Coming Back to You

"Miss Nero," Dumbledore began. He paused. He didn't pause for "effect" like Snape did but he paused because he needed to. He needed to get all the facts straight. "I understand your situation," he continued.

The girl he was talking to was sitting across from him in his office. She looked excited but also like she was trying to hide it. She had a serious expression on her face that was somewhat forced. Dumbledore could tell that she really wanted to go to Hogwarts. He couldn't deny her parents' request.

"You are welcome to attend Hogwarts," he said, noting the instant smile on her face. "I also know that you won't see your parents for quite a while so you are welcome to stay here until school starts, which is in one week. May be you can find your way around the school by then," he added with a twinkling smile.

The girl was very surprised that the Headmaster let her stay at school when it wasn't opened. He was so nice. He let her go to the school and not have to go to another relative during the summer. She just hoped that he would be nice all year round.

"Now, there are a few things you need to know. First, there are four Houses at Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. You need to get sorted into one of these," Dumbledore said.

He stood up and walked across the room. Reaching on top of a shelf, he picked up an old hat and brought it back to his desk. He placed in on the desk in front of Giovanna. She looked at it strangely. Why was he giving her an old hat? She already bought a new hat for school.

"This is the Sorting Hat. I will put it on your head and it will decide which House you belong in. I don't think that he has the next song yet. He makes a new one every year for the first years at the start of term feast." He noted the confused look on the girl's face. "You'll see it when it comes," he added.

She nodded and waited for him to continue; however, he didn't continue. He picked up the Hat and put in on her head. Instant darkness surrounded her. The hat was too big! Suddenly, she heard a voice. It must be the hat's voice, she thought. 'Yes, it is,' the hat replied. She was shocked that it could read her thoughts at first, but she adjusted to that idea quickly. 'Hmmm...' the hat said. He thought about what House he should place the girl in. 'Nice, nice,' he said again. The girl didn't know why he said that and decided not to think about it. It would only confuse her more.

Suddenly, the hat's voice wasn't coming from inside her head anymore. She could hear it louder and opened her eyes. "Slytherin!" it called.

"Excellent," she heard the Headmaster say as he took the hat off her. Adjusting to the light of the room, she rubbed her eyes and looked up at the Headmaster.

"Do you have any questions?" he asked her with his usual smile.

The girl shook her head. "No, I don't." She got up, turned around and headed for the door until she heard the Headmaster speak again.

"Your common room is in the dungeons. The password is Victorum."

"Thank you," she said before leaving the office and closing the door behind her. She walked all the way to the Entrance Hall with no trouble. She retraced her previous steps that she took to the Headmaster's office. She noticed the suits of armor and statues that she saw on her way there. Passing them again, she nodded at each of them, noting that she passed them. She could have sworn that she saw a suit of armor nod back, but it was probably her eyes tricking her.

When she got to the Entrance Hall, she saw a door to her right that looked like it led to the dungeons. She entered and realized that it was the dungeons right away. She didn't like the looks of them but hoped that the common room would look better. She kept on walking down the dungeons and noticed that the ceiling was getting slightly lower. She didn't have to duck her head down because she was short and was for once glad that she was short.

At last she reached the end of a hallway. She didn't know what to do, so she said the password. Instantly, bricks in the wall began to move and created a door way for her to walk through. She walked through and noticed that as she passed, the door became a wall again. It was slightly creepy, but she could handle it.

When she walked into the room, she noticed a theme. The sofas were green, the rug in front of the fireplace was green, the chairs were green, and mostly everything was green. She saw some stairs leading to a balcony seen at the back of the room. She headed over to the stairs and slowly walked up them, taking notice of every detail. The railing was wooden, yet the stairs themselves were stone. Odd combination, she thought.

When she got to the top of the stairs, she looked out over the common room. She noticed paintings of former Slytherins who were probably famous and also pictures of snakes along the walls. She didn't notice these when she was on the ground, but there was so much to look at and the pictures were near the ceiling. The best view was clearly at the top of the balcony.

She turned around and noticed some more stairs leading down again. She walked down them and suddenly stopped. It was instant darkness. "Lumos," she said, taking out her wand. She walked down the stairs, slowly. She was curious to what would be down the stairs.

Suddenly she heard a sound coming from the bottom of the stairs. She wondered what it was when a hand appeared on her shoulder. She gasped and turned around to find a blonde boy standing two steps above her.

"You shouldn't be going down there," was all he said. He turned and walked up the stairs again.

She didn't know if it was safe to follow him up the stairs. She took one last look at the darkness behind her and slowly walked up the stairs.

"Nox," she said as the light at the end of her wand went out. She found the blonde boy stretched out across the sofa nearest to the fireplace. He was so relaxed and yet had an arrogant air about him. She didn't know what his story was but was instantly intrigued. She wanted to know him. She wanted to know where he came from, who he was. She didn't even know his name and yet she wanted to know so much about him.

She slowly made her way to the chair beside the couch he was lounging on. She sat down in silence. She didn't know what to say to him. What was there to say when he was so mysterious?

"What's your name?" he asked her, not moving from his spot. She looked over at him and noticed that he didn't look back. He continued to look at the ceiling. It was as if he didn't care whether she was there or not. She had a feeling that even if she wasn't there he'd be talking to the room. She felt so insignificant for the first time in her life. She never felt that way and hated him for making her feel that strange new feeling.

At first she didn't want to tell him her name. Why did he want to know anyway? What did he matter to him? She sighed and responded, "I'm Giovanna Nero. Who are you?" She didn't care that her question sounded ruder than his. All ready she didn't like him. Even though she wanted to know so much about him and was interested in him so much, she hated him. She didn't know why she hated him, she just did.

"Draco Malfoy," he responded. "Boy, someone's in a mood today."

Giovanna was surprised that he said that. He seemed like the silent type. It seemed like he didn't waste his time on words for other people. She was wrong. He had loads to say whenever he wanted to.

"Yeah. Well what's it matter anyway?" she retorted back. She didn't know where she was going with that comment. She just needed to say something. As long as she said something, there was something for him to say back. For some reason, she needed him to say something back. She didn't know why, though. She knew she hated him but she also knew that she needed to know him. It was the weirdest feeling she ever thought. Just him and her alone in the common room talking about nothing. Really, they weren't talking about anything. Just an excuse to talk to each one another.