Gone Awry

Turning away from the Gryffindor table, Ash took a deep breath and smiled, calmly turning to her cheering peers and heading towards them. They might not have been what she had expected, but bloody hell they were what she got, she would just have to make the best of it.

When Ash reached the table however, her resolve fluttered a bit again as she wondered where to sit. The people her age all seemed to be sitting in the back of the long table, but there didn't seem to be any free seat, because nobody expected someone to join them later that night. But the only seats that were still available were the ones at the front of the Hall, where the first years would probably be sitting - and to be truthful she didn't really feel like sitting next to those kids she saw standing in front of the podium waiting to be sorted.

Facing this dilemma she looked at the end of the table again and saw that a girl around her age frantically waving at her, pointing to a seat that had appeared out of nowhere next to her. Ash grinned at the waving girl and quickly set off to join her.

Shortly before she reached the girl and the free seat she slowed down and looked at the girl more closely. The girl wasn't too bad looking, she had brown hair cut into a fashionable bob, a good body and nice brown-green eyes, and yet... she somehow reminded Ash of a pug.

Still smiling she sat down next to the pug-girl. "Thank you very much that I can sit here! You’re a life saver"

"No problem at all," she smiled at Ash and held out her hand for Ash to shake, "I'm Pansy Parkinson, nice to meet you."

Taking her hand and shaking it she tried to remember where she had heard that name before. "Parkinson... oh yeah, isn't your father in the Ministry working in the Department of Law Enforcement?"

Parkinson looked at her surprised. "Yes, that's true... how did you know?"

"Oh, my father was also in the Department of Law Enforcement in Germany, they worked together at times."

"Oh cool" she smiled, as a slight cough from the other side of the table demanded her attention. She looked at the person who coughed, and then seemed to remember something. "Oh I'm sorry, I nearly forgot to introduce you to the others!"

Ash looked up surprised, just remembering that there were other people sitting around her as well. Quickly she sat down normally - having sat on one of her legs before in order to be able to sit a bit sideways and easier look at Pansy.

"So next to you is Theodore Nott." Ash turned to look at a tall brown haired boy. He didn't look to bad, just very average. He had short brown hair and dull brown eyes. He smiled at Ash and nodded his head in greeting.

"Next to Theodore is Millecent Bullstrode." Ash leaned a bit forward and stared at a girl that looked - such as the name suggested - like a bull. Millicent was black-haired and had a heavy jaw that jutted out in an aggressive fashion. She had a large, square build that seems to allow her to physically overpower other people.

"Across from Theodore there's Tracy Davis." The girl Ash saw was very pretty with long silky black hair and almond shaped chocolate brown eyes. She greeted the newcomer with a soft "hi" and a smile.

"And next to her is Blaise Zabini." Across of Ash sat an extremely good looking, darker skinned guy with beautiful brown eyes and short black hair. He was looking at her with a smirk and greeted her with a nod of his head.

"On his right we have Daphne Greengrass." Pansy said steering the girl's attention to a tall platinum blond haired girl with nice blue eyes and a cute smile.

"Then next to her is Vincent Crabbe," she pointed at a fat boy, with a thick neck, gorilla-like arms, and a pudding bowl-style haircut, he grunted as a greeting. (The only thought that came to Ash when she saw him was: 'What would happen if he could tuck in his limbs? He would start rolling down the hill...')

Still silently chuckling at her wonderful mental joke Ash turned to look at the next boy - seemingly Crabbe's twin in ugliness. "This is Gregory Goyle," she said as Ash leaned forward to look at the boy opposite of Crabbe. Both boys gave of the same vibes of idiotic bullies as they looked at her.

"And last but certainly not least there's Draco Malfoy," she smiled a warm smile at the person she looked at next, "but you already know him, don't you?" she asked with a bit of a sneer in her tone. Ash slowly moved her eyes to look at the guy that she had met earlier that day in Hogwarts Express, the boy whom her cousin and his friends had always warned her from.

During the train ride she didn't have the time to look at him closely, but now she eyed him up and down. The boy she was looking at was way better looking than she had remembered. He was very tall, with a slender figure and pale skin complexion. He had slightly longer silvery blond hair and freezing cold gray eyes that seemed amused by the turn of events. His slightly darker rose lips smugly formed a smirk on his face and somehow seemed to pull her in. Quickly Ash looked away again and turned a light shade of red.

"Yes we already met. The ass that has a problem with my family, if I'm correct?" Ash remarked after the red had moved out of her face again.

Draco chuckled, as did his friends slightly later. "The one and only. But I must say, I'm somewhat surprised that you turned out to be a Slytherin, Miss Weasley."

"Your surprised, Mr. Malfoy? I think you should stop assessing and evaluating people by their heritage." she smirked at him. All of them laughed.

At that moment her eyes drifted above Blaise's head and met the eyes of a disappointed and furious Ron.

All of a sudden the table erupted into cheers and allowed Ash look away in order to see what the tumult was about. One of the kids had just been sorted into Slytherin. Ash smiled and clapped as she saw a little girl with brown pigtails came running towards the Slytherin table.
Instead of having further conversations they all settled down and watched the sorting.

