Some Witches are Insane by Lily of the US
Chapter Notes: R&R everybody!!!
As Ria stepped off the train, she decided that maybe she shouldn’t have eaten so many sweets. She felt very sick, though that was probably just from her being so nervous. She noticed that Punita seemed pale, even under her dark skin.
“Firs’ years this way!” called a loud voice about fifty feet away. Looking towards it, Ria saw the biggest man she had ever seen. Drawing closer, she noted that his hair was dark and shaggy, and he was at least nine feet tall and wider than three men put together.
“Who’s that?” whispered Ria to Punita.
“That is Rubeus Hagrid. He’s the gamekeeper here, plus he teaches Care of Magical Creatures. He also helped Harry Potter defeat Voldemort,” Punita replied softly.
“Firs’ years!” he called again. Hagrid led them to a lake where there were about a small fleet of boats waiting.
“There’s Hogwarts!” Punita whispered excitedly. Ria gasped. She suddenly found herself staring at the most voluminous, glorious castle she had ever seen, and most likely would ever see.
“No more’ n four to a boat,” yelled Hagrid. He took up a whole boat just to himself. “Everybody in? Good- FORWARD!” he yelled again, and the boats lurched as they propelled themselves to shore.
Wicked, thought Ria.
A few minutes later, the boats stopped at a rocky underground harbor. All of the first year students climbed out of the boats and followed Hagrid’s lantern up a passageway which led right to the grassy grounds in front of the castle. Everyone crowded around the oak door that Hagrid lead them to. After asking quickly, “Is everybody here?” he raised a massive fist and knocked on the door.
It opened immediately. A pretty young woman who looked to be about twenty-one years old opened the door. She had dark brown eyes, rather bushy hair, and a kind smile. The woman was wearing pale blue robes.
“Thank you, Hagrid. Good to see you again.” She grinned at the huge man and then the students. “Come along this way,” she said, and lead them into the Entrance Hall.
The hall itself was huge. Torches lined the walls, and a marble staircase led up to many floors above them. Ria couldn’t even venture a guess at how many there would be. All of the first years followed the woman across the hall. Ria thought they were going to enter a doorway at their right- the Great Hall, judging by the voices coming from it. But instead, the woman led them to a small, private chamber.
“Welcome to Hogwarts,” she began. “I am Professor Weasley. In a few moments, you will enter the Great Hall for the start-of-term feast, but you must first be sorted into your houses. This is very important, because your house, while you are here, is like your family. Good behavior and work can earn you points, and rule-breaking”- Ria noticed a slight smirk on the woman’s face and thought perhaps that she may have done some rule-breaking in her past- “will lose you points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup. The four houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw,
Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Now, I will return in a few minutes to get you so you can be sorted.” After grinning at them once again, she went into the Great Hall.
As soon as she was gone, Punita whispered, “No way!” in an awed voice.
“What?” asked Ria.
“She said her name was Weasley. Hermione Weasley was one of Harry Potter’s best friends. She helped him in the war too.”
“How many people helped him in this war?” Ria wanted to know.
“Well he couldn’t defeat the most evil wizard of all time alone, could he?”
Suddenly, the door opened and Professor Granger came back. “We’re ready now,” she said. Seeing the look on the students’ faces, she smiled and added, “You’ll be fine.”
Ria was not feeling the same way. As she walked into the Great Hall, she began to seriously regret all the sweets she had eaten on the train.
The Great Hall was even better than the Entrance Hall. There were candles floating in midair over four long tables where the older students sat. All of the plates and goblets laid on the tables were shining gold. Directly across from the doors, there was a long table where teachers sat. This was where Professor Weasley led them, so that they faced the other students with their backs to the teachers. Then she placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years, and sat a dirty, frayed wizard’s hat on top of it. The entire hall was silent, and suddenly, the hat began to sing.
A thousand years and more have passed
Since I have come to be
But still, I swear you’ll never find
A smarter hat than me.
For I can get inside your head
And see where you belong
And I will tell you truly
Where you will be most strong.
