Within a couple of minutes, the passage way started to empty, as people found the carriages with their trunks in. A couple of minutes later, there was a knock on the carriage door. Bella looked up. She was still alone, but it sounded as if someone was going to join her. She saw a young girl with bright blue eyes and blonde hair. The girl opened the door.
"Can I join you?" the girl asked.
"Yes" Bella replied. "I'm Bellatrix".
"I'm Penelope" the girl replied.
The two girls sat in silence for a couple of minutes before the door opened again.
"Hello. Is there a spare seat in this carriage? The rest of the train is really full." It was a boy who had asked this time.
"Sure. Help yourself." Bella replied.
"I'm Joshua." The boy said. He had light brown curly hair. Bella thought that he looked a little untidy given that this was his first day at Hogwarts. She didn't say anything though, as that was how she had been brought up. Penelope and Joshua had struck up a conversation, and Bella wanted to join in. She just didn't know how. She guessed that they weren't pureblood, as she didn't understand a lot of what they were saying. All of the conversations she had had involved nothing about football or record players, so she didn't know how she would be able to join in.
"So do you have older siblings at Hogwarts, or are you the first to go?" Bella asked. She hoped that this was a sensible change of topic. Penelope and Joshua looked a bit surprised that she had asked a question. She guessed that they thought she wasn't much of a conversationalist, which was true. At home she was expected to only talk if she was spoken to, and never take up much of a conversation.
"I don't." It was Joshua who had replied. "Actually, I'm the first person from my family to go to Hogwarts, according to my parents anyway. It's so exciting! How about you?"
Bella was taken aback. What would her father say if he knew that she was sat with a Mudblood? Oh well. There was nothing she could do about it now. She couldn't just get up and walk out of the carriage – both Joshua and Penelope had said that the rest of the train was full. She would just make sure that she wasn't too friendly with Joshua for the rest of the journey, and not speak to him unless she had to once she got to Hogwarts. "Oh, I'm the first of my siblings to come, but all of my family has come to Hogwarts."
"Oh that's so cool!" Joshua said "You must know so much about everything! The school, the magic, the whole wizarding world!" It was clear to Bella that this boy was really excited.
"Not really" she replied "I know some things, but my parents have never really spoken to me about Hogwarts. I know that it's a castle and we learn how to control our magic and do spells and fly." Bella had said all of this extremely quickly. She stopped talking, noticing the awe in Joshua's eyes, and not wanting to have a full conversation with him. "How about you Penelope?" She changed the subject quickly, wanting to stop talking herself. She wasn't used to people listening so intently when she talked, and she found it unnerving. Bella was much more used to listening or siting in silence.
"Well, my older brother is already here – he's going into his third year this year, and I have a younger sister who should be starting next year." Penelope replied.
"Ah what house is your brother in?" Bella asked Penelope.
"He's in Ravenclaw" Penelope replied.
"What house do you think you'll be in?" Joshua asked.
"Well my mum was in Ravenclaw and my dad was in Hufflepuff, so I expect I'll be in one of those two" Penelope replied. "How about you Bella?"
"My whole family has been in Slytherin, so that's probably where I will go" Bella replied. She could see that Penelope was now looking at her a little differently. Joshua clearly had no understanding of what being in Slytherin meant, being a Mudblood. It was quite nice that he wasn't looking at her any differently to before she had said that she would probably be in Slytherin. She didn't really know how to carry on the conversation from here, so she looked out of the window at the countryside flashing past. They were passing fields upon fields, and there were mountains in the distance. It was starting to get dark now as well. Bella wondered how much longer it would take to get to Hogwarts. She could tell that Penelope was feeling slightly uncomfortable sitting with a probable Slytherin, just as she was feeling uncomfortable sitting with a Mudblood. Ironically, Joshua was the only one in the carriage who didn't seem uncomfortable, since he was the only one of the three who had no idea of what was facing them when they arrived at the castle. Joshua and Penelope had started talking again. Bella didn't mind. She was quite happy to sit looking out of the window, since she wasn't used to talking so much anyway. She sat looking out of the window until it had grown dark outside and there was no more view to look at. She turned to face the carriage again, since it would have been strange to continue looking out of the window at the non-existent view. Penelope was still looking at her oddly. Bella wondered why that made her feel strange. She couldn't pinpoint what emotion seeing Penelope's face made her feel. She didn't like it whatever it was. It was something she'd never felt before. The carriage door opened again. There was a Hufflepuff prefect standing there, Bella could see her badge pinned to the front of her robes.
