The Meaning Of Family

A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to update, life has been busy lately, but I'm hoping the next chapter wont be as long, and once everything gets back on track I can knuckle down and focus on this story. Thank you to all my readers and reviewers, I hope you like this chapter and it was worth the wait. Sorry again for the long wait! Now on with the story.

'Thoughts'

"Parseltongue"

"Mental communication"

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Chapter 12

The Sorting of This and That

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Rayden followed Professor McGonagall into the Great Hall, walking next to Braeden. Looking around in interest, he looked at all the floating candles hovering below the ceiling, which resembled the outside night sky. Walking in two straight lines, the first years made their way between two of the four long tables that lined the Hall, walking towards the front of the room, where the fifth table of which was obviously the Professors, stood facing the rest of the tables and the students that occupied them.

He could hear all the whispering as much as he tried to ignore it, and looking up from under his bangs he could see some of the students pointing in his direction. Ignoring them the best he could, he continued on his way toward the front of the Hall, taking notice of the Professors sitting there.

He noticed Dumbledore first, it was kind of hard not to when the man was sitting at the middle of the table in a high backed throne like chair, and his purple robes with bright yellow stars and moons stood out so clearly, not to mention the matching pointed hat sitting on his head. He was looking over the students much the same as Professor McGonagall did, and noticing Rayden, he paused at him for a moment, his twinkling blue eyes peering over his half moon spectacles, before turning away and looking over the rest of the first years, with what Rayden would say was fake interest. Looking past the empty chair next to Dumbledore; Rayden figured it belong to Professor McGonagall, he made his way down the table with his eyes and saw a man with a purple turban on his head, whom he knew from his father to be Professor Quirrell, muttering something unheard to the rest of the room; to the man next to him, this man had black greasy hair that curtained his face, and a large hooked nose, and dark eyes, he knew this man to be Professor Snape, head of Slytherin and potions master, from the descriptions of not only his father but Sirius also.

Ignoring the rest of the Professors, they made their way to the front of the staff table and reached a four legged stool with a tattered old hat sitting as still as what you would expect to find from a hat.

Rayden raised his eyebrow at the hat, 'okay' he thought.

Once all the students were quietly standing in front of the stool, and the rest of the hall had finally shut up, Rayden was slightly disturbed when the brim of the hat ripped apart into an interpretation of a mouth and started to... 'sing.' Rayden stared at the hat for a short moment before sharing an incredulous look with Braeden, 'they can't be serious.' he thought before tuning out the insane hat and it's words.

After what felt like forever the hat finally finished, Professor McGonagall stepped up next to the hat and looked over the first years once more, Rayden was starting to get the feeling that she liked to appear intimidating to new students, and perhaps older ones too.

"When I call your name, I want you to sit on the stool and place the hat on your head." McGonagall stated, pulling a roll of parchment from her robe pocket, he figured was the list of names she had just mentioned.

"Abbott, Hannah!" Rayden, saw a young girl walk nervously to the front of the hall, after sitting on the stool she placed it on her head.

After a few moments, the hat's mouth opened wide, yelling, "Hufflepuff." Letting out a breath, she jumped off the stool and placed the hat back on it and walked as fast as she could to the table that the loudest clapping was coming from. 'Talk about overdramatic' he snorted quietly to himself.

He wondered how the hat sorted the students, it must do some sort of personality test he figured, Sirius and not even his father would tell him exactly how they were sorted, but the warning his father gave; of always keeping his memories and thoughts protected, and even teaching him how to fabricate them, and with it being a hat, therefore placed on your head, he figured the hat had some sort of enchantment placed on it; to be able to perform some sort of occlumency?

It was clever; he would admit, and most convenient for a nosy headmaster wanting to find out any information he could for his own advantage, or to find what sort of people he could manipulate better, he wasn't stupid enough to be another victim to anymore of Dumbledore's games, nor was he stupid enough to think that the sorting hat would'nt tell Dumbledore all that he could, and even if he was wrong, he wasn't going to take that chance.

With that thought in mind, he strengthened his occlumency shields as much as he could, which admittedly wasn't much more than what it was previously, seeing as though he always kept them as strong as he could and practised strengthening them often. He then started making false memories of himself and his guardian in some little cottage on the edge of a small forest he saw once in a painting at Slytherin Castle. The memory of his guardian that he made, was from one of the glamours Sirius often used when they went shopping when they lived in America. He wanted it familiar and therefore more believable, it was easier to fabricate and if ever they needed someone to come to the school, he could just tell Sirius to use this glamour.

He had just finished before he heard, "Potter, Harry!"

As soon as his name left the Professor's lips, the whispering erupted once again, sounding much like what he imagined a room full of hissing snakes would sound like. He snorted to himself at that thought.

"Did she say Harry Potter?"

"Harry Potter!"

"I hope he's in our house!"

"I love his hair!"

"He's so cute."

"What's so good about Harry potter?"

Scowling, and looking out from under his bangs he made his way to the stool. Ignoring the echoing whispers in the Great Hall as best he could, trying to imagine he was there alone. Once he was seated on the stool with the hat in his hand he quickly double checked his shields, satisfied, he placed the hat upon his head.

"Ah... interesting." The hat stated in his head, before pausing in it's attempts to penetrate his mind, "you have a shield around your mind I see?" he asked.

"Yes, it looks that way doesn't it?" Rayden deadpanned in his mind knowing the hat could hear him, "I've been told I'm a natural." Rayden smirked in his mind.

"A cheeky tongue too I see," 'he' stated once more.

"If you only knew," Rayden thought with another smirk.

"I need to see into your mind, so I know where to place you," the hat said, "I need you to lower your shields; you can trust me, I won't tell anyone what I find if that's what your worried about." it continued.

Rayden lowered his shields just enough for the hat to see the false memories he had created, but he made sure to keep his personality intact, the last thing he wanted was to end up in Hufflepuff, or Gryffindor, even Ravenclaw he didn't think he could stand; too many of them just thought they where better than everyone else, from what he heard anyway. He knew he was meant for Slytherin... after all it was in his blood.

