Chapter Text
September 1, 1998
The feast to begin the term was intense this year. There were many tears shed as Professor McGonagall spoke about the losses suffered in the prior years. There was laughter as the Sorting Hat gave a song that was closer to a comedy routine than its usual incomprehensibly long poem.
One thing that made the whole affair really different than any year in living memory was the option given to all students to be re-sorted. Much to everyone’s surprise, there were only a handful of students who wanted to be re-sorted.
Much to the surprise of all three of them, Hermione, Draco, and Neville all stood to don the hat again.
Hermione went first. She had what seemed like a long conversation with the hat, and at the end, it finally called out, “SLYTHERIN!”
A hiss went out from half the hall. Draco’s eyes went wide, but his face settled quickly back into his usual neutral smirk. Neville was not as surprised as he should have been. He knew Hermione wished she had more of the Slytherin social skills, and could understand their tactics. He knew a little about the darkness she could see inside herself and that she wanted to find a way to productively use it.
Hermione accepted the tap of Professor McGonagall’s wand, changing the embellishments of her uniform to be Slytherin silver and green. She walked confidently over to the Slytherin table where Pansy Parkinson was waving to her. Neville was suddenly glad for Pansy’s reappearance last week and for her re-introduction to them.
It was Neville’s turn with the hat.
“Ah, Neville Longbottom. I’ve seen you more recently than your girlfriend over there. Good summer?”
He smiled. “Yeah, decent. Yours?”
“Patchy. So, you want to be somewhere you’ll do the most good? How noble. Very Gryffindor.”
“Yeah, but we both know that although I did the most Gryffindor thing a Gryffindor ever did, including dear old Godric himself, I’d really rather not have to deal with being Captain Gryffindor for the rest of my life. Plus, there was that whole two sides of myself thing. Like I’m half Hufflepuff or something.”
“Listen, kid, you might be steady and calm and accepting like Helga, but when evil needed to be vanquished, you stood up and pulled the sword from me. I cannot put you in Hufflepuff. I have a reputation to maintain. If you don’t like yours, maybe be seen in public with your partners more? I don’t know what to tell you except to say again… GRYFFINDOR!”
“Thanks, friend.”
“Get off my arse, if you please.”
Neville placed the hat back on the stool and shrugged at the assembled school. Draco nodded with an eye roll and Hermione was on her feet clapping and cheering.
He returned to his seat at Gryffindor between Ginny and Seamus, both of them nudging his arms with almost annoyed confusion on their faces.
Finally for the triad, Draco sat on the chair and gave a nice smile to Professor McGonagall as she placed the hat on his head. She smiled back and patted him on the shoulder as she stepped back. Neville suspected that the entire resorting idea had been her way of giving Draco an opportunity to show he had changed.
It was the longest stall in Neville’s eight times seeing the sorting happen. Draco laughed out loud several times, and finally the Hat itself began to laugh and spit out, “RAVENCLAW!”
Neville jumped to his feet and cheered. He saw down the tables, Hermione was also on her feet cheering. It was perfect for Draco now. He just wanted to use his real talents, his mind and wits, to be whatever he would be in the future.
After his embellishments were transfigured to blue and bronze with a smile from Professor Flitwick, Draco took a place at the end of the Ravenclaw table beside Luna who was smiling broadly.
The remaining students were re-sorted with much less fanfare than the trio. When McGonagall finally announced that it was time to eat, Neville got up from the Gryffindor table and went to sit across from Draco. Hermione slipped into the spot beside Draco, and a minute later, Ginny, Seamus, and Dean joined them.
As he looked around their section of table, Neville felt happy. Just really happy.
The End.