The Second Malfoy

Chapter 3:

Rivals

The rest of the journey to Hogwarts was quite dismal. Ron longed to talk to Draco, to show him the error of his ways as far as Harry and Hermione were concerned, but his brother, Crabbe, and Goyle seemed determined to make fun of them. It was very clear to him that the main reason why Draco was laughing about Harry's baggy clothes, glasses, and choice of friends was only because he was hurt that Harry hadn't chosen him.

It would have been easier for Harry to choose you if you would have been nice about Hermione and Neville, Ron thought darkly. He had never in known memory been this angry with his brother before. For the first time in his life he had been making true friends (as opposed to the friends he had to have because of his father), but Draco had to show up and ruin it for him. Now Harry thought they were both gits and Hermione was likely to follow suit. After all, who in their right mind would question Harry Potter? Other than Draco, of course?

The Hogwarts Express slowed to a stop at Hogsmeade Station and the occupants of the very last compartment found themselves scrambling to get their robes on. It was all very chaotic, with Crabbe tripping over the hem of his robes and knocking them over, Goyle putting his on backward, and Ron being unable to find one of his shoes. Only Draco was fully composed and ready to go with any real alacrity.

Stepping out into the night air at the station, Ron's eyes instantly scanned the crowd for Harry, Neville, and Hermione. He caught sight of Hermione's bushy hair and saw Neville stumble out of his carriage behind her looking very downtrodden. Clearly he had yet to find Trevor. Behind him came Harry, who instantly looked in his direction. All the friendliness that he had shown in their few minutes together seemed to have dissolved into cold indifference. Stupid Draco! Ron thought bitterly.

"What's the matter with you?" Draco was standing behind Ron, and as Ron twisted around to look at him, he realized that his brother was staring in the direction of the three friends with distaste.

Ron scowled as he looked at Draco and then at Crabbe and Goyle. "Nothing," he muttered. He longed to reproach Draco for his behavior, but he couldn't while Crabbe and Goyle were around. Draco seemed to catch onto this and turned back to his two companions.

"Go and find what we're supposed to do next," he ordered. Crabbe rushed off down the platform obediently and Goyle sauntered after him. "What's the matter with you?" Draco repeated as soon as they were gone. He threw Harry, Ron, and Hermione another disgusted glance and asked, "Is it about them?"

"Yes!" Ron snapped. "I was having fun, you know. It felt good to make new friends, and then you went and insulted them!"

"You seriously wanted to make friends with a near-Squib, a half-blood, and a Mudblood?!" Draco looked on him as though he had never seen Ron before in his life. Ron rolled his eyes, hating how stupid Draco tended to be at times and hating the fact that he kept calling Hermione a Mudblood.

"You weren't calling Harry a half-blood earlier when you were trying to impress him into being your friend!" Ron argued.

"Oh yeah?" Draco asked, rounding on Ron now. "What about that Mudblood girl? How dare you allow a girl like her to be around you! Mum and Dad wouldn't like it!"

"I don't care!" Ron practically shouted. "I don't care what they think! She may have Muggles as parents, but she's really very good! She did the Unlocking Charm perfectly earlier. She isn't any less than us...I wish you could just see that!"

Draco glared at him as though he really doubted Ron's sanity and was on the verge of shouting back at him when Crabbe and Goyle approached. "We're supposed to follow the big bloke to some boats," Crabbe said. In the distance, Ron could just make out the shape of a large man carrying a lantern and calling for the first years to follow him.

"I think he's a giant," Goyle said as he wrinkled his nose.

"Who cares?" Ron muttered sullenly. Nobody but Draco - who began gritting his teeth in irritation - seemed to notice. The giant man saw them standing back from the other first years that he had gathered and beckoned them to come over. They slowly joined the throng of students, shuffling their feet as they went. The closer they drew to the giant man, the more familiar he looked to them, until finally Ron realized that he was Hagrid the groundskeeper, who had also accompanied Harry in Diagon Alley. Great, he thought, hoping that Harry didn't remember how Draco and Ron had acted about him. All the same, he couldn't help but stay as far back from the man as he could; up close, Hagrid was sort of scary, with his wild beard, girth, and gigantic hands and feet.

