From the Beginning..

Professor McGonagall escorted her into Professor Dumbledore's office. He stood up as they approached.

"Ah, Miss Drue. Welcome to Hogwart's. Please, have a seat." He sat down. "Professor McGonagall, could you get the sorting hat please?"

Ariadne took a seat in the chair in front of his desk. "Miss Drue comes to us with several special abilities, Professor," he said while she retrieved the hat.

"Oh?" McGonagall said. "And what might those be?"

He leaned back and clasped his hands together. "Miss Drue is a telepath with slight empathic abilities."

Professor McGonagall stopped. "Is this true?"

Ariadne nodded. "Luckily, I was taught how to block out thoughts and other people's emotions several years ago," she smiled. "When I was younger, my parents thought I was going crazy, hearing voices. It wasn't until later that my Aunt figured out what was going on."

He nodded. "As I mentioned before, it would be beneficial that you not use these abilities while here. I'm afraid, some would think that it would give you an unfair advantage."

She nodded. "I understand." Professor McGonagall started forward again with the sorting hat and placed it on her head.

"Um," the hat said. "You're very strong. Lot's of courage. Ah, yes, very complex, but still, let's see - Gryffindor!" it shouted.

Dumbledore nodded. "Very good. Professor McGonagall, could you please escort her down to the Gryffindor's table?" McGonagall nodded. "Come along Ms. Drue."

"Thank you, sir," Ariadne said. "You are quite welcome," he said. She smiled as she followed Professor McGonagall from his office.

Down in the Great Hall everyone was talking, and getting reacquainted. Everyone got quiet as Ariadne walked in behind Professor McGonagall.

Dumbledore was sitting at the head table when they arrived. He used his fork to tap on the side of his glass and catch everyone's attention. "Could I please have everyone's attention? This year, we have an American exchange student here for her last year at Hogwart's. To spare her the embarrassment that the first years' are subject to, her sorting was done privately. I am proud to announce she has been sorted to-," he paused for affect. "Gryffindor!"

Everyone started clapping and the Marauders smiled at each other.

Ariadne found herself an official member of the group thanks to Lily. She usually spent most of her time with her unless Lily and James snuck off, of course. She found herself depending on Sirius a lot. Not that she sought him out, he just happened to always be there. Since that first incident on the train, they started got along fine. All the Marauders noticed that they were spending more time together without the rest of the group. Most shocking of all was Sirius spending time in the library. Remus remarked that the only time he knew of that Sirius had even ever been in the library was when they were working on particularly hard spell. Every morning, he would wait for her in the common room, and they would catch up with rest of the group for breakfast.

For the first couple of months, Ariadne noticed that she couldn't find any members of the Marauders during the full moon. So during those times, she would stay late in the library to study. It was on one of these occasions that she literally ran into Severus Snape.

She was running back to the common room when she ran into someone coming around a corner and hit her head. "Stupid girl, can't you watch where you're going?" a voice growled.

Ariadne looked up to see who it was. A pale dark haired boy stood there in Slytherin clothes. She stood up slowly, her head pounding from where it hit when she fell. It was hard for her control her telepathy with her head hurting so bad. It didn't help when she started to hear bits and pieces of what he was thinking.

(-pretty, too bad she's a stupid Gryffindor)

She shook her head to try to regain control. This unfortunately didn't help matters.

(Maybe I should have been looking were I was going. I wonder if she needs to go to the nurse?)

"No, I don't, and yes you should watch where you're going," she gritted out.

His eyes widened in surprise. "How did you know what I was thinking?"

"Lucky guess," she said quickly, trying to cover her mistake. Snape watched as she held her head. "Come on," he said, "I'll take you to the infirmary."

"No," she protested.

He grabbed her arm. "Yes. I won't be blamed if it's something more serious than a bump." He grabbed up her books then started pulling her towards the infirmary.