A New Home

"O'Connor, Erin"

Oh god. This is it. I open up the doors to the Great Hall, trying to take everything in at once. Looking up I am amazed that even the ceiling is a spectacle, being a replica of the night's sky.

Wow. I just realized how many people are staring at me and how nervous I am. I find Draco and he sends me an encouraging smile. Then I see Ron and Hermione also sending me a smile. Wait... they are not at the same table. What house is Draco in? Oh no, I wanted to be with all of them. Finally I reach the front of the hall where Professor McGonagall is standing with a ratty old hat and a stool. She beckons me forward and I sit on the stool. Just then she places the hat on my head.

"Ah, a transfer student. Oh very smart I see, and cunning. Brave and loyal too. You are a difficult one. Hm interesting… you want to be with a Malfoy and Weasley? That is absolutely impossible. If you are willing to be friends with both then your bravery is greater than I first thought. So then it must be …

Harry's POV

"GRYFFINDOR!" Yes! Looking around at my housemates faces I see genuine happiness on most of them. Hermione and Ron share a look of triumph that they were able to predict Erin's sorting after one brief meeting with her. A shy smile and blush spread across her face upon hearing the roaring applause of the Gryffindor table.

I watch as her eyes flicker to the Slytherin tale and at Malfoy? Could that be? Shock and disappointment flash across Malfoy's face and then I see their eyes connect and his face revert to his usual sneer. Have they met? Did Malfoy actually show feeling? Erin looks confused and hurt for a split second until she turns back to the Gryffindor table and smiles at the entire table on their feet cheering for her. She smiles at Hermione as she takes the seat Ron and Hermione saved for her. Looking around the table, she looks at home and happy to be here. I'm happy she's here.

Erin's POV

"Hi, Erin. I'm Harry Potter." Shoving aside all thoughts of Draco from my mind I look up to see Harry Potter smiling at me. Wow, his smile is amazing. So are his eyes, they are so green. Oh my gosh, he is gorgeous. "Ron and Hermione told me about you. I'm glad that you were sorted in to Gryffindor." I had totally forgotten that Harry Potter goes here. He is not as famous in America as he is here, but I still know his story. One thing I definitely did not know about him though, is how hot he is.

"I am too." I manage to sputter out. So I think that being in Gryffindor may not be that bad? Maybe even amazing.

A few minutes later after Dumbledore's start of term speech and a small interruption by the new professor, Professor Umbridge, the food appeared.

My jaw literally dropped. It was the best looking feast I had ever seen. Mounds of food covered the tabletops of all five long tables. They had every wizarding food imaginable, including all my favorites. "Wow," I said after I finally managed to close my mouth, which for some reason made Harry laugh. Even his laugh was amazing.

"I know," he said. "My reaction was exactly the same."

"Oh my gosh. Can you pass the treacle tart? It is my absolute favorite!" I exclaimed. Harry laughed even more at how excited I was. His laugh made my stomach do flips.

"It's amazing, I have it every time they serve it. It's my favorite also," Harry tells me, leaning towards me with a smile. "So Erin, I hear that you play quidditch. What position do you play?"

"I play keeper, but I can also play seeker or chaser. Do you play?"

"Does he play?" Ron asks incredulously with a mouth full of food, "He was the youngest seeker in a century at Hogwarts. He has only ever lost one game, but that was because of dementors. He out flew an angry dragon last year and is in my opinion the best flyer in Britain."

"No I'm not," Harry says blushing. "But we need to fill the keeper position, so you can try out for that. It would be great to have you on the team. Angelina over there," Harry says pointing to a dark, older girl down the table," is the captain."

"That sounds great. It will be a bit different than at NYAM, but I think I will like it. Back there we were split up into years and genders. You would have the champion team of years 2-3, 4-5, 6-7 for both genders play in a round-robin playoff tournament. My team won last year and had 3rd the year before. My friends Caroline, Krysta, and I kind of dominated. I was keeper, Krysta was seeker, and Caroline was chaser so we had pretty much the whole pitch covered except for the beaters."

Draco's POV

I can't believe she got sorted into Gryffindor. The first genuinely interesting person in this godforsaken school and she gets sorted into Gryffindor. She's pretty and nice and funny and a Gryffindor. That ruins everything. She's over there and I'm over here with bloody Pansy Parkingson. She looks like a pug!

And look at that! She's smiling at Potter! What's so special about him? He gets lucky one day and 'saves' the Wizarding World? It happened earlier than he can even remember yet it's made him known and revered by every witch and wizard dumb enough to fall for his story and fall for his supposed 'charm'.

