A/N: Ok, as I understand it there was a little mix up with this chapter, so I've corrected my mistake.
Chapter Five: Rumors
"Abbot, Nicole," McGonagall continued.
A girl, who was a spitting image of Hannah Abbot, timidly walked up and sat on the stool, quickly growing red in the face. The hat was placed on top of her head, but she was quickly pronounced a Hufflepuff and went to sit with her older sister.
Hermione heard Ron and Harry whispering behind her and shushed them.
"Hermione, there are much more important things to discuss rather than watching stupid first years being sorted," Ron defiantly whispered to her.
"Just be quiet," she said as "Axenal, Rose" was sorted into Ravenclaw.
"I don't know about you," he angrily whispered to her, "But I don't want Malfoy's father teaching me the dark arts."
She turned around to face him as a Rachael was called up to be sorted.
"At this point I could really care less about who is teaching what!" she hurriedly whispered, "I'm trying to pay attention to the sorting because something this summer was brought to my attention and I want to see if the rumors are true!"
"What rumors?" Ron asked, temporarily forgetting his argument.
"Never you mind," Hermione said, turning back to the front as a girl with jet black hair was sorted into Slytherin.
"Hermione, do they have to do with me?" Harry worriedly murmured as "Byzantine, Justin" was sorted into Ravenclaw
Hermione shook her head, "Not directly anyway. I'll tell you when I find out if it's true or not because I don't want to start a rumor when I don't actually know.
Ron and Harry were silent for the rest of the sorting for which Hermione was grateful.
She finally turned to the two boys as "Zachariah, Phineaus" was sorted into Hufflepuff.
"I'll tell you once the feast begins," she whispered as McGonagall took her seat.
Dumbledore stood up, "I would like to say a few words before we begin the feast. First of all, I apologize for my tardiness, I had some business to attend to and I wasn't watching the time. Finally, let the feast begin," he finished.
Food magically appeared on the tables around them and Hermione heard all the first years gasp in awe.
Harry frowned, "What's wrong?" Hermione asked him. She noticed that this was the frequently asked question of the day.
He looked down one side of the Gryffindor table, then down the other and looked darkly at Hermione, leaning towards her. Ron automatically also leaned in.
"Nobody was sorted into our house this year."
Hermione quickly straightened up and also looked around just as Harry had and noticed the same thing.
"Odd," she said, "Very odd indeed."
"Maybe we can ask Dumbledore…" Ron began.
"No," Harry quickly said, piling chicken legs onto his plate, "He doesn't need anyone else to bother him. Besides, if he's not here you can't exactly ask him."
Ron turned to Hermione, "Was that the rumor you heard, then?" he asked.
Hermione shook her head, "No, I heard that Sirius had a daughter and that she was coming to Hogwarts, but I didn't hear anybody sorted like that, so I'm assuming it's not true," she said through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.
"It can't be," Harry said, cutting into his chicken, "Sirius was never married and he certainly didn't have any children."
"You don't know that Harry," Ron began, but he caught Hermione's warning look and his sentence trailed away into nothing.
Harry was on the point of blowing up anyway, he didn't need Ron's help doing so.
"So, if he had a daughter, wouldn't she have been sorted into Gryffindor?" he asked.
Hermione nodded, "Logically anyway. It's not always necessarily true."
"But we don't have any first years this year," he said.
"Exactly," she answered, "That's why I don't think the rumor is true and plus, I never heard a 'Black' sorted."
"Well, she could be going by a different name, you know," Ron said.
"It's possible, but I don't think so. Either way, I don't want this rumor beyond us because we know it's not true."
Both Ron and Harry nodded in agreement.
