Ren Sorge sat alone waiting anxiously in the midst of chaos and utter madness. Platform Nine and Three-Quarters was packed with students and their families. But throughout the goodbyes, Ren had sat quietly on the plush red vinyl seats. She made no sound aside from the ruffling of her black pants as she squirmed. Ren scanned the platform looking for anything at all interesting, but found nothing.

Ren had hair that was black, and soft, coming down just below the shoulders. Her paper white face was thin, and outlined with her light fringe and hair hanging over her ears. She originally had red eyes, and though she liked them most of the time, she found it annoying that people would marvel over the coloration, so she found it useful to charm the color of her eyes, making them blue. Standing at five foot three, she wasn't extremely tall, but about average. That's all she seemed on the surface, average.

"I don't know about you but I'm about to scream from boredom." Layla said slamming the compartment door shut. Layla was Ren's twin sister, and the only person she knew at Hogwarts. The two were spitting images of each other, if not for the fact that Layla has longer hair, there wouldn't be any differences.

"Nothing interesting in the other compartments?" Ren asked, only half caring.

"Not a thing."

"Damn. I suppose things will be more exciting once we arrive."

"I hope so, or else I'm leaving school, I never wanted to come here in the first place."

"I don't know... I kind of like the change of scenery"

"France had nice scenery too."

"You just liked it because you had a boyfriend there."

"Liar!"

"Don't even deny it. You know it's true, I know it's true, just shut up."

The two fell silent for a moment and they turned their attention to the activities beyond the window. The train whistle blew, and an immense amount of kids ran for the train. Layla checked her watch.

"They're late. By five minutes."

"As long as we get there I don't give a fuck."

"Well someone's grumpy." Layla sneered, plopping down on the seat across from Ren. She rolled her eyes and sighed. Both of them were extremely tired due to lack of sleep. The past few days had been frantic for the both of them, packing, hopping on train after train, then across the channel, and to London. Needless to say, they were exhausted. So the two were at each other's necks. A sharp jolt, and another whistle, and the Hogwarts Express was off at a slow, but rapidly increasing speed. "I wonder what house we'll be in."

"What?" Ren grunted, half asleep.

"The houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin."

"Oh... dunno... I guess it doesn't matter. Does it?"

"I guess not." Layla said shrugging.

The compartment door flew open, and a girl about their age stood in the doorway. She was about average height, her hair was cropped, pouffy, the color of corn silk. Her eyes were an ocean blue, deep and foggy. Her face was round, and soft, with a kind complexion. She stood there awkwardly for a moment before doing anything.

"Hi." She said, then furrowed her brow "Are you two the exchange students? You don't look familiar at all."

"Yes, in fact we are. I'm Layla, and this is Ren." Layla said gesturing to Ren. "Who might you be?"

"Skye. Skye Emrys." She replied "Nice to meet you. Mind if I have a seat?" Her eyes wandered over to the plentiful seating in the compartment.

"Have at it." Ren said, picking herself up and moving to sit next to her sister, allowing Skye her own seat.

By now, the scenery of London was long gone, and blurs of rolling hills and trees were zooming past the window. Ren sighed, thinking of France and even though she denied it, she missed it terribly. She wasn't even sure why she missed it, she was always so restless there, and it seemed no different in England. She knew Layla was aching right now; she had a boyfriend at their previous school, and had been very upset the past week or so.

"I'm hungry." Ren announced, cutting into Layla and Skye's idle conversation. "What about you?" She made eye contact with Layla, who hadn't had anything to eat since the previous day. Without waiting for a reply, she reached into her bag and grabbed two flasks. Tossing one at her sibling, Ren took a deep swig of the liquid and felt instant relief.

"I don't want it." Layla said.

"You know very well you need it." Ren said bitterly, fitting the flask onto her belt loop. "It's nice and warm, drink up."

"Fine, fine..." Layla said, taking a small gulp, almost as if expecting to be poisoned.

"Was that so hard?"