Hagrid led them away from the train station and down a small lane away from where all the older students were heading. "Where's he taking us?" several people asked nervously. Beside him, Draco scoffed smugly. They both knew where first year students were led, because their parents had told them hundreds of times. Someone from the school - in this case Hagrid - would lead them to the lake, where they would board small boats that took them up to the castle, separate from all the other students in the school. Narcissa had told them that the reason for this was that the first night at Hogwarts was most special for first years, who were really the guests of honor at the feast. It was a thought that made Ron feel slightly better, and the excitement in his gut suddenly increased, blocking out some of the negative feelings that he had harbored for Draco only a few moments before.

Somehow they managed to get separated from Crabbe and Goyle on the long walk to the lake. Draco seemed to not be surprised; he had been walking very quickly, and neither of the larger boys liked using such a brisk pace. Ron wondered for a moment whether or not Draco had planned this, when suddenly his brother said, "I'm sorry. It's just...well...it's embarrassing to see you spending time with people who are below you."

"They're not though!" Ron said in a raised voice. Draco shushed him as he looked around at their peers nervously, hoping that they didn't hear. "They're not!" Ron repeated quickly.

"But they're not purebloods. Dad says that purebloods are the type of people we should be making friends with!"

Ron sighed and looked on his brother sadly. Draco had always been fiercely loyal to their father. Ron was too, of course, but he had acquired the ability to see his father as a normal human being who was capable of making mistakes at an early age. He hated what he was about to say, because he knew that it would hurt Draco's feelings, but it had to be said. "Don't you think that Dad could be wrong about that?"

Sure enough, Draco's eyes bugged out and his jaw dropped in shock. He looked on Ron as though he had never seen him before, and then sped up to get away from Ron as fast as he could. "Stop!" Ron called after him, but Draco was already lost in the crowd. He was just quickening his own pace in order to catch him when he heard a voice sound from behind him.

"I think you're right." Ron stopped in his tracks and turned slowly to look into Hermione Granger's face. She had obviously been eavesdropping in on their conversation, but didn't look a bit guilty over it.

"Easy for you to say. You're Muggleborn. Of course you're going to think my Dad's wrong."

Hermione shrugged then said, "Just give your brother time. He'll come around."

"You don't know him! He'll never come around. He's always been like this." Well, that wasn't particularly true. Ron had never really heard his brother's opinions on Muggleborns before. He had never really assumed that Draco would be as interested in them as he felt (he didn't have the view of the motorway from his window like Ron had), but he had always rather hoped that Draco wouldn't be hateful. Now that he had witnessed this side to him, Ron felt like there was no changing him, simply because Draco was inflexible about even the pettiest of things, like being beaten in chess games and being convinced to stay out of their parents' basement.

"What? Stubborn?" Hermione's eyebrows raised in curiosity. When Ron nodded in agreement, she said, "I can see a family resemblance there."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Ron said. He found himself getting increasingly annoyed with Hermione now that they were alone, and was suddenly feeling desperate to find Draco. It wasn't that she was saying things that he disagreed with, but that she was pointing out truths. Ron didn't want to be around her if she was just going to make him feel bad about himself and his brother.

"Just that you seem pretty stubborn as well. I mean, he is your brother. He doesn't want you around us, yet you're sticking to what you originally thought of us. You're both that way even if you think differently. He'll come around, though...trust me."

Ron rolled his eyes and quickened his pace, finally losing Hermione in the crowd, much like Draco had lost him. He hated that she was right about this. Well...right about Draco and him being equally stubborn. Ron had a horrible feeling that Draco would never change his opinion of Harry, Neville, and Hermione now that Harry had insulted him. If there was one thing in the world that Draco couldn't tolerate, it was being made to feel inadequate, and Harry had done that quite well.

He found Draco at the front of the crowd of students near Hagrid. Ron glanced nervously up at the giant of a man, fearing he would get crushed by him if he moved a toe out of line. Hagrid didn't seem to notice him, however, so Ron turned to Draco to speak to him. "Look, I don't want to argue," he said in a quiet voice. "I'm sorry, okay? I was just having fun with them."

