Chapter 2- Of Sorting and Secrets
"Firs' years! Firs' years follow me!" Boomed the huge man calling to all the new students. Lydia took a last look back at the horse-less carts that would be carrying the older students to the school. 'The things magic can do' she thought as she headed towards the path the big man was heading down, still calling for her peers.
"Now, jus' step in a boat, any boat, and we will begin our journey to the school." The man called out when they reached the edge of a vast lake. Once out on the small wooden dock, Lydia climbed clumsily into one of the small brown boats, along with three other rather nervous looking students, who kept eyeing the huge man, as if his boat was going to sink when he stepped in.
"My names Hagrid, the grounds keeper here at Hogwarts." He started, then, he continued to point out his cabin, the amazing Quidditch pitch, and other things as the boats began to slowly move through the calm waters.
Lydia was not listening to intently. Her mind kept trailing off. Random thoughts, like how the rain had stopped so quickly, and how the almost full moon was beautiful over the vast lake, kept popping into her mind. One particular thought, was of that boy, what was his name again? Remus. Of Remus's parting words of hope for her. Even though he was probably just being nice, and that more than likely couldn't care less where she was put, it meant something to her. All the stories her sister told about James and Sirius, barely included Remus, but it still seemed that they were all best mates. I want to know more about all of them, especially Remus. His light hazel eyes, beautiful hair… 'Wait! Snap out of it!' She thought abruptly shaking him from her mind. It was too soon to even begin to think of him as a friend.
"An' jus' 'round ere' is the castle." Hagrid finished his speech as the castle came into view. Lots of excited chatter came out all at once from everyone's mouth.
"I hear it has ghosts! And that there's a secret chamber with a monster!" Exclaimed a small over-excited boy, almost falling from his seat in anticipation.
"Well I hear that there's passage ways that lead all over the school! My big brother says that he thinks there's one that leads straight into the shrieking shack!" Squealed a girl from her own boat. That statement caught everyone's attention, including Lydia's, and Hagrid's.
"Shrieking shack, the most haunted building around for miles. It's said that, on some nights, you can even hear the moaning from the Hogwarts grounds!" Everyone had his or her own thing to share about the building.
"Arigh', Arigh'. There's no passageway to that house, you'd be crazy to go anywhere near it." Hagrid broke up the commotion as they neared the banks of the lake.
"Now, time to go and get sorted into yer houses." He continued. "Jus' go and meet Professor McGonagall on the steps. She'll tell ya's what to do from there." He said, and with that, he left the group to themselves.
Lydia was last in line after Professor McGonagall gave her speech about rules, procedures, and points.
" Once sorted, you will head to your respective table, where your classmates will greet you, and you will able to eat your meals daily." She continued to drone on about the importance of the rules, and basically everything her sister had already told her. Lydia was behind white-blonde haired girl, who was talking to her two friends as if she was queen of the world.
"Ha, rules. My Mother and Father can pay to have them changed for me. Were so rich, we could buy this danm school from that old fool Dumbledore!" Then she went on to explain her house, how many spells she knew, and how superior she was over everyone. That is, until she noticed Lydia listening in.
"Enjoying our conversation are you? Mind your own business and you won't find yourself out of the school." She snapped at her, as if Lydia were no more than a small bug that could be easily smashed. Lydia, to the atrocious little girl's contentment, walked away, for she was a shy quite person, and didn't want to start trouble. The girl put up a smug little smile then continued to ramble on about herself.
"Lenoa Ganksly" McGonagall called from her list of first years, as a very scared looking girl went up to the small wooden stool to be sorted. 'It's only a matter of time before I'm called' Lydia thought nervously, as she stared around the huge room with dread. 'What if I get Slytherin?' she worried as she looked over to the table full of green-and-white cloaked students. Her sister had warned her about Slytherin, saying it was the darkest and meanest house in the whole school. 'I can't find anyone decent from Slytherin.' She would always complain 'I bet you'll end up there.' These words stuck with Lydia while she waited. Looking around, she noticed how big the Great Hall was. It was a beautiful room, with a delightful ceiling that she could stare at for hours on end. While looking at the tables, she managed to pick out where her sister sat at the Ravenclaw table. She was sitting there looking bored as ever, with her short brown hair tied out of her face. Over at the Hufflepuff table, two boys were reading a broom catalog, pointing and making faces at the prices. Then finally at the Gryffindor table, she noticed the second boy from the train, Sirius Black, paying close attention as James carefully aimed his wand at a greasy haired Slytherin boy. Remus, who was sitting across from James, was mouthing something with a frown on his face, but eventually he just gave up trying to stop James from whatever he was going to do. Peter, on the other hand, seemed to be egging James on. James was enjoying it, and Peter was smiling wistfully as they exchanged a high-five.
"Lydia Greywood." Came McGonagall's stern voice. Somehow Lydia knew she was not a teacher to mess with. Walking slowly up to the stool, Lydia noticed that her sister had stopped to pay attention. Keeping her eyes on the ground, Lydia sat down as the old, dusty, patched hat was placed on her head.
"Oh, not to confident of yourself are you?" whispered a strange voice in her ear. 'I must be going crazy' she thought. 'Hats can't talk.' She kept repeating.
"Oh no my dear, they can't. But they can sure think." The hat stated in an amused voice. 'Okay, whatever, just not Slytherin.' She ignored the hats words and thought that.
