"Gryffindor!" Echoed loudly through a large hall filled with tables of other children looking up at her as red and gold banners uncoiled from the ceiling. She smiled, her gaze tracing the lion avatar on the banners. So she'd be a Gryffindor, just like her brother. "Hufflepuff!" She heard the voice echo again and her smile faltered as she watched yellow and black table cloths drape themselves over the tables. "Slytherin!" She was officially confused as she watched a long green rug with silver edges roll itself from the doorway to where she was standing. She looked up at the other children but they were all staring at her emotionless. "Ravenclaw!" Blue and bronze candles fell from the sky and landed perfectly on candlesticks on top of the tables. She opened her mouth to speak-

"Jade!" A different voice woke Jade Maddex from her sleep and her eyes snapped open. "Jade?" Her eyes flicked to her bedroom door and she saw her father standing there. Jade slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Come on, get up!" He said cheerfully, "Today we're going school shopping." Jade pulled the blanket off of herself and her father watched her, "Is something wrong, dear? You were so excited last night, you could barely fall asleep."

"I'm fine." Jade said quietly as she quickly made her bed, "Just nervous." She said a bit louder when she plopped the pillow down in its rightful place. Her father smiled,

"Oh, I understand. Rodrick was so excited he couldn't speak of anything else from the moment he got his letter to when we left him to board the train." Jade's brother, Rodrick, had just graduated Hogwarts and now it was her turn to attend. She was rather excited herself but worried about which house she would be sorted into. She didn't have a preference, though her brother often made jokes about the Hufflepuffs. Joked about the Hufflepuffs, grumbled about the Slytherins, and mostly didn't speak of the Ravenclaws because he had told her there wasn't anything very interesting about them other than their intelligence. Being sorted into a house that was known for its intelligence didn't seem like a bad thing to her. Just then she heard heavy footsteps running towards her room and her brother's head popped over her father's shoulder.

"Good morning, J!" He exclaimed loudly and her father moved out of the way so Rodrick could come into her room and pick her up. "You're not even dressed yet, we have to get going." He turned towards her closet,

"Put me down you troll!" Jade struggled against his grip and he happily put her back down on the floor. "Thank you." She smoothed down her shirt and Rodrick mussed her hair up. "Stop it!" She whined, Rodrick began to laugh at the sight of his eleven-year-old sister standing there with her hands crossed under her chest and a frown on her face.

"Rodrick, that's enough." Her father called to him and Rodrick raised his hands in surrender and backed towards her bedroom door.

"I'm just messing with you." He smiled brightly.

"Well, yes, I can see that." She bit back at him and both men left her to change and get ready for the day. She went to her bedroom door and closed it before turning back to her closet and pulling out a gray sweater and then to her dresser where she tugged on a pair of dark jeans. She grudgingly left her room and went across the hall to the bathroom, she looked into the mirror and immediately grabbed her hairbrush and brushed through the mess it had become thanks to Rodrick. There, she felt much better. She brushed her teeth and put on deodorant before leaving the bathroom and descending the stairs into the family room where her family was waiting for her.

"There she is." Her mother smiled warmly at her, she rose from her spot on the loveseat and gently ran her fingers through the ends of Jade's dark silky hair. "Come on, you're nerves will melt away when we're picking out your owl."

"I get an owl?" Jade asked as her eyes widened and her mother laughed in a light and musical tone.

"Of course." Her mother confirmed and Jade's mouth broke into a smile. It wasn't money that she was worried about being the reason she wouldn't get an owl of her own, their family had plenty of it, more than they could ever need, a nice perk of coming from an old pureblood family.

"I just thought I would get Rodrick's," Jade explained, and at this, her brother turned from browsing the bookcase.

"Willie's mine." He whined and their father rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Jade will be getting her own." Her father said and Jade's nervousness was stomped out by the excitement she now felt, "It was meant to be a surprise, darling. But you seemed upset so we decided to tell you now." Jade nodded and flew into her mother's arms,

"Thank you! Thank you!" She couldn't stop smiling, once her mother released her she went to her father and embraced him as well. She glanced at the grandfather clock by the fireplace. It was nine a.m. She pulled away from her father and grabbed some floo powder from on top of the fireplace's mantle and threw it into the low burning fire. The fire grew angry and green, she turned to see her parents and brother falling in line behind her. They huddled together in the fireplace and Jade smiled, "Diagon Alley." She spoke clearly and they were quickly whisked away. A few moments later they appeared in the Leaky Cauldron. As they left the building and out to the cobblestone street, Jade's mother reached for Jade's hand but Jade gave her hand a funny look as if it were a tentacle reaching towards her. "I'm eleven now, I don't need to hold my mummy's hand," Jade said a tad annoyed and her brother chuckled at her.

"You're right. You'll always be my baby though." Her mother smiled sweetly at her with a hint of sadness in her eyes, Jade felt a tinge of guilt pierce her chest.

"What should we do first?" Jade asked and her mother pulled out the list that was sent with her acceptance letter.

"I think we could get this done much quicker if we divide and conquer." She looked over everyone and then back at the list, "Alright, Rodrick, you can go get her books together. Joseph, darling, you will go gather her cauldron, glass vials, telescope set, and brass scales. Jade, you'll come with me and we'll get your robs fitted, yes?" She looked up and everyone seemed in agreement, "Excellent. Then we'll meet back here and we'll all go to watch Jade pick out her owl and her wand."

They separated and went their own ways, Jade and her mother headed towards Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. The shop wasn't too crowded like Jade's mother thought it would be. "Perhaps we should wait until the day before the term begins every year if it'll keep us from the crowds."

Madam Malkin's shop was empty except for one boy who she was currently working on. At the sound of her door opening, Madam Malkin looked up,

"Good morning! Here for your robes for school, yes?" She asked and Jade nodded. "Well then, hop on up next to this young gentleman." Jade left her mother's side and came to the small pedestal Madam Malkin was gesturing towards. Jade looked in the large three-fold mirror in front of her and watched Madam Malkin slide a black robe over the boy's arms, he looked himself up and down and looked over to his mother who Jade hadn't noticed until now.

"I think that looks nice. What do you think, Blaise?" She asked the boy and he examined himself once more.

"I think it's fine." His mother smiled and then went with Madam Malkin to pay for the robes. He shrugged the robe off and began folding it, "Is this your first year?" He asked aloud and Jade realized he had been speaking to her even though he didn't look up from his robe.

"Yes." She said. The boy had caramel skin, short black hair, and pretty green eyes.

"Me too. What house are you hoping for?" This time he did look at her and Jade could feel her face growing warm as a blush crept up on her cheeks.

"I don't have a house I like over the others." Blaise furrowed his eyebrows,

"There's not a single house you'd choose over the others if it was your choice?"

"I guess if it was my choice… maybe Gryffindor, that's what my brother was."

"So, you'd choose to be compared to your brother?" He asked and Jade narrowed her eyes at this,

"No." He waited, "I think I'd like Ravenclaw, they're known for their cleverness." He seemed to accept this answer,

"I think I'd want to be a Gryffindor or a Slytherin." Jade nodded, in her eyes none of the houses were bad. Just then the boy's mother came back to her son with bags in her hands and they both started towards the door,

"It was nice to meet you," Jade called after him and he turned back to her as he was halfway out the door,

"You too, I'll look for you at the sorting ceremony." Jade nodded and the boy and his mother left. She smiled sheepishly to her mother who had a bright smile of her own,

"See? You've already made a friend!"