Once the train was at a complete standstill, older voices could be heard from outside of the compartments.
"All first years onto the platform!" the prefects shouted. Compartment doors swung open and tiny eleven year olds dressed in fresh, new robes began filing off of the train. Riley quickly hugged her aunt before following Faith close behind through the sudden swarm of first years.
All the first years chattered anxiously, excited to finally be at Hogwarts. While Faith was certainly just excited as they were, maybe even more, she was highly uncomfortable being squished between all the other students as they headed off the train. In fact, she even shoved one student who had stepped rudely in front of her. When they turned around, a scowl on her face, Faith appeared completely clueless as if she had done nothing at all.
"What the bloody hell is that?" Faith heard a boy in front of her say loudly. When Faith and Riley stepped off the train, they immediately knew what the boy had been shocked about.
Standing before them was a large... not just large, but what seemed like a gigantic man with a head and beard full of scruffy brown hair, towering above all the first years. Once all of the students were off the train, they huddled around the man, necks all craned up to look at his face as he spoke.
"'Ello, firs' years!" he said happily, waving his hand. "Welcome to Hogwarts! M'name's Rubeus Hagrid, n' I'll be takin' you lot to th' castle over th'black lake. This way!"
The students followed Hagrid to the lake where many boats were floating gently near the land, waiting for the students to climb aboard.
"How do the other students get to the castle?" Faith asked Riley.
"They take the carriages," Riley answered, looking around the sea of faces. "It gets them there faster. That way we get a scenic tour for our first time at Hogwarts and they can get settled into the Great Hall before we get sorted."
"Oh," Faith said. It made enough sense.
She and Riley stepped into one of the boats. Faith had never been on a boat before, so she wobbled slightly when the boat moved underneath her feet when she stepped on. Riley also grabbed onto Faith's shoulders for balance. Faith was unfamiliar with the contact, and as much as she wanted to push Riley off of her, she allowed it. It seemed as if she just wanted a friend more than anything.
They were joined in their boat by two boys who were talking to each other obnoxiously before trying to include the girls in on their conversation.
"Hey, so those dementors were pretty cool, huh?" one boy with short blonde hair asked Faith and Riley.
"Cool?" Riley responded, partially offended since she had found the ordeal quite terrifying. Faith was also surprised at the comment, being that she had been overtaken by a sensation of intense physical pain along with a hallucination of some sort.
"Yeah!" the other boy said eagerly. "I've never seen something like that before!"
"I've always heard stories about dementors but I've never actually seen one before!" the blonde replied.
"Hey!" Faith shouted over them. Riley jumped, not having heard the brunette speak so loudly before. The boys stopped and looked at her, smiling dumbly. "Shut up." Their goofy smiles vanished from their faces and they looked away. She could have sworn she heard one of them mutter 'Rude!'
The boats floated gently down the black lake and toward the castle. Faith and Riley both looked around in amazement, as did many of the children occupying the boats. Riley pointed to huge castle excitedly, then to a large forest.
"That must be the forbidden forest!" she said.
"Why's it forbidden?" Faith asked.
"Because there are monsters in there," one of the annoying boys said menacingly.
"I didn't ask you," Faith sneered, lowering her brows.
"I wouldn't say monsters," Riley responded, this time more quiet so the boys would stop bothering them. "But there's a lot of dangers stuff in there." Faith nodded. She was curious as to what could be in the forest. Many ideas and mental images flooded her mind; a smirk spread across her face.
The Hogwarts castle grew larger and larger as the boats drew nearer. Now that they were close, Faith could make out the individual windows gleaming with yellow lights, along with details such as towers and the stairs and door leading to the main entrance. Riley bounced in her seat excitedly, and in response Faith had to put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down so that the boat would stop rocking.
"Thanks!" Riley said, giggling slightly. Faith playfully rolled her eyes. She actually had the urge to bounce excitedly as well, but she didn't fancy a swim in the black lake- not tonight anyway.
The boats made their way to the shoreline and Hagrid ushered everybody out of their boats and back onto land. Once everyone was ashore, the extremely large man led the children across the grounds and toward the castle. All of the first years had to nearly run in order to keep up with his giant pace. Hagrid led the first years up the stairs and opened the double doors of Hogwarts. The first years all rushed inside, cramming into the main entrance as fast as they could so they could get a glimpse of the inside of the castle. Faith and Riley were also excitedly looking around the castle, taking note of the gigantic set of stairs and the moving pictures on the wall, but for the most part they were trying not to be trampled by any of the other students.
"If everyone can make their way inside and quiet down," a woman's voice bellowed. Faith's eyes landed on a woman, who happened to be Professor Minerva McGonagall, near a great set of doors, holding her want to her throat which amplified her voice so it could be heard over the eager murmurs ringing throughout the castle. The chattering quieted down and most of the small eyes were on the woman. "Good," she said, removing the wand from her neck. Now that everyone was quiet, she could speak loudly without the help of magic and be heard by everyone. "When I open these doors, you are to go to the front of the hall and wait for me to call your names to be sorted."
McGonagall waited a few moments for the first years to settle down before allowing the doors to open. She moved in front of the students and led them on. The Great Hall was beautiful- and huge. Inside there were four long tables, already filled with the older students. At the other end of the room was a long table facing sideways, which faith assumed the teachers were sitting at.
"Look up!" she heard Riley say from beside her. Faith craned her neck to stare at the ceiling. Her mouth came open slightly when she saw the enchanted ceiling. It seemed to be mimicking the weather outside, dark with many stars and just a few clouds. Also, there were hundreds of floating candles illuminating the hall.
"Awesome," Faith said smiling. Riley caught sight of Rowan at the Ravenclaw table and waved ferociously, to which Rowan responded with a slightly embarrassed laugh and a small wave.
