Slytherin Chronicles : The Desire of Darkness

Neve Coulden (OC) is not the average Hogwarts student. Perhaps not even the average Slytherin first-year. Cold, clever, sharp-tongued, arrogant, unwillingly charismatic and involuntarily heroic, but with not one shred of beauty to be found anywhere in her appearance. Oh, and don't worry - not everybody likes her.

Neve pays a visit to Diagon Alley for her school supplies with her devastatingly haughty mother, Mrs Coulden, and gets more than she bargained for from a certain white-haired wand seller.

The musings of Neve Coulden, an introduction to the Malfoys, and off we go to King's Cross Station in a lovely leather-seated car!

The more or less interesting trip to Hogwarts aboard the Hogwarts Express during which we are introduced to some new characters and many old ones, including Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom and Hagrid. And if their being very much in-character is any incentive, it's true in this story.

The all-important Sorting Ceremony takes place, more new and old characters are introduced, and we get a slightly more in-depth look into the Slytherin common-room than Harry and Ron gave us in CoS. Does Neve's nightmare of being sorted into Hufflepuff come true? Does she blow Draco Malfoy into smithereens as punishment for not visiting her in four years? Does the Slytherin common-room really have green fires? All this and more answered in this chapter.

We find out that Neve would have been well-suited in Ravenclaw, Neville Longbottom blows up his first of many cauldrons, and Professor Severus Snape makes his debut, giving Neve a bit of advice Harry Potter would never hear from him.

Something for all you Snape/OC lovers out there in this chapter! Plus we get to see him as a bit of a suffering lover - definitely a rarity. Why the sudden Romeo? Evelyn Trennor comes to the rescue when one of her own prophecies comes true - Neve Coulden is possessed by a spirit and has a maximum of forty-eight hours to live. Is Neve going to die? Is there going to be a happy reunion between Evelyn and Snape? All in this chapter and more.

Someone dies, Tom Riddle makes an appearance, Evelyn works wonders, Madam Pomfrey finds out, a bit of Romeo!Snape again, and a strange mark that hasn't been seen for thousands of years suddenly returns. Lots of action, horror and intrigue - definitely a chapter that will leave you with lots of questions.

A little less action but plenty of interaction between Neve and Draco and we're introduced to a canon character we haven't heard much of before (namely Professor Sinistra) in the second Astronomy lesson of the first-years. But what ensues between Neve and Draco? Do they finally become friends or is the animosity between them too much? Read and find out.

Finally the mystery of the Philosopher's Stone starts to unravel when Neve and Roisin run into Fluffy as well as Harry Potter and his friend Ron Weasley, who provide interesting information on the matter, all in the same day. No one ever said that Slytherins weren't curious, right? So, Neve decides to poke her nose in places where it certainly isn't wanted or expected. The question is: how? Using cunning, resourcefulness and determination, as any Slytherin worth his or her salt would.

Yet more mysteries are uncovered in this chapter, including one to which the answer cannot be found in PS/SS but in a slightly later book. Among other things, Neve confronts Hagrid about a certain something, misses Hallowe'en, nearly gets herself killed in the process, and gets ten points for Slytherin when Gryffindor only gets five in total! Lots of interaction between Neve and non-Slytherins, including her first meeting with Harry and Ron! Chapter Eleven is now playing at a theatre near you, so go check it out!

It's bias galore in the first Quidditch match of the season, in which our heroine swears profusely; Hermione is a typical Gryffindor idiot; Ron is almost speechless; and Harry nearly falls off his broom. We get a taste of Slytherin politics from the daughters of Death Eaters Avery and Wilkes, and Neve & Co prepare themselves for yet another adventure on the path to uncover the truth.