A/N; Harry Potter is not mine. Neither is Draco. But Lera is =D Please review!

Lera's POV

"There you are, Miss Drae, it's time to go in. The other students would be arriving shortly after."

It was Professor McGonagall. Lera had been staring out at the Great Lake, waiting for time to pass. Water met darkening sky a distance away, merging royal blue with a grayish blue. She got to her feet and silently trailed behind Professor McGonagall as she led her to the holding chambers close to the Great Hall. The First Years would be brought there before the Sorting commenced.

It was not long before Professor McGonagall reentered with the scared-looking First Years close behind, nervously chattering amongst themselves. They looked at her with ill-concealed surprise, wondering what an older student was doing in there. The chatter died down as Professor McGonagall started to speak.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. 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."

"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 your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each and every one of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

"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 are waiting. I shall return when we are ready for you, please wait quietly."

She left the chamber and the First-years started chattering again. She could hear snippets of their conversations, apparently many an older sibling had found it amusing to tell them horror stories about sorting, having to kill a troll, use spells, duel each other, and the like. She shook her head and left them to their musings. Though she knew what the Sorting entailed, she was not about to enlighten the First-years.

"The Sorting ceremony is about to start," said a sharp voice.

Professor McGonagall had returned.

"Form a line, and follow me."

The First years quietly complied and she got in line behind them. Professor McGonagall led them out of the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall. The Hall looked different, now that the students were back. While there used to be a single table stretching across the centre of the hall, there were now four long tables where the other students were sitting. She had seen the hall before, so it did not affect her but the First-years were open-mouthed with amazement. At the top of the hall was a long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led them up here, and they came to a halt facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. She shifted uncomfortably, as all eyes were directed at her and the hall broke out in whispers as everyone came up with their own theories regarding the new student. She felt apprehensive, she had never been subject to the attention of such a great number of people before.

Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the line of First-years. On top of the stool she put an old pointed wizards' hat. The first-years stared confusedly at the hat, and a few jumped in shock as the hat twitched, then burst out in song. She did not hear what the hat sang, she was too busy fighting her nerves as she looked out to the sea of faces. Applause signaled the end of the song as the hat bowed to each of the four tables and became silent again. The first-years sighed in relief as they realised that they only had to try on the hat to be sorted.

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward with a long roll of parchment clutched in her hands.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted."

With that, the Sorting began. It was almost torture having to stand by in front of the whole Hall of students waiting for every first-year was sorted. It was going on painfully slowly and she hoped that she had been allowed to go first. She had resorted to looking down at her feet to avoid the stares directed at her but she could still feel their eyes burning into her.

"And now we have a new student. She used to be homeschooled but would now be attending Hogwarts, in her sixth year. We hope that whichever house she is sorted into would give her a warm welcome. DRAE, KYLERA."

Finally, it was her turn. She tried not to appear over-eager as she walked to the stool, picked up the hat, sat down, and deposited the hat on her head. There was a strange feeling, as if someone was looking through every memory and thought in her mind.

"You have a lot going on in your head," suddenly a deep voice filled her head. "I see a desire for revenge, I see plans to reach your goal, well thought out. Cunning. You do know which house you belong in, don't you?"

Yes, she knew. Slytherin.

But there was only one house she wanted to be sorted into, and that was Gryffindor. She made a silent plea to the hat.

"If you are sure, then," she could almost imagine the hat giving a helpless shrug. "You would best be placed in

GRYFFINDOR!"

The last word was shouted out to the entire hall, and one of the tables promptly broke out in cheers and applause. She thought she could hear some groans and sighs coming from the other tables. She hurriedly got off and walked to the Gryffindor table, grateful that the hat had respected her decision. She was worried that the hat would insist on placing her in the house that she really belonged in.

Several guys called out to her and gestured to empty seats beside or opposite them but she politely declined. There was a certain group she wanted to sit with. She finally spotted them near the end of the table and sank into an empty seat next to a red-haired boy she assumed was Ron Weasley. This was the group that was always on the front lines of any action; it would be a good choice to befriend them. But there was someone missing from their group, she wondered where Harry Potter was. She put it to the back of her mind as the bushy haired witch sitting opposite to Ron smiled brightly at her and extended her hand with a cheerful 'Hi, I'm Hermione. I'm one of the sixth-year prefects, you can look for me if you have any problems.'

She smiled back and shook her hand, introducing herself though it was clear everyone knew who she was. Food had already appeared on the plates and Ron started piling food onto his plate, then shoving it into his mouth just as quickly. With a sudden yelp and glare at Hermione, which probably meant that she had given him a kick under the table, he turned to Lera and through a large mouthful of mashed potatoes, managed to convey that he was Ron and was also a sixth year. She nodded and helped herself to some potatoes as well, oblivious to the blatant stares of the male student body as well as the jealous glares of the female population. A few others sitting around her also introduced themselves. There was Neville, Ginny, Dean and Seamus.

"I wonder where Harry is," Hermione said, her brows furrowed.

"Probably got caught by Snape for something silly," Neville suggested. "See, Snape's missing as well."

Hermione nodded. That was probable. She just hoped that he had not gotten into trouble before the first day of school had even started.

Hermione was holding onto a magazine titled Defense Monthly, and she turned back to the open page, absently picking at her food. Suddenly, it seemed as though she had found a very interesting article as her eyes scanned the pages quickly and her food lay in the plate, forgotten. Lera could guess which article it was, she had read the magazine a few days before and one article had stood out.

"Look! They're working on a new spell! They say that it's supposed to be one that defends specifically against dark spells," She pointed at the article and pushed it in front of Ron's face.

She had caught him just as he was about to place a forkful of steak into his mouth. His fork hovering in midair and his mouth open, he looked confusedly at Hermione as she stared back at him expectantly, brimming with excitement at her discovery.

"So?" With that done, he devoured the piece of meat.

Hermione gave an exasperated sigh. She debated within herself if she should even bother explaining the potential uses of the spell if it could be formulated.

"That means that when fighting against Death Eaters we would have an added layer of protection because they usually use dark spells that we don't learn about. And because we don't know about those spells, we don't know how to deflect them or shield ourselves against them. Normal shields like Protego would essentially be useless against the powerful dark spells that they use. If this spell works, we can protect ourselves against most dark spells without having to conduct extensive research on each and every dark spell that the Death Eaters use, and the specific ways to counter them."

Hermione turned to Lera in surprise. But she was not done yet.

"Is that the article that discussed the integration of Defense with other disciplines like Ancient Runes? It's a wonderful idea to draw upon external magical sources from the surroundings to boost our own spells, don't you think? With just some preparation before the actual duel, we can get a huge edge over our opponents."

Hermione looked like she was about the hug her any moment. And they were soon lost in a conversation on the benefits, limitations, and potential problems of using runes in dueling. Lera smiled to herself. Mission one, accomplished. She was now firmly in Hermione's good books.

BANG!

Their conversation was interrupted as the doors banged open. Every head in the Great Hall turned.