It was so large, seemed larger on the inside than it looked on the outside. Now in Hogwarts, we were all; being lead up stairs, by the witch from the part, Minerva McGonagall, or Professor McGonagall, whom was dressed in green robes. I was walking slowly in the back, while Hermione had walked faster and went to the front, braving the large crowd of our peers, unlike me whom would rather go slow then get in the crowd. At least behind them I could breath.

Once we came to a stop as the witch leading us turned to face us all, her gaze scanning us all, as if silently judging us as she spoke, "The four houses are called, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each with it's own noble history, each has produced outstanding witches and wizards..."

I had to gulp down a bit of a laugh, at her using 'outstanding', I guess it's a good cover for being the school that produced, a wizard such as Lord Voldemort, as well as whom ever followed him. After gaining control of my desire to snicker, and tuned back into what she had to say.

"... the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." She then disappeared behind the double doors, once gone the group in front of me started to comb through their hair with fingers, smooth out their clothing and sniffed their breathe, by blowing into their hands.

I let out a sigh, as I did my sister had walked up, "We should be allowed to skip this, we're both pretty guaranteed to be in Ravenclaw."

I nodded in agreement, she had spoken my very thoughts, "Indeed, it's just a waste of time at this point, we're both basically destined for Ravenclaw"

At that moment Professor McGonagall had walked in, "Follow me children" She spoke, motioning for us all to follow, her as she turned back around, pushing the doors open fully.

There was singing once we walked in, the voice was a ruff tone;

"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me... "

Walking in, the great hall was large, with four long tables, with students of each house sitting at them.

"... You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all..."

In front of the great hall was another long table on top of a set of three steps, sitting at the table were the professors.

"...There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be..."

Sitting in a throne-like chair was the old headmaster, Dumbledore.

"...You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;..."

The old mans pale colored eyes gaze down at us all. As did most of the room.

"...You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;..."

I could feel the judgement as the entire judge not just myself but the rest of the first years, whom I walked with.

"...Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind; ..."

The ceiling of the great hall was lit up with floating candles and an enchantment that made the ceiling look like the night sky on the outside.

"...Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folks use any means
To achieve their ends...."

Sitting in front of the table of Professors was a stool, that had a wizard pointed hat sitting on it.

"...So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

The song came to a stop, at that moment the room was filled with a respectable clap. It was soon hushed by Professor Mcgonagall speaking up, in her hand was a scroll, it must've been hidden in her sleeve?

"Now before we begin, Professor Dumbledore would wish to say a few words" She informed us, looking to the tall man sitting in his throne, whom nodded a thank you.

He then stood up out of his throne, his voice echoed through the quiet room, "I have a few start-of-term notices I wish to announce." He began his pale eyes seeming to gaze over each first year, as if to speak to each of us one by one, "The first years, please note that the Dark Forest is strictly forbidden to all students " his eyes then went over our heads, I turned around, following his gaze, to see an old man, with hunched-shoulders and a matching hunchback. His face was an unpleasant sight, a pouchy, pasty face with bulging, pale eyes, a top of his sunken, veined cheeks. "Also, our caretaker Mr. Filch, has asked me to remind you..."

"Thank Merlin he isn't a Professor" I whispered quietly, so only Ava could hear.

She gave a nod, "He must not be a good caretaker, he seems to have forgotten to take care of himself over the years" she noted in a low tone, that matched mine.

We then turned back to Dumbledore, whom must've kept talking, while both Ava and I missed whatever, rule, "... To everyone who does not wish to die a most painful death" His pale eyes were locked on where Ava and I stood, as if he heard us speak, and knew we missed the information of what would kill us. I gave a smile, hopefully it cheeky enough to get him to stop his staring. "Thank you" he than sat down, looking to the witch that had walked us all into the great hall.

