CHATPER FIVE

Dumbledore had made a speech about something like a painful death and all that. Seriously? He allowed something that harm, no kill, the students who were under his protection to stay in the school? My, my, he was even more dangerous and crazy than she first thought. How no one even questioned him, she would never know. But then again, whatever it was that was in this corridor, he had just made the students even more intrigued with his little speech if she could take for example the look that some very identical gingers had. Lyra did not know if it was carelessness or if it was actually voluntary.

Frowning, the young girl directed her attention to the feast which had just appeared on the table and began filling her plate with different dishes that caught her eyes. But before she could began eating, a hand was presented in front of her. Lyra looked up and saw a pretty young girl with brown hair in front of her.

"Hello, I am Daphne Greengrass from the House of Greengrass, it is nice to meet you.

-Lyra Edonna Potter-Black from the Houses of Potter and Black, it is a pleasure, Miss Greengrass", she answered while shaking the offered hand.

She had decided with the Malfoys to not reveal all her parentage right form the start, it was a card she would like to keep to herself until the right time, it wasn't as if being the heiress of the Potter and Black families was was some laughable thing already.

She turned to a dark skinned boy on her left who had decided to follow the Greengrass heiress' example and introduced himself.

"Blaise Zabini from the House of Zabini."

So this was the son of the infamous Mrs Zabini, the woman who had strangely been widowed seven times, while inheriting all her late husbands gold, of course. Looking at him, there was little doubt that he would be as much as a heart-breaker as his mother was when he grew up.

"Theodore Nott from the House of Nott", said a pale and thin boy siting in front of Draco and Greengrass' left.

And the son of the suspected Death Eater, Mr Nott. For an heir of one the Sacred Twenty-Eight, he did not seem as snobbish as Draco and as cold as Miss Greengrass to strangers, just distant with an air of intense boredom.

"Pleasure to meet you both", Lyra said with a smile and a nod to the both of them.

The newly made first year then turned her attention to the last persons in their year that were siting next to the only girl she had talked for now. She might not have met any of the Pure-Blood children of her age or older since she rarely went outside – we wouldn't want anyone to recognize her (even if the British wizards never truly met her), a simple accident and they could see her scar and every careful step taken would be for naught – but she knew of them.

"Millicent Bulstrode from the House of Bulstrode."

This black-haired half-blood girl could be described as quite intimidating for other people since she has a large and square build and seemed tall even if she was siting, taller than Lyra without a doubt. Lyra could never be able to say the girl was pretty, but there was something that made you look twice at her to identify what actually caught your eyes.

"Tracey Davis", said the girl next to Bulstrode.

There was not a lot to say about this one, compared to the other two girls, she did not have the beauty or the appearance to caught the attention of people. Lyra went through the same motion that she did with the other two boys and smiled and nodded to them.

It just left one last girl to meet.

"My name is Pansy Parkinson of the Parkinson's House, a pleasure to meet the so elusive Girl-Who-Lived. Did you know most of the wizards expected you to be in Gryffindor just like your parents?

-Nice to meet you too, Miss Parkinson. And to answer you, it is their problem and not mine, I am certainly not going to live my life like they want me to do just to please them. I am my own person after all", the young girl told her with a little smirk.

Since the introduction seemed finished, the young Potter returned to her slowly cooling down meal and started eating.

The dinner went smoothly, the food was great and she actually seemed to enjoy the conversation with her year mates even if she talked more to Draco. Maybe she would not have as much as a problem as she thought to spend time with them.

The girl saw the Headmaster looking at her with a frown more than once during the whole meal, she was prepared to that, what she did not expect was the glances the professor situated on Severus' left threw to her, he seemed puzzled and contemplative like she was the biggest mystery he had been presented with for a long time. She decided to ignore it for the time being thinking he was reacting just like the others: surprised that their Savior was sorted in the House of the snakes.

Lyra stood up when the two Slytherin's Prefects asked the first year to follow them. Without a single glance back to the Head table, Lyra went out of Great Hall and down the stairs the dungeons' level to their common room.

The group of first year with the Prefects finally stopped in front of a stone wall which would appear quite plain and out of the ordinary if it wasn't for the discreet snake carved into it, not that everyone could see it.

