The time until 27 August, the day when Ruby and her parents planned to go to London and stay at the Leaky Cauldron, went on as if time had been flying. Ruby had received excited letters of her friends who were glad for her but also sad that they now wouldn't see during school term anymore. Ruby had grinned at that. If they just knew! But she wouldn't tell them now. Perhaps later when the first pranks had been played.
On beforementioned date Ruby was ready. She stood in the Hall, her trunk and bookbox next to her, Witty on her shoulder, and her broom (an Air Swish 50-4) in her hand. She was waiting for her parents so that they could bewitch her stuff and then fly off to London on their brooms as...
"Oh no, dad, please not that thing!!"
Her father had just entered the hall – carrying a big rolled carpet. He had bought it when he once had been in India on a Ministry's purpose. And he thought it to be a good instrument for family's travelling. Once he had flown Ruby with that thing to Carey – who laughed about that during almost the full rest of the summer.
"Why not, darling? It's much more comfortable than the broomstick, isn't it?"
"Why can't we use Floo Powder or a Portkey like decent people?" Ruby grumbled.
"Because the American and British Floo Networks aren't yet harmonized enough, as I certainly told you about a hundred times. Who knows where we might come out?"
"And you know your father's attitude towards Portkeys." Ruby's mother who just had entered the hall, too, butted in.
Oh yes, Ruby knew. When her father had been but 5 he had played outside with an old rotten piece of wood. He didn't know it had been a Portkey for a family two hours ago. Something had gone wrong with it and suddenly Ruby's father had found himself in Egypt! Fortunately he had been spotted immediately by an Egyptian wizard and the mess could be sorted out quite quickly but it had been such a shock that Ruby's father had been extraordinary suspicious against Portkeys ever since that. Ruby sighed. Why couldn't he just stay at home and let her and her mom go alone – with a Portkey? But now it was too late. Too less time to organize a Port Key now. So she had to give in and travel by carpet – how embarassing! That surely wasn't suitable to cheer her up.
On late evening of 28 August they reached London (they had spent the night at an island in the middle of the ocean placed there for travelling wizards). Her father landed the carpet on the roof of the Leaky Cauldron and immediately the invisibility function stopped working. They hurried to get down into the building. Fortunately it was dark so they didn't cause any attention in the Muggle streets.
Ruby had to share a room together with her parents but she didn't care. The long trip had exhasuted her and she dozed off almost immediately Witty on the pillow next to her head.
When Ruby awoke the next morning her parents were still fast asleep. She quietly dressed and was about to leave the room as behind her a high scolding began. Ruby turned and saw Witty sit at the pillow looking hurt that Ruby hadn't waked her up to take her with her. Ruby hastily excused then placed Witty on her favourite place, the shoulder (Ruby's mother has sewed soft pillows into all of the left shoulders of Ruby's clothes).
Ruby didn't bother to eat brakfast. She wanted to have a look at Diagon Alley. In the backyard she tapped the third brick from the left above the dustbin as explained in the Hogwarts letter and then watched the archway appearing. Behind that Diagon Alley opened and Ruby stepped in.
"Not that bad but no comparison to Merlin Avenue, eh Witty?"
Ruby had obviously decided to find everything not-too-impressive. She walked some steps looking around as she found her worst opinions about British boys supported: right next to her were four red-haired freckled boys standing around a red-haired plump woman with a red-haired girl on her hand. The woman was for some reason scolding two of the boys, obviously twins. One of them rolled his eyes.Then looking up and spotting Ruby he gave her a cheeky grin and blinked at her causing the woman to scold even more. Ruby catched phrases like "no respect" and "wait till I tell your father". Ruby walked on. She was sure these boys would be at Hogwarts, too, so she would probably see more than enough of them.
She didn't buy any school things (her parents were responsible for that) and so merely walked through the Alley watching the people and shops. Soon she noticed that she caughte people's eyes. Younger children gazed at Witty who seemingly enjoyed that kind of attention, Hogwarts students of ruby's age seemed to wonder why they didn't know her. But Ruby didn't talk to anybody. They would find out soon enough.
Ruby was thinking about buying some ice cream as she heard her name being called out. Blushing (she hated that) she turned and found her parents storm over to her looking worried.
"So here you are, young lady! What did you think you were doing, eh?"
At that moment the red-haired family passed her and the twins catching her father's words looked over, one of them grinning again. Ruby scowled and not wanting to appear like an idiot she answered quickly.
"Dad! I turn 15 in September! I can walk along a street without protection, y'know?"
"But not in a foreign country!" her mother looking relieved now that she had found her daughter said resolutely "I think you capable of strolling around that Muggle streets outside!"
