Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

**Helga Hufflepuff  
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><p>"So, within a month the students will arrive?"<p>

Her blue eyes travelled to the man who had just spoken. The four of them were sitting in the hall which had been their common room for the last year. The space had a pleasant atmosphere thanks to the burning fireplace and the wooden furniture. The stone walls were covered with paintings in which the figures seemed to move.

All four of them were sitting on the big, square table placed in the middle of the room. Sitting on her left side was the blond haired knight which went by the name of Godric Gryffindor. In front of her sat a stunning lady with dark, long hair and bewitching, bright blue eyes. Her name was Rowena Ravenclaw. On her right she could a tanned lord with black curls and silver coloured eyes: Salazar Slytherin.

"Yes, Godric. The more excited you get, the less patience you seem to have."

Her gaze went from the knight who had just spoken to the lady who had quickly responded. A little sarcastic smile could be found on her enchanting face as she looked to the man to whom she had just spoken to.

From all three of them, Helga enjoyed Rowena her company the most. She was creative, with a mind sharp as a dagger and yet accepting of her surroundings. She was quick with her comments, but wouldn't judge you for your choices. At least: she wouldn't say her judgement out loud. This behaviour was probably just because the fair maiden thought it would be too much of a hassle to always speak her mind, but Helga respected it neverthless.

It was always better than how some people choose how to handle opinions they didn't agree with.

"I find it hard to believe that those with filthy blood shall be able to find the lake, though."

Helga looked to the man sitting on the right side of her. He was tall with a tanned skin and black hair. His eyes were a silver colour and had a cold spark lingering in them. His face showed an expression of aversion which accompanied his words.

"Their family tree has nothing to do with the spells surrounding the lake and the castle, Salazar," she corrected him with a calm voice.

It wasn't the first time they had this discussion. The fight they had when she had told him she had chosen a muggle-born as one her pupils was still a fresh memory. She didn't dislike the dark haired lord, but it was difficult to accept his prejudices. One of the greatest wizards she had ever met had one, or two, muggle parents.

"We still haven't decided how we are going to chose which one of us is going to be the mentor of which pupil," Rowena tactfully changed the subject before another fight could break out.

"I think it's best we first meet them and then discuss which student best suits which one of us," Helga immediately replied, happy to talk about something else.

"Then I will choose the ones which are similiar to me! Those with a brave heart and I will teach them how to defend themselves and the ones they held dear. I will not only learn them how to handle a wand, but also a sword so they can win every kind of duel," roared the blond haired man.

Helga watched him for a second before she switched her stare to the man sitting on the other side of her. His look went from just a bit displeased to hatred in just one breath. He quickly stood up and slammed his hands on the table.

"If you chose to have the ones that are _'brave'_, I will claim the ones which are cunning. So I can teach them that you achieve a lot more with charm, hard work and craftiness. At least," a challenging and condescending grin crulled the corners of his mouth, "more than some rash and foolish people."

"How dare you?!" the other man yelled out as he jumped up.

Helga could hear a sigh from the otherside of the table and saw how Rowena folded her arms out of boredom. She watched how the fair lady muttered something that was close to "this again" and turned her head away from the starting fight.

"What's wrong, Godric? Did you think I was talking about you? Did you regonize yourself in my words?" the dark lord fueled the fire.

"You just wait, _Slytherin_. Wait and see how my students will defeat each of yours – one by one."

"Godric, Salazar, you don't need to make this a competition. We are here to teach not to -." she tried to stop the two men from fighting, but was interrupted before she could finish.

"Don't interfere, mudblood," the lost word was thrown at her as if it was a poison and could envenom the speaker.

Helga turned her head to the right and saw how Salazar looked down on her, his angry gaze focussed on her eyes. Her mouth was opened a little bit as she was lost for words. That last word had hurt her and she knew that pain was visible in her eyes.

For a second she thought that Salazar his hatred gave way for a moment of regret, but he quickly turned his back towards the group. "I am done with this meeting," he growled before he rushed out of the room.

"Same goes for me," Godric spoke and followed the other man.

