Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters and the entire plot line of this story is pretty much made up by me. Neither J.K. Rowling nor Scholastic books are in any way affiliated with me or this story.

Rating: R for later content. Possibly much later content.

Ship: Draco/Hermione

Chapter 2: Slytherin!

Author's Note: I hope you guys like the next chapter. I think it's the longest chapter I've ever written, which isn't saying much. Umm...does Hermione know about the thestrals. I think it may be necessary to the story, but I'm not sure yet, and I don't know if she knows. I have another question. Is Blaise a boy or a girl?

Hermione boarded the train, anxious to start school, but missing home and her own room.

She walked all the way to the back of the train looking for Ron and Harry, but as she couldn't find them, she figured that they were late, as usual. On her way back to the front of the train she spotted the girl she had met in the bookshop, in a compartment that was totally empty but for her and her things.

It took Hermione a few moments to build up the courage to ask if she could sit with the girl. She was somewhatly scared of girls. An irrational fear, yes. But girls were very touchy, and sometimes could blow up at you. However boys were far friendlier and turned everything into a joke, so there wasn't much getting hurt, unless you decided to take their jokes to heart.

"May I sit here?" Hermione asked, remembering to make her voice louder than it's mousey whisper. She steeled herself for rejection, and was immensely happy to find that this girl, Riannoch had said "sure" with her very cool Irish brogue.

Hermione seated herself across from the girl, joy written all over her face. She was in a good mood today. Her hair was a mess as usual, getting in her eyes and what not, so that she was constantly brushing it out of her face, but so many people complimented on it's curliness that she decided to just let it go. And she found that that worked best.

She looked up at Riannoch and found that she was having the same problem. Except that her hair was straight as a stick.

"So, how are things going for you so far?" Hermione asked. She wanted to be as helpful as possible.

Riannoch smiled brightly at Hermione. She was genuinely happy to have Hermione's company. She had been insanely worried that she wasn't going to have any friends at her new school.

"Things are pretty good. My mom and I did have a little trouble finding the station, but as you can see we made it." Riannoch added a small laugh at the end, once she realized she might be sounding rude.

Hermione took it the right way and laughed with her. She liked this Riannoch chick. She hoped she got sorted into Gryffindor. Which reminded her...

"What house do you think you'll be sorted into?" Hermione liked asking people questions that forced them to look at themselves. And she liked asking completely random questions as well. She was just kinda odd.

"Umm...house?" Riannoch asked. Hermione was getting ready to laugh when she noticed the authentic confusion on Riannoch's face.

"Didn't you have houses at your old school? You know, like different groups you were sorted into?" Hermione inquired.

"Actually, no. No one was in any special group. We had cliques and stuff, though."

"Weird." Hermione said with wonderment. She knew that every school couldn't possibly be like Hogwarts, their staircases moved for goodness' sake! But she had just assumed that all schools had houses.

Riannoch wanted to know what these "houses" were that, Hermione? yes, Hermione was talking about.

"What exactly is a 'house'?"

"Well, here at Hogwarts, we have something called the 'Sorting Hat'. It puts each student into one of four houses. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin." She said the last with a feline like hiss to show her distaste.

"So are they actual buildings, or just a figure of speech." Riannoch still didn't know exactly what Hermione was talking about, but had a good idea.

"It's just a figure of speech. They're kind of like teams. I'm in Gryffindor. I take most of my classes with the Gryffindors, eat with the Gryffindors, and sleep in the Gryffindor dormitory." Hermione explained with much patience.

"I think I get it now." Riannoch said with a look of comprehension. "So do you have to do everything with your house?" Riannoch was still looking to clarify, even though she had the gist of it down.

"No, but most people do. Mostly because they were sorted into their houses in their first year of school, and their first friends, the people they spent the most time with, were the people in their house. Except however for the Slytherins. They don't much associate with anyone outside their house because they're all stuck up pricks who think that anyone not in their house is below them. I hope your not in Slytherin, no offense if it turns out you are, but it's just that the Slytherins are real buttheads." Hermione finished, nearly out of breath.

Riannoch laughed at her choice of words. 'Butthead' she thought 'I haven't heard that one in ages.' Hermione smiled. She was glad she hadn't offended Riannoch.

"Well, then I hope I'm not in Slytherin either" she said, still laughing slightly.

There was a camaraderie silence between the two for a bit.

'I wonder where Harry and Ron are' Hermione thought to herself, a bit worried because the train was about to leave. 'I hope we don't have another incident like second year' Hermione thought. 'I'm surprised those two made it this far. It's a good thing Dumbledore is Headmaster, or they would've been expelled long ago.'

Hermione was shaken from her thoughts for a moment by a sound at the door of their compartment. 'I bet that's Ron and Harry now' she wagered to no one in particular.

