Finding the Truth

Anna walked quietly into the great hall and stood by the door waiting nervously, she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. A hand placed gently on her shoulder and she turned to look at Dumbledore. “Shall we go in?” He asked her quietly.

She looked around the giant room, hundreds of students were sitting along four giant picnic tables, and the teachers were sitting along a golden table in front of them. “Which table is mine?” She asked

“The one on the far left,” He nodded to the farthest table. “You should know there are some in Slytherin that aren’t as accepting of the other students.”

“I know. I met a few of them on the train.” Anna’s eyes turned to lock on a head of incredible blond hair. “You should know that I’m not like that. I spent my entire life being isolated from the rest of the world because my father was afraid.” Dumbledore turned to look at her and she returned his gaze, “Not of what the world would do to me but of what I would do with the world.”

The students started to get up from their seats and leave the hall, “It was nice to meet you sir.” She smiled at him and silently followed Draco out of the hall.

As they walked down the hall, Draco glanced over his shoulder and surprise registered in his eyes as he caught her gaze. “Well, Anna, where do you think you’re going?” He sneered at her.

“My common room, I assume you know the way.” She retorted swiftly.

“You’re a Slytherin?” Pansy’s whiny voice erupted in her right ear. She kissed Draco on the cheek and pressed her lanky body into his.

“Why don’t you just pee around him Parkinson, it would be less subtle.” Anna scoffed.
Draco laughed as Pansy hooked her arm in Anna’s, leading her toward the dungeons,

“Stick with me Adrianna and I’ll teach you everything you need to know.” Pansy plastered the fakest smile Anna had ever seen on her face.

“Like what? How to catch a communicable disease.” Anna returned the smile just as sweetly.

“No, like who to stay away from and which classes are the best.” Like this girl has ever opened a book. Anna thought as they entered the cellars. “Salazar.” Pansy said and a passage way opened in front of them.

“Are all the common rooms hidden behind walls?” Anna asked, directing her question toward Draco who had just dropped down into one the black leather couches positioned in front of a roaring fireplace. The fire place had a snake etched into the mantle. The common room had an eerie green glow to it coming from the windows and as Anna watched a mermaid waved at her through the window.

“No, the common room locations are supposed to be kept secret but we know the Ravenclaws’ is in the north tower, but each has their own security, our password changed every two weeks.” Pansy answered her, as she sat down next to Draco. “What classes are you taking?”

Anna hesitantly dropped down in the green armchair sitting next to them, “Dumbledore is supposed to help me decide tomorrow. I think I would like to take some advanced classes, my uncle has had me studying magic since I was five so I’m pretty sure I’ve got the basics down.” Anna decided she would really have to decide what to call Rowle. He wasn’t her father but he raised her like she was his own. All the lies in the world wouldn’t erase that fact.

“Your uncle? Where are your parents?” Draco asked; his blue eyes pierced hers with concern.

“I don’t know. I’ve never met them.” She admitted, grimly. Her eyes met the floor at once, suddenly feeling awkward.

Pansy got up suddenly and said, “We should go unpack.” She dragged Anna by the arm up the stone staircase to a door with their last names on it. Her trunk was sitting at the end of her bed and Anna could see a set of robes with Slytherin crest embossed on them, some green gloves, hat and a green and silver scarf. “You’ll need those in the winter; it gets incredibly cold down here.” Pansy said.

“It can’t be any colder then Durmstrang, it’s cold there pretty much all year round. We used to wear fur all the time.” Anna said, as she turned toward Pansy to haul her trunk onto the floor and opened it.

“You went to Durmstrang!” Pansy exclaimed, and hurriedly said, “I wanted to go there but my mom didn’t want me so far from home. What was it like?” She sat down on her bed and fixed her gaze on Anna with excitement in her eyes.

Amused Anna said, carefully, “The castle is much smaller and we don’t get there by train, a ship picks us up at a pier, like a ferry. It’s cold there pretty much all the time, like I said, but I loved the uniforms. I brought it with me, its casual enough to wear all the time.”

“What’s a ferry?” Pansy asked as Anna stared. Anna couldn’t believe the dresses Pansy was pulling out of her trunk, short black, long and red, and of course a short green halter with a silver bow. Pansy caught her staring and said, “You can borrow one of you like. I wasn’t sure what I would want to wear five months down the road.”

If possible, Anna’s skin turned even whiter, “Will we need a dress?”

Pansy nasally laugh rang out, “Of course, what else do you expect to wear to a ball?” Pansy turned to see her look of fright and said, “For the tournament.”

Anna was only half listening as her mind raced, Ball? With dancing, dresses, and high heel shoes. “Tournament?” Anna didn’t have any of those things.

“Wow, you really are clueless aren’t you, the Triwizard Tournament is happening at Hogwarts this year. There hasn’t been one for ages because people kept dying.” She said indignantly, like it was an inconvenience to her that people had refused to keep living.

Anna changed and climbed into bed, and resolved to unpack tomorrow and take a quick trip to the library to research all the things she didn’t know. Should take all year. She thought to herself as she pulled open her book from earlier.

And maybe I’ll send a quick letter to Rowle while I’m at it.