AN: Yeaahh buddy, I got a bit excited about uploading my first chapter, so I thought I'd post this the day after. Thank you sososo much for the reviews I've recieved, I'm so glad they've been positive. Thanks for spotting my rather dunderheaded mistake kittyprettypryde, I guess I was under the confundus charm whilst I was writing that chapter! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I was a bit afraid to upload it, I hope it matches the standard of my first one!

DISCLAIMER; All characters apart from Simona belong to the almighty J.K Rowling. I am but a lowly fanfiction writer who puts her characters back after writing about them.

CHAPTER TWO; WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE

Reluctantly, Simona entered her dorm room. She immediately noticed a set of large mud-brown eyes staring at her at the far-left corner of the room. They belonged to a petite figure perched on the edge of their bed, with a shock of black hair, crimped and out of control. Much like Simona's hair, but perhaps a bit more 'crazy' she was pale-skinned and gaunt looking, perhaps another characteristic of Slytherin students. 'ironic' Simona thought, because most Slytherin students were pure-blood, they were likely to be wealthy, she didn't expect to find many Slytherins to be so pale and 'under-fed'.

There were four single poster beds furnished in ebony, with tacky green and silver curtains, with a similar patterned bed-spread. Simona's uniform was already laid out on a dark brown chair next to a bedside table. It seemed to only be marginally warmer than the rest of the dungeons. Simona went to sit on her bed when she felt she was being watched.

"Hiya, I'm Vicky," came a small voice from behind Simona, she turned to see a red-haired girl, taller than Simona with light blue eyes that sparkled with sincerity. Her hand extended towards Simona. She was smiling genuinely at Simona was taken aback by her kindness, even though she had not come across many Slytherins yet, she knew they were infamous for their unkindness. Simona smiled back, albeit a bit eagerly and shook her hand.

"Hello Vicky, I am Simona. I've just started here, but I am a fifth-year like you," Simona said politely. Vicky nodded and smiled.

"Welcome to Hogwarts! I'm sure you will settle in just fine. This is Rachel," Vicky said brightly, looking towards a brunette girl with freckles and black-eyes who nodded in acknowledgement, a smile that never reached her eyes, her eyes contained a sense of sadness. Simona smiled at her, and mouthed hello. "And this is Bellatrix," Vicky continued, looking at the girl with the crimped, crazy hair, who stared at Simona with a crazed expression. She didn't smile, or nod her head, but just continued staring. Simona shuffled her feet uncomfortably. She disliked Bellatrix's piercing glare. It was the same analysing stare she received from Avery during dinner.

"Thank you, I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to get some rest. All that food has made me sleepy," Simona smiled lazily, yawning and stretching her arms. Her yawn caught her by surprise; she wasn't too tired a few moments ago. Vicky nodded brightly and said goodnight. Bellatrix continued to stare and Rachel just nodded. Simona got unchanged after she drew her curtains around her bed. Thankful for the privacy they gave her.

As Simona settled into her duvet, she sighed contently as she gently fell asleep. Her thoughts drifting out of her mind, not knowing that she was at the forefront of another's thoughts.

Simona woke up when she heard a quiet voice call her name from outside her curtains. After a few seconds, she realised it must have been Vicky, none of the other girls had spoken to Simona yet. Simona eventually sat up and opened the curtains surrounding her bed and looked up to find Vicky beaming down at her.

"Morning Simona, breakfast starts in about 20 minutes, so just get ready and I'll meet you in the common room in 15 minutes?" Vicky asked brightly. Simona nodded, still half-asleep. As much as Simona appreciated Vicky's kindness, she felt it was a bit too much at 7:10 in the morning. Dragging herself out of bed, she quickly changed magically into her Slytherin robes and brushed her teeth. After returning from the bathroom, she started on what felt was a gargantuan task; combing her hair into a tame state. After 5 minutes of knots, and eyes brimming with tears of pain, she gave up, pulling her hair back into a messy bun, leaving scraps of hair framing her face.

Pulling on her robes, she yawned as she slumped down the stairs to the common room, seeing Vicky standing at the foot of the stairs grinning widely at her, her red-hair in a high-ponytail. Simona gave the common room a quick glance and saw Severus standing in front of one of the couches clutching a large book and scowling.

"Hiya Simona, are you ready for breakfast, I'm starved!" Vicky grinned, rubbing her stomach for emphasis. Simona nodded politely, her mind still boggling with how happy she was.

"Could you wait a second, Vicky?" Simona asked politely, looking towards Severus again, his scowl still present on his face. "I've just noticed my friend," Vicky nodded, rather violently and smiled broadly. Simona walked towards Severus, and he looked down at his feet shyly.

"Hey, Severus," she smiled; Severus looked up at her, his black eyes narrowed with suspicion. 'Why is she still talking to me,' he wondered. He rarely had anyone talk to him, especially someone who didn't have an ulterior motive, usually to get help for homework, or to taunt him. "What's wrong?" She asked, suddenly concerned at his narrowed eyes.

"Why do you care?" He asked, a bit more harshly than he originally planned. Simona's features flashed with hurt before she pursed her lips. He internally cursed himself, why did he always upset people like that?

"You just look a bit down is all," she replied, shrugging her bony shoulders and looking towards Vicky, who had her head tilted in confusion. "Do you want to go get some breakfast, I was planning on going with Vicky, but to be honest I would rather go with you," Simona said amicably, as much as she liked Vicky's unrelenting kindness, it was starting to grate on her nerves a bit. Severus didn't respond, his black eyes boring into hers, void of emotion. Simona became uncomfortable under his gaze. "I can go if you want," Simona continued. Perhaps he was uncomfortable around her, it looked like to her that he didn't want her there.

