This story contains content not suitable for the light-hearted and those with an easily altered emotional and mental state. Some of the content may refer to real-life mental illnesses, and may provoke negative thoughts.
This story is completely based off JK Rowling's Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix, and the character Hannah Byron is original and made up. The events and characters have been altered to suit the emplacement of the protagonist of this fanfiction. Very little dialogue in this story is based off what the characters actually did say in the Novel or Movie.
Hannah stood in Dumbledore's office, after being flooed in through his fireplace just minutes ago, alongside Dumbledore himself. She looked around, emotionless, apparently not at all phased by a single site that lay ahead of her, although her gaze drifted across all his furniture, photo frames, and laid a moment longer on his Phoenix, Fawkes.
A gentle cough brought her attention to the old man with his silver beard hanging perfectly in front of his grey robes, staring intently at the girl behind his half-moon spectacles.
"Miss Byron," he said, through a hoarse but clear voice. "Seeing as this will be your first year at Hogwarts, although you are joining us in your 7th year, we are required to sort you into your house." He eyed her waiting for a response, a look of interest, even a twitch of movement. Nothing. He began again, "I'll save you the humiliation of being sorted in front of the school with the 1st years, and instead will sort you into your house, right at this very moment." He looked again, this time she nodded very halfheartedly. He conjured a stool in front of his desk, and gestured to it for Hannah to be seated. She did so without question, as he placed the talking hat upon her head.
The slit in the hat opened, and closed again as the hat retracted a bit, perhaps to rethink what it originally thought.
"Odd mind. Odd mind indeed. Most certainly has courage, but very little intent on showing it. Brains, oh my, very intelligent indeed. Most definitely capable of anything expected of a 7th year. Ambition, so much ambition, but very little motivation. Loyalty indeed lies in here, but again, no commitment." The hat once again retracted in thought, accompanied by a drawn out croak. "It appears that you have the qualities of all the houses. Ahh, yes but this one specifically. A very complex mind, but very cunning. Better be, Slytherin." The hat concluded in a slightly less enthusiastic tone as usual, finishing in a more sinister, uncertain voice.
Dumbledore reached for the tip of the hat and gently removed the hat before placing it upon a shelf. He watched intently for a reaction on the 17 year old's face, but it appeared emotionless. He sighed inwardly before placing a hand on Hannah's shoulder. "Hannah, I shall escort you to your new house leader, and he will show you to your common room, there he will appoint you to a knowledgeable student who will show you around. You will then be required to attend the sorting of the 1st years, engage in the feast, and will be allowed to retire before your first day. Is there any questions?" Hannah shook her head, barely noticeably, before following Dumbledore out of his office, and towards the dungeon.
Dumbledore gently tapped on a dark wooden door, in an unnecessarily melodic rhythm. Hannah could hear a heavy sigh from behind the door, before hearing a low, bored, dragged out voice, "Come in."
Dumbledore twisted the knob of the door, as it released with a loud thud and creak as the door wrenched open. Behind a desk within the room was a man, in around his mid-thirties, wearing pure black robes, from an unnecessarily high point of his neck, all the way down to his ankles. His face hid behind curtains of dark, long, black hair. The man was scratching something down on a piece of parchment, before he placed his quill down and raised his head. His deep, black eyes went to Dumbledore, who had already approached his desk, then his eyes drifted to the slim, short, blond girl who held back at the door of his rooms. He eyed Dumbledore again, edging him for an explanation, before Dumbledore cleared his throat and began to lecture. "This is Hannah Byron, she has joined our school as a 7th year, and has been sorted into your house. I would find it fitting if you were to escort her to the common room, and introduce her to someone of the house you think worthy of looking after her, until she is knowledgeable enough of the school to go about alone." Dumbledore turned to Hannah before hinting for her to come forward. Hannah approached, with her right arm by her side, and her left hand clutching effortlessly to her right elbow. "Hannah," Dumbledore began, "This is Professor Snape, he is your house leader and will be your Potions Master. You will be introduced to your other Professors tomorrow, as your lessons progress." He looked towards Snape, who reluctantly nodded at Hannah, acknowledging her existence. Hannah nodded back in her attempt to be polite. Dumbledore looked once more between the two Slytherins, before departing from the room.
Snape stared at the empty doorway for a moment, before turning his attention to Hannah. "I suppose you know how to follow instructions?" Drawled Snape, as he eyed Hannah over dangerously, judging her. The short haired girl, with one side of her hair, longer than the other, draped over her right eye, eyed Snape back, somewhat offended by the fact that he thought her ignorant enough to not be able to follow instructions, but she ignored the thought, and nodded. Snape continued to size her up, as he absentmindedly reached for a bit of parchment from the right side of the desk, then turned his attention to it as he scratched down instructions on the piece of parchment. He slid it with the tip of his fingers, slightly to the edge of his desk, closer to Hannah. Hannah read all of the instructions, without touching the parchment, before taking one look up at him so their eyes met, and departed from his room, making her way to the Slytherin common room.
