A/N: Here's a short note to thank teacher123 :)

Chapter Seven

After they had been well fed and watered (and after being treated to a wonderful assortment of puddings), the headmaster stood again. The hall once again fell silent. "Now, there are a few start-of-term notices I have yet to give you before I let you find your comfortable four-poster beds. Firstly, first years should take note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden and I would also like to remind a few of our older students too," his eyes glanced in James' direction for a second. "Also, let me remind you that magic is not to be used between classes in the corridors and there is a curfew for different years, the caretaker would be very grateful if you would follow those rules." The headmaster continued for a few minutes before clearing his throat and saying "now it is time for bed, please follow your house Prefects to your dormitory and have a good night's sleep. Goodnight!"

Rae, Albus, Rose and James grouped together and followed the rest of their house toward the Gryffindor dormitory. As they began to climb the marble staircase, Rae looked over the banister and saw Scorpius heading toward the dungeons with his house. Their eyes met for the smallest fraction of a second and she smiled at him, not sure whether she got a smirk or a nervous smile in reply. This lay on her mind quite heavily, as she didn't start when they passed hundreds of moving portraits or when the staircase they had just stepped off began to slide to the left. She didn't really notice that they had been lead more than once behind tapestries and doorways hidden behind sliding panels in the walls. Indeed, Albus had to grab her arm to stop her walking into the Prefect in front of them when they came to a halt at the end of the corridor.

Before them was a large portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress, she looked at the first years with a little smile. "Password?" she said. The Prefect replied: "Ignotus!" and the portrait swung open, revealing a round hole in the wall. The students clambered through it, though the smallest ones went first as they needed a leg-up. Through the hole was a cosy round room filled with squashy armchairs and lit by the flickering fire.

The Prefect pointed the girls through one door and the boys through another. Rae and Rose said goodnight to James and Albus before following the three other girls through the door and up a spiral staircase to their dormitory. Five luxurious-looking four-poster beds with red velvet hangings awaited them. Their trunks had already been bought up. Rae chose the bed closest to the tall window and Rose occupied the one beside it. No one talked much; they all seemed to be too tired, so changed into their pyjamas and climbed into bed.

Rose fell asleep straight away like the other girls, but Rae lay awake. Thoughts of Scorpius and Albus clouded her mind, and her uncle and Scorpius' father. Would her uncle have wanted her to be in Slytherin, would he disapprove of her being in Gryffindor? Would Scorpius want to be her friend now that she was in this house, portraying everything that his father hated in a witch or wizard? After a couple of hours and a pounding headache, Lexxie curled up by Rae's ear and licked her comfortingly on the cheek. Rae smiled at her kitten and, soon, they both fell to sleep.

*

The next morning, Rae awoke to someone shaking her shoulder. Rose was stood by her bedside, already dressed in her robes and brandishing her wand. "Come on! We have to find our way to breakfast in fifteen minutes and I haven't done your hair yet!" Rae didn't really want to get out of bed, but, feeling that Rose would soon use her wand on her instead of her hair, Rae thought it was best to comply. As Rae dressed in a long sleeved white shirt, black jeans and began pulling on her black and white converse boots, she heard Rose tapping her foot on the floor. Quickly, Rae slipped on her robes and turned to face Rose, who said "finally!" in a very impatient voice.

Lexxie had fought very valiantly to follow Rae to breakfast, but she hadn't thought bringing a cat to class would be a good idea so told Lexxie very clearly that she would come back at lunch and dinner to visit. Moments later, Rose was almost kicking Rae out of the common room, saying that they were going to miss breakfast. Luckily, James was only just leaving the common room, looking very tired and failing to stifle a yawn as he brushed a hand through his already messy hair. "Mornin'" he said.

The girls followed him to the great hall, where Albus was already saving them seats and tucking in to a bowl of porridge. They all greeted each other before getting their own breakfast. Rae was especially glad to see she could get a cup of tea and helped herself to a few slices of toast, spreading her jam generously.

Not long afterwards, the head of house, (professor Niddan) began to hand out timetables. She was a very kindly looking lady who was hardly ever seen without a smile. Her chocolate-coloured hair was tied into a loose ponytail, the curls falling over her little shoulders. Rae and Rose looked at their timetables together, they had Charms first, then Transfiguration, History of Magic and Defence against the Dark Arts. Rae felt a smile come to her lips; professor Moreau taught Defence against the Dark Arts. Suddenly, a groan from Rose woke Rae from her thoughts.

"We have D.A.D.A with the Slytherins, you have to be kidding," Rose moaned. Rae looked back at her timetable and, sure enough, underneath 'Defence against the Dark Arts' read 'Slytherins' in brackets. Rae bit her lip; finally she'd be able to see how Scorpius was going to act around her now she was in Gryffindor.

