Here is the next chapter. Enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: (oops, forgot to put one of these on my last chapter ; ) Anyway, HP wasn't my idea! Alys is the property of Pyra Opal! That is all.

MEG

I gaped at the silvery shadow of myself staring unseeingly out of the Pensieve. I couldn't seem to think straight – all I could think was, I can't remember this! I can't remember this! Why can't I remember this?

"Are you alright, sir?" I heard Alys ask.

Dumbledore was staring into the Pensieve, a deep frown on his face.

"To whom does the prophecy refer to?" he questioned. Gone was the kind, friendly tone in his voice. Now he spoke sharply, and straightaway I realised that the prediction was important, and had seriously alarmed the headmaster.

Alys tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I think… it meant all of us. All of us in the room at the time, I mean. Me, Meg, and three other kids – Charlotte Burkes was one – " a grimace flitted across Dumbledore's face and was gone, so fast that I wondered if I had imagined it, " – but I don't think the others said their names. The girl had blue-black hair, and the boy was a kind of red-blonde. He was a big guy and was slightly on the plump side."

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "I know the girl. She's Roxanne Cole." He did not elaborate any further, and I felt my curiosity aroused. "But I am not certain of the boy's – "

"Jason Smeaton," supplied the nurse. "He has brothers at the school already. They're haemophiliacs, always in and out of the ward for a Blood-Replenishing potion."

Dumbledore nodded again and rose from his chair. His smile was back and it beamed down at the two of us. "Well," he said, "you two have certainly given me lots to think about." He looked at his watch. "I think the Sorting has started, but if we run, you might just make it. You are at the end of the alphabet after all. So let's go!"

With that, Dumbledore sprinted out of the room.

Alys and I stared at each other, nonplussed, then gave a start and ran out of the room to catch up with our headmaster.

We ran down several staircases, across wide hallways, through narrow passages, along a route that, while certainly longer than the one we came by, nevertheless managed to go by more quickly. Finally we ran through a room with moving pictures on the walls and a roaring fire. Dumbledore stopped at a small door at the far end of the room, putting his ear to the wood.

"Good," he said, "they're only on the 'M's. Now, quickly – "

He opened the door and stepped through it. With some trepidation, we followed him.

We found ourselves behind a table lined with teachers. It looked onto four long tables clad in different colours, red, blue, green and yellow. The severe-looking witch I'd seen earlier was reading out names from a long list.

"Olson, Nick!"

An ill-looking blonde boy walked up to a stool with a scruffy hat on it, picked the hat up, sat down on the stool and pulled the hat onto his head. It came down to below his eyes.

For a moment, everything was silent. I could see the boy trembling from where I stood. Then, a rip opened in the hat and it shouted –

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The yellow-bedecked table burst out in tumultuous applause. Alys and I sneaked over to where the other first-years were standing.

"So this is how everyone is sorted!" Alys whispered.

I nodded, feeling slightly relieved. The excitement of the journey had made me forget about the Sorting, but now I recalled the vague worries that had been keeping me awake in the nights leading up to September the 1st – from big examinations to riddles to dragon-slaying…

"Rall, Saskia!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"She looks like one, too," Alys whispered as the green table exploded with cheers and the snobbish-looking girl went off to join them.

I waited, nerves mounting, as we neared the 'V's. "Stimpson, Patricia" was placed in Gryffindor… then "Sutherland, Eva" in Ravenclaw…

"Towler, Kenneth!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Turner, Jamie!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"Velvet, Alys!"

Alys walked up. She was moving slower than normal and I felt a surge of sympathy as I imagined making the long walk, watched by the whole school. Then it struck me – it would be ME making the walk next…

She pulled the hat onto her head. Her hands gripped her robes and she sat there for what seemed like an age. Eventually the hat slowly opened its mouth and shouted, "RAVENCLAW!"

I didn't watch Alys totter off to the blue-decked table. Instead I waited, dry-mouthed, for the next name…

"Viridian, Meghan!"

Trembling, I stepped up to the stool and tugged the hat over my eyes. I waited for a few seconds, then jumped as I heard a voice inside my head.

"Hmm, what's this then?" said the voice. I shivered. It sounded oddly malevolent, but maybe that was just my nerves. "Intriguing. A potent mix of nerve, intellect and… yes… ambition. You would do well in all Houses but Hufflepuff, I think. So I have a dilemma."

The hat fell silent for a long time. I shifted uncomfortably, aware of the hundreds of eyes upon me. Eventually it spoke again.

"A hard choice, very hard indeed. Hmm… perhaps I must take other stimulus… ah, a friendship with Velvet. Well, that shall be profitable. That's it, then – RAVENCLAW!"

I took off the hat and got shakily to my feet as a burst of applause came from the Ravenclaw table. I crossed over to it and sat down next to a beaming Alys.

"Yay!" she said, hugging me. "We're in the same House!"

There were only two people left – "Weasley, Fred" and then "Weasley, George." Both were sorted into Gryffindor. I saw Charlie's features in their faces and realised that these must be his two brothers.

As the Gryffindor table cheered loudly – apparently the Weasleys had several family members already at Hogwarts – I cast my eye around the table, looking for people my own age.

Unexpectedly, my eyes rested on another pair staring right back at me. A familiar pair.

She mouthed two words. I didn't need to be a good lip-reader to know what she was saying.

Hello, Seer.

I looked away, my heart pounding in my chest.

Alys said all the nasty ones ended up in Slytherin! I thought wildly. So how has Roxanne Cole ended up in Ravenclaw?

"Alys," I whispered. "Look over there."

Alys gave me a puzzled glance and then looked down the table. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw Roxanne.

"Merlin! What's she doing here?"

"I don't know," I muttered. "Maybe – "

But Professor Dumbledore had stood up at the high table and clapped his hands for attention.

"Hello, welcome back, work hard, behave yourselves, eat up! Thank you!"

Everyone clapped and cheered as the plates before them filled up with food.

"His idea of a speech," an older boy informed me. "Everything anyone else says, crammed into 10 or less words."

We tucked in, trying to taste everything while leaving room for whatever was to come next. Everyone was really enjoying themselves, but I couldn't shake the feeling that Roxanne was still watching me from further down the table.

Trying to avoid her and her cool blue eyes, I looked up at the High Table and saw Dumbledore leave with four other teachers.

I frowned.

I wonder where they're going?