A/N: Welp… that took longer than I had anticipated. The impending doom of being the lone admin at my job must have caused a writer's block because I seriously had everything planned out. I apologize for the long wait time and hope to keep as consistently as I had been before.

Please enjoy!

Chapter Four

The Sorting

"Leave Trevor alone, Lyra," Neville pulled his pet toad away from Draco's Albino Ferret, which was energetically running from Draco at Trevor, playfully pawing the fellow animal within the confines of the train compartment as the boys and pets were on their way to Hogwarts.

Draco caught the speedy creature as it ran back to him, hugging her closely, "She's only playing, Neville. She wouldn't actually hurt Trevor." He ran a hand down her long body, wagging a finger in front of her snout inciting playful biting.

Neville narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the ferret, petting Trevor soothingly. "Says you. She probably only plays nice when you're watching her."

Ron, watching from Draco's side, merely laughed as he carried his own pet. A garden rat by the name of Scabbers. The rat was content to merely sit on Ron's lap though it looked as if it were inching away as soon as Lyra returned to Draco. Ron noticed the change and also pet Scabbers soothingly. "It's alright, Scabbers, you know Lyra."

"See? Face it, Draco, you have a little terror on your hands." Neville accused, still glaring Lyra.

Draco smirked lightly, "Well, I didn't say she wasn't. I just said she means no harm."

"Come on, Neville, stop taking out your nerves on Draco. We all know you're agitated because of, well, you know," Ron exaggerated his gestures so much that Scabbers ran off his lap and out of the open door of the compartment.

"Scabbers!" Ron ran after his pet and right into the Honeydukes Express lady. He ran passed her without much of a word, even though he managed to knock her – and some of the sweets – over in the process.

Draco got up and helped the elderly woman up as well as pick up some of the fallen sweets, "Sorry about him," he looked quite embarrassed, honestly, "We grew up together but our manners are night and day, really." He smiled at her, "We'll buy what's on the trolley right now, how's that?"

"Oh, what a sweet boy," the old witch shook her head in response, "But you don't need to do that. No harm done."

"Honestly, ma'am, he would have bought out your trolley regardless," Neville stood to help unload the cart, "He's got quite the sweet tooth."

The old witch laughed and sighed, giving in. It took almost no time at all to move all the sweets from the trolley to their compartment, seeing as the old witch levitated the lot. "Well, time to refill. Thank you, again." She said as she walked off with her now empty trolley, a bit of a spring in her step as she did so.

Draco turned to glare at Neville, "You treat me as if I'm the twins or something."

"You're pretty close," Neville began munching on some pumpkin pasties before walking over to Draco who was looking in the direction Ron had run after his rat.

Draco then gave a resigned shrug, "I suppose it could be worse. I could be Ron." He settled next to Lyra, who had also taken a liking to the pumpkin pasties in the compartment. He grabbed a chocolate quill and started to nibble on it. "Don't get me wrong, he's one of my best mates, but sometimes…"

Neville nodded, knowing exactly what he meant, "Speaking of, shouldn't we go looking for him? He might have run into someone else on the train, someone not as nice."

"Knowing his luck, Ron probably ran into our 'friends' from earlier this morning." Draco pulled Lyra away from her almost finish pasty and was about to start down the train to find Ron when he came back, scolding his rat for running away. The two couldn't be more relieved.

Draco smirked immediately, "Ron would come back after we bought the lot of sweets."

Neville laughed, "Never fails." He went back to his seat and grabbed another pasty. "Did he go far?" he asked his red-headed friend.

Still stuck on the mention of sweets, Ron peeked into the compartment, going wide eyed at the abundance of sugary goodness. He didn't even mind that it covered his seat, "Woah, when did you guys do this?"

Draco inspected his fingernails, flicking away non-existent dirt from underneath them, "Oh, you know, after you knocked over the lady who pushes the trolley."

Ron flinched at just the tone in Draco's voice before feeling the actual flick to the back of his head.

"Seriously, Ron, you need to watch what you're doing next time." Draco sighed before looking up for a moment in thought, "Shouldn't be too much longer now, we should probably change into our robes soon." He then looked back at Ron and hung an arm around his shoulder, "Dig in, mate! Or we'll have to smuggle all of these into school with us."

Draco's change in subject made Ron relax and he grinned, "You don't have to tell me twice," he set Scabbers down but made sure the door was shut behind them. He couldn't have him running about again.

