I almost forgot to put in the Author's Notes... Hello! Here is another chapter, early. Please review, I've had ZERO reviews. On. Any. Of. My. Stories. I may only have three, but I still expected some feedback. I'd also like to give a shout-out to my sister, her birthday was a few days ago. Please read the fic I wrote her last year. And, please review (I am literally begging).

First Person POV: Zina (controlled)

A lady in emerald-green robes was waiting at the entrance when we arrived. She was introduced to us as Professor McGonagall, and she took us over to the door of the Great Hall. (They are huge doors.)

She told us a few things, like the House Cup and how Houses work. I was looking forwards to having some non-sibling friends. But how do we get sorted?

Suddenly, many ghosts floated by the chill stretched by the stone floors and walls. Apparently, they had once attended Hogwarts themselves, while they were alive, of course. However, still no spoiler of how sorting works.

We entered the hall, and again came across a breathtaking view. At the front, near the entrance Professor McGonagall led us through, was a long table for the staff. Four even longer tables for the students flowed from it like a flag. In front of the staff table (as in between the staff table and the student seating) was a stool, where Prof. McGonagall set an old, worn hat.

It sang, explaining the house qualities in rhyming verses. It has quite the voice, that hat. Then Prof. McGonagall started calling out names, who were then sorted. Hermione- "GRIFFENDOOR". Neville- "GRIFFENDOOR". Draco- "SLYYTHERIN".

Then came a loooooong pause as Asher was sorted. I would have clocked him if I had a watch, but he still took far longer than that Seamus Finnigan to be sorted. But in the end… "SLYTHERIN". Looks like he got to stay with his cousin.

I watched nervously as my brother conversed with the hat. Until he was being sorted, I hadn't realized how nervous he was.

"It better be… GRIFFENDOOR!" the Hat finally announced.

"Potter, Zina!" Prof. McGonagall called my name. I was so excited. I was about to get sorted, possibly to be with my brother, to make potential friends-

An owl swooped down before I could get to the stool, demanding Professor McGonagall's attention.

"She can't… complicated reasons… sorry for the secrets… move on…" Prof. McGonagall's mumbled words started to worry me. Who is that she? Suddenly Professor McGonagall shouted. "Department X! What are they doing in Hogwarts affairs?"

Then… Prof. McGonagall motioned for me to step back. And she called out the next name. Numbly, I ran to the back of the line. Tears streamed down my cheeks.

"Si-ilent night, Ho-oly night," I sang under my breath, trying to calm down. They didn't say I have to leave. I'll be fine.

Ron went to Gryffindor. At least now Harry would have a friend to help him through this.

Prof. McGonagall rolled up the scroll, picked it up along with the hat, and motioned at me to follow. I wondered if I would be expelled. But…

"This is a very unusual occasion, Miss Potter. Department X hardly ever gets involved in anything, let alone the fate of a single Hogwarts student!" Prof. McGonagall explained, turning a corner, then deciding that wasn't the right corner. "We're going to have to figure something out for the long term, but for right now you can use this room to eat." She opened a door.

"What is… Department X?" I asked. That question had no right to be so nerve wracking to ask. At least I got it out of the way.

"Oh dear, I haven't explained near anything to you!" the professor exclaimed. "Department X of the Ministry of Magic isn't like other departments. No one outside knows its purpose, and their orders trump near everyone else. On top of that, all members are anonymous, and part time, so who knows who to ask. They're more mysterious and secretive than the Department of Mysteries!

"But apparently you are a part of their business, and they aren't allowing you to be sorted. They've got a plan of how to arrange your classes, but that still leaves us with where to put you," she continued to explain as she summoned the grand dinner that I otherwise would have missed.

"Please make yourself comfortable," Prof. McGonagall said before leaving.

I, of course, looked around. It seemed small, but who knew, I hadn't seen much of the castle yet. Aside from the table with my supper on it, there were only three desks. Informative posters hung on the walls, explaining advanced spells that I knew I could find a use for, given time.

A window was on one side of the room looking out over the grounds. When did I climb that many stairs? I could see a hut in the distance.

