Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (no duh) but I do own…uh…nope I got nothing

Ginevra sat across the table and two seats down from Harry Potter, something she would have been very glad about, had it been a couple of years ago. Now? Now it didn't matter to her in the slightest. It's true, she trailed behind the Golden Trio most of the time, but not because she wanted to, because Ron insisted on it, so as not to have a repeat of her first year at Hogwarts.

Of course it's not like they actually paid any attention to her anyway.

Sighing, she stared down at her empty plate, not the least bit hungry. All she wanted was for those stupid first years to hurry up so she could get out of there and away from everyone. It was as if they were all looking at her, all watching her every move, every twitch of every muscle in her body. Yet at the same time they all ignored her to such an extent where she as almost invisible.

Almost.

For despite what Ginevra believed they didn't all ignore her. A single pared of eyes did in fact watch her every move, while another pair of eyes looked at the former pair with amusement.

Even as the first years entered and were slowly sorted into their houses the smoky eyes did not waver.

Once the sorting was finally finished Dumbledore stood up to give his usual beginning of term speech.

Ginevra looked up at the person she currently thought to be one of the greatest wizards of all time, although she wasn't truly listening to what he was saying, or really looking at him at all while he prattled on. In the back of her mind she noted how all three members of the Golden Trio were looking at him in what can only be described as complete admiration and awe. Ginevra had no doubt that if Dumbledore were to tell any of the three to go dive down the bottom of the Great Lake, tie themselves to a big boulder and wait until they drowned, they most definitely would agree to do it with only the slightest wonder as to the old man's sanity.

In fact it was probable that most of Gryffindor would do the same along with a couple Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. It was amazing how much power Dumbledore had over them all. They were all just under his thumb like that.

Ginevra frowned at the realization.

They really were all under his thumb weren't they? After all, he was such a legend and known to be so powerful, there were very few who would dare to defy him. Ginevra was certain her parents would dream of it, and while Ginevra knew that Dumbledore was very old and said to be very smart and very powerful she also knew giving anyone the ability to control you like that was never a good idea.

Ginevra cringed remembering how Tom controlled her in a similar manner only much worse then Dumbledore could ever be.

Right?

Yet the question could not be answered at this time for Dumbledore seemed to be finishing his announcements and looked as if her were about to have all the food set up to the tables.

But just as the words were about to leave Dumbledore's mouth the sound of someone clearing their throat was heard. Ginevra looked to the side of the staff table to the small side door on the right.

The door was wide open and there stood Cathia Netwick giving Dumbledore a glare and a slight sneer.

"Ah yes, how could I forget," Dumbledore sounded exasperated with a tinge of regret as he continued, "We have a new student this year. Her name it Cathia Netwick and she will be starting in her Fifth Year here at Hogwarts. I expect you all to make her feel welcome, as I'm sure you all remember…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, they all get it. I'm new, their not, I'll be all alone in this pathetic thing they have the nerve to call a school and will need some cuddly wuddely friends to share my feeling with." It was all said with the perfect mix of a smirk and a sneer that only people related to Malfoy would ever be able to pull off.

Surprisingly Dumbledore did not retain his normal composure at her words and was obviously struggling to continue being polite. "Yes, well…shall we sort you now?"

Cathia laughed at this. "You really think I'm that stupid to fall for a parlor trick like this? Please, I knew what you were planning before you did, so believe me when I tell you that you can't get anything out of me with that silly old hat. Besides, I think it's pretty much a given where I'd be placed anyway."

Thoughts of confusion swirled though Ginevra's head. Was this really the same girl she had met on the train? But she had seemed so nice back then. Why was she being so rude to Dumbledore? Why was she acting like she was better then him?

Dumbledore stiffly nodded, the slightest scowl appearing on his face.

With footsteps that wrung throughout the silence of the Great Hall Cathia made her way over to the Slytherin table.

Everyone stared at her with a mixture of awe and trepidation all of them knowing that someone who had acted like that to Dumbledore couldn't be just anyone, or rather from just any family. I mean come on; even Malfoy didn't talk to Dumbledore like that!

Frowning, Ginevra stared at the girl who had been so nice to her on the train. Why was she acting this way? Was this what she was really like? Was the entire thing on a train…just an act? She was friends with Malfoy and Zabini after all.

The entire hall watched her as she sat down next to Zabini and across from Malfoy. As much as I would like to avoid clichés, had one of the students had a pin on them, and were that pin to drop, the sound would have been heard by everyone in the entire Great Hall. Well…almost everyone.

Slowly chatter started to emerge from the four tables before the Great Hall erupted in its usual sounds of loud cheerful voices and shrieking friends telling each other how much they were missed etc.

Ignoring uncomfortable feeling in her stomach that she was completely left out Ginevra noticed that sometime while she had been lost in her thoughts the tables had been filled with food from the kitchens.

Just wanting to get away from the sounds of happy friends Ginevra was about to get up and leave when she overheard part of the conversation the Golden Trio was having.

