44 The Sorting Ceremony

Most of the train ride was rather uneventful. A few hours after the departure from London, Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom came, in search of the clumsy boy's wondering toad. Draco advised them to go to the first compartment, where Prefects were supposed to sit and ask them to summon the animal.

Two more hours later, most of the children in the compartment left to wander the hallways. Daphne said something about promising to meet Tracey Davis, who wasn't too comfortable traveling in the same compartment as aristocratic purebloods (which probably meant that she was uncomfortable with Draco's presence). Susan and Hannah wanted to meet other new students, so they left too. As such, Draco also decided to go out to socialize, leaving only Theo and Alex to guard their place.

The blond boy walked down the hallway, occasionally looking into the windows of different compartments. Eventually, he found one where other future Slytherins were seated. To Draco's surprise, his old and annoying acquaintance, Caspar Yaxley, was also there. Before Draco could escape, he was noticed by the unpleasant boy and unwillingly ushered into one of the empty seats.

"Didn't you say that you would go to Durmstrang?" Draco had even celebrated the news with his friends. He knew he should have done that only after making sure that the other boy wouldn't be at Hogwarts! Their early celebration most likely reversed their luck.

"Oh, I was supposed to go, but then my mother said that Harry Potter would be in Hogwarts and you, a genius, would be going there. Since all the most important people are in this school, why go somewhere far away? Who knows whether the connections formed at Durmstrang will even be useful in the future," Caspar snorted disdainfully, as though he hadn't been saying that Hogwarts was worthless just a few months ago.

"You decided to forgo Durmstrang because of me?" asked Draco forlornly. In the books, Yaxley probably went overseas because the boy certainly hadn't attended Hogwarts in Harry's year.

Draco would have been happier if everything stayed the same when it came to this matter – not because it made the future uncertain, but because he purely disliked the other boy.

On one hand, Caspar Yaxley was very jealous of Draco and constantly tried to compete with him, saying that if he wanted, he could also start business and do wandless magic. On the other hand, the boy was very clingy and wanted to be in Draco's circle of best friends because the alliance with him would be very useful and his parents also encouraged it. Daphne, Susan, Hannah, and Theo were sick of Caspar because he constantly pestered not only Draco but them as well.

"I am not going to Hogwarts because of you," quickly denied Caspar. "I am going there mostly because of Harry Potter."

Draco rolled his eyes. 'We all know that it isn't the main reason, so don't pretend, alright?' he thought inwardly.

"Have you seen him? I mean Harry Potter, of course," interrupted the conversation a handsome dark-skinned boy. "Ah, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Blaise Zabini, from Italy. Because I am foreign, we hadn't had the chance to meet at social gatherings."

Draco introduced himself in turn, and the discussion quickly returned to the topic of Boy-Who-Lived. It was rather interesting to hear what kind of fantasies these kids created about the Wizarding World's hero in their imaginations.

Maybe because they imagined Harry to be over 6 feet tall at the age of eleven, that they weren't able to find him when they searched for him on the train?

---

In the evening of the first of September, Hogwarts Express finally arrived at the Hogsmeade Station. The first years forgot their exhaustion and sleepiness and started to get nervous as they exited the train and boarded the boats under Hagrid's loud shouts.

When all of the kids were seated, the boats sailed off. Draco, like all of the other first years, was amazed when the view of the Hogwarts castle was revealed before his eyes. The serenity of the lake, which reflected the brightly shining moon and stars, together with the castle created a magical sight.

The only thing, which made the blond boy dissatisfied, was that he couldn't enjoy this view alone – the constantly chattering children were ruining the moment!

Soon, they arrived near the castle's door and were ushered inside by Minerva McGonagall, the Deputy Headmistress.

Draco didn't bother to listen to his future professor's introduction of the Housing System because he already knew everything he needed to know about it. Instead, he curiously looked around the chamber, where all of them were currently gathered. The internal design of the school didn't seem to be too different from the movies and he felt as though he had seen it before.

"Draco, how do you think we will be sorted?" asked Hannah, interrupting his thoughts. Draco looked around and noticed that he missed McGonagall's exiting. The children were eagerly discussing the upcoming sorting, and he vaguely heard someone whispering about trolls.

