"There is something we need to do before you begin school tomorrow," Sev said after dinner. We were currently in his classroom. I was helping him set up.

"Yes?" I set down the jar of newts eyes and turned to face him.

"Come with me," me motioned and we went into his office.

"There's someone I'd like you to meet," he said and my eyes were drawn to the person sitting behind Sev's desk.

"Hello..." I said, eyes flickering between the two of them. The other man grinned at me and put his feet up on the desk.

"Hello, Miss Loveland," he said.

"This is Barty Crouch Jr."

"I thought you were in Azkaban," I frowned.

"I was. Got myself out," he said, twirling his wand.

"What's going on?" I turned to Sev.

"We need your help, darling. 'We' meaning the Death Eaters," Barty said.

"The Death Eaters? You guys want...me?"

"That we do," he nodded.

"Why?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Severus here has told us all about your enthusiasm and incredible abilities. Says you're the best witch he's ever met. We thought he was simply showing favoritism until he showed us through a pensive how powerful you truly are. Along with that, your parents were Voldemort's most trusted followers. We feel that you could be useful."

"Useful for what?"

"We have a plan to bring Voldemort back," Barty said.

"Bring him back? He's dead and gone, you cannot raise the dead. It's impossible," I said in shock.

"You only think he's dead, dearie," Barty grinned.

"He's alive, but just barely. We have a plan in mind," Severus gestured to himself and Barty.

"You see I'm going to be a teacher here this year. I'm posing as Alastor Moody, an auror for the Ministry. This year, though the students are not aware of it yet, Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament. I trust you know what that is?"

I nodded slowly.

"Well, we're going to enchant the Goblet of Fire to spit out two extra names; Harry Potter's and hopefully yours. You two will compete in the tournament and at the very end, the champions cup will be a portkey to the location of the Dark Lord's return. We need both you and Potter there for reasons we will not yet disclose."
"This is..." I frowned.

"You do not have to take the mark yet, if that's a concern of yours. But, we need you. You're a strong enough witch to compete in the tournament and actually stand a chance. If you agree to do this, however, you will have to befriend Potter. That is key. He'll need to trust you during the tournament."

"This is a lot to thrust upon me," I said.

"Does your alliance stand with the Death Eaters?" Barty asked.

"It does..."

"Well, there you go. No time like the present to join us," he laughed.

"I don't understand, I'm just a child. Why me?"

"We need someone who can be on the inside. Certainly a professor can't get as close to Harry as you can. As I said before, you're powerful. You're the perfect candidate."

"Leah, it won't interfere with school work, either. I know how you are at being the best in everything. I've already taught you everything you'll need to know for your fourth year, and I won't make you do any of the assignments I give. I would rather you focus on the task; I know you can do everything I'll be teaching anyway," Severus chimed in.

"If anyone other than you were asking me, I would say no," I said to him.

"Does that mean you'll do this, then?" Barty asked. I took a deep breath and nodded.

"Yes. I'll do it."

***

"I just don't understand why it has to be me? There's more you aren't telling me, Uncle Sev," I said, taking inventory of his storage room. We only had two hours before the rest of the school arrived.

"You're right, there is. We just don't want you knowing too much. One person cannot have all of the information; it's easier for plans to be learned that way. It is best if each person knows small amounts of necessary information, but not the entire truth. That makes it harder for plans to be discovered."

"Yes, but you and Barty know the entire truth!"

"We do not. We know a smaller truth within a bigger truth. We both know something about you, but we do not know the entire story. One day, however, you will know the whole story. Only when it is safe and when the Dark Lord has returned."

"This is ridiculous," I muttered.

"Just do as you are told," Severus said and I rolled my eyes, making note of the amount of bezoars he has.

"I really don't want to befriend the Potter gang. They're Gryffindor's for Merlin's sake."

"I understand your dislike of the situation. However, you do want the Dark Lord to rise again, do you not?"

"Yeah," I sighed.

"Then this is the price you must pay."

I walked out of the storage room and took my hair out of its ponytail.

"Right. Well, I'm going to go to my room and change into my robes. I'll see you at dinner," I said and he nodded.

"I will see you later," he said and I left.

***

As the rest of the school filed into the Great Hall, I slipped into the crowed, unnoticed. I scanned the staff table to see Sev, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Moody. They were the only ones I recognized. My gaze was set in stone as I walked over to the Slytherin table, chin raised slightly and shoulders set. With everyone I passed by, a new whisper started. Soon, everyone was wondering who the new girl was. I smirked, knowing I could grab the attention of a room at any given time. I don't know who I get that from, in my family. Certainly not my mother.

"Leah," Draco nodded as I reached the Slytherin table.

