I think you get the idea by now. If it's Harry Potter or X-Men related, chances are, I don't own it. All characters, settings, and situations not pertaining to them are mine.

Chapter 2

"I have a problem that I cannot explain,

I have no reason why it should've been so plain,

Have no questions but I sure have excuse,

I lack the reason why I should be so confused." -SoaD "Roulette"

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall as she turned to face the first years as they filed into a small, empty chamber. "The start-of-the-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses." (A/N: I will be quoting McGonagall directly from SS, Ch 7, pg. 114)

Avery walked through the door behind all the other first years while McGonagall continued speaking. She felt like a fool. She was a sixth year being treated as a first year, Sorting Ceremony and all. She heaved a sigh as she leaned against the back wall, watching all the other students whisper amongst each other in excitement. She was a head taller than most of them, not to mention five years older.

The train ride, however, was far more annoying. She had hoped to have a compartment to herself, but was soon intruded upon by a flurry of first years with nowhere else to sit. So for the entire trip from Platform 9 3/4 had been one long buzz of teeny voices going on about their magical backgrounds and where they had come from.

"What about you?" one venturous girl had asked her. "What are you?"

"A witch," Avery replied with a roll of her eyes. She kept her gaze cold as she stared out the window at the rolling countryside. No one dared to question her any further.

"The four houses," continued McGonagall, "are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours." (A/N: Cont. quote from pg. 114)

'No different from back home,' Avery mused with a small smile. 'It's like Salem's, only British!' The thought made her smile widen.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." (A/N: Final quote from pg. 114)

With those words said, she left them in the chamber. A great buzz filled the room as the first years talked excitedly amongst each other. Avery, however, was silent. She had read about the four houses of Hogwarts prior to her flight to England during her quest for knowledge. Slytherin was the house she needed to get into in order to find the answers she was looking for. How she was going to accomplish this, she did not know. She had read about the Sorting Ceremony at Hogwarts, and it was different that the one held at Salem's.

Avery frowned. What was she going to do if she wasn't placed in Slytherin? She supposed she could still find the answers she sought, but it would be difficult. People would question her motives, and her secret would be out. She shivered at the thought, recalling her last few days at Salem's. The unwavering stares, the hushed whispers, people parting to make way for her, too afraid to touch her... To be singled out like that was a torture she never wanted to endure for a second time.

Again, she shivered as her thoughts raced like ice through her skull. 'I wonder...' she ventured to think, 'I wonder if the hat will know that I'm a mutant...'

"Oy, Seamus! Look at that!"

Seamus Finnigan looked up from Remembrall Lavender Brown had gotten to help her with her O.W.L.S. exam. The first years were starting to file in for the Sorting Ceremony. "What about them?" he asked, his attention going back to the ball spinning madly in his hands.

"Look at that last one that just came in! She doesn't look like a first year to me."

Again, Seamus lifted his head to see what Dean was talking about. Sure enough, bringing up the rear of the new bunch of first years was definitely not a first year. "What the-" he began. "If she's a first year, my Mum's the Queen of England!"

She was definitely like no other Hogwarts student Dean had ever seen before. Her robes were open, for one thing. Beneath them she wore a red tank top under her white blouse. Her gray Hogwarts skirt was several inches shorter than what most girls (with the exception of Pansy Parkinson) wore. Knee-high lace up boots replaced normal school shoes while a long red ribbon was looped around her neck, tied in a loose bow. The girl's arms were crossed across her chest as she scowled at her surroundings.

Seamus nudged his counterpart while the sorting hat was singing his annual song. "A galleon says she's Slytherin."

Dean laughed. "I bet she's all look. I bet she's a Ravenclaw." They shook hands just as the song finished and the sorting began.

"Andrews, Judy!" Called Professor McGonagall.

A small girl with frizzy braids stepped up to the stool looking as though she were about to cry. The hat was placed on her head and almost immediately shouted, "RAVENCLAW!"

The girl fled to her house table where the Ravenclaws were cheering. "Arden, Jacob!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Begley, Joshua!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The boys watched eagerly as the group of first years became smaller and smaller. One by one, each student was sorted, from Bones to Kelley. Then McGonagall hesitated slightly, which was very uncharacteristic for her. Everyone else in the Great Hall noticed and grew silent. "Kilgore, Jessica!"

Upon hearing her name, Avery's posture straightened as her arms dropped from her chest. Now was the moment of truth. She began walking forward, glaring at anyone who stood in her path. First years began to part in order to make way for the elder girl, many shrinking in her gaze until she reached the stool where McGonagall stood with the sorting hat in hand.

All eyes were on her as a vast whisper filled the Great Hall. Avery took a deep breath and sat on the stool. They knew she was different from the first years. They knew she was different from them. They were judging her, trying to sort her for themselves. She did not like that.

"Good luck," McGonagall whispered as the hat dropped onto Avery's head.

With a plop of the hat, the whispering audience vanished as the hat sank down to her nose. "Well, well," whispered a voice in her ear. "Tabitha Avery's little girl is a little late for Hogwarts, isn't she? Ah, exchange student, yes, yes..."

