American Girl Chapter 4:
Yes! Ron thought to himself while he sat at the Gryffindor table. She's a Gryffindor! Now I'll be able to get to know her even better. He joined the cheering and clapping from his table with a horse whistle and scooted away from Harry to clear a spot for her. Harry gave him a funny look while he motioned for her to sit down next to him. She jogged over to their table and took the empty seat between him and Harry, and across from Hermione.
"Hey guys!" she whispered. "This is awesome! I'm so glad I'm a Gryffindor. I swear that hat just asked me which house I wanted."
"Well, we're glad you told him Gryffindor!" Harry said, patting Kirsten on the back. "At least you didn't pick Slytherin of something. Now we know that you're one of us."
"Yeah," Kirsten said, glancing around the room nervously. Good thing he didn't decide to put me there, she thought. I should've known better. "Well, now what do we do?"
"We wait," Hermione said, gesturing toward the children still waiting to be sorted. "And then we eat."
Just as the words came out of Hermione's mouth, Zwick, Zebidiah was sorted into Ravenclaw, and Dumbledore stood up to speak once more.
"Congratulations First Years. You will soon see that these people you are sitting next to will be become your friends, or rather, your family. So talk! Get to know these people. And tuck in."
The golden plates in front of them became piled with mountains of food, their noses filled with the sweet aromas. The older kids started shoveling food onto their plates, while Kirsten and her first year friends sat in awe.
"Dude, where did all this food come from?"
"House elves," replied Hermione. "Speaking of House Elves would you like to join our organization? It's called S.P.E.W. We're trying to improve the lives of the poor house elves. Isn't that right boys?"
"No. You are," said Ron, his mouth full of potatoes. He swallowed and looked at Kirsten. "Don't join spew. She'll be after you for money and for help making them hats and sweaters."
Kirsten glanced at Harry who was shaking his head as subtly as he could. Hermione smacked him in the head and glared at Ron. "Well?"
"Ummm, I'll have to think about it," Kirsten said, grabbing a roll and buttering it. "I have to get excellent grades to stay in this program, so I might not have time for much fun stuff." Harry and Ron both started coughing violently after she said fun. Hermione flushed a violent shade of red and started eating quietly.
Ron looked at Kirsten. She was tearing her roll into little bits and then rolling them into balls. He raised an eyebrow and laughed. "What're you doing that for?"
Kirsten stopped suddenly and shoved the balls into her mouth. Hermione and Harry were laughing hysterically, and Ron had a huge grin on his face. She tried to swallow the little chunks as quickly as she could, and started choking. Her face turned as scarlet as Ron's hair, and then just as quickly to blue. Hermione and Harry still laughed, but Ron realized what was going on, and pulled Kirsten off of the bench. He wrapped his arms around her stomach, clenched his hands into a ball, and thrust them into her. She spit out the bread and it went flying across the room over the tables right onto the Slytherin's table. All the girls screamed and the boys started yelling profanities towards the Gryffindors.
Kirsten started gasping for breath and then laughing. "Oh my god. That was hilarious. Thanks for saving me Ron."
Ron, who still had his arms around her, just nodded. She stayed wrapped in his arms for a few brief moments, Hermione staring on with her mouth wide open. They were just sitting there in each others arms, not hugging or embracing, just standing there. Hermione cleared her throat suggestively and they broke apart. Ron blushed terribly, and Kirsten's ears turned pink. Kirsten turned around and patted Ron on the shoulder.
"Thanks so much. Well, I'm going to go to the common room, if I can find it. See you later!" She walked away, her cloak waving back and forth behind her as she strutted off.
Harry turned to Ron, "What the bloody hell was that about? You just held onto her for like an hour!"
Ron was staring into space. He shuffled his food around with his fork and his eyes twinkled. "I don't know, man. But whatever it was, it was awesome."
"Oh, boys," Hermione said, and walked away in a huff.
"I'm going to. To the library or the lake or something," Ron walked off too, still in a daze. He ran into the wall on his way out. He picked up his books and walked off, barely noticing that he had made everyone in the hall laugh.
Harry sat all by his lonesome at the table. He grabbed his hair exasperatedly. "Why do I have a feeling that everything is going to be crazy this year?