The Potter Twins - Year One

5: Look At This Giant Castle!

We all climbed into little boats - Harry and I with Ron and Hermione - and they moved by themselves. The. Boats. Moved. By. Themselves. Okay. I have a problem with being too excited that magic exists. Anyway, I couldn't stop staring at the beautiful castle with the backdrop of a starry sky behind it. The lake surface was smooth, even with the boats traveling across. But the castle- it was so beautiful. How can I describe a building I've never been inside but that already feels like home? I can't.

            All too soon we reached the opposite shore. We then approached the giant castle, all of us still in awe at the building. Hagrid knocked three times on this giant set of doors- and I mean huge doors. Like, big enough for four Hagrids stacked on top of one another to fit through. They opened at once and a tall witch with black hair tied back in a tight bun and emerald green robes stood in front of us. She looked very stern. Like Aunt Petunia, but not. Wow way to be descriptive Mary. Anyway, Hagrid introduced her as Professor McGonagall. We all followed her inside and we were in the entrance hall. It wasn't just a normal entrance room though, it was an entrance hall. You could fit the entirety of the Dursely's house inside it, the walls were made of stone and there were these torches lining the walls with fire that was just bigger and brighter than normal fire. Just. "There's no ceiling." Harry whispered to me. I looked up and saw that the ceiling, though undoubtedly there, was impossible to see.

            Professor McGonagall led us to a small empty chamber right next to this giant set of doors where we could hear a lot of people talking. All of us first years crowded in and huddled together. Professor McGonagall started talking. Why though? Why did we huddle? Was there something unsafe about this castle that I didn't know about? Did huddling somehow make us safer? Would we have to run in a huddle? Would we have to fight as a huddle? Would people know our battle as The Fight of the Huddle? Would people write Epic Poems on our battle?

Do you know the story

Of the Fight of the Huddle?

Where many lost their lives,

And one just wanted a cuddle.

Boys and girls, there is a reason I don't write poetry.

            "Please wait quietly." Professor McGonagall finished. Wait... finished? She was done talking? I turned to Harry who looked frightened. Then again, everyone looked frightened.

"How do we get sorted?" Harry asked Ron. Sorted?

"Some sort of test I think." Ron replied.

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked, completely confused. The boys just looked at me.

"Did you even pay any attention to what Professor McGonagall just said?"

"To be honest, no."

"I'll explain it to you!" A girl said excitedly. Then suddenly I felt someone drag me away from Harry and smile brightly at me.

"Oh. Hi Hermione." I said.

"Did you not hear Professor McGonagall when she explained the houses?" Hermione asked rather quickly. Wow she could talk fast.

"Um... no actually. I was thinking about something and I just stopped listening."

"Oh." She says, "Well, there are four houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. Somehow we get sorted into these houses and once sorted the houses are like our families. We have a common room in our House dormitory and we all compete to win something called the house cup." Bear in mind she says this all in one breath. She looks like she's about to tell me more when I stop her.