"Great, another Slytherin snake. And from the look of it she's Malfoy's friend too. This is just brilliant." Ron was grumbling through the food he had immediately stuffed in his mouth.

"You think she's in league with Voldemort?" Harry asked eagerly causing Ginevra to grimace, not because he had said Voldemort, but rather at her wonder at how she had ever been even the slightest bit interested in him. Did he ever think about anything but fighting the old creep?

"Well, we can't be sure. But after the way Dumbledore acted with her I'll bet she is. It was almost as if he was afraid of her."

"Come on Hermione, Dumbledore's not even afraid of You-Know-Who. There's no way he's scared of a over confident fifteen year old girl."

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know, she looks kind of intimidating; I think it's the eyes. I wonder how she got them that way?"

"Who cares about her eyes? I want to know why Dumbledore seemed to intimidated by her! If anyone else had spoken to him like that, I don't even want to think about what would happen to them." Harry insisted.

"Maybe she's from one of those families who could get Dumbledore sacked in seconds or something like that." Ron suggested.

Hermione nodded, not really paying attention. "Yeah, yeah. But, what do you think she meant when she refused to put on that hat? It was almost as if she was accusing Dumbledore of trying to get in her head and…well…I mean, Dumbledore would never do something like that, so what could she mean?"

"I don't know Mione, but whatever it was…well, whatever it I don't trust her. She screams of Voldemort, or at least the Dark Side."

Ron and Hermione nodded in agreement. All Ginevra could do was shake her head in disgust as she left. Did they honestly think it was right to accuse someone of being on the Dark Side before they even knew them?

It was true; nothing they had said had been a lie. She had been overly rude and arrogant towards Dumbledore, something no other student had dared to even think of doing. Yet Ginevra had a squeamish feeling that Dumbledore deserved far worse then he had gotten. Also she just couldn't forget how Cathia had acted on the train. She had seemed nice there and Ginevra was even considering her a potential friend, despite Cathia being friends with Malfoy and Zabini.

Sighing tiredly Ginevra wiped the thought from her head, not really wanting to bother with it at this time. She trudged up the many flights of stairs, until she reached the Fat Lady and realized that she didn't know the password.

With a scowl on her face worthy of any Slytherin she made a quick decision to head to the Room of Requirement instead.

Once arriving in front of the wall she thought about what she wanted…what did she want? Finally she came up with an answer.

'I want somewhere I can relax before the start of term without having to worry about all my problems'

She repeated the thought as she passed in front of the wall three times, grateful when the door appeared. Smiling slightly she realized that Harry had actually done something helpful last year; showing her where this room was.

Her heavy heart lightened slightly she stepped into a large room that she immediately fell in love with.

It was based on a dark blue theme with a small living area in one corner with a loveseat, a nice couch, a coffee table and a crackling fire. Over in the other corner was a medium sized desk with a quill, some ink and parchment. Lastly there was a large, fluffy, dark blue four-poster bed with dark blue curtains. It looked more inviting then Ginevra could ever imagine and she couldn't resist the temptation to run across the room and jump onto the comfy mattress.

Giggling in glee an immense wave of tiredness swept over Ginevra causing her eyes to glue shut and for her to blindly search for the end of the comforter, which she pulled up to her chin and smiled as she started to drift off.

As the lights dimmed it was as if the room itself was telling her to have a good rest.

Mean while Draco Malfoy sat at the Slytherin table with a scowl on his face. It had only been a few minutes and already she was getting on his nerves. And why the heck was Blaise smiling for goodness sakes?

"Oh come on Draco, you know you're glad I'm here! Just think about how boring it would be without me!" There she went again, barging into his mind as if she actually had the right.

"Boring? More like bloody peaceful." He grumbled in return, absolutely refusing to look at this in a positive way.

"Yeah, and then you'll get angry because it's so 'bloody peaceful' so you'd have to go and start up another fight with Potter and those other creeps, getting you in trouble or possibly expelled." Draco scowled at her reasoning, wishing she'd just go away.

Unfortunately for our blond Slytherin she did not, nor did she have any intention to. He sat through dinner listen to her and Blaise ramble on about the stupidest things that no one really cared about. When they finally got up to leave Draco had been so far away he hadn't even noticed. It took a couple snaps in the face and Cathia practically shouting his name to get him out of his reverie.

He followed them down the corridors, trailing behind slightly without even noticing what he was doing. Had he noticed, he would have berated himself for not acting like a leader in public. Of course he also would have noted the fact that he was currently with Cathia and Blaise who were his friends and were far from being below him. Were he to try and lead them around like someone would a dog on a leash he would have been on the ground in seconds. If there was one thing he had learned over the years was to never boss Cathia around, let alone treat her like she was trash.

When Draco finally did notice he was following them it was purely because he noticed they weren't going down to the dungeons like they should be, but rather up towards…well he wasn't quite sure at this moment.

"Wait, Cathia, where are we going?" he asked, confused.