"Well, for one, I don't think that we will need to fight anyone," he answered with a wry smile.

"Oh, really?" Hannah immediately brightened up.

"Then, what do you think it will be?" asked Daphne curiously. She seemed to suspect that he knew something (which he did).

Before Draco could find a suitable excuse, he noticed silvery lights appearing in the chamber.

"Look, ghosts!" he pointed out, casually avoiding the topic. Just as he said it, shrieks started to sound all over the place. Many children were afraid of ghosts, especially muggle-borns, who learned of the Wizarding World only a few months ago.

"I've never seen a ghost before," said Theo while quietly observing them.

His words may have indicated that he was a bit scared, however, the next sentence completely erased that impression (if it ever formed): "I wonder if I can get a chance to exorcise one? I read somewhere about a particular ritual, and I am sure that I could do it…"

As though they heard the boy's quiet mutters, the ghosts silently withdrew further from the corner, where Theo was standing.

"I think that you would receive the gratitude of whole Hogwarts if you managed to exorcise Peeves. I heard that he's a real nuisance," commented Susan. She was squinting at the ghosts, trying to make out whether the mischievous poltergeist was among them.

"I would rather you exorcise Binns. That's our History teacher. Even the Draught of Living Dead isn't as powerful as his ability to induce sleep in students," snorted Ernest Macmillan, who was standing beside them and accidentally overheard their discussion.

Before the topic could escalate into a debate of who should be exorcised first, McGonagall returned and drily coughed a few times.

"No one shall be exorcised today, though we may return to this question in the future," her comment managed to amuse and relax the nervous children. "Now, form a line and follow me."

The first years readily obeyed.

The entrance to the Great Hall opened and McGonagall led the procession of children, who were looking around and kept exclaiming over the starry ceiling, floating candles and teachers, who were seated at the staff table and politely clapped their hands in welcome of new students.

Draco and his friends chose to be at the front because Daphne's, Susan's and Hannah's names would be called among the first. As such, the blond boy had a clear view of the Sorting Hat. He curiously observed as the seemingly ordinary, if a bit worn-out, wizarding hat opened itself near the brim and started singing.

Because Draco could vaguely remember that the song was about houses and their traits, he wasn't interested in listening to it. Instead, he looked at the staff table and smiled at Severus, who nodded his head when their eyes met.

Then his gaze moved to Dumbledore, whom he saw in reality for the first time. The old man looked to be genuinely happy about the start of new school year and seemed immersed in listening to the Sorting Hat's song.

Finally, Draco's eyes found Quirrell. No matter how hard he stared at the other man, he couldn't tell that the man had Voldemort growing on the back of his head. Maybe it would get more noticeable later?

After the song was finished, polite claps once again sounded from the students and teachers, seated at the five tables. McGonagall waited for them to calm down, before opening the scroll with the first year's names and calling them out, one by one:

"Abbot, Hannah!"

Hannah nervously walked to the front and sat down on the stool. Her eyes were soon covered by the over-sized hat.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat after a while.

The girl quickly stood up after the item was removed from her head and moved to the table, which was decorated with black and yellow colors. Her uniform magically changed to match her new house's colors.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Susan joined her best friend at the badgers' table. Draco clapped for both girls together with everyone else. He had known since the very beginning, where they would be going. As their friendship deepened, he was even more sure that Susan and Hannah's house would stay the same.

A few more names were called out, and soon Draco heard the ones, which interested him the most.

"Granger, Hermione!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Greengrass, Daphne!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

Draco smiled at his friend, who seemed to be very happy with her house. Soon, his own name was also called out:

"Malfoy, Draco!"

Unlike before, when there wasn't much reaction to the first years' names, this time the hall broke out into whispers.

"Malfoy? The genius?"

"The one who is always in the newspapers?"

"They even say that he has a phoenix - what a joke!"

"But his business is real, everyone says that he was the one who came up with the idea…"

"You really believe that? That's just hyped-up nonsense which was spread using his father's money…"

Draco tried hard to ignore the whispers of the other students. Many, who had a negative opinion of him, were muggle-borns and half-bloods. They were not a part of his social circle and could only rely on rumors, their parents' and house-mates' gossip as well as newspapers, in forming their opinions.

