When the train arrived to the marvelous castle known as Hogwarts, the first years were separated and sent by boats to the structure. A teacher, a tall woman in her 40s with a long braid that reached the middle of her back, an oval shaped face, then guided them down the hall to the Great Hall which was filled with tables full of children from the ages of 12 to 17. Clarke closely followed Chris and even sat by him in the chairs in front of a stool. The teacher who guided them in then took her place by the stool and raised her hands to signal the chattering kids teens and preteens to quiet down. Once everyone became silent she began. "I am Professor Miranda Beckett. If you are sorted into Slytherin, I will be your head of house and I am your charms professor, so don't upset me. Now, I will have our sorting hat carried out. He will then sing his song and after I will call you starting by the beginning of the alphabet according to your last name-" she was then cut off by Eloise who frowned at the idea of being stuck in the middle.
"Professor Beckett, I don't believe that's fair. There are kids here, like myself, who are excited to go first and then you have the ones who are terrified to be called up. So what if we do it by volunteering instead?" she asked. Professor Beckett pursed her lips and sighed.
"What if there are no kids who wants to go?" she challenged.
"Well you have magic, you could make slips of paper and randomly pull them, or hand out numbers," Eloise insisted. As she spoke, she brushed her dark brown bangs from her face and gave a smile when she finished.
"Fine, since you made such a helpful suggestion. You may go first after the hat's song." Professor Beckett told her before gesturing at the door for a seventh year girl in Slytherin robes to come out carrying the hat. Once it was set down it sang. After the song, Eloise skipped over and sat in the stool.
"Hmm… You would do good in Gryffindor.. You're brave and loyal.. But you also have loads of ambition. You're resourceful. I shall put you in.." the hat murmured before announcing, "Slytherin!"
With a happy squeal, Eloise scurried over to the table who cheered once the house was announced and took a seat at one of the empty spots. One by one, students volunteered. Eventually it reached a point to where 16 students were left with no child wanting to go next. Professor Beckett summoned strips of parchment, each with a number on it. Clarke received the number 2, so after a girl by the name of Layla Moore was sorted into Hufflepuff, it was his turn. He dragged his feet to the stool before sitting down. He bit his lip and mumbled his hopes to be placed in Gryffindor where Chris had been sorted. The hat listened to his begs, wondering why someone better suited for Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff would want to be in Gryffindor. Hesitantly, the hat sorted him into Gryffindor.
Fourteen children later, the sorting was finished with. In the end there were 38 Gryffindors, 36 Slytherins, 33 Hufflepuffs, and 28 Ravenclaws. The children and teachers settled down to eat, Chris and Clarke sat together with large grins on their faces. An old man then stood up and greeted the children. "Good Evening, I am your Headmaster, Professor Hilbert. I welcome our first years to our wonderful school and I would like to make rules known to them and remind our returning students of them. The Forbidden Forest is absolutely forbidden, don't ever enter the forest for any reason and if I or any teacher hear about you doing so, you will be severely punished. Curfew is 11 on the dot, you mustn't wander after that time. Boys aren't allowed in the girls' dorms and vice versa. I don't want to see any students using valuable class time to show public displays of affection, while relationship between students aren't forbidden any that interfere with a student's learning will be terminated," he announced before sitting down. Professor Beckett then gave a clap, a food began to appear on each of the long tables.
Clarke stared at the food in awe. He couldn't believe that so much food appeared in an instant. He wanted to eat but he couldn't bring himself to even take a roll, his hands felt numb and was trembling too much for him to move them. He watched with envy as others flew at the food and snatched it up like bats to stack it tall on their plates. He couldn't bring himself to touch it due to his mind clouding with the memory of his stepfather grabbing his hand with a piercing grip and shoving it on the stove. Soon enough, Chris noticed his friend's odd behavior and nudged him bring him back to reality. "Are you alright?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"Hmm.. yeah," Clarke replied in a mumble tucking his hands in between his legs to hide their trembling.
"You need to eat," Chris chidded, and with that began to place food on Clarke's plate. Clarke gape at him, panic and embarrassment quickly setting in as he realized his new peers' eyes were upon them.
"I-I can serve my own food!" Clarke protested as his cheeks turned bright pink. Chris held up his hands in defense and laughed, he then turned back to his own food with a large smile before melting into conversation with the kids around him. Clarke slipped small treats into his robe pockets along with four rolls for later. He then went to work to eat the chicken leg on his plate. The taste of the food made him excited and break into a big smile, it was better than anything he ever tasted.
As the first years ate on one side of the table, they were confronted by a group of eight older children. A girl with skin a warm gold like a cinnamon roll covered in chocolate freckles, brown eyes, and bright crimson hair lead the group. She ran a hand through her ruby waves and smiled. "I'm Saffron Bishara, I thought I should reach out to you firsties early, anyways I'm captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Three of my members are graduating at the end of this year so I'd really appreciate it if you guys think about trying out next year and if you don't want to make sure you come and cheer us on," she spoke with an arabic accent. "Now this is Nellie, she's a fourth year and one of our beaters, our other one is Thomas and he's a 7th year. Then we have our chasers Faiyaz who is 6th year, Jackie who was in your spot last year, and me. Finally we have our keeper, Leonardo; and our seeker, Iris. They're both 7th years," she explained pointing to each of her teammates. Nellie was a short and stocky girl with brown hair tied in two braids, a round face, and purple cat eye glasses over gray eyes. Thomas was the tallest of the bunch, he had platinum blond waves that fell to his shoulders, a face full of freckles, and dark blue eyes. Faiyaz had skin the color of toffee, amber eyes, and hair only a few inches from his scalp. He greeted the first years with a large smile. Jackie, being only a 2nd year was the smallest of the group. She wore her straight black hair in a bob and had dark brown eyes. Iris was the tallest girl, being only a head shorter than Thomas. She had mocha skin, curly hair with streaks of caramel, dark brown eyes, and four piercings in each ear. Leonardo wore his red-brown hair tied in a little ponytail, he had warm eyes the color of summer grass, and honey colored skin. A mix of voices greeted the first years. The kids asked the older group questions, and the night continued.
The feast came to an end around 10, at which point the prefects from each house gathered their respective house's first years and lead them to their dorms. The children decided amongst themselves their roommates and split up into the dorm rooms, In the end, Clarke and Chris got to share along with three other boys. Clarke was the first to settle, the moment he entered the room he found his bag and placed it at the bed at the far end of the room, closest to the dorm's half bathroom.. He then went to the bathroom to change, wincing as his bandages brushed against his clothing. Before anyone could greet him, he was out like a light knowing he would have to get up very early to shower before anyone else was up.
As he slept, his roommates introduced themselves to each other. Almost instantly the other took a liking to Chris due to his laid back personality and general friendliness. The other boys in the room presented themselves as Paul Robinson, John Elliott, and Anthony Fletcher. Paul was quickly labeled as the most hyperactive of the group, with brown eyes full of ambitious ideas. John Elliott seemed serious at first but quickly turned out to be the joker of the group, and Anthony Fletcher was the curious one of the bunch who always seemed mildly confused but happy to help. While the group found Chris enjoyable, they put Clarke down as odd due to the fact he didn't even introduce himself before bed, Chris attempted to cover for him saying he was sick and tired from the train ride which turned out to be good enough for the others. As succumbed to sleep, he hoped that Clarke would be friendlier in the morning.