Chapter: 1

Harry absentmindedly looked at the first-years quietly entering the great hall, after 5 years the ceremony was starting to get boring.

A girl at about the middle of the line caught his eye, she was more than a head taller than all the other first years and with her silvery-blue hair she just stood out.

Almost as if reading his mind, Ron leaned over and whispered in his ear

"She sure doesn't look like she's eleven!"

Bright-eyed and bushy haired Hermione Granger leaned over and said thoughtfully

"I'll bet she's an exchange student, she looks about our age, maybe younger".

"Well" said Ron "she sure is dreamy!"

Simultaneously Harry and Hermione gave him a sharp nudge in the ribs.

"OW!" he exclaimed attempting to glare at both of them.

"Shhhhhhhh!" Hermione exclaimed, "it's starting"

"As if I care" Ron grumbled grumpily while dodging another of Hermione's sharp elbow attacks.

Soon enough Professor McGonnagal reached the silver headed girl

"Malfoy, Aliyanna" she announced clearly.

Ron was so shocked he almost fell off his seat "Malfoy has a sister?" he growled into Harry's ear.

"Forget what I said about dreamy!"

"Well" said Hermione grimly "we all know where she's going"
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Aliyanna Malfoy (better known as Ali) stood nervously in the line of first-years. She could see people's eyes on her as they whispered about her height and hair. Feeling Uncomfortable Ali wished for the thousandth time that she was eleven, not 14.

Her eyes scaned the crowd until they came to rest upon a certain slytherin blond, Draco gave her a grin and she nervously smiled back.

All of a sudden Proffesor McGonagal called her name and the whole hall went silent. Ali felt everyone's eyes on her and was almost relieved when the large sorting hat obscured her vision and blocked out all sound.

"Well" said the sorting hat lazily into her ear "what an interesting case".

Ali shifted uncomfortably in the stool knowing exactly what the sorting hat was talking about.

"I see that you, have not decided what your favored house is, most would have thought it would be Slytherin, hmm?"

"For a hat" Ali thought "it can sure sound sly!"

"of course I can, I've had practice" said the hat somewhat smugly

Ali shook her head fighting laughter, as her crazy conversation with the sorting hat continued.
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"Man" grumbled Ron "What's taking that darn hat so long?"

"Ya" said Harry in the same tone of voice "You'd think they were having a conversation!"

"It certainly didn't take Draco this long to get sorted" Hermione put in with grim humor.
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Ali was starting to get exasperated with the sorting hat

"Can you please sort me already?" she asked with slight frustration.

"oh all right, the hat said" in a tone of voice that would have matched the pout the hat would be wearing if it had a face.

"well" said the hat softly "everyone is expecting me to sort you into Slytherin" he paused "So just to see the looks on their faces I'll put you in...... GRYPHINDOR!

The hall went silent.

Shaking with nervous energy, Ali slowly walked over to the Gryphindor (A/N:Sorry if I spelt that wrong!) table. She sat at the end of one bench and was not oblivious to the strange amount of room the gryphindors were making between themselves and her.

She tried to act oblivious to the other gryphindor's actions but she couldn't ignore the downhill ride her stomach seemed to be taking.

Soon the sorting was done, and piles of delicious food were appearing in front of everyone. All the people started to dig in, except for Ali. All of a sudden she really didn't feel like eating.

"Not hungry?" a girl said sympatheticaly.

Ali looked up and saw a mane of bushy curls. At closer inspection Ali saw that the girl had a pair of large liquid brown eyes and a nice smile.

"first-day nervousness, I guess" said Ali softly smiling at the girl, ignoring the vicious looks her two friends seemed to be giving her.

"My name is Hermione Granger" said the girl almost bossily "and yours?"

"Aliyanna Malfoy"

Hermione cleared her throught nervously "ummm, are you related to Draco?"

Ali smiled "Yes, he's my older brother"

Hermione smiled tolerantly "is he, umm, how should I put this?, unfriendly at times?"

Ali laughed "of course not!" she said "but I really don't get to see him much"

"Because of school?" Hermione asked

"Not really" Ali replied choosing her words carefully "I was sent to a wizard orphanage where I grew up until it closed and I was sent here, I saw Draco during the summer and sometimes on holidays"

"Why were you at an orphanage?" Hermione asked her face avid with curiosity.

At that Ali's face closed up, she decided that this conversation was getting too personal and walked stifly out of the great hall doors and ducked into a small closet to let her long held back tears loose.