"Neville, could you please give Draco and me a moment alone?" Neville nodded, but hesitated a moment before heading to his room.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"I'm going to be fine, Neville. Thank you."
Neville turned on his heels and went to his bedroom, closing the door. Once it was shut, he cracked it open slightly so that he could listen to what was going on. He didn't want to be nosy, but he wanted to make sure Draco wasn't doing anything funny. He wasn't comfortable with Draco being in his common room, talking to his friend. Neville never could and never would trust Draco.
Hermione blinked her eyes several times, took one long, deep breath, and slowly said, "Draco, I have gone through far too much trouble to just call off the ceremony." She added, "Do you know how humiliating it would be to have to rescind my request and cancel the invitations? No one is taking me seriously as it is right now. I can't undo this very important decision that I made two hours before I'm to actually go through with it!"
"You don't realize how horrible my day was while being you." He grabbed onto her shoulders to emphasize how strongly he was feeling about this decision. "I put up with complete shit from absolutely every person I encountered. Slytherins, Gryffindors, professors, everyone! It didn't matter where I went, everyone was saying awful things about me – er, about you!" His fingers were digging into Hermione's shoulders, and his face was worn with worry. She shrugged him off.
"Draco, I'm going to be fine. They are just afraid of change," she said, reassuring him, but certainly not reassuring herself. "Once I actually get into Slytherin and start to blend in, everyone will go back to acting the way they did before. Listen – I don't even have to live in the Slytherin dormitory. I have my own dormitory, so that won't really change. The only difference is that I will be wearing Slytherin robes, and I'll have access to your common room instead of Gryffndor's."
"Then why are you doing all of this?" He said, a desperate look creeping over his face now. "Why bother going through all of this if hardly anything is going to change, other than the fact that you won't fit in with anyone?" He was speaking so quickly that Hermione wondered how he was even getting oxygen.
Hermione put both hands over her eyes and drew one deep breath in through her mouth and let it out until her lungs began to ache. When she opened her eyes again, she felt a sudden clarity. "When you go to Hogwarts, the first thing they do is sort you into your house. It is, quite literally, your defining moment. You live with that title, with that crest, with those friends for the rest of your time here at Hogwarts, and furthermore, you live with the brand for the rest of your life. It is perfectly reasonable to expect people to ask you what house you were in at Hogwarts when you are 80 years old, and with one word, they will believe that they know what kind of person you are."
"'Gryffindor!'" Hermione exclaimed, her fist shooting up into the air, "'Well then you must be the bravest of the brave!'" She was having a mock conversation with herself, jumping from sides of the room, pretending to be different people. "'Ravenclaw! You must be extremely smart to be a Ravenclaw!'" Draco's heart was pounding, watching her intense charade. '"Slytherin! Cunning and witty no doubt! Perhaps a little dark too?'" Her eyes were practically possessed now. "'A Hufflepuff?'" She stopped and said quietly, "'Oh. That's – nice.'"
"Are you quite finished?" Draco said, hoping the answer was yes.
"My point is, that your house defines you forever. It simply does. And Gryffindor does not tell people who I am any more. Honestly, it never really has, but it's even truer than ever. I'm not proud to be a Gryffindor any more. I will be proud to call myself a Slytherin for the rest of myself, no matter what everyone thinks about me now."
Hermione continued, "Aside from all of that, I have this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that tells me this is what I need to do. Haven't you ever wanted something so badly without completely understanding why you wanted it?"
Draco stared at her, his steel eyes matching hers now. "Yes. I've been well acquainted with that feeling."
"So that's that, then? I'm going through with this." She said the last part as a statement, but she was still saying it as a question in her mind. Over and over, 'I'm going through with this? I'm going through with this? I'm going through with this?'
Hermione kissed Draco on the forehead and walked towards her bathroom door. Once inside, she turned on the hot water and took off all of her clothes. She walked back to the door and stood in the frame, arching her hip, one hand there and the other clutching the wooden frame of the door. "Are you coming or not?" She asked seductively.
Draco stood quickly and was standing alongside Hermione, kissing her neck, within seconds. "I do imagine I'll be coming," he said between kisses, and he pulled her into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
Neville continued to listen at his bedroom door and felt horrified. "What happened to you, Hermione?" He whispered softly and closed his door as well.
