Disclaimer: See last chapter.

I'm so excited for Cloe, aren't you? ;D It's the Sorting! Also, the A/N's at the end of the chapter is very important, you have to read it!

Chapter 4

The Sorting Ceremony

When the doors swung open, they revealed a tall and black haired witch. She was wearing a dark green robe with a matching pointed hat and she looked very stern. Cloe had the impression that anybody (pupils, that is) should be scared out of their wits when they meet her. Or at least be nervous, as she was feeling now.

"The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall." Hagrid said.

"Thank you Hagrid. I shall take them from here." she replied.

She opened the doors further and Cloe could see the inside. The Entrance Hall was so big that Cloe had the impression that you can fit a whole house in it. It was lit by flaming torches that were attached to the stone wall, but the ceiling was too high to make out, and a big (and magnificent) marble staircase was facing them that led to the upper floors. They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. There was a buzz of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right. Cloe thought that the rest of the school must already be there, chatting amongst themselves. However, Professor McGonagall led them into a small chamber off the hall and waited as they crowded in. Cloe was jostled and got really irritated.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but not until you have been sorted into your houses. The Sorting is very important as it will be decided which of the four houses you will be in. They are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. While you are here at Hogwarts, your house will be something like your family. You will have classes with the rest of your house, but also with the other houses. You will sleep in your house dormitory and spend your free time in your house common room. Each house has its own noble history and they have each produced outstanding witches and wizards. Here at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. To whichever house will become yours, i hope that each of you will be a credit. Now, I suggest that you all smarten yourselves up as much as you are able while you are waiting, as the Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school and professors. I shall return when we are ready for you, please wait quietly."

Professor McGonagall left the chamber, leaving the first years to chat nervously amongst themselves. What a way to encourage first years by saying that the whole entire school will be watching, Cloe thought dryly, swallowing hard. Someone from behind pushed her a little and she whirled round and glared at a boy.

"Do you mind not pushing? There's nowhere to go just yet." Cloe said, fuming silently.

"Well, I'm sorry." the boy replied sarcastically.

Cloe studied him. He was about her height, with sandy coloured hair, or at least, it appeared that way to ahem-normal people. To Cloe, he had tawny brown hair, mixed in with flecks of blonde, a hint of sienna brown and also russet brown. He had dark brown eyes that glinted in the firelight.

"It's ok." Cloe sighed.

The boy seemed surprised that she accepted his (sarcastic) apology. Then recognision came across his features.

"Hey! You're that girl that attacked that blonde boy on the train!"

Cloe turned a shade of red.

"I-no... I wouldn't call it attacking... He-he kinda provoked me and-and I just... flew at him..." Cloe stammered.

He gave her a knowing (and mischievous) smile.

"What's your name? Mine's Jamie. Jamie Martin."

"Cloe Maysbury."

They grinned at each other.

"What house do you want to be in?" Jamie asked.

But before Cloe could answer, a few people screamed. Cloe gasped because she felt that she had been thrown into a pool of icy cold water.

"Oh, I'm sorry my dear girl!" a voice said from-where?

Cloe looked around but couldn't see who it had come from. But she did notice Jamie's awestruck face as he stared at something abover her head. Cloe looked up too and jumped to the side, crashing into another first year.

"Watch it!" the girl snarled and moved away, shooting Cloe dirty looks.

Cloe was too busy staring at the ghost to notice. It was no wonder she had felt as if she was thrown into icy cold water. A ghost had appeared; half of his body had gone through Cloe. The ghost was wearing a ruff and tights. Cloe could now see that there were other ghosts in this chamber too.

"You first years?" the ghost that had gone through Cloe asked.

Some nodded, including Cloe.

"Well, I hope to see you in Gryffindor! My house, you know." he beamed at them all.

Gryffindor, Cloe thought. How she longed to be in that house! Hermione and Ginny and Fred and George and Ron was there; the friends she had made even before school had started.

"Move along now," a sharp voice that Cloe recognised to be Professor McGonagall's said. " The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

The ghosts floated through the walls.

"Form a line please," Professor McGonagall told them. "and follow me."

