Chapter Ten: The Sorting.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Note: So a lot of people commented on how much of an ass Ron apparently was. I wasn't really trying to make him come off that way but in canon he did ask Harry if he could remember anything about that night. It was just Harry and Ron alone in the compartment, though, so no one could tell him that it was a stupid question given Harry's age at the time or kind of insensitive (even though Molly had told the twins not to ask about it just a few minutes before when Ron was standing right there).

Ron wasn't all bad, Harry discovered, just rather insecure. He figured it probably had something to do with growing up with so many accomplished brothers. There was no winning in that situation. You were either just one of the lot or the untalented one. Unless, of course, you managed to do something far more impressive than any of the others but given that they spent their time doing things like dragon-breeding and curse-breaking that was kind of a lot of pressure.

Still, in the time after Ron sat down with them and before they had arrived at Hogwarts again, Harry knew that spending too much time with him might not be the best idea. Hermione could be a bit in-your-face about what she knew but she was also trying to prove herself in a world she didn't feel she belonged in and it was bound to come in handy. All Ron saw was that she was kind of annoying. He was also a little jealous of Neville's family's money and Harry's fame. It wasn't like he was a bad person and he had even made Harry laugh but while he wasn't about to make Ron an enemy, he rather suspected that close friendship would be an unnecessary complication at this point. It wasn't like he could do anything about his fame (or that his father would ever forgive him if he did) and he shouldn't have to.

But damn if that didn't make him feel a little guilty. Gilderoy might insist that it was an emotion that was completely useless at best and absolutely disastrous at worst but that didn't mean that Harry could turn it off so easily.

Harry was almost knocked over by Zacharias Smith roughly brushing past him and taking the last seat in Neville, Hermione, and Ron's boat and so he allowed himself to be waved over to Draco Malfoy's boat where Crabbe and Goyle were also sitting.

"Utterly tactless," Draco said reprovingly as the boat took over. "I mean, just bowling into you like that? What is he, a common Muggle?"

Harry decided that this was either a rhetorical question or would do him no good to answer anyway and so he was going to treat it like one.

"Still, I do believe that you've found your rival," Draco continued, undeterred by the lack of response.

"My what?" Harry asked, laughing a little.

"Your rival," Draco repeated. "On the first train-ride to Hogwarts, you're going to want to try to meet your future best friend and rival if you don't already have them. Crabbe and Goyle will do for friends, I suppose, and Weasley can be a rival. He's a rather poor pick, I'm afraid, but at least he's Pureblood and our fathers' are rivals of sorts so it'll be like carrying on a tradition."

Harry shook his head in bemusement. "It looks like you've got your future all planned out."

"Well it wouldn't do to make a hasty choice," Draco explained. "What if I chose, say, Neville as a rival? He'd never take it seriously. Plus he keeps telling me that he plans to be a Hufflepuff and I will not demean myself by rivaling with one of those people."

That had actually been the opposite of what Harry had heard but he figured that Neville was just teasing Draco…possibly to avoid being dragged into a silly rivalry. "How do you know Ron won't end up a Hufflepuff? We haven't been sorted yet," he pointed out.

Draco waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, the Weasleys are always in Gryffindor. It's practically genetic. Even that unadventurous bookworm ended up there. If they had more money, I'd suspect bribery."

"Aren't the Malfoys always in Slytherin?" Harry countered. "How do I know that's not bribery?"

"As Slytherins we wouldn't hesitate to do that if need be but, as Slytherins, it's never been necessary," Draco sniffed.

"Of course not," Harry said immediately, not wanting to insult him. A subject change was probably in order. "And you think Zacharias is my rival?"

Draco nodded. "It stands to reason. You don't just deliberately smash into everyone like that. He clearly doesn't like you."

"If people have to be rivals with everyone they meet that doesn't like them then it seems like they'll have far more than just one," Harry replied.

"But Zacharias was the only one who met you and disliked you on the train, right?" Draco asked.

"I guess so," Harry admitted.

"And he does seem quite jealous of you. I'm sure he'd both welcome and resent the idea of being your rival," Draco said confidently.

"Why do I even need a rival in the first place? It just sounds so unnecessarily troublesome," Harry protested.

Draco gave him a pitying look. "It's just the way these things are done. You don't want to miss out on an essential part of the Hogwarts experience, do you?"

Harry groaned. "You're beginning to sound like my godfather."

Draco perked up. "Oh, that's Sirius Black, isn't it?"

