Lilly noticed that her new friend was seemingly getting increasingly more with withdrawn; and Kalina was getting more withdrawn, and even more nervous. This was the part that she hated the most.
"Ummm, Lilly? You mentioned houses before...ummm...how exactly does that whole thing work? Do you choose the house you want to be in, or does someone else do it for you? Is it a private ceremony thing?" Kalina hesistated as she asked, and then felt stupid for asking all those questions. Her face turned red.
Lilly's face looked stricken. "Well, normally, a person is sorted by The Sorting Hat, in front of the entire school. The hat puts you in the house you belong in. But that usually only happens to first years..." Lilly looked at Kalina's red face, "Don't be embarassed! That's something everyone wants to know! Everyone finds it out when they first get...but I am sure that they will help...and make it so you don't have to be a 16 year-old being sorted with a bunch of 11 year-olds!"
Kalina's face was very pale...and her eyes were a very pale blue.
The train arrived at Hogsmeade's train station. As everyone disembarked, Kalina and Lilly stayed close. They heard someone yelling "Firs' years! This way! Firs' years!"
"That's Hagrid, the gamekeeper." Lilly said, "He's...Wow! Look at that!"
Lilly never finished her thought about Hagrid...and instead pointed towards a silver haired man with an extremely large, silver beard and half-moon glasses.
"What about him...wait! Never mind! That's the Professor Dumbledore isn't he!" Kalina yelled over the noise of the crowd.
"Yeah! But he never comes down here...He is always in the Great Hall to greet us...and..."
"Lilly, stop overreacting!" James said, sneaking up on them, "He probably just decided to change his custom!"
Just then Dumbledore appeared beside them, "Ahh. You must be the new sixth year student. Miss Daniels?"
"Yes sir...Kalina Daniels" she had once again stepped backward right into Sirius.
"He doesn't bite either Kal..." Sirius whispered to her while snickering under his breath, "Calm down."
Kalina stepped forward again. "Mr. Black," Dumbledore said, "I would appreciate it if you would please keep an eye on Miss Daniels during the feast, have her sit with you at the Gryffindor table. Then after the feast and sorting, I would appreciate it if you would bring her to my office for a private sorting." he smirked, and his eyes twinkled, "I believe you know the way Mr. Black? Here is the password." Dumbledore handed a blushing Sirius a piece of folded paper.
"Yes Sir, " he said recovering quickly.
As Dumbledore walked away, Sirius grabbed Kalina around the waist. "I need to keep a very close eye on you for the Headmaster."
James and Remus snickered as Peter scowled. Kalina smirked and said "Keeping an eye on me doesn't involve keeping your hands on me," she slapped his hand and turned to Lilly, "So where do we go from here?"
Lilly turned to James, "Should we all ride in the same carriage seeing as Kal has to stick close to Sirius here?"
James looked absolutely ecstatic about the idea, and upon seeing his face, the guys, as well as Lilly, all groaned. "Sure!" he said, "Lilly, I knew you wouldn't want to be away from me for long, seeing as I can tell I must be the love of your life!"
Lilly just rolled her eyes. "Let's go." she said.
They all headed towards the horseless carriages that everyone else was making their way towards. Sirius was walking to the side of Kalina when another man walked up and draped his arm around Kalina's neck.
"Hello Blood-traitor...I see you are still disappointing the family even more than before," he drawled, "Now you're even doing the old man favors. Babysitting, associating with...mudbloods...your mother would be so pleased to see how you have dropped in society. You've disgraced the family name and..."
" 'Ello Lucius," Sirius said as he stopped in his tracks, "I see you are still trying to buy my mother's favor, seeing as she is the head of the Black clan and you need her permission to date Narcissa or Bellatrix."
"You called cousin?" a dark woman said while coming up to Sirius.
"I believe he did Bella...Lucius, my love." another woman come up towards Sirius and wrapped her arms around Lucius' shoulders, laying her cheek on his shoulder.
Kalina had no idea as to whom these people were, except they seemed to know Sirius very well. For some reason she found herself moving closer to Sirius as she moved Lucius' arm off her shoulder. She watched Sirius closely; his muscles were tense and his eyes darted around, he seemed to be looking for James and Remus.
They both saw it at the same time. James, Lilly, Remus, and Peter had just gotten into a carriage, and it had taken off. Sirius' wand arm clenched.
"Lucius..why don't we all just head..."
Out of nowhere Lucius whipped out his wand. But Sirius was faster.
"Petrificus Totalus!" he yelled. He smirked as Lucius fell backward and Bellatrix and Narcissa rushed to his side.
Sirius grabbed Kalina's hand and they ran towards one of the last carriages. "What a great impression I'm making on her!" he thought as he waited for her to climb in. He jumped in after her and slammed the carriage door. Whatever was in control of pulling the carriage must have felt their urgency because it took off only seconds later.
As they sat in the carriage, Kalina burst out laughing. Sirius looked completely baffled.
"Umm...are you okay?" he ased as he brushed his hair out of his face.
"Yes...I am fine..." she giggled.
"Then why are you laughing?" he only looked more baffled than before.
"Have you ever seen a muggle movie"
"Yeah...why?" he furrowed his brow at her comment.
