Contrarietas Chapter 1

"Hurry up you two, we need to be going," James called up the stairs. There was a loud crashing noise and two children ran down the main staircase. They were identical twins; one was a girl with long black hair and chocolate brown eyes, the other a boy with short black hair that never laid flat, but partially hid a thin lightning bolt scar, and bright green eyes. They were both ten years old, soon to be eleven.

That very morning two letters had arrived in the post. The letters had informed the children that on the 1st of September they would be boarding the Hogwarts Express, and were to become students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Their parents had immediately decided that they would go to Diagon Alley later that day, so that they could purchase the necessary school supplies.

Lily Potter passed the pot of floo powder to her daughter who took it and stepped forward, "But dear, I think Harry should get to go first," James said and Harry smirked and snatched the pot away from Alice,

"Yes, I should definitely go first, you see, I actually have some friends waiting for me, unlike you," he sneered, before stepping into the fire place and leaving.

Alice then took a pinch of floo powder, stepped into the fire place and threw it down exclaiming, "Diagon Alley," before the green flames swallowed her and she disappeared, their parents following close behind.

Alice stepped gracefully out of the fireplace in the Leaky Cauldron, and brushed the soot off her shoulders, before stepping out of the way as her parents came through. Her father immediately got up and started towards the back of the room, nodding at familiar faces as they went. She rolled her eyes at her father's enthusiasm as he led them through the back of the pub, to the little courtyard. He went up a brick wall, next to some rubbish bins, and tapped a combination of bricks, opening up the archway into a bustling street.

They first went into Ollivander's, where they were to find their wands. After much deliberation and the destruction of multiple vases and lamps, Harry was presented with an eleven inch wand, made with holly wood and a phoenix feather core. On her first try Alice was presented with an eleven inch, redwood wand, which also had a phoenix feather core.

When Harry's wand was decided, Ollivander leant in close and Harry shuddered,

"Curious, very curious indeed," he muttered and Alice sighed,

"Excuse me sir, but do you mind telling us what is so curious?" she asked and his large grey eyes flicked towards her momentarily, before returning to look at Harry,

"Well, as you so politely asked Miss Potter, I will indeed tell you. I remember every wand I've ever sold, and the phoenix whose tail feather resides in Harry's wand, gave only one other feather. That feather resides in one particular thirteen and a half inch long, yew wand. That wand was owned by none other than He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. So it is curious that one so evil who brought despair to many was chosen by your brother wand. Indeed, I believe that it is prophesised that you will defeat him with that very wand…" he trailed off.

Of course, thought Alice, of course it would be linked to that bloody prophesy. The prophesy had practically ruined most of Alice's life, her father immediately started to fawn over her brother - Harry could do no wrong in James' eyes - meaning that he always had the upper hand in arguments. Lily, her mother, made an effort to not have a favourite, but Alice could tell that deep down, her mother cared more about her son than his twin sister.

After her parents had paid for the two wands, they made their way to Madame Malkin's, to purchase their new robes. When they entered there was already a tall, thin, pale boy with platinum blonde hair, being measured up. When the magical tape measure rolled up and Madame Malkin went through to the back, he slipped off the black robe used for fitting and went towards the racks of robes in one half of the shop.

When Madame Malkin returned and Harry was led up to be measured, Alice slipped away from her parents and went over to the racks where the blonde boy had gone. She walked up behind him, and tapped his shoulder. He turned to face her and she held out her hand, "Hello, I'm Alice, and you are?" she asked, he shook her proffered hand and smirked,

"Well hello Alice, I'm Draco, Draco Malfoy."

"Ah, so you are one of the Malfoys. A pleasure to meet you. I won't tell you my last name however, as that will lead you to assumptions, and as you don't know me, and I can tell that you are also joining Hogwarts this year, we don't want any assumptions made from family," she replied, and he raised an eyebrow,

"Well, congratulations on working out that I too am going to Hogwarts, and I won't make assumptions as you clearly haven't on finding out my name. I hope to meet you on the train, Miss…" he said, as James cut in,

"Alice! Come here this instance!" he called.

Draco glanced at the hateful look on her face as he called her name, "… Potter," he finished, sneering slightly, despite the way that Alice's eyes were full of hate as she made her way to be fitted.

