Come
gather round
Those young and old
And I shall tell a tale
That deserves to be told
So long ago
Before all your days
Lived four men
Who were shrewd in their ways
Together they came
And hatched a plan
To develop a school
As only they can
Today you stand
In the school they created
All of you will be sorted
Before I have abated
To the Gryffindor House
Some of your group will go
To Sir Gryffindor, the bold
Were not of the low
Yet more of you,
To the house of Ravenclaw
To whom the cleverest
Were all that she saw
The most ambitious of students
Will see the inside of Slytherin
And they will continue to go
Today until hither' in
Lastly, but not least-ly
Is the Hufflepuff's room
Where only the hardest of worker's
Intellect will bloom
Now come try me on
And I will tell you where to sit
For I am the sorting hat
That will never quite fit
The crowd of students and teachers clapped loudly at the hat's
song. Professor Apollo put up her hand
to stop the noise, and began reading out the student's names.
"Agora, Ralph!"
The boy nervously walked forward, biting his upper lip. He picked the hat up slowly, afraid that it
would bite him, and put it over his head.
Within a few moments, the hat yelled out "HUFFLEPUFF!" The Hufflepuff table erupted with cheers,
older students slapping Ralph on the back as he sat down in an empty seat. Lily watched in awe as a girl with long
shiny brown hair was put into Hufflepuff as well, and a tall boy with dark
brown hair was put into Gryffindor.
"Brinkman, Hannah!" As Babs
walked up, a boy over at the Hufflepuff table yelled "Yeah, Babs!" who Lily
assumed was her brother.
"Now Mr. Brinkman was that really necessary?" said a voice
from a small table nearby. Lily looked
over and saw an old wizard with a long white beard and pointy hat standing
up. 'So that must be Professor
Dumbledore' thought Lily. Babs laughed
and sat down on the stool, the hat resting lightly on top of her glasses. The hat quickly shouted "RAVENCLAW" and Babs
stood up and walked over to the table.
Lily watched nervously as each of her classmates was sorted and put into
different houses. "Evans, Lily!" Lily walked over to the stool and put the
hat on her head.
A small voice was talking to her inside her head. "Lily Evans… so you are the one who has been
chosen. I will have to think carefully
before I decide." The voice went away,
and Lily began to get nervous. Several
minutes passed by, and everyone in the hall was becoming restless. Lily thought to herself, 'I don't mind where
I go, but I would like to be with Babs.
She's been really nice to me.'
Suddenly, the voice appeared again and whispered softly in her ear,
"Yes, I agree. You will do excellently
there. Then that is where you shall
go. RAVENCLAW!" The Ravenclaw table got up and clapped, as
Lily slowly walked over to join Babs.
"Yes!! We are in
the same house! I was hoping you would
end up here! I was so surprised when it
told me I would be in Ravenclaw; I thought for sure I'd end up with one of my
brothers. Perhaps Laurie, because he
and I are a lot alike." Babs continued
endlessly talking, Lily no longer really listening. She was watching the sorting.
A tall, bulky girl behind her was sorted into the Gryffindor house. As he walked over, another boy with dark
unruly hair and glasses had stood up to shake the new girl's hand.
To Lily, this boy looked familiar. Like she had met him before, some place that
she couldn't remember. She watched as
he sat back down in his seat and whispered something in his friend's ear. His friend started laughing, and Lily looked
away.
"…The common rooms are going to be cool. I've heard all about the Hufflepuff and
Gryffindor ones, but I don't know anything about the Ravenclaw ones. I hope they aren't dirty, I hate dirt. I heard the Slytherin ones are down in the
dungeons, and they have to sleep on the cold stone instead of in beds. But I bet that was a lie. Evan is always telling me lies. You know, once…"
As the last girl got sorted into Slytherin, Lily looked up
at the staff table. The old wizard from
before was standing and looking out over the crowd. "Now, before we begin our feast, I would just like to give you
some reminders. The Forbidden Forest is
off limits, as always. As a warning,
any of you who wander into the forest will either be punished by me or by the
creatures that live within. Secondly,
our gamekeeper, Hagrid, has planted a rather spectacular tree on the properties
this summer. A large willow can be seen
out near the pond. I warn you, those
who go near it will be walloped, as it is not a normal tree. Be careful, and be aware. Lastly, some of you are not in your proper
school attire." Lily looked out around
the crowd. Most of the other students
were wearing jeans and sweaters as she was, but others were dressed in black
robes. "After the meal, you will all go
back to your common rooms where you will be given instructions as to how to
acquire your robes, books, and such.