"Because," she said, "Some of their movies are these "Old West" things. And there are these shootouts, like duels, well anyway you and what's-his-name just reminded me of that." she giggled.
Sirius had seen those movies, and thinking back, he and Lucius had looked like those muggles he had seen in movies...he could just imagine them pacing off at noon. He smiled and let out a few bark-like laughs. Kalina's gigglin fit had ended, and she was just grinning. Sirius noticed her eyes change from a very pale blue to one of the prettiest sapphire blues he had ever seen.
The carriage came to a halt, and the two came back to the reality that if they didn't hurry up, Lucius and his girls were going to catch up.
They jumped out of the carriage and ran into the Entrance Hall and found James, Remus and Lilly waiting for them.
"Sirius! Where have you been man? We sent Pete in to save us the bench." James exploded.
"Lucius" was all that Sirius said.
James and Remus looked surprised.
"Let's just go to dinner...I'll tell you guys about it later. He just rejoices in reminding me that my mother hates me and that I'm a pure-blood traitor. He is such a slime." Sirius stated.
They all headed into the Great Hall. The boys kept glancing back behind them to check and see if Lucius was going to sneak up on them. They were hoping slightly for the opportunity to duel him. Peter had saved them seats about midway to the front of the table. Kalina stuck close to Sirius still, she couldn't say why, but she did. Sirius noticed this, and was shocked to find himself feeling slightly jealous at some of the looks Kalina was attracting. They came up to the bench, and he looked to his left at her and saw her biting part of her lower lip in nervousness as he motioned her to take a seat at the table.
Sirius saw Lucius and Narcissa sneak into the hall and then Bellatrix moments later. His entire body tensed at the sight of them. The doors to the Great Hall creaked closed, and a door to the side-chamber opened.
Kalina's eyes were wide as she absorbed everything around her, none of this was like any of her previous schools. When the doors cracked as they began shutting, she jumped, and Sirius snickered at her. Then she saw the first years being led into the Great Hall. Everyone's attention was at the front of the hall, on a hat sitting on top of a stool. AS the first years gathered around at the front of the Hall, it became so quiet, that a person could have heard a pin drop. The silence was broken by the hat singing. It sang the legends of Hogwarts, of it's houses and the like. The sorting began after the song, and by the time it was over, about 15 people had been added to the Gryffindor table.
Sirius leaned towards her, and surprised her by whispering, "Hopefully you will be someone who will end up taking permanent residence here at the Gryffindor table."
Her shock was amplified when many of her favorite foods appeared in front of her and all along the table. Everyone dug in. Kalina went for the prime rib, the Kentucky bourbon sweet potatoes, broccoli and a roll. Peter reached for the pumpkin juice, and managed to spill it all over Sirius' steak and potatoes, Sirius' lap, and Kalina's lap along with his own.
"ARGH!" Sirius yelped, "Worm...you...PETER!...ARGH!"
Kalina burst out lauging, and James, Remus and Lilly joined in while Peter turned bright red. Kalina had a hard time managing her spell, but while gasping for air, she managed to wave her wand and giggle "scourgify", cleaning up the entire mess.
Sirius sat down looking grumpy until Kalina leaned on his shoulder for support. And once the deserts appeared, no one would have thought that Sirius had ever been grumpy in his whole life. He dug into every desert in his reach, and some deserts that weren't within his reach. The first years watched in amazement as Sirius ate 2 whole pies, 10 scoops of ice cream, and topped it off with a slice of cake. Lilly looked like she would throw up after she saw that, but James seemed to find it natural, which amused Kalina to no end.
When all the food disappeared, Dumbledore made a number of announcements; including one that urged everyone to stay away from the Shrieking Shack, as no one had yet been able to rid it of it's demons.
Once everyone had been excused, Sirius and Kalina stood up.
"Guys, I have to go see Dumbledore with Kal now...I'll be up later. "Sirius said to his friends.
The three men looked at him in a sleepy way and managed to nod their heads at him. Lilly told Kalina good luck, and then she too went out the doors to the Entrance Hall. Sirius headed out after them, making sure Kalina followed him. He led her through a lot of corridoors, and then up a number of staircases. Finally they reached a statue of a gargoyle. Sirius looked down at the folded parchment Dumbledore had given him with the password on it.
He let out a bark-like laugh, "Pickled-Bologna" he laughed.
The gargoyle sprang to life and hopped to the side, allowing he and Kalina to go up. Dumbledore and the heads of each of house were waiting for them. Without speaking a word, Kalina went and sat down at a motion from Dumbledore. He sat the hat on her head and Sirius and the others disappeared from sight.
"Ahh...Miss Daniels," she heard it say softly in her head, "Your first name means light does it not? It cetainly describes you well. You are particularly bright...you could fit into Ravenclaw very well...but your heart lies in other places? He should have gone into Slytherin like the rest of his family, but like you I saw something and I put him in...GRYFFINDOR!" it suddenly yelled.
As the hat came off her head, the first thing she saw was Sirius, beaming like a little boy in a prank shop. As everyone congratulated her, she thought of only one thing; what did the hat mean by "your heart lies in other places? He should have gone into Slytherin..." She didn't know anyone here...how could her heart lie in other places?