Chapt. 2
The first years gathered around the door separating them from their soon-to-be-determined fates. Emily was trying to put as much distance between her and Alex as possible after the small nearly-getting-pushed-out-of-the-boat incident. The doors opened. The students marched into the room, single file, with the enthusiasm of a prisoner on death row walking to the electric chair.
In just a few short minutes, they were all in the room, lined up alphabetically. Alex patiently waited her turn, trying to ignore Emily's freestyling about all the spells she learned over the summer.
Alex's name was called. She took a deep breath, and walked towards the Sorting Hat. She climbed onto the stool. The hat was brief in its decision as it proclaimed her a Ravenclaw. She jumped off the stool, flipped her hair, and made her way to the table of sugar-high students clad in blue.
She sat down at the nearest empty space on the bench, refusing to establish eye contact with anyone. She heard a David Kim being called up. She looked to her right, towards the line of anxious first years and saw the Asian destined to be responsible for at least eight bizarre ritualistic killings in twenty years or so.
David was caught completely off-guard. "What'd I do!" he asked, completely bewildered. Surprisingly, the kid behind him was actually able to understand what the hell David was saying. He politely told David it was his turn to be sorted. David climbed onto the stool. In just a few seconds, he was christened a Slytherin. Alex was loving the irony.
She turned her head, refusing to acknowledge the existence of any of the other Ravenclaws occupying the table. She was just about to get intimate with the design of her shoes, until someone caught her eye. She looked straight ahead.
Sitting across from her was a boy, in his second or third year. He was freakishly tall and towered over all the other Ravenclaws at the table. Eye contact was established. Alex felt as if she was Maria in West Side Story, except there weren't any racially motivated gang leaders trying to tear them apart. They stared at each other for a while until Alex finally looked away.
The feast began. Alex shoveled food into her mouth as quickly as possible, just wanting to get into the dormitory as soon as possible. Finally, a Prefect escorted the new first years to the common room. Alex rushed up to the girls' dormitory. And so ended her very first day as a student at Hogwarts.
