"Hey." Just as Tris was marveling that Slytherin had a female prefect with such a commanding presence, a girl beside him gave him a gentle nudge.
Tris glanced sideways and saw a very pretty, black-haired girl.
While Hermione and Pansy had fairly delicate features, the girl before him was a true beauty in the making.
Tris remembered her. She had queued with them for the Sorting Ceremony earlier and was a first-year too.
As for her name...
The information flashed through his Memory Palace.
Daphne Greengrass.
Apart from the Indian twins, the Patil Sisters, Tris thought she was probably the prettiest girl in his year.
"Need something?" Tris asked, his tone neutral. He was no friendlier just because she was a pretty girl.
"How are you related to Mr. Arthur Weasley? Are you from a branch of the Weasley family?" Daphne asked.
"Why do you ask?" Tris asked, puzzled. "Couldn't I be from the main branch of the Weasley family?"
Daphne gave him a look that said she wasn't buying it. "How could you be? Mr. Arthur already has a child starting school this year. That Ron, right? He looks just like those two brothers who welcomed him. They're obviously family."
"Hmm... see that one?" Tris pointed to Percy, who stood beside Fred with a dark expression. "The one beside Fred... oh, the redhead beside the Weasley twins."
With the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables between them, Daphne had to shift around a few times before she could see him clearly. Then she nodded. "That prefect? I see him. What about him?"
"He's a Weasley too, and he doesn't look all that much like Fred or Ron, does he? Boys sometimes take after their mothers," Tris said.
"Hmm, when you put it that way..." Daphne looked at Percy again, then at Tris. She seemed to notice that their features did bear a resemblance, though Tris was more handsome.
"You do look quite like that prefect. But doesn't the Weasley family already have a first-year this year?"
"You mean Ron?" Tris glanced at Ron, who was looking their way with Harry, disbelief written all over his face. Tris smiled as he answered, "He's my older twin brother."
"T-twin?" Daphne's expression was full of astonishment, just like that of almost everyone who heard that Tris and Ron were twins.
She wasn't the only one. Several people nearby were listening to their conversation.
Almost all the students in Slytherin came from wizarding families and knew a little about the Weasleys. They also knew that every member of the family over the past two hundred years had been in Gryffindor.
Naturally, a Weasley suddenly turning up in Slytherin drew attention.
But compared with a Weasley joining Slytherin, the idea that Tris and Ron were twins was clearly harder to accept.
"You... and that Ron are twins?" Looking utterly incredulous, Daphne glanced at Tris, then at Ron in the distance, trying to find the slightest resemblance between their faces.
There was none.
Even their eyes were different colors.
If she had to name a resemblance, it would probably be their red hair, pale skin, and freckles. Even then, Tris had far fewer freckles than the standard Weasley quota.
Faced with their doubtful looks, Tris could only explain what fraternal twins were.
"That's possible?" exclaimed a thin, blond boy who, like Tris, had been sorted into Slytherin that year.
Tris remembered his name: Theodore Nott. Yet he couldn't remember him appearing in the films at all. Perhaps he had, but Tris couldn't put the name to a face...
"All right." After accepting the explanation about fraternal twins, Daphne raised another question. "But if you're from the main branch of the Weasley family, why did you end up in Slytherin?"
"How should I know? It's all that damned Sorting Hat's fault." The subject left Tris thoroughly frustrated too.
Slytherin was where all the villains gathered. He hadn't wanted to be sorted here at all.
"I'm even worried my parents will disown me when word gets home."
It took Daphne a moment to work out what Tris meant by calling the hat damned, and then she couldn't help giggling.
While they were talking, the last student finished being sorted.
That proud-looking Black boy was sorted into Slytherin too.
Blaise Zabini was his name. Unfortunately, it was another name Tris had absolutely no recollection of.
He had watched the films in his previous life and later come across plenty of fan-made videos. But there were very few videos about characters outside the main cast, and even when one occasionally appeared in his feed, he wouldn't necessarily watch it to the end.
Ah, if I'd known a deranged barber would stab me and send me to this world, I should have read the original books.
Tris had lost count of how many times he'd thought that with regret.
The Sorting Ceremony ended, and Dumbledore gave his speech. Tris had absolutely no idea what he was trying to convey, and judging by everyone else's reactions, neither did they.
After the speech and the school song came the feast. Once the feast ended, the prefects led the first-years to their common rooms.
Leading the Slytherins was the black-haired older girl from earlier, who stood five foot three but had the presence of someone nine feet tall.
The Slytherin Common Room was underground. It had made a brief appearance in the second film.
Tris was actually a little worried. With Britain's rainfall, wouldn't a basement be damp? Fortunately, once he arrived, he felt somewhat reassured.
Maybe it was the magic?
Despite being underground, it was dry and comfortable, with a pleasant temperature.
