❀ 1.3 ❀
❀ New beginnings, New friends, and Sorting ❀
The four (almost) first-years and the (almost) third year all walked back to their compartment in relative silence.
" Well. Those are some boys I do not want you associating with, Isla-Mae. Mainly for your safety, but also for my sanity; I don't think I could handle it if you started, I don't know, talking to them for reasons other that roasting them to oblivion and beyond, " Jenny said, staring intently at Isla-Mae. " I was told to help you along, and those boys do NOT look like they want to help you settle in, " She then muttered something under her breath about idiot boys, bullying, and weird kids.
Isla-Mae simply nodded and stared out of the window in the compartment. She had figured that Jenny would most likely say something like this (she just seemed like the protective sort), and while Isla-Mae didn’t mind this, she felt though it was a silly rule to make so early on in their friendship.
After Isla-Mae agreed, Jenny looked calmer, and small talk persisted for the next few hours. Severus sometimes chimed in with small side notes that Isla-Mae took care to remember. Things like: the pureblood elitist system, the difference between a hex and a charm, and the difference between transfiguration and charms.
Isla-Mae slowly zoned out, as the talking and chatting became white noise in the back of her brain. The quiet mumbling and rattling of the train as it moved along the tracks lulled Isla-Mae into a sense of security and sleep.
As the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station, Isla-Mae was jostled awake by Sammy - who had a starry-eyed look about him - violently shaking her arm.
“ We’re here! Wake up, Isla-Mae! “ Sammy exclaimed hurriedly, trying to drag her up.
” Yeah Mae-Mae, come on, “ Jenny said, a joke in her tone. Isla-Mae rolled her eyes at the nickname but didn’t object to it.
When they departed from the train, Jenny walked off to her carriage and Sammy pulled Isla-Mae to a tall man, with twinkling beetle eyes and a bushy beard. He was shouting for all first years to come him. As all of the 11 year olds swarmed around him, the big man introduced himself as Hagrid, he told them to follow him to some boats on a very dark lake.
Hagrid said that four people could be in a boat. Isla-Mae and Sammy both looked at each other and rushed over to an empty one. A few seconds later, a really short Chinese girl with wavy(sort of curly), ear-length, brown hair, coco-coloured eyes, and a white bow on a bracelet she was wearing, came over to their boat and sat down. A girl covering her ears came over next; she had chin-length, brown, wavy hair, caramel-tinted eyes, and wearing a silver oval pendant. She looked nervously at the three already in the boat. The Chinese girl motioned her over, she looked calmer, and sat down.
The nervous-looking girl said, “ M, m, my name isss Roe, “ she stuttered, none of the others minded, and Roe smiled. The other girl stated, “ And my name is Rosie, “ while holding out her hand for Sammy and Isla-Mar to shake. They both did.
” My name is Sammy, “
” Mine is Isla-Mae, “
All of them looked in awe as the boats started moving and sailing across the lake. They reached an arch - covered in ivy and crumbling - that gave way to a view of a massive castle: Hogwarts. They gasped and were held in a stasis of awe at the magical construction.
Sooner than Isla-Mae would have liked, they arrived at shore and got off the boats. Hagrid motioned for all of them to follow him up to the big entrance of Hogwarts, and they all followed him. Soon, the doors opened and a stern woman wearing a green dress was standing behind them.
“ Thank you, Hagrid. My name is Professor Mcgonagall. I am head of Gryffindor house and deputy headmistress. Now follow me, “ she walked all of them through a few doors and into a small - kind of damp - room with no windows and candles mounted on the walls.
Professor Mcgonagall then said,” I will step out for a few moments, you should all use this time to, ah, freshen up, “ she looked pointedly at Sammy and his untucked shirt, and Rosie with her white-bow bracelet. She walked out of the room and immediately - in her absence - everyone erupted in frantic chatting.
“ I’m going to be in Gryffindor, for sure; you know my parents were in Gryffindor as well? “ Isla-Mar heard the boy with glasses from the train boast.
The other boys smiled and loudly chatted about how amazing it would be if they were all put in Gryffindor together, all of the schemes and hijinks they would get up to. Of course there were the anxious ones in the corners who were extremely scared and looked very nervous (they were the ones that had been told by Fabian and Gideon that they had to tame a chimera to be sorted, and that all students had placed bets on how many were going to survive the first week).
