Her and the Hufflepuff

Reckless Encounters

She hadn't realised that she was meant to keep her cat in its cage to be brought up to the dorms, and expected Professor Mcgonagall to give her into trouble for it, but instead after she finished explaining that they would be sorted into their houses momentarily, Mcgonagall had offered to look after Pluto for her, which meant she'd put it with the rest of the students pets.

The encounter with mcgonagall had left Scarlett feeling a lot better about the evening, and while she was worried about the sorting ceremony, she knew her mum  would pay more mind to her grades rather than her house.

She was after Cedric, who, when he was sorted into Hufflepuff, held encouraging eye contact with her. It all came down to this moment.

When her name was called, she sat hesitantly onto the chair, she had no reason to be worried but it could be revealing to the rest of the school several of her mind's faults, like the sorting hat did to a girl a few names back.

Her heart pranced in her chest as the heavy hat was placed gently on her soft head.

"Hmm lets see... oh yes, I sorted your auntie once before, uh huh.... Hmmm.. well I think you are more like her than you appear to be... In that case... I'll have to put you in.. Gryffindor!"  She smiled at the mention of Lily, her aunt. Scarlett didn't know Lily well, but her mother told her stories of how when Scarlett was a baby, Lily adored her. And maybe that was why she decided to have Harry, who was a few years younger than her.

But after Lily's death, Mary was in a bad place, and that was why Scarlett and her cousin didnt grow up together.

Scarlett sat at the Gryffindor table, and was delighted when Fred and George were too. While she wasn't in the same house as Cedric, that didnt mean she wouldn't spend most of her days with him.

When dinner was done, and Scarlett felt as if she'd need to be rolled around the castle, the first years were escorted by their prefects up to a painting which, to scarletts surprise, opened up to the Gryffindor common room.

Dark red was always Scarletts favourite colour, and that just happened to be the main colour of her common room. The room was dark, but it was full of an assortment of brown wooden furniture and red and gold sofas. There were bookshelves on walls where there were no paintings and multiple carpets on the floor.

That night, she and the rest of the girls in her dorm, slept the snuggest they ever had.

—--

When Wednesday rolled around, it was safe to say, Scarletts legs were too tired to move and she could not stand the moving stairs in the school much longer.

She sat down at the table for breakfast, the great hall already filling up quite a bit.

"Good Morning" She said, to both fred and george, who had become her gryffindor navigators, and they were a little less cautious of time.

Scarlett was surprised they hadn't been caught somewhere they shouldn't be yet, and it was only their first week.

It was then that Fred and George announced that they had potions first. As soon as the words came out of their mouth a shiver ran down Scarlet's slim spine. She had heard despicable rumours about Snape in just the very few days in which she had arrived at the mysterious school.

"Isn't he discourteous?" Scarlet could barely spit the words out her mouth. All of a sudden a pang of guilt hit the lump in her throat as she said such bad words towards a man she had not yet spoken to, she felt ashamed of herself. But what happened next was horrendous.

She waited for Fred and George to say something just as horrid about the man, but instead they just looked shocked. Had she really been that cruel?

The realisation hit her stomach like a pile of boulders collapsing.
It was him. Snape. He must have heard what she had said about him...Scarlett opened her dry mouth to speak but nothing fell out.