AN: Yes this is an OC story, yes it will be centered around my OC, yes there is a better reason for her joining the marauders than I want her to, no she will not be a central character in Harry Potter's story, yes she will be part of his story, yes it will go that long, yes some things will change due to her presence because I think it's pretty boring to write the same plot as the books but most of the important stuff will still happen. For instance, SPOILER James and Lily still die because that is absolutely necessary for the storyline. Also, if I ever save someone from dying, expect there to be consequences or at least a plausible reason set in motion by a previous changed event in-story.

This starts in her first year and on, but first year is boring so I'll only have two or three chapters on it. Also, starting in second year, there will be chapters that focus on the marauders, and maybe some other characters like Lily, Frank, Snape, etc if I'm feeling particularly willing to share the spotlight. And most of the important story-building stuff happens in the last years of Hogwarts and after, so that'll probably be the majority of the story.

A little blond girl, she couldn't have been more than eleven years old, looked around the station nervously. This was her first year; how to get onto the platform again? Oh, run through a wall. Yes, her dad was magic, but she didn't think he was crazy!

"Serena, don't worry. We'll be right behind you." Her mother, a tall brunette, smiled in reassurance. She smiled wanly back; she couldn't find the gumption to be excited yet. She hadn't had a good night's sleep for a while.

"Alright…" She said slowly, starting to shuffle forward. Intuitively, she knew this wouldn't work. But maybe the wall could sense fear… yes, it could sense fear and wouldn't let anyone that was nervous through. No, plenty of first years were nervous. But then how could some muggles get onto the platform and some not? Maybe it worked on belief? Then could she not get in? Wait, that didn't make sense either, seeing as she had just passed through without a problem… Anything magic can come through, and only Muggles who know? But how would the wall know-

"Serena, you're going to miss the train!" Her dad's laughing finally broke through her mental debate and she blinked in confusion for a couple moments before turning and hugging them. She resolved to let the magic doorway issue drop; she could go on about it forever.

"I'll miss you." She said quietly as they hugged her back.

"We will too, honey." Her dad smiled.

"Take care, and send us a lot of letters." Her mom added, tears pricking at her eyes as she hugged Serena closer to her.

"Mom, I need to get on the train." She said quietly.

"Oh, right." She said sheepishly, letting Serena go.

"I'll send a letter at least once a week." She smiled as she grabbed her trolley and headed towards the train.

"Excuse me, may I sit here?" Serena asked a little while later, opening the door to a compartment. Inside were three girls, two with brown hair and one with black.

"Oh, of course," smiled one of the brunettes. "I'm Alice."

"I'm Grace." Smiled the black haired one.

"Abigail." The second brunette said, turning her nose up snobbily.

"Serena Wendal. It's nice to meet you." She said quietly as she sat in the seat closest to the door.

"We were just talking about what houses we wanted to be in, Serena. Do you have a preference?" Alice asked with a smile. It was obvious to Serena that Alice was the nice, outgoing, friend-making one; Abigail was probably a pure blood, as she just had that better-than-you vibe; and Grace was nice, but shy.

Serena scolded herself, stopping that train of thought. She needed to stop analyzing everyone she met; that was one reason she had no friends.

"Well my father was in Gryffindor, but I think I would rather be in Ravenclaw or maybe Hufflepuff. That way I wouldn't have to be in the center of house rivalry." She said after a moment.

"I want to be in Gryffindor," Alice stated with a smile, "But Ravenclaw sounds good too."

"Hufflepuff sounds nice…" Grace said quietly, fiddling with the necklace that she was wearing. Abigail snorted as she said that.

"Hufflepuff is a house for duffers. The only place worth going is Gryffindor." Alice and Serena frowned at her and Grace looked at her lap, Serena could swear there were tears in the corner of her eyes.

"Hufflepuff is where loyal and hard working people go, actually. All Gryffindor has for qualifications is that they need to be brave; they could be brain dead and mean and still get in." Serena stated, pulling out a book and starting to read so she wouldn't have to look at whatever look she was sure Abigail was giving her at the moment. She flinched when her book was slapped to the ground as Abigail stalked out of the compartment and then just stared at her lap.

She already had an enemy. This was just her luck; her facts had gotten her in trouble once again, and she could already tell Abigail was going to be popular. All of Abigail's friends would hate her too. That was just wonderful. At least no one thought she was crazy yet, she just had to be more careful. But maybe everyone in the magical world could do that- no. Her father had been too surprised. He said he had never seen anything like it before.