"That's better," the hat paused, and Rayden felt with satisfaction, the hat sinking into the memories it didn't know where created especially for 'him', he didn't believe the hat for a moment that it wouldn't recount what it found in his head to Dumbledore, after all where else would Dumbledore get all his information about his students from, granted he had a lot of their trust, but not the Slytherin's, and as far as he was concerned the old man knew too much. Of course he kept these thoughts behind his shields, he didn't want the hat to read anything more than what he had planted for him to see.

"Well; I must say, you've led an interesting life so far, Mr Potter."

"I know." was all the reply he got. He didn't want to say too much to give the hat more information to search for, he wanted this over and done with as soon as possible. It felt like he had been there for ages enough as it was, he already knew where he wanted to go, if only the hat would stop being so nosy and hurry up.

"So where to put you?" 'he' asked more himself than Rayden.

"Well if you don't mind I would like to go into Slytherin," Rayden stated with impatience.

"Why... you would do well in Ravenclaw, from what I can see here in your head," 'he' paused on a memory of Rayden and Sirius at a park Rayden knew was from a painting he came across in one of the halls of Slytherin Castle, "you are very talented and you love to learn, you sound like a Ravenclaw to me, or even Gryffindor, definitely not Hufflepuff." the hat finished with a tone Rayden didn't like.

"If it's all the same to you I would like to go into Slytherin," he repeated, "besides I don't think any of those houses would be able to handle me, Gryffindor wont help me go where I want to go, and to be honest nor would Ravenclaw, Slytherin is where I belong." he finished in much the same tone the hat had used, sending him a feeling of wanting to accomplish much more than those houses could offer, in the thought of a memory of him studying hard on the dark arts, which admittedly wasn't a fake one, just altered to make the background more a blur than anything you could pinpoint, some may call him paranoid, but he liked to think of himself as cautious, and who could blame him with a secret he had to keep hidden, he had been on the run and living with the criminal Sirius Black, and his father was the Dark Lord. And he didn't trust this hat for a minute.

"The Headmaster wanted me to put you in Gryffindor, but I can see you have a point, you would disrupt Gryffindor to the best of your ability and make the house rivalry seem like a game in comparison, although Ravenclaw would help in your learning, it wouldn't teach all you want to know, and I wouldn't want you dirtying the name of our dear founders, with the exception of Slytherin; who did that all by himself, with the young Tom Riddle adding to it... but at the same time I don't want to go against the Headmaster and be responsible for you turning dark when the Wizarding world needs you," 'he' paused and Rayden got the sense he was thinking through what he should do, and he knew he needed to tip the hat in the direction of putting him in Slytherin.

"Not everyone turns dark from being in Slytherin, and if you remember correctly, Peter Pettigrew was in Gryffindor, and fair enough he wasn't a Dark Lord but he did betray my parents and turned against them," he paused to let what he said sink in, hoping the hat was starting to feel a little guilty for being the one who placed him in there, "and trust me, I will help the Wizarding world to the best of my ability in ridding it of the things that have been around for too long no matter which house you put me in, but I personally feel Slytherin is the only way I can learn what I need to know in order to do that, and as they say know thy enemy, and where better to learn than Slytherin... and I think you better hurry up, we have been like this for a while now, everyone is going to start wondering what's happening." he finished, hoping the hat would see sense and hurry up.

"Yes, I can see what you mean, well if your sure... better be," 'he' paused for a second as if for dramatic effect, "SLYTHERIN!"

Sighing with silent relief he removed the hat from his head, ignoring everyone in favour of putting the hat back on the stool, he glanced up at Dumbledore to see him looking straight at him as if he was trying to see right through him, knowing that Dumbledore was an accomplished Legillemens, he made sure not to keep eye contact long enough for him to see anything.

He turned around and saw the hall of students staring at him in a variety of expressions, some of betrayal, some of shock, some of anger, and some even of curiosity, 'great that's all he needed, was more people trying to be his friend for his fame, and to find out the mysteries that was he,' he thought making his way to the Slytherin table, the Slytherin's, quick to overcome their surprise welcomed him to their house with applause.

Taking a seat at the end of the table nearest the teachers where the first years where meant to be seated, he made sure there was a seat available for the other Vampire, shortly after sitting down, Braeden was sorted into Slytherin, just as they knew he would be and took a seat next to Rayden.

"What was that all about with the sorting hat?" whispered Braeden.

Turning to look at the Vampire, Rayden raised an eyebrow, "it couldn't decide where to put me, it wanted to put me in Gryffindor on Dumbledore's orders... but I convinced it otherwise, and surprisingly without having to threaten it." Rayden whispered back with a smirk.

"Do you know how long you were talking to it for?" asked Braeden.

Rayden thought for a moment, "no, but it felt like forever."

"It was at least fifteen minutes."

"It doesn't surprise me," he said, with a shake of his head, "anything to give me more attention I don't need right now." replied Rayden more to himself. He didn't want anyone taking too much notice of him this year, he had a mission to accomplish, he knew he had Dumbledore's attention, and probably Snape's too, and he would have to draw Quirrell's attention onto himself also, the last thing he needed or wanted was for the student population to get too interested or curious about him. Well more than they already where at least.

"Hmm," agreed Braeden, "I guess not." He knew Rayden had plans and just hoped Rayden would learn to trust him enough to tell him what it was, or at the very least let him help in some small way, he just wanted to be there for Rayden whenever he needed it, and he figured he would just have to be patient and earn Rayden's trust, after all he doesn't trust just anyone easily either, so he understood Rayden's reluctance, and he couldn't blame him for it either; living the life Rayden had to and having a Dark Lord as a father, and Dumbledore trying to control your every movement, it was no wonder Rayden didn't trust anyone, for all Rayden knew I could be working for my family and clan, and betray him in some way just because of who Rayden's mother was. No, he understood perfectly that he would have to earn Rayden's trust, no matter how long it took or how hard it would be.

Rayden raised an eyebrow in question.