Sighing, Cathia turned around with her hands on her hips. "Well Draco if you had been listening to anything I've been saying for the past half hour you would have heard me say that there was no I was ever sleeping in the same room as that pug-nosed creep, Pansy Parkinson nor any of the other Slytherin girls. So, as you would have heard were you paying attention, I have used my ingenious mind to mentally find one of the many unknown, hidden rooms in this place. We are now going to check said room out and see if it is compatible for my living style."

With that she fluidly turned around and walk off in the direction she had originally been going in, head held high.

Blaise gave Draco an annoyed look, "You know you really should listen to her more often," and jogged off to catch up to Cathia.

If there was anything that annoyed him about hanging out with both Cathia and Blaise at the same time it was that Blaise almost always agreed with Cathia.

And although he really didn't know where they were headed Draco had nothing better to do at the time so he decided to follow them. And follow them he did until he realized where they were headed: the Trophy Room.

Curiosity increasing he followed more eagerly until he noticed Cathia had stopped in front of one of the trophy cases. Looking over her shoulder he read a weird name he didn't recognize who won an award for…actually it didn't even say what the person had earned it for, it just said his name across the trophy, which was in the shape of a cup.

Cathia was staring through the protective glass, past the trophy and at the wall behind it. Draco frowned when he didn't see anything there.

Blaise looked at Cathia in confusion as she scrunched up her face in thought. He had no idea what she was doing, much less what she was thinking. There was nothing there, just some stupid trophy for a 'Brianithian Quelmerstizmek'. Weird name.

Cathia made a small 'hmphing' sound before nodding to herself. She licked her lips and…and… uhh…

That was where Blaise's train of thought came to an immediate stop. It was almost too much to bear with Cathia standing there, looking as hot as she always did and licking her lips like she was actually trying to torture. And honestly, Blaise wouldn't put that below her.

His thoughts turned more graphic as they progressed, going from pulling her towards him and lightly catching her lips to shoving her against the wall and ravishing her, Draco or no Draco.

Oh shit. He stopped short and gave Cathia a wary look to see if she had heard him. Luckily she seemed too concentrated on…well what ever she was trying to figure out to be concentrating on what he was thinking.

Blaise let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding just as Cathia spoke the words, "Cado Moenia Depono Urbs."

For a second Blaise struggled to figure out what it meant, as he had never been good at Latin, but he was interrupted by the scratching sound of rock on rock and was amazed to see that while the trophy case in front of them didn't move a centimeter the one three cases to the left did.

"Woah," he heard Draco say to the right of him, and he had to agree. The trophy case had slid over to the side and there was now a big gaping, door shaped hole where it had been before.

Cathia smirked, and Blaise could practically see her jumping up and down, clapping when he looked into her eyes. His heart swelled, immensely glad that she was happy for once.

Flicking her hand up a ball of light appeared, balancing on the tips of her fingers. Without hesitating she stepped into the doorway, the shadows swallowing her up.

An unnecessary spark of fear burned in Blaise's mind so he followed in a millisecond, not even bothering to take his wand out and cast a

like Draco had.

Once he had past the threshold Cathia's burning ball of light shone bright in his eyes, causing him to squint and blink a few times to get used to it so he could observe his surroundings.

Not that there really was much for him to observe anyway. Looking around he saw three stone walls and the same pit of darkness he, Cathia , and now Draco as well, had gone through. The ceiling couldn't have been more then eight feet high and the room no more then seven feet both ways. It all made him feel slightly claustrophobic, especially because he couldn't see into the hallway that was the exit.

Blaise's attention turned to Cathia, who was studying the center wall intently. When he got a closer look he saw a circular panel with eight symbols surrounding it. He didn't recognize any of the symbols from anywhere, nor did they remind him of anything. Still something seemed, well special about them. As if they had some singular meaning he didn't know of.

With her concentrated look back on her face Cathia hesitantly lifted the hand that wasn't currently occupied with the ball of light and pressed one finger to the top symbol.

"Wait Cathia, no…" Draco tried to stop her, but the sound of scraping rock echoed throughout the small room. Another, smaller doorway opened up in one of the side doors, this one with a door.

Cathia ran towards the door as best as she could in the small space and swung the door wide. Blaise peered in, almost cautiously, just in case anything jumped out at him.

"Bloody Hell."

A/N: Omg I'm so sorry! This took much longer then I thought it would and I'm so incredibly sorry! That's why it's shorter then the other two, and shorter then I wanted it to be, I just needed to get it up! I guess it's because of school so that means this might happen more often...he, he. But don't blame me blame the teachers!

Also, if you haven't noticed yet at the end of my pointless, lengthy bio I have an update of how much I've written in the next chapter. I do update this whenever I write, so it will definitely be accurate. Hopefully it will give u a better sense of when I'm going to update…if you even care.

Lastly REVIEW! I'll post the chapter more quickly! Thanx to those wonderful people who did review; Beastie, Im08Just97Me, sochop14, and Peril Of Hope.