Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

WARNING: THERE ARE SOME MILD SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY READ THE 6TH BOOK. (But if you haven't read the 6th book yet, why are you reading this? That one's so much better lol.)

Ron and Harry sat down glumly at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall as the doors shut behind them.

"What happened?" Hermione started as soon as they were seated opposite her (Harry next to Ginny and Ron next to him). She shook her head. "Ooh! I knew this was a bad idea. We shouldn't have let her on the train."

"So what? We should have just left her on the platform 'till she rotted?" Ron asked her. "Lot of good that would have done."

Hermione shook her head again. "We should have at least sent Hedwig ahead to warn Professor McGonagall. Not to mention the numerous other things that could have been done!" Hermione had practically panicked her self into frenzy by this point.

"Well, I didn't see you jumping up at the time!"

She opened her mouth to argue some more, but was quieted when Seamus began rubbing her back. "Calm down… You're so high strung…"

"I am NOT! Hermione yelled at Seamus.

Ron didn't get a chance to hear what she said next. Harry took the opportunity to lean over and whisper in Ron's ear, "We need to talk. Somewhere more… private."

"What? Now?" Ron whispered back, looking from Harry to Hermione (who was now shrieking, "I am perfectly fine!") then back to Harry.

Harry nodded and jerked his head back to the doors they had just come through minutes before.

Luckily for them, no one seemed to notice they were leaving on account of Hermione was now gesturing to Seamus's head violently with a lit candlestick and Seamus was taking it rather well, considering the flame was dangerously close to setting his hair on fire and dried wax was hanging off his ear. Neville, however, was on the verge of cowering under the table and Ginny rolled her eyes at him and magicked her self a glass of water which she sipped at, wondering sarcastically what she ever did to deserve such a wonderful group of friends.

Once outside, Harry looked around and pulled Ron into a dark broom closet, much to Ron's protest.

"What? What is so bloody important that you had to drag me in here? I really wanted to see Hermione explode!" Ron complained loudly.

Harry shushed him and began explaining. "You remember on the train? When Evee touched my scar?"

"Yes, yes," Ron whispered impatiently. "And you threw a hissy fit."

Harry ignored Ron's comment and continued. "It burned Ron! My scar burned when she touched it!"

Ron was speechless. Finally, he was able to squeeze out, "What?"

"You heard me!"

"Well what do you mean by 'burned'? Do you mean 'burned' like 'it just hurt for some bizarre reason' or 'burned' like-"

"Like it does when Voldemort's near," Harry finished.

Ron cringed at the sound of Voldemort's name but he tried to laugh. "But Evee… She couldn't really… Could she?"

Harry shook his head and inspected a crate of Mrs. Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover. Filch always kept a large supply of the stuff on hand in case of a magical mishap (which there were plenty of at Hogwarts).

There was a great boom from outside and Harry and Ron pressed their ears against the wooden closet door.

"Come on then! Through that door there."

"Hagrid," Harry whispered. "The Sorting must be about to start."

"We should probably get back then," Ron suggested.

Harry shrugged in agreement and the two waited until they heard the scurrying footsteps of the new first year students disappear and the doors shut behind them.

Ron opened the closet door a crack and made sure the coast was clear. He nodded resolutely to Harry and opened the door wider.

Harry caught Ron by the back of his robe and pulled him back in the closet causing Ron to slam the door shut in the process. "Not a word to anyone." He could see Ron was about to argue, so he cut him off. "Not even Hermione."

"Okay! Now let me go!" Harry released Ron who straightened his robes with care. He opened the door again and they exited the closet, casting paranoid looks over their shoulders and slipped into the Great Hall.

"Be a shame to miss the last sorting of our years at Hogwarts," Ron reasoned as they sat back down where they had been seated before.

Hermione seemed to have calmed down and was feigning interest in Ginny and Lavender Brown's enlightening conversation about lip-gloss and which tint matched their skin tone the best.

She launched into another tirade as soon as she saw Harry and Ron. "Where were you? If a teacher had seen you-"

"Shhh!" Ron held a finger up to his mouth. "The Sorting's begun."