"Well if it isn't the Mudblood Granger" Hermione heard the all too familiar voice and rolled her eyes. She did not need this.

"Do you have nothing better to do?" Hermione asked in exasperation.

"Not particularly." He gave her a cold smile, as his gaze raked her body. What could he say, it was a habit.

"What have we here?" Draco asked with much interest as his stare moved over towards Riannoch.

Riannoch was simply confused. Who was this hot guy that Hermione seemed to dislike.

"My name is Riannoch Dubh." She answered without any inflection in her voice, nor any hint of a smile. She still wasn't sure if she should be friendly with this person. While she found him rather sexy, she didn't like the way he was looking at her. She had a feeling he looked at nearly all women that way.

Just as Draco was about to reply, Potty and Weasel walked in. Knowing he was outnumbered, Draco gave an elegant bow with a nearly convincing "Goodbye ladies."

"What was that about?" Ron asked in totally exasperation. He could not figure out why Malfoy would even try to act polite. But he never understood that dickhead.

"Where have you guys been?" Hermione right away inquired. "I thought you guys were gonna miss the train again."

"There is NO way I'm gonna go through that again." Ron answered, a look of horror crossing his face, thinking about the howler he'd received from his mother.

Meanwhile, Harry was wondering who the hottie in the seat across from Hermione was. Harry cleared his throat.

"Oh." Hermione blushed a bit realizing that she'd forgotten to introduce Riannoch to her friends.

"Riannoch, this is Ron Weasley and Harry Potter." Hermione saw Riannoch's eyes widen a bit at the mention of Harry Potter. Having lived in Ireland for most of her life, she was well aware of the terrors of Voldemort, and had heard all the stories about how Harry Potter had saved the wizarding world from such evil. But she kept a calm composure and merely smiled and nodded her head at each boy in turn.

"Ron, Harry, this is Riannoch, Dubh?" she asked, not having heard her last name until she'd introduced herself to Malfoy.

"Yeah" Riannoch assured her of her last name. "Umm, what's your last name Hermione?" she asked, suddenly realizing that she had no idea of the girls surname.

"Granger" Hermione replied with a smile. She'd always favored her mother's maiden name though.

Ron and Harry both headed in the direction of Riannoch's seat, but since Harry was trying and succeeding for the most part, to be discreet and Ron was being, well, Ron, Ron ended up knocking Harry to the ground and landing nearly in Riannoch's lap. Ron was entirely embarrassed by his positioning, and stayed there just a tad longer than was necessary. Harry wasn't angry. He didn't seem to get angry by little things. It was the big things that really had him fuming. Which was actually a pretty good way to be. So Hermione helped Harry off of the floor, smiling just slightly. The way she was trying so hard to hold her laughter in made Harry absolutely crack up.

In the meantime Riannoch didn't know whether to laugh at Ron or cry. He was so pathetic; she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. She gave Hermione a small smile. Hermione smiled back knowing exactly what she was thinking.

As they were approaching the school Hermione began to explain to Riannoch what the sorting would be like. Riannoch looked nervous, but Hermione and Harry's reassurance was definitely helping her feel better about it.

"I really hope I get to be in Gryffindor!" Riannoch said excitedly.

"I hope so too!" Hermione replied with just as much enthusiasm. As they un-boarded the train, Riannoch gave Hermione a big hug. This was new to Hermione. No one really ever hugged her, save for her mom and her dad.

"Wish me luck" Riannoch said as they parted.

"Good luck!" Hermione yelled. Because Riannoch was new to the school, she had to go in the boats with the first years. Harry introduced her to Hagrid, and they could see her silhouette conversing with Hagrid as the ferries began to row across the lake.

During the ceremony Riannoch went last, seeing as how she wasn't a first year, McGonagall decided to have her go last. She thought it would be less embarrassing for the child.

When Riannoch sat on the stool there was utter silence. That's what it had been like for every other student, but now it was Riannoch's turn, and she could feel every eye on her, or rather, the sorting hat as it was being placed upon her head. It took a long time for the sorting hat to decide where to put her. She had wanted to go into Gryffindor, but being new to the school, she'd also decided she'd go wherever the hat decided to place her. She could still talk to her new friends, even if she was in a different house, right?

The sorting hat knew all this. After weighing all the possibilities and thinking about what was best for everyone, the school included, it decided...

"Slytherin!" it said in a loud and clear voice. Hermione's heart sank. She thought for sure her friend was gone. There was no way she'd come out of Slytherin the same way she went in. Hermione gave Riannoch an encouraging, yet defeated smile as she walked toward the Slytherin table. Riannoch smiled back.

Author's Note: Make sure to Read and Review! It's the only thing that keeps me going, seeing those reviews in my inbox! (j/k)