It was finally the day to head to the train. Natasha and I got up at our usual time of 4:30 and trained for 3 hours before getting ready for the day and making sure we had everything packed.
~~~9:00~~~
We were called to the front of the building. Knowing who it was, we grabbed our things and started making our way over there.
When we got there, we saw Snape along with a man that had long blond hair.
"Hey Professor, it's nice seeing you again. Who is this beside you?" I questioned
"It's nice seeing you two girls as well. This is my friend Lucius Malfoy." Snape replied
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Malfoy. I'm Amara, and this is my sister Natasha," I spoke politely to the man.
"It's nice to meet you as well, Amara, and please call me Lucius." He stated
"Okay. Shall we get going, so we aren't late for the train?" Natasha piped up
"Yes, we shall. First, let me shrink your trunks, so it easier to lug around." Lucius said before shrinking them and handing them to us, "One of you grab either of our arms and hold on tightly and make sure your familiars are in some way touching you as well so they may travel with us."
"Okay." Natasha and I stated before doing as we are told, making sure we held tightly onto the cages that held our smaller ones while the others were pressed up against us.
~~~on the platform~~~
"This is where I leave you in the capable hands of Lucius. I will see you girls later at school."
"Bye, Professor." Tasha and I chorused
"Bye, Severus." Malfoy said before turning to us, "let us go find my family now. My son is a first-year as well, so you can sit with him on the train if you want."
"What is your son's name?" I questioned
"His name is Draco." He replied
"Oh, we actually met him at Madame Wilkins," I said
"So you're the two he was talking about." He mused
"He talked about us?" Natasha asked
"Of course he did. I mean, first off, you two are the first redheads he has seen that aren't the Weasleys and also mentioned something that involved you and your parents, Amara."
"Oh yeah, that. Yeah, let's just say that that I don't go by that last name. I go by her last name, Romanoff." I noted
"Good to know." He said, "Hello, Narcissa, Draco."
"Hello Lucius/Dad," they chorused
"Narcissa, I would like for you to meet Natasha and Amara Romanoff," Lucius stated
"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Malfoy. Nice to see you again, Draco." Natasha said
"Nice to see you again as well, Natasha, Amara," Draco replied
"It's nice to meet you as well, dears, and please call me Narcissa or Cissa." Narcissa voiced
We had talked for a few more minutes before we said our goodbyes to the adults and got on the train to get a good compartment in the back.
~~~
"Is it okay if I sit here? Everywhere else is full." I heard a voice say
"Yes, you can if you can find the room with the animals in here," Draco replied
"I'm Blaise Zabini. What are your names?"
"Draco Malfoy"
"Natasha Romanoff"
"Amara Romanoff," I said without even looking up from my book, "Nice to meet you, Blaise."
"What houses do you think you will be in?" Blaise asked
"Slytherin without a doubt because all my family has been in Slytherin."
"Me and Amara don't know for sure, but most likely Slytherin." Natasha answered for us too, "What about you?"
"Probably Slytherin as well."
~~~
"My fucking god, you are so stupid! How the fuck could you not see that it was a fucking trap!" I shouted at the book
"Mara, you gotta calm down; it's just a book, and you yelling at it won't change anything," Natasha stated
"Buts it's so much fun to yell at it, plus the people are foolish in it." I pointed out.
"What language are you guys speaking in?" Blaise asked
"Russian. We can teach you a little bit of it if you want." Natasha replied
"Not me... I don't really do the whole teaching thing. Don't you remember the last time that happened?" I pointed out
"Oh, shist, right. Nevermind, she won't be teaching you, but I still will if you want to learn." Natasha corrected
"What happened last time?" Draco asked
"Someone ended up with a stab wound to their shoulder," I replied, stroking Major's head.
"What the heck were you teaching! And how freaking old were you!" The boys exclaimed
"Self defense and eight." We stated nonchalantly
"What the heck!" the boys chorused.
We were abruptly interrupted by the door being yanked open.
