Chapter 4: The Sorting Hat

The train pulled into the station at about 6:30. A voice on the loudspeaker said to leave all belongings and pets on the train and that they would be brought up separately. I locked Windspirit in her cage. "Don't look at me like that!" I said this because she was glaring at me like I had betrayed her. "I don't want to leave you here anymore than you do. But I don't have a choice!" I said matter of factly. WIndspirit sniffed at me and turned around in her cage so she wasn't looking at me. I sighed. Then I got up and exited the train. From the looks on my sisters faces I could tell that there pets were shunning them as well. We didn't have much time to dwell on this though because a loud voice we recognized called out "First Years! First Years over here!" It was Hagrid. From the look on Diju's face I could tell she would need help. I grasped her hand. She looked at me and smiled."I'll lead you to the school." I told her. "Thanks." she answered. We followed Hagrid across a path leading to a lake. "Five to a Boat!" he called out. Usagi, Hotaru, Hermione, Diju, and I all got into a boat. Then we set off. I was amazed. "The boats moving by itself!" I told Diju. "Really?" she asked. "Really!" I answered. During the rest of the train ride She and I had worked out a code so that she could tell what was going on. It consisted of taps and grips on the hand. We had also talked about our past. I had learned that she was blind because of a disease she had had as a child. During the boat ride I now used the code. I explained to her everything the murky water, the fish, the giant squid tentacle rising out of the water....... GIANT SQUID TENTACLE!?!?!?!? Diju laughed when I said this and when I realized what I had just said. Eventually we came upon a huge castle. I stood there speechless for a few seconds before Diju nudged me and asked what was going on. "There's a giant castle with tons of lights! I think it's Hogwarts!" I told her. After we had seen the castle the others did too. A loud OHH! Had risen from the group. I heard Diju sigh from sadness that she would never see such a beautiful sight. I gently tightened my grip on her hand as if to tell her"It's all right." I was surprised when we went past the castle and into another area. I told Diju this and she pursed her lips as if in deep thought. "Maybe it's because there is no dock near the castle or we are going to another entrance." she said. "Maybe." I replied. I turned to Hermione and asked her what she thought. "I think that Diju's theory is correct." She said. I nodded feeling very reassured. Usagi must have noticed my worry because she said that she read that First years enter a different way into the castle. Sure enough We came into a cave and then saw a landing dock with door surrounded by moss and ivy. I told all this to Diju. Hagrid got out of the boat an knocked on the door. It swung open to reveal a tall women with a no funny business look on her face. I asked the others if they knew who she was. Hotaru, Usagi, and Diju all shrugged. But Hermione whispered that she was Professor McGoneigall(is this how you spell it?). Prof. Mcgoneigall beckoned us forward. As we entered through the door we heard Hagrid shout"Anybody missing a toad?" and the boy with brown hair (who we found out was named Nevil)say"Trevor!" Diju and the others smiled at me. I was to busy being relived that Windspirit hadn't eaten Trevor to notice though. We walked through the door and up a staircase into a room where Mcgoneigall told us to wait in. Once she left we all started to talk at once. I turned to where Draco and Harry where talking. Draco said"You shouldn't hang out with the likes of Weasly Potter. I can help find out where to make real friends." Harry replied"I think I can find out for myself, No thanks!" I was greatly relieved about that. I mean apart from the fact that the Weasly's stared at us, they were extremely nice and welcoming. I did not like the fact that Malfoy was making fun of them. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw something white coming out of the wall. I wasn't the only one. Everyone gasped as the "white stuff" formed into a herd of ghosts. People gasped like me and a few screamed like Nevil. Diju nudged me to explain. "There are a bunch of.. of... Ghosts coming out of the wall!" Diju turned pale with shock. The ghosts now noticing us swept down to welcome us all to Hogwarts. One of them ,a monk, Introduced himself as the fat friar and said he was the head of the Huffelpuff house. Another one that looked like a lord introduced himself a Sir Nicolas Po-he didn't get to finish because someone yelled out"I know you my brothers told me about you! Your nearly headless nick!" I recognized the speaker as Ron. Hermione shouted out"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?" I had to admit it did sound impossible. Nick replied"Like this!" and pulled his head to one side to reveal the inside of his neck and show that it was hanging by short length of ..of ..eww...skin! "What is it?" Diju asked. "You don't wanna know!" I told her. "It must be really gross then!" "It is!" One by one the other Ghosts introduced themselves. There was the bloody baron head ghost of slytherin, Nick who was head of Gryffindor, and the grey lady who was head of Ravenclaw. It was obvious that nick had a crush on the grey lady and I told Diju, Usagi, Hotaru, and Hermione this. They all agreed with me. Soon Prof. Mcgoneigall entered and told us that we were going to be sorted now. She then explained about the sorting hat. I heard Ron say"OH! So you just try on the hat! I'll kill Fred! He said something about wrestling a troll!" I rolled my eyes at this. Honestly boys could be so stupid! We followed the prof. Through the door and into the great hall. I looked up to see that the Ceiling reflected the sky. I told Diju this and she gazed up at the ceiling as if willing herself to see it. Prof. Mcgoneigall carried out a stool and on it she placed the sorting hat. It opened what looked like it's mouth and began to sing a song about the houses. It was rather silly and stupid but I enjoyed it none the less. When it finished we all clapped. Prof. Mc as I know call her took out a list and began reading names off of it. I realized that me and my trips would be in the line for a long time. I also realized that I had never asked Diju her last name. Oh well I thought I'd find out soon enough. But what came next left me completely unprepared.

