There was the sound of somebody clearing their throat, and they jerked apart, looking upwards to see a pale blonde haired boy staring at them with a sneer on his lips…
"Um…Hello?" said Hermione nervously, looking up at the blonde boy.
"Who are you?" asked Harry, and for some reason, when Harry asked this, the boy's face seemed to show a little shock that they didn't know who he was.
"I am Draco Malfoy," said Draco with a haughty expression. "The Malfoy name is one the greatest and well known in the wizarding world. You're obviously Harry Potter, anybody in the wizarding world would know that, but who are you?" he asked Hermione.
"I'm Hermione Granger," she replied.
"What's your blood status?" he asked.
"Blood status?" she repeated confusedly.
"Yes," he said with a sigh. "It means if your parents are wizards, muggles which means non magical, or a mixture of both."
"Oh," said Hermione, understanding now, Harry had already it explained to him earlier, at the Dursleys. "Well, as far as I know, my parents are both muggles."
"I see," said Draco with a frown. "Well, I'm a pureblood, ten generations back and my father says that I'm not supposed to mix with muggleborns, he calls them mudbloods though. When we get to Hogwarts though, he won't know, so maybe I will be friends with you two, if we're in the same house. Which house do you think you're going to be in?"
"Well," said Hermione. "We don't really know any of them, Professor McGonagall mentioned Ravenclaw, but we don't know anything about it."
Draco frowned again. "You know, most wizards and witches know all this stuff before they come to Hogwarts, but of course being raised by muggles you won't have, you're going to have an unfair disadvantage there. What have you been told?"
"Not much really," replied Hermione.
"Okay then," said Draco. "Well, there are four houses called Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. You get sorted into one of them, and that's where you stay for your seven years at Hogwarts. You're supposed to be sorted based upon personality, but I've heard that the sorting hat can take other things into consideration as well, like your family, and your preference. People say that Slytherin is for evil people, but actually, it's for cunning and ambitious people. Gryffindor is for the brave, not that other houses aren't brave, but Gryffindors tend to go straight into things. Hufflepuff is for the hardworking and loyal. Finally, Ravenclaw is for the more clever, studious students that are interested in school."
There was silence for a moment as Harry and Hermione took in all the information that Draco had just divulged.
"I think I would want to be in Slytherin," said Hermione after a bit of though, for some reason this shocked Draco. "It's for ambitious people, and I am one of them, I intend to get somewhere in life."
"I think that sounds pretty good too, but I like school and reading, so Ravenclaw doesn't sound too bad," added Harry.
"You know, Hermione, you going into Slytherin might not be the best of ideas, they have a reputation for not liking muggleborns so you probably wouldn't be to happy there. Slytherin probably isn't a very good idea for you either, Harry, lots of the old dark families that are always in Slytherin wouldn't be too pleased to have you there. As for me, my father expects me to go into Slytherin, like ten generations of Malfoy have before me, but I wouldn't mind Ravenclaw, and I don't think my father would be too mad if I was sorted there," explained Draco.
"Good explanation," said Harry with a smile.
"How long do you think it'll be till Madame Malkin comes back?" asked Hermione, realising that they had actually been waiting here for a rather long time.
"How long have you been here for?" asked Draco.
"Well," said Hermione, glancing at her distinctly muggle watch. "We must have been here for at least twenty minutes now, which is weird, Madame Malkin said she would be through in two minutes. Do you think she's forgotten about us?"
"Possible," replied Draco. "I'll go and check, she has to come for a Malfoy."
He wondered off. "So," said Harry with a raised eyebrow. "What did you think?"
"Well, he seemed nice, and he explained lots of useful things to us really well, but, I don't know, do you think he seemed a bit arrogant?"
"A bit," admitted Harry. "But other than that, he seems nice. We all want to be sorted into Ravenclaw, so we'll probably end up being friends."
Just then, Draco, Madame Malkin and two assistants appeared at the doorway.
"Time to get your robes fitted," said Madame Malkin. "If you could all just sit down next to one of the curtains please."
