AN: Some of the sections spoken by McGonagall and the Sorting Hat are directly from the book, so I give all credit for those passages to J.K. Rowling! Hope you like this chapter =) Rate and review please!
The three boys had left, muttering something about a spider. Izzy shook her head in amusement. The last of her angry flush drained from her cheeks. She turned and headed back to her compartment, deciding that she'd had enough excitement for one train ride.
The sweets cart had come, filled with candy she had never seen. Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Treacle Tarts, and so many others. Izzy didn't have much money on her, but one small box of the Every Flavor Beans couldn't hurt. She couldn't resist; anything with sugar in it attracted her like bees to honey.
Izzy thanked the lady and stared wide eyed into the box. There was so much she didn't know, she realized. It was a whole new and different world. How was she ever going to learn the culture, let alone the school material?
Pushing away her thoughts, she enjoyed trying to guess the flavor of each bean before plopping it in her mouth, cringing and gagging or murmuring with pleasure. The sky steadily faded to a light indigo color and the blue disappeared. Izzy got: black pepper, pumpkin, seaweed, grass, molasses, spearmint, and graham-crackers. She had even tried an odd, amber colored one that she thought would be toffee but was actually ear-wax.
Finally, the beans were there no longer. I wonder what school will be like. What will I use my wand for? How do I even use it? Just the thought of her wand, she felt the urge, the need to look at it. This had become somewhat of a calming ritual over the past couple weeks for a reason that Izzy couldn't explain to even herself. She had kept in a small, dark blue woolen knapsack that was almost the exact shade of blue as her eyes.
And there it was; her wand. Dark ebony wood with a unicorn tail core, 8 ½ inches, "light and supple, good for charms," the old eccentric wandmaker had said. Ollivander, if she had remembered correctly. Apparently, an ebony wand with a unicorn tail core was somewhat rare. Izzy guessed it was because a dark wood was paired with something so light and innocent.
Izzy waved it around, entranced by the violet, turquoise, and silvery sparks that flew out the tip of the wand, the warm and cold feeling that encased her hand. A thought lit up her head. What if I can change the color of the sparks? Mr. Ollivander had said that it was quite easy to change the color of the sparks, you just had to concentrate a bit to change the color while the sparks were still shooting out of the wand. Izzy could remember his voice clearly. "The colors are all easy to make. However, the shades and lights are quite unusual. Only the wand can make those. But then, the wand chooses the wizard…"
Izzy frowned. If there was one word to describe her, it was headstrong. Once she got an idea in her mind, she'd never let it go. This wand was going to make black sparks for her or her name wouldn't be Izzy Griffiths. She concentrated. And concentrated. After what seemed like hours, the bright blue sparks seemed to turn a shade darker. A few more minutes and Izzy knew she wasn't imagining it. It had turned to a dark sapphire blue and seemed to be transitioning to a navy blue. It was almost there! It was almost… almost… so close-
The compartment door opened and in the split second that Izzy turned her head, the almost-black sparks went back to their original bright blue. Izzy groaned with frustration before turning her head to the door, to see who had interrupted her. It was a girl with very bushy brown hair. "I'm sorry, have you seen a toad? A boy called Neville lost his." Izzy stared at the girl. The girl stared back for a moment before adding "Oh, I'm Hermione Granger, by the way."
Izzy held out a hand. "Izzy Griffiths."
Hermione sighed and motioned at the seat in front of Izzy.
"Hey, d'you mind if I sit in here for a while?" Izzy nodded and she sat down with a small smile on her face. "I've been looking for the toad for quite a while. I suppose Neville found it but forgot to tell me. I can't believe I spent my first train ride to Hogwarts looking for a toad."
Izzy tried to say something to Hermione. She seems so smart. She must know so much about this world, wish I did. Izzy weakly said "Forget that, I can't believe I'm on the train to Hogwarts!"
Hermione shook her head up and down feverishly.
"I know what you mean! According to Hogwarts, A History, the castle was created hundreds of years ago, and has so many secret passages that not even the teachers know them all. The founders' names were Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Salazar Slytherin, and Helga Hufflepuff." The names sounded very familiar to Izzy, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
Seeing Izzy's look of confusion, Hermione supplied, "They're the names of the Houses. I've been asking around, I don't think Ravenclaw would be too bad, but I really want to get into Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best."
Blushing slightly, Izzy sheepishly said, "Er, which houses hold what type of people again? I sorta forgot."
Crisply and clearly, Hermione stated, "Gryffindor is for the brave and loyal, Ravenclaw is for the wise, Slytherin is for the cunning and smart, and Hufflepuff takes the rest."
Izzy's eyes went downcast. I bet I'll be chucked into Hufflepuff. Better than Slytherin though. Hogwarts, A History said that more dark wizards are produced from Slytherin than any other house.
Izzy cast the thought aside, and went on chatting animatedly about things they had learned in the beloved Hogwarts, A History, such as how you couldn't apparate inside or on the grounds of the castle, and how the ceiling in the Great Hall was bewitched to look like the sky outside.
It was a few minutes until the girls had realised that the train had begun to slow down. They jumped up rapidly, Izzy to get her robes on and Hermione to look out the window.
"Oh my God, oh my God…" Hermione was muttering.
They couldn't quite see the castle yet. As they stepped out of the train, a booming voice startled the living daylights out of Izzy.
"Firs' years here, firs' years!".
They followed the call in the direction of a gigantic man, but losing each other in the crowd. The large man seemed unreal, like a vision, though he was real enough when Izzy was shoved hard into him.
He looked down. "What're yer doin'?"