Now, I have just two words for you all.
Bon Appetite."
As if by magic, or perhaps definitely by magic, the golden
plates and goblets before them filled with a delicious variety of foods. Lily and Babs filled their plates heartily,
since it had been so long since their lunch on the train. Just when they thought they couldn't eat any
more, the plates magically refilled with tarts, cakes and puddings. As Lily was reaching for a second treacle
tart, she felt a light tap on her shoulder.
She turned around, and saw a very good-looking boy with dark auburn hair
looking at her.
"Hi. I'm Robert
Wood." The boy generously shook both
her and Babs' hands. "I'm a prefect for
this house, and I would just like to tell you new folk that the password to the
tower is 'Gargoyle.' Think you can
remember it?"
"Sure," said Lily.
"Okay then, I'll be seeing you back in the common
room. Enjoy your dessert." The boy walked off and began introducing
himself to a big group of boys sitting next to them.
"Awe, Lily, I think he likes you!" Babs said in a rather
teasing manner.
"Don't be so silly, Babs, he was just coming to tell us
the password."
"I still think he's rather dreamy."
A few moments later, the plates cleared and the other
Ravenclaws began standing up and leaving through a nearby door. Lily and Babs followed, afraid that they
would get lost if they didn't stay close behind. Outside in the hallway, the group turned to the left and went up
a narrow marble staircase. At the top
of the staircase was a long corridor with tons of doors, each with a different
picture on them. Lily looked at each of
the doors as they passed. The pictures
varied by door. One she saw had an
elaborate drawing of the solar system, which seemed to have millions of tiny
glimmering stars. Another had a drawing
of the sea, and as she passed Lily could have sworn she saw a mermaid swim
by. Finally, at the end of the hallway,
the group walked through a door with an elaborate wooded scene on it. Inside the door was a room full of paintings
that were pointing at the students as they walked by.
"Okay, everybody, let me through," said Robert Wood. He walked up to a painting of an old pirate
ship. When he came close, when of the
pirates yelled up to him.
"Aye, aye, mate, what's da password?"
"Gargoyle." The
picture frame swung open and the students began piling inside. Inside was a large room with a
fireplace. The room was a deep blue,
with various tables, chairs, and couches scattered around. At the end of the room were seven winding
iron staircases, leading up to a door at the top. "First years, this way!" yelled Robert. He led them up one of the staircases. Behind the door at the top of the stairs were a small corridor
and two more doors. "Boys to the left,
girls to the right." Babs and Lily went
through the door on the right.
Inside were six four-poster beds, each with a different
bedspread and matching awnings. Lily
saw her trunk at the end of one of the beds, and went over to it. Her bedspread was a light green, with large
trees all over it. Occasionally, a
unicorn, fairy, or centaur could be seen walking between the trees and winking
at her. The bed next to hers was Babs',
which was a dark navy. Along the edges
was a rabbit print.
Soon after they had settled in, the remaining three girls
walked into the room. A very tall girl
with short black hair and very pale skin introduced herself as Lindsay Karin.
The other two were both about Lily's height with long blonde hair down to the
square of their backs and dark green eyes.
They introduced themselves Trinity and Hope Weasley. Like Lily, Lindsay was Muggle-born while
Trinity and Hope had come from a wizard family. "Our brother, Arthur, graduated last year. He was in Gryffindor, though, I wonder why
we weren't put in there."
There was a small tap on the door, and a pretty girl in
about her sixth year came in to tell them that they were to go back to the
Great Hall. "Supplies are being
distributed."
The five girls attempted to walk back down to the Great
Hall again, but ended up in some random corridor they had never seen
before. Finally, when had given up and
decided they were lost, they heard a voice behind them.
"Girls, what are you doing up here? All first years are to report to the Great
Hall as soon as possible," said Professor Apollo. The girls explained their situation, and Professor Apollo lead
them back downstairs.
When they entered the Great Hall, Lily noticed that the
tables had all been pushed back to the sides of the room and in the center,
Dumbledore was levitating above the crowd trying to make sense of all of the
confusion.
