But I'm a Weasley!

Chapter 2: Friends and Enemies

The Great Hall was silent for several moments, as Rose slowly stood up from the stool.

A student started clapping, and to Rose's surprise it came from the Gryffindor table. He eyes sought out the source: Dominique was applauding as loudly as she could. All the boys, clustered around her, started clapping vigorously too, anxious to please the gorgeous girl.

Rose smiled at her cousin gratefully, and the rest of the school began to clap as well, though perhaps not quite as loudly as for most of the other first years. Slytherin started cheering extra loudly, probably to make up for the fact that they'd been too stunned to start the applause themselves.

She approached the Slytherin table nervously, only slightly bolstered by their loud clapping. She wasn't sure where to sit; her eyes darted from student to student as she searched for a friendly face. Nobody looked hostile, but she didn't know anybody at all, and she'd been expecting to join a Gryffindor table filled with cousins she'd known her whole life right now.

"SLYTHERIN!" The hat yelled again, causing Rose to jump.

That quickly? Rose turned to see Tony hopping down from the stool, and she almost collapsed with relief. She'd been too wrapped up in her own shock to hear his name being called. Apparently Tony saw how awkwardly she was standing there, and he ran to catch up so that they could find somewhere to sit together.

"C'mon, let's sit with my brother," Tony said easily, and led Rose partway down the table. At that moment she was filled with gratitude at the gesture, so small but so vitally important.

"Well, well, little brother, welcome to Slytherin!" the older boy greeted heartily as Tony and Rose sat down across from him. "And welcome to you, too. Rose, was it?"

"Yes," Rose said quietly, before she began to fill her plate with all the delicious-looking food in front of her. "I'm Rose."

Though she tended to think of herself as Rose or Rosie pretty interchangeably, she usually introduced herself as "Rosie." Or something like, "Rose, but my friends call me Rosie." If she'd been at the Gryffindor table, that's probably what she'd have done. (Actually, if she were at the Gryffindor table, probably one of her cousins would have introduced her to everyone before she had the chance. In that case it would definitely have been "Rosie.")

But something about Rosie didn't seem very... Slytherin. She wasn't quite sure why, but now that she was officially a Slytherin, she felt much more like a Rose.

"Cheer up, Rose," the boy said. "We don't bite!"

Rose managed a small smile. She tried not to notice how her crazy, unmanageable mane of bright red curls at the Slytherin table stood out like a Muggle neon sign in the middle of a forest.

"So what's your name?" she asked. "Aren't you purebloods supposed to be all about decorum? For shame, Tony, skipping that introduction."

"For shame, indeed," his older brother agreed. "I'm Claude. Zabini, of course. I'm sure you figured that out."

"Yes," Rose said. "I'm sure you've figured out my last name, too."

"I might have noticed it during Sorting," Claude admitted. "So Dominique's your cousin, right?"

"Right. And Victoire and Molly and James. Now Albus too, he's a first year like me. So are you in third year then?"

"No, I'm a fourth year."

This whole time, Rose had been savoring the delicious food of the feast: beef, pork, Yorkshire pudding, the softest, most delicious bread she had ever tasted, chips with gravy... her mother was not exactly the best cook, so Rose wasn't used to getting food this good every day. Of course, whenever they went to the Burrow she had her Grandma's amazing home cooking. Also, Rose's family usually went to dinner at the Potters' several times a week, and Grandma had taught Aunt Ginny pretty well how to cook. Rose got the feeling sometimes that Aunt Ginny didn't really like to cook any more than Mum did, but she'd been trained so well that she came out with good food anyway.

Still, the Hogwarts feast was certainly a treat, and there was so much of everything! She knew her Mum would be scandalized by how few of the vegetables she was eating, but it was the first day. Besides, Rose needed some comfort food as well as celebration, after her unexpected Sorting.

"We've got a cousin here too," Tony told her, pointing to a tall boy sitting at the end of the table. "Franco Zabini."

Rose nodded, not sure what else to say about that.

Claude started talking to his older friends, and Rose looked around at who else they were sitting near. On her left was Tony, of course, but she realized to her right were two girls that she was pretty sure were fellow first years. They were busily in animated conversation with each other, but when there seemed to be a pause, Rose ventured a tentative, "Hi?"

Both girls turned to look at her.

"Hi!" said the one closer to her.

"You're both first years, too, right?" Rose asked.

Both of them nodded.

"I'm Rose Weasley," she introduced herself.

"I'm Peony Greengrass," the one closer to her said, "and this is my friend Aurelia Flint."

