CHAPTER 3

FOUR GIRLS, FOUR HOUSES

         Keith woke up early the next morning to find his Monster Book trying to bite the mirror.  He pulled it away and petted it until it finally went to sleep.  After apologizing to the mirror, Keith went downstairs to a relatively empty Leaky Cauldron.  His Aunt Shari was talking to the bar keep and Keith could feel the same warmth coming from her that he felt when they first got there.  He sighed and headed over to her.  She smiled at him as he came to her.

          "Ready to head home for the next two days?" She asked.  She gave him a new trunk that she had bought him, he took it upstairs and when he was done packing, he noticed that he had managed to fit four trunks worth of luggage into the trunk and still had a lot of space to go.  Deciding not to question exactly how it worked Keith said goodbye to his mirror and headed toward the door back to the muggle world. 

          The ride back home was very uneventful next to the day in Diagon Alley.  After seeing all of the books, and items that the wizarding world had Keith couldn't imagine exactly what Hogwartz would be like.  But he knew it would be spectacular.

          When he got home his mother wanted to look at all of his new equipment and his father wanted to read all of his books.  Keith gave them everything but his charm book "Charms and Hexes for beginners by Professor Flitwick."  He took it upstairs to his room and pulled out the shattered remains of his ocarina.  He pulled out his wand feeling the warmth spread through him again.  He flipped through the book until he found exactly what he wanted.  Swishing he wand over his head he pointed at the shattered ocarina and spoke.

          "Occulus Repairo."

          Instantly the shards of his ocarina bonded together and his ocarina looked better than ever.  Smiling Keith scooped up his ocarina and blew a note into it.  The sound was as crisp and clear as ever.  He smiled and put his ocarina pocket.  Closing his book and putting he wand in his drawer, Keith headed back down stairs only to hear the sound of screaming from the kitchen.  He ran down the remaining stairs in time to see his Monster book come scuttling out of the kitchen.  Not waiting to find out what had happened Keith dove at his book, snatched it up, and stroked its bridge.  It fell flat instantly. 

          His mother come running out looking at the book in shock, a stain of spilt tea on her shirt, followed by his father who had a large bruise forming on his nose from where the book had apparently bit him.  "Keith," his mother asked looking sadly at the stain on her shirt, "why did you buy that book? First years don't even take that class."  Keith explained to her about seeing the book in the pen looking so ragged and torn.  His mother looked at him for a second, smiled and then took his father back into the kitchen to talk.  Keith took the Monster book upstairs and laid it on his bed.  It scuttled around on the bed for a while and then fell asleep on his pillow. 

          When the day finally came to leave for Hogwartz, Keith's Aunt Shari woke him up with a playful but sharp kick to his side.  He fell out of his bed to the sound of her voice telling him to hurry up or he would miss the train.  Waking up and still feeling groggy, Keith got his wand and ocarina.  Then, after spending twenty minutes leering his Monster book into his trunk, Keith went downstairs for his last breakfast at home.  His mother had made him a huge breakfast that he wasn't able to finish half of.  After he tried to force himself to eat it and failed, his Aunt Shari grabbed his trunk and threw it into the back of a cab waiting outside. 

          In the cab Aunt Shari gave Keith's his train ticket.  He glanced at it; "Hogwartz Express, Platform 9¾."  Platform 9¾?  He handed the ticket to his Aunt and pointed out the mistake when she simply smiled and told him to wait and see. 

          When they finally reached King's Cross Station, they only had ten minutes for when the train was suppose to leave.  Hurrying Aunt Shari led Keith to the brick barrier between Platform 9 and Platform 10.  She slowly led Keith around it until she quite suddenly threw Keith into it.  He closed his eyes sure he would slam into it when he suddenly flew right through it and when he opened his eyes he was standing on another platform.  He looked at the incredibly long steam engine with the golden letter:  Hogwartz Express written across it.  He turned to see a large brick wall behind him.  Suddenly his Aunt appeared behind him with his trunk.  Not giving him anytime to say anything she threw him onto the train and loaded his trunk into the back.  She kissed him goodbye, looked around at all the middle-aged men around her, smiled, and as the train left the station Keith began to feel a familiar warmth radiating from his Aunt again.

