Author's Note: This is an offshoot one-shot based (split into two parts) on a longer story that I'm writing called You Only Live Twice, which is a sequel to my first fanfic My Everlasting Love. It's about Sirius's children - Erin and Oliver - going to Hogwarts for the first time. And with Harry, Ron and Hermione of course I'm guessing this short story will only make sense to people who are familiar with my other work, but oh well….

Dedication: To everyone who reads my stories and enjoys them.

Disclaimer: I only own the original characters in this story. The rest – unfortunately – is not mine at all.

A Surprising Sorting

She could no longer see him. Erin was pushing her nose up against the window of the Hogwarts Express corridor they were standing, but the black scruffy dog that had been running alongside the train for the last few minutes finally seemed to be outrun by the Express and had disappeared from view. Erin sighed. She was missing her father already – part of her worried something might happen to him whilst she and Oliver were not around to be watched over. On some level she dreaded what was coming at Hogwarts; the Sorting, which would decide her fate at the most famous wizarding school in their world.

She lied to her mother when talking to her this morning about going to Hogwarts. In fact, Erin had been lying to her quite a lot these days. She just seemed so happy about being back in England and Erin did not want to bother her about the fact that her daughter was missing their old life in Brazil more every day. The cool glass of the window felt nice against her cheek, though. For Erin it would have been perfectly alright to be left standing there for the entire journey, but no such luck. Her younger brother Oliver tugged her sleeve before joking: "What'cha doing there, sis? Did someone try to be funny by gluing your face to the window?"

"Unlikely," Hermione replied. "None of the windows and doors on the Hogwarts Express can be charmed. It says so in chapter five of-"

"-Hogwarts, A History," Ron and Harry chimed in monotonously at the exact same time, making Oliver laugh aloud while Hermione rolled her eyes at him, but she looked amused all the same.

"Isn't that part supposed to be in chapter six?" Erin asked when she finally turned back from the window, making everyone in the corridor – including Hermione – look at her in surprise. "I read the book before I came to London. As I recall, chapter five mostly concerns the origins of King's Cross station and Platform 9 ¾." She shrugged.

Ron and Harry were still staring at her in wonder, but Hermione seemed slightly pleased by being corrected on a fact by someone else for (perhaps – Erin could not be sure) the first time in her life. "Right you are," she nodded before looking down at her watch. "Well-"

"Shall we go and find a compartment?" Harry asked.

Erin noticed that Ron and Hermione were exchanging an uncomfortable look. "Er," he started awkwardly.

"We're – well – Ron and I are supposed to go into the Prefect carriage," Hermione said carefully while Ron seemed extremely busy with studying the fingernails on his left hand.

Harry nodded. "Oh. Right. Fine."

"I don't think we'll have to stay there all journey," Hermione continued quickly. "Our letters said we just get instructions from the Head Boy and Girl and then patrol the corridors from time to time."

"Fine," Harry replied in the same seemingly indifferent voice, even though everyone could see the situation was making him feel uncomfortable. Erin thought he was doing a poor job at hiding it. "Well – We'll might see you guys later on, then."

"Yeah, definitely," Ron said. "It's a pain going down there, I'd rather – but we have to – I mean, I'm not enjoying it. I'm not Percy."

"I know you're not," Harry said, smiling slightly. And with that, Ron and Hermione turned around to leave, taking their trunks and pets with them. Harry looked back at Erin. Ginny and Oliver. "Right. Shall we go and find ourselves an compartment, then?"

"That sounds like a plan," Oliver nodded and he, Ginny and Harry lead the way through one crowded corridor after the other. Erin followed them but stayed behind a little on purpose, casting curious glances in some of the compartments she passed to have a look at the chatting Hogwarts students who could turn out to be her housemates soon enough.

Erin realized the others were getting ahead quickly and she started walking a little faster. She noticed the group was getting into an compartment while helping some nervous-looking boy they all seemed to know and she was about to follow suit when a glass-panelled door of one compartment opened unexpectedly and a big chubby guy stepped out, causing Erin to bump straight into him and land right on her butt as a result. Swell, she thought surly and was just attempting to crawl back on back her feet when an elegant and slender-looking hand appeared right in front of her face. When she looked up, her gaze met the equally grey eyes of a tall and slender guy with pale, white blond hair.

"Do excuse my clumsy oaf of a friend," he spoke in a polite, but slightly reserved voice. "I hope you have not injured yourself with that nasty fall."

A another moment of hesitation where she glared at the fat bloke standing behind the blonde haired guy, Erin put her hand in his and allowed him to pull her back on her feet. He studied her face intently. "I don't think we have met. Are you new?"

Erin nodded, feeling intimated by the intense stare of this confident-looking guy. "I'm an exchange student and will be attending Hogwarts this year."

"Where'd you go before? Beauxbatons? No, that's not right. You don't have an accent."

She shook her head. "I was born and raised in Brazil, but my mother was British."

"What's your name?"

"Erin Alvarez." Starting to feel agitated by this unexpected inquisition, she decided to counter his last question immediately. "What's yours?"