Once everyone was at the front of the Great Hall, they saw an old, tattered hat atop a stool. Everyone was quiet, waiting patiently for McGonagall to call their names to be sorted. Before she said anything, however, the hat moved. Suddenly, one of his creases opened into a sort of mouth, and he began to sing.
He sung about Hogwarts and the houses. First he sung about Gryffindor, the brave and chivalrous. Next he sung of Slytherin house, home of the most cunning. Third he sang about the Ravenclaw house, for those wise and hard working. The sorting hat ended his song with Hufflepuff, a house of the most patient and loyal of wizards. Faith thought all of the houses sounded good, including Slytherin. She thought of the bad things Riley told her about the house, and shrugged them off. 'They can't be all bad,' the girl thought. 'Gryffindor sounds like a cool house to be in, though.'
Professor McGonagall pulled a scroll of parchment from her robes and read off the first name. Faith and Riley waited patiently while the sorting began. Each student looked quite pleased with the houses they were sorted into, jumping off the stool and happily running to join each table applauding with acceptance.
"Faith Lenihan," McGonagall finally called out. Her heart now racing, Faith made her way to the witch. She took a seat in front of the Great Hall, feeling quite uncomfortable knowing that all eyes were on her. The Sorting Hat was placed upon her head and she heard it's voice.
"Well most certainly not a Ravenclaw, no," the hat said. "No, no, nor Hufflepuff. Hmm." Faith thought of the only two houses left. Gryffindor and Slytherin. He must have been debating which she would be more suitable in, but honestly, Faith thought she could be happy in either house. "SLYTHERIN!" the hat finally shouted to the Great Hall. Cheering erupted from the Slytherin table. McGonagall lifted the hat from Faith's head and she jumped down, striding toward the table packed with students wearing black and green robes. Before sitting down, she glanced over at Riley, who was staring at Faith, a mixture of surprise and disappointment on her face. Faith grinded her teeth. She liked Riley, and hoped the red headed girl wouldn't be mad about the fate of her house.
"Welcome," said many students, shaking Faith's hand and patting her on the shoulder. Faith was unsure of the contact at first, but felt very welcomed nonetheless.
"RAVENCLAW!" the hat shouted when it was Riley's turn. It had barely been on her head for more than a few moments before it made its decision. Riley skipped off the stool happily and practically ran to join her aunt at the Ravenclaw table. Faith clapped for her, and their eyes met across the Great Hall. To Faith's great relief, Riley waved happily to her before turning back to her new house-mates.
Romilda Vane was the last student to be sorted (into Gryffindor house). McGonagall handed the Sorting Hat to a strange looking man known as Filch, and he limped away with it. A tall, elderly man at the head of the staff table stood up. Faith assumed he was the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" he said, and so began his welcoming feast. He warned the students to not leave Hogwarts without permission, due to the presence of dementors on Hogwarts grounds. He also introduced two new professors. One professor, Professor Lupin, who Faith recognized as the man from the train, was to be their Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. The other was the giant man, Hagrid, who would be the Care of Magical Creatures professor. Luckily, he didn't have much else to say, and concluded his short welcoming speech with, "Let the feast begin!"
With that, the empty serving plates that dressed the long house tables were suddenly full of food. The food looked beyond the quality of anything she'd ever eaten before, especially at the orphanage. While the students around her loaded their golden plates with a mountain of food, Faith chose a few items of food that seemed appetizing and set it on her own plate. Even though it wasn't much, it was much more than Faith had ever seen in front of her before.
Throughout the meal, the students around her greeted her and introduced themselves.
"What was your name again?" a first year Slytherin with brown hair asked as she sat down on the opposite side of the table in front of Faith with what Faith assumed to be her twin sister. They had finished with their meal and were picking at some pumpkin tarts.
"Faith Lenihan," Faith told them, biting a piece of roasted chicken. "And you?"
"Flora Carrow," one girl said.
"I'm Hestia Carrow," the other said. "It's nice to meet you."
"You too," Faith said.
"I'm sure we'll be seeing you around, then, Faith," Flora said, standing up with her sister. The two made their way down the table, probably trying to meet as many first years as they could. Faith reached for the last pumpkin tart, being one of the last people to finish eating her dinner, but it was snatched up by another Slytherin.
"I'll be having that," a boy's voice said. Faith looked behind her to see two rather large boys gathering up the desserts around the table, behind the round boys stood a very blonde, and rather skinny, Slytherin student.
"You better slow down, Goyle, or you might get fat," said Draco Malfoy sarcastically. He rolled his eyes, but Faith stood up from her own seat. Next to these older students, Faith was very small but she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes as she stared the boy in the eye.
"I think you have plenty," Faith said, holding out her hand. "I'd like that one." Truth be told, she really didn't care for the pumpkin tart, but she wanted to establish that she wasn't one to mess with. Malfoy smiled with delight at the small girl.
"Actually, I don't think so," replied Goyle. If Faith were back in the orphanage with kids her own size, she probably would have punched the boy in the face. In this case, however, her arm probably wouldn't reach to his face, and he was so fat he probably wouldn't be able to feel it. Before she had a chance to reply with a witty comeback, prefects began to call for their houses and head back to their common rooms.
Faith turned away from the three boys and started to follow the rest of the students behind the Slytherin head boy.
"Yeah, walk away," she heard from Goyle behind her. Quickly, she turned back around and hopped toward him, grabbing his arm and pulling his hand with the tart toward her mouth, taking a sizable bite from it. "Wha-!" he shouted, shrugging her off of him. Faith grinned and trotted away, catching up with some first years. She heard laughing from Malfoy and Crabbe, and an exasperated grumble from Goyle. She would have fun at Hogwarts this year.