After 9 new Slytherin first years, 15 new Gryffindor first years, 12 new Ravenclaw first years and 18 new Hufflepuff first years the sorting ceremony was complete and the Headmaster stepped up to the podium again.

"Now that everyone is sorted into their Houses we only need to do two more things before starting the celebration. First, I have to remind all old and new students that it’s strictly forbidden to go into the forbidden Forest, hence the name. Secondly, we still have to sing our School Hymn to greet this new year. Now everyone choose your favourite tune and at what speed you want to go and sing!" He waved his Wand and the words of the Hogwarts Hymn appeared out of thin air in above the teachers table.

And surprisingly everyone started to sing, even the people around Ash. So Ash picked the tune of the chorus of one of her favourite muggle songs - "Ohio is for Lovers" by Hawthorn Height, she got to know through a muggle-born friend in her old wizarding school - and started singing. It was harder then she had anticipated at first, but somehow she managed.

"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald,
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling,
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot."

After the last of the singing students had finished their song Dumbledore cleared his throat once more and said: "Let the feast begin".

All over the table the dishes started to appear. There was nearly everything she could have wished for, she missed some of the German food that she always got at her old school though. But as soon as she started eating, all of that was forgotten - the food was really good.

And so they feasted.

She talked a lot with the people she just got to know. They wanted to know a lot about her, she happily answered but changed topics quickly when they came to the particular topic of her family and the change in schools. Soon they figured this out and stopped asking about the topics.

It would have never occurred to her before, but although Ron, Ginny, Harry and Hermione always said bad things about them and definitely disliked these people Ash could not stop herself thinking that they were actually quite nice and she could see herself becoming friends with them, as weird as that seemed. The only ones she just couldn't quite warm up to were the Goons (Crabbe and Goyle) and Bullstrode.

Also Malfoy didn't become one of her all time favourites, but it turned out that he wasn't all that bad either - if one ignored the Weaselbe and Pothead jokes he did every now and then.

An hour later they had all finished eating (with the exception of the Goons) and Dumbledore resumed his place at the Podium. "Now everyone, it’s about time to go to settle into your rooms, get to know your room mates and grab a bit of sleep! So Prefects, you got the new Password to get into your dorms in the train and hopefully told them your peers. Don't forget your first years! And now I wish you a nice rest of the evening," and with this he dismissed the school.

Malfoy and Pansy sighed in unison and stood up. "First years to us! All Slytherin first years come to us, if you don't want to be left here!" Malfoy called out once he stood.

Pansy looked at the others and then at Ash. "Just go with the others they know where it is. Oh and guys, the password is 'Halloween'," and with that she joined Malfoy who was gathering the Slytherin first years around him.

All of the others also stood up and started to make their way to the Slytherin common room.

While Ash followed them she turned around one more time to look if she could find one of the other Weasley's, and sure enough she spotted Ginnyrushing over to her.

"Um, guys, I'll be coming in a second but I have to talk to my cousin." Blaise who was the nearest to her turned around and looked at her and then Ginny, who was on their way over to them.

"But you don't even know where the common rooms located."

"Eh... yeah.. but... I guess I'll find it?"

Blaise let out a frustrated sigh and offered to wait a couple meters away until she finished. With a grateful smile she turned away from him and looked at Ginny who had finally reached her, Harry as a tag along with her.

"Ash..." she started as she stood in front of the other girl."…Congratulations on making it into Slytherin... I guess, although it sucks that you’re not in Gryffindor."

Ash grinned at her and swooped her into a hug, "Thanks, I already thought you'd scream at me!"

"Haha, nah you know me, I'm not a very loud person, but you should stay away from Ron for a while if you don't want anyone to start screaming." Ginny told her, making Ash laugh. "So how are they? Treating you alright?" Ginny asked concerned looking at Blaise who was leaning against a wall 10 meters away.

"Yes, they're actually quite nice, I don't get what you guys have against them."

"Weird in the train you agreed with us about Malfoy," Harry spat.

"Chill Harry. About Malfoy, yes I do agree that he is an ass, although not brainless like you guys said. But I'm talking about the others as well. From what I saw until now they seem human enough to me."

"Human? You do understand that most of these people you were sitting next to are the children of Death Eaters?"

"Yes, the children of Death Eaters, not Death Eaters themselves."

"Same difference," Harry shrugged.

"Wow Harry," Ash snorted shaking her head, "and you say Malfoy's the git." Looking back at the waiting Blaise - who looked extremely bored - she added, "OK, I think I should go now. Anyways, we'll see each other tomorrow, right?" she smiled at Ginny in hope.

"Yeah, probably." She smiled back with a sad smile. "Good night."

"Nighty night..." Ash said and watched as Ginny turned and started to walk away with Harry. "Oh and Ginny!" Ginny turned around to look at her, "don't let the bed bugs bite!" Ash added just loud enough for Ginny to hear and grinned. Ginny grinned back at her and watched as Ash walked up to Blaise, making her way to the Slytherin common room.