Layla didn't answer, and instead glanced at Skye, who had been completely forgotten for a moment. Skye sat there bewildered staring at the two, then shrugged it off. "Where did you say you two were from again?" Skye asked, trying to bring the conversation back to her.

"Thionville, France." Layla replied.

"We were born in Transylvania." Ren said, sounding displeased at the mention of France.

"Isn't that the vampire place..?" Skye asked, seeming nervous and excited at the same time.

"Yeah." Ren gave her a cocky grin. "The vampire place."

"That's pretty cool."

The morning flew by effortlessly with some chat here and there. A little sleep, some awkward silence, but nothing life changing or extreme. Noon rolled around, and a knock on the door marked the arrival of the little old snack lady. "I'd like some Pumpkin Pasties." Skye told the lady, pulling out a coin purse. "Do you guys want anything? You mentioned being hungry a while back."

"I'm fine." Ren said, sitting back in her seat, even if she was hungry, she didn't have a certain liking for Pumpkin Pasties. She glanced over at Layla, who looked uncomfortable at the thought of food. "Looks like Layla isn't up for anything to eat either."

"All right then." The lady and her cart moved on, and things returned to normal. Skye happily munched at her food, and the twins watched her eat wholeheartedly. "So what year are you in? You never mentioned it before."

"Fifth."

"Oh really? I'm a fifth year too." Skye seemed pleased with her new discovery, and smiled. "It'd be awesome if you made it in Gryffindor with me. I'm sure the other girls would like to have you." Ren smiled weakly, she really had no preference as to which house she was in, just as long as it had a comfortable bed for her.

"We'll see in a few hours." Layla said, seeming excited. "I can hardly wait to get there."

"You've been saying that the past week." Ren said, rolling her eyes, she unlike Layla was not excited at all. Feeling tired and bored of the conversation, Ren adjusted herself into a lax position and closed her eyes. She was tired, and could just about sleep through no matter what at this point. That's just what she did.

Hours later, she felt herself being shaken. "Come on Ren," she heard Layla say "wake up."

"Why? Are we there?"

"Nearly." Skye said, eyeing her street clothes. "You'd better change into your robes." Skye and Layla were already fitted in their uniform, making Ren feel out of place.

"Fine, fine..." she mumbled, sitting upright as she stretched. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Almost four hours, you were out cold." Layla said.

"Ah... Well that's fine with me. I needed the sleep, I'm beat." Ren said as she pulled down her trunk from the rack overhead. She found her uniform relatively easily, despite the fact that the trunk had been packed corner to corner with books, ink, parchment, and such. She was tugging her robe on while Layla and Skye chatted away. Ren was just pulling on her shoe when the train lurched and came to a stand still. A final sigh of steam from the engine, and all in unison, the hundreds of students jumped up from their seats and clambered for the exits.

"Nice to know we're here." Skye said, over the crowd. "It always seems to take forever to get here."

"Well… we've got to go along with the First years... for sorting and all." Ren said awkwardly. Skye made her slightly uncomfortable being so friendly, but still, she was the only person she now knew at Hogwarts and that was something comforting about the whole thing.

No one said anything for a moment, almost as if time stood still. Layla stared at Ren anxiously, as if waiting for her to say something. But nothing was said. Ren gave Syke one final awkward grin goodbye and abruptly turned around to leave. Following the trickle of First Years wasn't too hard; it was battling the other years that was difficult.

Many of them were much larger than Ren, and Layla clung to her hand desperate not to become separated. Eventually, the crowed thinned, and it was just the small stream of First Years left about them. A moment or two more, and the group came to a sudden halt just at the edge of a lake.

"I didn't know there was a lake here." Layla said

"Neither did I. There are probably going to be a lot of things here we didn't know about." Ren said shrugging it off.

" 'S e'ry one 'ere?" A gruff voice came from looming above. A few yards away, there stood a massive man. At least twice as tall and wide as the average man, his hands were as large as trash can lids, and his dark eyes were small and set back into the depths of his large, whisker covered face. His hair was a large mass of black tangles and hadn't looked like it had been combed in perhaps a year.

