Claire followed the crowds into the castle, where a stern looking woman with her hair pulled back in a tight bun met her.
"Miss Almer, I presume?" The woman asked her.
"Yes, I'm Claire Almer." She replied.
"Good. My name is Professor Mcgonagall. You will be sorted into your house after the first years. Please wait behind them, and I will call your name when we are ready for you." The Professor continued.
"Okay, thankyou." She replied.
Claire followed the first years into the great hall, and stood behind them as their numbers slowly went down as they were sorted. She glanced around the hall, and looked over to the Slytherin table and saw that Draco Malfoy was watching her again. She felt a very pleasant feeling in her stomach, and smiled to herself.
"Claire Almer." She heard her name and went to sit on the stool, and felt the sorting hat placed on her head. Then she heard the voice, now familiar to everyone at Hogwarts, talking almost to itself.
"Well then. I see a lot of knowledge, and courage too. But there is also determination, and wit! Someone with a bit of attitude, I think. Hmm. I think I'll put you in…SLYTHERIN!" The Slytherin table exploded with cheering and applause, but no one was happier about Slytherin's gain than Malfoy.
Claire went and sat down next to Pansy, across the table from Draco. The moment she sat down, he caught her eye.
"Congratulations." He said, half smiling, not wanting to seem too soft.
"Thanks." She replied, smiling back and blushing slightly. The food appeared and everyone dug in. The whole time, Claire was busy talking to Pansy and her friends, and smiling and flirting a bit with Draco.
When dinner finished, she followed Pansy, Melissa and Chenae to the Slytherin common room. They got to the entrance there and Pansy said
"Did anyone happen to find out the new password?" Everyone oohed and aahed, then a voice behind them said
"Halfblood." The entrance opened, and Pansy walked in. Claire stopped and turned around to see who had told them. It was Draco.
"Thanks Draco," she said, smiling.
"Since when were we on first name terms?" he asked jokingly.
"Okay, so you're gonna call me Almer all the time then are you?" she replied, then nudged him with her elbow, and walked in, grinning. He took a deep breath, gathered his composure and walked in.
Later that night in bed, Pansy and Claire were talking.
"Who has the major hots for you?" she said teasingly. Claire giggled.
"I don't mind in the least!" she replied.
"You're a very lucky girl." Pansy said to her. "Most girls only dream about him liking them" she continued.
"Well, I guess this is a dream come true for me then." Claire said, now very happy.
"Oh, by the way, what do you seen in the Mudblood and her friends?" Pansy continued
"I see a lot in them. Hermione is smart, kind and friendly, Ginny was the first person to help me before I even got on the train. Harry and Ron are both really nice too. But all you people ever think about is they're too poor, or they're Muggle-born, or they're famous, I hate them. Did you ever try to look past that?" Claire said, getting very angry at Pansy for putting down the first people she had ever met from Hogwarts, the people who had accepted her straight away, whether she was Pureblood or Muggle-born. "And you know what?" she continued "They accepted me straight away. You had to wait until you knew if I was Pure or not. So shove your opinion, because if you don't like them, that's fine with me, but I'm NOT going to turn against them just for the likes of you." Pansy started to say something, but Claire interrupted her.
"Leave me alone! I'm trying to sleep." She heard Pansy sigh, and turned over. She knew the other girl would be awake for a long time, thinking about Claire's words.