Chapter Five – Everything in its Right Place

The Hogwarts Express pulled up as Harry hurried to meet it, armed with a
huge trunk and Hedwig swinging precariously from his side. His last year at
Hogwarts had well and truly begun. Spying Hermione in the crowds of smiles
and chattering wizards and witches he bounded towards her, his trunk
smashing occasionally against his legs.

He stopped slightly. She looked a lot more drawn than he was used to. Her
opinion of him was obviously somewhere in the same region by the look on her
face.

'Harry…' she said quickly. 'Are you okay?'

'I could say the same to you. You look terrible.'

'Thanks,' she said slightly agitated. 'That's exactly what a woman wants to
hear.'

'Hey,' another voice said softly behind them. Ron slowly walked towards
them, Ginny at his heels.

Hermione launched herself at him and then stood back to assess his features.
His eyes had bags under them as if he hadn't slept for days and his left arm
was obviously bandaged.

'What happened to you?' she asked shocked.

'Stupid git thought it would be fun to attempt a huge loop the loop in the
confines of our garden,' Ginny rolled her eyes at Hermione. 'Needless to
say, it didn't go quite the way he expected.'

'But the bandages?' Hermione asked suspiciously.

'Mum said they would help with the Muggle infection,' Ginny said swiftly.

Harry and Ginny had so far refused to look at each other, but she flashed
him a quick smile to indicate her thoughts on Ron's stupidity and Harry had
the good grace to grin back slightly.

'So what do you have to say for yourself?' Hermione asked, giving Ginny a
strange look before focussing her attentions on Ron.

'Boys will be boys?' He shrugged grinning at her.

Hermione laughed, her pointy little teeth reflecting the light. Snape's
words had put her slightly more on her guard than she would usually be.

She hugged Ron again, being careful not to go near his bandaged arm, for
which he was very grateful. He was certain that it emitted heat or otherwise
blared out 'I have a Dark Mark!'

Ron dutifully removed Hermione's bag from her hands, sweeping away her
protests by rolling his eyes at her and climbed onto the train after Harry
and Ginny. Finding a compartment, they fell to their seats in an exhausted
fashion. Harry however, reluctantly moved his weight from one foot to the
other and didn't sit.

Ron looked at him with a question in his eyes and Harry simply replied, 'I'm
Head Boy, I gotta go and do Head Boy things.'

Ron grinned happily and Hermione practically wet herself. Ginny however,
looked away and didn't say anything. Harry shrugged and moved towards the
front compartment.

'I knew he would be!' Hermione stated triumphantly. 'I wonder who they made
Head Girl…'

'You mean it's not you?' Ron asked in surprise.

'They can't have two Gryffindors as Head Boy and Girl, it would be complete
favouritism. Head Girl would have to be from one of the other houses.'

Just then, Harry popped his head through the window, panting slightly as if
he had run back with distinct speed. 'Head Girl is Susan Bones,' he told
them. Then he gave them a mock salute, grinned and jogged off.

Hermione nodded appreciatively, 'Do you know… I really expected a
Slytherin.'

'I hope you didn't want one,' Ron told her.

'Of course not! And now that she's finishing splinching herself in
Apparition, I think she's a good choice.'

Suddenly, the door swung open again and instead of the expected face of
Harry, Ron and Hermione stiffened slightly as Draco Malfoy stood in the
doorway.

'McGonagall has pretty much ordered me to sit here.' He scowled and looked
at the floor.

'No bloody way! We don't let murderers in our…' Ron was quickly cut off by
Hermione.

'Shut up Ron. If McGonagall is making him, he has to sit here. You want to
get on the wrong side of the new Headmistress already?'

'Besides, I'm not a murderer,' Draco said shakily sitting down next to
Hermione.

Ron sent nasty looks at Draco who turned away to the window, appearing to
carefully assess the background.

'Oh for goodness sake,' Hermione said exasperated. 'I'm not going to sit
here whilst you two make it so uncomfortable. No one can change what has
happened and I know that I can never understand what kind of pressure you
were under with a Death Eater for a father,' she said hoping that Malfoy
would accept her olive branch.

