I paused for a long while, but I couldn't seem to understand what he was saying. When he saw that his message hadn't quite gotten through, he shrugged.

"Something to think about." was all he said, and I knew at that moment that the meeting was over. I thanked him and left quickly. Lineage? Who am I linked to? Snape, the head of our house? Or the great Salazar Slytherin himself

No, it would be impossible to be related to Slytherin himself. It was to be learnt upon joining the Slytherin house the family tree of its founder. Salazar Slytherin had married Cadmus Pevrell, and they had spawned many generations past that, however, the death of Tom Marvolo Riddle in 1998 eternally ended his stretch into modern civilization. There were no more Slytherins.

So what did he mean by that? I couldn't figure it out. Of course, Dumbledore was a great man, but I began to wonder if perhaps he was losing it slightly in his old age.

I walked through the corridor and back to the great hall, an arm became linked in mine and another step took up stride beside mine. It was Stella, of course.

"Why were you in Dumbledore's office?" she asked, her voice mischievous, expecting the worst of me in an excited way. I shook my head and giggled.

"No, no, nothing I did, just checking I was all settled in. And something about lineage..." I

dropped that in hoping that Stella could enlighten me without me giving too much away. To my surprise, she gave a little 'humph' at the mention of the word.

"What is it?" I asked teasingly, trying to hide my legitimate interest.

"It's just a funny topic considering our dorm. It was Slytherin's original room, and every one of his heirs have stayed in it since. All of the House of Gaunt and even Tom Marvolo Riddle himself!"

A stroke of dumb luck. I will not try and pin this on my intellect, pre-cognition or anything of the sort. Stella's telling me all this was a stroke of complete and pure luck.

I acknowledged the news with no more than an intelligent nod before our conversation turned to how unbearably cute Cormac McLaggen was, although in my mind the boy was a thorough pig, Stella (among most other girls) had a somewhat obscene obsession. It reminded me of Justin Bieber.

That night, when all the girls had fallen asleep, I crept out of bed to inspect the room.

"Lumos" I said, watching as a small orb of light flickered to life. I slowly began to examine the room. I started under the rug, lifting up every floorboard I could prise open, but finding nothing. I then checked under the beds, but still nothing. I looked inside the cupboards and on the door, I searched every nook and cranny, but whatever I was hoping to find was not in this room.

With the trail cold, I whispered "Nox", and then collapsed back into my bed and fell asleep.

It was the next day in Defense Against the Dark Arts that I realized if I ever was faced with dark magic, I might as well lie down on the floor and die then and there. My lack of magical schooling in the past bonded with Umbridge and her aversion to practical magic meant that I had never done any of the spells we had been reading about in the textbook.

I had heard whisperings, however, of a dark arts club, despite 'EDUCATIONAL DECREE NUMBER TWENTY FOUR' which stated that no clubs could be held any longer. The club was called DA, like 'Dumbledore's Army', to throw any unwanted Slytherins off the trail.

I heard about it in Divination. I was sitting next to a new friend, Marietta Edgecombe, who was beside herself with worry over the meeting to be held today, October 5th. She kept seeing Umbridge's face in her tea leaves, and someone reporting them in the Hog's Head in the crystal ball. I sat with her trying to deter her from going, to give her some peace of mind, but the more I heard about it, the more I began to think maybe it was a good idea.

When we were then allowed out to Hogsmead, I accompanied Marietta to the Hog's Head and listened with her to the explanation of how the club would work. Before I came up to sign my name, however, I hastily removed my Slytherin tie and jumper, hoping nobody would notice me. It did little, as my long blonde hair is quite a trademark.

As I walked up, I was grabbed roughly by the arm. Katie Bell had caught me.

"Get out of here, squib-girl," she said, and although her voice was low and menacing it seemed to ring out so that everybody in the tavern turned to look at me. Twenty eight pairs of eyes with hatred burning in them.

"Look, I don't mean any harm, I just want to learn magic, same as all of you." they weren't buying it. I sighed. "You said it yourself, I'm a squib girl. I lived as a muggle most of my life, I barely know simple charms forget any kind of defense against dark arts. You all heard the sorting hat. Our Hogwarts is in danger! I just want to protect it and myself, like the rest of you."

The room was silent for the longest three seconds I have ever experienced, until I heard from somewhere in the back, "She's telling the truth!" it was Marietta, of course, but little trusted her until Terry Boot, who helped me as best he could in Arithmancy spoke up.

"I believe her too!" he shouted. With that, all the people I chatted to idly in class from different houses began to speak. I found myself with a vast amount of friends, and a few enemies, as within the shouts were also shouts of distaste. Finally, Hermione Granger, who clearly had a major hand in the whole operation, stepped forward.

"Everybody, we all know Angeline." she said, tentatively taking my hand and holding it up. I must not act like a muggle. "She's on our side."

It was decided then. Signing my name as Hannah Abbott in case any Slytherins found out (and with permission from everybody else) I received my galleon and became the twenty-ninth member of Dumbledore's Army.