A/N: Please note this was written before Half Blood Prince came out. Actually it was written before Order of the Phoenix came out but that's not really important. Some editing has been done to encompass information from the sixth book but some of the biggest plot points have been conveniently ignored because they conflict with my storyline. However I absolutely stand by who I've paired Ginny with. Thank you for reading this mindless babble, now on to the next chapter.

That Darn Hat.

The girl stuck her chin out defiantly.

"Weasley."

"How dare you show your face here," spat Gregory.

I was becoming less and less fond of him every minute. There was this poor girl who didn't seem to have done anything wrong and he was just treating her like a criminal. Other people were poking their heads out of their compartments. There was going to be a crowd soon.

The girl smiled. It wasn't a mean smile, quite a pleasant one actually. As if she was remembering something funny she'd heard long ago.

"Sorry," she said, shrugging "I would have taken a flying car but I hear the last people who did that got in trouble."

"How dare you insult my family like that." snapped Gregory.

The girl recoiled in shock. She looked frightened. I was just about to go out there, stop Gregory and possibly punch him on the nose when someone else did it for me. Not the punching bit, unfortunately. A towering fifth year with blond hair tugged on Gregory's arm and spun him around. OK, towering is the wrong word. He was tall and was radiating anger but he was actually quite cute. More than quite.

"Are you insulting my sister?" demanded the boy.

Gregory was quivering under his stare.

"Woah," I said, unable to stop myself. "Super brother."

The girl turned and grinned at me. I signalled for her to come into my compartment. We shut the door, leaving the interrogation outside.

"What was that about?" I asked once we'd sat down.

"Wizarding Family?" she asked.

I wasn't an assumption or a snobby question. It was as if she was collecting information for a story. I nodded.

"Well do you know about the Weasley/Malfoy argument?"

"I know of it." I replied.

I did, but all I knew was that the ancient families of Weasley and Malfoy hated each other for some reason. My family never got involved but they did side with the Malfoys.

"Well it goes back centuries," she told me, "No-one remembers how it started but it intensified in the last century. Well not exactly the last century, maybe half a century, or not even that much."

"What happened?" I asked. Mainly to indicate I wasn't really interested in exact figures

"Oh" she said, "Right. A marriage happened. Real Romeo and Juliet scenario. My Mother, a Weasley, fell in love with my father, a Malfoy. The families were outraged. Well not my Dad's, his parents were in Azkaban. But my Mum's were furious. They wrote her out of the family estate and some of them barely choose to acknowledge mine and my brother's existence. I'm Lucy Malfoy by the way. Just realised we hadn't got to that yet."

I laughed. I was going to get to introductions next, but she beat me to it. She certainly enjoyed talking a lot.

"I'm Lione Davies," I told her, "Call me Lee."

"And you can't call me Lu or Lu Lu," said Lucy, "Any toilet jokes will be highly punished."

I laughed. "What about big Bro out there?"

The scene outside had ended by then but I could still see Lucy's brother's shadow against the opposite wall. I guessed he was standing guard just in case Gregory came back.

"Oh," said Lucy, "That's just Colubra."

"Colubra?"

"My Mum's little joke." Lucy told me, "It's Latin, means snake. My Dad also has a Latin name but it means Dragon. She called him the first Latin animal she could think of. I got a nice normal name, aside from the nickname problems."

So I spent the rest of the Journey chatting with Lucy. We became friends. I had completely forgotten about Laura and Jane up front. I only remembered when we got off the train and I saw Jane giving me dirty looks. I walked over to Laura.

"What's up with her?" I asked

"Oh she's just a bit cheesed off because you-"

She stopped there because while walking and talking we hadn't been looking where we were going. We had appeared to have walked into a wall covered with a moleskin coat. We took one step backwards and looked up. There was this giant man looking down at us. I couldn't tell his expression because his face was almost completely covered with a furry black beard. The whole effect was quite frightening. I needn't have been scared because the next moment Laura cried out,

"Hagrid! You're back!"