Peony had dark blue eyes that contrasted nicely with her black, loosely curling hair. She had a flat, almost squashed-looking nose that by sheer luck complemented the rest of her face perfectly. Something about the the girl suggested that she had just narrowly avoided being ugly, but all those features that might have been unpleasant came together to create striking, if unusual, beauty. It was hard to tell height, as they were all sitting down, but Peony seemed petite, with very delicate bone structure and thin limbs.

Aurelia was much more ordinary looking. She had straight hair, which was in that limbo between dark blonde and light brown, and her eyes were brown. Most people would probably call her pretty, but not beautiful.

While everyone was required to wear black robes as part of their Hogwarts uniform, both girls were dressed in robes that gorgeous and clearly very expensive.

"Nice to meet you," Rose said politely.

"You too. So... your family's not usually in Slytherin, are they?" asked Peony, tossing a few dark curls over her shoulder.

(Rose wished her curls were toss-able like that. The closest her unruly coils came was bouncing when she skipped, or shook her head. It was especially a shame because their colour was such a vibrant, fiery red that they were her most noticeable, and arguably her best, feature. The only thing that came close was her light, creamy skin, which miraculously lacked the usual signature Weasley freckles so long as she didn't stay in the sunlight for too long.)

"No," Rose confirmed. "Though don't you think it's a little weird that everybody knows that?"

Peony shrugged. "Well, after the war, the Weasleys are kind of famous," she said.

"And famously Gryffindor," Aurelia added.

"How about your families?" Rose asked.

"Both of my parents were Slytherin, and same with Peony's," Aurelia told her.

"Do either of you have siblings or cousins at Hogwarts right now?"

Aurelia and Peony looked at each other.

"Well, I have an older sister, Philippa," Aurelia said, "and a cousin, Jason Vaisey. They're both in Slytherin."

"I don't have any older siblings," Peony told Rose. "I have a younger brother and a younger sister, but neither will be at Hogwarts for a few more years. But I have a few cousins... Alphard Bole, he's a third year, and Minta Bole, fifth year. They're both Slytherin as well. And actually, Scorpius Malfoy is my cousin too, but..." She giggled. "Our families don't see each other much, so I don't know him very well."

"Why don't your families see each other?" Rose asked, curious about the amusement in Peony's voice. "Do they not get along or something?"

"Something like that." Peony giggled again. "See, my Mum dated his Dad almost their entire time at Hogwarts. Everyone figured the two of them would get married. But instead, my mother married my father, and his father married my father's sister."

"Wow... yes, I can see how that would be very awkward," Rose agreed. "So neither of you have any family in any other houses?"

"I'm sure I've got second or third cousins or something," Peony said. "But nobody I know of. So you're really striking out on your own, aren't you?"

"I guess I am. I should go to the library, look up the last time a Weasley has been in Slytherin. I bet it's been at least a hundred years."

Rose was glad she was having a conversation, but she decided she'd like to change it to something that didn't draw attention to the fact that she was different. "So, do either of you like quidditch?"

Aurelia wrinkled her nose. "I'm fine with watching it, but I hate to play. Peony likes it though."

"Really?" Rose asked Peony. "What position?"

"Chaser," Peony said confidently. "I like scoring the goals. It feels the most like I'm really part of the game. How about you, do you like quidditch?"

"Love it," Rose answered. "I like playing beater. You get to whack balls as hard as you want at people, and people barely ever blame you if your team loses or gets a really bad score. Of course, you don't as much of the glory if your team wins, but you get to beat up on people and not worry too much." Rose paused for a moment as she considered what she'd just said. "Well, that didn't sound very Slytherin of me, did it?"

Peony just laughed and said, "You'd be surprised. Some of that was extremely Slytherin. So, who's your team?"

Rose and Peony kept up a lively conversation about Quidditch through a lot of the meal, with Tony joining in as well. It turned out Claude was on the team, as Keeper, so he started talking to them again. No matter what differences there might be in their families' values and traditions, Rose thought, at least they all had Quidditch in common.

Well, all of them except Aurelia, anyway. In fact, the girl looked a little put out that the rest of them kept on a topic when she didn't have much to contribute. She didn't seem like she appreciated being left out of their discussion, but Rose didn't notice. Her mind was too focused not only on the subject of Quidditch, but also on keeping herself a part of things. Rose had expected to have a niche ready-made for her at Hogwarts, and she was frightened of finding herself isolated. She was much too happy about being in the middle of a lively discussion to pay attention to much else.

She was so stuffed that when pudding appeared on the table, she wasn't sure she could eat it. She managed one small bite of everything, and then she collapsed in her seat.

"A little full there, Rose?" Peony asked with a giggle.

