I quickly regained my balance on the stool (with help from Neville again!). The Ravenclaw table burst into a round of applause, loudest of all was Victoire. Neville smiled at me and took the Sorting Hat off my head. I jumped down from the stool happy with the outcome of my sorting. I walked over to the Ravenclaw table and sat next to a first year girl who had been sorted into Ravenclaw as well.

I beamed with happiness. Ravenclaw was a good house and was definitely on the top of my list of houses I wanted to be sorted in, after Gryffindor. And I won't make Albus jealous because I wasn't put into Gryffindor.

When the sorting ceremony was finally finished Headmistress McGonagall rose from her chair.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts, everyone." Headmistress McGonagall said to the students. "Now, as it is a new school year I would like to remind you all of a few important rules. Firstly, the Forbidden Forest is as it says in the name is forbidden to all students. The caretaker, Mr Filch, has asked me to remind you that merchandise from Weasley's Wizards Wheezes such as love potions are banned, we do not want to have the same problem we did last year." Headmistress McGonagall said eyeing a few Gryffindor girls. "To check the full list of banned items please visit Mr Filches office."

Then a small rare smile fell on McGonagall's stern face. "Let's all enjoy our fantastic feast!"

Mountains of food on golden platters suddenly appeared on each house table. I began to drool at the sight of it, I was starving. I quickly filled my plate along with everyone else with piles of delicious food.

As I began to shovel the food into my mouth Victoire got out of her seat near the end of the Ravenclaw table and walked over to me grinning proudly, her long platinum blonde hair shining in the light.

"I knew you had the brains to get into Ravenclaw, Rosie!" Victoire said when she reached me. "Dominque owns me ten gallons now!"

I laughed, I knew my cousins were having bets on which houses Al and I would get into.

"I'm happy to be in Ravenclaw with my favourite cousin!" I said happily. Victoire is my favourite cousin because she is fun but at the same time insanely intelligent when it comes to school stuff.

Then one of Victoire's giggling friends called to her,

"Victoire, come over here, you've got to hear what Ari just told us about her summer vacation, it's absolutely horrendous!"

"Just a sec!" Victoire called back.

"I'll talk to you later, Rose." She said to me waving goodbye.

"See you, Victoire."

Victoire sat with her friends again and I continued shoving food into my mouth. I was always told I had an appetite like my dad. But, in truth, mine was nothing in comparison to what Hugo and my dad could eat. It's shocking, they're always hungry even after the third helping of dinner.

"Your Rose Weasley." said a first year Ravenclaw boy who sitting across from me.

"Yes." I said forgetting my mouth was full of food. Merlin, I'm disgusting. The Ravenclaw boy gave me a strange look.

'SWALLOW, ROSE, SHALLOW!' The voice inside my head was yelling.

"I am Eric Longford." He said with his voice full of pride. "My father fought alongside yours in the Battle of Hogwarts-"

"What's 'the Battle of Hogwarts'?" the girl sitting next to Eric interrupted.

Eric laughed "You seriously don't know what the Battle of Hogwarts is?"

The girl shook her head innocently. "Should I?"

"You should, it's common wizarding knowledge." He said rather rudely. "Do you even know who Harry Potter is?"

The girl was about to answer when the girl sitting next to me shot at Eric. "She obviously muggle-born, so leave her alone."

Eric frowned. "Did you even read the textbooks? It's in all our textbooks."

The girl next to Eric answered coolly. "No, I didn't, because I would be bored out of my mind in class and I wouldn't learn anything."

"Actually, Eric, the Battle of Hogwarts is only in our history textbook." I pointed out. "So you mustn't have read the textbooks either."

Eric blushed and shot us three girls a death glare. He then picked up his plate and moved to where the other first year Ravenclaws were sitting.

"Thanks." the girl said to us. "That guy was an absolute prick. Anyway, I'm Abby Sliver."

Abby Sliver had long mousy brown hair, a small nose and big adorable brown eyes.

"Anytime, I'm Jane Templeton." The girl sitting next to me said.

Jane Templeton had dirty blonde hair which was medium length and tied back into a tight French plait. She had extremely blue eyes and freckles scattered across her face.

"And you're Rose Weasley?" asked Abby.

"Yeah." I said.

"Maybe sometime you could tell me all about this 'Battle of Hogwarts' and 'Harry Potter' nonsense?" Abby smiled.

"Sure." I said smiling back.

"But not now." Jane interjected. "No offence, Rose, but that is the most over-told story in the whole wizarding world."

"Yeah, I know, I'm sick of hearing it too." I agreed. "I know that what my mom, my dad and Uncle Harry did was great, but I hear it all the time and after a while it turns into the most boring thing ever!"

Then the topic of our conversation changed when Abby asked us what are we most looking forward at Hogwarts.