Hannah arrived at the stone wall which supposedly lead to the Slytherin common room. "Vengeance" she voiced, as the wall opened up into a dark room, with skulls hanging upon the walls, snake carvings and skins hung and laid randomly around the room, emerald green sheets draping across the wall every now and then, with a silver snaked centered on every sheet. The floor was concrete, with the occasional green rug, the furniture was all either emerald green or black, and the windows allowed a murky green light through the rooms. Hannah looked out of a window to see the Giant Squid float past effortlessly.
Feeling slightly impressed by the originality of the rooms, she noticed a boy who fit the description of what Snape wrote down on the piece of parchment, laying absentmindedly on a green couch, with his arms draped over either side of the arms on the couch. Hannah approached the blond boy, making herself noticeable as she scraped her feet unintentionally against the concrete floor. Draco looked up at her, as she saw his eyes calculating, as he realised he didn't recognise who he was looking at.
"Snape told me you'd show me where the dorms are." Hannah said, barely audibly. Saying no more or no less than what she needed to. She wasn't really bothered with trying to create friendships, she just wanted to get by, preferably on her own.
"So, you're new I assume?" Questioned Draco, not really caring, more or less calculating how necessary it was to have to direct this girl to her dormitory. Hannah just nodded in return, watching him roll his eyes as he departed his couch, making a big deal over the fact that he has to show responsibility with his newly appointed role as prefect.
Draco walked to the door of the girls dorm, gesturing her to the direction of it, as if she were entirely blind. Hannah walked to the door, placing her hand on the handle, glanced back at Draco, before dismissing him with a nod and entering the dormitory.
The dormitory was rather ordinary, just grey concrete walls, green carpet, and multiple bunk beds, all with emerald green and silver bed sheets. The room was unoccupied, apart from one girl, who looked about 15. Hannah didn't bother acknowledging her, just dumped the stuff she had on her, including a backpack full with clothing and muggle art supplies, on a bed then departed from the dorm.
Hannah made her way across the common room again, noticing Draco's glare in the corner of her eye. Ignoring it, she continued to the exit, and made her way into the hallways of the dungeon.
Hannah walked around the dungeon, taking a mental note of everything's whereabouts, before climbing up a stairwell and doing the same on the ground floor. She walked around every floor and hallway accessible, memorising where everything was as she went along. The chimes of the clock tower told her it was 7pm, and time to make her way down to the Great Hall.
As Hannah approached the Great Hall, she continued walking to where, obviously, she was meant to sit. She walked to her left to where everything hanging above the tables were green and silver, while trying to avoid every other sight that came to her view. She can't deny that she was mesmerised by what she did notice, but she just didn't really see much point in showing her amazement. She very much thought the whole layout clever, the 4 house tables, sitting adjacent to one another, floating candles, a heightened stage at the front for those with authority, and of course, the starry ceiling which reflected the night sky. She approached the Slytherin table, and sat herself at the farthest point from another student, at the complete back of the hall. There were about 6 staff members at this stage at the front of the hall, although Hannah had terrible eyesight, and couldn't make out the features of a single one of them, apart from the only one dressed entirely in black. Hannah tried to focus her sight on the Professor in black, and managed to decipher that the man happened to be looking directly at her, she looked a little longer to notice his glare moved from Hannah, to a boy sitting reasonably up close to the front, Draco. Hannah mused over the fact that Snape must've expected Draco and her to enter together, but quickly distracted herself from the thought when she realised that she didn't really care what he was thinking.
The hall started filling up with more students and staff, and decided she didn't want to draw any attention to herself by making eye contact, so she rested her chin in her arms on the table, before closing out everything around her, and focusing on her own thoughts, about why she was here, and why she didn't care to be here.
Thanks for reading my first ever chapter of fanfiction! I'll continue to upload chapters at least once a day (hopefully).
Hannah Byron is based on my own appearance and a fair bit of my personality. The first few chapters are slow-paced and focused on character development, but I promise things will speed up and intensify.
If it isn't clear, this is set in Harry Potters first year, 90% of the background events will be revolved around what actually happens in The Order Of The Phoenix.
Let me know what you think of my first piece of writing, I understand the chapters are reasonably short, but I haven't quite adapted to this whole 'writing chapters' thing. I'll come around eventually.
Thank you for reading, and I'll keep you updated over the next few hours.