Ashlie was still slightly confused with her friends' reactions to what she had told them. Really. Slytherin couldn't be THAT bad. I mean, they probably just held some sort of silly grudge against one person in Slytherin and automatically thought the rest of them were bad. It's not like they had a choice what house they would be in. Ashlie just assumed they had all received letters like she had. But then she learned about the Sorting Hat.

The Sorting Hat began to sing its song as Ashlie walked over to the Slytherin table. Then she understood. So really, people were chosen for what was in their heads. Did this mean she was bad? Surely it didn't, she hadn't even tried on the Sorting Hat. It hadn't been her choice. She was just, stuck there, basically. As Ashlie sat down at an empty seat in the table, she was all smile and cheer. She was going to be happy. These people would like it and be friends with her if it was the last thing they did. At least she could make some friends with people in her own house. That'd be pretty dumb only being friends with everyone she had sat with on the train. She'd never see them. Or not until Potions, according to Hermione. But she could deal, she was a very friendly person, she was able to make friends very easily somehow. But she had never met a Slytherin. The moment she had sat, everyone looked at her, than turned back to whatever they were doing. Ashlie wasn't disappointed by this reaction. That was to be expected. No one give's a damn about the new girl. Well, she would make them. She turned to the person on her left. "Hullo. I'm Ashlie. I just transferred here and received a letter that I would be in Slytherin. How's the house? Do we have a good Quidditch team? I'm a big fan of Quidditch."

Ashlie received a grunt in reply. AH! Why didn't anyone care that she was trying to be friendly?!?!?! So, she tried the person to her right.

"Hey. I'm Ashlie. I just moved here. So what's Slytherin like?"

At least this time she received a reply.

"Oh really, what'd you do? Get expelled from your old school?"

Okay, so it wasn't a very nice reply, but anything was better than being grunted at like a wild animal. She would teach him not to treat her like that the little....Ashlie had to mentally slap

herself. She wasn't going to become witch woman her. That's how she had gained herself the "role" of Miss Popular before, sure, being popular was good. But ever try having `friends'? That's not a fun experience, people only are nice to you because they want to be `in', or they avoid you in the halls because they're scared of you, or they make up stupid, unreal rumors so that everyone'll call you a slut, even you're `friends'. She wasn't going for popular or anything like that here. She was going for real, true blue friends. The kind that were in books, or in the movies. The kind that supported you and were there for you no

matter what. She wanted to know the feeling of having REAL friends.

Once Ashlie returned back to earth, she noticed that the boy across the table from her was smiling. It was a cross between an I-want-to-get-to-know-you-better-because-you're-pretty smile and an I-should-be-evil-because-I-have-an-image-to-uphold smile. Ashlie went after the I-want-to-get-to-know-you-better-because-you're-pretty attitude. She figured she would make more friends that way.

Ashlie hated to be conceited or self-centered or anything like that. But she had to admit it, she was pretty. Well, it wasn't really admitting it. It was more like she finally had realized it. So many people had told her that she was beautiful, but she never believed them.

So Ashlie figured she would flaunt it. It's like her friend used to say, If you've got it, flaunt it. Okay, so her friend had been a slut, but she wasn't going to flaunt that much. She pulled her hair up off her face, smiled at the boy, then released her hair so that it flowed across her shoulders. She stuck her hand out.

"I'm Ashlie, who are you?"

The boy seemed taken aback, but recovered quickly, and smiled slyly as he said,

"Draco Malfoy. Are you sure you belong here? I've never seen you before."

"Oh, I'm sure. I just moved here from the United States. I got a letter saying I've been in Slytherin. This is Slytherin, right?"

Draco just nodded his head. He seemed completely mesmerized by her. So, she wouldn't have too many friends, but he would be mesmerized, oh well. Close enough. Ashlie and Draco sat chatting while the sorting was going on. Soon they were led towards a stone wall. When the password, "Aloyarc," was said, the wall moved to reveal a comfy looking room. In the room was a fireplace and lots of poofy, full chairs. Ashlie plopped herself into the chair closest to the door. This would make a nice home. She could make this work. Draco sat next to her and tried to strike up a conversation. Ashlie had to laugh at his feeble attempts. It didn't seem as though this guy was used to being in a nice, normal conversation. Speaking of nice and normal, Ashlie's thoughts drifted back to Harry, and Hermione, and everyone she had met on Hogwarts' Express. She wish she could've been in Gryffindor with them, but she was sure that they would be able to remain friends. She would make sure of that.