Walking down the long, dark corridor in front of her, she suddenly stops. There is a dim, hard-to-reach light that has just made itself known. As the girl nears the distant light, you can finally see what she looks like. Her average body with pale skin contrasts with the long, straight, jet- black hair that falls onto her mid-back. It is still dark, but you can easily recognize her blood red eyes. She turns in your direction. You start to wonder, who is this girl? Her name is Carlie Fantus. At this point, she just stares at you, as if those piercing red eyes of hers can see everything. She coldly turns away and continues down the passageway from which she came. You follow her, unable to see where you are heading until you arrive in a dimly lit castle. Few torches light the many hallways that lie before you. You see the girl's black hair disappear down one of them. You follow her, wondering where you are going, when you reach a classroom. She sits down on one of the many chairs that are set up in the huge classroom. You stand in the back of the dimly lit class until she summons you towards her. As you walk over to her and start to sit down, you notice she is wearing a robe that is as black as her hair. You stare at her robe for a while longer and you notice a green patch on her heart. You can see that it has a picture of a snake on it, yet you cannot make out what the writing says. As you slowly bring your eyes to meet her red ones, you can see a wand in her pocket from the corner of your eye. Before you get a chance to ask her anything about where you are, she begins to speak. "Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. My name is Carlie Fantus, a fifth year Slytherin here. You have stumbled upon this place at a perfect time, for everyone shall be arriving soon. I arrive through this tunnel each year, and I am very surprised that you were able to get through the security set up around the school, let alone see the school. Since I cannot let you reveal our secrets to the outside world, I shall have you sorted in as a first year. All other questions you may have will be answered with time. For now, follow me."
As she says this, she stands up and walks over to a winding stairway leading to an upstairs floor. She motions for you to follow her, and you do. As you pass a window while climbing the staircase, you look out upon a wide lake. As you look upon the wonderful lake, you notice several small boats with lanterns nearing the castle. You stare at this, wondering who is in each of them until you hear Carlie call for you to keep up. You turn away from the magical view and continue up the long staircase. You see a bright light at the top of the staircase coming closer and closer to where you are standing. Carlie steps into the bright light and you follow her reluctantly.
As you step into the light that lies before you, you see that you have just walked into a huge room. You look up and see hundreds of candles floating against what seems like the night sky. You look down and jump, seeing Carlie standing directly in front of you. Suddenly, a man walks up to you both. He looks about thirty and has shoulder-length black hair. He turns to Carlie. "This is the person, I'm guessing." Carlie, until this moment, had her eyes fixed on you. Now she turns her gaze to this strange man. "Yes, Professor Snape, this is the one." At this time, they both turn to you. Professor Snape studies you for a moment before turning back to Carlie. "Carlie, take this person to Diagon Alley and get them the supplies on this list." Carlie nods and takes the list Professor Snape was holding out to her. She takes a pouch out of her pocket and walks over to the fireplace nearby. She puts the list in a different pocket and keeps the pouch in her hand. She lights the fireplace and walks inside. She motions for you to come. You walk inside, wondering why the fire doesn't burn your skin. Before you get a chance to ask, Carlie yells out "Diagon Alley" and everything turns green, including the fire you are standing in. When light takes over the blackness that surrounded you a few seconds ago, you walk into it, noticing that you are no longer at Hogwarts. You stand up and walk out the door to find Carlie leaning on a sign. You look at the sign and read the words "Diagon Alley."
You follow Carlie into some stores that around this magical place. As you move from place to place, you see other people that are just like Carlie. You and Carlie move from store to store, buying some books on magical creatures, standard spells, potions, and more. She also walks into some other stores and drags you into them, asking you which one you like best of many different items, including cauldrons, robes, and other accessories you are going to need during your time at Hogwarts. The last place she takes you is a store called Olivanders. As you walk inside, you see many shelves full of small, skinny boxes. As Olivander pops up from behind a shelf, he studies you and then walks into the back of the room, grabbing a box before heading back to you. He opens a box and hands you the wand. Carlie tells you to wave it, and so you do. Nothing happens, so Olivander tries a few others until you find the wand that best suits you. Dragon Blood and Pine, seven inches, that is what your wand turns out to be. As you and Carlie leave, you thank Mr. Olivander and walk back to the store from which you came. You see Carlie look at the sky as you both walk, and she starts to walk a little bit faster. You follow her, also walking quickly, into the store. She walks into the lit fireplace and you follow her instinctively. She takes out her pouch and calls out "Great Hall." Before long, you see the usual green and then the sudden black of the fall. You get up and walk into the enormous Great Hall.
