The Sorting

The tall witch in green introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, then led the students into the Great Hall, where there were four long tables seating the whole school minus the first years. Lily stared in wonder at the ghosts flitting about the floating candles and the ceiling, which was enchanted to look like the sky.

After the Sorting Hat finished its song, Tracy was the first to be sorted.

"Adler, Tracy!" McGonagall called.

Tracy practically ran up to the stool and jammed the hat onto her head. After a moment's deliberation the hat shouted out,

"SLYTHERIN!"

Tracy's mouth flapped open in shock, but she soon recovered. Smiling pleasantly, she hopped off the stool and jogged down to the Slytherin table and sat down. A couple of people later.

"Black, Narcissa!"

The pretty girl that Tracy had been talking to on the boats walked up. She still had that awful expression on her face, which intensified as she picked up the grubby hat and placed it gingerly on her head. Within three seconds the hat made it's decision-

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Black, Sirius!"

Sirius winked at James before going up to the stool. He strode up confidently and sat very primly on the stool with an expression of utmost calm on his face. Closing his eyes he held that expression, as if training for yoga or other forms of deep meditation.

The hat took such a long time with Sirius that the students were starting to get restless. Finally-

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Soon it was Lily's turn.

"Evans, Lily!"

Lily sat on the stool rather apprehensively and waited for the Sorting Hat's judgment.

"Ah, young Lily, where shall I put you?" The hat mused. "You have an admirable thirst for knowledge, perhaps Ravenclaw? But I see Ravenclaw will not suit you, and neither will Hufflepuff, no matter how much you might be comfortable there. Soon you will be restless, and seek adventures to relieve the monotony. Perhaps you would like to follow your friend Tracy to Slytherin? No, you are not Slytherin material. I see you are intelligent and intrepid, I shall put you in.."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily walked down to the Gryffindor table amidst polite applause and sat down quickly as "Franklin, Lisa!" was being sorted.

Alice was put into Hufflepuff, and James into Gryffindor.

After the Sorting there was a feast. To her surprise, Lily found that most of the food wasn't all that much different from foods she normally ate, though there were many dishes she didn't recognize. She had been expecting more things to be magical food, like the ones sold on the train.

Alice and Tracy, the only girls she knew so far, were both sorted into different houses, so Lily looked around for some other people to talk so, though she wasn't getting much luck. The three girls to her left were having a heated discussion about cute quidditch players, whoever those people were. Celebrities in the wizarding world, perhaps. Another pair of girls were in a deep discussion about politics, and Lily didn't feel she had enough knowledge about the Ministry of Magic to put in her two cents in that conversation.

After dinner was over a prefect led the sleepy first-years up to the dormitories. A fat lady in pink guarded the entrance to Gryffindor tower, with the password "scarlet heather". The common room was cozy with a great roaring fire, thick tapestries of hunting scenes, and squashy armchairs scattered around the room at random.

Lily trudged up the stairs to the girls' dormitory behind the rest of the girls. Inside the room labeled "First Years" there were seven beds. Lily's bags had been deposited on the bed farthest from the door, next to a large window looking out to the grounds.

*****

Three hours later all the girls were asleep but Lily. She was restless and unable to sleep, for some reason she could not fathom. She thought all this activity and change would be tiring-and she was tired, she just couldn't sleep.

Cracking the window open slightly, she let in a cool breeze that played with her hair. One of the girls that had been discussing politics at the feast twitched and started mumbling in her sleep.

Carefully craning her head out the window, Lily looked up at the stars, wondering if Petunia could see them too.

Petunia was her sister, older by two years. They had been rivals in almost everything ever since Lily could remember. Lily was sad now that she was at Hogwarts and everything she had excelled at would be surpassed by Petunia. Petunia would be a far better musician, dancer, singer, scholar, and horseback rider by next summer.

Lily left the window open as she crawled into bed, letting the wind bring in the smell of pine trees and crisp air. Listening to owls hoot softly in the distance, she soon fell asleep.