Ethel's palms were sweaty as she stood there waiting for her name to be called.
She waited and waited, it got to the point where she even started questioning if the book was wrong.
It got down to four people before finally she heard her name leave the strict woman's mouth.
"Jones, Ethel."
She walked up to the stool, thinking wildly.
Where ever this hat places her decides if she knows everything about what is going on, all the gossip or none at all; decides who her friends are and so forth, for the next seven years.
She sits on the stool, her hands gripping at the edges so tight she was sure her knuckles were white. The hat slid over her head, her eyes covered by the inside of the hat.
"Bold like Gryffindor... Smart like Ravenclaw... Loyal like Hufflepuff... and ambitious like Slytherin; but which are you more of my dear?" A voice asked her, she didn't answer, she had no idea what to say, finally she muttered:
"I trust you to put me in the right place."
"RAVENCLAW!!" The shout echoed off the walls and bounced back over the cheering table in the middle.
The hat was lifted off her head and she was able to see the room around her again; she took a deep breath and smiled feeling the weight lift from her shoulders.
Ethel left to the Ravenclaw table, greeting her fellow House mates.
She was happy and looking around she noticed Snape wasn't in Ravenclaw. She felt as though someone was weighing her down to the floor with a bag of stones.
Looking over at the Ravenclaw heads she saw Snape smirk at her from his spot at the Slytherin table, she smiled widely at him.
"Welcome children, those who are new and those who have come back for yet another year at Hogwarts!" Called Dumbledore and all noise stopped.
"For you new First Years I must warn you, the forest on the edge of grounds, you are not to go near, lest you wish to provoke the beasts within! There is a tree as well, the Whomping Willow, as its name suggests it is best to steer clear unless you wish to be beaten to death." Ethel shivered at these words as many first years had.
"Now let the feast begin! I'm sure you are all very hungry." At a sweep of his arms around the room food began to appear on the plates, and all sorts of drinks filled their goblets.
"Hello, I'm one of Ravenclaw's prefects, Carter." A boy with brown hair and blue eyes held out his hand.
"Oh! I'm Ethel," she said quickly putting her fork down and taking his hand.
"The other prefect is down there, her name is Angelina." He said pulling his hand away from her's and pointing down the table sure enough, there was a tall dark haired girl with dark eyes, talking and eating amongst the other first years.
"How old do you have to be in order to be a prefect?" She asked curiously, turning her attention back to him.
"Looking to become one already are you?" He chuckled, but moved on before she could answer, "you have to be a 5th year before you can even be advocated to become a prefect, from then on Dumbledore chooses a boy and a girl who represent their House well and they become the prefects.
"Of course there is also The Head Boy and Girl, but instead of their being two from each House there is only two through out the entire school."
"Woah.." Ethel said, awestruck.
"I know." The prefect said simply and went back to eating.
"What you do as a prefect?" Ethel asked after thinking of the question as she ate pudding.
"Oh you know, make sure no students are out after hours, you escort the First Years to the common room, you're allowed to change the password in order to get into the common room..." He trailed off, waving a dismissive hand.
"And the Head Boy and Girl?" She asked. Ethel saw the prefect smile at her interest.
"They tell us prefects when to patrol the corridors on the train, and they look after the students if something bad happens and the teachers are busy.. they do mostly what prefects do but they can actually take away House points if they have a good reason."
"That's cool." Ethel said, thinking on all of the information that was just thrown at her.
"Looks like it's time we go, come on, I'll take you to the dormitories." He smiled kindly down at her, she copied him.
Sneaking another look in Snape's direction, she followed the hoard of Ravenclaw's out of the Great Hall up to Ravenclaw Tower.
When they got to the entrance there was no lock or key-hole to the door with a bronze eagle door knocker.
The door spoke, having no mouth it said: "I can breathe but never talk, I can run but never walk, I can be picked but never chosen. What am I?"
Angelina simply said, "a nose."
A few children laughed and the door opened revealing a very open room with a dome shaped ceiling, stars and constellations on it. Outside the room they were surrounded by mountains.
"Boys on the right, girls on the left." Said Carter pointing down the hallways.
The girls left and opened a door marked "First Years". There were seven fourposter beds crammed into the room, the same star-like ceiling.
Without talking to anyone, Ethel climbed in her bed and pulled her cat out from its cage and began to cuddle it. She felt the cat's rumble of a purr against her chest before she fell asleep.
A: There, a little longer than chapter 2 as always please leave reviews ( I love reading them)
Love ya ️!
-Maddie