Aria was the first of her roommates to wake up the next morning. Quietly she gathered her uniform and toiletries, heading into the bathroom and entering one of the shower stalls, laying her things out on the bench before turning to the shower and tub. There were a variety of knobs along the wall. Turning on the water she found the water immediately adjusted to the desired temperature and, after fiddling with the knobs, discovered that the knobs made things come out of the shower head like bubbles or fancy smelling water. She had fun playing with the knobs for a few minutes before finally actually showering.
When she finished and came back to the bedroom dressed, she smelt like roses and strawberries.
"Someone had fun with the shower knobs," Daphne yawned as she walked by Aria.
"It's all new to me," Aria said in way of explanation. She put her toiletries back in her trunk and then spent a minute staring at the books she had taken out of the trunk and put on the shelf and her backpack. What books would she need? When did she get her class schedule?
Leaving her things, she went down to the common room and, to her relief, found Tracey Paddington was already down there reading a book. Beside her was the girl from last night, Prudence, who was filing her nails.
"Um . . . Tracey?" Aria murmured, coming up to the two fifth years.
"What can I do for you?" Tracey asked.
"I was just wondering when I'll get my class schedule."
"At breakfast," Tracey said. "Breakfast lasts about two hours and it started about thirty minutes ago. Plenty of time for you to come back here for your things."
"Great. Thanks!"
"You've got nerve." Aria paused in turning away, glancing at Prudence.
"Pru . . . ." Tracey warned.
"What?" Prudence asked. "It's just an observation. Most firsties are too damn scared of us big kids to talk to us."
"Guess I'm just not like other first years," Aria snipped.
"Apparently not," Prudence replied with a grin that Aria wasn't sure was meant to be friendly.
"Do you have any other questions?" Tracey asked.
"Actually, I do. I made friends with two other students on the train, but they were sorted into another house. Can I sit with them during meals or is that against the rules?"
"Good luck," Prudence muttered. "Most people would rather die than be friends with a Slytherin."
"With an attitude like that, it's no wonder." Prudence raised her eyebrows at Aria and Tracey burst out laughing, her book falling off her lap.
"Oh, that's great!" Tracey cried. "You're going to fit in right enough, Aria."
"You might survive yet, kid," Prudence said, pointing the nail file at Aria.
"Anyway, as to your question, there aren't any rules about not being able to sit at other tables," Tracey said, still laughing, scooping her book up from the floor. "I know most people usually sit at different tables during lunch or sometimes at breakfast before a test to get some last-minute studying in, but it's not usual if you get my drift. At least, not for us Slytherins. Pru's right. Most people outside Slytherin don't want to be friends with us."
"Why not?" Aria asked.
"Because we're Dark Wizards in Training," Prudence replied dramatically.
"I don't even know what that means."
"Of course, you don't."
"Prudence." Tracey gave her friend another warning look. Prudence shrugged, finished her nails, and tucked the file back into her bag.
"Morning, Aria!" Harry greeted, entering the common room. "Marcus said we'll get our schedule at breakfast, so we should have time to come back."
"Yeah, Tracey was just saying that too." Making sure she had her wand, Aria and Harry left the common room, retracing their steps back to the Great Hall, passing a few Hufflepuffs on their way.
"Harry! Aria!" The call reached them just before they went through from the entrance hall to the Great Hall. Hermione came bounding down the steps, Ron and three other boys following her.
"Gryffindor is amazing!" Hermione cried. "We are up in a tower and it's guarded by a portrait call The Fat Lady."
"Cool," Aria said. "Our portrait's Salazar Slytherin."
"The Founder? Do you think I could talk to him? I have so many questions!"
"I'm sure you do," Ron muttered. "She's been chattering non-stop. Really, Hermione, you're going to have to take some deep breaths every once in a while." Hermione's face went bright red and her hair seemed to expand with her embarrassment.
"Sorry," she said. "Mum and Dad do say I can go off on tangents."
"Guys, this is Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, and Neville Longbottom," Ron said, gesturing to the three boys. Seamus had a sharp nose and freckles, Dean had short hair with dark skin, and Neville was a bit chubby and his robe was crooked. "Guys, this is Harry Potter and Aria Bourne. We shared a compartment on the train."
