I spun my finger clockwise around the wheel of my iPod, blocking out the annoying giggles of the three very ecstatic girls sitting around me. We were all aboard the Hogwarts train, and in the first year's section, I might add. I felt so out of place among all of the younger kids, but it was better than sitting with the students in my year who were already placed in their houses. I knew almost nothing about Hogwarts, how it was run, or where each of my classes were, but, thankfully, I've spent the past three years studying the last five years of magic training that I had missed, so I wouldn't have to have classes with these obnoxious girls.
When I thought I'd just about had enough of them, the train pulled to a stop. I stood up, grabbed my bag from the shelves on top, and made my way out of the doors before the first years got in my way. Most of the train's passengers already knew where they were going, but I had to stay behind with a group of about seven kids, all transferring from other magic schools.
When we got the castle we were separated from the rest and received a quick tour of the main passageways near the entrance. We finally arrived at the main hall/dining hall, were everyone was already seated at the houses' tables. A woman who wore a tall witch hat and green robes led us down the long walkway to the raised platform at the end of the main hall. She stepped onto the platform and introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, and it was there where she explained the sorting hat.
"Now, here at Hogwarts we are known by our houses. I will call each of you up here individually, I will place the sorting hat on your head, and you will proceed immediately to the house in which you are assigned."
"Peter Fleming," she called first. Right then a tall and slightly built boy walked up and sat in the old wooden chair. The professor placed the hat on his head, and it immediately voiced, "Ravenclaw!" The Ravenclaw table was crowded with cheering and clapping as Peter hopped off the stage and joined his permanent house.
"Cayenne Draak," she announced as my heart jumped out of my chest. I walked up the chair and was greeted by the complexed sorting hat. It rumbled above my head as it began, "Well, now, this one's quite different. A little bit of everything, except Slytherin, of course. Well now…"
I squeezed my eyes together and thought Slytherin over and over again in my head. I knew that I could never be accepted in any of the houses, with my past and all.
"What's this? Well, if you insist…" The sorting hat apparently could read thoughts, because the next second I was walking over to the table below the green flags.
I looked across the cheering Slytherins as I starting to take my seat at the end of the table when I saw him. His was staring at me with his mouth hanging open. I dropped my smile as soon as I saw him. I couldn't believe my eyes. There, in his pitch black robes, sporting the Slytherin emblem was Draco Malfoy. I almost didn't recognize him, it being six years since we last saw each other. I looked down at the table and sat down, my head going crazy with thoughts and questions. A friendly girl sitting next to me introduced herself as Daphne Greengrass, and we talked while the transfers and first-years were sorted. She was in my year, as well a girl named Pansy. A guy named Marcus Flint was two years above us, and apparently he stayed back three years.
When dinner was over Marcus and Pansy showed me to the Slytherin common room and Pansy went through the procedures of a typical week at Hogwarts. From dinner to when the lights were turned off, Draco was nowhere to be found. I panicked a little each time a boy with blond hair turned around, only to meet another stranger. I couldn't stop thinking about him as I drifted to sleep that night.