A/N : If you are not already aware that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter does not belong to me, I suggest you read J.K Rowling's books before this story.
Also, more edits on this story will be forthcoming – please forgive its unpolished nature.
Sophie tucked herself as far into the stone alcove as it was possible to go and tried to stop crying. If she kept at it, she would never be able to go back to her dormitory without her roommates knowing what she had been doing. She was already the odd one out, so she certainly didn't want to become known as a crybaby.
Sophie had been so excited when she got her Hogwarts letter. She had been sure that all her days of being considered odd and slightly mad were behind her, and that once she was among other people like her, her shyness would evaporate.
Everything that had happened over the summer had fueled her anticipation. Visiting Diagon Alley had been the most wonderful experience of her life, and Sophie had spent of the rest of the summer buried in her new schoolbooks, experimenting with her wand, and getting to know her new owl. She had boarded the Hogwarts Express supremely confident that starting at that moment, her life would be perfect.
It had all gone downhill from there. Professor Flitwick, who had delivered her letter and escorted Sophie to Diagon Alley, had suggested she approach a Prefect on the train to help her find some other first years. Sophie had felt lucky to spot a blond boy with a badge immediately, and bounced up to him happily.
"Excuse me!" She had said enthusiastically. "Do you know where any first years are sitting?" However, instead of being kind and helpful, as Flitwick had assured Sophie any Prefect would be, the boy had looked at her as if she were a squashed bug he had found on the bottom of his shoe.
"The little Mudblood wants me to help her." He had said to his friends, with a mocking laugh, then turned to Sophie and said coldly "I wouldn't introduce someone like you to any First year I know. Now get out of my sight." Sophie had done so immediately, blinking back tears. She didn't know what a Mudblood was, but after an entire childhood of being called every possible variation on the word "freak", Sophie knew how to recognize an insult when she heard one.
After that, Sophie had been unwilling to talk to another Prefect, but not ready to give up on the possibility of enjoying her experience. She had crept into a compartment filled with girls who looked to be about her age. They had allowed her to join them, but Sophie soon discovered that they were second years, and reluctant to socialize with a lowly first year. Consequently, they ignored her for the entire journey.
Sophie had been disheartened, but was still determined to be optimistic, and had told herself that she would meet other first years at Hogwarts and then it would all be all right. She occupied herself with listening carefully to everything the second years said about magic, and tasting all the magical sweets she got off the cart.
Sophie had therefore arrived at Hogwarts in a fairly good mood, despite her unfortunate encounters with the nasty blond prefect and the unfriendly second years. But then, things started to go wrong again.
They had been forced to cross the lake in boats, and while her classmates had oohed and aahed over the magnificent view of Hogwarts as they sailed through the night, Sophie had struggled not to give in to overwhelming seasickness. She had heard one of the boys in her boat comment on her silence and paleness to another, sniggering and saying "that one's got no nerve, she'll be a Hufflepuff for sure."
Sophie had tried to regain her confidence as they entered the Great Hall, but it was difficult to do with so many people staring at them. She had grown more and more nervous as she waited for her name to be called, and by the time the forbidding Professor who was Head of Gryffindor House called "Samuels, Sophie!" she was terrified. She had trudged up to the stool and put the hat on her head, finding a spark of hope at the last second when she realized that if she were a Ravenclaw, Flitwick would be her Head of House. When it became clear that the hat could hear her thoughts, she had thought Ravenclaw as hard as she could.
But the hat had laughed, and said "Ravenclaw? I can't sort you into Ravenclaw because you're afraid right this minute. I have to put you where you'll belong all the time. And I'm confident that you ought to be a GRYFFINDOR" The hat had shouted the last word to the whole hall, forcing Sophie to join the two boys who had been in her boat. They promptly ignored her for the duration of the feast.
Sophie told herself that her new Prefects would help her and her dormmates would be nice, but Granger and Weasley had been more interested in arguing with each other than in anything else, and her dormmates had met on the train and had already formed pairs, leaving Sophie out. Still, as she went to sleep that first night, Sophie had told herself that it would get better.