"Good idea! Shall we go?"
But her father wasn't in the mood for jokes now.
"Ruby! What's wrong with you? You usually are a obedient girl. Is it just because you're sent to Hogwarts? We thought it had been your decision, too?"
Ruby didn't want a quarrel. She wanted her parents to leave with a rather good feeling. They were capable of forewarning her future teachers. And that surely would spoil her plans. So she just muttered "Sorry." and then went shopping with her parents. She avoided contact with the other people, especially those who looked like Hogwarts students. She only wanted to get her things and then spent the rest of time until train leaving at the Leaky Cauldron.
That evening Ruby was alone at their room. Her parents were out in Diagon Alley to search for some unusual British souvenir. Ruby had suggested them to buy that in Muggle London for there they would rather find something but they didn't value her suggestion too much.
Ruby stood in front of the mirror (which kept on telling her that she'd look neat) wearing her new school robes. They were plain and black. So very unalike her old royal blue ones which she had secretly stuffed into her trunk. Witty didn't bother to talk Ruby into not wearing these anymore. She sat on Ruby's pillow sucking happily at a piece of orange fruit.
The next two days Ruby stayed at the Leaky Cauldron as she had planned. Her parents couldn't make her get out of it. Ruby just refused to go pretending she wasn't feeling well.
At September the first however she really wasn't well. In her stomach was a great lump and her eyes now and then filled with tears no matter how strong Ruby was trying to fight them back. There was a voice in the back of her head telling her constantly that she now could be at Carey's place chattering along with her and Edith.
At 10am Ruby and her parents entered King's Cross. Train would be leaving at 11 o'clock but Ruby wanted to be there as early as possible so there wouldn't be too much people on the platform. However the station itself was rather packed with people.
"Have they never seen a student on her way to boarding-school before?" Ruby growled as again somebody was looking strangely at her big trunk and the parcels on it. "At home we had an own entrance and no annoying Muggles..."
"Don't bother, darling." her mother tried to soothe her "Platform nine and three-quarters' over there."
Ruby's mother didn't need the instructions of the letter. She remembered very well. Ruby had no problem with walking through the barier, it wasn't very different at Washington Station. The platform wasn't very full. In fact it was rather empty. Ruby was happy to be here so early for in about half an hour it would surely have been overloaded. So she had enough time to find an empty compartment of which she had quite a big choice. Her mother sighed.
"Always went in the last minutes...everything full of course...but could rely on Liz holding me a seat." she was revelling in memories "Wish your granny could see you now."
Ruby's British grandmother had been a witch, too, and died two years ago. About Ruby's grandfather no one ever spoke. She had never got to know him.
She finally found a compartment at the very end of the train and settled down there. She immediately closed the door of it in the hope that nobody would disturb her then. She wanted to practice her curly-hair charm. But her parents refused to let her stay in the compartment until the train would leave so she left the train again and stood with her parents while the platform filled with people. Ruby was thankful that everybody was so busy with themselves that nobody took notice of her. Her parents kept on giving her advices and instructions concerning her behaviour.
"Remember you're a kind of diplomat now. You don't want them to get a wrong impression of us Americans do you?" her father said several times.
What did he think? That Ruby was deaf? Her mother noticed that this admonition wouldn't work so she told her
"I'm sure you will like it once you are there. You had no serious problems at Salem Institution and I'm sure you won't have at Hogwarts, too." and she played her last trump card "Don't be a shame for me, ok?"
Ruby groaned inwardly. She hated it when her mother said that together with her trusting and smiling face. It always meant an unclear conscience. How was Ruby supposed to do anything against the rules with that picture of her mom in the head??
It was time to leave the platform now so Ruby hugged her parents a last time then climbed back into the train. She was happy that she already had her compartment. Asking one of those British would have given away her American origins and she wasn't in the mood of answering questions.
However when she entered "her" compartmnet she found that she wasn't alone anymore. A pair of over-excited twin girls (first-years by the looks of them) stood at the window talking to their parents. Ruby was very in the mood of bullying them away but as their and her parents were standing at the window that wasn't possible. She said goodbye to her parents again as the train started moving. Then she sat down making sure she had a window seat before the twins took both. As they finally, too, sat down Ruby was still thinking about a possibility of getting rid of them. She wanted to be alone. Witty couldn't stay in Ruby's pocket forever and she wanted to practise! The girls were now that their parents weren't with them anymore rather intimidated and dared hardly to look at Ruby whho scowled at them all the time.
Finally they seemed to have get it and hurried out of the compartment. Immediately Ruby slid the door closed and also closed the purple curtains so that nobody could see into it. Then she released Witty who happily flew some rounds through the compartment then settled down on Ruby's knee watched her practising her charm and gave cheeky comments on the results.
