There was silence. The stern woman waited a moment, then looked up to see a soaked Hagrid arrive on shore, followed by the other students. She then turned her gaze back to Draco and Katya. 'I can't prove that one – or both – of you caused our Groundskeeper to become soaking wet, so out of my own morality I will not have extra points deducted from whichever House or Houses you are sorted into. You both will, however, report immediately to your Head of House after dinner. My assumption is that the both of you will be in Slytherin House, so Professor Snape will be the one to administer your punishments.'

Katya stared at the woman, holding back a smirk because she had heard about Professor Snape from members of her family. She could feel from Draco beside her that the thought of Professor Snape made him a bit nervous and she wondered what he might have been told about the man, but she didn't say a word to him on the matter.

Within the next fifteen minutes the entire group of First-Years reached the shore. The stern woman introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, the Head of Gryffindor House. She told the students to remain silent and to follow her into the castle. As they all began to walk, Katya felt Draco's arm brushing against hers. She glanced at him and saw that he still appeared to be nervous, perhaps even a bit disappointed in himself. Katya began to feel guilty that she acted as she did with the boat and hoped that Draco wasn't angry with her.

They were brought into the castle, which had a grand and decorative interior. It was very clean, chandeliers on the ceiling and large paintings on the walls, most likely with frames made out of gold. Katya was not particularly impressed, as the interior of her family's mansion on the Wizard Side of St. Petersburg was like a palace where Kings would live if Russia still held a monarchy. However, she was relieved that at least the standard of living in the Hogwarts Castle seemed to be either on par or close enough to on par as it would have been if she was at home. She was surprised to see that Draco was a bit in awe with the interior of the castle. From how he spoke in the train, Katya assumed that he came from the same level of wealth as she did.

They were stopped by McGonagall in front of a pair of large dark wooden doors. 'Here is the Dining Hall, where you will be sorted into your Houses – the Houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin.' She shot a brief glare in the direction of Draco and Katya as she said the name Slytherin. 'I ask you to quietly wait out here while I tell Professor Dumbledore that you are ready.' She then disappeared through the large doors, closing them securely behind her.

Despite being told to be quiet, the group of eleven year olds immediately began to chatter. Katya and Draco stood silently, listening in on the various scattered conversations. They both soon realised that a crowd had formed around the brunette boy with the glasses, on whose forehead was a lightning bolt shaped scar, which was now visible in the illuminated castle. The boy looked both surprised and pleased as he faced introductions from various students.

'Harry Potter!'

'You're Harry Potter!'

'I can't believe I'm meeting you!'

'We'll be classmates!'

'You're famous!'

Katya raised an eyebrow. She had no idea what was going on. She turned to Draco to see that he had a sour expression on his face. 'Hey, Draco. Do you know about this at all?'

'Pfft,' Draco spat out. 'Famous. The story is that Voldemort tried to kill him as a baby but failed. Killed his parents though.' He spoke coldly, having absolutely no remorse for the circumstances of this Harry Potter.

'Voldemort …' Katya said. 'Yeah, I heard that name before …'

Draco turned to her. 'Well I'm sure you have.' He put an arm around her shoulder and whispered to her, 'He was against allowing Muggle-Borns into our society, and was the magical rival of that Dumbledore. But also quite dangerous. Very dangerous.' A bit of fear began to seep into Draco's voice. 'So, I suppose it's good he's not around anymore … but no thanks to that Harry Potter.' He glared toward the direction of the boy. 'Hm,' A twisted smirk formed on his face. 'Let's go over there and introduce ourselves.'

'Why,' Katya said flatly. She rolled her eyes. 'Please, I feel we'll have to listen to this the entire year.'

Draco shrugged. 'Just to see if anyone here isn't so dimwitted and actually finds us – Malfoy and Karkaroff – more important and impressive than some scar-faced Harry Potter.'

Katya said okay and went with him. They moved themselves through the crowd surrounding Harry Potter, Draco snippily saying 'Out of my way' as he pushed past the other students. When Harry spotted them, his eyebrows narrowed a bit. Beside him was the redhead from earlier, much to the expectation of Katya and Draco.

'What do you want?' Harry asked.

'Simply to introduce ourselves to our celebrity classmate,' Draco replied with a smirk. He extended his hand. 'My name is Draco Malfoy.'

Harry looked at Draco's pale, somewhat bony hand. His gaze shifted from the hand to Draco's face. 'Why should I be your friend when you insulted my friends Hagrid and Ron.'

Katya raised an eyebrow. She glanced at the redhead boy who must be the one named Ron. 'The Weasley.'

Draco snickered.

