wildflowers // dramione

Chapter 2

Once the preteen witches and wizards were inside the Great Hall, the Sorting Ceremony began. Minerva McGonagall stood in front of the group of eager first years, holding the Sorting Hat above the wooden chair to her side.

"Hermione Granger," McGonagall announced.

As Hermione hesitantly approached the chair, Draco heard her whisper words of reassurance to herself. He held his breath, waiting for the hat to give Hermione her house.

"Hmm, Right. Ok," the hat began.

Draco tensed. Hermione shut her eyes.

"Gryffindor!" it bellowed.

Draco's eyebrows furrowed and he shook his head. He knew he was a shoo-in for Slytherin, definitely not Gryffindor. He met her eyes as she walked, and again when she took a seat at her house's large table. She beamed a full smile at him. His stomach twisted into a knot. He simply replied to her with a nod, placed his eyes on his professor in front of him, and waited for his turn to be sorted.

"Draco Malfoy," the Scottish professor called next.

He timidly walked up to the chair. As soon as he sat down, the hat was held above his head.

"Slytherin!" the hat quickly yelled, without ever even touching his white hair.

A large grin grew across Draco's pale face at the thought of making his father proud. He strolled off towards the Slytherin table, but his excitement was cut short when he caught Hermione's shocked face. His initial confusion at her expression almost made him stop walking, but as he continued, he felt less unclear about her reaction and more insulted. He looked straight ahead and took a seat at the Slytherin table. He found her brown eyes across the room and sent her a glare, before shifting his focus back to the ceremony.

Hermione stared at his powerful glare and began to see the Slytherin in his eyes she had somehow missed before. Her smile faded and her facial features morphed with the hurt she felt. Even when Draco had a spat before the ceremony began, with Harry Potter and the red-haired boy whom she'd learned to be Ron Weasley, she'd never taken him for a Slytherin. Disappointed in herself for listening to stereotypes, she told herself something to comfort her growing sadness about possibly losing Draco.

After all, not all Slytherins are bad.

Her mind spoke the sentence over and over again throughout the rest of the ceremony. She blocked her view of Draco with another new Gryffindor, the ginger boy, Ron Weasley.

"Ron Weasley," the freckle-faced boy introduced himself.

Hermione looked across the table at the boy, turning a light shade of pink when she realized that while she had been lost in her thoughts her vacant stare must have been on the boy seated across from her.

"Hermione Granger," she responded, forgetting her embarrassment.

Ron and Hermione shared a polite smile before being interrupted by everyone's topic of conversation and rumors, Harry Potter. The brown-haired boy sat down next to Ron.

"Hello, Harry," Hermione began, though the two had never met.  "I'm Hermione Granger."

Harry smiled behind his broken glasses. An idea popped into Hermione's brain and she pulled her wand out of her robes.

"Oculus Reparo."

Harry's glasses suddenly snapped together, the break in the middle of them immediately fixed, leaving no trace of ever existing. The boys shared an impressed look and quickly examined Harry's glasses. The trio began talking, and the infamous group of best friends was born.