Suddenly, everyone fell silent. There were ghostly apparitions floating through the walls and chatting amongst themselves. “Oh, new students everybody,” One of the ghosts ( with a large ruffle around his neck ) proclaimed confidently. “ I assume most of you will want to be in my old house; Gryffindor, “ He continued, though many students frowned and shook their heads wearily.
” Hufflepuff will welcome any of you, so long as you can work hard and see the good in the fair and just, “ another ghost ( this one a round man in a friar’s clothes ) said, and lots of the nervous 11 year olds started looking less worried and happier with the floating apparition’s words.
The friar continued on to say, “ And Ravenclaw will happily take you as long as you’re sharp, witty, and creative, “ A beautiful, ghost woman gave him a grateful look as he spoke for her. “ this is the grey lady, the Ravenclaw ghost, “ he finally finished.
Just as a dark-haired man readied himself to speak, the door swung open and Professor Mcgonagall stepped in the room. “ everybody follow me, “ she said in her Scottish accent, while gesturing at them to ‘come along’.
They all walked to a set of large, ornate double-doors that swung open as Professor Mcgonagall walked near them. She glided over the entrance, and everyone followed.
The great hall was beautiful; floating candles, the enchanted ceiling, the rows and rows of patient(and not-so-patient) faces expecting them. They walked through the gap between the middle tables and stood waiting in a line to be sorted. Professor Mcgonagall placed a raggedy-looking hat on the four-legged stool in front of her and it began to sing.
It was at this point Isla-Mae stopped paying attention or caring, because she had already had the houses described to her (with maybe three words at most) by Jen. The hat went on and on about the houses and how Gryffindors were the protagonists and all Slytherins were evil and racist. Isla-Mae thought this was kind of backwards thing for magically advanced people - or hats - to be saying -or singing- even if they were about to be used for scrap parts in a 4-year-old’s art project.
After the (questionable) song the hat sang, a rousing round of applause followed. For what reason, Isla-Mar did not know. Professor Mcgonagall then started reading out the children’s names to be sorted.
” Black, Sirius,” This was one of the boys Isla-Mae had seen being mean to snape. She didn’t really know snape and therefore couldn’t vouch that he hadn’t done something to deserve it, but Isla-Mae knew it was at least somewhat morally wrong. There were whispers among the older students and the ones that had just been sorted. There were also many smirks from the Slytherin table that immediately disappeared as soon as the magically crusty dusty musty had screamed: “ GRYFFINDOR!”
Isla-Mae thought that the Slytherins’ eyes would pop out of their heads. The Gryffindors were silent for a few moments before clapping started. A few surnames later, and:
” Evans, Lily, “ Isla-Mae had never seen anyone as determined as Lily looked in that moment. It only took a couple of seconds for the patchy, ugly, does-not-pay-its-own-taxes looking head adornment to screech in its irritating voice, “ GRYFFINDOR, “
At this point Isla-Mar wasn’t even flinching when the clapping started; it started, it deafened her, then it stopped. And when it stopped, she stopped caring about how her long-term hearing and ear health would be screaming in agony.
Another few classmates went, one in Gryffindor, five in Ravenclaw, two in Hufflepuff, and three in Slytherin. Then it came.
“ García, Isla-Mae, “ This was her call. The call she had been waiting for for a solid while. It took her a few moments to gather herself and walk up to the four-legged stool and sit on it. In those few moments, everyone and everything felt like they slowed down. Then the world was right, and for about a quarter of a second she saw the boy, Sirius Black, looking at her with a smile on his face. The next thing she saw was the inside of that decrepit old hat that smelled like it should have keeled over and died a long time ago.
” Ahh. I saw inside your mother’s head as well, “ spoke the hat into Isla-Mae’s mind.
” WHO THE HELL ARE YOU? GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” Isla-Mae screamed back, from her head.
” Well, you could do well in Ravenclaw, like your mother. But, no, to opinionated and ambitious. Oh, ambitious? Yes I see lots of ambition here,” the hat continued, without acknowledging her presence in her own brain at all.
” What? Get out of my head! Please stop. Stop. Stop or I’ll tear you up, put you in a blender, burn your remains, and force feed then to every teacher and student here, “ Isla-Mae threatened the ugly hat.
