By southernmuggle

My palms began to sweat out of nerves. I played calm and demure on the outside. But my insides were screaming in fear of the unknown.

The sorting hat began to speak making my head wobble slightly.

"Ah. Right then. Right!" He announced at the ready continuing to place me in the appropriate house from my qualifications bearing in my soul.

"She's as Brave as a Gryffindor. As she is a beauty of a Hufflepuff. With the intelligence of a Ravenclaw and Cunningly sly as a Slytherin." The hat paused but suddenly recovered at his astonishing wisdom busting through the seams of his mouth.

"Oh but she is exuding power with ambition in her soul. She is extremely determined to make her achievements known."

"Better Be..."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Huh!" I gasped aloud in the direction of Aunt Minny with tears emerging in my fluorescent green eyes. She gave me a worried struggling grin as I then noticed the dark insidious Professor Snape glaring at me with shrewd judgment behind his gloomy black ink eyes. He looked as if he were going to chastise me for being disappointed for being a Slytherin. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction to embarrass me. I choked back my tears and smiled as Aunt Minny took off the sorting hat placing it on Professor Dumbledore's desk and took my face in her hands.

"Liv, my darling. Everything is going to work out splendidly. This serendipity of events is a brilliant shock, I may add. But you are a beautiful girl inside and out. You are just driven and in my opinion that is a wonderful quality to have. You will love it here at Hogwarts, dear." She paused and sighed as if reassuring herself without actually speaking it aloud.  "I'll escort you with Professor Snape to the Slytherin Common room if you'd like me too..." Aunt Minny was interrupted by the Dark cloud hanging around in front of us.

"Minerva. It is time to let your niece experience her own ventures now. She is of age to take the initiative and handle her own responsibilities without you holding her hand every second of the day." Snape sneered and drew his eyes to face mine. "She should be proud to be apart of my house." He finished his brusque speech in pride.

"I am proud Professor Snape." I informed him coldly not looking away from his glares. Until I noticed the tension filling the room and I changed it with ease smiling towards my Aunt.

"Aunt Minny I know I'll fit in here with all of my peers. I do not discriminate towards others just because of the houses they have been placed in. I am not that narrow minded. There is more to a person than just the house they represent." I finished my speech as Aunt Minny lifted me up to give me a motherly hug.

Aunt Minny whispered in my ear. "Are you sure you don't want me to go with you to the dungeons?" I let go of her embrace to assure her with my eyes. "Yes." I smiled not really grasping what she said until it was too late. I blurted aloud "What do you mean the DUNGEONS?!"

"Our house is located deep in the underground of the castle located by the dungeons, surrounded by the black lake." Professor Snape informed me with a tone as if I should have known.

"Of course it is." I turned to gesture at the devil's bastard bother and share the sarcasm as it left my mouth without a care, rolling my eyes, as Aunt Minny held my arms to look back at her.

"Now you go with Professor Snape. He will take care of you and I will see you in the great hall for lunch alright my darling?" She kissed my cheek and let go of my arms.

I twisted around and saw that Professor Snape had already left as I saw the end of his cloak leaving the entrance to Professor Dumbledore's office.

"Thank you!" I yelled towards Aunt Minny and Professor Dumbledore. Running after my new head of house looking as if he was the long lost brother of the Adams Family.

I caught up with him quickly walking below the school on moving staircases. I almost fell once and Professor Snape grabbed my wrist to keep me from falling. "Thanks." I warmly told him and he spat in aggravation beginning to walk ahead of me.

Professor Snape started to inform me of the history of the Slytherin house as well as the supplies I was going to need and the uniform.

"I will send an owl to Madam Malkin's for your required Slytherin robes. You'll have to tell Minerva so she will pay for your garments and I will need your measurements for Madam Malkin. She should have them ready for you in the next few days as long as you don't procrastinate in your civil duties. I would think you'd want to match with your fellow classmates instead of wearing your muggle clothes." He finished making me feel like an insolent child.

"I'll give you my measurements now." I paused. "I'm 5'8. 36 C cup and 21 inch waist." I darkly declared. "Is that specific enough for you Professor?" Giving him a cunning smile that apparently was good enough to be in the house of Slytherin.

"Mind your attitude Miss. Rickman. You wouldn't want to spend the night in the dungeons rather than your own room now would you?" He grimly warned. And I felt to afraid to challenge him. But I wasn't about to tell him that.

He finally made it to the front the Slytherin Common Room that was hidden behind a gray stone wall.

A huge ornate circular, black steel decorative coiled snake was hanging on the wall. A softly lit green light radiating in a lantern beside it, hung just as creepy as the snake beside it.

"Anguis." Professor Snape ominously spoke to the snake like a piece of shiny elongated piece of black licorice.

The black steel snake's eyes lit up in a bright green as  it turned itself counterclockwise moving the wall to open like a hidden door behind the surface.

"This is our password. It changes every month. So don't forget." Professor Snape lured me inside the Slytherin Common Room. I glided pasted him feeling like I was entering a sadistic version of the Wizard of Oz.

The great room was huge, cold, and dark. Except for the green lanterns and lamps strategically placed around on tables. There were hunter green leather winged back chairs with matching sofas. But the big focal point of the room was the back stone wall with three green glass stained windows with snakes etched  in the middle looking out into the black lake. I swore I saw a mermaid swim by.

"Miss. Greenhouse, a word." Professor Snape strongly instructed her and she followed suit almost running up to him.

"Miss Greenhouse, I'd like to formally introduce our new member of our Slytherin house. Olivia Rickman.  I think you two will get along well enough. She will be sharing your room. Please make her feel welcomed as I know you will." Professor Snape nodded and I was shocked that he actually cared that I felt comfortable and helped me to find someone he knew would care.

"Miss. Rickman, I'll see you in My Advanced Potions class." He quickly turned as I watched him leave our common room.

"Well, welcome to Slytherin! I'm Daphne." She smiled as she introduced herself sticking her hand out to greet me.

"I'm Olivia." I smiled back shaking her hand. Maybe the bat was right. Because so far she was the nicest accommodating Slytherin I'd ever met.

"We have to hurry. Advanced Potions starts in ten minutes. If you're late Snape makes you clean out his old potion vials." Daphne informed me as I followed her up the spiral stone staircase to the left, to our room.

We entered our dormitory. It was huge and circular with four king sized silver colored canopy beds.

"Your other roommates are Pansy Parkinson and Tracey Davis. I'll introduce them to you later. They aren't very friendly. But I'll protect you from them." She smiled and winked at me making me feel like we were already instant friends.

"Come on we've got to go!" Daphne grabbed my hand and we made our way to the potions classroom.

We made our way to the dungeon like classroom as a group of Slytherin boys turned around to see who came in. They started whispering and laughing. One of them with slicked back blonde hair with so much gel in it I didn't know how he even brushed it.

He gave me a dirty grin licking his lips. Eyeing me up and down.

Daphne and I found an empty table and sat down.

"Who's the slick git?" I asked her pointing towards the malevolent teenage boy.

She looked up and told me. "Oh that's Draco Malfoy. Stay away from him. That's Pansy's boyfriend. Well she calls him that. She hates any girl who even dares to look at Draco."

"Well she won't have to worry about that." I told Daphne.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" She sweetly asked me.

"I did. But I broke up with him before I moved here. He was much older and very demanding. I only date men. Not teenage boys." I winked and laughed as Daphne started to giggle along with me.

Professor Snape suddenly came barging in making me jump where I sat...