"Hello Laura," said Hagrid, "Good ter see yer here! Heard it was yer turn to come."

"How were the Alps?" asked Laura, "Did you have a good time with your brother?"

I tugged on Laura's sleeve and pulled her away.

"Laura!" I hissed in her ear, "Am I right in assuming that this guy is a giant?"

"Half actually." said Laura, "He's very nice."

I stared after her as she went off to talk to Hagrid some more, thinking, very plainly, 'She's mad'.

"Hey," Lucy had appeared at my side, "What's happening?"

"Lucy," I said, "Did you know there's a half giant here?"

"Yeah," said Lucy, "Hagrid. He was here when my parents were kids."

"Why do they allow it?"

"Hey!"

Lucy hit me in the arm. Not a friendly tap but a really hard punch.

"Stop being so prejudiced. He's really nice. Not a great teacher, but a nice person."

Hagrid was herding all the first years into boats. Lucy and I got in one with Laura and Jane, who then went on to get out and get in another boat.

"What's up with them?" Lucy asked.

I shrugged. Laura hadn't finished the sentence she was saying earlier so I really had no idea.

Two boys got into the boat with us. We could see Hogwarts ahead of us. It was huge! A giant fairytale castle. It even made Hagrid seem smaller.

"Everyone in?" Hagrid called back, "Right then - FORWARD!"

The last word must have been a command for the boats as they started to move off towards the cliff upon which the castle was situated. It was so quiet. You could hear people breathing, and since night was drawing in and it was getting steadily colder, you could see it too. There was barely a sound as our little boats went through the water. It was as if the huge black lake was made of glass. It was really disconcerting. No one spoke until suddenly Hagrid yelled out,

"Heads down!"

It was so shocking in the ultimate silence that I actually jumped. Lucy giggled next to me. It would have bothered me if it wasn't so reassuring, proof that I wasn't all alone out there.

As we approached the cliff we bent our heads down and we went through a curtain of ivy, hiding the opening to a tunnel in the cliff. Several people started breathing again. I guessed they must have been expecting us to hit solid rock. I almost laughed aloud; Hogwarts weren't likely to kill off a fresh bunch of new first years, were they?

After what seemed like an eternity of sailing down a long dark tunnel (but couldn't have been that long really) we arrived at a sort of underground harbour. We got out of the boats and followed Hagrid up a nearby flight of steps to the top where there was a giant oak door. Hagrid raised his oversized fist and knocked on it.

A stern faced woman with grey hair tied back in a bun opened the door.

"The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.

"Thank you, Hagrid," said Professor McGonagall, "I will take them from here."

We followed her into a gigantic entrance hall. It was really, really big, and that's an understatement. Saying this hall was huge was like saying it occasionally rained in England. I felt very tiny just looking at the chandeliers. But then again, I was only small then.

Professor McGonagall led us into a small chamber.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she said, "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common room."

There was something about the tone she said this in that gave me the impression that she had been using this exact speech every year for the last fifty years. But she felt it was efficient and didn't see the point of coming up with a new one.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

I knew most of that already; my parents didn't send me to Hogwarts completely un-prepared you know. Plus I had skimmed through 'Hogwarts, a History'. Did you know that in 1765 Gryffindor house got minus seventy-three points? And in 1842 Hufflepuff house had two-hundred-and-Seventy points taken away from them on the night before the final end of term feast because they refused to tell the headmaster who flooded the dungeons. They were in the lead before that, but ended up with only twelve points. But anyway…

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you're waiting. I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly."

And with that, she left.

The chatter that had been non-existent since we got into the boats resumed immediately. It was like someone dropping a whole bunch of pans onto a rock floor on the top of a hill in the countryside at midnight in the middle of winter. Everyone was talking about which house they'd be in, which house their family was in and what the Sorting Ceremony could be like. Some were talking about wrestling with trolls, others about a spelling test (?). My parents had never told me what the ceremony was like. They said I'd find it much more fun if I found it out on my own.