'I don't need your defence,' he said quietly.

'You may as well help us understand what you did.' Hermione was desperately
trying to clear the air. Draco smiled evilly at her; he had forgotten for a
minute that she knew a lot more than Ron did. It was with enjoyment that he
remembered he definitely had a hold on Hermione if he ever needed it. The
Ministry would be very interested to hear that she had allowed Snape to
escape.

Draco stiffened as he felt Ron's eyes burning into him. 'There's nothing to
understand!' Draco shouted angrily, his temper overshadowing his thoughts of
glorious revenge on the Mudblood. 'The Dark Lord told me I could either die like
my father was going to or go on a mission for him.'

'Then you should have died, or let Dumbledore help you,' Ron said quietly.

'Easy for you to say. It wasn't your neck on the line and it wasn't your
family that would be killed if you didn't do what he said.' Draco clenched
his fists. 'It was easier… yes easier, to just pretend that I was the person
that could betray everyone. Could you let your family die, Weasel, for the
life of one person?'

'Yes!' Ron said. 'I mean no… I mean…'

'Not so black and white is it?' Draco finished bitterly before turning to
whatever was so riveting out of the window. He considered something and
added briefly, 'I have to go through these questions with everyone I talk
to, everyone I knew. If you take anything from this… Just know that this is
killing me, okay? You got what you wanted.'

'I'm glad you feel bad,' Ron said seriously with darkness in his gaze.

Draco looked at him with emptiness in his eyes, 'Sometimes I doubt that the
houses are anything but names.'

'What do you mean by that?' Ron asked sharply.

'It's a Death Eater quality to enjoy the misery of others.' As he saw Ron
start to open his mouth he talked over him, 'don't say anything, just think.
Death Eaters hold beliefs too you know, they aren't just mindless robots.
They enjoy misery when they believe that they are righting wrongs or
injustices, just like what you're doing now. The difference between
Slytherin and Gryffindor is simply appearances, and appearances are not
everything… not even close.'

Draco gave Ron a scathing look and roughly opened the door of the
compartment, striding out. 'And as much as I want to be trusted again.' With
this he rolled his eyes. 'Some orders are worth disobeying.'

Watching Draco's feet stomp away, Hermione turned to Ron bitterly. 'You
could have made a bit more of an effort.'

'It's not my fault!'

Ron and Hermione spent the rest of the journey exchanging glaring looks at
each other. As the tension was growing unbearable, the train finally pulled
up to Hogwarts.

It looked as wondrous as ever, but the feeling was slightly different this
year. There would be no Dumbledore to greet them at the start of term feast
and no Snape to glower from his perch at the end of the table. Two of the
most influential teachers were gone and no one knew just what to expect
anymore. Hagrid collected the first years as usual, yet Harry noticed with a
sinking feeling that there was a sadness in his eyes and a limp in his step.
He had never thought of Hagrid as old, but grey was beginning to tinge his
beard and hair.

Entering the Great Hall, Harry, Hermione and Ron kept
their heads down and found their places without a sound or an upward
glance. Everything was so instantly recognisable and so irritatingly normal.
But Hogwarts was different, and the sooner they came to accept that, the
better.

The first years lined up as usual and the smiling face of McGonagall
attempted to welcome them as warmly as possible. They trotted nervously into
the hall as though they expected to be under attack any minute. The Sorting
Hat looked as tattered as ever and Harry could swear that the stitches
appeared different, giving it a sort of sad look. When the fear of the first
years finally came to a climax in fidgeting and shuffling, the Sorting Hat
began to sing:

'Now I'm not entirely certain
when I first started this task.
Of splitting up the first years,
seeing the soul behind the mask.
This year I shall not bore you
with tales of bravery and heart.
But simply ask the question;
is this the time to be apart?
I beg you please don't hold me
in a view of truth and power.
I've been wrong before, dear first years,
this sorting could turn sour.
Two choices were the opposite
of what I should have made.
I get to put one right today,
but can the other still be saved?
Like Voldemort, this old brown hat
has been swayed by what doesn't matter.
Corrupted by your wizard views;
blood and family should not factor.
So I ask you, my friend, to take
your sorting with a pinch of salt.
And I'll just look forward to the day
when they finally call a halt.'

