Ella House here. How are you? Wait… you're staring at my face. Rude! What, never seen a girl with multicolour eyes before? Cue sigh. Of course you haven't. I'm the only one.

Well, here's the story of how I set out on a journey that would change my life – and my family – forever.

It was my first year at Hogwarts. Mum saw me onto to train; Dad was too busy to come. Or care. Whatever you called it.

Anyway, I was on the Hogwarts express, and I saw someone do a double take. Sighing, I focused on one feeling – excitement. Immediately my eyes turned an electric blue, my nose scrunched up like Mum's did when she morphed. I was half–metamorphmagus, which was what I got for having a couldn't care less Father. Ah well, no need to dwell.

"Bye Honey!" my mother yelled as the train started to move. I smiled at her happily.

"I," I declared, "Am going to change that darn school for the better!"

My mother grinned. "I know you will. Good luck!" the train rounded the corner, and I immediately felt guilty for leaving her behind. Nevertheless, I held in my emotions until the corridor cleared, and then slowly morphed my eyes to a deep blue-green. Sorrow and guilt.

Suddenly I heard raised voiced coming from the compartment next to me. Curious, I moved to the door and peered in. two dark-haired boys were arguing furiously, and a small redheaded girl was watching them, resigned.

"…I won't be in Slytherin! I Won't!" the smaller of the boys yelled. The other boy laughed.

"Of course you will, Al, it's obvious!" he smirked, enjoying Al's discomfort. The redhead lifted her head.

"Leave Al alone, James!" she scolded. James grinned cockily.

"Why should I?" James asked. I strode into the room, my eyes the empty grey, almost crystal of contempt.

"Maybe," I told him sarcastically, "Because it's rude and sadistic to do so?"

The redhead nodded and stared at me in awe as James struggled for words. I gave him an icy glare and turned to the young boy named Al. "If you're in Slytherin, then Slytherin will have gained an excellent student," I told him kindly. He broke out in a grin.

"That's exactly what my Dad said to me! And you – you got James to shut up! Not even Mum can accomplish that!"

I grinned back. "It's a gift. Comes of having an idiot father. But your father seems very wise."

James seemed to find his voice, and snorted. "Of course he's wise, he's Harry Potter! Did you think we were stupid? I can tell you're hoping we'll mention you, and then you can tell your friends that you told Harry Potter he's wise!"

I was silent as he finished his rant. Then I asked him, "Who's Harry Potter? If you have nothing nice to say to me, then maybe you should keep your opinion to yourself. Silencio." I drew my wand (Elm, 10 inch, Phoenix feather, hard) and flicked it. James tried to say more, but found that his voice was gone. I smirked, flicking my wand once more and saying the counter charm. "Now leave, please. I would like to get to know these two nice people."

He left hurriedly, and the redhead spoke. "Excuse me, what year are you in?" she sounded timid, afraid. I winked. "First. My name's Ella House, by the way. And you are?"

Her mouth worked, but no sound came out. Al broke in, grinning. "That's Rose Weasley, and I'm Albus Potter." He scrutinised me, before saying, "That was some wicked spell work. And are you a muggleborn?"

I shrugged. "You could say that. My mother's a witch, but she was a muggleborn and I grew up knowing a lot of muggle things. My father," I scowled, "Is a muggle. He's a good-for-nothing muggle, but a muggle nonetheless."

Rose found her voice. "When you scowled, your eyes flashed grey. Why?" she stated simply.

"Oh, I'm half metamorphmagus. My father's genes prevent me from changing anything but my eyes, unless I screw up my face and concentrate really hard. And I often find it hurts to do changes to my height. So my eyes change constantly unless I concentrate, and my hair changes when I concentrate. Oh, and eye change is according to mood. Oh, and when i'm really angry my hair turns red too."

Rose nodded, captivated. "And your spell! We don't learn silencio until third year!"

I was taken aback. "Really? I dug out my mother's old textbooks and I found that it was easy!"

"You'll be in Ravenclaw," said Rose.

"No way! Did you see how she handled James? And he's older than us! Gryffindor all the way!" countered Albus.

I raised my hand. "Um, actually I wanted to get into Hufflepuff. But I don't know if I'm good enough." I looked at the floor.

"What?" chorused Rose and Albus. Rose continued. "People think Hufflepuff is a boring house. Why would you want to go into there?"

"For the reasons you just said. People think it's a boring house, they don't want to see that Hufflepuffs are trustworthy and loyal; they'll do anything to protect their own!" I told them. "My mother was in Hufflepuff. She said people under-appreciated her house, that people forgot its name. I'm going to make it famous."

I heard slow clapping from the doorway and turned to see James Potter and another boy with flaming hair like Rose. The flame-haired one was clapping, and said, "A wonderful speech for a wonderful lady. May I ask, oh, icy-eyed one, how old are you?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Eleven," I told him, turning my wand slowly in my fingers. Al and Rose sniggered as Flame-Head kept talking. "And you want to be in Hufflepuff? I'm Fred Weasley, and you are?" I gave a small smile.

"I am… curious. How does your head fit through the corridors?"

"Well, curious, that is a good question. But first, how can you be so cocky when you want to be placed in the loser house?" my eyes turned orange with anger, and I was so angry that for a moment my hair matched it. In an ice-cold voice, I said, very clearly, "Petrificus Totalus." Fred's body went rigid. Still furious, I turned to James. "Take him to your compartment. Let him treat it as a lesson; never treat others as inferior to yourself. We are all equal." I waved my wand, and Fred became mobile. I turned around. "Goodbye, boys!" I called, before Albus and Rose began to chat animatedly.