A/N: Well, first chapter of this story! I hope you enjoy! Also, please R&R with what you think, or maybe just some suggestions! Thanks!

Chapter 1: First Year Dreams

'Kallithea Craimer...that name sounds familiar to me. You're not the first Craimer here, are you?'

'Um, well, no.'

A small 11 year-old girl sat perched on a rickety three-legged stool, her long brown hair tied into pigtails, and her sparkling, dark blue eyes hidden beneath an old, patched hat. Her fingers were tightly laced and laid in her lap as she listened to the little voice that was whispering to her inside of her head.

'No, I thought not. Well, let's see here. Yes, you seem to be a hard worker, and you have a good head on your shoulders. Ah, and I can see a fair amount of courage as well. Yes, you have a lot of courage. However, I can see you have quite a few qualities that would help you excel greatly in Slytherin. No doubt you picked those traits up from both your Mother and Father. Yes, but where to put you? Gryffindor would be good —'

The hat stopped talking as the girl beneath its tattered brim stiffened.

'No Gryffindor for you then? Oh, yes, I understand now. Your parents wouldn't like that very much at all, I agree. Yes, well then, I'd have to say you'd do best in –'

The girl closed her eyes and held her breath.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Kailey opened her eyes and let out a sigh of relief as applause echoed off the large, stone walls of the Great Hall. She beamed at Professor McGonagall as she thrust the hat back into the teacher's hands and scurried to the table of silver and green, where her fellow classmates were all sitting. She picked a spot towards the end of the table, away from the other students, hoping that she wouldn't be sitting alone for long.

Kailey watched the sorting process carefully, until something more interesting at the staff table caught her eye. A man, dressed in all black, had his eyes fastened on a small boy, and a scowl on his face. Kailey curiously watched the boy the man was staring at, wondering if he had any idea that the man was watching him. However, the boy remained completely oblivious, adjusting his glasses and whispering to a red headed boy beside him, not once paying any mind to the eyes that seemed to be glued to him. Kailey frowned and studied the man's face, deciding to herself that she would keep an eye on him and his odd behavior. She wondered if she might have him for any of her classes—

"Ouch!" Kailey turned around to see a pair of big, brown eyes glaring at her. A girl, quite a few years older than herself and many times bigger, was scowling at Kailey's now flushed face. "What exactly was that for?"

"That was for not clapping for someone who is in your own house. I don't care if you don't clap for someone who is in a different house, in fact, I'd advise you not to. But, when someone is sorted into Slytherin, you clap for them. You'd do best to remember that, understood?"

Kailey nodded slowly and turned away from the girl, her eyes filling with tears. She stared at the grinning first year girl who was walking towards the table, and heading straight for the seat across from Kailey. She quickly wiped her eyes as the girl sat down, and then managed a lame smile as the girl waved politely.

"Hi, my name is Jess Faire. What's your name?"

"Oh, my name is Kallithea Craimer, but you can just call me Kailey. I've found that Kallithea seems to be a mouthful to say, and Kailey sounds prettier." Kailey smiled as Jess nodded and turned towards the sorting ceremony, biting her lip as though in deep thought.

"You see that girl walking up to the hat right now?"

Kailey frowned and leaned a little to the side, trying to see around Jess's head and get a good look at the girl she was referring to. Kailey nodded slowly as she set eyes upon a girl with brown, bushy hair and buck teeth, who seemed to be giving herself what looked like a pep talk under her breath and glancing nervously at the hat, which sat innocently on the unsteady stool.

"Sure," Kailey shrugged, meeting Jess's eyes as she turned back around. "She seems a bit mental, don't you think?"

Jess grinned. "Yeah, she seems mental alright. She was practically giving us a Hogwarts history lesson on the way up here. It was like she ate a text book or something. Ah, she's in Gryffindor. Not much of a surprise there."

"Yeah, well, all I know is that I'm lucky not to have been sorted into Gryffindor." Kailey smiled bitterly. "I couldn't even imagine how angry my parents would be if I had been. They would have probably died of shock. Or, if they didn't die, they would make sure that I did."

"Yours are like that too?" Jess widened her eyes and tucked a long lock of ginger hair behind her ears. "I thought I was the only one. But, if I were you, I wouldn't go saying that around freely. Believe it or not, our parents have ways of finding out everything we do and say."

Kailey widened her eyes fearfully. "Are you serious?"

"Of course she's not. Don't listen to all of that rubbish." Kailey and Jess both turned to see a very pretty blonde girl take a seat beside them.

"It's not rubbish." Jess said seriously, her tone important sounding. "My older sister told me that they know everything, so I should try to stay out of trouble. She told me a bunch of other stuff too, and it cost me quite a lot of my own savings, but the information was all worth it. So they are all concrete facts, thank you very much."

The girl smiled and shrugged. "Whatever. But, anyways, my name is Gina Lowe. What are your names?"

"I'm Jess Faire." Jess said grudgingly, looking as though she smelled something unpleasant under her nose.

"And I'm Kailey Craimer." Kailey smiled at the Gina, studying her face. "Are you a first year?"

"Haven't you guys been watching the sorting? Or have you been too busy talking about the facts that are 'not rubbish' or whatever?" Gina grinned as Jess made a noise like an angry cat. "Yes, I'm a first year." Gina sighed. "Oh, and Jess, you might want to take that look off your face. Its making you look even more unattractive than you already are, which although may sound impossible, is very much true."

"Excuse me?" Jess choked, her face flushing a deep red.

"Well, you look as though you smell something bad, and I'm trying to figure out what. I'm pretty sure it's not me, because I'm wearing perfume, which happens to smell very nice. So, I think you're very much mistaken, and you need to stop looking at me like that."

