A/N-Next one!

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My new set of clothes came this week, and it was all dresses of a dark shade. Them all being quarter length, with a delicate belt cinching the waist or the hips, before the skirt flared until the knees. They were a pretty set, and it made me feel like a ballerina.

Those skirts had plenty of folds, and was thick all around. Mmm...I loved clothes. Me and Cissy just played dress up when they arrived.

My brother gave me advice and told me to lay off guys for awhile. It was an obvious thing to do, but I never would have done it if he never said it, of course. So, he told me to spoil myself with clothes that he would send over. He was still a brother, so he wouldn't get me skanky clothes, but he always knew what the best things were. He also told me to stuff myself with chocolates and train for Quidditch alone.

Another piece of advice, suround myself with girlfriends who would make me feel better.

Problem was, I only had Cissy and Bella. Another was Lily. Those were the only three that I would ever share my secrets with. Uhhh...that was it. Girls didn't come to me and want to be my friend, they were always...distant. I guess this was my cue to start making some more friends who were girls. This was how unreliably unbearable the men in my life were.

"Lily," I whispered to Evans one day. She jumped up in surprise.

"What are you doing on this side of the Hall?" she grinned. We never talked outside of the training rooms.

"I need help to get friends," I said truthfully.

"You have plenty of friends."

"I don't have plenty of real friends," I pointed out. Pride wasn't a thing for me to keep now.

"Well, I really can't help you with that." Lily laughed. "You can't just take one from the crowd and say 'Can we be friends until we die?' It's just not the thing, is it?"

"What do I start with?"

"A smile?"

"All right," I grinned at the first person I saw. It was a guy passing by. I scowled.

"And he smiled back." Lily rolled her eyes. "I know what that kind of smile means. Bastards."

I ruffled my eyebrows in anxiety. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No. This place is filled with guys who don't know what they want and done wrong."

I wasn't listening anymore. I was looking at a girl in the Hufflepuff table. She had a silent dignity about her stance. She was alone, reading a book. Her blue-eyed gaze was directed at it. Her hair was a thin mane of blonde. She looked like she was frail. I was intrigued by the rectangular glasses that perched on her nose and the loose half-ponytail that hung limply at her shoulders. She was absolutely pale, with a passive look on her face, her eyes were dull.

"Who is she?" I pointed her at Lily. "I never noticed her before."

Lily looked at where my eyes were directed. "That's Bridget Carter. She's in your year! You should know."

"I don't remember her."

"She's not really the social kind of person. She usually just sits around, reading or has a blank look on her face. I've never seen her smile at all. I don't think she has any friends. Just one, who, I think got murdered by the Death Eaters. She was never right again."

I stared at the girl in sadness. I couldn't imagine how it was to lose a friend. That must have really sucked. Without realizing what I was doing, I was walking up to her and standing in behind her back.

"Umm...hi!" I said in a small voice. That was weird. How did this girl make me feel SHY?? "Can I sit by you?"

She looked up at me through those glasses, those inexplicably intimidating glasses and those blunt blue eyes. "You can, but I'd rather not know your reasons why you chose the seat beside me."

"Why? What do you think I'm going to do to you?" I said, good humor invading my voice.

"Are you serious?" she stared at the page of her book blankly. "The most popular Slytherin that everybody pretends to hate but secretly likes to be friends with? You don't just talk to people unless you want something from them, or take some guy from them. Bad news for you; I don't have a guy for you to unconsciously steal."

No Hufflepuff has ever said that to me before. She had a spine, this one. I liked her spirit.

"Then it shows that you conform with everyone else, labeling me to what other people are saying about me," I retorted, showing how she fit in with the other people. "Obviously, this shows how much you don't know me. I certainly am not one of the crowd, not being repelled by your anti-social ways. People have labeled you, but I came here to know you for yourself. I came here for you to prove everyone else wrong, or letting me know for myself if they're right."

She looked up in surprise, emotion finally reaching her eyes. "I didn't know you were this clever to think of that, though."

"Looks can be deceiving," I grinned menacingly. "That's your insensible fault."

"Why did you come over here?"

"Didn't I already tell you?"

She thought it over before replying, "Do you honestly want me to believe that you came here just to get to know me?"

It did sound quite unbelievable, when it was heard through another Houses' lips. "Yes."

"You must be mental then, to make me think not of suspicious things."

"What did I ever do to deserve such a reputation?" I was amused. "I didn't do anything that isn't innocent."

"Since you started traipsing about kissing Potter and then Black and then his brother. And then kissing the elder Black and that nineteen-year old Johnson fellow in turns at a party. Everyone's saying that there's something going on between you and all of your teammates in Slytherin."

I was shaking in silent laughter. "And you believed them?"

"I knew about the kisses, but I don't find anything wrong in them."

"But what about the last bit?"

"Not at all."

"Then what's the problem?"

"You have pretty clothes."

I looked down at my white blouse that ruffled at the neckline, topped with a red V-neck sweater that would've not covered my chest enough if the white blouse wasn't under. I wore a black ribbon around my neck and hung it loose there. It actually looked like a necktie that hung only until the point of where the hint of the cleavage should be. My skirt was a black one that flared until the knees, with thick poofs like a ballerina.

"Thanks? I think?" I laughed.

"Do you know how intimidating it is to be around you?"

"And it isn't intimidating to be around Potter and the others?"

"It's not the same with you Slytherins. You..." she was trying to find the right words. "You guys are exclusive. We can't just approach you. It's like an unwritten code."

"You guys are more dramatic than we are," I muttered, trying to contain my laughter. "Honestly, most in my House do not like muggle-born people, but that's the only thing that they revolve around really. That's the only real basis of why they think we're mean."

"I can't believe I'm having this conversation with you," Bridget gave her first smile. "I'm Bridget, by the way."

"You probably know me," I said frankly. "Do I need to tell you, if you know all the bad things about me?"

"No," she grinned this time.

"Hey, I'll see you around all right? I won't forget!"

I stood up and headed over to Lily. She was looking at me with a shocked expression on her face. Her eyes looked pretty in that expression, so full of life.

"How did you do that?" she asked in awe.

"Do what?"

"Make her smile. And get her to talk."

"Being myself."

"I have no idea why you're placed in Slytherin," she concluded, nibbling on a piece of chicken leg. "You have too much friends outside your House and you're simply too nice."

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A/N-This is a typical, nonromantic day for her. I wanted to show you the good side of her, and she isn't just this vixen that everyone pants after, but also a friend. Reviews! It's easy to do them, and I'll be really upset if you don't. xoxo's.