AFTER THE large feast in the Great Hall, one of the Gryffindor prefects lead us towards the stairs. I was in utter awe as they changed positions every minute.

Lily squeezed my arm as she whispered, "Isn't this just magical?"

I gave a small smile and mumbled, "Yeah.. of course."

We headed to the stairs as everyone looked at the moving portraits and pictures that were displayed on the wall. I wasn't too phased as my home had many moving pictures, so it wasn't like I hadn't seen them before.

But I did feel a bit of delight watching Lily, who had never seen anything like this in her life, in delight and awe of everything going on around her. I almost wished I felt the happiness she was feeling.

We finally got to the tower and walked towards the portrait of the Fat Lady. All the first years huddled around as we stood behind the Gryffindor prefect.

We awaited nervously until she finally moved and asked in a monotone voice, "Password?"

The prefect said loud and clear so everyone could hear, "Wattlebird."

She smiled slightly as she simply nodded at him, she then proceeded to open the door as it slowly opened. It revealed a small arch going into the common room.

We immediately went in and I had a hard time taking it all in.

It was filled with all the Gryffindor colours, mostly red and yellow. It was very homely, with large sofas and chairs, as well as a large fireplace. It looked so comfortable and inviting, it felt more like home then my actual home.

There were shelves filled with books, which made me happy since I loved reading. But the room felt off to me, I kept imagining that I was supposed to be in the dungeons, where Slytherin's common room was.

I still felt out of place, like I didn't belong there.

The prefect explained, "This the common room, where you can study or relax. The two doors on each side are the entrance to the spiral staircase, leading to your dormitories. The girls are on the right, the boys are on the left."

Before we were allowed to do anything, he quickly noted, "Your stuff are already in your dormitories."

Finally, I found my dorm room. Each dorm room had three other girls in, one of them being Lily thankfully. The two other girls were Alice and Marlene, who I saw during the Sorting Ceremony.

My bed had my suitcase on it, which was all I brought. I opened it and took out my clothes, mostly my ugly traditional dresses and robes my mother would often make me wear.

I sighed in frustration, even when I'm away from her, she still pops up to control me.

Lily asked, "Hey, are you alright?"

I looked at her and shrugged, "My mum has just given me some of the ugliest clothes to wear."

I held up one of my dresses, Lily immediately tried to contain herself from laughing. I couldn't blame her, they were ugly as hell.

Alice looked at it and commented, "Merlin, I wouldn't be seen dead in that."

Marlene smirked and joked, "It looks like someone had died in that."

I rolled my eyes and put it down. Alice offered, "You can borrow some of my clothes, if you want."

I was immediately shocked by her offer, she barley knows me and know she's offering me clothes to wear? I immediately said, "Oh no, you don't have to."

Alice smiled and said, "My mum packed too much clothes anyways, I'm more then happy for you to put them into use."

She handed me five t-shirts and two pairs of jeans. I hadn't worn anything like these in my life, but they certainly were far better then my dusty old rags.

I mumbled, "Thanks, you really didn't have to."

She winked and said, "It's fine. We're all roommates, that's what roommates do."

I smiled once again and started to unpack all my books. Marlene smiled at me and said, "So... what's everyone's deal then?"

Alice and Lily looked at her in confusion. She explained, "You know, what's the backstory? How did we all get here? If we're all gonna be roommates, might as well know what we're gonna be dealing with."

I chuckled slightly as I sat on my bed with legs to the side. Alice started off by saying, "Well, I'm an only child. My family are all wizards and witches and we come from a line of lots of Hufflepuff's, I'm the first Gryffindor."

I looked at her in interest, she was similar to me. But then again, coming from a Hufflepuff and being a Gryffindor is a massive achievement and honour, unlike mine.

Marlene raised her eyebrows and said, "What about you, ginger?"

Lily laughed slightly as she put a piece of her long red hair behind her ear. She took a breath and said, "Um, well neither of my parents possess magic. But someone in my family did, so I'm a witch. I do have a older sister, but she didn't get the powers like I did. She... well, she isn't really speaking to me right now. She's unhappy that I'm here and she's not since... since she's not a freak like me."

I could tell that she was starting to get upset, her horrid sister was clearly jealous that Lily was special and she was just a boring muggle.