"Thank you." The quiet voice snapped Serena out of her thoughts once more; she needed to get used to being around people. The voice was Grace, who was standing in front of her and offering her the fallen book: Hogwarts a History. It was a pretty interesting book, but the whole thing seemed a little too good to be true. Serena suspected that whoever wrote it only put in the better parts.

Wait- she was doing it again.

"Thank you." She said quietly, taking the book and not acknowledging the expression of gratitude that Grace had given her. She didn't know how to respond, and she didn't want to come off sounding like a big-headed prick so she just pretended not to hear. Pretty much the rest of the train ride was spent with Alice and Grace talking to each other, occasionally pulling Serena into the conversation even though she was perfectly content with just continuing to read. At the point when the trolley lady came and they each bought a few things; Serena only bought chocolate frogs and a few packs of Bertie Botts. She had made it her mission to memorize what beans were what color.

When the train finally stopped, Serena had gotten through the whole of Hogwarts a History and started on the first year transfiguration book. She filed out of the train with everyone else, sticking with Grace and Alice for the simple fact that they were the only ones she knew wouldn't be hostile to her.

"FIRS' YEARS OV'R HERE!" Bellowed a gigantic voice. Alice and Grace looked at each other with wide eyes, but Serena just stared at the giant man. Her father had told her about him. That was Hagrid, the grounds keeper. He had been expelled from school for some reason, but Dumbledore had let him work on the grounds instead of sending him away. That made Serena think Dumbledore thought Hagrid was innocent (that was a mouthful).

"Come on Serena!" Alice said, yanking on her hand to get her moving and interrupting her train of thought.

"Coming." She said, walking with the two other girls towards the giant man. Giant was a good word to describe him. He wasn't like an actual giant, she had read about them, and he was much too small to be one. Of course he was also much too large to be a normal human. Could he be a half-giant? Or maybe not exactly half, but just have some giant in his ancestry. How would that work, if a human and a giant got married? It's like a mini Chihuahua and a-

"FOUR TO A BOAT!"

It was probably good that train of thought was stopped.

"Come on, Serena. There's one right here." Grace said, pulling Serena slightly forward as Alice led the way.

"Hey. I'm Alice. This is Grace, and that's Serena. What's your name?" Alice said to the lone boy in the boat.

"Matt." The boy said shortly, hands clasped so tightly on his robes that his knuckles were white. He was scared. Grace and Alice saw it too, but they didn't seem scared. Should she be scared? She wasn't really; maybe she would be when it came to the sorting. There were lots of stories about the sorting, but she didn't really believe any of them. One was that each of them had to fight a troll, which would take way too long first of all, and second, how would that determine houses? If they were going by stereotypes, then it would be pretty easy. Hufflepuffs would cower, Slytherins would try to sacrifice someone else (probably a Gryffindor), Ravenclaws would somehow magically know what spell to use, and Gryffindors would charge head-on at it. But that really wouldn't prove anything, and her dad always insisted that (despite being placed in Gryffindor) he would have high-tailed it if he ever met a troll in first year.

"Serena, you need to stop zoning out like that, we're already at the castle!" Alice chided, pulling Serena to her feet and out of the boat. "You're name's too long. I'm gonna call you Sear, is that alright?"

"Sear?" Serena asked, but before she could inquire further, a stern-looking woman with grey hair pulled into a tight bun spoke up.

"Thank you Hagrid, I will take them from here. I am Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house."

Serena glanced around and realized that she had once again zoned out, and they were now standing in front of a set of large double doors that probably led to the dining room.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses 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.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." After saying that, her eyes lingered specifically over four boys. Two had black hair, one short one long, who looked like they had been rough-housing. The one with sandy blond hair looked generally shabby, and the last one was just a mess.

"I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly."

As soon as she left, the room exploded with noise.

So much for quiet.

A scream came from the back of the group, causing all first years to turn and gasp at the semi-clear figures that were floating through the walls.

"First years?" Inquired one of them, a guy in with a high ruffled collar.

"That's right!" One of the boys, the short-black-haired one with glasses, spoke up with a grin.

