Slytherin Forever! Book One: Blood Ties

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Chapter One: Slytherin.

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When you say it's gonna happen now

What exactly do you mean?

See I've already waited too long

And all my hope is gone

- How Soon Is Now?, t.A.T.u.

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"Please wait quietly."

The stern witch who had introduced herself as Professor McGonagall left the chamber, and the first years began chatting quietly. Ginny looked around and smiled as she felt a jolt of happiness in her stomach. She was glad to have made it to Hogwarts, even though she was a bit worried about her brother Ron and Harry Potter because they had not boarded the train like everyone else.

"How do they sort us into Houses?"

A black haired girl asked Ginny suddenly, dark eyes looking into Ginny's green ones questioningly. Ginny shrugged and said:

"My brothers told me it was some kind of test. Fred said you had to wrestle a troll, but I think he was joking."

"I hope he was. You'll be sending me home in a matchbox if it's true. I'm Natalya Cruz by the way."

"Ginny Weasley."

"You'll be in Gryffindor then," a blonde girl sighed. "Too bad, you seemed like good company. I'm Alisha Avery, and my whole family has been in Slytherin."

"My whole family are Gryffindors, true," Ginny said softly. "But blood connections don't mean anything, it's your personality that counts."

"I guess you're right."

Alisha whispered in Ginny's ear as McGonagall entered the room again and led them to the Great Hall. Ginny caught a glimpse of Fred and George on the way up to the High Table (they were bend over a piece of paper) and grinned as she heard a girl nearby whisper about the enchanted ceiling. Then her attention was drawn to the old and shabby Sorting Hat, who began to sing.

Let me have a look in your head

I have never been wrong

Come up here and let me tell you

In which House you shall belong

Maybe you are a Hufflepuff

A loyal and hard-working friend

Forever supportive and just

They never take a wrong bend

When you are clever and witty

Ravenclaw is the place to be

This folk keen on learning

Open your eyes and make you see

Or perhaps a Slytherin

If you have a cunning mind

Ambition rules the words

Of the ones you might call your kind

The last one is Gryffindor

Home to the brave and true

Value friends above all means

And this is the place for you

Put me on, don't be afraid

You'll soon be gone

Off to join your housemates

When my job is done!

Ginny clapped politely along with everyone else as the Sorting Hat finished. She would kill her brothers for making her nervous when all she had to do was try the Hat on. She noticed that McGonagall had unfolded the parchment and called for Daniel Ardwin to come forward. He was declared a Hufflepuff, which caused a cheer from the table on the right.

"Avery, Alisha!"

Alisha smiled at Ginny and Natalya for a moment before the Hat covered her eyes. It didn't take long to decide and Ginny was relieved to see that Alisha was pronounced a Slytherin. She was happy for her new friend who took her place at the table second on the right. Ginny let her mind wander for a while until she heard Natalya's name being called.

"SLYTHERIN!"

The Sorting Hat bellowed after a long silence, and Natalya joined Alisha. The rest of the Sorting was not interesting, so Ginny looked around until she heard her name fall. She put the Hat on and relaxed as she heard its voice in her ear.

"Another Weasley. Ravenclaw would be an option, you like to study I see, but you are not very motivated towards your studies. I suppose Hufflepuff would be a good choice, yes, but you are loyal only to those worthy of your trust. You like to have friends, and are quite brave even though you seem to think otherwise. Gryffindor would be the place for you, but there is something else... You are a little bit ambitious, aren't you? And cunning, oh yes. I know the right place for you now, my dear. It is where you belong deep in your heart... SLYTHERIN!"

A stunned silence greeted Ginny as she pulled the Hat off her head. Natalya and Alisha started to clap, and soon some of the elder Slytherins cheered along with the other Slytherin first-years. Ginny had enough time to look over to the Gryffindor table when she walked to her housemates, and was surprised to see Percy and the twins glare at her. She swallowed and blinked back some tears before she greeted Alisha and Natalya with a grin.

Hendrick Wordt was the last person to be Sorted and after he was declared a Ravenclaw, Professor Dumbledore rose from his seat. Immediate silence fell in the Great Hall, and Ginny could not help but have a feeling of respect for the old man with the kind twinkle in his eyes.

"Now that our first-years have been Sorted, some with surprising results, it is my great pleasure to say you should all tuck in!"

As Dumbledore seated himself again the tables were filled with food of all kinds. Ginny now noticed how hungry she was and piled a load of food on her plate. Alisha raised an eyebrow and remarked:

"When you eat like that every day it is an absolute miracle that you aren't fat. How do you do it? I eat carrots like a rabbit and I still gain weight!"

