Chapter Text
Malfoy walked away from Professor McGonagall clean and dry, though the redness in his face couldn"t be removed with a spell. Snickers accompanied his walk of shame towards the two troll-like figures Harry saw earlier.
Professor McGonagall gazed over her new students, making eye-contact with each as she established that she was not one to be messed with. Hermione squeezed Harry"s arm tight when Professor McGonagall"s eyes moved over to her. Finally, the professor ended her silent examination of her new charges and addressed the group as a whole.
"Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I"m delighted to see so many young, excited faces here today. Shortly, you shall join your fellow students for the start-of-term feast, but before that we need to get you sorted into your houses. There are four houses here at Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. They have all produced exceptional witches and wizards and each and every one of you has the potential to be just as exceptional, if not more. Your house and your house-mates will be like your family here at Hogwarts, you"ll study, relax, and sleep in the same living areas as your house-mates. However, just because you are not in the same house as another student, that does not mean you cannot be friends, and I know some of you have already made friends that may end up in a different house to you. Now, if you will all follow me to the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses."
The first-years began to chatter in excitement as they followed the elderly professor towards a magnificent pair of golden doors with intricate embossings that reflected the warm light of the torches either side of the door. They could hear the loud yet muffled ramblings of hundreds of students behind them as they approached.
"Oh, Harry! This is so exciting! I can"t wait for us to be sorted! Where do you think we"ll be placed? In Hogwarts: A History, it says that the Sorting Hat reads our thoughts in order to decide the house we"re sorted into! I wonder what it"ll see in us? I think we"ll be in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, though Hufflepuff doesn"t sound too bad either!" Harry could hear the giddiness in Hermione"s voice, and her contagious excitement meant that he couldn"t hide his smile as he responded - not that he"d want to.
"Not Slytherin, for sure. That"s where that Malfoy kid wanted to be. Hagrid said my parents were in Gryffindor, so that would be nice to have a connection to them... I"m not sure if I"m smart enough for Ravenclaw, but Hufflepuff sounds good as well. The most important thing, though, is that I"m sorted with you, Hermione."
Hermione let out a squeal and tightly wrapped her arms around Harry just as the students stopped in front of the golden doors.
Professor McGonagall tapped her wand against the doors and the students couldn"t help but gasp at the sight before them as Professor McGonagall ushered them forwards. Moments later, after all the new students had shaken off the shock of the stunning sight of the Great Hall (and Hermione happily spouted fact and fact into Harry"s ear), they were standing in front of a dirty old hat on a stool.
"I expected something a bit more… grand, to be honest," Harry muttered.
Professor McGonagall cleared her throat as she unraveled a scroll.
"Abbott, Hannah."
As a blonde girl nervously stepped forwards to sit on the stool, Harry felt Hermione tense and tug at his arm.
"Harry…" Hermione whispered shakily, "We"re going to have to separate to get sorted. Harry… I-I don"t w-want to. I don"t want to. Harry, please, please do something!"
Harry didn"t know what to do. It wasn"t as if Harry could hold Hermione"s hand as she went up and got sorted, as much as he wanted to. He rattled his brain for a solution, ignoring the students who were getting sorted, but painfully aware of how close "G" was in the list as Justin Finch-Fletchley was called up to the stool.
"Hermione, I-" Harry stopped and sighed, "You"re going to have to be strong, okay? We won"t be apart for long, we"ll be sorted into the same house and we"ll be back together. It"ll all be alright."
Hermione nodded shyly and pulled Harry into a tight hug just as McGonagall called for "Granger, Hermione".
Hermione slowly pulled away from Harry, wiping away tears that had fallen, took a deep breath and walked to the Sorting Hat.
As soon as she had sat down, Hermione immediately made eye contact with Harry, unblinking as McGonagall put the Sorting Hat on her head. Harry made sure not to blink himself, trying his hardest to provide Hermione with as much support as he could despite being so far away.
Nothing seemed to happen for quite a few minutes. Every now and then, Hermione would frown or furrow her eyebrows. All of a sudden, Hermione"s features eased and the Hat called out "RAVENCLAW!".
Harry heard Ron Weasley sigh in relief.
With a slight smile on her face, and not once breaking eye contact with Harry, Hermione sat at the end of the Ravenclaw that happened to be right where Harry was standing. Ignoring the applause and greetings from her new housemates, Hermione grabbed Harry"s hand like a lifeline and maintained that hold as the Sorting continued.
"Congratulations!" Harry whispered to Hermione.
She beamed at him, but as quick as the smile appeared, it vanished.
"Potter, Harry," McGonagall called.
"I won"t be long, I promise," Harry muttered, very reluctantly slipping his hand out of Hermione"s, who Harry could see beginning to tear up again.
"Good luck," she whispered.
He could hear the whispers from around the hall talking about him. It was evident that he was the main attraction of the Sorting Ceremony, but Harry didn"t care about all that right now. All he wanted was to put on the Sorting Hat, have it yell out "Ravenclaw!" and sit down next to Hermione.