"Oh yes, now you have it! – oh wait, no, sorry, my mistake." … "Shouldn't you emphasize the words in another way?" … "Woah, yes, you should! Nice effect though! Look at those colours!" … "Is that smoke emitting from the back of your head?"
It was only when Ruby threatened (playingly) to practise the charm on Witty that she went silent and reduced her "comments" on shaking the head as a sign that the charm still wasn't right. After an hour of practice Ruby gave up. She decided to let her hair rest a bit – and hoped that her hat would hide it later. Witty got tired and scrambled back into Rubys chest pocket where she curled up and dozed away.
Shortly before lunchtime the twin girls came back. They had a determined look on their faces as if they had decided to stay in the compartment now and not to leave it whatever Ruby would do or say. But she was so frustrated about her many useless tryings that she left them in peace. She only thought about how long they might have discussed about whether to go back into the compartment or not. Ruby liked being the older one. She could remember her first travel to Salem Institution just too well. She had had the bad luck to sit in a compartment which had been chosen as regular compartment of some older students. She had to leave it and spend the travel outside on the corridor as everywhere else had been full. There she had got to know Carey and Edith: they had invited her to come into their compartment and the three of them shared two seats and later everything else, too. Ruby smiled at that memory as a witch with a trolley stopped at the door and asked if they would like to buy something. Ruby was delighted. She had heard about Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and Cauldron Cakes. She also bought some chocolate frogs to start a new collection (of course they had had different cards at her home).
The rest of the journey she tried to ignore the twins who chatted along endlessly. As the afternoon drew on the landscape became wilder and the sky darker. Ruby became more and more nervous. She pulled out the letter and skimmed it again. Sorting ceremony – what might this Sorting be? Her mother had told her much about Hogwarts before Ruby went to school and still had been hoping for being accepted at Hogwarts. But she ahd forgot most of that and once she had been at Salem Institution she had found it to be the best school in the world and hadn't been too interested in her mother's old school stories anymore. In the last days her mother had told much about it again and now Ruby wished she had been listening more attentively. She only remembered that there had been different houses (What a rubbish! she thought) and the students had been sorted according to their abilities. Her mother had been a Raveclawing or something like this. But what were the names of the other houses??? And how would the Sorting be done? Their abilities…would the students have to perform a charm or so? But what would Muggle-borns do then? Ruby couldn't help becoming even more nervous. She considered to ask the girls but decided not to. She would find out soon enough.
Then they began to change into their black school robes and Ruby took out her Salem robes. They looked curiously at her but didn't dare say anything. Ruby felt good. She loved the light feeling of her robes and was always surprised about how warm they could be if required.
Finally the train stopped and Ruby left it together with the other students who looked at her with surprised faces. Some of them asked her inquisitive questions but Ruby ignored them. She looked around where to go as she heard a deep voice coming from one end of the dark platform.
"Firs'-years and Miss Riders! Over here! Firs'-years and Miss Riders"
Ruby rolled her eyes. That had been even worse than her parents calling out her name in Diagon Alley. She turned towards the voice – and frozed. There was a huge man, at least double the size of a normal man, with a lantern in his hand now gathering a group of first-years around him some of them gaping up at him. Next to that man the small children looked even smaller, nobody of the older students seemed to be surprised about the sheer size of the man. There even was a "Hi Hagrid!" or "Had a good summer, Hagrid?" here and there when they passed him. So his name was Hagrid and this Hagrid was now that Ruby had joined the group leading them down a slippery and dark way.
They finally came to a halt at a big black sea. At the other end against the dark sky Ruby could see a huge even darker castle with many towers and battlements. Many of the hundreds and hundreds of windows were lit and made it look a cosy place. Ruby was gaping forgetting her intention be not too impressed for a moment. She barely noticed that she entered a boat together with the twin girls who looked nervously at her than stared back at the castle like erveryone else. Silently they flooded over the lake and Ruby felt like in a dream – she didn't notice much of her surroundings until they finally all stood in front of a big gate. Hagrid knocked three times.
The door opened and a severe looking witch (Hagrid called her Professor McGonagall) now took the group of students. The entrance hall was big – it reminded Ruby of the hall at Salem Institution – and the familiar lump in her throat came back. She suddenly felt an urge to turn and run away but instead she followed the witch just as the others did into a small chamber next to what seemed to be the dining hall (there was a loud buzz of voices coming from the doors). In the chamber they all stood very huddled together and the first-years were looking even more nervous than Ruby was feeling herself.
