Emerald Kelly walked into the Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, nervous, but excited. She was a small girl, with brown hair, green eyes, freckles, and a pale complexion; she came from America, a transfer student to London. Being in a new country obviously made her nervous; as did being around people with different accents than her southern one made her nervous to speak. Once you did get her to speak though, she wouldn't shut up; she would talk about anything and everything; herself, her family, her home, her interests, being excited about school in London, and even some personal things. She had a problem: She trusted too easily. That could either be her biggest weakness, or her biggest strength.

When Emily walked into the Great Hall, she stared around at the sight; a large hall filled with four tables, enough to seat over 200 students, which were all filled, in all, with what, a thousand people? This made her stomach twist and turn, and she struggled to stay calm. She walked to the front, in front of a tall stool, where a hat, old and raggedy stood. She waited, and as the woman, what was it again…Professor McGonagall began to speak about what would happen, she fidgeted around.

Across the hall, sitting at the Slytherin table, Draco Malfoy rested his chin in his palm, sighing dramatically. Like he wanted to sit and watch a bunch of clueless First-years sit on a stool and put on a hat, as it sorted them. He sighed again, a bit heavily, and looked over at McGonagall, who was explaining what would happen. He went to flick his eyes back to his Slytherin ring, when his eyes caught a girl. Her eyes were an emerald green, and her hair was a beautiful brown. Short, but beautiful. She was fidgeting around, biting her nail, looking around excitedly, and clearly not paying attention. Draco had to bite the inside of his lip to hold back a chuckle; it wouldn't do for the other Slytherins to see the Ice Prince laughing, would it? He looked over the girl again; she was very pretty. He wouldn't mind it if she got into Slytherin. Maybe then, he'd actually be able to make a good friend. Well, he hoped that at least.

Draco casually moved a bit closer to where he could get a view of the girl. Finally, after having to wait for what seemed an eternity, the girl was called after who knows how many.

"Kelly, Emerald!" McGonagall called from the scroll.

Emerald's her name, then? Thought Draco, staring at the girl with interest. He hoped she was in Slytherin; if anything, he just hoped she wasn't a Gryffindor. Everyone knew that Gryffindor and Slytherin had a rivalry that had been going on for Merlin knows how many years. He stared, and held his breath quickly.

About 2 Minutes Earlier…

Emily stood there, her heart pounding as she looked around. The woman's voice wasn't really registering; she was in her own thoughts. She swallowed, her heart pounding, feeling eyes all on her. She waited, and finally, the names were called. 'Creevey, Colin" went into Gryffindor, and a few others, whom she didn't really hear the names of. She was too excited. Soon enough, she was called, and she walked up, shaking as she felt all eyes on her. Her heart was pounding, and she felt like she would start crying. But she forced herself to be brave. She sat on the stool, closing her eyes, and jumped as she heard the hat whispering in her ear.

Ooh, yes, lots of talent, lots of that, a thirst to prove yourself worthy, a thirst to make friends…that would do well in Hufflepuff…hmmm… yes, yes, very curious…you're very smart, lots of that, you'd do well in Ravenclaw, too. Oh, but in Slytherin, yes, you're very witty and cunning, I can tell that…But overall, you're more brave than any of that…mmm…guess it'll be….

"GRYFFINDOR!" screamed the hat. Emily's heart raced, and she took of the hat, and looked around, nervously. She ran and sat with the people that were wearing the red ties, which must have been the Gryffindors.

Across the hall, Draco's heart dropped. He sighed, but this time, it wasn't dramatically; he was actually kind of disappointed she wasn't in Slytherin. But why was that?

The next day…

Emily woke up early, thanks to the alarm clock she'd brought with her (her cat, Smoke). She looked up at the ceiling, blinking and looking at the patterns on the ceiling. Smoke licked her cheek again, signaling for her to wake up. What time was it again? She shrugged, before she looked over at the redheaded girl that was there, one of the other first-years.

Emily was the type that would wake up others once she was up. She didn't like to be alone, because she usually felt sad and lonely once she was. She liked having company, liked to be talked to, and loved it whenever she could make a friend.

