The Heiress of Slytherin

An Introverts Worst Nightmare

Recap: And then she ran at the wall with all her speed, listening to her mother's laugh melt away behind her as she passed through the wall onto a train platform, where a beautiful red train stood in front of her.

Ivy collapsed onto her seat with a sigh. She'd been early, and was literally only carrying one bag, and yet somehow it felt like it had taken half an hour to reach her compartment.

She had been jostled around, bumped into other people, pets, the train itself, and at one particularly awkward moment, had stumbled in front of a mother who was leaning in to give her son a kiss on the cheek, unexpectedly receiving it herself.

She hadn't known what to do as both mother and son had just stared at her with wide eyes, so naturally she had run away as fast as she could manage in the mayhem. At least her mum would get a kick out of that story.

She already miss Kyria. Feeling the sting in her eyes and the lump in her throat grow at the image of her mother saying goodbye to her. Ivy shook her head determinedly. She was a Stone woman, damnit, she could keep her tears at bay for at least a train ride.

As if sensing her upsetment, Stheno gently wound her way up Ivy's arm to around her neck, rubbing her smooth little scaly head against her owners cheek. Between the calming motions of her beloved snake, and the distinct sensation of the train taking off with her still being the only person in her compartment, Ivy managed to temper her emotions, and lean her head back onto the cushioned wall with a sigh.

She stared at the ceiling for a little while, zoned out and lost in thought, reveling in the silence of the compartment and the steady sight of the fields flashing by outside as her brain spun wildly around Hogwarts. She could barely settle on one worry for long enough to properly analyze it, before her brain was carried away to the next.

The main she had kept coming back to, was what house she would be sorted into. She knew she was intelligent, a primary characteristic of Ravenclaws, and she could be quite brave, like a Gryffindor, while she was as fiercely loyal as a Hufflepuff. The house she lingered on the most however, was Slytherin. Cunning, adaptability, wit, etc. Her mother had been instilling those values in her as long as she'd been alive.

Not to mention her father had been in Slytherin, and his parents, and their parents, and so on. Kyria had assured Ivy that no matter what house she was sorted into, she and Athemar would be proud, and her father had nodded in agreement, but Ivy was too perceptive to not notice the way that his jaw clenched a little more fiercely than usual on the topic.

Not that it mattered much. She often got the feeling that she had been disappointing him for a long time, and she would for a while yet. Although is actions recently were... confusing.

Ivy was shaken from her reverie by a boy timidly knocking on the door to her compartment. Curious, she nodded her head to signal that the boy was welcome to open the door, and when he did, he opened it just a few inches. "Um, I'm sorry, I, I don't mean to bother you, I just. Well you see I've lost my toad, and my Nan would be livid and I..." The poor boy didn't seem to take a single breath in his sentence, and he seemed intensely fascinated with his shuffling feet.

"What's your name?" Ivy asked softly, worried that if she spoke too loud she might startle the boy like a deer.

"Oh! Sorry! That's stupid of me. My name is Neville Longbottom."

Ivy smiled again. Neville Longbottom was more skittish than a Porlock, but he had a vaguely endearing sense about him. "Well Neville, it's nice to meet you. My name is Ivy. I'm sorry to say that I haven't seen your toad, although I don't believe he would fancy coming into this compartment, as you can see," Ivy gestured to Stheno who's head had perked up at the mention of a lost toad. Ivy rolled her eyes and very gently swatted the top of Stheno's head as a clear way of saying, "don't you dare, you eat enough as it is". Neville looked up from the floor for the first time and his eyes widened at the snake wrapped around Ivy's neck.