For some will go to Gryffindor,
Among the brave and daring
And some may go to Hufflepuff
For the loyal and the caring
Or Ravenclaw, perhaps,
Where the learners will do well,
Or Slytherin, where wise and cunning
Students ought to dwell
Now don’t be shy, come up and place me
Right upon your head,
For the sooner you’re all sorted,
The sooner you’ll be fed!
Applause burst from every corner of the hall, and, after bowing to each of the four tables, the Sorting Hat became quite still.
Professor Weasley stepped forward once again, smiling as usual and holding a thick roll of parchment. “When I call your name,” she said loudly, so everyone could hear her, “please come forward, put on the hat, and sit on the stool to be sorted. Abilene, Camelia.”
A short girl with dirty-blond hair walked forward. She sat on the stool, put on the hat, and waited a moment until the hat shouted, “SLYTHERIN!” The Slytherin table cheered loudly for Camelia. She sat at the long table with a smirk on her face.
“Andrews, Thomas.”
“RAVENCLAW!”
“Baldwin, Jacqueline.” A chubby girl with dark brown hair stepped forward.
“GRYFFINDOR!”
The list of students seemed endless. “Cairpre, Maddison” went to Gryffindor as well, “Chandler, Louis” went to Ravenclaw, and “Cohen, Racheal” was made the first new Hufflepuff. Ria was barely paying attention as she watched them get sorted. However, when “Farrel, Sophie” stepped up, Ria watched carefully. It was the same Sophie she had met on the train. After being on her head for a few seconds, the hat shouted, “RAVENCLAW!”
After “Forster, Daniel” became a Gryffindor and a few more names were called, “Hagar, Anna” was sent to the Hufflepuff table, away from her friend Sophie. She did look happy, though, and Ria decided she didn’t mind too much.
A while later, “Karter, Eleanor” and her twin brother, “Karter, Thom” were both sent to Gryffindor, and Professor Weasley called out, “Kaur, Punita.”
Punita’s eyes widened and she slowly walked up to the stool. She looked really afraid, more so than the others, it seemed. Ria thought back to the train ride and her odd whisper of how her father left when she was six and took her brother. There was something about Punita that she wasn’t telling, but Ria decided not to press her. If she didn’t want to talk about it, then she didn’t have to. God knew there were lots of things Ria didn’t want to talk about.
Suddenly, the hat opened its mouth, er, brim, and cried out, “GRYFFINDOR!” Punita looked immensely relieved. Her hand strayed to the gold necklace she wore as she headed for the Gryffindor table.
Ria was finding it extremely hard to concentrate as “Laster”..., “Lyndon”…, “Minstar”…, “Norton”…, “Oaklin”…, “Onwin”…, “Pawning”…, and “Pradnis” were all sorted. There were certainly a lot of first years.
“Reardon, Mary,” the girl from the train who went by ‘Veronica,’ was made a Ravenclaw and hurried to go sit by Sophie.
Two boys were sent to Hufflepuff and one to Ravenclaw, and then a girl named Deanna Sharmain went to Slytherin. There were only a few left, including Ria. “Talib, Kayonga,” a black boy with short black hair, went to Gryffindor, and then-
“Venetia, Riannon.”
Oh, God. She was going to be sick. She was going to be sick in front of all these people. Ria willed her legs to move, dragging them slowly to the stool. She sat down and closed her eyes so that she wouldn’t have to see all of the people. Once the hat was over her eyes, however, she couldn’t have seen them even if she wanted to. She jumped about a foot in the air when a small voice said in her ear, “Hello!”
It’s the hat! she thought, and waited for it to say something else, heart pounding.
“Hmmm… difficult, almost as difficult as young Mr. Potter himself. I see that you are intelligent… brave… and… lonely. You long for friendship, for someone to share your secrets with… for yes, there are many secrets, secrets that you haven’t shared with anyone. Oh, you are a difficult one… but I think it had better be…”
A/N: Tehee, cliffie! Please R&R and tell me what you think!!!