Jenni and Ame waved at their father until they were out of sight of the train station and hadn't been able to see him for half a minute. Only then did they turn around to see that they were sharing the compartment with two other people, a boy and a girl.
"Hullo," Jenni said with mild surprise as she sat down. She smiled when she regained her composure. "Are you first years, too?"
"Third year, actually," said the boy. He was rather tall and gangly with a mess of dark brown hair and a narrow face. He extended his hand to Jenni and Ame in turn.
"My name's Frank, Frank Longbottom. And you?"
"Jennifer Robinson," she told him, returning his warm handshake. "And this is my sister, Ame."
"I could see that," he grinned.
"Hi," Ame said quietly. She was watching the girl, who had long, dark, straight hair and light hazel eyes, and was watching the Robinsons intently through them. Jenni thought the irony of a watcher being watched was amusing, but her sister was thinking deeper thoughts.
"What's your name?" Ame asked her.
"Sylvia Blackridge," she replied, a friendly smile brightening her features as soon as she was acknowledged. "This is my first year, too. It's nice to meet you all." She shook everyone's hand.
"I'm surrounded by babies!" Frank joked.
He, Sylvia and Jenni fell to talking for the rest of the trip. Ame simply sat back in her seat with a smile on her face, content to listen. When the trolley came around, Frank treated everyone to a Chocolate Frog and a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans each. Jenni thought that this was a very good start to a new life.
Then it started to rain.
"I feel bad for you firsties," Frank told the girls, grinning as they disembarked from the Hogwarts Express.
It was raining buckets by this time. The sky was so overcast it was almost black, lit occasionally by a jagged stab of lightning that appeared as a white-hot gash in the hide of a roaring beast.
"How's you getting wet any different from us getting wet?" Sylvia asked.
"Well, I'm not getting wet, am I?" said Frank. "The trip across the lake is going to be awful!" he added gleefully as he started to walk away.
"Lake?" Ame said nervously.
"What lake?" Jenni finished excitedly.
"Tell us?" Sylvia pressed.
Frank only grinned and continued to walk backwards.
"See you at the castle!" he called to them, then turned to meet another boy. They disappeared from sight. The three girls stood a-gape, exchanging glances that contained various degrees of nervousness and excitement.
Before anyone could say "now what," a loud voice boomed over the sounds of the storm.
"Firs' years, this way! Don' bother with yer trunks, they'll be taken care of. Firs' years, o'er here!"
Jenni, along with Ame, Sylvia, and a gaggle of other nervous kids, turned to see a gigantic man with a lantern beckoning them his way. Slowly, they gathered around him.
"'Zis everyone?" the man asked, peering easily over them and up and down the small platform. He grunted in a satisfied way and beckoned them on again. "Righ'. This way."
They followed him, or specifically the lantern he bore, wordlessly into the rain. Their way was dark and eerie, lit only by the occasional flashes of lightning and made more treacherous by the mud under their feet. Jenni thought that everyone must have come close to sliding down the narrow path at least once. No one had the slightest idea where they were going until they saw the groundskeeper's lantern reflected by the inky waters of a wide lake. So, Jenni thought, this was the lake. Tethered to the shore were several small boats, all of which lacked oars. Some of those from all-Muggle families exchanged nervous glances with the others.
"No more'n four to a boat now. In ye get," the groundskeeper urged, sounding just as eager to get out of the rain as the students. "I dunno if ye ken see in this, but 'Ogwarts is just o'er there."
He gestured with his lantern and Jenni looked as she clambered into a boat after Ame, Sylvia, and a fourth girl. It was hard to be sure, but she thought she could see hundreds of yellow windows glimmering invitingly in the distance. She hoped the lake wasn't as wide as it seemed. She was about to find out.
From a boat all to himself—he needed the whole thing—the groundskeeper commanded all of them forward and they glided across the wind-tossed water. It was a rough trip. Jenni later reflected that it was probably good that they were already soaked to the bone, for one of the boats nearly capsized when they were halfway across. Thanks to the able groundskeeper, no one fell in and there were no further incidents until they reached Hogwarts proper.
