1st Year

Uncl- Professor Longbottom was waiting in front of two large doors as all of the first years gathered around. Everyone was nervous, but Uncle Neville gave a wink at me and my cousin and best friend, Al. I had never seen him so confident.

Dad had told me stories of pudgy, crooked toothed, nervous Neville, but I had never seen that side of him. Sure, he had a dorky side to him when it came to plants, or his only daughter, Patty, but he was a hardened war hero. Here though, in Hogwarts, he was completely in his element.

"In a few moments, you will be sorted into your houses in front of your classmates- oh Jordan, put that back in your pocket straight away," he gave a glare.

Immediately, everyone around me began to buzz, wondering what kind of test would be used to figure out which house they would be sorted into. Next to me, Al looked on the verge of a panic attack; while a loud boy behind me began asking what Fiddledunk house was known for again.

The doors swung open widely and everyone fell silent and slowly filed into a line while the older students stared at us.

I looked for my cousins, all seated together at the Gryffindor table with scarlet ties and smiling faces, waving and me and Al. I gently nudged him to look at our family and as he saw them, his face seemed to relax.

Being nearly a head taller than everyone in my year, I was able to get a much better view of the staff table and recognized nearly every person, as they all had some connection to my parents.

Uncle Neville produced an old, dirty hat and sat it on a stool. I looked around confusedly, as all of the older students focused all of their attention on the hat.

It began to sing from a rip that I supposed was now a mouth.

Welcome one and welcome all

To this the Greatest of the Halls…

The Sorting Hat went on with his song and I began thinking of the stories my parents had told me about this place. The Howler he'd received his second year from Nan, the owls that soared above the breakfast table, dropping off letters and packages, and the fighting the fact that people had even died in this room during the Second War. I was so fascinated and ready to explore every crack and crevice of this magical place. I really had been so sick of muggle school. I was constantly teased and picked on by the other girls for the magic that I would accidentally conjure.

And we'll have the best year!

The spectators burst into applause and I began to mindlessly clap along with them.

Mum would have scolded me if she knew I'd had one of my spacey trips while the Sorting Hat sang its song, let alone that I hadn't memorized the entire thing to be able to owl her about it.

Uncle Neville then pulled a parchment out of his robe and began to read off the names.

"Avery, Claire."

I could feel all of the first years holding in one breath as the hat deliberated.

"Hufflepuff!"

Sometimes the Hat would shout out a house as soon as it was placed on top of their head, and sometimes the hat took a very long time to deliberate, and you could see the faces of the students grow paler and paler the longer the Hat deliberated.

Someone pushed my shoulder down. "Geez Weasley, how is anyone supposed to see with your fat head on top of that giant body."

I turned around to glare at the blonde little Malfoy boy.

Dad had warned me about him and his family, and it looked as though his warning was already coming to life. This kid was gonna be trouble.

I casually leaned into him with a smirk on my face, "Sorry about that, Squirt."

His face turned red as he glared at me and I turned back around, pretending to be cool when I really just wanted to cry.

I felt a nudge by my hand and looked over to see Dom, another cousin of mine, grabbing my hand and giving it a tight squeeze and a smile. She pulled her hand back and looked ahead to watch Kane Flint become sorted into Slytherin.

There was no need to be nervous. I came from a long line of Gryffindors on my dad's side, and my mum was one too, even though she was a muggleborn. Dad had made jokes about being disowned if I was sorted into another house, but in my heart, I knew they would always love me.

MacMillan, Levi tripped up the steps a little and was immediately sorted into Hufflepuff. I heard Malfoy snigger behind me and mutter something about "stupid Hufflepuffs" and I resisted the urge to turn around and list off every good witch and wizard that came from the honorable house of Hufflepuff, but "Malfoy, Scorpius" was called before I had the chance.

He swaggered up to the stool and sat with a stupid smirk on his face as Uncle Neville rested the Hat on his fat, dumb, ugly head.

I expected the Hat to call out Slytherin the very moment that it touched his head, but instead, the Hat seemed to be thinking as the top seemed to be moving around thoughtfully. Malfoy's face seemed to be getting greener and his smirk was gone now. After a couple of moments the Hat called out, "Slytherin."

Malfoy seemed relieved, but not entirely as confident and arrogant before as he sat down with the cheering table.

Sally Nott had hardly any time to also be sorted into Slytherin before the hat called-

"Potter, Albus!"

I gave his hand a gentle squeeze as he walked up to the stool by Neville.

He had become good at putting on a brave face, with years of training appeasing the paparrazi. Only I knew how truly terrified he was behind those square glasses.

The hat took a long time. Longer than it took for Malfoy. Longer than it took for anyone until he finally announced…

"SLYTHERIN!"