Chapter 3!

Harry was trying to do his essay, he really was. But he kept on looking at the girl. Potions never captured his attention and he couldn't think of anything to say.

So, like the brave Gryffindor he was, he blurted out "I'm not the Heir of Slytherin."

Harry almost regretted saying it so bluntly that the girl smirked slightly and was obviously amused, but her next words made him sigh in relief.

"I didn't think you were. You just don't seem like, when Draco describes you. I'm not the Heir of Slytherin either."

Harry was a bit surprised that Malfoy (took him a moment to remember Draco was Malfoy) would be talking about him to a first year, but decided that it wasn't as important as to why he should believe the girl.

He asked her and she just shrugged. "Why should I believe you? Besides, if I'm trying to make sure it doesn't get out that I'm a parselmouth, why would I go around turning people to stone?"

It did make sense to Harry and he decided that if the girl really was the Heir of Slytherin, he would figure it out. She didn't seem harmful at least; not as much as her housemates at least.

Diane seemed to take notice of his nearly blank parchment and the potions book lay in front of him. She asked if he needed help.

"I might be a first year, but I'm brilliant at potions," she assured him before she started explaining the text to him.

Her words were much simpler than the textbook and she didn't get frustrated when he didn't get something that was obvious to her, like Hermione did. He got it easier with her than with Hermione; she just explained it in a way that made more sense than her or Snape, though he really didn't explain at all.

Together, they managed to finish most of their other homework. Diane was not only brilliant at potions, but good with the charms and the defense work. Harry gave her pointers for the other subjects, seeing as he did nearly the same thing last year. The professors didn't change it up too much.

Diane didn't act as rude and arrogant as the rest of her house; she didn't make snide remarks about his house (though it seemed as she was biting her tongue at times) and didn't make herself seem better than she was. When Harry pointed that she wasn't like the other Slytherin students, she reminded him that she was disliked by most of her house and that he didn't send much time with Slytherins in general.

She was really different from his friends. She didn't strive to stay ahead, just on top of things, and she found it's okay to have fun and not be too serious. She didn't remind him of anyone in his house, but she was in a different one.

It was actually nice to talk to someone in another house. Most just stayed to their housemates, but hearing about someone else's was quite exciting. There were many similar features to both of their houses, but just as many different ones.

"The stairs turn to ramps when a boy tries to go up to the girl's dorm?" Diane asked, laughing quietly as Harry described his dormitory. Diane did the same and Harry didn't say anything when he noticed that she left quite a bit out.

"Honest. I though all of the houses have that."

"Well, Slytherin doesn't and I don't think the others do either."

Diane was a nice person to hang around with. She was funny, but not too distracting that he couldn't focus on anything else. She was calming to him. Made him forgot that half of the school (and Gryffindors) thought he was out for the muggleborns.

That's why when it was time to leave, Harry was almost sad to pack of things up and go back the dorm. Yes, he has finished more than he expected, almost all, but he felt that once they leave, they won't meet ever again. Maybe they would see each other in the hallways, maybe they would bump into each other and awkward apologizes would be made.

Or they could find places to talk. They could find times where no one can find them and just talk. They could become friends.

Harry didn't have friends before Hogwarts. Now he had ones that wouldn't turn against him for anything. They were his best friends.

He wanted Diane to be one of them.

"When do you want to meet up next?"

Harry felt weird and embarrassed that he assumed that she wanted to talk to him as much as he wanted to, but he didn't let it show.

"You don't like all the staring that you get in the Great Hall, right?" Diane asked him.

Harry didn't know why she wanted to know that, but he nodded anyways.

"Because the whole house of Slytherin doesn't like me, I've been getting food right at the beginning of lunch, because most days I don't class before lunch, and taking it to eat in the empty classrooms. If you want, you can eat lunch with me. I'll get a little more food so we can share.

"You could bring your friends if you want."

The last part was an obvious afterthought and Harry found himself not wanting to introduce to his friends just yet.

He wanted Diane to be his friend, but she was still a parselmouth and could be the Heir of Slytherin. He wanted to be sure that she was really his friend.

He wanted her to really be his friend.

"I'll rather it just be us," he told her as she led him to the unused classroom that she ate her lunch.

She smiled and Harry realized that she might not want his friends to be there, but still offered.

Maybe she wanted to be his friend as much as Harry did.

Please review and point out any grammar mistakes. If anyone wants to know exactly what I'm going to do with the story, just PM me or something. For anyone who doesn't want to know too much, just know it's going at end the earliest third year.