The thumping of Salem's heart got louder and louder within her ears, mimicking the same way her feet walked along the ground. She was nausea, nervous, scared, all things in between. The Slughorn girl sworn in those moments she'd rather been anywhere else but there, anywhere else then under the icy glares of the house coated in green, staring at her as if she was completely naked. The thumbing of her heart, that's all she wanted to hear after the hat let out the roaring house name.

'Gryffindor!'

Slytherin. That's what she needed, that's where she was suppose to get sorted. The house knew her mother, respected her as if she was a royal when in reality she was just a mean woman who left behind a terrible legacy that her only daughter had to live up to. The house knew Salem, they were ready for her, they were warned about her.... and now they've lost completely respect.

Hermione looked worried much like Ron did, Harry no where in sight. The Slytherin had nothing but nasty glares toward the teen as her face turned the brightest shade of red, respecting her house colors now. Then the whispering started, the sound of nails on a chalkboard would have been better to listen to then this. Everyone spoke, everyone was shocked and angry, weather that was at Salem or at the hat it's self.

The humiliated first year seemed to snap out of the trance, her lip trembling in the slightest as she walked, now in ears link to hear what they could say.

"She told the hat to put her in Gryffindor."

"Her mother would be so disappointed."

"Do you thinks she's actually Emilias daughter then?"

"No way is she gonna live that one down."

"My life is over!" Salem cried into her pillow after managing to get to the private room that was nearly the size of a water closet. Hermione and Ron followed her away from the ceremony, the chants of horrible words from Slytherin following after the three, "Leave me here to rot away in my own self pity!"

"It'll be old news by tomorrow." Ron tried to tell her, knowing he was far from right. Hermione gave him a look as he put his hands up in serenader, no clue how to do this.

"Salem, look, maybe it won't be a big deal, maybe-" Hermione began to her first and only woman friend, also knew to this.

"No big deal? Hermione, my mother left behind massive shoes to fill, the least that could have happen was put me in the right houses so I can at least fill her socks!" Salem explained, not meaning for her words to come out so loud but she was attempting to get them all out before she began to sob again, managing to get spit all over Ron in the process.

"Think about it this way, your father was a Gryffindor. He might not have been nearly as legendary as your mother but you just took after him and our house will surely welcome you with more then open arms." Hermione said as she put a hand on Salem's back while Ron used his sleeve to whip the spit off his face.

"But what about the Slytherins?" Salem asked, slowly calming down. Her eyes were terribly swollen, the dark orbs looking even darker then they usually were which was quite frightening.

"They can piss off." Ron added in as Hermione sighed in relief, expecting the worst of comforting words from him. Salem couldn't help but laugh, a sound neither of them realized they needed to hear until it managed to happen.

"Yeah, they can piss off." Salem said as she sniffed, rubbing her eyes before a soft smile formed along her rosy lips toward the duo.

"Oh, look who it is." a darker boy that was, in Salem's opinion, rather handsome smirked evilly as he stood before Hermione and Salem the next morning as they attempted to walk into poisons class.

"Give her a break." Hermione defended Salem, already having enough annoyance build within her after experiencing the horrible looks Salem got walking through Hogwarts with her this morning.

"I'm only here to welcome the new Gryffindor." he mocked as a girl who would be stunning if she wasn't so rude, laughed from behind him.

"Pleasure to meet you." Salem said with a fake smile that anyone could see through. She was attempting to do what her father would do instead of taking her mothers rout which would be to swing her fist into the boys face right about now, "Your eyebrows resemble catapliars on a date."

"Hows Hogwarts treating you so far? With your mothers shoes to fill i'm sure things have been rather eventful." he went on as if they were friends, continuing to look back at the girl behind him, making it more then obvious that he was being anything but kind to her.

"Could you actually do me a grand favor?" Salem asked with a flirty smile, taking a step forward as Hermione gave her a insane look, watching the scene play out before her eyes.

"Piss off." Salem stated as his argonaut smirk fell, not having time to think of a witty comment before Salem shoved past him and walked forward with Hermione behind her.

"That's Blaise, he's sure to give you a hard time." Hermione spoke in a whisper to her as the two headed to the front of the classroom.

"Oh, Salem, hello dear." Slughorn greeted as he put a kiss to her forehead, "Lovely house you picked, i'm rather glad you didn't get into your mothers choice."

"Well, i'm glad someone is." Salem said with a sigh, giving him a fake smile as Hermione and Salem stood with the other girls while the boys took the other side.

Salem felt eyes on her, trying to shove it off until it causes the horrible feeling in her stomach to increase. Turning she managed to catch Draco Malfoys eye who was giving her a rather nasty glare making Salem returned it and face forward with a huff again.

"Ah, Harry my boy. I was begging to worry. We've brought someone with you, I see." Slughorn greeted the Potter boy who had Ron by his side as they walked in with confused faces, meeting eyes with Hermione who sighed.

"Ron Weasley, sir." the redhead boy greeted with a grin, resembling the same way he appeared when him and Salem met for the first time. The same girl from the Weasleys shop who Salem now knows name was Lavender smiles widely as Ron appeared, Hermione having the slightest look of jealously and annoyance along her features.

"But i'm dead awful at potions, a menace, actually so i'm probably just gonna-" Ron began again as he attempted to leave before Harry blocked him, keeping the taller boy in place as much as possible.

"Nonsense, we'll sort you out. Any friend of Harry's is a friend of mine. Get your books out." Slughorn said with a grin toward the two boys who haven't moved from the doorway. Salem looked toward the Slytherin boy again, his platinum hair haunting the corner of her eye terribly. He still gave her a nasty look as if she had the plague or something of the sort, making Salem rather uncomfortable as she scratched the back of her neck.

Ron was right, he was creepy .

