Thesrtals and Sorting
“What d’you think those are?” said Harry, pointing to the strange horses.
“What are you talking about?” Ron asked.
“Those horses over there.”
“What horses?” asked Hermione.
“Don’t worry, I can see them too.” Luna assured Harry.
“Same,” said Percy.
“Mm-hm,” confirmed Will.
“They’re called thestrals, you can only see them if you’ve seen death,” Nico explained with a flat voice.
“How do you know that?” asked Harry.
“My dad told me about them once,” Nico replied after a moment of hesitation.
“I just need to know what exactly y’all are seeing,” said Ron.
“Black dragon horses,” said Percy. That seemed like the best explanation.
Harry was listening for the familiar voice of Hagrid, but he instead heard a brisk female one. That was strange.
“Where’s Hagrid?” he asked.
“Dunno,” said Ron. “Maybe he’s sick or something.”
Harry hoped that Hagrid was ok and didn’t get attacked by any of his dangerous creatures.
“Maybe,” Harry said.
They got into one of the coaches and headed to the castle. Percy audibly gasped at the sight of it. He’d seen some great stuff, but this was beautiful. Harry had to stop himself from laughing, Percy’s reaction was very similar to Harry’s four years ago.
“Who did you see die?” Luna asked the new kids.
“Is it limited to humans or do monsters count too?” Percy asked matter-of-factly.
“Humans,” Luna replied.
“I guess a lot of friends died in the past two years,” said Percy. “Bianca, Zoe, Luke, Beckendorf, Lee, Michael, Silena-“ he stopped when he saw everyone’s faces. “Sorry, my brain just goes off on its own sometimes, being ADHD and all.”
“How-how do you deal with all that?” asked Harry. The nightmares he got about Cedric’s death were terrible, he couldn’t imagine how it might be to see that many friends die in a such a short amount of time.
“I don’t,” he replied. “I do feel sad but I know they’re in a better place now. I’m just guilty about not being able to stop the death in pain.”
“Bloody hell,” said Ron, Percy and Nico both flinched.
“What’s the problem?” asked Hermione. “This is the second time you two have expressed discomfort at the word hell.”
Nico grabbed Will’s hand to calm himself down. “It’s nothing,” he said, you know, like a liar.
Luckily, they reached the castle before Hermione could enquire further. Professor McGonnagal called the transfer students over to her. In his haste to get away from Hermione’s questions, he tripped on his robes and almost fell into the lake. Nico snickered as Percy pretended he did not just make a fool of himself. The others were already there. It was time for the sorting and the feast.
The sorting hat was put on a wooden stool in the middle of the great hall so everyone could see it. The first years were in a line getting ready to be sorted. They had a sort of nervous excitement. The transfer students were at the end of the line. Most of them were fidgeting. Hermione remembered what Percy said about having ADHD. These kids were definitely hyperactive, that’s for sure.
Once the first years were done being sorted, Dumbledore stood up.
“As some of you know already, we are hosting some students from a magic school in America this year.” he announced. “I hope that you will be welcoming to them all.”
Harry saw Malfoy glaring at Nico in the line, and Nico was glaring back. Harry knew that they were going to fight a lot.
The new kids got sorted.
Jason, Reyna and Frank in Gryffindor. Piper, Nico and Thalia in Slytherin. Percy, Will and Hazel in Hufflepuff. Annabeth and Leo in Ravenclaw.