Chapter 5: My New Home

When the train slowly came to a stop at the station, the train hallway became filled with students all trying to get off the train. Lisa, Neville, and I waited until most of the students had cleared out before getting up and joining the rest of the school on the platform.

Once we were outside, we could hear someone calling out for the first years. We followed the sound of his voice over to the far side of the platform and found that it belonged to a very large man. He wasn't just big, he was huge. He looked like someone had cast an enlarging charm on him or something.

We all followed the man down a narrow path. I found it difficult not to trip and stumble, it was so dark all around and the path was so steep. I heard Neville sniffle beside me, and I knew he wasn't over the toad yet.

"Come on Neville, it'll be alright," I tried to reassure him. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to do much good.

Suddenly, the path opened up on the edge of a great lake we got our first sight of Hogwarts. It was across the lake, sitting on a high mountain: a vast castle, with turrets and towers, the windows lit, bright and inviting.

There were a bunch of boats sitting in the water, and I eagerly climbed into the nearest one which happened to already contain Harry and Ron, from the compartment earlier. Neville climbed in after me, but Lisa had to take a different boat because of the four-person limit.

Once everybody was aboard, the boats all started to move of their own accord, pushing us all through the water towards the great magnificent castle looming over us. As we approached, the large man called out to us to duck, and I ducked my head just in time, because the boats had reached the cliff and were being carried through an opening in the cliff face through a dark tunnel. The tunnel finally came out to a harbour, where we all got out of our boats and stepped onto the shore.

As we got out of the boats, the large man leading us found a toad following us and asked if it belonged to anyone. Neville excitedly ran forward to be reunited with Trevor, and I smiled, glad that things had ended on a happy note.

We headed up a passageway, following the large man, who had a large lamp, which seemed to be the only source of light. We finally reached the grass beside the castle and walked up the stone steps to the front doors. The large man raised his fist and knocked on the door three times.

The doors immediately swung open to reveal Professor McGonagall standing in the entrance, wearing either the exact same dark green cloak as she wore when she visited in the summer, or an identical one. I was relieved to see someone I recognized, and I smiled in her direction, but she was too busy with the large man – Hagrid, she called him - to notice me.

She pulled the door open more so that we could all get through and I stepped forward into the Entrance Hall of my new school. The room was all stone and there were torches on the walls that provided light for the room. I could see a marble staircase leading out of the hall that presumably led to the rest of the castle.

Professor McGonagall led us across the floor and into a small room off to the side. We all crammed in; though I'm sure we could have fit more comfortably if people weren't all squishing each other to get a better view. I could hear a loud hum of voices, so I assumed the rest of the school was already assembled in another room, probably the Great Hall based on what I'd read in Hogwarts: A History.

Professor McGonagall greeted the first years then, explaining about the sorting ceremony that was coming up. I knew all this from reading Hogwarts: A History, of course, and didn't need to be told again, but to my surprise, many of the students in the room seemed to be hanging on her every word, like it was the first they were hearing of this. Once again, I felt relief that I wasn't as behind as I'd thought I would be.

When Professor McGonagall finished explaining, she left and told us she would be returning shortly to bring us to the ceremony. About thirty seconds later, someone called out, "What the – ?"

I turned and saw the Hogwarts ghosts drifting into the room. Everyone seemed quite shocked, and I rolled my eyes again. I'd read about the ghosts of course, though it was quite fascinating to actually see them up close. They were a lot more solid-looking than I'd expected. They were transparent, of course, and had no actual matter to them, but I could still make out every feature of their appearance as if their bodies were really there.

Professor McGonagall returned then and kicked the ghosts out, instructing us to form a line and follow her into the Great Hall. I found myself directly behind Neville.

As we entered the Great Hall, I looked around for all the things that I had remembered from reading Hogwarts: A History. There were the four long house tables, the floating candles that illuminated the vast Hall, even the ceiling was the way the book had described it. When I noticed Neville looking up at the ceiling in awe, I whispered an explanation to him as to why it looked like it wasn't even there.

As we all assembled at the front of the Hall, I saw Professor McGonagall preparing the Sorting Hat on a four-legged stool. I remembered from my reading that the hat traditionally sang a song before the Sorting, so I waited expectantly.

It was a pretty generic song. The hat explained the various qualities associated with each house and sang about how it would be the one to decide where each of us would be placed. When it finished its song, the whole hall burst into applause. Professor McGonagall came forward again, now with a roll of parchment, and I suddenly became extremely nervous.