*

Charms was a very fun lesson, their teacher was a dumpy little wizard with a thin moustache and a wispy white beard. His aged, wrinkled face and watery blue eyes were very kind, and when he walked it appeared as though springs were attached to the balls of his feet. His name was professor Higgins and he spoke rather loudly for an ageing man. Transfiguration took place with professor Niddan and they proved to be interesting also. Although she was very protective of her lesson and wouldn't hear of them having too much fun; the first half of the lesson saw them vigorously copying down notes until they were finally able to try and turn a matchstick into a needle. Unfortunately, the only one who managed this was Rose – though Rae was happy to see her matchstick was sharp and was a little bit shiny.

At lunch, Rose, Rae and Albus settled down underneath a Beech tree after they had done eating. It wasn't too cold that day so they decided to stay outside and talk about their first lesson, and how much they were dreading Defence against the Dark Arts. Rae had decided not to tell them about professor Moreau, she didn't think they'd find it too interesting. As well as that, she was battling the fear that Scorpius would ignore her and the weirdness of finally calling Abel by his surname. When the bell rang, they headed for History of Magic.

This lesson was taught by a ghost, which Rae found a little strange. His name was professor Binns and, according to more knowledgeable students, he had been resting by the fire in the staff room a long time ago when he had died in his sleep. The next morning, he had woken up and gone to teach, leaving his body behind him. It was easily the most boring lesson, professor Binns droned on in a deep, monotone voice whilst they copied down endless notes and mixed almost everything up. Rae wasn't surprised to see that the only student who wasn't almost falling asleep was Rose, no one knew how she did it, but the girl simply could resist the temptation to close her eyes and ignore the drone of the ghost.

When Defence against the Dark Arts rolled around, Rae realised that her heart was beating rather quickly. She didn't know what had caused it, because there were many things tied to this lesson, but for some reason, it felt as if her heart was going to burst out of her chest.

"Well, here we go," Albus muttered when they turned the corner to approach the room. The Slytherins were already lined up outside, awaiting the teacher, and Rae, rather involuntarily, was the first to join the queue, directly behind the Zabini siblings and Scorpius. She turned her back to them quickly, hoping that they hadn't seen her. She had hoped to speak to Scorpius on his own during the lesson, not surrounded by everyone!

"Trust us to have to share this lesson with those damn Gryffindors," the male Zabini said disdainfully. "I think I'd rather sit through double History of Magic."

Rae heard Scorpius laugh, "of course you would, Demitri, it's hardly painstaking when all you do is sleep," the girl laughed at this, too.

"Morning class," a familiar voice called out from the classroom, "sorry to keep you waiting. If you'd like to come in and take a seat, we'll get started," the class filed into the room. Rae casually dropped to the back of the line and followed her friends in, glancing up at Abel and blushing as he smiled at her. Rose, Albus and Rae took seats on the right near the window, Scorpius and his friends were one row in front of them at the far left end of the classroom. "Well then, as we're all settled, let's begin. This year we'll start with the simpler things like defending yourself against small-scale spells and also we'll be learning about various dark creatures and how to protect yourself against them. Obviously, we won't be doing anything difficult so a majority of counter-curses will have to wait until later years, and of course we'll be starting with the most common of dark creatures and, unfortunately, you'll have to wait until next year to actually see them in person. However, I'm sure that won't stop us having a bit of fun, will it?" he smiled at them.

They began on theory mostly, with professor Moreau showing them movements and demonstrating spells. Rae noticed that he dressed very well in both Muggle and wizard clothes. His robes looked brand new, deep ivory black with charcoal grey trimmings. His shoes were polished and shiny and his charcoal grey cloak (matching to his robes) was also brand new and was draped over his chair.

By the end of the lesson, everybody was at least a little excited for the next one. Even though they weren't doing anything practical yet, they knew that the more they learnt, the more professor Moreau would trust them to be able to do practical things. Rae was shoving everything back into her bag when a loud ripping sound made her roll her eyes. She'd ripped more parchment that day than was good for her stock. Pulling out the ruined parchment, she crossed the room and threw it in the bin, grumbling as she turned.

"Ah!" she yelped, stumbling backwards. Whoever she walked into gasped and grabbed her wrist, pulling her up before she hit the floor. "I'm so sorry! Thank you so-" she stopped. Scorpius was standing before her and quickly averted his eyes, looking uncomfortable. "…Much." She finished, gulping. "Um… hey, Scorpius!" she smiled. He still didn't look at her.

"H-hi," he stuttered, looking back to his table, "I've gotta go, Ren wants me," he said quickly and rushed back to his friends. Rae looked after him, frowning, and noticed that the boy called Demitri Zabini was watching her. When her eyes caught his, he smirked and turned away. "And I'll bet everything I own that little brat Scorpius will be a Slytherin, just like his dad. Both of them are going to be as slimy as each other, I bet!" Rae remembered how James' words had angered her and she had wanted to tell them about how nice Scorpius was to her, how she would be in Slytherin and be best friends with him… well, she couldn't say Scorpius was slimy, but he certainly wasn't entertaining the idea of being friends with her.

Rae sighed. "Damn Slytherins."

Chapter Eight Preview:

This didn't seem to be good enough for Scorpius, as he grabbed her hand and pulled her to face him. Rae noticed that his cheeks were almost glowing pink.