Sam had been told about the Hogwarts sorting ceremony many times before. Her parents had gone to the school when they were younger and were fond of story telling.
What Sam had not been told about was the irritable old lady that escorted them into the Great Hall. Giants and boats and lakes she could deal with, but grumpy old women?
She was tall and intimidating and wore a pair of spectacles on her nose. Her black hair that was specked with grey was held up in a tight bun. She introduced herself as Professor McGonagall.
"Mr. Potter, would you please refrain from interrupting," she snapped at a boy standing somewhere behind Sam.
"Sorry professor," he replied, stifling a giggle.
"As I was saying," she continued pointedly, "you will all follow me into the Great Hall through these doors and line up. When I call your name, you will walk up to the stool and put the hat on your head. When, and only when, I call out your name. Now come on, and no pushing!"
The large doors swung open revealing a grand room. There were five tables: one for each house and one for the staff that sat at the front.
Sam looked up and saw that the room had no ceiling. Upon closer inspection, she realized that there was in fact a ceiling, but that it mimicked the outside weather.
McGonagall walked to the middle of the hall and placed the stool down on the ground and then the hat on the stool.
The gaze of the older students moved from the new first years to the hat and they all stared at it expectantly.
After a moment, the hat broke into song. It sung first about the school, and then about the four houses.
Sam found the whole song silly and boring. She already knew about the houses. Gryffindor was for the brave, and was the house of her parents. Ravenclaw was for the people who studied all day and had no life. Hufflepuff was for the clumsy and awkward people who weren't very smart. Slytherin was for all the other bastards.
When the song finished, McGonagall started reading out the names.
Sam zoned out until she heard 'Black, Sirius'.
"Blacks go to Slytherin," she whispered to Alice, "and this one acts just like the rest, the bastard."
Sirius sat down on the stool and placed the hat on his head. After a few seconds it yelled out, "GRYFFINDOR!"
"See, I told yo- WHAT?!" Sam yelled.
McGonagall gave her a warning glare and Sirius turned to see who had yelled out. When he saw who it was, he smirked and winked at her.
Sam shoved her hands into her pockets and clenched her jaw shut.
She was still fuming when Alice was called up to the hat. She was also sorted into Gryffindor. Until it was her time to go up to the hat, she stood alone in silence.
"Lace, Samantha," McGonagall called off the list.
Sam walked up to the stool and sat down on it. She grabbed the hat and pulled it hard over her heard, blocking out the rest of the hall.
Another Lace! Hello there, the hat said in her head. Her parents had told her about that too, so she wasn't startled. Well there's definitely no other place for you, my dear.
"GRYFFINDOR!" it yelled out to the whole hall.
Sam walked over to her new house and shook hands and high-fived the older students. She took the seat next to Alice and, once the sorting ceremony was over, ate in silent misery.
"First years, follow me!" called a pompous fifth year boy who was apparently the Gryffindor prefect.
Sam grabbed Alice's arm and they both followed him quickly before Sirius and his friends could catch up to her. He had been eyeing her mischievously all throughout the headmaster's speech and it made her feel uneasy.
"This is the Fat Lady. Behind her is the Gryffindor common room. The common room is in a part of the school that we call Gryffindor Tower, which is located in the North Tower. You must speak the password to the Fat Lady otherwise she will not let you in. But if you forget it, don't worry because someone will soon come along and help you through. Am I clear?"
"Crystal clear," Sam muttered sarcastically and received a look of disdain from Bartimus Higgins, the prefect.
All throughout the short walk from the Great Hall to the common room, he had been acting like a tour guide, pointing things out and giving little speeches. It was staring to get on Sam's nerves.
"The password is 'Flobberworms' at the moment, but it changes quite frequently. I will let you all know when it does," he turned to the fat lady, "Flobberworms."
The portrait swung open and behind it was a circular hole into a very inviting scarlet and gold room. The room was covered with portraits and tapestries and had a fire burning merrily in the grate. Around the hearth was an assortment of squashy armchairs and couches.
On the far side of the room were two staircases.
Batimus walked over to them and all the new students followed.
"Boys, this staircase will lead you to your dormitories, and girls, this one will lead you to yours. You will find a door labeled 'First Years'. That is your dorm. If any of you have any questions or queries, do not hesitate to ask me! I am very friendly and approachable and I promise I don't bite."
Sam snorted at his pathetic attempt at a joke. Alice was already walking up the girls' staircase and she followed. They found their dormitory quite easily and opened the door.
Inside were five identical beds with scarlet hangings. There were wardrobes at the end of each and a large window on the far side of the room. A door on the left led off to a small bathroom.
All their trunks and luggage had already been brought up to their rooms and Sam found hers at the furthest end. She sat down on the bed and was about the start unpacking when three more girls walked into the room.
The first had long red hair and beautiful green eyes. She looked intelligent and was thin with a rather developed body.
"Hi, I'm Lily Evans," she said as she walked over to where Sam was standing.
"Sam Lace."
"Are you a pureblood?" she asked.
"Yeah," Sam groaned, not wanting to get into a heated discussion about how purebloods ruled the world. She hated purebloods and pureblood mania.
"Wow. I'm muggle born. You'll have to fill me in on all this magic stuff, I'm still quite new to it."
Sam brightened. Lily's parents were muggles; she didn't know about magic.
"I'll help you out tomorrow," she said, "I really need to get some sleep."
"Ok, but before you go to bed, let me introduce you to some people."
One of the other girls that were sharing the dormitory was Cindy Lee, a sweet Chinese girl with black hair and black eyes. She smiled and laughed a lot. She had moved to England from China when she was young and was fluent in both Mandarin and English.
The last girl was Rose Lewis. She had black hair, porcelain skin and rosy cheeks. She was a little bit taller than Cindy, but not as tall as Lily.
Sam took an immediate liking to all the new girls in her dormitory and introduced them to Alice.
As she lay in bed that night, exhausted but unable to stifle her excitement and sleep, she thought about things. It was then that she decided that she actually liked having girls as friends.
They really weren't as bad as she had once thought. Finally she had friends.
She rolled over and eventually fell asleep, daring the night to disappear and for day to come so she could start her classes and make even more new friends.