Professor McGonagall was welcoming them all (thankfully Ruby noticed that she wasn't mentioned separate this time – although the Professor gave her a sharp look) and told them that the Sorting ceremony would take place before the feast would began. Now at last Ruby heard the proper names of the houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Ruby didn't understand what the point in sorting the students was. It only meant competition in her eyes. The witch adviced them to wait silently then left the chamber.
Nervousness flooded over Ruby again. She straighented her robes, made sure that her hat was in the right place and checked that the lump that was Witty wasn't sticking out too much. Two steps aside her were a tall red-haired boy (hadn't she seen him anywhere before?) and a skinny very short one with black hair. The black-haired asked the other one what the Sorting would be. And to Ruby's horror the red-head answered he had been told it would hurt. What were these Brits on? She was wondering what might have been waiting for them as the next shock stroke her: about twenty ghost came hovering into the chamber. Ghosts??? Ruby hadn't expected them! At Salem Institution ghosts weren't allowed because they had been helping students to cheat in exams in former times. Ruby didn't know Hogwarts had ghosts. The urge to run away grew ever bigger and bigger. Then the Professor came back and led them in a line into the Grat Hall as she had called the dining hall.
As Ruby entered the room she couldn't help but gape. It was huge with four long tables full of chattering students, there were golden plates and goblets everywhere (the bowls however seemed to be empty – didn't the witch say anything about a feast?) at one side of the hall was the teacher's table where the students were filing up now. Ruby could see many of the other students pointing at her and whispering. She knew she was noticeable because of her height and the different-coloured robes…and she did what she had doubted to ever do: she wished she had been arriving with the teachers one week ago! The Sorting wasn't going to happen in front of all these students, was it??
Then Ruby saw some of the first-years staring up at the ceiling, she did so, too, and couldn't believe it: there was none at all! Directly over thousands of hovering candles was the black starry sky. After a moment of surprise Ruby thought that there had to be a ceiling. It was too warm in the hall. She thought hard about how the ceiling might have been enchanted. As she looked down again she noticed that there was a stool in front of the students now bearing a large old hat which had started to sing a song about the four houses. Sounded as if they only had to put on that hat and it'd be sorting them. Ruby was relieved. That couldn't be too difficult. As the hat had finished the song the hall burst into applause and cheering. It seemed to be a big thing here. Well, ok, a speaking hat wasn't really that bad – Ruby was again in her I'm-not-impressed-at-all-mood now that she knew she wasn't going to make a fool of herself in front of the whole school. Now Professor McGonagall now holding a large scroll of parchment in her hands spoke again.
"When I call out your name, you will put on the Hat and sit on the stool. When the Hat announces your house, you will go and sit at the appropriate table." Great! Ruby thought, How am I to know which is the appropriate one?
"First year.
Abbott, Hannah!"
As a girl with pink face and blonde pig-tails stumbled forward Ruby grew more gloomily. Great! she thought again, So I'll be the last one to be sorted. Just what I have been hoping for! And again she wished to have arrived one week ago.
The girl became a Hufflepuff, the next one, too. At least Ruby now knew how to recognise the right table: the students on it burst out in laud clapping and cheers when one was announced to join them. The Sorting went on and the group in front of the teachers table grew steadily smaller. The hat seemed to take different amounts of time to sort each student. The twin girls were sorted into different houses (Ravenclaw and Gryffindor). Ruby began to feel a bit bored until
"Potter, Harry!"
Ruby was stunned. THE Harry Potter?? Obviously the other students in the hall were discussing the same question. Needless to say she knew about the Boy Who Lived. Quickly she counted the years – of course, he now was about to start his magical education. Ruby was even more stunned when the skinny short chap who had been standing next to the tall red-head went to the stool. She had imagined the great Harry Potter to be a bit of a more impressive stature. He had his back to Ruby so she couldn't see his scar although she would have liked to.
It took quite a while until the hat cried out
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Gryffindor table almost exploded – so loud was the cheering and clapping. Harry went over to them and had to shake several hands until he could sit down. Ruby recognised the twin brothers she had seen at Diagon Alley shouting "We have Potter! We have Potter!".
The rest of the sorting was nothing important anymore after that eruption but Ruby noticed that the red-haired boy ("Weasley, Ronald!") joined Potter at Gryffindor table under the cheer of three other red-heads. Two of them the twins. They seemed to be brothers which would explain why Ruby had had the feeling she would have seen him before. It must have been at Diagon Alley when they had surrounded their mother scolding the twins.
It couldn't take too much time anymore. And soon enough Ruby was the only one standing there. She felt her ears and cheeks burn. Everybody in the hall seemed to look at her and a quiet hissing lay over the sea of pointed black hats in front of her.