"I just mean; I know what you mean, just having the name Harry Potter gives you enough attention and then being sorted into Slytherin when your supposed to save the world from a Dark Lord who is Slytherin's heir, I know what you mean about not wanting anymore attention," he paused wondering how much more to say, knowing they were talking too quietly for humans to hear, but he wouldn't put it pass Dumbledore to cast a charm on himself to hear their conversation, nor any of the other teachers for that matter, "and I want you to know that if you need any help just let me know, okay?" he whispered softly.

"I'll keep that in mind... thanks." Rayden whispered back.

"Anytime." he smiled.

By the time they had finished their conversation the sorting had ended, McGonagall transported the hat and stool back to where ever it came from, and took her seat next to the old codger.

Dumbledore stood, clearing his throat, waiting as the whispers died down to silence, "and here we are; welcoming another year," he paused, looking over his half moon spectacles, across the hall at all the gathered students, spreading his arms open as if emphasizing his welcome, "to all the first years, welcome to Hogwarts, and to the rest of you, welcome back," he smiled, "I know you are all eager to get started, but before we begin our delicious feast, I just have a few things to say; first the Forbidden Forest is just as it's named 'forbidden,' to all students," and Rayden didn't miss the emphasis on that sentence wondering if it was for him, suspecting he knew who his true mother was somehow, or if he knew Braeden was a Vampire, or if it was something different altogether, "Mr Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to remind all students that there is to be no magic in the hallways throughout the school, and lastly, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Rayden discreetly smirked at all the stunned faces of the students that filled the Great Hall, knowing exactly why the third-floor was out of bounds, he only hoped all the carefully laid out plans, went to plan.

"Now... dig in." Dumbledore finished, pleased, as if what he said was a usual topic of conversation.

Rayden watched as the table filled with all sorts of food, helping himself to some steak and mushroom pie, and some mash potato on the side.

"What do you think that was about?" asked Braeden once the hall filled with the noise of conversations and clattering knives and forks.

"No idea," said Rayden once he swallowed his mashed potato.

Braeden was just about to open his mouth to say something more, when a snobbish voice next to him interrupted, "so it was you who I saw at Diagon Alley, that day in Ollivanders?" stated Malfoy, staring at Rayden.

"No, it was somebody else." said Rayden sarcastically.

"No, it was you... I remember," said Malfoy.

"Good for you," said Rayden rolling his eyes.

"You were rude then too,"

"So," Rayden said, shovelling more food into his mouth, not in the mood to talk anymore, he was hungry.

"Who are you?" asked Braeden raising an eyebrow in question, interrupting whatever Malfoy was going to say. He knew who he was from what Rayden had told him, but he wanted to take this blond boys attention away from Rayden, knowing that Rayden didn't want to talk to him.

"Draco Malfoy, but you may call me Draco," stated Malfoy proudly, holding out a hand to be shaken.

Braeden looked at the offered hand for a short moment, then looked back up at Malfoy and raised his eyebrow again, "well, Harry and I where in the middle of a conversation before you rudely interrupted, so if you don't mind please go back to whatever it was you where doing, take the hint, because it is obvious Harry is not interested in what you've got to say, and leave us be." said Braeden calmly.

"What are you, his protector or something?" Malfoy sneered.

"No, he's my boyfriend!" Rayden said seriously, giving Braeden a quick glance before continuing to cut his pie, hoping that Braeden would go along.

Draco's mouth dropped open before he realised what he was doing and closed it again.

Snickering at his reaction, both Rayden and Braeden looked at Malfoy and smirked. They didn't know what Malfoy's opinion on gays were but they didn't care either, it succeeded in shutting him up, and really that was all that mattered.

"That's disgusting, keep your fantasies to yourself," Malfoy sneered after getting his shock somewhat under his control again, he gave them one last sneer and turned his back to them to talk to his two fat friends about something they weren't too interested in listening to.

"Well that shut him up," Rayden commented quietly, turning to look at Braeden, "I hope you didn't mind me saying that? now the whole school is going to have something to gossip about, not that they wouldn't be talking about me anyway, but now you'll be messed up with it too... sorry!"

"I don't care what people think, or say for that matter, their just a bunch of simple minded fools anyway, and no I didn't mind, it worked at least, it was funny enough to make it worth it, besides it will give me an excuse to act like your boyfriend now," he said jokingly, with a playful wink.

"Oh, well in that case it was all worth it then," replied Rayden cheekily.

"Are you flirting with me?" he mocked seductively.

"Do you want me to?" asked Rayden in mock seriousness, he thought he might as well play along for a laugh and a bit of fun.

"Why not?" he shrugged slightly.

Shaking his head in amusement, Rayden turned to his food, "if your lucky," he smirked, before taking another small mouthful of pie.

Braeden snorted in response, and decided he better start pretenting to eat his own dinner before he brought more unwanted attention upon them both.

By the time he had finished dinner all Rayden wanted to do was go to bed, it had been a long day, and he wanted to write his father and Sirius a letter before getting any sleep, he was just glad he wouldn't have to go to the owlery to post it, knowing Amdis would know where to find him and how to get there, even if his dorm was in the dungeons. Once everyone had finished with their dinner and dessert's, Rayden not having any dessert himself, the tables had cleared as if there had been no food there in the first place and the only proof being from all the full stomachs.

Dumbledore got to his feet once more. The hall was immediately quiet. "Now that we have all been fed, you have no need to be kept away from your nice warm beds any longer, so off you go, and goodnight." he smiled, his twinkling blue eyes roaming over the students as they made their way out of their seats.

"He makes me sick with those twinkling eyes." he muttered to Braeden.

"I know what you mean." Braeden replied with a slight grimace.

Rayden was just about to start walking towards the entrance of the Great Hall, when a tall boy with short brown hair who looked to be in his 7Th year came over to the first years, "follow me," was all he said before he turned and walked away.

Rayden looked at Braeden for a short second before shrugging a shoulder slightly and following the boy he presumed was a prefect.

