Friday Night, 30th of August

I smiled hesitantly to the old man with crooked teeth that he liked to show off with a wide smile. Severus had promised to be here so I wouldn't have to enter the Great Hall alone, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Can we wait another minute?" I asked, a drop of despair in my voice. The man, who said his name to be Filch, smiled again but shook his head with obvious malicious joy. 'Damn you, Severus, where the bloody hell are you?' I thought, pleading to all gods I knew to make Severus materialize in front of me this instant. However, it seemed that none of the gods had office hours at that time - Filch opened enormous wooden doors and every pair of eyes suddenly turned to me. There were hundreds!I took a step back when sudden wave of anguish washed over me. But backing away, I bumped into something. Turning around, something turned into someone - Severus to be exact.

"Was about time," I groaned to show my umbrage towards his late appearance, but inwardly I was beaming and thanking him for showing up - better late than never, right?

His face showed no expression and it was a bit unsettling, but I shook it off and allowed him to lead me towards headmaster Dumbledore who was waiting next to the podium with enormous owl engraved on it.

When we reached Dumbledore, Severus left my side and took his seat at teachers' table. For a glimpse I felt jittery again, but Dumbledore gave me a reassuring smile before turning to the students.

"We sorted the first year students," a loud wave of hooting and applauding erupted and cut him off. Eventually it drowned and Dumbledore continued: "But we have one more sorting to do. If you please be so kind, professor McGonagall, and bring the Sorting Hat once more," he said, turning to the teachers' table. The named dame stood up, disappeared behind a thick wooden door and reappeared with a brown hat that looked like it had been through some rough times.

She stood on my other side and gestured for me to take a seat on a chair that had appeared behind me. Before McGonagall set the Sorting Hat on my head, Dumbledore leaned closer and asked in a whisper so only I could hear: "Are you ready?"

I returned his smile and responded: "Am I going to run a marathon?"

He let out a quiet chuckle and answered, that this was one way to look at it. He wished me good luck and then stood up straight again, signaling McGonagall to finally put the Sorting Hat on me.

Suddenly every sound around me drowned and I was left alone with a raspy voice that belonged to the Hat.

"Ah, where should we put you?" its voice echoed in my head. "You have the gift of empathy, I see. And excellent wits. Ravenclaw maybe?"

I growled inwardly and Sorting Hat continued: "Maybe not then. Well, let us see what else we will find. Good amount of courage is there, and some..."

"Stop it!" I snapped, "I don't like you wandering around in my head."

"I know," the Sorting Hat said, with obvious sarcasm in its voice, "You have kept most of the doors locked and your thoughts distant. But you, miss, cannot hide everything. I do sense the old and familiar grandeur in you."

Then the echo of its voice left my head and the Sorting Hat roared out: "Gryffindor!"

But before the Hat was picked up by McGonagall, it left a quiet ringing in my head - 'Welcome back'.

'Well,' I thought sarcastically, 'we are off to a good start.' And I stood up with a smile; Dumbledore shook my hand and told students - especially Gryffindor student body - to welcome me, Cat Anisa, among their fifth year students.

I shot a glance over my shoulder when leaving towards Gryffindor table, but the person I was looking for, had disappeared during the sorting ritual. It felt almost like a stab in the back, it was twice already that he had let me down tonight. Still, I put my best face forward and took a seat next to redheaded twins.

"Hello, I'm Fred," one of them started and other one finished, "and I'm George - we are the Weasley brothers." Their voices were refreshingly chipper and their faces were lit up with sincere joy. "How pleasant to see such a fine lady in our company," Fred continued, turned abruptly and grabbed another redhead - who I hadn't noticed yet - by the collar of his robe and pulled him up from his seat, "and this," George picked up Fred's sentence, only to let it be finished by him, "is our younger brother Ron."

Ron and I exchanged gauche smiles, and Fred pushed Ron back to his seat. Fred explained, while George piled food on my plate, that Ron too, was in fifth year like I, but they were in seventh year.

George finally surrendered my fork to me, after he made sure that no more food could be put on my plate, and twins continued on to interrogate me about Quidditch, preferences on subjects and professors - which I couldn't answer, they realized a second later.

Fred and George had finished their meals, which were even larger than mine, with inhuman speed, but they were polite enough to keep our conversation up - which mostly consisted of them asking questions and answering those themselves, leaving me with no other duty than just laughing - and wait for me to finish, too.

"Hey, Fred," George said, suddenly bolting up from his seat, "should we give her the grand tour?" A mischievous smile shadowed over their faces for a glimpse, "You mean..." Fred started, giving me a playful look before turning back to George, "with all the exciting extras?" his voice drowning into a whisper in the end of his sentence. From behind his shoulder a familiar heap of red hair appeared, "Guys, you never gave me the grand tour with all the extras!" Ron grouched. "Well," Fred said, putting his arm around Ron's shoulders, "you are our brother. We can't show you every trick we have up our sleeve," Fred jumped up, "anyway, if you are a true Weasley, you'll figure them out by yourself!" and every student in earshot burst into laughter, most of them being classmates of the twins. Ron sunk in his seat, his face burning with a bright shade of red. "Watch out," George said while giving me a hand to help me out of my seat, "this pretty red on your face might make the pretty red on your hair jealous!" only fueling the laughter around us.

While exiting the Great Hall, two girls joined us - one of them was introduced by Fred as their younger sister Ginny Weasley, and the other one said her name to be Hermione Granger.

We entered Gryffindor common room and I was instantly amazed how cozy and warm it looked. We all took seat in front of a huge fireplace, Hermione and George occupying armchairs on each side of the sofa on which Fred, Ginny and I sat, Ginny idly throwing her feet over Fred's lap.

"Wait! My suitcase!" I uttered. "Don't worry Cat, suitcases and everything else is sent to bedrooms on arrival," Hermione reassured me. I sunk into the comfortable seating, letting my mind wander and not paying really attention to the lively chatter of my mates. After an hour I left their company with the excuse of being tired and I was allowed to go to sleep after I made a promise to the twins that tomorrow I'll make no excuses to get out of their grand tour.

Author's Note: I do not own HP. Credit for anything and everything, that represents the original content of HP, goes to J. K. Rowling. I only take the responsibility for original characters I've created and derivations of the original content.