I arrived at Hogwarts at 3 o'clock in the afternoon on September 2. I was told that the first day of classes usually starts today, but since it is a Saturday they will start on Monday the fourth. I was worried that I was going to be at a new school and late, but thankfully term started on a Friday.
I entered the giant castle before me through a set of giant oak doors covered with elaborate carvings and etchings of I assumed magical lore and mythology. The creatures and objects depicted on them were so elaborate and detailed that I swore I even saw them move a few times. The room I entered was larger than may entire house back home in Dublin, larger than my house times two! This cavernous hall was lit by hundreds of torches along the walls and when I looked up at the roof I had to squint my eyes to even make out a ceiling, it was so high up. Along the wall were several oak doors smaller than the ones I just entered, and on the south wall was another pair of double doors, almost the same size as the front doors that were opened to another large room with long, banquet-type tables. In front of me was a very wide marble staircase leading up to another floor, and directly across from me, in four niches in the wall, were four large hourglasses filled with four different colored gemstones. I felt as though I had stepped through the looking glass and gone either back in time, into a delirious state, or both.
My trucks and bags were suddenly magically whisked away to my new room, or so I assumed since they just sort of floated away on their own accord, and I was left standing in this giant cave of an entrance hall.
What was I doing here? I don't know anybody here and I don't know a thing about magic! I should never have come to Hogwarts, what was I thinking? I should have just stayed in school in Dublin, where I knew people and I was at the head of my class. What ever possessed me to come here? Just because I am apparently a witch doesn't mean that I should go chasing dreams.
I never received a letter when I was eleven, like you are supposed to if you're a witch, and nobody in the wizarding world has given any thought to me before now, so what was I doing here? Both my sister Lucy and my mom are witches, and they both got their letters to Hogwarts when they were eleven, but I never did. It was only this August, when I was 14, that I received a letter from Hogwarts saying that there had been some mistake along the way and that I was indeed a witch and that I could attend Hogwarts this fall if I wished.
Our parents were divorced when we were less than a year old and each took one of us with them back to their home. My mother took Lucy back to America with her and married a man named Frank Hansen and now I have a stepsister through him, Lauren, and a half-sister, Jessica. My father kept me in Dublin with him and married a woman, Mary Shannon, and now I have a half-brother, Terence. Our parents hated each other, and since they each had one of us they didn't really see a point in sharing custody of us (I know, great parents eh?) and Lucy and I saw each other once a year at the most.
I had always been insanely jealous that my sister was a witch and that I was not. We were never very close growing up, but the one thing that always held us together was that we were identical twins. When Lucy found out she was a witch and that I wasn't, I was mortified and that drove us even further apart. When I was given the choice to become a witch, I snatched up the chance to be like Lucy and not be left behind anymore, and chose to attend Hogwarts.
The letter had said that I would not have to start in first year, but that I could take special courses to catch up to my classmates. It never said what type of special courses, just that I would find out more when I arrived. They had also said that I would not be in the fifth year, like Lucy was, but that I would have to start in my fourth year. This was not because I was behind the other students my age, but because I would not be fifteen on September 1, like Lucy would be. We were born three minutes apart, and those thee minutes just happened to be between 11:58 pm on September 1 and 12:01 am on September 2. According to Hogwarts rules, you must be fifteen on September 1 to enter the fifth year, and the fact that I was born two minutes too late means that I will have to be in the fourth year, but I suppose I cannot complain, I am here finally.
I did not join my sister on the Hogwarts express. I have always had this crazy fear of trains (I know, it sounds ridiculous) ever since my father forgot me on a train headed for London when I was five. I hid in a cupboard alone for ten hours, too until someone found me the next day. My father instead drove me to the town of Hogsmeade, which is near Hogwarts, and from there a carriage from the castle (pulled by, I assumed, invisible horses!) took me to the front doors. I had missed the Welcome Feast and the Sorting (I didn't fully understand what these were, but the Headmistress had said in a letter that she understood), but I was told that when I arrived someone would be present to show me around.