No one replied to him, they stood in awe of his appearance. "Well a'ight then. My name's Hagrid, an' I'm 'ere to escort yeh ter Hogwarts. E'ry one get in a boat, an' we'll be on our way." With that he took a seat in the closest boat to him, taking up the whole thing. Everyone else clambered for a seat. The very instance everyone had taken a seat, the boats magically propelled themselves across the lake. "Keep yet hands outta the water. Don' want the giant squid ter get any idears." Several people squealed at the idea of a giant squid living within the depths of the waters, and bent over the edge at the hopes of getting a glimpse at it. Ren glanced over to Layla, who was sitting opposite her, who responded with an eye roll.

"At least it's a nice night." Ren said to her, "The sky is so clear."

"Yeah, but I'm cold." Layla replied.

"We'll be there soon... Look, there's the castle, it's not long now."

Another couple minutes and Ren's teeth began to chatter, she was getting cold too. However, Hagrid's voice boomed out across the lake and over the laughing and murmuring of the students. "E'ryone watch yer head, that's righ'. We're passin' under some rocks so watch yer heads... allrigh' you can straighten out now." Looking back, the group had just passed through a small cavern, barely big enough for Hagrid to hunker down and get by. But luck was on their side, and they had made it through. Looking back ahead, Hogwarts stood on a grand cliff just a few yards ahead. The boats started to slow down, and they meet land. By this point, everyone was shivering considerably, as the wind was picking up. Layla and Ren were glued together in a feeble attempt to keep warm. Hagrid held his lantern above the group, checking to make sure everyone was assembled together before continuing. A short walk from the beach, there was a flight is rugged, narrow stairs. Squinting up at the general direction they were pointing, Ren saw they lead all the way up the cliff and to the school. Sighing at the thought of the long walk, she squeezed Layla's hand encouraging her sister.

Tired and breathless, the group reached the top within good time, and seemed enthralled that they were finally through. "Now that we've accomplished that," Hagrid told them "all tha's left is the sortin'."

"Thank god." Layla sighed. Ren could see she was exhausted, and quite frankly she was too. Striding over to the face of the castle, Hagrid walked up to a pair of enormous solid oak doors. The group of students crowded around him eagerly, and he took a giant fist to the doors, rapping his knuckles on the wood.

After waiting several moments, the door to the right opened up to a middle aged woman. She stood about the standard height, thin, but not scrawny. Her eyes sat behind a pair of glasses hanging from the tip of her nose. Her back hair was pulled away from her face into a tight bun on the back. Over all, Ren judged her to be stern, but with good thoughts in mind. She liked her, in a strange sort of way. "Greetings Hagrid." She said to them in a crisp voice "I trust everything went well?"

"Yes ma'am." Hagrid replied.

"Grand, come in children." She said, turning her attention to the new students. Opening the door wider, everyone filed in past her, seeming tense. The woman introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, the Headmistress and Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts. By that time, Hagrid had disappeared into the Great Hall, just off to the side of the Entrance Hall. No one said anything for a moment; Ren took this time to take in the feel of the school. Portraits of assorted people and places were all over the walls; some of the people were snoozing, or eating. But most of them were going about excitedly from portrait to portrait, talking and gesturing to the group of students. Ren wasn't sure if she should feel annoyed or appreciated by this, but it was no matter, McGonagall started to talk again; so all of Ren's attention was on her then. "Now then, all of you are about to be sorted. The sorting is a very important ceremony. Once your house has been chosen, your school life will revolve about your house. All leisure time, sleeping, assignments, and other various activities will take place in your house. The four houses are Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Slytherin. The four houses not only have Quidditch competitions, but also compete for house points. Good deeds will be rewarded, while any mischievousness will be taken care of with point deductions." She paused and looked over all of them. "Everyone tidy up, I need to speak to Layla and Ren Sorge." Ren sent a confused look over to Layla, who in turn shrugged. Wading up through the crowd, the two were taken to the side and away from the crowd.

