The sky was dark by the time they came to a stop at Hogsmeade train station. Aurora looked up at the stars and grinned, holding Stella tightly. Maybe she'd get to see a real aurora borealis out here some day. They were very far north and there were no Muggles for miles around to get in the way of the light.

"Hurry up, Aurora," Pansy said impatiently. "We need to get on a boat together. You, Draco, and I."

Aurora smiled at her and followed her friends to where the very tall man who had accompanied Harry Potter in Diagon Alley was standing, waving a lantern and calling for the first years. She watched as he greeted Harry and Weasley, and then scowled. "It's four to a boat," Draco told her, and they hurried down the banking to the great, dark lake where just over a dozen boats sat docked, rocking gently against the waves.

"Four to a boat!" the giant man was shouting - Aurora hoped dearly that he wasn't a real giant - and Aurora hopped in quickly with Pansy and Draco. A moment later, Daphne came over to join them, looking extremely put out.

"The other girls have already filled up a boat," she said, shaking her head. "So I suppose I'll have to slum it with you three."

"You're too good for Bulstrode," Pansy told Daphne decisively, and smirked. "We'd be more than happy to welcome you into our ranks."

Aurora grinned. "Does anyone know how we get Sorted?" Pansy asked. "No one would tell me. Apparently it's a secret, which I think is ludicrous. We ought to be prepared."

"Mother wouldn't tell me anything either," Daphne said, wrinkling her nose. "But from what I've deduced, we're going to have to solve a puzzle. Personally, I think it should be a good way to sort the good from the bad."

Draco nodded in agreement. "I quite agree. I'm rather good at puzzles."

Aurora rolled her eyes. "You three are getting ahead of yourselves. All we have to do is try on the Sorting Hat."

Draco stared at her. "How did you know that?"

"How did you not?" She shook her head. "It's in Hogwarts: A History — or at least, it is in my copy.It used to belong to Godric Gryffindor." Pansy pulled a face. "Yes, I know. But all you have to do is to try it on and it'll sort us."

"That's awfully boring," Pansy said frowning. "We don't even have to prove ourselves?"

"No," Aurora said. "Only put on a hat. It is rather ridiculous, and an outdated practice."

"I don't want to wear anything of Gryffindor's," Draco announced loudly, as their boat started moving gently across the water. "Can you imagine?"

"It must have all sorts in it," Daphne said with a shudder. "How many students must have tried it on?" She sniffed. "I don't trust Dumbledore to have given it a proper wash, do you?"

"Absolutely not," Pansy said. "I'm sure it's positively disgusting."

"I'm not touching it," Aurora decided, although she knew she would probably have to. "I won't do it. I'll force it to put me in Slytherin if it puts up a fuss, but I'm not touching the thing."

Pansy giggled. "I second that. I'm not putting on the hat either."

They hadn't gotten further in their conversation before the boats turned a corner and the lake seemed to shimmer with golden and silver lights. Aurora looked up, gaping, as Hogwarts Castle rose above her. Lights twinkled in every one of its many windows, and tower spires rose high enough that they cut into the moon. "It's beautiful," she said quietly, and Pansy nodded.

"Mother said it was."

"It's just a castle," Draco said, but even he was staring at Hogwarts, clearly impressed.

Aurora beamed as they clambered out of the boat, excited to go in and get sorted and meet her housemates. She didn't spare a thought for Harry Potter as she went with Draco, Pansy and Daphne up the school steps. Even as a stern witch, Professor McGonagall, introduced herself to them, she barely noticed it, instead staring around at the portraits who were chattering excitedly, and at the ghosts who flew in and out of the door. It felt magical like home did, but ten times more so. It felt warmer, and the lights were gentler. Being with her friends made her smile and she momentarily forgot her fears as they strode into the Great Hall as a group.

They came to a stop before a stool with a very withered, very unwashed looking, wide-brimmed hat. Daphne and Aurora both wrinkled their noses at it and caught each other's eyes, giggling. "The ceiling's enchanted oh know," a bushy haired girl was saying. "I read it in Hogwarts: A History." Aurora had read the same, of course. She caught the girl's eye and smiled, and the girl grinned back but didn't say anything. The hat had started singing. Aurora has been expecting the hat to sing a song, but she seemed to be the only one. It was a nice song, and she grinned at the line about Slytherin.

