Chapter Text
Ivy Potter couldn’t believe her eyes as she gazed upon Hogwarts castle for the first time. The magnificent building was everything she would have expected from a fairytale, with its high towers and expansive grounds. She swore she had never seen something so beautiful, certainly the Dursleys would have hated it - they hated everything nice.
She sat in the small wooden boat with her brother Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, the latter two being people they had met on the train ride here. Harry and Ron seemed to have become fast friends, and Ivy thought he was nice enough. Hermione on the other hand was bossy, and quite frankly, annoying.
Nothing, however, could ruin Ivy’s mood as they finally stepped foot into the castle, not even the pompous voice of Draco Malfoy spouting some sort of insult to her brother. She was honestly quite impressed that Harry had managed to make an enemy so soon, but considering the blonde haired boy seemed to embody the opposite of everything she and her twin were famous for, she supposed it made sense.
“My brother told me we have to fight a troll,” Ron gulped as Professor McGonagall led them into the expansive dining hall, explaining about the four Hogwarts houses of Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. Ivy had of course read all about them in Hogwarts: A History .
“I hope we have to perform magic, hopefully charms. I’ve already tried out a few from our textbook,” Hermione said proudly to anyone who was listening. Ivy couldn’t really blame her, seeing as she too was extremely proud when she was able to finally do some magic. That was the thing that finally convinced her she was really a witch, and that all of this wasn’t some elaborate dream.
All eyes were on them as they made their way towards the front of the hall, where McGonagall stood behind a small stool atop which a raggedy hat sat.
“I’m going to kill Fred, we don’t have to fight a troll !” Ron exclaimed after the professor explained about the sorting hat.
The witch began calling names out then, Abbot, Hannah… Bones, Susan… Ivy watched with interest as Hermione Granger was sorted into Gryffindor. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be in the same house as the bossy girl. Daphne Greengrass was sorted into Slytherin next. Neville Longbottom, the boy who had lost his toad about eight times already, was also sorted into Gryffindor, and then the blond prat Draco Malfoy was placed into Slytherin, along with a boy named Theodore Nott.
Ivy was well aware of how alphabetization worked, so she knew Harry would be sorted before she was, and she was nervous to see how they would be placed. Her and Harry were quite different people, despite being twins, and she couldn’t help but fear they were going to be in different houses.
“Potter, Harry,” Professor McGonagall called, and the boy who might as well have been a reflection of Ivy herself, sat down on the stool. The room was deathly silent, and Ivy was smart enough to know it was because she and Harry were quite famous - she had learned that quite well from the few extra history books she had picked up at Flourish and Blotts. Unlike with most of the students, whose houses were called out almost immediately as the hat was placed on their heads, Harry’s sorting took a few minutes. She couldn’t help but be curious as to what the hat was looking for in her brother’s mind. Eventually it called out “Gryffindor!” and applause could be heard from most students in the hall.
“Potter, Ivy,” the older witch called. She swallowed hard as she made her way to the front, her hands gripping her robes tightly. As the hat was placed on her head, she silently hoped no one before her had head lice.
“ An interesting mind you have here, Ivy Potter,” the hat whispered to her, or maybe said telepathically, she wasn’t quite sure which, “ Your brother asked to be in Gryffindor, but he would have done well in Slytherin ,” it muttered. Ivy wasn’t aware she could choose her own house, “ Your parents were in Gryffindor, but your grandmother was a Hufflepuff, and your great grandmother was a Slytherin… Yes you remind me much of Dorea Black, you would do very well in Slytherin house - unless you feel the same way as your brother?”
No , Ivy thought, she wanted to be sorted the right way - she trusted the hat’s decision.
“Slytherin!” the hat yelled out. Ivy looked around the room, waiting for applause to come just as they did for her brother, but the room remained silent. Faintly she could hear one of the teachers begin to clap, and eventually some others joined in too as she walked down to the green clad table.
“The girl-who-lived, sorted into Slytherin? My parents will never believe this,”
“Maybe she’ll be the next You-Know-Who?”
“A new Dark Lord?”
Ivy frowned at the poorly concealed whispers - how could being sorted into Slytherin suddenly mean she was destined for evil? Voldemort had killed her parents for God’s sake! She was completely and utterly baffled, and for a moment, she wondered if she should have followed her brother’s example.
The boy she had sat next to nudged her with his elbow, causing her to turn her emerald green eyes to him.
“It’s bloody wicked you’re in Slytherin,” he grinned, “I’m sure we’ll win the house cup with you here - my grandfather reckons you’re a powerful witch, even if you are a half-blood,”
Ivy stared at him, her brow pulling together, “Thanks?” she replied. She was sure there had been a backhanded compliment in there somewhere, and she vaguely remembered something about half-bloods and pure-bloods from her readings, but she couldn’t quite place it.
“I’m Theo by the way,” the dark haired boy held out his hand, “Theo Nott,”
She took his hand tentatively, “Ivy, but I’m sure you know that,” she gave him a half smile.
“Potter in Slytherin? My father’s going to have an aneurysm!” she heard Draco Malfoy exclaim.
If he’s anything like you, I hope he does .
Ivy ignored the blonde boy in favor of Theo, who had begun piling food on his plate as soon as it appeared.
“Why is everyone so surprised I’m in Slytherin?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“Isn’t it obvious?” a blonde girl, who was certainly not her intended target for the question replied, “You’re Ivy Potter, the girl-who-lived . You and your brother took down You-Know-Who as babies,”
She blinked at her, reaching up to touch the lightning burst scar that rested on her forehead, “How does that have anything to do with me being in Slytherin?”
“You-Know-Who was a Slytherin,” Theo added, “Most of his followers were too,”
Ivy frowned, but nodded, she thought she understood now. She remembered Hagrid saying that dark witches and wizards often hailed from Slytherin house, but she hadn’t given it much thought at the time. It couldn’t be possible that all Slytherins were bad though, she reasoned if that was the case they would just start locking up everyone sorted into it. She wasn’t bad, that she knew for certain. She wouldn’t let herself be a bad person, no matter what anyone else thought of her.
Too soon the feast was over, and the first years were gathered by their prefects and led to the common rooms. Ivy followed beside the blonde girl, who she finally remembered was Daphne Greengrass, as they were taken to the girls dorm. It was a large room, with five four-poster beds and a large fireplace. She found her trunk had been placed at the end of one of the beds. The other girls in the room were Millicent Bulstrode, Tracey Davis, and Pansy Parkinson, and their trunks were there as well.
Nobody was really mean to her, but the other girls certainly weren’t extremely friendly to her either. As she watched them, she could tell Daphne and Tracey had been friends for a long time already, and Pansy and Millicent already seemed to dislike each other.
After getting settled for the night, Ivy pulled the curtains on her bed closed, and cast the simple light charm lumos that she had practiced on the train, so that she could read in peace. The chatter of the other girls suddenly made her wish she had learned a silencing charm as well, but she supposed that was something to work towards.
She pulled out her year one potions textbook, one of the books she hadn’t yet gotten around to reading, seeing as she couldn’t really do any of the stuff in it like she could charms and transfiguration, but she figured she had better brush up on it before her first class tomorrow. She read until her eyes refused to stay open any longer, and only then did she put the book away and lay down to sleep.