A/N: I just wanted to say that I saw the third movie, and I thought they portrayed Draco as a very big sissy. I thought that was uncalled for. It's not fun having an arch nemesis that's only kind of mean! Though you gotta admit that it was kinda satisfying to see him like that after not liking him in the books…
Chapter 5:The train slowed to a stop, and mass confusion followed. There had never been so many new students before in the history of Hogwarts. The returning students were chattering away about the castle's new makeover, and Hagrid was trying to get all of the new students, muggles as well as regular first years into the school's rowboats.
After the returning students filed into the great hall, Dumbledore stood by the teacher's table, and cleared his throat.
"I know that your world has been thrown into an upheaval. There are new professors," He said sweeping his arm across the teacher's table, which contained a few new faces. "…new students, a new genre of students, new changes to the building, even the room you are sitting in. I hope that with all of these new things, you could have expected some new rules. Terrorizing the muggles with magic is strictly prohibited." He said sternly. "Oh, and on the brighter side, one of our new professors, Jack Johnstone, is starting up a new muggle sport for us to learn, something called soccer."
An excited murmur went through the crowd, and a few of them even cheered, though none as loudly as Dean Thomas of Gryffindor.
"Now, let us begin the new and improved sorting ceremony." Dumbledore announced before he sat down.
The Sorting Hat cleared, well, something, since it didn't really have a throat, and began a short and simple song.
I may very well be useful at sorting into houses,
place me on your head, as long as you're free of louses.
Make no mistake, because I never do, and trust me with your mind,
for I will look amongst the dust, and tell you what I find.
I will search within your head for all you do contain,
and know for sure what house in which you should remain!
Everyone clapped, and the sorting hat tipped itself in thanks, as Professor McGonnagal strode out with the same looking scroll of names as before, but this time, she called out the first name, and their house.
"Arnel, Ava, Kookumboo."
Murmurs went through the crowd as a girl, around sixteen, decked out in an expensive designer outfit, self consciously walked through the other tables to go sit by herself at a long wooden table identical to the other house's tables.
After the name Asteer, Brenton was called, he scrambled over to the stool where the sorting hat was waiting, and slipped it on his head. After a few moments, the sorting hat hollered out "Ravenclaw!" and Brenton scampered over to his new table, leaving the hat for Aquire, Dominique, who was sorted into Hufflepuff.
Soon, Ava was joined at the Kookumboo table by many others, and the Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin and Gryffindor tables were filled, and the sorting hat was put away.
After the headmaster spoke a few chosen words about general rules and expectations aimed more at the Kookumboo table than any other, Dumbledore announced, "May the feasting begin!"
Nearly everyone at the Kookumboo table jumped and shouted, seeing the food magically appear on the plates. Some just sat there for a while, simply staring, and others shrugged, and dug in.
Caleb grinned. Not since the last time he was at his great aunt Maude's house had he seen so much food, and so many different things to eat in his life. When a curly, blonde headed girl of about fourteen sitting across from him, primly looked into the nearest bowl and exclaimed "ewww" he pulled it towards him and looked in.
With a great belly laugh, he grabbed for the serving spoon, and told her, "It's fried okra, aint you ever seen fried okra before?"
"It looks disgusting." She said, wrinkling her nose. "What's okra?"
"It's a vegetable, my mom grows it in her garden. The little white things are the seeds."
"Oh." Was all she said, before busying herself in her salad.
Edan warily looked at the plates around him, trying to figure everything out. Was it safe to eat? Looking around the room, he saw his new friends, Neville and Collin, sitting over at the Gryffindor table, digging into the food; he decided that it was safe. Either that, or there was some giant conspiracy that no one here was aware of, which would be nearly impossible, since, according to Neville, students have been going here for centuries.
Oh well, it's either eat, or starve! He thought tom himself as he piled his plate with all sorts of different kinds of food.
Kara sat next to Edan, watching him. If Edan ate, then so would she, and started filling her plate when he filled his. With her childlike faith, she knew that when Edan was with her she was completely safe from all harm, and absolutely no one could do anything to her. It didn't matter all that much anyway, she was being optimistic that they would be going home soon. But until then, she figured she would have fun, and have a great story to tell her friends back home when she was done.
Tyhler was almost too excited to eat. Sitting in the room around her were so many different people, that no one cared how she looked or acted. She could tell already that these people were used to strangeness, and that completely intrigued her. It was like a dream come true. She wished she had the ability to pause time so she could get up and explore the room, and then be able to sit back down within a second, and eat all the marvelous food that laid before her. She settled for dishing up her plate, and looking around the room while she was chewing. Sitting at the head table, were people she only assumed to be the teachers- professors, as Ginny told her they were called. She also explained the presence of ghosts, and a little bit about the great hall, and it's enchanted ceiling, as they were on the train. Just as she put a forkful of mashed potatoes and gravy into her mouth, she heard a collective gasp from most of the room, a handful of tuna casserole (which she had noted was very good, but not as good as her mom's) came flying towards her from across the room, seemingly aimed right at her.