Professor McGonagall read out
"Fifth year.
Riders, Ruby!"
Nervously Ruby stepped forwarded, settled down on the stool and McGonagall placed the old hat on her head…
On beforementioned date Ruby was ready. She stood in the Hall, her trunk and bookbox next to her, Witty on her shoulder, and her broom (an Air Swish 50-4) in her hand. She was waiting for her parents so that they could bewitch her stuff and then fly off to London on their brooms as...
"Oh no, dad, please not that thing!!"
Her father had just entered the hall – carrying a big rolled carpet. He had bought it when he once had been in India on a Ministry's purpose. And he thought it to be a good instrument for family's travelling. Once he had flown Ruby with that thing to Carey – who laughed about that during almost the full rest of the summer.
"Why not, darling? It's much more comfortable than the broomstick, isn't it?"
"Why can't we use Floo Powder or a Portkey like decent people?" Ruby grumbled.
"Because the American and British Floo Networks aren't yet harmonized enough, as I certainly told you about a hundred times. Who knows where we might come out?"
"And you know your father's attitude towards Portkeys." Ruby's mother who just had entered the hall, too, butted in.
Oh yes, Ruby knew. When her father had been but 5 he had played outside with an old rotten piece of wood. He didn't know it had been a Portkey for a family two hours ago. Something had gone wrong with it and suddenly Ruby's father had found himself in Egypt! Fortunately he had been spotted immediately by an Egyptian wizard and the mess could be sorted out quite quickly but it had been such a shock that Ruby's father had been extraordinary suspicious against Portkeys ever since that. Ruby sighed. Why couldn't he just stay at home and let her and her mom go alone – with a Portkey? But now it was too late. Too less time to organize a Port Key now. So she had to give in and travel by carpet – how embarassing! That surely wasn't suitable to cheer her up.
On late evening of 28 August they reached London (they had spent the night at an island in the middle of the ocean placed there for travelling wizards). Her father landed the carpet on the roof of the Leaky Cauldron and immediately the invisibility function stopped working. They hurried to get down into the building. Fortunately it was dark so they didn't cause any attention in the Muggle streets.
Ruby had to share a room together with her parents but she didn't care. The long trip had exhasuted her and she dozed off almost immediately Witty on the pillow next to her head.
When Ruby awoke the next morning her parents were still fast asleep. She quietly dressed and was about to leave the room as behind her a high scolding began. Ruby turned and saw Witty sit at the pillow looking hurt that Ruby hadn't waked her up to take her with her. Ruby hastily excused then placed Witty on her favourite place, the shoulder (Ruby's mother has sewed soft pillows into all of the left shoulders of Ruby's clothes).
Ruby didn't bother to eat brakfast. She wanted to have a look at Diagon Alley. In the backyard she tapped the third brick from the left above the dustbin as explained in the Hogwarts letter and then watched the archway appearing. Behind that Diagon Alley opened and Ruby stepped in.
"Not that bad but no comparison to Merlin Avenue, eh Witty?"
Ruby had obviously decided to find everything not-too-impressive. She walked some steps looking around as she found her worst opinions about British boys supported: right next to her were four red-haired freckled boys standing around a red-haired plump woman with a red-haired girl on her hand. The woman was for some reason scolding two of the boys, obviously twins. One of them rolled his eyes.Then looking up and spotting Ruby he gave her a cheeky grin and blinked at her causing the woman to scold even more. Ruby catched phrases like "no respect" and "wait till I tell your father". Ruby walked on. She was sure these boys would be at Hogwarts, too, so she would probably see more than enough of them.
She didn't buy any school things (her parents were responsible for that) and so merely walked through the Alley watching the people and shops. Soon she noticed that she caughte people's eyes. Younger children gazed at Witty who seemingly enjoyed that kind of attention, Hogwarts students of ruby's age seemed to wonder why they didn't know her. But Ruby didn't talk to anybody. They would find out soon enough.
Ruby was thinking about buying some ice cream as she heard her name being called out. Blushing (she hated that) she turned and found her parents storm over to her looking worried.
"So here you are, young lady! What did you think you were doing, eh?"
At that moment the red-haired family passed her and the twins catching her father's words looked over, one of them grinning again. Ruby scowled and not wanting to appear like an idiot she answered quickly.
"Dad! I turn 15 in September! I can walk along a street without protection, y'know?"
"But not in a foreign country!" her mother looking relieved now that she had found her daughter said resolutely "I think you capable of strolling around that Muggle streets outside!"
"Good idea! Shall we go?"
But her father wasn't in the mood for jokes now.
"Ruby! What's wrong with you? You usually are a obedient girl. Is it just because you're sent to Hogwarts? We thought it had been your decision, too?"