Cloe got into line behind the girl she had crashed into, with Jamie behind her, and they followed Professor McGonagall again, who led them out of the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was amazing to Cloe. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in mid air, unsupported by anything. They floated over four long tables where the rest of the Hogwarts students were sitting. Cloe could see Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the twins sitting at the tabel on the far left. That must be the Gryffindor table, Cloe thought. Ginny waved at her and she waved back, feeling oddly comfortable, even with the whole school watching them. She looked around more. There was Malfoy, sitting at the table on the far right, with the rest of the Slytherins. The tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets and at the top of the Hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Cloe looked up to find, not a ceiling, but the night sky, complete with twinkling stars. She knew, by reading Hogwarts: A History, that it was actually bewitched to look like the sky outside. Professor McGonagall led the first-years up to the High Table, so they came to a stand still facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. Colours were dancing about in front of Cloe's eyes and she blinked several times to clear them, but they would not go away. Among the students, Cloe could make out the misty silver shapes of the ghosts, their see through bodies showing the students sitting behind them on the benches. Cloe's attention was drawn back to Professor McGonagall, who had just placed a four-legged stool in front of the group. And on the top of the stool, she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat, Cloe saw, was very patched and frayed and very old. To be honest, Cloe thought that the hat looked very much like her violin case (which she shifted on her shoulder) but she didn't think that her violin case looked that old. Cloe noticed that everyone in the Hall was looking at the hat, and so, she looked too. For a few moments, there was complete silence, but then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide (like a mouth) and, to much of Cloe's surprise, it began to sing.

Cloe didn't note down the song that the hat sang as her attention was drawn to the teachers. There, at the one end, was a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose and sallow skin. Next to him was a a witch with short, grey hair and yellow eyes like a hawk. Next to her was another witch with curly grey hair and wearing a pointed hat which dangled a plant of some kind, and some parts of it was dirty. Then there was a space, then, right in the middle of the High Table, sat a very old looking wizard with half-moon glasses, a long crooked nose and flowing silver hair, beard and moustache. His eyes were twinkling in the light of the candles, a piercing blue colour. Cloe presumed he was the headmaster. Then there was a teacher with shabby clothes, then Hagrid.

The Hall suddenly burst in applause and Cloe looked around. The hat had finished its song. Professor McGonagall stepped forward with a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted." she explained then looked at the parchment. "Angus, Jack!"

A boy with chestnut brown hair stepped forward. He walked up the line, put on the hat (which fell down over his eyes) and sat on the stool. There was a pause then-

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat shouted.

The table second from the left, next to the Gryffindors, cheered and clapped as Jack went to sit at the Ravenclaw table.

"Arnold, Jade!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Jade hurried to the Gryffindor table where everyone was cheering and clapping. The twins stood up to shake Jade's hand.

"Barnes, Maisy!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

This time, the table second from the right (in between the Ravenclaw table and the Slytherin table) burst into applause.

'Christie, Amy' became another Gryffindor, but 'Christie, Peter' became the first Slytherin.

Cloe was now feeling both excited and slightly sick. How did the hat choose what house you will be in? Does it somehow make you answer questions? She suddenly turned to Jamie.

"Hey, if we're in different houses, promise to still be friends?" Cloe whispered.

"Sure." was Jamie's reply.

"No matter what house we'll be in?"

"I alread said yes, didn't I?" Jamie scrutinised her as if she had gone mad.

"Promise!" Cloe hissed.

Jamie sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I promise that we'll remain friends, no matter what house we'll each be in." Jamie emphasised 'promise'.

Cloe nodded, satisfied.

"Faire, Rosie!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

Cloe noticed that sometimes, the hat didn't say a house name immediately. Sometimes it took longer than a few seconds.

'Gordon, Jonathan' took ages until the hat decided that he'll be in Slytherin. But 'Grey, Cady' sat there for two whole minutes before she was put in Hufflepuff. Cloe decided to look around the Hall again. There wasn't much to see so she looked at the enchanted sky. It really was beautiful. Before long, Jamie was called up.

"Martin, Jamie!"

Jamie grinned at Cloe before walking up the line. He put the hat on and sat on the stool. Cloe counted almost two minutes before the rip near the brim opened again.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Jamie looked proud as he sat down next to an older Gryffindor. Then it was Cloe's turn.

"Maysbury, Cloe!"

Cloe gulped and looked back at the Gryffindor table. The Weasleys, Harry and Hermione were smiling encouragingly at her. Jamie even winked at her! She walked up the line with a confidence she didn't feel and sat on the stool. She put on the hat and saw darkness as it slipped over her eyes.