'Am I in Slytherin?'

"Hmmm, very difficult. There's so much here. Plenty of bravery, no doubt about it... An excellent mind and talent... Talent I have never seen before..."

'I take that after my dad.'

"Determination, yes, and... But where to put you?"

'Please. I need to be in Slytherin.'

"Your mother was a Gryffindor, as was her entire family here at Hogwarts. It would be a blemish to the family name, hmmm?"

'Please! I need to be-'

"You've so much of your mother in you, always wanting to do what's right for those you love. Best to place you, too, in GRYFFINDOR!"

"WHAT?" Avery exclaimed as McGonagall removed the hat from her head, but her voice was lost in the cheering that came from the Gryffindor table.

She sat there for a moment in a daze, not knowing what she would do now.

"You don't look like a first year," Colin Creevey pointed out to the new girl seated across the table from him.

Avery looked up briefly from her roast beef. "I'm not," she replied flatly.

"Then what year are you?"

She looked at the boy quizzically. Why was he so curious about her? "Sixth," she answered.

"You must be an exchange student!" he answered excitedly, drawing attention from nearby students. "Where are you from?"

This boy amused her, so she smirked slightly. "I live in Quebec, but I go to the Salem Witches' Institute in America."

"Oh, wow! Why are you here at Hogwarts?"

The question caught Avery off guard, so she shrugged. "It was an offer I couldn't refuse," she replied, receiving an odd look from Colin and a few snickers from nearby Muggle-borns who caught on to her joke.

After dessert had come and gone, the Headmaster rose from his seat at the High Table. "I have a few words now that we are all fed and watered," began Dumbledore, making his annual speech.

Avery turned around in her seat to get a better look when she spotted a familiar face towards the end of the table. He had rowdy black hair and black eyes that didn't seem to miss anything going on. At the moment, those eyes were glaring at the greasy black haired professor beside him. The greasy professor she didn't recognize, but the rowdy looking man beside him looked much like the sleeping man from the plane.

She turned to Colin. "Who's that professor on the far left? Talking to the greasy looking man?"

Colin stifled a laugh. "That's probably the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. The greasy looking man is Professor Snape, the Potions professor."

"So you don't know who the new professors name?"

"Hang on, Ginny will probably know since she's a prefect." He nudged the redheaded girl beside him. "Hey Gin! Who's the new Dark Arts professor?"

Ginny shrugged. "Professor Logan, but I don't know anything else. He's from some American school."

"He wasn't at Salem's," Avery remarked, almost to herself.

The redhead shook her head. "I don't know anything else about him. He'll probably be gone at the end of the year, anyway. No one has lasted more than a year at that job since Professor Quirrell."

Avery said nothing more for the rest of the meal, keeping her eyes on the new "professor."

"First years, follow me!" bellowed Hermione as the Gryffindors began filing out of the Great Hall.

"If you don't mind Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall said as she approached from behind, "I will lead the Gryffindors this year."

Hermione was stunned as she stared over her shoulder at McGonagall. Never in Hogwarts history had a teacher led a house to their common room at the first of the year. Hermione, of all people, would know. She had, after all, read 'Hogwarts, a History.' "Of-of course, Professor," she stammered as she stepped to one side.

"This way, please," McGonagall called to the confused Gryffindors as they mingled just outside the Great Hall. "Everyone, follow me, please."

"Hey, 'Moine!" came Ron's voice. "What's going on?"

Hermione finally took her eyes from McGonagall to look at him. "I don't know," she said. "This has never happened before!"

Nearby, Harry laughed. "Poor Hermione," he teased. "For once, things didn't go by the book!"

Ron joined in the laughter. "Yeah, looks like you're gonna have to wing it instead."

"Humph," sniffled the Head Girl as she and her companions followed the other Gryffindors, the three bringing up the rear. "It has to be because of that exchange student."

"Exchange student?" Harry and Ron asked in unison.

Hermione nodded. "She's from the American school, the Salem Witch's Institute. Dumbledore didn't say why she was coming in the owl he sent to the Head Boy and Girl, he just said we should make sure she felt at home when she came to Hogwarts."

"She's that freaky looking one that got sorted, wasn't she?" Ron blurted out.

"Ron! She's right up there with Professor McGonagall!"

"He's got a point," Harry remarked. "I mean, she isn't exactly trying to fit in, with that outfit and all."

"And why should she? Just because she's in another country doesn't me she should have to give up her heritage just so she can 'fit in.'"

"You make it sound like she's from the African school or something," Ron quipped.

Hermione opened her mouth to retort, then thought better of it. Instead she turned to Harry. "Remember when you were a first year, Harry? How everyone constantly stared at you because of your scar and whispered behind your back?"

"That's different-" Harry began before he was cut off.

"No, it's not! She feels exactly the same way, being singled out and made the center of attention. She's not a side show, you know!"

Neither boy replied while Harry mumbled some vague retort too low to be understood as they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Password?" she asked Professor McGonagall.

"Elderflower wine," she answered, causing the portrait to swing open and reveal the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.