I started by saying. "The Library, of course! I heard it has tens of thousands of books in it. It's supposed to be massive, I can't wait to see it."

"The Astronomy Tower will be epic! I was told by my mom that you get to go up there at midnight and stargaze. I love the stars. There so pretty." Jane said her eyes filled with wonderment.

Abby and I nodded in agreement.

"What are you looking forward to doing at Hogwarts, Abby?" I asked Abby.

"I don't know, I'm Muggle-born so I didn't know Hogwarts had this much to offer. I thought it was like an ordinary school but you learn magic, not at all like what I'm seeing and hearing now." Abby said amazed.

The leftovers on our plates were then magically wiped clean. Then tons of different types of desserts appeared before our eyes making me lick my lips even though I was extremely full.

I quickly grabbed a big slice of cake and began stuffing my face again.

Abby and Jane began to laugh.

"You eat like you haven't eaten in weeks, Rose." Jane. commented

I shrugged my shoulders. "It's good food."

"Well, I can't argue with that." Abby replied placing some chocolate éclairs on her plate.

Then something dawned me (actually someone) Albus. I had completely forgotten about him and his situation. I suddenly felt guilty about enjoying myself and making new friends. I quickly put down my cake and turned my head so I could see behind me. I could see Slytherin table which was separated from the Ravenclaw table by the Gryffindor table.

I spotted Albus still sitting next to Scorpius Malfoy. His head was down staring at his empty plate. I saw Scorpius ask him something that I couldn't hear (curse the distance!). The other Slytherin first years were listening, Al answered whatever it was reluctant.

"What you looking at, Rose." Abby asked in a sing-song voice.

"Nothing." I was about to answer but I changed my mind. They were my friends now (I think?) so why shouldn't I tell them about the whole Al situation.

"Just my cousin Albus." I answered instead. "He really, really, really didn't want to get into Slytherin."

"Yeah, him getting into Slytherin was a bit of a shock to everyone. I mean we all expected him to get into Gryffindor." Jane said.

I nodded.

Then she added slyly. "Or maybe we only expected that because he looks so much his dad, a true Gryffindor. We don't know what's lurking under the surface."

"Albus isn't a bad guy." I answered. "Honestly, I have never seen Albus put as much of a toe out of line."

"Never said he was." Jane said simply. "He seems nice."

"Well, he is."

Abby then cleared her throat loudly. "Okay, Okay let's changed the subject."

But we didn't have to. The tables were suddenly wiped magically clean, Headmistress McGonagall stood up and told us all it was time to go to bed.

A large crowd of people quickly formed to leave the Great Hall. Jane, Abby and I quickly hunched together scared to death that we were going to be trampled.

I could make out prefects yelling out over the noise of the crowd.

"Gryffindor first years, this way!"

"Hufflepuff first years, over here!"

"Ravenclaw first years!"

Abby, Jane and I quickly made B-line for the direction the voice was coming in. We saw a Ravenclaw prefect who was calling for Ravenclaw first years and ran to him. He was probably a sixth or seventh year by the look of him. He had a big stature and towered over us in height.

The prefect greeted us with a warm smile.

"Okay is that everyone?!" he asked still trying to beat the noise of the crowd.

Then I was distracted by a prefect calling out. "Slytherin first years, this way!"

Immediately my eyes scanned the crowd for Al, I found him. He was in the middle of a crowd of Slytherin boys still looking miserable but he seemed to be talking to them a little bit.

Then I was pulled forward by Abby and Jane each grabbing one of my arms.

Jane said quickly to me. "Come on, Rose, we have to follow the prefect now or we'll lose him."

Abby then added. "And probably die in this crowd."

We quickly hurried after the first year Ravenclaw students and the Ravenclaw prefect. We caught up with them on the Grand Staircase.

The Ravenclaw prefect called back to us "Keep up, Ravenclaws, especially here. The staircases like to move, be careful."

When we reached the top of the first staircase we were last in the group. But luck wasn't on our side. The staircase swung to join another just as we had reached the top, Abby and I screamed as we nearly fell off the staircase but thankful Jane (who had actual coordination and balance) put out her arm in front of us to save us just in time.

"JESUS!" Abby cried clutching her heart panting.

"Thanks, Jane." I said to Jane relived. "I think you might have just saved us a trip to the Hospital wing."

"Or our lives!" Abby added dramatically.

"What are you three doing?" The Ravenclaw prefect called out to us from the top of the next staircase.

I realised everyone around us was laughing at us. We cringed and were forced to climb an extra staircase to get to the group since the staircase we were on refused to move back. When we finally reached them the group began to move again.

"Look!" Abby pointed her face filled with fascination. "The portraits are moving."