The boats passed through a cave mouth and everyone de-shipped in the natural boathouse the cavern formed. Jenni and Ame trudged hand in hand up the path to the castle with the rest of the sopping first years, right up to the humongous front doors. They could have been built to the proportions of a giant. The groundskeeper, for example. He walked up to them and ceremoniously banged the knocker three times. Jenni winced as Ame squeezed her hand, then squeezed reassuringly back. They were both nervous and excited. They had been waiting for this day ever since their father told them about the wizarding world for the first time, when they turned eleven last June.
At long last, the solid, heavy doors swung open with regal slowness, creaking and moaning like a ghoul. Suddenly, Jenni's past flashed before her eyes and she understood with profound certainty that her old life was over and a new one was about to begin. It was an odd, ominous feeling and she was not certain what it meant. She decided it didn't matter just then.
Finally, the doors were perpendicular to the wall. A young-looking witch with black hair and an uncompromising glance thanked the groundskeeper, Hagrid, and informed him (and the rapt first years) that she would take the students from there. It was then, as she led the quivering group of cold, wet kids into the gigantic entrance hall, that they had their first encounter with Peeves, who simply couldn't resist pelting them with orange water-balloons filled with ice-cold sherbet.
"Peeves!" the witch bellowed as the poltergeist cackled with mad glee and dropped his freezing cold bombs on them.
"Ickle firsties!" he taunted. "Lookit 'em squirm!"
Jenni and Ame indeed ducked to one side to avoid a balloon that just barely missed their shoes. Ame yelped as it splashed over the stone floor.
"I'm warning you, Peeves," the witch threatened, her finger waving dangerously. "I know a ghost who would be mighty displeased to hear of your behavior!"
Peeves did not seem to want to answer to whoever this was.
"Just having a spot of fun," he pouted, but he wasn't about to leave without a grand finale, either. "I scream, you scream," he chanted; "we ALL scream!" And he swooped low over the heads of the students, dropped his last balloon on an unsuspecting boy, and whisked away, laughing at the cries and startled expressions that followed.
The witch muttered angrily to herself and ushered them into an out-of-the-way side room. She told them to wait there until she had come back and then escorted the traumatized lad off to get a change of robes. When she returned a few minutes later, she still looked slightly put-out, but also fully in command of the situation.
"Right. Welcome to Hogwarts," she said, sounding as if she was trying to stick to the script. Jenni and a few other people laughed quietly at the irony of it, but the witch glared sternly at them and they all fell silent.
"I am Professor McGonagall, one of your teachers this year. In a moment, we will all go into the Great Hall and you will see the people you will be spending the majority of the next few years of your life with. However, before you join the rest of the student body you must be Sorted, each into one of the four Hogwarts Houses. They are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. The Sorting is probably the most important ceremony we have here because your House will be something like an extended family to you while you are at school. You will take classes with the other members of your House. You will eat with them, share a dormitory with them, and spend the majority of your free time in your House common room. Now…." Professor McGonagall lifted her arm and pushed back the sleeve of her robes to look at what was for all intents and purposes a watch. What she could see reminded Jenni of the device on the cover of one of her father's books, The Golden Compass. It had all sorts of pictures and numbers arrayed around its circumference and many hands pointing to them.
"Yes, they're ready for you now," Professor McGonagall informed the students. "Form a line and come along."
That they did, and were led across the wide entrance hall and through a gigantic pair of gold-plated double-doors into the Great Hall.
