-Author's Note:
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The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in a black long sleeved dress, that fell a few inches past her knee's and had black buttons up the front and a black peter-pan colar and an emerald-green long sleeved, open style robe stood there.
She had a very stern face and Jane's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.
"The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall," said the giant.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."
She pulled the door wide. The Entrance Hall was so big you could have fitted the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.
They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Jane could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right – the rest of the school must already be here. But instead of taking them into the hall where the rest of the school were waiting as Jane expected her to do, Professor McGonagall showed the first-years into a small empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done and peering about nervously.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start- of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your
seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses." Here professor McGonagall paused and looked over the first years.
"The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your 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." She explained and Jane noticed that several of the first years were looking a little less nervous now.
"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin." Here professor McGonagall paused once more as she noticed the various looks that settled on individuals faces as each house was named.
"Each house has its own noble history and each
has produced outstanding witches and wizards. " She added slightly sternly
"While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points." Jane wondered why McGonagall's eyes seemed to travel to her and Ron as she said this.
"At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school."
Several people cringed or paled at the thought of being sorted in front of the rest of the school. Jane felt both Jack and Ron stiffen slightly on either side of her.
"I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." Advised McGonagall. Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and to Jack's stained robes and on Ron's smudged nose.
Jane nervously tried to tame her unruly hair, using her fingers to brush through the worst of the tangles.
"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly." And with that She left the chamber.
Jane swallowed and Jack turned to look at Ron, "How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Ron.
"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot," both Jack and Jane paled drastically and Ron quickly added "but I think he was joking."
Jane's heart still gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school? But she didn't know any magic yet – what on earth would She have to do? Jane hadn't expected something like this the moment they arrived. She looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified too. No one was talking much
except Hermione Bishop, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learnt and wondering which one she'd need.
Jane tried hard not to listen to her. She had never been more nervous, never, not even when she'd had to take a school report home to the Dursleys saying that she'd somehow turned her
teacher's wig blue. She kept her eyes fixed on the door.
Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead them to their dooms.
Then something happened which made her jump about a foot in the air, Jack and Ron both clutched at her robes as if they were her bodyguards. They were scanning the crowded room. Several people behind them had screamed.
"What the –?" Asked Jack
"Bloody hell what's going on" snapped Ron
Jane gasped. So did the people around them.
About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to each other and hardly glancing at the first-years.
They seemed
to be arguing. What looked like a fat little monk was saying,
"Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance"'
"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost" replied another, a lady in a long old fashion dress.
"I say, what are you all doing here?" A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first-years.
Nobody answered.
"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be sorted, I suppose?"
A few people nodded mutely.
"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."
"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."
Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.
"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first-years, "and follow me."
Feeling oddly as though her legs had turned to lead, Jane got into line behind Jack, with Ron behind her, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.
Jane had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles which were floating in mid-air over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. At the top of the Hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first-years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them.
The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver.
Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Jane looked upwards and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. Much to her annoyance she heard Hermione Bishop whisper,
"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside, I read about it in Hogwarts: A History."
It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens.
Jane quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first-years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. This hat was
patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house.
Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it, Jane thought wildly, that seemed the sort of thing – noticing that everyone in the Hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth – and the hat began to sing:
'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.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryf indor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff ,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!'
The whole Hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.
"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Jack whispered to Jane and Ron.
"I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll." Hissed Ron.
Jane giggled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but she did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching.
The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Jqne didn't feel brave or quick-witted or any of it at the moment. If only the hat had mentioned a house for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been the one for her.
Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said and she looked down and the list and the sorting began.
"Abbott, Hannah!"
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause –
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.
The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Jane saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.
"Bishop, Hermione!"
Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat.
As the first new Gryffindor, the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Jane could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.
Ron, Jack and Jane were not celebrating instead the trio of friends all groaned. They all had the same sinking feeling that they would be in the same house as her.
"Bones, Susan!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.
"Boot, Terry!"
"RAVENCLAW!"
The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.
"Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the second new Gryffindor.
"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Jane's imagination, after all she'd heard about Slytherin, but she thought they looked an unpleasant lot.
Jane was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during sports lessons at her old school.
Jane had always been last to be chosen, not because she was no good, but because no one wanted people to think they liked her.
"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
Sometimes, Jane noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide.
"Finnigan, Seamus" a sandy-haired boy next to Jack in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.
'Granger, Jack!'
Jack moved away from the crowd and towards the stool. He was scrunch r up as if his aim was to appear much smaller than he was. He perched on the edge of the stool and cringed as the hat was placed on his head.
'GRYFFINDOR!' shouted the hat after a minute or so and both Jane and Ron cheered as he made his way towards the Gryffindors.
Then a horrible thought struck Jane, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous. What if she wasn't chosen at all? What if she just sat there with the hat over her eyes for ages, until Professor McGonagall jerked it off her head and said there had obviously been a mistake and she'd better get back on the train?
When Neville Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his toad, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted
"GRYFFINDOR", Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag".
Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed,
"SLYTHERIN!"
Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.
There weren't many people left now.
