Disclaimer: Sadly I am not J.K. Rowling and I don't own Harry Potter

CHAPTER 1

Draco sneered as he stepped off the Hogwarts express, his run-in with Harry Potter on the train was less than satisfactory. Why did he have to be friends with that weasl- Draco began to think but lost his train of thought when he got a glimpse of Hagrid. Blimey, I've only seen Hagrid outside a store window! I never thought he was this big up close! Draco nervously thought. "Firs' years over here! Firs' years this way!" Hagrid called. Draco quickly sauntered over to Hagrid and stared up at him, not wanting to seem scared.

"Alrigh'" Is tha' everyone?" Hagrid asked and noticed everyone was off the train. "All righ' then, come on! Come on!" Hagrid exclaimed leading the kids to the boats, but no one followed. Hagrid sighed. "Oh come on! I'm no' going to bite."

"Wouldn't put it past hi-," Draco murmured to Crabbe but realized everyone was walking over to the boats and quickly ran up to them. He climbed into a boat with Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy and soon Hagrid could be heard calling "FORWARD" to the boats. The boats immediately took off and started to move toward Hogwarts.

After a while, they were nearing the castle and Draco couldn't help but gasp in amazement as they rode the boats nearer and nearer. The castle could be seen looming over the horizon, looking as if it had come out of some fairy tale, and various "wows" could be heard as they got closer to it. The lake was as smooth as glass and Draco couldn't help but to feel mesmerized by it all. He started to feel very peaceful but the peace was quickly interrupted when two cries of "Woah!" rang out on the other side of the lake. He whipped his head around and saw two girls pointing in the water. Whatever they were pointing at seemed to be making quite a ruckus.

"Crabbe move over!" Draco hissed as he pushed Crabbe out of the way and stood to get a better look at what the girls were pointing at. He couldn't see anything and craned his neck to see farther. All of a sudden the boat rocked and Draco fell into the boat with a rather girly scream. He whipped around to see what his attacker was but felt rather foolish when he realized it was the giant squid. That's what the girls were pointing at? Hadn't they ever seen a picture of the squid before? Weird. Draco thought.

Soon the boats were going into a tunnel that seemed to lead right under the castle, but soon they reached a dark underground harbor. The kids all clamored out onto the rocky path.

"Is tha' everyone?" Hagrid asked, making sure no one had fallen out of a boat. Only a few nods of yes were seen as an answer. "All righ' then. Follow me," Hagrid called.

"Wait! I can't find my toad! Trevor! I've lost him!" A small boy named Neville cried.

"It's ok! It's ok! We'll search for yer toad," Hagrid said.

"Wait! We can't see a thing! We need a light!" A boy with the name of Seamus Finnigan called.

"Oh, crikey I forgo'. All righ'. Don' you be worryin'," Hagrid said as he lit a lamp. "Better?"

"Yah," Many kids mumbled in reply as they started looking for Trevor.

After many long minutes of searching, they were ready to give up. "Wait! Here he is! He's been in my pocket the whole time," Neville called as many other students groaned.

"Ok, then wha' are you waitin' for?" Hagrid said as he started his way back up the path. At last, after what seemed like an hour of walking to some of the kids, they reached an opening leading out of the underground path. The kids followed Hagrid through the opening and ended up on smooth grass, right in the shadow of the school. Hogwarts could be seen not too far ahead of them.

"Come on! Come on! Don' wan' to be late!" Hagrid called to the kids who had frozen in place, mesmerized by the castle. The soon-to-be students begrudgingly followed Hagrid up the hill, not wanting to look away. They soon arrived at the door of the castle. "Stay righ' here," Hagrid said to the children as he approached the giant oak front door. He raised a gigantic fist and slowly knocked three times.

The huge door immediately swung open, revealing a slightly annoyed Professor McGonagall. "What took you so long? You're nearly late!" She huffed.

"Sorry 'bout that professor!" Hagrid said before leaning in closer and murmuring with a glance at Neville,"We had a little trouble down at the docks." McGonagall's face formed into a small "oh" of understanding.

"Well alright, come on, come on!" She called to the nervous first years."This way!" She lead the first years down a corridor stopping at a few places to explain things. She leads them to the outside of a door, and chattering voices could be heard on the inside of the room the door opened to. "Wait here for a moment. I will be back shortly," The witch said, and with that, she turned on her heel and walked into the unknown room. As the new students were waiting, snippets of conversations could be heard throughout.

Draco noticed Harry talking to Ron about the sorting and glared at him. I still can't believe he chose that Weasel over ME! And he was talking to that disgusting mudblood, Ginger or something.

After a while, McGonagall came back through the doors and briefly explained the houses to the waiting kids. "Ok, follow me this way." She said as she opened up the big doors. The students all gasped in amazement at the sight they saw. It was a place lit by thousands and thousands of candles floating in mid-air. Four long tables stretched across the room and at the top of the hall was another long table where the staff was sitting. Dotted here and there were silvery spots where the ghosts were. The ceiling currently looked like a night sky, spotted with stars. A shabby hat sat on a stool, motionless. Many of the new first years were nervous due to the hundreds of faces staring at each and every one of them. All of a sudden the wrinkled hat started to sing its song for the year. A loud round of applause was heard when the hat finished its song, and Professor McGonagall stepped up near the stool.

"When your name is called you will come up and put on the hat. It will sort you into your house and you will then sit at the appropriate table," McGonagall said to the first years as she unraveled a scroll with names. "Abbott, Hannah!" she called.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat as the Hufflepuffs cheered

"Bones, Susan"

HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again as another loud cheer rose from the Hufflepuffs

"Boot, Terry"

RAVENCLAW!"

"Brocklehurst, Mandy"

RAVENCLAW

"Brown, Lavender"

GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat after a moment's pause. The Gryffindors let out a cheer so loud that one might think there was a battle going on in there.

"Granger, Hermione" McGonagall called.

"Alright, don't worry," Hermione murmured to herself.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled. It went on like this for a while until McGonagall got to the "M" section.

"MacDougal, Morag"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Malfoy, Draco"

Finally! Draco thought as he swaggered up to the stool. This should only take a moment, for I'm the most Slytherin-y person I know.

"Hmmm, you would certainly do well in Slytherin. Definitely Slytherin. Wait. But what's this? Hmm, bravery seems to be strong with you." The Hat mused.

At this, Draco's heart began to sink and the last thing he heard before he fainted was a loud cry of "GRYFFINDOR!"

A/N: Cliffhanger :) Remember, more reviews, favorites, and follows means more chapters and faster posting! :D