A Ravenclaw, a Slytherin and a Mystery

The summer holidays were over and Nicole, who hoped until the last minute that her father would change his mind, found herself on Platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross. The place was packed with students and parents, some in normal clothing and some dressed in robes. They found an empty compartment and her father carried the heavy trunk up the stairs. The schoolbooks inside the trunk had stayed untouched over the summer. Nicole was hoping the teachers would think she was dumb and send her home when she arrived completely unprepared. She turned to say goodbye to her father when a girl with bushy brown hair bumped into her, causing Nero, the kitten, to hiss angrily inside his basket. The girl mumbled a quick apology and hurried in the direction of a family of redheads, who just had come through the barrier.

Hermione was nervous. The train would leave in five minutes and there was still no sign of Harry and the Weasleys. She kept her eyes fixed on the barrier and was relieved when Percy appeared on the platform, followed by his father and the twins. Hermione ran towards them and bumped straight into a girl, who was talking with her father. The girl seemed to be her age, but was taller and very thin, with short, bright green hair. Hermione quickly apologised. When she reached the Weasleys, Ginny and her mother had appeared too, but Harry and Ron were still nowhere to be seen.

"Where are Ron and Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Don't worry dear, they are right behind us," Mrs Weasley told her. They waited, but neither Ron nor Harry showed up.

Percy was getting irritated. "The train is leaving in two minutes."

"Ok, I want everybody to get on the train and we'll look for them," Mr Weasley commanded.

"But we can't leave without them!" Ginny whined.

"You heard what your father said, now hurry up!"

Mr and Mrs Weasley stayed behind while the rest followed Hermione to the compartment she had secured.

They had barley gotten their trunks inside, when the Hogwarts Express started to move and the doors closed.

"Wow, they missed it. I don't think a student ever missed the train before!" Fred exclaimed.

"Maybe they got in through another door and we didn't notice," Percy suggested. "Lets split up and search the train." Ginny was close to tears, so Percy decided to stay with her, while Hermione and the twins set off in opposite directions.

Hermione had nearly reached the end of the train, with no sign of Harry or Ron. The last compartment was empty except for the green-haired girl. She had her feet propped up and her eyes closed, singing along to the music blaring from her discman, clearly audible despite the headphones.

"Right next door to hell, why don't you write a letter to me, yeah, I said I'm right next door to hell and so many eyes are on me..."

"Excuse me...." Hermione asked.

"...right next door to hell, I got nowhere else to be..."

Hermione asked again, raising her voice.

"...right next door to hell, feels like the walls are closing in on me...."

"Excuse me!" Hermione screamed.

The girl jumped slightly, disturbing the small black cat that had been sleeping in her lap. She pulled off the headphones and glared at Hermione.

"What's your problem?" she asked with a scowl that could rival Snape's.

"I'm looking for my friends, two boys. Ron is tall, with red hair and Harry has black hair and is wearing glasses...."

"Haven't seen them," the girl interrupted her and put her headphones back on.

Strange, Hermione thought, walking back to the others, she must be in our year, but I haven't seen her before. I would have noticed someone with that hair colour. She wondered if the girl knew that her discman would be useless in Hogwarts.

The twins were already back, telling Percy that they hadn't found them. Everyone looked at Hermione, but she just shook her head. "They are not here."

Ginny started to cry, she thought it was all her fault because of the forgotten diary. Percy put a comforting arm around his little sister.

"Don't cry, Ginny. Mum and dad are taking care of them; they will be in Hogwarts on time. After all, you haven't been the only one to forget something." He looked pointedly at the twins.

She calmed down a little, but still, everyone felt uneasy for the rest of their journey.

It was dark when they reached Hogsmeade. Hagrid's voice boomed over the platform.

"Firs'-years over here! All firs'-years to me!"

Ginny reluctantly left her brothers and joined the group of shivering first-year students gathered around Hagrid.

"Any more firs'-years?"

Hagrid noticed a tall girl with green hair looking around uncertainly.

Nicole felt lost. Sure, it was her first time at Hogwarts, but she had been told that technically she would be a second year student. Her dilemma was solved when the giant man, who had herded up the first-years, headed in her direction.

"Nicole Williams?" he asked, eyeing her questioningly from small, black eyes.

