The problem with this world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent full of doubt.

Bertrand Russell

Chapter Two

My book was pushed out of eyesight, and I stared into the face of a girl about a foot or so taller than myself. Her cheekbones could be seen jutting out from under her vivid blue eyes. Her dirty blonde was shorter than my mom would have ever allowed, probably a little below her ears, done in a boyish style. She had a devious look to her, and I disliked her immediately. She had already changed into her robes, and they hung off of her slim frame, making her almost look ghostly. "You aren't nervous at all, cool, calm, controlled. That's cool."

I gave her a short stare, lifted my book back up, and began to read once more. Annoyed that I was ignoring her, she snatched the book from me. "Not quite the social butterfly, are you?"

I shook my head, she was beginning to irritate me.

She closed my book, flipped through the pages, and then tossed it onto the bench, next to me. "Salem Xanders."

I picked up my book, searched through the pages, and finally found my spot.

"You must be deaf or something."

I guess everything in life is decided in one point in life. I guess my turning point in my lifetime had to be September First when I was eleven. Usually everything happens when you're thirteen, when you're considered a teen, and not a tween. Usually.

The black hat intimidated me. I had seen several First Years sweat uncontrollably up there, their eyes darting between the tables in front of them, their legs wrapped around the stool they were sitting on. I was nervous, a bit, but it didn't really matter. I trusted to end up in the right house. The correct house for me.

I was… the fifth one to go up? I don't remember, really. I saw some people trip on the steps, but I felt cool, calm, like Salem said I was. I felt like the room was intimidated by me, instead of what really was going on.

The hat probed; a lot. Even now I can't remember a word he said. It was all lost to mind when that word was shouted.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

My destiny had been chosen. When I had listened to the song at the beginning, I heard the houses. Slytherin held people who use their cunning wit to deceive other people, as far as I could tell; Ravenclaw held those of brains, Hufflepuff held those with great loyalty; and Gryffindor held those with courage. I wasn't courageous. I remain the same today, and ponder what house I should have been in.

Salem was the last to be sorted, and she joined the Slytherin table. I oddly thought that perhaps that was the table I belonged in. I shook my head, that table was full of people who depended on each other. I depended on no one.

A tall man with a white beard, which trailed down close to his stomach, but not quite, rose from the table at the front. I assumed it was the professors' table. Even from where I was sitting, I could see the twinkle in his blue eyes. "Hello, and welcome or welcome back to Hogwarts. For those of you who do not know, I'm the headmaster, Professor Dumbledore." He grinned as he began the next part. "As for a reminder to a few students and for information to the new ones, the Forbidden forest is named correctly, it is actually forbidden, for those of you who overlooked it…" I saw his eyes roam the Gryffindor table, resting on those of four boys, who all snickered when he looked at them. "Without further adieu, let the Feasting begin."

When he said the last word, the golden platters and serving dishes were filled automatically with food. I had never seen so much food in my life. I thought of all of the people it must have taken to prepare such a feast. I looked at the people around me, gorging themselves and piling their plates heavily with food. I wrinkled my nose in disgust at the sight of a boy in front of me, food dribbling down his chin, dropping slowly on his stomach, which pushed out in front of him. I quickly looked away, and down at a platter in front of me. This particular platter had a whole chicken. Most of the good parts were gone, all the white meat left for those who were not fast enough. I sighed, picked up the knife and cut myself a piece of white meat. I stared at the piece of chicken before I picked up my fork and knife, and sliced off a piece. It was dry, but flavorful. I ate slowly, and when I looked back up again, the platter in front of me had little but clean bones on it, and others were empty or had inedible parts on them also. They became clean once more, and then desserts filled them up.

I sighed, took a few huge spoonfuls of some sort of pudding, and dumped them onto my plate, which also had become clean. I then noticed my golden goblet, which I had not paid attention to. It was empty, but there were a few pitchers on the table, which used to be filled with various drinks, but only one was left. I picked it up, poured it into my goblet, and took a sip. It was water. I slowly finished what was left of my pudding, and swallowed the water in my goblet.

When I was finished, nothing was left on the table. I guess I would learn to gorge myself sooner or later. I looked up, noticed the obese Gryffindor, and almost regurgitated what I had managed to get. I looked away and saw that Professor Dumbledore had stood again, and the Great Hall was getting silent.

"Would the prefects please stand?" I turned to see two Gryffindors from my table stand, one a boy and one a girl. "Everyone please follow your two prefects back to your dormitory." I stood along with everyone else, and followed the group of Gryffindors. When we reached the stairs, I was shoved to the side, or into the backside of the extremely obese boy. I still hadn't seen Lily, but it hadn't occurred to me to look for her. When we finally arrived at the Gryffindor common room, I listened to the Prefect girl as she directed everyone towards their appropriate dorms. When she was done, I headed up straight to the First Year dorm.

When I walked up the stairs, it occurred to me how I would get my things. When I opened the door, I found my small, dingy trunk and Giovanni was asleep on a bed. I dragged my trunk over to the bed closest to an open window, and let it land with a thump in front of it. I then picked Giovanni up and set him back down on the four-poster that I had selected. He blinked at me sleepily, went in a few circles, and then flopped back down. I sat down on the edge of the bed, and stared off into space. Perhaps this new school wasn't as exciting to me as it was to Lily. We were different people.

Ferret3136: Woah, that took me a while to write. I'm serious, I kept on changing things. Hopefully new chappie will come. September 3rd was my birthday, so I really didn't have the time to write then, but I will have plenty of time this week, even if I have school.