The clock outside hit eleven o'clock and the train started to move, throwing three of the five new friends to the floor with a jolt. Fred and George scrambled over to the windows facing the platform to wave at their mother and little sister. They had only just come back, when the compartment received an unwanted visitor.
"Fred, George, mum says you're to look after me." Came the whining voice of the twins little brother Ron from outside the compartment. The twins both stiffened and motioned for Draco to get out of sight as they slid the door open to reveal Ron, who was a good three inches taller than either Harry or Hannah remembered.
"Mum says you're to get me settled and look after me in my first days at Hogwarts. Can I sit with you and talk to your friends?"
Fred looked down his nose at his little brother.
"No, no you can't. Go find your own friends and stop stealing ours."
Ron's lips began to tremble as crocodile tears formed in his eyes. George sighed.
"Tell you what, we'll go and place you in a compartment where you will be surrounded by lots of other people who find it easy to converse with rocks, and then you will leave us alone, okay?"
Ron nodded, smiling briefly as George led him out of the compartment and Fred turned to the others.
"If we're not back in five minutes, it means they've bound and gagged us, only then, may Harry or Hannah come looking for us. Bye now."
As the door snapped shut, Draco looked at the blonde girl who hadn't said much and Harry.
"Why only Harry and Hannah?" he asked curiously.
It was Hannah who answered.
"Only we two among us four have the specialised knowledge needed when dealing with Ron. It's a very delicate art and requires precise and slow actions as well as the right thing said at the wrong time."
Draco and Hermione nodded their heads as Hermione's mouth formed an "oh", the brunette girl suddenly became more lively as her eyes lit up and a smile formed on her lips.
"So what house do you reckon you guys will be in, I hope I'm in Ravenclaw, but I suppose I could deal with Hufflepuff if I had to, I might even be able to tackle Slytherin." She said enthusiastically looking round at the three others in the compartment with her.
Hannah smiled shyly,
"I don't know much about the four houses, but from what I do know, it sounds as though I'm going to be in Hufflepuff, but I really don't mind, since my parents are muggles, they won't really care what house I'm in."
Draco looked nervous as he stared at the ground and mumbled something intelligible. Harry noticed his friend's discomfort and already knowing the cause, decided to go for a quick save.
"Malfoy's are traditionally put in Slytherin, it's been like that for generations. As for me, I don't know what house I'll go into, but I would like to go into Ravenclaw. By the way, does anyone know how exactly we get sorted? One of my guardians tried to convince me that we'd have to sing, but the other one shot that down on the pretext that it was scaring me."
Draco sent Harry a grateful smile, before answering the question.
"I tried asking father, but he refused to tell me, and gave me the speech on how a Malfoy must use all his resources to get the desired information.' Sorry."
Hermione too shook her head, "I've never come across the sorting ceremony in Hogwarts, a History, and since I'm muggle-born I don't have any relatives to ask."
"Ditto." Said Hannah, suddenly a thoughtful look passed across her face. "Maybe we could ask Fred and George, by the way where are they? They've been a lot longer than five minutes by now." She was about to get up and go and find them, when the twins chose to return.
"Sorry we're late." Said George as fell into a seat next to Draco.
"Yeah," said Fred, "Children are so hard to detach once they've latched onto you, we had a difficult time escaping. Our plan required careful planning and the yelling of the word 'BOO!' very loudly."
The four first years in the compartment stared at the twins oddly for as few minutes before Hermione shook her head.
"I don't even want to know," she muttered despairingly. "Anyway, we were wondering if you could tell us how we get sorted into the Houses?"
Fred smiled whilst George cackled delightedly,
"Don't suppose you'd believe us if we told you that you'll have to wrestle a troll, would you? It's just me 'n' Fred have just spent the last seven minutes convincing Ron and co that they had to do something painful to be sorted, and we don't want to ruin the gig now."
Harry and Hannah rolled their eyes whilst Draco and Hermione only lifted one sceptical eyebrow before Draco answered for the rest of his first year friends.
"No, you're right we're not going to believe you, are you going to tell us now? There's no one outside, I checked."
The Twins looked vaguely disappointed, but brushed that off as they began to mutter quietly about indiscriminate subjects.
"Well you see, the thing is… all you do is try on a hat!"
There was silence in the compartment as the four first years let this information sink in. Suddenly there was an eruption of noise as they all exploded with indignation.
"What! That's it! Why is there so much hype about it?" Draco was almost hyperventilating.
"Well isn't that the anticlimax to end all anticlimaxes?" muttered Hannah who was almost as unimpressed as Draco. The other two just sat fuming to themselves leaving the majority of the noise making to Draco and Hannah.
The hours went by, and the six friends sat in a companionable silence for the most part of the journey. Fred and George left for a while, as they wanted to see the giant tarantula Lee Jordan had brought on-board. Finally, the Hogwarts express rolled into Hogsmeade station, and slowed to a stop. Dressed in their robes and leaving everything onboard, including Oscar the kitten, everyone disembarked and made their way to school. The giant games keeper, Hagrid, who yelled "four to a boat" repeatedly, herded all the first years onto boats so that they could cross the water to Hogwarts. As the four of them made their way to a boat, Harry and Draco found themselves very suddenly on the wet and muddy ground.
"Watch it losers!" came the voice of Ron as he walked past them. As if that wasn't enough, Ron then made his way over to Hannah and Hermione, who glanced at him in disgust.
"Hello ladies," he said in what he obviously felt was a charming suave voice, "and how are we this fine evening?" Hannah and Hermione ignored him and went to help the boys to their feet. All four of them held a very audible whispered conversation as they marched passed Ron.
"Not very creative is he?" Said Draco in his best imitation of his father's voice.
"Well of course," continued Harry "no one really expects more from someone with the same IQ as a glass of water."
Hannah giggled, but Hermione frowned.
"Harry, don't say such things, it's mean, that poor glass of water can't defend itself, if it could I'm sure it would be outraged and offended."
Ron for his part just looked slightly bewildered. As the boats crossed the lake, a silence charged with excitement fell over the first years, as they all nervously remembered the rumour about troll wrestling and lots of pain. All that is apart from the four that actually knew the truth, the very boring truth. They finally reached the castle, and were led inside by Professor McGonagall, a stern looking with dark hair pulled back fiercely, and thin lips drawn into an even thinner line. She gave them all a swift "follow me", before sweeping away towards what Harry assumed was the Great Hall Severus had told him about when he was younger.
Professor McGonagall had started speaking, telling those new to the wizarding world about the four founders of Hogwarts. Harry didn't bother to listen; he used his amazing ability to tune out noise he didn't want to hear, and just blindly followed the rest of the group. Harry was dimly aware of Draco doing the same thing; they had both acquired the skill during their childhood whilst listening to lectures from Severus about not destroying his private potions lab. Both Hermione and Hannah were listening intently, despite already knowing everything that was being said. Finally, the first formers were left alone; many were shivering in anticipation, fear, or both. Draco grinned maniacally when a crowd of ghosts floated overhear, and he actually burst into a fit of wild laughter when one of the ghosts accidentally flew through Ron, who almost fainted. Harry, for his part, simply enjoyed listening to the screams of panic, and the pathetic attempts at keeping people calm.
At last the moment came, the moment where they were all led into the Great Hall, and were confronted with their sorting. Up until this point Harry had almost been hoping that Fred and George had been lying or joking when they recounted the tale of the sorting hat, but now it became very apparent that they really hadn't. Sitting on a stool in the middle of the hall, was a very old and very moth eaten hat. Ron looked very embarrassed, and very close to killing someone. Other people began to edge away.