So here I am, standing in the Entrance hall, alone and having no idea what to do. I had been here for ten minutes and there was no one around for me to even ask where to go, or who to talk to. It was just then that I saw someone running down the stairs, looking worried and anxious. She was small, around five feet, and had medium length, vibrant red hair and lovely grey eyes. She looks to be around my age, perhaps a little younger.
"Oh hi! Are you Phillipa? Phillipa O'Callaghan?" she asked me in an English accent.
I nodded, cringing at my name, and wondering how she knew it. "Yeah, but please just call me Pippa, please, I hate my name."
"Oh I'm so sorry!" she said, coming right up to me and grasping my hands. "I'm Rose, Rose Weasley. Professor McGonagall told me to meet you here at noon, but I was out by the lake with my cousins and some friends and just completely forgot and then I realized what time it was and I ran all the way up to my room to throw some clothes on quickly and then ran down here, oh and please don't be mad, or tell my mother!"
She looked so worried and so sorry that all I could do was let out a little giggle. Rose looked taken aback by this, and so I quickly spoke so she wouldn't be offended.
"Oh it's really not a problem, I just got here I fact," I lied so she wouldn't feel too bad. When I said this she looked completely relieved. "But what do you mean, don't tell your mother? Do I know here?"
"Oh she's a professor here, Professor Weasley; she teaches transfiguration, but don't think that me or my brother get special treatment because our mom is our teacher, I mean if anything we get it worse than everyone else because she expects us to know more because she is our mother and when we get something wrong we get in even more trouble than anyone else would who got the same present wrong."
For about 30 seconds or so, we stood in silence; I wasn't sure what to say because Rose was looking at me strangely. She must have noticed that I felt uncomfortable, because she then said, "I'm sorry that I'm looking at you so much, it's just that you look identical to your sister. Well obviously you look identical, your twins; I mean they told me that you were Lucy O'Callaghan's twin sister and that you were a few minutes younger so you were in the fourth year instead of the fifth year like her, but I never though that you two would look so alike. I mean the only difference that I can tell between you is it that you have a slight Irish accent and she has an American one, what's with that…er, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Oh, well our father is Irish and our mother is American; they divorced when we were very young and I grew up with my father in Dublin and she with out mother in America. My accent is only slight because I try hard to hide it, people tend to judge me from my accent, so it is usually only strong when I'm angry and I forget to hide it."
"That is so cool! I mean it sucks that your parents are divorced and that you guys didn't grow up together, but that is such a unique story. It's so cool that you are practically like the same person in looks but that you two have completely different accents. But enough of this, come on you need to meet some people here! You must come out with us to the lake! We are diving, and swimming and oh please do come!"
"Alright," I smiled. It would be nice to meet some new classmates. "Oh, but I am supposed to meet with the Headmistress to discuss my lessons."
"Oh I am just so bad at this! I was supposed to tell you that after dinner tonight you are supposed to meet with her, sorry!"
"Oh don't worry, that's alright. At least this way I can get to know some new people before dinner," I said.
Rose smiled to me and gave me another strange look, "Pippa, I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but you are just so different from your sister. I mean obviously you are like her in that you're identical, but you are so nice and personal and she is just so…"
"Obnoxious?" I provided.
"Oh," Rose blushed and looked horrified, "Well I was going to say forward, but-"
"No that's alright, I know she is an obnoxious little prat. We were never very close, I mean I only see her at most once a year, but yes she is very forward."
We laughed at this and started to walk up the huge staircase in front of us.
"Rose, can you tell me where my room is? My bags were whisked away, by magic I presume, when I got here and I want to change into a bathing suit before we go out," I said.
"Oh, well actually I don't know where your room is just yet. You see, you haven't been sorted yet so I don't know which house you are in."
"House?" I said confused.