'Let the Sorting begin,' it said drearily.

'Doesn't seem so sure of itself this year,' Ron said.

'Who's the hat talking about; two choices it made that were wrong?' Harry
asked puzzled. Hermione continued to stare at the hat, trying to somehow
glean more information from it.

'I dunno. I just can't believe it talked so openly about the Dark Lord,' Ron
said without thinking.

'Since when do you call him 'the Dark Lord?' Harry asked incredulously.

Ron shrugged quickly and tried to direct Harry's attention towards a new
broom advertised in the Prophet. Harry was quickly engrossed in a quiet and
excited discussion about its capabilities, but Hermione studied Ron with a
mixture of worry and dread. She was not so quick to forget the implications
of his turn of phrase.

The first years took turns at sitting on the stool and the Sorting Hat
appeared to be having genuine difficulties at deciding which house to put
people in. When finally 'Collins, Georgia' had still not been placed in a
house after twenty minutes of wearing the hat, McGonagall had a quiet word
with it. The hat, being a hat, didn't really look any different from her
words but appeared to be finally deciding. Ron picked his head up off the
table and Harry blinked his eyes back into focus. The Sorting Hat leaned
back slightly, as everyone leaned forwards. Its mouth opened and everyone's
eyes were suddenly on it.

'I have no idea,' it announced authoritatively. 'Join whichever table you
like.'

Georgia seemed to be in agony as the entire school hall focussed its eyes
entirely on her and her decision. She turned to McGonagall in fear and the
Headmistress pursed her lips and walked calmly towards her.

'Do you have any brothers and sisters here?' she asked discreetly. Georgia
nodded.

'Then I suggest you go and sit with them,' McGonagall said kindly.

Georgia walked off, ignoring the glares from the other houses as she sat
down with her siblings at the Ravenclaw table.

As the hat continued to sort in a laboured fashion, Ron charmed a paper
aeroplane to fly repeatedly into Hermione's head to her distinct annoyance.
Harry yawned and fell into a daydream involving both Quidditch and Ginny
Weasley in a slightly unconventional combination. As the hat took another
excruciatingly dull fifteen minutes to sort the last person into the notably
bland Hufflepuff house, everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the Sorting
was over.

As soon as people began to stir, however, the noise of sharp quick footsteps
sent everyone's attention to the entrance doors to the hall. Draco Malfoy
strode purposefully towards the Sorting Hat, keeping his head down and
ignoring several shouts that were along the lines of accusing him of murder
and threatening to disembowel him. Without even a glance to the people
around him, he took a seat at the stool and put the Sorting Hat squarely
onto his gleaming blond head.

Strangely, this time, the hat's evaluation rang clear through the hall rather
than being a personal summary only disclosed to the person themselves.

'I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to let the others hear this one. It
is, of course, the first time I've ever resorted a student. Anyway, down to
business.

'Humility is definitely different, seems to have replaced arrogance in a huge
capacity. Guilt remains the same, just placed differently. There is sadness,
oh yes, that clouds a lot of your more… personable characteristics, but it's
important that you learn from your mistakes.

'Talent is as I expected, but knowledge seems to have grown with age beyond
your natural capacities. Darkness is still there but redirected. Anger has
greater emphasis than I would advise. Doubt overshadows a lot of what I
missed before, and hatred still blooms clear throughout your mind. There is
definitely bravery, oh yes, a lot more than you would like to admit to and a
need to put things right. Fear makes a thin film over everything and you'll
never lose the paranoia in the back of your mind; circumstantial I'm afraid.

'I'm sorry Draco; I failed you the first time round. If I would have looked
beyond your parentage, blood and how you've been bought up to feel I would
have given you an unexpected, yet accurate sorting. Your actions last year
showed that you would rather face death than protect yourself when you
believe in something. It can only, and has always been…

'GRYFFINDOR!'