Khaos

The next morning, Natrix woke up at six AM sharp, immediately getting dressed and feeding her lovely black cat, Bast. Bast had been a gift from Grandpa Burke, who didn’t really like Adonis but was extremely fond of her. She’d gotten Bast for her birthday the previous year. He didn’t run the shop with Uncle Borgin anymore because of his Osteoporosis, Uncle Borgin had forced Grandpa Burke to retire so he would have a bad fall that could kill him. Bast was her only friend before Hannah, Paige, and Theo, who she thought were her friends. Bast mrrped at her in greeting and kept winding between her legs as she got ready for the day. Bast was a large cat, a Maine Coon/ Kneazle mix. Grandpa Burke had told her they were very loyal cats. She of course hadn’t noticed the sadness in his eyes as he told her the kitten he’d handed her would be an amazing friend. Or the way he looked at his daughter coldly. She’d been far too captivated by the kitten she’d been handed, lost in her bright green eyes.

When she went down to the common room, she was the only first year awake and even the majority of older years were asleep. She curled up in a chair and began to braid her hair after greeting the Baron, “Hello, Baron, how are you this morning?”
The Baron responded, “I’m doing quite well, but do call me Romulus, it is my name afterall. How did you sleep?”
Natrix smiled, and said, “I slept well, Romulus.”

Soon enough, she was led to the Great Hall by the Baron, or rather, Romulus, who sat right next to her and raised an eyebrow at her until she put toast with strawberry jam and some scrambled eggs on her plate with a few pieces of bacon. She ate it all, at which the Baron became more relaxed and said, “Good, you’re properly fed now.” He habitually went to pat her on the head, usually resulting in his hand going straight through the student, but was shocked when instead his hand actually patted her head without going through it. “My hand didn’t go through.” He whispered, looking like his afterlife before then had been a lie.
She looked just as surprised but just shrugged and said, “I’m weird, always have been, this must just be me being weird.”

Once she got her schedule from a scowling Snape, she looked it over and upon realizing that none of her new friends were in the hall yet, headed to the classroom she had her first class in, charms, with Romulus’s help. His foundlings all understood that the first week or so of the school year he would be helping teach his newest foundling/s where things were and there were only ten of them total even when including Natrix.

Natrix sat down outside of the classroom and Romulus said “Once this class is over, I’ll come find you so I might lead you to your next class, any friends you make are free to come along as well, no matter their house.” She smiled, thanking him, and once he was gone, adjusted her corset under her sweater, tightening it slightly to help prevent her from collapsing. She didn’t know why but the pressure around her abdomen helped keep her from collapsing while standing.

She sat there for a while until a short man with very minimal but clear goblin features came over to the door and smiled at her before unlocking the classroom. She stood up and had to lean on the wall when her vision immediately blurred and she felt her heart racing. The professor looked concerned and she assured him, “Don’t worry, I get dizzy every time I stand.” He frowned, but said nothing, and once they were inside, he marked her present.
The other Slytherins avoided her for the most part, but then she saw Hannah and smiled before waving. Hannah smiled back before moving to sit next to her where the Slytherins had scooted far away from her, asking, “Why are they all scooting away from you?” Natrix said simply, “Purebloods generally fear the Nightlocks, we have an equally dangerous reputation as the Blacks.” Hannah nodded, still looking confused, but accepting the answer.

They took notes as Professor Flitwick lectured on the basic theory of charms.
The second the class ended, people were leaving but Hannah and Natrix waited a minute so they wouldn’t get caught in the swarm of people leaving the classroom. The Baron met them outside and led them to Potions, where he patted Natrix’s head and said he’d be back to lead them to lunch.

They stood lined up outside of the classroom door and chatted for a bit about what they thought Potions would be like. Natrix was excited and said, “I love potions, it’s a subtle science all about ingredient interactions, timing, and temperature. It’s also technically the most dangerous class taught at Hogwarts because of the high possibilities for explosions and the fires we use!”
Hannah looked mildly concerned about it being the most dangerous class taught at Hogwarts but didn’t comment on it, instead muttering something about possibly having befriended a mad scientist. Natrix, of course, didn’t get the reference.

