The boat ride to Hogwarts was hilarious. Since there were ten boats, each holding four people, Isobel, Adley, and I as well as another girl from our compartment, Andara Lesjavik scrambled to get on the same one.
The entire time Adley kept rocking the boat back and forth so as to make us all think we would fall out and be forced into taking a frigid swim any minute. Fortunately she seemed to know when exactly she had to lean to stop us from falling in. Andara was being a little weird. Every time Adley rocked the boat all of us would jokingly freak out but she was actually close to tears. What a total drama queen. I'm pretty sure Adley rocked the boat even more just to mess with her. Her expression was absolutely hilarious, but at first I felt a little bad because she seemed genuinely scared but then Isobel said how much of a lameo she was being. Tt made me see that it doesn't matter if she was scared, there was no reason to be and she was totally overreacting. I didn't feel so bad after that.
Once we got to the school and began to unload from the boats, Is and I were talking about what houses we wanted to be in. Apparently her mom was a Slytherin and her dad was a Ravenclaw so she wanted to be one of those after them. I told her that both my parents were in Ravenclaw and I'd love to be in it as well but that Gryffindor sounded really cool too.
When the sorting came I wasn't too nervous because after the train ride I was confident that I'd manage to make friends in most houses or even if I didn't, I'd have Adley and Is even if they were in others. Unless they made other friends... And got sick of me. Oh gosh. All my precious fears immediately flooded back.
Unfortunately, Elladora Alesi was called very shortly after we were brought into the room by this old guy named Professor Brexol or Bolax or something I don't know I was a little busy talking to Is to listen. When I walked up to the chair and got the gross hat put on my head it debated for a split second over Ravenclaw and my relief, in less than 5 second after the thing being on my head it yelled out "GRYFFINDOR!" I was so happy I got Gryffindor I practically ran to the red and gold table. All I could do now was hope at least one of my friends got put in Gryffindor as well.
Before it was Adley's turn a few more people were put into Gryffindor including the scared, quirky blonde from the station. When The Broxlet professor guy called out "Clemont, Adley", as she sat down the hat actually had a noticeable pause. It was almost a full minute that it seemed to think, I tried but couldn't hear what it was saying. I had my fingers crossed under the table.
"GRYFFINDOR" rang out brilliantly across the hall. Cheering erupted, the loudest being from myself.
She ran over to me and we immediately high fived. The joy to have a friend definitely in my house spread throughout my chest in this warm lovely motion and I happily watched the rest of the sorting. Later Isobel got put into Gryffindor as well and we were so excited to live together! I honestly wasn't even upset that I wasn't put into Ravenclaw and that it might disappoint my mom. I had friends! That was what mattered. Mum would get over it, and having Isobel and Adley with me was way more important.
Eventually were led up to the common room,into the dorm, and all rushed to snag beds. Isobel got the bed in between Adley and I so we all got to be together.
We were all way too excited to sleep so we sat on Isobel's bed and talked for a while. Our other roommates, Eloise and June, sat together as well. June, or Juniper, turned out to be the name of the girl who rammed Isobel on the platform. I still had to talk to Isobel about that whole thing...
"Isobel, there's something I wanted to ask you-"
"Hold on Ellie. We're talking about the boys in our year. Did you see that blonde boy,Elliot, I reckon? He was cute, don't ya think, El?" Isobel and Adely both turned to me with big wide eyes.
"Erm sure.. I don't know if I know exactly which one you're talking about..." I honestly had no clue who they were talking about. How was I supposed to be looking for boys while I was waiting to see if I would have friends.
They kept talking about the attractiveness of this Elliot character and all these other boys I had never heard of. Some of the names sounded familiar from family life but none really struck. Eventually, it became apparent that I was like an eavesdropper on their conversation, listening, but with no place joining the conversation.
I didn't want to talk about boys. I wanted to explore and enjoy the freedom of being away from my mom for the first time ever. I was glad to have friends but if this is all they wanted to do... I didn't feel like I belong with them or in this conversation.
