Disclaimer: I don't own any of this; it's all J.K Rowling's

Authors Note: Please Review guys, I'm getting less reviews. I need to know your reading and if I'm doing well enough! Your suggestions and criticisms are welcome!

Astoria headed toward the great hall on her own, jack had got to meet up with some of his other friends. She walking through the entrance when she heard someone shouting her name.

'Astoria'

'Astoria!'

'Astoria, please turn around' Draco said, grabbing her wrist

'I haven't forgotten what you said Malfoy' she said coldly, shaking him off

'Stop calling me Malfoy! Astoria we were good friends, do you remember that'

'Honestly I'd prefer not to remember it' she said turning away

'Please can we be friends again, can we put it behind us' he said pleadingly. Astoria stopped, she hadn't expected this, she had thought he would completely ignore her; he hadn't spoken to her at all after their argument. He hadn't tried to contact her other the holidays, so she presumed this meant he was annoyed with her. But unknown to Astoria, Draco had found himself missing her company.

'I'm not sure we can, were too different' she said sadly

'How are we different?'

'Our beliefs are completely different for a start, you're the enemy'

'I'm the enemy? Come on, don't be ridiculous, the war hasn't even started yet, I'm not your enemy!'

'Yeah well let's face it one day you will be'

'Well we'll deal with that at the time, but for now can we be friends?' He pleaded once more

'I'm trying to make a fresh start, with new friends, and I don't think they are going to be thrilled with me being you're friend'

'Well they don't need to know'

'What? So I'm just supposed to pretend I don't know you?' she said disbelievingly.

'Yeah, why not? Please Astoria; can we try to be friends?'

'Fine! But I'm not promising anything!' she said before storming away from him and towards the great hall for the welcoming feast, leaving Draco grinning behind her.

She found Theo at the Slytherin table and sat beside him. She then realised she would usually of sat with him on the train and she felt extremely guilty.

'I'm so sorry! I just realised I didn't sit with you on the train'

Astoria had expected him to be annoyed but when he turned to face her he looked amused.

'Calm down, its fine' he said chuckling

'Are you sure? You weren't sat by yourself were you? I feel so guilty?'

'I sat with Daphne, so don't worry'

'You sat with Daphne?' she said in amazement

'Yeah' Theo said casually.

'Why on earth would you do that?'

'I actually get on with her really well'

'She's a cow!' she scoffed

'She's really not Astoria, it's just an act, and she's lovely with me'

'So one train ride and you've changed your opinion?'

'Well actually I've always got on well with her, I took her to the yule ball remember, we had a great time, and also I saw her during the holidays'

'What? You saw her during the holidays? Did you not think of coming to see me?'

'Well actually I did come to see you but your parents said you were out and when I asked where the just told me they didn't know and didn't care, they weren't very helpful so I didn't know where to find you '

'Oh, sorry. I was out a lot over the holidays. So how did you end up talking to Daphne?'

'Well I decided to try and look for you in the garden, under that big oak tree, because that's where you were last time do you remember?' Astoria recalled her sister's tea party where Theo and Draco had left to see her.

'Yeah I remember'

'Well I thought I would look for you there first before I left but I bumped in to Daphne on the way and we got talking and she invited me to stay for lunch and I spent the day with her'

'Why would anyone willingly spend the day with Daphne, all she talks about are shoes, clothes, makeup and boys; she's so boring'

'It was all right actually we played wizard chess and talked about school and stuff'

'Promise me she's not going to become your new best friend; I cannot bear spending time with her'

'I wouldn't exactly call us best friends Astoria, calm it!' he said laughing 'that reminds me I'm sure I saw you in a compartment with Ravenclaw on the train'

'So what if I was'

'Well Ravenclaw's aren't too bad, but you do realise if you start becoming friends with Gryffindor's or muggleborns the other Slytherins will hate you'

'I honestly don't care what they think'

'I know you don't but you're making yourself a target for pranks and abuse, they'll hate you' he said seriously.

'I can handle myself don't worry'

'Yeah but what if You-Know-Who is back? You're not putting yourself in a very good situation.

Astoria was about to respond when McGonagall led the first years into the great hall in preparation for the sorting, the room was quickly silent. The sorting hat began to sing, but its song was unusual this year, the end in particular part stuck in her mind:

Oh, know the perils, read the signs,
The warning history shows,
For our Hogwarts is in danger
From external, deadly foes
And we must unite inside her
Or we'll crumble from within
I have told you, I have warned you ...
Let the Sorting now begin.

'See even the bloody sorting hat agrees with me!' she whispered to Theo

'What are you on about?'

'Did you listen to the song?'

'Not properly, why?'

'It said Hogwarts is in danger from external, deadly foes; that's means You-Know-Who'

'Yeah well if he is back that proves my point doesn't it?'

'No let me finish, it then said we must unite inside her, Or we'll crumble from within that means we've got to stick together!'

'I suppose but were Slytherins, we look after ourselves, were not team players'

'Well we need to change that if we want any chance of winning!'

'Were not Gryffindor's! We don't do that bravery thing, and if you were like that that's where you'd be, there no denying that, you're a Slytherin and you can't change that'

Astoria sat there in silence she had no idea how to reply, it was true, she was a Slytherin, and the sorting hat doesn't make mistakes. But she wouldn't accept she was like the others, she may not be as brave as the Gryffindor's but maybe she had other skills that could be useful. She thought to herself what are Slytherins famous for? She then realised maybe she was supposed to be in Slytherin she was resourceful, cunning, intelligent and determined, the only difference with her and other Slytherins was she wold use these qualities towards a different purpose, she would use them not to aid Voldemort but to fight him. She had to try, and the sorting hats song had only increased her determination to help.

Author Questions

1) Do you think Astoria belongs in Slytherin?