He received his robes from an assistant, and threw them some galleons, telling them to 'keep the change' as he sauntered out. But his thoughts were filled with the girl, Alice Potter, who seemed not to like her own family, how… strange.

Alice and her family finally left the shop, after Harry had got the extra robes that he had demanded. They crossed the street and entered Eeylops Owl Emporium, where Harry immediately got into an argument with Lily about getting a huge eagle owl. After wandering around the shop for about five minutes, her eye was caught by a sleek black cat, with amber eyes that seemed to shine in the dim light. She smiled and put a hand through the bars of the cage and stroked him carefully, the cat stood up and purred loudly, rubbing his fur up against the bars as he stretched.

When she went back to the counter carrying the cage, she found that Harry had finally settled on a beautiful snowy owl. Harry let their parents pay for the owl, but Alice blatantly refused and paid for the cat herself. When they left the shop and were sitting in the Leaky Cauldron, Harry turned to her, "So, Alice, what are you naming your cat, I've named my owl Hedwig, she's beautiful, isn't she. The best owl money can buy" he boasted, petting her and sneaking her some treats.

"I've named him Vladimir, and also you really need to stop feeding Hedwig or she will be too fat to fly by the time we go to Hogwarts," she replied stroking the cat as he wrapped himself around her ankles.

The four Potters side-along apparated to the station and quickly slipped onto platform nine and three quarters. The breath caught in the throats of the twins at the site of the huge scarlet engine, and their parents had to guide them through the throng of families on the platform to the train where they took their luggage said their goodbyes before dragging their stuff towards an empty compartment.

Harry put his luggage in the overhead rack and kept Hedwig in her cage on the seat next to him. Alice put her own stuff in the luggage rack as well and took out Vladimir, letting him curl up next to her on the seat. Ten minutes later, a boy with red hair and lots of freckles, appeared at the compartment door. "Er, hi, can I join you two, everywhere else is full" Harry nodded and gestured to the empty seats. "Hi, I'm Ron, Ron Weasley," he said, taking a seat next to Harry, glaring at the cat sleeping on the other seat.

"I'm Alice, and there's no need to worry about Vlad here, he has a wonderful temperament," she said and Ron turned to Harry,

"And you are?" he asked Harry and Alice laughed.

"I'm Harry, Harry Potter, nice to meet you Ron," Ron's jaw dropped and Alice started laughing again. The train had started moving by now and five minutes later Draco walked in,

"Ah there you are Alice, I was wondering when I would see you," he said smiling, before turning to Harry, "So, you must be the famous Harry Potter, I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy," Ron snorted with laughter and Draco turned, "Think my names funny do you? No need to ask yours; red hair, freckles and hand-me-down robes, you must be a Weasley" he sneered, and Ron's ears went bright red as he blushed. As he went to leave, he turned to Alice, "Are you joining us?" he asked,

"No, she is not joining -" Harry started, but Alice cut him off, by standing and picking up Vladimir and stashing his carrier along with her trunk,

"I'll pick my stuff up later," she interjected, before turning and leaving a shocked looking Ron and Harry alone in the compartment.

Alice ended up sitting in Draco's compartment with five other people, who were introduced as Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass. She was sitting between Daphne and Draco and Vladimir was curled up on her lap. "What's your cat called?" Daphne asked

"Vladimir, but I just call him Vlad, he is far better than that stupid owl that Harry got," she smiled

"Harry?" Daphne inquired

"Of course, you didn't know, I am the unfortunate twin sister of the marvellous Harry Potter" Alice laughed cynically

Daphne looked surprised and Draco looked up from the letter he was writing, "Still having family issues?" he asked

"Yeah, my wonderful Dad, seems to have forgotten his daughter exists, and my mum favours my brother. Also, he will definitely be a favourite with some teachers and Professor Dumbledore. My parents were 'model Gryffindors' and so sometimes have teachers from Hogwarts round, it's sickening to watch," she said

"How unfortunate, but at least Snape won't like him. So what do you think of our wonderful headmaster?" Draco asked

"I feel like he is very manipulative, he also has his favourites and makes sure that they do well," Alice sighed. They all agreed, and soon it was starting to get dark so the three girls left to go get changed.

