A huge, rambling, scary-looking castle appeared before Harry's eyes. It was magnificent, albeit a bit jumbled here and there, but all in all, there was nothing to disparage. It stood atop a rocky cliff, giving off a sense of impenetrability. 

Somewhere along the way, Harry heard quiet sniffing once or twice. He listened carefully for a while before turned to see who was making that noise. A round-faced boy sitting in the corner of the boat on his left was trying to wipe his tears away. Harry curiously tilted his head just as the boy was looking up. Harry quietly mouthed "What's wrong?" to the boy, and got a "Lost my toad" in return. Harry nodded in confirm and looked around. A toad wouldn't be too hard for him to find.

- HEADS DOWN! - yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff. They all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They travelled along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out on to rocks and pebbles.

Harry was about to step out of his boat when he felt something moved under the bench he was sitting on. He bent down and saw a green warty toad hopping around. He carefully took out a handkerchief, wrapped it around the toad and picked him up. He jumped out of the boat and looked for the round-faced boy. Harry scrunched his face when he saw the boy was standing beside Juliet and her group of friends. Just then, he felt a light tap on his shoulder:

- Harry? Is something wrong? 

It was Hagrid. Harry's face lightened up. He wasn't going to go near that pain in the neck, but he wasn't going to keep the toad either. He didn't like toads. 

- Hagrid? Could you give this toad to the boy standing by the tree, please?

Hagrid smiled kindly:

- Of course, Harry. - He then turned to the boy. - Oy, you there! Is this yer toad?

The boy's face brightened. He dashed to Hagrid and scooped the toad in his hands.

- Trevor! - The boy cried blissfully. - Thank you so much.

- Don' thank me. Thank Harry. He's the one who found yer toad.

The round-faced boy turned and broke into a sincere smile:

- Thank you, Harry. This toad was a gift from my grandmother. I don't want her to be upset. I'm Neville, by the way.

-  No problem, Neville. Just doing what I can. It is very nice to see you but I have to be elsewhere.

- Okay, nice seeing you, Harry.

Neville waved goodbye and Harry finally reunited with Draco, who was standing near the very edge of the lake. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last on to the smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.

They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.

- Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?

Hagrid raised his gigantic fist and knocked three times on the door.

The door swung open at once. A tall black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.

- The firs' years, professor McGonagall. - said Hagrid.

- Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here.

She pulled the door wide. The Entrance Hall was very big, Harry thought it was about twice the size of the Manor's halls. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.

They followed Professor McGonagall across the hall. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right - the rest of the school must already be here - but Professor McGonagall showed the first-years into a small empty chamber of the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.

- Welcome to Hogwarts. - said Professor McGonagall. - The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts. 

- The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. 

- The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting.

Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on the redheaded boy's smudged nose. 

- I shall return when we are ready for you. - said Professor McGonagall. - Please wait quietly.

She left the chamber. Harry turned to face Draco and helped him fix his hair. While staying with Draco in his family's manor, he had made the blonde give up applying gel on his hair. He didn't like seeing Draco's soft hair being so stiff. Draco refused at first, saying it was not proper for his hair to be out of place. But after a stare from Narcissa and Severus, he backed down with a "hmph". So now, Harry had an important "mission": to fix Draco's hair whenever the blonde felt it was not decent enough. 

- Are you nervous, Dray? - Harry asked, his eyes fixed on a stubborn lock of hair that turned upright. 

- Not really, I know I will be sorted into Slytherin...

- But? - Harry held back a sigh of relief when he had successfully made that lock get into place. 

- But what if I'm in Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff? Or even...Gryffindor? - He shuddered a bit. - Father...

- Will accept it. - Harry interrupted him, hands on his shoulders. -  It's who you are, and as long as you don't do anything you will regret, it's alright. I'll stand by your side if Lucius kicks you out because you are in any house except Slytherin. 

Draco chuckled:

- I don't think Godfather will allow it, but thanks anyway. 

Just then, he heard footsteps behind his back, and the voice of the last person he would want to meet:

- Is it true that you are living in the Malfoy Manor, brother? 

Harry sighed, he could feel hatred dripping out from the the last word she spoke:

- Nice meeting you too, Juliet. 

- Why don't you answer me? Or are you too afraid to do so? - She snickered. He could heard laughters echoed from her flock of friends.

- You don't learn anything from our last incident, do you? - Draco spoke up, looking dangerously at her. 

- What should I learn? That you nobles are a bunch of pompous twit? You are too confident to consider I like you, Malfoy. Although, I will give you a chance to court me. - She battered her eyebrows at him, googly eyes working at full throttle. 

Draco just simply smirked:

- Thank you for your suggestion, but I politely declined. I shall leave this...invitation to other lucky suitors. 

- Why? Feeling you are not good enough for me? - She flashed a smile. Harry must admit if it wasn't for her cocky attitude he would have said she was a pretty girl.

- Absolutely not. Because I feel you are not good for me. 

Juliet's arrogant look froze immediately:

- I'm not good enough?! - She shrieked through her gritted teeth. - The Chosen One isn't good enough for the Malfoy heir?! Then who is? Some abandoned child that no one remembers?

Harry flinched. He despised that word. Abandoned. He knew he wasn't a Potter, but who were his real parents? Did they actually abandoned him like she said? 

- Enough, Potter. - Draco snarled. He had noticed Harry's mood dropped immediately. - Having a father and a great title doesn't mean you can say that to other people. No parents want to give up their child. Moreover, you're just eleven, how can you say such malicious things? There are many ways to insult a person, why did you choose to say this? Didn't your father teach you social manners? 

Juliet's mouth opened and closed many times, but not a word was uttered. Draco smirked victoriously. He won. 

~💙~💜~💚~

Hi y'all. I think I had gone into hiding for quite a long time, so I came back with quite a chapter. Hope you'll like it. 

I hope you are all healthy. The coronavirus outbreak in my country has gotten very serious, just because some stupid girl refused to accept she had the virus. Moreover, many people didn't want to run medical tests to see if they had the virus or not. How stubborn, and stupid as hell 😤😡 So now because of those ignorant people, I continue to stay in my house, editing and writing and studying. But it isn't so bad, staying at home I mean. I like to study at home rather than go to school. But it is starting to get very suffocating staying at home for like, almost two months without getting out of the house for one day 😩

Luckily I have something to distract me. My idol, the movies😍🥰 Hehe, listening to their music and watching my favourite movies are the best. Hope you will have something to distract you, too. 😘💜❤

#CIR