Ruby didn't want a quarrel. She wanted her parents to leave with a rather good feeling. They were capable of forewarning her future teachers. And that surely would spoil her plans. So she just muttered "Sorry." and then went shopping with her parents. She avoided contact with the other people, especially those who looked like Hogwarts students. She only wanted to get her things and then spent the rest of time until train leaving at the Leaky Cauldron.
That evening Ruby was alone at their room. Her parents were out in Diagon Alley to search for some unusual British souvenir. Ruby had suggested them to buy that in Muggle London for there they would rather find something but they didn't value her suggestion too much.
Ruby stood in front of the mirror (which kept on telling her that she'd look neat) wearing her new school robes. They were plain and black. So very unalike her old royal blue ones which she had secretly stuffed into her trunk. Witty didn't bother to talk Ruby into not wearing these anymore. She sat on Ruby's pillow sucking happily at a piece of orange fruit.
The next two days Ruby stayed at the Leaky Cauldron as she had planned. Her parents couldn't make her get out of it. Ruby just refused to go pretending she wasn't feeling well.
At September the first however she really wasn't well. In her stomach was a great lump and her eyes now and then filled with tears no matter how strong Ruby was trying to fight them back. There was a voice in the back of her head telling her constantly that she now could be at Carey's place chattering along with her and Edith.
At 10am Ruby and her parents entered King's Cross. Train would be leaving at 11 o'clock but Ruby wanted to be there as early as possible so there wouldn't be too much people on the platform. However the station itself was rather packed with people.
"Have they never seen a student on her way to boarding-school before?" Ruby growled as again somebody was looking strangely at her big trunk and the parcels on it. "At home we had an own entrance and no annoying Muggles..."
"Don't bother, darling." her mother tried to soothe her "Platform nine and three-quarters' over there."
Ruby's mother didn't need the instructions of the letter. She remembered very well. Ruby had no problem with walking through the barier, it wasn't very different at Washington Station. The platform wasn't very full. In fact it was rather empty. Ruby was happy to be here so early for in about half an hour it would surely have been overloaded. So she had enough time to find an empty compartment of which she had quite a big choice. Her mother sighed.
"Always went in the last minutes...everything full of course...but could rely on Liz holding me a seat." she was revelling in memories "Wish your granny could see you now."
Ruby's British grandmother had been a witch, too, and died two years ago. About Ruby's grandfather no one ever spoke. She had never got to know him.
She finally found a compartment at the very end of the train and settled down there. She immediately closed the door of it in the hope that nobody would disturb her then. She wanted to practice her curly-hair charm. But her parents refused to let her stay in the compartment until the train would leave so she left the train again and stood with her parents while the platform filled with people. Ruby was thankful that everybody was so busy with themselves that nobody took notice of her. Her parents kept on giving her advices and instructions concerning her behaviour.
"Remember you're a kind of diplomat now. You don't want them to get a wrong impression of us Americans do you?" her father said several times.
What did he think? That Ruby was deaf? Her mother noticed that this admonition wouldn't work so she told her
"I'm sure you will like it once you are there. You had no serious problems at Salem Institution and I'm sure you won't have at Hogwarts, too." and she played her last trump card "Don't be a shame for me, ok?"
Ruby groaned inwardly. She hated it when her mother said that together with her trusting and smiling face. It always meant an unclear conscience. How was Ruby supposed to do anything against the rules with that picture of her mom in the head??
It was time to leave the platform now so Ruby hugged her parents a last time then climbed back into the train. She was happy that she already had her compartment. Asking one of those British would have given away her American origins and she wasn't in the mood of answering questions.
However when she entered "her" compartmnet she found that she wasn't alone anymore. A pair of over-excited twin girls (first-years by the looks of them) stood at the window talking to their parents. Ruby was very in the mood of bullying them away but as their and her parents were standing at the window that wasn't possible. She said goodbye to her parents again as the train started moving. Then she sat down making sure she had a window seat before the twins took both. As they finally, too, sat down Ruby was still thinking about a possibility of getting rid of them. She wanted to be alone. Witty couldn't stay in Ruby's pocket forever and she wanted to practise! The girls were now that their parents weren't with them anymore rather intimidated and dared hardly to look at Ruby whho scowled at them all the time.
Finally they seemed to have get it and hurried out of the compartment. Immediately Ruby slid the door closed and also closed the purple curtains so that nobody could see into it. Then she released Witty who happily flew some rounds through the compartment then settled down on Ruby's knee watched her practising her charm and gave cheeky comments on the results.