She called the first girl, Hannah Abbott, and the hat quickly declared her a Hufflepuff. As the names were called and it got dangerously close to the G's, my stomach started to clench and even though I'd had nothing to eat since breakfast, I felt like I might be sick. It wasn't that I was afraid of the sorting itself. Though I would like to be sorted into Gryffindor, Ravenclaw wouldn't be all that bad. I doubted I would end up in Hufflepuff or Slytherin, based on the qualities those two houses espoused. It was that I had a lingering fear of being the center of attention. Back in primary school, oral presentations had always been my least favorite thing. Having to stand up in front of the whole class, with them watching me and making fun of me behind their hands, was terrifying. And now I had to get up in front of the whole of Hogwarts. I knew it was different, but my fear was still present.

When Anthony Goldstein was sorted into Ravenclaw, I panicked because I thought I would be next, but someone named Gregory Goyle was called before me and I had a minute to compose myself before the Sorting Hat cried out "SLYTHERIN" and Professor McGonagall called my name.

I told myself to relax as I ran up the steps to the stool and put the hat over my head. I wanted to get this done right away before I lost my nerve. There was silence for a moment and then I heard a small voice in my ear. "Interesting, interesting, plenty of brains that's obvious, yes, a sure sign of a Ravenclaw, but what's this? I see there's bravery here and definitely the makings of a fine young Gryffindor, but Ravenclaw could really use a mind like this one." I smiled under the hat as it praised my mind. I always liked it when my brain was recognized as a quality rather than made a mockery of. The hat noticed my sudden rush of pride and it made a note that pride was certainly a Gryffindor quality.

"Alright then, I suppose you ought to be in – GRYFFINDOR!" the hat finally called out to the entire hall. I jumped off the stool and handed the hat to the next student to be sorted – Daphne Greengrass, and I went to sit at the applauding Gryffindor table, eager for the next student to become the subject of everyone's attention.

I watched merrily as Neville became a Gryffindor as well, and though he forgot to remove the Sorting Hat before he came to sit down, I didn't laugh, but congratulated him when he finally sat down at the table next to me. Ernie Macmillan, the boy I had met at the beginning of the train ride became a Hufflepuff just as he'd wished.

When Harry Potter's name was called, the tension in the hall became tangible. I suppose everyone was eager for him to end up in their house because of his fame. The hat took a significantly long time deciding where to place him, but it finally shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" and the whole table burst into the loudest applause anyone had yet received.

When Lisa's turn came, I sat up a little straighter and when she was announced to be a Ravenclaw, I clapped along with the Ravenclaw table and tried to catch her eye to smile, but she didn't turn my way. It was too bad she wasn't in Gryffindor – she'd have made a great friend – but I was glad she got the house she'd wanted.

After Lisa, the other boy from the train, Ron, was sorted into Gryffindor, and then the last boy, Blaise Zabini, was sent to Slytherin.

When the Sorting was over, the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, rose to make a speech. It was one of the strangest speeches I'd ever heard, and I wondered if he was completely sane. All the books I'd read about him said he was the wisest and smartest wizard in all of history, but would the most intelligent man alive really use the word 'blubber'?

Suddenly, all the empty plates and bowls sitting in front of me were filled with food, by magic of course, and everyone began to eat. I helped myself to some roast beef and potatoes and made sure to take peas and carrots, because Mum and Dad would want me to eat my vegetables. The older boy next to me introduced himself as Percy Weasley, and I guessed that he was the brother Ron had been complaining to his mother about – the one who'd been made a prefect. When Percy informed me that he was a prefect, my suspicions were conformed. I decided he was responsible, since the school had given him a position of authority, and I started to talk to him about classes.

"Potions should be very interesting," I said to Percy.

"Oh yes, Professor Snape teaches potions. He's a great teacher, but a little surly. He wants the Defense Against the Dark Arts post pretty badly," Percy replied.

"And I've been practicing a few basic charms, but I don't believe I've gotten very far," I continued. "Though I've noticed that most of the other first years haven't seemed to have practiced much at all, so perhaps I'm more advanced than I'd thought."

I chatted with Percy for awhile, and then talked with Neville for a bit, as he was seated on my other side.

When dinner was over, the Headmaster got up again to address the students and then dismissed us so that we could go up to our dormitories. As Percy was a prefect, he took charge of the first year Gryffindors, leading us up the stairs and through the castle to the seventh floor, where our dormitories were housed.

When we finally reached the dormitories, Percy gave the password to the portrait of a relatively overweight lady wearing a pink dress. The portrait swung open to reveal the common room – which was filled with armchairs and tables and had a lovely couch by the fire. Everything was decorated in scarlet and gold; those begin the Gryffindor colors.

Percy told us that the girls' dormitories were through the door on the left, so I followed the other girls through it and up a spiral staircase into a room with a plaque on it reading First Years. The dormitory was a circular room with five four-poster beds that had deep scarlet curtains hanging from them. I found that my trunk was already at the foot of my bed, so I went right to that bed and sat down, very tired. While the other girls all started talking and introducing each other, I got dressed in my pyjamas and went straight to bed, too exhausted to try to join in a conversation about cute boys and whether the uniform restrictions would allow for painted nails.