Well, why don't you just look at that? Slytherins were friendly after all. In Sophie's experience, all the Slytherins she'd ever known had only been nice to you what they wanted something from you, so it was with this attitude that Sophie approached every nice Slytherin she met.

"Hey, I'm Sophie," she said, turning toward the girl, who looked only slightly older. Then the girl went on to say she was a third year, which Sophie had pretty much already gathered. Slightly older, just like she'd thought. "Of course I'm happy to be in Slytherin. Almost my whole family is made up of Slytherins." She grinned with pride. "I was actually expecting it. I don't think I'd make a good Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw." She was far too great for that.



Sophie perked up. "You know Aunt Sierra?" she asked, exciting to hear that somebody recognized her. "She's my mom's sister." Resemblance? To... It couldn't be Caleb. Even though they were twins, Sophie didn't see too many resemblances. "Resemblance to who?" she asked. And did she mean looks, or Slytherin pride?

"Oh, I plan to make a name and a title for myself," she said, grinning again. "I haven't exactly mapped out how, but I plan to be great someday." And not just great enough to be sorted into Slytherin. That was just plain old greatness. She meant so great that the whole world would know her name! Sophie followed the girl's gaze to Cutty Mordaunt. What did he have? "A big head," Sophie whispered.



Another really nice Slytherin. Merlin, Sophie would need to watch her back around here! She was almost sure these people weren't being nice just for the sole purpose of being nice. Nevertheless, she didn't want to make anymore enemies on day one, so she made an extra effort to be nice in return.

"I'm Sophie Newell," she said. She should really start following that up with something like 'the former Minister's granddaughter, the Head of House's granddaughter', etc. etc. She just thought it might make her sound more important or something. "It's cool to meet you. What year are you?" She was definitely not a first year.



Sophie could hear Cutty Mordaunt going on and on, but she planned to ignore him for at least the rest of the feast. She needed a game plan, and she needed it fast.

Cutty Mordaunt could drive her crazy if she let him.



"Psh. Yeah, right," Sophie said with a smirk. "We'll probably go home to Gryffindor stockings or something like that. Mom'll make him take them down, though. I really think she'll be excited for us, and I can't wait to tell Daddy!" That is, to say, her grandfather. Confusing names here. She shrugged. "He'll come around, but it'll always come up, I think." Meh. She was proud of her sorting even so.

"Ew, I can't imagine myself in another house. I think Slytherins have the best of all of them anyway," she continued. "We're ambitious enough to be smart, we're friendly enough to choose our allies well, and hmm...nah, we don't really relate to Gryffindors. Except if they're our moms and dads." Right, because Sophie and Caleb had Gryffindors as parents.

"No, we're not in a war, Caleb, but wisen up. You can have friends in Slytherins, but we all have one main thing in common--we're going to look out for ourselves in the end," she said. "An ally can come in handy, and from here on our, you're mine." She'd just declared it so.



"Yeah," she said, "I have a twin brother here, too." She gestured toward Caleb. "And if this had happened two years ago, I'd have an aunt here, too." She nodded along as the girl explained some of her family's history. "A Quidditch Academy seems cool. Most all my family played, but I think Caleb and I are going to wait until maybe next year to try out. We're just not into a team thing this year." At least, that's how it was on her part. She narrowed her eyebrows into a look of confusion. "Why would it be so different with Liam?" Was that her brother?