"I don't eat this every day, but I am hungry now," Ginny said while chewing on a piece of meat. "I think gaining weight isn't a trait handed down in my family."

"That has to do with blood connections," Natalya added. "The Sorting was a personality test to see what you are really like, regardless of family ties. I'd be in Ravenclaw otherwise."

"And I'd be in Gryffindor," Ginny said tonelessly. "But I'm glad to be here, really."

"Slytherin is the only House I wanted to be in," another first-year called Marita Rosenir said. "My family won't be too happy though, seeing as most of them are Ravenclaws."

The talk about Houses continued for a while and Ginny thought more than once that Slytherins were not all bad like she had thought initially. She concentrated on her meal for a small period of time before Marita directed the talk towards families.

"I'm pure-blooded," Alisha said after Marita had declared herself a half-blood. "The Avery family's an understanding in the wizarding community. My sister works in Romania with dragons and the rest works with animals as well."

"Romania?" Ginny asked. "My brother Charlie works there with dragons too! And we are pure-bloods, but I think mum has a cousin or something who is an accountant in the Muggle world."

"I'm half-blooded," Natalya said softly. "When my parents were killed by followers of You-Know-Who another witch took me in."

"You don't know your parents at all then," Alisha stated. "You-Know-Who and his followers are rotten creatures."

"Absolutely."

Ginny confirmed Alisha's statement before turning her attention back to Dumbledore, who had rose from his seat once more.

"All students should note that the Forbidden Forest is restricted. Third years and up will visit Hogsmeade at the end of this month. And now I am proud to introduce your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher: Professor Gilderoy Lockhart!"

A storm of applause filled the Great Hall as the blonde wizard rose and smiled at his 'audience'. Natalya looked at him in disbelief as he winked roguishly, while Alisha had put her head on the table and was muttering curses under her breath. Ginny noticed that most Slytherins remained silent during Lockhart's little show.

"And now, off to bed! First-year students will follow the prefects to their common rooms."

Most students filed out of the Hall slowly and made their way to their dormitories. The first-year Slytherins gathered around a handsome boy who introduced himself as Zeynep Zabini. He led the way to the dungeons with a quick pace, and halted in front of a brick wall.

"Serpent Tongue," he spoke and the wall slid open to reveal a large room. "The girls' dormitories are to the left, and the boys' dormitories to the right."

Ginny looked around the cosy common room and felt a sense of belonging. The brick walls and stone floor gave little warmth, but fires and tapestries made sure it did not get too cold. High-backed chairs and wooden tables were scattered across the room around the fires, and a collection of books aligned two walls.

"Let's get to bed," Darren Xavier said suddenly. "I'm tired."

The girls disappeared through a door on the left, like Zeynep had told them, and found a large hallway with seven doors. They opened the one on the far right end that said 'First Years', and saw that all of their suitcases were already placed by their beds. Green curtains were draped around the four-poster beds and the blankets were Slytherin green as well.

"You know me," Marita said. "I'm a Rosvenir."

"I'm Natalya Cruz," Natalya said.

"Alisha Avery," Ginny's blonde friend nodded curtly. "The only sane person in my family."

"I'm Virginia Weasley," Ginny said. "You can call me Ginny."

"And I am Devica Parkinson. Call me Dev, or Devi."

As Dev had introduced herself, and smiled broadly at everyone else Ginny yawned and collapsed on her bed in a heap. She got her diary out of her trunk and scribbled a hurried note.

I am in Slytherin.

If she had stayed awake for just a little longer she would have seen the reply forming itself on the diary's pages, but Ginny was away into the land of dreams already.

In Slytherin? Little Virginia, that news is wonderful!

***

"Where are you?"

Ginny called out to the beautiful butterfly she had seen at the beginning of her dream while her bare feet touched the cold marble floor. She was somewhere she had not been before, in a dark bathroom filled with jars and little boxes. She opened the door and found herself standing in a long hallway. Suddenly screams filled the air as the rooms were torn to pieces with green flashes of light.

She was standing in the middle of a ruin now, little Ginny with her Hogwarts robes on, and shivered with cold from the snow falling upon her now. The screams had come from a girl a little bit older than Ginny, who had pulled her wand out now and faced the hooded figures with cold fury blazing from her eyes.

She was pregnant. Even from the great distance between them Ginny noticed the slightly rounded belly of the redheaded girl. And this pregnancy seemed like the most important thing in the dream, even though Ginny didn't realise that until she woke up.

The hooded figures advanced on the girl who tried to hex them before her wand flew into the outstretched hand of the leader. Ginny turned away then, which was the wisest thing to do. The girl's screams as the wizards tortured her split through the silent night and the sound of it would have driven even the toughest wizard insane.