Neville looked out the window, merely nibbling on his snack pensively. 'Why did it have to be me? I'm not cut out for all this attention.' He glanced over at Draco who was enjoying sweets with Ron and talking excitedly about something. 'Draco would have been much more suited for this, not to mention he's incredibly smart. There are still chances You-Know-Who might resurface. Then where will I be?'

"Oi, Neville," Ron's mouth was of course full as he spoke, "Stop looking so moody, mate. Might as well enjoy these sweets while we have them."

Blowing his bangs out of his eyes, looking up and imagining the scar he kept well hidden, he huffed and shrugged, "Guess you're right. I'll just take it one step at a time." He then began to try different treats and enjoy the little bit of free time he had before reaching Hogwarts.

Arriving in a group after being ferried over on small boats to the school, the First Years stood in separate clusters near one another, waiting to enter the Great Hall. A stern, older witch greeted them and explained the contents of the Sorting.

"What house do you think we'll get into, Harry?" Hermione asked, though she and her friends were fairly sure that they would end up in their parents' house – Slytherin. Well, most of them. Harry was on the fence about his house, considering his Godfather was a Gryffindor, as were his parents before him.

"You lot will probably be sorted in Slytherin," Harry gave a pained smile, worried about being sorted away from his friends.

A boy with brown hair and eyes sighed softly, "Even if you two do get sorted into a different house, it doesn't mean we'd stop being friends." His arms crossed over his chest and looked slightly annoyed. Though it wasn't with his friends, he just hated crowds and couldn't wait for the Sorting to be over so that he could sit at a far corner of a table and be left alone with his close friends.

Katherine, who made the surrounding body of First Years give her much due space in respect of her family, nodded in agreement, "Theodore is right. We could care less if you were in Hufflepuff let alone Slytherin house. As long as you don't start making new friends and abandoning us."

Hermione linked arms with Harry, "We were both worrying for nothing, huh?" she grinned up at him and he returned it in kind.

"I just think those two are too calm about everything." Harry teased the two who gave him identical raised brows followed by a shrug though both held a small smile on their lips.

"Hmm," Hermione looked thoughtful, "Though it would be tough if you were sorted into Gryffindor. You'd have to see them all the time." Her stare was in the direction of Neville, Draco and Ron who were probably talking about what house they would be sorted in.

"You never know, Draco could get sorted into Slytherin," Katherine spoke up, almost wistful.

Theo was silent though he nodded slightly, agreeing with her. Draco had been both Katherine's and his childhood friend, despite the fact that the Malfoys had turned blood traitor. To the Sewards, that hadn't mattered at all and they had almost set their daughter up with the Malfoy Heir, simply because that's how valued their family name was. Not to mention their wealth was on par as well. Their daughter would want for nothing.

It was not meant to be, however, as the two developed a brother-sister relationship as well as their parents' strong-willed attitude. They adamantly refused, as only children can, to become betrothed. Their families are still close till this day.

"I'm surprised your father would let you hang out with Malfoy, Theo, all things considered." Hermione spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, and she wasn't exactly wrong but Theodore was not thrilled with her constant butting in with the few friends he has.

"He actually doesn't," Katherine turned to Hermione, a glacial gleam in her emerald eyes with an equally crisp tone. "It's because of me that Theo can still meet with Draco and you would be wise to leave well enough alone, Hermione Granger."

The other three froze at this rare moment where Katherine was actually transparent. She normally hid behind a mask of playful smirks and witty remarks but this situation seemed to be very serious to her and she let it show. It wasn't common knowledge, Theo's living situation. How he was born to an older couple and his mom had passed away when he was young so he was in the care of his father who was a rather cruel man and rather befitting his Death Eater status.

Theodore sighed and rested his hand appreciatively on Katherine's shoulder, "Easy now, she doesn't know better," he looked up at Hermione with a steady stare, "Of course, you should know what it feels like to have that one person give you hope where you thought there was none."

Hermione blushed with embarrassment, not used to this behavior from her friends. She wouldn't deny that she allowed her sheltered life to make excuses for her but she really felt those things she'd been raised to believe. Even so, they were right. If not for the three people with her, she probably wouldn't have had any friends at all.

Luckily for her, they were all brought to attention as it was time to join their senior classmates and professors in the Great Hall for the banquet. After the Sorting, of course.

