By All Means, Enlighten Me

4 - Before The Sorting

"Please check that you haven't left any person items in the boats when you climb out!" Hermione called as the first years climbed up the slippery stones off the side of the Black Lake.

She flicked off a bit of ivy that had gotten caught on her robes as the boats sailed through the ivy curtain in the opening of the cliff that held the castle.

"Hi!" A chirpy little girl said beside Hermione as she checked the vacated boats. "I'm Delilah Morgan. You're Hermione Granger. I've read all about you and your friends. You're in Famous Wizarding Accomplishments of Recent Times, Greatest Gryffindors of Our Era and The Battle of Hogwarts: A Second Wizarding War. I hope to become an accomplished Gryffindor like yourself one day, you're my biggest role model!" The young girl stated brightly.

Hermione stared at the little girl who only came up to her elbow. She had dark brown bushy hair and big orb like brown eyes. She was uncannily not unlike Hermione herself at this age. "Well," Hermione said smiling and bending down to level with the young witch, "you keep up with that reading you seem to like doing and you'll be an accomplished witch no matter what house you're sorted into!" She patted the girl on the shoulder and moved to settle the rest of the rambunctious first years.

As the two Heads, alongside each other, walked the children up the long pathway towards the castle, Hermione felt a tug at her robe sleeve.

"Sod off." Malfoy growled at the first year to his side.

Hermione swung her arm hitting Draco right on his bicep. "You sod off!" She said to him.

He grunted before stalking off to the front of the crowd to bully the first years at the front of the line.

Hermione turned to the young girl at her side.

"I know you said I could be an accomplished witch no matter the house I'm sorted into but what if I'm sorted into Hufflepuff? Or Ravenclaw? Or worse SLYTHERIN?!" Delilah said.

Hermione smiled and knelt down to the young girl's height. "Delilah, may I call you Delilah?"

"My friends and family call me Lila but that's okay." She replied.

"Okay." Hermione said. "Lila, there is something you must understand about Hogwarts houses. Something you do not read in books." She said carefully. Delilah gave her Head Girl a quizzical look.

"To be eligible to any one of these four houses is a great honor. To be a Gryffindor, they say you must be brave. To be a Ravenclaw, they say you must be clever. To be a Hufflepuff, they say you must be just and loyal. To be a Slytherin, they say you must be cunning and ambitious. Let me tell you a secret...as the brightest witch of the age, they were WRONG." She finished.

The nervous looking girl beamed at Hermione.

"I know Gryffindors who didn't seem to have a single ounce of bravery in them. I've known disloyal Hufflepuffs and not so smart Ravenclaws. Trust me, the traits of each house are only stereotypes. Generalizations if you may." Hermione said in a calming voice.

"And if I'm a Slytherin?" The 11 year old queried.

"Then Slytherin will have gained an amazing young woman." The Head Girl assured.

The little girl looked doubtful but Hermione persisted. "You see that young man over there?" She pointed at Draco Malfoy. "He's a Slytherin. Now do you really think that out of all the Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors in my year that Headmistress McGonagall would have chosen him as my fellow Head over all others if there was a good, genuine side to him?"

As she spoke she wondered whether any of what she was saying to the gullible youngster had any real validity at all.

"Mmmm. No." Lala replied. "But he isn't exactly a very nice person is he?"

Hermione thought back to what he had called her in the Head Carriage today. "No. But he can be." She lied.

Satisfied, the little girl grinned, nodded and took off after the rest of her year.

Hermione stared at Draco Malfoy. He was such an arse and it infuriated her that she had to lie to the young girl but the truth was that there were some okay Slytherins, she had befriended Theodore Nott while working on a particularly fiddly potion once and although it was a minority, every single Slytherin sorted henceforth deserved a clean slate to start with from the future students at Hogwarts.

Reminding herself that the world was bigger than her immense dislike for the bratty blonde Slytherin, she carried on up the pathway towards the huge front doors of the castle.

***

Hermione reunited with her fellow Gryffindors once Professor McGonagall had relieved watch over the first years and dismissed her and Malfoy.

Moody and scowling, he scampered off into the Great Hall to join his friends.

Hermione turned to leave also but the Headmistress called her back.

"Mister Malfoy doesn't seem to be taking to his post so well." She stated. "He looks to be a little bit more irritated than usual. Therefore, I leave the responsibility of passing on this next information in your capable hands Miss Granger."

Hermione began to protest but the aged witch held up her hand, halting Hermione instantly.

"The Head Tower is located on the seventh floor at the end of the corridor leading away from the Divination Classroom. There is a statue of a Dire Wolf guarding the entrance. The password is Sugar Minute." McGonagall relayed.

Hermione sighed and thanked the professor before walking to join her friends in the start of term banquet.