Parks woke me up early the next morning, trying to get me out of the dorm before the other girls woke up.

Apparently, she explained as I got dressed in the new Slytherin uniform at the foot of my bed, my hair had changed color right after the hat sorted me. That was why the first years gasped. And I forced myself to believe that was why Ced had been staring at me. Sure enough, my hair was back to a light brown, but my new haircut had prevented me from noticing it the previous night.

I mumbled something about a shower, and Parks and I agreed that we would return to the dorm and finish getting ready as soon as the other girls got to the Great Hall for breakfast. We would eat before they got there, and leave once they arrived so that I could avoid their inquiries at my metamorphmagus abilities.

We sat down in the common room first to look at it. This would be where we spend hours every day, save breaks and summer, for the next 7 years. We sat on a black leather couch and looked around, specifically at the tall glass windows that gave the view of the Great Lake.

"I'm glad I got Slytherin," Parks stated, turning to face me. "And I'm glad you got the same house as me. Now we can look at the water whenever we want and we can listen to music together in our dorm room. And we'll have every class together!"

"Mind you," I said playfully, turning toward my eager friend. "I rather enjoy your company, and never get sick of it regardless how constant, but we'd better not get into any rows with each other. I propose a 'No secrets' policy between the both of us. Do you agree? Also, no grudges. If we have a problem with each other, voice it and work it out."

"Deal! I totally agree!"

"Although I wish I got Hufflepuff, I wouldn't have known any of the girls in my year, so I actually am pretty grateful at least to have been sorted in the same house as you. And if it wasn't Hufflepuff, I'm glad I got Slytherin over the others."

We both sat in comfortable silence for a bit before deciding to head to the Great Hall for breakfast. We would have gotten lost, but luckily Ced was walking to breakfast and saw us. He smiled and walked over.

"Headed to the Great Hall?"

We nodded.

"Mind if I walk with you?"

We shrugged. "Not at all." I smiled at him as he began walking on my left, with Parks on my right. 'Tallest to shortest' I thought randomly as I imagined what we must have looked like.

"Where are your Hufflepuff friends?" I asked him.

"Asleep," He replied with a quick shrug. "It's pretty early, even for us Hufflepuffs."

I nodded, thinking wistfully of that 'us', wishing I could be included in that statement. But I quickly shook that thought from my head. I was a Slytherin, and nothing would change that. At least I didn't get Ravenclaw, where I didn't know a single person in any year. And, like I told Parks earlier, I didn't know any female first years in Hufflepuff. In fact, Ced was the only Hufflepuff I even remotely knew, and I just met him 21 hours ago. (A/N: It's 7 am, she met him 10 am the day before.) I snapped out of my daze when I almost ran into a wall.

Ced had put his hands on my shoulders to stop me, which is what brought me back to reality. "You alright?" He asked me softly, quickly dropping his arms to his sides.

I turned around to face my two friends who both had their lips pursed and eyebrows drawn together in concern.

"Yeah," I said. "Just lost in thought I guess."

The both nodded, convinced by the sincerity in my tone and expression. I looked at my surroundings, surprised to find that I was in the entrance hall. I stepped forward into the Great Hall.

"Are we required to sit at our house tables?" I asked Ced.

"It's encouraged, but you won't get punished for sitting somewhere else." He said, following my gaze to see both the Hufflepuff and Slytherin tables were completely empty.

"Mind if we sit with you?"

"Not at all."

Parks and I sat across from him as Professor Snape and Professor Sprout appeared behind us and handed us our class schedules. They both seemed surprised at our seating choice. Snape sneered slightly while Sprout beamed at us proudly before they both walked to their own seats.

"Let me guess," I said, overly theatrical, putting my schedule down in between the three of us so they could both see it. "Parks and I have every class together and Ced has none with us whatsoever.

They both laughed. "She's not wrong." Ced noted jokingly. "No, she isn't." Parks lightheartedly agreed. "'Course not." I stated with a smile.

We all put some food on our plates as Fred and George Weasley, 3rd Year redheaded twins, appeared behind Ced.

"How are-"

"You doing-"

"Slytherins-"

"And Diggory?"

They smiled at us. I smiled back as Ced grinned and rolled his eyes and Parks sneered and eyed them with disguist.

"I believe I speak for all of us when I say quite fine. How are you?" I replied, kicking Parks in the shin for her glare.

"Well considering-"

"Our boredom and the-"

"Loads of work we're-"

"Sure to be assigned-"

Then finished in unison: "Later today."

I laughed. "Glad the first years get the day off today to get acquainted with the castle."

"How rude of us, Georgie."

"Quite right, Freddie."

"Fred Weasley." The twin on Ced's left announced, extending his hand toward me. I shook it as the twin on Ced's right extended his hand and announced, "George Weasley, the better-looking twin."

I let go of Fred's hand and shook George's. "Right..." I said, arching one of my eyebrows at him. Ced snorted some of the pumpkin juice he was drinking out of his nose. I let go of George's hand and handed Ced a napkin for the juice dribbling out of his nostrils while Fred started chuckling and clapped his twin's back. "Maybe next time, Georgie."

Since there were only 5 other students in the Great Hall, everyone, including the Professors and Headmaster, was watching their raucous banter with equal annoyance and amusement.

"What?" I asked innocently, trying and failing to hold back a smirk.

"Since I'm planning on skipping History of Magic anyway, would you like a tour from yours truly after lunch..."