Perhaps in Slytherin, you'll meet your real friends. These cunning folks use any means to achieve their ends.

She rather liked the idea of being cunning. And as for real friends... She grinned at Draco and Pansy, then at Daphne. Yes, she would certainly make some real friends. This would be the place for that.

"When I call your name," Professor McGonagall told them, in front of all of the students, "you will come up here and place the Sorting Hat on your head."

She gestured to the stool, which Aurora thought must have been sat on by thousands of other witches and wizards before her. She wrinkled her nose again. She hoped that had been cleaned properly. Did Hogwarts have house elves? It must, she thought, to feed so many students.

The first girl, Hannah Abbott — short and blonde, from what Aurora recognised as a noble house, if not an especially influential one — sat down on the stool, looking incredibly nervous. All eyes were on her as the hat deliberated a moment, before shouting, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

There was a roar of applause from the table two away, whose students wore yellow Hufflepuff emblems on their robes. Aurora took a second to identify the Slytherins at the far end of the hall, as Caroline Allan and Jamie Anderson both became Ravenclaws. Then McGonagall called out, "Aurora Black!"

She could hear people whispering as she went up to take the stool, head held high.

"That Black?"

"Surely not!"

"She can't be in our house!"

Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster, was eyeing her curiously. This made Aurora only more determined to ignore them all, as she sat down elegantly on the stool, surveyed the hall, and gingerly held the hat over her head. "Hesitant to put me on, are we?" it said, and she startled. It landed on her head, chuckling, and she scowled. "Another Black. I haven't had one of you in years. Young Mister Regulus. Lots of Slytherins there... But your father... A Gryffindor. Well, don't I know a few things about Sirius Black." She scowled.

"Don't talk about him," she said in a low voice, barely moving her lips so that no one could tell she was talking to the hat. She kept her eyes on the door at the end of the Great Hall, not falling on anyone else.

"Not a fan, eh? I wonder how much you've been told."

"Please do stop," she told the hat, and it just laughed.

"Well, let's see then. Intelligent enough, you have a keen mind, and a curious one. Ravenclaw would be a good fit. There's a loyalty there, hard-working... And some courage I see."

That sounded awfully Gryffindor. "I want to be in Slytherin," she told the hat.

She could almost feel the damned thing smirking. "Is that so? Well, it would fit your name, certainly. Cunning, not quite, but you could get there. Slytherin may give you the necessary push in that direction. Ambitious, resourceful, and certainly prideful... You're an interesting one."

Aurora crossed her arms and scowled. "Put me in Slytherin, please."

The hat laughed. "And stubborn. Yes, you know what you want. Very well, then. SLYTHERIN!"

She grinned as she yanked the hat off her head. There was a spattering of nervous applause from the Slytherin end of the hall, but Draco and Pansy both cheered loudly and soon all of the Slytherin table was cheering for her. Aurora set the hat down daintily, making a note to wash her hands when she got to the Slytherin table, and flounced away, beaming.

She watched steadily for the trickle of Slytherins coming to join her. Millicent made it, grinning cheerfully as she sat down opposite Aurora, followed by Crabbe, then a tall girl with dark brown skin and dark black hair held up in two ponytails, who was called Tracey Davis and after her, Clarissa Drought, rather plump and sullen looking, with tanned skin and short, reddish brown hair - they both regarded Aurora warily when she sat down next to her. Goyle joined them next, sitting on a disgruntled Millicent's other side. Daphne came just after him, and beamed as she squeezed in between Aurora and Tracey. "Good show, Black," she told her, running her hands through her hair. "Pansy's nervous, but I don't know what she thinks she has to worry about."

Apollo Jones was the next Slytherin — tanned and handsome, with blonde hair — then Leah MacMillan, similarly tanned and rather stocky, with thick eyebrows and with long black hair. She seemed very cheerful about the whole thing, despite the fact that a boy Aurora had been sure was her brother had just been put into Hufflepuff without her. She didn't get the chance to ask her about the matter, though: both Leah and Apollo sat at the far end of the table, away from Aurora.