He, the ghost, looked to be late 1400's to early 1500's. Maybe he was Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, the Gryffindor ghost; he had been mentioned in Hogwarts: A History. There hadn't been any pictures, but it did tell the story of why he was beheaded, and how he was beheaded improperly. The one next to him was the Fat Friar because, while she would never give the reasoning aloud, he was a fat friar. He had been executed by his church, probably the Roman Catholic one, for little magic tricks like pulling rabbits out of the communal cup.

"Get moving!" A guy behind Serena hissed, shouldering past her.

"Right. Sorry." Serena muttered, walking forward with the crowd. As she entered the room she saw all the other first years looking around in awe at everything, but her attentions were captured by the older student's staring. She felt like she was in a fish bowl and all of the people already at tables were looking in, right at her. It was completely illogical of course, no one cared where she went or even that she was here except maybe Grace and Alice.

But then when the crowd of first years came to a halt all eyes turned to the front and center of the hall. At first it looked like they were staring at Professor Dumbledore (Serena's father had shown him to her off of the card in his chocolate frog card collection), but then McGonagall picked up something ratty and large, it was a greyish color that seemed to have been black at some point. She placed the thing on a stool about ten feet in front of where Dumbledore was sitting, and all of the older student's eyes followed.

Now that it was sat by itself, Serena could tell that it was a hat. A wizard's hat if you were going by its size, but it could have been a witch's too she supposed. Maybe she was a half giant- no, more like a quarter. Or maybe she had a permanent engorgeo charm on her head! Or maybe it was to accommodate some outlandish hairstyle! Or maybe-

Before she could get in too deep, the hat started moving. A tear opened up in the bottom, almost looking like a mouth, and it seemed to puff up for a moment, almost as if it were getting ready to speak.

"It was long ago it seems
when I was given the chore
to sort each student into a house
where their strengths would soar!"

Or sing. Singing worked too.

"First of all is Gryffindor
where go the brave and bold
when some of them believe they're right
no matter what they're told.

"The next house is Slytherin
for the cunning and ambitious
when allies there's no better,
but as enemies can be vicious!

"Ravenclaw is the house for
curious and sharp of mind
however due to knowledge
some can be quite blind.

"The fourth house is Hufflepuff
where they are just and loyal
though for their reputation
some let their talent's spoil."

After this, the song the ratty hat at the front of the hall was singing took such a turn Serena could almost swear she got whiplash.

"Hard times are looming over us
and in order to survive
there is only one solution
that I can contrive.

"These four houses in this hall
that now I sit before
though you may not like it
I simply must implore:

"Set aside your differences
because unless we band
into one through this war
we will not withstand."

The whole hall was silent for a moment. By the way everyone was staring at the hat, Serena guessed that it didn't usually spread such tidings of doom and gloom. People only started clapping when Dumbledore started, and even then it was halting and hesitant. When the clapping stopped, a few more moments of awkwardness passed before McGonagall cleared her throat.

"When I call your name come up and sit on the stool, and the sorting hat will place you in a house." She stated loudly, before calling "Agmunder, Janus" to the hat. A small, pale boy with brown hair made his way up and the sorting hat only needed about two seconds to yell out "Slytherin!"

"Black, Sirius!" The boy with long black hair walked towards the stool with what seemed to be as much confidence as the first, but by the tight smile and the worried eyes Serena could say with confidence that he was worried. The hat was dropped over his head, and it took a lot longer than the first time. Sirius even seemed to start arguing with the hat in a hushed whisper, and finally it yelled out "GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat was taken off his head and he gave the crowd of first years a thumbs up, or rather he gave the messy-haired boy one. But there was silence in the hall for several shocked moments.

A Black? Everyone knew about the Blacks, even muggle-borns had been warned about them upon arrival. A Black in Gryffindor? It just wasn't possible. They had been in Slytherin for generations. No one could even begin to remember when a Black was in any other house, much less Gryffindor.

But then, out of the crowd of first years, one not-so-small voice rose up. It was the messy-haired bloke that the Black had been hanging out with.

"Yeah, go Gryffindor!" He yelled out, clapping.

How ironic it would be if he ended up sorted somewhere else.

Then the Gryffindors seemed to catch on that what they were supposed to be doing, and one person from the actual table started clapping. It was infectious apparently, and soon the whole house was clapping and shouting and some were even standing. Sirius made his way over with a huge grin, and got probably more congratulations than anyone would for the rest of the night.

After that, "Botro, Elizabeth" was sorted into Hufflepuff and "Carthrow, Carter" was sent to Ravenclaw.