"It's nice to meet you," Seamus said, revealing him to be Irish. "Ron says you're Muggleborn, Aria. How's that working for you in Slytherin? Rumor's that they don't like Muggleborns."
"I mean . . . it could have been less awkward," Aria replied. "Pansy Parkinson already hates me. She's the one in our year with a nose that looks like a pug. I don't think Millicent likes me, but Daphne and Tracey aren't too bad. Not too sure 'bout the boys but Draco Malfoy's an idiot."
"We could've told you that," Neville muttered, looking in his pocket. Aria spotted a toad peeking out.
"I'm Muggleborn too," Dean told Aria. "Liverpool."
"Cokesworth."
"Nice."
"Ron's brother, Percy, said we get our schedules at breakfast," Hermione said. "Do you think we'll have any classes together? Oh, I hope we all do. It's so nice to have friends for once!"
"Do you think we can sit with each other?" Ron asked.
"Tracey, that's one of our prefects, said it's not against the rules," Aria offered, "but that most people only do it because of having schoolwork and stuff. She also said most people don't sit with Slytherins."
"Why not?" Hermione asked. "Is it because of the history between Slytherin and Gryffindor? Hogwarts, A History only had a few short paragraphs on the feud, and it would be wonderful to talk to Slytherin himself and get his side of the story."
"It's 'cause You-Know-Who was a Slytherin," Ron told Hermione. "Plus, a lot of his followers or sympathizers. Some of their kids are here at school, like Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott."
They glanced over at the stairs leading up from the dungeons as several Slytherin first years made their appearance. Draco, Pansy, and Theo were three of them.
"Slumming with the Gryffindors?" Draco asked as he walked by them. "You must truly be desperate for friends if you're slumming with blood traitors and Squibs."
"Shut up, Malfoy," Aria snapped. Draco and his crew disappeared into the Great Hall.
"Wow," Seamus muttered.
"What's a Squib?" Dean asked.
"It's the opposite of a Muggleborn," Neville replied. "And he's talking about me."
"You're not a Squib, Neville," Ron said. "You wouldn't be here if you were."
"Grandmother was so shocked at me getting my letter that she called Professor McGonagall to make sure there wasn't a mistake," Neville replied, sadness creeping into his voice. "I really only ever had one outburst of accidental magic and that was when Great-Uncle Algie dropped me out of the window to try and scare the magic out of me. I bounced!"
"That's terrible!" Hermione cried.
"Absolutely awful!" Aria agreed. "Stick with us, Neville. Don't let Malfoy get you down. He's just a spoiled brat!"
The group split off for their breakfasts, Harry and Aria deciding to sit farther away from Draco, Pansy, and Theo. Within a few minutes Daphne and Tracey joined them while Crabbe and Goyle sat with Draco. Millicent arrived and joined Pansy while Blaise joined Theo, but not after taking a minute to decide which group he wanted to sit with.
"Theo and Blaise really aren't that bad," Daphne said as she poured herself some tea. "But many us have known each other since we were little. And while I can't totally excuse Draco, his bark is worse than his bite. You should've seen him when we found the litter of abandoned crup puppies last summer, he was gentle and very serious about feeding them."
"Draco can always come and apologize for his behavior," Harry replied. "It's not like Aria and I have actually done something to make him mean."
Professor Snape come by their group with a large pile of parchment in his hands. He handed them all a slip of parchment before moving up the table. Aria pushed aside her oatmeal to lay her class schedule out.
"Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts in the morning," Daphne read, "with Herbology and Potions in the afternoon every day of the week. Astronomy on Tuesdays and Thursdays at eleven o'clock."
Aria cheered in her head about getting to stay up so late. Her dad only let her stay up that late on New Year's Eve.
Hermione rushed over once Professor McGonagall handed out the Gryffindor schedules. Several Slytherins and members of other houses looked over in surprise as she plopped down next to Aria, slapping her schedule on the table for side-by-side comparison.
"We've got Transfiguration, Potions, and Astronomy together," Hermione said. "Oh look, it's already marked."
