Shut Up and Kiss Me

Chapter 4 | Old Nightmares

And your heart's against my chest, your lips pressed to my neck

I'm falling for your eyes, but they don't know me yet

And with a feeling I'll forget, I'm in love now

-Kiss Me by Ed Sheeran

Chapter 4: Old Nightmares

As soon as they entered the Great Hall, everyone broke into an immediate buzz. They'd sent McGonagall a message, and she was waiting for them. She couldn't start the ceremony when three of her students haven't made it safely to the school. Draco and Hermione had dropped off Will with the rest of the first years accompanied by Hagrid. Since super-excited-William was no longer with them, they didn't have any reason to remain together. They parted ways, each heading to their own house table.

Draco met with old friends at the old table, and was happy to see them. Hermione joined Ginny, Harry and unfortunately Ronald on the table. She was civil, but everyone knew that he wouldn't be able to remain silent for long. "So Mione, what happened? Enjoying the company of ferrets recently?"

Of course she wouldn't let him say that casually, so she looked at him like she's surprised to see him there, "Excuse you, but my name is Hermione. I don't believe we've met," she flashed him a fake smile,  "And chew with your mouth closed for Dumbledore's sake." Ron, who was eating some candy he had from the train ride, was about to reply when Harry shot him a look that clearly said Drop it.

"Fine!" Ron huffed and stood up, "I'll just go and sit with people who actually enjoy my company." Ginny snorted and muttered Good luck with that! under her breath. Ronald left the table to go sit with others, while Hermione did her best to avoid Draco's eyes. They did meet more than once though.

Meanwhile, Will couldn't help being nervous as he waited for his turn to be sorted. As far as he'd managed to understand, there were four houses with very weird names. The only one he remembered was, Slytherin, since Draco had mentioned that that's his house. He had hoped maybe he'd be able to get sorted there. At least that way, he'd have someone he knows and Draco seemed awfully nice.

His train of thoughts was interrupted by a man he didn't know who calling out his name, it was the same man who walked him in here. This was it, the big moment. William walked slowly towards the chair with the old hat on it, nervous he'd trip and make a foul out of himself in front of all these people. The hat was too big for his head and covered a good portion of his eyesight, but he didn't mind. It smelled funny though, like his late grandma.

He was surprised when he heard the hat talking to him. Draco forgot to mention that he thought. But you see the thing is, Draco never got to hear the hat talking. It had barely touched his head before sorting him into Slytherin.

"You do seem afraid right now, but your heart is a brave one, boy. What? Slytherin? You have none of the characteristics to be in there. Besides, it would be a suicide mission to send you in there with all your goofiness, are you trying to get yourself killed my boy?",the sorting hat tried to reason with Will. "So let's see what it shall be," it said aloud. "Hufflepuff or Gryffindor? You'd blend in both perfectly honestly. Hmm..."

Will held his breath, and swallowed hard. He had no idea where he's going to end up, but it didn't matter. He hoped he'd make some friends wherever he lands, how hard could it be? He'd already met two people from here and they were both very nice. What were the odds that someone was going to be mean to him?

Willaim of course couldn't be anymore wrong, but he didn't know that at the time.

Draco on sat there with some other Slytherins, chatting and laughing as they ate their dinner. He found himself occasionally glancing towards the Gryffindor table and smiling at how proud William looked. And then he'd look at Hermione whom he'd caught staring at him several times now, and smirk.