The Slytherin dormitory was in the dungeons. Despite this fact, Wisteria found the common room very elegant and comforting. One of the walls was glass giving a rather marvellous view into a lake. On either side of the glass wall were hallways which led to the dorms. On both the left and right walls there was a grand fireplace with bookcases and seating surrounding it. The spacious area was decorated with antiquated, but tasteful, art and intricately carved pillars. Some of them had snakes carved into them and the serpents actually shifted and slithered around the stone collum on which they were carved.
Their head of house, Professor Severus Snape who also happened to be their potions Professor, spoke with them briefly about the rules of the school and whatnot, imparting them with advice that no matter what they did they were to never ever get caught if they did not wish for a punishment most foul. Wisteria found herself envious of the man's ability to so easily have such an intimidating and severe aura. The pale child concluded that her head of house must be quite powerful to achieve such a feat and resolved to be on her best behaviour around him until such a time came that she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, she was more powerful than the man. And that day would come, she would make sure of it.
The girls' dorms were on the left and the boys on the right. There were two dorm rooms per year group each with a bathroom connected to it and the students were to be split into them as evenly as possible, on the girls' side at least. Wisteria was unaware of how the dorms were handled with the boys though she assumed it was the same.
Pansy Parkinson, Daphne Greengrass, and Cressida Warrington claimed one for themselves and shoved herself, Tracey Davis, and Millicent Bulstrode in the other.
Wisteria was not quite sure why the other girls were so quick to discard them, though she could hazard a guess. Based on her earlier interaction at dinner names seemed quite important, especially surnames. She could not speak for the other girls but she knew 'Scott' had no importance in the magical world. She would have to learn more about the magical world and the families in it if she wished to survive, never mind thrive in this new environment.
The dorm room, much like the common room, was spacious and decorated beautifully, if a bit sparsely. The room was much bigger and nicer than what she was used to at the orphanage, and she would be sharing with fewer people. Wisteria could certainly get used to living in such a nice environment.
As her two brown-haired roommates set about unpacking their stuff, Wisteria simply shoved her locked trunk, which had magically appeared in the room after the girls entered it, under her bed, got on her bed, closed the curtains, and studied her textbooks a bit more until she found herself tired. She would like to be blindsided as little as possible, she was already at a disadvantage having not grown up in the magical world and was determined to level the playing field for herself.
The next morning when the prefects led the first years to the great hall for breakfast and to collect their schedules, Wisteria noticed an odd divide at the Slytherin table she had not the night before. It appeared as though each year group stuck together, seventh years at the beginning of the table and then it slowly built down to first years. It was a bit more structured than the other house tables, but not too odd. No, the odd part was that a little over halfway through the table there was a gap before the pattern started over again.
Parkinson, Greengrass, and Warrington went to the first half of the table and her dorm mates to the other. There was some type of hierarchy in Slytherin that she was not privy to and that displeased Wisteria. However, what displeased her even greater was that she was obviously at the bottom of it and that would not do. She was not used to being at the bottom, she had always been the most powerful, everyone had always stayed out of her way and deferred to her.
Despite that she would not make a fool of herself, if she were to build up power and make her way to the top of the hierarchy she would need respect. Wisteria grabbed her schedule and joined her dorm mates. They had saved a seat for her, at the very end. How very kind of them, Wisteria thought sarcastically. She was not so ignorant of whatever little system they had going on to know that being at the very end meant you were at the very bottom.
She had known she would be at the bottom, but she never imagined she would be at the bottom of the bottom. Wisteria scowled as she sat. She would truly be building her power from the ground up. At the very least there was nowhere she could go but up.
Wisteria looked down at her schedule, it seemed… easy. It was an alternating schedule where they would have each class once one week and then twice the next, except for a few like astronomy, flying and potions but potions was always a double session. It was nothing compared to her timetable at the orphanage at least. The Nuns liked to keep them busy. Idle hands are the Devil's plaything as the saying goes.
