A/N: Whee~ double updates! (Well, for me. Depends if you're going to check out my Teen Wolf fanfic or not. :P)

Special thanks to TheNorwegianAuthor, Guest, and .7 for reviewing! Also, to TheNorwegianAuthor, I'm not good at being a smartass, so... it's hard for me, but I am gonna try (and fail...).


I was not at all smart or witty.


When the doors swung open, I saw a tall, black-haired woman dressed in emerald robes standing there. She had a very stern face and made a mental note to not make her mad (too much, because it was impossible for me to not tick off teachers with my ADHD and dyslexia).

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said to the woman.

"Thank you, Hagrid," she said, nodding. "I will take them from here."

I followed the woman, along with everyone else, into the castle and its entrance hall was amazing. Whoa. She led us down the hallway before whirling around and talking to us.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she greeted us. She said something about a banquet, various Houses, and Sorting Ceremony, and I did my best to keep up with her, but I was getting jittery again. She seemed to notice and looked at me before I did my best to stand still. I was able to for three seconds before I began to fidget again. McGonagall walked away, and I continued to fidget.

"Could you please stand still?" Hermione scolded me.

"I can't," I said.

"Can't or won't?"

"I really can't," I told her. "If I stand or sit somewhere too long without doing anything, my body just starts to move."

"Do you have ADHD or something?" Hermione asked me.

"Actually, I do," I refuted. I heard screams all of a sudden and whirled around, only to see white, transparent beings flying around. Ghosts?

A ghost in ruff and tights flew right into my face. He looked at me for a few seconds before blowing a raspberry right in my face and flying away. Great, even ghosts didn't like me.

"Don't mind Peeves," a fat little monk ghost smiled at me. "He does that to everyone." Really? I don't see him going up in faces of the others and blowing his transparent spit at them.

Professor McGonagall came back and ordered us to get into a line. I stood behind Ron and in front of Hermione. She led us through a large pair of double doors and I glanced up at the ceiling, which had thousands of candles floating in the air, with the night sky above.

There were four long tables where the other students were sitting, and then another table at the top of the hall with the teachers. She led us up to where the teachers were sitting and Hermione leaned over to whisper to me.

"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History."

"I did, too," I replied. It was part of the little bit of reading I actually got done.

I watched in silence as Professor McGonagall placed a four-legged stool in front of us. There was a hat on top of it, and it looked really dirty. I blinked in surprise when I saw the hat twitch, then move, and then… sing:

Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!

The hat finished its song and I clapped, along with everyone else in the room. Well, there was no chance I'd be in Ravenclaw, or even Slytherin. I was not at all smart or witty.

Professor McGonagall stepped forward with a long piece of parchment. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted. Abbott, Hannah!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

I tuned everyone out, focusing on my feet since I didn't recognize anyone's name.

"Granger, Hermione!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Jackson, Penelope!"

I heaved a heavy sigh and walked up to the stool, glad to move, if not for just a little bit.

"Hm…" a small voice said into my head. "Very interesting. The Daughter of the Sea… Yes… I know just where to place you…"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat was pulled off of my hat as a table erupted into cheers. I walked towards it, but something bothered me. What did the hat mean when I was "The Daughter of the Sea"? I sat down next to Hermione after shaking Percy's hand.

My head was hurting from thinking so hard.

Something told me to look up, so I did. When I glanced up, I spotted something in the shadows. The figure moved just so I could see it was a young girl, no older than twelve, with auburn hair and eyes that reminded me of the moon.

I blinked, and she was gone. I rubbed my eyes. This was really weird. The table cheered again, but this time it was deafeningly loud. I noticed the Weasley twins were jumping around, crying, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"

Ron was placed in Gryffindor as well, and Dumbledore stood up. He smiled at us and declared, "Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

… What?

I was utterly confused as people started applauding him.

I then noticed that the plates in front of us were now piled with food. My stomach growled at the sight of everything. Yes.

I piled some food onto my plate and happily dug in. I conversed with some of my Housemates about everything and nothing in particular. It wasn't until Seamus Finnigan told us, "I'm half-and-half. Me dad's a Muggle. Mum didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."