"Y... yes...." Nicole stuttered, feeling very small in front of him.

"Professor Dumbledore told me to look out for yeh. Yeh should stay with the firs'-years for the sorting. C'mon everyone, follow me!"

He led the way down a dark path and the students stumbled after him.

Harry and Ron were still missing when they took their seats at the Gryffindor table. Hermione looked around for Professor McGonagall, but she had already left to take over the new students from Hagrid.

"We should tell Dumbledore, maybe something happened to them," Hermione said worriedly.

"I will inform Professor McGonagall of the situation after the feast," Percy declared importantly, every inch a Hogwarts prefect now.

There was a great deal of whispering when not only the Gryffindors, but the other students as well noticed the absence of Harry Potter and his friend.

The whispering stopped, when the doors opened and Professor McGonagall led the first-years in. Ginny seemed to have forgotten about Harry and her brother for the moment and looked around with excitement.

Hermione noticed the strange girl again. She was walking at the end of the line and was now dressed in Hogwarts robes. The look on her face suggested that she rather wanted to be somewhere else.

Professor McGonagall placed the sorting hat on a stool and, after it had finished its song, unrolled her parchment and called the first student.

"Creevey, Colin!"

A small, mousy-haired boy scrambled forward and put on the hat with trembling hands.

"Gryffindor!"

Students at the Gryffindor table cheered as Colin took his place, beaming.

"Greenwood, Eliza!"

"Slytherin!"

Applause from the Slytherin table.

"Kensington, Michael!"

A strawberry-blond boy walked up and put the hat on.

It was silent for a moment and then the hat screamed: "Hufflepuff!"

The boy took off the hat and hurried over to the Hufflepuff table. The clapping and cheering died down and the next student was called.

Student after student stepped forward, until she and a red-headed girl were the only ones left. Nicole had felt uncomfortable waiting among the smaller students and during the hat's longwinded song she had noticed a lot of curious looks from the four tables.

"Weasley, Ginny!"

The girl stepped up and put on the hat.

"Gryffindor!"

Loud cheers erupted from the table on the far left and from the corner of her eyes Nicole saw three boys with the same flaming hair hug the girl.

"Williams, Nicole!" Her turn.

She jammed the hat on her head and instantly heard a small voice in her ear.

"Hmm, a bit late, are we? Let's see ... Smart girl, there is talent. Don't like to work, eh?"

"If I can avoid it." Nicole thought.

The voice chuckled.

"Got a bit of a mean streak, yes, but not Slytherin, definitely not. I see fear...."

"Could we get this over with?"

"Ah, trying to change the subject? Well, then I shall put you in RAVENCLAW!"

The hat shouted the last word and Nicole quickly went over to the Ravenclaw table, glad to get out of the spotlight.

After a few words from the Headmaster, who looked like a fairy tale version of a wizard to Nicole, food appeared on the tables. Hungry, she started to pile her plate with mashed potatoes and gravy.

"I don't want to be nosey or anything, but you look a bit old for a first year...." a boy with a mop of brown curls asked. "I'm Terry Boot."

"I'm in second year."

The boy looked surprised. "Then why haven't you been here last year?"

"Mistake."

"Oh, so you transferred from another school?"

"Kind of."

"Where did you go?"

"Highgate Comprehensive."

Terry was puzzled, but when Nicole started to shovel spoonfuls of potatoes into her mouth, indicating that the conversation was over, he returned his attention to his plate.

They had devoured the puddings and a sleepy silence started to spread among the students. Headmaster Dumbledore, who had left for a while after a pale wizard in black robes had whispered urgently to him and Professor McGonagall, had returned and got up again for some announcements, but Nicole felt to stuffed to pay much attention. Finally they were sent off to their dormitories.

"At least we are spared to sing the school song this year," someone whispered.

A pretty girl with dark, curly hair spoke up.

"Attention, new students! I'm Penelope Clearwater. I'm going to show you the way to our common room. I'm a prefect, so if you have any questions or problems, I'll see what I can do to help you around at Hogwarts."

Nicole followed at the rear as Penelope led the small group of Ravenclaw first-years along a labyrinth of corridors and staircases until they reached a large portrait. It showed a tiny old witch dressed in tattered black robes, sitting in a comfortable armchair with a ruffled crow perched on her shoulder. When the students approached she looked up from the book she had been reading and rasped "Password?"