"Oh yes, now you have it! – oh wait, no, sorry, my mistake." … "Shouldn't you emphasize the words in another way?" … "Woah, yes, you should! Nice effect though! Look at those colours!" … "Is that smoke emitting from the back of your head?"
It was only when Ruby threatened (playingly) to practise the charm on Witty that she went silent and reduced her "comments" on shaking the head as a sign that the charm still wasn't right. After an hour of practice Ruby gave up. She decided to let her hair rest a bit – and hoped that her hat would hide it later. Witty got tired and scrambled back into Rubys chest pocket where she curled up and dozed away.
Shortly before lunchtime the twin girls came back. They had a determined look on their faces as if they had decided to stay in the compartment now and not to leave it whatever Ruby would do or say. But she was so frustrated about her many useless tryings that she left them in peace. She only thought about how long they might have discussed about whether to go back into the compartment or not. Ruby liked being the older one. She could remember her first travel to Salem Institution just too well. She had had the bad luck to sit in a compartment which had been chosen as regular compartment of some older students. She had to leave it and spend the travel outside on the corridor as everywhere else had been full. There she had got to know Carey and Edith: they had invited her to come into their compartment and the three of them shared two seats and later everything else, too. Ruby smiled at that memory as a witch with a trolley stopped at the door and asked if they would like to buy something. Ruby was delighted. She had heard about Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and Cauldron Cakes. She also bought some chocolate frogs to start a new collection (of course they had had different cards at her home).
The rest of the journey she tried to ignore the twins who chatted along endlessly. As the afternoon drew on the landscape became wilder and the sky darker. Ruby became more and more nervous. She pulled out the letter and skimmed it again. Sorting ceremony – what might this Sorting be? Her mother had told her much about Hogwarts before Ruby went to school and still had been hoping for being accepted at Hogwarts. But she ahd forgot most of that and once she had been at Salem Institution she had found it to be the best school in the world and hadn't been too interested in her mother's old school stories anymore. In the last days her mother had told much about it again and now Ruby wished she had been listening more attentively. She only remembered that there had been different houses (What a rubbish! she thought) and the students had been sorted according to their abilities. Her mother had been a Raveclawing or something like this. But what were the names of the other houses??? And how would the Sorting be done? Their abilities…would the students have to perform a charm or so? But what would Muggle-borns do then? Ruby couldn't help becoming even more nervous. She considered to ask the girls but decided not to. She would find out soon enough.
Then they began to change into their black school robes and Ruby took out her Salem robes. They looked curiously at her but didn't dare say anything. Ruby felt good. She loved the light feeling of her robes and was always surprised about how warm they could be if required.
Finally the train stopped and Ruby left it together with the other students who looked at her with surprised faces. Some of them asked her inquisitive questions but Ruby ignored them. She looked around where to go as she heard a deep voice coming from one end of the dark platform.
"Firs'-years and Miss Riders! Over here! Firs'-years and Miss Riders"
Ruby rolled her eyes. That had been even worse than her parents calling out her name in Diagon Alley. She turned towards the voice – and frozed. There was a huge man, at least double the size of a normal man, with a lantern in his hand now gathering a group of first-years around him some of them gaping up at him. Next to that man the small children looked even smaller, nobody of the older students seemed to be surprised about the sheer size of the man. There even was a "Hi Hagrid!" or "Had a good summer, Hagrid?" here and there when they passed him. So his name was Hagrid and this Hagrid was now that Ruby had joined the group leading them down a slippery and dark way.
They finally came to a halt at a big black sea. At the other end against the dark sky Ruby could see a huge even darker castle with many towers and battlements. Many of the hundreds and hundreds of windows were lit and made it look a cosy place. Ruby was gaping forgetting her intention be not too impressed for a moment. She barely noticed that she entered a boat together with the twin girls who looked nervously at her than stared back at the castle like erveryone else. Silently they flooded over the lake and Ruby felt like in a dream – she didn't notice much of her surroundings until they finally all stood in front of a big gate. Hagrid knocked three times.
The door opened and a severe looking witch (Hagrid called her Professor McGonagall) now took the group of students. The entrance hall was big – it reminded Ruby of the hall at Salem Institution – and the familiar lump in her throat came back. She suddenly felt an urge to turn and run away but instead she followed the witch just as the others did into a small chamber next to what seemed to be the dining hall (there was a loud buzz of voices coming from the doors). In the chamber they all stood very huddled together and the first-years were looking even more nervous than Ruby was feeling herself.
Professor McGonagall was welcoming them all (thankfully Ruby noticed that she wasn't mentioned separate this time – although the Professor gave her a sharp look) and told them that the Sorting ceremony would take place before the feast would began. Now at last Ruby heard the proper names of the houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Ruby didn't understand what the point in sorting the students was. It only meant competition in her eyes. The witch adviced them to wait silently then left the chamber.