They followed the boy out the Great Hall, across the Entrance Hall, to a staircase going down to where he figured led to the dungeons directly across from the double doors of the Great Hall. They made their way down the stairs and through a stone hallway with lit torches lining the walls turning left and right, and Rayden knew it would be easy to lose your way within the walls of Hogwarts and determined himself to get to know all the hidden secrets of the castle, he wanted to be at the advantage in any situation, and wanted to know all the hidden passages he knew Hogwarts covered. He took careful notice of all the twists and turns they were taking, not wanting to get lost in the future when he didn't have the prefect to guide him.

After walking for what seemed like forever, and after what felt like a million turns going deeper into the dungeons and hidden away from the rest of the school, they made it to an empty stretch of wall, the only indication of a doorway being there was the slightly different colouring of the stone that you wouldn't notice if you weren't really looking.

"Serpents Tongue," the prefect said clearly but quietly to the hidden door, with a loud grinding noise, the wall slid open just enough for one person to enter without exposing the entire room it protected.

Rayden followed the other students inside the common room, looking around with pride, knowing that his Grandfather had once called this his home and had created it to the way he liked it. It gave him an insight into the man himself, even though he spoke to him often at home, he somehow felt connected to the place more so now than when he first arrived, he also couldn't wait to see the Chamber of Secrets he knew he would love that just as much. Seeing this now, knowing Salazar had been in this very room gave him a sense of familiarity, making it seem as if he was home for the first time since he left Slytherin Castle. He really wanted to see if there was a portrait in here of his Grandfather, having never really thought to ask when he was at home, and his Grandfather never saying anything about it, he hoped there was, as it would give him someone from home to talk to whenever he needed to, or wanted to.

To his right, there was a lounge area, with six black leather seats big enough for at least two people each sofa to fit comfortably on, circled around a rosewood table, farther down the room on his right was a large eight seat study table with a few books scattered on it, and in the far right corner was a study area with another eight seat study table, with bookcases on both the back wall below a fake window, and on the far right wall that stretched from the corner to the other study table next to the lounge area. In front of him at the far end of the room was a set of stairs, the one on the right going up and the one on the left going down, in the far left corner of the room was what looked like a sort of games area, with one three seater sofa, and four armchairs around a table, there where students playing a game of chess, and their friends watching or reading a book, and to his left was the fireplace with five sofas and a table in front of it with a few students chatting quietly amongst themselves, there was also a large thick rug in the centre of the room, a beautiful large red eyed green basilisk, and a silver background upon it.

There were green torches scattered randomly on the walls, some lit and some not. He also saw a few pictures of landscapes on the wall, his eyes resting on the largest one above the fireplace, his face lit up slightly in delight, the handsome man in the portrait meeting his eyes with hidden amusement, they stared at each other for a short moment, Rayden wanting to talk to his Grandfather, but knowing he couldn't, he consoled himself with the thought of being able to talk to him later when there was no-one around to over hear their conversation. He winked discreetly at Rayden than disappeared before anyone noticed. 'Well that answers my question.' he thought to himself with a small smile, turning away and looking to the floor in hopes that no-one noticed the little interaction between himself and a portrait of one of the founders of Hogwarts, he didn't need anyone asking questions, or dare he think it; tell Dumbledore, not that he really thought a Slytherin would be stupid enough to do that.

"This is the Slytherin common room as I can only hope you have figured out already," he deadpanned, "Professor Snape, the potions master is our head of house, he will give your time tables to you in the morning at breakfast... there will be no fighting within the Slytherins outside this room, keep your hostilities between the other houses, you will find they don't treat us with the respect we so rightly deserve and will single us out at any chance they get, we stick together no matter who you are or what you are," he paused for a moment, letting his words sink in, "if anyone outside this house is giving you trouble and you need help we will give it, but if you can handle it yourself than do so... if any conflict between fellow Slytherins is taken out of the pit, it will be dealt with harshly by Professor Snape himself," he finished.

"Any questions?" he asked, briefly looking over the group of first years, "no? good, now off to bed, boys, you will find your dormitory down the stairs on my right behind me at the far end of the room, girls up the stairs to my left." he turned and walked away leaving the first years to sort themselves out and make their own way from there.

Rayden, feeling extremely tired made his way to the dormitory, going down the stairs and reaching a torch-lit hall that had two doors on his left, he continued to walk along the passage and stopped at the first door which had a silver plaque that had four names written in green, he figured the other dormitory would be for Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, and Zack Richardson.

It read:

You may enter if you are:

Draco Malfoy

Harry Potter

Braeden Risika

Blaise Zabini

Rayden hated to see that name instead of his real name, he knew he had no choice but to put up with it. Opening the door, he made his way into the elegant and somewhat dark emerald and silver room, the floor was covered by a large green rug, the walls were a dark silver with green snakes slithering from wall to wall as if patrolling the room, the four post beds had emerald curtains around them, silver covers, with black silk sheets and pillows, to his right he saw his trunk at the end of the bed closest to the door, which he admittedly didn't mind, he would have picked it himself if it wasn't already his. In some ways he was glad they didn't have to choose their own beds, because he was too tired to pick a fight with anyone over where he was going to sleep, although he would've anyway if he didn't have the bed he wanted. He was also glad to notice Braeden's trunk at the bottom of the bed next to his own.

There was another fireplace in the far right corner, with dark emerald tiles and glimmering veins of silver running through them, a shiny black mantle piece, making it shimmer magnificently from the fire burning within, there were four black armchairs sitting comfortably in front of it, and a door at the far end of the room opposite the entrance, which he assumed led to the bathroom.

Deciding to have a shower in the morning, he made his way to his trunk and pulled out his night-clothes, wishing Braeden a goodnight, he closed his curtains around his bed and got changed, once he was finished he sat down upon his bed placing a silencing charm as he did so, then a Parsel locking charm on his curtains, he then conjured a piece of parchment and quill, once comfortable he began his short letter to his father and Sirius, knowing that his Grandfather wouldn't have ruined it by telling them anything anyway.

To Dear Father & Sirius,

Firstly, I want to say sorry for my letter being so short; and secondly I wish to tell the good news that I got into the Slytherin with, I'm proud to say a small amount of persuasion from me.

