At some stage everybody faces a decision that will change their life forever. For some people it's an easy choice to make, most of us get slightly more worked up about the finality of it all. For me, well I didn't exactly get much of a say in the matter.

It all started five years ago when I first arrived at Hogwarts. I could tell you that my eleven year old self was completely in awe of the castle with its great oak doors and turrets that seemed to reach the sky, but in truth I didn't notice any of that. I mean sure it was pretty spectacular but I was a bit preoccupied with my cousin who had chosen that moment to start hyperventilating.

"Just breathe in and out Al, everything's going to be fine. In and out, you're doing great." There's nothing better to distract you from your own imminent doom than having to calm down an eleven year old boy on the verge of a panic attack. And there's no need to worry about any possible distractions from this task such as, oh I don't know, a teacher coming to help you out. I mean, sending out a teacher to look after the panicky 11 year old on their first day of school? No, that would make way too much sense. This was Hogwarts after all, where by all accounts my parents nearly died every other day.

"Thanks Rose" Al smiled weakly once he'd finally sorted himself out. "Just got a bit worked up about the sorting."

"Oh really? I hadn't noticed." I responded dryly. I was quite sarky at that age. Not much has changed. "Are you going to be able to make it through the ceremony or do you want me to go and get someone?"

"No I'll be fine, don't worry about me." Al had said, standing up as he did so as if to emphasise how incredibly okay he was.

"Okay, if you're sure. I think they're just finishing up the speech about how we should all get along and make friends and blah blah blah, so we'll probably be going through in a second." I risked another glance at him at this stage, not wanting to appear too overprotective. "You're absolutely sure you're going to be okay?" I asked. Al nodded and grimaced slightly, he always was too stubborn for his own good.

It was then that the huge oak doors before us were swung forward, revealing the Great Hall of Hogwarts and our eventual cataclysmic destruction. Okay maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but being judged in front of a large group of strangers was a scary prospect for eleven year old Rose.

So we all reluctantly shuffled towards the front of the hall, though I think most of us would have preferred it if the floor had just opened up then and there and sucked us down into the fiery pits of hell. Again, I realise this is possibly a bit of an exaggeration but haven't any of you ever heard of dramatic story telling? Anyway, I was part way through the most awkwardly silent walk of my life so far when it hit me. I wasn't just nervous about the sorting. I was bloody terrified.

Of course I know now that my parents wouldn't have actually disowned my if I'd ended up somewhere other than Gryffindor, not for more than a few weeks at any rate, but once I'd started freaking out I couldn't stop. What if I fell over? What if everybody laughed at me? What if the hat told me it was all just a big mistake and I had to spend the rest of the year living with Hagrid?

Yeah it may not sound too bad to you, but unless you've eaten one of Hagrid's rock cakes you wouldn't understand.

So by the time "Adams, Ava" had been called up I figured I had one of two choices:

Succumb to my greatest fears and throw up right there, in front of everybody

Block out all of my surroundings and pray to Merlin I could make it through this without resorting to the first option

I realise neither were very fail safe plans, but I was in the middle of a crisis, what did you expect?

Fast forward a bit and I was still solidly sticking to plan two, meaning I'd been staring at the floor for approximately twenty minutes. Which was fine, until being a Weasley meant I was the last person to be called up and I probably looked a bit psychotic, standing on my own in the middle of the room and staring at the floor.

Thankfully when "Weasley, Rose" was finally called out I managed to make it to the stool without falling over. It may have been a small victory but at the time it felt like my very own Waterloo. This feeling of victory was quickly diminished however, when the hat was placed on my head and promptly covered all but the tip of my nose. Apparently I have a very small head.

"Another Weasley is it? I'm starting to lose track of you all, you know." This hat sounds like my Nana Molly. "I'll take that as a compliment." The fact that the hat could apparently hear me almost caused me to fall off my stool in shock. Almost.

"It's not as easy to sort you all anymore either. Oh no, gone are the days when I could place you all in Gryffindor without a second thought, no now you're all rebelling against the status quo. It's extremely inconvenient." This seemed an opportune moment to take advantage of the hats apparently superb listening skills. I mean, I was there to get sorted not have some lecture on the complexity of my many cousins' personalities.

"Always the same, everybody's so impatient. Nobody ever wants to actually listen to the dusty old hat, do they? Oh no, everybody just wants to know where they're going to be sorted. It's most discourteous, I tell you." I don't think it's physically possible for me to convey just how much I wanted that hat to shut up.

"Fine, fine it was an obvious choice anyway. I think I'll send you to GRYFFINDOR!" A couldn't hide my grin as the hat was lifted off my face and I hurried to the Gryffindor table where James and Freddie were calling me over.

James mussed up my hair as I sat down which normally makes me want to slap him, but at that point I was so happy that my Dad wouldn't be kicking me out that I just laughed it off. There were then congratulations from some of James' friends and a speech which I didn't listen to, before we were presented with the most mouth watering display of food I'd seen in my life. I kid you not, this spread could have given Nana Molly a run for her money… but don't tell her I said that.

After I'd piled up my plate with everything I could get my hands on I started to look around for the other first years. I mean, it's all very well having cousins in the year above, but considering they wouldn't be in any of my lessons and half the time I want to strangle them with my bare hands, it was probably a good idea to make some other friends.

That's when I first realised something wasn't quite right.

And by 'not quite right' I mean 'a horrendous catastrophe'.

You see, whilst I'd spent plenty of time fretting about trivial things such as falling over in front of the whole school or having to go and live with Hagrid, I'd never anticipated the situation I currently found myself in.

Because it didn't matter how many times I looked up and down that table, checking, double checking, and triple checking just to be on the safe side, my conclusion was always the same. There were no other first years at that table.

And that, my dears, is how my story begins.