"Oh no no no, defiantly not Slytherin, you would never survive." He continued on " No, not confident enough for Hufflepuff…" he trailed on "Ah! But the girl has a brain, and lots of courage, no doubt about that." The hat concluded, as it delved further into her mind. "A family dispute eh? Hmmm, a sibling rivalry would certainly interfere with your studies." He said, as if deep in thought. Then, his voice rang out for all to hear: "GRYFFINDOR!" Loud applause came from the Gryffindor table. Lydia was overcome with relief and happiness. On her way down, Drea was giving her an odd look, and James was standing on the bench motioning for her to come over.
"Great Job on the sorting Lydia." He congratulated her, as he smashed Sirius over to give her room to sit.
"You don't have to crush me you know!" Sirius said in an annoyed tone. Now her sister was shooting her death glares. Not once had James Potter stood on a bench to wave to her.
"Welcome to Gryffindor Lydia, best house in the school!" Peter said when she finally had room to sit down.
"And somehow you managed to get in, huh Peter?" Sirius laughed as James agreed.
"Ha ha ha. Very funny." Peter said, his self-esteem quickly vanishing.
"Thanks for letting me sit with you guys." Lydia said, a slight blush spreading across her face as she looked up to see Remus sitting across from her.
"Us Gryffindors stick together." Remus said with a smile.
"And, us Gryffindors, pull harmless little jokes on the Slytherin students." Said James as he went back to aiming his wand perfectly at the greasy-haired kids goblet.
"Oi! James!" A girl from down the table called.
"Don't be starting trouble with Severus already!" She warned once again, when James didn't look up the first time.
"Evans! It's just a bit of harmless fun!" James called down the table, still not looking from his mark.
"Great way to woo a girl James, call her by her last name." Remus teased, as he took a swig of his pumpkin juice.
"Yeah mate, if you wanna start something, call 'er Lily for once." Sirius joined in.
James just glared at them while the rest of the group laughed.
"Chelsea Rindona." Called Professor McGonagall, as the snobby girl from earlier took a seat on the wooden stool. She sat still for about thirty seconds, when, just as sudden as it had been with Lydia, The hat cried: "SLYTHERIN!" 'Serves a nasty girl like that right' Lydia thought as Chelsea tore off the hat and went to the Slytherin table. But, to Lydia surprise, she was smiling the whole way down.
"What kind of person wants Slytherin for a house?" She whispered under her breath so no one would her.
"Some people consider it an honor I suppose. Most likely, her whole family is made up of Slytherin's." Came an answer to her question. Turns out Remus had heard her little voiced thought.
"Makes sense I guess." She said, giving him an odd look. 'He must have incredible hearing' She thought, still looking at him. 'Wonder what all the cuts are from?' her eyes rested on that same nasty slash on his face.
After the end of the sorting, Dumbledore went through the rules once again.
"And the Forbidden Forest is completely off-limits to students. Now that all the announcements are out of the way, let the feast begin!" Dumbledore waved his hand, and instantly food began to spring up all around the tables.
It was amazing. Everyone was having a good time, eating, talking and sharing stories.
Lydia had seen the effects of James's wand pointing when the Greasy haired boy went to take a drink.
"Lydia, Check this out." James told her, and pointed to the Greasy boy. As he went to put the cup to his lips, the pumpkin juice exploded in his face.
Everyone that knew of it was laughing, except Lily of coarse. She shot James a nasty look, and continued to talk with her friends.
"I don't think you scored to many points there James." Sirius laughed.
"You're never going to get her that way." Remus inquired and then went back to drinking his own juice.
"And who says I want her? I could have anyone I wanted." James stated, arrogance setting into his character.
"Sure mate, sure." Apparently Sirius knew when to change the subject.
After the feast, they were all escorted back to their common rooms by the prefects.
The common room, protected by the portrait of the Fat Lady, was a beautiful sight to behold. Decorated in Maroon and Gold, with a roaring fireplace, and many cozy chairs. Lydia was quite tired from all the excitement that day, so upon saying good night to her friends, she went up to the girls dormitories, to unpack, and get to bed.
It had to be 3:00 in the morning when Lydia was woken up by voices in the common room. Not wanting to be caught out of bed, she tiptoed down and hid on the steps, to find James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter sitting in front of the fireplace. Normally, she would have walked away, but there was something in the air that made her want to stay and listen in.
"It's tomorrow night guys. I think McGonagall is gonna come get me from class around 11:30." Remus said, a hint of sorrow in his voice.
"Don't worry Rem, we'll find a way to be able to stay with you." assured James and the other two nodded their heads.
" No! I'm way to dangerous. I'm lucky to have you guys still as friends. I don't want to end up hurting you, or doing worse."
"Oh, come off it." Said Sirius. "You think we would let you get rid of us?" He smiled at Remus.
"Yeah, there's no way you can stop us Moony." Stated Peter with a smile.
"Thanks Guys." Whispered Remus.
'I wonder what all that was about…' Lydia thought as she lay in bed. 'Sounds like a secret if you ask me." She continued to think, as the moon shown in through her half opened curtains.
Well, Once again, I put allot of work into this! I hope you liked it. Please Review! I don' own anything pertaining to Harry Potter.