Green and Silver Silk
A/N: This story is total fluff; I just got the idea right as I was getting ready for bed, so I wrote it down. Anyway, hope you enjoy!
Zekora slid open the door to the last compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Inside sat two boys, one with flaming red hair. The other's hair was black like her own, but spiky as opposed to her smooth. "Hey, can I sit here?" she asked, a bit curtly. She didn't like people much, but this was the only compartment on the train that had an empty seat. Even if she would have rather sat alone, this was her only choice.
The boys looked her over. "Sure," the black- haired one said. As she stepped inside, he asked, "What's your name?"
"Zekora Black."
"That's an… unusual name," he said, sounding like he was trying to be tactful.
She rolled her eyes. "I don't like Zekora. Call me Silk."
He shrugged. "Okay. This is Ron Weasley." He gestured to the boy opposite him. "I'm Harry Potter."
Silk turned from moving a mound of sweets away from the seat in the corner, next to the window. "Really?" she asked with mild interest.
He blushed slightly. "Yeah."
She turned back and sat down. "That's cool." She looked out the window. Harry seemed relieved she hadn't made a bug fuss. The two boys kept talking and eating the huge pile of candy. After a while, the talk turned to Hogwarts' houses.
"All my family's been in Gryffindor," Ron said. "It'd be awful if I wasn't."
"Yeah," said Harry. Obviously, he didn't know too much about the subject. Silk had no idea what house she would be in, either. Her dad had been in Slytherin, and her mum had been a Ravenclaw. All four of her grandparents had been in different houses. She supposed she had an equal chance at all of them, though she really hoped she wouldn't get into Hufflepuff. How pathetic would that be? she thought.
Suddenly, the compartment door flew open to reveal a pale boy with white blond hair who was flanked by two gorilla-like boys who didn't look smart enough to form a coherent sentence. The pale boy looked familiar.
"They've been saying up and down the train that Harry Potter is in this compartment," he said. "So it's you?" he looked at Harry expectantly.
"Yes," he muttered. Silk remembered where she had seen the pale boy before. His father was a friend of her uncle's, and they had been at a party her uncle had thrown. Harry, meanwhile, was looking apprehensively at the two gorilla boys.
"Oh," the boy Silk knew said. "This is Crabbe, and this is Goyle. I'm Draco Malfoy." Ron snickered at the name. Draco flared up. "Think my name's funny, do you? No need for you to tell me who you are. I know all Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children then they can afford. That would explain the hand-me-down robes."
Ron went scarlet with fury, but before he could think of a retort, Silk, who had been sitting in the corner, stood up quickly. "Draco," she said warmly. She knew haw to avoid a fight.
Draco looked at hr, surprised; he clearly hadn't seen her earlier. "I know you," he said.
She nodded. "My uncle's party. Regulus Black. You were there."
His eyebrows raised. "Oh! You're Silk, right?"
She smiled. "That's me. You know, I really need to talk to these two." She gestured behind her at Harry and Ron. "I'll catch up with you later, okay?"
He looked a bit stunned. "Yeah, okay." She quickly escorted hem, Crabbe, and Goyle out of the compartment and shut the door behind him.
"Don't pick fights with powerful families," she informed Harry and Ron. "Bad idea, no matter what they say to you."
"You know that git?" Ron asked, incredulous.
Silk shrugged. "Sure. He's not that bad. But things have been bad between the Malfoys and the Weasleys for ages; even I know that.
"Oh," Ron said. "Yeah."
When the train reached Hogwarts and everyone was changed into their school robes, the first years were herded together by the humungous Hagrid and piled into boats. The castle looked beautiful from the lake, like it was enchanted. And parts of it are enchanted, Silk reminded herself. She was in a boat with Draco and a girl named Pansy Parkinson who was tall, with broad shoulders and trait brown hair that fell just below her shoulders. She wasn't a classic beauty, but she wasn't a troll, either.
The boat ride confirmed what Silk had been thinking earlier. In the right mood, Draco Malfoy was actually pretty cool. She suspected that on the train, he'd been jealous because Ron had beaten him to making friends with the great Harry Potter.
When they got to the castle, a woman called Professor McGonagall led them to the Great Hall to be sorted into their houses (but not before several people screamed when a few ghosts glided through the wall. Silk rolled her eyes at that; ghosts weren't all that rare.) Hogwarts was even more amazing from the inside. Of course, Silk had heard all about it from her parents, but that didn't stop her from being awed. The ceiling sparkled with stars. Ahead of her, she heard a girl with bushy brown hair whispering very fast about the enchantments that made it look like the sky outside. Silk shook her head. What a know-it-all.
Suddenly, a ratty looking hat perched on a stool started singing. Silk was shocked enough to stop looking around her and listen. The hat was going on about the qualities of the different houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. When it finished, McGonagall started calling off names. Each first year she called sat on the stool the hat had been on and McGonagall placed it on their head. The hat called out what house the student would be in. silk wondered what house Ron and Harry would be in. They seemed decent. When the hat shouted that they were both in Gryffindor, she smiled. They looked so relieved. When Draco was called, McGonagall didn't even have time to let go of the hat before he was placed in Slytherin. He hopped off the stool, looking very pleased with himself. Silk was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to be called. Don't they do this in alphabetical order? she thought. Well, obviously not, but I wish they would hurry up. Finally, she heard the name, "Zekora Black". She walked swiftly forward to sit on the stool. The hat was placed over her gleaming black hair. Then, to her surprise, it started whispering in her ear.
"Another tricky one," it said. "Not Hufflepuff, that part's clear." Silk sighed in relief. "Very smart, could be a Ravenclaw," the hat went on. "And brace, good Gryffindor quality. But there's not that silly instinct to save everyone else before thinking of yourself that most Gryffindors have. And very cunning." Silk smiled to herself. She could manipulate her parents in ways that most kids only dreamed of. "With all that said and done… I think… Slytherin!" silk grinned as the hat was lifted from her head. Her father would be delighted. She walked gracefully over to sit next to Draco.
He grinned at her and whispered, "Congrats."
"You too." She glanced up at the decorations above the Slytherin table. Green and silver silk. She smiled.
A/N: Once again, I was writing at 10:30, so if it sucks, that's probably why. Please review! I know this was total fluff, but I couldn't sleep until I wrote it, so…