"The two of you are going to be sorted separately, Dumbledore's orders." McGonagall said "Any objections?" Ren shook her head, Layla shrugged. "Good. Wait here." McGonagall strode over to the First Years, explaining to them that they were to wait here for a moment, and then their time would come. McGonagall walked back to where she had left the two, beckoning them to follow her into the Great Hall.

The burst of sounds that erupted with the opening of the doors was deafening. Four long tables stretched from one end of the hall to the other, each packed with students. Leading the two straight down the middle, the hall became eerily quiet. Glancing up at the ceiling, Ren could see hundreds of thousands of candles floating about, giving the hall light, and warmth. But looking up even further, the actual ceiling was the real spectacle. It had been bewitched to appear as the current conditions outside did.

"J'ai la berlue!" Layla whispered. Ren couldn't help but grin, even though she was deadly nervous. McGonagall lead the two to the far end of the hall, stopping at a large table where the only adults to be seen were seated. Hagrid sat at the far end, but he was the only one Ren knew. In front of the table, about a meter from where they were standing, was a three legged stool, rather wobbly looking, with a patched and frayed hat perched on top of it. Ren wondered what they were possibly going to do with that, but didn't say anything, she and Layla stared onward expectantly to McGonagall.

"Well, here they are Albus." she said, directing her attention to an old man sitting in the center of the table. He had a long beard, stopping at about his waist. His face, was wrinkled, but kind. He stood up on place, looking at the sea of students, who stared back curiously. Nothing like this had ever happened at Hogwarts, and needless to say everyone was at a loss.

"We have a slight change in the ceremony this year." He said, in a loud voice, which was almost startling coming from an old man such as himself. "We have received two new students from abroad. Instead of sorting them with the First Years, I have chosen to sort them separately." He paused, and sat down. Ren could see he was a man of few words. Not knowing what to do next, she looked back to McGonagall anxiously.

"Layla first, then Ren. Sit on the stool, and place the Sorting Hat on your head." She said simply. Ren stood firmly planted where she was, watching Layla step forward and took a seat on the stool, just like instructed, and placed the filthy old hat on her head. Ren could see she was shaking, and she felt bad for her sister, then she noticed she was shaking too. After a moment, the Hat opened up a seam appearing to be a mouth, and screamed "GRYFFINDOR." so loud it was echoing through the hall.

"Gryffindor... Didn't Skye say she was in Gryffindor?" Ren thought to herself, but there wasn't time for her to think. It was her turn for Sorting. Nervously she approached the stool and sat down, placing the hat over her head.

"Another one eh?" She heard a voice say in her ear, but that wasn't her ear, the hat was in her thoughts!

"What do you mean 'Another one'? That's rude." Ren thought without thinking.

"You're feisty. You'd be well in Slytherin."

"But you put my sister in Gryffindor!"

"You'd rather be in Gryffindor!"

"That's what I said."

"No no no, you're Slytherin material. Your thick heritage, your general feel on society. Yes you belong in Slytherin."

"No. I belong with my sister."

"You're sure? You can't go back on your word; you really want to be in Gryffindor?"

"Yes!"

"Very well then." "GRYFFINDOR!"

The hall erupted in polite clapping, just as it had for Layla, but Ren wasn't fazed by this, all she wanted was to find Layla. Looking through the crowd at the table McGonagall had pointed her toward, she finally found Layla and squeezed in between her sister and a mousy Fourth Year. "Thank God that's over with." Ren said to Layla. "That was nerve racking. Literally."

A moment later and McGonagall was out again, this time appearing with the new First Years. But Ren didn't care one bit. The highlight of her day had come and gone. All she cared about was going to bed. She was extremely exhausted. She didn't pay attention to any of the sorting, nor to the song the hat sung to them. She was too busy spacing out staring at the ceiling to listen to Dumbledore's speech. She barely paid any attention to the Gryffindor Prefect as they lead the group of new students to the Common Room, she didn't bother to take in any of the sights, or talk to anyone, but as soon as she was directed to the Sixth Year dormitory, she was out cold on her bed.