She's supposed to be laughing like that and smiling like that with ME! Not Potter!

"Dracoooo, what's wrong boo?"

"Pansy, we're not together." Guess it's back to the idiot table. If only she was over here to add some semblance of articulate humans.

Erin's POV

Finally after we had all finished dessert, I asked the question that had been in my mind all night, "So what's up with Draco Malfoy?" I asked them, "On the train he was nice to me and I thought he was my friend," at this point Ron and Harry scoffed, "but when I got sorted in to Gryffindor he acted really weird. When I looked over at him he looked disappointed but I could have imagined it because it flashed across his face so quickly and then he just looked… disdainful? It was almost a sneer?"

"The amazing bouncing ferret nice?" Ron spits out, "How could that Death Eater ever be nice?"

"What?" I asked, totally perplexed.

"Malfoy is one of the worst Slytherins." Harry begins to inform me as , "He and I have been enemies ever since I turned down his 'friendship' our first day at Hogwarts. I have never heard him be nice in my life. His father is a known Death Eater, well known to everyone but Fudge who is blinded by his money. His family is loaded with Slytherins and Dark Arts obsessors. And the whole bouncing ferret thing is a joke from last year. Our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for the year transfigured him into a white ferret as punishment because he tried to hex me behind my back."

"Oh... he seemed pretty nice to me."

"Erin, be wary of him, just don't trust him," Hermione advised me.

"So, um... what do you think of the new professor, Professor Umbridge?" I ask all of them. Professor Umbridge was the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. She gave this whole long speech before the feast that even I, a good student and listener, could not pay attention to. Not even for 10 seconds. She is a small woman with, in my opinion, a toad-like face. Her voice annoys me like crazy, it's one of those high, squeaky voices. Then on top of that she interrupted Dumbledore, I even know not to do that, and I just got here. The way that she interrupted, ugh, with that little "hem, hem", made me feel great disdain for her. Above all of that she was wearing the ugliest pink cardigan with kitten on it. To put it simply, I hated her and I haven't even met her. That woman gives me the creeps.

"She seems like a mad woman," Ron says earning a disapproving look from Hermione and nods of agreement from me and Harry. Hermione, I could already tell, condemns anything bad being said of a teacher.

"You heard her speech," Hermione states as if that explains it all, "everything she said implies that the Ministry will be interfering with Hogwarts this year."

"What's so bad about that? My dad and brother work there." All three of them turn to look at me, then each other, as if deciding if I am trustworthy. Then Harry nodded and I could tell that they had come to a silent agreement.

"My dad and my older brother Percy work there also," Ron begins, "My dad is against Fudge after all he has done to Harry and Dumbledore. Percy is blindly following Fudge through everything. Percy and my parents got into a huge row a few months back because Percy was annoyed that my family was supporting Dumbledore, and my parents were angry that he was supporting Fudge. Percy actually wrote me a letter saying that if wanted to end up with a good future that Fudge was the right man and to cut off all ties with Harry. No brother of mine is going to tell me to cut off all ties with another brother." Ron finished angrily.

Hermione looks at Harry to continue on and then on his nod of approval asks me, "Erin did you hear what happened here last June?"

"Well, yeah. I heard that Voldemort," at this I earn appreciative glances from Harry, "came back, but not much else."

At this point the three begin to tell me the whole story.

"So Fudge isn't listening to Dumbledore and Harry because he just doesn't want to believe that He is back and now The Daily Prophet is writing rubbish about you," I summed up.

"Yea, that is pretty much it," Harry said. Then with a sideways glance at me, he adds, "Do you believe me?"

"I completely believe you," Harry's head shoots up. I quickly add, "I mean I may be an idiot for this, but I find it very easy to believe you and trust you," at this he smiles at me.

Just then Dumbledore stands and lets the students leave for their dormitories.

"Come on, I'll show you the way up to the dormitory," Harry told me, "Ron and Hermione have to lead the first years up as part of their prefect duties," he explains.

The next morning I join Harry, Hermione, and Ron for breakfast.

A few minutes after we sit down, Professor McGonagall walks down the table, handing out our schedules.

"Damn!" Harry exclaims as he reads off the time table.

"What?" I ask.

"Double Potions first thing this morning with the Slytherins!" Ron cries out.

Authors Note

Thanks for reading it, I'm sorry I know it's not very good it's a work in progress! So PLEASE PLEASE review