"No," he said softly, barely loud enough for Simona to hear. She smiled warmly at him, causing Severus to blush slightly, he looked at the floor, avoiding her sparkling gaze. "We can go to the Hall," he said slightly louder, his eyes slowly coming up to meet hers.

"I'll be back in a second, I'm just telling Vicky I'm having going to the Hall with you." She said walking off towards Vicky. Severus watched Simona as she talked to Vicky, Vicky's eyes turning to Severus with a raised eyebrow, shrugging and waving Simona off. Simona walked back to Severus and beamed at him.

"Ready?" She asked, nodding towards the door. Severus nodded shyly in return, he guessed he would have to get used to Simona's determination in getting him to talk to her. Not that he minded, but it was rare for Severus to socialise and to sit with someone he had only known for a day. They walked towards the Great Hall in companionable silence, Simona stopping to smile at different portraits that hung on the walls of Hogwarts School. He guessed that she wasn't used to seeing the moving images in these portraits, he had to stop himself smirking at Simona when she full-on gawped at a portrait of a blinking eye.

As they reached the hall, a lot of the students were already seated, they were either chatting happily, or shoveling food down their throats. Simona likened this to feeding time at the zoo, and snorted quietly with laughter. Causing Severus to look at her with a raised eyebrow, Simona shook her head and pointed to an empty space at the Slytherin table.

When they sat down, a professor with balding hair, a pot-belly stomach and dressed in musty green robes that smelt quite strongly of moth balls, with a graduate's cap placed precariously on his head was handing out sheets of parchment to the Slytherin students.

"Who's that?" Simona asked, pointing to the professor. Who was now chatting animatedly to one of the students, laughing loudly at some bad jokes.

"That's Professor Slughorn, head of Slytherin and Potions teacher. He tends to have his favourites too, but from all four of the houses. They tend to be students who have famous family, or have a talent for potions. He throws parties all of the time. We call it the 'Slug Club'," Severus sneered, Simona smirked at this, wondering whether or not Severus was in this illustrious club.

"Are you in the Slug Club?" Simona asked, still smirking. Severus sighed and nodded. Simona barked with laughter and began to pile up her plate with sausages, toast, tomatoes and eggs.

As Professor Slughorn approached Simona he gasped.

"Not, the Simona Sforza is it, daughter of Adriana and Patrizio Sforza?" He asked dramatically, rousing a few students from their conversations to peer at Slughorn. Simona's face flushed red and nodded. "Wow, it's a pleasure to meet you Miss Sforza, here is your timetable," Slughorn blushed, handing her a pale green parchment. He quickly handed Severus his, who snatched it out of his hands, sneering unpleasantly. Simona studied her timetable, ignoring Slughorn's comment.

Her parents were known muggle-empathisers, they preferred to wear muggle garb, rather than robes. They listened to muggle music, especially that of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Jimi Hendrix. A trait that was passed down to Simona. Her parents were from prestigious pure-blooded backgrounds, and their families didn't take too kindly to their views on muggles. They were both disowned from their families when they got married, and when Simona was 11, they were killed by pure-blood supremacists. Simona's parents were given an honourable funeral by the wizarding community, and after Dumbledore heard about her parent's bravery, allowed her to enter Hogwarts when her adopted parents allowed it. Her parents were not so well known around pure-blood circles after their death, as they were desperate to keep their 'treachery' a secret. Simona was surprised none of the Slytherins had picked up on her last name, but was glad of it at the same time. She didn't want to receive any trouble, especially not straight away!

Simona sighed lost in her thoughts. Eventually her train of thought went back to her timetable. She had double Potions first. Even though she had only ever studied Potions at home and from a textbook, she could tell that double anything, first thing in the morning is never a good thing. After memorising what she had on Monday, she put her timetable down and looked at Severus, who was scowling at his timetable, perhaps he didn't like the prospect of having double potions in the morning either.

"What have you got today?" Simona asked, trying to catch a peek at Severus' timetable.

"Double Potions, Transfiguration, Defense against the Dark Arts and Ancient Runes," Severus said curtly. "What about you?" He asked, a little more amicably.

"The same, but I have Muggle Studies instead of Ancient Runes," Simona smiled back, Severus looked a bit taken aback, it was pretty much unheard of for a Slytherin to be taking Muggle Studies, as many Slytherins simply refused to learn about any other way of life than the Wizarding World. "What?" Simona asked as she saw Severus' perplexed expression.

"Nothing, it's just rare to see a Slytherin interested in Muggles," Severus shrugged. Simona smirked at this, she quite liked the idea of being one of the only Slytherins doing Muggle Studies. "And don't you have a bit of an unfair advantage over some of the other students. You live with muggles, how very… Slytherin of you," Severus added, smirking slightly, Simona laughed quietly.

"I see you've stumbled across my true intentions," Simona said with a crooked smile. Severus' mouth curled up in a more pronounced smirk.

It was coming to the end of breakfast, and getting close to Simona's first lesson at Hogwarts. After once again peering at her timetable, she folded it into the pocket of her robes and set off with a reluctant Severus down into the dungeons for her Potions lesson. After Slughorn's dramatic outburst earlier, she wasn't looking forward to it.

AN: So I hope you liked that, ay-ay-ay, I know it's a bit short, but I'll make up for it in the next chapter, promise! Cookies again to the person who recognises my shameless chapter title, I know, I need a good ol' dose of originality, maybe there's a potion for that? Thanks for the reviews once again, and more are of course welcome! I won't keep you waiting too long for the next chapter, I'm working on it as we speak! :)