The two ladies still left in the room stared at each other for a short while. Both of them repeated in their minds what just happened and tried to process it all. At last it was Rowena who broke through the silence.

"Can you believe those two?" The tone in her voice hid a certain disdain.

From the other side of the table Helga could almost feel how the anger shuddered under Rowena her skin. The mouth of the fair lady had formed a stearn strike and her dark eyes glistered with a silent rage.

"Why can't they understand that this school is far more important than their obscure vision on honour and their petty little pride? They can't get away with this! Choosing the students upon their characteristics as if one would be better than the other. By Merlins beard!"

It wouldn't be the first time Helga thought of the sea while watching her dear friend. One moment Rowena was silent like a lake with no wind, the next she could be raging like a storm on open water. Thunder, lighting and suddenly back to open skies and a cool breeze. Not many had experienced Rowena her 'storms' and Merlin would have mercy on those who had.

The dark haired lady stood up and started walking through the room. Her arms were still folded in front of her. Her eyes were still furious. Softly she muttered to herself. Helga couldn't understand the words and the be honest, she was happy she couldn't.

Suddenly Rowena stood still and looked at her.

"Morgana curse! Helga, how can you stay so calm? You of all people have the right to rage right now. What Salazar called you was unacceptable," the woman reproached her.

Helga only shrugged her shoulders and forced a little smile. "What should I have done, Rowena? Scolded them like their were kids? Try to talked sense into them? When have they ever listened to us, my dear friend? I don't think we have the power to humble either of them."

"Ha!" The lady sneared and finally lowered her arms. "So you agree with their way of dividing the students?"

"Not at all, but I like said I don't think we can change their minds, so what is the point fighting?" Helga replied as she placed her interwinted hands on the table. For a moment her gaze switched to a painting of two young witches playing by a river. _'I will have to protect the children who don't want to get caught up the combat of those two',_ she thought to herself as she watched the figures move.

"Then who will you take to teach?"

Helga her gaze drifted away from the painting and looked back at her friend who had just spoken the question. "Everyone," her voice was soft yet determined. "I will take all of them who want to and teach them how to be loyal, appreciate hard work and be good friends."

The two women looked at each other for a few seconds, before Helga continued to speak. "What will you decision be, fair Ravenclaw from Glen?"

Helga saw how Rowena stared into the distance as she calculated her answer. "I will want to teach the ones with wit and those seeking knowledge. Those who want to learn above all else. For this a school and not a dueling field for two hot blooded men."

Helga nodded, not in the least surprised by her friend's answer.

"And it so shall be. Next month we will welcome our first students. Godric will train those with a brave heart. Salazar will take the ones with a cunning soul and you, my friend, will teach those with a smart mind." A little smile toyed with her full lips as she finished her sentence. "And I will take the lot."


	2. Chapter 2

**Seira Rose de Ravin**

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><p>BOOM!<p>

The first thing she did when standing on vast ground again was to fix her hair. Her long fingers wandered through her black curls and placed every lock in the right position. It needed to be perfect. First impressions were everything and she would be the last one to shame the family name. No thanks. So her hair, her clothes and her posture: everything needed to be perfect.

Her eyes fell on the three young men which had travelled with the same portkey as her; her three older brothers. The youngest of them was a handsome fellow with blond curls and sharp cheekbones. His dark eyes looked rather bothered as they studied their surroundings. Without a doubt he was looking for something he could wreck. Just as she was used to from Mecurio.

Standing next to him was a taller, even more attractive guy who was fixing his black coat. His pale skin stood out thanks to his long, black hair which fell lightly on his shoulders. A shimmer of haste could be found in his gaze. His teeth were clenched together as he checked whether or not everyone had arrived. Protective, yet cold. That was the Jonathan she knew.

The last brother, and the oldest, seemed out of place next to the other three siblings. One of the reasons was because he noticeably seemed less attractive. The young man wasn't grotesque or anything like that, but with his chubby posture and round face he clearly missed the beauty that the other three possessed. But his appearance wasn't the only thing that made him stand out from the rest of his family. Fredrick seemed to radiate a certain warmth and kindness which the others could never achieve.