Hermione was ready to head over to the Great Hall. She was a vision, even more shocking than her transformation for the Yule Ball during her fourth year. She had a floor-length, silver satin dress that clung to her skinny body. The dress was strapless with a deep V-neck that dove down her chest to the bottom of her sternum, just barely covering her. This was the first time Hermione was going out into public without wearing a bra. With her strappy, high-heels, she was easily five-foot-ten. Her hair was pulled up into a beautifully elegant, ballerina bun, something she never could pull off with her old hair. She had on long silver earrings that dangled just above her shoulders. Her makeup was dark and striking, especially the black liner around the eyes.
She was staring at herself admiringly in the mirror, when her reflection was joined by another. Draco stood next to her in a set of flawless, black dress robes. If any person was fit to match Hermione's current beauty, it was Draco Malfoy in all of his wonder.
"You look perfect," Draco said, putting his hands on her hips.
"You don't look half bad yourself." They stood there kissing for a few moments. Hermione watched their reflections out of the corner of her eye. They looked so good together. It was as if they had been made for each other, and no other couple in the history of the world had as much chemistry as the two of them.
Hermione looked at her clock and saw that it was 6:40. "We need to go," she said.
He reached his arm out to escort her. "Then we shall go, m'lady."
They walked down hallways and up staircases, arm in arm, catching the eyes of every person they passed. People whispered, gasped, even let out swear words occasionally.
It wasn't until they passed Ron and Harry that Draco and Hermione were forced to stop.
"Bloody 'ell," Ron said, his eyes popping out of his head. "Hermione? Is that even you? What happened to you?"
Hermione turned to face her ex-boyfriend. "Hello, Ronald," she said, a bit of her former self shining through. "I've quite obviously changed a bit."
"A bit?" He asked, his voice sounding panicked. "You look like him!" He exclaimed, gesturing at Malfoy. "What did you do to her?" Ron asked, reaching for his wand.
Draco looked slightly amused. The notion that Ron thought there was any chance he could hurt Draco cracked him up. "I didn't do this to her." He thought for a moment. "Well, not technically any way."
"Technically? What does that mean?" He shouted.
Harry chimed in, "Yeah, what did you do, Malfoy? You two better start explaining yourselves."
Hermione realized that there would be no end to this until she actually did explain to them what happened. They would continue to think Draco had put a spell on her or something until she finally sat them down to tell them what happened.
"Listen, you two. I don't have time for this right now, but I promise that I will explain everything after the ceremony," she said, desperately hoping that they would take that as an acceptable offer for the time-being.
Draco and Hermione turned and began to walk away.
"What the bleeding hell has happened?" Ron said to Harry.
"I have no clue, but we better go to the ceremony too. No one is allowed to miss it, and I doubt Hermione will forgive us enough to tell us the truth if we don't go," Harry said, grasping at straws. "Who knows, maybe she has some secret plan or something that we can't know about. You know that she is so much smarter than both of us."
Ron nodded and prayed that Harry was right. He didn't know what he would do if he lost Hermione forever. Why hadn't he taken Ginny more seriously yesterday?
Hermione made her way to the front of the Great Hall, never letting go of Draco's arm. She saw the large clock on the wall and realized there were only a few minutes until the ceremony was to start. Students were filing in constantly now. She realized that there were only four more possible hours left until her supposed transformation was to be entirely complete. She wondered if there would be any more fun little surprises creeping up in the meantime.
There was one chair at the front of the hall, the chair that was always used for the Sorting Ceremony. Hermione saw the Sorting Hat sitting on the chair, waiting to give his grand speech, one that would arguably be quite historical.
Professor McGonagall approached Hermione and Draco to give them their directions. "Miss Granger, you will stand here," she gestured to the right of the podium, "until I make the announcements and the Sorting Hat has finished his speech. I will then have Mr. Malfoy escort you to your chair. I will hand him the Sorting Hat, and he will place it on your head. After it has announced its decision, you will, of course, proceed to sit with your new house – provided that it is new." She paused for a moment, looking very solemn, as if she was losing something very dear to her. Hermione was unsure whether Minerva felt as if she was losing Hermione or if she felt she was losing her respect as Headmistress. Would anyone take her seriously after allowing such a thing to occur? What would make people more upset – if Hermione was placed into a different house or if she wasn't?