'His surname is Weasley and I don't understand why that's a problem for you,' Harry said. 'I find nothing wrong with his name, nothing wrong with his family. I don't judge people as the both of you do, whatever your reason for it.'

Draco's eyes hardened into a glare. 'You don't even know what you're talking about. The sort you choose to join yourself with will never help you in your future.'

Harry looked toward Katya, expecting her to add in a snide comment, but she remained silent. 'But as you said,' he spoke, directing his words to Draco. 'I chose my friends. It's my choice.'

A moment of silence passed. Draco and Harry both just stared at each other, the redhead named Ron Weasley looking nervously at Katya. He then caught her gaze and swallowed some saliva. 'You didn't tell us your name,' he said, stuttering a little a few times.

Katya smoothly took off her maroon beret, revealing her head of dark brown hair, which perfectly fell around her face as if she had not been wearing a hat. She flipped some hair to behind her shoulders and stood straighter. She noticed that the eyes of most of the male students were focused on her, some of them almost in awe of her Slavic beauty. Katya smirked and casually looked at Draco, whose eyes were shining as he watched her, the light pink blush now having returned to his cheeks.

She twisted a tuft of hair in between her fingers and looked at Ron. 'Katya Karkaroff.'

Ron's eyes widened. 'Ka-Karkaroff?'

Katya smirked. 'That's what I said.'

The students began to whisper among themselves. Katya tried to listen to what they were saying, expecting them to be passing words of respect among each other. However she couldn't quite catch the English words because the whispers were so quiet and intermixed with each other. She tapped Draco on the shoulder, who was still standing straight and admiring her. 'Hey, what's the big deal with my name?' she asked. 'When people in Russia learn my name, well they seem ready to serve me. This doesn't seem to be the same.'

'It seems our sort isn't kindly accepted here,' he answered, his tone and facial expression returning to his normal cool and sort of snobby mannerisms. He spat out a 'pfft' and added, 'Wait until my father hears about this. Maybe then he'll talk to the useless Administration at this school and we'll get the respect we deserve.' He stood straighter

Katya rolled her eyes. 'I don't know. Maybe it's not worth the effort, Draco. The people here are just stupid. Look.' She pointed to the crowd that once again formed around Harry Potter.

For a moment Draco said nothing. His lips twisted into a sneering pout before he said, 'Well they should be taught a few things.'

I think they're just too Potter-brained to be taught anything, Katya thought.

The two large wooden doors opened. Professor McGonagall stood in the doorway and told the students to enter the Dining Hall in a single-file manner. She told them again to be silent and to have patience while everyone is sorted. In this brief time, the awe-filled chatters of Harry Potter ceased and Katya finally felt some semblance of calmness.

Through the large doors was a dining hall even bigger than one Katya ever saw. In her house there was a ballroom of this size but not a dining area. The ceiling was extremely high, almost like in a Basilica. On the opposite side of the Dining Hall from the entry doors was a group of elevated platforms. Most of the platforms had a large wooden table and an adult sitting behind it. The lowest platform was located in the centre, and on that was just an old, uncomfortable looking chair with what appeared to be some black fabric on top of the cushion. Above this platform was the highest platform of them all, behind which an old white-haired man with glasses and a long, pointy beard of curly white hair sat. He appeared to wear very decorative robes, almost like a king, with gold-coloured threads stitched into the fabric. The adults who surrounded him on each side, sitting lower in height than he was, were all dressed quite plainly, in identical black robes without any colour added to their outfits.

Katya decided not to peer in the direction of the man, as she assumed this man to be Albus Dumbledore, a man whose presence itself began to make her feel uncomfortable, and a man who was not spoken about fondly by her family. She instead observed the four wooden tables, each extended as long as the length of the Dining Hall. They all stood parallel to the centre walkway that she and the other First-Years were currently walking down, one after another. She noticed that all of the students at each table were dressed in identical black robes and trousers, the only differences being whether or not their robe had a Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw patch and the colours of the neckties depending on the House. Katya felt out of place in her jeans and black coat, especially while holding her maroon beret in her hand, despite that not every new student had already dressed themselves in the Hogwarts uniform robes.

Professor McGonagall stepped up onto the low platform where the chair stood. She picked up the lump of black fabric to reveal to the students a pointed black hat that appeared to be so old that the material it was made out of was horribly wrinkled and no longer maintaining a good, solid form.

Katya scrunched up her face a little. 'That thing is not going on our heads, please tell me that thing is not going on our heads …' she muttered to herself.

McGonagall began to speak. 'One by one I will call your name. You will come up here and sit on the chair and I will place the Sorting Hat onto your head. The Sorting Hat will make a decision and you will sit with your new Housemates. I will name which table belongs to each house from the direction of my right to my left: Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Slytherin.'

