The Mystic Celery Stalk

Chapter 6

My father dropped me off at Platform 9 and3/4 after we RAN THROUGH A WALL?! I know right? Anyway, I boarded the train and found an empty compartment since I knew nobody yet. The train took off and I looked out the window watching Kings Cross Station slowly disappear from my view.

All of a sudden I was jolted out of my thoughts when the compartment door swung open.

"Hey um... sorry for disturbing you" the one with the puppet spoke "but all the other compartments are full. Would you- um- would you m-mind if we sat with... with you?"

"Oh...no-no of course not!" I said very enthusiastically.

The boy with the puppet spoke up first. "I'm Robbie, Robbie Shapiro, and this is my puppet Rex" he said while gesturing to the puppet sitting on his lap.
All of a sudden the puppet jumped up and spoke very harshly to Robbie "Puppet?! I ain't no puppet!!!"

I was shocked but then again, I had just found out I was a wizard so I need to get used to these kinds of things.

"Nice to meet you both" I said and then looked at the boy with the toad.

He looked up at me nervously. "Oh I-I'm N-n-Neville Longb-bottom. This here is T-Trevor my t-toad."

"Nice to meet you Neville" I said while giving him a warm smile.

The rest of the train ride was quite nice. We sat in a comfortable silence most of the time, with the occasional laugh or two. Turns out Neville was also a pureblood, while Robbie was a muggleborn. Apparently there are many prejudice wizarding families who think halfbloods and muggleborns are below them, but personally I didn't understand. We've all got magic in our blood either way.

After a 7 1/2 hour journey, we arrived at hogwarts. We were greeted by a very tall (maybe 8ft 6') man named Hagrid who brought us on little sailboats that moved across the lake by themselves. The castle was enormous and stunning.

When we got off the boats we were brought up a grand staircase while a woman in a green cloak and black pointy hat stood at the top waiting for all the first years to assemble. Once we all made it up she spoke in a very stern tone. She gave us a speech about what will be happening in a few moments and then said "the sorting ceremony will begin momentary" and walked into the hall.

After waiting a few minutes, and not listening to any of the conversations around me, we were ushered into the great hall. The ceiling was bewitched with stars in the night sky. It's not real, but of course I knew that, from reading Hogwarts: A History, but I did overhear a girl with rather bushy hair telling another girl all about it.

Once we got up to the front of the hall, a raggedy old hat burst into song. We all stood staring at it waiting for it to be done. When it finished, Professor McGonagall (the witch from the stairs) starting calling out names.

"Abbott, Hannah!"

One by one they walked up to the hat and sat on a stool when it was placed on their head. The hat took a minute or two and then screamed out a name of a house.

"Bones, Susan!" ..... "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Granger, Hermione!" ...... "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Potter, Harry!" There were whispers all around the hall when he went up, of course I had read about him but I didn't want to make him uncomfortable. .... "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Malfoy, Draco!" The boy with the blonde hair walked up and "SLYTHERIN!" walked to the Slytherin table very smugly.

"Shapiro, Robbie!" ....... "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Longbottom, Neville!" ....... "GRYFFINDOR!"

And finally, the moment I had been anticipating every since I got my letter.

"Taylor, Olivia!"