"I know," Draco replied, though he didn't seem any happier about it.

"Let's talk about something else now," Ron pressed. "Like...what Slytherin is going to be like or something of that sort." Draco turned to him finally, seeming to breathe in a sigh of relief at the sound of Ron moving on from him being rude to Harry, Neville, and Hermione.

"I can't wait," he finally replied to Ron. "Do you really think the common room is under the lake and looks all green?"

"It must, if that's what Crabbe's dad said. I think it sounds really cool."

The subject of the Slytherin common room carried them all the way to the lake. They immediately stopped talking at the sight of the dark water reflecting the light of torches that were perched near the shore. Ron could see about two dozen boats tied up at the water's edge waiting for students to pile in. In the distance stood the sight he had been waiting to see his entire life. The outline of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was just barely visible against the blackened sky. From his vantage point Ron could see several lights on in the castle, and the glow from the windows felt so inviting that he almost felt compelled to just swim across the lake in order to get there faster than the rowboats would surely take them.

"No more'n four ter a boat!" Hagrid called to them, and suddenly Ron was aware of the fact that students were shoving past him to get first pick of the boats.

"Come on!" Draco called to him. Ron could see Crabbe and Goyle shuffling toward his twin from the back of the crowd as though Draco had been actually calling for them instead of his brother. Ron was just about to scamper after them when he heard Hermione's voice in his ear again.

"You can sit with us if you like," she invited.

Ron turned to her for the briefest of moments and said, "I'm going to sit with my brother, thank you." He was well aware that his voice came out cold and harsh, but Ron didn't care - or at least tried not to. He had officially made his final decision. Draco was his brother and he couldn't afford to make his only true friend at Hogwarts angry with him already. Draco had a tendency to hold grudges, even against his family. While he may have been great at solving problems between Ron and his parents, he had never been particularly good at mending holes in their own relationship. It was always up to Ron to bend to Draco's will and this time would be no exception.

Leaving Hermione in shocked silence, he followed behind Goyle into the boat that Draco had long since claimed. "What did she want?" Draco whispered, wisely keeping his voice down for once. Crabbe and Goyle didn't even notice that he had said a single word.

"Nothing," Ron replied. "It's not important."

This seemed to satisfy Draco more than anything else Ron had said up to this point to placate him. Turning gleefully to face the castle, he seemed to forget that he and Ron had had any argument at all, and instantly began talking excitedly about what their classes would be like and which teachers would undoubtedly be his favorite.

"Of course, Professor Snape already knows Ron and me, so I think he should be good. Don't you agree, Ron?"

"Oh yeah," Ron said without really listening. The boats took off and they started moving forward, but Draco just wouldn't shut up. Ron drowned him out in his mind and instead looked over in Harry, Hermione, and Neville's boat, where a rather small and silly looking boy was now sitting where he could have been had Draco not cared who he was friends with. Don't worry about it, Ron, he told himself. You'll make other friends that will be better than them and Draco will actually like them.

They went into a cave in the middle of the mountain on which Hogwarts stood and that eerie green light that Crabbe described to them when talking of the Slytherin common room shone all about, cast every which way by the lanterns that hung on the bow of each boat. Everyone became silent now - even Draco - and the excitement was thick in the air. Any minute now they would come ashore and be headed up to the castle for the very first time in their lives. All thoughts of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and - to a lesser extent - Neville Longbottom were erased from Ron's mind temporarily. Instead he was immensely focused on the nervous butterflies that were flapping around in his stomach and the quickening pace of his heart rate. It was as though he were on the verge of entering some sort of sacred temple or meeting a celebrity; this all just seemed too good to be true.

At long last they came to the other edge of the lake. Above them, what seemed like hundreds of steps led all the way to the sloping lawn and then the oak front doors of Hogwarts. People began talking again primarily about the boat ride and the very spooky cave. "That wasn't so bad," Draco said with a smug grin that he obviously hoped said that he hadn't been scared in the least bit. Ron smirked; it always amused him when Draco tried to show off.