"Saturn rings."

The portrait swung aside, revealing a narrow doorway. The students went inside, but Nicole was held back by Penelope before she could enter.

"Nicole Williams." It wasn't a question. "Professor Flitwick, our Head of House would like to speak to you; I'll show you to his office."

Nicole shrugged and followed her further along the corridor. Penelope knocked on a door and when she heard a muffled "Yes, please" they stepped inside.

The small room was crammed with bookcases. The walls were covered with diagrams and pictures, supposedly showing different types of wand movements. Over a child-sized desk, piled with books and parchment roles, the smiling face of the tiny wizard Nicole had seen at the High Table appeared.

"Ah, Miss Williams! Thank you, Miss Clearwater."

The prefect nodded and left, closing the door behind her.

The wizard brushed a few sheets of parchment from a frail-looking chair and asked Nicole to take a seat.

"As you will already know, my name is Professor Flitwick. I'm teaching charms and I'm Head of Ravenclaw. Usually students get their timetables tomorrow at breakfast, but since you are a bit of a special case I wanted to talk to you in advance. I trust you have made yourself familiar with the schoolbooks?"

Nicole nodded enthusiastically with a straight face.

"Very well, I'm sure you will catch up in no time. We decided that you will take classes with the first year students until November, with two extra lessons for a different subject each day. The extra lessons will take place after supper. The teachers in question will inform you of the details and I'm sure you will soon be ready to join the other second year students."

Extra lessons! The idea didn't make Nicole exactly happy, but she wouldn't stay long anyway.

"Have you got any questions?" the Professor asked.

One thing had bothered Nicole since she got the letter.

"Why didn't I get the invitation when I was eleven?"

"I have to admit, it was a bit of a surprise for us too. You see, we have an enchanted quill here in Hogwarts, who writes down the names of children destined to become students one day, when they are born. But magic is a delicate thing and on very rare occasions there is a mistake. Mostly not with the children from pureblooded families. They start to show first signs of magic in their early childhood, but the development can be delayed if the child experiences severe emotional stress. Magic is tied to the blood. That's the reason for wizards who seem to come from entirely Muggle families.

"Sometimes people are born into a pureblooded family and don't have magic. Those people are called squibs and if a squib is the only child, the magic becomes dormant in the bloodline, resurfacing sometimes centuries later when everybody has forgotten about it.

"There are only very few witches and wizards among your ancestors, but your name was down for Hogwarts. Sometimes the quill detects that a child does not develop their magic; it stays dormant and if it fails to show until their eleventh birthday, the name is taken from the book again."

"But why am I here when my name was taken off the list?"

"We are not entirely sure, but since the wizard blood in your family is not strong and with the added stress of losing your mother at a very young age, it seems like the development of your abilities was delayed. But don't worry," he added quickly, "you're here now and will make good progress with your studies. Oh and ... do you like your hair this way?"

Nicole touched her short hair; she had almost forgotten about the stupid colour.

"Can you turn it back?" she asked. "I tried everything, but even bleach couldn't get rid of it."

The teacher took out his wand and seconds later her hair was its natural colour again. Professor Flitwick asked if she had any more questions and when she denied he sent her off to bed with a warm goodnight.

Nicole returned to the common room, thinking about the things Flitwick had told her. He seemed to be a nice man and placed a lot of trust in her abilities. Kind of sad that I'm going to disappoint him, she thought.

The entrance to the common room was so narrow, she had to duck to avoid hitting her head. Only a few older students were sitting in front of the fireplace, exchanging stories about their holidays.

The room looked cozy, with armchairs and slightly shabby sofas in various, not quiet matching colours.

The curly prefect, Penelope, was sitting on a huge pillow in front of a narrow table. She had been writing a letter and put her quill aside when she saw Nicole.

"Ah, here you are. The other second-years are already in their dormitory, but you can stay for a while, if you like. We don't have a set bedtime here in Hogwarts, but we are supposed to stay in our common rooms after supper as long as we don't have permission from a teacher."

Nicole yawned. "Nah, I think I go to bed; I'm really tired."

Penelope grinned.