"Daphne, Tracey, this is Hermione Granger," Aria introduced them. "As you heard, we'll be having three classes with her and the other Gryffindors."
"How fun," Daphne replied, though she did not seem sure about Hermione. Aria could understand that, Hermione was pretty energetic and intense and if she hadn't spent several hours with the girl on the train, she would probably be just as unnerved by Hermione too.
Aria and her friends fell into a routine after that first day. It was usually her, Harry, Hermione, and Ron hanging out and doing homework together, though they were joined many times by Neville, Seamus, and Dean as well as Daphne and Tracey. It was soon clear that out of the four of them, Ron was the least studious of them all, but with three friends who were studious he begrudgingly did his homework with them which, he also admitted, gave him more free time since he was finished with his homework quicker.
Aria and Harry's friendliness with the Gryffindors did not go unnoticed and while most of the Slytherins seemed to postulate between ignoring her completely or being downright snide with her because of her blood status, they were downright rude when it came to her and Harry's friendship with Hermione and Ron.
"Should've been Sorted into Gryffindor," was the popular shot at them. Aria and Harry spent most of the time in the library or Great Hall. If the weather was nice, they found a spot near the Black Lake and hung out there, their Gryffindor friends and Daphne and Tracey joining them.
Unlike their Slytherin counterparts, the other Gryffindors did not really know what to do about the Slytherin-Gryffindor friendship, especially since it was understood that if anyone picked on Ron, they would have Fred and George Weasley to deal with and no one wanted to be on the bad side of the pranksters.
Even with difficulties of navigating Slytherin house dynamics and the inter-house relationships, Aria knew that Hogwarts was much better than St. Brigid's would have been. Better yet, mail was free, so she could write as many letters to her dad without worrying about running out of stamps. She, however, avoided telling him too much about being Muggleborn in a predominately Pureblood house and the problems that came with it. He did not need to worry any more than he did.
Three weeks after school started an announcement was posted in the common room on the announcement board that the first of several flying lessons would begin for the first years during their free period on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
"I can't believe that this is one of the things that Muggle fairytales get right!" Aria cried as she, Hermione, Ron, and Harry made their way down to the inner courtyard where the flying lessons would take place. "Besides the witch's hat."
"I'd rather not learn to fly," Hermione admitted. "I'm don't like heights."
"Well this is standard wizarding transportation," Ron stated. "Besides, how are you going to play Quidditch if you don't ride a broom?"
"I don't want to play Quidditch," Hermione said. "I'd rather just read about it or watch someone else."
Madam Hooch, the flying instructor, had put out rows of broomsticks and instructed each first year to stand next to a broom. One look at the school brooms told Aria these were nothing like the brooms that the Slytherin Quidditch team had been polishing the night before. These brooms had bristles that needed to be combed and handles that needed polishing. She only hoped she didn't get a splinter during this class.
"Now remember," Madam Hooch cried, voice in tune with her marching up and down the rows of first years, "speak to your broom like you mean it! On the count of three, I want you to command your broom to come up. One, two three!"
Aria nudged her broom with a foot before holding her hand out over it.
"Up!" she commanded. The broom rolled over.
"Up!" she commanded again. This time the broom hopped up into her hand. She gripped the wood, grinning, bursting into laughter as she lifted her head in time to see Ron's broom smack him in the face.
"It's not funny," Ron muttered, rubbing his nose.
"It kinda is," Harry said from Ron's other side. Aria glanced at Hermione who was yelling in great exasperation at her broom which kept rolling over but never leaving the ground. Finally, Hermione simply bent down and picked up the broom.
"Mount your brooms!" Madam Hooch's voice carried over the heads of the first years. Aria watched several people, including Draco, mount their brooms first before throwing her leg over hers. She should have worn shorts under her skirt. Madam Hooch came around, correcting people's grips and stances. Apparently, Aria was holding her broom too low while Hermione gripped hers too high. Draco gripped his too tightly and Aria had to snicker at that.
