Of Slytherins and Smiles

Chapter Five: Breakfast with the Slytherins

Raya Sunshine First Person POV

I took longer in the shower than I had originally wanted, so by the time I was dressed, ready, and prepared, most people were already seated at their tables, eating breakfast.

I walked over to the Slytherin table, and saw Draco and his friends sitting quietly. He somehow was perfectly dressed and had not a hair out of place.

I had coordinated my outfit just like usual, a crystal necklace, dangly earrings, my mood ring, and my planet bracelet. But other than that, my hair was frizzy, my face was flushed, my clothes were slightly wrinkly, but I still had my yellow bow, so it all evened out.

I walked up to Draco and with a bright expression on my face, said, "Scoot over, I need a place to sit, too."

The other people at the table looked mildly confused, and even more so when Draco did scoot over. He had a peculiar expression on his face, that was kinda like being unhappy about being happy.

Pansy came out of her stupor just as some chocolate hummus on toast appeared up on my plate. "Draco, honey, what is this filthy little-" She started to say, completely ignoring me.

"Dirty mudblood, stupid American, hyperactive, Hispanic, Hufflepuff doing here?" I finished with a smirk on my face.

Everybody was looking super confused, as I continued, "I've heard it all before, now as to what I'm doing here. Isn't it obvious? I'm here to be friends with y'all. I'm Raya Sunshine, by the way."

Theodore, Pansy, Blaise, Vincent, and Gregory all looked weirded out. I took a sip of my green tea.

Theo spoke up, "Why would you, a nice Hufflepuff, ever want to be friends with the meanest Slytherins in your year?"

"Well," I put my tea down then began to spill the tea, "I think that you guys aren't as bad as you seem, or if you are, then you have a good side to you. I want to be your friend and I don't have any problems with Slytherin. In fact, I know some people who are dating Slytherins and they're awesome people, both the Slytherins and the ones dating them."

They looked slightly reassured, but still on edge.

"What if we refuse your offer of friendship?" Blaise asked. I had already considered this. These people needed somebody to believe in them, and I was going to be that person.

"Well, if you do, I can be the embodiment of spam in real life. That means I will spam you with letters, hidden notes, and just generally being annoying, like this."

I turned to Draco, "Draco. Draco. Drake. Draco. Drake. Draco. Draco. Drakey. Draco. Oi, Malfoy! Draco. Draco!"

"Hey, why am I the example? I haven't protested you sitting here." Draco looked thoroughly annoyed, but he still looked cute. Gah! What am I thinking?

"Well, I didn't want to annoy the Queen of Sass, Teddy bear, Vince, Greg, or Blaise." I said as if it were obvious, "So obviously, you were the only choice."

Pansy asked, "Queen of Sass?"

At the same time Theo asked, "Teddy bear?"

"Well yeah. I like to give nicknames." I said, "Plus they suit you."

Pansy started to smirk while Theo blushed. His hair looked a little lighter actually, almost pinker? Hmm. I remembered Draco saying something about Theo having a secret.

Maybe this was it? What if he was a metamorphmagus, and wanted to hide it. Nevermind, it was probably too strange of a theory, but whatever it was, it's his choice. I really want to finish my breakfast though. I started to eat my toast. I love chocolate.

"Raya?" Draco asked.

"Hmm?" I said, "Sorry I got a little distracted, it's a side effect of staying up too late. Anyways, what were y'all saying?"

"We were saying that yeah, we do want to be your friends." Vince said.

"Great! Now, Pansy, I have to ask," I started. Pansy looked at me, and she physically braced herself for an intrusive question. "Where did you get those earrings? I absolutely love them!"

Pansy smiled and touched a hand to her emerald studs. "I got them from a shop in London, I can lend them to you if you want."

"Thanks for the offer," I said, "But they just match so perfectly with your outfit that I couldn't take them from you. Oh, shoot! We're gonna be late!"

I looked at the clock, and chugged what was left of my tea. I had an insane fear of being late.

"Calm down, Raya." Draco said, " We still have some time. What class do you have?"

"I have Herbology," I explained, "But I want to walk with y'all to your classes. If I'm remembering right, Greg, Blaise, and Vince have Charms and you, Pansy, and Theo have Transfig. And then I have Potions with y'all in third, then lunch, then we have DADA together,"

The Slytherins looked at me in confusion as to how I knew their schedules.

"Oh, I know a guy who interns under Dumbldore's lesser known secretary, Ms. Bloom. He can get me the record of pretty much anybody." I explained.

The Slytherins looked a little too interested in this person who can get information on anybody.

"Just who is this person?" Blaise asked, "It could help us trust you more, if you gave us info."

"I'm not stupid," I smirked a bit, but then regained my seriousness, "I'm not going to betray a friend, even if it is for another friend. I am loyal. My friends stay anonymous unless specifically given permission. I never talk about people behind their backs."

Blaise looked a little annoyed, but smiled as well.

Theo said, "Well, I can certainly see why you got placed in Hufflepuff, with your loyalty and willingness to make friends with us."

"Yup," I said, "Now can we go now? I really hate being late. Even if it's by a few seconds."

We all stood up and walked across the hall to go to our classes. I tried to ignore the strange looks we got, mean Slytherins walking with a happy-go-lucky Hufflepuff.

I clearly didn't hide my slight discomfort well enough though because somehow, my new Slytherin friends started to move and speed up or slow down and I found myself thoroughly protected from weird stares on all sides. I smiled, my new friends really cared about me. We walked with each other to our respective classes.

I high-fived each person before we split up, and no one refused it. I specifically really liked my high-five with Draco, for some reason. He walked me to my class and I thought that it was really sweet. "Bye Draco!" I couldn't stop myself from smiling and shouting.

"Bye Raya." He called back.

Then I went into greenhouse number 7 and talked a bit with my friend Luna Lovegood, and my roommates Cherri Lock and Susan Bones.

I couldn't wait to talk to my new friends in Potions in third period.