Here is the next chapter - this is a bit of a filler hope you all enjoy it
I don't own any of these characters
Chapter 1
The welcoming feast was in full swing. The first years had been sorted and Professor Dumbledore had made his welcoming speech explaining the dangers in the school- again. After hearing the speech seven times it did tend to get a bit repetitive.
Tracey Davis was seventeen with long wavy blond hair and bright blue eyes - she had the classic type of beauty, it was subtle and her eyes were kind and welcoming, a rare trait within Slytherin even after most of that blood purity nonsense had been abolished. Tracey was proof of that, one of her best friends was a muggleborn and a Gryffindor . This was her last year at Hogwarts and she wanted to make this one count . She wasn't full of herself or anything but Tracey knew she was clever and she did well in all her subjects but she never applied herself - something that Hermione was forever nagging her about. This year she would be different, this year she would make a change.
Tracey glanced at her best friend and fellow housemate Daphne, and they smiled at each other. It felt great to see all her friends again, the past summer had seemed even longer then the others because she had spent the whole summer with her family at her Grandparents house in Germany. She had returned two days before 1st September so there had been no time to see her friends before the school year started. If Tracey was honest with herself she didn't have may friends, she wasn't that out going type but the close friends she did have she would happily die for.
The rest of her fellow Slytherin's were all in their own little groups and she had known most of them before she had joined Hogwarts. She was part of an old family and they still held on to some of the old beliefs. They still liked to flaunt their vast wealth and throw parties that they always wanted to be the talk of the social calendar. There was Blaise Zabini who's mother every one knew to avoid unless you wanted to find you're vault considerably lighter, Draco Malfoy - full of himself but if you caught him in the right mood could in actual fact be quite a laugh and good to talk to. But that was rare. Theodore Nott was one of his best friends and if you summed him up in one word it would be a charmer. Then there was Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe, how they had gotten into Slytherin still baffled her, in her opinion they would've been more suited in Hufflepuff. The girls were in a minority in their year not that this bothered her much, she mostly got on with the girls in her dorm and they had had some laughs but they weren't as close as they could be. Pansy Parkinson she liked, she was very black and white you always knew where you stood with her and if she didn't like you then you would know about in. On the other hand Millicent or Millie as she liked to be called was very quite and reserved but when she did speak it was always calm and intelligent. She made sense. Tracey's best friend Daphne was another story. She was loud and noisy, and disorganised she never knew were anything was yet she was as quick as a whip. The pair mellowed each other out and brought the best of the other out of themselves. They had been friends since a young age as their mothers had gone to school together, as well as their families ran in the same circles. All these people you could find sitting at a table together during one of their parents fancy balls. They all took comfort in the familiar - they might seem like cold and distant but they weren't. There was one other to their year. Harry Potter. He never came to any of the balls although he, as well as his godfather Sirius Black were always invited, them both being part of old lines themselves. She knew next to nothing about him, he was quiet and she could probably count on one hand the amount of times they had spoken but this didn't really bother her - each to their own she had always said.
She was roused out of her musings by the food vanishing from the table and Dumbledore standing to most probably to dismiss the students. He stood from his chair and a hush fell over the hall. "I hope that you have all enjoyed the food and have eaten your fill. I will not keep you any further, but I do ask that prefects stay behind in order to direct the first years to their respective commons rooms, and I hope that you all have a good night's sleep as lessons will commence in a few days time. Without further ado I bid you all a goodnight" Dumbledore made this speech with his usual smile and twinkle in his eyes. Tracey liked him well enough but she sometimes wondered if he was hiding anything - anyone who smiled that much had to be. Tracey rose from her seat along with Daphne and they ambled out of the Hall, waving on their way to Hermione who was a prefect for Gryffindor so she was staying behind. One of the joys of having the dungeons as a common room was that there were no steps to climb and it was only a short walk.
When the pair arrived at the common room they both headed for their favourite spot. Two armchairs in the corner of the common room furthest away from the door, it was private and most importantly quiet. Many believed the common room to be cold and intimidating with it being under the lake and everything. In her own personal opinion Tracey liked it, she thought it was cosy and even though the décor was a bit out dated she thought that it added charm and character. It was elegant something that most people in Slytherin prided themselves on being.
"I'll tell you what Toria would not leave me alone this summer. When ever I turned around she was there seeing what I was doing so she could copy me, like some creepy house elf because apparently she wants to be just like me when she grows up. It doesn't matter how many times I tell her to be herself and not be a sheep she doesn't listen. I might buy her grass or something for Christmas if she carries on like this - do you reckon it's to early to be thinking about Christmas Trace?" asked Daphne in one very rushed tone of voice. Tracey had missed their conversations.
"Daph go easy on her she's still young and she's need to grow into herself. How many times do I have to tell you that you should be happy that she wants to be so much like you - she loves you, why wouldn't she want to be like you either? You're smart and beautiful and kind and when you leave here you'll have to world at your feet. What little sister doesn't want to be just like their older sister?" replied Tracey in a soothing tone. Astoria was Daphne's younger sister who was just entering her second year at Hogwarts and no matter how much Daphne complained it was obvious to anyone that watched them interact that they both loved each other dearly.
"I know, I know you're right - as always. Anyway less about me how was Germany? I've never been." Daphne was looking at her rather expectantly.
"There's not much to tell. You've met Grandma and Grandpa, they like the quiet. They live in this chalet style house near the Idar Forest and there's not much there. They have this balcony that overlooks the mountains and it's so quiet and so empty, and the muggles don't know we're there… it's perfect to just sit outside and read, I spend all day there sometimes just reading and listening. It's magic". Tracey had got lost telling Daphne about the house that she hadn't heard the door to the common room open. She was startled back to reality by the raised voices.
Tracey whipped round in her seat to see what was going on. Draco Malfoy was loudly venting to his two best friends, Harry Potter and Theodore Nott having just returned from his prefect duties. She could easily pick up his words, "She needs to keep her stupid opinions to herself and not bother the rest of the world with them, I mean who does she think she is? Telling me what to do, as if I haven't been doing this job for the past two years!" His two companions exchanged a glance and grimaced having heard this all before. They then very quickly ushered him to the boys dorm before he vented his frustrations at an unlucky 1st year.
"Three guesses who he met on the way here" whispered Daphne from behind her.
"Hermione" Tracey replied, as if it explained everything - which in actual fact it did. It was a well known fact that Hermione Granger just loved to rub him up the wrong way. It was her own little vendetta - just like he had one against her, though he would never admit this to anyone but his closest of friends.
The two girls spent the rest of the evening talking about everything and nothing. When they finally returned to their dorm room their other room mates were fast asleep. Tracey was almost asleep Daphne whispered her name "Tracey?"
"Hmmm" she replied groggily
"What do you reckon this years going to be like? I don't want to leave" something about the way Daphne said this sentence made Tracey pause before she answered
"I really don't know Daph, we have our NEWT's to think about and then we leave and go get jobs in the Ministry or as a Healer - I think its going to be a year we'll never forget".