Jane and Neville sat down in an empty compartment. They looked out the window and noticed the red-haired man and woman, freaking out. Eventually, the train started up. Jane and Neville looked out the window and waved to Jane's mother, her sister, and Neville's grandmother. Jane was finally going to Hogwarts. She was excited, but she was also scared.
Minutes later, a girl with brown frizzy hair opened the door. "Hi, Neville. Mind if I join you?"
"No. Go ahead," Neville answered.
The girl came in and sat down across from them.
"Jane, this is my mate Hermione. Hermione, this is my best mate Jane. She's going into her first year."
"Nice to meet you, Hermione," Jane said.
"It's nice to meet you too," Hermione replied, "or at least it would be if I weren't worried because Harry and Ron are missing."
"They are!" Neville exclaimed. "I guess that explains why Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked upset. What happened?"
"I don't really know, except that they were supposed to come in right behind Ginny, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, but they didn't."
"I hope they're okay," Jane said. She'd never met the boys, but that didn't mean she didn't care.
"I hope so too," Neville said.
"I wonder what could have happened, or why both the parents went through the portal before all the kids did," Jane said.
"I don't know," Hermione said, "but I wonder if maybe we should be madder than we are worried. Harry and Ron are great, but they're sometimes reckless idiots."
"Everyone's innocent until proven guilty," Jane said.
"Good point," Neville said.
Jane held Neville's hand, as he led her to the boats. She sat down in an empty boat, and they smiled at each other.
"See you at the sorting ceremony," Neville told her, as he waved and walked away.
Jane waved back and nervously fidgeted.
A girl, whose hair was even longer than Jane's, came and got into the boat.
"Hello," the girl said. "I'm Luna."
"Hi, I'm Jane."
Two boys came by. One was tall, with brown hair. The other had blond hair and was holding a camera, and Jane remembered seeing him taking pictures in Diagon Ally.
"Hey ladies," the brunette boy said. "Mind if we join you?"
Jane and Luna both shook their heads.
The boats soon took off. "So, I'm Kevin," the brunette boy said.
"And I'm Colin," the blond boy said.
"I'm Luna."
"Jane."
Jane was soon staring at the view of the castle and putting her earplugs in to block out the annoying repetitive sound of Colin taking a bunch of pictures with his camera. It was awesome.
Jane nervously waited, in the great hall. While she waited, she fidgeted, and took her earplugs in and out so she could hear the names being called but not the clapping.
"Birtch, Jane," McGonagall called.
Jane nervously walked up to the stool and sat down. She hoped she would be in Gryffindor, only because she wanted to be in the same house as Neville, but she mostly just didn't want to be in Slytherin.
The Sorting hat laughed when placed atop Jane's head. "You love snakes, but you don't want to be a Slytherin. You could be great in Slytherin, but you don't care about that, do you? The last house you should be in is Slytherin. I know you want to be in the same house as Neville, and you're pretty chivalrous, but I don't think that's where you most belong. Better be, Hufflepuff!" it exclaimed.
Jane looked at Neville. He was clapping for her, but so was her house.
Jane went and joined the other Hufflepuffs, wishing their clapping wasn't so loud that it hurt her ears. She didn't want to put her earplugs in when they were clapping for her.
She was disappointed that she was in a different house than Neville, but she had kind of suspected that would happen. In the Hogwarts History book, her favorite of the founders had been Helga Hufflepuff.
When the next person got sorted, Jane resumed her earplugs routine. When the next Hufflepuff got sorted, Jane joined in the clapping.
Colin got Gryffindor, Luna got Ravenclaw, and Kevin was in Hufflepuff with Jane. Ginny Weasley, who Jane hadn't met but took a mental note of because she recognized her name, was in Gryffindor.