As the Sorting had gone under way, Theodore and Katherine were sorted into Slytherin, most appropriately. Ronald Weasley sorted into the house of his whole family – Gryffindor. Others were sorted into houses much suited to them, not many protesting the choice of the Sorting Hat though it seldom made a choice the sorted students didn't like. That's where its magic lie.

"Draco Malfoy!" Professor McGonagall called, the platinum blonde striding up confidently, though he was inwardly quite nervous. He hoped to be sorted into Gryffindor, with Ron, but his parents' and their families have both been quite consistently Slytherin with a few exceptions here and there. Would he be one of those exceptions? He sure hoped so.

Draco ignored the whispers from the other students, focusing on the hat itself as it settled on his messy blonde hair.

"Quite the rebel, aren't you?" the Sorting Hat mused, chuckling at the young Malfoy's surprised gasp. "Gryffindor!"

Draco definitely felt way more relieved than he showed, grinning from the news as he took his leave and joined the Gryffindor table, settling next Ron and the rest of the Weasleys as he accepted all the congratulations. He turned to look for Neville in the crowd, knowing that his friend must be incredibly nervous. Not to mention he was all alone and didn't have anyone else to take the attention off of him. Draco could only imagine the response when he went up there.

However, Hermione Granger was called instead and whispers began again, just like when he'd been up there. It was hardly a question as to the girl's house but her family was still new and they weren't sure where she would be. Not to mention she wasn't well-liked from most considering her snobbish attitude.

Hermione walked up just as confidently as Draco, chin slightly raised as if challenging the whisperers to confront her directly. She sat primly on the stool and the hat rested on her head for just a moment before shouting, "Slytherin!"

The quick decision made Hermione smile, inwardly excited to be in the same house as her only friends and hoping she would make new ones as well. She sat next to Katherine whom welcomed her with a warm smile. She was glad for it and would definitely take it over the glacial stare from earlier. She looked to Harry, "Just one more of us to go," she said, seemingly to no one in particular but Katherine nodded behind her.

"Yes, his is definitely much more uncertain than the rest of ours." Katherine glanced at Theo who was actually focused on the Gryffindor table. She followed his gaze to Draco, who seemed quite happy with his house. She'd had a feeling he would go that way but she still hoped till the very moment it was decided. Not that it mattered to her, he was still her friend no matter what.

"Slytherin!" Both Katherine and Theo turned their heads to see Harry quite relieved. They both gave their friend welcoming smiles, just as with Hermione, as Harry walked to sit next to Hermione.

Hermione shook her head, sighing with relief, "We really had worried for nothing." She grinned returned his grin before all heads turned for a special name. This caused majority of the Slytherin table to shoot dirty glares at Neville Longbottom who walked up quite obviously shaking.

'This is what I hate,' Neville inwardly groaned as he focused on the Sorting Hat, trying to calm his nerves. He didn't care what house he was sorted in as long as it wasn't Slytherin since he knew the animosity towards him from there and he would be pretty surprised if he was actually sorted into Slytherin house.

Which is why the Sorting Hat's deliberation between Gryffindor and Slytherin worried him. How could he possibly be sorted into Slytherin?! Was the Sorting Hat mad?

"You can't be serious. There's no way I could be sorted into that house. Ever." Neville was fairly adamant as he looked up at the hat with a rather stubborn glare.

"Alright, if you say so. You would do well in either house but…" the hat seemed to sigh, a bit disappointed, "Gryffindor!"

And with that, all the houses but Slytherin cheered and even the teachers were rather more enthusiastic to his sorting than everyone else. He was Neville Longbottom, after all. The Boy Who Lived. He made a beeline for the Gryffindor table, sitting next to Draco and smiling at the welcoming students who would be his housemates for the next few years. He was glad he already knew some of the upperclassman, like Ron's brothers, so he could at least feel comfortable. Everyone else was a different story.

Ah well, that's what his friends were for, especially Draco and Ron. Neville wasn't sure if he could have survived the school year without them. Still, he knew it would be a long seven years and he was quite certain it would be difficult regardless of his friends support.

A/N: I hope this was worth the wait! Just a little more insight on their relationships though any suggestions or criticism would be much appreciated. I am still a growing writer and I love this idea so I hope I can write it well for you.

Please review so I can improve and add any tidbits you might want to see in here.

Thank you and I hope you enjoyed!