The hundreds of portraits around us all different shapes and sizes were moving. Some were waving to us and welcoming us to Hogwarts. We excitedly waved back.

"This brilliant!" I exclaimed. "Nothing I like the stories and books."

When we reached the fifth floor we were all out of breath and exhausted.

I panted. "If we have to do this every day, I'm getting a magic carpet."

"I agree." Jane said out of breath.

"On the bright side," panted Abby. "We'll all have six-packs by the time the year is over."

Out of breath, we all laughed, as we climbed a spiral staircase. When we reached the top of the spiral staircase the Ravenclaw prefect began to speak.

"This is the door to the Ravenclaw common room." He said pointing to the door behind him. It had no knob or keyhole, all it had was a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle. "To enter the common room you must answer the riddle the eagle knocker will give you correctly. If you don't answer it correctly you'll have to wait until another Ravenclaw student comes and answers it correctly."

He then turned around to the door with the eagle knocker and the knocker asked him a riddle.

"What comes down but never goes up?" The bronze eagle knocker said in a croaking voice.

The Ravenclaw prefect paused for a moment to think.

"Rain." He answered.

The door swung open to reveal a large circular room with arched windows. Midnight blue carpet covered the floor and the walls were draped in blue and bronze silk (Ravenclaw colours). I turned to see Jane looking up at the ceiling smiling. I looked up to the domed ceiling to see it was painted beautifully with stars. The room was furnished with tables, chairs and several bookcases. A tall beautifully crafted Rowena Ravenclaw statue made from marble stood at the rear of the room.

The Ravenclaw prefect made a gesture to the arched windows and said. "The view from the windows is spectacular during the day, you can see a lot of the grounds."

I noticed several older Ravenclaw students sitting on chairs and talking.

The Ravenclaw prefect then went over to the marble Rowena Ravenclaw statue. All of us followed him. He pointed to the door behind the Ravenclaw statue. "Through this door is the Ravenclaw Dormitories. Boy's dormitories to the left, girls to the right. You'll find your year written on your dormitory door."

"But before you go to bed I have to brief you on how the system works." At that very moment, I let out a loud yawn causing the prefect to glare at me and everyone else to laugh. I was actually very tired and wished the prefect would stop glaring at me just get on with.

The prefect continued. "As I was saying the system works in points. Ravenclaw house will receive points if you are awarded them by a teacher or a prefect for things like answering questions right or helping out. Points will also be added if our quidditch team wins a game, so support them. Points from Ravenclaw house can be deducted if you behave badly which will affect our chances of winning the house cup, for the second year in a row." he added proudly. "So if someone tries to provoke you tell a prefect, like myself, and we'll deal with them. So no fighting as it could get you a detention and reduce house points. You may go to your dormitories now."

I was happy that was over, I was stuffed full of food and exhausted I just wanted to go to bed. Abby, Jane, two other girls and I climbed the staircase (Jeez how many staircases does this place have!?) leading to the girls dorm. The first door we approached had the words first year written on it in bronze.

We opened the door and walked in. It was a circular room, which had five four-poster beds covered in blue and bronze silk sheets and had a big soft pillow. Each four-poster bed had its own blue curtains that were embroidered with stars and moons. The colours of the rest of the room were (you guessed it) blue and bronze. The ceiling was domed like in the common room covered with stars.

Our trunks had already been brought up for us and had been placed at the foot of our beds. Abby ran towards her bed at the centre of the room the top of which was position against the wall, she jumped on it landing on her back and sighed "This is the life!"

We all laughed. We then introduced ourselves to the two girls who we found out were twins called Violet and Angela Roberts. They were almost completely identical except Violet had blue eyes and Angela had brown. They both had the same pin-straight brunette hair that was absolutely perfect (to my jealousy). They both were nice but seemed to want to keep to themselves.

Angela had the bed closest to door followed by Violet's, then Abby's, then mine and then Jane's.

I went over to my bed and changed into my pyjamas and was about to get into bed when Abby burst out. "Everyone be quiet, do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" I asked listening. I only hear the wind whistling.

"The sound that sounds like white noise!"

"It's just the wind whistling." Jane said.

"In 'Hogwarts, A History' it says that the sound of the wind whistling around the windows in Ravenclaw tower is supposed to be very relaxing." I explained.

"It's really annoying." Abby groaned as she laid back on the bed not bothering to change out of her school robes. "I'll never get some sleep now." She yawned. But after a few moments, only her snoring could be heard.

Jane and I lapsed into giggles as we climbed into our beds.

"Goodnight, Jane." I whispered across to Jane still giggling thinking of all tonight's events.

"Goodnight Rose." She whispered back giggling as well.

I didn't even have time to worry about my first day of classes tomorrow since I quickly fell into a deep sleep.