The young girl smirked as she watched her eldest brother. There was gossip circulating between old, noble ladies that when the oldest Ravin brother was born, he took all the kindness and there was nothing left for the siblings that would follow.

It was the sort of kindness which the girl would call weak if they weren't talking about her own brother. But the fact was that he was a Ravin and therefore alone he was greater than most people. She would never talk bad about any of her family. Pride and honour was all the Ravins were about and this little girl followed the family tradition perfectly.

"And how are we supposed to cross this worthless lake? Are we supposed to swim or something?" Mecurio raged. It was clear that he was used to a more luxurious welcome.

"If you used your eyes, you could see that a boat is coming this way to pick us up," Jonathan sneered back at his younger brother.

The girl didn't seem to react to the bickering between the brothers. She had grown used to it. Instead she focussed her stare on the little boat coming their way. Inside the boat she could see a small figure and immediately she straightened her back a bit more. Her chin went up a few centimeters and she pouted her lips just a little bit.

First impressions were everything.

As the boat reached the shore it became clear what the small figure sitting in it was. The girl gasped with a sense of feeling offended. "Really? They send a house-elf to pick us up? We are far too important to travel with a house-elf!"

"Seira," the voice of her middle brother sounded reproachful, "be kind."

She knew Jonathan didn't actually mean that she had to be kind; he meant that she had to act like she was kind. Kind, charming; all by the all the perfect daughter. Sneering at servants, in spite of the creatures being less than servants, wasn't a part of that perfect image.

With a displeased expression spreading across her face she took Fredrick's hand as he helped her step into the small boat. She sat down on the wooden bench behind Mecurio and Jonathan who were sitting on the bench in front of her.

Her eldest brother still held her hand and squeezed it gently. In reaction her gaze switched from the back of her brothers to him. "Seira, maybe you should -," Fredrick stopped talking when she gave him an angry stare which warned him he better not say anything about the house-elf. "- smile. You look prettier when you do."

Seira turned her head away from him not feeling like smiling at all. Suddenly she had her doubts with this whole undertaking. Being forced to travel with a house-elf, even if it was just for a few minutes, was ridiculous! The only luck they had was that the house-elf stayed silent; the idea of being forced to talk to such a creature was even more disgusting.

The rest of the boat-travel was spent in silence. At last they reached the other shore and found themselves standing before the enormous castle. For once in her life Seira found herself lost for words. The castle was not only huge but also beautiful. She could feel the magic hiding in those walls from here.

"Please, follow me, young masters," the house-elf beckoned the siblings.

As they entered the castle Seira watched how Mecurio's dark eyes studied the different paintings covering the walls. The girl knew he was toying with the knife in his pocket right now. It would only be a matter of time before he would decide to slice through the canvases, just to see what would happen. Just to destroy something he found beautiful. It was typical Mecurio behaviour.

It would have to wait for now as the four entered a big hall. Seira saw they weren't the first to arrive and was happy that she had chosen to wear her dark red dress which complimented her pale skin. Sitting in front of her were some of the children from the most well-known pureblood families.

Her dark-brown eyes recognized the youngest son of the Croach family. His hay coloured hair was braided and he looked rather nervous. Seira was a bit surprised to see that neither his older sister nor brother was with him.

Sitting next to him was a handsome young man with light blond hair and grey eyes. On his lap sat a slightly younger girl with long, fire red hair and enchanting big, green eyes. Her fingers played with the coat of her friend and seemed not in the least interested in her surroundings. The young man however met Seira's stare and nodded as a greeting.

So, Circinus Malfoy and Zahn Mortier were invited as well. How interesting.

The girl ignored the rest of the students in the hall. If she didn't know them then they probably weren't worth knowing. Instead she looked at the four figures sitting in front of the pupils; the four people who were going to teach her magic this coming year.

On the far right sat a man she knew: Salazar Slytherin. He personally had visited their family and invited the four of them to join his school. Of course Seira's parents had said yes. It was a great honour for the De Ravin family.

