the nice malfoy; c. diggory [DISCONTINUED]

•|| Chapter 4 ||•

The door swung open at once. A tall, silver haired witch in emerald green robes stood there. She had a terrifyingly stern face, and Aline immediately knew that she was the one of the only people at this school who would make it difficult to misbehave.

Aline got the feeling she knew who this was.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," Rubeus Hagrid said, only confirming Aline's suspicions.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." McGonagall said, pulling the door wide open.

The entrance hall was majestic and elegant. Aline observed quietly as all of the other first years gawked. She'd always been told that she was mature for her age, but she'd never noticed much, not having much interaction with people her age besides Draco and his friends, who she'd grown up with.

She was too mature to gawk at something she'd seen the likes of every day at home, anyway.

She was both like the mom of their friend group and the little sister, simultaneously.

The whole group followed McGonagall through the hall. Aline and Blaise, walking side by side, started speaking quietly to each other as the drone of hundreds of voices in the great hall filled the air.

The rest of the group trailed behind them.

Draco with Crabbe and Goyle, Theo with Pansy.

The latter two were barely speaking, and Aline would assume that it was something Theo said, as it was often the cause of people ignoring him.

"Blaise, I'm worried," Aline said under her breath.

Blaise grinned. "Don't worry, dear, I'll always love you, no matter how much you don't deserve a guy like me—" he says loudly, drawing the attention of a couple fellow first years who give them weird looks.

Aline facepalms. "Blaise, I'm worried about Draco."

His grin drops off his face. "Why?"

Aline sighs, lowering her voice even further. "After the thing with Potter... he's just getting worse. More angry, more controlling, more..." she says.

Blaise nods. "I mean, what did you think was going to happen? He's come to a school full of Mudbloods—"

Aline covered his mouth with her hand, effectively shutting him up.

She hated it when he said things like that. Even though he was her friend, he was still a believer of blood purity and crap like that.

She'd tried and failed to change his mind, so they just had to work around it.

"Blaise..." she said.

He laughed and continued. "Muggle-borns, the people Draco hates the most in the world, and half of them are better at magic then him, a pureblood who's been doing it his whole life. Did you think he wouldn't be angry?"

She opened her mouth to respond, to snap back, but then she thought about it for a second. He was right.

She was Draco's sister. She should have known that before the boy who he just barely got along with sometimes.

"Wow, Zabini, you should be a psychologist—"

She was cut off when they arrived at their destination; a small, empty chamber off the hall. They, meaning the first years, crowded in, standing very close together and peering around nervously.

Aline's feet were 100% on someone else's. She looked up and saw brown hair and dark blue eyes. Theo. He was smirking, and she wanted so bad to wipe that look clean off his face.

They were standing close enough that her head was level with his chest. Her cheek was basically pressed against it, which was quickly turning her cheeks pink.

Before either of them could say anything about the increasingly uncomfortable position that  they'd been put it, Professor McGonagall spoke up.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." she said. "The start of term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses."

"The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts..."

As the silver-haired witch droned on and on, Aline tried to move from her position on Theo's feet, but to no avail.

The small room was so packed that she couldn't move an inch, sandwiched between an amused Theo and her closest friend. 

"—the sorting ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting..." the old witch's eyes lingered on a brown-haired boy's cloak and flicked to Theo, who's hair was rumpled and tie undone.

He raised his eyebrows and didn't move an inch. Giving up, McGonagall sighed and left the room after a warning to wait quietly, leaving the first years to their own devices.

Aline's eyes flicked over to Draco, who was speaking quietly to Theo. She found somewhere to place her feet that got her away from Theo, and turned to Blaise. "Blaise, do you think we'll be Slytherins?"

Blaise grinned, ruffling her hair. "Of course we will! That hat will take one look at you and know!" He meant it to sound reassuring, but to Aline it just sounded empty.

What if the hat sorts me into Ravenclaw? Or hufflepuff, the little voice in her head said.

She ignored it. Her family had been Slytherins for generations. Blaise was right.

Then they heard a scream.

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"What the—"

About 20 ghosts had just streamed through the wall. Pearly white and slightly translucent, they glided through the room, talking to each other and hardly glancing at the first years.

They seemed to be arguing.

What looked like a round little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance—"

"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not even a ghost— I say, what are you all doing here?"

A ghost wearing an old fashioned ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.

Not a single one answered, so Aline spoke up hesitantly. "We're new students...?"

"New students!" said the Friar, beaming at all of them, especially Aline. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"

There was a chorus of confirmations around the room.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the ghost. "My old House, you know."

"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."

Professor McGonagall had arrived to lead the first year students to their future, to the event that would define their teenage years.

Yay. Fun. Way to drop you guys off on a boring spot that you won't be thinking about for a week, Allis. Just kidding, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please stick with me on this story! New chapters probably every Sunday if I can manage to squeeze out the creativity. Don't be a silent reader! I'd love you to comment or vote, especially comment.

<<allis, they/ them>>