She gave a cough, before she unrolled the scroll, as she began to speak, "Now, when I call your name, you will come forth, and I shall place the sorting hat on your head..." she motioned to the wizard hat that sat on a stool, as she went on, "...And you'll be sorted into your houses"

Ava then leaned in close, "I feel it'll take awhile to get to the 'R's, care to guess houses with me till it's our turn?" She questioned softly, not wanting to be heard.

"Hermione Granger"

"Sure, though, I don't think it's going in a guessable order, Susan Bones is here right?" I questioned back, recalling earlier that my sister had ditched me to go find her friends.

She nodded at my question and spoke "Still, something to pass our time, yea?" We then looked to see the brown haired girl, the one I'd made friends with walked up to the seat "She looks like a Ravenclaw " Ava guessed.

"I say Gryffindor" I whispered my guess.

The hat came to life once it was set on Hermione's head, it seemed to be speaking in a low tone, before it gave a loud yell, "Gryffindor!"

I smiled lightly, seeing Hermione herself seem pleased with her house. Getting up she seemed to almost skip towards the cheering table, taking her seat.

After a handful of other names, out of order, it was Draco Malfoys turn.

"Slytherin" Ava and I whispered in unison.

The hat didn't even touch the blond boys head, as it yelled, out "Slytherin"

Malfoy gave an almost relieved smile, as he walked down.

"That was so bloody quick" my sister whispered next to me. I just gave her a nod, as her friend Susan Bones was called up, "Hufflepuff, no doubt"

I looked over at my sibling, she was smiling brightly, as her short blond friend took a seat. After a few moments the hat then yelled out, "Hufflepuff"

"Ava Romulea Ravenclaw!" The old witch called, my sister nodded seemingly to herself, as the room was nearly hushed, as she sat on the stool, the hat was set on her dirty blond head.

Soon, the hat then called out, "Ravenclaw" as it was guessed.

I braced myself, assuming that I was next. Only to not be called up, with a bitter look on my face, I was getting a bit annoyed at the order we were all being called up. By order I meant there was none.

Three students later the Weasley was called up, the hat seemed to have chuckle, before it yelled out, "Gryffindor!"

Gryffindor seemed to be the house getting the most students, along with Hufflepuff, while Ravenclaw and Slytherin seemed to be not as popular.

The room fell dead quiet, more so than it was when Ava was up there, as the next name was called, "Harry Potter"

A boy with dark short hair, and rounded thing glasses took a seat. It seemed as if the hat and Potter were talking with each other. Taking awhile before it called out, "Gryffindor!"

The table seemed to have had bursted with utter joy, killing the silence.

More students were being called up, as I narrowed my eyes, not at anyone really, just out of annoyance. I wanted to get this sorting over with.

Lost in my thought I was almost deaf when my name was called, "Amber Rose Ravenclaw".

FINALLY! I let out a sigh of relief, any longer I'm sure I would've popped. Walking up the steps I took my seat. Only to feel utterly flushed, I could feel my cheeks warming up, feeling eyes on me, burning into my face.

The hat was than sat on my head.

"My, my, another Ravenclaw? Not much alike your sibling are, you?" It spoke, loud enough for me to hear, "You have the same values, of knowledge, wit and obvious amounts of intelligence, but you are also cunning, and also have a burning ambition of what? What do you desire, my dear?"

"First to be sorted, before my eyes roll out of my head" I answered, in a harsh quiet tone.

The hat only chuckled before it called out in a loud roar, "Slytherin!"

The room seemed to have stayed quiet, as if everyone was taking in the information in as slowly as I was. Not waning to come off as weak in my utter shock, I got up and walked carefully to the long table, careful not to slip, or trip over nothing. I then took my seat with the table of snakes. I tilted my head thinking, how odd this was. That bloody hat must've made a mistake. I then looked up, catching the blue eyes of Ava. Her face was showing the shock I felt.

I gave her a shrug, before I began mouthing a request, not wanting to be heard, "Don't tell mother or father, please!"