"Now, on the count of three, I want you to gently push off the ground," Madam Hooch said. "I want you to gently hover and then point your broom downwards. That'll make it land. One, two, three!" Aria pushed off the ground, tilting her broom handle up a little. She felt her feet leave the ground and she hurried to mount them on the broom's stirrups. She struggled for a minute to balance, almost falling off. Dean Thomas, Kevin Entwhistle from Hufflepuff, and Lisa Turpin from Ravenclaw all managed to roll off their brooms before eventually getting the hang of it.
When everyone could hover and land Madam Hooch allowed them to start moving around, not going higher than her head. Aria grinned, managing not to run into anyone as she puttered about. Most of the kids who had grown up in the wizarding world were already flying higher than Aria, Harry seemed a natural on the broom, and Neville seemed to struggle to control his broom.
Suddenly, Neville's broom shot forward and he screeched at the loss of control. The top of his broom bounced off the courtyard wall and he tumbled to the ground, landing hard on his arm. Aria winced as Madam Hooch called everyone down to the ground and rushed over to Neville.
"Looks like a broken arm," Harry said.
"How can you tell?" Ron asked.
"I've broken my arm before."
Madam Hooch helped Neville to his feet, using her wand to immobilize his arm.
"I'll be taking Mr. Longbottom to the infirmary," she told the class, "please remain on the ground until I return. If I found any of you in the air without a teacher, I will have you suspended. Understood?" The first years nodded, and the professor disappeared into the castle with the student.
"What a klutz!" Draco cried. Pansy, Millicent, Crabbe, and Goyle laughed. A few Ravenclaws snickered too. "You'd think he was a Muggleborn by the way he approached the broom."
Aria rolled her eyes, setting her broom down. She stepped over to two Gryffindors, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil.
"I love your hair clip," Aria said to Parvati, nodding at the clip holding her long black braid together. Parvati held it up so that she could inspect the butterfly on it. The butterfly's wings beat gently.
"My grandmother sent it to me from India," Parvati said. "As a good luck present. Padma has one too, but it's red instead of gold." Aria glanced over at Parvati's twin who had been sorted into Ravenclaw. She was huddled with the Ravenclaw girls.
"I noticed the headband you were wearing yesterday," Lavender said, a little hesitantly. "I liked the color. Blue suits you."
"You think so?"
"I think it looked hideous," Pansy declared from behind Aria.
"No one asked you," Lavender snapped.
"If you saw half the stuff in her trunk you'd think so too," Pansy declared. "Garish Muggle fashion. It's a disgrace."
"Shut up, Pansy!" Aria cried. "We're not all rich like you."
Everyone stared at the growing confrontation. Behind Pansy Aria noticed Draco had mounted his broom and was making lazy laps over the heads of the other Slytherins.
"Why don't you go back to watching your boyfriend?" Aria suggested, "he looks like he's trying to get your attention." Pansy's face went red while she glanced over her shoulder at Draco. Aria turned her back to the girl.
"How do you get your hair so curly?" she asked Lavender. Hermione, having joined her, rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Hermione! You and I are meant to have curly hair, not balls of frizz."
"My mum taught me a spell," Lavender said, "but before that I used Mallory Wiggin's Curly Cream. Here . . . I'll teach you the spell if you want." She pulled out her wand, only for her eyes to widen and her mouth to drop open.
"Look out!" Lavender cried. Aria started to turn around, only she never got the chance. Someone flew by her head, grabbing onto her hair which she had worn down, dragging her several feet across the courtyard. Aria screamed. Several of her classmates screamed. Her weight apparently was more than the person on the broom had anticipated and she fell to the ground when the broom rider fell off the broom, releasing her hair.
Pushing to her knees, Aria flipped her hair back over her head, staring in shock at Draco who seemed a little winded from his fall.
"What do you think you were doing?" someone shouted. What had he been thinking?
Three weeks of pent up anger at Draco boiled over. With a yell Aria launched herself at Draco, landing a solid punch to his eye just like Robert, Tommy, and Samuel had taught her. She yanked at his hair, always so nicely slicked back in a perfect hair style. He tried to scratch her, catching her in the face with his nails. She pressed his face into the grass.
"Eat dirt!" she shouted.