It was interesting, how the different tables had, on a whole, different ways to greet house members. Slytherins would just nod or shake hands mostly, sometimes muttering congratulations under their breath. Ravenclaw would do similarly, except with little smiles. Hufflepuff would greet warmly, but not overwhelmingly. Then there was Gryffindor, who seemed to view every new housemate as a personal victory over the Slytherins, and showed their appreciation through shouting and hearty slaps on the back.

A shout of "GRYFFINDOR," brought Serena out of her thoughts once more, and she refocused in time to see Evans, Lily taking the hat off of her head and setting it down gently on the stool. As she headed somewhat reluctantly over to the screaming Gryffindors (they were less overenthusiastic than before but not much), she sent an apologetic look to someone in the crowd of first years still standing.

It must have been that greasy-haired kid who was staring after Lily in somewhat of a heartbroken manner.

"Fentin, Jason" was sent to Ravenclaw, followed almost immediately by "Greydon, Matt" whom Serena clapped for. He looked like he almost died going up to that hat; he needed the support. And he seemed like a nice enough person when she sat in the boat with him.

"Hale, Grace" was up next, and she needed a bit of a shove from Alice to get her legs working. Luckily, when she got up there she didn't need to stay long because as soon as the hat touched her head it yelled "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Kappa, Adrian" was sent to the same house not long after, dragging with him his camera and using it to snap pictures of all the house tables as he went.

"Lupin, Remus" a sandy-haired boy with light scarring all over his visible skin made his way up to the stool. When the hat was placed on his head, his pale complexion went even paler after a moment. Perhaps the hat had said something that scared him. It was over before long, and the hat placed him in "Gryffindor!"

"Moxly, Abigale" was next, and she was too sorted into Gryffindor, giving the rest of the hall a superior look as she sauntered to her favorite house.

"Mulciber, Rufus" and "Othar, Ramsus" were both sorted into Slytherin.

"Pettigrew, Peter" was called up, and the messy-haired boy had to push him forward to get him going. He was small and kind of mousy, and skittered up the stairs as if something was chasing him. Once the hat was on his head, it took nearly a minute to sort him. It looked as if he (like Sirius had done) was talking to the hat. Except instead of arguing like Sirius, Peter looked to be begging. Eventually he was sorted into Gryffindor, though the hat didn't sound as keen on his decision as he had with the other students.

"Potter, James", the messy-haired kid, was up next. He swaggered up to the hat with utmost confidence, and was apparently rewarded when only a moment after the hat touched his head it pronounced him Gryffindor.

"Reyna, Alice" was called, and she gave Serena a huge grin before proceeding a little less confidentially to the stool. After about ten seconds, Alice got her wish of being in Gryffindor.

"Snape, Severus" was next. He was the greasy-haired one who had looked after Lily so sadly when she was sorted into Gryffindor. Lily looked hopeful, but Severus looked resigned when the hat was placed on his head. It seemed he had been expecting to be placed in Slytherin, but when he was he looked torn between happiness at being in his preferred house and sadness at being separated from his friend.

"Stebbens, Rosco" was sorted into Ravenclaw.

Now there were only five left, all girls.

7 Gryffindors, 3 Hufflepuffs, 4 Ravenclaws, and 4 Slytherins so far.

"Tally, Roxanne" and "Tally, Tiffany" (twins) were both sorted into Hufflepuff.

7 Gryffindors, 5 Hufflepuffs, 4 Ravenclaws, and 4 Slytherins so far.

Three to go.

"Umber, Rachel" was sorted to Slytherin.

7 Gryffindors, 5 Hufflepuffs, 4 Ravenclaws, and 5 Slytherins so far.

"Voltare, Hanna".

When the second-to-last name was called, Serena's heart almost stopped. Last. She was the last one. She knew it was a possibility, a probability even, but she didn't want to go last.

As Hanna was sent to Hufflepuff, her name was called.

"Wendal, Serena."

No. No, no, no, she can't be last. But here she was, and everyone really was staring at her this time. She couldn't move her legs. Her face was pale, her hands were shaking, what was the probability of dying of terror? Could one die of sheer terror? She could look it up, but she didn't think so. If one could die of fright alone she would be dead right now.

Her legs couldn't move, everyone was staring, and since she was last there was no one left to give her a push.

