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"Settle down you," Professor McGonagall whispered to Gon harshly and led him off the stage, "Yes, now stay there." She cleared her throat and started to read off the parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abber, Smith."

Gon turned to Killua in excitement, "Killua, the hat spoke!" Killua sighed and shook his head,

"Yes, I know Gon. I know...Geez, why can't you be normal and do what everyone else does? It's embarrassing you know?"

"Is it that bad...?" Gon asked sadly.

"Well it surecaught the headmaster's attention." Killua eyed the long-bearded wizard sitting in the middle of the table, "Look! He's watching you right now!" Gon turned to look at the headmaster. Professor Dumbledore's eyes crinkled into a smile.

"Oh, he is."

"Is that all you can say!"

"He seems to like us..."

"What if it's a trick? Maybe he's trying to fool us!"

"Killua..."

"I know, I know. It's not sensible..." Killua sighed for a third time, "Just try not to do something that rash anymore, alright?" Gon grinned happily. Professor McGonagall called out,

"Freecs, Gon!"

Gon blinked.

Everyone in the dining hall craned their necks to see who would be sorted next. Killua gave his friend a shove, snapping Gon out of his stupor. His jaw was set, eyes full of determination. And he took a step forward. Twenty thousand four hundred pairs of eyes watched the little boy decked in green approach the stage.

The Sorting Hat groaned when it saw Gon coming.

"Not you again..."

"Hi, I'm Gon Freecs." Gon smiled while pulling on the worn down hat. It drooped over his eyes, plunging his sight into darkness.

"Yes, I know. Now...where do we put you?"

"I don't know."

"It was a rhetorical question."

"Oh, I'm sorry..." Gon said, trying to keep quiet so that the hat wouldn't be angry at him. The hat sighed forgivingly and concentrated on its task at hand.

"It's alright..." The Sorting Hat nodded, "Right then, let's see here...ah...a kind heart. Ah yes, very naive. Quite clever as well. Not a bad mind at all. Hmm...but lots of determination and bravery. Yes, I see now. Definitely a GRYFFINDOR!" The Gryffindor table sprang into applause.

"Ah thanks, Mr. Hat." Gon said while pulling off the hat.

"That's Mr. Sorting Hat to you."

"Heehee." Gon grinned at the hat and waved at Killua, who was whistling for him among the Gryffindor's cheers.

After placing the Sorting Hat back down, Gon was pushed in the direction of the Gryffindor table by Professor McGonagall, who was mumbling something along the lines of, "Dear god, he had to be in my house..."

Gon scooted into a chair, giving Killua a thumbs up. A familiar blonde made his way towards the spiky haired boy. Gonperked up,

"Ah! You're the one on the train!"

"Yes, my name in Kurapica Kuruta and I am prefect of the Gryffindor house."

"Prefect?" Gon asked. Kurapica sweatdropped. He's obviously not from around here then...The blonde thought to himself.

"I am like a student monitor," Kurapica explained, "I make sure people are following the school rules so that—"

"Feh! Prefects and first-years." A voice rudely interrupted, "Nothing special."

"I don't see any reason you should be complaining, Leorio." Kurapica scowled, "You were a first-year before as well."

"Pah, so what? At least I wasn't a first-year who ran over people without saying sorry!" Leorio shouted.

"Keep it down, Leorio..." Kurapica warned menacingly, "Besides, that only happened to you three times! Not all first-years are like that. No need to hate them so much." Kurapica shot back.

Gon tapped them on the shoulders, stopping them from continuing, "Are you in Gryffindor too, Leorio?"

Kurapica cleared his throat, trying to suppress his anger with Leorio. He eyed the tall man beside him. He wasn't responding. The blonde cleared his throat loudly and elbowed Leorio in the side.

"What?" Leorio glanced at Kurapica and Gon, "Oh, yeah yeah," He rolled his eyes, "I'm a Gryffindor..." His eyes suddenly shot back to Gon viciously, "YOU!" Gon and Kurapica jumped in surprise, "You're one of those first years who ran over me!"

"Ah?" was Gon's intelligent reply.

"What do you mean by AH!" Leorio yelled, his face turning red.

Gon's face scrunched up in thought and then,

"Ah! I remember! I'm really sorry. I was trying to catch up to my friend. I'm sorry..."

Leorio sighed, "Fine fine. Geez, I forgive you." Gon grinned and Kurapica smiled.

"Zaoldyeck, Killua!" Professor McGonagall shouted.

A few gasps erupted from the crowd. Even some people at Hogwarts had heard of the infamous assassin family. Gon watched as his silver-haired friend walked up the steps coolly, hands in his pockets. The atmosphere constricted in tension as Killua pulled the Sorting Hat over his head.

"That's the other kid who stepped on me! Those no-good first-years. I oughta..." Leorio grumbled quietly. Gon looked at Leorio's grim expression and noticed the other students staring at Killua suspiciously.

"No, Killua's not like that. He's a good person." Gon turned to look in Killua's direction, "He's a good person." He whispered softly. Kurapica smiled sadly at Gon.

In no more than a few seconds, the Sorting Hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN!" and the Slytherin table cheered loudly, celebrating the addition of a new and dangerous student in their house. Gon's face fell. He was hoping to be in the same house as Killua so he could be with his first and best friend. Leorio yelled so that Killua could hear,

"Ha! Told you he was no good! Slytherin's are never any good." Killua's eyes widened as he heard Leorio's shouts. He stared at his shoes, silver bangs falling over his eyes full of hurt. He headed towards the Slytherin table, where a group of burly boys waited to pat him on the back. Killua didn't dare totake a glance at Gon. Maybe it would've been better if he had never met Gon in the first place? Then it wouldn't hurt so much when he learned that Gon didn't like him anymore. Killua could imagine it...

"I never knew you were such a horrible person Killua...I was wrong about you." The brown-eyed boy turned away.

"But Gon-!" Killua ran after his only friend.

"Don't talk to me. Go away." Gon said without turning around.

He was an assasin andnow a Slytherin. No one would care about someone like him.

The silver-haired boysank into depression, never wanting to look in the direction of the Gryffindor table again.

Gon stared atLeorio and the others in defiance, "Killua's not like that! He's a good person!" He yelled for everyone to hear. Killua was shocked again. He smiled warmly to himself.

"Haha! Listen to the dumb bloke. 'He's a goooood person!'" A boy laughed. The Slytherins guffawed. Killua scowled at them and stretched a claw over the boy's neck,

"Care to repeat that again?" He stared at them emotionlessly with bottomless black eyes, "No one mocks my friends." The teachers stood up and were about to 'Stupefy!' the little assassin but Professor Dumbledore held an arm up to stop them. Killua repeated to the boy in a harsh whisper, "No one." The Slytherins backed away in fear.

"No, Killua! Don't threaten people. It's all right!" Gon yelled across the room. Killua's eyes reverted to his original color and let the boy go. The boy who had spoken was now sweating from anxiety and ran off to sit at the other end of the table. Gon sighed in relief and sat down, smiling in Killua's direction. Killua grinned back and sat in a chair.He took a careful look at his housemates around him. They stared back at him in fear. He sighed. Looks like I won't be finding any other friends anytime soon... Little did he know, someone was watching him from the corner of their eye.

Dumbledore stood up gracefully and everyone grew silent again.

"I suppose we've had enough drama for one day," He gave Gon, Killua and Leorio a crinkly smile and turned back to the rest of the students, "Now that we've welcomed everyone to a new year at Hogwarts, without further interruption, let us begin our banquet!"

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