"Could have been worse," Ron replied. "Mum says there's a giant squid in there." They had a good time guessing at what other creatures could be in the lake. They genuinely believed that grindylows, mermaids, and kappas could be living in it (kappas were doubtful of course, since they typically haunted swamps and not lakes), but had a good laugh when Ron suggested that the Loch Ness Monster - which he had heard about through a Muggle magazine he had once seen being sold at the Muggle novelty shop in Diagon Alley - lived there and another first year actually believed him.

Once they arrived to the front doors, Hagrid knocked and they were let in by a very severe looking woman in square spectacles. She introduced herself as Professor McGonagall to them, and Hermione waved to her and flashed her a bright smile. Ron wondered if this woman was the person who had told Hermione about the magical world. He quickly chided himself for even noticing however. Hermione was not going to be his friend therefore it was unimportant who Hermione already knew.

They were made to wait in a little chamber next to what the woman had called the Great Hall before their sorting. Now the butterflies increased tenfold. They were coming up to the moment that Ron had been anticipating his entire life. He was going to finally find out if he was just as much a Malfoy as his father and Draco were. It had always been a concern for him, of course, since he had always been sick his entire life. He had thought that maybe when he got sorted, the Sorting Hat would think he was too weak to be a Slytherin and throw him into a weaker house, like Hufflepuff. Tonight he would finally see if his health had anything to do with who he really was.

People all around him were pacing anxiously, speculating what sort of task they had to undergo in order to find out what house they were in. Of course Ron and Draco both knew that there was no real test, that all that was involved was putting on a hat that could place any person into their perfect house. Yet neither of them could pass up the opportunity to tease all the other people who did not yet know.

"Our parents taught us loads of spells for dueling, you know," Draco told a nervous looking girl with long blond hair. "So we know how to fight any creature they might use."

"C-creature?" she asked nervously, biting her nails and staring at the door to the chamber in apprehension.

"Oh yeah," Ron joined in while trying his best to avoid the look Harry was giving him. He didn't know whether Harry could tell he was just joking or if he was just as nervous for the sorting as the girl they were teasing currently. "They use dragons, chimaeras, trolls...anything they can get their hands on, really."

The girl yelped in fear and the Malfoys and several other better informed students chuckled to themselves. "I don't think that's true," Ron could hear Hermione saying to Neville, who was now clutching a rather fat and squirmy toad in his hands. When did he find Trevor? Ron wondered, but again found himself getting angry that he had even thought to wonder about the three friends he had sort of made on the train.

Professor McGonagall came back rather quickly. "Now follow me, first years," she ordered, beckoning them forward with her hand and leading the way. Draco threw Ron an excited grin, and Ron responded similarly. This was actually happening. At long last, the Malfoy twins were going to be sorted.

They were marched into the Great Hall and down the middle of four long house tables. Ron looked into the faces of the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs (who were seated at the two middle tables) and couldn't help but think about how he would be joining neither of them. Furthest from the door they had entered was the Gryffindor table, whose occupants were trying to crane their necks to get a good look at the first years (probably most interested in Harry Potter). The Slytherins - who were sitting closest to the door - played it cool and didn't seem to even care or notice that the first years were parading through for them all to see. Ron rather liked that about them. It showed respect for the people about to be sorted, a kind of respect that Ron was sure that he possessed.

Professor McGonagall called the entire hall to attention as soon as they were positioned in front of everyone. He didn't hear what she said, really. Ron was so nervous now that he couldn't focus on anything other than the teachers sitting at the staff table. He only recognized three of them, and his gaze kept alternating between them as a way to keep his stomach from churning with anticipation.

Professor Snape was pointedly looking down at his hands and sneaking furtive glances at Harry every now and then. He had never heard Professor Snape mention Harry Potter on any of his visits to Malfoy Manor, but he knew the man had to be interested in him. Who wouldn't be excited to be in the presence of the Boy Who Lived?

Hagrid, who had taken a seat at the very end of the staff table, was staring down at Harry too, but very openly and affectionately. He is kind of creepy, Ron thought as he remembered his mother's shudder while she recounted her familiarity with the groundskeeper. Harry didn't seem to realize that Hagrid was looking at him, though. He was shaking like a leaf, clearly nervous about whatever he was about to have to do in order to get sorted. I hope he didn't believe Draco and me, Ron hoped.

