Hi there, this is Hyaci!

I know I promised I'd make my chapters longer, but this chapter doesn't fit with anything else, so I can't really add on to it. I tried writing more, but nothing else works well with this chapter.

This chapter isn't written nearly as well as the others, but it was necessary.

Chapter 3: The Eagle and the Snake

The train ride only lasted about another five minutes after their encounter with Malfoy. Hermione excused herself to go pack her trunk, and once she had done so, she had lifted it, and dragged all the way to the end of the corridor, when the students were belatedly told to leave their baggage in the compartment. She was sorely tempted to take her things with her anyway, but decided against it, only taking along the wand she was unwilling to part with.

As soon as the train had ground to a complete stop, students immediately began crowding the hallways, all excited to have arrived at Hogwarts. Somehow, Hermione had managed to push her way to the front, and was among one of the first to exit onto the dark platform, illuminated by a single lamp held by an unusually large man.

Students were segregated by years, and first years were to follow the large man. Hermione scanned the crowd, and saw Harry alone, somewhere in the middle. Apparently, Ron had abandoned him in favor of being at the front.

Hermione pressed her way through the crowd, towards Harry. Occasionally she stepped on other student's toes, and less often, other students themselves. Eventually, she made it over to him, where he noticed her with a grateful expression.

"I think we're supposed to follow Hagrid," Harry said.

Hermione looked from Harry to the large man carrying the lamp, and nodded.

Hagrid led the first years into a steep narrow path that went on for quite some time. Eventually, a dark, glistening lake came into view, and the students made it down to the shore, where dozens of boats had apparently beached themselves. Across the lake, there was a large castle perched on a cliff. As the students, one by one, noticed the castle, each let out a quiet murmur of excitement, which, collectively, made too much noise.

"That's Hogwarts?" Harry's mouth was hanging open.

"Didn't you read Hogwarts, A History?" Hermione asked, "They describe it in great detail, and even have one or two illustrations."

"No more'n four to a boat," Hagrid called out loudly, effectively ending their conversation.

Everyone again pressed forward, while Harry and Hermione stuck close. Somehow, they ended up in a boat with Ron and the round faced boy, whose name, Hermione learned, was Neville. Apparently, he'd come to her compartment before to ask for help searching for his toad, Trevor. It was still missing.

"Forward!" Hagrid's voice rose above the students' conversations. Suddenly, as if at his command, all the boats departed from shore at once, gliding over the water, barely making a sound. Hermione wished she knew which spells had been cast to make the ride so smooth and quiet, but unfortunately, she hadn't come across anything remotely similar in any of the books that she had purchased from Diagon Alley.

"Hey Harry," she whispered.

"Yes, Hermione?"

"Are we… friends?"

He was silent for a moment, as if contemplating her request, and for a terrible moment, Hermione thought she'd ruined any prospects of friendship with Harry Potter, and in extension, and chances of acceptance, by asking such a stupid question.

"Yes" he decided, surprising her. "But do you really want to be my friend?"

"Of course Harry!" Of course! She wanted acceptance and popularity! Who would be stupid enough to reject a chance at that? Even if she disliked Harry (which she didn't.) she would have pretended to like him just for the sake of acceptance!

The boat ride continued in relative silence, occasionally broken by Hagrid's grunts, and students' "oohs" and "aahs". Once in a while, Hermione had to duck her head at Hagrid's instructions in order to dodge an overhead arch or rock formation, but she was able to enjoy her boat ride nevertheless.

Once the boats had all docked (within a cavern, no less!), the students began to dismount onto crumbling marble steps. Hermione and Harry got out of the boat in quick succession of each other, while Ron was quite a bit slower, and Neville was still so upset about losing his toad that he hadn't noticed the boat stopped. In the end, Hagrid had to lift the tearful boy out of the boat himself.

"What's wrong with him?" Hermione whispered irritably, "It's just a toad."

Quickly, they ascended the steps, and they stopped when they arrived at a platform near the top. Hagrid made his way to the front, turned around and gave the crowd a quick scan. "Everyone here?" Without waiting for an answer, he spun around once more, and gave the huge oak front door three excessively loud knocks. The students began to murmur amongst themselves, and Hermione pointed out to Harry how Hagrid had damaged the door with his strength.

And as soon as Hagrid's hand left the wood on the third knock, the heavy door swung open, pushing Hagrid to the sidelines. Illuminated in the light was a shriveled up, stern looking woman dressed in velvety green robes. Her stereotypical witch's hat sat crinkled upon her graying hair, which was pulled back into a bun. A strict expression was plastered onto her face, and she continuously wrung her hands.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall."

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

Professor McGonagall turned on her heel, and led them past a huge corridor- so spacious that Hermione found it hard to make out the details of the paintings in the wall. She wound up and down small flights of stairs, until she reached a small room. All the students were ushered into the room, and were informed they were to stay there until the feast began.

