Look, I don't own Harry Potter.
The Sorting Hat
The door swung open at once. A tall, black haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and both the Potter twins first thought was that this was not someone to cross.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid, I will take them from here."
She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble stair-case facing them led to the upper floors.
They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Layla and Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right –the rest of the school must already be here –but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room."
"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."
"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."
Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair, in which Layla rolled her eyes, there was no way that he could ever flatten it down.
"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."
"How exactly do they sort us into houses?" she asked Ron.
"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."
Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school? While he was panicking, Layla was looking around, she was just as nervous, but taking it better than her brother. She would nervously scratch the back of her head then smooth her hair again every once in a while. Everyone around them looked nervous too, Hermione Granger was whispering very fast, something about a spell and which one she would need.
After the scares from the Ghosts, they journeyed inside to the Great Hall. It was lit by thousands of candles floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candle-light. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upward to see a ceiling dotted with stars, Layla was already staring up, easily ignoring the stares the older students were giving her.
Hermione whispered "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read it in Hogwarts, A History."
It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens.
They both quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house.
After the hat finished singing, most of the first years were relieved that all they had to do was put the hat on.
The sorting began with Hannah Abbot.
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Layla saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.
"Bone, Susan!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.
"Boot, Terry!"
"RAVENCLAW!" The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.
Lavender Brown became the first new Gryffindor, but Millicent Bulstrode became a Slytherin. Harry thought that the Slytherins seemed like an unpleasant lot, but Layla thought so otherwise. Maybe they just have a softer side that they're trying to hide, like Dudley.
Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom became Gryffindors, but when Malfoy went, the hat barely touched his head before it announced "SLYTHERIN!" The pale blonde looked at Layla and he smirked, she just gave him a small smile. Harry noticed this, but didn't say anything because it was almost their turn.
"Potter, Harry!"
As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.
"Potter, did she say?"
"The Harry Potter?"
"As in one of the Potter Twins?"
During his sorting, Layla couldn't help but noticed that her brother muttering something, but what, she couldn't hear. Finally, after a while, the hat announced "GRYFFINDOR!"
The Gryffindor table had the loudest cheer out of all the tables so far in the night, Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!" Harry sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff he'd seen earlier. It was now his sister's turn, his last nerve of the night is for her, he's hoping that she could be in the same house as him. Then maybe he could ask her what it was all about with Malfoy.
"Potter, Layla!"
The hall broke into whispers again, but this time, it was mostly about her than her brother. Walking straight and confident, she sat down on the stool, the hat dropped over her eyes.
"Hmm," said a small voice in her ear. "Difficult, much like your brother, similar traits with him you share. Plenty of courage, bravery, but your bright brilliant mind seems much more suited to a different house."
Her heart sank slightly, so she wouldn't end up in the same house as her brother after all.
"Is that where you want to be? With your brother? You could be great in Slytherin, they'll put you in the right path to greatness. A thirst for knowledge, a cunning mind."
She seemed to contemplate this for over a second, she knew that the Patil twins were separated as well, but if they can manage it, well then, so could she. Though a little doubtful, she made her choice.
"Well, if that's where fates would put me, then by all means go ahead." She replied, a little doubtful of her decision, but going with it anyway.
"I see, so accepting unlike your brother, well then, SLYTHERIN!" The hat screamed, and the hall went silent. For a second, she thought that she made the wrong decision, but suddenly, her brother started clapping along with the Slytherin table who were all either wearing smirks on their faces or pleased that they too would have a Potter in their house. She gave her brother a sad look, but he just smiled at her reassuringly.
Harry was saddened, but if the hat was trying to put him there, then no doubt that hat would put his sister there too.
She sat down next to Draco, who seemed to be wearing a smug expression but when she blinked, he welcomed her warmly into the table. Crabbe and Goyle her creeped out, but hopefully, she'll manage. Their prefect shook hands with her and everyone else in the table seemed to have an air of arrogance and importance, but she greeted them warmly anyways. From her table, she could spot Albus Dumbledore in a golden chair and Professor Quirrell. There were only three people left to be sorted, Ron got sorted into Gryffindor, and she felt happy for him. The other friend that she made on the train, Blaise Zabini, got sorted into Slytherin as well, and she was beaming at him.
Apparently, it was a custom for a Slytherin to act all snob-like as Blaise walked with a posture like he was very important to his table. She didn't understand the whole Slytherin importance act, she just shrugged it off and greeted him as well.
Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.
"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"
"Thank you!"
He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Layla wasn't sure whether to laugh or not. Her fellow Slytherins all just rolled their eyes and began eating. She didn't realize that the food would automatically appear in the golden plates. There were a different variety of food set on the plates, she just grabbed whatever appealed to her most and began eating. Unlike her brother, she was eating daintily, almost with proper etiquette, even, but some Slytherins were eyeing her a little whenever she just stuffed something in her mouth without the proper etiquette. She was eating at a much faster rate than everyone since she hasn't ate this much since…well, she couldn't remember, as the Dursleys never let her eat as much as Dudley, even the leftovers he would save for her weren't enough.
"So, Potter, tell me, how hard is to deal with all of the Wizards and Witches looking up to you and your, ah, brother?" Marcus Flint, a 6th year, asked her. He strike Layla as someone bad, unlike the Slytherin friends she made so far, but never the less answered honestly.
