Chapter Two: Quidditch and Talking Hats
Rose was in the sky, holding her bat when she saw it. The dragon was huge, with glimmering turquoise scales and red eyes. Rose took the bludger and released it. The bludger stayed in midair, flying around. Rose hit it with all the power in her 11-year-old body. It was as if the whole world stood still, held its breath, for one second, seeing where the bludger would go. It landed in the dragon's mouth, getting stuck in its throat. The dragon collapsed in a heap and Rose flew down.
The Hogwarts train stopped in front of a large castle. Albus, Hugo, and Rose were sitting in their compartment, re living what had just happened.
"And then, you just hit it and it landed right in his throat!" Hugo said.
"It was nothing," Rose said.
Before Hugo could object, the train stopped. An old man with his white beard in a thick braid was outside.
"First years!" He said, "First years come this way!"
Albus, Hugo, and Rose followed the old man until they got near a boat. All the first-years hopped in as the old man introduced himself to be Professor Bragwond. Albus, Hugo, and Rose sat close to him along with two other first years, Jamie and Pip. Jamie was a boy with pale skin and messy blonde hair who was the son of Luna Lovegood. Pip was a cheery girl with straight brown hair who was the daughter of Neville Longbottom. Professor Bragwond was a little bit crazy, but still quite kind. He looked at Rose and said,
"Ahhhh, you must be the famous dragon-slayer! Eh? You're already famous!"
They all laughed. Suddenly, the boat came to a stop.
"Ah, we must be here already!" Bragwond said.
Rose felt like something was missing. A something with messy black hair and its nose in a book.
"Where's Albus?" Rose asked
"Ah, not the squid! This happens every year!" Bragwond said with a shake of his head.
"Squid?" Hugo exclaimed.
Then, they saw a face come out of the water. It was Albus! He swam towards them until he finally got out of the water.
"The…squid…tried…to…attack…me!" Albus said, out of breath.
Bragwond pulled a coat out of his pocket that seemed to be made of fur. He put it around Albus' shoulders. Bragwond let them into the castle where they would be sorted into Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, or Gryffindor.
It felt like forever until Rose got to be sorted. Albus had gotten into Gryffindor, and so had Pip and Jamie. It was finally her turn. She walked up to the wooden stool, all eyes in the Great Hall on her, and sat down. A lady with curly white hair had placed the sorting hat on Rose's head. Rose looked around. Albus smiled and gave her a thumbs up.
Pip and Jamie mouthed, "Gryffindor! Gryffindor!"
Rose looked down at her sweaty palms. Her heart was beating a mile a minute. "Gryffindor!" the hat yelled after what seemed like forever.
The Gryffindor table cheered as Rose sat down between Albus and Pip. Now it was Hugo's turn.
"Slytherin!" The sorting hat on Hugo's head yelled. Rose's heart sank. Her brother was in Slytherin. Hugo looked shocked and mildly disgusted as he just sat there, frozen, on the wooden stool. He pulled the hat off and marched towards the cheering table of Slytherins. Rose knew she was already losing her brother, but now she was losing her best friend.