Malfoy, Diju.

We stared at her open mouthed. She looked at Prof. Mc and said"Um Professor, I'm blind." Prof. Mc replied,"Oh? Draco help your sister find her way to the hat." Draco took his sisters hand from mine and led her to the hat. She put it on. She waited for about 10 seconds before the hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!!!" She got up looking shocked. She had obviously expected to get into Slytherin like the rest of her family Prof. Mc took her hand and led her to the Gryffindor table. There was no applause for her like there was for the others. Everyone was too shocked to move. I silently promised myself that I would get a full explanation from Diju the moment that I got the chance. Diju sat next to Hermione who scooted over to make room. This was hard considering that Lavender who she was sitting next to did not want to make room for a Malfoy. No matter how nice Diju was. Draco of course got into Slytherin. Before he sat down he sent a sympathetic look to his sister. One by one everyone in line got called until the trips were the only ones left.

"TENIOH, HOTARU" Prof. Mc called out. Hotaru walked up to the sorting hat and put it on. Usagi and I looked at each other and crossed our fingers. One minute later the hat shouted"GRYFFINDOR!" and Hotaru walked to the table and sat next to Hermione.

"TENIOH, MERANA," she called out. Did I mention that Merana is my full name? Well now you know, I call myself Mera because I don't like my name though everyone says it's a great name, Ha! They should try having Merana for a name!. I nervously walked up to the stool and put on the hat. "Hmm, very loyal and brave. Vengeful and clever, a prankster, Oh my you would do well in Slytherin." the hat said. "NO! Not Slytherin!" I thought with all my might. I can't be in a different house that my sisters! Please not Slytherin! "Oh? Not slytherin? Well better be"GRYFFINDOR!" I stood up and took the hat off. Feeling very relived I walked to the Gryffindor table and sat in between Hotaru and Diju. The congratulated me and then we looked up to Usagi.

"TENIOH, SERENITY!" Did I mention That Usagi is her Japanese name? She hated her name to so she went for the Japanese version Usagi. Usagi walked up to the stool and put the hat on. In about 0.1 seconds It Shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" We clapped our hardest and all scooted over to make room for her. The sorting was now done. An old man at the front of the room stood up and said "I am Albus Dumbledor.I am the headmaster of this school please rise for the school's national anthem. He took out his wand and ribbons came out and formed words which I signaled to Diju so she could sing them. It was extremely funny and entertaining and since we were allowed to pick our own tunes some of us were finished before others. Finally only Fred, George, Diju, Me, Usagi, Hermione, and Hotaru were left singing. This was because we had chosen a very slow funeral march. When we had finished Dumbledor clapped louder than the rest and muttered "ah! Music! Magic for the soul!" or something like that. "Now I would like to tell you the rules for this year. The third floor corridor is out-of-bounds this year to all of you who do not wish to die a painful death. When he said that I looked at my friends and we made a silent promise to get into the corridor even if it was the last thing we did. Dumbledor continued. I would Like to take some time to tell the first years that the Forbidden forest is ...well.. Forbidden and to remind some of my older students as well. I sneaked a look at Fred and George and knew that they were the older students. Dumbledor continued. Now before you begin to eat I would like to say a few words, which he did. They were in Latin so I translated for the table. He had said: Never poke a sleeping dragon. Now dig in!" "How?" I asked. DIju pointed to the platters they were now full of food."How did you- "I began but then my stomach growled so I dug in. After eating all I could without blowing up I listened to the conversation that was at the table. It was about their families. One kid said"I'm half-blood. Me dads a muggle and me mums a witch. She didn't tell him until after they got married. A bit of a nasty shock for him." We all laughed.