"So, are you a Halfblood?" Tracey Davis asked, looking at Wisteria expectantly.
"Come again?" Wisteria would feign politeness with her housemates until such a time she could show just how much better she was.
"Must be a Muggleborn then," the dark-skinned girl spoke as she looked away from Wisteria dismissively.
Muggleborn? That one was not too hard to decipher. A term for a magical born of muggles presumably. So a Halfblood was likely the child of some combination of muggle and magical. There had to be a term for those purely descended from magicals as well. Given how she is treated as a supposed Muggleborn and who she was guessing were the Halfbloods around her, having a lineage of only witches and wizards must be better in some way. Given the magical talent she knows she has Wisteria figures she must have had at least one magical in her family somewhere. Now it was just a matter of finding where in her ancestry that was, once she figured that out she would surely garner some of the respect she deserved.
The classes that Monday were easy, the teachers just went over some simple theory and the syllabus, nothing was taught that Wisteria had not already read from the textbooks. History of Magic was… odd though. The teacher was a ghost, but that in itself was not the weird part as Hogwarts seems to have multiple staff members that were not completely human. No, what was odd was that the teacher, Professor Binns, did not stick to the supposed syllabus. All Binns talked about was Goblins, the curriculum for the year was supposed to be the magical world pre-Hogwarts era. Professor Binns spent the entire hour after passing out the syllabus going on and on about Goblin wars, which seemed quite insensitive, not that Wisteria cared all that much mind, since one of his fellow teachers, Professor Flitwick, was half Goblin.
Wisteria would not be paying attention in that class. She is better off reading the textbook and teaching herself history. She does find it interesting though that the Headmaster keeps such an incompetent teacher, perhaps the man has some type of agenda he's trying to push.
In all her classes she sat next to Tracey Davis. Wisteria knew her options of seatmates were Davis, Bulstrode, or by herself. There was no guarantee she would get a seat by herself, her favourite option, and she did not want to get stuck sitting with Bulstrode. Davis was not an unattractive girl, she had nice features and a calm demeanour, Bulstrode on the other hand, well, Wisteria figured it was probably best to keep her opinions on the girl's appearance to herself. So she sat with Davis, the girl never talked to her and mostly ignored her presence, but Wisteria did not mind. She would find a way to prove her worth, even if it turned out she had no magical ancestors and she was lesser than them.
Tuesday brought new classes and a new incompetent teacher. The Defence Against the Dark Arts professor had a horrible stutter that made him near impossible to understand. The man also seemed to be petrified by half of what he taught. From listening to the rumours around the school apparently there's some type of curse on the position and every year the subject has a new teacher. The fact that there seemed to be some sort of tension between the Slytherins and Gryffindors did not help to make the class any better. Yet another class she would have to teach to herself.
After lunch, Slytherin and Gryffindor first years went outside to the quidditch pitch. They would be learning how to fly on broomsticks, Wisteria was not quite sure how learning to fly a broomstick could be considered a required course. Unless the Headmaster for whatever reason views after-school sports to be just as important as academics, as that is the only use for them she has seen thus far. It is not like brooms are the only mode of transport, she just finished a chapter in her history book going over the revolutionary invention of floo powder.
"Good afternoon, class," Madam Hooch spoke as the students took their place next to old broomsticks. They did not look all that safe to Wisteria. "Welcome to your first flying lesson. What are you all waiting for? Step up to the side of your brooms, stick your hand out over the broom and say 'Up'."
It took a few tries but the irksome thing finally made its way to Wisteria's hand. She was not the best as was her wont to be, the girl however chose to ignore that little tidbit of information as this activity held little to no value.
Once the class all had a broomstick in hand Madam Hooch continued her instructions, "Now that you've all got a broom in hand I want you to mount them and hold on tight, falling off is not a fun experience." The woman demonstrated how it should be done, and no way was Wisteria going to do that.
