Untold Ties // Harry Potter Universe

Sorting and Separation // Chapter 1

"Honestly Father, the fact that you invited that filthy Half-Blood into our house for the summer was too far, now you're making me escort them to the train?"

When Magnolia and Nicole walked down the stairs the morning that they were to go to Hogwarts, they overheard Draco and his father arguing like they had been all summer. Magnolia knew the statement was about her but had learned to live with Draco's constant criticism of her Blood Status. She also knew that her best friend, Nicole, had a bit of a soft spot for Draco and could not understand why. Sure, he was a cute boy but he was also cruel and mean to them the entire two weeks that the witches had stayed at Malfoy Manor. Magnolia tried to give Draco the benefit of the doubt but she could not for the life of her understand why Nicole liked him so much.

A few hours had passed and the girls, along with Draco, set off for the Hogwarts Express. The witches were ecstatic when they received a letter from Hermione, telling them that they could sit with her on the train. Magnolia had secretly hoped that her good friend, Neville, would also be in the same train cart as them. Draco, in a rather annoyed fashion, ended up helping the girls with their trunks and helped them find a seat. After the girls had settled in a cart Draco hurried off towards his normal gang of Slytherins that were far away from where he seated the girls.

As Magnolia and Nicole put their luggage in the compartment above them, they heard a familiar voice along with a tap on the glass door.

"Mione! We're so happy to see you!" Nicole squealed, basically jumping out of her seat to embrace Hermione in a hug.

"I missed you girls too! Your letters were the most interesting thing about my summer!"

Slowly, the rest of the gang came onto the train and met up with the girls. Ron was obviously clueless as to why the girls were there but he was happy nonetheless. Harry had entered the train cart last and he looked at the girls with a slight smile. When he finished putting away his luggage, he pulled Nicole aside and apologized for his behavior at the Ministry of Magic. Nicole accepted his apology but Magnolia felt a siren in her head go off, telling her that Harry was still not fully over the fact that they had stayed at Malfoy Manor.

"So Harry, how was your trial?" Magnolia asked, trying to gauge his emotions.

"Well, it went okay, I won it but it was still a weird situation. I had to use magic to protect myself but the circumstances were definitely strange."

The group continued their chat the entire ride back to Hogwarts but Magnolia could not stop wondering about Neville. She knew that she shouldn't get her hopes up because she had been disappointed by guys in the past but she thought that maybe he was unlike the rest.

**Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry**

The train came to a complete stop and the girls looked up at the familiar castle before them. A flood of emotions came crawling back to them as they reminisced on the year they spent their prior. The group of Fifth Year students were escorted by Hagrid into the castle. They walked up a grand staircase that led to the Great Hall when Professor McGonagall pulled the girls to the side.

"I am very glad to see that you two exceptional witches are joining us back for this term." She said, giving them a reassuring smile. "You girls are in a peculiar situation however, you will have to be sorted along with the First Years."

She then led the girls to the unexpectedly large group of First Year students who were excitedly waiting to be put into their houses.

"This is a little embarrassing," Nicole whispered to Magnolia.

"Oh, it'll be alright, a minute of embarrassment for years of fun!"

"I guess that's a good way to look at it..."