Chapter One - Draco Malfoy
"Slytherin, Slytherin, Slytherin, please Slytherin," thought the first year as I was placed on his head.
"And if I may be so nosy, might I ask why Slytherin?"
"Father wants me to be a Slytherin. I must be in Slytherin."
"But what do you want?"
"Not to be cursed for being in the wrong house."
I chuckled lightly.
"Oh, but how I wish you had not begged me Slytherin. Certainly you are a true snake, right down to that green-and-silver curse; cowardice. Cowardice runs strong through your veins… But Gryffindor would be good for you."
His thoughts grew more worried, his pleas more frantic. I relented.
"Hey-ho, as you wish. SLYTHERIN!"
I often wonder if everything would have been different, if I had not given in to his begging. Perhaps he would have grown brave, made friends, disobeyed his father. Perhaps old Dumbledore would still be sitting in this very office, sucking lemon drops and chatting to Fawkes. But we cannot change the past (unless we are Hermione Granger and are armed with a time-turner, of course!) and I shall never know. That is the curse of the Sorting Hat, you see. Their house denotes their friendships, how their personality develops, where their loyalties lie, sometimes even who they marry. Every year I play God with the first years' lives and they never even realise.