"Yes, there are four; Gryffindor, I'm in that one, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin," she said in a disgusting emphasis on the last one.
"I take it I don't want to be sorted into Slytherin?" I laughed.
"Well no, it's not that bad, I mean the Headmistress's granddaughter, Ceres, is in Slytherin and she is really nice, it's just that Gryffindor and Slytherin have always had a sort of feud between them, but not as much as they used to ever since Severus Snape saved my Dad's and his friend's lives, but there is still lots of fighting between us," said Rose, and then she added, "Mostly because Slytherins are slimy gits."
Every time she gets on one of these rants I just have to laugh; I have never heard anyone talk so much!
"But as for a bathing suit, I can try to summon one of yours right now; I mean I know how to summon stuff, I'm just not very good at it. What does your bathing suit look like, so that I can picture it when I summon it? I mean you don't always have to picture the items, mostly just their location, and I'm pretty sure that your bags are located somewhere in the Headmistress's office, but picturing the item usually helps me concentrate."
"It's a black one piece with gold clasps on the shoulders."
"Why do you wear a one piece? You have such a cute figure!"
"Oh, well when I was 13 I was visiting my Da and Rose in America and it was winter time so we went snowmobiling," Rose gave me a weird look when I said snowmobiling, and so I explained to her that they were like toboggans with motors in them. "I hit this hidden jump and landed funny and I had to have surgery on my abdomen, so now I have this huge scar on my stomach and I don't like to be showing it off."
"That sucks! But at least your bathing suit sounds cute…oh right, your bathing suit!"
Rose closed her eyes and pulled out a long piece of reddish-brown wood with intricate markings on the sides. She scrunched up her face, I assumed she was trying to picture my bathing suit, and said "Accio bathing suit!"
She then opened her eyes and stood there with a very intent look on her face, as though she was trying to hear something that I couldn't. No more than ten seconds later I heard a distinct whizzing from behind me. I turned around and saw my bathing suit, along with my favorite pink lace bra, which must have been tangled with it, were flying straight towards us. Oh my god, how many people saw my bra flying through the castle!?
"Oops!" said Rose. "We'll just hide this for now," she said and grabbed the bra. She walked over to a strange statue of a humpbacked witch said something that sounded like Dissendium, tapped the hump with her wand and the back of it opened up. She threw the bra in the hole and it closed back up. "We'll come and get that later," and she sent me a guilty smile.
"Um, are there any washrooms around that I can change into this?"
"Oh yeah, just over here, and while your in there I'll get the house elves to get me a towel for you. Oh I'm just so happy you're gonna come out! Everyone is so excited to meet you!"
When I emerged from the bathroom with my bathing suit under my clothes I saw Rose standing there with a fluffy towel and a huge smile on her face.
"Ok come on, lets get out there before we have to come back in and get ready for dinner!"
She grabbed my hand and dragged me down the corridors, down two flights of stairs, out the entrance hall and around the side of the castle. It was then that I saw the Hogwart's school grounds; they were beautiful! There was an endless expanse of green fields, with some strange, extremely tall posts off in one direction and a huge, blue lake in another. Rose took me over to a group of people hanging around by the lake.
She ran over to a very tall, dark skinned girl with black hair in a very short, cute asymmetrical bob and whispered into her ear. The girl looked me up and down and her eyes turned the size of saucers. She then turned to another girl with red hair, who turned to another boy etc. Within a few seconds they were all looking at me, stunned and smiling. Before I could react, however, a strong pair of hands wrapped around my waist. I couldn't see who it was, but they leaned down to my ear and whispered, "I missed you all day," in a husky voice.
They turned me around and I was face to face with the most gorgeous man I had ever seen. He was very tall, at least six feet, with gorgeous green eyes and messy black hair. Before I could even say a word he had lowered his head down to mine and was kissing me, right there in front of everyone. This was no regular kiss either, this was a full out open mouth, his tongue in my mouth, clutching the back of my head so that he could get more access type of kiss. I placed my hands on his chest and tried to push him away, but he was too strong. After a few minutes of this, he pulled away and smiled at me. I was so surprised that for a second I just smiled at him. But a second later my senses came back and I slapped him right across the face.
