Hermione would never tire of leading the expectant first years through the castle for their Sorting Ceremony. She would look at their excited, at times frightened faces and remember her very first time crossing the great doorway, walking through those hallowed halls into her new life. As a Muggle-born, she had been especially excited, not to mention worried about what the wizardry school held in store for her.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." She said from the top of the stairs, allowing her new students some time to ogle at the wonders around them: the moving, talkative portraits, the winding torch-lit halls, the grand moving staircase, and everything else.

"In a few moments, we will be going through these doors into the Great Hall" she said as she went down to meet them. "Once there, you will participate in Hogwarts' ancient Sorting Ceremony, in which you will be sorted into our four noble Houses."

Hermione took a moment to let the new students process the information. Most were unfazed; after all, everything she had said was common knowledge in the British Wizarding World. However, she could pinpoint exactly the students who seemed to be particularly nervous, hanging onto her every word. The young professor smile inwardly; she could tell immediately they were Muggle-borns – she was certain she wore a very similar expression on her first time at the school. She looked forward to mentoring and guiding them through her transition.

After telling the first-years about each of the Houses and reveling in their growing excitement, Hermione led the group through the heavy doors. The oohs and aahs coming from the young pupils would never, ever bore her. This was the moment where birth or blood did not matter: all were equally amazed.

The Great Hall did that.

While Hermione was the one leading the new students to the Great Hall, Minerva had retained her position conducting the Sorting Ceremony itself. In her view, the Headmistress should maintain a more personal and involved relationship with the students, and what better way to welcome them to the great school than sorting them into their new families?

Personally, Hermione just thought McGonagall was too attached to the role to ever give it up.

The young Transfigurations Professor took her seat as the Headmistress thanked her. Neville Longbottom sat to her left, beyond the Headmistress' chair. Narcissa Black was to her immediate right.

"I forget how young they were…" Narcissa muttered, seemingly to herself.

Hermione smiled; she thought that as well. It was hard to imagine herself at that age, even if her own Sorting had taken place later than Narcissa's. But she understood the feeling, and was about to say so when she noticed Narcissa's hand lightly shaking on the table. Taking a look at the blonde, Hermione at once saw the new Potions Professor looked terrified.

"Hey." She said, taking the shaking hand in her own without thinking. "You'll do just fine. We need a good Potions professor, and you'll do great." She said, reassuringly.

Narcissa was very obviously taken aback at Hermione's gesture, perhaps too taken aback to move her hand away. Hermione was about to apologize for the possible intrusion; it was just in her nature to be caring and reassuring, even if the person who needed said reassurance was Narcissa Black.

"Thank you" Narcissa said, looking calmer after the initial shock. Hermione gave her an awkward smile in return as they both turned to listen to McGonagall. The Headmistress had just finished the usual welcoming speech tailored specifically towards the new first years; she had spoken briefly about the history of Hogwarts and its founders, the creation of the Houses and how the House Cup rules worked. Everyone in the Great Hall stilled in anticipation as McGonagall pulled out the Sorting Hat, setting it neatly on a stool. After one of its cheerful songs, the Sorting Ceremony could finally begin.

"Annette Abraham" Minerva called.

"Hufflepuff!" the Hat cried out as a small blonde girl took her seat.

"George Atticks"

"Gryffindor!"

"Liam Bertrand"

"Ravenclaw!"

The ceremony went on, as usual, with cheers coming from each House as its newest members were sorted in. Hermione counted six new additions to Gryffindor thus far, two of which she thought were Muggle-born. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff so far had seven new students each, and Slytherin had five. She and Neville also played a game of trying to guess which House each coming student would be sorted to. As of yet, Neville had been wrong in every single one of his guesses. Hermione was not in much better shape, however: she had only two correct guesses, one for Gryffindor and one for Ravenclaw.

At some point, she noticed Narcissa seemed to be doing a similar thing all on her own; she softly whispered her guesses to Slytherin. As the ceremony went on, Hermione realized the witch had so far guessed correctly for all of her new students.

"You seem to be very good at this." She remarked quietly at Narcissa's eighth consecutive accurate guess.

The blonde smirked in response.

"Not exactly. Most of these students come from old, Pureblood families. A few are Half-Bloods, but from families I know quite well. So really, it is a biased guessing game. I'm just looking to get at least one wrong." She said, which surprised Hermione.

Taking a moment to process that new information, Hermione reflected on Slytherin House. Though much had changed after the war and the message of unity was much stronger within the castle, Hogwarts' House of Cunning had been slower to adapt. To be fair, that was not the students' fault. Though a good part of the House was composed of Purebloods and Half-bloods, there had yet to be a single Muggle-born sorted. There had never been one in over a thousand years of history.

Of course, there were still tensions among the Houses. Hermione thought that particular aspect of Hogwarts life would sadly never change. Thankfully, disputes and anything of the sort did not usually carry deep hatred and bigotry with it. Attitudes had changed through generations; not as much as she had hoped, but enough to show significant progress, for which she was thankful.

"William White." McGonagall's voice echoed.

Hermione watched as one of the young boys she knew was a Muggle-born reluctantly stepped up. She recognized the name; she had helped Minerva with a few letters written specifically for Muggle families who had a witch or wizard in their midst, those whom Minerva visited personally. He was short, with green eyes that reminded her of Harry, but with a head of messy blonde hair. The poor kid looked simultaneously amazed and terrified; his eyes darted through the Great Hall with great trepidation.

"Gryffindor." Hermione whispered. She wasn't sure if that was her guess or her wish.

Narcissa chuckled beside her as the Sorting Hat was lowered onto the boy's head. His hands gripped the stool, trembling.

"Hufflepuff." She whispered playfully.

The Sorting Hat was taking its time with the boy, whose face blanched another shade whiter every few seconds or so. Hermione began to truly worry the young William would faint on the spot, but he seemed to be holding on. The whole thing was quite strange, as the Hat seemed to be taking its sweet time. A minute rolled by, then two. After five minutes, the Great Hall began to grow restless, and Hermione swore William was about to burst into tears.

Close to the six-minute mark, however, the Hat finally made its pronunciation over the nervous boy.

"Slytherin!"

A collective gasp erupted from the Hall's occupants; though Hermione heard it most prominently coming from her right. Narcissa had subconsciously grasped Hermione's hand once again with a shocked squeeze. Truthfully, Hermione barely even registered it, too astonished by what had just happened.

Slytherin House would receive its first-ever Muggle-born student.