” No thank you. Now, I’m seeing fierce loyalty, a sense of… justice (I think), and - oh my goodness - is that a sense that you must prove your worth to everyone to make then love you?” The hat responded, while Isla-Mae felt violated by a freaking old and rude hat.
”Well, I’m not sure whether I should put you in Slytherin or Hufflepuff… you are incredibly resourceful and determined to prove yourself. Do you have a preference?”
” Umm, no not really? I’m sorry I just got here, “ The hat muttered something about indecisiveness and rubbish test that it didn’t think would work.
The next thing it shouted was this: “ HUFFLEPUFF!”
Lily looked dejected when Isla-Mae looked over at her, but she brightened up when she saw Isla-Mae smiling at her.
Isla-Mae sat next to Iris and Iris hugged her as soon as she sat down. “ Well done! I can’t wait to show you around at weekends! “ Iris exclaimed excitedly.
Next was the girl called Rosella (Rosie) that had sat with Isla-Mae on the boat, she was sorted into Hufflepuff. Then another girl called Rosalind Jones was sorted into Hufflepuff and sat in front of Isla-Mae. They introduced themselves to each other and returned to watching the sorting. Another one of the boys who were mean to snape was sorted into Gryffindor, this one was called Remus Lupin.
There was a girl called Rosie Mays who was sorted into Ravenclaw. Again, another one of the boys from the train - Peter Pettigrew - sorted into Gryffindor. Another boy came up to the stool, everyone was whispering about this boy (just like with Sirius) but he took it all in his stride and gave a little smirk once he was sorted into Gryffindor.
Sammy was after a few more, but Isla-Mae had her fingers crossed all the time he was under the hat. Once a few minutes had passed, the hat shouted, “HUFFLEPUFF, “ and fell silent. Isla-Mae and Jen clapped the loudest, with Isla-Mae pulling him into a hug when he sat next to her.
Severus got sorted into Slytherin (to no one’s surprise), the girl called Jemmy who sat with Isla-Mae on the boat got sorted into Hufflepuff and sat next to Rosie, and a girl called Rose Telson got sorted into Slytherin.
Finally the sorting was over and the eating could begin. Just not yet because Dumbledore had an announcement. He started talking and Isla-Mae got bored staring at the ceiling and stealing quick glances behind her because she was sure someone was staring at her from the Gryffindor table.
”… Don’t enter the forbidden forest, for obvious reasons, also no magic in the corridors. I think that just about covers everything? Yes? Well then, on with the feast! “ Isla-Mae zoned in just in time for the end of the speech, clapped, and started piling up her plate with food. There were roast potatoes, applesauce, eggs, rice, bread, beans, carrots, and - for some unknown reason - humbugs.
There was lots of talking and idle chatter that filled the air; family, friends, family-friends, houses, hair, and such things of that nature.
It was a friendly atmosphere for around an hour, until everyone had finished all they wanted to eat, and were sitting back and loosening tight belts for more room to breathe. “ I think everyone has eaten their fill. Yes?” Everyone nodded and smiled. “ Well then, I think everyone should go for an early night in. First years, follow your house’s prefect to your common rooms and sleeping areas.
Isla-Mae was tugged along by both Iris and Sammy because she looked like she was about to keel over.
” Now remember everyone! You knock the rhythm of ‘breadsticks and a guitar’ this term. Okay? Everyone got that? Well if you didn’t, get a friend to tell you,” The prefect knocked on one of the panels in the wall and it slid aside along with the rest of them. Everyone walked inside the giant room with a high ceiling and plants on every window sill. “ Girls on the left, boys on the right. Your name is on your door.”
Isla-Mae didn’t know what exactly she was imagining would be her room, but this was 10x better than that. The walls were painted a calming yellow, and the four four-poster beds were big and comfortable. The door had their names carved into it, so Isla-Mae knew that Rosalind Jones, Rosella Gaylan, and Jemmima Snider.
Isla-Mae plonked herself down on the bed with her things next to it and just let the past few weeks sink in.
She had been told magic was real. She was shown that magic was real by a sad enslaved creature. She had been given a magic wand. She had made friends. She had seen bullying. She had been sorted. And now, she was tired and wanted to go to sleep.
So she and the girls that had come in, while she was reevaluating her last few weeks, got changed and brushed their teeth. They all chatted, exchanged names - Rosalind = Roe, Rosella = Rosie, and Jemmima = Jemmy - and fell asleep as soon as their heads high their pillows.