Just as she grabbed for the empty plate of the person sitting next to her, it seemed to stop in midair, right over her head, and change it's mind, going back to where it came from. On the other side of the room, it hit Draco Malfoy in the face.
There was muttering all over the room, but the loudest voice was Hermione's, who said, "There's an anti foodfighting spell put on the air above our heads, I read it in Hogwarts, a History way back in my first year." she said proudly
With a smirk, Tyhler returned to her food, and kept up her watch around the room. Somehow, she felt that the food hitting Malfoy in the face was a reflection on her part. She longed to prove to these people her worth, and truly gain a place here.
After everyone had eaten their fill; of food and of dessert, Dumbledore stood up again, and informed all first years to follow their prefects to their houses, with the exception of Kookumboo, who would be escorted by Professor Blashak, who had spent a considerable amount of time wandering the hallways trying to get to staff meetings over the last month or so, and had gained quite a familiarity with the castle.
"Careful of the staircases, guys, they can be quite tricky. They move, you know." Ms. Blashak said with a laugh. ""I found that out the hard way" she said as she led them to a stop in front of a large painting that almost covered a five foot section of the wall, and boasted a picture of a life size ballet dancer With her hair in a prim bun, the dancer was dressed in a burgundy leotard and ballet skirt with pink tights and pointe shoes. She was standing in perfect form, standing 'en pointe on one leg, with the other outstretched behind her. She had one arm brushing the barre, and the other extended above her head in a graceful arc. Suddenly, as everyone was looking at it, the dancer pulled her outstretched leg back in, and went back down off of her toes, with her arms floating back down to her sides.
"Ah, you're here. Welcome, welcome." The dancer said.
Everyone had noticed the movement in the paintings on the way though the maze of a castle, but none had heard them speak thus far.
"Whoa." Breathed Kara.
"Alright, in order to get into your house's common room, you need a password.
Under no circumstance are you allowed to give the password to anyone in another house, or let them into your commons room." Warned Ms. Blashak, "The password is peanut butter."
As she said that, she ballet dancer swung her portrait forward, and Ms. Blashak motioned them in.
"Boys up the left staircase, girls up the right." She instructed, as they filed into the large, cozy looking commons room. Around a smoldering fire in a large fireplace was a plethora of comfortable looking furniture. There were lots of end tables, and places to sit and read or study, plus open spaces to play games, or activities.
From the other side of the portrait hole, Ms. Blashak instructed them to go right to bed, and get a good night's sleep, before she turned and walked away.
As the door closed behind them, everyone sleepily did what they were told, and found their rooms. Edan said goodnight to his sister, and climbed up the stairs among the confusion of everyone trying to find out where they were supposed to be staying. Walking past the open doors, trying to catch a glimpse of anything familiar, Edan saw his trunk sitting at the end of one of the four poster beds, and he walked hastily into the room, wanting to get settled and go to sleep. There were four beds in the large room, two on each side. Over by one of the beds stood a boy about his age.
"Hello." Said the boy with a southern twang, nodding his head.
"Hey. I'm Edan."
"Caleb." He said, walking over to shake hands with him.
While they were shaking hands, they heard the flop, flop, flop of flip flops, and a blonde, shaggy haired guy walked in the room, looking like he just stepped off the sands of a beach, with his shorts and Hawaiian shirt. He walked over to the huge trunk, covered in stickers of various surfing logos plastered all over it, dropped his bag on the bed next to the trunk, and greeted, "Hey dudes, what's up? Names Logan." He said, putting his arms across their shoulders. "Looks like we're gonna be roomies!" and he stood there, grinning, waiting for them to respond with their names.
"Um, I'm Caleb"
Pulling out his lighter, Edan started playing with it as he stated his name.
"Well, we better get to unpacking." Caleb suggested, stepping out from under Logan's arm.
"OK." Logan agreed cheerfully as he walked over to his stuff. "I'm from Cali, where are you guys from?" he said as he picked up his backpack and unzipped it.
"Kentucky." Caleb said, staring at Logan's backpack that he just pulled a real surfboard out of.
"How'd you do that?" Caleb asked Logan, as he pulled two others out, laying them across his bed.
"How'd I do what?" Logan asked, looking up at the wall, trying to figure out the best way to hang them up. He shrugged, and just started putting one of them under the bed.
"How'd they fit in your backpack?" Edan asked.
"Oh, dude, I have this pen pal, and I told him I was going to Hogwarts, and guess what, he's a wizard! He's going to Hogwarts too. I asked him how I could get my surfboards on the train, and he sent me this, aint he great!"
Edan, unpacking everything quickly, walked over to Logan's bed, and looked at his surfboards, one of which was decorated with flames, and they looked like they were bewitched to dance like real flames.
"Way cool, flames!" Edan said, fingering his trusty lighter in his pocket.
"Yeah, I found this awesome old wizard browsing in a surf shop, and he did a spell on it for me. I'll teach you how to surf on that one, if you want."
"Where are you planning on surfing?" Caleb asked, puzzled, "the only body of water around here is a lake out there."
"NO WAY! You're kidding! That bites!"