Hands grabbed her, yanking her off Draco. He rolled over, spitting up grass. Aria yanked herself out of the grasp of whoever was holding her and spun around to see who it was, stopping short seeing Mr. Filch the caretaker of the castle. Beside him was Professor McGonagall. Both were livid.
"I am shocked at such behavior!" McGonagall cried. "Absolutely shocked!"
"She hit me, Professor!" Draco cried.
"Don't think you're getting away with your behavior, Mr. Malfoy," the Scottish woman snapped. "We saw you drag her by her hair halfway across the courtyard."
Aria glanced back to where she had been standing. It wasn't quite halfway across the courtyard, probably only a few yards, but it certainly had felt like it. She glanced down at her uniform, her tights were ripped and there was grass and dirt all over the front of her skirt and robe.
"Both of you, come with me," McGonagall ordered. Aria, throwing a scowl at Draco, marched after McGonagall towards the castle.
Professor McGonagall, after taking Aria and Draco to the infirmary to make sure they wasn't seriously injured, and after seeing Madam Hooch get mad at Draco, took ten points from Aria for fighting while she took fifty points from Draco and gave him two weeks of detention. Though she promised the boy that she would be "having a serious discussion with Professor Snape."
Aria was glad she was not the one Professor McGonagall would be discussing.
For two days Draco and his cohorts avoided Aria. Almost everyone at Hogwarts had heard about the incident, and Aria found herself on the receiving end of pitying stares and random older students coming up and telling her to come find them if the Slytherins continued to bully her.
On the third day, though, Aria was dragged out of Defense with Draco, summoned to Dumbledore's office where Filch, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, and Professor Dumbledore were waiting for them alongside three other people. Aria immediately recognized Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, though the older gentleman with short white hair and a turned-up nose she did not recognize.
"Welcome," Dumbledore greeted them. "Take a seat. Lemon drop?" Aria declined the sweet as she sat in the chair between McGonagall and Snape. Draco sat by his parents.
"We are here to discuss the incident from three days ago," Dumbledore explained. "Professor McGonagall, perhaps you can explain what you saw?"
"Mr. Filch and I were walking by one of the courtyard entrances," McGonagall replied. "I had passed Madam Hooch and she had asked that I watch over her first-year class as she was escorting Mr. Longbottom to the hospital wing. Mr. Filch wanted to discuss Peeves so we were walking together when we arrived at the courtyard in time to see Mr. Malfoy swoop down on his broom, grab Miss Bourne by the hair, and drag her several yards. He fell off his broom and that was when Miss Bourne escaped his grasp and proceeded to punch him. Mr. Filch and I pulled them apart and took them to the infirmary where Madam Pomfrey healed them. I took ten points from Aria for fighting and took fifty points from Draco for his actions and gave him two weeks detention. Afterwards I spoke to Professor Snape who agreed that Draco's punishment was sufficient."
"And what about the little twit's punishment?" the older man demanded. "You only took ten points!"
"Miss Bourne had ten points removed because she reacted violently and we do not condone violence here at Hogwarts," Snape replied, "it's truly more a slap on the wrist at this point, Lord Malfoy, as she acted in self-defense."
Lord Malfoy? Aria gave the other man another once over. Must be Draco's grandfather. She had heard Daphne ask Draco how his grandfather was doing in the common room a week ago and Draco had said he was still alive.
"I simply cannot accept that my grandson would act in such a way unprovoked," Lord Malfoy stated. "The girl must have done something to aggravate him."
"Their classmates all say that Aria was chatting with several girls when Draco attacked her," McGonagall replied.
"Talking about what?" Lord Malfoy demanded. Aria glanced over at Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy. Mrs. Malfoy had a hand on her husband's arm while Lucius sat at attention, his walking stick straight up as if he were preparing himself to rise. Draco slouched in his chair beside his mother.
"Aria," Professor Dumbledore said, "would you mind informing us what you were talking about?"
"Yeah," Aria replied. "I was talking to Lavender and Parvati. It started off as a conversation about Parvati's hair clip which her grandmother sent from India. It's a little butterfly and its wings flap which I thought was cool. Then she said she liked my headband that I wore the other day and then I asked Lavender how she got her curls to be so nice and neat and she told me about the hair cream she used, but that her mum had also taught her a spell and she was going to show me the spell, but then Draco grabbed my hair and . . . well . . . you know the rest."