"Playing that game are we?" he said as he gave me a lopsided grin. He then picked me up, honeymoon style, and walked over to the side of the lake. Before I even realized what he was about to do, he had jumped into the lake with me in his arms.
I let out a huge shriek, as the water was surprisingly cold and deep, and clung onto my mystery man. He laughed and gripped me around the waist again, kissing me again.
"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER!" a very familiar voice shouted from the shore. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"
The boy holding me around the waist, who I took to be James, whipped his head around in the direction of the voice. His face immediately became blank, his eyes the size of saucers and his arms let go of my waist. I was never a very good swimmer, so when he let go of me I started to splash around and flounder.
"Well don't just be lettin' go ya bleedener!" I shouted, my accent starting to emerge in my anger and fear.
He gave me the strangest look and just float there for a moment. I was splashing around, trying to keep my head above water, and managed to gasp out, "Are ya a bleedin' eejit?! I can't be swimmin'!" Comprehension came over him and he grabbed my waist again with one arm and starting swimming towards the bank with the other. When we reached the bank I pulled myself onto the grass and coughed up a bit of water.
"James! What the fuck is going on!?" the voice said again.
"Luce, I'm sorry! I had no idea, I thought it was you!"
"Oh, so you just happened to start snogging another girl because you thought it was me?" said the voice very skeptically. "That is the worst lie I have ever heard in my life! Who is the slut anyway?"
I was busy wringing out my soaked clothes and without even looking up I said, "Hey Lucy."
She whipped around, and the usual eye-widening thing happened. "Phillipa?!" I cringed inwardly. "What are you doing here!? You're not a witch!"
"Actually I am," I said and smiled to her. I finished wringing out my shirt, then took off my skirt and wrung it out too. I had just bought this uniform and it was already soaked and covered in sand and grass. When I was finished with my uniform I sauntered over to her and James and explained. "I got a letter this summer saying that there had been some sort of mistake when we were eleven and that if I wanted to I was invited to join the school this September."
"But…but you will be so far behind! And your birthday isn't until today, so you will be in the fourth year, and why on earth would you want to come now?!"
"Well it's nice to see you too sis!"
"I can see that you two have a very lovely conversation going on right now, but can I ask what is going on? A moment ago I was positive I was kissing my girlfriend, but apparently I wasn't," said the boy, James.
"Well James, this is my sister Phillipa, who is apparently a witch now," said Lucy; she did not look impressed that I was here.
James looked over to me, did a once over, and must have concluded that I looked exactly like Lucy because he raised an eyebrow and he did that lopsided grin again. "Twins, hmm," he fingered my wet hair and let out a little laugh.
I raised my eyebrow and shrugged away from him.
"Sorry about that kiss there, Phillipa," he said in a mocking tone. "Though I have never had a complaint before, so perhaps I'm not so sorry."
"Please don't call me Phillipa, just call me Pippa," I interjected.
"A nickname already hey? Well, Pippa, I'm sorry about all of that, but you do realize that you look exactly like your sister here," he said to me. Then, turning to Lucy, he added, "And Luce, you can't possibly be angry at me, I mean look at her! The only difference between you two is the accent."
"Pff, that and her freaky eyes," said Lucy as she crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.
"Freaky eyes?" said James.
"Yeah, I have one grey on and one green; so that and the accent are the only differences," I said, getting really tired of this "interrogate Pippa" conversation.
"Pippa!" a voice shouted behind me. "I see you've met my cousin," said Rose in a mischievous voice as she came up beside me.
"Your cousin?" I said surprised.
"James Potter II," said James in an almost snobbish voice. He outstretched his hand for me to shake, but I just looked at it and raised an eyebrow.