"Yes, yes, yes start over at the right. First years go over to Ollivander to get
your wands. No, no, no! Wands first, then books, understand!" Lily, Babs, Lindsay, Trinity and Hope all
headed over to a man surrounded by boxes.
"Just remember, the wand picks the owner not vice
versa. Well, hello!" he said as they
stepped into view. "First years,
eh? Alright, lets try you first." He looked over at Lily, who appropriately sat
down in a chair next to him. "Now,
which hand is your wand hand?" Lily
looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face. Babs walked over and whispered in her ear, "Which hand do you
write with?"
"Oh! Right hand,
sir."
"Yes, yes, alright.
Now lets see. Nine inches, oak,
unicorn tail, very pliable. Now just go
ahead." Lily wasn't sure exactly what
she was supposed to do, but after lifting her arm a few centimeters he snatched
the wand from her and grabbed another.
"Okay, no worries, we'll find the one that works. Eight inches pine, very…er…smelly." He handed her the wand. Indeed, it smelled very heavily of pine
trees. After trying quite a few wands,
Lily had lost all hope. "Okay, don't
worry sweetheart. Aha, now this is the
one, I can feel it. Eleven inches,
holly, a hair from the tail of a baby unicorn, a very nice wand if I do say so
myself. Swishy." Lily lifted it in the air, and as she did
heavy blue smoke and little sparks began flying from the ends. "Excellent!
Now tell me your name and house, we want to make sure we send the bill
out to the right family…" She gave him all of the information he needed.
"Lily, go get the rest of your supplies. We'll meet you back at the common room,"
said Babs. Lily walked off with her wand in hand. Slowly, she circled the room gathering her books, robes, and
potions supplies. As she was leaving,
she bumped into someone and knocked over everything she was carrying.
"I'm sorry, I really should have watched where I was
going." She looked up, and it was the
boy from Gryffindor that she had seen at the sorting ceremony.
"No, it's my fault.
I really shouldn't be so clumsy."
He handed her a stack of books.
"Are you a first year?" he asked.
"Yeah…Ravenclaw."
"I'm in my second year. Gryffindor. I'm James Potter."
"Lily Evans." They
shook hands. "Well, I'd better be
going. Nice to meet you." She walked off, books in hand. Ahead of her, she saw the girl who had come
into their room earlier. Rather then
get lost again, she followed her up to the Ravenclaw common room, up past the
mysterious doors and into the painting of the pirates. When she finally arrived back in the girl's
room, she realized how late it was and curled up under her covers. Within minutes, she was asleep.
************
Late that night, she was awaked suddenly to voices in her
room. "Do you see it?" "What is it?" "Somebody wake Lily up, just in case something is wrong."
Lily sat up, and groggily said, "I'm awake, I'm
awake. What's happening?" She looked around at her friends who were
all standing next to the window. She
jumped out of bed and stood next to them.
Out beyond the edges of the Hogwarts Property, down past
the lake and beyond the trees, a fire was curling in the night air. Screams and yelling could be heard in the
distance as whatever it was slowly burned.
The girls sat in shock, wondering what could be causing the big
fire. The girls could hear another loud
crash, and more screaming. Slowly, they
could hear people beginning to move in the room next to them.
"I don't like this.
Let's go get the rest of the first years."
The five girls moved slowly towards the door. Out in the corridor, several frightened boys
were standing with shocked expressions on their faces.
"What's going on?" Lily asked one boy. He said nothing, and motioned for them to
follow into their room. The rest of the
girls entered, while Babs just stood outside, he knees and lip lightly shaking. "Babs, come on. It's alright."
"Lily, we aren't supposed to go in there. It's the boys room."
"It doesn't matter, come on." Slowly, Babs followed.
She was wearing a navy robe over her pink pajamas, and pulled it tighter
around her small body as she went into the room.
The boy's room was much like the girls. Each boy had a different bedspread and a
window over in the corner. The rest of
them were huddled around this window, so Babs and Lily followed. They watched the fire slowly burn,
enveloping whatever it was that was burning.
"What do you think it is?" asked a rather small,
mouse-like boy with big, deep, eyes Lily later learned was named John
Dough. (A/N: get it? get it? hahaha I crack myself up. But now I realize, I have just wrecked the
mood for the moment. I'm terribly
sorry, peeps, get back to your reading)
"He-who-must-not-be-named…" whispered Babs.
