AN: Sorry I have not updated in a while... It's been so long that I forgot when I told you I would update, but I have been out of town and did not have access to a computer for a week. I think that you guys can sympathize, I was dying! This will be one of two or three chapters that focus on the first school year. I plan to do a few chapters for each year with one or two chapters in between for each summer until we reach the Final Battle :) Thanks for reading, lovelies.

Chapter Seven: Harry Potter and the Sorting Hat

Ron and Harry found themselves in a boat with a boy muttering about a missing toad and a girl patting his arm about it named Hermione. Every minute as they glided across the Black Lake with their boat's lantern swinging back and forth hypnotically, Ron would whisper witty comments about their boatmates to Harry who would stifle a laugh in the sleeve of his robes. Hagrid led them into a stone-walled hall once their journey was finished and let the children wait for a woman he called "McGonnagal.

Malfoy tapped Harry on the shoulder and the black-haired boy turns around in a second, his already-present smile growing even more when he caught sight of his friend/ crush. But the blond's eyes drifted to the side where Ron was standing with his hips squared off against Malfoy already as if waiting to start a fight.

"Weasley," he snarled.

"Malfoy," Ron snapped back, pulling on the edge of Harry's robe to get him to turn around to avoid his familial enemy, but the Boy Who Lived shook his sleeve out of the ginger's grasp.

"What's going on here?"

"Harry, you shouldn't be fraternizing with a Gryffindor, muggle-loving, traitorous family like the Weasleys. Someone of your status could do much better."

"Harry, you shouldn't hang out with that Slytherin git. His family's all Death Eaters."

Harry stared at his two friends as if they were closets that housed Boggarts. "I know about the Death Eaters. They're a really good roller derby team."

Ron raised his eyebrows and shook his head before reaching for Harry's cloak again. "They do more than skate."

"Come with me, Harry," Draco whimpered. Harry bit his lip in admiration of Draco's irrestible puppy dog face but was interrupted by the appearance of Professor McGonagal who waited to talk to t he students while a boy ran around chasing a toad.

The frizzy-haired girl from before whine, "Oh, Neville" as he continued running until McGonagal cleared her throat.

"Welcome students, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In a moment, I will lead you into the Great Hall where I will call you up one-by-one to be sorted by the Sorting Hat. Once the hat tells you which house he has chosen for you, please sit at that table. Shall we begin?" She winked, the first sign of jollity from the Scottish madam, and turned on her heel towards the Great Hall.

Ron got lost among the other students, and the throng kept Harry from progressing all that much. However, he still had Draco at his side.

"Hoping for Slythering, right, Harry?"

With those dashing blue eyes and bleached hair, it was impossible for Harry to say no to him.

"Of course."

"Then you're on the right track. Y'know, my father was worried about you, but he shouldn't be. You will be a great addition to our roller derby team once we get back home. You will be-wow!" Draco's passionate babbling was interrupted by their entrance into the Great Hall. "I never knew it would look like this," the blond muttered with his head tilted back to see the floating candles amidst a cloudy night sky. Harry looked ahead at them, over his peers' heads and admired the long oak tables that sat hundreds of students, all of which, according to Draco, would love him just because his parents were famous skaters.

McGonnagal cleared her throat for the reading of the names and called up a girl with curly blond hair. Pansy wove her way through the crowd, muttering a few curses and stepping on a few feet as she went, so taht she could stand next to Draco and even take his hand before Harry watched as he smacked her away.

The frizzy girl and the toad boy both were sorted into Gryffindor, so Draco muttered, "Even more reason not to be a lion, eh?" His skating cronies chuckled, but Harry tried not to laugh to maintain the seriousness of the moment and his own morales.

Draco prodded him in the back and smiled, not knowing the happiness such a small gesture caused his friend, as he took his own seat and gave a cocky shrug when the hat announced, "Slytherin."

Pansy left before Harry and sashayed up to the stool, crossing her legs and placing her hands on top of them before the hat could belt out "Slytherin!" She winked at Draco and rolled her eyes at Harry as she passed him.

"Harry Potter?"

Harry sat down as if the stool was a fragile mushroom and crossed his fingers ever so slightly over each other. Then he heard it.

"Ah... Harry Potter! Your parents were in Gryffindor, eh?"

"I want Slytherin," he whispered.

"Oh, Slytherin? Well, many great wizards have come from Slytherin... but you would excel in Gryffindor!"

"Slytherin, please."

"Harry, Harry, Harry. You do not understand what fates you are playing with. Leave the hard decisions to me. Gryffindor!"

No. No. No.

McGonnagal lifted off the hat and Harry stumbled to the table where Hermione and Neville were already sitting. Draco offered him a shrug from his seat next to Pansy at the Gryffindor table, but Harry had expected so much more. Though he had little experience in the matter, Harry expected a true friend to leap up, outraged, and demand that they be placed in the same houses. Harry had yet to grasp the full scope of how important houses were, but he could already figure out that he may be spending less time with Draco than he would have if he were in Slytherin.

Ron joined their table and offered everyone a smile as his brothers clapped him on the back before Blaise Zabini joined the other Junior Death Eaters and the feast started.

From where he was sitting, Harry could see Draco and promised himself that he would try to sit on this side of the table as much as possible so as to be able to better see the blond-haired boy across the way as much as possible. Throughout dinner, he reminded himself of the great skating lessons they had shared and imagined spending much more time together come summer time. Little did he know that their next skating interaction would come even sooner.

AN: I own nothing. Like that will protect me from a lawsuit... This is getting harder because there are a lot of canon aspects that I feel should be addressed. I read a Cedric/Harry fic last night where the author included parts of GoF which was cool and different, but they also mentioned that canon was always ruining stuff. Sigh.