"We're almost at Hogwarts" the prefect said "you three should put your robes on and start getting ready."
"Thanks" the three of them chorused at the same time. Bella looked down. She realised that she hadn't put her robes on once she had got on the train as she had intended to. Joshua stood up.
"I'll leave the carriage whilst you two get changed" he said. He opened his trunk, picked up a set of robes and left.
Bella and Penelope looked slightly awkward as they opened their trunks to get their robes out too. They both turned away from each other and began to get changed. Bella had undressed and was about to put her robes on when she heard Penelope gasp. She turned around quickly. Penelope was already fully dressed in her Hogwarts robes and had turned back around. "Do you mind? I'm not ready yet!" Bella began to turn around again to put her robes on when Penelope spoke.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realise that I changed quickly. What happened to you?"
Bella was confused. "What do you mean?" She asked Penelope, still facing away and putting her robes on.
"Well, it's just that you've got a lot of scars. It looks painful."
Bella had finished getting changed now. "Oh yeah. I guess I do have a lot of scars" She said simply.
Penelope obviously felt rather awkward again, so she said nothing more as the two girls sat down on their seats again. A couple of minutes later there was another knock on the door and it opened fractionally. "Are you two dressed yet? Can I come in?" It was Joshua who was also fully dressed in the Hogwarts robes.
"Yes. Come in." Penelope said. Bella noticed that she seemed a lot quieter now than she had been for the rest of the journey. The three of them sat in silence for a couple of minutes.
"Oh look. There are lights up ahead. We must be approaching the station." Bella said. She had resumed looking out of the window, even though it was so dark that she had been unable to see anything for the last couple of minutes. Both Penelope and Joshua stood up and made their way over to the window. Bella could feel the train slowing down now – they were definitely nearly at their destination. They all began to gather their belongings, as the train drew to a stop. A Ravenclaw prefect opened the train door, and got off. The three of them followed.
"FIRS'-YEARS OVER HERE. FIRS'-YEARS. FIRS'-YEARS COME OVER TO ME" A huge man was calling the first years over to him. Bella suspected that he had giant blood – he was absolutely massive! She wondered why Hogwarts was employing him if he did have giant blood. Giants were really dangerous, that's what her parents had always said anyway. They had told her that it was a great thing that the giants had been driven out of the country because they were so violent. Quite a crowd had already gathered around him, and she, Joshua and Penelope made their way over. "Mind yer step now! Firs'-years follow me! Is this everyone then?" the man asked. Bella wondered why. How were they to know whether all of the first years had congregated in this corner of the station platform? The man carried on talking. "We're going to be going over to the castle on boats – it's no mor'n four to a boat when we get down to the shore." They began to make their way off of the station platform, down towards the pebbly shore. "Yeh'll be able to see the castle in a sec" the man was saying, and a couple of seconds later they could. The castle was huge, with many windows, whose lights were flickering. Bella guessed that the fires were dying down, and weren't going to be replenished for the rest of the evening. There was a sea of boats waiting for them, and they all began to climb into them. Bella sat in a boat with Joshua, Penelope and a boy who Bella didn't know. "Everyone in? Right then – FORWARD!" They all sat in the boats in silence, and the boats magically began making their way out into what Bella could now see was a lake. "Mind yer heads everyone" the man called after a few minutes "we're going through this tunnel 'ere." No one but him needed to mind their head Bella thought, the students in the boats were all so small that they would probably only have hit their heads if they had stood on the seats. The boats had come to a stop in a large cave, with a slope leading up to a gigantic pair of wooden doors. They all made their way out of the boats as the tall man strode up to the doors and knocked. They opened. "The firs'-years Professor McGonagall" he said to someone who was stood just outside of Bella's view.
"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here" replied a stern female voice. It reminded Bella of her mother's voice, of someone who wasn't to be messed with, but who was also fair and would listen if you had a problem. "Follow me please" she said addressing the first years who were standing in a huddle before her. They all followed her down a long corridor to a small room in the main entrance way. Bella could see the Great Hall where all the other students were seated along four long tables. She presumed that there was one table for each house, but before she could see anything else, she had entered the small chamber off of the corridor. "The start of term feast will begin momentarily, but before that, you must be sorted. There are four houses – Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Whilst you are at Hogwarts, your house will be like your family – you will have lessons together, eat at the same table in the Great Hall, and spend time in the same common room. Each house has a noble history. Doing well will earn your house points, while breaking the rules will lose your house points, and the house with the most points at the end of the year will win the house cup, which is a highly coveted award. Now the sorting ceremony is ready to begin, so please follow me."