At least the rest of the traveling went on smoothly, and none of us brought anything up that would upset the other. Our travel remained uninterrupted, although I expected someone to come and try to stir up trouble that he couldn’t finish before… but that did not come to pass. When we were getting close, putting on our robes was an event in itself. It was a bit different from my usual ones, a bit more rougher, simpler, and less elegant. More… uniform. Which I kinda liked. It was an exciting change, although it did not have a correct slot to hide my wand in my sleeve. But I could work with that and modify it later on. For now, the inner pocket would suffice. Checking myself out in my faint reflection in the window, I was satisfied with what I saw.


    “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Quincy asked, and it took me a second to realize what she meant. For a moment, I felt my face turn way brighter than I would like to admit.


    “It is,” I answered, scratching my throat, changing my focus from my reflection onto the huge castle on the horizon, standing contrasted to the silvery moon and the star-filled night sky, painting a truly otherworldly picture.


    The best school to learn magic in Brittain. No. In the world. Although I never visited any of the schools worthy of being mentioned alongside Hogwarts, I am pretty sure that most, if not all, modeled their structure after Hogwarts.


    “Better to get ready.” I looked away, glancing at Quincy’s face. “We are going to be sorted in an hour or so… Good luck.” I smiled at her, but I could see her anxiety come back with force.


    I could have said many things to her, but I think it would have been useless. All would be seen as nothing fake encouragement as I was not in the same shoes as her… which was true. I couldn’t place myself in her place and accurately imagine what it was like to be looked down at constantly. Well, what I know about was what it feels like to be looked at provocatively.


    As soon as my feet landed on the platform, lit by orange gas lamps, I felt Draco’s gaze land on me. Of course, I wasn’t about to answer it in any way, shape, or form. Let him feel superior and let me focus on my own thing. That would be the best.


    “Do you have something going on with the Malfoy’s kid?” Quincy asked, stepping down from the train behind me. “He has been looking at you from the start. Is it because of me?”


    “Nope.” I answered, “To both of your questions. It’s just that our families are kind of rivals. His father’s tongue is browner than an American toad’s back. My father at least has the decency to work for his achievements.”


    “Heh…” She chuckled softly, which also made me smile. “I bet you wouldn’t say that to his face.”


    “Nope.” I repeated myself, looking at her with one eye, “I’m not stupid. Plus, causing trouble for my Father is the last thing I would want to do. In front of the kid, I’ll be courteous.”


    “You also ARE a kid. So am I.” She said in a rather sharp voice, making me look at her, and I could not help but twitch my mouth… She wasn’t wrong… and why did her voice then remind me of my mother? Ugh… please, no. “Hmph…” She walked past me, probably because of the grimace I let slip onto my face. Ah… whatever!


    After huddling around like little ducklings, we were herded by a female teacher who we later learned was named Grubbly-Plank. What a weird name… Well, I’m not one to speak anyway. The ride over the lake quickly made me forget about it anyway, and even Quincy, who shared the boat with me, managed to gaze in awe at the huge castle getting closer and closer and stopped ignoring me. What I could do without was the hundreds of stairs we had to ascend from the docks to the castle itself.


    “Are we being tested for our physical state or what?” I moaned under my breath, but Quincy was not about to answer me as I saw her gasp for air, holding her side, looking like she was in great pain. Not an athletic type… I could tell that immediately. I could sympathize with that as if I hated something more than stairs; it was running.


    Luckily there were not too many stairs left after coming into the school’s main building and made to wait before the great hall. I was watching the tapestries, the different, moving paintings and suits of armor, everything, just to not let my eyes meet with Draco’s. Or anyone else’s, in fact. I wasn’t in the mood for any of it, especially before we were properly sorted. It could… backfire.


    “I see everyone is here?” A voice echoed beside our ears, and the woman named Grubbly-Plank answered shortly while a fat, short, balding, honestly speaking, rat-like figure appeared before us. For a moment, I thought I heard Squeaky… then I saw her, only bloated out of proportions. It was Quincy’s elbow that lodged itself into my side, wiping off the clear disgust from my face, replacing it with wincing.


    “If you look at him like that, you will be in trouble…” She whispered, “He is the head of House Gryffindor, Professor Wormtail.”


    “Professor? Him?” I asked back, even more surprised. Plus… head of a House? Merlin’s beard… is the school okay to employ someone like that?


    “Your face… stop it. It’s twitching….” She warned me again while the squeaking blob of a guy was telling us something, but I could only hear rat-like noises and not any comprehensive words coming out of his mouth. Now I was sure I did not want to become part of Gryffindor. No way. Put me into Hufflepuff instead.


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    “Disgusting.” Someone else whispered, and I knew that voice. It was Draco’s. Well… sometimes even we can agree on something as I glanced at him, only nodding, making him flustered that we had the same opinion.


    Finally, when the rat-man finished, we were led into the vast dining room. It was pretty uncomfortable to be watched by so many older students sitting at their respective tables, sizing us up. In front of us, at the professor’s table, I could glance at the teachers who we would study under starting tomorrow. There was that Grub-grub, whatever, woman, and next to her was the empty space where our Rat-boy should be sitting at. There were many faces I did not recognize or know about. But there were some I knew. Besides the Headmaster, Snape, I recognized another figure. Horace Slughorn. I knew about him because my father told me about how he and HIM somewhat connected. He was found by HIM personally and then invited to join the school as a teacher after Dumbledore was chased out. Supposedly he is close to HIM.


