Professor Weasley swept the Hat off her head and Avila saw that instead of cheers the other students received, her sorting was met with silence. Then behind her, clapping. Then a student from the table on the far right slowly joined clapping until all of the tables were politely clapping. With a flushed face, she quickly scurried to her house table. As she had noticed before, she was the first to be sorted into Slytherin. She sat down and met everyone's questioning glances with a confident chin raise and a raised eyebrow. Pietro never looked at her.
The sorting concluded with only one other girl joining her in Slytherin. The professor then took away the Hat and nodded to the middle professor at the Staff table. She stood up with some difficulty. Gripping the edge of the podium in front of her, she started speaking with a clear voice. ''To those that do not know, I am Headmistress McGonnagal. Welcome to Hogwarts. Speeches can wait, I'm sure you are all starving. Tuck in!'' With that, she clapped her hands and food appeared on the tables. Avila glanced at the sudden food, but did not think that she could eat. What would her parents think about her sorting? They were both Gryffindors! They had raised her with stories of Voldermort and his evil Slytherin Death Eaters. There was going to be fallout from this, for sure. She nibbled on a roll, avoiding conversations, not that there was many at her table. She looked up her table and saw faces that were downcast and saw only one smile. The number of students seemed to dwindle in number as the table ended. Total, there was about 100 Slytherins.
Disheartened, she turned her attention to the Staff table. Seated beside the Headmistress sat Professor Weasley. She and the blonde woman beside her were chatting. Two male professors sat on the end of the table. On the other side of the Headmistress sat three professors and an empty seat.
The girl beside her sighed. Avila glanced at her. She was looking at her plate. Avila whispered 'Are you okay?' The other girls head snapped up and she whispered back 'I'm fine.' Avila shrugged, still gnawing on her roll. 'I'm Elgin, by the way. When do you think we'll be done?' As if the Headmistress had heard her, she stood and addressed them.
'Good evening, and welcome to Hogwarts. It heartens me to see some many new students. To you, I must warn you away from the Forbidden Forest. It has that name for a reason. To the returning students, I also warn you away from the Forbidden Forest. You have heard the stories about what roams within. Schedules will be handed out in the morning. I will tolerate absolutely no tomfoolery in my halls. Follow your prefects to your common rooms. Good night.'
Avila and the other Slytherins stood and shuffled out. A tall boy stood at the end of the table and, once Avila and the other Slytherins exited pass him, followed them.
Avila followed the other Slytherins as they turned out of the Great Hall. The boy behind her spoke as soon as they were out of sight of the teachers. He spoke with a bored voice, as though he had done this several times.
'I'm Prefect Ayden. Welcome to Slytherin. The Common Room is in the dungeons, hope you're not claustrophobic. Stay under the radar of the teachers, do your work and don't lose any house points and soon this nightmare called school will be over.' Elgin spoke up saying, 'Nightmare? This place is awesome!' Avila had to agree. Ayden sighed and pointed to a strip of wall. 'There is the entrance. The old entrance is under repair, not that it's top priority. Some stupid Gryffindors thought that Slytherins needed to be taught a lesson after the Battle, and took house rivalry too far. Placed fireworks to go off when someone opened the painting.'
He walked closer and a door appeared. He looked to the two first years, still looking bored. 'The password is Pura vita.' At this, the door saying open and Avila and Elgin walked into their Common Room.
Green. That was her first thought.
Empty. That was the second one.
The room was nothing but green, silver and black. The drapes were dark green. The couches and other chairs in the room were black leather. Elgin walked up to the window, and gasped as something swam past her reflection. 'There's SOMETHING out there!' Ayden sighed. 'Yes, firstie. Our windows look out into the Black Lake. Dormitories for girls are up the stairs, first floor. Because you are the only ones, you get your choice of beds. Good night. Be up by 8. That's when breakfast is and schedules are handed out after that.'
With that, Ayden turned and went up to the boy dormitories.
Avila and Elgin walked up the steps and into their dormitories.
