The Trick

First Year - OMG They were Roommates

Mariah's POV

“Mariah, will you please calm down, I’m trying to sleep!” Charlie said, throwing a pillow at Mariah who was laying in a sleeping bag. 

“Hey!” Mariah sat up in her sleeping bag, throwing the pillow back at Charlie. “I’m sorry that not that long ago I was a what do you call it...Muggle!” 

Charlie turned around to face Mariah. “Well you haven't been a Muggle for about two weeks, so stop being so dramatic.”

“You’re dramatic, Charlotte,” Mariah said.

“That’s right, and don’t forget it,” 

“Can you please talk to me. Give me inspirational words, or something,” 

“You came to the wrong person for advice,”

Mariah put her face into the pillow of her sleeping bag and groaned loudly. Charlie turned around, not facing Mariah anymore. Mariah continued to groan even louder. 

Charlie sat up and looked at Mariah annoyed. “Fine. All I can tell you is that I think you will dominate all the other students. I mean all you do is read books, so you must be smart!” Mariah rolled her eyes and smiled.

“Thank you Charlotte, but tell me about Hogwarts. I want to know what to expect,” Mariah said.

“Well, it’s basically a really big castle. All the houses have their own common room where they sleep and do stuff, like talk and do homework or whatever,” Charlie paused, trying to think of more to say, “When we get to Hogwarts we will ride a boat there with the other first years.Then everyone goes to The Great Hall where all the first years are given their house by a talking hat.” Mariah sat there, confused.

“What are houses? And did you just say,'talking hat’?” Mariah asked, dumbfounded. 

Charlie sat up straighter, ready to go into a full blown description, “So you see there are four houses. Gryffindors are brave and courageous, Hufflepuffs are kind and loyal, Ravenclaws are intelligent and creative, and Slytherins are cunning and ambitious,” She paused and looked at Mariah. “You’re probably going to be in Ravenclaw.”

“I think you’re going to be in Slytherin,” Mariah said.

Charlie looked aghast, “What?! No-” Charlie stopped mid sentence and nodded her head, “yeah you’re probably right.”

Mariah suddenly looked sad, “Does that mean we won’t see each other?” 

“Of Course not! We would have classes together and see each other in The Great Hall. Even if we couldn’t see each other, I’d figure out a way to,” Charlie said with confidence. Mariah smiled at her, looking relieved. 

“Tell me about the talking hat,” Mariah told Charlie.

“Okay, the talking hat is called the Sorting Hat. When our names are called we go up in front of everybody and sit on a stool. The Sorting Hat is then placed on our head and it decides what house we are going to be in. Isn’t that so cool!” Charlie was bouncing up and down on her bed.

Mariah looked a little scared when she said, “It sounds a bit creepy,” 

Charlie ignored her comment. “It’ll be great!”
Owen suddenly opened the door and peeked his head inside the room. “I thought I told you two to go to bed thirty minutes ago.” He had a fake disapproving look on his face. 

“Sorry, Dad! Mariah got me to talk about Hogwarts and I got really excited, and now I have energy!” Charlie said, still jumping on her bed. 

Owen laughed while Mariah’s cheeks went red with embarrassment. “Well I don’t want you to be cranky in the morning, so try to get some sleep.”

“I can sleep on the train, Dad!” Charlie said with a groan.

“You know if you fall asleep you won’t get up,”

“You have a point there. Goodnight, Dad!” Charlie threw her blankets over her head and went still. Mariah did the same as Owen said goodnight and closed the door. 

Mariah still felt the nerves swimming around in her stomach, but she pushed them away. She wasn’t going to let anything ruin her day tomorrow. 

Written by: Cass