"Please, call me Layla. And to be honest, it actually makes me feel a little uneasy, I was a baby after all. The only success I want to hear are something that I did, not what my parents did. From what I heard, it was my parents that did most of the work."
"I see, you're not a fame seeker, are you? That's good, we don't want someone overly arrogant in our house." He replied, seemingly satisfied with her answer, which made her growing dislike of him grew.
She turned to find her plate now filled with deserts instead. As she ate, she made small talk with two other Slytherins, this time, they were girls. Lord knows that she needs to start making female friends in her house, Hermione was in Gryffindor, that made her a bit sad, but she wanted to make friends in her own house too, after all, they would be her family soon.
"My name's Pansy Parkinson." A girl with dark hair introduced herself, by now, Layla was already used to the high self-importance sound in their voices so she easily ignored it. "Hopefully, this year, everyone will know who to separate us from…..others."
"I don't know, I think it's better to be equals." Layla had to disagree, although she thinks Pansy is okay so far, she wants to test to see if they could actually be friends.
"Well, my father and mother always say that our kind is better." She replied, going back to her pie.
"If you mean the muggles, then I suppose I can agree with that. But not all muggles seem bad, my cousin's one, although he can be quite an arse sometimes."
"Your cousin?" The other girl finally spoke up, her name was Daphne Greengrass. "Oh that's right, I forgot, you're a Half-blood. Well, no matter, as long as both of your parents were Wizards or Witches, you're welcome into Slytherin. I bet those muggles didn't treat you or your brother the way they should have."
"No they didn't, from what I heard from you Layla." Blaise joined in.
"You said your aunt treated you quite horribly, your cousin was an insufferable prat to your brother, and your uncle barely acknowledged you." Draco added, also wanting to join in.
"Blaise! Draco!" Layla looked at the two of them, but she could tell that they were smirking and she couldn't help but smirk too, although she did feel a little bad about talking about her family like this.
"What? Those were your words after all." Draco said, starting to look a little sleepy.
"You see, we were right." Pansy said, holding a rather smug look with Daphne nodding her head.
"Oh alright, fine, so muggles do seem a little…untrusting, but they're the only ones that I knew were bad." She tried to reason again, but for now, it seemed like she was fighting a lost battle.
"Just keep saying that." Daphne said, now finished with her meal and desserts.
After that, she looked up at the high table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin. The teacher seemed to be staring at another direction, his face contorted to one of anger, and she realized that he was looking at her brother. The teacher then turned to her and his gaze softened considerably, but then there was a sudden sharp, hot pain on the scar on her forehead.
"Ouch!" She slapped her forehead, earning a few looks from the older students, but paid no attention.
"What's wrong?" Daphne asked.
"It's nothing."
The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. But what was harder to shake off was that she had a feeling that it was either Professor Quirrell or the other teacher.
"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" she asked Blaise, but Draco answered.
"It's Professor Snape, he teaches potion, but he rather teach the Defense against the Dark Arts area. He's my Godfather, too. So just stay with me, and he'll be fine with all of us." He said, taking pride that he was somewhat related to a teacher.
"Ahem –just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you."
"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."
Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.
"I have also been asked Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their teams should contact Madam Hooch."
"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."
Layla and the other first year Slytherins laughed a little, but she realized they were one of the few who did.
"He's not serious, is he?" she asked their prefect, but his grave expression seemed to answer it for her.
After the feast and rather humorous singing, they all followed their prefect into the dungeons. Layla was far too sleepy to notice the cold atmosphere it gave out. They stopped next to a wall behind the cellars.
"Parseltongue." The Prefect said to the wall, it opened up, similarly like how it opened in Diagon Alley. There was a passageway, the Prefect led the way into the common room. Even though she was already sleepy, she couldn't help but feel amazed at how the Common Room looked. The room had a green tint to it, and it might be due to the fact that she was tired, but she could've sworn she saw the Giant Squid passed by in the window. There were a few gasps from the other students, but the older students continued chatting regularly.
"Right, so this is the Slytherin Common Room. To get to the dormitories, you have to go back to the passageway, remember the green sundial that we stepped over? Just stand on it and two separate pathways will lead to your dormitories. The boys are on the right, the girls are on the left. The first years went their way up to their own respective dormitories. Layla realized she was in the same dorm as Pansy, Daphne, Millicent Bulstrode, Tracey Davis, and another girl whose name she still hasn't learned.
Pansy, Layla, and Daphne all looked at each other and grinned, the next 7 years of their life will be fun. But for now, the girls got ready to sleep, and as soon as Layla's head hit the bed, she fell asleep right away. It could have been that she just ate too much, but she had a weird dream. She was wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which kept talking to her, telling her that she made the right decision in joining Slytherin, that it was her destiny. For some reason, the turban got heavier and heavier, she tried to pull it off, but it tightened painfully –and suddenly her brother was standing in front of her, he was looking at her angrily, something that only happened once –there was a bust of green light and her brother fell to the ground, seemingly dead. She woke up, sweating and shaking.
She rolled over and fell asleep again, and when she woke the next day, she didn't remember the dream at all, except for the vague green light.
