The train began to slow down, almost to a crawling pace as it slowly pulled up to it's destination. Shannon, Jayden, and Stan all snapped from their conversation and looked at the large castle looming in the distance. Although it was a fair distance away, she could clearly see it's massive size. "So, that's Hogwarts" She said in a hushed voice, still staring out the window at the distant school. "It's bigger than I imagined" She said as she stood up, her gaze flicking from the building to her newly made friends. "Well, I suppose we should get going" She said as the chatter of other student's began to pass them by.
Jayden gave a nod and smiled. "Yeah, let's go. We can't have you miss the sorting ceremony after all" He said and opened the compartment door, gesturing out into the trains walkway. "After you" He said, giving a slight smirk.
Shannon chuckled slightly and rolled her eyes as she walked out of the compartment. Stan had told her, much to Jayden's annoyance, that he was typically like that, always trying to show of for the ladies or stand out somehow to get noticed by them. She had laughed a bit when he had told her, which had only made Jayden's face go an even brighter red. She apologized afterwards, and luckily he seemed to have shaken it off like nothing.
Unlike those stupid Muggle boys back home. She thought and couldn't help but laugh a little to herself as she stepped out of the train, remembering how spineless they were at times. A cold gust of wind, carrying the scent of decaying leaves with it blew by and she took in a deep breath. The scent of fall, it was lovely to her, along with the vibrant colors of the leaves as everything prepared itself for the white chill of winter.
It reminded of her even more of her home on Spinners End. Fall was always wonderful there, especially so at the old park not to far from her house where the ground was always covered by the bright colorful leaves. Winter was even more beautiful, the river froze over and frail sheets of snow covered the ground, reflecting the small amount of light that would seep through the clouds.
Stan and Jayden stepped out a few moments after Shannon. Stan gave a small smile to himself and stepped up to her. "Well Shannon, we'll be seeing you there" He said, a loud voice sounding a few moments later.
"All first years over here!" A rather large man called out in quite a noticeable accent as he gestured for all of the first years to come over to him.
Shannon looked at him for a few seconds, a bit puzzled by this unusually large man who was singling out the first years. "Who's he?" She asked as she looked back to Stan and Jayden, a questionable expression on her face.
It was Jayden who spoke up first, a cheerful note in his voice. "That would be Hagrid, he's the Care of Magical Creatures Professor, and also the nicest out of them" He smiled, the three of them now looking over at him.
"It's also his job to take the first years across the lake, it's a tradition here at the school" Stan added in as the giant like man looked in their direction, smiling.
After a moment or so, he walked over and gave a chuckle. "Hello there Stan, Jayden" He said, nodding to both of them before looking down at Shannon. "Who's this? A new friend of yours?" He asked.
Shannon looked up at him blankly for a few seconds, looking him over. She gave a smile shortly after and nodded, holding out her hand. "Shannon Epans, nice to meet you" She said, a slight happy note to her voice as she spoke.
Hagrid looked down curiously at her. That gaze, he knew it from somewhere, those coal black eyes. . . He shrugged it off and took her hand, giving it a rough shake, forgetting about his own strength. "Rubeus Hagrid" He said, his cheerful smile returning. "Well Shannon, we had better get going. We can't be late for the sorting ceremony now" He said as he walked off towards the first years who were beginning to gather into a crowd.
She gave a nod and followed behind Hagrid, turning and giving a wave to Stan and Jayden before vanishing into the crowd of other first years. Most of them were chatting among themselves, but Shannon stayed silent as they went down to the lake and entered the boats. She did get a few odd glances from some of them for staying so silent, as if the very thought of it was alien. She dident really care all the much though, she actually liked being felt alone, it gave her time to think, not that she thought about much anyways.
The boats glided almost effortlessly over the lake, almost as if they were flying. After several minuets, Shannon became aware of something moving along side them, just underneath the surface. She glanced down into the dark lake and saw that their was a giant squid swimming along side the boats. She smiled slightly to herself at the sight of the creature, she found the squid interesting and she wondered how such a giant creature could of gotten into the lake.
After a couple of minuets the squid swam off, deeper into the lakes depths. Shannon wondered why it swam away, but got her answer a few moments later when the boats began to slow and the docks were in sight. One by one the boats docked and everyone began to file off of them and up the docks. Hagrid stayed at the back of the group, talking with a couple of the other first years as they walked towards the castle looming overhead.
At the end of the docks they were greeted by a tall and rather thin wizard with graying black hair, although the grey bits were almost unnoticeable. He had pale blue eyes with light green flecks scattered within them. He looked to be fairly young, around his late twenties or so, which only made the dark grey parts of his hair even odder.
Everyone was talking with one another, and after a few moments or so, the wizard let out a small grunt. "Quiet down!" He called over the chatter and the talking faded away as the students turned to face him, most of their expressions fading from happy, to dull and almost fearful. "Thank you" He said in a flat tone and swept his gaze over the group.
"Welcome to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Follow me, I will show you inside" The wizard, who Shannon presumed to be a professor said and turned around, his green robes blowing behind him as he swiftly walked towards the school. "And don't wander off!" He called back at the group as they followed him, eventually entering the school and down the silent corridors, save for their walking and the odd bits of chatter here and there.
After a small amount of walking the group began to draw closer to some kind of noise. As they slowly got closer to the noises origin, Shannon could begin to make out laughter from it. Eventually, the laughter drowned out the groups small amount of chatter and they entered a huge room, four large tables stretching along it's length. "This is the Great Hall" The wizard said as they walked towards the back of the room, his voice almost inaudible among everyone else's. "This is where the sorting will be done, and where you will eat your meals every day" He said in a tired voice as they reached the back of the room where a stool and hat sat in front of another large table that ran the width of the room, where several adults, who Shannon also assumed to be professors, were sitting.
