They spent the rest of the train ride in silence beside the hoots from Ezekiel. Draco's meeting with Harry had put him in a foul mood and he wasn't interested in talking to his cab mates. After what seemed like forever, the train began to slow and a voice echoed through the train,
"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." Jade looked at Ezekiel, she felt odd leaving him for someone else to take care of. Jade rose from her seat,
"I'm going to go change into my robes." She told the boys as they watched her stand,
"You better hurry," Draco told her and she nodded before leaving the compartment.
"How'd you two meet?" Goyle leaned forward and asked Draco and he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion,
"The same way I met you," Draco said and Goyle leaned back in his seat,
"Oh, I just thought you two had known each other for a while." Draco turned away from the window and faced him fully,
"Thinking isn't your strong suit, is it?" He asked and Goyle looked at Crabbe and then shook his head at Draco, "Yes, that's clear." Draco grumbled, "That's alright though," He perked up, "that means you're strong in other areas." Goyle smiled and took it as a compliment, Crabbe not knowing what they were really talking about, smiled along with him. Draco scooted towards Jade's owl and it watched him. "Hello, Ezekiel." He raised his hand slowly towards the cage but Ezekiel pecked at his incoming hand and Draco quickly retreated. Jade returned quickly after the failed attempt at getting to know her owl and she smoothed down the front of her robe. She was just in time because the train began to slow and then came to a stop. Jade reached a finger in and stroked Ezekiel's cheek,
"I'll see you later." She promised him as the boys stood. "Alright then, let's go." She told them and they all left their compartment. The hall was filled with children trying to exit the train. Crabbe and Goyle pushed past kids and Draco and Jade stayed close behind them and they all quickly squeezed out into the night.
"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" She heard a low voice boom out of the darkness and she snapped her head around and her eyes were attracted to a lamp high off the ground, her eyes focused on the dark figure that was holding it. It was a very large man with long hair and a long and scraggly beard. He beamed brightly at all of them as they soon gathered into a large group in front of him. "Mind yer step, now! My name is Hagrid and I'll be takin' yeh to Hogwarts. Firs' years follow me!" He announced and the children all stumbled and shoved as they got into a line to follow the large man down a narrow path. They were all quiet, she listened to the sound of all of their feet quickly shuffling along trying to keep up with him. "Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here." The students followed him a bit further and then it seemed that they stopped moving altogether. Jade tried peaking over other students heads but she wasn't quite tall enough,
"Goyle!" She hissed and his head snapped towards her, "Why aren't we moving?" She asked him,
"Everyone's looking at the castle." He told her and she looked up instead of trying to look over people's heads and she saw the taller towers of the castle in the distance.
"No more'n four to a boat!" She heard the man's voice bellow out and she looked around. Boats? She didn't see any boats. Goyle watched her and then shoved through the crowd so she could move forward and the castle came clearer into her view. She noticed they were in fact near a lake and there were multiple boats by the shoreline. Kids started climbing into boats, Crabbe and Goyle grabbed a nearby one and Draco followed behind. Draco turned back once he was on the boat and looked at Jade, she hadn't moved. He extended a hand and she was surprised by the kind gesture, she took a few steps forward and reached for it, she was worried she would trip and fall into the water in front of everyone.
"Thank you." She told him as he helped her onto the boat. Draco nodded and they both sat down on one side while Crabbe and Goyle sat on the other side.
"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then, Forward!" The boats started all at once as if they were controlled by his voice. The water was incredibly smooth with no waves to rock the boats at all. No one spoke and it gave Jade an uneasy feeling. She just focused on the castle as they got closer and closer. The lights in the castle windows glowed brightly and it made Jade feel a bit better that she wasn't going to a sinister castle where anything could happen to her and her family wouldn't know. She knew she was being dramatic but she couldn't help where her mind wandered. "Heads down!" She heard as the first boats reached the cliff. They all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. "Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" Hagrid asked as he raised a toad in his large hand,
"Trevor!" cried a chubby-faced boy, holding out his hands. The group of children hurried up a passageway in the rock after the glow of Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge oak front door. Jade knew the castle was large but as she stared up now, just the door itself was massive . She felt like a bug scurrying on the stone floor. Hagrid raised a giant fist and knocked three times on the castle door. The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch with wisps of gray strands stood in emerald-green robes. She had a very stern face and Jade thought she held herself as someone who demanded respect and unwavering attention.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid gestured towards the group of young witches and wizards in training and Professor McGonagall looked over them all.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big the group of a hundred plus children fit without any trouble. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a large beautiful marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors. They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Jade could hear hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right that grew louder as they got closer but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, Jade gave Draco an apologetic look as she pressed her shoulder against his as Crabbe squeezed her between the two of them. "Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room." Jade listened as the older witch scanned the children, making sure they were paying attention. "The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." Her eyes lingered for a moment on the two boys directly in front of Jade and Draco. "I shall return when we are ready for you," she spoke once more, "Please wait quietly." She left the chamber and Jade visibly relaxed.
