A/N: This is actually the 2nd chapter of this story, please read the first one and refer to the character list if you get confused! Some reviewers at FanFic asked for some help keeping them straight, so I posted the list.
Thanks!!
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A Twist
Marissa Malfoy sat at the Ravenclaw table, chatting with her fourth year friends waiting for the Sorting Hat ceremony to begin.
It was an important one….this one would tell if all of this generation of Malfoy's would be in Ravenclaw or another house.
Her brother Devon had been sorted into it, much to his dismay. He had found Slytherin highly intriguing and loved the stories his father had told about how sneaky and manipulative they were, but the year after Marissa entered he was placed into Ravenclaw. Marissa had watched her father's face at the Head Table and didn't see any signs of happiness or sadness when his first born son was being sorted into a totally different house from his or her mother's. She knew no one could do anything about it…but now Erin, Derek and Dixon were filing up the aisle and a few steps behind them Brian Potter's younger sisters.
The Potter triplets looked just as anxious as the next group of students.
They had a bigger name to live up to…Brian had told Marissa on the train he was praying they got into Gryffindor because he didn't know what his father or mother would do if they were anywhere else. Marissa thought he might have been overreacting. Harry seemed very laid back and Hermione was probably secretly hoping they would be put into Ravenclaw because she was so smart, and the girls seemed to follow in her footsteps in the smarts department.
Marissa smiled reassuringly to Erin who gave her small wave as she walked by with her brothers trailing behind engaged in some kind of quiet conversation.
"That's your sister?" a voice said next to her.
It was Calvin's, the last of his family to go through Hogwarts and a fourth year also.
"Yep, and the boys in front are my brothers," she whispered back.
"Then the girls behind must be the Potter triplets," Calvin said observing the three girls standing at the bottom of the stairs.
Marissa nodded then turned as she heard a noise.
"Pssst," Marissa heard behind her. She spun around and saw James sitting there at the Gryffindor table next to his brother Jeremy. Across from them were Marissa and James' cousins, seventh years Jillian and Cassandra, watching the hat intently to see where everyone would be placed.
"What do you think? More Ravenclaws for your house?"
Marissa shrugged at James and before she could respond, Headmistress McGonagall got up and began her speech about the beginning of the year; welcoming everyone back and smiling at the first years who stood in awe of Hagrid, towering above them.
Within minutes the Sorting Hat began its song and the first years watched apprehensively as the first child, "Allen, Michael" was placed upon the stool and sorted directly into Hufflepuff.
Marissa turned a bit and saw Brian sitting a few seats down from Cassandra. He was watching intently too, he was a fifth year and was hoping that his sisters would be sorted into Gryffindor too.
Since `M' came before `P', McGonagall called "Malfoy, Derek" first and he made his way to the stool, stealing a glace up at his father at the head table. He didn't acknowledge the look but was watching rather intently Marissa noted.
"Ahhh…another Malfoy. It was almost twenty years between Malfoy's when I sorted the Slytherin's first born son into Ravenclaw. Now, I get another three years later," almost every head swiveled towards Professor Malfoy up at the head table. Many students new about Marissa and Devon but Draco was a pretty private person and unless they directly knew Marissa or Devon, they probably didn't even know he had three younger children.
"A lot has changed in that amount of time," the hat continued and heads swiveled back to the blond hair, blue eyed boy on the stool.
" Hmmmm…where will you do what you can do best? I have to say…Ravenclaw!"
Marissa felt Devon relax a bit next to her and they both smiled at Derek who seated himself next to Marissa.
"Malfoy, Dixon."
Again heads swiveled.
"ANOTHER MALFOY?" was the muttering going around the room.
Again the hat commented on him being a Malfoy and this time didn't hesitate in assigning Dixon to Ravenclaw.
Marissa moved down a bit to make room for Dixon who looked positively relieved that he was going to be with his family.
Now, they heard Professor McGonagall call for "Malfoy, Erin" and this time Marissa heard someone in Slytherin, at the table in front of her, mutter, "Triplets? Merlin, I hope that is all!"
And, true to the new generation of Malfoy's Erin made it into Ravenclaw. The table gave the last Malfoy a round of applause and Marissa watched her father, noticing that he still showed no reaction, but sat there calmly.
