Dro couldn't sleep. She rolled over again and her strawberry blond hair fell into her eyes and stuck to her lips. She blew it away, and gave up when it fell back onto her face, nearly choking her this time. She stood, grabbing her wand from her bedside table. Lumos. She smiled. Her mother had given her a copy of 50 Must Know Spells for Young Witches and Wizards by Regina Hart for christmas, and lumos was one of the only ones she'd gotten to work. Her glowing wand tip illuminated her new school trunk, packed and repacked three times. The mirror on the back of her door reflected the wording on the side, "Property of Adromeda Spats. If found, please return to Hogwarts or 6843 Redthorn Avenue, London, England." (Though the mirror showed it in reverse.) She sighed. Everything was in order. Everything tomorrow would go perfectly. She should be able to sleep. The muffled sounds of her mother's pacing could be heard through the door. This was to be expected, tomorrow was, after all, the day she sent her only child off to boarding school. Dro looked up at the sound almost as though she would be able to see into her parents room. Instead she just caught her own reflection in the mirror. There were bags under her clear blue eyes, amplified by the almost eerie lighting. Her bottom lip was chapped and bleeding slightly due to her biting it with nervousness. Her spattered freckles almost looked like holes set against her pale skin in the dark of night. A sigh of annoyance escaped her as yet more Hogwarts worries crossed her mind. Suddenly, her mother saw the light seeping under the door. "Stop worrying and go to bed!" She called.
She's right, thought Dro, sleep is a good thing. I should sleep. And with that final revelation still echoing in her mind, she thudded onto the pillow and finally fell into a restless sleep full of nightmares about her coming first day at Hogwarts.
Needless to say, Dro wasn't in the best of moods when she woke up. Excitement and dread and joy and terror swirled in the pit of her stomach, making the very idea of breakfast nauseating. Instead she skipped straight to the first big task of the day, getting dressed. That was easy, at least. She put on her brand new school robes and looked in the mirror that had reflected her worry last night. She looked the part of a Hogwarts student, now could she play one? The door swung open and the high bark of her mother's laughter filled the room. "Muggles, sweetie-" she finally managed to get out "you have to wear Muggle clothes to the station. Change before your father sees you and dies laughing."
Her mothers laugh made Dro smile before she suddenly realized that she would have to choose an outfit. Something people could judge her on. She liked fashion and all, but what on earth do you wear for a train ride on your first day of magical boarding school!? After much trial and error, she finally wore a light pink tank top and jeans, with her favorite battered gray and pink sweatshirt. It was the most nondescript outfit she could come up with that still made it look like she had somewhat of a personality. Plus, she wasn't wearing any house colors, unless you count the blue in the jeans, and she didn't, and she didn't want to look like she was hoping for a particular house. Her mother was a Hufflepuff, her father was a muggle. She had a Slytherin uncle, a Gryffindor cousin, and a dead Ravenclaw triple great grandmother. She finally made her way downstairs with her trunk and her wand.
The train ride passed compartment she'd managed to squeeze into hqd had a group of third years who were already friends in it. They'd asked her name and her house and when she told them she was new they'd ignored her. The boat ride shoved her in with other first years but besides a quick exchange of names, they were all too nervous to speak.
Finally it was time for the first years to be sorted. Professor McGonagall stood at the head of the hall, warning them to tidy up. Having heard about the sorting hat from her mother, she didn't pay much attention to McGonagall's explanation of the Sorting Ceremony. Instead she took the opportunity to check out her fellow first years. Some she recognized as children of her parents friends, though she wasn't close with any of them. Up at the front she spotted a shock of red hair and realized that the Weasleys must have kid in her year. She knew them from various Ministry events that her mother always dragged her too. Next to him stood someone she realized must have been Harry Potter. She'd never seen him, of course, but she'd seen pictures of his father, and he was the spitting image. A nervous feeling of starstruck-ness fluttered up in her stomach even as she drifted back to one maternal warning spouted among many on the car ride to the station. "Now, I hear the Potter boy's going to be at Hogwarts this year, leave him alone. He's just a kid like you. No need to crowd him." Not that she had much opportunity, there were hundreds of kids between them. She was shaken out of her reverie by the creak of the Great Hall doors opening. Before she knew it, the ceremony had begun. Random names in no apparent order were being shouted. Finally, her own was called and the hat was placed on her head. She was one of the last few and no one was really paying attention. She just wanted the hat to hurry up and place her so the feast could start. Well if you care that much for everyone else it better be Hufflepuff. The hat's voice in her head startled her. She jumped about a foot in the air before smiling slightly and thinking, wherever I'll get better at magic. I'd like to be able to cast more than Lumos. "RAVENCLAW!" screamed the hat. Before McGonagall whipped the hat from her head she thought You just said Hufflepuff!
And your focus is learning, not friends. Only in Ravenclaw… the hat drifted off as it was lifted off her head. She walked to the Ravenclaw table and vaguely heard a Slytherin sorted behind her. She took a seat and started as the food appeared before her. "Lost in thought, eh? Already getting into the house spirit." a prefect smiled at her and she forced a laugh. She spent the rest of the evening thinking about how she'd almost been in Hufflepuff.