Sitting on the left side of the man were three more figures. Seira recognized only one other. The knight dressed in dark red, velvet clothes. Godric Gryffindor was of a noble, pureblood family much like herself, but the girl had a hard time respecting him. Especially after his recent riot for the rights of muggle-borns and mudbloods. It was always so disappointing when a wizard from such an excellent bloodline used his powers for something so unimportant.

The two women sitting between the two men Seira had never met, but she knew the names. Helga Hufflepuff and, the far more interesting one, Rowena Ravenclaw. The girl had read the book Ravenclaw had written. Her view on spells and her usage of them were simply fascinating.

She took place on one of the remaining chairs and counted the still empty seats. Just one more person had to arrive and the group would be complete. Fourteen people. As she looked at the faces she didn't know, she wondered why they were chosen. It wasn't for their famous bloodline that was for sure.

Suddenly she heard some footsteps behind her and glanced over her shoulder. The last student had arrived. It was a young girl, she had to be around the same age as Seira herself, and she seemed to have more hair than body. The long, un-brushed hair reached all the way to the girl's hips and hid her face.

With her clothes, which seemed old and showed different holes, she was the exact opposite of the sophisticated pureblood girl. She watched how the girl sat down on the remaining chair and shook her head slightly. Distasteful.

"Now that we are complete, I want to welcome you all to Hogwarts," Godric stood up and spread his arms in a welcoming gesture.

"This is the place where we shall teach you and hopefully we will learn a lot from you as well. As you all know this isn't an official school year yet and we are still planning the lessons and the level of difficulty. That is why we have chosen all different kinds of students; different in ages and upbringing. As we hope that one day we can open our doors to every wizard and witch who wish to be taught in the ways of magic," Helga added as the red knight sat down again.

"But there is one thing we have decided on," the witch continued, "and that is that we will divide this group into four parts. In the morning you will have lessons together but in the afternoon you will get taught in the smaller groups. You will also have a common room and bedrooms to share with these smaller groups. Each one of us will be the mentor of a group and those groups will be called houses."

Seira glanced at her brothers. This information was new and a slight feeling of panic formed in her heart. She didn't want to be split from her brothers. They were a team. The idea of facing this new group of people without them terrified her.

"I will perform a short session of legilimency on each of you, just to see which mentor would suit you the best." At last Salazar had spoken. A grin toyed with his small lips. Legilimency was considered a dark art and he clearly looked forward to using his powers.

"We go in alphabetical order," Rowena explained as she opened the parchment that was resting on her lap. "Adamson, Vanilla."

A petite girl sitting next to Circinus Malfoy and Zahn Mortier stood up. Her appearance was notable to say the least. The girl had even paler skin than Seira and white hair. It was as if she hadn't any colour in her body at all.

The girl looked rather nervous and stared at Zahn, upon which the red haired girl started to giggle and got up. She took the hands of the white girl in her own. "Come on, Vani. They don't bite," she spoke as she slowly led the girl to Salazar.

How did Zahn know this colourless girl? Seira wondered as she watched the two. It surprised her. Both the Mortier and the Malfoy family were well known because of their bloodline; a close friend of the family should be rather famous as well.

The two girls were standing in front of Salazar Slytherin who looked rather displeased as he stared at the white girl. Just now Seira realized that the girl standing next to Zahn was wearing significantly less expensive clothes than her friend. It made her all the more curious about whom she could be.

Salazar gave away the answer. "Did you really think it was necessary to bring your servant with you, young lady Mortier?"

The girl laughed at his question and started to swing with her hand which was intertwined with that of the albino girl. "But she is a wizard too, Friend of Snakes. And Friend of Words over there," she pointed at Rowena, "gave permission to bring her."

Seira always thought that Zahn was a rather unusual girl. She always seemed to move when she was supposed to sit still, talked whenever everybody else was quiet and she had this terrible habit of never calling anyone by their name. Instead she came up with these really annoying nicknames.

Meanwhile Salazar gave Rowena a dark look. Clearly she hadn't told the lord that she had invited a servant to their school. Looking at the students still sitting down, there were much lower peasants than servants between them.