"Nice to meet you," I said and gingerly shook his hand. "But next time, a simple hi would much preferred to a feak and a dump in the lake, if you don't mind."
Rose giggled at this, but James did not look impressed, it almost seemed as though there was some sort of reaction I was supposed have to him.
"A feak?" he said in a condescending tone.
"It's her stupid Dublin slang, it means kiss," said Lucy, rolling her eyes. "Phillipa, why are you being such an ass to James!? Do you have any idea who he is?....Merlin! She doesn't know who you are! She has never taken any wizarding history," said Lucy. "Poor, stupid Phillipa," said Lucy in a mocking tone.
"What do you mean? Should I know who you are?" I said to James, confused.
"Well not who he is, necessarily. Really, he is just a stupid git with bad hair," said a boy who looked almost exactly like James. He came up behind him and ruffled his already messy hair. "Hey, I'm Albus Potter, I'm this one's much more attractive, yet younger, brother," he said giving a cheeky smile to James. "Actually it's more our father who is the big deal here; you must have heard of Harry Potter."
The name rung a bell, I think that I had heard Lucy talking about him a few times over the years, but I had no clear idea who he was.
"Um, no sorry, I don't actually know who that is."
Everyone standing in our growing circle let out a collective gasp. Apparently I had committed some sort of unforgivable sin.
"Alright, well I'm going to take Pippa up to my room to dry off and then we'll see you all down at supper," said Rose as she whisked me away. The tall dark girl followed us, giggling all the way.
"Wow, so you really don't know who Harry Potter is?" said the dark girl.
"Sorry no," I replied.
"Well I guess that's ok, since you have never been to a history of magic class. Harry Potter is our uncle, he is practically the hero of the wizarding world; well him and Rose's parents to a lesser extent," said the dark girl.
"Wow, I guess that's why everyone was looking at me strangely then. I should know this kind of stuff."
"It's alright Pippa, you'll learn it all really fast. They'll probably give you a time turner to catch up in time. My mom used on in her third year to take extra classes," said Rose.
"What's a time turner?" I replied.
"Oh don't worry about it now, I'm sure everything will get explain eventually, but we are going to be late for dinner and then you have to meet with Professor McGonagall, so let's hurry and get changed!" said Rose. "Oh, this is my cousin, Roxanne Weasley, but just call her Roxie."
"Nice to meet you," I replied and we shook hands.
As we walked up numerous identical staircases, I started to notice that these were not normal staircases, these ones moved. There were steps missing that I tripped over, and more than once we had to wait until the vacant space in front of us was replaced by a bloody moving staircase! The staircases were not the only things moving, the portraits on the walls had moving people in them, and not like those flat screen televisions, but real people made of paint and brushstrokes that talked to you and reacted to you. There was one knight in particular that kept running through each painting, trying to keep up with us and talk to me. I tried to ignore him, he was so annoying, but in the end I flicked the painting he was in and he fell back into a painted mulberry bush.
We finally stopped walking when we reached a very large portrait of a young, redheaded man. The man in the portrait was fiddling with something resembling a firecracker, but when he heard us approaching he hid it behind his back and gave a very charming smile to the three of us.
"Hey uncle Fred!" said both girls in unison.
"Hey Rosie! Roxie! Lucy!" said the man in a very cheerful voice. "I didn't know you three were friends?"
"Actually we're not," Rose laughed. "But this isn't Lucy; this is her twin sister Pippa."
"Oh really! Well that's interesting! How are you Pippa?" said Fred.
"I….I'm uh fine," I replied, a little uneasy that I was talking to a portrait. "Er, that is I'm just a little new to this whole talking portraits thing."
"Irish huh? Well don't worry about it, soon you'll be talking to us as much as you are to 3Ders," said Fred.
"What are 3Ders?" I asked.
"That's what uncle Fred and his portrait friends call people like us, I mean non-portrait people," replied Rose.
