When they got off the train, Renna stuck close to the trio as they made their way across the slippery, rain-slick cobblestones. She felt someone looking at her and turned to see Draco Malfoy watching. She gave him a polite, meaningless smile and turned her attention to the carriages that they were approaching. They were drawn by a herd of ...

She blinked and looked again. Hogwarts had a herd of thestrals? About to ask Hermione about them, she changed her mind, remembering that only people who had seen someone die could see thestrals, and considering that no one else was pointing them out, she figured none of them had seen anyone die.

But then why can I- oh. Right. She had seen a man crushed under a car when she was five. It had given her nightmares for weeks. She entered one behind the others and settled across from Ron. As they wound their way up to the castle, Renna got more and more nervous. What if no one liked her? What if she failed her classes?

When they got into the entrance hall, Harry said, "Let's go find Professor McGonagall; she'll know where you're- aaah! Peeves!" he had just gotten drenched by a water balloon thrown by a tiny little man levitating near the ceiling.

"Peeves!" shouted someone. "Peeves, come down here at once!" Renna looked around and saw a tall silver-haired witch come running into the hall, slip on the wet floor, and nearly fall.

"That's the Professor," Harry whispered. "She's not someone you want to cross. Come on." As Peeves had vanished, the Professor looked around and saw the three of them struggling forward dragging a reluctant Renna.

"Ah yes, this must be our new student. Professor Dumbledore wishes you to be sorted separately, so follow me, please. We can sort you before the first-years arrive."

"Ah, Professor, do you mind if we come?" Hermione asked, and Renna realized that Hermione had come to like her very much on the journey. This made her feel much more confident.

Professor McGonagall hesitated for a moment, then said, "Well, all right, but you have to stay quiet." Exchanging grins, the three followed her.

Professor McGonagall opened the door to her office and ushered them in. Sitting on a stool in the center of the room was the Hogwarts Sorting Hat. It looked very old. Not to mention patched, frayed, and dirty.

"Have a seat," the Professor said, lifting the hat. Renna sat nervously.

Several tense moments passed before Renna heard in her head, "Hmm. Veeery interesting. Lots of ambition, very intelligent, and a relative of- but you obviously don't know that yet, so I shan't be the one to tell you. You'll probably figure it out for yourself, you're definitely smart enough. Now... Where will you go?"

Renna thought, Any of the houses would be fine, but I would prefer not Slytherin.

"Not Slytherin, hmm?" the voice said. "How ironic; your relative said that too. Yes, my dear, you actually do have a blood relative at this school. But you know, you could do very well in Slytherin. I'm having a serious sense of deja vu right now- no, dear, I won't tell you, so don't bother asking! Well, if not Slytherin, I might as well put you in the same house. GRYFFINDOR." And before Renna could pull it off, the hat said as if to itself, "How very odd! Most definitely one of the oddest sortings I've ever done. And she doesn't know, either! Amazing potential, if she decides to use it."

Renna thought hard, WHAT DON'T I KNOW! Who am I related to? But she only received a chuckle in reply. Pulling it off, she slid off the stool and went over to her grinning friends.

"Now all four of you should head down to the Great Hall," Professor McGonagall said.

They left the office and headed toward the entrance hall, retracing their steps.

"I was really afraid that the Hat wouldn't sort me!" Renna confessed as they descended a flight of stairs.

"So was I when I got sorted," Harry said. "You know, it actually considered me for Slytherin."

All three of them stopped and stared at him. He frowned. "Didn't I tell you that? I think it must have been because it saw I could speak Parseltongue, so it thought I should go in Slytherin." He started walking again, and Ron and Hermione followed him.

Renna didn't. As they turned to look at her, she felt hot and cold in turn. "You can speak Parseltongue?" Her voice squeaked in astonishment.

Harry looked a little nervous. "Yeah. Why? You're not going to hold it against me, are you? I got enough of that in second year."

"No," Renna said faintly. "It's just that - well, so can I."

Silence fell in the corridor. "But, I mean, it's not bad, is it?" Renna pleaded a little desperately. "Because Harry can do it, and if I was bad then the hat wouldn't have put me in Gryffindor, right? And I haven't told anyone else, not even my parents, because I was afraid of what they would say. So it's okay, right?" She realized she was babbling, and stopped.

Harry had been slowly smiling throughout her entire speech, until now he was grinning broadly. "This is great! I'm not the only good wizard who can speak it anymore! Yes! Don't worry, Renna," he added, seeing her worried look. "It's just that I was ostracized in our second year when everyone thought I set a snake on a student. You'll be fine."

Renna smiled with relief as they reached the double doors to the Great Hall, but she didn't say anything, thinking hard. The Sorting Hat had said that her relative could have been in Slytherin as well. And now she knew that Harry could speak Parseltongue also.

Then every thought was blown out of her head as they slipped into the Great Hall.

It was unlike anything she had ever seen anywhere, even at Beauxbatons. The ceiling was enchanted to look like the sky outside, and was stormy and forbidding. Four tables were set up directly in front of them, lit by hundreds of candles floating just over the student's heads.

"The Houses are, from right to left, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw," Hermione whispered. "Come on, let's go sit down." They slipped around the edges of the walls to the Gryffindor table, Renna's presence causing a minor disturbance as heads turned and people wondered who the new student could be. As they passed the Slytherin table, Draco caught her eye. He was smiling a little cynical smile, and as she sat down next to Hermione he raised his glass in an ironic toast to her. She looked down and at that moment Professor McGonagall entered with the first-years, giving her something to look at. But she kept on finding that her mind drifted toward that pale boy two tables away.

Little button, right down there. Please review!