Soon I had zoned out completely to the point that they may have not even been talking about that anymore and I would never had noticed. However, as I let out a fifth long, deep, mindless sigh, it was evident that they had noticed my lack of enthusiasm.
"Sorry El, we boring you or something?" Isobel snapped. I was a little shocked at her bluntness but then Adley started laughing and I realized she was probably just messing around.
"No, of course not. It's not you guys at all!" I lied, "I just have all this energy and I can't just sit here...I want to explore! See the grounds! See it all!" I gestured wildly out the window, this time not lying.
"I don't know... We are gonna be here for seven years why bother exploring now?" Isobel whined.
"Oh posh Is! Let's go! Ella's right, that sounds fun!" Adley jumped off the bed, pulling Isobel with her and starting off to the door. Isobel groaned but proceeded to walk off with us begrudgingly.
We sneaked around and out of the noisy common room, overcrowded with students of all ages.
The three of us walked slowly around, heads constantly moving, waving to the many portrait people, watching the stairs move, and the billions of other things all happening at once.
"Where are we even supposed to go?" Isobel asked as we came upon a set of stairs.
"Nowhere! That's the point of exploring! There is no plan, we just go, find something fun or cool and we have fun!" I explained, taking the lead and running down the stairs.
They quickly followed and we all raced down the stairs when it suddenly shifted.
"WOW OKAY WHAT'S HAPPENING?" I yelled out, grabbing onto the railing half way down the stairs.
"Idiot! The stairs move!" Isobel spat out, grabbing onto the railing as well.
Her comment stung a little but I was a little more preoccupied with the whole not knowing where we were going part. I mean, I know I said I wanted to get lost but I meant like, lost but knowing the amount of turns it takes to get BACK to the common room.
I knew that Adley and Isobel were most likely worried half to death and that if I didn't put on a brave face they never would have agreed to continue exploring and would just want to go back to the boring dorm.
"Lovely, now we can explore a whole other side of the castle!" I exclaimed with fake enthusiasm. As soon as the stairs came to a vault I quickly jogged down them and landed on the solid ground that was hopefully not going to move. I turned on my heel and looked up at the girls. They were standing on the middle of the staircase, still nervously holding onto the railings for dear life.
I raised my eyebrow inquisitively at their awkward posture. Almost immediately after my judgemental gaze, Isobel straightened out, rolled back her shoulders and gracefully walked down the stairs as if she had never been scared at all. Adley quickly scurried after her.
"So, this was your idea, Ella. I suppose it's only right for you to lead the way," Isobel looked me up and down, as if she expected me to back out.
I looked her dead in the eyes, "I'd love to. Follow me," I smirked at her over my shoulder as I turned,my long brown hair flipping over my shoulder behind me..
We strolled down the corridors, so busy admiring the portraits and suits of armor that we totally forgot to try and remember how to get back.
We struck up conversations with different portraits, giggling as a group of young wizards in one portrait starting bowing at us and winking.
As we journeyed the corridors just seemed to get longer and the staircases seemed to move more.
We took the stairs as they came and allowed them to bring us where they did. Eventually, Isobel and Adley seemed to forget about their worries and completely let go, allowing us to really have fun as we ran down the steps. We found empty classrooms, little nooks that would be perfect to hang out in, suits of armor, hidden doorways and a whole other mess of fun things.
About an hour after our journey had started we decided that we were tired and wanted to turn in as it was starting to get close to curfew. We took a random staircase down, since we had originally gone up for the most part, and Isobel and I decided to race up the steps, skipping every other stair. Adley was calmly walking behind us.
"I reckon we should ask a portrait how to get back to the common room. They seemed like they'd be nice enough to help for the mo-" I was cut off by a sharp gasp from behind me.
I whipped around to see Adley, stuck in an awkward position on the fourth step. It seemed as if her foot was, stuck. I ran down to her, careful to stay on the step above to examine exactly what had occurred.
It looked as though her foot had just completely disappeared!