Draco, who was standing in front of Katya, turned around briefly and smiled when he heard Slytherin be mentioned. Katya smiled back awkwardly, completely disgusted at the fact of what seemed to be a ratty old hat placed on the heads of other students and then onto her own. She was concerned if anyone had lice – or even maybe fleas – that could possibly be transmitted to her.

The sorting began. The names, Katya realised, were being read in alphabetical order. She became quickly utterly bored standing there waiting, seeing student after student sit on that chair with that hat on their head yelling out the name of whichever House the student was to go to. To make it worse, the Hat had a bitter and angry sounding voice which made it even more disgusting to Katya. She was tired, too, of watching Professor McGonagall standing to the side of the chair, applying or removing the Hat, or reading out names of students from a long rolled-up scroll that seemed to be made out of old yellowing paper.

'Karkaroff, Katerina,' McGonagall read out her name, almost with a sigh that would come from one receiving a poor taste in one's mouth.

As Katya moved her way to the platform, she heard various whispers among the students: 'Where is she from?', 'What kind of name is that?', 'I heard about her family, they're Dark Wizards.', 'Hogwards shouldn't allow in someone from a family like that.'

The comments turned her stomach. She stepped onto the platform and sat on the chair. In front of her stood or sat the entire student body, most or all of them judging her. She caught in her vision some snickering students, both from the group of First-Years and from the upperclassmen sitting at the tables. Katya couldn't understand why they stared at her as if she was an alien. She didn't know if their confused and awkward gawking faces were caused by her name, her face or by her clothing.

The Sorting Hat was placed on her head. It began to cough a dry cough. Katya could see some dust spew into the air in front of her. The majority of the students began to laugh. Katya began to feel nervous.

'How many Karkaroffs will I have to sit on this time?' the Hat growled.

Katya didn't answer.

'Well?' the Hat began to bellow a little. 'Answer me girl.'

'I have no brother or sister,' she replied coldly.

'Cousins?' the Hat sneered.

'Much younger.'

The Hat began to laugh. 'At least now I know, I'll only have to taste one salty Karkaroff head!' The Hat's tone became more biting and snide. 'Tell your cousins to learn at Durmstrang or Beauxbatons. Your salty hair has a horrible taste.'

Snickers arose from the students.

'Why don't you sort me rather than bully me!'

The entire Dining Hall fell silent.

The Sorting Hat was also silent for a moment, before it once again erupted in laughter. 'Oh-ho!What do I see here? Such royalty, such a prestige!' It laughed again. 'Oh, what a proud Pure-Blood witch you are, even though your name shouldn't be Karkaroff!'

A glare shot from Katya's eyes as if she could shoot daggers from them in battle. 'You still wish to bully me? How pathetic.' She then realised she was speaking out loud and in her thoughts began to continue her communication with the Sorting Hat: You don't know what I can do to you, do you? You filthy old hat, you have no purpose in life than to harass other students. Mostly students like me, who aren't British? I'm sure that must be part of your reasoning. You make me sick. I curse you in your entire existence. I won't stand to be treated like dirt, especially by a hat. Sort me – now!

Katya expected laughs and screams to arise from the Sorting Hat, but instead she heard sobbing. She smirked, feeling a surge of pride that she caused this reaction from the Hat.

'I'll do whatever you say! Whatever you say! Which House? Which House do you request?'

'Slytherin,' she said coldly. 'I am a salty-headed Karkaroff, don't you remember? A serpent should be fitting to me.'

The students had begun to laugh ever since the Hat started to sob and weep. The laughter momentarily grew a bit louder after Katya's comment, specifically from the direction of the Slytherin table. Katya glanced toward the remainder of the unsorted First-Years and saw Draco give her a thumbs-up. His boyish facial expression made her smile.

'Slytherin! Slytherin! Just remove me from this wretched girl!' the Hat wailed.

The laughter from the students continued until a loud, shaking 'SILENCE!' emerged from the highest podium. The Dining Hall immediately fell silent. The voice which yelled, the voice of Albus Dumbledore, deadened the atmosphere in the room with its power. The chilling silence to follow Dumbledore's command sent a shiver under Katya's skin. She wondered if the other students also felt that something wasn't right about the Headmaster.

Before she knew it, the Sorting Hat was plucked off of her head by Professor McGonagall. Katya could hear the Hat taking quick, deep, panicked breaths, at last returned to the safe hands of the Head of Gryffindor House. Katya turned her head to see that the stern woman was once again eyeing her angrily, as well as analytically, trying to find out how Katya could manage to torment the Hat. She glared back at McGonagall and rose from the chair, keeping her eyes fixated on the Professor until she approached the steps from the platform and went to join her Slytherin classmates.