"Hmmm..." a small voice said in her ear. "You're a bit difficult to decide. Lets see... You are loyal, very loyal to your friends I see, perhaps Hufflepuff? Ah, but you are very smart too, you could do just as well in Ravenclaw. But oh, what's this? You have plenty of courage and bravery, perhaps Gryffindor might suit you best... But hm... Ah... You have a cunning mind too, have you not? So perhaps Slytherin might do."

Cloe gripped the edges of the stool. So the hat thought that she would fit in all the houses!

"Yes, you do seem to fit in all the categories. But we shall see... You're better off in SLYTHERIN!"

Cloe's ears rang as the hat shouted the word to everybody in the Hall. As she took of the hat, her eyes strayed to the Gryffindor table. Jamie was still smiling at her. But the Weasleys (meaning just Ron and the twins) weren't even looking at her. Harry had a wary look on his face, Ginny had a closed look and Hermione was avoiding her eyes. Her heart sank faster than the Titanic. Her legs feeling heavy all of a sudden, she walked to the Slytherin table and sat down away from all the others. She could see Malfoy further up the table. He had a sour look on his face when she took the hat off. Cloe couldn't help but grin a bit at his face. He didn't seem too happy that she was in Slytherin. But then her eyes went back to the Gryffindor table, where all her friends were sitting. She didn't even know if they wanted to be friends with her anymore. Maybe Jamie still might, after all, he did promise, but then Cloe wouldn't blame him if he decided to break their friendship once he's heard all the stories about the Slytherin house.

Cloe didn't pay attention to the rest of the sorting, but she noticed that the girl she had bumped into earlier was put in Slytherin. Huh, I'm not surprised, Cloe thought darkly. Was she going to be the only Slytherin that wasn't mean or bad? Probably. But would anybody from the rest of the houses believe her? Probably not. Now what was she going to do? She can't be a loner all year. She started paying attention when the headmaster stood up and the whole Hall went quiet once more.

"Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts!" he said. "I have a few start-of-term notices to give you, but before that, lets all be fed!" and he sat back down.

A buzz of chattering started once more around the Hall as people started putting food onto their plates. Cloe looked at the table. To her amazement (and surprise), the plates were filled with food. There were potatoes, steak, roast chicken, Yorkshire pudding (her favourite) and, for a some strange reason unknown to her, mint humbugs. Cloe tried a tiny bit of everything and even took a mint humbug. They were all delicious. If she was honest with herself, she hadn't eaten a proper meal ever since she ran away from the orphanage. She noticed that every student was talking to somebody else, nobody was left alone, except for her. She looked back at the Gryffindor table. Jamie was talking to a fellow first-year. Hermione was having a discussion with the Weasleys and Harry. To Cloe, it looked as if they were arguing. It certainly looked very heated.

"But she seemed so nice!"

Hermione was trying to persuade the Weasleys that Cloe shouldn't be judged now that she was in Slytherin.

"Hermione, you think everyone's nice, even Professor bloody Snape!" Ron rolled his eyes.

"I so do not!" she retorted.

"You so do!" was Ron's reply.

"Anyway! Cloe shouldn't stop being our friend just because she's in Slytherin." Hermione said.

"Hermione, be reasonable here." Fred said.

"I am!"

"No, you're not." George said. "Does all the Slytherins look nice to you?"

Hermione swivelled in her seat and her eyes swept over the Slytherin table. She had to admit, they did look rather mean. Then someone caught her eyes. A lone figure eating right at the bottom end of the long table, her head bent a little low, but Hermione could feel her eyes watching her. Although the figure looked like a boy, it was most certainly a girl. A girl with a violin case still strapped to her back and dark brown hair in a boyish cut. A girl, Hermione knew, that had a pale, pointed face and stormy grey eyes. Her heart went out to the girl as she avoided her stormy grey eyes and swivelled back in her seat.

"They may look all mean, but Cloe certainly doesn't. Look, she's not even talking to anyone!"

They all peered over her shoulder and scanned the Slytherin table.

"I don't see her anywhere." Fred stated.

"She's sitting at the very end of the table."

They all looked to the top end, looking for a girl that looked like a boy, but instead, their eyes rested on Draco Malfoy. He was definitely a boy, not a girl, with the same face and eyes, but with platinum hair instead. Not the person they were looking for.