The third professor he recognized was from his Chocolate Frog card collection. Albus Dumbledore was seated at the very center of the table, his eyes flitting back and forth from student to student. Was it Ron's imagination, or did Dumbledore stare an awful lot at him? Sure, his eyes would flicker over to Harry every now and then, but they also came to rest on Ron a lot, as though he were a similarly fascinating sight to behold as well. Ron almost felt compelled to look around himself to see if maybe there had been a mistake, but he knew there wasn't. Dumbledore was staring directly into his eyes now, a rather sad sort of smile upon his old face. Ron had to break the eye contact abruptly - not only was it awkward, but for some reason he felt ashamed and troubled by looking into his eyes like that, though he couldn't figure out why he should feel that way at all.

All of this happened in a span of only a few seconds, and before Ron could even think any of it over, an old and very tattered hat was being presented before the first years. He heard the blond girl whom he and Draco had been teasing earlier say with uncertainty to a friend, "We're supposed to fight a hat?!" Ron and Draco snickered, but a stern look from Professor McGonagall shut them up rather quickly.

The hat began to sing to them, describing how it functioned as a sort of mind reader who could find the perfect house for anyone who just tried it on. Then it went to describing the houses. Draco uttered a whispered, "Boo!" when Gryffindor was described as a house for the brave. Crabbe did the same thing as Ravenclaw was said to be a place "for those of wit and learning." Ron rolled his eyes; he knew that Crabbe was just trying to get in on the joke, but it just figured that the dumbest guy he had ever met would hate the house for smart people. Ron listened carefully as the hat described Hufflepuff, surprised to find that it was a house for hard workers. He had always been under the impression that Hufflepuff housed the students that really didn't have any talent. To hear that Hufflepuffs actually had a purpose was interesting and strange. When Slytherin was described as a place for people who were cunning, the Malfoy twins smiled in unison. Crabbe chuckled happily (Ron really couldn't see how he was cunning, but perhaps he was selling Crabbe short) and from his left he could see Goyle stand a little taller with pride.

One by one, Professor McGonagall went to calling students up to the front of the hall to try on the Sorting Hat. A girl named Hannah Abbot was placed into Hufflepuff, as was Susan Bones. Ron grinned at the girl who they had been lying to about having to battle creatures - whose name was apparently Lavender Brown - and she threw him the dirtiest look she could muster. She was put into Gryffindor.

"Crabbe, Vincent!" McGonagall called while reading from her scroll that had the names of all the first years upon it. Crabbe shoved his way past a few students who were blocking his path and jammed the hat excitedly upon his head. It took an odd amount of time - nearly three minutes - before the hat declared him a Slytherin.

"It wanted to put me into Gryffindor," he whispered to Goyle as he passed by, a look of rage upon his face. Draco smirked and Goyle outright chuckled. Ron thought the hat was sorely mistaken. Vincent Crabbe was anything but courageous. He had more brains than he had guts.

More students were called before Goyle was summoned to the stool and also declared a Slytherin, though his sorting was much quicker than Crabbe's had been. He didn't say a word as he marched past the Malfoy twins, just smiled as though he were pleased, and crossed the hall to the Slytherin table. Ron watched enviously as they clapped him on the back and congratulated their newest member. That'll be me soon, he thought.

Hermione Granger was next and Ron couldn't help but watch her sorting with bated breath. It would have been too much to hope that she would be placed into Slytherin. After all it was the house that was reputed to be anti-Muggleborn. As the Sorting Hat deliberated for what seemed like ages, he imagined it was trying to decide between either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. Based on what he now officially knew of both, Hermione would be a good pick for either of them. She was certainly intelligent and witty, but she was also hard-working, like the hat said Hufflepuffs were. It came as a great shock when the hat finally yelled out, "Gryffindor!"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Ron said out loud while Draco laughed beside him.

