I peered around the common room. Dark green plush chairs were set about, and dark mahogany tables and a chess set could be spotted. A green sofa with a black decorated blanket sitting on the armrest was in front of a crackling fire. It was beautiful.
"Alright, it's late, unpack and go to bed, Slytherins," the prefect said. He turned and left through the portrait hole to go to the prefect's dorm.
I looked at my fellow Slytherins, and Draco, who was holding my hand. "Home, sweet home," he said with a smile. "I'm going to go unpack."
I nodded and ventured up the spiral staircase. "Hello," said a deep, female voice.
I turned to see a brown haired girl, perhaps in her 3rd year. "Hi," I answered.
"You're a first year? Come on, then, find your bed." I nodded, and made my way over to a certain bed, and she shook her head.
"Pansy sleeps there; you don't want to get her angry. Ugh, nasty piece of work that one is," the brown haired girl warned.
After some time, I found a bed overlooking the Quidditch pitch, with a lovely view of the rain that had started to fall. I unpacked my clothes and put them in the drawers underneath my bed. Then, I left the rest of my belongings in my trunk at the foot of my bed. My trunk was laid out like this: school books and quills for classes were at one corner of the trunk, at the other corner was a book for writing in, it was also enchanted to tell you a story if you wrote the command, and my special quills. There were two sugar quills, a Quik Quotes quill, a mood quill, and a diary quill, which once you put your hand on, spilled out your most inner thoughts. Then in the trunk were some enchanted paper that could fly by themselves, and a Muggle CD player and some CD's. Also inside was my karate uniform and belt. But, hidden beneath a blanket, was my most prized possession. My racing broom.
No one knew about this broom. I had saved up for it since I was very young, and one day before school in Diagon Alley, I had snuck into the broom shop and bought myself a Firebolt. Before then, I had practiced every day for two years on my father's old broom.
My thoughts about the broom were interrupted. "I forgot to tell you my name!" the brown haired girl said.
"It's Leda Nighford. Yours?"
"Rochelle Arbore," I answered, closing shut my trunk. "Well, let's go down to the common room."
We approached the staircase, when Leda gasped with sudden realization. "You're the one that Draco kissed!"
"Well, yeah," I said, looking at the floor.
"Girls! It's her!" she called, her eyes lighting up with delight. "You're so lucky. Tell us all about it!"
I was dragged away from the stairs, and I fell onto a bed, where they propped me up and I found many eyes looking at me expectantly.
"What was it like? What did he smell like? Are you going out? Have you snogged? Oh my gosh! How did you get him to like you? Where did you meet? I'm so jealous!" The questions were endless.
Soon, they left and I found Leda again. It was later now, but we still proceeded to the common room. "Rochelle!" I heard Draco's voice.
My hatred melted away as I saw the flower. "For you," he said, with a smile.
"Draco…" I said, but he cut me off with a deep kiss. I tried to resist for a moment, but found myself falling into it.
"Awwww!" a few girls cooed.
We ignored them, but finished the kiss. "Wow," I said.
He laughed. "Come with me." I saw that the girls were about to follow, so shot them a look that made them stay there. We went to another segment of the common room, and the rest left as they saw the commanding Draco.
I leant my head on his shoulder, smelling the cinnamon-scent he had. "First kiss?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said sheepishly.
"Did I make it good?" he said with a little grin.
"Very much so." A consciousness awoken inside me and I sat up a moment and looked into his eyes. "Draco?"
"Yes?"
"You've been known to have a certain reputation with girls…that you find a pretty one, use her, and then dump her."
He scowled. "Who told you that?"
"The girls…"
"Which ones?" he demanded, an offended, angry glow in his eyes.
"A Pansy Parkinson and Diana Fodder."
"Pansy's is obsessed with me, and wants to drive you away. Diana, on the other hand, I dumped because she kept showing me off like a trophy."
"Still…"
"Rochelle. I would never hurt you in any way."
