The Slytherin house looked pretty happy to have me there which surprised me a little. I sat next to Draco and smiled at him like I always did. If we were going to spend the next several years at the same school, in the same house, the least I could do was be civil. Even if he was an idiot. He turned away from me but said hello, in a serious sort of tone. I saw him blushing slightly, hardly visible but it was there. From what I had heard him saying to the other students my guess was he wanted to maintain a tough image among them, which would explain his reaction. I often called him pet names and teased him which would certainly spoil any tough guy reputation he would've built thus far. So I simply turned back to the sorting, over to the boy who had just been accepted into Gryffindor, Ron Weasley.

A few Slytherin students scoffed but I was glad for him; he had seemed nervous about being sorted away from his family. He went and sat next to Harry Potter, by his brothers, who in the process of turning to him saw me. On impulse, I held my breath and hoped they didn't choose to ignore me as I thought they would. My family wasn't very friendly with people they didn't deem worthy of their attention, in other words, those who weren't rich or of high stature in our society. I knew that they knew who my family was, after all I knew theirs. I was about to turn away when I saw them smile. I was a little shocked and let out a giggle. They waved happily at me before turning to their brother to congratulate him on his placement on Gryffindor.

"Why are you bothering with those weasels?" Draco asked almost in disgust. I gave him a look and was about to reply when Dumbledore spoke.

The headmaster began to address everyone in the hall and, judging by the unconcerned attitude of the other students this wasn't anything new. He took his time to give a rather strange greeting to all of us, both old and new students, and thanked us. After that he sat himself down and we all began to eat.

On the table were many delicious dishes and sides. I never really ate much but I especially wasn't hungry at the moment. It probably had to do with all the sweets I ate on the train with Fred and George. Looking around my table I noticed almost all the students in Slytherin were either pure-bloods or of somewhat high status in the wizard society. Not all but enough that it was noticeable. Part of me wondered if that was why I had been placed there. I started nibbling on some chips that were near me not wanting to stay on that thought.

"They call this food?" Draco sneered at the plate in front of him. I knew he liked to be treated a certain way but this was school, not a luxury resort. He wasn't the only one at the table acting that way either, many of the other first years weren't as accepting of their food and just made faces as the poked around their plates.

"It's good so just eat it, okay" I told him and handed him some chicken.

Draco looked like he was about to argue so I grabbed a piece and put it in his mouth before he could say anything. This surprised the other first years and even some of the older students around us but this was how I always treated him, and he knew that. So I simply smiled and went back to my chips as he took the chicken and started eating. After that everyone else seemed to be a little more accepting of their food and began eating too. Not excited about it but at least they were eating. I was past the chips and was about to grab some chicken too when a ghost made his way in between me and Draco.

"Ah, first years! Now you all better keep the Slytherin name proud. Our house must remain victorious. If we don't, we will all have a problem, won't we?" he said in what I assumed was a joke, though most looked at him terrified of his announcement. He was a pale thing, a ghost after all, with black eyes and blood covering his robe. That probably contributed to the reason why everyone looked so scared. But he was a ghost, what harm could he do? With that thought I decided to introduce myself.

"Hi, um, I'm Katerina. And you are?"

"They call me The Bloody Baron" he said and I saw a few of the students' eyes go wide.

"Well it's nice to meet you" I said and continued to eat my chicken.

He didn't seem so bad although Draco still seemed pretty disturbed by his presence. In front of me I saw another ghost; this one looked quite friendly and must have been in the Gryffindor house like the Bloody Baron was in ours. As they joked George looked over and caught my eye. He still seemed happy and not bothered by me which made me happy too. After I waved I heard a grunt next to me and turned to see that our ghost friend had left. That meant the boy next to me must have been the one to have made that noise.

"Don't start" I warned him in a hushed voice. In return he merely looked at the Weasleys, looked back at me, and then down at his food which had now turned into desserts.

Some time passed and when everyone was finished Dumbledore made one last speech after which we were all told to sing the Hogwarts school song. Then it was time for bed. I felt tired but not too much and it seemed that a good night's rest would fix all that. We were led by our prefect downstairs through many passages until we finally arrived into a big common room.

It wasn't the most luxurious thing I'd ever seen but it was very nice. The girls' and boys' rooms were on opposite sides, of course, so I said goodnight to Draco and found my room, shared with three other first year girls. We talked for a little bit; their names were Millicent, Pansy, and Daphne. They were nice enough but whether that was actually because of me or because of my family I didn't know. After a little while we said goodnight to each other and I got into bed, falling asleep rather quickly.