"Alright, no point in sending her away now," Salazar muttered as he focussed his eyes on the little girl. Seira noticed how the girl was trembling even more than before.

A few minutes passed in silence; everyone looked rather tense waiting wondering what would happen. At last Salazar turned his head away. He growled something that was close to 'and a muggle-born on top of that'.

It was Helga who spoke first. "Vanilla Adamson I happy to welcome you into my house. You will be my first student."

Vanilla was followed by Solomon Croach who was, after some really angry looks between Salazar and Rowena, placed into Rowena's house. Noah Granger, the girl with the messy hair and who was the last to enter the hall, was also placed with Rowena. Same for Miotas Lovegood: a tall boy with a bored expression on his face.

Circinus Malfoy was the first to be placed in the house of Salazar and Kishée Moreno, a boy with dark skin and big eyebrows, was the second pupil of Helga.

"And Zahn Mortier, you are, of course, welcome in my house," Salazar spoke with a content smirk on his face. It was really close on which students he had his eyes on; the ones with a famous bloodline.

"No."

All the eyes fell upon the little girl with the fire coloured hair. Her face which normally shone as bright as the sun, now showed an expression of pure stubbornness. Her arms were folded in front of her, her lips pouted a bit.

"You decided to look down on Vani. So now I will look down on you, Friend of Snakes," she continued her protest. A soft snickering from Circinus was heard as the rest, even the teacher, stared at the girl quite dumbfounded.

"I want to be in the same house as Vani." She at last finished and pointed this time at Helga.

Helga, who was just as surprised as the rest of them, smiled a little. "I always said I would welcome every student. So welcome to my house, Zahn Mortier."

The girl skipped, did she even know how to walk normally?, back to her chair as she grinned from ear to ear. Seira's former thought was confirmed once more; Zahn was a very unusual kind of girl.

After that followed another red-haired girl who answered to the name of Raion Murtex. She became the first student of Godric. Now it was time for the De Ravins. Fredrick, Jonathan and Mecurio were all placed in Salazar's house. All within a matter of seconds.

"De Ravin, Seira."

The girl stood up when she heard her name. With a proud smile she walked towards the dark lord and made a little bow when she stood in front of him. Her eyes fixated on his as she waited.

Suddenly she felt something in her mind. Something which forced her to recall all of her memories. The long nights she had stayed up, studying from her books, practicing her walking and dancing. The horrors of when her parents had thrown another party and she had to leave her books behind. The fake smiles, the fake gestures. The talks she had had with her older brothers.

As soon as the sensation had come it was gone again. She waited for Salazar to say 'welcome to my house' but his words didn't follow. Instead Rowena and Salazar were staring at each other again.

"Salazar, no! You saw how much she values her books and how much she seeks knowledge. She belongs with me and you know it," the fair lady suddenly blabbed.

"She is a Ravin, she should be placed in my house," the lord snarled back at her.

Seira couldn't help but to feel proud. The two people she most looked up to were fighting over her. Of course they were. She was a Ravin. She should have expected nothing less.

"Why don't you ask the girl herself in which house she wants to be placed?" It was Helga, her warm voice ending the discussion before it could turn into a fight.

Rowena and Salazar sent each other some hate-filled stares before they focussed their attention back on Seira. It was Salazar who reacted first. "So, Seira, which house do you choose?"

The girl stayed silent for a little while. She respected Rowena Ravenclaw and thought the world of her, but all of her brothers were in the house of Salazar Slytherin. And Ravins sticked together.

"Your house, Salazar Slytherin," she at last decided. Family would always be most important to her.

After her, only two siblings remained. Lancelot and Guinevere Weasely who were both placed in the house of Godric. The knight stood up after welcoming his final two students and looked at all the young faces sitting in front of him.

"Once more we welcome you to Hogwarts. Tomorrow the first lessons will start and we would like to see in this hall again. For now, please follow your mentors to the common rooms. We hope you will all enjoy your stay here."

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><p><em>I want to say thanks to my lovely beta-reader whitetiger91 for her advice and enthusiasm!<em>


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Harry Potter, Adventure, Romance