The First Time
Merida stood amongst the new students, in the entrance hall of Hogwarts. The guy that had brought them here, by boat, had said a teacher would retrieve them shortly. She had come to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry after receiving a strange letter. An old woman, with a talking crow, had come and told Merida that she was a witch, while trying to sell woodcarvings to her parents. She first thought that the old lady was trying to insult her but after she had been explained what it meant it didn't surprise her much. Strange things had happened around her, like her mother turning into an animal. It was nice to know there had been a reason for that to happen.
Merida was rarely nervous, sometimes she thought she was immune to fear. Now she knew she had no such immunity. She wasn't as frightened as her classmates, some of them looked like they would throw up. One of them said that they had to do some kind of a magical ceremony. Merida really didn't want to try magic yet. Since she had accidentally turned her mother into a bear, she felt powerful, but not in control. What if she turned someone else into something else? Or a bear again, what it was didn't matter much.
Before she could think too much about what that meant someone spoke to the frightened bunch, some jumped at the unexpected sound of the teacher that would lead them to their fates in a moment, Merida merely looked up, despite her nervousness. The teacher had freakishly long blond hair, wore a pink robe and looked a bit naive, though weirdly that didn't seem to make any of the students question any of her authority.
"Greetings first-years and welcome to Hogwarts. I'm professor Fitzherbert." Said the weird blonde. Some of the students giggled at the strange name, but was quickly silenced by the blondes glare. "The welcoming feast will be served soon, but before that you all will have to be sorted to one of the four houses. You will spend your time together, take classes together, and be totally like family! The four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuf, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Every house has a history of amazing wizards and witches. While you live in your house, your actions will affect the house, if you are a good kid, you will get points, if you are a bad one they will be taken away. At the end of the year the house with the most points will be awarded the house cup. Please honer your houses and be good kids no matter where you get sorted!" She hesitated for a moment and looked at them. "We are running a bit late, please wait for a bit perhaps talk to the ghosts."
Just before she said that last bit a big group of transparent people had floated into the hall, accompanied by shrieks of the new students. Professor Fitzherbert had already left the hall leaving them all alone. Only the ghosts spoke for a few moments before a lively girl with red hair, braids and a lot of freckles yelled "Hey aren't you Jack Frost?!" The ghost she addressed looked at the girl like he couldn't understand what just had happened, Merida almost for some reason thought he would say 'Can you SEE me?!' which didn't even make sense in the situation.
This started the talked amongst students and ghost, though most of the students talked amongst themselves rather then the ghosts. Merida tried to hear what the freckled girl and the ghost, who was talking rather much now, was talking about, but she couldn't. She couldn't find out the reason behind the strange outburst nor the even stranger reaction to it. She was about to aproach them when a ghost talked to her, or rather made a gesture as if he wanted to.
The ghost was covered in sand. It seemed like he had control over the sand, it made shapes and forms that made little sense. This made her a bit confused and she just stared at the strange ghost as it tried to show her something. As she stood there astonished a voice whispered in her ear: "Thats sandy, he is mute." Merida turned and looked at a girl that could only be described as a viking. While she was turning the viking girl continued. "My family told me about him, he is the house ghost of Hufflepuf" Merida raised her eyebrows and asked, "The houses have ghosts?"
As she noted Meridas confusion Astrid smiled and said: "Ah you must be from a muggle family. I'm halfblood so I have been told a little about this and yeah they have ghosts, as I said sandy is the one from Hufflepuf, Gryffindor has Mufasa who looks like a lion, Slytherin has Gaston and Ravenclaw has Jack who is talking with that readhead over there." Sandy who looked annoyed at the interruption made an arrow pointing to professor Fitzherbert, who had just returned. "Alright! Stand in line and follow me!" said the professor.
And so they formed a line and walked into the great hall. Merida was almost amazed by the grandness, the flying candles and the night sky on the roof of the hall to forget how nervous she was. Almost. They were placed in front of the teachers table and a hat was placed on a stool in front of them by Professor Fitzherbert. It to Meridas amazement sang a song about the character of the houses that was followed by an applause. The song also explained how the sorting would proceed.
Merida felt immediate relief when she heard that she didn't have to do something to do with magic right away: That was best done in a controlled classroom. "When I call your name, go sit on the stool and put on the hat. The hat will tell you your house. I will say your surnames first. The first to be sorted is Bjorgman, Kristof!" professor Fitzherbert informed them, then a strange-looking blonde guy stepped up, sat on the stool and put on the hat. Some moments later the hat yelled: "Hufflepuf!"
The table at the far right burst applauded as Kristof made his way that table. Even though Merida was relieved she didn't have to do magic, she could still feel some of the nervousness lingering in her mind. She didn't register any of the students called before her she only barely heard that the professor yelled her own name when it was yelled "DunBroch, Merida!"
