The train ride to Hogwarts was uneventful, as train rides go. Alex sat in a compartment by herself, watching the scenery race by her window and contemplating what this new school would be like.

It couldn't be too awful; Draco and Daphne were there after all.

Her musings were interrupted by the sound of the compartment door sliding open noisily. Turning around, she was greeted by the sight of the very boy she had been thinking about: Draco Malfoy.

It seemed that in two months, Alex had forgotten just how handsome Draco was. Once again, his slivery-blonde hair was falling gracefully over his high forehead and into his eyes. His black and green school robes were draped over his body in a way that was both elegant and perfectly careless at the same time.

For reasons unknown to herself, Alex's heart leapt to her throat. He met her gaze, his face instantly brightening in a smile.

"Mind if I sit with you?" he asked, stepping into the compartment nonchalantly.

Alex grinned back at him, "Not at all."

Draco threw himself down unceremoniously across the two seats opposite Alex.

"Thanks for writing to me this summer," Alex said after a moment, fiddling with part of her skirt so she didn't have to look up at him. "Those letters were really what kept me sane."

"And Merlin knows we can't have all our new students going insane," a new voice replied audaciously. "You see what happened to Draco…."

Daphne, for this was whom the new voice belonged to, came in and immediately sat down next to Alex.

"Daphne!" Alex exclaimed, thrilled to see her other friend. "How are you?"

"I'm simply divine. I'm even better now that I'm with my two favorite people. You know, scratch that. Draco hardly counts as favorite," Daphne grinned at Draco, giving Alex a one-armed hug.

Alex giggled at the look Draco sent Daphne's way. Daphne, who was apparently quite used to this sort of thing, ignored him completely.

"So, have you had anything off the trolley?" Daphne asked, eagerly.

"No, it hasn't come around yet," Alex replied.

"Well we can't have that. Come on, Alex; let's go find it. I'm in a chocolate mood," Daphne said matter-of-factly, grabbing Alex's hand and pulling her toward the door of their compartment.

"When are you not in a chocolate mood?" Draco said, pulling out a small bag. "Oi, Alex, mind grabbing me some Bertie Botts?"

"Sure, no problem," she said hurriedly as Daphne proceeded to drag her from the compartment.

He tossed her the bag; it clinked as she caught it one-handed.

"Come on, Alex! We're going to miss it!" Daphne pleaded, pulling Alex along the corridor after her.

"We're not going to miss it, Daph— it's not like the food trolley ever leaves the train, right?" Alex said dryly.

If Daphne heard her, she ignored Alex's words, opting instead to run even faster down the narrow corridor.

All the sudden, Alex caught a glimpse of a boy with a head of messy red hair come quickly out into the corridor in front of them. She tried to call out, to warn the person, as Daphne showed no signs of having seen the newcomer or even slowing down. But too late, Daphne let go of Alex's hand suddenly and she went smashing into the boy, knocking Daphne over in the process.

Crash!

"Bloody hell!" the boy said as he caught his breath.

"Ron! Remember what Mum said about language!" came a girl's voice.

"— watch where you're going, why don't you!" she heard Daphne screech.

Alex opened her eyes to look at the owners of these new voices, but shut them again quickly, due to dizziness.

Merlin...she thought...why has the only effective way of meeting guys got to be by bumping into them and falling onto the ground?

"How about you help her up, you miserable Gryff!"

She brought her hand to her head as Daphne berated the boy.

"Why? If anyone should be helping someone up, it's her. She ran into me!" the male voice persisted.

"Oh come now, Ronnie, forgetting your manners? Mum wouldn't be proud," came another voice.

"Leave Ron alone, Fred," the girl said quickly.

"You should still help her up, Ron," a new voice said.

"George, she's a Slytherin! They're bad news," the boy, Ron, said.

Alex opened her eyes again and saw a guy kneeling over her.

Clarification: A really cute guy kneeling over her.

"She's not even wearing robes, Ron. How can you tell she's a Slytherin? She looks like your year and she doesn't seem familiar," the cute guy said.

Alex opened her mouth to introduce herself and then stopped as she realized how stupid she must look just lying there on the floor. She blushed bright red and closed her mouth quickly. Hoisting herself up from the ground, she went and stood just behind Daphne, sensing the animosity between her friend and the group in front of them.

"Well she's hanging out with a Slytherin! If that's not proof enough, I don't know what is!" Ron replied. "I'm telling you: they're bad news!"

Daphne colored dark pink with rage, "How dare you! What makes you think that you can go around and act like you're so much better than everyone just because you're a blooming Gryffindor!"

The boy glared darkly at her, "Well you Slytherins aren't much better. Always picking on anyone who's weaker than you, trying to play tough. The school year's not even started yet and I bet you've already had a whole lot of fun pushing around a bunch of first years! You're just a load of bullies!"

"Oh, you Gryffindors are ones to talk! Always have to be so good and noble, don't you? Well how's it feel, Weasley, being the loyal sidekick all the time? Tell me, do you stand behind Potter to make yourself look good? Because it's obviously not working— you still look just like a brainless waste of pure blood to me."

The group opposite Alex and Daphne clearly regarded this comment as hitting way below the belt. The other two boys — Fred and George, Alex noted — grabbed Ron's arms to hold him back. He looked murderous.

"If I ever hear you insult Harry Potter again—"

"You'll what? Hex me like you did Draco back in second year? Oh now I'm scared. Help! Don't let him barf slugs on me!"

"Daphne," Alex tugged on her sleeve. "Daphne, come on, let's go back to the compartment. Please."

Daphne shook off her friend's hand, gave one last glare at the red headed group and stalked off with Alex half-running to keep up with her.

They reached the compartment in record time. Daphne threw the door open and flung herself down on a cushioned seat. Alex followed a little timidly, sliding the door shut and then sitting down next to Draco.

"What's up?" he asked, taking in the mutinous look on Daphne's face and the slightly scared one on Alex's. "Where they out of Chocolate Frogs or something?"

"No, we sort of bumped into, well, we did bump in—" Alex started.

"Weasleys," Daphne said through gritted teeth.

Draco's face darkened instantly.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked quickly. "What's so bad about Weasleys?"

"The Weasleys are the wrong sort of people to get to know," Draco said grimly. "They're a shame to the Wizarding community and their whole family's been in Gryffindor for generations."

"Gryffindor?" Alex searched her memory for anything about Gryffindor.

"Yeah, remember, I told you a bit about them," Daphne told her.

Draco's pale face developed a pink tinge. "Gryffindors give purebloods a bad name. They're about the most untrustworthy lot you'll ever have the misfortune to come across. Besides that, they think they're better than everyone else at Hogwarts. When you get Sorted, you'd better hope they don't put you in Gryffindor."

Daphne nodded in whole-hearted agreement. "And the Weasleys are some of the worst Gryffindors you'll find."

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A/N: thanks for being patient while we didn't update. Sorry. Secondly, I wanted to let everyone know (as an advance warning of sorts) that Alex will be sorted with the First Years. Yes, that method of sorting 'exchange students' or 'transfer students' is completely overdone and cliché and personally I think it's rather stupid, but it's also the only way we could think of that wouldn't ruin a pretty good scene we've got planned. Again, sorry.