After a moment she nodded, drawing an 'X' shape over her heart, as she mouthed back, "of course"

Our none audible conversation then came to a stop as ghost started to fly around the room. I let out a sigh. Still not believing I wasn't sitting at the Ravenclaw table. How was I going to break the news to my parents? I'm not even sure I'm accepting the out come of that accursed hat.

I was brought out of my annoyed anger, as i felt something, or someone crawling up the back of my robes, until the weight of the creature was on my shoulder. I looked over to see the large eyes of Capone.

"It's alright, everything will be fine" I whispered, mostly to myself, then picking up a small chopped up carrot, that I then handed over to the soft creature. Whom, happily ate it, while i drank my pumpkin juice. Not really feeling hungry, still trying to wrap my mind around what has happened.

Soon, after we were all dismissed. I followed the rest of my house out of the hall. Following the group, while the Slytherin prefect led us down the ever moving stairs to the dungeons. Till we got to a stone wall. A password must've been whispered, as the stone wall opened up, as a concealed stone door.

Walking into the Slytherin common room was at the edge of the lake, as the opposite side of the wall had a large window that showed us the fish and aquatic life in the lake. Walking more into the room I noticed the common room had two levels, the main floor, where they all stood was perfectly symmetrical. With fire places that were lit up by light green flames. The fire places had large silver coffee tables in front of them with black leather couches with matching leather chairs. With some grey and silver tables scattered around evenly, with green chairs at each table. In the middle of the room close to the glass window, was a large green rectangular rug that laid over the silver carpet, that had three large couches with a long silver table in the middle. On either side of the interest pressed up next to the stare cases were two more large couches.

On the second level of the room, it was a balcony like, with a dark wooden floor with black spiked fence, that would keep us from falling over. From what I could see, the walls were with bookshelves, filled with books, aside from the large window that showed the lake. The entry where we came in from had an arch way, with stairs were used to go up to the second level. Hanging over the landing between the two levels was a large portrait of none other than Salazar Slytherin, it hung high over the two levels.

The girl prefect that had led us here, ushered us all to sit in down, I took a seat on one of the couches next to the door, next to the staircase.

The girl looked at us all, as we sat down, "Congratulations! I'm the head girl of the house, Gemma Farley, I'm delighted to welcome you to our house. Our emblem is the serpent, the wisest of creatures; our house colors are obviously, emerald green and silver. As you've already noted, our common room lies behind that concealed entrance within the dungeons. As you'll see, it's windows look out into the depths of the Hogwarts lake..."

I tried my best not to roll my eyes. She seemed to be pointing out the obvious, if anyone didn't notice any of this they shouldn't be allowed to reproduce.

"... you don't want to believe everything you hear from competing houses. I'm not denying that we've produced our share of Dark wizards, but so have the other three houses – they just don't like admitting it. And yes, we have traditionally tended to take students who come from long lines of witches and wizards, but nowadays you'll find plenty of people in Slytherin house who have at least one Muggle parent..."

You don't say! Slytherin produced Merlin, one of the most well known wizards in the world.

"... For instance, we Slytherins look after our own – which is more than you can say for, Ravenclaw-" She looked over in my direction, before lowering her voice a bit as if hoping not to bother me "I mean, apart from being the biggest bunch of swots you ever met, they are famous for clambering over one another to get good marks..."

What's wrong with that? Who doesn't want the best marks? I felt an elbow in my side.

"So are you going to live to your Ravenclaw name?" I looked over to see none other than Draco.

I shrugged, "What's wrong with getting more marks? We get points for houses don't we?"

"... Can throw up surprises for the unwary, and you'll be glad you've got the Serpents on your side as you move around the school. As far as we're concerned, once you've become a snake, you're one of ours – one of the elite..." Gemma went on not giving us attention.

"I suppose not, just know you're not going to be the best" the boy next to me whispered.

I just rolled my eyes, "I'll likely be the one getting all of those points" I said in a cocky tone.

I noticed the smirk on his face, "I don't think so" he almost whispered.