"It must be a trick stair! My cousin told me about them a few months ago but... I thought she was just trying to mess with me..." Isobel's eyes were wide with wonder as she looked on, fascinated.
"Well, do you have any idea how to get out of one?" Adley inquired intensely. She was twisting back and forth, squirming around, trying to weasel her petite little frame out of the stair.
"Erm, actually no…" Isobel eye twitched around. She seemed to really hate the fact that she didn't know. I wasn't sure if it was because she wouldn't be able to help her friend, or because it didn't make her any more important or useful than me.
"What if we just.. I don't know, pull? Maybe if Isobel and I both pull you back, we will be able to get it to like, let go," I trailed off nervously.
"Try it. Please," Adley insisted.
Shrugging, Isobel placed her hands around Adley's upper stomach and I bent down to grasp the stuck leg.
"On the count of three Ella...one," I tightened my grip, "two," I bit down on my lip and crouched down more to be about a foot above her leg, "three!" in a split second Isobel pulled back, I yanked up and my head was thrown back as a foot came right up to my forehead.
"Uf," I grunted, falling back on the stair behind me, as my head snapped backwards from the foot that launched into my face.
"Oh my God, Ella are you alright?" The now freed Adley jumped up on the stair I was on, sitting down next to me and grabbing my face. "I am so sorry! When you pulled my leg it just came out and flew up! My goodness, I… erm… are you okay?" She insisted, pulling at the hand that was covering my face.
I could already feel the bump forming as i slowly sat up and removed my hand. "Not your fault, it's alright, just a little bruise.." However, I figured that it wasn't "just a little bruise" when Isobel and Adley both gasped lightly at seeing my face.
"What? Is it bleeding?" I inquired, blotting at the spot to see if there was any blood.
"No, no, its just…." Adley trailed off, "Red. Really, really red," Isobel stated bluntly.
"Lovely, I'll start my first day of school with a giant bump in the middle of my face. Absolutely perfect," I shook my head grimly. Of course, now I wont get any friends, Ill just be the weird girl…"
"Oh please, shut it. You honestly think we are going to let you be in public like that? No, honey. We are going to ice that sucker down, and then cover it with so much makeup that nobody will ever see it. We just have to get back to the dorm," Isobel reached a hand down to help me up.
I smiled at her lightly, glad to have somebody to help me with the mess on my face, before grasping it and standing up.
"Now c'mon, let's find that Fat Lady," and off we went.
After many wrong turns, and many annoying misleading portrait people, we finally ended up where we had started. It was a little bit before curfew so the corridor outside the fat lady's portrait to be filled with students. They were hanging out in the corridor, catching up with friends who I suppose were from different houses, so they couldn't go in the common room.
For the most part they seemed older, and unfamiliar as we walked through them. Nobody was really recognizable until I saw somebody who I could recognize just about anywhere from growing up. "James?" His head immediately shot up and a smile broke out across his face.
"Ella! Good to see you. Congrats on Gryffindor, I was gonna find you later and say hi," he walked over to us and I smiled widely back.
I looked over at my new friends and saw them both wide-eyed and completely starstruck. James Potter and I had practically grown up together, seeing as both of our dads were high up in the Auror department of the Ministry. We weren't best friends or anything but seeing as I've been around him for so long, I was definitely comfortable with him.
"Hey, so what erm exactly happened... There," he said gesturing to the red bump on my forehead I had attempted to hide under my hair with a wary expression.
"Well, long story but erm we found a trick step..." I trailed off, squirming uncomfortably. His face immediately flashed in realization of what I meant and seemed to understand perfectly as he chuckled lightly.
We talked for a few minutes more but the entire time Isobel and Adley were completely silent. I tried introducing them but when Adley tried to say hi it came out as a little squeak that was incoherent and neither of them opened their mouths after that. I'm pretty sure that weirded him out as he quickly wrapped up the conversation and we walked away, strolling into the common room after quickly saying the password.
The second we were out of earshot and safely in the common room, both girls instantly turned to me and Isobel smacked my arm.
"How the bloody hell do you know James Potter and why didn't you tell us?"