September 1, 1971
Dakotah shrieked as she flew across King's Cross Station, through the engines' smoke and the smoke coming from the pipes of business men. Kohana had left on a train not too long ago to get to work, instead of his usual Apparition, and left Tala with the instructions to get onto the Platform for the Hogwarts Express. However, Tala was going to be late if she didn't shake off the security guard trying to catch Dakotah. Apparently loose owls in a train station was a violation of certain codes the girl wasn't aware of nor cared about. A wild laugh made it's way to everyone's ears as Tala ran across the uneven tiles, pushing her trolley ahead of her, it's left front wheel creaking as it went. And when she and Dakotah crossed the barrier, running straight through the wall between the muggle platforms nine and ten, the girl let out a satisfied sigh and slowed to a jog.
In striking contrast to Britain's National Rail system, the Hogwarts Express took the form of a large red, steam engine. Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every colour wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks. Tala reached into her pocket and gave Dakotah a small treat before whispering something to her, then she extended her arm and the owl flew off out of the train station, directly on her way to Hogwarts. Tala smiled, satisfied, then turned to the man who was loading trunks underneath the train, and slid him her own, keeping a few items with her for the journey. She smiled at him before running off towards the entrance to the locomotive. The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. A boy with bright red hair was surrounded by a small crowd. The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg. Tala chuckled and pressed on through the crowd until she found an empty compartment
near the end of the train. She sat down next to the window and pulled out her cloak from her messenger bag, as well as half a dozen spools of wool in various colours. With the reply to the acceptance letter, Tala had asked if she was allowed to do some embroidery on the edges. She would start with tracing and the colour white, as the person who responded to her told her to not use colour until she was sorted. Then she'd be able to use the colours which represented her house.
A whistle sounded and the train began to move. Tala could hear the last of the compartment doors slide and slam shut, but hers slid open. She lifted her white chalk pencil and looked up towards the door. The soft features and shy attitude of Noah Xiang caught her attention and the girl smiled.
"Hello, Noah!" she beamed.
The boy looked up from the ground, as if seeing her for the first time, dark eyes wide in near panic. He stood in the doorway for short while until someone outside bumped into him and he stumbled inside. Noah smiled sheepishly at Tala and slid the compartment door shut, taking a seat in front of Tala.
"Hey Tala," Noah said softly.
"It seems we will be spending more time together."
"I guess we will, yeah."
"Have you read any of the books we got for school?" Noah nodded, and Tala's eyes brightened. "What are you most excited for? Personally, I cannot wait for potions! My father and the Medicine Man of our village used to teach me."
"They did?"
"Yes. Although, I was taught the American way, so I do not know if it will be the same."
"I'm looking forward to Transfiguration. It's probably the hardest branch of magic, and I need to prove to my parents that Hogwarts is just as good as Mahoukotoro."
"Mahoukotoro?"
"The Japanese wizard school. That's where my brothers went. Well, except for Jim. He's in his fifth year at Hogwart, now, but he started at Mahoukotoro."
While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick pass or Tala's beginnings of embroidery. Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door.
"Anything off the cart, dears?" she said.
The kids got a bit of everything, deciding it was the best opportunity to eat all the sweets they wanted. Surely they didn't serve this kind of stuff at meal times. Noah and Tala spent another few hours goggling down pumpkin pasties, little cakes, chocolate frogs and even some every flavour beans, which really were every flavour - Tala had bitten into the corner of an earwax flavoured bean.
The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills. Someone's cat was hissing outside the compartment, and Tala looked at it just in time to see a young boy run after it, disappearing down the hall.
"Have you got a pet?" Tala asked.
"I do. Siamese called Yue. She's roaming the train. You?"
"My owl, Dakotah. Say, I haven't asked yet - what house do you think you'll be in?"
"Hopefully Ravenclaw." Noah sighed, suddenly gloomy. "It's the only house my mother will accept me being in. I don't think Gryffindor would be too bad though. You?"
"I don't mind, honestly. I think Ravenclaw would be a good fit, though."
"Really? You seem more like the Gryffindor type." Noah commented, tilting his head.
"But the colours and the symbolism of Ravenclaw speak to me, you know? The blue and the bronze, the sky and eagle feathers? Doesn't that just scream 'free spirit', to you?" Tala smiled. "I miss the freedom I had back in America, and here in Britain, I am unique."
