FicWad

Valentine moves swiftly up to the wooden stool and sits upon as if it were a throne, but on the inside she fort to push down and stomp upon her nervousness. I'm a Lestrange, I'm a Lestrange, she chanted mentally. Her eyes scan the vast crowd of students, who were watching her nervously in complete silence. But she couldn't blame them for so obviously staring at her, she did after all, have a widely known and widely feared name to live up to.

Then she felt the old hat touch her head and shout 'Slytherin!'.

Thank god! Even though Dumbledore had made it so I would become Slytherin no matter what the hat really thought, I was still so nervous. I've never had so many people looking at me. Well, I suppose I should become accustomed to that pretty soon...

Valentine smirked confidently and climbed down from the stool before making her way down the stone steps and to the only table cheering and clapping. She sat down beside her cousin who shot her smile that quickly faded and turned to a hateful glare as the next name was called.

"Harry Potter." Here we go.

Suddenly once again the hall slipped into a heavy silence. Valentine sat silently as she, instead of looking towards Harry Potter, watched Snapes eyes as they narrowed and Dumbledore as he openly lean forward in his seat. The boy with glasses sat upon the chair and listens as the hat begins to mumble.

Soon after the silence evaporates around Valentine as she hears Crabbe and Goyle a few seats down betting on what the Boy Who Lived would be placed in. Then a few moments later there bet was over when the hat shouted ' Gryffindor!'

The hall erupted into thunderous clapping as Harry made his way to his house table, who also housed two extremely loud gingers, no doubt Weasley twins who both shouted "We got Potter!" at the top of there lungs, and through all the cheering Valentine could hear Crabbe saying smugly "Pay up."

"Typical. " Draco said beside her." Well , at least we'll have a good reason for not getting fathers job done." He sighed.

"Yes, at least there's that." Valentine agreed.

Then Valentine turned back to watch the sorting process continue. While she did this she was faintly aware of a pair of eyes looking directly at her from the teachers table.


-----Pretending to Hate-----


Snapes P.O.V

I watched in silence as more and more of the brats I would have to deal with this year were sorted into their houses. And this year among all the other brats was Harry Potter. The boy was the spitting image of his infernal father, except for his clear blue eyes. His eyes were just like hers...

"Ow! Hey!" All of a sudden my thoughts of a certain someone were interrupted by, surprise, another first year brat. I look to the student who had screeched so suddenly to find them glaring at Valentine Lestrange. It was obvious that she had stepped on the other student completely on purpose, this I could tell by the smile on her face that she didn’t even attempt to make apologetic. But it wasn't what she had done that caught me off guard it was how she looked.

This was not the first time I had seen the girl. I had seen her several times when she was quite young, on visits to the Malfoy Manor and again two years ago when Dumbledore had recruited her to aid in Potters protection. Even then she had looked reminiscent her mother, but now no one could ever argue that she was not the child of Bellatrix Lestrange, even with her fathers strikingly electric blue eyes.

And just like Bella she sneered at each and every Gryffindor, each and every Muggle Born. Even through she looked shockingly like her parents, I couldn’t say they were similar personality wise. Rudolphus, her father, who I had went to school with, had been silent and plain man who had only been married to Bellatrix for social purposes, as far as I know there had never been any kind of romantic element to there partnership, but I'm sure there obsessive love of violence and devotion to Voldemort helped to some degree. And then there was Bella. Sadistic, blood hungry, certifiably insane Bella. I'd known her since she was a young girl at Hogwarts and she hadn't been any less the psychopath then. But there daughter was undoubtedly different, for one, unlike her father she never knows when to shut her mouth.

Although her performance as the only daughter of two psychopaths and the niece of one of the oldest names in the wizarding world was going exceeding well, as it pained me to say, I still carried doubts that the girl could continue with the role until the plan was completed and that she could protect Harry Potter. In this matter I had no choice but to take Dumbledores word for it.

If he believed the girl could do it, then there was some kind of merit to it.

-----Pretending to Hate-----

Valentine followed the crowd of Slytherin first years as they were led deeper and deeper into the depths of the school by a tall blonde girl, the Slytherin prefect. The Slytherin dorms and common rooms were in the dungeon of the castle. Valentines aunt had said the common room was amazing, she had described the place as being wrapped in cloak of simmering silver and green with a roaring fire place colored a brilliant Slytherin emerald. Valentine could hardly wait to see it for herself, and walked silently with the Leah and Draco at her sides.

Suddenly the Slytherin prefect turned and smiled at the group. Behind her stood a plain brick wall. Whats going on? Its a dead end...

"What I am about to show must never be shown to any member of any other house," As said the girl, her words stern and serious. "You must all promise to never tell a soul."

The students around Valentine nodded sincerely, all watching closely at the girls every move.

She placed her palm against the stone wall and spoke sternly and clearly.

"Pure blood pride."

Then all the students looked in baffled amazement as the stones begun to move and shuffle until a large arch way stood before them. The students all turned whispering excitedly to each other. Wow...that was simply...simply amazing. Its just like the secret tunnels back at Malfoy Manor. I didn't think Hogwarts would have anything like this.

"Awesome." Valentine heard Draco say beside her.

"Oh. My. Gosh. That was so cool!" Leah exclaimed excitedly, practically jumping on the spot.

"Yeah..." Valentine nodded quietly, in amazement . "That was pretty cool..."

"Pretty cool? Are you kidding me? That was one of the best things I've ever seen!" Cried Leah.

"The password changes once every term. You must remember the password .Nobody wants to be stuck out in the halls all night."

The girl turned with a flick of her ponytail and motioned the first years to follow her into the tunnel that lay beyond the arch way. The students scrambled excitedly behind the girl, all wanting to get to the common room as quickly as possible. They walked down the short hallway until they reach a set of dark wooden doors. The prefect knocked three times and the doors swung open.

What lay before Valentine was not what she expected. It was a hundred times better.

The fire place stood tall and proud, the stone walls were the home of emerald and sliver tapestries. Several leather couches were spread out about the large room and on the other side were two stone arch ways.

The first years were completely silent in there obvious amazement, even Leah was a at loss for words. It was the prefects voice that called out to the students and pulled them from there daze.

"The door way on the left leads to the boys dormitories and the girls dormitories are on the left. All your luggage has been placed in your dorm room. Also there are three students to each room, there will be no room changes. Lights out at nine o'clock. Enjoy your first night as a member of Slytherin." With that the girl turned and left the common room.

At first all the students stood in silence before Valentine spoke up.

"Well, then. I'm not going to just stand here gawking." She said her voice cold and emotionless.

"Oh! Wait for me!" Leah cried and followed Valentine to the girls dormitories.