Chapter 5: The Great Hall
The Great Hall really is greater than any of Meredith's expectations.
She'd heard about it, of course, from her mother over the years. She'd heard about it's four tables, for each of the Hogwarts houses. She'd heard about the high ceilings, the floating candles, and the enchantments that had been set so that it looks like the night sky above them.
Still, she looks around in awe, along with all of her peers, as she takes in her surroundings.
There really is an overwhelming number of students, not to mention teachers here, and Meredith shivers as she remembers that every single one of these people are all fellow witches and wizards.
As they're being lined up in alphabetical order by last name at the front of the room, Meredith scans for that familiar face she'd seen earlier, the tall redhead from the train station.
She hadn't seen her since having boarded the Hogwarts Express, but she figures if she is a student, that she would be here.
Glancing at the Griffindor table, she doesn't see her.
Glancing at the Hufflepuff table, she doesn't see her, but she sees a perky blonde girl who looks only a bit older than her, and another golden-blonde-haired girl sitting next to her that she catches Cristina staring at.
Glancing at the Slytherin table, she doesn't see her, but she sees the dark-haired boy who had helped her with her bags earlier that day, the one who later had been talking to the redhead girl. He smiles at her, and she looks away from him. She also sees the chiseled-jawed boy that she'd been talking to after.
Finally, she glances at the Ravenclaw table, and lo and behold, she finally sets her eyes on the redhead, who is vibrantly smiling, and sitting next to a Latina girl, and both of them are smiling up at the students at the front.
Meredith grins widely when she sees the redhead smile at her, and she almost trips over herself when she tries to smile back at her-
"Now, before we begin, Professor Richard Webber would like to say a few words," Professor Bailey instructs, effectively shaking Meredith out of her reverie.
"I have a few start-of-term notices I wish to announce…" says Richard Webber. "The first years please note that the dark forest is strictly forbidden to all students. Also, our caretaker has asked us to remind you that the third-floor hall on the right-hand side, is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death. Thank you-" says Richard Webber, before he sits down again.
Meredith smiles at him, and he smiles back at her.
Richard Webber was practically her pseudo-uncle growing up, and she knows that her mother is very fond of him.
"Now when I call your name, you'll come forth, I shall place the sorting hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses," says Miranda Bailey.
Meredith tenses her fists together nervously.
This is the moment that she- scratch that- that her mother's been waiting for, and Meredith can see her piercing stare from the head table. Meredith bites her lip before she faces forward again. She doesn't want to think about what will happen if she's sorted in the 'wrong,' house with the 'wrong,' kind of people.
She hadn't really wanted to be in the Ravenclaw house before now, except for maybe being able to hang out with Cristina.
Now, she covets it dearly and hopes and prays in her head that the sorting hat might oblige.