"Draco Malfoy, Slytherin House." He smiled confidently. "Forgive me for saying this, but you look kind of lost. Unfortunately I am on my way to the Prefects Carriage, but would you like to join my friends for the rest of the journey?"

He ushered to what was likely the most spacious compartment on the train and when she peeked inside, she spotted a couple of more students dressed in black robes with details in green and silver. Some of them smiled at her whilst others merely raised their hands politely. If this was Slytherin, Erin found herself thinking, getting sorted into that House would not be so bad after all. For a moment she felt tempted to join these people, until she thought of Oliver and the others. "Well, I suppose I could… Oh crap, no I can't!" When the guy arched his eyebrows at her, she quickly elaborated. "It's my brother, Oliver. He went ahead to find us a compartment and I promised I would sit with him."

Draco said nothing in return but continued to stare at her, making Erin feel even more aware of how she was fidgeting with the hem of her sleeve. "But I'll see you later?"

After another pause that seemed to last forever, he nodded. "Alright. I'll see you later, Erin."

Erin shot Draco another quick smile before shooting past him and hurrying over to the compartment where Oliver, Harry, Ginny, the nervous boy and a loony-looking girl with long blonde hair were lounging. They seemed completely at ease with the situation, but looked up as one when she entered the compartment. "You look like you've seen a ghost," her brother noted, frowning at her. "What took you so long?"

For some reason Erin got the feeling it was better to keep the truth to herself. "Nothing. I got hold back for a moment, that's all," she said before quickly turning to the boy sitting next to Oliver and introduce herself. "I don't believe we've met yet. I'm Erin."

They boy had to move the tiny grey cactus he was holding to his other hand to shake hers properly. "Nice to meet you. I'm Neville."

Next, she turned to blonde girl sitting next to the window. "Hi, I'm Erin."

"Hello Erin." The girl spoke in a kind of dreamlike voice. "I'm Luna Lovegood. You can sit next to me if you like."

Realizing it was the only spare seat left in the compartment, Erin sat down next to the weird girl, trying to ignore her blatant staring. Harry, who was sitting across from Luna, offered her a Liquorice Wand. When she declined, he asked: "So how were you held up?"

Erin hesitated. Over the last few weeks at Grimmauld Place she had heard all about Gryffindors hating students from Slytherin House. All the Weasley children did, and so did Harry, not to mention her own father. But the Slytherin fellow she met a few minutes ago had seemed cordial and nice. She assumed Harry would never understand. And even though Erin had promised her mother to be civil to 'The Boy Who Lived', she still was not sure yet if she could really trust him. So she decided – for the third time that day – that lying was the better option. "It was nothing."

"It doesn't sound like nothing to me."

Erin blushed. "Eh… Well - If you must know, I had to make a visit to the ladies room, alright?"

Now it was Harry's turn to appear flustered and Ginny snorted. "That'll teach you to poke around in a girl's business," she said lightly and Erin shot her a grateful smile in return. Ginny gave her a confidential wink before returning to her conversation with Oliver. A reticent Erin stared out of the window for a while at the trees and fields flashing by until they were finally joined by Hermione and Ron, who informed them about the chosen prefects from the other houses, including the mention of Draco, the guy she had met earlier on the train. Ron especially seemed ecstatic about his power to deduct house points from other students and give out punishments.

When he made a joke about assigning lines to someone named Crabbe – Erin wondered if this was perhaps the chubby guy she had crashed into – everybody laughed. Luna in particular was having a downright fit of laughter. She was laughing so hard that the magazine she had been holding slipped out of her hands and landed on to the floor. The others were still sniggering over how nonplussed Ron looked at the hysterically laughing Luna Lovegood, when Erin's gaze, like Harry's, dropped to the magazine's cover. He picked it up at the very moment Erin realized her father's name was on the cover: SIRIUS BLACK: VILLAIN OR VICTIM?

"Can I have a look at this?" Harry asked Luna. When the girl nodded, looking exhausted from her laughing fit, Erin felt tempted to sit next to him and read the backstory on her father. As it were, it was in fact Oliver who was sitting next to Harry and could read along. Her brother had read about half of the article when he pulled a face and huffed. "What a load of crap. Sirius Black a famous singer? Everybody knows my-"

After a rough poke in the ribs from Harry and warning glances from Hermione, Ron and Ginny, Oliver recovered just in time. "Well, I was just saying - everyone knows my late uncle was the best singing wizard around. Well, at least in South America, that is."

Luna stared at him, blinking curiously, and Oliver shot a helpless look at Hermione, who quickly cleared her throat. "The Quibbler's rubbish, Oliver. Everybody knows that."

"Excuse me," Luna interrupted, speaking in a much less dreamy-sounding voice. "My father's the editor."

"I – oh," Hermione said, looking embarrassed. "Well… It's got some interesting … I mean… It's quite…"

"I have it back now, thank you," Luna said coldly, and leaning forwards she snatched it out of Harry's hands before turning back to the page she had been reading and disappeared behind the magazine's pages once again.