Everything is fine and I'm sharing my dormitory with three other boys, a boy named Blaise Zabini, and that blond ponce from Diagon Alley, Draco Malfoy, and another boy named Braeden Risika, whom I will tell you about at a later time when I'm not so tired and I have more time.

Anyway, before I fall asleep writing this, I better say Goodnight now.

I miss you both, and please tell Grandfather I would like to talk to him sometime when there is no-one else around.

Love

Rayden.

P.S. I expect my reply swiftly.

Satisfied, he folded the parchment in half before rolling it small enough to fit snugly in Amdis' claws.

He looked to his familiar, who was staring at him, waiting patiently for his delivery, "take this to my father or Sirius, and make sure you wait for their reply, I want it by morning, I would rather you back as soon as possible so I know where you are and that you are safe," he said quietly, stroking the soft feathers on Amdis' chest with his fingers.

Amdis looked deeply into his eyes as his way of telling him he understood, and gently nudged his his caressing hand with his sharp beak. He grabbed the rolled up parchment with his sharp claws mindful of Rayden's hand holding it, Rayden placed a mild silencing charm and invisibility charm on him so he could make his way out without being seen or heard, it would wear out by the time he made it home, Amdis spread his wings and disappeared.

He pulled the covers over himself and made himself comfortable, "goodnight Nathaniel, make yourssself comfortable wherever you like," he hissed to his other familiar that was wrapped around his right arm, "I'm off to sssleep." he yawned.

Nathaniel unwrapped himself from Rayden's arm and burrowed half his body under Rayden's pillow, with the other half that included his head, and rested it on the pillow next to Rayden's head, both master and familiar falling asleep at the same time.

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Rayden woke face to face with Nathaniel. He got out of bed and stretched his sleepy limbs, 'a shower should do the trick' he thought making his way quietly to his trunk. He wanted a shower first so he didn't have to wait for anyone else to finish, he wasn't use to sharing a bathroom and didn't much like the thought of having to wait around for a shower, so he didn't mind waking up early for it, he figured it was worth it in some small way.

He walked into the large emerald tiled room and saw four doors, one on his right, one directly in front of him, and two to his left, he opened one of the doors on the right-hand side next to Braeden's that had his name on it and admired the grand black tiled room it had a dark green bathtub, and a matching shower and sink all with silver faucets. 'Well, at least he didn't really have to share a bathroom.' he thought to himself as he locked the door, undressed, and jumped into the shower.

Once he was finished he made his way back to his bed. He wasn't the only one awake anymore, Braeden was sitting on the edge of his own bed looking like he could use the extra hour before classes were due to start to have some more sleep.

"What's the time?" he yawned, stretching his arms above his head much the same way Rayden had done earlier.

"Almost 7," he answered with a snort after casting a quick 'tempus', "but you could have done the same thing to find out yourself."

Braeden paused, looking at Rayden as if he was something strange. "I didn't think of that," he said finally getting up and going to his trunk.

"You look like you could use some extra sleep," commented Rayden.

"Hmm," was his reply.

Shaking his head, Rayden continued getting ready for the day, closing his curtains, and putting his silencing charm back in place, he looked to where he had left his familiar, but Nathaniel was no longer there, looking around for him he found him on the bedside table curled around Amdis' legs, chuckling he climbed over to the other side of the bed, "well it's nice to have you back so early in the morning," he said to his eagle, taking the rolled up parchment that was in his beak.

He opened the letter and read through it quickly, it didn't say much, but he wasn't expecting it to.

To the sound of the other two boys waking up he placed the letter in his bedside draw and cast a locking charm on it, he looked to Amdis, "you must be hungry, so why don't you spend some of the day outside hunting, when you are done you can sleep in here," he looked down at Nathaniel, "do you want to ssspend the day with me? Or do you want to ssstay here by yourssself most of the day?" he asked already knowing the answer, if there was one thing he could say about his snake, was that he didn't like staying without himself, his father or Amdis, for too long.

"I'm coming with you massster," he hissed, slithering his way up the offered arm.

"Fair enough, but you mussst ssstay hidden, and quiet okay? I don't need any trouble thisss year, but I promise you can have fun in thisss cassstle one day, jussst not anytime sssoon, do I make myself clear?" he asked.

"Of courssse massster, I am a patient sssnake," he hissed proudly, "I can wait, that'sss what makesss me sssuch a good familiar, and I know you will keep your word and let me feassst on who ever I want when the time comesss..." he trailed off, caught in his own thoughts, Rayden chuckled quietly knowing it had something to do with Nathaniel chasing students through the school, he had talked about it quite a bit before they left home, but Nathaniel although deadly if you were stupid enough to be bitten was too small at the moment and Rayden was worried he would get stepped on in the crowded halls if he was to let him roam free in the castle, they would both have to wait for now to have a little fun. He didn't want to mess things up this year either.

Rayden waited for Nathaniel to get comfortable around his right arm before opening up his curtain and waited for Braeden. He didn't have to wait long for Braeden joined him a minute later.

They made their way through the common room in silence, it wasn't until the door had slid shut behind them and they were in the hall making their way to the Great Hall, before Braeden whispered, "I'm not use to sleeping during the night yet!"

"I thought it must have something to do with that, didn't you try to prepare yourself for this before you came here though?" he whispered back curiously.

"That being the key word... try. Yeah I tried but it's not easy when all your life you don't sleep at night to have to suddenly start sleeping at night... let's just say, it wasn't easy." he confessed quietly.

"Yeah, I guess it wouldn't be." agreed Rayden.

"It's not like we sleep all day or anything, in fact we don't need much sleep at all... a few hours usually, but when your trying to train yourself to sleep when you don't normally, it tends to take more out of you, and it hasn't been easy for me to get used to not hunting either, it was all very annoying really." admitted Braeden.

"So why go to all this effort then?" asked Rayden, he thought he might as well find out anything else he could whilst they were on the subject.

"I don't know, I guess I had no choice really... but I must admit, you make it all worth it," he replied cheekily.