"My Mum's cooking isn't nearly so good," Rose explained. "This was so delicious."

"Oh, okay. My family has house elves to cook for us, same as Hogwarts, so the food's pretty good."

"Oh," said Rose.

"We have to pay them now, of course, with the new laws," Peony continued.

"Yeah," Rose agreed, uncomfortably.

Peony could tell that the other girl was feeling awkward, but she wasn't sure why. "What's wrong?" she asked, concerned.

"Just... well, nothing. It's... how does your family feel about the house elf laws?"

Peony shrugged. "I guess my parents think they're kind of silly, since house elves don't really want to be free anyway. But the wages are so low that it doesn't really matter. Why?"

Maybe I shouldn't say anything, Rose thought. Slytherins keep secrets all the time, right? No need to rock the boat.

But just because she was in Slytherin didn't mean that she should change her personality to suit what she thought the House was about. Apparently the Sorting Hat thought this was where she belonged, so her personality was already Slytherin. And part of Rose's personality was that she did not want to act as though her family were something to be ashamed of.

"It was my mum who made the house elf laws," Rose explained, timidly. "Or at least, wrote them and lobbied for them and things like that. She's really into house elf rights."

"Oh, I didn't know that," Peony said. "Well, it looks like the meal's over and people are getting up. Should we head down to the Slytherin dungeons?"

"Sure," Rose agreed, relieved that her new friend hadn't seemed upset at the revelation about her Mum and house elves. She hadn't seemed to care at all! Maybe this whole Slytherin thing would work out okay after all.

Students were starting to rise from their seats, and the first years in particular hurried to follow the prefects who would show them to their common rooms. As Peony stood, Rose saw that the girl wasn't quite as short as she seemed to be, but she was still a good four inches shorter than Rose, who had always been tall for her age.

Rose cast one slightly wistful glance across the Great Hall, where the Gryffindors, including Albus and her other cousins, were heading in the opposite direction. Al's back was to her, and he was talking to some student Rose didn't know. She told herself that it didn't mean anything; for all she knew he'd looked over at her some time she was turned away, too. But even though it was illogical, it still stung a little.

She turned back to her housemates quickly, and nobody seemed to have noticed her distraction, though she had to jog a couple steps to catch up with Peony, Aurelia and Tony.

It was dark as the Slytherins descended the stone stairwell; not so dark that Rose couldn't see at all, of course, but enough that she wasn't entirely sure of her footing.

"I hope none of these stairs are the kind that disappear or make you sink or something," Rose murmured to Peony and Tony.

"I don't think so," Peony said. "My parents never mentioned it, anyway. I think the parts of the castle sort of mirror the personality of the Houses, so it's mostly areas near Gryffindor that it does mischievous things."

"Really?" Rose asked, surprised.

"I'm not sure or anything." Peony shrugged. "It's just a theory."

"It's an interesting one," Rose mused, already wondering if she could find a book in the library that could verify that. "Hogwarts: A History never said anything about that, but my Mum says it leaves a lot of stuff out."

None of the steps did anything unexpected, but Rose was still relieved when they got to the bottom. The corridors here were better lit, and it was warmer and less damp than Rose had expected the dungeons to be. They followed the prefects through several twists and turns.

"This is kind of confusing, I hope I'll remember the way," an anxious voice said. Rose looked over to see a girl she hadn't met yet, though obviously she must be a first year. She had blonde hair and was short and chubby.

"After a couple of times it'll be easy," Rose said reassuringly, "and I'm sure we're all going to stick together for the first few days, searching for classes and all of that."

"I hope so," said the girl.

"What's your name?" Rose asked.

"Morgana," the girl said. "Morgana Knight. And you?"

"Rose Weasley. It's nice to meet you."

Morgana nodded. "You too."

Suddenly, the prefects and the other students in higher years stopped. Rose and the other first years were startled, and almost bumped into them.

"This is the entrance to our common room," one of the prefects announced.

"This?" Rose was surprised. She knew the Gryffindors entered their common room through a portrait that swung open like a door. This was just a patch of wall, with seemingly no indications that it was anything else.

"The password is 'Schlange.'"

When the prefect spoke the word, the wall opened, and everyone piled through the hidden doorway.

"But keep in mind," the other prefect called after the students as they entered, "that the password will change every few weeks, so pay attention!"

The common room was long and low; the lamps overhead tinted the room green, which mingled with a bright yellow glow from the brightly crackling fire on one wall. Rose decided that she liked it.

"All the dormitories are down that way," said a prefect, pointing to the hall opposite the fireplace. "Boys' dorms to the left, girls' to the right. Which year is carved into the doors, so you shouldn't have any trouble figuring out where to go."

