Disclaimer - I don't own any rights to Harry Potter. So I'm not to sure if I'm allowed to do this...
Author's Note - Sorry, it's short!
Chapter twelve.
The Great Hall was a big mess of things, the teachers, prefects and Heads trying to get everyone settled, but most were still trying to get in a last minute chat session with each other and as they were now friends with the other Houses, it made it even more difficult, as one set of friends would walk their friend to their house, talking, and when they arrived, they would turn around and walk with their friend back to their house.
Hermione stared around in confusion, but her silent presence quickly became known and the students hushed and ran quickly to their places. The teachers all looked up to see what had gotten them moving so fast and saw a sleek white wolf, sitting at the entrance, staring at anyone who moved.
When they were all seated, said wolf trotted down the aisle to the teacher's table. The students and teachers all shrinked away from it in fear, except for McGonagall, Lupin and, surprisingly, Neville.
Well, surprising for everyone else, both he, Lupin and McGonagall knew it was Hermione and knew they had no reason to fear. When the wolf reached the dais, most of the room's population gasped as it turned into a breath-takingly beautiful young woman in dark green robes who held a piece of parchment in her hands. She whispered something to McGonagall, who nodded, clapped her hands, and the stool with the Sorting Hat appeared. The woman nodded her head, flicked a hand at two of the Professors who immediately smiled in relief, turned, grinned wolfishly at the assembly and winked, before walking back down the aisle between houses, transforming once again into a shining white wolf and slipped out the doors. Out of the silence came a long, slow, wolf whistle. Everyone turned to a smug Draco Malfoy, who shrugged cockily, "What?"
Now that the students had realised that he was there, they began gossiping about all the new additions, many of the older girls glancing and giggling his way. He rolled his eyes, uncomfortable with many of the girls obviously checking him out, even though he was now their teacher.
Hermione came back to the entrance of the Great Hall and was pleased to see that the First Years had, in fact, remained where they were, only quietly whispering, but that stopped as soon as she appeared. Carefully watching them, she quickly turned back to her human state. The surprise that registered on all their faces made Hermione chuckle softly.
"Welcome, everyone, to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am Professor Granger and through these doors you shall meet the rest of the staff and students here." She paused to see if anything had registered, but they were still in a state of awe, sighing internally, she kept going, "You will each be sorted into one of four houses, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Gryffindor. There is no need to worry about which house you get into, as you will discover that most house rivalries have diminished, except for Quidditch games and the House cup. Whichever house you shall be sorted into, you will stay in, they will be your family for the rest of your years at Hogwarts. For good behaviour or marks, you will be awarded house points, for any rule breaking or bad behaviour you will lose points and at the end of the year all these points will be added together and the house with the most points wins. Got it?" A few of them nodded and mumbled their responses and Hermione nodded crisply, "Excellent, now, follow me."
And she turned away, leading them all into the Great Hall. The rest of the night was a blur, the Sorting Hat's song, her calling out the names and finally dinner, but looking down on the students, not with them.
To perform the duty she had watched for years was like an out of body experience for her and when she had finally got to bed, she shook herself out of her stupor to remember to put up really, really strong wards in case Malfoy thought of some form of revenge, seeing as how he obviously knew the counter-curse to her pimple jinx and she remembered enough to let Nyx out of her cage and give her the letter she had written Harry while in the train. Before sneaking into the bathroom for a quick shower before bed.