My mind was still a bit dubious, but when I saw the silver eyes looking at me with dead seriousness and warmth, I nodded. "Alright, Draco."
Draco leaned in for another kiss, but we parted as the prefect's voice rang out, "Lights out!"
Red-faced, I said goodbye to Draco and ran up to the girl's dormitories. I got changed into my satin green nightgown and crept into the canopy bed.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Leda shook me awake. "Huh? What?" I mumbled groggily.
"Classes," she said with a smile on her pallid face.
I instantly sat up. "I'm late!"
She laughed lightly. "No, but if you don't get ready soon, you will be."
I stumbled out of bed, took a steamy shower and brushed my teeth. Then, wrapped in a fluffy green towel, I went back to my bed and found black jeans and a white blouse. I buttoned it, almost to the top but not quite, and loosely slipped on my green and silver tie. Last, I grabbed the black and green cloak and wrapped and fastened it around me. The Slytherin crest on the cloak shone in the sunlight, reflecting in the wide window near my bed.
I threw a pair of converse sneakers on, and ran after the rest of the first years, my school bag slung over my shoulder and my schedule in hand.
"Rochelle," a soft voice said, in an almost-whisper. I turned to see a smirking Draco.
I returned his smirk, only mine was a bit more optimistic, and said, "Hello."
He took hold of my hand, and I felt a shiver run up my spine. The grey eyes met mine, and we walked hand-in-hand to the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. I glanced over to the Gryffindor table, still holding Draco's hand, and saw Harry seethe with a hidden fury.
"Draco," I murmured.
"Yes, love?"
I smiled at the "love" part. "I'm going to say hello to Ginny."
"Stay here," he pouted.
"I'll be back in a minute, Draco," I said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before getting up. The other houses soon looked at me skeptically, whispering, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the teachers raise their eyebrows, while Dumbledore smiled that wise-old-man smile.
"Hey," I said to a wide-eyed Ginny.
"Why are you here?" she whispered, eyes darting about.
I arched a raven eyebrow. "There are Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws here."
"Yet no snakes," an angry voice from behind me. I turned to see Ron.
I sighed. "Call me that again."
"Snake," the redhead spat.
"You've left me with no other choice," I said, rolling up my sleeve.
"And what would that be? Don't ever come near my sister, you or your boyfriend, you gits…." he was cut off by my quick punch.
He, and the rest of the Great Hall looked at me in shock. I saw a few teachers rise at once, but Dumbledore motioned for them to sit down. I saw a mixture of this shock and a smirk playing on Draco's face.
Glaring, he spat blood. I waited expectantly, but he did not fight. I raised my eyebrow again, and he said, "I don't fight girls."
I hooked him again, and said, "In other matters, this would be considered gentlemanly, but in these circumstances it's purely sexist."
He growled, and I could see him fighting with his anger. "Ron, I'm really sorry, but if you can't see past a name, you deserve this."
"That will be enough, Miss Arbore," Dumbledore's calm, almost jovial voice rang out. "Please see me after the meal."
I looked at him, shrugged, and walked back to my table as if nothing had ever happened.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
As the rest of the hall filed out, I stayed behind until it was only I and Dumbledore. "Miss Arbore, what were your reasons for punching Mr. Weasly?"
"With all due respect, sir, I wasn't going to take his insults. And they were based solely on the crest on my cloak. Before being sorted, he had accepted, even been friendly to me, but now, it's as if I'm a different person."
He nodded, a twinkle in his eyes. "Miss Arbore, it seems as though you are familiar with Mr. Malfoy?"
I felt my cheeks become hot. "Yes, sir."
"Perhaps you know not of the rivalry between the Malfoy family and the Weasly family?"
I shook my head. "No, sir."
"Ah, then perhaps you mistook Mr. Weasly's reasons for insulting you."
"You mean he…..?"
"Yes, he does not trust you near his family, as you are with Mr. Malfoy. Yet, as you may agree, that gives him no right to insult and assume that you are….a snake, was it?" Dumbledore cocked his head to one side.