Giving my best cocky smile I gave him an elbow to his side, "Don't worry Malfoy, I'll make sure to help you out, so you can almost touch my scores"

"...A few more things you might need to know: our house ghost is the Bloody Baron. If you get on the right side of him he'll sometimes agree to frighten people for you. Just don't ask him how he got bloodstained; he doesn't like it." the girl warned us before she went on, "The password to the common room changes every fortnight. Keep an eye on the noticeboard. Never bring anyone from another house into our common room or tell them our password. No outsider has entered it for more than seven centuries." She then looked at me, "Let's keep it that way shall we?" I just gave a roll of my eyes in response. Too late a Ravenclaw is here. "Now up the stairs are where the dorms are, you'll see some paintings, one of differently colored snakes." We all looked up at the balconies, On either side of the glass window were large paintings, the one on the right was of a silver snake, the one on the left was a green snake, they must've be doors to the dorms, "The silver one is the way to the girls dorms the green one is the boys, now your items and luggage are already in your rooms next to your beds. You maybe sharing be a room with up to four other students. These for boys, or girls will be your new best friends."

With that we were all dismissed, getting off the couch, I made my way up the stairs to the silver snake, I heard "Later Ravenclaw" from the other side of the common room balcony, I just rolled my eyes walking through the opened entry way. The door opened to a long hallway, with plenty of doors on the left side, the other side of the wall was glass showing the lake. Each door had a small enchanted number that had names carved into the nearly grey doors. I stopped at the fifth door, that had my name carved into it, under two other names. Opening the door I saw three girls already in there, each unpacking. I rushed over to my trunk, it was on a far end of the room. Sitting on the bed I took in the look of the room. The beds were four-posters that had green silk hanging, that and the bedspreads were embroidered with silver thread. The medieval tapestries depicting some story that were covering the wall that was opposite of the beds and door. There were silver lanterns between each bed hanging from the ceiling.

I got off my bed and went over to my trunk that was in front of my bed, I started to dig through my clothes till I found a soft fluffy fleece pyramid with a large hole in the front, with a clip at the top. Standing on the bed I proceeded to hang the bar closest to the wall, where there wasn't a reason to use the green hanging silk, as there was a wall there. I then hung it the pyramid there, as if knowing Capone ended up on my shoulder and jump upward, landing on the sleeve of my robe and climbed up to my hand till he was happily inside his pyramid. Hiding himself within the pyramid. I was torn away from my fluffy friend, by a cough.

Turning around I saw one of the girls, obviously the one's I'd be sharing with. I sat down on the bed, crossing my legs over each other and my arms over my head, hopefully with a tough face on. Not wanting my desire to run away to show.

"So, looks like a bird is in a den of snakes, how's it feel?" Said a girl with a pug looking face, and messy, frizzed dark brown hair that was in a bowl shape.

I raised a brow, "Ever hear about the story of a snake that wanted to fly?" I questioned her, without getting an answer i went on to tell the story, "a snake that crawled on the earth one day it started to dream about soaring through the sky, though knowing it was impossible. Still, it hoped beyond all hope, it kept it's eye on a baby bird, sitting in a nest. One day the snake went up the tree, getting close to the nest where the hawk sat in the nest. What the snake didn't know was it was the prey. Because as it lunged the hawk was ready to take the sky, while the snake fell back to the earth, where it should've stayed."

"What's that bloody mean?" The girl demanded, narrowing her eyes.

I just rolled my eyes, what an idiot. Before I could say anything the door swung open, in the doorway stood the Gemma girl, "Bed ladies, lights out!" As if she were a lord of sorts, the pug faced girl ran off to the other side of the room, while a girl with pale blond hair and blue-grey eyes cam and took the bed closest to me. With that the lights were off, and all I could hear was the soothing sound of the water lapping against the window on the other side of the hallway.

Authors note: The snake and hawk story was inspired from the anime Naruto. It works what can I say!