James turned and flashed a small smile at the girl following him. She swiped a strand of long, curling brown hair from her eyes and smiled shyly back, looking away almost immediately and surveying the corridor he was leading her down. It was dark and cold, definitely below ground. She was nervous. Her first day at Hogwarts, her final year, and she just had to arrive late.
Albus Dumbledore had sat the Sorting Hat on her head just that morning. She remembered how she'd jumped at the little voice in her ear.
"Hmm, interesting. Loyal, but only to your own kind. Virtuous, but only to specific people. Trustworthy at times... mostly for friends. Clever, but shrewd with it. You seem to fit every house... however... SLYTHERIN!"
Her almost violet eyes had locked with Dumbledore's icy blue ones as the house had been announced. She had sighed, stood up, handed the old hat back, and James had been called to lead her to her new common room.
"Here we are... blood!"
The stone wall slid apart and James tugged on the sleeve of the 17 year old girl, hanging behind, shyly. The common room was packed. In front of the fire, on a leather sofa, a tall, well built boy with dark hair lounged back, a quaffle clutched in his hands. He laughed at a joke from a girl standing near him, younger, blonde hair. She glanced up at the newcomer and raised an eyebrow then possessively sat down and cuddled up to the boy. He didn't even look around.
On the other side of the room, a large group of girls were sitting around a table, gossiping profusely. As she watched, the girl saw two or three girls shoot furtive and longing glances at the couple on the sofa. James grabbed the girls' hand and guided her to the group of girls.
"Hey, everyone, this is Beth. She's new."
One of the girls, the one who had glanced the most at the boy in front of the fire, flicked back a lock of silvery hair. "What year are you? Third? We're final, we don't hang around with prissy third years."
Beth felt a stab of annoyance. "I'm seventh year, and I don't hang around with bitchy tryhards."
The girl suddenly grinned and held out her hand. "Sway Malfoy, pleased to meetcha. Congrats, you passed the bitchiness test. This is..." she gestured to each girl around the table in turn. "Jessi, Kirsty, Kristy... they're twins... Blaise and Sarah." Beth blinked at Kirsty and Kristy. She'd never be able to tell who was who. But she smiled, relieved that she wasn't a social outcast.
Jessi cocked her head. "Why are you starting now? I mean, school started two months ago."
"Family thing," Beth looked away, determined not to say any more. The girls just shrugged.
Sway pulled out a chair for Beth to sit in, then glanced over at the fire with scowl. "See him? Marcus Flint. He used to have really bad teeth... and used to be quite hideous. But now..." she sighed audibly. "Damn, he's fine. Every girls dream. But he's with that Emily girl now, she's three years younger than him, can you believe it?! She's all he sees, although..." She turned back to survey Beth. "I doubt you can walk past him unseen."
Beth grinned. "I just did. Nothing special about me... give it some time, I'm sure he'll be begging you to go out with him."
Sway sat back and screwed up her face, shaking her head. "Nah, not me, never me. You're much prettier than me. I reckon, sooner or later, you two will get together."
"Ok, we've known each other for five minutes. Can we not get into a debate already?" Beth laughed. "Besides, I have no intention of getting involved with anyone at this school."
Sway just laughed.
"You haven't met Tom yet."