"Miss Scott, may I ask why you are not following directions?" the teacher asked.
"I will not be straddling a broom ma'am, and in a skirt no less. No, It will not be happening," Wisteria was firm in her response. If the Sisters at the orphanage saw what this school was trying to make her do they would have a heart attack at this very moment.
"Miss Scott! This is not a matter up for debate. You will be flying this broom or you will fail."
"Then I'm afraid you'll have to fail me, ma'am. It is not as though what you teach is important, you having this job is both a waste of students' time and of the school's budget." She refused to in any way compromise her modesty and if this teacher could not understand that then Wisteria would have no choice but to do what she is best at, take revenge.
Madam Hooch had gone red in the face, "That will be ten points from Slytherin! And if you speak to me in such a manner again it will be detention Miss Scott."
The Gyffindors on the other side of the pitch all seemed to laugh at Wisteria, Weasley perhaps the loudest of them all. Her own housemates scowled at her. The raven-haired girl was not pleased with this situation, features slowly becoming marred with anger as rage rose within her. She would get back at those Gyffinndors for laughing at her, no one laughed at her and got away with it. She could understand her housemates' anger at her, she did not like it, but she could understand it. Besides there was not exactly anything that could be done about it given her current position in Slytherin.
"Now that that has been dealt with, I want the rest of you to kick off the ground when I blow my whistle, be sure to keep your grip on the broom steady. I only want you hovering a foot or two off the ground before touching back down again. On the count of three, three, two…"
Before Madam Hooch could finish her count down the tubby boy who had fallen into the mud the first night at the castle spontaneously flew into the air. Wisteria knew this would be unsafe, just another reason for her to never embark on a broomstick.
"Mr Longbottom!" Madam Hooch exclaimed, "I did not blow the whistle yet, get down here right this instant!"
Yet the boy could not, if anything his flying seemed to get even more uncontrollable.
"He's going too high!" a bushy-haired Gryffindor stated the obvious. The boy was now up so high he was almost to the roof of the castle.
All of a sudden the broom jerked under the boy sending him souring right back to the group, his frantic screams getting louder as he got closer. Madam Hooch pulled out her wand, presumably to help the boy, but she was not quick enough. The boy flew back up to the top of the castle, his robe caught on a statue and the broom fell out from under him. Longbottom stupidly flailed in fear, his robe ripped and he was sent falling to the ground. Madam Hooch managed to slow his fall a bit, but it was not enough. The moment Longbotoom made contact with the ground a pained yell left his lips. That right there was better than any type of revenge Wisteria could have planned for a Gryffindor, she couldn't help it as the corner of her mouth twitched upwards into a smirk.
"Oh my gosh! Is he okay?" The bushy-haired girl from earlier exclaimed as Madam Hooch ran to the injured boy.
"All of you will stay off of your brooms while I take Mr Longbottom to the hospital wing, am I understood? Yes? good, if I see any of you off of the ground, out of Hogwarts you will be." Hooch said as she walked off with the softly crying boy.
"Would you look at what we have here?" The blonde boy she had spoken with at the opening feast said with a smirk as he tossed about a glass ball, "Maybe if the great piece of lard had given it a squeeze he'd have remembered to fall on his fat arse." he and the two large boys who stood at either side of him as if they were his bodyguards laughed at the boy's taunts.
"Give it here, Malfoy," Potter said as he approached.
"How about…No." Malfoy said before elegantly flying his broom into the air, "What if I left it somewhere for Longbottom to find? What do you think about the roof Potter?" he took off, soaring higher and higher, but unlike the tubby Gryffindor he was perfectly in control.
Potter, rather idiotically, decided the best idea was to get on his own broom and go after the Slytherin.
"What do you think you're doing Harry?! Get down! Weren't you listening to Madam Hooch? You don't even know how to fly yet." Wisteria really hated having to agree with the bushy-haired Gryffindor, but she did. Perhaps idiocy was a bit of a house trait for them? So far that is all Wisteria has seen of them.
