I leaned down to get my robes, Melissa doing the same. We changed quickly and packed up all of the Chocolate Frogs and Cauldron Cakes we'd been stuffing our faces with, and I gulped down a bottle of cranberry juice. I don't care if it's Muggle-ish, I still can't live without the stuff.
"Ready?" Melissa asked, her green eyes bright and excited.
"Yup!!" I replied, my confidence and spirits greatly improved now that I knew I had a friend to be Sorted with. I only hoped we'd both get into the same House, even if it was Slytherin!!
Together we made our way down to the front of the train to the Social Car, where the air was nice and warm and where both hot cocoa and very excited Hogwarts students were plentiful. Melissa and I got steaming cups of cocoa and joined some other first years in a group by a large window.
"I hope I get into Gryffindor, I've been practicing spells all summer, and trying to be brave and good so the Sorting Hat will like me..." a girl was saying very fast.
Another boy was asking questions anxiously.
"D'you think I'll need to use some complicated spell to get into a good House?? What if I get sent home?? Are the teachers nice?? What if nobody likes me?? Is McGonagall strict??"
Melissa came up to him, me following, and started to reassure the boy.
"Don't worry about it at all. My whole family went to Hogwarts and loved it, and the teachers are fair and like you no matter who you are. It's not hard to get Sorted, you just have to try on an old, clever wizard's hat called the Sorting Hat. And you won't get sent home. You got accepted, didn't you??" Her smile seemed to comfort the worried boy, and he grinned at her.
"Thanks...I'm Benny Longbottom, who're you??"
"Melissa Weasley...and this is my friend, Jade Jasper," Melissa replied. I was flattered at the way she'd introduced me, and glad she thought of me as a friend. Benny grinned again and shook my hand, and we started talking about our pets. It turned out that Benny liked rabbits, too, and he was playing a cheerful game with Dasher when chimes rang through the train and we all felt it stop.
"Let's wait for the rest of them to go, I don't want to get separated..." Melissa told us, and we agreed. Benny handed Dasher to me, and I stored him safely in a huge pocket of my robes.
As the crowd of laughing students thinned, the three of us started to get off the train. Just then, Benny screamed.
"What is it, Benny?" I asked anxiously. He looked at the ground and in his pockets, and then looked into my eyes.
"My toad's gone...I named him after my great-grandfather..." He looked extremely worried and devastated.
"Don't worry, Ben, we'll find him..." I reassured him, searching everywhere. Melissa was looking all over the place, too. A black-haired teacher came up to us, frowning.
"Why are you so late getting to the school?? Hagrid has already left with the first years!!" she said, disapproving.
"We were waiting for the crowd to thin-and Benny's lost his toad, Neville-" I stammered.
"Very well. But you might miss part of the Sorting. I advise you to hurry."
"But my toad, Professor!!" pleaded Benny, looking scared.
"I will have teachers search the train. Now go!!"
We went.
We'd barely avoided missing the Sorting, although I wasn't sure whether to be happy or terrified at that...
"Argyle, Anne," McGonagall read from a long sheet of parchment. A brown-haired girl walked up to the Sorting Hat, and it took a few minutes before the Hat announced: "HUFFLEPUFF!!" Next came "Aster, Patrick," who instantly became a "GRYFFINDOR!!" I missed the next few, but I sure snapped to attention when "Jasper, Jade" was announced. I walked up to the Sorting Hat and put it on, hoping that no one could notice me shaking.
"Hmmm..." the Hat whispered in my ear, "you're a difficult one. Well, you've got very brave qualities, and you're bound to do some good, too...so I'd say, for you, GRYFFINDOR!!" Relieved, I walked over to the Gryffindor table to wait for Benny and Melissa. I dearly wished they'd be in my House.
And sure enough, my wishes-and theirs-were granted. Soon, both of them came over to join me, and Benny sat next to me, Melissa on his other side. The Gryffindor prefect, Tori Gibbons, was really nice and she had come from a Muggle family, which was interesting. She told us all hilarious stories about her first year at Hogwarts, and I'm sure nobody sitting at the Gryffindor table was sad or scared by the time she was finished. And surely, nobody was hungry, either...the tables had been loaded with wonderful, tempting, delicious food.
We walked up numerous flights of stairs and the passages were so twisted my head started hurting, but finally we reached the famous, huge portrait of a fat, Italian lady-like in operas-that guarded the Gryffindor common room. Tori, who had been leading the way, told us all the first password of the year: Codswallop.
The common room was fabulous. A roaring fire was on the far side of the room, well-placed in an enormous fireplace. There were lots of couches and armchairs around the room, all with red furnishings, and the fireplace was bordered with lovely gold designs. On the left side of the gigantic, yet homely room, there were seven staircases leading to the girls' dormitories, and on the right there were seven for the boys. Tori directed us all into the right ones for our years, and then she went up hers.
The first year girls' dormitory was marvelous. There were six canopy beds, all enthroned in a misty gold curtain that, Tori had told us, kept the cold out in the winter and the heat out in the summer. Each of us had our own section of the bathroom-wow!-and our own large window, overlooking the Quidditch field on the grounds.
Laughing with delight, each of us settled into our own beds, Melissa happily right next to me. I conked out as soon as my head hit the pillow, but I'm sure I had a smile on my face all night, and a darn big one too!!
Author's Note: Nope, sorry,
no more this time:) *Grinz*...just have to wait!! I know, I know,
I want to write more about her too, but when it gets to be 11:26PM
you begin to realize it's time to quit. Please tell me if there's
anything you'd like to see happening to Jade...I think I've found
her. I've found my Character!! Boy, I sure love writing about
her, so I sure hope you like reading about her!! Feel free to
review and tell me what you think!!