Meridas nerves didn't show when she walked over to the stool, sat and put it on. As soon as she out it on she heard the voice, that she recognized as the one that had yelled 'Hufflepuf', in her head: "So much bravery, this is very easy. You will be placed in Gryffindor!" He only yelled 'Griffindor' out loud for the hall to hear. As she walked to her own table she was applauded by the rest of her new house and was congratulated as she sat beside them.
As the nervousness from before had finally vanished Merida could finally inspect the houses: She first looked over to the Slytherin table. she had heard very bad things about them on the ride here and they looked like a bunch of bullies, she was glad she didn't end up there. She then looked at the Hufflepuf table where the first guy had been sorted. They were a strange bunch but they looked like
agreeable people. She then looked at the Ravenclaw table, where she couldn't make a general thought. 'Well they all look smart' she thought as she looked at them and then she saw two blue and sparkling eyes.
The eyes belonged to a beautiful platinum blonde with a braid over her left shoulder. At first Merida didn't notice that, as she was staring at the beauty, that the girl looked directly back into Meridas eyes. Even though she blushed and was embarrassed she couldn't look away. It was impossible to look away from the blonde. The blonde averted her eyes to the sorting as a name was called: "Frost, Anna!" The redheaded girl that had talked to the Ravenclaw ghost stepped up to be sorted.
Merida only barely heard the hat yell 'Gryffindor' before she asked one of the second-years, "Who is that gorgeous blonde Ravenclaw girl with the braid over her shoulder?" and the answer came not from the second-year she had asked but from the voice of a girl behind her: "That's my sister, Elsa." The girl who had answered Merida was none other then the redhead from before.
Merida looked at Anna with wide surprised eyes. There was so many things she wanted to ask the girl. Like who was her sister? Did she mind her sudden attraction to said sister? Would she introduce her? What was it that she talked to the ghost about? Why did the sisters share name with him? Were they related in somehow?
She didn't get to ask her questions as the second-year, that Merida had asked who Elsa was, said "So you ARE from that family!" and asked "I thought the Frosts only went to Ravenclaw?" Anna seemed to be a little bothered by the question as she answered "Yeah, so did my family." and glanced over at Elsa as she continued, "I wonder what my dad will say." they didn't get to talk more about it as they were hushed by an older student wearing some kind of a badge.
Merida was distracted the rest of the sorting. She tried to keep her attention on her new classmates, as they were told where they would live for the next seven years, but her eyes often crept back to Elsa. One moment she was looking at a nervous wreck with a hat on, the next her eyes was on the blondes, much to her surprise. One she followed enough to remember was "Hofferson, Astrid!", that was sorted to Gryffindor as well. It felt like no time had passed at all when the last first-year was sorted: "WestergÄrd, Hans!" was sorted to Slytherin. Anna made a whispered comment to Astrid and Merida, "Aww he was kinda cute. Guess you never can tell, like that hat can.."
The old lady that had told her she was a witch, who apearently was the headmistress, held a short speech, that Merida didn't remember at all and started the feast. The feast was the biggest feast Merida had seen in her life and with her fathers love for food she had seen some amazing feasts. She unintentionally let out her amazement in a gasp and she was not alone, some of the first-years even yelled out an amazed "Woah!"
As the feast started so did the talk. The buzz of a new school, or for the older students return of school, had put an incredible amount of energy in the room. Astrid that had placed herself opposite of Merida now smiled and said "Hey there!" with a smile and continued "I never caught your name?" while she had filled her plate with a diet that reminded her of her fathers, almost only meat.
Merida hesitated, she wanted to ask her questions now that they didn't have to be quiet. In a way it was strange for her to introduce herself as their names had just been announced by the professor but it was only polite, Merida thought as she answered. Her mother would have been proud of the thought. "I'm Merida," she said and was about to continue when Anna blurted out in a fast pace "Hi! I'm Anna. I totally love your accent! Are you Scottish? How did you get your hair like that? It's really, really beautiful!" pronouncing Anna like Ah-na.
Merida laughed at the rushed way the girl had talked. "This? It's been like this all along. But thanks! And yeah i'm Scottish." Astrid who had laughed along with Merida introduced herself to Anna, "Hey! I'm Astrid," while she looked over at Anna and smiled while she said "I feel like we could be really good friends! Us three!"
They spent the rest of the feast talking about everything and nothing, well everything except Annas sister who Merida was too scared to ask about. It was only when they exhausted after a long trip and a big feast had been lead to their common rooms by one of those badged older students, through a portrait one might add, that Merida mustered to ask one of her questions: "Will you introduce me to your sister?"
In this question Anna could, even through her naivety, see what this meant. She could see Meridas attraction to her sister. She could see that Merida had wanted to ask this as soon as Anna had talked to her. She was, to her own surprise, not bothered by it. She was not bothered by the fact that a girl liked her sister or that this girl was her new friend Merida, she had just met. She even kind of rooted for the girl. But the only thing she could do was to answer the question in a sad voice: "I would, if I could. Elsa hasn't talked to me in a long time."
