She sighed, and walked to the Slytherin table. There, she looked at the people at the other tables. She felt very envious of the ones sitting at the Ravenclaw table, however, she knew that she didn't stand a chance against them, though. She would never be smart enough to be in Ravenclaw. She knew it. However, she felt very happy to have been chosen for Slytherin, and she watched the rest of the Sorting.

Then, the food appeared out of nowhere on the table. She felt very pleased that now she could eat as much as she liked, without her mother there, to tell her to watch her weight or anything. Her mother was just obsessed with that, after all, she wasn't overweight, or anything. It was just her mother's paranoia. There was just about everything on the table, and even though, the food tasted good, she would miss her mother's cooking. Her mother usually did the cooking, even though they had a house-elf. After dinner, the prefects led them down into the dungeons, to their common room.

"Okay,"said one of them. "The password is spiky serpent."

She giggled to herself. Well, since when were serpents spiky? Besides, it was easy to remember, since both of the words started with the same letter. A stone door opened, and they walked into a long, narrow room, with a fire on the other end. She walked towards the girls' dormitories, and saw that all her things were already there waiting for her. Including her cats.

"Well, I think I'm going to like it here."she told them. "The only thing I don't like, is having to share a dormitory. But at least I get my own bed. And I guess it's a little lucky I got to be in Slytherin, you know. That way, I get to wear my silver rings and earrings. Silver is a Slytherin color, after all, you know. The only bad thing is that the other one isn't lilac, but green. Well, we'll see. I'm looking forward to lessons tomorrow. Hopefully they won't be too hard."

And she lay down to sleep.

The next morning, she got her schedule, and Harriff arrived with a letter from her brothers, one of which was currently visiting Grandma, for a few months, but just got back, asking how she liked Hogwarts. She wrote back saying that she might just like it here, considering the fact that the castle was so big, and gigantic, and she the food was great, and she could eat as much as she pleased. She went off to her first lessons as soon as she finished her breakfast.

The first lesson was Transfiguration. The teacher who taught it, Professor McGonagall, told them that she would not allow anyone to mess around in her class. Hmm, thought Layla, at least that way, we won't have disruptions in class. Unfortunately, all the class consisted of taking complicated notes, and trying to turn a match into a needle. This way, I probably will never run out of needles, will I?she thought. I'll never have to bug Mom to buy me more, when one breaks, or something.

The classes she was really looking forward to were Potions and Herbology. Potions was taught by Professor Snape, who was Head of Slytherin House. The Slytherins had Potions with the Gryffindors, and even though she didn't understand why most of the Slytherins hated the Gryffindors, she tried her best to pretend that she did, too, though she thought Professor Snape was a bit unfair, in calling Harry Potter a celebrity in such a tone, and at the rest of the class for laughing when he didn't know an answer. Well, I'll bet they don't know it, either, she thought, but didn't dare say it out loud, in case she might get detention, or points deducted. The only one who seemed to know it was a girl with bushy brown hair, and large front teeth, as she was trying to get the Professor's attention, and had her hand in the air.

This class was much more fun than Transfiguration, since they were set to making a potion to cure boils. Layla had always wanted to learn to cook and bake, and she liked to work with her hands. She just didn't learn, because she had been too ashamed to tell her mother, and she didn't want to end up being a house-wife, either. Suddenly, there was a loud hiss, and she felt something funny as if her shoes were melting. As soon as she realized that someone's potion had spilled onto the floor, and it was burning holes in her shoes, she jumped onto the desk, and looked around, to see who had been the one to spill their potion. A round faced boy, had melted his cauldron, and now the potion in it was spilling all over the floor.

"Idiot boy."said Professor Snape, as he made the potion disappear.

Oh, dear, thought Layla, shaking her head, and I though I was bad. The boy was now covered in boils, and the one he had been working with, was given the task of taking him to the hospital. The hospital wing, though Layla, feeling suddenly sick. She hoped, maybe beyond hope that she would not have to go there, during her stay at Hogwart. She climbed off her desk, and began to clean up, as it was almost time to go.

Back in the common room, she chose a place in a corner, close to the fireplace, and started working on her Transfiguration homework. She could hear a boy with a pale, pointed face, and white-blond hair, whom she could remember vaguely as Draco Malfoy, talking to two other boys, who in her opinion, looked like gorillas. She thought she had always had a gift when it came to eavesdropping, after all, she could hear what her mother said, when she was locked in her room, and her mother, somewhere in the dining room. Her mother would never suspect that, though. It was odd, however, that sometimes she had to ask people to repeat things when they were talking to her, because she had a hard time understanding them.