"Which house do you think you'll be in?" I asked Lucy.

"Well on my Mum's side they're all Gryffindor," she replied, "As much as my mum can remember that is. I don't really have the opportunity to learn about anything beyond that do I? On my Dad's side they're all Slytherin. Colubra is a Slytherin. I suppose I'd go for a happy medium but I don't know If I'm smart enough for Ravenclaw so, Hufflepuff?"

I grinned. I was beginning to expect these long answers from Lucy.

"My Dad was a Ravenclaw," I told her, "So was his Dad. My Mum was a Gryffindor but all her family was Slytherin for generations. Maybe I'd be the first Hufflepuff in the family."

Lucy paused. She seemed un-naturally quiet all of a sudden.

"What?" I asked

"My Dad had a saying," She told me, "Silly really. Mum used to frown at him when he said it but it was always a sort of family joke"

"What?" I asked again.

I know I'd only known her a few hours but I had got the jist of her personality. She liked to talk, about anything. I was just verging on a new corridor.

"I think he got it from his father," she continued.

"What is it?"

"Ten years after they all leave Hogwarts what'll happen?" quoted Lucy "The Hufflepuffs will be doing hard labour jobs for almost no pay, the Ravenclaws will be teaching rowdy classes for next to nothing, the Slytherin's will rule the world and the Gryffindors will be dead after some act of heroism." Lucy stuck her chin out defiantly, "But that won't really happen." I realised this was Lucy talking now, "A hero will save us? I'm not going to stand here waiting when I can save myself." She smiled up at me, "Hufflepuffs will inherit the earth. You know that?"

Turns out the Corridor lead straight into Lucy's heart, where a Lion was waiting. I was rather impressed by this turn of events, and a little scared.

"I've heard something similar." I said.

It was that moment Professor McGonagall chose to come back.

"Now form a line," She commanded, "And follow me."

We shuffled into single file. I found myself behind none other than Gregory Weasley. I tapped him on the shoulder. He turned his head, I smiled pleasantly, and he glared at me. I stuck my tongue out at him. I heard Lucy giggle behind me. Grinning to myself I watched as Professor McGonagall opened the doors.

The main hall was amazing. If you thought the entrance hall was something to talk about you had not seen this place. There were four long tables filled with students, all of them bigger than me. They were staring straight at us as if we were animals in a zoo. I stared ahead, past Gregory's head. At the front of the hall was another table filled with adults, the staff table. They were staring too. Some of them were scanning the line looking disappointed. One of them waved. I saw a boy further up the line wave back. The teacher looked extremely proud. I heard a boy with blond hair near the front of the line whisper.

"I heard it's enchanted to look like the sky above"

It took me a moment to realise what he was talking about. Then it hit me, or it could have been one of the floating candles lighting the room. I remembered what the boy was talking about. The ceiling. I looked up at the stars and the shining moon. Call me a werewolf if you like but I've never liked the moon, it's too bright. Which is strange because the sun's never bothered me.

We reached the front the hall and Professor McGonagall put a small four-legged stool in front of us. On top of it she placed a large, raggedy old black hat. As everyone stared at it a large rip near the brim opened up. There was complete silence before the hat began to sing:

There aren't many wizards on this shore,

Upon whom I have not sat.

I'm the greatest headgear they ever wore,

I'm the magical Sorting hat.

Someone special has to know,

In which house you ought to be.

An important task, and then so,

The only choice was me.

I could put you in Gryffindor,

If you are brave at heart.

Or then again there's Ravenclaw,

If you seem very smart.

Both houses are respectable,

But if you love to win.

If your slyness is impeccable,

I'll deem you Slytherin.

But if you fancy Hufflepuff,

Prepare to be worked hard.

Now see, the Sortings not so tough,

But beware, be on your guard.