"Moon", "Nott"… "Parkinson" … then a pair of twin girls,
"Patil" and "Patil" … then "Perks, Sally-Anne"… and then, at last –
"Potter, Jane!"
As Jane stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.
"Potter, did she say?"
"Jane Potter?'
"Jane Potter, the girl who lived, Jane Potter"
The last thing Jane saw before the hat dropped over her eyes was the Hall full of people craning to get a good look at her.
Next second she was looking at the black inside of the hat. She waited.
"Hmm," said a small voice in her ear. "This is a little difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. You value loyalty, you're not against hard work and you have a most determined mindset. But I see your heart is pure. You have strong morals and will fight for what you believe in. I see no arrangance, no thirst to prove your best. You are most humble. Now where shall I put you?"
Jane gripped the edges of the stool and thought,
"Not Slytherin, not Slytherin."
"Slytherin" laughed in a small voice. " Oh no you do not belong in the house of the snakes, certainly not. But I do believe you have made my choice for me…..I hope you are happy in…. GRYFFINDOR!"
Jane heard the hat shout the last word to the whole Hall. She took off the hat and walked towards the Gryffindor table. Jane blushed scarlet and began to sprint towards the table, when she noticed that she was getting the loudest cheer yet.
Percy the pompous Prefect got up and shook her hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled,
"We got Potter! We got Potter!"
Harry sat down next to Jack opposite the ghost in the ruff she'd seen earlier. The ghost patted Jane's arm, giving Jane the sudden, horrible feeling she'd just plunged it into a bucket of ice-cold water.
Jane could see the High Table properly now. In the centre of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore. Dumbeldore was smiling at Jane in a warm, comforting way and Jane couldn't help but smile broadly back.
Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing in the whole Hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts.
Jane spotted Professor Quirrell, too, the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron. He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban.
And now there were only three people left to be sorted.
"Turpin, Lisa" became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now. Jane shared a look with Jack and crosses they both their fingers under the table and a second later the hat had shouted,
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Jane and Jack booth whooped, cheered and clapped loudly with the rest of their new house, as Ron collapsed into the
chair next to Jane.
"Well done, Ron, excellent" said Percy Weasley pompously across Jack and Jane as 'Zabini, Blaise' was made a Slytherin.
Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.
Jane looked down at her empty gold plate. She had only just realised how hungry she was.
The pumpkin pasties seemed ages ago.
Albus Dumbledore had got to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.
"Welcome!" He said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"
The hall erupted into whispered laughter at these words.
"Thank you!" Said Dumbleodre with a large smile, he sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered.
Hermione Bishop who was sat next to Percy didn't seem to know whether to laugh or not.
"Is he – a bit mad?' she asked Percy uncertainty.
"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Hermione?"
Jane's mouth fell open at these words as she too turned to look at the previously empty plates.
The dishes in front of her were now piled with food.
Jane had never seen so many things she liked to
eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup
and, for some strange reason, mint humbugs.
The Dursleys had never exactly starved Jane, but she'd never been allowed to eat as much as she liked or whatever she liked before. Dudley or Daisy had always taken anything that Jane really wanted, even if it made them sick.
Jane piled her plate with a little bit of everything, as everything looked too good not to try it all, except she did not choose any humbugs and began to eat.
It was all delicious.
"That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching as Jack cut up his steak.
"Can't you –?"
"I haven't eaten for nearly five hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."
"I know who you are" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you – you're Nearly Headless Nick!"
"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy –" the ghost began stiffly, but Jane interrupt, she didn't mean to but the question escaped her lips before she could stop it.
"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"
Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.
"Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled.
His whole head swung off his neck and fell on to his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Looking pleased at the stunned looks
on their faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back on to his neck, coughed and said,
"So – new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the House Championship this year? Gryffindor has never gone so long without winning. Slytherin have won the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable – he's the Slytherin ghost."
Jane looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face and robes stained with silver blood. He was right next to Malfoy who, Jane was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements.
"How did he get covered in blood?' asked Jack with great interest.
"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.
When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the puddings appeared. Blocks of ice- cream in every flavour you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly, rice pudding …
As Jane helped herself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families.
"I'm half and half," said a sandy haired boy called Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mam didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."
The others laughed.
"What about you, Neville?" Seamus asked, turning to look at Neville who was sitting on his right.
"Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, "but the family thought I was all Muggle for ages. My great-uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me – he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned" every looked up staring at him in shock
"but nothing happened until I was eight. Great- uncle Algie came round for tea and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles when my great-auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go." Again every looked at him in worry "But I bounced all the way down the garden and into the were all really pleased. Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here – they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great-uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad." Neville looked for a moment "don't know if Trevor is a present or punishment though, if I'm being honest"
The first years laughed.
A little way down the table Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons.
"I do hope they start straight away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult" Hermione was saying in her bossy, shrill voice
"You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing" replied Percy as pompous as ever
Jane, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at the High Table again. The giant named Hagrid was drinking deeply from his
goblet. Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose and sallow skin.
It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Jane's eyes – and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Jane's forehead.
"Ouch!" Jane groaned as she clapped a hand to her head.