"The first evening at Hogwarts is always a bit much. To be honest, I can't remember how I got into my bed when I came here for the first time." She pointed towards two doors at the end of the room.

"Door on the left leads to the girls' dormitories, second-years are on second floor."

"Thanks," Nicole said, yawning again. She trotted up the stairs. From inside the second-year dormitory she could hear excited voices.

The second-year Ravenclaw girls were already in their night-shirts, sitting on Mandy's bed. Rumours were saying that Harry Potter and his friend Ron had arrived in a flying car, nearly destroying the Whomping Willow.

Padma Patil promised to talk to her sister and find out what happened. Parvati must know; she was in Gryffindor.

They looked up when the mysterious girl entered. Her hair was not green anymore, but dark blond.

From what they had overheard at the Welcoming Feast, when Terry had tried to talk to her, they knew that she was in their year, but never had been to a wizarding school before.

"Where have you been?" Lisa Turpin asked.

"Talked with Flitwick," the girl replied.

"Did he change your hair colour?" Padma wanted to know.

"Yes," was the short answer.

The Ravenclaws looked at each other. She really wasn't the talkative kind.

Nicole had spotted Nero rolled up on one of the four-poster beds, sleeping. Her trunk stood at the foot of the bed, so it must be hers. She rummaged around her bag for her discman and flopped down next to her cat, missing the curious looks from the other girls when she put on the headphones.

The last thing I need now is a horde of girls bombarding me with stupid questions, she thought and pressed play. Nothing happened. Maybe the batteries are low. Since she had no idea where to get replacements at Hogwarts, Nicole had brought a large supply of batteries. Getting them out of her trunk and switching the ones in her discman, she became aware that they were all staring at her with wide eyes.

"What? Never seen a discman before?" she snapped.

" N...n...no, I mean ... yes ... it's just ... just...." a girl with shoulder length blond hair and wire-rimmed glasses stammered.

She got interrupted by a girl dressed in a simple white nightshirt, with long black braids and a pale face.

"What Mandy is trying to say; you DO know that electric appliances don't work at Hogwarts?"

"Don't work? But I don't need a plug; it runs with batteries." Nicole said dumbfounded.

"That's not the point." The girl, who had asked Nicole about her hair spoke up. "It's a modern day, electrical appliance and as long as it's not enchanted, it won't work at Hogwarts. TV, radio; it doesn't matter. Non of these things work here, not even hair dryers. It took me a month to get that hair drying spell right, so I didn't have to walk around the castle with wet hair." She held up her thick braid of long, black hair.

"A...a...and enchanting m...muggel devices i...is pro...pro...." Mandy took a deep breath "... not allowed by the...the Ministry."

With a sigh Nicole slummed on her bed. Stuck in a wizarding boarding school and no CDs! There's no way this can get any worse....

Without bothering to change she drew the blanket over her head and fell asleep in her robes.

The next morning, the girls in the second year dormitory of Ravenclaw were faced with a problem. One by one they had got up, showered, dressed and prepared their school things to pick them up after breakfast. The new girl, Nicole, was still sleeping. They tried to wake her, but she only grumbled "Just five minutes, dad" and turned on the other side. Finally they gave up and headed down for breakfast.

"Where is Miss Williams?" Professor Flitwick asked when he passed out the timetables.

"Still sleeping," Morag told him, twisting one of her braids uncomfortably. "We tried to wake her."

"I'll get her," Penelope volunteered. She had already finished her breakfast.

Professor Flitwick handed her Nicole's timetable. On her way to the Ravenclaw tower she looked it over. It was the timetable for the first-years and Flitwick had added the extra lessons with red ink.

Oh dear, Penelope thought when she saw that the first lesson today was double potions with Hufflepuff. Snape is going to have her head if she's late.

Nicole was rudely awakened when someone shook her. Drowsily she opened her eyes. Penelope was standing next to her bed.

"Get up, you will be late!"

"What's the problem, like five minutes would matter...."

Penelope brandished the timetable under her nose.

"You've got potions as your first class today and believe me, you don't want to tick off Snape right from the start!"

She dragged Nicole practically from her bed. The fact that the girl was still wearing her robes surprised her, but she chose not to comment on it, since it was rather fortunate under these circumstances.

"Where are your books?"