"Hello, again," I nodded back politely.

"I can't say I'm surprised you've been sorted into Slytherin. Good thing, too. Merlin knows the other houses aren't nearly as good," he sneered.

"Darling!" Pansy came up beside me and I turned, accepting her embrace as she threw her arms around me.

"Hey Pansy," I laughed.

"I see you've already got the entire Great Hall eating out of the palm of your hand," she smirked.

"What can I say, I demand attention," I said, sitting down and taking a drink of pumpkin juice.

"Draco this is my darling Leah. We've grown up together. I talk about her all the time. Leah this is my boyfriend, Draco Malfoy," Pansy introduced.

"We met briefly in Diagon Alley," he said.

"Your boyfriend?" my eyebrows shot up.

"Oh, did I fail to mention it?" she grinned.

"What the fuck, Pans?"

"I didn't want to make you feel bad."

"Feel bad?" I asked sarcastically.

"Whatever. So, I see you're in Slytherin. That's fantastic, you know I don't know what I would have done if you were in Gryffindor. I would still be your friend of course, but honestly Leah it would completely ruin my reputation," she gave me a look.

"You're acting like it would have been my fault," I said, still irritated that she kept having a boyfriend from me.

"I did accept the possibility that you might have been a Ravenclaw. That wouldn't have shocked me at all. She's very intelligent, Draco," Pansy said, looking over at him.

"Okay," he raised an eyebrow.

"I'm saying that so you won't be surprised when she beats you and Granger for top of the class," she glared. He rolled his eyes as a dark skinned boy sat next to him.

"I know you aren't talking to the beautiful new girl without me," he smiled at me, turning on the charm full blast.

"Shut up, Blaise," Pansy said in irritation.

"Blaise this is Leah Loveland, Leah this is Blaise Zabini," Draco introduced with a lazy wave of his hand.

"Pleased to meet you," I said coolly. Pansy smirked at my tone.

"The pleasure is all mine," he winked and I allowed myself to laugh slightly at that.

"Potter looks particularly annoying tonight," Draco scowled and Pansy glanced over her shoulder to look at the Gryffindor table.

"Drake, will you please stop obsessing over him. We get it, he's a git," she rolled her eyes.

"I hate him. And do not call me Drake."

"Well my mother told me to be nice to him," I wrinkled my nose in distaste.

"What the hell? Why?" Pansy asked in horror.

"To get on the Golden Boy's good side," I said scathingly.

"I hate your mother sometimes. But it would be smart to be in his good graces. That way he won't ever be suspicious of you and you can get away with a lot of shit," she shrugged.

"That's how I'm looking at it," I said and then the Great Hall doors opened once more, leading in the first years. I scanned the line and found Claire, looking nervous. She scanned the tables until she found me and did her best to smile. I gave her a slight smile back.

"Claire looks like she's going to piss herself," Pansy muttered as the Hall fell silent and I laughed quietly.

"I'll say. She'll probably be in Hufflepuff," I said and we laughed together, covering our mouths with our hands to remain quiet. McGonagall set the sorting hat on to a stool in the front of the Hall, and it opened its mouth, singing aloud for all of us to hear.

"A thousand years or more ago,

When I was newly sewn

There lived four wizards of renown

Whose names are still well known:
Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,
Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,
Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,
Shrewd Slytherin, from fen.
They shared a wish, a hope, a dream;
they hatched a daring plan
to educate young sorcerers
Thus Hogwarts School began.
Now each of these four founders
formed their own house, for each
did value different virtues
in the ones they had to teach.
By Gryffindor, the bravest were
prized far beyond the rest;
For Ravenclaw, the cleverest
would always be the best;
For Hufflepuff, hard workers were
Most worthy of admission;
and power-hungry Slytherin
loved those of great ambition.
While still alive they did divide
their favorites from the throng,
yet how to pick the worthy ones
when they were dead and gone?
'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,
He whipped me off his head
the founders put some brains in me
so I could choose instead!
Now slip me snug about your ears,
I've never yet been wrong,
I'll have a look inside your mind
and tell where you belong!"

The hat finished it's song and the Hall clapped. I clapped less enthusiastically, still creeped out by the fact that it just sang.

"Yeah, it does that every year," Pansy whispered with a roll of her eyes.

"Let the sorting begin!" McGonagall said, and then looked at the scroll in front of her.

"Ackerley, Stewart!"

The boy nervously went up and sat on the stool. The hat sat on his head for a moment and then opened it's 'mouth.'