"You alright?" Said Ron
"What's up" Jack enquired
"Is everything alright Jane?" asked Percy.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine" Replied Jane as she looked around at the all. "It was nothing really"
The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Jane had got from the teacher's look – a feeling that he didn't like Jane at all.
"Um Percy, Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" She asked
"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to – everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."
Jane watched Snape for a while but Snape didn't look at her again.
At last, the puddings too disappeared and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The Hall fell silent.
"Ahem – just a few more words now we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you." He said as a hushed science settled over the tables.
"First-years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.
"have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors." He paused for a moment and then continued again
"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch." The mentioned teacher raised a hand indicating who she was.
"Finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."
Nobody laughed.
"He's not serious?' Hernione muttered to Percy.
"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere – the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us Prefects, at least."
"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore.
Jane noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed.
Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick as if he was trying to get a fly off the end and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself snake-like into words.
"Everyone pick their favourite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"
And the school bellowed:
'Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please, Whether we be old and bald
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling
With some interesting stuf ,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluf ,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot.'
Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand, and when they had finished, he was one of those who
clapped loudest.
"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"
The Gryffindor first-years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall and up the marble staircase.
Jane's legs were like lead again, but only because she was so tired and full of food.
Jane was too sleepy even to be surprised that the people in the portraits along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed, or that twice Percy led them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries.
They climbed more staircases, yawning and
dragging their feet, and Jane was just wondering how much further they had to go, and whether she could convince Ron and Jack to drag her behind them or Percy to give her a piggyback, when they came to a sudden halt.
A bundle of walking sticks was floating in mid-air ahead of them and as Percy took a step towards them they started throwing themselves at him.
"Peeves," Percy said exasperatedly, to the first-years. "Peeves is a poltergeist" He explained in the same exasperated tone. He then raised his voice and shouted
"Peeves – show yourself."
A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered.
"Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?" Percy said in a loud pompous voice.
There was a pop and a little man with wicked dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.
"Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle firsties! What fun!"
He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked.
"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy in an overly authoritative voice
Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Hermione's head. They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armour as he passed.
"You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us Prefects. Here we are."
At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.
"Password?"she said.
"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall.
They all scrambled through it. Jane, who was a head smaller than everyone else, needed a hand climbing over the ledge.
Percy went to pick her up but Jane glared at him and then proceeded to use Ron and Jack as supports as she clambered up and then jumped down.
Ron and Jack were very red in the face from trying not to laugh at her, everyone else was laughing openly.
Once everyone had claimed down they looked around what was, they realised, the Gryffindor common room. It was a cosy, round room full of squashy armchairs.
Percy stood them in the center of the common room and gave them their room assignments.
Ron and Jack would be in the same dorm with Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas.
Jane would be sharing a dorm with Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, a tall, thin girl named Cassia Fairdale and to everyone, in the dorm's, apparent horror Hermione Bishop
Percy then directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase – for they were obviously in one of the towers – they found their beds at last.
Five four-posters hung with deep-red velvet curtains, sat in a circle room. In the middle of the room was a cast iron wood burner.
Each bed sat between a bedside table and a small wardrobe that contained three narrow draws at the bottom.
Their trunks had already been brought up.
They pulled on their pyjamas and fell into their beds. Lavender and Parvati took the two beds on either side of the bathroom door. Lavender and Hermione had the two beds either side of the door leading out to the corridor. Hermione and Cassia were next to each other. And Jane was between Cassia and Parvati, a narrow window separating her from either bed.
"Great food, isn't it?" Lavender giggled at Parvati.
"Oh yes" replied Parvati loudly.
Jane, who had already got into bed, could hear them through the hangings. After fifteen minutes of non stop, very loud giggling and chattering she was starting to get annoyed.
She heard Hermione flounce out of bed and slam the door.
A few minutes later Hermione returned with someone else.
"My name is Brianna Nightingale, I'm a prefect. I know you're all very excited but it's time to settle down. You're keeping not only your dorm-mates awake but the rest of us as well. I was heading down here to tell you to shut it, when I ran into Hermione, is it"
Jane smiled as the others finally stopped talking and settled into their own beds. Brianna Nightingale turned off the light and left the room.
"Spoilsport" Lavender hissed at Hermione
"Your such a bore" Parvati agreed
"Snitches get stitches" added Cassia
"Oh shut up" snarled Hermione and Jane sensed she was close to tears
"Here's an idea why don't you all shut up and get some sleep" she called, "You can continue this in the morning, if you really want to"
Once the room had fallen into silence Jane fell asleep almost at once.
Perhaps Jane had eaten a bit too much, because she had a very strange dream. She was wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which kept talking to her, telling her she must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was his destiny. Jane told the
turban she didn't belong in Slytherin; it got heavier and heavier; she tried to pull it off but it tightened painfully – and there was Malfoy, laughing at her as she struggled with it – then
Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed teacher, Snape, whose laugh became high and cold – there was a burst of green light and Jane woke, sweating and shaking.
She rolled over and fell asleep again, and when she woke up the next day, she didn't remember the dream at all.