"Hey Pippa, you don't mind waiting here for a sec while me and Roxie go get changed do you?"
"No not at all, actually is there any way to dry my clothes? I don't think that I would make a very good first impression, walking into dinner with only a bathing suit on."
"Oh sorry! Here, I can dry that," said Roxie.
She grabbed my soaked shirt and pants and pulled out her wand, but then looked at the clothing with a perplexed expression. "Uh, I don't remember the wand movement to dry these off. I'll go see if there is anyone in the common room who can….Oh hey James, perfect!" said Roxie to someone, I assumed James, behind me. "Can you do me, or that is Pippa, a favor?"
James came into my view and he smiled down at me, the bastard was almost a foot taller than me! He raised his eyebrow at me and them looked over to Roxie, "Alright, what can I do for Pippie here?"
"Whoa how did you know that name? I was called that all through primary school, I hate that name!" I said to James. I've known him for less than an hour and it seems as though he was put on this earth to piss me off!
"I just came up with it on my own, you seem like a Pippie," he said and sent me an annoyingly cute lopsided grin.
"Yeah well I'd really appreciate it if you could refrain from calling me that name."
"Or what?" he said, stepping closer to me.
"Seriously?" I replied, getting pissed off at him. "Just stop being this imposing jerk call me Pippa!"
He looked taken aback, as if no one had ever dared to talk to him like this before. James then gave me a look that didn't exactly scream "I like you," and then turned to Roxie. "Well Rox, what did you want me to do for Pippa," he said, practically hissing my name.
"Well Pippa's uniform is all wet cuz someone, mainly you, made her go into the lake and she need's it dry for dinner. I'd do the spell, but I can't remember the wand movement. Could you dry it?"
"Sure, whatever," said James. He grabbed my uniform from Roxie and did a quick, rather complicated want movement to them. They instantly looked dry and wisps of steam wafted up from them.
"Thank you," I replied politely and grabbed the clothes from him. Rose pointed me towards a bathroom and I quickly ran in to change; I felt like such an idiot walking around the castle in just my bathing suit.
When I put on my uniform I almost screamed. That bastard had shrunk it, and I didn't doubt that it was on purpose! Crap, what the hell was I supposed to do now? The button down shirt wouldn't even close over my bust, so I had to tie the sides together Daisy Duke style. My skirt, which had previously reached to my knees, now barely reached mid-thigh! And the worst part of it was that there was a half-foot of skin showing on my stomach so my scar was showing. I hate that stupid scar, and now I can't even hide it. I walked out of the bathroom with my arms crossed over my stomach. What was I going to do, walk into the great hall for dinner looking like the school tramp? Shit!
I walked back over to the portrait of Rose's uncle Fred, expecting to wait there alone for a minute or two while Rose and Roxie got ready, when I saw James there alone talking to Fred. When James saw me his eyes widened, his mouth formed that stupid lopsided grin and it looked as though he was enjoying this far too much.
"Whoa there Pippa, don't you think that that uniform's a tad too small?" said Fred with a snicker.
"Very funny, but that jerk there shrunk it when he dried it!"
"Don't give me look uncle Fred, you know that you and uncle George would have done the same thing in my place," James said.
Fred let out a huge laugh along with James, but then stopped when he saw the look on my face. "Sorry Pippa, it's just that he's right. James here takes after his uncle Fred and me."
"Don't forget Grandpa James," said a boy coming out of a giant hole in the wall behind the portrait of Fred, it was Albus. "He was just as bad a prankster as you and uncle Fred, maybe worse!"
"Errg I swear Potter that if I could do magic I would hex you!" I said, seething with anger. Here I was looking like an extra in a Britney Spears music video and they were laughing about who the bigger prankster was!
"Calm down O'Callaghan," he said rolling his eyes. "I'm sure Rosie or Rox have something you can borrow," said James with a big smile on his face.