"No, she's not mistaken. Something does smell."

All three girls turned around to face the new voice, which happened to be an attractive boy with silver-blonde hair smirking at Gina, who went pink in the cheeks.

"Something does smell foul, but it's not your perfume. I heard there is mudblood over towards the Gryffindor table, and that is probably it." The boy turned and began to walk towards two stout boys sitting a ways away from the girls. But, after he took a few steps, he stopped and glanced back at Gina, who was still blushing. "Oh, and I have to agree with you. Your perfume does smell very nice."

Gina's face turned from a light pink to a deep crimson color in a matter of seconds as the boy walked away, an arrogant smirk on his face. Jess and Kailey grinned at each other, and then looked at Gina, who still seemed to be recovering from what the boy had said. She opened her mouth, as if she was going to say something, but then closed it quickly and cleared her throat.

"Is it just me, or did it suddenly get a bit warmer in here?"

"No, it's not just you." Jess said softly, her eyes glued to the back of they boy's head. Kailey smiled and shrugged hastily, embarrassed at the fact that she didn't feel a change in temperature. Sure, the boy was cute, but he seemed a bit snooty, which normally was never a great quality. Instead of continuing to gawk at the boy, as the other two girls were still doing, Kailey turned her complete focus towards the sorting where a terrified looking girl sat beneath the hat.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat announced loudly, loud applause following its words. Kailey frowned impatiently and rubbed her stomach, which was now grumbling from lack of food. She wondered how much longer the stupid process was going take. She leaned a bit forward across the table to ask Jess and Gina what they thought, when Professor McGonagall announced a name that caused Kailey to forget all about her hunger.

"Harry Potter."

The loud chatter throughout the Great Hall vanished instantly and was replaced by surprised and interested whispers. Every student seemed to hold their breath as the boy who Kailey had noticed earlier allowed the hat to slip over his bespectacled eyes. Even the teachers seemed curious, their eyes fixed on the hat, which was still sitting quietly on the boy's head. After what seemed like forever, the hat finally reached its decision.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Deafening cheers erupted throughout the Great Hall, causing Kailey to jump at the sudden loudness of the noise. She scowled over towards the Gryffindor table where Harry Potter had taken a seat at, and was now being bombarded by two red headed boys, singing a victory song at the top of their lungs.

The rest of the sorting and feast seemed to zoom past, and before Kailey knew it she was sitting with a painfully full stomach and turning her attention towards a haughty looking girl that was calling for the first year Slytherin's attention. Kailey stood up and walked quickly to where Jess and Gina were waiting for her, both girls looking as exhausted as Kailey felt. As Kailey fell into step between the two girls, Jess frowned at the girl who was waving them over and crossed her arms.

"That's my sister, Claire." Jess wrinkled her nose and narrowed her eyes and she passed through the doors that led out of the Great Hall and towards the staircases. "She's Head Girl, and a complete prat. You don't want to get on her bad side, or you'll be doomed for the rest of the year."

"Um, thanks for the warning." Gina said distractedly, peering around Kailey's head and grinning when she set her eyes upon a certain boy with silver-blonde hair. Her cheeks flushed a light pink as she bit her lip and stared at the ground. "Oh, Kailey, your right shoe came untied."

As if on cue, Kailey's left foot stepped on her right shoelace and she stumbled forward, thankfully catching herself before she hit the ground face first. Frowning, she hopped over to the wall and sighed at her shoelace, which was unquestionably untied. She kneeled down and reached for her shoes laces when – SMACK! A knee collided with the side of her head, causing her to fall over, gasping in pain and holding her now throbbing head.

"Oh, damn, are you alright?"

Kailey looked up to see a hand reaching out to help her up, and grabbed it eagerly, not wanting to sit on the floor longer than she needed to. When she stood up and steadied herself, she came face to face with the cutest boy she had ever seen in her entire lifetime. She widened her eyes and felt her mind go blank, knowing that it was not the collision that was causing her to lose the ability to think. It was the boy's face, dazzling smile, and big blue eyes full of apologetic concern that were behind it.

"I-I'm fine." Kailey blushed, ignoring the fact that she now had an excruciating headache and the strong desire to fall over. "It's alright, no severe damage done."

The boy let out a sigh of relief and shook his head. "Thank Merlin, because I thought I hit you pretty hard. I'm sorry about that. I wasn't exactly looking where I was going."

"No problem," Kailey smiled stupidly, not knowing what else to say.

"Ryan, are you coming or what?" An impatient looking boy had appeared next to Kailey and was scowling at the boy, or now assumingly called Ryan, who was still staring at her with a worried expression. Once Kailey gave him a confident smile, he nodded and slowly walked away from Kailey, giving her a quick wave before disappearing into the crowd of students. Once Kailey knew Ryan was out of sight, she grabbed her forehead and groaned loudly, causing both Jess and Gina to laugh and exchange glances.

"You are such a thickhead, you know that?" Gina said sourly, kneeling down and tying Kailey's shoes with a frown. After she had double-knotted the laces, she stood up and chuckled while brushing her bangs out of her eyes. "Although I have to admit, you have very good taste. Too bad he's too old. He looks like he's a 4th year, and, not to mention a Gryffindor. Shame…C'mon, let's hurry before we completely lose sight of all the other Slytherins."

Kailey stuck her tongue out at Gina and then looked at Jess who yawned and gave her a sleepy smile. Kailey smiled back, and although her head was pounding, she suddenly felt great. She hadn't even made it to the Slytherin common room or made many friends, and already she was in love with Hogwarts. Grinning at the warm, fuzzy feeling inside of her stomach, she linked arms with both Jess and Gina, and skipped behind the mass of chattering students, feeling as though she was the luckiest girl in the world.

Thanks again, Camille