Marissa was only brought back to the present when she heard "Potter, Kirstin."
Her father had bent his head a few seconds before and said something quickly to Harry who nodded then turned to watch his girls get sorted.
It wasn't a surprise when Laura, Taryn and Kirstin Potter were all sorted into Gryffindor.
Marissa could hear James and Brian applauding loudly behind her and for the rest of the ceremony Marissa let her gaze wander over the room, taking in the four houses and how much older they looked than the first years.
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Marissa Malfoy had shown a very strong penance for Potions and during the first month of her first year at Hogwarts she had successfully completed the end of first year exam, and was given permission to advance to second year. Now, she was the only fourth year who was studying for her OWL Potions exam.
It wasn't hard having her father as a teacher; the first week of her first year was the hardest as she tried to not call him "dad", but "sir" or "Professor" and it was here she sat during her first Potions class of her fourth year. She had Potions with the Hufflepuff's the previous year, but with her taking the OWL level class, Ravenclaw had been paired with Gryffindor…it was the first class she was to have with her lifelong friend, Brian Potter.
She watched her father lay out potion bottles on the front table when she suddenly felt someone rub their hand on her head. Her hand quickly came up and batted whoever it was away, getting ready to smart mouth whoever it was.
Brian slid into the seat across the aisle from her, next to his Gryffindor counterparts.
"What'd you do that for?" Marissa asked narrowing her icy blue eyes at him. He smiled and shrugged.
"Someone has to tease the youngest in the class, might was well be me because I know you can't stay mad at me very long."
"Whatever, Potter," Marissa rolled her eyes and looked away, trying to fight a smile knowing he was right.
She met her father's eyes who had watched the exchange and she gave him a small wave. Giving her a small nod, he turned to the fifth year that was standing near his desk with a scroll of parchment.
"I saw your little brothers just now," Brian said, getting out his books and parchment.
"Yeah? Are they surviving their first day of class?" Marissa shut her bag and turned her attention to him.
"Actually," Brian gave an amused laugh, "they looked totally stunned walking out of DADA…having my father as a teacher did something to them."
"They'll never be the same," Marissa shook her head, jokingly. "Wait til they have my father tomorrow. That'll be a wake up call. I bet they're thinking they'll slide by in here."
Brian snorted and his attention was diverted when a fellow fifth year sat down next to him, asking about Quidditch practice.
Brian was following in his father's and grandfather's footsteps with being Seeker on the team; Marissa was seeker for Ravenclaw and her brother, Devon was a chaser. He had a great arm and a great eye for finding the opening to score goals.
All summer Draco would work with them, helping them find newer and faster moves to cut around players and about half the time, Marissa had beaten Brian in grabbing the snitch. Their first game, against each other, wasn't until early winter…her father was still the head of Slytherin so he didn't usually take sides during the games.
Her mother was still partial to Gryffindor and rooted for them anytime they didn't play Ravenclaw.
Marissa loved being in Ravenclaw. She didn't feel any stress during games as to who here parents were rooting for. They never had to take sides, unless it was Gryffindor and Slytherin and Marissa wasn't involved in that game, so she just enjoyed the comments her parents let fly.
She began doodling on her parchment, waiting for her father to being the lesson. She didn't have very many friends that were fifth years, but someone she knew sat next to her and she smiled and nodded at him. Her father's voice dragged her out of her drawing, which she noticed was the beginnings of the Gryffindor crest. Not really knowing why she decided to draw that, she stuffed it into her bag and began taking down the notes that magically appeared on the board for the "Strengthening Solution" they were to begin making.
Minutes later, Marissa remembered to take off her rings, necklace and put her hair back in a ponytail, not wanting a stray hair to drop into her potion. Who knew what kind of trouble that would cause and she didn't want to be at the end of her father's wrath if she forgot to do something as simple at pull back her long hair. Putting her jewelry in her robe pocket and tucking her hair back, she bent over her cauldron to begin the first step.
For the rest of the hour she worked on her own, the way she preferred it, to concoct the beginning stages of solution. Finally finishing and noticing it was the right color, she corked her flask and walked it down to her father. He looked up at her when she set it down on his desk.
"Are you going to see Erin after this?" he asked her and Marissa thought for a moment.
