33 Reeks of Snake and Ambition

The train slowed to a stop and, outside of their cabin, children began to rush past each other in order to get out of the train and onto a dark platform. Unlike the children outside, Casimir and the other two with him decided to wait until most children had left before heading out themselves.

As Casimir wasn't really a fan of crowded places and neither Draco nor Theodore wanted to be mixed with the 'mud-bloods' as they called them, they all came up with the same decision.

Finally, when the crowd had thinned considerably, they got up from their seats and went out, stepping onto the dark platform and following behind the crowd of children but not mixing in with them.

"C'mon, follow me. Any more firs' years?" From the front of the crowd, Casimir spotted Hagrid, the giant man whom he saw at Diagon Alley. "Mind yer steps now! Firs' years follow me!"

Ah, it seems that Draco has noticed the man as well, curling his lips in disgust.

They began walking along the muddy and rocky path, going cautiously, trying to avoid the rocks and branches that may cause them to trip.

The perks of walking at the back was that, you would be able to see which spots were tricky by making an example out of the victims who walked in front.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec." Hagrid said rather loudly. "Jus' round this bend here."

"Ooooh!" From the front, quite a few children gasped and marvelled at the sight of the school.

Honestly, Casimir wasn't really awed by the sight. Perhaps, living in a large manor for four years had set his expectations for architecture in a high standard.

Glancing beside him, Draco and Theodore also showed similarly dull expressions, feeling the same exact way as he did.

"No more'n four in a boat!" Hagrid yelled.

Casimir headed towards an empty boat, followed by Draco and Theodore. It seemed that the fangirl had found some new friends while she was in the washroom and chose to follow them instead. That left only three of them in the boat.

Casimir wasn't complaining. In fact, it was nicer with fewer people.

"Everyone in?" Hagrid shouted, occupying an entire boat to himself. "Right then. FORWARD!"

To his command, the boats began to sail across the lake, moving closer towards the castle on top of a cliff.

Finally, after passing through a passage under the cliff, they had finally arrived in front of a large door which Hagrid knocked on thrice.

The door swung open, revealing a tall witch wearing emerald-colored robes.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall." Hagrid said.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I'll take them from here."

They followed Professor McGonagall through a set of marble staircase and into a small, empty chamber. She then informed them about the sorting ceremony and adviced them to smarten up then left.

To be honest, Casimir wasn't exactly sure of what the Professor said as he tried to keep himself from yawning. It seems that his previous sleepiness had come back for revenge. Now stronger than ever.

"What house do you reckon you'll be in?" Draco asked as he tugged on Casimir's sleeve, seeming to have already forgotten what had happened on the train. "I bet I'll be in Slytherin. Everyone in my family had been."

"I'll go where you go." Casimir yawned.

"You don't get to choose your house, stupid. I heard there's some sort of test to find out which house you'll be in." Draco snorted, making Casimir raise an eyebrow.

(Casimir: Did you just call me stupid? Draco: Yeah, I did! What you gonna do about it?)

Suddenly, around twenty ghosts appeared, talking to each other, making the students gasp and scream in surprise.

Well, aside from Draco and Casimir who continued chatting, unperturbed. Though, it was mostly Draco who was doing the talking, bragging about how his parents were from Slytherin and his Godfather was the Professor in charge of the said house.

Finally, Professor McGonagall returned, shooing the ghosts and leading the students towards the Great Hall where the rest of the students from other grades were in.

In the hall, thousands of candles were lit and floated on top of four tables. Casimir wasn't impressed.

The wispy orbs at home are much better. And they come in different colors!

Suddenly, there was singing.

Casimir looked towards the front and saw a very dirty hat singing something. Being too sleepy, Casimir couldn't really make out most of the words of its song.

"That's a very dirty hat." Draco commented.

(Casimir: Good job pointing that out, captain obvious!)

Casimir just hummed in reply, not bothering with anything anymore. Right now, he just wanted to get sorted quickly and go straight to bed.

Finally, the hat stopped singing and everyone started clapping. Everyone aside from the gloomy duo, namely Casimir and Draco.

Professor McGonagall then, started calling out names. "Abott..."

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The sorting hat yelled.

"Bones..."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Boot..."

"RAVENCLAW!"

...

"Dupont, Louis!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

...

After some time, many people had already been called. Nott, fangirl, and the cupcake boys had already been sorted, all of them being in Slytherin. Draco and Casimir were the only people in their group who haven't been called yet.

"Malfoy, Draco!"

... Then, Casimir was left alone.

Draco arrogantly strode towards the hat and sat down and,...

"SLYTHERIN!"

The hat hadn't even been put on Draco's head, yet, it had already yelled his house, making a certain table cheer.

A few other names were called until it arrived to a name which caused everyone to grow quiet.

"Potter, Harry!"

Whispers filled the hall as the boy was being sorted. This time, the hat took its time. Then, after a while the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!".

Thunderous cheers filled the hall, causing Casimir to scowl.

I hope I won't be sorted to that house. He thought to himself.

"Proulx, Casimir!"

It's a good thing they didn't mention Marie. Casimir shuddered and walked towards the hat, smiling politely to the Professor as he sat.

"Reeks of snakes and ambition." The hat seemed to mumble. "SLYTHERIN!"

The table where Draco and the others sat in applauded loudly. Casimir walked towards them and sat on the empty seat beside Draco, closing his eyes to rest briefly.

Somewhere on the Ravenclaw's table, a young, dark-haired boy stared at Casimir in horror, his face extremely pale as if he had seen a monster.