Draco made it into Slytherin, of course, as did Theodore Nott. Next was a short, rather pink-faced boy called Robin Oliphant, with curly brown hair. He sat determinedly next to Tracey Davis and started whispering quickly to her, and Aurora couldn't hear. She focused her attention on Pansy, who had taken the Sorting Hat, too, just after Theodore, who had of course been put into Slytherin. She did look nervous, Daphne was right, but she had nothing to worry about. The hat yelled out, "SLYTHERIN!"

They all clapped for Pansy, and only a few moments later, Sally-Anne Perks was sorted into Slytherin too. She was skinny, with a pale and freckled face and ginger hair held back in two plaits. Aurora couldn't stop herself from being curious as Harry Potter's name was called and excited murmurs rippled through the hall. People were craning their necks to get a look at him, but Draco and Pansy had ended up sitting either side of Aurora now, and they did not. "He does look a bit weedy, doesn't he?" Pansy said. "We are better off without him."

Some of their housemates seemed to think there was a chance that Potter could be sorted into Slytherin. Aurora scoffed. As if the great Harry Potter would submit himself to anyone except Gryffindor. Maybe Hufflepuff. And sure enough, the hat took a few minutes, but it inevitably yelled, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table went wild with excitement and Aurora rolled her eyes. She hated the lot of them already. They were terribly loud. They didn't seem to stop cheering for ever, and then the Sorting dragged on.

At the mention of Alice Runcorn's name, Aurora did glance up, only to see that she had been sorted into Hufflepuff. There was a murmur of curiosity from the others, and Pansy whispered, "That's a shock. What's it put her there for? Stupid hat."

She'd thought that was enough of an upset. Then Frida Selwyn got put in Gryffindor and the ensuing dramatics were enough to make Aurora very, very grateful that she had been put in Slytherin. There were another two Slytherins added to their ranks — Lewis Stebbins with light brown skin and messy black hair, and Gwendolyn Tearston, who was tall, tanned and blonde, and seemed as warm as a Hufflepuff when she sat down next to Leah MacMillan.

Lucille Travers and Blaise Zabini both made Slytherin too, and then the Sorting was over. The Weasley boy had, to no one's surprise, been put into Gryffindor along with Harry Potter.

"Good group we have," Draco said, glancing around. "Shame about Frida and Alice. Imagine being sorted into Hufflepuff." He shuddered. "I think I'd leave."

"I feel worse for Frida," Pansy said. "What must her family say when she tells them?" She glanced at Aurora. "Do you think she will tell them?"

"I don't see how she couldn't," Aurora said. "It would be difficult to avoid, wouldn't it?"

Dumbledore stood up as McGonagall cleared the hat and stool away. He smiled out at the Great Hall. "Welcome," he said, voice rather soothing. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before our feast begins, I have a few words I would like to say: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you."

Aurora stared at him. "What."

"Oh, Mother says Dumbledore's quite odd," Pansy told her.

"Father says he's a fool," Draco added. "He's losing his touch, and his mind."

Then the tables filled with hot plates of food and Aurora was quite distracted from Professor Dumbledore's oddness. At the end of the feast he gave out a lot of weird rules about not being allowed into the Forbidden Forest and how the third floor Charms corridor on the right hand side was out of bounds to anyone who didn't wish to die a most painful death. Aurora was determined never to go to the third floor if she could help it.

"Alright," shouted a boy from the other end of the table as the feast broke. "First year Slytherins with me, to the dungeons! The rest of you hang back a bit — I'm sure you can find something to amuse yourselves with."

Draco, Crabbe and Goyle shoved their way to the front of the group of first years, while Aurora hung back with Pansy and Daphne. "Do they have to quite so brutish?" Daphne said, glaring at Crabbe's back.

"So long as they aren't brutish to us," Pansy said clippedly, as they all fell into step and followed the boy downstairs.