"Slytherin wannabe, right Ron?" he asked, using Ron's own words from Diagon Alley against him. Hermione didn't seem to care that she was being placed in the worst house in the entire school, though. She jumped excitedly off of the stool, pulled the hat off, and practically ran to the cheering table by the wall. A couple of red-headed twins were clapping her on the back and rubbing her bushy head stupidly, while another ginger boy was shaking her hand importantly. Ugh...what a bunch of losers, Ron thought, staring at them all - including Hermione now - in distaste.

Neville Longbottom was placed into Gryffindor as well, which also came as a shock. Even though he now knew Hufflepuffs were good for something, he still had been sticking to the stereotype as far as Neville was concerned. The only thing Neville had seemed good at when he met him was losing his toad. Yet Neville was apparently much braver than Ron had thought initially, because he was now joining the Gryffindor table looking immensely relieved.

"Malfoy, Draco!" Professor McGonagall finally shouted. Draco held his head up high and strode to the stool confidently. The hat barely brushed the tips of his platinum hair before shouting, "Slytherin!"

This time Ron actually cheered along with the Slytherin table. Of course, there had never been any question as to where Draco would end up. He had always shown Slytherin tendencies: Cunning, determination, self-preservation. He gave Ron a quick, satisfied grin, and then marched rather proudly over to the Slytherin table, where he was greeted enthusiastically by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Malfoy, Ronaldus!"

Ron gulped and tried to steady himself. From behind the staff table, he saw Professor Dumbledore sit up a little straighter in his chair which confused Ron. He had almost seemed pleasantly bored at everyone else's sorting, but as soon as it was Ron's turn, he looked excited and on edge. Ron looked down nervously and stepped forward.

As soon as the hat was on his head it began to whisper in his ear. "A Malfoy...like you? Are you sure? You do not seem like any other Malfoy I have ever met. You seem like you belong to a different family altogether."

I AM a Malfoy! Ron thought angrily at the hat, suddenly feeling much less certain about where he was to be placed than he ever had felt before. Just put me into Slytherin!

"Slytherin? I would have never thought to put you there. You have so many different qualities that it is almost hard to tell. You are intelligent, but only about things you have a passion for. You are hard-working, but again, only regarding things you really care about. The bravery, though...you are the most courageous Malfoy I have ever read."

Please not Gryffindor! Ron begged inwardly, his insides twisting anxiously. If this hat really did put him in the worst house in the school, he was sure he would ask to be sent home immediately.

"I usually allow the students to decide in the end," the hat said, more to itself than to Ron. "But I can't let that happen now. He needs to be in the house that the rest of them are in." The rest of them? The rest of who? What was the Sorting Hat talking about? He was about to ask it and beg not to be placed anywhere other than Slytherin, but before he could, the hat shouted out to the hall, "Gryffindor!"

Ron froze, his mind ceasing all thought and his heart breaking with disappointed hope. The hat, which had fallen over his eyes as soon as it had been placed upon his head, was whipped off by Professor McGonagall, but Ron didn't move from his seat. The entire hall was staring at him in disbelief, as though it were unimaginable for a Malfoy to be placed anywhere besides Slytherin. Draco's jaw was dropped stupidly and his shoulders were slumped in a sort of defeated manner. Only Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom reacted in a way that had been appropriate up until his sorting. They applauded politely and grinned at him, but quickly stopped when it was apparent that nobody else was following suit.

"Mr. Malfoy, kindly join the Gryffindor table," McGonagall said at long last, unable to keep her own sense of shock from her voice. "We must continue with the sorting."

Ron stood up from the stool feeling completely and utterly numb. He had dreamed of this night ever since he was three years old, when Lucius began to tell them bedtime stories about Hogwarts and Slytherin. Oh, Merlin, what are my parents going to think?! he thought to himself while turning toward the table at the opposite end of the hall from the one where his brother sat. People finally began to clap for him, and he found himself greeted earnestly by the red-headed twins that he had seen tussling Hermione's hair. "We got a Malfoy!" they were saying with delight. Somehow they seemed to know his family, but he had no idea who they were.