Rose glanced over at Peony and Aurelia, then turned around to see Morgana behind her. She shrugged, bid good night to Tony, and headed off with the other girls in the direction they'd been told. It wasn't long before they came upon a door with an elaborately carved "1" that covered most of the top half of the door.

Peony pushed it open, and the girls filed into their new bedroom. There were six large canopy beds, arranged in a circle, with the feet of the beds facing inwards and the head facing out. The beds had green velvet draped down along the sides, and each poster had matching ties, so that the cloth could be pulled aside when the girls were feeling social, and could be pulled down to offer at least a little privacy. Just beyond the head of each bed were dark wooden wardrobes, with space up top to hang clothes and drawers underneath.

Six beds, Rose thought; so there were two more Slytherin first-year girls she hadn't yet met. There were also six trunks piled in the middle of the room, presumably so that the girls could choose their own beds.

She looked up and saw to her surprise that the other two girls had entered while Rose had been inspecting the room. One of them was a tall, big-boned girl, with brown hair, who despite her large stature was standing rather timidly in the corner; the other girl had bright blonde hair coupled with brown eyes, and she didn't seem shy at all.

"Hi, I'm Liatris Bell," she announced to the room, and everybody else followed her cue and introduced themselves. The tall, shy girl turned out to be Marion Goyle.

"Well, I guess we should pick beds," Liatris suggested.

"Good idea," Peony agreed, "I'm so tired."

Everyone found their trunks, and Rose looked around at the beds, unsure of where to go. Then she saw Peony smiling at her and beckoning; Aurelia was taking the bed to Peony's left, and it was clear that Rose was invited to take the bed to her right. She did so gladly, happy to be wanted.

After dragging her trunk to the other side of her bed, near the wardrobe, Rose looked over to see who took the bed to her other side. It was Liatris, who stood by her own wardrobe.

"I think I'm going to wait until morning to unpack everything," Rose remarked to Liatris.

"Yes, it has been a very exhausting day, hasn't it?" Liatris agreed brightly, not sounding very exhausted at all.

Rose agreed fervently as she opened her trunk and rummaged through for her pajamas.

"But we should still take some time to get to know each other," Liatris continued. "I was mostly talking with second and third years, so I don't really know anyone here yet."

Rose found her pajamas and stood up. She looked over at Liatris.

"Okay," she said. "I'm just going to take a shower first."

Once everyone was washed up and in their sleep clothes, all the girls gathered together. Peony, Aurelia, and Morgana sat on Peony's bed, while Rose, Liatris and Marion sat on Rose's, so that all of the girls could face each other.

Liatris sat cross-legged next to Rose, and shot her an enigmatic smile. So close to the girl, Rose noticed that her eyes were quite captivating. They were friendly, but also delightedly secretive, seeming to shine with secrets that she would never, ever tell.

Rose decided that she liked Liatris.

"So," Liatris said, "you seem to have been the big surprise reveal tonight, Rose."

Rose blushed a little. "Yeah, yeah, I'm a Weasley, we're not usually Slytherins, so on, so forth," she said. "How about the rest of you? Anyone else expecting a different house?"

"I was expecting... Hufflepuff," Morgana Knight admitted, looking embarrassed. "Both of my parents were there."

"Congratulations," Aurelia told Morgana. "You've taken a definite step up."

It was genuinely meant to be a compliment, but it was clear Morgana didn't know whether to feel flattered or insulted. Rose, similarly, was somewhat uncomfortable with this comment.

"I don't know," she said. "Slytherin will be awesome- I'm going to make sure of it- but the hat definitely talked about how I avoid hard work. I could never do the things Hufflepuffs do, I'm too lazy."

Morgana flashed Rose a quick, grateful smile. Aurelia just rolled her eyes.

"Well, I knew I was going to be a Slytherin," she said. "Both my parents were, and their parents too, going back generations. Peony, too. We knew we'd be house mates." Aurelia smiled at her friend.

"I wasn't sure if I'd be here or Ravenclaw," Marion said. "My mum was in Ravenclaw, and my dad was here. She was so angry she had to be married to him, she says that a pile of bricks is smarter than he is."

"Then why are they together?" Rose asked, confused.

"It was an arranged marriage," Marion explained. "They'd been betrothed since they were a year old. Mum kept hoping she'd get out of it- Dad was always at the bottom of his class and she was always in the top three of her year- but my grandparents insisted."

"But that's awful! Why did she agree?" Rose persisted.

Marion shrugged. "It's normal among noble pure-blood families," she said. "And my Mum didn't want to be disowned."