          The trip to Hogwartz was quiet for a little while, Keith had somehow managed to find a compartment to himself but was feeling far too nervous to go and talk to any of the other first years that were running around the train.  He was just wishing he had at least had his Monster Book to keep him company when there was a knock on his open compartment door.  Keith looked over to see a short, pretty girl with freckles and brownish-red hair peeking in.

          "Mind if I sit in here," she asked politely, "all the other compartments are full?" 

          "Uh...sure," Keith said motioning to the seat across from him.  The girl walked in wearing her school robes already and a very energetic, friendly face.  She shook his hand as she sat down.

          "I'm Katie," she said smiling, "Katie Weakly."

          "I'm Keith Smiths."  She sat down and right away Keith could tell she was a very talkative person.  She was very kind and clearly born and raised as a witch.  She understood more than Keith did about the wizarding world and Keith listened to her intently.  She wasn't very good at not talking though, once she started Keith couldn't seem to stop her but he was more of a listener anyway.  She seemed so eager to see how they would be sorted and Keith had to stop her to ask.

          "What do you mean 'sorted'?"  He asked.

          Before Katie could answer the door opened again.  Keith and Katie both glanced over to see another girl looking in.  She seemed to be the exact opposite of Katie.  She was tall, and her skin was fairly pale.  She had short black hair and a very stern look on her face. 

          "Can I sit in here," she asked in a fairly sharp tone, "all these kids walking running around are starting annoy me?"  Without waiting for a response the girl sat down next to Keith.  Katie glanced at her with an air of instant dislike on her face.  "I'm Marsha," the girl said, "Marsha Philman."  Katie was silent for a moment and then began talking again; Marsha was silent and seemed to be slightly bored by Katie's conversation.        

          Nearly an hour into the ride Katie had finally stopped talking for a while.  They were sitting in silence when they heard a voice shouting through the halls.  "WING!  WING GET BACK HERE NOW!"  Keith looked toward the still open door in time to see a small gray falcon fly into the compartment and landed at Keith's feet.  It looked up at him and cawed at him happily.  A girl came running into the room and looked down at the falcon at Keith's feet.  She was about the same height as Keith with a deep tan, a head of bright blonde hair and baby blue eyes.  She had on very faded jeans that gave the impression of a lot of outdoors work.  There was a very thick brown glove on her right hand. 

          "Wow," she said looking at Wing, "he's never gone near anyone before."  She whistled and Wing flew onto the brown glove.  She glanced up at Keith and smiled brightly at him.  "I'm Trisha Brown.  Nice to meet you."  She turned and headed out.

          "She could've said hello to us."  Marsha said, sounding annoyed.

          When the train finally arrived Keith had to fight his way threw a large crowd of students to get out.  He almost instantly lost sight of Katie and Marsha and was thrown to the ground as someone slammed into him.  He looked up to see a short black girl with long black hair tied into a ponytail.  She wore a yellow blouse with a picture of a butterfly on it.  "I'm...I'm sorry."  She gasped, and before Keith could say anything, she had disappeared into the crowd again. 

          Keith walked off the train into a huge turret of students who practically shoved him into a long line leading toward a long line of boats in a large lake.  He heard a voice saying "two to a boat," but he couldn't see who said it.  He sat down in a boat and was quickly joined by Marsha.  Before he could wonder where they were going the boat began to move on its own.  Keith could see something off in the distance that he quickly recognized as an incredibly large castle.  He could see light coming from several windows in incredibly large towers and what looked like some type of arena or stadium in a large grassy field near a large forest.  The boats pulled into an incredible tunnel under the castle and Keith saw a huge man with a head of shaggy gray hair and a long shaggy gray beard ahead of him.  He led them up a long flight of stairs up to the main entrance of the castle. 

          Keith looked amazed at the size of the castle.  It was so huge that all of the first years around him fit inside it perfectly; there was a huge marble staircase to the side and a beautiful line of paintings all around it.  Keith looked up at the painting and his jaw dropped to see that they were all waving down at him.  He was about to wave back when he heard the sound of someone approaching. 