Ron plopped down next to Hermione, who gave him a quick hug that he didn't have the heart to shrug off, and looked up at the staff table. They were still applauding at the front of the hall, and Ron saw with dismay that Dumbledore was smiling, a twinkle in his eye. That's why he was staring at me like that before I got sorted, he thought to himself. He knew I was weird...that I wouldn't be like Draco. He must know how to read minds or something, like the hat.

Ron barely paid any attention to the rest of the sorting. He was aware of course when Harry Potter joined the Gryffindor ranks, because the entire table - save for him - jumped up in unison and cheered so incredibly loudly that Ron was certain the ceiling was going to cave in. Harry sat down next to Ron, beaming at him in satisfaction as though he had completely forgotten what Draco had said earlier, but Ron only hung his head in shame. What would Draco think of him now? It was bad enough that they had fought over Harry, Neville, and Hermione earlier...now Ron was actually in their house. He was probably over with Crabbe and Goyle talking about what a traitor he was.

Eventually the sorting ended and the feast began, but Ron found himself unable to touch any of the food. He felt physically ill. What was he going to do? He supposed he would have to withdraw from Hogwarts, since there was no taking back where the hat had placed him. He imagined what it would be like, sitting at home and being taught by his mother while Draco got to stay at Hogwarts, because he had made it into Slytherin. Ron would be a total outcast and he was certain he deserved it.

"Aren't you going to eat?" Neville asked from across the table. Ron looked up at him and shook his head, preferring to remain hungry than eat with the Gryffindors.

"You're not seriously that upset about being placed in our house, are you?" one of the twins asked him. Ron didn't answer. "We're the best house there is!"

"Seriously!" the other responded. "We only let certain people in, so you must be pretty special. Isn't that right, Fred?"

"That's right, George," the first twin agreed. Ron knew they were trying to make him feel better, but it wasn't working. How could it? He knew the truth; Gryffindor wasn't the best house. It was the worst. Hadn't that been what his dad and mum had always told him? People who were put into Gryffindor were dumb, cocky, and careless. That must have meant that Ron was just as bad as they were, not that he was special.

"Are you upset your brother didn't make it here?" Hermione asked. Ron couldn't stop from scowling at her and she dropped the roll that she was bringing up to her mouth.

"I don't belong here," he told her. "I should have been a Slytherin like Draco."

"Slytherins are a bunch of numpties!" Fred or George exclaimed (Ron didn't look up to see who had actually said it). Ron clenched his fists under the table, having to fight from punching them in the face. How dare they speak of Slytherin like that?! It was the best house there was!

"Are you kidding?!" he lashed out at them, finally raising his voice and feeling the fury wash through him. "Slytherin is way better than Gryffindor! At least Slytherins have got some brains! All Gryffindors do is get themselves in trouble and blame other people for it!"

"If you don't like it, then go sit with your precious Slytherins!" Harry suddenly snapped at him. All the happiness that he had exuded when he had taken his seat next to Ron had evaporated once again, but this time Ron didn't care. If Harry was going to be proud of being in this horrible house then he wasn't worth being friends with.

"Fine! I will!" Standing up roughly, Ron stomped away from the Gryffindor table to the Slytherins. They all abruptly stopped their talking as soon as Ron joined them. He didn't care; instead he roughly shoved Crabbe aside and sat next to his brother. "I can't believe this...Gryffindor...what a load of dragon dung!"

Draco said nothing. In fact, he didn't even bother looking at Ron. He instead took to pushing his mashed potatoes around his plate with his fork. An older girl down the table suddenly shouted, "Get away from our table, Gryffindor!" Ron's head snapped in her direction. She was looking at him much as Draco had looked upon Hermione earlier after finding out she had Muggle parents.

"No!" Ron insisted, glaring right back. "I belong to this house, so I'll sit here if I like!"

"Go away, Ron," Draco muttered quietly as he still stared down at his plate.

"What?" Ron asked, hardly believing his ears.

"I said, go away! Go back to your Gryffindor friends!" Draco now looked him full in the face. His eyes were hard and angry. All the fears that Ron had originally experienced on being placed into Gryffindor suddenly flew back to him. Draco - his twin brother and only friend at Hogwarts - was shunning him.