Butteflies flew through Harry's stomach as they approached the majestic castle from the boats. The other first-years were equally as fidgety.

Hagrid surveyed the crowd and counted heads to make sure nobody was lost on the journey over, his eyes softening as they landed on Harry's head, still trying to make a truce with him. Harry knew that perhaps this grudge he had with Hagrid was verging on childish, but he kept his expression stony until Hagrid's eyes travelled onwards. Forgiveness didn't come easily with him.

Once Hagrid was content with the count, he turned forwards and knocked on the huge castle doors. Harry's butterflies turned into elephants as his heart pounded in his chest. He looked over to Draco, who smiled at him. His smile still looked condescending, but he could see the kindness underneath Draco's hard surface. He was his first wizard friend, after all.

"So I guess we'll go to the Sorting Hat first, to find out our houses," Draco explained, easing Harry's anxiety just a bit. It was helpful to know what was going on. Then, his heart pounded faster as a question mulled around his mind.

"So, what is that?" Harry asked nervously. "Do we have to do a spell for it, or something?" He silently cursed himself for not studying from his books more over the summer.

"Oh, no, no, definitely not," Draco replied, and Harry took a deep breath out. "My father told me that we just put on the hat, and then we get sorted from there. It's a magical hat after all,"

"Okay, good." Harry replied, and started to smile again. "No tests." Draco laughed in reply.

The door swung open, and a stern-looking woman in green robes peered over the incoming students.

"Professor McGonagall! The firs' years," Hagrid told the woman with a swinging hand gesture.

"Yes, thank you Hagrid," the Professor said, her voice matching her strict demeanor quite nicely. "I'll take them from here."

"Okay. It was nice meetin' you new students," Hagrid told the group as he began to retreat, his eyes lingering on Harry once more. He pretended he didn't see him, and turned to Malfoy instead.

"Ready to go?" Draco asked with a smirk.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Harry replied. "Let's go!"

They stepped into the main hallway of Hogwarts, and Harry looked around in awe. The main room itself was big enough to hold a small house, and the walls seemed to murmur with the immense history within the castle, the secrets kept for centuries. His wand tingled in the back of his robe's pocket, as if it had finally found its home.

He continued to follow Draco through the grand room, until they took a sharp turn and landed in a small, empty corridor. The other students all clambered up to see Professor McGonagall's face as she got their attention, and talked a bit about Hogwarts.

"Welcome, students," she started. "The banquet will start very soon, but first I'd like to talk a bit about the sorting and the different houses. The sorting processes is one of the most important in your years here at Hogwarts, as the house you are sorted into will be something like your new home.

"The four houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin…"

Harry could hardly hear the rest of her words over the student's murmurs and the beating of his own heart, and turned to Draco in excitement.

"I can hardly hear her, but I can't wait to get sorted!" He exclaimed quietly. Draco nodded.

"Me neither! But what she's saying about all the houses being 'great in their own respect' is a load of tosh. Everybody knows that Hufflepuff is just for the ones who don't fit into the other houses." Harry laughed in agreement, even though he didn't quite know what Draco was talking about. "I hope to be put in Slytherin. All of my family's been put there, I guess I can continue the legacy."

"I hope I can get into Slytherin with you, then," He said to him, and smiled.

"Yeah, me too."

An unusual amount of clambering started in the small corridor, and they realized that they were lining up to go off to the Sorting. Draco smiled at Harry reassuringly, and they set off to the dining hall.

Draco and Harry lined up behind each other on the way over, and Harry realized that Crabbe and Goyle were still bumbling behind them. Harry's snarl was apparent this time, and Draco looked concerned.

"What's wrong? You look kind of sick," He asked.

Harry looked over at Crabbe and Goyle pointedly. "They annoy me," He said simply.

"What? Why?" Draco replied, confused." Seem perfectly fine to me…"

"I don't like them," Harry cut him off, a bit more cross. He knew he was being stubborn, but didn't care. Something about them rubbed him the wrong way.

