Author's Note: HAPPY HARRY POTTER DAY!!! This chapter is dedicated to Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince, which came out today.
"Ah, Miss Sanders, let's get you sorted shall we?"
I stepped into the circular office and looked around. The walls were adorned with the portraits of previous Headmasters who all appeared to be sleeping. There was a phoenix on a perch near the door. Its head was folded carefully under its wing. Sitting behind the desk was an old man with a long white beard, half-moon spectacles behind which his sparkling blue eyes were meant to look friendly, but I saw as calculating and deceiving.
I gave him a small, tight-lipped smile, which he took as a sign of nervousness, but was really because I thought he wasn't worth my time. Sitting on a stool was an old bettered hat. "Just place the Sorting Hat on your head and it will do the rest." I nodded and moved forward, lifting the hat onto my head. Suddenly I heard a voice in my head."
Hmmm… Cunning, very cunning indeed. High ambitions… Slytherin seems to be where you belong, yet there are other qualities here as well, strong loyalty, but doubt lingers in your mind. Are you on the wrong path? Only you can answer that.
'Slytherin, it has to be Slytherin.' I thought as hard as I could.
Are you sure? Well then, you'll go to…
"SLYTHERIN!" Relief flooded through my body at the hat's words. Dumbledore gave me a curt nod, and suddenly I heard applause. I turn around and see one of the portraits is no longer sleeping, but clapping enthusiastically.
"Good job on making Slytherin! I'm Phineas Nigellus, and I was in Slytherin myself." I nodded in thanks and turned back to Professor Dumbledore.
"Congratulations Ashley, now onto more serious matters, please except my humblest apologies at your loss." I felt his mind begin to probe mine so I locked all my real memories in a tight vault and pushed forward tons of fake ones. He sifted through them until he found the one of my 'parents' death. He apparently found them satisfying because I felt him retreating from my mind. "Well, other technicalities can be sorted out later; if we don't hurry we'll be very nearly late to the start of term feast."
When we left his office he brought the sorting hat with him, and on the way down to the Great Hall he explained to me what was going to happen. The first years would be sorted while I waited in the entrance hall, then he would announce that there was a transfer student. My name would be called, I would enter and walk up and stand in front of the staff table where Dumbledore would tell the students where I had been sorted and I would walk to the Slytherin table.
We arrived in the Entrance Hall and I waited while he gave the sorting hat to the strict woman from before. Then he left down a different corridor, I'm assuming there's a back way into the Hall for teachers.
The small children looked scared and they were jumping at the slightest noise. Some were even looking at me in fear. The strict lady led them away into the hall and I got a glimpse of the inside. There were long tables which split the students up according to house. All of the heads turned to watch the sorting. I leaned against the wall and waited for it to end so my name would be called and I could get this over with.
Finally I heard Dumbledore's voice ring out over the crowd. "This year it is my immense pleasure to say that our Fifth year class will have a special addition. Please give a warm welcome to our new transfer student, Ashley Sanders." I walked in, there were many gasps and all eyes were on me. I could already hear them starting to whisper, but I just held my head high and moved gracefully towards the front of the hall. When I reached the staff table I turned to face the crowd. Dumbledore continued, "She has been placed in Slytherin" There was a scattered round of applause, "and I hope you can all help her feel welcome and at home here at Hogwarts. Now, I fear I have kept all you hungry students waiting, so without further ado, tuck in." As I made my way to the Slytherin table I heard the sound start to build as everyone began talking (mostly about me). I found a seat at the table near the boys I had met on the train. I served myself food and was just about to start eating when I felt someone's gaze on me. I turned around searching; I saw nothing so I started to eat. A couple minutes later I felt it again. This time my eyes went straight to the Gryffindor table and I saw a falsh of black hair, as if someone had been watching me and had just turned away. I saw the familiar faces of the boys from the train. What were their names again? Oh yeah, James, Remus, Sirius Black and that one annoying, twitchy boy. Who cares what his name is. I went back to eating and ignored the feeling of being watched the rest of the night.
Author's Note: Sorry it's so short, but I wanted to get it up today. In other news someone keeps flaming my stories. The same person is flaming almost every story I update/upload. They leave annonymous reviews, and it's really starting to annoy me. Seriously, if you don't like my stories then you don't have to read them. Also, they always know when my stories come out, so they obviously have me on alert. If my stories are so bad they make you "want to puke" or whatever, then don't read them. It's that simple. I have left the reviews up if you care to read them. They are on the stories Remain Forever, Shades of Grey and Friends Forever. And if you feel the need to read stories you don't like, keep the critisism reasonable, because you just sound like and idiot when your trying to insult me. Thank you,
Naflower05