"My parents had an arranged marriage too," Aurelia said. "Though both of them are pretty stupid people if you ask me. Neither seems to care either way, I think they were just as happy not to have to find someone themselves."

Rose shook her head, amazed. "I can't imagine that at all," she said. "My parents are kind of sickening, they love each other so much. They're always kissing and stuff in front of me, and when I ask them to try to do that in private, they just laugh at me."

"Your parents kiss in front of you?" Peony was amazed. "I mean, my parents were a love match, they chose each other, but they would never display affection in public. Even in front of their kids."

"Your parents can't be worse than mine that way," Liatris assured Rose. "I'm pretty sure my parents participate in orgies on a regular basis."

Rose laughed, then stopped when she saw everyone looking at her oddly.

"What?" she asked.

"Your parents are members of Conversio Virium*?" Marion asked, fascinated.

"Well, they've never confirmed it to me," Liatris said, "but I'm pretty sure."

"Wait, you were serious about the orgy thing? I thought that was a joke!" Rose exclaimed, not even wanting to ask what "Conversio Virium" was.

"If only." Liatris sighed dramatically.

"What about you, Morgana?" Peony asked.

"Er, my parents are divorced, actually," Morgana said.

"So much for Hufflepuff loyalty," Aurelia joked. "They can't even manage to keep to those lame virtues."

Morgana flinched, and Rose got to her feet angrily.

"You stop that!" she said sharply. "Don't be such a snob."

"And don't you be such a goody two shoes," Aurelia shot back. "We're in Slytherin, there's nothing wrong with some Slytherin pride."

"There's House pride and there's being a bitch," Rose said.

Aurelia stared back, shocked.

"Did you hear what she called me!" Aurelia shrieked. "Peony-"

"Actually, I think you kind of deserved it," Peony said quietly.

Aurelia stared at her in shock.

"And I think you should apologize to Morgana," Peony continued.

"It's okay," Morgana said in a small voice, clearly not liking to be in the center of a conflict. "I don't want an apology. I'm just going to go to bed."

She stood up from Peony's bed and fled across the room, pulling the velvet drapes down around her bed.

Rose wanted to go after Morgana, to make her feel better, but she didn't know what to say. Plus she got the feeling that the girl really would rather be alone.

"Maybe all of us should be going to bed," Peony said, looking suddenly uncomfortable with Aurelia sitting next to her. This was not lost on the other girl.

"Fine," Aurelia snapped, standing up. "Abandon your best friend just because she makes a joke. That's great, Peony." She flounced off to her bed, and pulled drapes down so hard that they'd probably have ripped, had they not been reinforced with magic.

"Sorry about that," Peony said quietly.

"Absolutely not your fault," Liatris said. Rose nodded in agreement.

"I really am extremely tired," Marion said. "I'll see all of you in the morning. Hopefully nobody will hold any grudges."

Once Marion was gone, Peony, Liatris, and Rose sat there for a few minutes, looking at each other.

"And the night was going so well," Rose said with a sigh. "Should I have kept my mouth shut? Slytherin or not, I guess I definitely have the Weasley temper."

"Are you kidding?" Liatris asked. "She deserved it. And Morgana deserved to have someone stand up for her. You did exactly the right thing."

"I hate to admit it, but Aurelia was out of line," Peony agreed. "I'm sure she was just exhausted from the train ride and Sorting, and kind of off-balance with this being her first night at Hogwarts and everything. She's usually a really nice girl."

"I'll believe that when I see it," Liatris muttered.

"You will," Peony said confidently. "Just wait until she's gotten some rest and adjusted a little."

Liatris looked disbelieving, and Rose couldn't help but agree with her. Still, despite the way the night had ended, it wasn't all bad. Liatris leaned over and hugged Rose good night tightly.

"We're going to be good friends," she told Rose. Her eyes flicked towards Peony. "You too. The three of us. I can tell."

Rose smiled. "I was thinking that too."

Then Liatris headed to her own bed, and Rose began pulling on the ties to bring down her curtains.

"Hey, Rose?" Peony whispered.

"Yeah?" Rose paused, leaving a space in the curtains to see Peony.

"You really aren't holding Aurelia against me?"

"Of course not!" Rose said, shocked. "You didn't do anything wrong."

Peony smiled. "I'm glad," she said. "Because I think Liatris is right.."

So, as Rose finished pulling the curtains around her and let her head fall to the pillow, she reflected that even if she'd made an enemy her first day in Slytherin, she'd made three friends. Those, she thought to herself contentedly as she drifted off to sleep, were pretty good numbers.