"Ravenclaw!" it announced and the little boy smiled, running over to her table. She was greeted with cheers and smiles. I scanned the Hall as two Hufflepuff's, a Gryffindor, and a Slytherin, Malcolm Baddock, were sorted. When I zoned back in, Claire was up. I watched her as she walked up to the front of the Hall. The god damn hat barely even touched her head when it announced, "Gryffindor!"

Claire looked at me anxiously and barely mustered a smile before heading off to her table. She sat next to another sorted Gryffindor, Dennis Creevey. I pressed my fingertips to my temples, feeling a headache coming on. I shouldn't even be surprised that she was sorted into Gryffindor yet here we are.

"Merlin, Claire in Gryffindor? Since when is she brave?" Pansy scoffed.

"Since never. This is ridiculous," I shook my head.

"That your sister?" Blaise asked.

"Unfortunately."

The Hall fell silent once more as Dumbledore stepped up to his podium.

"I only have one thing to say to you all. Tuck in!"

With that, food appeared all along the tables. I gave a shocked laugh.

"The food here is rather good, if you know what to get," Pansy started putting things on both of our plates.

"I can do that myself, you know," I raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, but I'm getting you all of the good food. Like I said, you learn what's best to eat and what really is not," she said seriously.

"Fair enough," I sighed. I ate my dinner, eyes scanning the Great Hall, checking the exits as my mother always taught me to do. I frowned when I realized she's made me paranoid. Constant vigilance, she always said. I faintly registered Draco and Pansy bickering as I thought of ways to befriend Potter. It seemed like such an impossible task. My mind was brought back to the present when Dumbledore began speaking once more.

"So, now that we are all fed and watered, I must once again ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices. Mr. Filch, the caretaker has asked me to tell you that the list of forbidden objects inside the castle has been extended to include Screaming Yo-yo's, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever Bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty-seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office if anybody would like to check."

"What the hell?" I whispered and Pansy rolled her eyes.

"As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year. It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

"What? Why?" Draco snapped, sharing an angry look with Blaise. I frowned, also feeling a bit irritated by this. I was really looking forward to playing Quidditch. I also heard Potter protest loudly as the Hall started to murmur about this change in events. Dumbledore spoke on.

"This is due to an event that will start in October, and continue throughout the school year, taking up most of the teachers' time and energy. I have great pleasure to announce that this year at Hogwarts we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the next couple of months; an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my great pleasure to announce that the Triwizard tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year!"

Well hell, if I had known the tournament would replace Quidditch, I wouldn't have agreed.

"You're joking!" someone from the Gryffindor table said. They laughed.

"I am not joking, Mister Weasley," Dumbledore smiled. Oh, a Weasley. Fantastic.

"I wonder who the champions will be," Pansy murmured.

"I want a Slytherin champion. I refuse to have the likes of Longbottom over there representing us," Draco sneered. I must say that I agree.

"So who would you want our champion to be?" I asked.

"None of us are old enough," Blaise said as Dumbledore continued to talk about the rules of the tournament. You had to be of age to enter.

"Wait what did he say the other schools were?" Pansy asked and a Ravenclaw from behind us shushed her.

"Oh piss off," several of us hissed at once.

"Durmstrang and Beauxbaton," a girl further down our table answered Pansy.

"Thanks, Daphne. Now, I say Montague would be our best bet," Pansy suggested.

"No, Hestia Carrow. She's vicious and knows her way around a curse," Blaise shook his head.

"Oh, yes! Hestia would be good," Pansy nodded.

"For what?" a girl hissed, peering down the table at us.

"Be our champion, Hestia!" Pansy hissed back.

"No way!" the girl next to Hestia spat. I blinked, realizing they were twins.

"Shut it, Flora. There's a reason we aren't nominating you," Pansy sneered.

"Enough, Pans, you're starting to cause a scene," Draco drawled.

"Tell me what to do again and I'll break up with you," Pansy smiled sweetly.

"Oh you wound me," Draco rolled his eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a boyfriend?" I asked her.

"Good question," she grinned.

"Why not?" I demanded.

"Because I felt bad that you didn't have any other friends and here I was with a boyfriend," she shrugged.

"That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard."

"Wait you don't have any friends?" Blaise laughed.

"I was literally on lock down at my house, pray tell, how was I supposed to make friends?" I glared and he stopped laughing.

"Listen, we all need to get along if we're going to get a champion who isn't an idiot," Pansy snapped.

"Or a mudblood," I wrinkled my nose.

"Exactly," Pansy said as the others nodded in agreement.

"Who's she?" the Daphne girl asked, nodding to me.

"Her name is Leah. She's a transfer student," Blaise said.

"Anyway, Hestia, seriously, consider it," Pansy said.

"I might," she shrugged. Dumbledore wrapped up his speech and we all began to file out of the Great Hall.