The entire table laughed and then Neville said he was a pure-blood but they thought he was a Squib until he showed his magical abilities.

"What about you, Penny?" Neville asked.

"I think I'm the first in a family of Muggles," I replied. "My mom and twin brother are Muggles, and I don't know about my dad. He left when I was young. All I remember is a warm light from when he touched me…"

The table looked at me sympathetically, but I just shrugged. I've learned to accept it. Yeah, it hurt that my dad didn't want us, but what's the past is the past.

After singing our school song, which was pretty funny, it was time to go.

Percy led us out of the Great Hall and up some stairs and doorways. How long was it going to take before we reached our room?

I felt something flying my way and ducked quickly, causing Percy to yell out, "Peeves!" He turned to us and informed, "A poltergeist. Peeves, show yourself!"

There was nothing but a sound that sounded like air being squeezed out of a balloon.

"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?" Percy threatened.

The same ghost that was in my face earlier popped out of nowhere and cackled at me. "Ickle Firsties! I'm just greeting my cousin!" He swooped down at us and we all ducked.

"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this," Percy warned. "I mean it!"

Peeves blew a raspberry at Percy and disappeared, but not before dropping the walking sticks. I jumped out of the way on pure instinct as they landed where I was a second ago.

"Sorry about that," Percy apologized. "You want to watch out for Peeves. The Blood Baron's the only one who can control him. He won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are."

He led us down a corridor, and there was a portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress. "Password?" she asked.

"Caput Draconis," Percy gave, and the portrait swung forward, revealing a round hole. He led us inside an Percy informed us where our dormitory was.

Exhausted, I climbed up the stairs where my dorms were and found Sofia in her cage. She hooted happily when she saw me, "My Lady!"

I gave her a smile and stroked her head before taking a look around my room. There were five four-poster beds that had deep red, velvet curtains and five separate desks. The room was decorated in a lovely shade of scarlet and gold, showing the pride of the House.

I spotted my stuff at the foot of a bed, and since I was lazy, I just decided to leave them there and claim that bed. It was the one closest to the bathroom and window, and the farthest from the entrance of the room.

I walked over to the desk that was beside there, pulled out a parchment, and began to write to my mother and brother about my day.

The next day came too quickly, and I woke up to the sound of my roommates, Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, and Fay Dunbar, arguing who got the restroom first. Hermione was simply reading on her bed.

I heaved out a sigh and since they were arguing, decided to take it. I entered the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I heard three muffled, "Hey!"s, but was too lazy to care.

I quickly got ready for the day, and was out in fifteen minutes. My roommates glared at me, but I just shrugged. I skipped down the spiral staircase, and headed to the Great Hall.

"Ah, Miss Jackson," Professor McGonagall greeted me. "Here is your schedule." She handed me a parchment. "I trust you can read it?"

"I hope so," I responded, and looked down. When I looked down, I was pleased to see that I could read my timetable just fine. "I can," I nodded in affirmation.

Professor McGonagall nodded her head and then walked away, handing out schedules to other Gryffindors who had just entered the Great Hall.

I was looking at my schedule, when I noticed a tuff of blond hair from the corner of my eye. I glanced up, and saw the back of a tall, blond male that reminded me of someone I've been seeing lately.

I jogged over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. When he whirled around, though, I saw that even though he looked almost like the guy I've been seeing, he wasn't. His eyes were a light sky blue, not as deep, and his nose was slightly crooked. He was also a bit younger than the guy, with some baby fat still in tact. His voice wasn't as deep either, though it was still musical.

"Um… Do I know you?" he asked me, confused.

"Sorry," I apologized. "I just… I just thought you were someone I've been seeing lately."

He nodded his head, but then stopped mid-nod when he noticed my schedule. "Are you dyslexic?" he asked.

"Yeah," I admitted.

"Do you have ADHD, too?" he inquired.

I blinked. "Yeah," I told him. "How'd you know?"

He looked at me a few seconds longer, probing my eyes for something. "Lucky guess," he finally answered. "I'm Aristo Solander." He stuck out his hand.

"Penny Jackson," I introduced myself, shaking his hand. "I'm sorry, again."