"Go on, you'll be fine." There was a whisper, somewhere off to her left. What house was that again? Who had whispered? But she couldn't look. Her head wouldn't turn, for one, but she had also been standing here much too long. How long had it been? It felt like hours, but that couldn't be true at all. Later she would find that it had only been a couple of seconds.

She started her way to the stool, legs feeling like lead that had to be dragged along and her stomach turning sickeningly. She could feel them. The eyes, the gazes, all looking at her. Maybe she had scopophobia-fear of being stared at. It must be a mild case though; she wasn't totally freaking out.

There was a chuckle from, it seemed, inside her own head. She jerked back a little in surprise, but luckily did not fall off of the stool she didn't remember sitting down on.

You don't have scopophobia. It's normal to feel like that.

Serena tried to look around, but realized everything was dark. The only light was from around her chin, because that's how far the hat had fallen.

Whoever had worn this hat did have a very large head, just like she had suspected before.

Yes, Gryffindor had a very large head. Though I do quite enjoy your other theories.

A slight blush tinted her cheeks. She didn't really like the idea of someone looking into her mind, she had too many ideas, too many rambling trains of thought. It was just embarrassing, but at least the sorting hat seemed nice about it.

Now about your house, I see you don't want to go to Slytherin or Gryffindor.

Immediately, Serena felt bad. The hat's creator had been the Gryffindor; what if it was insulting when someone didn't want to be placed in his house?

"It's not that I don't think they're both very good houses," she said quietly, trying to explain herself, but the hat only laughed.

Yes, I know, I can see into your mind if you recall. You just don't want to be part of a house rivalry, and that is perfectly acceptable. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are much more suited to you anyway.

It struck Serena as odd that he would use "they are suited to you" rather than "you are suited to them", like Ollivander had when he told her about how the wand chooses the wizard, except it seemed that maybe the wizard chose the house. She was the wand in this equation.

Interesting that you should make that connection. You do have quite the entertaining mind- connections everywhere. Nothing is just left floating. Good trait for a Ravenclaw.

Wait, did sentient hats even have genders?

Yes, definitely a Ravenclaw.

"Ravenclaw!"

The hat was pulled off of her head and she had to close her eyes for a moment against the light as she stood up. Making her way over to the blue and bronze table, she saw that Matt had scooted over so that she could sit next to him, and gave a grateful smile as she seated herself.

She received many smiles, a few "congratulations", some "welcome to Ravenclaw"s, and one "I hope you're good at riddles", before Dumbledore stood.

"Before we eat, I have a few words to say: ballyhoo, dither, hob nob, duff. Now, dig in!"

Serena turned back to the table and blinked. The previously empty plates were now brimming with food. Of course, her father had told her about this and she had read about it in some of her books, but seeing it actually happen was something else entirely.

"How'd that happen?" Matt asked from beside her, looking at the food with trepidation. He poked a particularly juicy-looking pear with the tip of his wand.

She knew, of course, that it was house elf magic. But, seeing as she had already made one very popular girl her enemy today and Ravenclaws were notorious for each wanting to be the smartest person in the room, she decided she better let someone else enlighten her muggle-born acquaintance.

"Magic," an older boy said in a mystic type voice as he wiggled his fingers. Serena frowned, not liking that Matt was being made fun of for a simple question. If this was how Ravenclaws treated each other it was a miracle that they were still known as the inquisitive house. But before she could open her mouth and probably make another enemy, someone else did it for her.

"Robert, stop being a jerk to the first years." It was a girl sitting Robert's left side, and she smacked him in the back of the head while saying it. She then turned to Matt with a kind smile as Robert pouted. "It's the house elves that work in the kitchens. They make all of the food and then use their magic to send it up here when we're ready. Go on, it's perfectly safe."

Matt, looking a little less suspicious of the food, picked up a piece of chicken and nibbled on it. Almost immediately, his eyes widened.

"This is the best chicken I've ever tasted!" He gasped, earning a round of chuckles from the older students.

Serena stayed silent as she piled food onto her plate. If all went well during her school year, she would have some people to talk to that didn't think she was insane, and she would be able to avoid becoming the center of anything. Not friends, that was a bit too much to just ask for at this point. Maybe next year she could start moving some friendly acquaintances to friends.

Was there a fear of being noticed? Scopophobia was fear of being stared at, and she didn't have that, but she did seem to go through a lot of trouble to stay out of the spotlight. Of course, that was probably just because of-

"What about you Serena?"