On either side of Jenni, Ame and Sylvia drew breath at the sight of it. It was truly grand and beautiful. Jenni was entranced by the colors. Four long tables were evenly spaced, set with golden plates, goblets, and flatware. Each had its own colors. The one on the far left was all in green and silver. The next over was draped in dark blue and bronze. The middle-right one was decorated yellow and white, and the table on the far right was all in scarlet and gold. These must be the House tables, Jenni thought, and smiled to herself. If the colors had anything to do with it, she could guess where she and Ame would go. Ame would certainly be placed at the third table, whose colors were of mellowness and honesty as far as Jenni was concerned. As for herself… that was harder. She ruled out the yellow and the red, but it remained a toss-up between green and blue. The problem with green, she mused, is that certain shades can be taken to mean so many things. One shade was her favorite color (closely followed by just that dark blue), but another shade was the putrid green of poison. This one was right in between the two.
Then her eyes wandered around the rest of the Hall, taking it in from bottom to top. The flagstone floor wasn't particularly interesting, but the hundreds of candles floating in midair were. More intriguing were the luminous, silvery beings that she identified as ghosts (none of whom was Peeves, she realized happily). There was a fifth table set on a raised platform perpendicular to the other four, and on the wall behind it hung five banners. Centered was the large representation of the Hogwarts crest, which was comprised of a letter H surrounded by a serpent, a raven, a badger, and a lion, each set in its respective color quadrant. On either side were the individual banners of the Houses: Green and blue on the left, yellow and red on the right. Looking all the way up, Jenni saw the ceiling.
"It's enchanted," breathed Sylvia, who was also gazing heavenward.
"It would have to be," Jenni answered. It looked exactly like the sky outside, yet no rain fell on their upturned faces and it was pleasantly warm in the Hall. What a great bit of magic!
Movement drew Jenni's eyes back down again. Professor McGonagall brought out a three-legged stool and placed a battered old wizard's hat on top of it. Jenni saw that the hat was patched, frayed, and dirty from years of use, yet she wondered how long it had been sitting in someone's closet. Then something strange happened. A tear at the seam of the hat's brim opened up like a mouth, and it began to sing.
The
Hogwarts Sorting Hat am I,
A proper
name I lack.
Yet
placing students properly,
For that I
have a knack.
I may not
be the prettiest
Not top
hat or bonnet,
But, you
see, I am composing!
(At least
it's not a sonnet.)
So now
that you're sure I'm clever,
Know I'm
trustworthy, too.
So put me
on and we will see
Which
House is right for you!
You might
belong in Gryffindor,
Where the
bravest win renown.
The
lion-hearted Gryffindor
Won't
stand to be held down.
Or perhaps
to Ravenclaw
Will you
be suited best.
The quick
and witty students there
Show
wisdom manifest.
Some to
loyal Hufflepuff
Will find
that they belong.
An
open-hearted Hufflepuff,
In sense
of duty strong.
The rest
may find that Slytherin
Will be
their home this while.
They are a
determined lot,
And not
too shy for guile.
One of
four is right for you,
Of this
please rest assured.
So set me
now atop your head
And hear
the final word!
As the song ended, amidst scattered applause from the staff and students, Professor McGonagall stepped forward and unrolled a long scroll of parchment.
"When I call your name, you will come forward, put on the hat, and sit on the stool to be Sorted," she told the first years. "Ashworth, Caleb!"
The boy, who had light blond hair and gray eyes, did his best to look dignified as he walked up to the stool and took a seat, placing the worn hat over his head—and indeed, over his eyes. Almost right away, the hat shouted:
"GRYFFNDOR!"
The table on the far right burst into applause as Caleb joined them.
"Bailey, Kerry!"
This was the fourth girl who had ridden in the boat with Ame, Sylvia and Jenni on the way across the lake. She looked nervous but excited as she sat.
"GRYFFNDOR!"
Her face broke into a wide grin and she walked briskly to join the red table.
"Barker, Benjamin!"
"SLYTHERN!"
"Bishop, Sassy!"
"SLYTHERN!"
It was the far-left table that cheered for these two. Well, most of them cheered. Jenni noted that some of them looked particularly indifferent. Then there were only a couple of B-names before—
"Blackridge, Sylvia!"
The dark-haired girl gave me a nervous smile before making her way to the stool. Her eyes vanished under the hat, and a few moments later—
"RAVENCLAW!"
