Chapter Four – Portkeys Suck
I had woken up bright and early and put on my most comfortable jeans and a white spaghetti strapped dress. I expertly tied my long hair into one long braid and looked over at my friends who were quietly shuffling around the room, trying to see if they were forgetting any last minute details.
"This is it, huh, guys?" I finally said. It was the first thing anyone said that morning.
"Uh," Kate motioned with her hands. She motioned a lot with her hands. "We're girls, not guys, Charlie."
"Shut up," I laughed. The tension in the air was gone instantly and we all smiled.
We walked out into the hallway, dragging our luggages with us. I stopped and pulled my wand out. I swished and flicked, "Wingardium Leviosa." My two luggages hovered into the air and I smiled triumphantly at my friends and walked without looking. Which was why I didn't notice the ghost standing in front of me.
"Ah!" I shrieked and shivered. It was like walking through a freezer. "What the heck, Calvin?"
He shrugged. "Is it true? Are you guys really going to go to Hogwarts?"
I shook my head instead and levitated my luggages and started walking. "Yes." I paused and looked at him floating with my suitcases. "Wait, I thought you were banned from the girls' dormitories."
"I'm here now, aren't I?" He laughed.
I shook my head and shuddered, but not from the cold. "Ew, you lecherous kid."
"Hey, I'm older than you!" Calvin protested.
"Excuse me, Communist Calvin?" Once we were all in the elevator, it started going down. "You died last year, which means we're the same age now."
He paused. "Damnit!"
The elevator opened. "Exactly."
When Calvin (for some reason, Calvin was really into communism) died last year, in my junior year, I cried so much. But the next day, he was right in class with us and I screamed. And then I laughed because he died by slipping on a patch of ice and broke his neck.
"I wonder if I could go there," Calvin said.
I looked at his short figure. "Um… Aren't you, like, naturally bound to this place or something?"
"I don't know," he replied.
"You never tried it?" I asked.
"And go where? Home?" he sneered. Calvin's dad was a squib and hated Calvin for having magical powers.
I shrugged. "Anywhere besides the girls' dormitories? You pervert."
Calvin shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a healthy—but dead—teenage boy."
We entered the office and Principal Richardson took one look at Calvin. "Were you in the girls' dormitories again?"
Calvin vanished and I laughed. "Coward," I whispered to the empty air.
"All right, girls, gather around the portkey," Principal Richardson hoarded us around the… hat?
I snickered. "Sorting hat, anyone?"
"Oh, yes, the sorting hat is real," he nodded his head grimly. Jordan and I gave each other quick looks and I had to bite down my tongue to keep from giggling. But I knew we were both thinking the same thing which was, "What the f…?"
"Wait," Ellie said. "Where are the other kids?"
"They already went ahead," Richardson waved his hand as if the question was equal to a fly that he wanted to wave away.
We all looked around the office and simultaneously reached out to touch the hat.
My stomach went into a whirl and I felt the wind rushing at my cheeks and pulling at my hair. I had a feeling that if I opened my mouth, my cheeks would be blowing out like in the cartoons. I refrained from doing so though. Just as quickly as it happened, it was soon over. I landed heavily onto the ground and groaned.
"That hurt like a mother." I rubbed my back. I thought that hurt a lot until Rebecca landed on my stomach. "I pushed her off of me and rubbed my head and my stomach. Everything was sore. "I'll never get used to that, I swear."
"Do you need help?" a guy with dark green eyes offered me a hand.
