leaving McGonagall trailing behind her.
McGonagall had eventually caught up with Sophia, who had not been able to find the way to Dumbledore's office. McGonagall kept quiet during the walk to the office. She knew not only that Sophia was incredibly annoyed, but also that Dumbledore would not be happy about this either. They finally arrived at a statue in a corridor that Sophia had not been down before now.
"Chocolate Frog." McGonagall said with an annoyed air. She expected Sophia to laugh slightly at the password, but was disconcerted to see almost no reaction from her. McGonagall went up the slowly rotating stairs first, followed very quickly by her charge. She didn't bother to knock as she entered the office, knowing that Dumbledore would already know that they were there.
"Minerva, what is this about?" Dumbledore barely finished his sentence before Sophia came in and sat down. "Ahh, Ms Armitage. Lemon Sherbet?" He offered the bowl to Sophia, who polietly refused his offer.
"Headmaster, I need to complain about Professor McGonagall's conduct. I do not appreciate my former name being used in class." Dumbledore gave a sideways look to McGonagall.
"I see. I had hoped to give you more time to settle in." Sophia's brow furrowed.
"What exactly do you mean by that Headmaster?"
"Sophia, I believed when you were younger that you would have been safest with the relatives of your parents." Dumbledore started. Sophia's face had an even darker look than it had held when she walked in.
"You're the one who left me with the Dursley's?" A look of what could only be described as immense anger emerged onto Sophia's face. "What gave you the right to do that!" Sophia shouted, so enraged that she couldn't control her own emotions. Dumbledore was taken aback by the viciousness that came across from the young girl in front of him.
"My dear, I did it with the best of intentions." Sophia sneered at his attempted excuse.
"That just tells me that you have nothing Headmaster." She stood up, leaning on his desk. "I'd wanted my past to remain in the past, but apparently that is not allowed here." Sophia left the office quickly, the door to the office slamming behind her. McGonagall sat down in the now vacated chair, resting her head in her hand.
"I apologise Albus. This was my slip of the tongue."
"It is no matter Minerva. She was going to learn sometime. And an apology does no good anymore." He picked a sherbet out of his bowl. "I feel that we may all be bombarded tomorrow with the Daily Prophet announcing the Girl-Who-Lived has been found. We will need to help her here." McGonagall nodded.
"I'll go and speak to Severus about seeing her." Albus nodded as she left the office, still thinking over the anger that had been in the girl.
Later that day, Sophia was walking with Daphne back to the Slytherin common room. They were whispering to each other, with the looks of everyone else in the halls aimed at Sophia.
"I know you're annoyed, but don't pull that thing out whatever happens."
"I'm not going to. The last thing I need today is a dead body in the hallways."
"I'm just saying. You pulled it out on me in less than a day. Keep cool."
"Fine, I promise not to pull a gun on the innocent little members of Slytherin." Sophia said sarcastically. Daphne gave her a look. "Oh fine, on any Slytherins. Happy now?" Daphne nodded, and they arrived at the door of Slytherin house. Upon their entry, they saw the other first years already there, with Malfoy at their head.
"Look everyone, its Potter. Too scared to use her real name." Sophia noticed several prefects around the room, none of whom made any movement as Malfoy approached her. "No one wants to help you here Potter." Sophia yawned in front of him.
"Don't you have anything better to do Malfoy? Is your life so dull that mocking me really entertains you?" As Malfoy sneered at her, and begun to turn around, Sophia moved forward and kneed him in the groin. Malfoy gave a small shriek as he collapsed to the floor. Sophia stood over him, as a couple of the prefects drew their wands. "Now you listen to me Malfoy. If you threaten me, or call me Potter again, I'm going to make you wish you hadn't been born." She knelt beside him. "That thing down there might go missing if you aren't careful." She whispered. As she stood back up, she looked directly at the other first years. "I will not take any threats from you, or anyone." With a last look down at Malfoy, she stepped over him and went up to her room, the crowd parting as she passed.
The next day was filled with a lot of chatter in the great hall during breakfast. Anyone who hadn't heard about Sophia now had. Apparently, someone had leaked it to the Daily Prophet, something that Sophia had that very moment decided to dislike immensely. But it helped that one person had slipped up in their interview with this Rita Skeeter woman. The name appeared there plain as day, Ron Weasley. She was giving murderous glares over to the Gryffindor table, to where the red-headed boy was sitting. Malfoy was quietly sitting a few places away.
"Hey Malfoy, feel like having some sort of fun with Weasley?" She asked sweetly, belying the amount of irritation that she was currently feeling with the boy. Malfoy looked at her curiously.
"What sort of fun?"
"I just feel that Mr Weasley needs to know exactly what happens when he plays with fire." A smirk crossed both of their faces.
"When and where?" Malfoy asked, eagerness permeating his voice.
Sophia, Daphne, and Draco were walking down towards potions when they saw Weasley. Hermione was already outside the door to potions, and the red-head was uncharacteristically early to the class. Crabbe and Goyle were following behind them. With a quick whistle from Draco, the two boys moved and grabbed Weasley, pushing him against the wall of the dungeons. Hermione didn't notice anything. Sophia took the middle space, right in front of him. Draco stood to her left, Daphne to her right.
"I suppose you think you were terribly clever. Trying to mess up my image in the press. You shouldn't have used your name in the paper." Weasley started stuttering.
"But you're a Potter. You should be in Gryffindor with me." Sophia swiftly punched him in the nose. Weasley slid down the wall, holding his nose as blood started flowing out of it.
"Don't call me Potter. Besides, I don't think Gryffindor is right for me. Too many idiots, right Draco?"
"Certainly Sophia, with weasels like this in the house, you aren't worth the mud from his house. How they afford so many children I will never know." Sophia looked coldly at Weasley as he struggled against the two burly boys holding him on the wall.
"Well, almost time for potions Daphne, Draco. Shame Weasley is going to be a bit late isn't it." Daphne and Draco started walking down to wards the classroom. "Boys, make sure Mr Weasley here learns the consequences of his actions sufficiently. I'd hate for him to make repeats of his mistake." Sophia walked down the hall after the other two Slytherins, Crabbe and Goyle dragging Weasley around one of the many corners in the dungeons. As she approached Hermione, Sophia heard very quiet sounds, almost as if someone was getting hit repeatedly. She needed to cover it up enough so Hermione wouldn't hear. "Hi Hermione, how have you been?"
During the potions class, Snape stayed relatively away from asking questions of the Slytherins. He embarrassed the boy who was usually with Weasley, before moving them on to the potion at hand. Daphne and Sophia were working together, with Hermione and a girl called Lavender working next to them. Sophia saw Draco preparing to throw something into Hermione's cauldron. She gave him warning look, which Draco recoiled from, before throwing towards Longbottom's cauldron. It missed, falling at the boy's feet, for which five points were subsequently taken from Gryffindor for wasting ingredients. Halfway through, Weasley stumbled through the door of the potions room. Snape immediately railed at him
"Weasley, get to the hospital wing now. Take him Longbottom. Five points from Gryffindor for messing the floors up." As Longbottom left to take Weasley out of the room, Snape looked around, noting the reactions of the students. Most of the class were shocked at seeing the bloody face of the boy come in. However, he looked at his own Slytherins, and saw one face almost have a smile. He knew then that Sophia was most likely behind it. But he had no proof. "What are you all waiting for, keep working." The incident would be talked about, but he was not going to let it interrupt his lesson.