"Have you guys seen a toad? My friend lost his." A girl questioned
"No, we haven't. Why don't you ask one of the older students to accio it to you." I said, not looking up from petting Major and Haidee
"Thanks for giving me the tip." The girl stated before walking away
"Why did you tell the mud blood that?" Blaise asked
"Because she walked away. Got rid of her faster than it would have to insult her." I replied, looking up, " can't always solve things by insulting everyone or dropping them off at an orphanage, sometimes you gotta tell them what they want or tell them something that would help them even the slightest bit to get them to go away."
"When did you become so insightful, and what do you mean by 'dropping them off at an orphanage'?" Blaise questioned
"Always been insightful. Parents gave me to an old man to be dropped off at an orphanage." I answered
"I'm sorry that happened," Blaise said with a sad look on his face.
"It's honestly fine because if they hadn't done that, then I wouldn't have met my true family. A family doesn't end in blood." I noted
"What do you mean by that?" Draco asked
"It means that family isn't just those that you are related to by blood; it means that family is those that stick by you through everything by choice because they want to because they love and care about you." I answered, "well, I am tired. Wake me up when we need to change into our school robes."
~~~
"Mara, wake up. We gotta get changed," Nat said, shaking me awake.
"But I don't wanna get up," I whined.
"Too bad, sister, you got to get up otherwise, you will be in trouble," Nat stated
"Fine, I'm up, I'm up." I said, "where do we go to get changed?"
"The boys are standing outside, waiting for us to finish changing before we switch with them so they can change," Natasha said
"Okay," I said before changing.
Once we were done, we switched with the boys so they could change. Once they finished, we went back in and were chatting for the rest of the ride to Hogwarts.
~~~
"First years over here!" A giant man repeatedly called out
After all the first years were over by the man, he started walking down a path that leads to the lake.
"Four to a boat." He said before climbing into one
Blaise, Draco, Natasha, and I climbed into a boat together.
The boats started gliding across the lake towards the castle. The group of four chatted away until they heard Hagrid shouting at them to duck as they came close to a low-hanging cliff. A few minutes later, the boats made it to the dock by the school. After everyone clambered out of the boats, the man led us up to the castle to the stairs outside where everyone else was, if I had to guess.
We were standing there peacefully chatting with each other when we heard someone start being loud and insulting the Slytherin house.
"What issue do you have with the Slytherins? Have they ever done anything to you?" I questioned
"They are slimy snakes. All of them are death eaters!" a redhead exclaimed
"That is factually incorrect, though. Not all of them are death eaters. How would you feel if people called you a death eater because of the few from your house were such?" I asked, "How would you feel if people held prejudice against you just because of the few? How would you feel if people judged you based on your house before they actually got to know you?"
He didn't respond, just stood there staring at me.
"That's what I thought. Keep your mouth shut if the only thing to come out of it are judgments about people before you get to know them." I said before turning around
"You are just like those slimy snakes," the boy sneered.
"What did you just say?" I questioned threateningly
"You heard me."
"I guess you never learn. Gonna take a wild shot in the dark and say you are going to be put in Gryffindor. You are loud, obnoxious, and you don't seem to be the brightest; because while you are over here still judging people before you meet them even after what I had said, everyone else actually listened to my words and are going to make an effort to know someone before judging."
"What is going on out here?" A stern voice said from behind me
"Nothing, professor, just trying to get a fellow year mate to see reason like the rest of us, but that clearly isn't working," I replied
"And what reason would that be, miss?" she asked.
"Never judge someone or an entire house on the mistakes of the few of them," I answered.
After I answered her, she explained the houses and the sorting before leading us into the Great Hall. Once we were all in the Hall, she walked up to the stool with an old, dilapidated hat and a scroll. She started calling out names; I had zoned out until she got to the M section of names.
"Malfoy, Draco," she called out.
He walked up and sat down on the stool. The Hat had barely touched his head before it called out Slytherin. The Professor continued down the list until she came upon the P section.
"Potter, Amara"
"Sorry to interrupt, but I prefer to go by Amara Romanoff or Shadow, "I stated before going up and sitting on the stool.
"Hello, little one." A voice said in my head
"Who are you?"
"I am the Sorting Hat"
"Oh, I know that. What is your name?"
"I don't have a name."
"Well, what would you like to be called?"
"How about, Peter"
"Nice to meet you, Peter. I am going to assume you have to see my memories to know just where to put me."
"For you, I don't have to actually because I already know that you are one of the heirs to Hogwarts. You get to choose where you want to go."
