Things Will Never Be the Same Again

I spent the rest of the train ride gazing through the rest of Neville’s homework, trying to memorize everything that looked useful. I even managed to help him with a few charms he hadn’t been able to master yet, that made me feel quite happy.
But the whole time what I was really doing was waiting for George to come bursting through the door, beaming his wide smile. That’s why I was so shocked when Neville told me it was time for us to change into our robes because we were nearly there.

“Are you sure Neville?”
“Yes, we’re only a few minutes away now,” He said bustling out of the room with his change of clothes, I followed his lead and in the few minutes that it took me to change I realized how right he had been. Just as I left the bathroom and arrived back in our compartment the whistles on the train blew and we started slowing down. The corridors of the train were now filling with students eagerly wanting to get off.
“Come on, let’s go,” Neville said striding out into the corridor.
“Wait Neville, you’ve forgotten your luggage! Neville!” I called, but it was too late he had already disappeared into the crowd of people, I knew it was no use trying to take both our trunks so I left them where they were and joined the excited group of people standing outside of the door, I managed to push my way through and out of the train completely, thankful that I was able to get some fresh air at last.

I stood on the small platform looking out into the crowds of students making their way along a path; I couldn’t see a familiar face anywhere so I continued forward with the rest of the students, trying to look like I knew where we were all headed.
It was getting dark now and already it was getting harder to see my surroundings, luckily after a few minutes the path lead to a group of carriages.

“Neville! Oh, there you are.” I gasped as I noticed Neville climbing into one of the carriages.
“Jess, jump in,” He said smiling.
There was another girl in the carriage with Neville; she had long black hair and the prettiest brown eyes which I could just see through the dark.
“Hi, my names Cho” The girl smiled at me.
“Hey, I’m Jess” I smiled back nervously. I noticed then that Neville’s and Cho’s uniforms were slightly different. Neville had a gold and scarlet tie while Cho wore a blue and bronze one.
“How come your ties are different colours?” I asked them, feeling a little strange not wearing one myself.
“Oh yeah, I guess you haven’t been sorted yet since it’s your first year, I’m a Gryffindor and Cho is a Ravenclaw” Neville shrugged.
“They are our house colours,” Cho answered when she saw how little Neville’s comment had helped. “When you know which house you’re in you’ll have one too”
“Right, do I get to choose my house?” I asked hopefully. I knew the Weasley’s were all in Gryffindor and so were Hermione and Harry; it would be so much easier to be in their house and know a few people.
“Oh no, the sorting hat does,” She replied, smiling at my confused face “Don’t worry, it’s not as bad as it sounds”

As we rounded a corner on the track Hogwarts suddenly came into view, it was stunning to say the least. A huge castle appeared on a mountainside, stretching up to meet the night sky with many turrets and towers. I had to hold my face to keep my jaw from falling open.
The entire rest of the ride I was hypnotized by the outrageously beautiful building. Neville and Cho were talking but I was lost in the scenery.

“Miss Jessica Taylor? Is there a Miss Jessica Taylor here?” I heard a voice a few carts in front of ours asking. I noticed then that we’d come to a stop and people were getting out and making their way across the grounds to the castle entrance.
“Oh that’s me!” I shouted across people as I leapt out of our carriage.
“Hello, you’re the new fifth year?” A lady asked as I met her near the steps to the castle. She was an older looking lady but she had a stern voice.
“Yes” I nodded obediently; it felt like I would do best to keep on her good side.
“Very well, follow me,” She spoke curtly before spinning on her heel and striding off toward the castle entrance. I waved goodbye to Neville and Cho as I set off after her, almost having to jog to keep up.

The entrance hall to the castle was phenomenal. Marble covered the floors while candles floated near the ceiling illuminating everything.
“Wow,” I gasped out loud before I could stop myself.
“Miss Taylor you will wait in this room with the other students until I come back for you, understood?” She asked holding a door open wide for me to enter. I just nodded and crept into the room.

I was in a much smaller and darker room than the entrance hall; I suddenly realized it was a classroom. The blackboard at the front read ‘Welcome all first year students!’ Sure enough, when I turned around there were other students waiting with me, all looking just as frightened and nervous.
I was clearly the oldest out of them, by far; the others looked around 11 or 12.
They all stared at me suspiciously. I soon caught on to why we were all waiting. I listened to a few muttered conversations around me and figured out the jist. It sounded like the school banquet was about to start but as tradition went the new students were all sorted into their houses first. I was so nervous I’d taken to biting my fingernails by the time the lady with the stern voice had returned. She entered the room and silence fell immediately.

“It is time now for the sorting ceremony to begin, you will need to form a line and follow me,” She spoke, everyone dropped into a formation and as it turned out I was forced to be at the front of the line. I think the lady seemed to notice how nervous I was because she gave me a quick smile before turning around and walking out of the room. I followed her closely feeling a bit like a shadow as we walked across the entrance hall and to the opposite side of the room where a pair of double doors were being held open for us.
The great hall had definitely been named that for a reason. I’d never seen anything like it; we walked through the doors into a huge room with four long tables spread along it. Hundreds of candles floated above lighting the room and above them was the clear night sky, with thousands of twinkling stars. I wanted to gaze at it for longer but the stares from the rest of the students in the room were too distracting. I knew they were meant to be watching us walking, but it felt like a lot of them were staring solely at me.

We reached the end of the room and there were the teachers, sitting at a fifth table stretching across the room. We were ushered up the few stairs that there were and forced to stand with our backs to the teachers while facing the rest of the students, I’d have rather had it the other way around.
The lady who I had been shadowing stepped forward so she was standing next to a stool with what looked like a ragged old hat sitting on it.
I nearly collapsed when the hats surface suddenly turned into facial features. A wide slit seemed to form a mouth as it ripped open and started to sing. I couldn’t believe it, a singing hat. I had to close my eyes for a few seconds to keep my mind from racing. Could this all really be happening?

When I finally managed to pull myself together again I noticed the singing had ended and the whole room had erupted into applause at the hats final words.
“Jessica Taylor” My name was called and the lady motioned for me to go forward and sit on the stool. I walked carefully, making sure I wasn’t about to trip and sat down. Just as I was gazing out at the rest of the students something was placed on my head.
I was just raising my hands, about to rip it off when all of a sudden it started talking. It gave me such a fright that I froze with my arms half way up in the air. I must have looked ridiculous; I don’t know how everyone kept their composure.

“Hmmm this one’s interesting,” the thing mumbled, suddenly I remembered Cho saying something about a hat deciding which house I’d be in and realized this was obviously that hat. I managed to relax a bit, placing my hands back at my sides, feeling grateful Cho had warned me.
“Not so brave, but loyal, yes, and intelligent too” It muttered away. “A thirst for power I see also, could do well in Slytherin, hmmm”

It seemed like a long time before the hat came to a decision. I’d finally forgotten my nerves and was simply waiting patiently for the decision to be made.
“Hmmm tricky, tricky, a very difficult decision indeed... I’ve decided,” It finally spoke “RAVENCLAW!”