But it hadn't. Her dormmates had ignored her and the boys in her year had teased her for having already read her textbooks, she was afraid of three of her Professors, and she was constantly lost. Today, a week after her arrival, she had missed breakfast when she had taken a wrong turn on the way to the Great Hall, blown up her needle in Transfigurations, and broken a flowerpot in Herbology.
Then she had realized that it was Shabbat, she was not going to get to light candles or say blessings, and, in fact, she would not get to do so on any Shabbat this year. With that final frustration, Sophie had had enough. She had resolved to find a way to celebrate Shabbat. She had carefully stolen some rolls and cheese from the Great Hall at lunch, and when her dormmates set off for dinner, she had quietly slipped away.
Her plan had been to go to a little-used part of the castle, remove two candles from one of the wall sconces in a corridor, and have a little Shabbat dinner by herself, but of course, it had all gone wrong.
First, she had burned herself getting the candles down. Then, after she finally managed to get two unlit candles wedged securely into a crack in the flagstones in a dusty corner of an empty corridor, her attempt to light the candles with a charm she had looked up in the library had totally obliterated them, and left scorch marks on the floor, a nearby suit of armor, and Sophie's skirt.
Sophie had nearly cried then, but had managed to hold it in. It was when she had taken out her dinner and discovered that the rolls were studded with nuts, to which she was allergic, that she had burst into tears. She had gotten up to return to her dormitory, but had soon discovered that her quest to find a vacant area of Hogwarts had left her in a part of the castle she had never seen before, and had no idea how to get out of.
Sophie had tried to find her way back, but eventually had given up, tucking herself in a little alcove and beginning to sob. She knew that she would have to do something soon, or else miss curfew and get into terrible trouble, but her terrible week had caught up to her and at the moment it was all she could do to stop crying long enough to blow her nose.
Her sobs had quieted to tearful sniffling when she was found.
"Hey now, what's wrong?" a kind voice asked "Are you lost? Homesick?" Sophie looked up to see a boy with light brown hair and kind eyes looking down at her anxiously. She, to her great embarrassment, burst into tears again and told him the whole story. He listened patiently, then reached out and pulled her to her feet.
"I'm Terry Boot" he said, pulling out his wand and making the scorch mark on Sophie's skirt vanish with a casual charm. "Ravenclaw fifth year. I'm glad I found you, because I know just how to help. Come with me." He smiled at her and gestured down the corridor. Sophie couldn't imagine what he thought he could do about her general state of misery, but since she supposed that he could at least take her back to Gryffindor before curfew, she'd better follow him.
Terry didn't ask Sophie any questions as they walked, but he did point out several landmarks to look out for if she got lost again, and gave her some advice on how to tell if a portrait would be helpful if asked for directions. It didn't take long at all for them to reach more familiar corridors, although Sophie still wasn't sure of the way back to Gryffindor. But Terry didn't seem to be taking her there, as he led her up a spiral staircase to a stone statue of an eagle.
"We'd like to enter, please." He said politely. Sophie watched in fascination as the eagle moved it's head to look at them and opened its' beak.
"What belongs to you but is nearly always used by others?" It asked, and Terry smiled.
"Oh good, an easy one. My name." He answered, and the eagle nodded and with a great scraping sound, a doorway opened before them. Terry led Sophie up the staircase that appeared into a beautiful airy room, decorated with bronze and blue. Ravenclaws were sitting in small groups talking quietly or even studying, an activity seldom to be seen on Friday nights in the other houses.
Sophie liked the room, but privately thought Gryffindor was better – warmer, somehow, even though here in Ravenclaw a fire was burning merrily in the fireplace. She shyly followed Terry across the room, relaxing slightly when she realized that no one was paying them the slightest bit of attention. They soon arrived at a closed door with a blue ribbon hanging from the knob.
"This is a private study room, and when it's in use, the ribbon is put out," Terry explained, as he reached to open the door. "But I know who's in there, they're waiting for me." Sophie nodded and followed him into a little round room with a simple table and three chairs. There was a small window high on the wall, but the light in the room was coming from a couple of ancient lamps, giving the place a warm glow.
At first, Sophie didn't even notice the two other people in the room, she was so delighted to see the dinner laid out on the study table, complete with Challah and Shabbat candles, ready to be lit. For a moment, she almost thought she was home, but Terry's voice quickly brought her back to the present.