What?

Obviously seeing her blank stare, Matt clarified.

"We're talking about blood status. I'm a muggle-born." He looked so proud of himself.

"I'm a half-blood. My mom's a muggle, and my dad was in Gryffindor." She stated, picking at her food. She had never really been a big eater, and her stomach still felt a bit unsettled from the sorting ceremony.

But her father was a half-blood. If a half-blood and a muggle married, wouldn't their kids be quarter bloods? And a pureblood and a half-blood would make a three quarters blood? That's how fractions worked, so why did anyone only say they were muggle-born, half-blood, or pureblood? What if two muggle-borns had a kid? Would the kid still be considered muggle-born? What if a pureblood married a squib from a pureblood family? Is the Squib considered a muggle for all intents and purposes?

The whole blood-system was complete nonsense.

The food was suddenly replaced by a whole boatload of chocolates, pasties, sweets, and cakes. As Serena continued to ponder the blood system, she absentmindedly ate chocolate. It seemed that after that first interruption the Ravenclaws had decided to just let her mind wander, because it was only when Dumbledore spoke that she was aware of her surroundings once more.

"Now that we have all eaten our fill, I have some announcements to make. First of all, to our old students, welcome back! And to our new students, welcome. I would like to inform the new students, and remind some of the older ones," his eyes flashed over to someone in Slytherin, "That the forbidden forest is out of bounds. We are also having a new addition to the grounds that I feel it may be best to avoid: a whomping willow. They are rather temperamental things which don't like being touched."

At this point, a fair amount of people were wondering what exactly a whomping willow was, while of those who knew some were excited and the rest were wondering what on earth possessed Dumbledore to put something so dangerous on the grounds. Only a few people noticed that, during this announcement, Dumbledore's eyes consistently glanced at what seemed to be a certain person in Gryffindor but even those who did notice couldn't tell who it was.

"What's a whomping willow?" Matt asked from beside her.

"It's a huge tree that tries to hit anything that comes too close," the girl who had hit Robert earlier supplied a much simplified explanation to what Serena was thinking.

"The prefects will now show each house to their common room. I wish you all a good year!" Dumbledore concluded, and almost immediately everyone stood up. The hall was filled with noise, excited students chattering, people bumping into one another, and prefects yelling for their houses to gather and follow them. Serena did so without question; she had eaten way too much chocolate for her own good while she wasn't paying attention and she needed to sleep.

As they were led through the halls the two prefects gave a mini history lesson, explaining the historical events behind moving paintings, pointing out some passageways that almost every student knew about, and sharing some interesting facts like how many staircases there were in total. They were also informed about the different ghosts: nearly-headless nick was a nice and helpful one, the fat friar was the same, the grey lady was usually happy to help up students in need but the bloody baron wasn't someone first years should bother. Peeves the poltergeist was about as nice as the bloody baron, Moaning Myrtle was a plain bother. Both should be avoided.

They continued climbing stairs; the Ravenclaw common room was in a tower after all. They were on the fifth floor, Serena near the front of the crowd, when they ascended a spiral staircase and came face-to-wood with a door that had no knob or even keyhole. It was made of beautiful mahogany, and a rather ornate golden eagle knocker was placed just a bit higher than Serena's head. The Prefects stopped.

"Alright everyone, let's see if this batch has what it takes," the girl grinned as she reached out and used the knocker.

"My life can be measured in hours. I serve by being devoured. Thin, I am quick. Fat, I am slow. Wind is my foe," the knocker recited.

"A candle," Serena said immediately. She had always loved riddles, and she was good at them most of the time. However when she started thinking too much she usually found several different interpretations; the first was usually right.

The older students nodded appreciatively at how quickly she had figured out the answer as the door swung open. Behind the door was a large circular room with a dome ceiling, the walls had arched windows around it and bookshelves filled with enough books to fill Serena's bedroom at home. There were blue and bronze silk drapes, a midnight blue carpet, and the ceiling was painted to look like the night sky. In the back of the room there was a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw, founder of Ravenclaw house, in between two staircases that lead up to the dormitories.

"The one on the left is the girls' the one on the right it the boys. Now go to sleep," the prefect boy said as he walked up the right set of stairs. The girl rolled her eyes.

"Feel free to read any books on the shelves, but class starts tomorrow so you might want to go to bed soon. Goodnight!"

