Right, then...well, well, this is interesting... A voice suddenly sounded in her head and she jumped. Well, where to put you? A sharp mind, loyalty...ambition, now that is interesting. You remind me of your father...but, like him, there was only ever really one choice for you. "GRYFFINDOR!"

Catrin barely heard the hat shout the word to the room, shocked as she was. Wait, wait. She thought desperately. Who's my father? Where is he? What do you know?

But McGonagall was lifting the hat from her head, and she was in light once more, with a whole table cheering her on. Hesitantly, feeling as though her legs had jellified, she walked over to the table and almost fell into her seat with a couple of other recruits.

Quietly, she watched the sorting: Mary, who was right after her, got sorted into Gryffindor too, much to her delight, but Nicole went to "HUFFLEPUFF!" She watched James Potter swagger up to the stool, and be pronounced "GRYFFINDOR!" within moments of the hat touching his head. Several others joined him, the last of which was a flame-haired boy named "Weasley, Fred."

McGonagall waved her wand and both the hat and stool disappeared, and then cleared her throat for attention.

"Welcome, all students. Before we get started on this wonderful feast, let us remember some cardinal rules of Hogwarts, for our safety as much as yours. I, for one, am not wishing to see a repeat of last year."

Several people sniggered, and Catrin wondered what had happened 'last year'.

"Therefore, Mr Filch has asked me to tell you that the list of banned items, now extended to 954 forbidden things, will be available for perusal in his office, and that on no account are any students to enter the Forbidden Forest. Hogsmeade visits will begin shortly, and you will find a list of dates up on the notice board of your common rooms. Now, let us all get started for a day of learning tomorrow."
She clapped her hands, and, miraculously, the tables filled with steaming portions of every kind of food Catrin could name- mint humbugs, roast, chips, sausages...

Grinning from ear to ear, she scooped a bit of everything she could reach onto her place- including the humbugs- and tucked in hungrily, as the students were doing around her.

Gradually the conversation around her began to flow, concerning the new students.

"Good haul this year, don't you think?" Asked a blonde boy from further up the table. "Hey, Teddy! Bet you're glad James and Fred got sorted into Gryffindor."

"I would have disowned them if they weren't, Rufus." Replied a grinning boy who was sporting a magnificent shock of blue hair. Laughter spread up the table, and James shouted, "Oi!"
"Where are you from, then?" Teddy asked the blonde girl who had been sitting next to Catrin. As he shifted forwards, Catrin saw the gleam of gold on his robes, and could just make out a gleaming badge.

"I'm Alice Longbottom." She replied. She was quiet, but she looked Teddy straight in the eyes as she replied.

"Oh, wow." Sighed Mary enviously. "You'd better be good at Herbology, you know. No teacher preferences!"

Alice pulled a face. "I'm awful at it." She sighed, shaking her head. "Dad gets very frustrated, but-" she shrugged "-what can you do?"

"You'll be fine." Another girl chirped up from a couple of seats further on. She was stunningly beautiful- Catrin could see a good couple of boys- Teddy included- staring raptly at her. "Everyone says Neville was really bad at every other subject until 7th year. Anyway, you're in Gryffindor, and that's the only thing that matters!"
"Hey, Victoire! No favouritism!" Yelled Fred, who had to shout to make himself heard. "We love all houses...and we don't hate anyone from Slytherin on sight. We are mature!"

"You said it, not me." Victoire shrugged and helped herself to some more chips.
"How about you?" Asked a lanky boy from up the table. Catrin glanced up- and froze as she realised he was staring directly at her. Clearing her throat, she spoke up.

"I'm...nothing special. I don't think my parents expected me to go to Hogwarts." No, they definitely hadn't.

"Nothing special?" choked Mary, putting down her fork. "You should've seen her on the train, facing off to Dorcas Parkinson!"
"What?" Came several stunned voices from both up-and down- the table. Catrin blushed magenta and buried her head in her hands.

But Mary was relentless. Shaking back her magnificent head of hair, she declared: "Parkinson came into our compartment on the train- you know, bullying the first-years- and suddenly, Catrin stands up, squares up to her, and..." She paused dramatically. "...and shoves a Decoy Detonator down the back of her robes! She almost wet herself!"

The Gryffindors roared with laughter, and Catrin thought it safe to remove her head from her hands. Everyone was looking very impressed- including, she saw with satisfaction, James Potter.

"A true Gryffindor!" roared the boy next to her, banging Catrin so hard on the back that she almost choked. "Sorry. M'names Louis." She looked up at him, and realised that he must be Victoire's brother- he had the same good looks, for one.

"Charmed." She grinned up at him.

The dinner passed quickly, despite the amount of food that was eaten, and by the time the last desserts had vanished from the plates, Catrin felt remarkably sleepy. Yawning widely, she only just realised that everyone was leaving when Mary grabbed her arm and pulled after her.

Teddy- who was Head Boy, it seemed- led the sluggish first-years through a labyrinth of corridors, staircases, through real doors and hidden tapestries. Catrin knew that she was going to have trouble finding her way down to the Great Hall in the morning.

After what seemed like a never-ending tramp, they all ground to a halt in front of a portrait of a huge, fat woman wearing a salmon pink dress. Catrin frowned; what was Teddy expecting to do? Have a conversation? The next moment, her mouth dropped open as the picture moved, actually moved! Raising a chubby arm, she cocked her head and spoke. "Password?"

"Devil's Snare." Teddy spoke confidently, and, in front of their eyes, the portrait swung open on its hinges, revealing a circular hole that they all climbed through.

