Hagrid gripped Jacob's shoulder as he led the group of first years to the castle. He knocked on the door. Professor McGonagall opened the door.
"Here are the first years, Professor," Hagrid said. "And here is Jacob Frank."
"Thank you, Hagrid," Professor McGonagall said. "I have him now."
Hagrid let go of Jacob's shoulder and walked away. Jacob stood rubbing his shoulder and looking around while Professor McGonagall spoke about something. There was so much to see that he was able to completely block the professor's voice.
"I will come back when they're ready for you," Professor McGonagall said. "One minute, I told Mrs. Frank that Jacob will never be left unattended. Miss Weasley, can you pick a friend to help you watch Jacob until I'm back?"
Ginny gestured towards a friend and they each stood on one side of Jacob. Professor McGonagall walked back to the great hall.
"You're parents must be overprotective," Ginny said.
Jacob didn't answer. He was still busy looking around. All of a sudden, he saw something so exciting! There was a bunch of see through people coming! Jacob wondered if he could walk through them. He ran towards them but was held back by two sets of hands.
"I'm sorry, but we told Professor McGonagall that we will watch you until she comes back," one girl said.
"Let go!" Jacob yelled. When they didn't, he looked in his mirror.
"I just wanted to play with the ghosts," Jacob heard his voice say.
"Hey!" said a boy. "That's so cool! Your voice is coming from the mirror! How did you do that?"
"Professor Dumbledore made this for me. My parents didn't want me to come here since I have autism and it's hard for me to talk, so Professor Dumbledore made a mirror that reads my thoughts aloud. I just have to remember not to look in it while thinking something private," Jacob explained.
"I never heard of a wizard having autism," the boy said.
"I never knew I was a wizard," Jacob responded.
"Are you also muggle born? My name is Colin Creevey by the way," the boy said.
"What's muggle born?" Jacob asked.
"It means that your parents aren't magical," Colin explained. "Professor McGonagall had to come to my house to tell my parents about Hogwarts."
"She came to my house too," Jacob said. "Except that my mother didn't believe her so she turned into a cat and my mother-"
Professor McGonagall reappeared suddenly, interrupting the conversation.
"Form a line and follow me," she said holding Jacob's hand as she walked into another room.
Jacob thought about how he just had a real conversation with a classmate despite the fact that he didn't open his mouth once. All he had to do was look in a mirror! He wondered if he would finally find out how it feels to have a friend.
When they reached the great hall, Jacob looked around. Once again there were many things to see. A singing hat, the sky (or was that the ceiling?), tables, lots of people, hair, etc. He just stood and stared as one at a time; a student would wear a hat and listen to what the hat said.
"Frank, Jacob," said Professor McGonagall.
Jacob continued standing and watching the room. The two girls who watched him earlier pushed him forward. Professor McGonagall took his hand and led him to the stool. She placed the hat on his head.
"Interesting," said the hat. "I don't know where you belong. You could be extremely brave at times, but other times, you are a coward. You have a sharp mind, but you don't know how to speak, read, or write. You love your mother, but you beat her up daily, so Hufflepuff is out. You do have ambitions, but you lack the courage to act on them. I guess we're safest with RAVENCLAW."
Jacob sat quietly on the stool listening to the hat.
"You could take me off now," the hat said.
Professor McGonagall lifted the hat off Jacob's head. Professor Flitwick took Jacob's hand and walked with him towards the Ravenclaw table. Penelope stood up and guided Jacob to a seat. Jacob sat quietly and watched the rest of the sorting. When the sorting was finished, Professor Dumbledore said something and food came on the table. Jacob grabbed the plate of food closest to him and started eating.
"That's the serving plate," Penelope explained. "I'll put some of each food on your plate, and you can eat what you want."
Jacob ate quietly for a few minutes, ignoring the conversations going on at his table. After a while, he felt an unpleasant sensation and stood up. He ran away from the table with Penelope running after him. A tiny creature with big ears ran over to him and grabbed his hand.
"I'll help you, master Jacob," the creature said. "I'm your house elf for today. Come with me."
Jacob walked with the house elf to the kitchen. He really wanted to be alone but didn't know how to say so. He remembered his mirror and looked at it.
"I need to poop," his voice said.
The elf took him to a bathroom.
"I can't do it! It's going to hurt," the mirror cried.
"I'll put a numbing potion on you first. That should make it easier," the house elf said.
After a few minutes, Jacob was finished in the bathroom. It only took two seconds for the house elf to clean him with a cleaning spell. It was much easier than the torture he puts his mother through at home every day. The elf led Jacob back to his table.
"Any time you need me, just call," she said. "My name is Nikki."
Professor Dumbledore started to speak again. When he finished, everyone started singing. It sounded so awful that Jacob covered his ears. When he realized that everyone was singing the same words to a different tune, he took his hands off his ears and laughed until everyone was finished. After the song, everyone stood up. Penelope took Jacob's hand and walked with everyone from their table to a room. The boys went up one flight of stairs and the girls went up another. Jacob sat down on his bed. Nikki put on his pajamas and Jacob fell asleep.
A few hours later, Jacob woke up. He opened the window and stuck a leg out. He was about to stick his other leg out, when Nikki ran into the room.
"Master Jacob," she yelled. "You is getting Nikki in trouble! I need to watch you and keep you safe, so don't jump out any windows!"
She tucked Jacob in and gave him a glass of warm milk.
Jacob tasted it and said, "Syrup".
Nikki said, "I don't know what you want. Use your mirror."
Jacob looked in his mirror and said, "I want it to be chocolate milk."
Nikki gave Jacob a cup of hot cocoa and left the room. A half hour later, Jacob tried climbing out the window again. Once again, Nikki stopped him, gave him a cup of hot cocoa, and tucked him in bed.
Jacob waited a half hour before trying again. He realized that Nikki knows when he goes out the window, so he decided to try the door this time. He was just about to walk out when he heard someone call him. He turned and saw one of the girls who stopped him from playing with the ghosts.
"Hi!" the girl said. "I'm Luna Lovegood. Where are you going?"
"I can't sleep," Jacob said via his mirror.
"Where were you going to go?" asked Luna.
"Outside," Jacob said.
Just then, the door opened and Professor Dumbledore walked in.
"Nikki said you keep getting out of bed," Professor Dumbledore scolded.
"I can't sleep," protested Jacob.
"Come to bed, and I'll give you a sleeping potion," Professor Dumbledore said. He turned to Luna. "Thank you for stopping him," he said.
After taking the sleeping potion, Jacob slept peacefully the rest of the night.