"I'm your prefect," he told them. "While you're here, you can come to me with any issues. But I want it understood now, they must be serious issues. Not because you don't want to go to detention, or someone said something mean to you in the corridors. I don't tolerate whiners, and neither does Professor Snape." Aurora straightened up, even more determined not to whine. Perhaps this prefect was also a Black, somewhere along the line. "I'm Lucas Flint, and you can also talk to Kayda Ordens, if you need to. No one is to bother Professor Snape unless it is urgent or very severe."

They reached a stretch of damp stone wall. Aurora thought it was quite unimpressive, and wondered for a moment why they were there before Lucas Flint said the word, "Merlin," and it slid away, to reveal a low ceiling room with a number of deeply painted bookshelves, several green velvet armchairs and a crackling fireplace. By the other wall was a window, through which she was sure she could see the lake. A fish swam past merrily.

"Oh," Aurora said softly, "it's quite lovely."

"Isn't it just?" Pansy beamed. She was looking around excitedly. "Mother said we'll have to wait to find out which room were in. Oh, I do hope we're together."

"Me too," Aurora said with a smile, though she supposed sharing with Daphne wouldn't be terrible either.

They lingered for a moment, taking in the beautiful space, before Lucas Flint yelled, "Alright!" They quietened down instantly. "Girls' rooms are on the left, boys' on the right." He gestured to two doors. "As we have use of all the dungeons, including lower floors, our house has space for more rooms than others. Each student will have one roommate. This cannot be changed over the next seven years except in extreme circumstances. Please do try to get along." He grimaced. "I don't want another case of magically sprouting tails."

Aurora laughed along with the rest as she said her goodnight to Draco and followed Pansy and Daphne through the door to the girls' rooms. The corridor was narrow, but judging by the space between the rest of the doors, the rooms themselves would be quite large. There were a few other corridors stretching off of the main one, creating something of a maze, especially by the green lighting, but Aurora thought it was rather exciting.

"There's my name!" Pansy said, hurrying over to a door with a silver plate on it that read:

Pansy Parkinson

Millicent Bulstrode

"I'm in with Millie?" She pulled a face. "She snores something awful!"

Daphne giggled and shoved Pansy lightly towards the door. "Have a nice sleep, Pansy."

"I wanted to be with Aurora! I bet you two will be together and get to have all the fun!"

Aurora laughed. "Don't worry, we promise not to leave you out." Pansy pouted. "You'll be alright. You like Millicent, don't you?" Pansy nodded grudgingly. "See? And we'll have all of our classes together, and meals, and all our spare time apart from nights. Personally I think we'll all be sick of each other."

Daphne grinned. "Enjoy your nights then," Pansy said, with one final glare before she went inside and slammed the door.

"I do enjoy a good Pansy tantrum," Daphne said lightly as they carried on down the same corridor. "Look out for our names, will you?"

Aurora frowned, peering around. "Oh, there's yours, Daphne. You're with... Lucille." Her heart dropped. That meant she was in with one of the other girls — one of the ones she hadn't met yet.

"Oh, good," Daphne said cheerfully, then caught the disgruntled look on Aurora's face. "Oh, sorry. I always thought they ought to keep the purebloods together, but I don't suppose they can when there's an odd number of us. Maybe you'll be with MacMillan — that family's respectable enough, even if her mother's a half-blood."

"It's not that," Aurora mumbled, and Daphne looked surprised. "I don't mind being with a half-blood, but I don't know any of the other girls. It might be tricky."

Daphne shrugged. "Well, I guess you will now. You barely knew me until today." She grinned. "There's Lucille coming just now. Lucille! Over here, we're roommates." Daphne turned to Aurora. "I'm sure you're nearby. If you do have trouble, just knock on mine or Pansy's door and you can sneak in for the night. Maybe knock on mine," she added as an afterthought. "Millie's snoring really is quite dreadful."

Aurora left her and Lucille to it with as graceful a smile as she could muster. She'd seen the way the other new students all looked at her, like they were scared of her. She'd heard someone whisper blood traitor earlier, and she wasn't honestly sure which was worse. Maybe if her roommate was a half-blood then they wouldn't care about her father being a blood traitor — but she knew anyone would care about her father being a murderer. But she wasn't either, she reminded herself. She was a Black, she was not just Sirius Black's daughter. She would be fine if she kept her chin up. That was what Arcturus would say.