"My thoughts exactly, sir."
"You are one of my better students, only the first day, and you have stood out to me more than any other first year ever has. You are open-minded, opinionated, clever, determined, and outspoken. You have more than a friendship with a second year, and a fight with another. You know how to defend yourself, even without a wand. I can trust you will solve this conflict between yourself and the Gryffindors. Now, to your classes."
"Thank you, Professor Dumbledore."
I turned and ran to Transfiguration. "Miss Arbore, please take a seat. Miss Weasly, I trust, can show you what we are Transfiguring as you have come in late and missed the first part of the lesson."
I sat down and looked at Ginny. She looked at McGonagall pleadingly, but then looked at me, almost with horror.
"We're turning mice into teacups," she said through clenched teeth.
"Ginny, please forgive me, I really am sorry. But even though I'm with Draco, I'm not him. I don't care who you are, but I only see the person," I said, sincerely.
She bit her lip. "Alright…but…my brothers always said Slytherins were horrid…and Malfoy always makes fun of us because we're….poor."
"What your brothers said was wrong. And Malfoy will never make fun of you or your family again while I'm around."
"Ok," she said, with a smile. "Here's the spell…"
Soon we were laughing, joking, smiling together over our mistakes. Ginny had created a teacup with furry white legs and a tail. Mine looked fine, but squeaked. Soon we had gotten it right, and McGonagall gave me a thin almost-smile as we left her classroom, I think.
Next was Defense Against the Dark Arts, or as I liked to call it, "Do Nothing While Professor Full-Of-Himself Lockhart Screams And Tries To Tame the Doxies."
After that was Potions. To my great surprise, I saw my friend Virginia. (A/N: Not to be confused with Ginny Weasly, whose full name is "Ginevra".) She was wearing Ravenclaw robes, but nevertheless, approached me with a smile.
"Ro!" she cried as we waited outside the Potions classroom.
"Virginia! You were sorted into Ravenclaw?" I asked with a smile.
She nodded excitedly, but her then her gaze fell to my cloak. I rolled my eyes. "Don't worry; we're not as bad as they say," I said with a laugh.
She beamed again. "Were you the one who punched a second year Gryffindor at breakfast?"
"Yeah, well, I'm working on making up…"
"Rochelle! You punched a second year Gryffindor boy?" she said, laughing, but still trying to scold me.
"Yes, I thought we covered that already."
"But…that means…you're also the one Draco Malfoy's going out with!" Her eyes grew wide with wonder.
"Yeah, I suppose."
"You are the object of almost every member of the female population in Hogwarts' envy!" she exclaimed. "I knew something clicked at my party! You two are so adorable!"
"What about you?" I asked, changing the subject. "I mean, it's only the first day, but you must have gotten a crush on some boy!"
She laughed at my teasing tone, and answered, "Well, there is one boy…but it's a secret!"
I nodded, but soon the rest of the students started to go into the dark, dripping dungeon room. Professor Snape must've just loved his classroom, right?
"Enter," he said gloomily. His hook-nose and greasy appearance was kind of disgusting. To me, at least. Shampoo? Like, ever?
His beady raven eyes fell on me, and a sneer curled onto his face. But, to my surprise, he did not say anything about breakfast, just started the lesson.
We started a shrinking potion, and at last, Virginia and I as partners, had finished. I put our clear blue sample into a vial, and corked it before bringing it to Professor Snape.
"It looks fine, Miss Arbore. Let's test it, shall we?" Snape said. He poured it onto a large plant, and the plant started to grow smaller and smaller until it was a bit smaller than my hand.
"Excellent, ten points to Slytherin and Ravenclaw," he said, and I did my best to suppress a smile.
Virginia went off to Charms, and I went to Herbology. I won't discuss it anymore, but I will say one thing: Beware of Mandrakes.
It was finally time for lunch. I entered the Great Hall and strode over to…the Gryffindor table.