Draco faltered for a minute, but his face rolled into a snarl to match Harry's. "They are a bit slow." He glared over at them. "Beat it." They looked over at him sadly, but slowly nodded and wandered to another spot in the line.

Harry was surprised with the amount of power Draco could hold with only his words. He sent the two boys off with two words quicker than Harry could have with glares all day. He was impressed.

Draco smiled contentedly. "That's better?"

"Yeah," Harry agreed.

The doors opened to the Dining Hall, and the soft light of thousands of floating candles shown on the incoming student's faces. The rest of the Hogwarts students stared from long tables, and Harry stared back at them at like a deer in headlights.

The first years slowly filtered in until they all reached the other side of the building where a long table perpendicular to the others held all of the professors. One of the teachers caught Harry's attention. He had chin-length, greasy black hair, but that wasn't what Harry stared at him for. It was his piercing brown eyes that seemed to be staring directly at him, studying him almost. As soon as the professor's eyes met his, the man seemed a bit startled, but continued to stare. Harry could sense sadness lurking in his eyes. He looked away quickly and back to the action in front of him.

Professor McGonagall set a stool and a battered-old looking hat out in front of the youngest students, and many of them looked around confusedly. Is this the sorting hat? Harry mouthed to Draco, and he nodded in return. Silence resumed the great halls, and all eyes were on the hat. It rustled, and 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…"

The song continued on, and Harry looked on in awe. Magic indeed, he thought to himself as he followed the journey the hat illuminated through rhyme. As soon as the song ended and the applause slowed, the hat fell silent and the Professor began to call out names. Each student heeded the hat's instructions, and put the hat on. In no time each student was announced their house by the hat, and they scurried off to their corresponding table. No shortage of cheers and claps was each student granted as their new house greeted them.

Finally Morag MacDougal clambered over to his house, and Draco's name was called. He kept on a brace face, but Harry could tell that he was nervous

"Wish me luck, Potter, eh?" He said good-naturedly even through his trembles. Harry smiled and nodded.

Not a second after he sat on the stool, the hat bellowed "SLYTHERIN!" to the crowd. Draco couldn't hide his smile behind his cool persona as he walked towards the cheers meeting him at the Slytherin table, and Harry gave him the thumbs-up. The list went on, and Harry's heart went on beating faster and faster. ,and then finally:

"Potter, Harry!"

The whole world seemed to stop as Harry slowly stood up and walked over to the stool. He could feel all of the eyes on him. Whispers followed as well. Potter? Did they say Harry Potter? The voices travelled quickly, and soon everybody was murmuring as all the students bobbed around to look at him, many eyes fixedly at his forehead. Harry looked away towards the Professor's table.

Strangely enough, he felt the brown-eyed professor staring intently at him as well. It looked as though he was depending on the results of the Hat, although which results he was hoping for Harry didn't know. For some reason he hoped he got what the Professor wanted, though.

The hat was fitted onto his head, and it fell past his ears as he was enveloped in darkness. He jumped when he heard a voice in his ear.

"Hmm, yes, yes… Interesting, very interesting…" The voice came from the hat itself, and seemed to be filing through his brain, looking into the nooks and crannies, and piecing the information together. "Courage, I see a lot of courage… Bravery, both great Gryffindor traits. But oh, very cunning, you strive to prove yourself, an interesting blend…"

Slytherin, Slytherin, please Slytherin, Harry pleaded in his mind.

"Slytherin, you plead?" The hat asked him, and it seemed to be smirking in his mind. "But what about that courage? Many Gryffindor traits in here, many indeed…"

Slytherin, Slytherin… Harry continued to chant.

"You sure?" The hat talked once more. "Well, if you're so certain, I suppose I can't get in your way on that one That is one of the traits of that house, I think you'll it right in."

"SLYTHERIN!"