Carlie automatically pulls you out of the Great Hall and into and empty room nearby. She has you change into the robe you bought in Diagon Alley. You put your wand into your pocket and turn to Carlie. "Professor Snape and I have talked with Headmaster Dumbledore and we all agreed that you can be sorted in as a fifth year instead of a first. That means that after you get sorted, you will go to your house table and be treated as a normal fifth year." She smiles and walks out of the small room and into the Great Hall where she takes her seat at the Slytherin table with her fellow Slytherins. A tall woman knocks on the door of the room that you are in. You open the door and follow her to where all of the first years are standing.
Carlie sits on the Great Hall, looking around at all of the students from the other houses. She glares at the Gryffindors that were making fun of her boyfriend, Janus, who was also a Gryffindor. They immediately stop and go back to talking with friends. She spots her boyfriend and smiles in his direction. She then turns to the Slytherin who is laughing at her and glares at her. She turns back to Janus. A black cat suddenly appears next to her. She smiles, as she recognizes the cat as Janus's. She takes the note that the cat is carrying and pets the cat. She gives it some food and scribbles down a response as the cat eats. When the cat finished eating, Carlie gave the response to the cat and sent it back to Janus. She suddenly looks at the doors leading to the Great Hall as they open. She sees you and waits, patiently. She nods and then turns back to her plate. A bat is seen flying overhead and it lands on Carlie's shoulder. She feeds it some food from her plate and sends it off with a note. She listens carefully as Headmaster Dumbledore speaks and as he names the Prefects for this year. Her being one of them was the only reason she listened. The hat that was just brought out by Professor McGonagall began to speak. Actually, to be more precise, it began to sing. The words it sang held the meaning behind the whole school.
"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The sorting hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave of heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where the are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuff are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!" Everyone at the tables clapped their hands and Carlie smiled. She was still happy about Headmaster Dumbledore announcing that she was a Slytherin Prefect, and Janus was a Gryffindor Prefect. That meant that they got to spend more time together. She was too busy writing a long note, that she barely looked up in time to see you go up to the Sorting Hat. When you put the hat on your head, it started talking to you and told you it will put you in a good house. The hat suddenly yelled out GRYFFINDOR before you took the hat off and got up. You walked to the table in which the most applause came from. You smiled and took a seat near the head of the table. It wasn't long before a bat appeared on your shoulder carrying a note. You open the note and read it. It is from Carlie, telling you congratulations and about her and Janus. The bat on your shoulder flies back to Carlie and she attaches another note and sends it to Janus this time. It is talking about you and for him to watch out for you. Janus nods in her direction and looks in yours. You smile and begin to eat. After dinner, Janus leads all of the Gryffindors to the Gryffindor Common Room while Carlie walks into the Slytherin Common Room in the dungeon with all of the other Slytherins. Carlie explains the rules of the school and explains to them where their dormitories are for each of them. She then walks outside and begins patrolling for students out of bed in the middle of the night.
As she walks outside, she looks both ways before making her way towards the Gryffindor Common Room in silence. As she nears the common room, she knocks three times before saying the password and walking in. All of the Gryffindors are sitting in the main part of the common room when she walks in and stands next to Janus. She notices all of the Gryffindors staring at her as soon as she enters and doesn't seem to mind. She instead turns to Janus and kisses him right in front of the whole house. When the kiss is finished, she moves her hair off of her robe so that everyone can clearly see her house badge. Janus asks if there are any questions and basically every hand goes up in a split second. He calls on one first year female student. The girl states, "I thought Gryffindors and Slytherins were sworn enemies." Janus smiles and answers, "Yes, that is true, but..." Another boy speaks up, "Then why are you going out with a Slytherin?" "I can answer that one, Janus," Carlie says as she turns to the rest of the house. "It doesn't matter what house you are in, as long as you care for the person and enjoy being with them, and are able to withstand the stares and the comments for each other." Carlie smiles and turns to Janus, "We should be going now." "Yeah, I guess you're right. Boys, up there and to your left. Girls, same, just to your right. Have a good night sleep and I will be back to check up on you later in the night." With that, Janus and Carlie walked out of the Gryffindor Common Room and began patrolling the halls.