The near-left table welcomed her enthusiastically into their ranks and she looked greatly relieved. Jenni smiled and waved at her from the line, but returned her attention to the Sorting at a stern look from McGonagall.
"Caulder, Emily!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!" declared the hat.
"Devendorf, Gregory!"
"SLYTHERN!"
Jenni lost interest and her mind wandered all the way through "Lyon, Amber" ("GRYFFNDOR!"). Green or blue for her? She still wasn't sure. She was beginning to dislike the look of the majority of the Slytherins, who seemed rather mean, but she thought the Ravenclaws seemed aloof. Then she shook herself. She was being pessimistic, looking only at the negative side of each. While she was at it, she might point out to herself that the House Ame would surely join was comprised of a bunch of sticks-in-the-mud and the Gryffindors appeared very arrogant. She knew better than to look at things that superficially! She would just have to wait and see what happened.
"Miller, Melody" and "Moon, Gideon" went to Hufflepuff. Then "Nash, Jane" joined the Ravenclaws along with "Prior, Samuel." "River, Aeryn" went to Gryffindor, and then—
"Robinson, Ame!"
Ame blanched and looked pleadingly at her sister, but Jenni could only smile and shake her head. She wished that Ame didn't have to go first, but such were the evils of alphabetical order. She gave her twin a reassuring nudge and Ame walked up to the stool. Jenni could see that she was quivering with nerves even as she sat down and placed the hat on her head. The seconds crawled by as she leaned forward, anxious for the result even though she was sure of what it would be. To the rest of the room, it lasted mere moments, but to Jenni it was a small fragment of eternity. Then the hat called out once again.
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
In unison, the twins sighed and sagged in relief. Ame took the hat off and stood up to the cheers from the Hufflepuff table. She smiled triumphantly at Jenni, who beamed back at her. Then one of the most important moments of Jenni's life was upon her.
"Robinson, Jennifer!"
All the noise in the Great Hall seemed to fade away until all she could hear were the sounds of her shoes thwupping against the flagstone floor and her deep breathing as she approached the stool. Green or blue? She would soon know. She sat down and let the hat slide down over her eyes and the sounds of the Hall truly did die away.
"Another one, eh? Not much like your sister, though, are you?" said a voice.
Huh? Jenni thought, admittedly too startled to speak aloud. The voice chuckled.
"Honest with ourselves, are we? That's a good Hufflepuff quality, but you're very different from your sister indeed."
She knew that already. Could the hat actually read her thoughts? Then it ought to know she knew it was—
"Either Ravenclaw or Slytherin for you," the hat finished with her. "But which? You're a puzzle, but let me see. Hm, not a bad mind at all. You're a good thinker, but easily distracted. Your mind works in devious ways. Ah, you'll go to great lengths to achieve your ends. Determined and stubborn! Yet, that intensity may be tempered by a logically constructed set of morals, based on reason. I see now, yes, yes indeed. The place you'll flourish is none other than RAVENCLAW!"
That was it? Jenni sat stunned for a moment. For some reason, she felt there should be more to it.
"There's far more to it than you can guess right now," the hat told her sagely. "Now go on, scoot off. Others still to Sort, you know."
Jenni shook herself back to the present. Yes, of course there were more left. Just because she was done didn't mean the thing was over. She stood up and took the hat off. Instantly, the sounds of the Hall came flooding back to her. Looking around as she set the hat back on the stool, she saw Professor McGonagall gesturing impatiently for her to get a move on and the whole of the blue-draped table on their feet cheering for her. She grinned with sudden pride and went to join them as "Tempscire, Marguerite" was called up to be Sorted. She was a Ravenclaw, and for as long as she was at Hogwarts, even after, she would strive to live up to the expectations of that name and be all that it asked her to be—and more.
At the time, I was simply pleased to be in the House known for being quick, witty, and wise. I soon forgot that I also possessed certain qualities that might have placed me in Slytherin. After all, information for its own sake was never quite enough for me.