A new voice added itself to the murmurs of the wizards, cursing them or killing them. And as the voice called the name of the girl, a name Ginny knew already in the back of her mind, she woke up.

***

The next morning Ginny woke to the sound of a shower. She first thought she was back at the Burrow but soon heard Alisha hum a tune known to most magical folk as 'Deep Inside' by The Weird Sisters.

She blinked as she realised she was still fully dressed, and not in pyjamas as she had imagined. She drew the curtains of her four-poster back and was surprised to see that only Dev's curtains were closed. Marita smiled as she saw Ginny and exclaimed:

"Morning sleepy! Are you ready for today?"

"Stop being so happy, Rita," Natalya scolded as she came out of the bathroom. "I hate mornings."

"I don't," Marita said cheerfully. "I love mornings! It's the only thing I can get excited about."

"Glad to hear it," Ginny grumbled. "One of us needs to be the victim of a pillow fight every now and then."

Marita was spared from replying as Dev woke up and exclaimed a string of curses that would have made her parents smile. (Dev's parents were proud of their daughter's vocabulary, even though it was not very civilised.) Dev drew the curtains back and Ginny laughed as she saw the petite blonde entangled in the blankets. Alisha suppressed a giggle and started to comb her hair while Marita tried to free Dev from her awkward position. Natalya shared an amused look with Ginny before she went to help Marita.

Ginny got up and walked to the bathroom. She gasped as she saw herself in the mirror. After tonight's dream Ginny had realised that she probably looked like a complete mess, but she had not expected it to be this bad. She washed herself thoroughly and performed a simple spell on her robes to make them look like new. She brushed her hair and after nodding at her reflection with satisfaction she walked out of the bathroom.

Marita and Natalya'd had success with freeing Dev, who was now sitting on the floor painting her nails with a beauty spell. Alisha was humming another song as she packed her bag. When they had all finished readying themselves for their first school day they made their way to the common room.

Ginny lost track of the number of times Dev wanted to take a wrong turn on the way to the Great Hall, but Natalya seemed to have a good sense of direction because she led them to the Great Hall within a couple of minutes. They joined their fellow Slytherins at the table and ate breakfast in silence.

Ginny saw that Ron and Harry were back at the Gryffindor table, and saw Errol the owl deliver something to Ron that looked remarkably like a Howler. And sure enough, it was a Howler that made Molly Weasley's voice scream louder than usual. Apparently Ron had flown the old Ford Anglia of their father to school, together with Harry, and dad faced an inquiry at work about it.

Draco Malfoy snorted with laughter next to Marita, who smiled broadly and muttered something about 'crazy cars' under her breath. Alisha and Natalya had not noticed the Howler (or hadn't cared) and were talking about the classes they had today.

Ginny looked down at her own schedule and saw that their first lesson was with Lockhart. After that it wasn't so bad, with Transfiguration and Charms until break. In the afternoon there was a free hour, and then there was History of Magic for two whole hours.

She then felt somebody's eyes on her, and was surprised to find Ron looking at her in disgust. Malfoy had probably noticed something, because just before she got up and left the Great Hall with her newfound friends in tow he slipped her a note. As they waited in front of Lockhart's classroom Ginny folded it open.

Meet me in the far end of the library at the end of your lessons today. I need to talk to you.

Ginny blinked for a moment and then shredded the paper to pieces. She would go and see him, but first of all she needed to catch up on some hexes in her free hour. She was not going to meet a member of the Malfoy family unarmed.

As the door to Lockhart's classroom opened Ginny could not help but reflect on the very weird turns her life had taken this past month. First she found a diary in her old Transfiguration book, and then she got Sorted into Slytherin. And the dream last night... Ginny wondered if it was just a nightmare, or something else...

***

It was no longer asleep. It was waiting for the heir to come to the room it was locked in. The heir was at Hogwarts, that much was clear. But how, or why, the creature could not tell. It just waited patiently for the one who could free it from its chains.

Last time it had killed. It felt a rush of pride as it reminisced the moment. The Master was the only witness of the murder. And now the Master had returned to the school, weakened but alert.

The creature would have to wait for the Master until the Master was strong enough. Strong enough to search for those unworthy of studying magic in this school, and to control the creature so that it could kill once more.

It heard the cold laughter of its Master inside of its mind. The Master had once been on the wrong side, on the good side. You will turn to the one who did not hurt you. The creature had heard that exact sentence for a long time already. And the Master had turned to the creature after the good people hurt him. But now nothing would ever hurt the Master again, for now he had the support of the creature Salazar Slytherin had once put in the room. The Master had the creature and the creature had the Master.

And it waited.

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