"If that is the case, I would like to go to Slytherin, please, but announce that I am also the Hogwarts heir."
"Why would you want to announce that?"
"To piss off Dumbledore and to also show that he and my parents made the mistake of abandoning me."
"Oh, I like that idea. I will do as you wish. Come and chat with me at some point soon. It's lovely talking to someone like you."
"Thank you, Peter, and I will. See you later."
"Hogwarts Heir, Slytherin!" The hat called out
the whole room was silent before the Slytherin table started clapping extraordinarily loud as I walked over and sat down across from Draco.
"Potter, Harry," the Professor said
"Gryffindor!" the hat shouted.
I didn't pay attention until she called out my sister's name.
"Romanoff, Natasha"
Nat sat on the stool for a couple of minutes before the hat called out, "Hogwarts Heir, Slytherin!"
The Slytherins were cheering so loud; I thought that my eardrum would burst. She walked over to our table and sat down next to me. A few more minutes went by before they got to Blaise, who was sorted into Slytherin with us. Dumbledore gave a speech, then the food appeared.
"Do they not have any food that I would know!" I exclaimed
"What food would that be?" A boy near us questioned
"Stroganoff, Chebureki, Crepini, Pelmeni, any other Russian dish," I replied
"Wait, you're from Russia? I thought the Potters lived here in England." the same boy said
"Potter may be the name I was born with, but they are not my family," I stated angrily.
"Why?"
"If you want to still be breathing tomorrow, I would suggest you stop asking her questions about her life." Natasha stepped in, eyeing the knife that I held onto tightly.
"Fine," the boy huffed before going back to eating.
"Hey, when were you guys going to tell us that you are the heirs to Hogwarts?" Draco questioned
"We didn't think that it was that important to mention. Plus, that is nothing compared to some other things we found out when we took the inheritance test." Natasha answered
"Like what?" Blaise asked
"Us to know, you to find out," I said, winking at them.
"You are going to make us die from the suspension!" they exclaimed
"Yes, we are. I hope you can find a way to survive it or figure it out before you die. Or so you claim," Natasha responded, laughing.
"Man, I just really want some food like back home. Is that too much to ask for? what even is half this shit?" I declared
"I understand where you are coming from, sistra, but you are going to have to get used to not having the dishes we usually have back home," Natasha replied
"Fine," I grumbled
"Just shut up and eat the food, grumpypants." She said as she piled some food onto my plate
"Rude, I am not grumpy, just annoyed with the lack of diversity in food options for those from other countries besides England."
"You're grumpy." the three chorused.
I just shoved food in my mouth while glaring at the three.
~~~~~~
"Prefects, please lead the first years to your house," Dumbledore said after the feast ended.
"Come along, little snakes. Time to show you guys the common room and rooms." The male prefect said as he walked by us
The two prefects led us down to the dungeons while talking to each other. We eventually made it to the entrance.
"The password is pureblood, don't let anyone from any of the other houses hear you say it as they are absolutely not allowed in our house area." The male prefect said
We all entered the common room.
"This is the common room. Every Monday, you should check the notice board for anything important, especially to see if the password changes as it changes monthly. The dorm rooms are two people to a room, the boy dorms are to the left, and the girl dorms are on the right. People can't enter the rooms of the opposite gender. Gemma will show you girls to your dorms, and I will lead the boys to theirs." the male said
"We will wait for them to go up the stairs first. While we wait, decide who you want to share a room with and choose wisely as they will stay your dormmates throughout your stay here," Gemma stated
Natasha and I just linked our arms to signal that we would be rooming together. That apparently didn't stop people from coming up to us and asking if we wanted to room with them, to which we all declined, saying that we got to stick with our sister.
"Wait, if you guys are sisters, then why do you have different last names?" a girl with a bob haircut asked.
"Because we may not be biological sisters, but we are sisters by heart and soul." Nat and I answered in unison
"Oh, and also, I like to go by Romanoff or Shadow, not Potter if you guys didn't hear me during the sorting," I noted
"Why is that, if it isn't too much to ask" Gemma questioned
"The people that abandoned me do not get to claim me as their family, and I will not carry their name." I huffed
"Okay. We can head up to your dorms now." Gemma said, leading us up the stairs, "On the doors will be your names and whoever you chose to room with. You all will have separate bathrooms for each room. You may also decorate your rooms however you want to as well. Come back down to the common room in an hour so you can mee our head of house, and so he can give you guys our rules that we all must follow."