"Right," Rayden said sarcastically, raising his eyebrows and nodding his head, "well I'll make sure you get your reward for all your hard work."

"Oh?" Braeden asked curiously.

"Yeah, no matter what it may be I'm sure I'll think of something." he smirked.

Laughing, they made the rest of the way in silence. Rayden opened the double doors and ignored all the stares and whispers of the few students that were already in the Great Hall having breakfast, he made his own way to the Slytherin table, taking a seat he placed a piece of toast and some eggs and bacon on his plate and started eating without giving anyone a glance.

It wasn't long before the rest of the students filed into the Hall for breakfast, once the Slytherin table was full, Professor Snape made his way down the table handing out the timetables ignoring all the students. Rayden was a little surprised he hadn't said something to him, or at least glared at him yet, knowing from Sirius about the hate Snape had for James Potter. Unless Snape was one of the few who knew he wasn't a Potter, 'though of course he couldn't say anything unless he wanted to put his father's skills to the test.' Rayden thought with a smirk. Maybe he would ask his father who it was exactly who knew the truth.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he read through his timetable and saw they had double DADA with the Gryffindors after breakfast.

"This should be interesting!" he said quietly to Braeden.

"Yeah, I wonder what Professor Quirrell will be like, and with the Gryffindors, we can only hope to make it out in one piece if we ever had to pair with one of them for a duel, not that I think we will have to worry about it just yet," he paused looking towards the teachers, "unless Professor Quirrell is stupid enough to try..." he trailed off.

"It wouldn't surprise me." Rayden agreed. He decided to watch Quirrell and learn more about him before he made an attempt to talk to him. He needed to learn more.

The day was going quicker than he thought it would, nothing exciting had happened, unless you can call Weasley making a fool of himself in almost every class acting like he knew everything only to find out he was wrong on pretty much everything. It was now three o'clock and they were waiting outside of the potions lab, and Rayden was interested to see if Snape would make any comments about him being in Slytherin and try to embarrass him, now that they were on what he would class as Snapes territory.

Walking around the gathered students Snape stode his way into the room, "everyone take a seat," he sneered, stopping when he reached the front of the class, turning around to look at all the first years.

Everyone made their way to a table in pairs, the room erupted in the noise of scraping chairs, and talking students.

"QUIETLY." yelled Snape.

Rayden and Braeden took the back table nearest the door, on the left side of the classroom.

"There will be no foolish wand waving, in my classroom-"

"You can tell where he would rather be" Weasley's whispered voice interrupted Snape.

"Is there something you would like to share, Mr Weasley?" asked Snape just above a whisper, glaring all the while.

"No, Sir." replied Weasley, turning as red as his hair when he noticed the entire class looking at him.

"If you interrupt me one more time, you will be put on detention scrubbing my very dirty lab, without magic," he paused looking from one face to another, his eyes landing on Rayden for a second longer than anyone else's, "all of you."

"Do I make myself clear?" he asked mockingly.

"Yes, Sir," everyone echoed.

"Good," he waved his wand and a set of instructions appeared on the board behind him, "I want you all to follow these instructions, correctly, anyone who can't do that will have a five foot essay to hand in to me in your next lesson, you have less than an hour to finish in time... begin." said Snape, taking a seat at his desk, and began marking what looked like essays.

Rayden looked at Braeden raising an eyebrow, before arranging their table ready for brewing. Braeden went and got the ingredients they would need for the potion, when he returned he started preparing the ingredients ready for the Boil Cure potion they would be starting the year with.

Almost an hour later, they were the first pair to finish their potion. Braeden was stoppering their vial of potion, and Rayden was cleaning their table when he felt eyes on the back of his head, turning around he found immediately who was glaring at him, it was the same bushy haired female Gryffindor that had been glaring at him all day during their classes together, he guessed it had something to do with how easy the work had been for him, and how he always seemed to finish before her, he figured she didn't like that. Smirking he turned around and continued cleaning the table, ignoring the burning stare to his back.

"I may not be a master when it comes to potions, but I do know how to follow instructions," Braeden said once he was finished, "it helps to have a partner who knows what their doing too," he smiled at Rayden.

Rayden was about to reply when a loud bubbling noise reached his ears, turning he saw on the other side of the room, Longbottom and his partner, Thomas, if he remembered correctly.. which he always did, slowly moving back away from their bubbling cauldron, it looked like it was about to explode, Rayden took a step back closer to the other side of their own table knowing that if it did, he didn't want any of it splashing on him. Seconds later it exploded, splashing on not only the pair, but Weasley and Finnigan also. As soon as it touched their skin, massive boils formed all over their faces.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for disrupting my class," Snape sneered.

"But, Sir it was an accident," the bushy haired girl chirped.

Snapping his head in her direction, he glared, "If he had been able to follow the simple instructions on the board, it wouldn't have happened," he snarled, making Longbottoms boiled face appear more red, as if he was in competition with Weasley in seeing who could go the reddest.

"But, Sir-"

"SILENCE..." yelled Snape, "seeing as though you are so concerned, you can take them all to the hospital wing, Miss Granger."

"But, Sir we have Herbology next and I can't be late-" looking like she was debating with herself, 'probably trying to decide which was worse, defying a Professor or being late for class,' Rayden snorted to himself.

"Ten points from Gryffindor for interupting me, and if you don't be quiet and do as your told Miss Granger, I will add a detention to that."

Opening and closing her mouth a few times, she settled for just nodding with a quiet "yes Sir."

"The rest of the class, quietly place your named vials on my desk and leave for your next lesson," Snape said, turning and walking back to the front of the class to stand next to his desk.

Braeden took their named vial and placed it on the desk as instructed, going back to Rayden who was waiting for him, they left the room together.

"Twenty points in one lesson, I'm glad it wasn't us," they heard a familiar voice say from behind them on their way to Herbology. Ignoring it they continued walking. "Don't you think?" the voice asked.

Turning at the same time, Rayden rolled his eyes when he saw Malfoy and his two fat cronies walking behind them. "I'm sorry, we thought you had got the message and would've stopped bothering us by now." Braeden said sarcastically.