Emily had to restrain herself from going over and shaking the girl. Instead, she looked over at the chairs, where she saw some clothes, her own robes lied out, and she stared, her mouth dropping open. What did that? The night before, when she went to bed, there wasn't anything there. Were there maids there?

"It's the house elves!" said a bossy sounding voice.

Once she turned, she saw a bushy haired girl with rather big front teeth standing there, dressed, and holding her school books in her hands.

"Um…What are House Elves?" She said, confused. "Oh, never mind! I'll look it up in the library. I'm planning to go down there anyways so that I can get some reading in."

Emily's eyes sparkled at the thought. She loved the thought of reading about something besides Muggle books. She always was forced to buy them, because it was part of their family living 'as one' in the Muggle World. Emily never learned much, but she liked to immerse herself in different worlds, because being part of a family of witches was kind of stressful. Her grandmother was a pureblood witch, one of the best ones that there had been; she had also been a student of Hogwarts, a Gryffindor as well. Her mother, whom she didn't live with, was a Gryffindor as well. Her Aunt was a Ravenclaw, and she was the one that took them in while her mother couldn't take care of her, while she was at St. Mungo's for mental issues. Emily, of course, called her Aunt 'Mom' because she was a lot more of a mom to her, having grown up with her. Her little sister wasn't going to Hogwarts; she was going to be going to the Salem Witches' Institute in America. Her parents had decided that it was best for her to stay closer to home.

Emily jerked out of her thought, and she looked up at the girl, smiling. The girl didn't smile back, but instead, nodded curtly and walked out of the dorm, shutting the door quietly behind her. Emily blinked, before shrugging and pulling on her robes, and walking downstairs, out of the Common Room and into the Hallways, where she then headed to the direction of the library.

Over at the Slytherin common room, Draco had already gotten dressed in his most expensive robes, sitting on the couch and laughing unenthusiastically, before rolling his eyes. Looking at all the green in the room was reminding him of the girl, whom he hadn't been able to stop thinking about. Huffing, Draco got up, after telling his 'friends' that he would be going for a walk, and for them not to follow. If they would, he'd end up hexing them. Maybe getting away from all of the green would get his mind off the girl he'd seen. At least, that's what he hoped for.

Once Draco had gotten out, he headed from the dungeons out towards the library. Hopefully he could clear his mind, even though he wasn't much of a reader. Heading towards it, he ran into a girl, bumping against her, causing them both to fall back, and looked up, staring into the eyes of the girl he was unable to think about.

(3rd Person)

They both collided, and Emily squeaked slightly, before looking up into pale, silver eyes. Draco stammered, and looked around, thankful no one else was there. It must have still been 6:30 in the morning.

"I'm sorry!" cried Emily, her eyes wide. She was so clumsy, it was in her nature, and she didn't really want to be that way. "I'm just really clumsy, and it really gets annoying sometimes, I break vases, I break a lot of things now that I think about it –"Her voice was stopped short by the tone in his voice, it was calm, and she stared up Draco, her heart thumping in her throat.

"It's okay. Really. Let me help you up," He said, holding out his hand.

Emily took his hand, swallowing the nervousness that had built in the pit of her stomach, and smiled a bit, as he pulled her up, a bit too forcefully, making her hands press against his chest. She felt a small spark at the sudden contact, and swallowed.

What…why…what's…he doing? Emily thought, confused at the feeling that her heart was giving her. She blushed and coughed, as soon as they broke eye contact.

"I'm Emily. Emily Kelly." She said, managing to regain her voice. "What's your name?" She chirped.

"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy." He said with a sort of cocky tone about him. Come on, Draco, don't go all soft. That wouldn't do. He thought in his mind, scolding himself.

"It's nice to meet you, Draco!" She said sweetly, smiling and blinking a few times. "I was heading to the library…um…I think I might have lost my way…c-can you help me?" She asked, a bit unsure.

"I guess…" Draco said, biting his lip. He looked around, before swallowing and walking towards the library, leading her in the direction of it.

That day, they became best friends. But both of them wanted more, and were just a bit too naïve to realize it.