"And did you see? How he was lying there covered in boils? I always knew that Gryffindors are losers. After all, those Weasleys are there, aren't they?"

Layla could not stand it anymore, she had to say something. She loved to apart from eavesdrop, she liked to gossip. An unfortunate habit, of course, but sometimes, she couldn't resist the urge.

"The Gryffindors aren't losers, and they aren't stupid. That girl with the bushy hair, she was brilliant. I might consider talking to her. She's so smart."

"That Granger Mudblood?"asked Malfoy.

Layla dropped her quill, and looked up, surprised.

"A Mudblood?"she asked.

Malfoy's lip curled.

"A Mudblood."he confirmed.

"Oh!"she exclaimed, with a look of disgust on her face. "A Mudblood."

"Don't tell me you associate with Mudbloods."

"Of course not."she answered with a look of disgust on her face.

She turned away from Malfoy, and returned to her homework, but she couldn't concentrate. She knew that they allowed Muggle-borns at Hogwarts, and well, to be honest, you couldn't tell them apart just by looking at them. She felt slightly ashamed of herself. A girl of no wizard family, had known most of the information in the class, while she, perhaps knew no more than the other Muggle-borns. She sighed, picked up her things, and went to bed.

"Yuck."she said to herself.

A few days later, she saw on the notice board, that they would be learning to fly. Fly! She loved to fly. She didn't play Quidditch, though, because she knew that she wouldn't be good at it. But still, she loved to fly, she especially would like to fly on a flying carpet. Just like Aladdin and Jasmine. She didn't want anyone here to know, though, that she liked Muggle entertainments, but well, you had to admit that Muggles were somewhat better than wizards on that. As a matter of fact, she thought, that Granger girl, might be a good person, so she has no wizard blood, so, she might know a lot about Walt Disney, and she's smart, she could probably teach me some good study habits.

She walked down to the where there were twenty broomsticks. From the look of them, they were not very good ones. She stood next to one, beside the Granger girl, and said "Up." Her broomstick shot straight into the air, into her hand. The Granger girl's didn't.

"You say it like you mean it."she told her. "You know, with, like, no fear. You know."

Suddenly, the same boy, who had melted his cauldron in Potions, was now shooting twenty feet into the air.

"Come back, boy!"yelled Madam Hooch.

Then, he landed with a loud thump, on the ground. Madam Hooch, told them to stay still, while she took him to the hospital wing. This might be her chance. Layla cleared her throat.

"Um, that boy, he's in your House, isn't he?"she asked the Granger girl.

"Yes. His name is Neville Longbottom."

"He, um, was the one who melted his cauldron in Potions, the other day. Wasn't he?"

"That was Seamus's cauldron, but yes, he melted him, yes."

"Um, your parents are Muggles, aren't they? Someone told me last night, in the common room. Him, you see, right there, his name is Malfoy, I think."

She nodded towards him, then looked at the Granger girl, and back, only to see, with a shock, that Malfoy had mounted up on his broom, and was soaring up. She wanted to stop him, if he got caught, Slytherin would lose points, and she wanted to win the House Cup. The Granger girl, however, walked towards the Potter boy, and tried to talk him out of going after Malfoy. She did not manage to convince him, though.

Everyone watched from the ground, and Layla was surprised to see that the Potter boy caught the little object Malfoy threw, and landed back on the ground. However, then, she heard Professor McGonagall's voice. She didn't know whether to be glad that she was angry at Potter, and hadn't noticed Malfoy, and Slytherin would not use any points, or angry that this had been so unfair. Well, I guess the latter, she told herself. She was upset, though, that Malfoy had interrupted her conversation with the Granger girl. After the lesson, they headed back toward the common room, Malfoy delighted that Potter was going to be expelled.

"Why do you hate him so much?"she asked. "You know, you're just jealous, and maybe even sour that he's better than you in lessons, you know. And if he is expelled, I will personally tell McGonagall what happened, even if that costs Slytherin points, because what you did wasn't right."

She walked towards the same corner she had occupied the other day, angry at Malfoy for interrupting her when she was trying to talk to the Granger girl, more than anything.

"Idiot."she said. "I could've talked to her more. Stupidass."she said, using one of her brother's favorite words. Well, I'll have other chances, we always have Potions with the Gryffindors, anyway, and she usually doesn't have anyone else to talk. I hope I can sit next to her.