Dorm

The sorting ceremony continued and there weren't so many twists and turns. Kiara was sorted into Gryffindor and Virgil into Slytherin.

When the last student sat down, Dumbledore rose from his seat and the hall quieted down. "It's been a tortuous year and dark clouds hang over our heads."

Some students couldn't help looking toward Slytherin's table. 

"Hogwarts is a safe place and no student has to worry about their security in these halls. Now, before we eat, let me introduce the new defense against the dark arts Professor, Robert Kennedy."

Dumbledore held out his hand and a middle-aged man with short brown hair and meticulously groomed facial hair stood up.

The Prefects led the students of the houses to clap when Robert stood up.

"Hello, students." Robert gave a brief wave before sitting down.

"Now." Dumbledore's voice silenced the hall again. "Let's eat."

With his voice as the cue, the tables were filled with a variety of foods.

Virgil looked at all the food and suddenly felt a little hungry.

"I can't believe I have to eat in the same room as these heathens."

Virgil heard a voice he never paid attention to before and glanced across the table. Sitting next to Snape was a boy whose name he remembered was Henry Mulciber.

Even though he spoke vicious words he dared not raise his voice.

"If you don't eat you will starve to death, what a shame you would be then." Dalilah snarked at Henry before filling a glass of pumpkin juice.

Henry shrank his neck back and didn't argue.

"I wonder if you'll be the first wizard to starve to death." Shane cut a piece of fish and sent it to his mouth.

"Who knows." Virgil shook his head. "Maybe this food is all transfigured rocks and he'll be the only one to survive."

Rabastian choked on his food and shot Virgil a look.

"What a creative method!" Dalilah's eyes lit up. "I'll have to write that down."

Severus looked at everyone getting along and felt a bit out of place. He opened his mouth a few times but didn't know what to say. He grew up in different conditions and didn't have much in common.

Virgil noticed this but didn't reach out to lend a helping hand. His eyes turned towards Narcissa, she sat at the other end of the table glaring at Sirius.

Even though Lucius tried to get her to eat, it was useless.

His eyes wandered around the dining hall and saw there were only a couple hundred students. Far less than he thought there would be.

Time passed and all the food disappeared from the table. "Prefects, lead the first years to your house's common room."

Professor Mcgonagall got up and started giving out directions.

"First years follow me." Narcissa walked over with a face that wouldn't take no for an answer. She led the eight students out of the dining hall and towards the front of the school.

Narcissa didn't explain the layout of the school or give any instructions along the way. No one spoke because they could see her face about to drip water and didn't want to poke a hornet's nest.

Near the front of the school she led them down a narrow flight of stairs and through a door. After walking through what seemed like a tunnel they arrived at a wall.

"Pure Blood." A door outlined itself on the wall and opened.

Inside was a green-tinged room with hand-carved furniture and luxury padded couches. A few fishes swam past the windows that gave a great view of the bottom of Black Lake. The ripples from the water caused incandescent lighting in the common room that set off the atmosphere.

With the wood in the fireplace crackling it completely set off the mood. "Boys dorms on the left and girls on the right. Your class schedules are in your room, figure out the rest yourself." 

Narcissa didn't even look at them when she spoke and went towards her room.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." Rabastan shrugged his shoulders and went towards the left.

"You're going to your room? Don't you want to look around the castle?" Dalilah saw the boys going to their room and was flabbergasted.

Virgil glanced back and pointed toward an old grandfather clock. "It's already late."

He waved his hand and walked into the boys' dormitory with the rest.

Inside their room, there were five beds with their luggage already placed on them. The room also had a window with a watery view.

"I'm beat." Henry walked to his bed and collapsed on his back.

Shane sat on his bed and cracked his neck. "I don't know why they make us ride the train for hours, we could have come instantly."

"Of course, it's for those mudbloods! They can't get here without the train." Rabastan pulled his suitcase off the bed while complaining.

"I have ten house elves, all useless." Virgil grabbed the suitcase off his bed and opened a nice-looking silver and green trunk at the foot of his bed with a Slytherin logo printed atop.

"You have ten house elves!?" Henry sat up from his bed with a look of shock. "How did you get ten? My family has applied to the Ministry and I can't even get one."

Shane glanced at Henry like he was looking at a fool. "Ask the Ministry? House elves live for hundreds of years, why would they be sitting at the Ministry?"

Virgil started transferring his robes, books, and potion supplies to the trunk. "If the Ministry had house elves a lot of people would be out of a job. 24/7 free labor is not a joke. I have to find things for them to do like picking up individual leaves from the ground by hand."

"My brother doesn't trust them." Rabastan shook his head. "They know too many of their master's secrets."

"That's because he doesn't understand curses." Virgil looked over and flashed a smile. "Betrayal for the house elf is no different than the cruciatus curse. Like sticking molten irons into their veins. The only way for a house elf to betray is to break the curse."

Virgil paused. "Or find loopholes in your orders. As long as you tell them to never divulge any information about you to others it's fine."

He glanced between the boys looking at him. "It's just, most never do it, taking it for granted that they shouldn't speak. For the most part, it's true, but some can hate their masters."

Shane swallowed uncomfortably. "You have to tell them? Don't they just, you know, do it?"

Virgil sneered.

"See, maybe my brother was right." Rabastan followed Virgil to move his luggage into the trunk.

Severus tried to hide his tattered bags while he put his things away. Because he had money to buy new robes he wasn't as embarrassed as he should have been.

On the other side of the castle, in the first-year Gryffindor girl's dormitory, Kiara was getting to know her last roommate.

"I'm Alice Blishwick, nice to meet you." She had short brown hair and looked like a pixie with a bubbly personality.

"Now we all know each other, but Alice is the only one who comes from a magical family and knows about the magical world." Kiara stood by her bed with her hands on her hips.

"Severus has been telling me about the magical world for months." Lily's head snapped up, she felt a bit proud she knew more than others.

"She be talking aboot her laddie again." Marlene covered her mouth and snickered.

"We're just friends." Lily quickly quipped back but the blush on her face betrayed her.

"Yes, just friends." Mary nodded. "My mother and father used to be friends, they tell me the story all the time."

Seeing them playing around Alice was curious. "Who's Severus?"

Kiara started answering before anyone else could speak. "Lily's friend, he was worried she would feel uncomfortable going to Diagon Alley alone. He offered to go shopping with her and personally showed her around."

Lily was a bit confused, she remembered being the one to ask Severus to go.

"That's so sweet." Alice sighed.

None of the girls noticed a faint pink mist lingering in the room. Kiara had been practicing her Succubus abilities during the month before school.

Not only can she control her charm, but she could release a pink mist that confused people's judgment and lowered their inhibitions, she could also invade people's dreams. They became a sort of instinct or natural magic for her.

"He was so protective, keeping any strangers from approaching her. You know Aurors were patrolling the street, plus what Dumbledore said, who knows what could have happened."

Kiara saw that Alice was drawn in and added another nail. She had already shifted Mary and Marlene's perception of Severus on the train.

She knew the quickest way to a girl's heart was through her friends.

"Is there something going on?" Mary was a little confused by Kiara's words. She didn't feel unsafe that day at all.

Kiara glanced towards Alice and waited. She could see the struggle on her face.

Alice's desire to fit in overcame her reason and said what she knew. "I heard my parents talking about it. A group of dark wizards has been targeting muggle-borns."

The girls' eyes went wide and couldn't believe what they heard. Lily thought of Severus protecting her that day and his image in her mind suddenly became taller.

Kiara knew that her goal was accomplished and dispersed the mist. Too much would be counterproductive.

The only one who could ruin her plans was Severus himself.