Lord Malfoy's frown deepened, and his face began to turn pink.
"Your grandson's punishment still stands," Dumbledore stated. "Two weeks detention and the fifty points."
"You're just going to take the word of that little Mu—,"
"I wouldn't finish that sentence, Abraxas." Dumbledore's voice changed from the soft grandfatherly tone to one of steel. The temperature in the room dropped and the red bird, which Aria had thought had been a statue of a sleeping bird, suddenly awoke and flapped its wings with a loud cry.
Beneath Aria's chair a sharp hiss sounded. She yanked up her feet, peering down to see Filch's cat, the red-eyed Mrs. Norris hissing at Lord Malfoy. The cat came out from under the chair, jumping onto Aria's lap, hissing again at Lord Malfoy. She ran her hand over the cat's head, earning a purr from the feared feline. Glancing back to the Malfoy's she found Lord Malfoy glaring at her – or maybe the cat – but noticed Mr. Malfoy's mouth had a bit of upward quirk to it.
"Miss Bourne," Snape said, "I think it's time you and Mr. Malfoy headed to lunch." Aria nodded, scooping Mrs. Norris into her arms and heading for the doorway of the headmaster's office. She handed the cat off to a surprised looking Filch, following Draco out of the office and down the spiral staircase to the corridor below. Both were silent as they began the long walk to the Great Hall. Aria was tempted to quicken her gait to avoid being anywhere near Draco but there was something in her than burned with curiosity.
"Why are you so mean to me?" she demanded, stepping in front of Draco, stopping him in his tracks. Draco's grey eyes widened.
"What?" he cried.
"Why are you so mean to me?" Aria asked. "I haven't done anything to you."
Draco's mouth opened and closed as he continued to stare at her like she had three heads.
"You're Muggleborn," he finally said.
"What's wrong with being Muggleborn?"
"Your parents are Muggles."
"Well I can't help that. Just like you can't help having been born to your parents."
"Well . . . Grandfather says Muggleborns don't respect our traditions."
"What traditions?"
"See? You don't know anything!"
"Oh, for god's sake, Draco! If I dropped you into the middle of Eton at age eleven would you know all the Muggle traditions?" Draco frowned.
"No," he replied.
"Then how do you expect us Muggleborns, who only discovered the world of magic this summer, to know all your traditions? Isn't that what Hogwarts is for? Teaching us stuff?"
"Hogwarts doesn't have classes like that."
"Why not?"
"I don't know."
"Then can you really hate for me something I didn't even know I didn't know? Can you hate me because I was born to Muggles? What if you had been born like Mr. Filch, without magic? Would you want to go to a boarding school with Muggles and be treated like how you and other Slytherins have treated me?"
"I . . . I . . . well my grandfather doesn't like Muggleborns."
"Well my dad doesn't like ManU and I do so . . . ." Draco sighed, rolling his eyes.
"You just don't understand, Aria," he told her. "Perhaps it's easier for people to disagree with their Heads of House in the Muggle world but here we don't do that."
"Heads of House? What are we? Royalty?"
"If you hadn't noticed, my grandfather is Lord Abraxas Malfoy. He is in charge of the Malfoy Family. When he dies my father will become Lord Malfoy. Someday I will be too. Grandfather is just trying to make sure that the family is respected."
"Respected or feared?" Aria sked. "Your grandfather's a bit scary."
"Grandfather says that if people fear you then you don't have to worry about people hurting you."
"That . . . doesn't sound like a nice way to live." Aria folded her arms. "Do you agree with your grandfather, then? Do you really believe that you're better than me because you've got a wizard and witch for parents while my parents are Muggles? Do you really think I don't deserve to be here?"
Draco tilted his head, as if pondering her question.
"If . . . If I did think you had every right to be here . . . then I would be saying my grandfather's wrong," Draco muttered. "I don't . . . I've never done that." He pushed past Aria, knocking against her shoulder. Rubbing her shoulder Aria followed some distance behind, wondering what Draco's answer meant.