Harry nodded. "Indeed," he confirmed. "Why? Do you know him?"

"He's my cousin," Draco explained. "And the head of my mother's family. Father said he's kind of weird and has some bizarre views but he's also a wealthy Pureblood cousin with no heir so allowances must be made."

Harry hid a grin. Oh, he understood that perfectly. No need to offend the man who could you quite a bit of money, after all. "I see. Have you ever met him?"

Draco shrugged. "Once or twice. He's very close with that one friend of his. Lupin, right? Mother says it's quite unusual and you know what people will say."

Harry frowned. "No, actually. I don't."

"Well…neither do I," Draco confessed. "But it didn't sound good."

At least it had been a calm night. Harry didn't even want to think about how horrible the boat ride would be if it the weather had been uncooperative. As it was, the whole thing seemed a little pointless. Sure they had gotten a chance to see a majestic view of the castle but that was more melodramatic and show-off-y than necessary and if they really needed to separate the First Years from the rest of the student body, couldn't they have just asked them all to stand somewhere?

So maybe being in such a small boat had freaked him out a little even if logically he knew that there was probably some magic at work preventing the boats from capsizing. Well…maybe. Wizards never did seem all the concerned with the safety of their children.

Before they had been brought in to the Great Hall, a party of ghosts had passed by overhead making it really easy to identify how magical of an upbringing the various First Years had had. For his part, Harry had been more concerned by the fact that Peeves the poltergeist was such a nuisance than the ghosts' appearance. Although he did kind of have to wonder if they really did accidentally pass by them. Being dead, the ghosts technically didn't need to have much of an awareness of time or date but you never knew and there would never be a better time to make an impression than the first night in Hogwarts.

From the head table, Harry recognized Professor Dumbledore and his own father who was certainly more colorfully dressed than anyone else at the table. Gilderoy always said that bright colors were better for his complexion…and for focusing people's attention on him.

"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside, I read about it in Hogwarts: A History," Hermione whispered, pointing to the ceiling.

"I would say that that was very interesting except that come morning that fact will be really obvious and I just can't get all that worked up about a ceiling," Neville responded. "I mean, maybe if the ceiling were falling but otherwise…"

"Normally I'd agree but it's a magical ceiling," Hermione said, waving her hands for emphasis. "How can that not be interesting?"

"Because I've been surrounded by magic my entire life?" Neville hazarded a guess. "That's really the quickest way to take something for granted."

"Hey Harry, do you think we're going to have to fight a troll? My brothers said we were going to have to fight a troll," Ron said, looking a little queasy.

"These would be your twin prankster brothers, yes?" Zacharias asked pointedly.

Ron nodded. "Yes, why?"

Zacharias rolled his eyes disgustedly. "Oh, never mind…"

"I kind of doubt it," Harry said slowly. He was mindful of the fact he wasn't supposed to let anyone know he knew what the sorting would be but at the same time he didn't want to leave Ron to worry. "I kind of worry about wizard child safety laws if that really seems like a valid test for eleven-year-olds to take, though."

"I agree," Hermione said, neatly inserting herself into the conversation. "Anyone would lose a wrestling match with a troll and in addition to the fact that most of us don't know much magic-"

"Maybe you don't," Draco muttered.

"Trolls are resistant to most spells so it would hardly be fair. And how are you supposed to sort based on troll-fighting prowess? Gryffindor if you charge in blindly, Hufflepuff if you slowly but steadily wear it down, Ravenclaw if you come up with a good idea, and Slytherin if you have enough self-preservation instincts not to agree to it in the first place?" Hermione demanded.

"You did lay out a system right there," Neville pointed out, smirking.

Hermione batted at his arm. "Not helping."

While they'd been talking, Professor McGonagall had brought out a clearly ancient hat and placed it on a stool a few feet away from the huddled mass of first years. The hat lay still for a moment before it began to…sing.

"Why is that hat singing?" Zacharias demanded. "Hats should not sing."

"I'm with you," Harry said with no small degree of surprise.

Zacharias glared at him. "It's a lovely and time-honored tradition, you heathen."

Well, it looked like Zacharias really did have it out for him. Oh well. Sirius would be pleased that he'd accidentally managed to go out and acquire a rival for himself, at least.

"So…no troll then?" Ron asked, just to be sure.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Unless that hat's hiding a troll inside of it then I would highly doubt it. I can't believe you thought we'd have to face a troll."