I then decided to eat my dinner. It was heavenly! But the lack of companionship? Not so much. I decided to look at the spell map closest to me. "The Patronus Charm. Not generally taught even in advanced classes, it is used to summon a Patronus to fight against dementors." So, not something I would be learning this year.

Looking at the room, I'd have to guess it's previous use had been a place to tutor a few students, or perhaps a very small, advanced class. Only three desks in the entire room… What else could it have been for?

A note suddenly appeared on my currently empty plate.

"Dear Zina,

We have come to a decision. The room you're in will be your room, with an extra enchanted door to the Common Rooms. Please put floor plan for your room in the envelope provided. It will be transferred to us so we can set up your room. Also enclosed are a few warnings that Dumbledore gave shortly before the feast.

Thank you,

Hogwarts staff

MM"

I hurriedly drew out the floor plan and tucked the note with the warnings in my pocket. After placing the floor-plan paper in the envelope, said envelope shook. It had a new note in it, floor plan noticeably missing.

"Please exit the room. Map to bathroom included." So that was why it was such a big paper.

I left to do my business.

(line-break)

Third Person POV

When Zina got back to her room, it looked… different. The walls were practically the same, posters and all. But the floor… it had changed.

For one, it was carpeted. A bed and a single desk took up space previously still occupied. A closet was tucked between a dresser and a vanity. And a grand trunk sat on the bed.

Hurriedly, Zina unpacked, digging for pajamas. Finally, she found them, got changed, and climbed in bed.

(line-break)

Third Person POV Chaotic

Zina's very-much extensive past decided to come into play. Powers she had walled off's doors opened wide. Her will inside of her dreams vastly expanded. She walked into Ron's.

People's dreams are weird, whether you are Muggle or Wizard. Ron's dream mainly consisted of being a quidditch star. He was captain of the Chasers, who were also the Gryffindor team playing at the school quidditch pitch, but in place of the castle was a topsy turvy house, his house, apparently named The Burrow.

A strange doorway led Zina into the next dream, an older muggleborn Hufflepuff, who was having a nightmare involving Barney the Dinosaur shooting the most annoying hexes everywhere. Zina quickly found a small hole in the imaginary space-time continuum to jump into Hermione's dream. And that's how Zina learned their profession as dentists. Hopefully they weren't actually collecting magic frog teeth, information gathering from dreams can be tricky.

The portrait hole exit from Hermione's Gryffindor common room led Zina to Draco Malfoy's dreams. The darkness surrounded a "perfect" world. Zina felt uncomfortable, so she found herself staring a portal in the face. She jumped through.

Harry's Dream was not a dream. It was a nightmare. Prof. Quirrell's turban gripped her brother's head. Zina could tell his pain was real. A voice shouted from just behind Harry. She, terrified as one would be, desperately tried to end the dream, wake up, or help. The voice kept shouting at her brother to transfer to Slytherin.

They woke up at the same time. Heart beating hard, it took Zina a while to convince herself to fall back to sleep. Harry, however, was asleep a few moments later. The time let Zina store it in her memory, whether she wanted to or not.

She carefully stayed within her own dreams for the rest of the night.

(line-break)

Third Person POV Still Somewhat Chaotic

Zina woke up. And then it struck her. Would she have to wear colorless robes for the rest of the year? Would her robes remain black with white and gray trim for the rest of her schooling? She didn't know if she wanted to be that much outcast.

It turns out she didn't. And what happened was so much better. She opened her hastily organized drawers to find her robes trimmed with colors of her own. A rich magenta-purple that she had once spent a forever trying to find, along with a metallic color that in some spots looked silver, some gold, and some bronze. Those royal shades matched her bracelet, the metallic color lined by the purple glow cracking out of gray-nearly-black.

On top of her questions of robes, what in the world would her schedule look like? A mess. She found a notice board had been put up, and on it was posted that her schedule would change week-to-week. That week's schedule was also posted.

Zina noticed what time it said breakfast would end (meals from then on out would be in the Great Hall, her choosing her peers). 7:30?! How would she get to breakfast on time?!

When she arrived for breakfast, it was only 6:00. Breakfast had barely started.