"Give it Malfoy, or I'll knock you off your broom," the green-eyed boy threatened, Wisteria knew there was a reason she did not like the boy on the train, to threaten harm, serious harm seeing how high up they were, over something so small, and to be so brash about it. Yes, the boy was nothing more than an idiotic brute despite his slight figure.
"If you want it so bad, why don't you catch it?" Malfoy then threw the glass ball in the air, nowhere near Potter, before softly gliding back to the ground.
Potter flew after the thing, heading right toward a window inside which Professor McGonagall was working, and Wisteria saw a great opportunity, she still had revenge to get on those Gryffindors for laughing at her. She quickly sent a wave of her magic to the boy, hoping to knock him off. It did not, Potter stumbled for a second before getting his grip and balance back and continuing his flight, she briefly heard the Gryffindors chattering in fright that Potter might too fall. She didn't listen for long, her revenge was still not had. Wisteria sent a larger, more powerful gust of magic, one that had the boy falling over and off his broom, just as McGonagall spotted the boy. Wisteria smirked at her handiwork, this would surely be good.
"Potter!" Professor McGonagall yelled both in alarm and anger.
Potter and his broom were tumbling to the ground fast, and it did not look like the Professor would have enough time to stop him. Pity, it looks like the bad luck that follows and affects those around her is making itself known at Hogwarts, Wisteria thought with a smirk and if anyone had been looking at her at that moment they would be in fear of their life.
One could see McGonagall running out of view of the window as Potter managed to grasp hold of his broom, but sadly it was too late. Potter, his broom, and the glass orb all crashed to the ground. Everyone heard as the glass shattered, the wood of the broom snapped, and Potter let out a small pained groan. Both Slytherins and Gryffindors cringed at the noise, well besides Wisteria who was still grinning a bit like a loon, not knowing if perhaps the sound of a bone snapping or shattering could have been in that cacophony of noise.
"Mr Potter!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed as she finally made her way onto the pitch, "You are going to get an earful once we get you healed. Already getting into trouble, not even a week into the term. I'm going to have another James Potter on my hands aren't I," the Scottish professor spoke as she led the boy, who was very carefully cradling his arm away from his ribs, off of the pitch.
Two Gryffindors down and just the rest of the first years to go. Though that would have to wait for another day, Potter would not go down easy and it left her feeling quite drained. It was a good thing there were no other classes for the rest of the day and that tomorrow there was only astronomy at midnight with all of the houses.
Wisteria was sitting with her legs elegantly crossed in front of one of the grand fireplaces as she read a book in the common room after dinner that night. The divide at the table did not apply only there but also in the common room. This divide was never mentioned, more of an unspoken rule than anything. It was a shame she was not a Pureblood, as she has recently found out they're called, the bookshelves on that side were far more full.
Professor Snape walked into the common room, Wisteria has not seen much of the man so far this week, he seemed to only step inside the Slytherin dormitory a few times each day only long enough to ensure the house was operating smoothly.
"Malfoy, Professor McGonagall tells me that Potter claims you to be at fault for his injuries," the intimidating man spoke.
"He's lying!" the blonde exclaimed.
Snape rose a single eyebrow in response, seemingly a man of few words.
"I didn't do anything!" the child whined.
"It is true Professor Snape sir," the man turned his singular arched brow to Wisteria, "Sure, Malfoy may have taunted the boy a bit and boasted of his own flying skills, but it was not anything worth taking more than a few points for, just boys being boys. It was entirely Potter's own decision to hop on his broom and show off, you would think he'd be more cautious after what happened to Longbottom." Wisteria said all of this as innocently as possible, her every bone protesting at the act.
The black-haired man stared at her with inscrutable black eyes before responding, "Very well, I shall inform McGonagall."
"You covered for me," Malfoy stated after the professor left.