It doesn't matter what you've said,

There's nothing you can hide.

So why not pop me on your head?

And I shall be your guide.

Everyone in the hall, aside from us first years of course, clapped and cheered. I can't speak for the rest but I was dwelling over what the hat had just said.

There's nothing you can hide.

I didn't have some terrible secret hidden up in my brain but there's just something about knowing someone can read your mind that makes you worry. I couldn't imagine what state the people actually hiding things were in.

Professor McGonagall stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she announced, "Ackerly, Neil!"

A small boy with floppy brown hair moved forward and sat on the stool. I could see the panic in his eyes before Professor McGonagall put the hat on his head, completely covering them. And most of the rest of his face as it happened. He was that tiny. It was on there about half a minute (almost a lifetime when your surname begins with D) before the rip opened and called out.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Most of the hall clapped politely but the table beneath the yellow flag depicting the Hufflepuff badger went crazy. Some were bashing their goblets on the table, some stood up and cheered. There were yells, whoops and even a woo whistle, but only one. Professor McGonagall took the hat off of Neil's head and he walked over to sit at the Hufflepuff table. No sooner had he sat there then people were shaking his hand, patting him on the back and generally being friendly. Being slightly worried, correction, terrified at that point I couldn't help but imagine the reception I'd get. Let me give you a hint, No-one woo whistled.

"Aidum, Sophie!"

There was a shorter pause this time before:

"RAVENCLAW!"

The same celebration happened, except this time over at the Ravenclaw table and with more whistles.

"Bower, Joseph!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

As the hall clapped, I noticed Joseph had sat down next to a shimmery white man with a huge Elizabethan ruff round his neck. The ghost congratulated Joseph by slapping him on, or rather through, the back. There were ghosts at Hogwarts. This was another surprise my parents had left for me to discover.

"Byway, Gatrine!"

Gatrine's a girl by the way. She hates her name and no one has called her it to this day.

The Sorting hat took longer this time but not as long as with Neil.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Once the hat was taken off her Gatrine shrugged. She actually shrugged, then went over to sit at the Slytherin table. There was less applause this time and I couldn't help but notice why. The Gryffindors weren't clapping, and neither were a couple of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. I knew people were wary of Slytherins, and that they tended to be proud and against Muggle-borns, but I never knew they were disliked this much. So it's only clapping, but it's the first impression a new student gets of a school.

"Corrie, Anya!"

I felt a lump in my throat, C already? That meant I was soon, only one or possibly two people to go before my turn.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Davies, Lione!"

No such luck, there is no one in the alphabet between Anya and I. Lucy gave me a little push and I moved forward. Sitting on the stool I saw every pair of eyes in the hall staring at me, examining me. The hat dropped on to my head and over my eyes but I could still feel their stares. I was just wandering what a dope I looked like, sitting there with a great big hat over my head when I heard a small voice in my ear.

"Ah! Quite a mind you have here."

Completely panicking, I thought.

Thank you.

The Sorting hat chuckled.

"Well well, polite as well. Though that is fear speaking, you're not really like that, are you? Fear of what I wonder? What are you hiding? We'll see, shan't we?"

I began to grip the sides of the stool.

"Very smart," said the hat "So perhaps Ravenclaw?"

I expected to hear those words echo around me, but it had only said them in my mind. I was convinced it was teasing me.

"But then there's this cunning, this slyness, you know how to use your smarts don't you. You have big dreams. That would make you a worthy candidate for- Hold on, what's this? This is very interesting."

What? I thought.

I was beginning to think I'd never get this wretched hat off my head.

"I just found something very interesting."

I was beginning to get mental images of a floating black hat with arms sifting through a filing cabinet. The mental cap found a file and waved it in the air. I wondered if the hat was always this chatty, or if my terror triggered, momentary batch of politeness had set it off. I wanted it to be over, soon. I was beginning to think of it as a him.

"Well this solves it," said the hat "You belong in…"