(line-break)

Navigating through a castle, Zina soon found out, is hard. On top of that, it's a magic castle. The stairs change, the walls pretend to be doors, as well as some doors being very stubborn in how you open them. Zina thought she saw some sort of spirit messing with her classmates (for some reason he never directly went after her). One time, while traversing the halls, she spotted her brother and a few of his housemates in a situation with the caretaker. Not the only ones she seen in such a situation.

Zina had been put with the Ravenclaws for her first Transfiguration class and outperformed them all with her practiced matchstick to needle— really cool in the first place –and back as well! She did actually explain to her teacher that she had practiced on the train. First Prof. McGonagall scolded her, but a moment later praised her. And then apologized that she couldn't give Zina House Points.

Little did Zina know but Prof. McGonagall wrote a note to Dumbledore about it. Then maybe they could find something more of that type of motivation.

Zina didn't trust Prof. Quirrell. She didn't know why, the guy was really timid, why would he be untrustworthy? But then she remembered Harry's dream. Maybe she just hated the turban…

By the time Friday rolled around, she had been in all of her classes, but Potions. Zina was to be in with the Gryffindors and Slytherins.

"Down, to the dungeons, I go…" she whispered to herself, casually sliding down conveniently still staircases. Walking down the damp corridor, she took note of the Slytherin Common Room. Maybe she could use it to get to class even faster.

As one of the first students there (no one else risked the banisters), Zina quickly found a seat near the front to show her attention. Plus, she was starting to find it hard to read chalkboards from the back of a classroom, and she knew she didn't want to mess up a potion.

Everyone filed in, the professor not looking up at them as he cleaned up a bit from the previous class. Asher spotted Zina from across the room, still moving as the only empty seat in the classroom was by her. Asher's frozen cheeks heated up a bit.

Snape started his beginning of term monologue. He didn't yet notice that a certain boy in the front row was paying more attention to the girl sitting next to him than the lesson. What he did notice—and misinterpret—was Harry, taking notes.

"Potter!" Snape suddenly shouted.

"Which one?" Zina asked. She was sincere, but she couldn't help her wry tone.

"Mr. Potter." Snape corrected himself, exasperated. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Hermione had raised her hand. All Harry's face said back was a silent What? with an "I don't know, sir."

"Clearly fame isn't everything, Mr. Potter."

More infuriating back and forth happened, the only part Zina thought was justified was the question of where to find a bezoar. Life or death information is like that. Then Snape noticed Zina's face.

Her eyes held a dark anger, violent violet flames cased in black ice. A chill ran down Snape's spine. Sitting right next to her, however, was the younger, and adopted, Malfoy boy. The way he eyed his incidental partner. How he held himself… it reminded Snape of a time long past. Except, this time, there wasn't a second boy… and Asher Malfoy looked a lot more sincere than Severus Snape had felt when he looked at Lily Evans.

Although he didn't think it was such a good idea to fall that fast at such a young age, Snape couldn't deny he liked the idea of Asher and Zina as a couple. Maybe he could help the two of them…

Starting with having them brew a potion together. He went back to teaching the lesson. A simple boil cure shouldn't be too hard… Well, it could be but with what he heard from McGonagall, Zina was certainly bright and magically adept enough to perfect it. Snape turned his attention to the rest of the class.

Zina was wondering why the heck Snape's facial expression didn't change much, while somewhat absently crushing snake fangs. The professor, although his voice dripped with pride over the perfect ways Draco was doing nearly everything, had not let any emotion cross his face.

Zina snapped into a more aware state of consciousness, noticing something from a different side of the room. Seconds after she felt the danger, Neville's potion had become boil-inducing acid. His partner, Seamus, took him to the Hospital Wing. After this, Snape didn't comment. Class continued on with, as the older years would later tell Zina, an unusually calm mood.

And then Zina hurried to lunch, and her next class with the Ravens. She had heard one professor or another say something about cramming all the school knowledge into their heads before the "Great Disinterest" that hits the house after the novelty to set in… Zina hoped that disinterest wouldn't apply to her.

Aaaaaaaaand that's the chapter. It's longer than the last, but I think it is shorter than the next... Big things are coming... Please don't expect another chapter for a while... I could upload the next anywhere from today to several months to literal years. I think it will be soon though, because I have a computer that is working for it at the moment and I have it written up. Byeeeee!