Dangerous Parchment

Many uncomfortable first years walked into the great hall. Eyes followed them as they followed McGonagall through the Great Hall. They finally came to a halt and soon the black, tattered sorting hat sung its song. McGonagall held out a long scroll of names in front of her as she stood beside the hat that was sitting rather comfortably on its stool.

'Abili, Korey' A small, dark haired girl emerged from the crowd and was soon joining a table of raging Hufflepuffs. A few more first years sat on the stool with the hat drooping over their heads. Anita Arson was the first Gryffindor.

'Borne, Bradley' The boy Tristen and Angelica had met earlier rose excitedly.
'Gryffindor!' The hat bellowed and brought a smile to Bradley's face as he quickly walked over to take a seat at the Gryffindor table.

Finally, Tristen was called up. She took an almighty gulp as her feet magically moved up front. She felt as ridiculous as the other students had as the hat fell over her eyes.

'I hope Gryffindor. Please say Gryffindor. Please say Gryffindor…' Tristen wasn't quite sure if she was having a lucky day but next thing she knew she was walking and sitting beside Bradley.

'Greene, Elisa' A tiny girl that would probably be thought little of was sorted into Ravenclaw.

'Harrison, Regulus' Tristen now saw Bradley's friend walk up. Both she and Bradley were watching intently as they waited. It was no surprise to them when Regulus got into their house, well more so Bradley then Tristen. Once again, there were a few more names being called out amongst the crowd that seemed to be getting smaller and smaller.

'Ians, Diane' A thin girl walked, or glided, up in a stuck up manner. Within a matter of seconds the Hat called out 'Slytherin', and as though she had done her family proud she took her place at the slimy table. This was the same girl that Tristen had seen earlier.

A few more Gryffindors came, like Michael Macfarlen and Amelia Mock. Soon, it was Tristen's new friend's turn. Tristen could've sworn she was having a lucky day when Angelica Palen ran to sit beside her with a giant smile spread across her face.

'Preston, Beverly' was a new Slytherin and was the other girl that stood amidst Tristen and Angelica on the train.

After Angelica came and sat beside her she didn't bother paying attention to the rest of the students that were sorted. But when McGonagall went up to give her speech, Tristen paid at least some attention. Her stomach growled and she was desperate to eat. Wondering when the food was going to come out, students let out a sudden gasp in amazement as there was mouth-drooling food set out in front of them ready to pick.

'Surprising, they kept Hogwarts re-open after all that's happened' said Lizeth Corone.

'Yeah! Me mum's been worried when she heard me and my sisters would still be coming...course she wants a good education for us an' all' Amelia Mock added in.

'I'd expect. But still, Dumbledore bein' gone…it makes me feel chilly inside.' It was quiet for a moment after Tristen said this, but nobody showed the bone-chilling effect it gave them and instead nodded in agreement.

'Honestly,' Tristen continued. 'I'm actually quite glad that we came. Finally away from my ruddy sister; whole family annoys me in this case…'

'I know what you mean' Amelia turned and glared down the table at two older girls that seemed to chatting away with their friends. 'I'm in a family of four girls. Me, being the third oldest.'

'Oi! Someone pass over the platter of cauldron cakes' A brown haired boy by the name of Michael Macfarlen called over.

'Hey!' started Regulus, 'They're going up to the tower now…we oughtta go you know.'

Everyone got up and away from the food and followed some Gryffindor prefects by the names Katrina and Stanley. Amelia told Tristen that that was her sister, and although Bradley didn't tell her she heard that Stanley there was his older brother. They walked up the staircase and saw to their amazement that stairs had moved and shifted places and not only that, but the many pictures of witches and warlocks had stared and moved in their paintings. Of course this didn't amuse all of the students, just some.

'blubber' Katrina had told a large painting of a large lady, the Fat lady. She nodded and immediately swung her frame away from the wall to reveal a hole. This was, apparently, the little password to get into the Gryffindor common room which also leads to their dormitories.

'This is exciting!' Tristen said merely to herself as she flung herself onto the bed closest to the window with the best view. Even if she did say that to herself, her mates heard her word for word.

'Sure. If you think unpacking your belongings is action.' Amelia said, but Tristen didn't bother to answer, she knew what she meant. She unpacked her stuff quickly but neatly, and organized and hurried back to the common room.

'Do you think it's dangerous?'

'It's a bloody piece of parchment! It's as dangerous as giving me a paper cut.'

There was a small gasp.

'Oh! Get a hold of yourself'

Tristen found Bradley, Regulus and a couple of other first-year boys surrounding Bradley who seemed to be holding a large piece of parchment.

'What are you all doing? Looking at parchment…' Tristen looked interested in what seemed to be happening.

'We found it underneath my bed in our dormitory.' Bradley responded 'Regulus, here, thinks it's mighty dangerous.' Tristen examined Regulus as though he was sick. Regulus looked a little flushed and uncomfortable as everyone else laughed.

'What?'

'Dangerous parchment lying around, eh?'

'W-what I mean is…well, me mum told me that a few years ago, before You-Know-Who came back, that one of the awfully weird things at Hogwarts was that some girl was possessed by a diary an' all…and there was blood…an'…' Regulus said earnestly.

'Oh yeah I remember that…' Tristen said thoughtfully as she took the parchment from Bradley.

'You see?' Regulus looked at his friends with an I-Told-You-So look.

'…but that was a diary' Tristen continued 'Not an extra piece of parchment.'

Regulus' friends looked back at him with the same look.

'But for all we know it could be jinxed!' Regulus tried to defend himself.

Tristen shoved the parchment into a pocket in her robes. 'I'll show it to McGonagall tomorrow morning before I eat breakfast, so I guess I'll keep it.' And before, the boys could refuse her, she ran into the girls' dormitory.