Suddenly the classroom door slammed open and they both flinched as they were shuffled into the classroom and since there were an uneven number of Gryffindors and an uneven number of Slytherins, they sat together. Snape was rude the entire class and Natrix found herself disliking him even more as he didn’t so much as mention propper slicing, dicing, and smashing. The Baron was outside of the classroom when the class finished and Natrix was clearly angry, ranting about it for a minute until Natrix growled. “I’m Severus Snape, the only inner circle death eater who’s a half-blood. I like ruining potions for countless children because of my asshole behavior!”
Hannah then casually said, trying to distract Natrix enough for her to calm down, “You know, I’m apparently a Muggleborn but I’m a foster kid so who knows.”
Natrix lit up and said, “OH MY GOSH YOU COULD BE MY EVIDENCE THAT MUGGLEBORNS ARE DESCENDED FROM ABANDONED SQUIBS FROM PUREBLOOD FAMILIES!”
Hannah looked mildly intimidated and asked, “What does being your evidence mean?”
Natrix grinned in a feral way and said, “I brew a genetic tree potion, they’re most often used to figure out custody in orphan children situations due to wars or other such reasons. This means they not only include your family tree but also have any godparents you may have written out as well in gold ink, who you are most likely related to in some way because everyone in the wizarding world is related via incest, my parents are cousins.”
Hannah made a face, “Ew.”
Natrix shrugged and said, “It is what it is.”
Hannah muttered something about mad scientists.

When they got to the Great Hall, The Baron sat both of them, along with Theo and Paige once he realized they were friends at the vacant end of the Slytherin table. Natrix also found out Paige was Muggleborn, resulting in extreme excitement. Natrix immediately grabbed her potion supplies and dragged them all to Myrtle’s bathroom. She’d made sure to have the ingredients for this potion because of her research. The potion took half an hour to brew because it was made to be quick. She set out three pieces of parchment and said casually, “I have different eyes than either of my parents and the reason they treat me how they do is probably that I’m a bastard.”
Hannah asked, “is that still considered a big no-no in Wizarding society?”
Natrix nodded and said, “Bastards are actually one of the reasons this potion was created.”

Very soon, she completed the potion and put some in three vials, yanking a hair from her braid and throwing it in before swirling it and pouring it over the parchment. She plucked a hair from the heads of both Hannah and Paige.

After Hannah yelped, she noticed Natrix’s parchment and asked, “Uh, Natrix, what are your parent's names?”
Nat casually said, “Silva Nightlock and Madea Nightlock nee Burke, why?”
The Baron said simply, “You were absolutely kidnapped, look at your parchment.”
Natrix looked over immediately and read it out loud. “Mother is listed as Regulus Arcturus Black, that’s transphobic, it should be stated as bearer, and father is listed simply as… Death? My godparent is listed as Bartemius Crouch Jr. What the Hel? he’s supposed to be dead but he’s alive? My real name is also Natrix Onyx Mortis. ”
Romulus said, “It surely explains why I don’t go through you, because if one of your parents IS Death itself, well, you aren’t entirely human or alive for that matter.”
Natrix sighed, “You know, I wouldn’t put it past the Nightlocks to kidnap a baby, moving on to Hannah’s. Hannah, you are the child of Sirius Orion Black and Marlene McKinnon, no Godparents. Ok, I have one more chance for any evidence of my theory. By the way Hannah, your dad is alive, he’s just in Azkaban for being accused of murder and sentenced without Trial. Your mother is dead according to the color of this ink. Next is Paige…who is A DESCENDANT OF THE LONGBOTTOMS, HELL YEAH! I WAS RIGHT!”
Theo then said, “I love how casually you glossed over being kidnapped and Hannah’s Dad being imprisoned without trial.”
Natrix shrugged and said, “I wouldn’t put it past the people who raised me to be kidnappers and I wouldn’t put it past the Ministry to imprison someone without a trial while the war was happening…or any other time for that matter.”

Hannah was gaping at her parchment and Natrix said, “We also need to owl my results to the DMLE, I can probably get emancipated, you too, Hannah.”
Hannah finally looked up and gaped, “I can get emancipated at eleven!?”
Natrix nodded and said, “I’m practically guaranteed emancipation because I have no relatives I know who I can accurately say I will be safe with. The Malfoys are our closest relatives and we both know how Draco treats everyone. You’re practically guaranteed emancipation because you know so few people in the wizarding world and have no living muggle relatives.”