In fact, none of the newspapers ever reported anything bad about Draco because his parents would never allow it. But, despite that, his father's reputation was too notorious among Dumbledore's supporters' families. As such, many people created their own fantasies about the reality of what kind of person Draco was.

Subsequently, the walk to the stool, where he was supposed to sit, seemed to go on forever - even though it was only a few meters away. Draco could only breathe a sigh of relief when his eyes and ears were covered by the hat, and the outside world seemed to have disappeared.

"Interesting, very interesting," said a small voice. "You are loyal to your family and friends, yet if they weren't useful to you, you wouldn't have gotten close to them in the first place. You are courageous, but only when you know that you have a safety net to fall back into. You are also very intelligent and talented, but, even though you value knowledge and are curious, you only seek to master what you know will be useful to you in the future."

Draco wondered whether he was selfish. No one had ever analyzed him so objectively, and even he himself found it difficult to evaluate his own personality sometimes.

"You are selfish, but which human isn't, even if just a bit?" the hat heard his thoughts and replied. "I believe that you already know it – the best house for you is…"

"SLYTHERIN!" the hat shouted out loud for the whole hall to hear. It was then lifted from Draco's head, and the Great Hall burst out in applauses. No one seemed to be surprised at his sorting and many whispered that they 'knew it'.

Draco ignored the mutters and walked in the direction of the Slytherin table, which was clapping the hardest. He sat beside Daphne, who was already seated beside Tracey Davis - her half-blood friend who tended to avoid Draco. Millicent Bulstrode, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle, who had been sorted earlier, were also there, though further away.

The Slytherin table was soon joined by Theo and Pansy Parkinson. After another girl was sorted, the hall quieted down because the next name on the list was:

"Potter, Harry!"

The familiar scrawny boy walked to the stool and tried to ignore the whispers, which broke out, just as they did when Draco's name sounded. After what felt like forever, the hat opened its rim to shout:

"SLY- GRYFFINDOR!"

The Slytherins, who almost started clapping, were startled. Students at other tables were also surprised and didn't know how to react. Finally, the Gryffindors realized that Harry was sorted into their house and broke out in cheers, however, they seemed to be somewhat hesitant.

Many eyes were soon directed at the staff table, waiting to see whether the Headmaster would say anything on the matter of the Sorting Hat changing its decision in the middle of the word. After all, such an event has never happened before.

However, Dumbledore only waved his hand for McGonagall to continue with the sorting.

Draco turned to look at Dumbledore suspiciously as soon as he had heard the hat's announcement. However, it was impossible to see whether any teacher had a wand hidden underneath the table to influence the hat's decision. The table was covered by a long tablecloth - one would have had to stare at the caster's hands the whole time, in order to try and discern, whether they subtly waved their wand or not. Even then, the observer may not have noticed anything!

McGonagall, seeing that the students were still whispering with each other, shouted to calm them down and proceeded with the ceremony.

"Sokolov, Aleksandr!"

Alex confidently stepped forward. His face didn't show any nervousness and his lips were stretched into his trademark smile. Even when the hat covered half his face, the smile still remained, making the boy look a bit creepy.

"SLYTHERIN!"

The hat took only a few seconds to declare the result, and many people were obviously surprised at its quick decision. The tranquil boy looked more like a harmless Huffleppuff than a sly Slytherin.

Alex ignored other students' gazes and occupied the seat directly in front of Draco, forcefully making Pansy, who sat there before, shift to the side.

"Watch it," she grumbled a bit but otherwise stayed quiet.

"Ah, please excuse me," answered Alex politely, acting as though he hadn't noticed that she had been seated there before.

"Weasley, Ronald!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Draco turned his head to the red-headed boy when he heard his name. After all, this was the only main character out of the Golden Trio, whom he hadn't yet had the chance to meet.

The boy's hair actually seemed more orange than red, and he was one of the tallest kids among the first years. Ron's face turned a scary shade of red when his twin brothers stood up from the Gryffindor table and loudly cheered for him.

"Yaxley, Caspar!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

Draco groaned when he saw the arrogant boy swagger over to the Slytherin table. Daphne patted his arm consolingly while secretly laughing to the side.

"Zabini, Blaze!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

Finally, the last first year was sorted and joined Slytherin's table.