Part 3

                                    

                                          

A gaggle of wide-eyed children huddled around the massive gamekeeper, Hagrid. Once they were all assembled, Hagrid led the first-year students down a twisty, dark passageway which led them to the shore of a large, dark lake.
"All right, four to a boat," Hagrid instructed. "Keep yer voices down – according ter legend, there's a great squid that likes ter rock boats..." Some of the children shuddered at the thought of such a terrifying beast.
Harry, Daphne, and Ron carefully made their way into one of the enchanted rowboats. They were soon joined by a stocky, chubby-cheeked boy with a nervous expression on his face. Daphne was the first to reach out to the boy. "Hello, I'm Daphne Greengrass," she said with her usual gorgeous smile. "And you are?"
"I'm Neville Longbottom," replied Neville, returning the smile. He cocked his head ever so slightly. "You're one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, aren't you?"
Daphne, still smiling, nodded. "And so are the Longbottoms." She then gestured to Harry and Ron. "And this is Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley." Harry and Ron each thrust their hands in Neville's direction, which he eagerly accepted.
A few minutes later, the children reached the other side of the Black Lake – a feeling of relief blanketed the the queasier children like Neville. Once again, Hagrid marched the children uphill toward the looming castle, and up a massive flight of stairs to reach the main foyer. Some of the children who weren't used to such exercise found themselves quite out of breath once they reached the top of the stairs. Poor Neville hunched over, grasping his knees, trying to catch his breath.
A few moments later, a middle-aged witch clad almost entirely in green met Hagrid and the children in the foyer. She had quite the austere expression on her face – the children quickly straightened themselves up and listened carefully as she spoke.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, students," she announced with sincerity. "I am Professor McGonagall – Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. The Start-of-Term Feast will commence shortly, but first, you must be sorted into one of four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. The decision is final – this is the house that you will call home for the next seven years; you may almost think of it as your family while you're here." She carefully eyed the cluster of students – there was a slightly larger number than usual, perhaps close to fifty in total this year.
After the briefest of pauses, she continued. "You may earn your house points through demonstration of knowledge or skill, or through good or brave deeds. Conversely, rule-breaking and other such delinquent acts may cost your house points. The house with the most points at the end of the term wins the House Cup. Does anyone have any questions?" She was greeted by headshakes and blank expressions. "Very good," she said with a curt nod. "I shall return momentarily – please wait here."
"Well, well, well," came a rather cocky-sounding voice from the rear of the gaggle. "I see the Golden Boy has decided to grace us with his presence." Harry, Daphne, and Ron turned around to see a smug-looking boy with slicked-black platinum blonde locks, flanked by two hulking boys that towered over him.
The smug boy smirked. "Perhaps you'd like to acquaint yourself with the upper crust of wizarding society. I can certainly make that happen... after all, who wants to associate themselves with the dregs of society?" He looked in Ron's direction, his face contorted into an obvious expression of disapproval.
The blonde boy again turned to Harry. "I can give you some time to think it over, if you'd like, Potter. After all, it's only your wizarding future at stake..."
Harry merely nodded at the boy, before turning to Daphne. "Who was that?" he whispered in her ear.
"That's Draco Malfoy. Like myself, he's an heir to a wealthy wizarding house," Daphne whispered back. "Between you and me, he's not the kind of boy you should be friends with. His daddy is very, very bad news... he has direct ties to You-Know-Who, and I'm afraid that he's grooming Draco to be every bit the asshole that he is."