Once through, Catrin stared around her in wonder: the Gryffindor common-room was large and circular, hung with red drapes and portraits apart from where huge windows opened out into the night. Tables and squishy armchairs were scattered haphazardly around the room, along with other things: a bookcase full of battered books stood in shadows, along with several cupboards and a notice board. A fire was blazing merrily in the grate, casting flickering shadows over everything.

"This is the Gryffindor Common Room." Teddy announced, smiling slightly at the looks on their faces.

"It's amazing." Catrin mouthed to Mary, who grinned back and nodded, but Teddy wasn't done.

"This will be like your home when you are in Hogwarts, and this house, like your family. You will spend the majority of your time here, along with other members, so try not to mess it up. The two staircases behind you lead to the boy's and girl's dormitories: girls, first floor on the right staircase, boys, the same on your left. You will be handed your timetables tomorrow in the Great Hall along with the rest of the school. So, sleep tight! Tomorrow's going to be a big day."
Smiling, he gestured behind him, allowing the tired first years to flock up the stairs to their respective bedrooms.

The bedroom that Catrin would be sharing with Mary, Alice and another girl named Valerie Fletcher was round and low-ceilinged, with large four-poster beds set in a circle. A small stove puffed happily in the middle of the room, and their trunks were at the foot of each bed.

"It's lovely." Sighed Catrin happily. It was, it was perfect. Could she really be spending the next year here?

Squealing and talking about tomorrow, the girls hastily clambered into bed- Mary and Valerie experimenting with the curtains.

"Night." Yawned Alice from behind her velvet drapes.

"Night."

"Goodnight, and see you all tomorrow!"
When the room finally fell silent, Catrin lay back on her pillows and stared at the ceiling. She remembered what the Sorting Hat had told her- it had sorted her father... so, he'd gone to Hogwarts! Or maybe it'd just heard his name in passing...whatever it meant, she knew now that he'd had some connection, however small, to the Wizarding World.

She'd find out what it meant tomorrow.

Tomorrow saw the four girls up after one of the best night's sleep that Catrin had ever known. Slipping their school robes on, they raced downstairs to find the sky outside the windows a clear, cloudless blue.

"Alright, girls?" Came a voice behind them, and when they turned, it was to find Fred Weasley and James Potter smirking at them. "Coming down to breakfast?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Their initial good mood didn't last long, however: even with Fred's, James', Alice's and Mary's tales about the castle, it took them a good half-an-hour to navigate their way around. Moods turned for the worse when they stumbled across a trick stair, but fortunately Alice's spotting of a tapestry she was 'sure she'd seen the night before' got them down to the Great Hall just in time.

Professor McGonagall was already moving along the table, handing out sheaves of parchment to the students. Catrin threw herself onto the bench and had just started on a generous helping of porridge when she arrived at their bench.

"Here you are." She said sternly, handing them out. "Classes start in ten minutes, so don't be late."
"Wouldn't dream of it, Professor!" Fred flashed McGonagall the most innocent of smiles, which she did not seem taken in by.

"Make sure of that." She added, before moving on down the table.

Catrin paused in her eating to examine the parchment in front of her. The classes weren't like any she thought schools taught...instead they looked to be a hundred times better.

"Double Charms with the Ravenclaws, that's not so bad..." Mary mumbled, scanning the page.

"But look, Catrin...Potions with the Slytherins. Oh no!"

"Defence against the Dark Arts looks interesting." Catrin said through a mouthful of porridge.

"If you like being taught how to defend yourself against being turned into a jelly, then yes." Said James, grinning. "Though I don't think I need any help with that." He added, flashing a grin at Fred.

Catrin rolled her eyes.

Their first lesson- Potions- was situated in the dungeons, which wasn't difficult to find, though extremely cold.

The Gryffindors lined up on one side, the Slytherins on the other, and stared at each other, hostility etched on their faces. It was with relief that the door banged open and out of it came a short, thin man with a magnificent beard but little else on his head. He seemed unconcerned by the tension in the air, instead beaming broadly and saying "Welcome, welcome to Potions! Whilst you are here, I think that you will find this one of the most rewarding aspects of your studies- there is nothing quite as intoxicating as the fumes of a simmering brew! Some of you will already have the touch of Potioneering, whilst the latent skills of others will be gently coaxed into being. I'll make an Outstanding class of you yet!"

He beamed at them, and some students cautiously returned his broad grin.

"My name is Professor Merrythimble. Come on in!"

"He's very nice for someone who lives in the coldest, wettest part of the school." Muttered Catrin to Alice, who giggled.

The Gryffindors and Slytherins quickly found their own desks to sit at, many of them pulling out cauldrons and sitting there expectantly. Professor Merrythimble, meanwhile, seemed to take no notice, and instead started on a speech about the different properties of potions.

Catrin, along with most of the others, listened intently for about 10 minutes, and then felt her concentration start to waver. She nudged Mary, who nudged her back, and who then started prodding the underside of her cauldron with her hand, muttering random words under her breath as she did so.

"...I think you'll come to agree with me that some potions, like the Wiggenweld one, and the Babbling Beverage, are easier to brew than others..."

"Marcus jugglio, enherus skimlis, magics odfans..."

BOOM!

The whole class jumped in shock as the bottom of Mary's cauldron blew up, sending an acrid smoke into the air and giving Catrin and Mary, who were sitting nearest her, a huge coughing fit.

"Dear dear, a little overexcited, are we?" Professor Merrythimble beamed down at her. He waved his wand, repairing the cauldron and dispelling the smoke. Mary, whose hair was standing on end and whose face was severely blackened, couldn't disguise her blush.

"Well, we'd better get started before some more children decide to blow up things." Professor Merrythimble waved his hands genially. "Open your Potions' textbooks to page 56- we shall have a go at brewing a simple Colour-Changing Concoction. Don't drink any unless you want your skin to turn green!"