Freddie could hardly believe that she was sitting in an empty compartment next to her new grey tabby kitten, on the Hogwarts Express on her way to learn magic. She was naturally a bookish girl but had got into a lot of trouble for... troublemaking at her old school. She was the kind of girl the teachers thought so innocent and hardworking but was really a prankster at heart. She pulled out her favourite book, 'The Book Thief' and started to read in an attempt stop her brain buzzing with excitement.
The door slid open to reveal a very pretty girl, quite tall with short black, and a boy who looked very similar and had extremely defined cheekbones.
-"Can we sit with you? You look like a newbie too and we don't really want to sit with the older years." the girl said brightly. Freddie nodded meekly, blushing though she wasn't sure why.
-"So... what's your name? What house would you like to be in? Of course we both want to be in Slytherin, but I don't think Ravenclaw would be that bad, do you? What's your blood purity? Do you even know? I knew someone who had never known there parents and for all they knew they were either unfortunately muggle-born or as pure as I am!" She blurted all this out so quickly Freddie didn't know where to start.
-"Um... Well my name Freddie, well Frederica really but I prefer Freddie and I don't really know which house I want to be in yet... Neither of my parents are magical you see so I don't know much about it..."
-"Oh! You're muggle-born! That's a shame, it's much more difficult for muggle-burns because talent is inherited with magic so you'll just have to work really hard I guess. You haven't got much hope with flying either, do you know about flying? Well wizards fly on broomsticks and play this game called Quidditch..." and the raven-haired girl Freddie soon found out was called Ophelia, or Fifi, (and her twin brother was called Orion) began to rant on and on about Quidditch and blood purity and lots more that Freddie had to pretend to understand.
-"And so you see, each of the houses are named after one of the four founders. And..." but she was finally interrupted when the door slid open to reveal a sandy-haired boy with rectangular glasses and a very pretty girl with wavy, blonde hair.
-"Sorry, but do you mind if we sit here? Everywhere else is full. I'm Teddy by the way and this is Jemima." And once Ophelia had questioned them sufficiently they all chatted animatedly for the rest of the journey and then they changed into their robes.
When the train finally stopped and they all got off, Freddie heard a voice she recognised as Hagrid's shouting, "Firs' years! Firs' years this way! Follow me firs' years!" So they all made their way over to the source of the racket and followed Hagrid until they came to the edge of a large, black lake. Hagrid allocated them to boats, four per boat (though Hagrid had to have one to himself) and Freddie found herself in a boat with three other boys. One was relatively tall with dark hair and glasses, another had black, shaggy hair and piercing grey eyes, and the other was average height with light brown hair. They were all very attractive and confident. Soon enough they were all laughing, capsizing and splashing each other, much to Hagrid's annoyance.
When they arrived at Hogwarts, Freddie thought she must be hallucinating from the cold. She was hustled inside an enormous hall with suits of armour and moving portraits and so much more she didn't have time to look at. A tall and slim woman with her hair tied up in a neat bun underneath her long pointed hat.
-"I am Professor McGonagall," she started, "now, you will shortly enter the Great Hall to be sorted. The Sorting ceremony is very important and from the moment you are sorted, your house will be like your family for the rest of your time at Hogwarts." Freddie couldn't concentrate after a while as she was so busy gazing around... It seemed endless, she couldn't imagine how big the Great Hall would be... But she didn't have to try to imagine it for long as they were soon standing inside the Great Hall and it was the biggest room Freddie had ever been in. The ceiling looked exactly like the sky outside and there were four long tables filled with students laughing and chatting loudly. Candles hovered high above their heads and there was another table where the staff were sitting. They shuffled into a long line on Professor McGonagall's orders in front of a stool on which she placed a battered and tatty wizard's hat. Before they knew what was happening it had burst into life singing at the top of its voice something about houses. Freddie didn't understand most of it but joined in the applause because it had been such a surprise.
-"Hannah Abbott!" she cried all of a sudden, and a petrified-looking girl with long brown hair, walked slowly forwards and, once indicated, sat on the stool, and the professor placed the hat on her head.
-"HUFFLEPUFF!" it cried after a few moments of silence. Freddie sighed deeply, sorting didn't seem so hard after all. She stopped twiddling and sucking her hair which she always did when she was nervous. From what she had heard, all the houses seemed great, except the boys hadn't seemed so keen on Slytherin, and Fifi didn't like Gryffindor. Ravenclaw sounded nice... Eventually she jumped out of her reverie as she heard her name being called. She walked up and tried not to look at all the faces staring at her. When the hat was placed on her head, the most curious thing happened: the hat started talking to her inside her head.
"Humm... Very interesting... you seem to fit into a lot of houses... too much trouble for Hufflepuff... Too unambitious for Slytherin... that leaves Ravenclaw and Gryffindor... No doubt you would do well in both but I think..."
-"GRYFFINDOR!"