"Ugh sorry, sir. I haven't actually got my books yet, nor has Ron." Harry spoke up with a clear of his throat, taking a step forward as Slughorn turned to him again with a dumbfounded look.

"Not to worry, get what you want from the cupboard." Salem peaked over at Draco again, thankful to find him no longer paying any attention to her. Before Salem could look to long she felt a yank on her hair, making her wince and turn around to see the same girl Blaise was laugh with earlier give her a disgusted and ridiculously rude glare.

"Now as I was saying, i've prepared some concoctions this morning." Slughorn when on, introducing the class to a potion but not getting to into it before Hermione cut in.

"It's very difficult to make, and it's Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the world." she said hesitantly as Slughorn ushered her forward to take a whiff, "It's rumored to smell differently to each person according to what attracts them. For example, I smell freshly mown grass, and new parchment, and spearmint toothpaste."

Hermione hurried back to her spot as Salem gave her a smirk, only getting a eye roll back and the slightest of shove, "Do you smell it to?"

"I only smell.." Salem trailed off, ignoring her Grandfathers words as she took a smell of the air that was filled with the powerful love potion, "Black licorice and...."

"And?" Hermione asked as Salem breathed in as much as she could from where she was standing.

"Green apples." the new girl finished as Hermione sighed in disbelief, wishing her and Salem had only smelt the same thing so she couldn't believe the rumored love potions attraction based off smell, "Not my favorite smell if i'm being completely honest."

"Sir? You haven't told us what's in that one." a girl spoke up as she nodded toward the much smaller liquid near Slughorn.

"Oh, yes. What you see before you, ladies and gentlemen is a curious little potion known as Felix Felicis. But it is more commonly referred to as-" Slughorn began as he removed the tiny potion that was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand.

"Liquid luck." Hermione cut him off as Salem's eyebrows shot up, looking at the girl next to her.

"Take it easy, Albert Einstein." Salem joked as Hermione gave her a non-amusing look making Salem simply give her a wink. Looking over Draco was glaring at her again, shooting his eyebrows up the second she made eye contact. Salem rolled her eyes as she pay attention to her grandfather again.

"Yes, Miss Granger, liquid luck. Desperately tricky to make, disastrous should you get it wrong. One sip and you will find that all of your endeavors succeed. At least until the effects wear off." the older man laughed as he held the potion in the air, causing the tension in the room to get higher and higher as each student knew they needed it somehow desperately.

"I can't even began to imagine why they've let a first year into a sixth year class." Salem could hear Dracos snarky comments from behind her considering the two were back to back, she knew that's all he wanted anyways, for her to hear his words. Harry shook his head at her when she looked as if she was gonna say something.

"Special treatment, i'd say, all because of who her mother was. I'm not sure why it still matters, they clearly have nothing in common besides the same blood." the same girl that yanked on Salem's hair spoke, sitting god awfully close to Draco as if they were glued together.

Pansy, that was her name.

"Ignore them." Ron spoke to Salem, right by her side while Hermione and Harry sat across from them.

"Why do these keep moving? It's like the grasshopper I saved from the rabbits." Salem complained as the beginning of the potion kept bouncing around instead of letting her cut it much like it was for everyone else, aside from Harry that was.

"How did you do that?" Hermione asked him, clearly bothered that Harry of all people had figured something out before her.

"You crush it. Don't cut it." he spoke as Salem and Ron shared a similar expression.

"No. The instruction say to cut it." Hermione corrected him with a huff, annoyed and over worked.

"You don't suppose she'll be in all our other classes, do you?" Blaises voice filled Salem's ears again like a fly that wouldn't leave you alone, making her pause to listen.

"I hope not, couldn't stand to look at her face longer then needed," Draco began as Salem payed to close attention to his words, not taking in consideration of her potions, "Imagine how disappointed her mother must be."

And with that the potion that Salem didn't mean to mix blew up, making Ron jump back as the mist from the potion hit Salem in the face, red coloring making it appear as someone had taken a paintbrush and ran it over her face. The class chuckled at her while Hermione and the boys gave her a worried look.

"You'd think with the bloodline she has she'd some what be better." Pansy spoke with a chuckle as Salem whipped her eyes of the mist, the class laughing louder at her words.

"All right, settle down." Slughorn spoke as he passed his granddaughter a Kleenex and a worried look which she returned with a reassuring nod.

"This is all ridiculous, i'm following exactly what the instructions say, i've heard of this before, I have three bloody idiots talking in my ear, and i'm not even a-" Salem began as she added more to her potion before it once again exploded, green shooting up in her face hard enough to send her falling backwards.

Salem's head feel into someone's lap while her legs stayed on her chair, thankful she hadn't fallen onto the ground with a thud. Opening her eyes she rubbed them clear of green, peering upwards at the Malfoy boy who she was currently leaned back on.

"Did Christmas come early, Slughorn?" he mocked her with the two colors on her face, a amusing laugh echoing in her ears as if the two were walking through a old tunnel together.

"Maybe." Salem answered, worried to sit up, knowing she'd fall over. Apart of Salem was glad she was painted in red and green at this point, knowing if she wasn't she'd be flushed from embarrassment and the last thing she wanted was to give Slytherin another reason to make fun of her.

"Piss off, Malfoy." Ron commented as he pulled Salem up again, holding her chair with his foot so she wouldn't fall. Salem sighed in relief, giving Ron a thankful grin as he hid his laughter at the green and red that made its way into her mouth.

"Merlin beard! It is perfect!" Slughorn announced, getting everyone attention as they looked over to see him smiling down at Harry's potion. "So perfect I dare say one drop would kill us all!"

"What I would to chug it." Salem mumbled as embarrassment was still taken over her body, knowing she'd never shake this one off.

•

kylie speaks.

do you all feel
that tension or
is it just me?