Nervousness flooded over Ruby again. She straighented her robes, made sure that her hat was in the right place and checked that the lump that was Witty wasn't sticking out too much. Two steps aside her were a tall red-haired boy (hadn't she seen him anywhere before?) and a skinny very short one with black hair. The black-haired asked the other one what the Sorting would be. And to Ruby's horror the red-head answered he had been told it would hurt. What were these Brits on? She was wondering what might have been waiting for them as the next shock stroke her: about twenty ghost came hovering into the chamber. Ghosts??? Ruby hadn't expected them! At Salem Institution ghosts weren't allowed because they had been helping students to cheat in exams in former times. Ruby didn't know Hogwarts had ghosts. The urge to run away grew ever bigger and bigger. Then the Professor came back and led them in a line into the Grat Hall as she had called the dining hall.
As Ruby entered the room she couldn't help but gape. It was huge with four long tables full of chattering students, there were golden plates and goblets everywhere (the bowls however seemed to be empty – didn't the witch say anything about a feast?) at one side of the hall was the teacher's table where the students were filing up now. Ruby could see many of the other students pointing at her and whispering. She knew she was noticeable because of her height and the different-coloured robes…and she did what she had doubted to ever do: she wished she had been arriving with the teachers one week ago! The Sorting wasn't going to happen in front of all these students, was it??
Then Ruby saw some of the first-years staring up at the ceiling, she did so, too, and couldn't believe it: there was none at all! Directly over thousands of hovering candles was the black starry sky. After a moment of surprise Ruby thought that there had to be a ceiling. It was too warm in the hall. She thought hard about how the ceiling might have been enchanted. As she looked down again she noticed that there was a stool in front of the students now bearing a large old hat which had started to sing a song about the four houses. Sounded as if they only had to put on that hat and it'd be sorting them. Ruby was relieved. That couldn't be too difficult. As the hat had finished the song the hall burst into applause and cheering. It seemed to be a big thing here. Well, ok, a speaking hat wasn't really that bad – Ruby was again in her I'm-not-impressed-at-all-mood now that she knew she wasn't going to make a fool of herself in front of the whole school. Now Professor McGonagall now holding a large scroll of parchment in her hands spoke again.
"When I call out your name, you will put on the Hat and sit on the stool. When the Hat announces your house, you will go and sit at the appropriate table." Great! Ruby thought, How am I to know which is the appropriate one?
"First year.
Abbott, Hannah!"
As a girl with pink face and blonde pig-tails stumbled forward Ruby grew more gloomily. Great! she thought again, So I'll be the last one to be sorted. Just what I have been hoping for! And again she wished to have arrived one week ago.
The girl became a Hufflepuff, the next one, too. At least Ruby now knew how to recognise the right table: the students on it burst out in laud clapping and cheers when one was announced to join them. The Sorting went on and the group in front of the teachers table grew steadily smaller. The hat seemed to take different amounts of time to sort each student. The twin girls were sorted into different houses (Ravenclaw and Gryffindor). Ruby began to feel a bit bored until
"Potter, Harry!"
Ruby was stunned. THE Harry Potter?? Obviously the other students in the hall were discussing the same question. Needless to say she knew about the Boy Who Lived. Quickly she counted the years – of course, he now was about to start his magical education. Ruby was even more stunned when the skinny short chap who had been standing next to the tall red-head went to the stool. She had imagined the great Harry Potter to be a bit of a more impressive stature. He had his back to Ruby so she couldn't see his scar although she would have liked to.
It took quite a while until the hat cried out
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Gryffindor table almost exploded – so loud was the cheering and clapping. Harry went over to them and had to shake several hands until he could sit down. Ruby recognised the twin brothers she had seen at Diagon Alley shouting "We have Potter! We have Potter!".
The rest of the sorting was nothing important anymore after that eruption but Ruby noticed that the red-haired boy ("Weasley, Ronald!") joined Potter at Gryffindor table under the cheer of three other red-heads. Two of them the twins. They seemed to be brothers which would explain why Ruby had had the feeling she would have seen him before. It must have been at Diagon Alley when they had surrounded their mother scolding the twins.
It couldn't take too much time anymore. And soon enough Ruby was the only one standing there. She felt her ears and cheeks burn. Everybody in the hall seemed to look at her and a quiet hissing lay over the sea of pointed black hats in front of her.
Professor McGonagall read out
"Fifth year.
Riders, Ruby!"
Nervously Ruby stepped forwarded, settled down on the stool and McGonagall placed the old hat on her head…