They barely had time to rest for even a minute, before several transparent figures flew in through the wall. A quick count proved that there were twenty ghosts. Hermione smiled serenely at them, but the others gawked and pointed. Even Harry couldn't stifle a gasp. The eyes of the students followed the ghosts as they flew through a pair of double doors, which, as if sensing the ghosts' presences as a cue, opened slowly and utterly majestically.

The Great Hall was truly what it aspired to be- great. It was large and spacious, and the ceiling was indeed enchanted to mimic the sky outside. It was one thing to read about it in a book, another to imagine what it would look like, and something else entirely to see it for herself. Hermione had never seen anything so grand. In fact, she hadn't seen anything much nicer than her orphanage her entire life. She glanced around the entire hall, taking in every detail, even the most insignificant of which took her breath away.

She noticed Harry staring at the ceiling, entranced by the apparent movement of the stars across the artificial night sky. She leaned in next to him, and whispered, "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."

Harry nodded absentmindedly, still transfixed by the realistic illusion. She couldn't blame him; in all honesty, she was too.

A loud scraping noise brought everyone's attention to the front. Professor McGonagall had dragged a small four legged stool out in front of the first years. Then, she pulled a worn looking wizard's hat from out of nowhere, and placed it directly on the stool. Hermione looked closely at the hat: she was sure that this was the infamous sorting hat she had read about in Hogwarts, A History.

As if to confirm her suspicions, a rip near the base of the hat opened in a mouth-like manner, and burst into song: a throaty, baritone voice.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid !

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

Once the hat fell silent, an outrageous amount of applause rang through the hall. In fact, Hermione thought she saw Dumbledore rise up in standing ovation by the staff table up front. But, once she blinked, he was seated once more, his eyes twinkling merrily.

The sorting began right away, with the first girl being immediately declared a Hufflepuff. Hermione watched nervously as one by one, the students were called up to the pointy old wizard hat and were each sent to the houses they fit best. Slowly, the crowd began thinning, and before long, it was her name that Professor McGonagall called up for sorting.

"Granger, Hermione."

Hermione held her head high in the air as she strode confidently over to the stool. She picked up the hat with her nimble fingers and gently placed it on her head, before sitting back onto the stool.

"Ah," a small voice appeared in her head. "Well organized thoughts, you have there, Miss Granger. But quite a bit of ambition as well… Talent, plenty of it… where do you belong though? By the Ravenclaws, where your knowledge will be put to use? Or by the Gryffindors?"

When the sorting hat suggested she be placed into Gryffindor, Hermione's mind involuntarily flashed to that one ginger-haired boy on the train- Ron Weasley. Immediately, she felt a strong disdain well up within her, and apparently, the ratty hat on her head could feel it too, because as soon as she felt it, she heard the hat emphatically exclaim, "RAVENCLAW!"

Feeling herself fill up with pride, she took the hat off her head and strode over to the Ravenclaw table, where she seated herself between a rather runty looking boy, and a rather haughty Asian girl. As soon as she sat down, the girl turned to her and tried to strike up a conversation.

"Hi, I'm Cho Chang," the girl smiled cheerfully, "What's your name?"

"Hermione," she replied. "Er, could we resume this conversation later? I want to watch my friend get sorted first."

Cho looked slightly dismayed, but shrugged. "Talk to you later then," she continued to smile brightly.

Hermione turned back to look at Harry. She smiled uncertainly, and suddenly began to feel uncomfortable when he smiled back at her. She turned back to the front just in time to see Malfoy place the sorting hat on his head. Before even a second had passed, he had been sorted into Slytherin, something he was very pleased about, judging from the look on his face.

She watched as one by one, the students were sorted into various houses. Slowly, the Ravenclaw table began to fill up, to the point where she found it hard to move her arms, since she was squeezed so tightly between Cho and the runty boy. She was nodding off, when she heard professor McGonagall call out, in her authoritative voice, "Potter, Harry."

Immediately, the entire hall fell silent, only interrupted occasionally by gasps and conspiratorial whispering. Harry turned and looked at her one more time, his eyes showing just how scared he was in that moment. As she looked in his scared, green eyes, the guilt Hermione felt for using him began to resurface. But once he turned his attention back to the sorting hat, breaking off eye contact, that guilt was instantly forgotten. She watched, her fingers crossed, that he would end up in-

"Slytherin!"

Loud and thunderous applause ripped through the entire Slytherin table, whereas the other tables only produced some quiet, disappointing claps. As Harry walked over to the Slytherin table, his eyes searched the crowd for her. When their eyes met, he shot her a rueful smile, before making his way over and sitting down in an empty spot.

She continued to look at him, for a full minute, before lowering her gaze to her hands in her lap. Then, she turned, and smiled at Cho.

"About that conversation earlier…"

Author's Note: Like I said, this chapter isn't necessarily well written or interesting, but was needed in order to further the plot.

So you've read, and now, please review! I'll try to respond to every signed review. I pwomise!

EDIT: Some issues have been pointed out by the wonderful GenetiX23 that could result from placing Harry in Gryffindor. So, I have changed it so he is in Slytherin.