AN: I had such horribly bad writers block. I'd open up the document to write, and just stare at it, totally stuck. Twas teh poo.

Chapter 3--

Harry was excited, though he didn't show it to the outside world. He was going to Hogwarts! All the emotional good-byes had been done at breakfast, as his father preferred to keep their private life private.

And now, he was with Draco, trying to find a compartment on the train. Harry looked in one compartment and noticed a familiar head of bushy hair, face hidden behind a book, Blind Man's Bluff.

"Hi, Hermione." He smiled, a slight curl of the lips upward. "Hermione, this is my friend Draco, we're practically brothers. Draco, meet Hermione Granger. I met her in Diagon Alley and we hit it off spectacularly."

"Pleased to meet you." They shook hands in greeting. Harry and Draco sat down, joining her in the compartment at her invitation. The ride to Hogwarts was uneventful, quiet conversation and warm fuzzies.

Slytherin... Harry thought to himself hopefully. Slytherin... pleasepleaseplease... Slytherin...

Slytherin, eh? Came a voice in his head--the Hat, it would seem. i Yes, you are fit for Slytherin but... you would do quite well in Gryffindor, young Potter. Are you sure?

Yes, please, SlytherinSlytherinSlytherin....

"SLYTHERIN!" The Hat roared out to the Great Hall, finally, causing especially loud cheers.

"We got Potter! We got Potter!" A couple of the older Slytherins chanted boastfully as Harry ran over to the table to plop down next to Draco. Gracefully, of course.

"I knew we would be in Slytherin, Harry." Draco smirked as they finished watching the Sorting. It ended with Draco, Harry, Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Eric Foreman, Millicent Bullstrode, and Katie Holmes in Slytherin; Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie MacMillan, Hanna Abbott, Susan Bones, Neville Longbottom, and Tom Pierce in Hufflepuff; Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Anita Diamant, Robert Jones, and Elliot Wolf in Ravenclaw; and Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnegan, Lavender Brown, Padma and Parvati Padil, and Richard Price in Gryffindor.

Harry felt comfortably full as he followed the prefect to the Slytherin dormitories, ignoring the awed looks of the less wealthy first years who had never been inside such a place as Hogwarts was. He also ignored the surrepticious glances at his forehead, and at he himself.

"Hey, Harry, long time no see." The prefect who was leading them, Theodore Nott, greeted him.

"And I missed you terribly." Harry commented dryly.

The prefect rolled his eyes. "Severus is a bad influence on you... what happened to the cute little kid I used to know?"

It was Harry's turn to roll his eyes. "The same thing that happens to every 'cute little kid.' And I would appreciate it if you never use the word 'cute' in reference to me ever again. It's far too undignified." He sniffed haughtily.

"Lucius is a bad influence too, then."

"You wound me!" Harry clutched his chest dramatically.

Draco came up behind him and smacked him in the head. "Stop being a git, Harry."

Harry only quirked a smile at him and entered the dormitory after Theodore.

"Well, that was... interesting." Draco commented as they left their first potions class Monday.

"I think you'll be the most popular guy in Slytherin, Draco." Harry commented. "You won us 105 points in one class period. With a teacher who was a Gryffindor in school."

"I would think he's biased though, I mean, I've known him for ages..."

"But he's very fair inside the classroom Draco, you know that. You're simply too brilliant for your own good. Bloody potions..." Harry was not quite as brilliant at potions. Unfortunately.

"It's only the first day of school, Harry. It's not like we've gotten into anything hard..."

"Says the genius. Come on, it's time for Transfiguration." Surveying the classroom, Harry spotted Hermione in the Slytherin-Ravenclaw class and sat himself next to her. She smiled brightly and introduced herself to Draco, who sat himself down as well.

"Muggleborn?" He asked curiously.

She nodded hesitantly.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, then."

She smiled brilliantly.

TBC

Nyoka Li-- That was a long wait too, but hey, writer's block doesn't care whether you WANT to write or not. bites writers block Much love. :)

Silver-Enchantress-Elf-- Well... close enough.

bri--I'm not quite sure where it will go. Where would you like it to?

CurrentlyInHiding-- thank you. :-D I need... damn it, I need a new muse. My current muse is MIA half the time, so she's no help!

Shadowface--I've never gotten to meet her, but I worship her utterly. I 3 Tamora Pierce even more than Rowling, honeslty. It's one thing to write one series of great books, but to write SIX? That takes a lot of genius. And a lot of creativity.