After a few moments, the room slowly grew quiet and the wizard looked over dully at the hat, the wrinkles in it resembling a face of sorts. It was then that the hat began to speak. The first years watched the hat, some with amazed faces, others wore normal expressions, and a few looked to be growing impatient.
"I may be dusty and dirty. Ragged, patched, and resewn. But don't let my looks fool you, for I am as good as new"
"The four founders left me here, to find you a good home. For here at Hogwarts School, there is a founder in everyone of you. And I have always known, what one is inside of you"
"For bravery, nerve, and chivalry, Gryffindor is where you will go. Those brave, kind, and hearty folk, do not know the meaning of woe"
"Or perhaps you will be in Ravenclaw, where knowledge and wisdom rein. This house's students are known best, for the great wit that they retain"
"Those who have good hearts, and are also fast working and loyal. Hufflepuff is the home for you, as you are unafraid of toil"
"And now we come to Slytherin, the power hungry snake. Ambition and cunning are what set them apart, for they have a greater stake"
"Now come along and sit down, place me on your head. There's nothing I cannot see, that is inside your head"
As the hat finished, the wizard spoke up again. "The sorting will now begin" He drawled and sighed, taking out a list and beginning to read off of it. One by one, the first years began to step up to the stool and place the hat on their head. After a few moments, or in a couple of cases so far, minuets, the hat would yell out a house's name and a table would burst into cheering as the new student would sit down at their table, waiting for the others to be sorted.
Eventually, the wizard came to the letter E and moments seemed to pass by even slower than that had only a minuet or so ago. "Epans, Shannon" The wizard called after that seemed to be a millennium, and Shannon walked up to the stool and sat down, the sorting hat being placed on her head a few moments later.
Shannon felt a slight tingling feeling inside of her head and she began to hear the hat speak, although no one else seemed to hear it. Whats going on? She thought and heard a voice answer her. "I am using a magic called Legilimency" The hat said inside of her head as it looked through her mind, searching for the houses qualities.
After a minuet or so, the hat had narrowed down two possible houses, although they were both very different. The first choice was Slytherin, as this girl was quite ambitious, and fairly cunning. The other choice however, was the last house out of the four that hat would of suspected, Hufflepuff. She had a very kind heart and was quite willing to put others first. The hat thought about it's decision for a few moments which quickly turned to minuets, and before either of them knew it, seven minuets had passed them by, effectively causing a hatstall.
Knowing that there were many more students to sort, the at moved on from traits, and into bloodlines, searching to see if perhaps any one else in her family had been sorted into either of the two houses. The hat found a memory of a lady, one it remembered quite well. Sara Cloue Jones, oddly enough, she was from a Gryffindor bloodline, although she had been much better suited for Hufflepuff. But, that would explain this girls slight amount stubbornness.
It began to look further into her mind and eventually came across something it hadn't seen in nearly forty years. This girl was part of the Prince family, a well known Slytherin blood line, when they were a more noted pure blood family that was. He had thought that they had died out, as the last know Prince heir was Severus Snape, and he was dead, he had been for ten years so how did this girl have Prince blood in her?
Wait, ten years. . . The hat quickly began to skim through her mind, disregarding anything that wasent related the the Prince family. Eventually, the hat came to it's answer. Severus had gotten together with someone, Sara. This child belonged to Severus Snape and Sara Jones! "I dident know that Snape had even gotten with someone, never mind have a child!" The hat said in her mind.
Shannon felt her heart skip a beat, the hat had found out. . . "You're not going to tell anyone, right?" She asked, hoping that the hat would keep it's mouth, well, fold closed about this. "Yes, yes, of course. I know that most do not respect your father, no matter how noble of a man he actually was. Do not fear, your secret is safe with me" It said and a few moments later pulled out of her mind. "Slytherin!"The hat exclaimed and one of the table burst into cheering, clapping as the hat was removed from her head and she walked over to the table.
She looked around for a seat and quickly found Jayden as he slid over to make room for her next to him. "Congratulations Shannon" He said, a smirk playing on his lips. "You made it into Slytherin, the best house there is" He said proudly and a few of the other Slytherin's shook their heads in agreement.
Shannon gave a chuckle. "Well, I almost dident. The hat was considering about putting me into Hufflepuff" She smiled and a few of the others looked oddly at her. She raised one of her eyebrows at this, wondering what was so bad about being in Hufflepuff since it was pretty much the house of kindness.
Jayden gave a sigh and looked over dully at her. "We don't exactly get along well with the Puffs" He said and laughed a little a few moments later. "Then again, no one really get's along with us" He mused and about half of the table burst into laughter.
"But that's their problem, they just can't take being in a lower class than us!" One of the others said and once again, laughter spouted from the table.
Sometime later, the sorting was finished and an older witch stepped up, smiling as she began to speak. "Welcome everyone to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" She announced and most of the hall's residence cheered delightfully. "I'm glad to see such a turn out of new student's this year, and I wish you all the best in your classes!" She said gave a single clap, food appearing on each table along with utensils, goblets, and plates.
Everyone dug into the food grabbing a little bit of this and that, piling their plates up before beginning to eat away at the feast. Jayden turned to Shannon and raised his goblet, smiling. "Cheers" He said and glanced over at the table behind them, which the Ravenclaw's occupied. Stan had turned to face them, and was holding up his goblet as well.
She smiled and brought her's up. Not wanting to spill and of their drinks, she gently tapped it into Jayden and Stan's. "Cheers"