"Today's password is glory." After opening the common room entrance, the female prefect stood by the door and addressed the young witches and wizards following her. "The password usually changes once a week, though it can also change at short notice. Notices about password changes will be posted on the common room noticeboard. If you don't want to be locked out, you'd better check it every day."
The children gave a scattered chorus of assent.
Once inside the common room, the female prefect turned and motioned for them to stop.
Only when every child's eyes were on her did she begin. "Our head of house isn't particularly fond of occasions like this, so I'll be conducting a brief welcome for our newly sorted students.
"My name is Gemma Farley. Sixth-year, prefect. That's all you need to know for now. You'll learn the rest in time. What I want to tell you now is this: other people think Slytherin selects students for being pure-bloods. I say that's wrong, or at least not entirely right."
She swept her gaze over the eleven first-years. "Pure blood is only the surface. Ambition, cunning, restraint, honor, and pragmatism-those are Slytherin's defining qualities."
Half of the eleven children looked unconvinced.
That included Draco, who had challenged the female prefect earlier.
Though her imposing presence had stopped him from continuing to bluster, that didn't mean he had accepted her authority.
He simply didn't believe she would dare give him detention once she knew who he was and who his father was. She must have been putting on a brave front in front of all those people!
That was what Draco thought, though it was hard to tell whether he truly believed it or was trying to convince himself.
"You may not understand that yet. Some of you may not understand it even after you graduate. That's normal. Most people spend their entire lives accomplishing little. But I hope those Slytherins who truly possess these qualities won't waste these seven years."
Gemma's speech was neither brilliant nor especially stirring.
At least, Tris felt nothing much after hearing it.
Afterward, Gemma pointed the boys and girls toward their respective dormitories. Having spent the afternoon on a train and then taken a boat ride-though he hadn't actually exerted himself much-Tris was feeling a little tired.
On entering the dormitory, he discovered he was sharing with the proud-looking Black boy, Blaise, and the skinny boy, Theodore.
So the other dormitory was Draco and his two chubby lackeys?
A room for three? Not bad. Much better than the eight-person room I had at university, Tris thought.
His luggage had already been delivered to the dormitory. Tris dug out his pajamas, planning to finish the fifty push-ups remaining in his daily workout before showering and going to bed.
But his two roommates showed no intention of unpacking. Instead, they stood beside their beds, watching him.
"Need something?" Tris raised an eyebrow at them.
"Do you know about Slytherin's tradition?" Blaise asked coldly.
"Tradition?" Tris paused, then shook his head. "No. I think I'm the first Slytherin in my family."
"Every year in Slytherin has a chief student," Theodore said. "They're selected once a month. The first selection for first-years takes place a month after the start of term. As for the other years..."
He glanced out of the dormitory. "They should be competing in the common room right now."
"Oh." Tris nodded.
"What do you mean, 'oh'?" Blaise was clearly displeased with his attitude.
"'Oh' means I understand." With that, Tris bent down and began doing push-ups under Blaise and Theodore's astonished gazes.
Tris could actually do fifty push-ups in one go now, but he still planned to split them into two sets.
"What... what are you doing?" Blaise asked when Tris stood up for a break between sets. His brow furrowed, making it clear he didn't understand Tris's behavior.
"Working out." Tris took off his T-shirt, revealing muscles that were already quite striking for his age.
"Whoa!"
Blaise and Theodore both sucked in a breath.
Though wizards didn't place much value on muscular bodies, the human appreciation of beauty was universal. The contours of Tris's muscles were naturally enough to catch the eye of anyone with ordinary aesthetic tastes.
Blaise and Theodore's reactions were well within the range of normal human behavior.
"You... that's..." Theodore stared at Tris's well-developed chest, defined shoulders and arms, and the faint outlines of his abs, unable to hide his envy.
His fingers even twitched slightly.
He wanted to touch them!
"How did you do it?"
"By exercising, like I was doing just now." Tris gently rolled his shoulders, preparing to begin his next set.
"Wait a moment." Blaise struggled to shift his gaze from Tris's chest to his face. "Don't you have anything to say about the chief student thing we were discussing?"
"What am I supposed to say?" Tris spread his hands. "Like you said, isn't that something to think about a month from now? I don't see why I need to say anything about it yet."
With that, he ignored their reactions, dropped to the floor, and began his second set of push-ups.
"Hey... you..." Blaise wanted to say more, but seeing Tris on the floor again, he could only fall silent and wait for him to finish.
As soon as Tris stood up again, Blaise hurried to speak. "Slytherin's chief student isn't just about grades and individual ability. It's also a demonstration of leadership. That Malfoy already has two followers. If we don't want to have to obey him in the future, we'd better work together. I believe I'd make a good leader."
He really was... an ambitious Slytherin, wasn't he?
Tris looked at the Black boy before him, whom he couldn't even remember seeing in the films, and grinned. "That's no way to become a leader!"