"What bites?" asked another voice from the doorway. Standing there was a guy wearing a gray hoodie that had written on it, I'm an angel, honest, the horns are only there to hold the halo up. He looked as if he had been wearing the hood all day, since his light brown hair was hopelessly messed up.
Walking over to him, Logan said "Can you believe there are no choice waves in this neck of the woods?" he slipped his arms across the guy's shoulders, and said "Hi roomie, I'm Logan."
"I'm Otis. Man, that does bite. Don't worry, I think I can find some for you." Otis said as he went over to the trunk sitting next to one of the empty beds, opened it, up, rummaged for a minute, and came out with a snowglobe. He shook it violently, then handed it to Logan, and said "Here ya go!"
Logan stared at it for a moment before he burst out laughing. "That's a good one man." He said before tossing it onto Otis' bed and going back to unpacking. He pulled a wetsuit from his backpack, and looked in to see if he missed anything. "Whoa, Gnarly, how'd you get in there?" he asked a brown and white, sleeping cat as he pulled it out of the bag, and set it on the bed. It blinked its eyes a few times and stretched, before falling back asleep.
"I've been wondering where you'd got to." Logan said.
Looking down the hallway for anyone else, Edan asked "I wonder when our other roommate is-" he stopped talking suddenly when he looked over at the bed that was empty just a second ago, that was now filled with someone. He had intense dark eyes, deeply tan skin and black hair that hung a bit past his shoulders.
"Hey, when'd you get here?" Edan asked the stranger, who just shrugged, and put away the last of the things that were in his trunk, and was already wearing his pajamas, with his rumpled clothes on the floor next to the bed.
"What's your name, Dude?" Logan asked him.
"Dakota." He answered.
Cool, cool, where ya from? Logan wondered.
"Dakota." He said in the same tone of voice.
"Nice. Where in Dakota."
"One of the Indian reservations." He answered simply.
"Awesome! What tribe?" Logan asked enthusiastically.
"Dakota." He answered simply, before laying down, pulling the blankets up, and the heavy drapes around his bed closed.
"Man of few words, I like that." Logan grinned.
As excited as they all were, Tyhler, and her new roomies, were starting to get extremely tired. Leave it up to the new fashion queen number one and fashion queen number two (Ava and Olivia) to not be able to sleep until the whole room matched. They kept trying to get everyone to compromise with them, and allow them to just decorate the whole room, according to their own tastes, but they weren't making very much headway.
Outside of Tyhler, there was the complete opposite of Ava and Olivia, a flower child named Rainbow, and Hinata, an extremely quiet Japanese-American girl that spoke only when spoken to, and as quietly and quickly as possible. Hinata had to preference to the style of the room, and just went to bed, amazingly able to fall asleep, with all the racket everyone else was making. Tyhler wanted her section of the wall plastered with posters of her favorite bands, and pictures of her friends. Ava and Olivia wanted her to put up a nice art piece they had somehow packed in one of their huge trunks. Much to the frustration of Ava and Olivia, Rainbow had somehow taken down the heavy drapes around her bed, and replaced them with the endless strands of brightly colored beaded curtains that she had somehow thought to bring with her.
"But they don't match the rest of the room!" Ava tried desperately to convince her.
"Ava, the rest of the room doesn't match the rest of the room! We've got five people living in here, and only two with similar tastes." Rainbow said with a smile, flipping her waist length black hair behind her shoulder. Visible when she flipped her head around, or when she swept her hair up was a six colored version of her name, Rainbow, dyed on the underside of her hair.
"You know, she's right." Tyhler told Ava, "Both Rainbow and I are non-conformists, and you two are clones. Hinata doesn't seem to relish the idea of anyone noticing her, so I doubt she will put anything up."
"Then what are we going to do?" Olivia asked, as if it were a huge crisis, similar to an earthquake, flash flood, or missing Nordy's one day sale.
"Good thing you and Ava chose beds next to each other, you can decorate almost half of the room to your own specifications. "
With a frustrated sigh, Olivia told Ava, "I'm going to bed, do you have an apricot melon facial cleansing bar? Mine is buried on my trunk still."
"Oh, I never go very far without my cosmetic kit." Ava said, grabbing a pink bag the size of a small duffle bag, and heading off to the washroom with Olivia.
Kara tried to stifle the sound of her yawn as she snuggled deeper into her covers. She didn't want to keep her roommates awake. Like everywhere else around this place, her room was filled with a few … interesting characters. Two of the girls seemed quite normal, and a lot like her. She was excited about Abigail and Madison being her roomies, they seemed like a lot of fun.
Then there was Jessica, who seemed a lot like a bully and a meanie. As soon as she got there, she started informing them that they would have to listen to her when she asked, or she would make their lives miserable.
Sammy was an interesting character. The kid walked into the room in overalls and a matching blue denim newsboy cap, with a very short, curly, blonde hair looking not quite like a girl, and not quite like a boy.
Jessica had the nerve to ask "Are you a girl, or a boy?"
Sammy just glared into Jessica's eyes, and responded, "What do I look like?" before climbing into bed and pulling the curtains closed.
A/N: what do you think? I know you are just itching to review the story, right? I know I would be! Well, what are you waiting for, leap year?