A/N: No, not all Slytherins are evil. I am writing based on the impression that Draco is a bit of a whiny coward, Theo's bark is worse than his bite, and that Blaise is just a bit arrogant.

Ino took off her robes, letting them fall to her bed. She looked around at the dormitory, taking in the greenish light with a grimace.

"Honestly, what's wrong with a bit of sun?" she muttered to herself.

"You get used to it." A dark haired girl stood in the doorway. "I'm Pansy Parkinson." She walked forward, extending her hand. Ino shook it hesitantly - that's what they did in England, right?

"Millicent Bulstrode," a girl said as she walked in the door. She was rather large, and Ino quashed her initial reaction. It wouldn't do to offend her roommates on the first day.

"I'm Ino Yamanaka," she said with a rather forced smile. "Nice to meet you."

"So you and that new teacher come from the same place, right?" Pansy seemed offhand about it, but it was rather obvious to Ino that she was hiding her excitement.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"How old is he?"

"He's sixteen now."

"What? He's younger than us?"

Ino shrugged. "Well, he's older than me by a few months, but yeah."

"He's pretty cute," Millicent said.

Ino blinked, then thought about it. She supposed he was good looking enough, but he wasn't really her type. Namely, he wasn't Sasuke. But the other girls didn't have to know that. She grinned. "He's even more cute in the morning," she said. "He gets this grumpy look on his face and absolutely refuses to get out of bed."

Pansy raised an eyebrow. "You've seen him in bed?"

Ino smirked. "Oh yeah. It happens all the time." They didn't have to know that she was only there to drag him out of bed to meet the Hokage or for missions. Ino was looking forward to seeing Shikamaru's expression when this bit of gossip reached him.

Draco's first impression of the new transfer student was not a good one. The guy had walked into the room, nodded curtly at them, and promptly shut the hangings around his bed.

He glanced at Theo and Blaise. Blaise was looking at the closed curtains with a raised eyebrow, and Theo seemed surprised that the newcomer hadn't tried to introduce himself at all.

Draco stalked over to the four poster and yanked open one of the curtains. "I don't think we managed to introduce ourselves properly," he said cooly. "I'm Draco Malfoy." He continued to pull the rest of the curtains open, showing the other two inhabitants of the room. "This is Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott."

Neji narrowed his eyes slightly, not moving from his cross-legged position. "Neji Hyuuga. Is it common for the English to disregard any notions of privacy, or is it just the Slytherins who are this uncouth?"

Theo snickered at the flustered expression on Draco's face. "Forgive Draco, he spent the last year in the company of some rather questionable characters." He sauntered over to Neji's bed, and extended a hand. "Call me Theo. Theodore makes me sound like an old man."

Neji finally moved, shaking Theo's hand firmly. "Sure."

"It's not every day that someone gets one over Draco," Blaise said from his chair. Draco sputtered slightly. "Not that it matters anymore, but my mom will want to know. Are you pureblood, halfblood, or what?"

Neji paused for a fraction of a second. "I come from the branch family of the Hyuuga clan. I'm not sure how it translates to your misguided concepts of blood, but by your standards, it should be the purest clan in Konoha."

"Really. The purest clan?" Draco seemed skeptical.

"Well. Considered the Senju clan and the Uchiha clan are mostly extinct, yes."

"Guess it's the same everywhere," Theo said dryly.

"I doubt the esteemed families of the Wizarding World traditionally sacrifice half the clan for the sake of the bloodline."

"You'd be surprised," Draco said darkly, touching his left forearm.

"Really?" Neji raised an eyebrow. "I don't think you know what it means to be a constant sacrifice, to potentially be in excruciating and unimaginable pain at any given moment."

"Yes, I do," Draco snarled. "My own father sacrificed me to the Dark Lord to save his own skin. I spent all of the last year trapped in my own house with a homicidal maniac who tortured his subordinates when he had nothing to do. Any misstep, any slight mistake, and it's the Cruciatus, or worse."

The two glared at each other for a tense moment, until Theo broke the silence. "Okay, we get it. You guys have issues. Boo hoo. I'm just glad all Blaise and I had to do was avoid getting killed by the Carrows."

"Which was a lot easier after we worked out that deal with the other houses to fake the torture sessions."

"Yeah, too bad that Ravenclaw girl didn't get the memo."

Blaise winced a little. "Yeah. Who was it that she kept volunteering for? She'd pick us and that Hufflepuff, right?"

Theo nodded. "Think so. Although to be fair, Vincent and Greg really enjoyed the whole 'torture-the-rebels' thing."

Neji broke away from the staring match with Draco to join the conversation. "Who are they? Friends of yours?"

Theo sneered. "Friends of Draco's. Henchmen really."

Draco shrugged. "They were good subordinates."

"Still didn't like them."

Blaise cut in. "You hardly like anybody."

"Where are they? I didn't notice any other seventh-year Slytherins at the feast."

"They're dead," Draco said woodenly.

"Ah."

There was an awkward silence.

"So what classes are you taking?"

A/N: INCONSPICUOUS CHANGE OF SUBJECT. What an awkward way to meet your roommates. Ah, well. Neji can deal with it. As for Pansy having a bit of a crush on Shikamaru... yes, I'm definitely planning on going somewhere with that.

Review and tell me what you think!