          Keith turned to see a beautiful Asian woman standing at the head of the stairs.  She had on a long black robe with a strange blue badge on it and a pointed wizards hat.  "Gather around please," she said motioning for all the first years to surround her, "gather around.  Welcome to Hogwartz everyone.  I am Professor Cho Chang.  Now in a minute you are going to be sorted and then you can join your classmates.  However, I want to tell you all about the House Cup first.  During your school year any good deeds will earn you points but any rule breaking will make you lose points.  At the end of the year we award the house with the most points the house cup.  Now before please follow me."

          Professor Chang led them into the main hall.  It was full of students all sitting on four very long tables.  Professor Chang led them toward another long table at the back of the room that seemed to be for the faculty.  In front of the faculty table was a very worn stool and an even more worn looking wizard's hat.  It had a very tattered section of it that look almost like a mouth.  Next to it was another young female teacher that looked similar to Katie, except she had fiery red hair and her freckles were more personified.  She glanced at them all with a very shy friendly smile. 

          "This is Professor Ginny Weasly," Chang said as she unrolled a very long list, "when I call your name, sit down, she will place the sorting hat on you head, and you will be sorted."  At those words the hat actually began to move, the cut in it began to shift and it actually began to sing:

Dear First Years from far and wide,

Do not look so scared.

I the sorting hat am here,

To ease all of your cares.

So relax and sit here on this stool

And try me on for size

I'll tell you were your suppose to go,

For this chapter of your life.

Are you perhaps a Gryffindor,

Brave, courageous, and true,

Fearless strong and proud they are

Is that the path for you?

Perhaps you belong in Hufflepuff,

Friendly and loyal.

Together through thick and thin,

Through all joys and toils.

Maybe in Ravenclaw,

The talented and the wise.

Exploring for more knowledge,

Throughout their lives.

Or are you meant for Slytherin,

The determined and set.

Those will do anything,

To achieve their end.

So be a peace as you sit,

And be brave young child.

I guarantee that you time here,

Will be happy, fun and wild.

The hat stopped singing and the entire hall busted into applause.  When the applause died Professor Chang read the list. 

          "Katie Weasly."

          Katie pushed her way through the crowd and smiled at Keith as she saw him.  Then she sat on the stole as Professor Weasly put the hat on her head.

          "Another Weasly," the hat said aloud, "no need to question it.  GRYFFINDOR!"  The hall exploded into applause as Katie took of the hand and skipped over to the Gryffindor table. 

          "Trisha Brown."

          Trisha made her way to the stool and smiled at Keith too.  The hat went onto her head and fit her fairly well.  It was silent for a few moment, then suddenly..."RAVENCLAW!"  Trisha smiled and ran over to the cheering Ravenclaw table. 

          "Lucy Jordan."

          Keith saw the small, shy, black girl he had slammed into on the train take her seat.  She was blushing and looked incredibly nervous as the hat went over her head and fell over her eyes.  It only took about three seconds for the hat to decide.  "HUFFLEPUFF!"  Lucy took of the hat and jogged over to the Hufflepuff table where she quickly sat down.

          "Marsha Philman."

          Marsha pushed her way to the stool.  The hat was on her head for a very long time.  For a moment it actually sounded like it might scream gryffindor but then it sounded out "SLYTHERIN!"  Marsha shrugged and walked over to the Slytherin table, seemingly ignoring the applause from the Slytherin table. 

          Keith looked around to see that all four of the girls he had met were all scattered into four different houses.  He also noticed that all four of them, even Lucy who had only known him few seconds, seemed focused on him.

          "Keith Smiths."

          Keith made his way through the crowd and sat on the stool, which wobbled a little under his weight.  The hat fit onto him comfortably and he could hear a voice in his head.  "Hmm.  Rare, very rare, such pure talent.  A desire to learn, a desire to love.  Well, this isn't very difficult."  The hat screamed out:  "RAVENCLAW!"  He went over to the Ravenclaw table and sat next to Trisha who seemed very pleased with herself.