Once all the students had filed into the common room, McGonagall spoke once more. "These stairs will take you to your respective dormitories. Girls are on one side, boys on the other. Your belongings will be waiting for you. To bed with you now!"

All the Gryffindors began filing up the spiral staircase except for the new girl, which McGonagall held back with a firmly placed hand. Hermione watched from the corner of her eye as McGonagall told the exchange student to wait for everyone else to enter his or her dormitories. Hermione turned to Ron, who was the closest.

"Did you hear that?" she hissed under her breath.

"Hear what?" Ron asked with a yawn.

"Professor McGonagall is going to speak to her privately!"

"So?"

"Why?"

"Go to bed, 'Moine," Ron told her as he turned and began walking up the stairs behind Harry.

"Yeah," Harry chimed in. "No use getting into trouble on the first night... again." With shared laughter, he and Ron disappeared into their dormitories, leaving Hermione to fume with curiosity.

Professor McGonagall turned to face the remaining student. "Given your circumstances," she began, "your stay at Hogwarts will be slightly different from those of your classmates, beginning with your accommodations."

She walked over to the blazing fireplace and tapped the mantle with her wand. "Select a password," she said.

Avery thought for a moment. "Shadowfax."

"Shadowfax?"

"That's my cat's name," she said, and then shrugged. "I usually just call her Shadow, though."

"Indeed," McGonagall replied through her thin lips as she gave the mantle another tap. "Your password is set, then."

"Is there a secret room behind the fireplace or something?"

McGonagall nodded. "It was once Godric Gryffindor's study. It hasn't been used in ages until now. The house elves have already cleaned it up and prepared a room for you. It will be smaller than the other dormitories, however, you will not be sharing it."

Avery nodded. "How else will things be... different?"

"You will continue your normal class schedule from your previous years at Salem's, since most of the classes at Hogwarts are taught the same. However, Defense Against the Dark Arts may be a bit... behind, due to-"

"Yeah, I heard. A new teacher every year, right?"

The professor gave her a stern look. "Indeed," she replied. "Dumbledore has also informed me that for the first week, you will be visited in the afternoons by some teachers from the Xavier School. After that a member of the staff will mentor you in the evenings before dinner. The teachers from the Xavier School will come for one week out of each month to check on your progress. Any questions?"

"Yeah... does this place come with a map? I'm never gonna find my way back downstairs!"

Professor McGonagall smiled faintly. "I'm sure your fellow classmates will be happy to help you find your way. If that is all, I will wish you good night and take my leave."

With that, she walked back to the portrait hole and vanished to the other side. Avery turned back to the fireplace. "Shadowfax," she said to the mantle.

As soon as the word crossed her lips, the fire within the fireplace began to move to one side, revealing a hidden entrance to the room beyond. Avery watched with fascination. This was just like a Muggle movie! She smiled and once the fire was safely out of reach of her robes, Avery stepped through the hole and into her new home.

The room was no different from the other dormitories here in Gryffindor Tower, or back at Salem's for that matter. A four-poster bed sat in the corner with her trunk at the foot of the bed. Against the wall opposite of the bed was a table with a pitcher of water and a basin. A cabinet with a mirror lined the same wall as her bed. It was cozy, not to mention warm (but not hot) due to the fireplace.

Behind her, the fireplace slid back into place as she walked towards the bed. A black cat with bright yellow eyes looked up from the pillow and meowed. "Hey, Shadow," Avery said as she sat down on the bed. "How was your end of the trip?"

The cat began to purr in reply as she began nuzzling her master. Avery laughed and began to pet the feline. "My poor attention starved baby," she cooed. "Don't you ever get enough?"

She continued stroking the cat as she reflected on the night's events. So far, it seemed that everything that could go wrong for her had gone wrong. She sighed. Things were going to be difficult now that she had been sorted into the wrong house. What had the sorting hat been thinking? She NEEDED to be in Slytherin, yet he placed her here. 'Why?' she wondered.

Absent mindedly, she lifted one hand in the direction of the fire and drew forth a small ball of fire. It floated closer to her until it settled into her hand. She moved her fingers, causing the fire to change shapes before her eyes. 'Auntie said my dad could once make mindless creatures with fire,' she remembered. 'She said that's what he did to Sara when he found out she'd betrayed us.'

Slowly, the fire began to change into a small bird of fire. Avery continued to stare at it, entranced by the flames and lost in concentration. 'I want to do that. I want to engulf Lucius in flames when I kill him for what he did. I want to watch him suffer and die for killing my mother.'

Her decision made, she clenched her hand together, smothering the flames in her hand, just as she would smother Lucius's life with her fire.

A/N: Ye guds, that was some insane perspective changing! It was interesting, though, to say the least. So what do you think so far? Is it interesting? Should I change anything? Is everyone in character?

sighs Yeah, it's like 8 a.m. and I've been going at this re-writing business and finishing this chapter since 4:30 a.m. so I think this is as good as it's gonna get unless you spot anything that needs correcting, but I'll only know if you review! (not that I'm begging or anything...)

TH