"Nicolette Torsney, and sounds great." I replied to Fred.

Parks snorted and grumbled something about 'blood traitor' before storming out of the Great Hall. "I should go follow her." I said worriedly, standing up. "Bye."

"Cya later, Nicky." Ced called after me as I walked away. The twins waved and Fred called "Meet me here after lunch" to me. 

"Will do!" I called back, jogging to catch up to Parks in the entrance hall. The other first year girls in our house were walking toward us, so we quickly pushed past them and headed toward the common room. We didn't talk until we got to our dorm and took showers and finished getting ready for the day.

"What's up?" I asked her when we were ready.

"Just want to get to know other Slytherins instead of blasted Gryffindors or Hufflepuffs on my first day." She replied.

"Is it alright if I unpack for a bit then go on that tour and we can hang out later on while you do that? Sure, I want to get to know the other Slytherins, but I'll have plenty of time tomorrow and the rest of the year. I wanna get settled and get to know my way around a bit today."

"Yeah, sounds good. Set up the record player in between our beds please?"

"Sure."

"Thanks." With that, she rushed off.

I did as she asked and set up the record player. I listened to music and read my Standard Book of Spells for a bit, then headed to the Great Hall for lunch.

I hardly ate, not having an appetite. I sat next to Blaise Zabini, a Slytherin guy who was easy-going and I got along with. We chatted idly about Quidditch and when the topic came up he playfully teased me a bit over the fact that I'd never ridden a broom. I told him what with singing and reading I never got around to it. Never felt the need to. He swore that he would lend me his before flying lessons Thursday, something about a pure-blood like me will not be permitted to making a bad showing in class if he had anything to do with it. I agreed, not seeing a reason against it, and he told me he'd find me tomorrow or the day after and we'd go to the Quidditch pitch together.

As I got up to leave, a few second year guys were gaping at Blaise commenting that he hardly ever spoke, and never laughed or smiled. He shrugged, "She's cool, but I never have a reason to talk to you guys and you never say or do anything that would make me smile or laugh." Then he assumed a bored expression and lapsed into silence.

As I stepped out of the Great Hall, the twins stepped up on either side of me. "Hey Fred, hey George." I said, turning toward the respective twin as I did so.

"How did you know who was who?" They asked in surprise. "Easy, Fred has the wider face and George has the scar above his right eyebrow."

"And you know this how?"

"I looked for differences when we first met this morning so that I could tell you both apart."

"Impressive." "Cool."

"Thanks, I try."

We all laughed as they proceeded to give me a tour. Said tour consisted of them pointing out old prank spots instead of giving me the names of places straight out. "That was where we set of our first Dungbomb." "The old firewhisky stash hideout." "And that's where we pranked some Slytherins with exploding quills. Some of which are still unaccounted for." They showed me a secret entrance to the kitchens and how to tickle a pear in a painting to get in. We ended the tour outside of the Slytherin common room enterance.

"And this concludes our tour," Fred announced with a grin and exaggerated bow. "Now, must be off to Transfiguration lest Minnie gives us another detention. 'Til next time, Nini."

Fred had insisted on calling me Nini, as it combined both my first and last name, and insisted I call him Freddy as it did the same for his name. I agreed, not having the energy to argue against it.

For some reason, the late night before the trip two days ago was still wearing me out and I was extremely tired as I bid the twins good day and trudged up to my dorm. The other girls were there and already talked to Parks about my metamorphmagus ability with them, so they just exchanged pleasantries as they inquired over the record player with Parks. She patiently explained as I passed out. I woke up a half hour after dinner and headed to the black couch in the common room to finish reading my spellbook. I had changed into black silk pyjamas, so I got comfortable quickly.

Parks sat across from me with Draco, chatting about their Christmas plans where apparently their families were celebrating together. I got absorbed in my book as I got to the second to last chapter that I didn't notice Blaise sitting next to me until he said "Hey", making me jump at his sudden appearance.

"How long have you been sitting there?" I asked as the remaining students watched me in amusement, noticing my startled reaction.

He smiled "A few minutes. Surprised it took you so long to notice. You usually seem so perceptive."

"Oh. I was just trying to finish this book tonight before classes tomorrow."

"How many spells have you learned?"

"About 60."

"How many do you plan on using this year?"

"About 60."

He smiled at my enthusiasm before nodding. "Carry on." He said, resting his feet on my lap.

I became reabsorbed in my book, finishing it in about 20 minutes.

"Fast reader." Blaise commented.

I started a bit, slamming my book in surprise.

He laughed. "I completely forgot you were there." I commented, rolling my eyes. "I tend to have that effect on people." He joked, glancing at Parks and Draco across from us.

"Come on," Parks ordered me. "I want us both to be well-rested before our first day of classes tomorrow." She stood from the couch.

I complied, tapping the bottoms of Blaise's feet twice. He lifted them off of me and put them back down on the couch after I stood up. "Night Colette!" He called after me as I started up the stairs to my dorm. "Night Blaise!" I replied. "And Draco!" "Night Colette!" He replied as I followed Parks up the stairs.

The rest of my house had started calling me by Parks' nickname for me, and it seems to have stuck. I put my book in my bag when I got to my dorm and climbed into my bed.

None of us girls seemed to want to go to sleep just yet, so I suggested we all try to master a braiding charm I had learned from my book that evening. It took about 45 minutes, but we all mastered it and sported two Dutch braids each. I fell into a dreamless sleep pretty quickly that night, excited for the next day.