"It's no problem," he smiled at me, and his eyes started twinkling. He brushed some of his sun-kissed locks out of his eyes. "So you're a first year Gryffindor." I nodded. He smiled. "Third year Hufflepuff."

"Aristo, are you harassing girls already?" a musical feminine voice questioned, almost sighing. I turned my head and spotted a girl who looked almost exactly like Aristo walking towards us with a boy with messy brown hair and grey eyes. They were both also in Hufflepuff, judging by their robes.

Aristo huffed and replied, "For your information, she came up to me." He rolled his eyes and said, "Penny, meet Rhea, my annoying twin sister. That's Cedric Diggory. They're both third years. Guys, this is Penny, a first year."

Cedric gave me a kind smile while Rhea gave me one as well. It reminded me of the sun and I blurted out, "Has anyone ever told you that you smile like the sun?"

Cedric chuckled. "You don't know how often," he replied for her.

"We got it from our dad," Rhea informed me. I nodded. His dad must be pretty much the physical manifestation of the sun, then.

"Ah, Mr. Diggory, Mr. Solander, Miss Solander, here are your schedules," a plump woman with grey hair said, walking towards the Hufflepuffs. She handed the three their schedules before walking off.

"Cool," Cedric said, looking at his schedule. "Care of Magical Creatures first." He took a glance at Rhea's schedule, but then he shook his head. "I don't understand how you two can read Ancient Greek but not English. What electives are you taking?"

"Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, Art, Muggle Art, Music, and Muggle Music," the twins answered in unison.

"That's a lot of classes," I blurted. "How do you fit it all?" Aristo handed me his schedule, and I saw they had five classes a day, except for Friday, where they had four.

"You can read Ancient Greek?" Cedric asked me.

I blinked. "That's what language I've been reading in?" I asked, looking at my own schedule. Cedric peered at it and he nodded. "Oh. Cool." I've been sounding quite repetitive these past few days.

My stomach then chose that moment to growl. The three third years chuckled at the sound and I blushed. "Sorry about that," I apologized. "I should get some food before classes start. It was nice meeting you three."

"It's was our pleasure," Aristo grinned, and threw in a wink for emphasis. I blushed and nodded before turning around and going back to the Gryffindor table.

I took a seat next to Harry, who was sitting right next to Ron. Fred looked at me and nodded. "I see you've met the Solander twins."

"Uh, yeah," I nodded, grabbing a biscuit. I slathered it with butter before eating it. "They're really nice."

"Gorgeous twins," Angelina Johnson, a third year, said from beside Fred. "Cedric's a cute one, too. But Aristo is amazing." She feigned swooning, landing on Alicia Spinnet, another third year. Alicia giggled.

I peered behind me, and saw the Solander twins talking quietly to each other, while Cedric spoke with a boy with shaggy brown hair. When they made eye contact with me, they gave me almost-blinding smiles and I returned their greeting with a wave.

"Huh, it looks like the twins have taken an interest in you, Jackson," George commented. "Mind introducing me with Rhea?"

"Wouldn't you two already know each other?" I inquired. "You two are in the same year."

"He meant hook up," Fred laughed. "I don't blame him, though. Rhea's a looker."

I rolled my eyes, scoffing mentally in my head, Boys. I got up, and prepared myself for the day.

Wow. Even magical schools were boring. Especially A History of Magic. Talk about being bored to death. The only thing that was remotely interesting was Potions.

We had Potions in the dungeon, and our professor was the head of the Slytherin House, Snape. He was a man with very greasy black hair and a large, hooked nose, and crooked teeth. Despite his intimidating presence, I found it… respectful.

He totally bagged on Harry, though, who was a "celebrity". That wasn't very pleasing, but other than that, the man clearly knew what he was teaching us.

I was paired up with Hermione when we had to create a potion, though, and she didn't even let me do anything, mixing and throwing together everything.

Well, that's the last time I ever worked with her.

Poor, Neville. He got angry red boils all over his face though, and Gryffindor was punished with that with a point deduction.

Something told me Professor Snape wasn't going to be an easy man to please.


A/N: Drop a review, please? :3