"Oh well that would be a good idea, but if you haven't noticed I'm more that a foot taller than Rose, her skirt would be as short as this on me! And Roxie is a stick, she's half my size! Her shirt wouldn't fit around me nor would her skirt!" I shouted. "You know what an even better idea is? NOT shrinking my uniform!"
"Yeesh, you are even worse than Luce when she's pissed!" James said. "Why don't you just go grab another uniform from your stuff, I'll pay you back for this one."
"I don't have my stuff! It was magicked away from me as soon as I got here, and since I haven't been sorted into a house yet I don't know where to find it!"
"Bloody hell, come on then," said James. He grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him down the corridor.
"Where the hell do ya think you're taking me?" I said, my Irish accent coming out a bit.
"To McGonagall's office."
"What! I can't meet the headmistress in this! I look like a slut!"
"Well yes, but we're not going to see the headmistress. She's in London right now, in a meeting with my dad; she won't be back until tonight. We're going there to use the sorting hat in her office to see which house you're in, then you're stuff will be put there and you can get changed."
I stopped walking behind him and looked at him. "Why are you doing this?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well you shrink my clothes to prank me, which I actually don't even understand why you did. I mean I just met you, you're dating my sister, and you practically attacked me when we met, all reason why you should be nice to me, yet you tease and prank me at the first chance you get. Now you contradict yourself by helping me get out of a scrape that you put me in. I don't understand you."
James didn't say anything right away, he just looked at me with an astonished look on his face. "Yeah well not many people do," he said and then resumed pulling me to the Headmistress's office. We turned another corner and stopped in front of a large statue of a gargoyle.
"What are we doing here? I though we were going to the Headmistress's office," I said.
"Patience is a virtue Cal," said James with his lopsided smile.
"Cal?" I said confused.
"Well you called me Potter, and O'Callaghan seems too long, so from now on you're Cal."
I raised my eyebrow skeptically and rolled my eyes, I just don't understand this guy. "Ok then Potter, what are we doing in front of this statue?"
"Well we could be doing a lot of things in front of this statue," he said with a grin.
I sent a glare towards him, I wanted to shout you're dating my sister, why the hell are you flirting with me!
James must have noticed that I was getting pissed off because then he wiped the grin off his face and turned towards the statue. "But for right now we are going into McGonagall's office. Canary Cream."
"What's Canary Cre-" but I didn't finish for the gargoyle statue suddenly came to life and jumped right off of the pedestal he was on. The wall behind the gargoyle split into two to reveal a spiral staircase, but it was different that the other staircases around Hogwarts; this on moved up like an escalator.
James grabbed my hand again and pulled me onto the staircase. When we reached the top there was a huge oak door with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin. James ignored the knocker (I wanted to say it's there for a reason, but kept my mouth shut) and we both entered the office. The Headmistress's office was a huge circular room with walls covered in portraits.
"James my boy!" a happy voice shouted.
My heart stopped, someone was in here. I have only been here for less than an hour and already and I was going to get expelled for breaking into the Headmistress's office. James would be ok, apparently his dad was some big shot here at the school and it seemed as though he knew the Headmistress and half the professors, but I was just some nobody that could be easily expelled.
"Hey uncle Albus!" said James.
Albus? As in his brother? But why was he calling him uncle? I turned around to where the voice was coming from and saw no one, just portraits. James stepped towards one portrait in particular, of an old man with blue eyes, half moon glasses and a beard so long that it disappeared out of the portrait.
"What are you doing up here James? Minerva is gone for the day, you shouldn't be up here, you know that."
It was the portrait talking! Well I should have expected it to, just like the ones by the staircases. I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, I wasn't going to be expelled.
"Yeah, sorry about this, but Cal here needs to be sorted into a house so she can change her clothes," said James.
"Yes, well I can see that she could do with a change of wardrobe," said the man in a disapproving voice.
I could feel my cheeks going a deep crimson, I lowered my eyes and tried to cover as much of myself as I could.
