Merope and her peers were brought into the Great Hall where a collective gasp was let out. There was no ceiling! And candles floated in mid-air! The group was being carefully watched by the students sitting at the four long tables that occupied most of the hall. There was a fifth table at the front, where the professors were sitting. A very old man with a long white beard sat at the center. Merope remembered what Leora had told her about the school's headmaster and figured that it just be Dumbledore. Just in front of that table was an old stool with an even older hat on it. It looked like a stereotypical witches hat, as Carla pointed out, and was covered in patches where it had become threadbare. Suddenly, it was promoted to come to life and to the surprise of the first years, began to sing.

"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.

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 folks 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!"

He finished and everyone clapped. The sorting would officially begin now.

"Abbot, Hannah!" The woman, who Merope found was a professor named McGonagall.

A small girl stepped up to the stool, where she was instructed to sit as the hat was plopped onto her head. After a few moments the hat exclaimed "HUFFLEPUFF" and the table with black and yellow robes erupted into cheers. Hannah walked over to the table and sat down with her new class mates.

The sorting continued on and on, with Seamus joining Gryffindor along with Carla (who was beaming from ear to ear as she ran to join Seamus). Draco sat on the stool and as soon as the hat touched his head it screamed "SLYTHERIN", which was followed by cheers from the table with green and silver. She watched as he joined his new class mates and imagined what her father must have felt as he joined that table nearly 30 years earlier.

"Figures, his family has been in Slytherin for ages. Rotten bunch they are" a boy whispered behind Merope, making her tense. Her dad was in Slytherin, he couldn't have been rotten. Before she could think of it any longer, a noticeable hush fell over the crowd as "Potter, Harry!" was called.

A nervous boy with messy black hair stepped up and sat down on the stool. The hat was placed on his head and after several anxious moments of silence, the hat exclaimed "GRYFFINDOR" and the red and gold table screamed so loud, Merope jumped at the sound. Harry sat down by Carla and Seamus, who grinned widely at the opportunity. After everyone's excitement had been settled, the list of names went on.

"Prewett, Merope!" her named was called and suddenly her heart seemed to stop. She walked up to the stool, trying not to faint and sat down. The hat was placed on to her head and was entirely too big for her, then, the voice came.

"Ah, another Prewett, it certainly has been a while. Brave bunch, very defiant. I see a lot of your mother in you, that thirst for learning and creative, oh so creative, she was a Ravenclaw through and through. Almost sorted her into Gryffindor like the rest of her family but I made the right decision of putting her into the house of the wise." Merope blushed at the words she was hearing, she had been told again and again by Leora how she was like her mother.

"Wait, Malfoy blood as well? Aren't you an interesting mix. Maybe you would do well in Slytherin, I see that ambition in you. You look like your father, no denying your Malfoy blood there dearie. Oh? It seems you only learned of this recently. Hearing bad things about your family I see? Don't feel shame for them, they are prosperous and powerful. You could be like them, a true Slytherin" She felt her face begin to turn red.

Merope did not want to be ashamed of her father's house.

She did not want to believe what she had heard about Slytherin and the Malfoy's but couldn't help it.

'You do not want people to know' Leora had told her when she had found out of her father's family name.

'No one wants to be in Slytherin, loads of dark wizards and witches in there,' Seamus had informed her

'Figures, his family has been in Slytherin for ages. Rotten bunch they are'

You-know-who was in Slytherin. Her evil uncle was in Slytherin. Draco was in Slytherin.

She couldn't do it. She could never be in Slytherin. She was a Prewett, not a Malfoy.

"No Slytherin then? Shame, you would do well there. Maybe you are more like your mother after all. Better make it. . . ."

"RAVENCLAW!"