Harry took a seat on the stool and immediately sought her out. They easily made eye-contact and Harry focused on her to calm his nerves.
McGonagall put the hat on his head and-
"Ah, Mr Potter. I"ve been waiting for you for quite a while."
It took a moment for Harry to realise that the voice in his head was coming from the Sorting Hat, but he didn"t have time and was in no mood to make conversation.
"Ravenclaw," Harry thought.
"Now, now, Mr Potter, let us have a discus-"
"Ravenclaw."
"You"re going to play that game, then? First of all, no. You"re in no state to go into Ravenclaw and-"
"Ravenclaw."
"Don"t interrupt. Second of all, you don"t get to choose what house you go into, that"d be ridiculous, and we"d have no one in Hufflepuff if that was the case-"
"Put me in Ravenclaw."
"And silly schoolyard crushes are no basis for deciding upon your house for the next seven years, Mr Potter."
Harry bristled, and he focused his attention on Hermione even more, "How dare you! How dare you - you stupid hat - compare Hermione to a "schoolyard crush"!"
"She"s Ravenclaw material, Mr Potter, you are not. Anyways, I"m bored of playing this silly game."
There was a moment"s pause as Harry began to "think-yell" obscenities at the hat before it screamed out, "GRYFFINDOR!"
The Gryffindor table erupted in applause, and the other houses meekly followed along. The sound from Harry"s new house was deafening, though Harry couldn"t bring himself to share in their apparent joy. He sat meekly on the stool, and for the very first time he was unable to look Hermione in the eye, having failed her.
It took a moment for Harry to register a horrific screech coming from one of the tables. The Great Hall was abruptly silenced as Hermione Granger stood up from her seat, aggressively barged the remaining un-sorted students out of her way (and they fell like dominos), stomped up to Harry, ripped the Sorting Hat from his head, sat on his lap, and thrust the hat onto her own head.
Though he didn"t realise it, Harry was very lucky that he couldn"t see the murderous look upon Hermione"s face; the rest of the Great Hall, however, would see that face in their nightmares for years to come. A few minutes later, just as Harry was really starting to get comfortable with Hermione in his lap, the Sorting Hat sort-of squeaked out, "G-G-G-Gry-Gryff-Gryffindor!"
And with that, Hermione slipped off Harry"s lap, grabbed him by the hand and dragged him to the Gryffindor table where she snuggled up nice and tight to him.
Everyone else was silent.
Ron Weasley looked as though he was going to throw up. Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore were utterly shocked and slack-jawed by the proceedings. Professor Snape had a weirdly mangled expression, whilst Professor Flitwick and Hagrid seemed to find the whole occasion very amusing. Professor Trelawney was nodding along as though she knew this would happen.
The Sorting then awkwardly continued when McGonagall finally got a grip on existence, however the Sorting Hat appeared to be a little broken as it nervously squeaked rather than shouted the house the student would be sorted into. The applause from the house tables was half-hearted as the students still struggled to comprehend what had just occurred.
"What did you say to it, Hermione?" Harry asked, both confused and awed.
She gave Harry a sly grin, but didn"t say anything and instead burrowed into Harry a little more. He couldn"t really complain.
As the number of un-sorted students got lower and lower, it was time for "Weasley, Ronald" to put on the hat. He still looked as though he was going to vomit as he anxiously sat down, his pale face shooting terrified glances towards Hermione. It didn"t take long for the Sorting Hat to reach a decision.
"H-Huf-Hufflepuff…" it squeakily mumbled.
Ron relaxed so much that Harry began to wonder just how stressed he was as Ron made his way to the Hufflepuff table.
The dinging of a spoon against a crystal goblet caught the attention of the students. Professor Dumbledore stood up from his grand chair and gazed over the populace of Hogwarts, a grandfatherly smile and a glint in his eye.
"That was all very exciting, wasn"t it?" he chuckled, "Now, after that momentous and historical sorting, I imagine you"re all very hungry. However, I have few start-of-term announcements to make…"
Harry zoned out Dumbledore"s speech as he realised that Hermione had fallen asleep and was snoring into his chest. He gently rubbed her back to try and awaken her.
"Hey," he said softly, "Hermione? You"ve fallen asleep."
Hermione mewed as her eyes fluttered open and gazed into Harry"s, "Huh? Oh, sorry, you"re just so very comfortable, Harry."
Harry smiled at her but his attention was brought back to Dumbledore as he exclaimed "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"
All of a sudden, a gargantuan feast materialised onto the table in front of them. Harry was astonished by the amount of food available and reached out to serve himself some Shepherd"s Pie when Hermione grabbed his arm.
"Let me."
And so he did. Hermione served Harry and herself various dishes and somehow picked the exact ones that Harry would like best. Hermione snuggled up to Harry once again as they ate, inadvertently ignoring everyone who tried to talk to them, and the pair enjoyed the first of many feasts at Hogwarts.
All in all, it had been a perfect day.