Harry Potter and the Lost Half-Bloods. *1*

Leo

I discover just how hot I am

LEO: It didn't take long for the hall's silence to vanish, being covered by anxious conversation as the hat sat on Di Angelo's head, and the hat didn't make a sound.

Piper McClean, a member of my table nudged me in the side.

"Ouch! Don't damage the merchandise!" I exaggerated, as I rubbed my side. "It's the first day McClean, and you've already managed to bruise my rib!"

"Get over it, Leo!" She shot, a smug grin creeping into her face. She quickly covered her grin with a serious expression. "What do you think is taking so long?" She asked. I shrugged.

"I'm not the sorting hat. Do I look like a hat to you? Wait, I take that back. I am quite fedorable!"

Piper face-palmed. Yeah, I tend to have that effect on most people. I like to call it a gift, Piper calls it annoyance.

Out of all of the Slytherins, Piper was my favorite by far. Not only was she my old best friend, but she laughed at my jokes, and made a few good ones on her own. I was turning her into a comedian! In all seriousness, to put it in realistic terms as opposed to Leo terms, she's the only person in the house who could--how do I put this--stand the sight of me.

I hoped we'd regain our friendship over the year. Last year, we fell out of touch. That was a lonely, boring year for me.

"It's been like a whole thirty seconds!" I complained. "I was sorted in only like--ten!"

"First of all, I'm proud of you! I didn't even think you could count that high!" Piper exclaimed. I rolled my eyes, not about to admit to her that she had made a pretty good joke. "Secondly, the reason the hat did your sorting so quick is because of the fact that your minuscule brain didn't take very long to search through. You weren't much of a challenge."

"What about you, Piper! Your sorting took ages, and that's most likely because the hat took so long searching for your brain, he gave up! He flipped a four-sided coin, and it landed on the side with the snake! Seriously, your sorting was mad! Guess we could call you the mad hatter!"

Piper sighed, blowing her hair out of her face when she did so. "How long did it take you to come up with that one? Face it, not even a top hat could top my comebacks."

"Man, Pipes! You're such a beanie!" She gave me a look of concern.

"Get it? Beanie? Rhymes with meanie?"

"Just because something rhymes, that doesn't mean it's clever."

I rolled my eyes this time.

"Your name is Piper," I sang. "You smell like a diaper, you're rather hyper, you're as cruel as a viper! Oh, and you're probably a sniper!"

Piper tried to glare at me, but failed instantly. She burst into a fit of laughter. I joined in as well.

"What's so funny over there?" Draco turned towards us, cutting off his conversation with Pansy Parkinson, who was practically drooling at the sight of him.

"Leo, can you do one with Draco's name?" Piper snorted. Her laugh made me laugh even harder.

"Okay, haha, okay!" I managed in between laughs. "Draco, he's quite a snake-oh! He's gives me a headache-oh! You better hit your emergency brake-oh! When you mess with Draco!" Draco scoffed, unamused. Piper continued snorting with laughter. Millicent, who had overheard the conversation, also chuckled in amusement.

"It wasn't that funny." Draco grumbled.

"Good thing you stopped me there, man. I was seriously considering the line: 'he's also opaque-oh!' Not my best work."

Draco sneered and turned back to Pansy, making sure to continue talking about his achievements in an even louder tone. I knew perfectly well what he was doing. He was trying to impress Piper by making himself seem impressive, all the while speaking to a girl that wasn't her to make her jealous of the attention Pansy was getting.

I'm glad Piper didn't catch onto such stupid things. It's not because I fancied her, I didn't! She was more of a sister to me. It's more because I knew she deserved a boy better than Draco. Unlike a lot of people in this school, she still had some heart left in her. Draco was trying to convert her to his posse, I wasn't going to let him change her. She'd already changed enough last year, when I had briefly lost touch with her. I wasn't about to make that mistake again. The thought of him changing her made me furious.

Piper was still laughing to herself, she lifted her head at last, finally somewhat calm.

"I deserve a high-five." I said, as she was regaining her breath.

I was still furious at the thought of what could happen if Piper changed into someone she was not, she was an easily-influenced person. She may be quite influential herself, but still, I could see her succumbing to peer pressure. I could tell me usual relaxed composure had gone stern, tension-filled. That was strange, even for me.

Piper raised her hand.

"Hah, finally appreciate my jokes?"

She high-fived me, and her reaction to that action was quite an action-filled reaction. Try saying that five times fast.

"Merlin, Leo!" She shouted, but not loud enough to draw much attention to ourselves. "You think that was funny?"

"Huh?" I asked. She rubbed her hand lightly with her other hand.

"You bloody burned me! Ugh, I should've known! You probably bought some stupid, magic hand electrocution device from those Weasley twins! I saw them earlier, stalking the halls with their boxes full of knick knacks, looking like hooligans! Ugh, ouch, that hurt Leo! You're a hooligan."

"Man, Pipes...uh, I know I'm smokin' and all, but what're you on about?"

"Leo, I'm not thick! I know your stupid pranks." Her hand was tinted red, I'll admit. But it didn't look seriously burnt by any means. Had I really done that? No, I couldn't have. That wasn't logical!

"Piper, I didn't--"

Piper nudged he again, as she had at the start of our conversation.

"Shush! The Sorting hat's about to speak!" Sure enough, the brim of the hat moved, ready to speak.

"Shut it," Piper commanded. Our table immediately fell into silence, which was odd. The Slytherin table wasn't exactly known to be a controllable bunch.

The hat straightened out atop his head, ready to announce his house. All students waited with anxiousness, waiting to see which house the second "boy who lived" would be calling his new home.