Serena went up to her dorm immediately, thinking she would be the only girl. After all, she had only seen five new Ravenclaws and the four that weren't herself were boys. Much to her surprise, there were four beds in the 1st year dorm, each with luggage on it. Apparently she had zoned out more than she thought. There had been a surprisingly small amount of students, and some weird alphabet name skips.

Exactly how many students had she missed being sorted? Come to think of it, she only remembered seeing 23 including herself, and there were probably at least 50 first years. How had she missed this huge gap in her information?

Deciding that it was probably due to stress, she thought it best to get to bed. Rounding the large furnace in the center of the room, definitely for cold winter nights, she peered at the names on the luggage. Before she found hers, however, there was a screech and in the room landed a beautiful black owl.

"Star!" Serena grinned, but to anyone else in the room it would have sounded an awful lot like an owl screeching.

That was what made Serena so strange.

It was one thing to talk to animals, everyone did it sometimes, and another to actually be able to understand them. However, when you magically start speaking their language when you talk to them, it catapults you from "kind of weird" straight to "grab the straightjacket".

"Star Who Shines Brightly in the Sky," the owl corrected, preening.

Not all animals could speak back as well as Star (who chose her own name by the way). It all really depended on the intelligence of the species in general. For example, cats and dolphins were two other types of animals that spoke almost human-like while… say, most fish. They didn't so much use sentences as just say "Food. Hungry. Eat." Then there were dogs, who were pretty articulate. But then they would get excited and only have the brainpower to summon up one word over and over again. Of course there were always exceptions- owls who were mentally impaired. Fish who were certifiable geniuses.

Why, once she had talked to a monkey about the theoretic creation of a plasma injector and fuel core like on star trek. She used to visit him all the time, but he was transferred to a different zoo a few months before she had to leave for Hogwarts.

"Star Who Shines Brightly in the Sky, I missed you!" Serena cooed, seating herself on the bed Star had pegged as hers. It was just to the left of the arched window, which had a large ledge to sit on and, it seemed, no glass. Which was strange, because though Star had just flown right through there certainly looked like there was a window. Plus it would just be ridiculously idiotic to have a hole in a tower of first years.

She would check it out later.

"Do you have food?" Star asked, head cocked to the side.

"No, sorry, I-" The door opened and Serena stopped talking immediately.

"Oh, Hi! You're Serena, right?" Asked the first girl who walked in. She was taller than Serena (most people were, she had always been small for her age), with a bright smile and hair so blond it was almost white. She would probably have been a cheer leader if she had gone to a normal muggle school.

Serena nodded silently as two others followed the first.

"Where's the other owl?" The girl with curly red hair asked mostly to herself, brown eyes darting around the room in search of the missing bird. Serena thanked her lucky stars (Draco, Lyra and Sirius) that having an owl was normal in the wizarding world, and having two in a room didn't raise red flags. That girl seemed like the type that was funny, but had a slightly questionable sense of humor.

The third girl, whose wavy brown hair was almost dark enough to be black, just waved timidly. She was, obviously, the timid nice girl who mellowed out her two friends.

Interesting how three personalities so different were sorted into the same house.

"I'm Rachel, the redhead is Liz, and she's Sydney," the blond introduced as she found her bed and plopped down.

"Hey, why's it that you don't have a cage for your owl?" Liz asked bluntly. Serena supposed Liz was in Ravenclaw for her common sense, Rachel was probably very curious, and Sydney was book smart.

"Star doesn't like cages. She gets really loud if she even thinks you're thinking about putting her in one," Serena grimaced, remembering the very long line of insults that came soaring out of the bird's mouth the first time they had tried that.

"I have an owl too," Rachel said, sifting through her belongings in search of something. "He's a barn owl I named Carpenter because he has this habit of chewing on wood."

"Um, Rachel, we should probably get to sleep," Sydney suggested quietly.

"Mm hm. Yeah, we don't really have time for your pet photos right now. Maybe tomorrow at breakfast or something," Liz agreed, giving Serena an exaggerated eye roll when Rachel gave out a huff of air and pouted.

"Fine," she whined, folding herself into the covers. "But I'm not changing."

"Amen to that," Liz agreed. Despite that, Serena changed into her pajamas before she went to sleep.

AN: First chapter! What do you think of Serena?

Stick with it, and I swear there will be some Marauder action going on. This chapter was mostly to establish Serena's character.