Nicole pointed to her trunk; she was still not fully awake. Penelope opened the trunk, found One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi and Magical Drafts and Potions, some parchment, ink and a quill and thrust everything in Nicole's arms.

"Com on, get moving, girl!"

"What about breakfast?" Nicole asked, trying to keep up with Penelope.

"No more time for that; if I take you down to the potions classroom, you will be there just before the lesson starts." She stopped to wait for Nicole, who had fallen behind, struggling with the all things she was carrying.

Nicole's hair was sticking out at odd angles, her robes were wrinkled and if Penelope wasn't mistaken she could hear the girl's stomach growl. She dug an apple she had grabbed of the breakfast table out of her book bag and gave it to Nicole.

"Better eat this on the way or Snape will give you detention for disturbing his lesson."

"Won't you be late if you go with me, I mean I can surely find the way on my own...."

"You won't have a chance. It takes a while to know your way around here and you can't afford to get lost and be late. I've got charms first and Flitwick already knows that I went to get you."

"Oh. Penelope?"

"Hmm?"

"Is Snape really that bad?"

Penelope snorted.

"He's horrible; dare to breathe the wrong way and you'll loose house points. He's hard on everyone who's not in Slytherin; just think yourself lucky you didn't get sorted into Gryffindor, he seems to hate them in particular."

Nicole swallowed. Antagonising a strict teacher sounded like a good plan to get kicked out, but she doubted she would be brave enough to face off with this potions teacher.

They had reached the dungeons and Penelope ushered her inside the potions classroom.

By the end of the potions lesson Nicole had lost 10 points for Ravenclaw for not knowing the right answers and additional five points for her "unacceptable" appearance. Her young classmates didn't say anything about it; they still seemed to be in a kind of shock after two hours in the presence of Snape. Next was Herbology with Slytherin.

Professor Sprout was waiting for them in front of greenhouse one. After everyone has settled down on the benches inside, she gave them a quick outline of what they could expect during her classes.

"Ok, time for some easy hands-on experience for your start."

She gestured to a long row of beautiful flowers with colours ranging from bright yellow to dark gold.

"Does anyone know what these are?"

A Ravenclaw named Cathrin Marlow raised her hand.

"Marigold?"

"Correct, Miss Marlow. One point to Ravenclaw."

Sprout proceeded to explain the various uses for Marigold and then paired them up to cut the flowers and hang them upside down for drying.

Nicole got paired with Eliza Greenwood, a Slytherin with a freckled face and brown hair she kept in a lopsided bun.

They worked in silence for several minutes, when Eliza suddenly looked down.

"Hey, how did you get in here?"

To Nicole's surprise Nero seemed to have managed to get out of the Ravenclaw tower. Now he was twisting himself around Eliza's legs, purring at top volume.

"Nero!"

Eliza scooped the small cat up. "Is he yours?"

"Yes, I have no idea how he got here."

"I've got a cat too; his name is Claudius. Are both of your parents wizards?"

"Just my mum, but she died when I was little."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's okay."

"My parents were wizards, but I was raised by a Muggle family and until I got the Hogwarts letter, I thought...."

"Sh, Eliza, shut up!" one of the Slytherin boys hissed angrily.

Nicole raised her eyebrows. "What's his problem?"

"Don't know. They are taking this whole family thing pretty serious in Slytherin."

They continued cutting and bundling Marigolds in silence until Sprout announced that the lesson was over.

The students gathered their things and Nicole consulted her timetable. They had lunch and after the break charms with Professor Flitwick.

"Hey, want to see my cat? We've got time after lunch before afternoon class," Eliza asked, ignoring the disapproving looks from her fellow Slytherins.

Nicole considered it for a moment. She hadn't planned on making any friends, but, just like Penelope, Eliza was nice. And she didn't take crap from the other Slytherins, which was impressive.

"Sure; lets meet in the Entrance Hall after lunch."

Eliza's cat, Claudius, turned out to resemble an exploded pillow. He was a large, fluffy ball with frayed ears and seemed to unite every colour and marking possible for a cat. After some initial hissing he seemed to get along quiet well with little Nero. Eliza had brought a roll of string and they spent the rest of the lunch break playing with the cats until it was time for the next lesson.

