Second Chances

Amazingly, although there were at least fifty students that had been sorted by the time the list got to the S's, there was not a single Slytherin (although there were an awful lot of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs). Finally Professor McGonagall called, "Sacks, Noah!"

Noah stumbled up and sat down. He was so short the hat completely covered him. The only sign of a boy underneath was a pair of sneakers. Finally, the hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"

Sounding very relieved; the only table that had not clapped practically shook the whole hall with their applause. When the talk died down, Professor McGonagall called, "Sanders, Mary Jane!"

Grimacing a little, Janey walked up to the stool and sat down. Crossing her fingers, Erin waited. Then-

"SLYTHERIN!"

The table cheered again. Janey, looking very relieved, sat down. Next came "Scrapps, Amberly!" and "Serge, Blue!" then finally-

"Sullivan, Erin!"

Erin walked up to the stool and sat down. The hat slid over her eyes. She heard a voice in her ear. "Hmm...let's see...determination...bravery...hard-working...where the heck am I going to put you? You're a tough one. Well, let's see...any friends? Oh, that Sacks kid-and the Sanders one? All right then, SLYTHERIN!"

Sighing, she stumbled over to the table and sat down next to Janey. She was beginning to feel that all this was more trouble than it was worth.

She glanced down the table-and stared. There, three seats away from Noah, flanked by the biggest, ugliest boys she had ever seen, was-was-he could only be described as an ANGEL!

Leaning over to the girl next to her, a fifth year, Erin said, "Who is that guy-the one with blond hair? He is SO HOT!!!"

"That's Draco Malfoy," said the girl.

"Draco Malfoy!" Erin sighed. "Even his name is SO DREAMY!!!"

"Erin, calm down!" said Janey. "Plenty of time to talk to him later."

Erin kept her eyes on the boy throughout the whole meal. Once he glanced down her way, and she noticed that his beautiful blue eyes, which were set off marvellously by his slicked-back blonde hair. When dinner was over, she followed the prefect assigned to her out of the hall. Since it was too early to go to bed yet, the Slytherins wandered about the common room. Erin mustered up her courage and walked over to the boy.

"Hi," she said, giving him a smile. "My name is Erin Sullivan."

"Wow," he said, a grin spreading slowly across his face. "Your name goes really well with you-you're both so dreamy. I'm Draco Malfoy."

Erin felt like she was going to faint. "You too. I mean, you and your name are really dreamy. I think you're SO HOT!"

Draco laughed. "It's kind of late. You'd better get to bed."

Erin beamed. "Right." She trotted excitedly up the stairs and collapsed. She fell asleep with a smile on her face. The cutest guy in the world thought she was DREAMY!

The next morning, Janey woke her up early. "Look, I have no clue where the Great Hall is, and we'd better go fast, or we'll miss breakfast."

"Fine," said Erin. Dreamily, she followed Janey. As the sun rose, they finally reached the entrance hall and were almost to the Great Hall when they were intercepted by Professor McGonagall, who was leading a boy and a girl by the hand and looking very grave.

"Miss Sullivan, Miss Sanders," she said. "There seems to have been a mistake. Mr. Sacks has already been placed where he was supposed to go, and we need to re-sort you. The hat said it sorted you both by association. This way, please."

Erin, totally bewildered with no clue what her teacher meant, followed.

They arrived in her office. The hat was placed back on Erin's head. She heard a tiny voice in her head say, "Now, I won't be so desperate for Slytherins, so I'll delve deeper into mind..."

"No, no, no," thought Erin. "Put me back in Slytherin! I have a crush on that HOT Draco Malfoy!"

"What's this? Oh..." said the hat. "Oh, nononono! You'll do so well in-GRYFFINDOR!"

Erin looked very upset as she climbed off the stool. Janey, too, was sorted into Gryffindor. As the girls headed downcast into the Great Hall, Draco hurried up to them.

"Hey, um-Erin..."

"Yeah?" said Erin, turning her hazel stare on him.

"Do you want to sit with me at breakfast?" he stammered.

"I'd love to," said Erin, "but I've been resorted into Gryffindor."

Looking downcast, he said, "Oh." Then he brightened. "Well, we can still be friends, right?"

"Right," said Erin, smiling at him. "See you around, Draco."

"Bye, Erin," he said.