"Do you think it's some kind of test?" Crabbe asked nervously, turning to Jade and Draco,
"My brother said it had something to do with a hat, I don't remember, he was telling me a whole bunch of stuff before I left."
"What house was your brother in?" Draco asked, she noticed that Draco looked a little nervous as well even though he probably wouldn't admit it. The uncertainty of which house you'll be put in has everyone a little worried.
"Gryffindor." She told him and he groaned as if he was just told he would be put in Gryffindor. Jade ignored his reaction and instead looked at the door Professor McGonagall left through. There was a sharp shriek followed by other screams behind Jade and she turned quickly and gasped.
Ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. Jade stared unblinking as they passed above the group. One ghost had stopped further away from Jade and spoke to a small group of children closer to the door. "I've never seen a ghost before," Jade spoke out loud to no one in particular. Just then, Professor McGonagall came through the door again and shooed the ghost away.
"Move along now, the Sorting Ceremony is about to start." The ghost bowed to Professor McGonagall and then floated through a wall. "Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me." Even though she had been told to move her legs didn't, she had been listening to the faint murmurs she could hear coming from the Great Hall. Draco pushed her shoulders gently and she quickly stood behind Crabbe and Draco fell in line behind her. They walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.
Jade's mouth immediately fell open as she took in the grand sight of the Great Hall. The hall was huge, fitting four rows of long tables from the double doors all the way to the end of the long hall that were filled by the students before there were a few steps up and then a final long table where the teachers were sitting. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over the tables. Professor McGonagall led the students through the hall towards the teachers' table. As they walked Jade's eyes kept catching the glint of the golden plates and goblets. They came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like the ghosts she had just seen outside of the Great Hall in the candlelight. Jade glanced up to see how tall the room was and she noticed there was no ceiling, the night sky twinkled due to the many stars and the bright moon shone brighter than she thought it would. She didn't feel any gusts of wind or hear any noises from outside as the hall fell silent.
"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside," Draco whispered to her as he caught her staring up. How different, Hogwarts became more and more fascinating the more she learned. She stopped looking up though when she realized other people could see her, she didn't want to look like a ditz. Professor McGonagall moved quietly as she grabbed a stool and placed it in front of the first years. On top of the stool, she put a pointed wizard's hat. The hat needed a wash, it was patched up and frayed around the rim, and not to mention how dirty it looked, she hoped it didn't smell. She glanced around at the other students and they were all staring at the old ripped hat. This had to be the hat her brother mentioned, she was trying and failing to remember what he had said. She was so caught up in her own head that she almost missed the hat twitching. One of the larger rips around the rim opened wide and the hat began to sing.
"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty, but don't judge on what you see. I'll eat myself if you can find a smarter hat than me. You can keep your bowlers black, your top hats sleek and tall, for I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat and I can cap them all." The Sorting Hat. This is how they were sorted into their houses. "There's nothing hidden in your head the Sorting Hat can't see. So try me on and I will tell you where you ought to be. You might belong in Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart, their daring, nerve, and chivalry set Gryffindors apart. You might belong in Hufflepuff, where they are just and loyal. Those patient Hufflepuffs are true and unafraid of toil. Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, if you've a ready mind, where those of wit and learning will always find their kind. Or perhaps in Slytherin you'll make your real friends, those cunning folk use any means to achieve their ends." As the hat sang, Jade could clearly hear the voice from her dream the morning before as it chanted each of the house names and she tried to focus on the present and shake the odd feeling that had crept up on her. "So put me on! Don't be afraid and don't get in a flap! You're in safe hands, though I have none, for I'm a Thinking Cap!" The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became still again.