Lily. Lily. Lily!" Evelyn poked me. "Did you seriously fall asleep?"
I jerked awake. "What? Um, no, no."
"Yeah, right. C'mon, let's go. We're the last ones." We climbed out of the carriage.
By the time we arrived at the Great Hall, the sorting was about to begin. Professor McGonagall, the headmistress, stood at the front of the hall, her grey hair tied up in a neat bun under her hat. Ev and I hurried over to the Slytherin table, closest to the door. Liam was already there. Neville, I mean, um Professor Longbottom, waved at me from the staff table in front of the hall, so I smiled and waved back. During the sorting Hat's song, I mostly just talked with Ev and Liam, but I caught a few of the lyrics:
" - Or Hufflepuff, the kind and true,
maybe that's the house for you..."
"Urgh! Would you two cut it out with the romance!" I snapped at Liam and Evelyn.
Ev put on her most two-year-old like voice. "You're not the boss of me!" I rolled my eyes. Why did they always do this?
My cousin Hugo waved at us from across the room. The hat was singing something about being "bravest of them all" or whatever, so I playfully stuck my tongue out at him for being a Gryffindor. The song continued:
" - Slytherin, cunning and determined,
Green and silver, house of the serpent…"
It ended soon after that. Not that many kids got sorted into Slytherin this year, but that made us cheer all the louder for the ones that did. I suppose they asked not to be sorted here. I remember when I used to think Slytherin was the "evil house." It's definitely not. The only bad part is that we're known for despising Gryffindors. Pfft, my whole family is in Gryffindor! Admittedly, I do tease them about it (especially James), but I've got absolutely nothing against them! Although, I remember Uncle Ron's reaction when he found out I had been sorted into Slytherin - it was absolutely hilarious. He gave me an incredulous look, and said "Blimey, Lily!" And then, later, (when they thought I was asleep), I heard him talking about it to Dad. He kept saying stuff like "Bloody hell, Harry! Lily, a Slytherin! My own niece." He didn't sound angry, though. It was more like… shocked, but I could hear the smile in his voice. I remember having to hold my breath to keep from laughing so hard that they would hear me.
"What's so funny?" Liam smiled at me.
"Huh?"
"You were laughing."
"Oh, I was?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, um - nevermind." I smiled to myself.
"Ok…" Liam's eyes twinkled at me. His brown bangs fell gracefully across his forehead as he looked away -
Shut up, I told myself. He's one of your best friends. Friends. Besides, Ev, remember?