The Montmorency Chronicles: Parseltongue Princess

Year 1: Potions Prodigy

Isabelle's P.O.V

I shook my head. 'No, not Slytherin,' I thought, 'Anywhere but Slytherin.'
The hat kept on insisting, and I kept refusing. Everyone in the hall was staring, wondering what was taking so long.
'You're a stubborn one aren't you, but you're smart too. Definitely not nice enough for Hufflepuff.' My cheeks burned at this comment.
The hat sighed, "Gryffindor!"
The gold and scarlet table burst into applause as I went to sit down. I sat next to Hermione, who immediately apologized and hugged me.
Fred bent down and whispered in my ear, "This year's going to be a lot of fun."
I blushed and laughed. Hogwarts just got another prankster.

When the feast was over we were escorted to the Gryffindor dormitories by Percy Weasley and his female counterpart Sally-Anne Perks, who was looking at me curiously. We arrived at a painting of a very fat woman in a pink dress.
Percy turned to address us, "The password changes every week, so remember to check with a prefect at the beginning of each week." Sally-Anne continued, "Don't tell anyone from another house the password."
Percy turned to the painting (Who, it turned out, was aptly named the Fat Lady), "Wattlebird"
The Fat Lady nodded, and the painting swung to the side, revealing hole in the wall. Everyone climbed through into a large room filled with squashy armchairs, coffee tables and a roaring fireplace. Percy directed boys up the left staircase and girls up the right. I was sharing a dormitory with Ginny, Ellie Abbott, Fiona Moon and Kara Perks,  who was Sally-Anne's sister. Everyone was so exhausted that we just put our pyjamas on and lay down on whichever bed our trunk was placed next to.

I woke up early that morning, buzzing with excitement. I was too hyper to wait in my dormitory until breakfast, so I made my way into the common room where Hermione was lecturing Ron and Harry.
"You could have been killed, or worse, expelled. Do you have any idea how serious this is?" Ron and Harry were trying not to laugh as she kept on ranting.
I sensed that Hermione would snap soon, so I intervened, "What happened to you two?"
Harry's face turned red, and Ron looked disappointed.
"I'll tell you what happened! These two idiots decided to fly a car to Hogwarts because they missed the train," Hermione was fuming, "Not only were they seen, but everyone is treating them like heroes, didn't you hear the ruckus when they arrived?"
I shook my head, I had fallen asleep almost instantly after arriving in my dorm.
She sighed, "Well at least you aren't worshiping the ground they walk on, come on, it's time for breakfast."
All four of us made our way to the great hall.
As Hermione walked up ahead, I whispered to Harry and Ron, "Flying the car sounds awesome!" They both grin from ear to ear.
Everyone begins arriving just as McGonagall hands out the timetables. Ginny and I have all our classes together. Ron looks over at our timetables and chuckles, "Double Potions with the Slytherin's on the first day? Even I wasn't that unlucky."
Ginny and I shared a look.

Ginny and I find our way to the dungeons right on time. Everyone files into the dreary humid room sluggishly. I sit with to Ginny, Fiona, Kara and Ellie. Our teacher was Professor Snape, a sullen man with greasy black hair and a hooked nose.
"This class is arguably one of the most difficult classes at Hogwarts. I will expect no less than perfection of you, one tiny error can ruin all your... hard work." He said, enunciating 'hard work' in a sarcastic tone. "You will be brewing a Befuddlement Draught in pairs."
Everyone in the class rushed to their friends, I shuffled closer to Ginny.
Snape gave me a hard look, "I will assign the pairs."
The class groaned.
Snape ignored the sounds of protest, "Harper and Jackson, Weasley and Perks, Abbott and Greengrass, Montmorency and Moon." he kept listing off names.
I sat down next to Fiona.
She looked at me in disgust and rolled her hazel eyes, "Listen Frenchie, I don't do work, so I am not touching anything that will ruin my pedicure, we clear?"
I had the sudden desire to throw my sneezewort in her dirty blond hair.
I carefully began finely chopping my scurvy grass, before sprinkling it into the boiling water bubbling away in my cauldron. I stirred clockwise seven times, then anti clockwise five times. My potion was now blue. I added sneezewort powder and cubed lovage before stirring it two more times (as per the instructions). My potion was now a brilliant shade of emerald green.
Snape came around inspecting potions, "Disgraceful Weasley. Harper your potion is not supposed to be brown. Clearly Abbott doesn't listen, I said powdered sneezewort, not fresh."
He travelled around the room, commenting on the potions until he stopped in front of my potion.
He looked at Fiona, "Miss Moon, what colour was this potion before you added the lovage?"
Fiona looked up at him muttering something incoherent.
"Ten points from Gryffindor for sheer laziness and making your partner do the work, or maybe you simply aren't smart enough to read off a board." Snape was looking down at her as though she was a cockroach.
He turned to me, "Miss Montmorency, this is a perfect Befuddlement Draught, no one in my third year class even comes close. Twenty points to Gryffindor, although it's technically ten, thanks to Miss Moon here."

"How was potions?" Hermione asked as we sat down for lunch.
"Great." I said, at the same time Ginny said 'Awful'.
Harry raised his eyebrows at both of us.
"Izzy is Snape's favourite." Ginny whined playfully.
"What?!" Fred, George, Ron, Harry and Hermione exclaimed.
"It's true." said Ellie, sitting down next to Ginny.
"He gave her twenty points." said Kara, sitting on my right.
Fred shook his head, "Snape hates all Gryffindors. He didn't take any points?"
"Well...Fiona Moon lost us ten points because she told Izzy to do all the work on the potion." Ginny scoffed.
"Which one is that? I hate her already." Fred craned his neck to get a good look at the table.
"She's the one with blond hair, talking to Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown." Hermione replied.
Fred and George made their way over to her. She started twirling her hair as they talked to her and even winked at Fred. By the end of the conversation she was rolling her eyes, and then appeared to get mad. As the twins walked back, Lavender and Parvati were comforting a fake crying Fiona.
"What did you say to her?" I laughed.
Fred shrugged, "Nothing much, a little bit of 'Belle is so much smarter than you', some 'no I don't want to meet you at the Astronomy tower after the feast' and I finished with a bit of 'stop fake crying, your face is already hideous with make up on, you probably look like Satan without it."
Everyone roared with laughter.
I was choking back tears (I couldn't stop giggling), "Wait Belle?"
George winked at me, "It's our nickname for you, for our use only though."
I grinned, "I like it."
Ron shrugged, "I'll stick to Izzy."
"No one asked you Ronniekins." Fred chortled.
"Wait, she wanted you to meet her at the Astronomy Tower after the feast?" I asked, my stomach dropped.
"I said no, of course, I'm not interested in a little kid." Fred laughed.
"Right." I said, biting my lip.

That night all I could think about was Fred's comment.
'He'd never be interested in me. And he thinks of me as a little kid.' I thought. 'Why was it such a big deal anyway? It's not like I like him.'
I was determined to think of him as just a friend, like the way I thought of George. But that night, I fell asleep dreaming of Fred Weasley.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters, I only own Isabelle Montmorency and any other characters I create.