Minerva walked to the podium, and Hermione and Draco took their places. As she stood in front of the congregation of students, they all instinctively took their seats and silenced themselves.
"Welcome, Students, to a very unique and yet familiar ceremony. As many of you do not know what is going on here today, I will briefly explain. Our Head Girl, Hermione Granger, is one of the most well-respected students we have ever had here at Hogwarts. She has given much to her school in her six-and-a-half years here, and now she needed something from us in return. You see, Miss Granger has gone through a very big transformation lately, and she, in her heart of hearts, truly feels that she no longer belongs to the house to which she was originally sorted. She does not feel that a mistake was made placing her in Gryffindor, but rather, she feels that she has changed so drastically, that an adjustment is necessary to completely be the witch she was meant to be. Therefore, after much deliberation, I have decided that this very unique circumstance merits a unique solution. Miss Granger will be re-sorted in front of you all tonight."
Some quiet chatter broke out, and McGonagall was forced to hush them. The professors behind McGonagall looked completely appalled, clearly bitter that Minerva was allowing this to happen, especially without consulting them for their opinions.
It was the Sorting Hat's turn to speak. The old hat raised its "eyebrows" and looked around the room, a giant dramatic pause enthralled them all.
When he finally spoke in his typical rhyming fashion, a few students even jumped.
"It hasn't been long since I've been up here last,
But my purpose is different, and this should go fast.
I understand that there's an issue with Granger,
She feels different somehow, a familiar stranger.
Now I've never been wrong, and I never shall be,
But the heart knows much, even more than me.
She shall put me on, and this all could change her,
I assume she's been warned of potential for danger.
Though some of you may assume she's a traitor,
Understand that there is no just cause to hate her.
She might not be welcome amongst her new clan,
But remember, she's a good witch to have on hand.
Without further ado, I'll see what her mind holds
Who knows, perhaps she will stay red and gold…"
Hermione's heart had been pounding the whole time. She could hardly breathe. She wasn't sure that there was a single good outcome that would come out of this anymore. She stood, frozen in her spot.
"Hermione," Draco whispered. "Come on. Get in the chair." Draco was already holding the Sorting Hat in his hands, waiting for her to sit down so he could put it on her.
Hermione slowly walked to the chair and sat down, staring at Draco with a "deer in the headlights" expression. "It's going to be okay," he whispered, "no matter what."
Draco placed the giant, ancient hat onto Hermione's blonde head. As soon as the hat was sitting there, he began to speak into her head so that no one else could hear. 'Very interesting,' the hat said. 'You aren't really the same girl you were when you sat here more than six years ago. I remember. You were so studious, but even more than that, you were loyal and true. You had it in you. Now,' he paused. 'Now, you have a different heart. You care more about yourself than you did before. I can feel your desire for power and respect. You want others to appreciate what you do for them, instead of walking all over you.'
"Yes," Hermione said aloud. "I want all of that."
'The old you is still in here too a little,' the hat said, and Hermione felt her heart skip a beat when he said 'a little.' 'I think you'd be fine staying where you are, but that isn't what your soul is screaming at me. Your soul is screaming…'
"SLYTHERIN!" The hat yelled out loud. Hermione felt both a surge of relief and a jolt of fear simultaneously.
There were no cheers from the crowd. The Gryffindors looked positively disgusted, and actually, so did the Slytherins. Hermione stood from her seat and walked towards a table of jeering wizards in green and silver, Draco on her tails.
She found room at the end of the table for her and Draco, and they sat next to each other. He looked at her and grinned, but no one else said a word to either of them. 'They'll get used to it,' Hermione thought positively. 'They'll appreciate me in no time.'
McGonagall continued to look surprised as she concluded the ceremony by thanking everyone for coming, as if they had a choice in the matter.
Ron, Harry, Neville, and Ginny were already gone from the room by the time Hermione looked to see them. She knew she needed to catch up with them later to explain what was going on, but at the moment, she really could care less about those three. She was a Slytherin. She finally felt proud of her house again. Too bad none of them felt proud to have her.