"Why would I do that?" Malfoy asked, faking innocence.

"I don't know... maybe because were not interested in talking to you, and thought you would've been smart enough to figure that out," Rayden replied, tilting his head to the side slightly, "just a thought," he shrugged.

"Fine, I can see you don't want to talk to me right now..." he said pausing, he looked like it was taking a great effort not to retort, which made Rayden suspect his friendliness had more to do with Malfoy's father more than anything else, "so I'll talk to you later," he finished, walking pass them. His cronies following behind him.

Shaking his head, Rayden turned and continued walking to their next lesson, Braeden walking beside him.

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The week had gone by fairly quickly, Rayden hadn't sent his father and Sirius anymore letters, he decided that unless it was an emergency or he had some important news to tell he would only write to them every weekend, he also hadn't had the chance to speak with his Grandfather's portrait just yet. Malfoy hadn't bothered them for the rest of the week and considering what Rayden had expected it to be like, the week had gone by pretty quietly, making him wonder when Dumbledore would ask to see him. He knew it was only a matter of time.

It was now Friday, Rayden and Braeden where on their way to the last lesson of the day; flying lessons. He not only liked Friday because it was the end of the week but also because they finished an hour earlier than any other day. When they reached the grounds where they would be flying he could see two rows of old broomsticks spread out on the grass facing each other, with the tips of the handles making a small aisle in the middle.

"Welcome, to your first flying lesson, my name is Madam Hooch, and I will be your flying instructor for the year," introduced Madam Hooch, to the gathered Slytherins and Gryffindors. "Please, chose a broomstick and take your place beside it." she instructed, gesturing to the brooms in front of her.

The students obeyed and took thier places next to a broom on the ground. Slytherins took one side whilst the Gryffindors took the other.

"Good, now place your right hand above your broomstick... like so," said Madam Hooch, placing her right arm above her own broom laying next to her, "and say.. UP," as soon as the word left her mouth the broom zoomed up and into her waiting hand.

Rayden placed his hand above his broomstick and said confidently and clearly, "UP," the broom zipping to his own waiting hand on the first try. He smirked at the jealous looks he received from the Gryffindorks in front of him. Braeden he noticed had no trouble either, even if he was a Vampire. But then again, so was he.

Granger's broom rolled around on the grass and Rayden could tell she was not impressed, Longbottom's broom didn't move at all, and Weasley with his lips pressed firmly together in concentration got whacked in the head on his fifth try, the whole class erupted out in laughter.

"Now I want you all to mount your brooms and on my whistle, kick hard off the ground and hover a few feet in the air for a minute keeping the broom firm and steady, then lean forward and come back down," Madam Hooch announced.

Everyone placed their brooms between their legs and waited for the blow of a whistle.

"Right, now on my whistle... three, two-"

Longbottom being the clumsy fool that he was, kicked off the ground before Madam Hooch had even managed to count to one. "AAH," he yelled.

"Come back down here this instant!" Madam Hooch shouted, but Longbottom had lost control of his broom before it had even left the ground and was rising up higher and higher, like a bat out of hell, his pale face watching below him as the ground moved farther and farther away from him, the tip of the broom jerked toward the ground and Longbottom losing his grip with the force of the jerking broomstick slipped forward down the handle of the broom and began free falling to the earth far below him.

Wham - a loud thud and the echo of at least one bone breaking, he crashed down and landed face first on the grass in a splattered pile, his arms and legs at odd angles, Rayden's heart felt like it was trying to jump out of his chest, and he realised it was due to his excitement at the scene rather than worry for the welfare of the boy sprawled out in front of him. His broom had disappeared somewhere in the direction of the Forbidden Forest.

Madam Hooch ran over to where Longbottom had landed, she crouched over him to get a closer look, "broken wrist," she muttered more to herself, searching his legs now, "and a broken ankle - hold onto my arm so I can help you up," he rolled onto his back using his uninjured arm and grabbed her offered hand with his working one. Madam Hooch helped pull him from the ground.

"Those broomsticks are to stay to the ground whilst I go and take this boy to the hospital wing! If any of you take to the sky whilst I'm gone you will be out of Hogwarts before you could hit the grass." she threatened.

A crying Longbottom hopped on one ankle, clutching Madam Hooch as she guided him to the castle. Once they were out of sight and they could no longer hear the sobbing boy the Slytherins burst into laughter, Rayden and Braeden along with them albeit much quieter than the rest of their house-mates.

"Did you see that?" Malfoy asked no-one in particular, laughing to hard to care, "that was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time."

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Weasley yelled, turning redder in the face with every passing second.

"You can't have been out much then!" Granger added.

"Who asked you, Mud-blood?" Malfoy sneered.

"Look!" a black haired Slytherin girl Rayden remembered was named Pansy Parkinson said, pointing to something glinting in the distance.

"It's that stupid Remembrall the idiot got from his Gran!" Malfoy said going over to where it sat on the grass.

"Don't you touch that, Malfoy!" Weasley said, angrily.

"Or what?" Malfoy smirked, bending down and picking the small remembrall up from the ground, "I think I'll put it in a safe place where Longbottom can find, provided he doesn't forget he had a remembrall in the first place," he said climbing on his broomstick he hadn't bothered to put down.

"Give that here, Malfoy," Weasley yelled.

"If you want it, come and get it!" Malfoy said kicking off from the ground and hovering out of reach.

Weasley grabbed his broomstick he had dropped earlier and kicked off from the ground too, ignoring Granger yelling at him to get back down, Malfoy had zoomed off higher into the air when he saw Weasley kick off. Weasley chased Malfoy around for a minute before realising it wasn't working.

"Hey, Weasel!" Malfoy called, drawing all of Weasley's attention, "here... catch." Malfoy said before bringing his arm back and throwing the remembrall through the air with as much force as he could muster without falling off his broom. He made his way back to the ground whilst Weasley chased the remembrall. Not really watching where he was going the remembrall began to descend to the ground and as he was guiding the broom to follow he lost control and came crashing to the ground much the same way as Longbottom before him, the only difference being he still had his broom clutched in his hands.