"Quite honestly, I'm excited for the Durmstrang boys to arrive," Pansy said.

"Durmstrang boys can be cute, but I can't wait for the Beauxbaton boys," I said.

"As if any of them are going to be straight," Pansy laughed.

"What, you think there's a school that only allows in girls and gay men?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh come on. Why Beauxbaton?"

"They'll have a sense of fashion, first of all. All students at Beauxbaton are very wealthy and can afford designer clothes. Second of all, they'll speak French," I said.

"That's very true, actually," Daphne said, smiling brightly. Just as we were about to turn down the corridor that led to the Slytherin common room, I felt a hand on my arm. I turned around to see Claire looking at me nervously.

"I'll see you guys in a minute," I sighed and they nodded, looking down at Claire with a mix of curiosity and disdain. I pulled Claire to the side and waited for the hall to clear.

"Yes, Claire?" I asked.

"I'm sorry I'm in Gryffindor," she muttered.

"Did you not want to be in Gryffindor?" I crossed my arms.

"I just wanted to make you proud. You hate Gryffindor," she wouldn't look at me.

"Look, if you want to make it up to me, talk me up to Harry Potter. Make sure he thinks I'm a good person."

"Okay...but why?" she frowned.

"Come on, I'll walk you up to your common room. And I'm not telling you why," I said as we walked.

"I won't let you down," she vowed.

"Oh good," I said dryly.

"Did you know you would be sorted into Slytherin, or were you surprised?" she asked.

"The hat was going to put me in Gryffindor. That was a surprise."

"Going to? Why didn't it?"

"Because I asked it not to."

"You mean I could've asked to be put with you?" she asked in shock.

"You could have, but let's be honest, you would not survive in Slytherin," I gave her a look and she sighed.

"I know. Are you disowning me?"

"No, Claire," I rolled my eyes.

"Okay. Good. So, this tournament will be interesting, don't you think? I am glad that you aren't of age, though. We may not be very close but I don't want to see you get hurt," she frowned.

"Yes, very interesting," I said as we reached the Gryffindor common room.

"Balderdash," she said, the portrait swinging open.

"Will you come in? I want you to see the common room," she beamed at me and I sighed. I didn't have the heart to say no when she was this excited.

"Sure," I nodded and she grabbed my hand, pulling me in.

"Isn't it so cool?" she asked and I fought back a grimace, seeing red and gold everywhere.

"Very," I said, my mouth set in a tight line.

"Excuse me," someone snapped from behind me. I turned around, my eyes stony, and looked at the girl.

"Who are you?" we asked at the same time. I looked over her, seeing her strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes. She doesn't look like any of the Pureblood families I know. Not enough freckles for a Weasley. Too round in the face for a Parkinson. Certainly not a Malfoy. From the way the Carrow twins looked, she isn't one of them either.

"I'm Lavender Brown," she crossed her arms.

"Congratulations," I said. She doesn't have a pureblood name. Must be a half blood or a mudblood. I turned back around to face Claire and heard the girl make an angry noise.

"I was talking to you!" she snapped.

"Well I'm not interested," I said coolly.

"Stop, Lavender," Potter said, standing up. I'm assuming she made a move for her wand. I heard her exhale angrily and then she brushed by me, knocking my shoulder as she went. I glared daggers at her, but didn't retaliate. That can wait for later. Potter walked over to me and glanced down at Claire.

"This your sister, then?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Claire, right? What's your name?" he nodded to me.

"Leah. Sorry for the intrusion. She wanted to show me the common room," I glanced at Claire briefly.

"Leah's nice like that," she nodded, "she really wanted to go to sleep, but she knew I was excited about being here so she agreed to walk up with me."

"Right. Well, I'm Harry. If you'd like me to look after her for you while you aren't here, I can. I'm sure you'll be worried about her for the first week or so."

"Thank you, I'd appreciate that," I nodded.

"You're a Slytherin, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, don't let them know you've been up here. I don't think they take too kindly to those who associate with Gryffindor."

"Thanks for the warning, but I can hold my own. They'll just have to deal with it," I shrugged and he smiled slightly.

"Better get going, then. It's almost curfew."

"Right. I'll see you around," I nodded to him.

"See you around," he nodded back.

"Good night, Claire."

"Night, Leah," she stood on her tip toes to kiss my cheek and then headed off to her dorm. Harry opened the portrait hole for me and I nodded my thanks.

"Have a nice night," he said.

"You, too," I smiled politely. As soon as the portrait hole shut I rolled my eyes. Gryffindor's are far too trusting. Getting them to believe I'm on their side will be a piece of cake.

***