Tasha and my room was all the way at the end of the hallway. When we walked in, it was bare except for a couple of beds, desks, nightstands, and a bookshelf. There were also three different doors. The walls were dark grey, and we had a window to the depths of the lake.
"Let's explore the other doors before figuring out how to set up the room to our liking," Nat spoke.
"Okay, Nat. I am going to assume one of them leads to the bathroom, and the other two might be closets." I noted
"Makes sense. We should mark the doors somehow so that we will remember."
"We could decorate the doors."
"Sounds good. Now let's see which door leads us to the bathroom."
We went to two different doors; I went to the one on the left front corner of the room while she went to a door on the left back corner.
"I got the bathroom!" I called out as I opened the door
"Okay. I call this closet then. You get the other one." Nat shouted from within her closet.
"Okay! Let's move the stuff in here around to our liking then!" I yelled back
~~~~
An hour later, we arranged the room. The bookshelf in the back right corner, the two desks up against each other in front of the window in the back of the room, Nat's bed on the left side of the room by her closet, and my bed on the right side by the bookshelf and my closet.
(Nat's bed+closet door)
(Amara's bed+ closet door)
(Closet 2x)
(Bathroom+ bathroom door)
(Desk 2x)
Once we finished arranging the room, we made our way back to the common room to hear Professor's speech.
"Hello, Professor. How have you been since we last saw you?" Natasha asked when we spotted Snape
"I have been well in the long few hours since we have last spoken. How have you two been?"
"Just peachy. I knocked a redhead off his pedestal before entering the Great Hall; that was fun. Also, just finished making the room to our liking." I replied
"Why did you knock the boy off his supposed pedestal?" Snape questions
"Because he was judging people that he didn't know based on their house and other family members," Draco answered as he walked into the room
"I see."
"Hey, Dragon." Me and Natasha stated
"Hey, guys. Wait, why did you call me Dragon?"
"Easy, your name means Dragon in Latin." Nat stated, "plus, we needed another name to call you as you are our friend."
"Oh, okay."
A few minutes later, everyone was back in the common room to hear what Snape has to say to us.
"My name is Professor Snape; I am your head of house as well as the potions professor. We have a few simple rules that are as Slytherins must follow at all times." Snape explained, "One; we must always appear as a United front, outside of this house we are discriminated against and judged by the other houses especially the Gryffindors. Two; keep whatever fights you have with one another inside this room; it must not carry out into the rest of the castle. Three; the curfew for the different years vary but for you first years, it is 9 o'clock. If you ever need help, come to me or someone else in this house as we are all willing to help each other out because we are a family. Your timetables will be handed to you during breakfast tomorrow. Unless you have any more questions, you may head off to bed now."
Everyone else started heading to bed while me and Natasha stayed back
"One quick question Professor. Will we be able to have our timetables in the 24hr format, as that is what we know." I questioned
"I will see to it that your timetables are in that format for you two. Are there any more questions, or is that all?"
"One more. Which class is the most like building and defusing bombs?" I asked
"I do not know exactly what a bomb is, but by the way you said it, I am going to have to; it is hazardous, and it involves combining things for it to do its purpose; I would say probably potions," Snape answered.
"Thank you, Professor. Goodnight, see you in the morning!" I exclaimed before heading off to bed
"Why did she mention bombs, Ms. Romanoff? Madame B never mentioned anything like this when she talked a little bit about your upbringing," Snape questioned
"That would be because it's not really something you mention in a casual conversation to someone you just met. Also, Amara is the best maker and defuser of them at the academy." Natasha explained, "She has been working with them for a few years now ever since we've had a few too many bomb threats to our building."
"Exactly how long has she been doing this?"
"Since she was about seven. Never made one explode while putting it together or taking it apart, not even the fake ones, which would've gotten paint all over her if it did go off. She has a gift for that type of thing."
"Thank you for answering my questions, Ms. Romanoff. Good night."
"It was no trouble. Good night Professor."