"Good evening students!" Called a tall older lady. She had a very tight bun. I nudged Dean.

"She looks strict." I whispered to him. He looked up at her.

"Very." He replied.

"In a moment you will be brought into the Hall and sorted into your house. While you are here, your house will be like you family. Success will bring them points, while any rule breaking will lose you points. Now, form a straight line and follow me." She turned around and went back through the big double doors. I grabbed onto Dean's arm so I wouldn't lose him and we followed everyone into the hall. As we passed under the door way, I looked up at the ceiling. I tugged on his arm and he followed my gaze. The ceiling was BEAUTIFLUL! There were lit candles floating everywhere and night clouds rolled above them.

"Wow!" I whispered to Dean in amazement. I let my head back down so I could see where we were going. I hadn't realized the tables of students we were passing and blushed when an older boy smiled at me. We were walking up to a stool where a raggedy old hat sat. We stopped in front of it.

"Now, when I call your name you will come up and be sorted into your houses." The strict lady called. She called a bunch of names and one in particular caught my attention. Harry Potter. He was sorted into Gryffindor and they clapped louder for him than any other student. "Lydia Speed!" I quickly looked at Dean who gave me an encouraging smile. I walked up to the stool and sat down. The lady was holding the raggedy hat and she placed it on my head. It didn't smell good.

"Hmm. An American. The first one I've seen." Said an unusually scratchy voice in my head. I flinched. "Don't be alarmed." It said. "I see so much bravery, and a big brain too. There's a lot of wit as well. But loyalty, loyalty you have in spades. Better be... HUFFLEPUFF!" I heard a roar of clapping as the hat was removed from my head. I walked over and sat down at the end of the Hufflepuff table. A few more names were called and then Dean's name. He walked up to the stool and he too flinched after the hat slid over his eyes. His turn was the longest yet. After about five minutes the hat yelled, HUFFLEPUFF! Everyone around me clapped, but nowhere near as loud as I did. I patted the seat next to me and Dean sat down.

"I'm glad you were picked to be here." I said to him when he sat down.

"Me too. Don't want to be in a room full of people I don't know." A few more names were called, then the strict lady took the hat and stool away. Just then, a loud ringing filled my ears. Everyone was looking at the old man with a long beard who was talking. I grabbed Dean's arm and squeezed hard. "OW!" I saw him mouth. I couldn't hear him over the ringing. I tried to be as quiet as possible when I talked to him.

"I can't hear anything. My ears are ringing really loud." Dean said something, but the only words I caught were teacher and hospital. He got up and grabbed my hand, the other one was clutched to the side of my head. He guided me out of the Great Hall. After he closed the door behind us, he looked into my eyes and I saw him say.

"Can you hear me now?"

"No." The door opened and the strict lady came through. She said something and Dean said something back. Meanwhile both my hands were clamped to my ears. The strict lady nodded to whatever Dean had said and then took ahold of one of my hands. She walked back into the hall with me in toe. We walked up to the teachers table up front. We stopped behind another lady. They spoke and then she got up and lead us back out of the Hall to find Dean still standing there. He joined our group and we walked through the castle. We entered a large room full of beds. This must be the hospital. I thought over the growing ringing in my ears. I was guided to a bed and made to sit down. Dean sat down on the bed across from me.

"How are you doing?" He mouthed. I shrugged. The ringing intensified dramatically.

"Ow." I whispered. The lady from the table came over with a cup full of something.

"Drink." She said. I grabbed the cup and took a sip. It was brown and very thick. It tasted like lawn clippings, bark, and moss, but I drank it all. The ringing instantly started to ease. Within a minute, the ringing went away completely.

"Ah." I sighed in relief. I looked over to Dean. "I hate it when that happens."

"I know you do."

"Happen? This has happened before?" The lady asked.

"Uh, yeah. Once or twice a month. Why?" I answered. She sighed.

"You have a disease. It's called Ringloid. It causes intense ringing in your ears. Over time it's known to make the patient deaf nine times out of ten. But that's if it's not treated in time. When did the ringing start?" I didn't answer, I just gawped at her. Dean answered for me.

"Around her birthday last year."

"When?"

"Uh, November."

"Hmm. Well, I think we may have caught it quick enough. But you'll have to come back twice a week. Be here every Tuesday and Thursday at lunch. If you do, we may reverse it within a month."

"Y-yes Ma'am." I said. She shook her head.

"Call me Madam Pomfrey." She insisted.

"Okay, thank you Madam pomfrey."

"You two had better head back before dessert. I'll show you the way." We left and headed back to the Great Hall. The strict lady met us outside the door.

"How is she? Can she hear?"

"Yes, she can hear Professor." Dean answered.

"I can hear, uh, Professor." I reassured her.

"You two go eat." Madam Pomfrey told us, so Dean and I went into the Hall. Dean raced me, and won, to our seats and we filled our plates with a bunch of savory dishes. As him and I put the last few forks full of food into our mouths, the dishes vanished and turned into bright, sweet desserts.

"Is that what I think that is?" Dean asked, pointing to a big, steaming, cherry pie in front of him.

"I do believe that is." I laughed. Him and I both took a huge slice of the pie, and the blueberry one next to it. There were bowls of ice-cream, so we had pie alamode! After we were done stuffing our faces with food, our house prefect, Gabriel Truman, lead us to the Hufflepuff common room. We got in by knocking on barrel at the end of a hall. The barrel opened up and you walked through and entered a lower ceilinged, round, common room. The inside kind of reminded me of a bee. All of the tables were honey colored and so were the two doors that lead off towards the dormitories. "This place is cute." Dean laughed.

"Yeah, cute."

"I don't need your sass." I told him. He chuckled.

"I'm sorry, it's just, this place is cute. I don't do cute."

"I'm cute." I gave my best puppy face.

"Fine, but you're the only exception."

"The boy's dormitories are through there." Gabriel pointed to the right door. "And the girl's through there." He pointed to the left door. Dean and I went into our respective rooms.

"ANGEL!" I yelled. I had left her with all of the baggage when we entered the castle. She was sitting on a bed, which I assumed was mine. "How are you baby?" I asked. She jumped off and came to try and lick my face. On that bed was all of my school stuff and my backpack of belongings. So, after I was done organising my stuff, and everyone else had gone to sleep, Dean and I sat in front of the lit fireplace reading books. I was reading a book on ancient runes, while Dean was reading his favorite book on American muscle cars. He sighed. "What's the matter?" I asked him. He put down his book, it was open to the model car his dad owned.

"I miss Sammy and Dad."

"So do I." I admitted.

"Thanks." He said.

"For what?"

"For being there for Sammy and I." I laughed.

"It's more like you guys have been there for me." He and I sat there, alone, for a little longer, then we went to bed. Angel had been curled up on my lap in front of the fire and was reluctant to come with me to bed, but I eventually persuaded her to come up. As I fell asleep, I thought I heard the sound of wings fluttering.