"Erm, sorry, I didn't mean to, someone pushed me," Izzy mumbled, brushing some invisible dirt off her robes.
"Oh. Well, then. Me name's Hagrid, by the way,". He turned his head. "OY, you three, do not try to throw that in the lake!" And with that, he walked away, taking great strides, towards Fred, George, and Lee Jordan, who seemed to be trying to to dispose of a large, well, thing (with eight hairy legs. Izzy shuddered.) by throwing it in the lake.
"Four on a boat!" Hagrid yelled over and over. She got in one, not really caring where she sat. The boats moved. There was a dampened-sounding chatter that floated over the lake, encasing Izzy in a trance. She closed her eyes. It was peaceful; the gentle rocking of the boats, the faint light on the lake that Izzy assumed came from the castle.
She nearly missed the collective gasp from the first year. Izzy's eyes flew open. The castle was enormous, with large towers jutting out. Lights lit the rooms of the castle. The grounds sloped, and entered into a forest that seemed to go on forever.
It's beautiful, Isolde thought in awe.
They were all marched into the castle, and stopped in front of a large oak door. Izzy was reminded of the ducklets that walked by the pond near the home, following the mother duck.
"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" Hagrid knocked three times on the castle door, and right away, a tall woman in emerald-green robes was seen.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall."
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." Izzy felt somewhat safe and scared while in the presence of this woman, Professor McGonagall. She walked them up to a chamber off a hall. The students were looking at each other nervously. Izzy was with them in feeling anxious, but kept her face clear of emotion. Her father's diary was filled with one phrase, repeated over and over: "Put on a brave face." Therefore, to any of the students, and perhaps even the teacher, Izzy looked quite calm, bored even. The only other student that Izzy could see who bore a similar expression was, to her chagrin, Malfoy.
Izzy realized with a start that Professor McGonagall had began addressing the hall of students with a small speech.
"-Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, you house will be something like you family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room." Professor McGonagall then went over the houses, and the process of points and the house cup.
"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting," she paused for a moment. "I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly."
Just like that, she was gone. The students murmured amongst themselves about how the test was to take place. Izzy knew exactly how, since there was a paragraph on the Sorting Hat in Hogwarts, A History, but it seems not everyone had read through it. Just then, a group of students gasped. There were bright white shimmery apparitions that floated through the walls, speaking as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Ghosts. Izzy shivered as one walked, no, floated, through her. It felt like someone had dumped a large bucket of ice water over her head, only much colder. Chatter burst amongst the students. Izzy felt rather awkward as she didn't have anyone to speak to.
Professor McGonagall came in and shooed the ghosts away.
"Now, form a line and follow me."
Heart in her throat, Izzy walked after her. A great pair of double doors opened revealing the Great Hall.
Izzy barely noticed the four long, large tables that stretched from one end of the hall to the other. She barely noticed the dark, clear, and starry night that appeared to have stretched down into the massive room, where the end of the walls and the start of the sky was indecipherable. The hundreds of thousands of candles floating above the students' heads were nothing more a trivial matter compared to the racing pace of Izzy's heart.
What house, what house, what house? Oh no. What if I get into Slytherin? She desperately wanted to be in Gryffindor. A Ravenclaw would be alright, too. Bloody hell, she'd rather take Hufflepuff before she went into Slytherin.
Consumed in her thoughts, she nearly missed the beaten hat that looked like it had seen better days sitting on a stool in front and center of the Hall. Her eyes widened. That must be the Sorting Hat.
The brim of the hat had a tear in it, and as it flapped open, Izzy realized it was something like a mouth. It began to speak:
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.
She could barely keep back the childish giggle that had been growing in her mouth. A silly stress-induced image came in her mind of the tattered old hate gobbling itself up for breakfast with a fork and knife.
The rest of the Sorting Hat's speech went by and the Great Hall burst into applause, and quieted itself down. The Sorting Ceremony had begun. Professor McGonagall was reading names off a rather large scroll of parchment. Izzy was back to anxiously worrying. The Sorting Hat's song had, ironically, taken her mind off the Houses for a while, but the rocks in her stomach had come back. She rocked herself back and forth, side to side, a rather bad habit she got when she was nervous.
Izzy recognized none of the names until a "Granger, Hermione" was called. She smiled when she saw her practically run up to the Hat and yank it on. Almost immediately, the Hat called out "Gryffindor!" A loud cheer emanated from a table full of students with red and golden scarfs and ties. She saw a few red-haired boys, too. It's probably Fred and George, she thought while clapping along with everyone else.
"Griffiths, Isador".
Her heart pounded as she made her way up to the hat, aware of the hundreds of eyes on her. The last person she saw before the Hat's brim covered her eyes was Malfoy, waiting in line, all attention on her.
"Well, well, we have a tricky one don't we? Intelligent, I see, Ravenclaw may suit you. Not a Hufflepuff, though, you're too strong-willed for that. Perhaps Gryffindor."
Izzy's heart beat with excitement. I'm not going to be in Slytherin!
"Ahh, so you don't want to go to Slytherin. Hmmm, how interesting. Let's see, you're certainly smart enough for it."
The smile on Izzy's face dropped as she realized where this was headed.
"And that strong will? You know Slytherins will do anything to get what they want. You seem like the perfect fit. Except," the Hat seemed to have sensed Izzy's panic, "you don't want to be in Slytherin? You'd do great things. You fit a small amount in the other Houses," a bit of hope entered Izzy's heart, "But though it may be against you wishes, the only House you properly fit in is SLYTHERIN!".