Ron flushed angrily. "Oh, shut up!"

"Your rapier wit leaves me speechless," Draco deadpanned. At least Draco was happy about his own rivalry. Harry couldn't exactly call the boy nice (and he certainly seemed to buy into all that Pureblood supremacy nonsense) but he was friendly enough to Harry and rather amusing. Not to mention that alienating someone like a Malfoy over something trivial like personality would be a huge mistake.

With that, McGonagall began to call out names. Harry didn't envy Hannah Abbot for having to go first. The poor girl was so nervous she practically tripped on the way to the stool, the hat fell over her eyes, and she had to be reminded to take the hat off when she was halfway to the Hufflepuff table. Yeah, Hannah's performance really wouldn't do anything to combat the widely-held belief that Hufflepuff was the leftover house.

When it was Hermione's turn, she practically ran to the hat and jammed it down eagerly on her head. Her eagerness lasted all of five seconds before she frowned and appeared to be silently arguing with the hat. And a good ten minutes, the hat declared her to be a Gryffindor. Looking pleased with herself, Hermione went to go join her new house. Harry would really have to remember to ask her about that. The hat had probably tried to put her in Ravenclaw. Harry didn't think he had ever actually asked her about house preference but now there was no need.

When Neville came up, the hat put him in Gryffindor after only fifteen or so seconds and he merrily walked over to sit next to Hermione before McGonagall called him back to make him give the hat back. Judging from the grin Neville was wearing, he hadn't accidentally walked off with it like Hannah had.

The hat had barely touched Draco's head when he was proclaimed a Slytherin which made it pretty clear that it was either a matter of destiny or of bribery.

"It's probably all that hair gel," Zacharias opined. "The hat didn't want to get all greasy."

"Potter, Harry," McGonagall called out causing the Great Hall, which had begun to fill with chatter as people got bored of watching the sorting, to fall silent once more.

Harry listened to the whispers of people wondering if that really was him (what? Was it supposed to be some sort of elaborate prank?) and forced a smile as he made his way to the stool. He glanced over at Gilderoy who flashed him a discrete thumbs up.

He placed the hat on his head and waited.

"Well, well. What do we have here?"

"You wouldn't be a very good psychic hat if you needed me to tell you that," Harry thought in the hat's general direction since he was assuming that was where the strange voice came from.

A laugh. "True but I need something to use as an opening line. Let's see…not a bad mind, plenty of courage, a thirst to prove yourself…you wouldn't really be a good fit for Hufflepuff, I don't think, but we could work with the other three."

"NOT Ravenclaw, please," Harry requested. "Those passwords would drive me mad."

"And that, right there, is why you're not Hufflepuff material," the hat informed him. "Alright, not Ravenclaw. So what's it to be. Gryffindor and Slytherin? Slytherin could make you great, you know."

"You tell me," Harry replied. "Neville and Hermione are in Gryffindor but if houses truly matter then I can't pick one just because my friends are in it and I'm sure I'd make friends in Slytherin. Draco already seems to have decided that we should be friends, after all, even if he's a bit…Draco."

"Well if you really don't have a preference then I'll have to do what I think will be best for you which is…SLYTHERIN!"

There was a stunned silence for a moment.

"Do we want Potter?" a voice from over by the Slytherins asked urgently.

"Shut up! Of course we want Potter!" someone else answered. "He might convince people we're not evil."

"Questions like if we want him or not really don't help our cause," a third voice pointed out.

The Slytherin table began to clap and slowly the other tables followed suit.

Harry glanced up towards the staff table again as he made his way to the Slytherin table and Gilderoy nodded at him to show that he was fine with the sorting. There was nothing that could have been done if Gilderoy wasn't but he would still prefer that he not have to deal with any disappointment.

Unfortunately for the students still to be sorted, all the excitement and apparently controversy over Harry's sorting meant that no one was really paying attention to their own sorting. Would people be shocked if Harry had been sorted into Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw as well or was it only the fact that he was in Slytherin that was the problem? Was he supposed to be a Gryffindor just because his parents had been Gryffindors and his father's family had had a lot of Gryffindors? That was just silly, particularly since he hadn't been raised by his biological family.

Zacharias Smith, who had indeed managed to promptly get sorted into Hufflepuff, looked especially peeved about the lack of attention and if the way he was glaring was any indication, he blamed it all on Harry.

Oh joy. It looked like there would be no escaping this whole rival business.

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