Alice was forced to split from her new found friends as the train pulled in, making her way to Harry's carriage and taking her own stuff, before heading onto the platform. On the platform, she followed the calls of a huge man to where the other first years were all standing, and from there they made their way to a fleet of boats. Once everyone was in a boat, they set off, with the huge man in a boat by himself at the very front. It was a clear night and so as they rounded the corner the view of Hogwarts was clear and spectacular, the outline of the castle was a faint line, and each window was a pinprick of light in the dark sky.

Once the boats stopped they entered the castle where Professor McGonagall made them wait in the entrance hall, before calling them in. The great hall was magnificent, illuminated by hundreds of floating candles, while the ceiling far above was enchanted to mirror the night sky. There were huge windows at the end of the hall, in front of which was a long table, that seated all of the teachers. There, in front of everyone, was a rickety old stool, with a battered hat placed on top.

After the sorting hat had sung its song, McGonagall took out a long scroll of parchment and started to read off names

"Abbot, Hannah," she called and the sorting began as Hannah was sorted into Hufflepuff. The sorting continued with Daphne, Crabbe and Goyle being sorted into Slytherin. After Pansy was sorted, at the next name silence fell

"Potter, Alice," the sister of the Boy Who Lived stepped up and sat down. The hat was placed on her head and she could hear a voice.

'Hmm, Alice Potter, where should I put you, now the rest of your family have been Gryffindors, but you seem different, you have courage and intelligence, but I know there are lots of distinctly Slytherin qualities within. Hmm, better be'," Slytherin!" the last part was shouted out to the rest of the hall, and Alice removed the hat and made her way to the Slytherin table, where she took a seat next to Draco, who whispered congratulations in her ear as the hall fell silent for Harry's sorting.

It was no surprise when he was sorted into Gryffindor, but they still made a huge fuss, clapping and cheering and some idiots even shouting 'we got Potter'. Once the sorting was finished and McGonagall had removed the stool and hat, the headmaster stood and read some announcements, before the feast started.

The feast was amazing, there was food everywhere and it was all so good. On most of the other tables, the students were eating like there was no tomorrow, especially Ron, Alice had noticed that he had a large pile of chicken leg bones and was stuffing roast potatoes in his mouth, and spitting bits of them everywhere as he attempted to speak. However on the Slytherin table, the majority of students were strict purebloods and so had been brought up having etiquette lessons, which meant that they had more restraint while eating and had far superior table manners.

At the end of the feast, the prefects led their different house first years to the dormitories. The Slytherins left the other houses at the main marble staircase, and went down into the dungeons. They came up to a patch of wall, and the prefect stopped, "This is the entrance to the Slytherin common room, the password is Serpent at the moment, it changes about once a month, so always make sure to check what the password is, it will usually be up on the noticeboard. Now, we in Slytherin, pride ourselves on the fact that no one from any other house has been in our common room for fifty years, we wish to continue that, so if you have any friends from other houses, you can meet them outside or in their own common rooms," with that he said the password and the patch of wall swung open, then he lead them through.

The inside of the common room was amazing, the walls were green, but not a garish green, with silver at the top and bottom. The lights were giving off a dim green light, and even the fire in the grand fireplace was green. The furniture was mostly antique, but there were some armchairs and sofas round the fire. There were windows, but they looked out into the Black Lake. Occasionally a grindylow would float past.

"So, this is your common room. Over there are the doors to the dormitories, they are split into girls and boys, there are only four people to a room, you can go between other dorms, but once it is lights out, you must be in your own dormitory or in the common room. Now, you are Slytherins, we have some rules unlike the undignified rabble that are in the other houses, for one thing, you must always have your homework in on time, and always do your best. Some advice here, before tomorrow, you should read through your potions book. As you know, Professor Snape is our head of house and he likes perfection, so know your answers to things. And in class always read your instructions more than once. Now, in the mornings, you are expected to be down at breakfast at 8 o'clock or earlier. You must always be very smartly dressed. Also, always be on time for your lessons, now off to bed, you will find that your belongings are already in your dormitories, if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask any of your prefects for help." And with that, they made their way off to the dormitories, Alice was sharing with Daphne, Pansy and one other girl, but decided that she would exchange names in the morning. So she went and got ready for bed, falling asleep quickly.

A/N: Thank you for reading the first chapter of my new story. Please do leave a review, follow and favourite

This has now been slightly edited if you have read this before, if not well this doesn't matter to you. This one is only minor edits fixing grammar and such, as well as one tiny edit that will be explained later on in the story, but it needed to be done in order for the story to work later on.