Thanks for the reviews! I'm sorry I didn't update sooner but I'm still studying for exams – agrh…anyway, I hope you like the story so far, here's another chapter.
Enjoy!
Gryffindor!
Someone pulled the hat down from Jade's head but she didn't look back to see who it was, rushing to the table where she saw the Weasleys clapping and cheering with the rest of the students.
She sat down on one of the free places, next to a girl with beautiful long black hair and her friend with curly dark brown hair and big black eyes.
"Hi!" said the girl sitting on Jade's left side "My name is Madeline Li, but everyone at home calls me Maddie." Then she added "this is my friend Joyce."
Jade turned to the other girl who smiled shyly and said hello with such soft voice that Jade almost didn't hear her.
The two friends seemed to be completely different but it seemed to work because they could sometimes finish each-other's sentences just like Fred and George did.
Jade knew it was time for her own introduction and she could finally use the one she prepared a couple days ago: "Hi, I'm Jadelynne but everyone calls me Jade and it's so nice to meet you both! I'm so excited to be in Gryffindor." Said Jade genuinely and smiled in the direction of her brothers. Yes indeed, they were her brothers and she realized how proud it made her feel. She was in the same house like the rest of her family. Fred noticed she was looking and nudged George who looked at Jade and they both waved and showed her their thumbs up. They seemed happy she made it.
The sorting ended and after short speech from Dumbledore in which he reminded students that Forbidden Forest was really forbidden (while he looked knowingly in Weasleys twins' direction) the plates filled themselves with food and everyone started chatting.
Percy got up from his seat and walked over to Jade.
"Congratulations! I'm glad you made it to Gryffindor." He said officially and after Jade thanked him he turned around to get back to his classmates but was almost pushed over by Fred and George who rushed to Jade.
" hey sis, we wanted to congratulate you to being sorted to the best house…and we're sorry that Percy made it first…but still we want to say…we're proud of you …and imagine how much fun we'll have if you help us with the pranks." They said taking turns.
"George, McGonagall's coming." Whispered Fred and turned back to Jade.
They both yelled Congratulations and Happy b-day!" one more time and after loud BANG a little shower of colourful paper confetti started to fall on Jade while laughing twins run back to their seats but professor McGonagall didn't look very impressed even though she turned back to her table in the middle of the hall.
Maddie and Joyce giggled as the little papers settled on the table and lots of them got stuck in Joyce's very curly hair.
"Are those your brothers?" asked Maddie sounding quite impressed.
"Yeah, they are. The first who came here was Percy, and the twins are Fred and George." Said Jade proudly, getting used to the idea of people thinking about her as the part of Weasley family.
"Cool!" nodded Joyce "I only have one little sister, she's only four though, so she doesn't do much but I love her a lot." She said proudly opening the locket and showing girls the photo of herself with little kid dressed in bright pink dress and with cornrow braids on her head.
"I have one sister too, but she's already nine." Said Jade.
"Wow! So you have three brothers and one sister? That's awesome, I don' t have any siblings, just two cousins but they are muggles, actually my whole family is muggle" she added matter-of-factly.
"No, I have six brothers and one sister but Charlie and Bill are already out of school and Ron will be eleven next year so…"
The conversation continued smoothly, girls exchanging all the information about school – most of what Jade knew was from twins so she didn't say much, in case it was just one of their jokes but Joyce knew a lot so they listened in fascination.
Soon the food vanished and Dumbledore wished them good night.
Prefects called the first years to make a line next to each table and they waited while the rest of the students got out of the great Hall. It was always a little bit chaotic and no one wanted to search for lost first-years so it was safer to wait.
"We'll see you in the common room" whispered twins when they walked past Jade and then disappeared.
Jade looked around and saw Deric standing in line with some boys. He saw her looking and gave her a small smile. Jade waved back and smiled widely. Deric was the first friend she made and she wasn't going to lose him just because he was in a different house, maybe they'll have some classes together, she hoped.
"Ok, everyone, make two lines, don't get lost and please pay attention where we're going – you'll need to remember the way.
They followed the prefect, through brightly lit corridors, countless staircases and doors before they arrived to the portrait hiding the passage to Gryffindor common room.
"The password is ANIMI ET PIETAS it means courage and loyalty. Don't let anyone outside Gryffindor know it. We will change the password every month." Said the boy and stepped inside the room which was previously hidden behind the painting.
It was round room with high ceiling, huge fireplace and big assortment of mismatched overstuffed chairs and sofas. Carpet was bright red and there were golden accents all around the room.
This stairs lead to boys' bedrooms, your baggage is already there and you'll find your names written on the door. The other staircase leads to girls' bedrooms and there's bathroom on every level. Tomorrow's Friday so you will start with simple lessons and short introductions but make sure you're up for breakfast at 7:30 when professor McGonagall will give you your timetables.
Welcome to Gryffindor and I hope you'll fit in splendidly. We're like family here, looking out for each other, that means if you have any questions or concerns feel free to ask me or any of your older housemates. Good night." Finished the prefect and left the bunch of first year students standing in the middle of the room.
"Let's find out bedroom!" suggested Maddie and pulled Joyce with her, expectedly looking at Jade.
"I'll be right there." Promised Jade, she saw Fred and George waving at her from the other side of the room.
"Alright." Agreed Joyce cheerfully, already acting less shy.
Jade made her way through the crowd of students who were all still catching up and chatting about their summer.
George was standing next to two other boys Jade didn't know, chatting about Quidditch but he too turned around when Jade came closer to them.
Twins looked at her proudly, rest of their friends staring at Jade for a while but then went back to their conversation.
"So, what do you thing about Hogwarts so far?" Asked Fred looking pretty happy to be back in the castle.
"It's beautiful." Smiled Jade.