"Why Hermione, we never knew you had a thing for Malfoy." George said, smirking.

Hermione's eyes flashed.

"She's sitting at the other end of the table!" she hissed.

They looked in the other direction. Oh. They found her. And she was definitely sitting alone.

"Poor thing." Ginny muttered.

"You never told us she was sitting at that end of the table." Ron said, turning back to his food after a (very) quick glance.

"Fine! She's sitting alone at the bottom end of the Slytherin table." Hermione rephrased her sentence. "Happy now?"

"Not particularly." Ron said sourly.

"That doesn't exactly argue that she's nice though." George said.

"What about on the train?" Hermione demanded. "She doesn't seem the type to suddenly become all nice and then change to a Slytherin!"

"Hermione's right guys. We should give her a chance." Ginny said.

"Oh, that's right. Girls stick up for each other." Ron scowled.

"At least we're trying to be nice!" Hermione said.

"Everybody, just chill for a moment!" Ginny raised her voice.

There was a pause where students sitting close to them looked in their direction curiously. Ginny took a deep breath.

"Ok. Cloe may be in Slytherin, but that doesn't mean she is actually a pureblood or mean or anything like that."

Fred and George opened their mouths to argue back but was interrupted.

"Um... hi guys..." a hesitant voice sounded behind Hermione.

Hermione and Ginny turned round to look who it was. The twins and Ron glanced up but looked back down again. Harry, on the other hand, looked as if he'd rather be anywhere else than where he was right now.

"Can I sit with you's?" Cloe asked.

Gryffindors were now looking at the group, their food forgotten for the moment. Even Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and even Slytherins, had looked up as they had noticed a first year from the Slytherin table had walked over to the Gryffindor table, something that had never happened before. Or at least, not for friendly reasons. It seemed as if the whole Hall was staring at them, even the teachers. Cloe nervously shuffled her feet.

"You can't sit here Maysbury." Ron finally said.

Cloe looked down at her feet.

"I know I'm in Slytherin, but I still want to be friends with you. So I was just wondering..." she trailed off.

"Just wondering what?" Hermione said kindly.

Cloe looked up, startled. She hadn't expected that tone of voice from a Gryffindor to a Slytherin.

"I uh... never mind." Cloe glanced at Ron who was glaring at something just above her head.

Cloe felt both angry and sad. She had expected, or rather hoped, that at least they'll give her a chance. But she was angry that they were going to let prejudices against Slytherins get in the way of their friendship.

"It's just I hoped... that we can still be friends..."

Cloe looked hopefully at Hermione, but it seemed that even she was avoiding her eyes.

"Gryffindors and Slytherins can't be friends." Fred said.

"Yeah, it just doesn't work out." George piped in.

Cloe clenched her hands into fists.

"I get it." she said flatly. "You don't want to be friends with a Slytherin because it'll ruin your Gryffindor pride and reputation." she sneered.

She wasn't the only one that could be mean. Fred, George and Ron looked furious at her comment. Ginny just blinked a few times then turned back to her food. Harry had gone red and Hermione was still avoiding her eyes. Cloe immediately regretted saying it, but she couldn't back down now.

"I just thought that you's would be people that values friends and family above all others." Cloe said softly.

Ron opened his mouth to say something (probably something that was most likely rude and offensive), but Cloe had already turned round and walked back towards the Slytherin table and taking her seat at the very end of the table again. It suddenly felt like someone had turned the volume back to maximum. Snippets of conversations reached Cloe's ears, but she didn't care what they were saying. She just felt lonelier than ever, more lonely than she did when she was on the train when Ginny had left her for a few moments.

"Did you see that?" she heard someone whisper from the Hufflepuff table.

"Wow! Wasn't she the girl that pummelled Malfoy?" someone from the Ravenclaw table said.

"Yeah, she is! I don't think Malfoy likes her being in the same house." a fellow Ravenclaw said.

"I heard that she is friends with the Weasleys, Granger and Potter."

"Was." someone corrected. "I don't think she is now."

"She looks like a boy."

"What's with the violin she has?"

To say the least, Cloe was glad when the headmaster stood up again. Then Cloe remembered that conversation she had had on the train with her 'friends' about the headmaster. She remembered Hermione saying that the current headmaster of Hogwarts was called Albus Dumbledore, and is one of the greatest wizards of all time.