"No! It can't be,
it just can't be…" said a tall handsome black boy with deep brown eyes named
Calvin Hansen. He had just gone over to
retrieve his glasses from next to his bed, and was now looking over all of
their heads to the fire beyond.
"Why not?" yelled Babs, her arms crossed on her
chest. "He has killed so many others,
he could easily have done this too!"
She looked near to tears. "But
so close… he's never been so close before…" She ran out of the room and into
their own. Lily followed close behind
her, but when she reached the room Babs had already gotten back into bed. Lily walked back to the window.
The rest of the girls returned one by one and returned to
their beds. Lily stood at the window
until the last glimmer of the fire had gone out. She didn't understand.
What was it that made Babs so afraid?
The fire seemed so far away… and yet it was so close.
************
The next morning, the girls woke up and dressed without a
word about the fire. Together, they walked
down to the Great Hall for breakfast.
Just as it had done the night before, the plates filled
with delicious foods. Lily was reaching
for a second piece of toast when a loud sound overhead made her look up. Her eyes widened with what she saw.
What seemed like thousands of owls were flying overhead,
landing at random tables and leaving packages and letters for their
owners.
"Look, there's Bugs."
Babs' owl flew in a circle around her head and landed lightly on the
table in front of her. "Awe, baby, do
you have something for Mummy?" Babs
untied a letter from the leg of the owl and gave it a small piece of her
bagel. The large tawny owl fluffed its
long golden brown feathers, and then swooped back out of the Great Hall. Babs opened the letter, and looked down at
it with dismay.
"What is it, Babs?" asked Trinity. Babs gathered them all around her, and read
what the letter said.
Dear
Babs,
I
know you told me not to bother you until at least day three of school, but
honey I am so worried. The newspaper
clipping attached to this letter is from this morning's Daily Prophet. I just wanted to make sure that you were
okay, that you weren't scared. Just
remember what I told you, be aware. I
will take you home with me if anything goes wrong. I love you honey and take care of yourself.
Mum
She grabbed the newspaper clipping. It was a large article on the fire from the
night before.
Massive Fire Sweeps Through Marvoyle
By
Barbara Skeeter, Special Correspondent and Editor-in-chief
Late last night, the villagers of Marvoyle, one of the
only six remaining all wizard towns, were awoken to explosions as their small
town was bombed and burned to the ground.
"It was terrible!" says John Barleycorn, bartender for the
popular 'Fuddle's Saloon.' "I was
walking to the john, when I heard a loud noise not too far away. I stopped to look out the window and
practically the whole damn town was in the streets, running and screaming. I ran outside and into the forest just in
time to save my own skin, but from what I hear I was one of the only people
still standing. Dead, injured… you name
it."
Ministry officials refuse to answer any questions on the
topic, and were utterly rude when asked politely. In an interview with Arthur Weasley, an intern for the misuse of
Muggle artifacts office, we asked if he thought it was you-know-who that was
responsible for this tragedy.
"Well…um…I…I…I…I don't know, I guess so…"
This, and several other tragedies that have occurred
lately, have led to many questions pertaining to the control of the Ministry of
Magic. Much of the wizarding world has
already fled to Muggle towns, hoping to find safety for their families, for
their children. Wizarding towns are no
longer safe for us… is anywhere safe for us?
The Daily Prophet would like to add that we have left our
faith in the Ministry of Magic… and we hope that you do too.
"I knew it…" muttered Babs.
"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness…" said Lindsay.
"So that's why they didn't want us in Diagon Alley, to
protect us. I mean he burned down
Marvoyle. Trinity, you've seen the ads
in the Daily Prophet for all those new apartments and condos there," said
Hope. " 'Marvoyle, a safe town for your
children to grow up and become the witches and wizards they were destined to
be.' Mum looked at a house there when
we were little. Imagine if we had moved
there. You-know-who would have killed
Mum, Dad, and Arthur too, just like he did to everyone else."
"Who's is this person that everybody keeps talking about?"
asked Lily. The other girls eyed her
quizzically. They gathered around her,
forming a tight circle. Babs came close
to her face, and whispered so only Lily could hear.
"He is the Dark Lord…"
A/N: Well? Wasn't that dramatic, I love Babs she
rules. There is a lot of foreshadowing
in this chapter, though not directly. I
can't tell you exactly what is going to happen though. Shhh!
It's a seeeecret.