"I did," Wisteria's innocent look immediately dropped for a blank one quick enough to give someone whiplash, "now you owe me."
Malfoy narrowed his silver eyes, staring at her for a moment before scowling, "fine," he said before turning around.
"Oh, and for future reference outright denial is never the way to go. If you want to get away with something you have to add a bit of truth, accept a smidgen of blame, very reluctantly mind you. It makes authority figures feel as though they have managed to squeeze the truth out of you and that they got the full story," Wisteria stated dully as if she had no interest in the conversation.
"You might not be too bad for a Mudblood," Malfoy said haughtily as he walked off.
Wisteria smirked, all was coming together. She was not expecting to get such an opportunity so soon, but she would not complain. She has earned a small bit of respect from a Pureblood and earned a favour to use at her leisure.
Astronomy class went off without a hitch, though Wisteria found herself struggling to stay awake. The Nuns never allowed anyone to stay up so late if they found anyone awake too long after 10 PM they were made to write lines in calligraphy, however many minutes passed 10 PM you were up was how many lines you had to write.
Harry Potter was also suspiciously absent from the class. Apparently, the boy was still healing from the injuries he acquired the day before, a broken arm, wrist, hand, and some bruised ribs if rumours were to be believed. The wounds the boy received from her meddling were perhaps a bit extreme, but at the end of the day, it was not Wisteria's problem.
Thursday brought Transfiguration class with the Gryffindors and Wisteria's chance to exact her revenge on them all at once, best not to do it separately all of Gryffindor's first years slowly becoming injured would be awfully suspicious.
Professor McGonagall unlike Wisteria's other professors thus far spent little time with theory and jumped into a lesson. The object of today's class would be to transfigure a match stick into a needle. The spell was not specifically for transfiguring a match into a needle, they were only using matches because it was relatively similar in size and weight to a needle. Which would make accomplishing the spell easier.
Once McGonagall finished her explanation Wisteria knew it was her time to strike. She has pulled this particular trick a few times before, it took quite a bit of concentration and power, but it has gotten easier each time she's done it. She let her magic gather in the air on the Gryffindors' side of the room, slowly twisting it together and picking up speed to gain friction and build energy.
A sudden blinding flash of light stroked down, a sharp crack coinciding. Lightning. A single stroke of lightning touched down in the middle of the seated Gryffindor first years. The phenomenon startled everyone in the room, Wisteria trying her best to act along with everyone else. Though the electrical discharge hit no one, Wisteria had made sure of it, those closest still appeared to be suffering a bit of electric shock.
"What in the…" Professor McGonagall said as the shock slowly slipped off her features. "Class Dismissed! We will be investigating this phenomenon to ensure the room is still safe."
The class shuffled out of the room, Children finally growing the courage to speak up and chatter about the strange occurrence. Wisteria was proud of herself for causing such a panic. They would, hopefully, never trace the event back to her. She wondered if they might now have to change classrooms.
Headmaster Dumbledore was for once missing from the head table at dinner that night. The slightly cooky old man was holed up in his office considering the strange happenings of the week. Two children were injured during flying lessons, a record for recent years, and a bolt of lightning in the middle of a classroom. All of this occurring in the same area as Miss Scott, he had hoped his suspicions of the young girl would turn out false but it appeared that he would unfortunately be proven right… unless… yes, now that he thought about it it was quite possible. He knew this was a possibility, planned for it even, and Harry had fallen victim to one of the strange happenings and been nearby for the others. Couple it with the Gringott's break-in, all signs pointed to Tom being back, though he can't say this is how he expected the man to make himself known.
Notes:
Uh oh, looks like Harry's not going to be on the quidditch team yet and his discovery of the three headed dog is going to be sidetracked. Look at you Wisteria, ruining the plot. Luckily Voldemort is there to take the fall for Wisteria's suspicious deeds and keep Dumbledore off her trail.