"Oh sorry uncle Albus, that er…uniform is my fault. I tried to dry it and accidentally shrunk it, that's why we need to get her sorted and to her trunks before the feast starts," James said almost embarrassed. "Uncle Albus, this is Pippa O'Callaghan. Cal, this is the legendary Albus Dumbledore."
They both just stared at me, were they expecting some type of reaction? I had a strange feeling that I should know who this man was, but I had no idea.
"You'll have to excuse her uncle, she just found out she's a witch, she doesn't even know who my dad is."
"Nothing to be worried about my dear, I don't expect everyone to know who I am; I'm just an old man who likes his socks," he said with a twinkle in his eye.
I smiled at him, feeling warm inside; I liked this man.
"Well James, don't keep the poor child waiting, she must be freezing. You know where to find the Sorting Hat," said Dumbledore.
James nodded to Dumbledore and turned around towards the large desk on one side of the room. On a high shelf behind it was a large, very ratty looking hat. There was a tear in it, between the brim and the top of the hat that almost looked like a mouth. He was tall enough that he didn't even need a stool and he brought down the hat. James brought it over to me and handed it to me.
"What am I supposed to do with it," I said confused.
James looked at me like I was an idiot. "What do you think you're supposed to do with it? It's a hat, put it on."
I could feel myself blushing again, so I turned away from him and put the hat on my head.
Hmmmm, you may look like your sister but you two are anything but alike, said a voice in my head. Was the hat talking to me? Yes, I am. Now where should we put you? You have the brains for Ravenclaw, but you also have the tenacity and loyalty for Hufflepuff…hmmm, very interesting. You would do well in Slytherin, you are cunning and determined, but then again you would do well in Gryffindor for you have courage, daring and nerve….but where would you do best? Hmmm, you are quite a difficult one Pippa.
"If I'm different than my sister, does that mean that I won't be put into Gryffindor?" I thought.
Not necessarily. Your sister knows what she wants and how to get it, she will do well in Gryffindor for that reason, but you…you know what you want, but you aren't sure how to get it. You have daring, nerve and courage, but you think too much. Yes…I think you will do well in Gryffindor, they will help you to become more decisive.
"Gryffindor!" the hat said aloud.
"Good job my dear!" beamed Dumbledore.
"Congrats Cal," said James. "Now lets get you back to the common room so you can change," said James.
"Goodbye Mr. Dumbledore, it was nice to meet you," I said politely.
"Goodbye Pippa, the same to you," said Dumbledore. "And James, I'll see you at Christmas! Say hello to my namesake for me!"
James nodded and we headed down the stairs again and out through the opening behind the gargoyle. We started walking towards the portrait of James's uncle Fred when James asked me a question. "So what was with that big scar on your stomach?"
"Oh, um, it's nothing," I replied. I wasn't sure how I felt about James yet, that is if he was a good guy or just a jerk in disguise, but I didn't feel comfortable talking to him about it.
"It didn't look like nothing to me," he said.
"Look James, thanks for fixing this mess you got me into, but I really don't feel like talking about this w-" but I didn't get to finish my sentence because just as we turned a corner we saw a throng of students heading towards us.
"Crap, the Gryffindor are all going down to dinner together tonight," said James. "If we go back to the common room they'll see you looking all slutty. Here, just wear this and we can join them now," said James.
He took off his black wizard's robe and handed it over to me. I was reluctant to wear it at first, it seemed way too intimate, but desperate times called for desperate measures. I put it on before the group of Gryffindors reached us and hugged it around my body. The robe smelled like sandalwood and was warm and cozy. James was almost a foot taller than me, so the robe, which was half a foot from the floor on James, dragged slightly on me. I stood up straight, attempting to make it drag less, but before I could worry too much
The group of Gryffindors reached us and James greeted a bunch of his friends. Rose and Roxie came up to me, wondering where I had gone, and we all made our way down to dinner.