Hermione looked slightly offended Ron had cut her off and glared at him all through the Sorting Hat's song (which Ron couldn't pay attention to because he was too busy trying to ignore Hermione's stare).

The next thing Ron knew everyone was clapping and Harry was telling him excitedly, "That was the best song yet. Really pulled out all the stops on this one, didn't he?"

"Uh huh," Ron answered distractedly. Hermione was no longer glaring at him, but Ron could tell she was still angry they hadn't let her in on their secret meeting in the broom closet.

"Adams, Rachel!" read Professor Sprout.

"Looks like McGonagall's still with Evee," commented Harry. Professor McGonagall almost always announced the Sorting unless she had another pressing matter to attend to.

As a short girl with straight, brown hair pulled back neatly into two pigtails skipped up to the front of the room and had the Sorting Hat placed on her head (HUFFLEPUFF!), Ron surveyed the staff table.

Dumbledore was gone. McGonagall was acting Headmistress until the Ministry found a suitable replacement (which didn't look like they would any time in the near future). Further on down the line, Snape was gone too, naturally. Ron supposed he'd run off to re-join You-Know-Who after a long hiatus from evil. Ron snorted. The very thought of Snape taking a "hiatus from evil" was absurd. Ron could tell he was evil just by looking at him and anyone who was in his class (with the exception of the Slytherins) would agree.

There were two new teachers: Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions. The Dark Arts teacher was a smarmy looking man with blonde, short hair, a thin moustache, and round spectacles. The Potions teacher was a petite Asian witch with long, black hair, and had the most beautiful dark purple, silk robes embroidered with tiny golden dragons that actually moved. She smiled warmly as "Bodkin, Gertrude" became a Slytherin. She was the Slytherin head teacher, after all.

Ron snapped back to attention when the table erupted into cheers as "Brody, Daniel" became the first Gryffindor. Harry whistled loudly in Ron's ear.

"Brooks, Samantha" became a Ravenclaw and "Bryce, Kalyn" was added to the Gryffindor ranks.

"Collins, Evelyn!"

The room became silent. All eyes went to the doors where a scattered looking Evee was standing. She staggered her way down he aisle between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables, all eyes following her. Some of the first years snickered. Surely this was a joke. She was too old to be a first year. But they were quieted with a venomous glance from Evee. And finally, she sat on the stool at the front of the room, legs crossed, shaking hands folded primly over her knees.

Professor Sprout looked bewildered and consulted her list once more, then turned back to Evee, mouth agape. Evee half-smiled and said, "Professor McGonagall sent me down here to be... sorted?"

"Um… Yes. Of course." Sprout blinked rapidly and dropped the Sorting Hat on Evee's head. Everyone leaned forward expectantly and some of the shorter students even stood on their seats to get a better look.

The slit in the Sorting Hat that served as its mouth slowly opened. "Hmm…"

Evee sighed.

"Hmm…" the Sorting Hat said again. "Yes. I see you doing great things… in Slytherin. Yes…"

Hermione's hand flew to her mouth and Ron and Harry exchanged anxious looks.

"Make it Slytherin then!" the Hat shouted.

The Slytherin table cheered (the boys louder than the girls) and Malfoy could clearly be heard cat-calling over all the other voices. Ron, Harry, and the rest of their friends hung their heads. This was much worse than being punished by McGonagall.

But instead of standing and going to sit at the Slytherin table, Evee remained seated. "No."

There was a sharp intake of breath that rippled around the room. No one had ever argued with the Sorting Hat before.

"What was that?" the Hat asked Evee.

"I said 'no'. I'm not going to be a… Slytherin," she spat.

The Slytherins started yelling all at once, shouting obscenities and making rude gestures at Evee.

"SILENCE!" the Sorting Hat roared. The room was calm once more. "Now you say no to Slytherin, eh? Well, well. That shows courage… courage and bravery… How would Gryffindor suit you?"

"Just fine, thank you," replied Evee gratefully.

"Gryffindor it is!"

Evee grinned and went to sit down between Harry and Ron amid cheers from their table and hisses from the Slytherins. She looked happily from one person to the next as Hermione stood and hugged her across the table. "This is where I belong," she thought.