Her room was not far from Daphne's, but it was on the other side of the corridor. The name below hers on the plate read Gwendolyn Tearston, whom she remembered as the tall, blonde girl. Aurora allowed herself a moment to be nervous before she swallowed deeply, fixed her hair, tilted her chin, looked down her nose ever so slightly, and strode confidently into the room

Gwendolyn was already in there, talking hushedly and worriedly to two other girls — Tracey Davis and Clarissa Drought. They all shut up at once and looked up when Aurora entered, which was how she knew they had been talking about her. "Hello," she greeted calmly, her gaze landing deliberately on each of them before she settled on Gwendolyn. "I'm Aurora."

"We know," Tracey Davis said, and shot a worried look at Gwendolyn.

The three girls didn't say anything. "Are you going to introduce yourselves?" Aurora asked with an air of laziness, though she was beginning to feel rather unsettled now. It was one thing to be put in a room with someone she didn't know, quite another to have that person so clearly not want to be near her.

It was Gwendolyn who had to take one for her team. "Gwendolyn Tearston," she said, holding her head high and matching Aurora's gaze. She had a pleasant, refined sort of voice, but it was the kind Aurora thought would make for an excellent singer, and would have a lovely laugh. "This is Tracey Davis and Clarissa Drought."

Aurora knew this, of course. She smiled pleasantly as she said, "It's lovely to meet you. Did you know each other before coming to Hogwarts?"

The three girls looked between each other as though this was a dangerous question. Aurora's lips thinned and she narrowed her eyes. Clarissa Drought gulped nervously, eyes wide. "Yes," she said quickly. "Or at least, Tracey and I did. We met Gwendolyn on the train. We're both half-bloods."

Aurora nodded. "Alright."

They glanced between each other again, in that way friends do when they are sharing the same thought. Aurora felt rather put out, but was sure they wouldn't naturally include her in a silent conversation about herself. She wanted dearly to ask the two other girls to leave so she could speak to Gwendolyn without any nervous glares getting in the way, but she couldn't very well ask. That wouldn't do anything for their first impressions of her. Instead, she made to close the door behind her, and both Tracey and Clarissa hurried over, slipped out and disappeared down the hall. Aurora raised her eyebrows. Clearly they were very loyal friends. Not.

She turned instead to Gwendolyn, who had sat down on the edge of one of the beds and was looking anywhere but at Aurora. It wasn't outright unpleasant, but she could feel the tension in the air, which was why she was awfully relieved to find that Stella was sitting curled up by the other bed. "Stella!" she cried, and Gwendolyn looked up sharply. Aurora rushed over, scooping her cat up in her arms. "I did wonder if they'd bring you here for me. Did they feed you?" Stella nodded and purred gently. "Good girl."

"That's your cat?" Gwendolyn asked, her voice somewhat shaky. Aurora nodded. "Oh. I thought it was a school one. To eat mice or something."

"Oh, no," Aurora said, stroking Stella's head. "No, she's much too lovely for that, don't you think? She's my lovely girl."

She get to her feet and sat on the edge of the bed, looking at Gwendolyn, who appeared rather stiff and tight-lipped. She frowned. "You can say hello, if you'd like." Gwendolyn shook her head furiously. "Don't you like cats?"

"I do," Gwendolyn said shortly, and then bit her lip as though nervous. "She's very lovely, you're right. I'm going to go to bed if you don't mind."

She hurried into their little shared bathroom and Aurora frowned at her back. Although she had never had much experience of making friends, she had never been refused one. And after her failure with Harry Potter — which was admittedly, partly her own fault, and partly Draco's, and partly Potter, and partly the Weasley boy's rat — this was an extra blow. Still, Gwendolyn wasn't anybody important. She had never even heard of the Tearstons before. It was just frustrating. Because Gwendolyn looked at her like she was scared of her even though Aurora had never done anything cruel to her, and didn't plan to unless she deserved it. So she knew it was because of her father. And she hated that. She was Aurora, first and foremost.

When Gwendolyn came out of the bathroom, ready for bed, Aurora passed her without a word and they didn't speak again the entire night.