"I should in the common room. I think we both have the next period free…why?" Marissa asked. Her father didn't usually talk about family during class and she wondered what was wrong.
"Can you tell her to come see me after her class?" their eyes met and Marissa looked at him thoughtfully. He had taught her the beginnings of Legilimency, but she wasn't brave enough to try it without his knowledge, like when he was teaching her.
"I'll tell her, but she's going to hound me as to why," Marissa hedged.
"Good try, Marissa," he gave her a small smile acknowledging her try at being sneaky.
"You'll find out `why' later, I'm sure," he glanced at her flask, handed her a pen and gestured for her to write her name on it.
Marissa gave a sigh, wrote her name quickly and pushed her flask towards him. She spun around heading back to collect her things and head off to the Ravenclaw tower.
Sure enough, Erin was sitting talking to some new friends at the table in the middle of the room.
"Erin, come `ere," Marissa nodded towards the staircase up to the girls dorm.
Erin got up and trotted over.
"Dad wants to see you after your last class."
"Why?"
Marissa shrugged.
"I just had Potions with him and he asked me to relay the message. What do you think it is?"
Erin thought for a moment, her face screwed up with the effort.
"Wellll…I ran into him in the hall this morning when I was walking with a girl from my Transfiguration class and he actually did a double take when he looked at us."
Erin tapped her finger against her mouth as she thought through the chain of events that morning.
"Who were you with?" Marissa asked, trying to imagine their father taken off guard. It didn't happen much; the last time she remembered was when Derek mentioned he thought it would be cool to get his nose pierced like some Muggle he had seen in London.
"A girl from Slytherin…her name was…Amy I think. We were talking about class and walking to Care of Magical Creatures when we ran into dad."
"Huh," Marissa said then shrugged again. "I have no idea why that would bother him…let me know what he says, okay?"
Erin nodded then went back to her friends where they were beginning their first of many homework assignments as Marissa
went up to her room to study in peace.
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It was that evening in the common room, after dinner, when Marissa and Devon were able to corner Erin about what their father wanted.
They moved over to a couch in the corner and Dixon and Derek ignored them, fully engrossed in perusing a catalog from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.
"Well?" Marissa demanded staring into her sister's hazel eyes.
"Well, I went to his classroom after lunch and he asked me how I knew Amy, that girl I was walking with. I told him I met her in class and that we found out we both liked the same books and when he saw us we were talking about those."
"Why would he want to know about her?" Devon asked. He had never seen this first year girl and had no idea who she was and why their father was interested in her.
"Did he say anything else?" Marissa asked at the same time Devon launched a second question at their younger sister,"What do you know about her?"
Erin looked from Devon to Marissa and sighed, giving her head a little shake.
"He asked if I knew her last name and I honestly couldn't remember as I was still trying to get over the fact that our Transfiguration teacher, Professor Adams, transformed from a witch into a tiger and back again when we first walked in. But, later, we were paired up to try and turn a feather into a comb and we started talking. She's in Slytherin, but seems nice and friendly. Kind of quiet."
"Did he say what her last name was?" Devon asked and Erin thought for a minute.
"Yeah, only when I asked him if he knew, because I knew he had a class list."
Erin had a knack for not offering any information that wasn't asked. You had to grill her and ask the right
questions to get what you need. Marissa had found that she was a great secret keeper and was very good at maneuvering
people off course or to even get them to do what she wanted them to do. A very Slytherinish trait their mother had
mentioned more than once.
"Come on Erin…what was it?" Devon asked, a note of exasperation in his voice.
"'Parkinson', I believe. Ring a bell?" Erin looked at her older brother who was screwing up his hazel eyes in concentration, then shook his head.
Marissa thought carefully and knew the name sounded familiar.
"I've heard mum mention that last name before. We'll have to ask her if her father or mother went here, or you can next time you see her. Casual conversation, you know. If dad asked about her, she must be important or something," Marissa mused.
Erin gave her a smile, her thoughts racing as to what could possibly be so interesting with Amy Parkinson.
"I'll see her tomorrow in Potions, so that could be interesting."
They three of them split up and went to different corners of the room to continue their homework, Amy Parkinson forgotten for the moment.
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