Weasley hit the ground with a hard thump.

"RONALD WEASLEY!"

Professor McGonagall went running towards him, Snape walking briskly behind her, "I can't believe it-" she stopped seemingly too shocked for words.

"It was their fault!" Weasley stated, pointing between Malfoy, Rayden and Braeden.

"Is he blaming us for what happened also?" Rayden whispered to Braeden.

"It looks that way... but he won't get away with it, I'm sure the Professor's saw what really happened, and if that's the case we can expect Slytherin to lose some points for this too." Braeden whispered back. Rayden nodded in agreement.

"Mr Weasley we saw what happened, so theres no need to tell tails." Snape sneered.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor, for disobeying an order, lying to a Professor, and for your serious lack of judgement." Professor McGonagall stated crossly. She looked to Snape with expectation.

"Mr Malfoy, you will see me at my office for detention on Monday evening after dinner, is that understood?" Snape said turning to the previously smug Slytherin.

He was about to retort before realising what a mistake it would be, "yes, Professor." he answered.

Satisfied, and ignoring the stare of the head of Gryffindor, Snape looked to the rest of the students, "off you go," he ordered, "all of you," he said when he saw several Gryffindors try to linger behind, he turned and followed the students.

"At least we didn't lose any points." Braeden commented quietly as they made their way to the dormitory so they could study before dinner.

"Yeah," Rayden snorted. "I think that's why McGonagall gave Snape the look of death," he chuckled, "she knew she couldn't complain about Malfoy's punishment because there's no rule saying points had to be taken if they were handed detention... such a Slytherin thing to do!" he smirked.

It was now time for dinner, and after spending the afternoon studying in their dormitory, Rayden just wanted to have dinner, wash up then go to bed. They were making their way to the Great Hall when a first year Hufflepuff stopped them in the Entrance Hall, "th-this is for you, it-it's from Professor Dumbledore," he stuttered nervously, handing Rayden a folded piece of parchment, before taking off frightened.

"Great, I was wondering when this would happen." Rayden muttered. He opened the letter and read through it quickly, "he says he wants to see me in his office after dinner." he said, scrunching it up in a balled up fist.

"I can come with you if you want?" Braeden offered.

"Yeah - why not, I doubt Dumbledore would like it, but honestly... who cares!" Rayden stated as he started walking to the Great Hall.

"I just want to get this over with." he said glancing at Dumbledore as he took his seat at the Slytherin table, "and the sooner the better... I guess."

After dinner, Rayden and Braeden made their way up to the old man's office, "Cockroach Cluster's," Rayden said the password from the headmaster's note. The Gargoyle guarding the way behind it jumped aside, allowing access to the staircase. They both stepped onto the spiral stairscase, and with a grinding noise it took them the rest of the way.

When they got to the top of the stairwell, they moved to the door across from them, Rayden grabbed the Gryffin knocker, and tapped it against the thick wooden door.

"Enter."

Rayden shot one more look at Braeden, before opening the large door and entered, Braeden not far behind him. He looked around feigning interest, he really couldn't careless about what gadgets the old fool owned, he just wanted the time to check his mental shields one last time before this conversation. He stopped just before the two seats in front of the large desk.

"Ah, Harry my boy, how nice it is to see you," his eyes flicking over Rayden's shoulder briefly, "I see you brought your friend." he stated, the twinkle in his eyes dimming somewhat if you really took notice.

"Yes Professor," Rayden said turning around and shooting Braeden a quick smirk, "I hope that's okay, I know your note didn't say I could, but it didn't say I couldn't either, and Braeden offered, so I didn't see anything wrong with it." Rayden commented once he turned back around to face the old coot.

"No, of course not," Dumbledore said with a kind smile, "well I won't keep you too long, I just wanted to see how your settling in, and if everything is going alright for you in Slytherin, and to reassure you, that if you wanted to be moved into another house, it can be arranged," he said trying to make eye contact with Rayden, but the boy stubbornly kept his eyes slightly below his own eyes and focused on his nose, "only if you want to of course." he finished, knowing he couldn't say what he really wanted to say in front of the other boy, and he knew Harry had deliberately done this, obviously suspecting his intentions.

"Oh... well thank you Professor, but I'm perfectly happy where I am, but I will keep that in mind, and feel much better knowing that I can turn to you if need be." Rayden smiled, knowing what the old man was doing, and that it wouldn't work on him, although he didn't see anything wrong with faking smiles and talking kindly if the old man wanted to play that game and do the same to him.

Smiling, Dumbledore quickly glanced over to Braeden before looking back at Rayden, "I'm sure you are both tired, after such an eventful day from what I hear, and after such a wonderful dinner, so I won't keep you any longer," Dumbledore said, his twinkling eyes peering over his half moon spectacles, "of you both go." he nodded.

"Yes, Professor, thank you again for your kind words, I'll be sure to remember them." Rayden said before leaving the office with Braeden.

Once they were far enough down the hallway, they both burst out into laughter, "I knew he wouldn't be able to say anything about you being there without making it look suspicious." Rayden said somewhat breathless once they had both gotten themselves under control.

Braeden nodded in agreement, "you know he's only going to send for you again?" Braeden asked, "only next time he will tell you to come alone."

"Yeah I know, but to be honest I don't care, there's nothing he can say or do that will change anything, so he's going to try the nice Grandfatherly act, until he realises that's not working, and after that... well we will just have to wait and see," Rayden answered, "but for now... I'll just enjoy the peace." said Rayden, he would send his father and Sirius their letter over the weekend telling them what happened, not that it was much really, than next week he will begin his tasks and hope Dumbledore will try to help him as expected.

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So, I finally finished this chapter! I'm so sorry it took soooo long! I know it's shorter than the last one but because you had to wait so long for this chapter I thought it would be better to finish it there and post it for everyone who's been waiting, so I hope you like it anyway? And yes there was some similarities to the book, but at least no-one can accuse me of not using canon, lol! Anyway please read and review and tell me what you think... please. At least I asked nicely :) So happy reading and everyone take care.

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