At supper Eliza stopped for a moment at the Ravenclaw table to chat with Nicole, which caused some raised eyebrows from the Ravenclaws and a near uproar at the Slytherin table.

Eliza wasn't really surprised when Draco Malfoy and his sidekicks approached her a soon as she entered the Slytherin common room.

"Eliza, we need to talk. I'm aware that you are new and still unfamiliar with your heritage, but we don't like to see you getting friendly with that riffraff."

"And with riffraff you mean Nicole?"

"She's a Mudblood! Wasn't even good enough to start Hogwarts in time! See, it's bad enough you had to spend so many years with some stupid Muggle family. I think I should ask my father if he can find a respectable wizarding family to take you in; after all, your father was a loyal friend to our family...."

Eliza drew herself up to full height, her eyes flashing.

"My father was a spineless idiot, who blindly followed others, who were smarter than him and avoided to die in Azkaban. And my mother; instead of facing her problems and getting on with her life, she decided to kill herself, not caring what became of her daughter and left me nothing but a letter with the same crap about the oh-so-wonderful pure wizard blood you are constantly talking about."

Draco tried to say something, but Eliza wasn't finished.

"The Greenwoods may be Muggle, but they are my family. They raised me like their own daughter and were nothing but supportive when I got my Hogwarts letter. Now, Draco, tell me: Where were those respectable wizarding families when I was a baby? If they were so chummy with my parents, why did no one rush to rescue me from the terrible world of evil Muggles?"

And with that Eliza brushed past them and vanished through the door leading to her dormitory, leaving the three boys standing with open mouths. No other Slytherin, especially not a first-year, had ever dared to speak to Draco like that.

When Nicole entered her dormitory, she was immediately surrounded by the other girls.

"Is that Slytherin your friend?" Padma demanded to know.

"Sort of; is there a rule against being friends with students from other houses?"

"No, it's just ... she seems rather nice for a Slytherin...."

"Not all Slytherins are evil; at least not always."

Everyone turned to a small girl with short black hair. She blushed and explained.

"You know, I live in the same town as Millicent Bullstrode and sometimes we go to the library together...."

Dead silence. Then the girls started to giggle and soon they nearly doubled over from laughing.

The mental picture of shy and quiet Su Li, pouring over a book in amicable silence with the rather threatening Millicent was too much.

Nicole didn't really understand what was going on, but it looked like her housemates were ok with Eliza.

The weeks passed. Nicole tried to mess up in class, but somehow it didn't work. She didn't dare to get Professor McGonagall angry and Professor Binns was very patient when she constantly mixed up all those famous wizards they had to know.

She planned to fall off her broom during flying lessons, but once she was up in the air she found the feeling so wonderful, she completely forgot about her plan.

The lessons with Professor Flitwick went surprisingly well, at least from his point of view. Even without really trying Nicole mastered the spells taught in the first year soon and Professor Flitwick was very pleased.

Potions was an entirely different matter and Nicole dreaded the two extra hours she had to endure with Snape once a week, since there was no possibility to hide from his view in a mass of other students. If it had been up to Snape, she would have been on her way back home after the second lesson. When she returned to the common room one night, close to tears from a severe dressing down she had received from Snape for stirring the potion in the wrong direction, Morag had offered to help. Morag was quite good at potions and from then things started to get better in Snape's classes.

The weather turned nasty and heavy rain fell almost all day and night. It had got so dark that the candles and torches inside the castle were burning the whole day.

For several days it was unusually quiet in the Ravenclaw common room. A lot of students were plagued by the flu and Mandy Brocklehurst even had to spent a few days in the hospital wing after her cold had turned in a full blown pneumonia. Nicole and Su Li were the only ones in the dormitory not coughing and sneezing.

After she had put the finishing touches to her History of Magic homework (Nicole had resorted to redoing it in large writing since there was no other way to get it near the length Professor Binns required), she had started to write the weekly letter to her father. She read it through before putting it in an envelope and noticed that something had changed.

The first letters Nicole had sent home from Hogwarts were pretty short, but now they sounded almost like she liked it here. For the first time in her life Nicole really studied and finished all of her homework. At first it was merely to avoid losing points for Ravenclaw; it had seemed wrong to let the others get punished for her mistakes, but now an unknown thirst for knowledge had awakened.

Nicole started to feel at home.