"I agree, that does sound a lot like a Ravenclaw."
An announcement rang across the train, signaling their arrival in less than a half hour. Tala and Noah looked outside. It was getting dark. They could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. Tala finished her row of white stitching, staring at it proudly, then put away all her thread an needles back into her bag. It wasn't long after that the train began to slow down and another announcement told the old and new students to leave all their luggage in the train, for it would be brought to their dormitories for them. Noah and Tala swung on their cloaks as the train came to a full stop. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Tala shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students.
"First years! First years over here!" said a rather large old man. "C'mon, follow me - any more first years? Mind your step, now! First years follow me!"
Slipping and stumbling, all the first year students followed the man who'd later introduced himself as Ogg, the Keeper of Keys and Grounds, down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Tala thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much, but there was a collective sound of amazement when they finally saw Hogwarts castle. The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.
"No more than four to a boat!" Ogg called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Noah and Tala were followed into their boat by two students who'd introduced themselves as Remus Lupin and Mary MacDonald. "Everyone in? Right then - FORWARD!"
And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. As they reached the cliff, the students all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, Oak front door which was knocked three times by Ogg.
The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. She had a very stern face and Tala's first thought was that this was not someone to cross in the slightest. She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of Tala's 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 staircase facing them led to the upper floors. They followed Professor McGonagall, as Ogg had called her, across the flagstone floor. Tala could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right, 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. Though the Lakota was rather excited.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said. "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 earn your house points, while any rule-breaking 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 a boy's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Noah's untamed hair.
"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."
She left the chamber.
"How exactly do they sort us?" Tala asked, looking over to Noah. "Is it some sort of test?"
"I don't think so. My brother said it involved some kind of song, though."
McGonagall soon returned and demanded the students form a line. Tala stood behind Noah and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall. Tala's grin widened, if that was even possible, as she could have never imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were 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 candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Noah looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He nudged Tala and she looked up as well.
Though she 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. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth - and the hat began to sing:
Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on 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 at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffis 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!
The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again. Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Aubrey, Bertram!"
A pink-faced boy with blond hair stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over his eyes, and sat down. There was a moments pause, where the hat and the boy whispered to each other, and the it shouted 'Hufflepuff' in a loud voice. The table on the right cheered and clapped as Bertram went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.
"Black, Sirius!"
Tala didn't quite understand why everyone was whispering this boy's name as he strut up to the stool and put on the hat. He had striking grey eyes and lustrous black hair, and a confident smirk on his face, which only grew when the Sorting Hat shouted 'Gryffindor', much to the outrage of Slytherin and shock of everyone else. Nevertheless, Gryffindor House welcomed him warmly. Tala made a note to ask Noah about his later.
"Bones, Amelia!"
Once again, the hat shouted 'Hufflepuff', and Amelia scuttled off to sit next to Bertram.
"Boot, David!"
'Ravenclaw', the hat called. The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with David as he joined them. 'Brocklehurst, Olivia' went to Ravenclaw too, but 'Brown, Kelly' became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers. 'Bulstrode, Alfia' then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Tala's imagination, after all she'd heard about Slytherin, but she thought they looked like an unpleasant lot. Another Hufflepuff was sorted, but this one took a little longer than the others. That last one had sad a full minute on the stool before he was sorted. The was another handful of students before a name she recognised was called.
"Lupin, Remus!"
The timid boy stepped up to the stool and sat down. He was taller than every one Tala had seen so far, and far more shabby than anyone else as well. Maybe it had something to do with the few scars that littered his face. The hat declared him a Gryffindor, and the look of relief that washed over his face made Tala smile. The Gryffindor table greeted him warmly and he took a seat beside Sirius Black. A few moments later, and after a few more names, Tala's heart skipped a beat.
"Našá, Tala!"
Tala practically skipped up to the stool, earning a few odd looks from those remaining to sort. Noah only smiled. The girl sat down and pulled the hat over her head - it fell down just above her eyes. She felt the hat jerk to life, and a rough whisper made its way to her ears.
"American, I see. How unusual... You crave freedom, I see, adventure and knowledge... then I know just where to put you."