I immediately exclaimed, "Damn her! You're not a freak, she's just jealous that you're special and she's just a lousy boring muggle. Don't you dare think you're lower then her."

Lily started to smile slightly, but immediately said, "That's mean, Penny. She is my sister and I love her. But.. I know you mean well, Severus said the same, he was the one who told me what I was."

Alice said, "I'm surprised he's friends with someone like you. Not you specifically, you're lovely and he's lucky to have you. But I mean, with a muggle-born."

Lily asked in curiosity, "Why?"

Marlene sighed and explained, "Slytherin's don't really like muggle-borns, they're all about pure blooded wizards like me and Alice. They don't believe they're truly wizards or witches, so they refer them as 'mud-bloods'. So it's just rare to see one be friends with the other."

Lily looked in astonishment, she didn't know there was so much prejudice towards her kind. She simply nodded and said, "Oh.. I didn't know that. Well, at least I know now."

Marlene simply smiled and assured, "But I personally don't care, I think you're cool and awesome. Usually, muggle-borns actually excel better in magic then pure-bloods anyways, so don't worry about it too much."

Lily smiled once again as she messed around with her hair.

Marlene looked at me, I started to get nervous. I didn't really want to talk about my family history, mostly because it was quite bad and I didn't want to seem left out.

I quickly said, "What about you then, Marlene? What's your story?"

She smirked, I think she knew what I was trying to do. But she decided to play along.

"I'm a half-blood, my mum is a wizard and my dad is a muggle. I have two older brothers and one little sister that I'll be getting shortly."

I quickly said, "Oh, congratulations."

She smiled at me and said, "Thanks, I'm just glad I'm not the youngest in the family anymore."

We all chuckled slightly. She carried on saying, "Well, my family is mismatched. My mum was a Hufflepuff, my oldest brother was in Ravenclaw and my other brother was in Gryffindor. So, I'm the second Gryffindor of the family. I hope my little sister gets put in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw when she comes here."

She smiled widely, she clearly loved her family more then anything. I could tell she was going to be a great big sister, she certainly had a little bit of Hufflepuff in her, as well as Alice.

They all finally turned to me. I sighed gently, I decided I was going to be honest, since all of them have been honest to me.

I pushed some of my wild curls out of face and started to explain my story.

"Um... where to start? Well, I'm the youngest out of four sisters, fourth one being met. I'm from a pure-blood family, who care a lot about being pure-blooded. They're practically obsessed with it, actually. My second eldest sister has been disowned because she married a muggle-born, my other two are currently... elsewhere. I have a cousin who's with me called Sirius, who's family is obsessed with purity as well. Everyone in the Black family have been in Slytherin, well, until today. Sirius and I are the first to break tradition, and boy are our families gonna be happy about it."

Everyone was silent, trying to take in what they had just heard. I started to worry that I might have said too much, I mentally face-palmed myself.

Marlene was speechless, she looked like she wanted to say something, but she couldn't get the words. Alice finally spoke up, "Wow.. I can't imagine what that's like for you."

I tried to shrug it off and say, "It's alright, I'll survive... hopefully."

Marlene came over to my bed and suddenly hugged me. I was extremely surprised by this action, but I hugged back regardless.

Then Alice and Lily joined, everyone hugging each other. I was slightly weirded out at first, they barley know me. But a part of me didn't want to let go, because for the first time, I felt loved in a way. I felt like I had finally made friends.

They all eventually pulled away, with Lily saying, "We're all going to stick together. You don't have to worry, we're here if you need someone to talk to."

Alice also said, "I understand, how it must feel being in one place when you think you should be in another one. I'm still getting used to the fact I'm in Gryffindor then Hufflepuff, but if I can fit in, so can you."

Marlene finally said, "Trust me, you're definitely a Gryffindor. You belong here, we all do. Gryffindor will become our home."

She held her hand out, I started to properly smile for the first time and placed my hand on top of hers.

I couldn't help but feel a small shiver when I did, and it wasn't because she was freezing or anything. I couldn't describe it, it was so weird and something I never felt before, but I wasn't sure what at the time.

Lily placed her on top of mine and Alice finally placed hers, completing our new formed unity.

Marlene asked, "Together?"

We all nodded and said at the same time, "Together."