"Sophie, this is Anthony Goldstein, from my year, and his brother Jacob, who's in yours…Ant, Jake, I found a fourth for Shabbat." Sophie mumbled a shy hello, glancing up at the boys. She vaguely remembered Jacob from the sorting – Jacob Goldstein was a rather obviously Jewish name, and his heritage was especially clear when combined with the dark curly hair and distinctive nose he shared with his older brother.
Anthony smiled at her and quickly excused himself to get a fourth chair and place setting, while Terry ushered her into a seat next to Jacob, who grinned at her.
"This is excellent!" He said happily. "Ant says he had Shabbat with two other people last year, but now they've graduated and I thought it was going to be just us! And Terry, of course. He's not Jewish but he's very religious and he says it's always good to spend a little more time thinking about God, so he does Shabbat too." Terry laughed at this, but didn't contradict it, so she supposed it must be true.
"Are we the only ones, then?" Sophie asked timidly. Terry shrugged.
"Jews, you mean? At Hogwarts, yes, I think you are. Obviously there are more in the Wizarding World, but religious beliefs and practices don't seem to have any real place in Magical society. Michael – he's one of my dormmates – thinks that only Muggleborns and some half-bloods practice any sort of religion beyond the most basic celebration of Easter and Christmas." Anthony had returned while Terry was speaking, depositing a plate and some cutlery on the table and setting down a chair.
"We've got to be careful not to bore her, Terry." He cautioned playfully. "She's a Gryffindor, not a Ravenclaw!"
"Oh, it was interesting!" Sophie protested earnestly. Anthony laughed.
"Perhaps you ought to have been one of us, then. You might have been accidentally switched with Jake, I couldn't believe it when the hat didn't put him in Gryffindor." Anthony tousled Jacob's hair fondly, and he jerked away, scowling.
"I'm just as smart as you, Anthony!" He grumbled. "I'm just a Gryffindorish sort of Ravenclaw, I guess."
"Then maybe I'm a Ravenclawish sort of Gryffindor," Sophie said, wondering if that was the real reason she didn't fit in with her dormmates.
"A Gryffindorish sort of Ravenclaw and a Ravenclawish sort of Gryffindor?" Terry laughed. "You'll have to be friends!"
"We'll have to be anyway." Jacob said bluntly, "Or Friday nights won't be much fun."
"Speaking of which," Anthony said, clearing his throat, "We'd best get going, so Sophie has time to eat before we walk her back to Gryffindor. Sophie, the lady of the house lights the candles, and you're the lady at the table…" Sophie gave Anthony a glowing smile. She was getting candle-lighting, dinner, and an escort to prevent her from getting lost later. Things were definitely looking up.
Sophie took the book of matches Anthony handed to her and struck one, carefully lighting first one candle, then the other. She drew her hands over the flames three times, then covered her eyes, just as she'd watch her mother do on a thousand Friday nights at home.
"Baruch atah Adonai…" She sang, feeling less homesick by the minute. When she finished, Anthony raised his glass, and gestured for them to do the same. To Sophie's surprise, he did not sing the short, simple blessing for the wine, but the longer, more comprehensive Kiddush. Perhaps the Goldsteins were more religious than Sophie's family, who only did the candle-lighting blessing, although the Hebrew words Anthony was singing were familiar.
Sophie joined in loud and strong on the Amen, before drinking from her goblet of what seemed to be grape juice, rather than real wine. Oh, well – it was probably unreasonable to expect Hogwarts to allow underage drinking – providing the Challah was concession enough to the religious needs of a minority, in Sophie's eyes.
Sophie put down her grape juice and looked eagerly at the Challah, wondering if she would be expected to do the Motzi, as well, but Jacob picked it up before she could ask.
"Baruch atah Adonai…" he sang beaming around the room at them when everyone, even Terry joined in at the end. "Ha-motzi lechem min ha-aretz!" they sang, and as they sat down to eat, with the candlelight casting dancing shadows on the walls and the stars twinkling merrily at them through the window, Sophie began to believe that she would like Hogwarts after all.