"This is the entrance of the Slytherin Dungeon, to enter it you need the password which change every 15 days and is posted on the noticeboard inside the common room, if you do not have the new password or you have forgotten it you will not be able to get in and have to wait for someone to come through or to arrive. So we do not have to tell you to pay close attention to the switch. And more importantly, while I am sure you do not need us to tell you this", the male Prefect began with a pointed look that clearly said we better listen carefully and remember it, "do not give the exact location of our common room and do not give in any way, shape or form our password to outsider, am I clear?

-Yes, all the first year said in synch.

-Right, so the current password is 'Pure-Blood' ", said the female Prefect before turning toward the wall who was now revealing the way to the common room.

Lyra rolled her eyes at the very Slytherin like password, how very obvious of them, before following the teenage girl.

Upon entering it you could clearly see that it was a dungeon-like room with greenish lamps and chairs. You could clearly see that it extended itself under the Black lake with the windows situated almost everywhere, giving a green tinge to the light in the room. There were a lot of dark wood cupboards and low backed black and dark green button-tufted, leather sofas in the whole common room, but the ones which seemed the most comfortable were the ones in front of the big fireplace with beautiful carved snakes and an imposing dark well crafted portrait of a handsome man above it. The place of power were the most influencing person were siting without a doubt. The walls were decorated with tapestries featuring the adventures of famous Medieval Slytherins. It was a beautiful room with quite a grand atmosphere, some might say it was also a cold one but she would not agree with them.

Lyra's attention went back to the two Prefects when the female one began talking again.

"This will be your new home, and the persons in your House, your new family, if you ever need something, come see us or any of the older teens and we will try to help you." The common room opened just at this moment, allowing the students to see Severus entering it with his flowing black robes. "Now, listen carefully to your new Head of House, Professor Snape", she finished before leaving with her colleague after the said man nodded to them.

He stopped in front of them and looked at them one by one with his penetrating dark eyes before he began talking.

"Just like she said, my name is Severus Snape, potions professor and your Head of House, I demand you to put the right amount of respect when you will address me, I do not have any patience for disrespectful dunderheads and I will not tolerate them in my own House, I have already enough of them outside of it. I expect you to be in time on class, to do your homework and take your studies seriously. Do not bring shame to our House, we are already seen as the world's plague, we do not need you to act like some stupids Gryffondors and exacerbate our problem", he told them with a heated glare. "If there is a problem come see me or the Prefects. If there is some tension with someone in your House, settle it in the common room and outside of it make sure to stand for each other because no one else will do it, it is you against them, do remember it, you are now a family, act like one, if not inside these walls than outside of them. Now onto some rules for you: the curfew for you is 8.30 pm, you are not to be out of the common room after that time, the first class start at 9 am which is signaled by a bell, the dormitories are not mixed, I do not want to find out some of you did not respect this rule, and trust me, I will know. Your schedule will be handed out to you at breakfast, which start at 7.30 pm until the start of class. Now, it must has been a tiring day for you all, you should head to your room, the stairs to the left lead to the Boys' Dormitories and the one one the right to the Girls'. Now off to bed with you, I will see you all tomorrow. Welcome to Slytherin and I hope you will enjoy your time here, good night", and with these words he turned and made his way back to the entrance.

The young children separated themselves, the boys to the left staircase and the girls to the right, just like Severus instructed them. The girls just had to climb one level of the staircase and they were in front of the first year dormitory. Miss Davis opened the door and the five girls entered their room for the following year. It was a large room were they could see five ancient four-posters beds with green silk hangings, at the end of them, put on the floor, were their trunk meaning their bed were already assigned. In the right of every beds were bedside table made of the same dark wood from the cupboard in the common room and each of them had a walk-in closet. On the ceilings were hanging silver lanterns which were illuminating the whole room. In one of the corner there was a door which certainly lead to their shared bathroom.

Lyra was to tired to begin unpacking, she just opened her trunk, took out some pajamas and her toiletries and went to the bathroom to clean and changer herself before going to bed.

Before she laid in bed, she remembered that Narcissa asked Draco and her to write to her just after the Sorting, but she decided she would see to that tomorrow, there was no way for her to send it even if she wrote it now, she would talk to Tom later too. She fell asleep just as she touched her pillow.