The sudden tense atmosphere was palpable and Erin was just about to say something nice about the magazine when the compartment door opened again. Draco, the guy from Slytherin, appeared in the doorway, causing the temperature in the carriage to plummet even further. Draco was shooting Harry a disdainful look, and he was glaring back with mutual dislike. "What?!" he asked in an aggressive tone.

Draco narrowed his eyes and was about to say something nasty when he spotted Erin sitting on the opposite couch and stopped himself. Erin lamely raised a hand in greeting, earning her an indignant glare from both Harry and Ron, and she found herself lowering her hand again quickly as a result. Draco glared at Harry. "I was just coming by to give you a fair warning that I've been appointed Prefect. That means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments."

"Yeah," Harry replied, "but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone."

The other Gryffindors in the compartment and Oliver laughed, but Erin remained quiet, inwardly wondering that – if she was asked to choose a side right this second – which side it would be. Truth to be told she was not so sure if she had an answer to that. Meanwhile, Draco's lip was curling. "Tell me, Potter, how does it feel being second-best to Weasley here?"

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Hermione said sharply.

"I seem to have touched a nerve," Draco said, looking rather pleased with himself. "Well, there's no real reason for me to hang around with you losers any longer than necessary, except for the fact that I think it appropriate to advise certain new people to choose their friends wisely."

"Get out!" Hermione called, standing up.

Draco shot Erin a last pointed look before sniggering and departing, with his two friends lumbering along in his wake. Hermione slammed the compartment door behind them and turned to Erin. "What was that about?"

Feeling all eyes in the compartment on her, Erin shrugged. "I met him earlier on the train. I fell when I accidentally crashed into his friend and he helped me back up. After that, we talked."

"Believe me, Erin, nothing that happens with Malfoy is accidental," Harry snarled.

"Meaning he's a total prat," Ginny elaborated.

"I cannot believe you don't see that!" Oliver added, looking astounded. "He's a Slytherin, for Merlin's sake."

"Look Erin," Hermione said placidly, "I realize Draco can be very charming when he wants to be and I believe you have every right to choose your own friends, but-"

"-Just not him?" Erin finished for her.

"Well – I'd strongly advise you to stay away from Malfoy and his group, yes."

Erin crossed her arms indignantly and stared outside, where it had started to rain. "I'm sorry, but I just don't get all this hate towards Slytherin. I hear what you guys are saying, but personally, I haven't seen anything disturbing yet. On the contrary, those Slytherin people I met were really nice." She shrugged.

"Yet," Harry replied darkly. "You ain't seen nothing disgusting yet."

"Well, there's clearly something going on between you two," Erin replied stubbornly.

"That's true," Ginny nodded, "but you have to understand, Erin, Gryffindor and Slytherin students… They just don't get along."

Erin sighed. "There's always room for an exception, right?"

"Not if you're sorted into Gryffindor," Ginny replied.

Erin realized they would never understand it if she told them that – regardless of becoming friends with Draco Malfoy – she was starting to realize she rather did not want to be sorted into Gryffindor, so she shrugged moodily and got back to biting the nails on her right hand.

The weather remained undecided as they travelled further and further north. Rain splattered the windows in a half-hearted way, then the sun put in a feeble appearance before clouds drifted over it once more. When darkness fell and lamps came on inside the carriages, Hermione sighed. "We'd better get changed." She and Ron carefully to their chests, and Erin noticed how the Prefect P's went perfectly with the red and gold-colored Gryffindor tie. She and Oliver did not have any Hogwarts house uniforms to wear yet. They were simply wearing jeans and a T-Shirt under their robes.

When the train started to slow down, Erin joined the others in collecting her things and following them to the doors. As Prefects, Ron and Hermione were supposed to supervise the students getting off the Express, so it was just her, Oliver, Harry and Ginny waiting nearby the doors together. When they got out, Harry started to look around the platform in a frantic manner. "I'm guessing Hermione and Ron will be busy for another while," Ginny told him reassuringly.

"No, that's not it. Hagrid's not here – Where's Hagrid?" he called towards an approaching a serious-looking witch with a prominent chin and very short hair.

"I don't know," Ginny said, putting a hand on his arm, "but we'd better get out of the way. We're blocking the door."

"Oh yeah," Harry said, and they moved off along the platform with the rest of the students.

The witch on the platform did not call for Erin and Oliver, convincing Harry they were allowed to head to the castle on the horseless-carriages with the rest of them. Erin exchanged a look with her brother – did it really matter how they would get to Hogwarts? - before shrugging and following the others to a dark rain-washed road outside of Hogsmeade Station.

While trying to avoid splashing her robes by walking through the muddy pools of water on the road, Erin looked around the Scottish scenery. It felt kind strange to be in the same place where her parents met and fell in love all those years ago and she kept telling herself that Hogwarts was where they wanted her to be. And even though she could not stop thinking about warm and sunny Brazilian beaches, she continued to repress those feelings as well as she could. Because if there was one thing Erin Black could not do, it was to disappoint people. And with her secret wish not to be sorted into Gryffindor like the rest of them, things were going to be problematic enough as it was.

********** End of Part One **********