Happiness

Meeting with the Head-Mistress

Hermione.

The sorting was over rather quick. There were a lot of Gryffindors and Ravenclaws this year. Although it was a down year for Hufflepuff,  it wasn't as bad a Slytherin. There was only one new student sorted to Slytherin. I felt a little pity for the boy. 

It was obvious as many parents of Slytherins had gone overseas, trying to make up new lives after the war. But, I did not expect only a single child to be sorted to Slytherin. As everyone was seated, McGonagall once again went up to the podium, taking out her wand, speaking,

"Now, I would like a round of applause for the newly sorted witches and wizards, who I am sure shall bring glory to their respective houses." everyone gave a half-hearted applause "Well, Now, let the feast begin!"

There was immediate commotion in the hall as everyone rushed to put food on their plates. Ron was definitely stuffing himself too much, he was spilling bits and pieces all over as Harry and Ginny laughed at him. Draco hesitantly touched his food, eating in a kind of serene way, slightly moving away from Ron. I smiled at his awkwardness as I myself started to dig into some steak. Draco had some tart on his plate which Ron was eyeing since a long time. Draco noticed this and said,

"Weasley, you want this?", Draco said, pointing to the tart. Ron didn't know what to do, but when he was eating, he wouldn't have cared if it was Voldemort offering him food. He nodded and Draco took the tart and put it on Ron's plate.

Ron smiled at him. 

We all stared at Ron, including Malfoy whose mouth was slightly open. Ronald Weasley had just smiled at Draco Malfoy.  This was like Draco Malfoy living with mugg-oh wait.

" You okay, Weasley? They mix alcohol in these treats nowadays, don't they?", Draco said, smiling back at him. Everyone laughed, who knew we would be laughing to Draco Malfoy and not at him.  

"Aren't you two the best of friends?", Harry sneered, looking a little jealous. Ginny hit him in the arm.

"Ow! Why'd you do that Gin?"

Draco's humor didn't last as he again went back to his window loving self. Everyone else continued eating, it felt really sad to look at Draco in this position, it seemed like he was a little happy when he talked to others. I chose to ignore this and put all my attention on the lovely mashed potato I just put on my plate.

 _____________________________

The feast was over. I called over Albus from the Hufflepuff table, who was sitting with his usual group. Alecto Abbot came along.

"Listen, I need you to take care of the students, make sure all of them reach their dorms. And look out for couples snogging. They do that a lot when they meet after the break. Me and Malfoy have a meeting with the Headmistress, so if you run into too much trouble, send me a patronus or ask Harry to help you, he knows a lot about this school. "

Both Alecto and Albus nodded, going towards a group of second year Ravenclaws who seemed to be planning something. I sighed, wondering whether they would be fine.

"Shall we go? I think apparating is legal for us heads in the school premises.", Draco said, slightly tapping my arm. I nodded and we said our goodbyes to everyone and then with a swish, we were in front of the Head-Mistress office.

We looked at each other before going in, the special entrance when Dumbledore was headmaster was gone, McGonagall was more time efficient, but I really did miss the elegant entrance. I knocked on the door twice and an old voice said,

"Come in"

We opened the door to a totally different room than the one I saw when I got my time turner at the start of 3rd year. It was more ...... McGonagall  to say the least. We looked at the aging woman sitting behind a neatly arranged table.