"Well, we'll give you a proper tour tomorrow after school, there's much more to Hogwarts than just the castle." Whispered George and both boys winked at Jade.
"Yeah, like forest and stuff?" giggled Jade, remembering Dumbledore's warning.
"Exactly, forest and stuff, but don't you dare stepping in the forest without us." Said Fred suddenly much more serious than before.
"Ok…" promised Jade, not sure what else she should say.
"We'll see you tomorrow at breakfast then." Concluded George and ruffled Jade's hair. "That's right, our baby sister needs to wake up really soon for her first day of school." Cooed Fred and also ruffled Jade's hair while George started to pat her cheek.
"Stop it!" argued Jade and tried to fight off their hands.
"ha-ha, don't pout sis, we were just kidding. Good night!" called Fred after Jade who turned around and marched in direction of Girls' bedrooms."
"Good night!" she called back, smiling at them, to let her brothers know she wasn't angry. They laughed at her and waved.
Jade climbed the stairs to the top of the tower. There were small landings with bathroom and bedroom doors but even though she looked on every door, she didn't find her name until she reached the top.
And there it was "Maddie, Joyce, Jade, Katie, Sue" written beautifully on white wooden tag. The door was opened and when Jade came in, she found four girls busy unpacking and decorating the room.
It was already dark outside with pale moon light shining through the windows and warm glow from the lamp hanging from the ceiling.
Joyce was hanging a string of what looked like white Christmas lights all around the room and Maddie was arranging pillows on her bed. The two other girls who Jade saw at dinner, were unpacking stacks of clothes and chatting happily.
When they saw her come in, they all smiled and run to greet her.
"Hi, my name's Sue…" started the girl with pale brown hair, even lighter color than Jade's. "…and I'm Katie" added the other girl with chin-ling blond hair, carrying a pile of socks to the dresser.
"It's nice to meet you, I'm Jade." Said Jade and turned around to see which bed was hers.
There was the last empty bed by the wall, next to Maddie's bed which was now decorated with bright pink and purple pillows.
"So you found the way." Commented Maddie giggling.
"Yeah, Fred and George wanted to …" trailed of Jade, not really knowing what to say.
"Fred and George Weasley?" asked Katie surprised.
"Yeah, why, do you know them?" asked Jade.
"Of course I do, my older brother was in seventh year last school year and he told me all sorts of funny stories about them." Smiled Katie.
"Funny stories?" Jade wasn't sure if the girl was making fun of her new brothers or not, but if she was, Jade was ready to defend them, feeling really protective of her family.
"Yeah, he told me about all the pranks they pulled on teachers and stuff. Even the students from higher years thought they were really cool!" explained Katie turning around to take another pile of clothes from her trunk.
"Oh, yes, they do pull a lot of pranks, even at home, but they usually get in trouble for them." Laughed Jade, proud that she knew something about the Weasleys twins.
Jade opened her trunk. She'd better unpack quickly, it was getting late and they'll have to go to bed soon, if they were going to wake up in time for breakfast tomorrow.
Joyce flicked the swith on her Christmas lights and they filled the room with soft light.
"I hope you don't mind I've put them all around the room, I thought they'd look nice, but if you want me to, I can just put them around my bed.." said Joyce a little bit unsure if the girls won't mind her decorating the whole room.
"They're beautiful!" exclaimed Jade, realizing that a strand of lights was hanging down the wall next to her bed, ending about twenty inches over her pillow "…we have Christmas lights in garden and we turn them on at night, it's going to remind me of Burrow."
"Yeah Joyce, they're really cool, we'll have the best room." Smiled Sue.
Jade noticed that all the girls had their own pillows, night lamps and pictures on the walls and suddenly she felt sad, wishing she had brought something too.
She opened the trunk and found her spare school robes spread on top.
She smiled, imagining Molly carefully putting them there so they wouldn't get all wrinkled at the bottom.
She hang them in her part of the closet and went to unpack the rest.
There was a small note and little package wrapped in brown paper.
The note said:
"Dearest Jade,
Congratulations! You're now Hogwarts student. We're really proud of you and we already miss you, counting days till Christmas so we can have you back home already.
Happy birthday, we're sorry we didn't get a chance to celebrate it properly but the last couple of days was really busy with all the paperwork and then school shopping.
We're happy you're a part of our family and we love you dearly.
Here's a little present for you, it's not much but we hope you'll like it.
Jade, I asked Madam Pomfrey to put a charm on your bed so if you do have a nightmare, don't worry, you won't wake your roommates up.
She said it's better to let you dream at night because it helps people cope with the past, so she refuses to give you the dreamless-sleep potion unless the nightmares get really bad.
She assured me that the charm will work so when you fall asleep and as long as you sleep no one will hear you if you talk. I hope it helps and you get a good night sleep without worrying too much.
Enjoy your first year at Hogwarts and if you find time, please send us a letter, we always love to hear from you kids.
With love
Mom and dad."
Jade set the note down and unwrapped the package, finding soft flannel PJs, dark red with yellow stars. She smiled and put them on her bed.
While unpacking the rest of her clothes – insane amount of warm hand-knitted socks and underwear which Molly always added to each child's trunk, she also found a framed photo from their trip back in summer. The one where Arthur was standing on his head and everyone was being silly. It was magic photo so the flowers Jae threw in the air were slowly falling to the ground and she watched like everyone laughed silently.
She set it on the bedside table, happy that she too, had something personal to decorate her room.
At the very bottom of the trunk she discovered her pillow from home with her favourite pillowcase.
All the girls said good night and after quick trip to the bathroom, went to bed. It was almost eleven o'clock and everyone was tired.
Jade still had smile on her face when she snuggled under the blankets in her new PJs, with her own pillow from home and photo of her family close to her bed.