"Right. The start-of-term notices. I would like the first-years to note that the Forbidden Forest is exactly that; Forbidden. Some of our older pupils will do well to remember that too."

Cloe noted that his piercing blue eyes rested on the Weasley twins for a fraction of a second.

"Also, our caretaker, Argus Filch, would like to remind you's that there is to be no magic used in the corridors between classes. Quidditch trials will also be held in the second week of term. Anyone who is interested in playing for their house teams is very welcome to, but must give your name to your Head of House and Madam Hooch. And now, bedtime! You have a very busy day tomorrow!"

Cloe and the other Slytherin first-years got up and followed a Slytherin Prefect through the crowds, out of the Great Hall and down a flight of steps.

"Hurry up you lot!" the Prefect called over his shoulder.

They scrambled to keep up with him. Cloe noted that he led them even further down and it got considerably colder the more they descended down.

"The Slytherin common room is in the dungeon." the Prefect said.

Cloe just looked about her. They turned into the next passage and stopped by a stretch of bare (and damp) stone wall. Cloe looked at it distastefully. Why did the Slytherins have to sleep in the coldest, slimiest part of the castle?

"Cunning pureblood." the Prefect said.

That must've been the password because Cloe saw that a stone door that was previouslt concealed in the wall had slid open, giving them access inside.

The Slytherin common room was a long and low underground room with rough stone walls and ceiling, in which round, green lamps hung from chains. The fireplace, crackling with fire, which was ahead of them, was elaborately carved. A few older Slytherins were seated round the room in green carved chairs.

"Our common room is deep underground, under the lake." the Prefect said.

Way to state the obvious, Cloe thought dryly.

"Girls, your dorms are on the left. Boys, on the right."

The first-year girls made their way up the small staircase and into their circular dorm. There were five four-poster beds, complete with velvet green hangings and even Slytherin duvets and green pillows with the Slytherin emblem on them. Cloe eyed with them with disguised disgust before making her way to the bed closest to her; the bed on the right. Her trunk was already there, sitting innocently at the end of the bed. How she wished that she was in a very different common room, with the people she liked! How she wished that she wasn't put in Slytherin! She felt like she wanted to just sit down and cry, but she couldn't. Not only would the other Slytherin girls tease her, but she had to help herself and boldly get her first year over and done with, with no mishaps along the way. No one was here to help her, not even Jamie. A chair was set up against the wall, close to her bed, with her new uniform folded neatly on it. There was a black cloak at the bottom, which she knew would have the badge of the green snake, then a grey v-neck pullover, with green and silver trimmings, a grey plaited skirt that were knee lengthed, a white blouse, a tie that was in Slytherin colours, white socks and white tights and a pair of black shoes. Cloe ignored these, put her violin case down gently beside the chair and opened her trunk, pulling out her pj's. She put them on and climbed into bed, not in the mood to talk to the other girls. She turned over, facing the wall, staring at her uniform.

"Hey, Maysbury!" one of the girls called.

Cloe turned around in her bed. There was the girl she had bumped into earlier.

"Why did you go over to the Gryffindorks at dinner?" another girl asked.

Cloe sat up and yanked her hangings around her bed. She didn't want to see their faces, and the hangings made it quite dark, although it was lighter than she was used to. She turned back to face the wall. She didn't want to tell them the truth, and she was never a good liar, though she was ok at it. She didn't want to be friends with mean people, least of all become like them. She just hoped that Jamie will still be friends with her, if not Hermione, Harry and the Weasleys. Wanting someone that will be her friend, no matter what house she was in. Was that such a crime? Wanting a friend?

Before sleep took her, her last conscious thought was that if she could have anything in the world, she would have her mother back and her friends.

Heehee, I have no idea if this was the longest chapter or not, but it is definitely one of the longest! :D I had originally wanted Cloe to be in Gryffindor, and I was very close to putting her there, but then I decided that her being in Slytherin will make it much more interesting ;D Besides, I want to write more Cloe/Draco clashes in future chapters, haha xD Now, for that very important notice! Next Tuesday, I'll be away for three weeks, and I have no idea when I'll be able to get on to post chapters up during that time, so I'll try and get as many chapters up during this week, as much as I can!

Now, it would be very much appreciated if you reviewed! :D Please?