Nevil shared his story about how everyone thought he was a squib. And how his uncle kept trying to get him to show some magic by: a. pushing him off a pier and b. Holding him out of a second -story window. Usagi , Hotaru, and I told them about our family.

"Well our mother died right after we were born from blood-loss. Our father was a rich scientist. But....... he never had time for us. So he hired nannies all the time. They never stayed for long. When we turned 3 we got a nanny named Kaori, She was really mean. She slapped me if my room wasn't clean or if we didn't eat all our food or if we came home late from school. And this from when we were 3 to when we were 5. Then one day our dad got real sick so he couldn't take care of us. Kaori was dismissed and we were put up for adoption. Thats when Michuru-mama and Haraku-papa adopted us. And we have been with them ever since." we took turns telling the story. Someone said"HAraku, and Michuru? I heard they were dating but they are both girls! If they are your foster parents then that means your rich twice! Once from your real parents and once from them!" Another said "there both girls thats wrong!" To that person I stood up and held up my fists and said

"Gotta problem with our parents, Huh?" Usagi pulled me down before I could hurt them though. All of a sudden Dumbledor stood up and said" Now that your all fed I am leaving it to the prefects to lead you to your common rooms." Percy stood up and said "First years follow me!" we stood up and followed. He led us out of the great hall and through a series of hallways stairs and once even a tapestry and a ton of secret passages. While we were walking through one hallway we stopped. "Why did you stop?" Diju asked. "There appears to be a bunch of psycho killer walking sticks floating in the air and are throwing themselves at people." I told her with a straight face. "In other words we should head for cover?" she said seriously.

"Yep." I replied "HEAD FOR COVER!!!!!!!" I shouted. Everyone in our group ran to hide under chairs, tables, etc. Percy walked up to the walking sticks and said "Peeves! Stop it now or I will have to tell the bloody baron!" Suddenly a ghost appeared. He was holding the walking sticks. He stuck his tongue out at Percy and dissappeared. Dropping the walking sticks on Percy's head. Slowly we came out of our hiding places. "Who was that?" Diju asked Percy. He smiled at her "That was Peeves he is the school's poltergeist." he said. "The bloody barons the only one who can control him." Usagi grinned at me. So did Hotaru. They said in Unison "Merana! You have just met your soul mate!" I grimaced at the use of my full name. They said this because in case you didn't get the hint from the sorting hat, I am a major prankster. We came to the a picture of a fat lady in a beautiful pink dress. "Password?" she said. 'Did that painting just talk?" I said. "Yes it did. They all do. You get used to it!" Percy replied. "The password is caput draconis." the painting swung open to reveal a red and gold common room."First years are on the first floor. Girls to the right boys to the left." Percy said pointing to two stair cases one on the right side of the room one on the left side of the room. We walked up the girls staircase to the first floor. There were 5 doors each one had five names on it. I checked each one.

The last one said: Merana(don't they ever get my name right?) Hotaru, Usagi, Diju, and Hermione. She turned the knob and entered. Inside were five four poster beds all with red hangings. My sis's and Friends entered behind me. "WHOA! Tacky color!" remarked Usagi and Hotaru and me. I took out my wand and going to the bed by the window (where all my stuff was by and letting WIndspirit out of her cage and noticing that she's still ignoring me) I changed the colors on the bed. The red hangings became turquoise, and the sheets became Sea foam green. "Anyone else want a different color?" I offered."Oh! I want blue and purple!" shouted Hotaru happily. "I want white and neon green!" Said Usagi. Soon I had changed every single one of the bed colors. "Why don't we change the wall color now?" Hermione suggested. "Why not?" I said. Everyone grabbed their wands and started shooting color everywhere. I even did some designs on the walls and sheets. By the time that the prefect came in to check on the first years to make sure that they had all settled in for there first night, the walls were all tye-dyed in a swirl of colors with four-leaf clovers, peace signs, and American and Japanese and British flags decorating the walls. The prefect stood there gaping with her mouth wide open. Finally she shook her head and said "I don't wanna know." than laughing she closed the door. We smiled looking at each other. I described it all to Diju. And then we retired for the night. As we turned the lights off and got comfy I realized that I had not seen Windy since she had run out of the door to escape getting color on her coat. Oh well She can take care of herself. I reasoned. Then I feel asleep.