As soon as Marisa heard Leo being Sorted into Slytherin, she knew where she wanted to go. But she still had a long time to wait.

The next new Slytherin was Millicent Bulstrode, closely followed by Vincent Crabbe, one of Draco's minions.

Marisa didn't really care about any of the others, so she spent her time trying to guess which boy was Harry Potter.

As a Muggle-born, she didn't know that much about Harry Potter, but according to her History of Magic textbook he was famous because he'd defeated someone so scary that no-one wanted to name him, when he was only one year old.

That, to Marisa, seemed absolutely crazy. How on earth could a one-year-old do something like that? Therefore, Marisa was very intrigued by Harry Potter, and thought he would be a useful ally. She hoped he'd be in Slytherin: herself, Harry Potter and Leo would be an invincible team.

Daphne Greengrass and Draco's other minion soon joined the Slytherin table, and the line was beginning to shrink noticeably.

It wasn't long until it would be Marisa's turn, and she began to feel a little nervous. Not, of course, that she let anyone see that.

"King, Marisa!"

Marisa stepped forward calmly. Almost before she'd managed to put the Hat on, it yelled "SLYTHERIN!"

She pulled off the Hat and set it down on the stool. That was when she noticed no-one was clapping; instead, all of the Slytherins were staring at her curiously.

Leo began to applaud loudly, and then everyone turned to stare at him, instead.

Marisa thought she understood why people were acting strangely: because she was a "Mudblood". She walked over to the Slytherin table and found an empty seat between Leo and Daphne Greengrass.

The ceremony continued. Next was a boy who managed to walk off wearing the Hat (Gryffindor) followed by "MacDougal, Morag" (Ravenclaw) and then Draco Malfoy. To no-one's surprise, he was sorted into Slytherin.

He walked over to the table and sat down on Leo's other side, ignoring Marisa.

Soon after that, the name that everyone had been waiting for was called: "Potter, Harry!"

Marisa stared curiously at him. He was small and skinny, with messy dark hair and glasses, but she couldn't see any more than that before his head vanished under the Hat.

As everyone waited, all hoping he would be put into their House, the Hat paused for a minute and then yelled "GRYFFINDOR!"

Marisa sighed softly, disappointed. Why couldn't he have been in Slytherin?