    Moving my eyes away from him, there was another man who I was very familiar with. Especially because I saw him in my mother’s bed. Gilderoy Lockhart. I just can’t understand why Father never taught him and Mother a lesson when I told him about it. He even laughed… then I found him reading one of that blonde playboy’s books, having a jolly good time with it! Haahh… I did not know I would find him here once again. Not that he knows about me at all. Or I knew what he did with my mother. Watching that smile on his face was making my skin crawl… but then I saw another smile that made my stomach turn. It was plastered on a toad-like woman’s face, wearing all-pink. I don’t know who she is, but… I already know who I won’t like at all simply by their first impressions.


    Before I could look around more, I heard my name being called out, and there was a stool placed in front of everyone with an old, dingy-looking hat placed on it. I didn’t know how it got there, I was too preoccupied with my own thoughts, but I realized what was happening. The sorting started, and I was going to be sorted first. I can only hope that my face remained calm throughout while I walked out from the crowd to sit on that stool. As the hat was lowered on my head, strangely, the outside world completely disappeared. I could not hear or see anything.


    “Mhm…” An ancient, tired voice echoed in my ear. It felt like coming from far afar, and it sounded so tired; I felt like listening to someone on death’s bed. It was very… very uncomfortable. “Another year has passed…”


    “...”


    “No matter…” The voice sighed, and I could feel deep lethargy oozing out of it. “You have a good brain; you could easily fit into Ravenclaw.”


    “Oh boy… here we go.” I thought, but it seemed the hat, which the voice belonged to, I assume, chuckled.


    “You also value familial ties and friendship. Hufflepuff would be a good home for you….”


    “...” I think, if the hat wasn’t covering half of my head, I should look totally white now to the other students.


    “But not in our time… but in the past.” He added, sounding even more tired… and old. “Gryffindor… no. You would not have fit in there.”


    “In the past… or right now?” I asked, sounding curious and also a bit annoyed at the same time. Which was a surprise for even me.


    “Both.” It answered and then spoke only one more word, which it did loudly, and I could feel it being lifted off of my head. “Slytherin.”


    Standing up, I was a bit dazed, looking around, hearing the claps coming from the table under the green and silver banners where I soon found my place, sitting down amongst older students, nodding at them. Looking at their features, I could notice many of them held characteristics of different, pure-blood families. Turning back towards the stool, I was watching the others be sorted. Some take more time than others, and some only put the hat on when it speaks out. One such girl was Quincy. When the Sorting Hat landed on her head, it cried Slytherin before it could cover her face. Surprisingly, few were clapping, me amongst them.


    “Well…” I looked around, catching some weird gazes… “If you start something, you make sure to finish it, Son.” Echoed my Father’s words in my mind, so I just shrugged, continuing to clap while Quincy sat down next to me.


    “Thanks…” She whispered, barely audible.


    “You’re welcome,” I answered calmly, lowering my hand and looking at her face that was finally regaining some color, but she did not look at the others at all, focusing on the empty, golden table before her.


    When it was Draco’s time to sit, he was sorted into Slytherin too. No surprises there. Well… this time, I only clapped for a brief moment, watching him come and sit with us.


    “I see-” He leaned closer to say something to Quincy or to me, I was not really sure, but I simply ignored him and nodded, hummed, and answered with a dull, “Sure.”


    “Conrad…” Quincy whispered while the sorting was going on, and her voice was masked by clapping as another girl was sorted into Ravenclaw.


    “Hm?”


    “Did you even notice that you said yes to Draco about acknowledging his role as the leader of the 1st year students?”


    “I did?” I asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at Draco, who was already talking with two buffoon-looking guys. “Oh well. No matter. He would want to be in the limelight anyway.”


    “Are you sure?” She asked incredulously. “Are you really belong to Slytherin?”


    “Who cares about a nameless position?” I smiled at her, and I wasn’t really lying. “Let Draco be in the limelight. I can do my own thing more easily that way.”


    “Which… is?” She asked, lowering her voice even more, leaning closer.


    “Study.”


    “Huh?” She flinched, and I was sure she did not expect something so simple.


    “Duh. We are at the best school! I don’t care about pretending to be the leader of the kid army of Slytherin….”


    “There you go again…” She rolled her eyes, getting annoyed at it, which, I won’t lie, was amusing to see.


    “Anyway, I want to learn all that there is in here and obtain true power. To raise above even my Father so he will be proud of me, and I could support him with all I have got!”


    “Your Father…” She murmured, and I knew instantly she was thinking about hers, who I assume she had never met nor knew much about. If I do not count what was being said about him back home… I could guess, though.


    “Chin up!” I poked her sides, nodding towards the table before us, filled with hundreds of mouth-watering dishes. While we were whispering, the Headmaster finished his brief speech that I completely missed… not that I minded it. “Let’s eat instead!” I smiled, and seeing she agreed with me, I had the pleasure of having one of the best feasts I have ever had until that day.