The First Time She Ever Loved

Chapter 5

As the Sorting finished, Dumbledore stood and spread his arms wide, smiling down at the assembly of students. "Welcome!" He said brightly. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words." Preparing myself for a lengthy speech, I reclined comfortably in my chair. "And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" And he sat down. I clapped and cheered along with the rest of the school, giggling slightly in the process. Just then, platters of food appeared on the table; mounds of roast chicken and beef, pork and lamb chops, bacon, sausages, and steak, potatoes mashed, roasted, boiled, chipped, Yorkshire puddings, carrots, peas, ketchup, gravy, and for some reason, that I was certain Dumbledore was behind, mint humbugs. Draco, beside me, looked upset for the resident ghost of Slytherin, the Bloody Baron, was floating right next to him.

Piling sausages onto my plate, I offered some to Draco, "Thanks!" He responded taking the platter from me and tearing his concentration from the ghost, his face brightened. After the meal, came pudding. Trifles were piled high with whipped cream, tarts of every kind imaginable; treacle, jam, mincemeat. There were pies, donuts, and cakes and ice cream in every flavour imaginable, dishing myself a bit of everything, I ate it excitedly, before I had been accepted into Hogwarts, I had never had the opportunity to eat sweets, and right now I was definitely making up for lost time. "That," I stated, sighing contentedly when I had finished, "was delicious!"
"I know!" Draco agreed enthusiastically, "But I was meaning to ask you earlier on, who are your parents? are you a Pureblood?"
"Um," I responded, I had been dreading this question for a long while, "Well, my dad is a Halfblood, and I don't really know my mum."
"So who is your father?" Draco was not letting me go easy.
"He's, er, Tom, Tom Riddle." Praying that Draco didn't know who that was, I shifted my gaze from his face, paranoid that he could see the guilt in my eyes.
"Hmm, for some reason that name sounds familiar... Is he famous?" Ha, more like infamous. Opening my mouth to reply, my response was saved by all of the pudding disappearing. Dumbledore rose again and all of the speech faded into oblivion.

"Ahem- just a few more words now we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you: first-years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Dumbledore's twinkling blue eyes flitted over to a pair of red-headed boys, they looked distinctively like troublemakers, "I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch. And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death." At those words, there was many mutters and the occasional splutter of laughter. I just gazed at the headmaster, wondering what he meant by that. "And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. I noticed that the smiles of all the teachers became rather tired, but fixed. Dumbledore swished his wand a little bit and a lengthy gold ribbon flew from the tip of it. Swirling and twisting itself, I realized that is was forming letters... No, words! "Everyone pick their favourite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"

So the entire Great Hall exploded into the words of:

  "Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,
Teach us something please,
Whether we be old and bald,
Or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling,
With some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air,
Dead flies and bits of fluff,
So teach us things worth knowing,
Bring back what we've forgot,
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,
And learn until our brains all rot."

I finished the song as one of the first, but other people were still halfway through. The two troublemakers were that last to finish, singing to what seemed to be a slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted the final few lines they sang, with his wand, and when they had finally finished, he clapped enthusiastically. "Ah, music," he stated, wiping his eyes with pad of his wizened thumb, "a magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!" All of the Slytherin first-years were led out of the Great Hall and down to the dungeons by the female Prefect; Gemma Farley. My body was heavy laden with fatigue, and all that wanted to do was find my dormitory bed and curl up to sleep. Finally tripping down the last flight of steep staircases, we arrived and I realized that we were underneath the lake. Green specks of light danced down from the ceiling as we approached a darkly wooded door.
"Viridi Serpens." said Gemma, and the door swung open. Inside was full of green chairs, couches, back wood end tables, skulls, candles, and dusty glass trinkets. "Girls' dormitories to the left, boys' to the right," Gemma instructed, gesturing her hand to the appropriate hallway for each gender, "and don't forget to get up and early for breakfast the Great Hall." And with that, she departed down the left hallway.
"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then." said Draco to me, somewhat awkwardly.
"Yeah!" I answered brightly, "see you then." and we both left in opposite directions. In the dormitory, I found my trunk sitting neatly at the foot of my new bed. Changing quickly into my pyjamas, I crawled wearily under my green bed covers, finally acknowledging all of the exhaustion that this day had caused. My thoughts drifting to Draco and Harry, I wholeheartedly wished that I would become good friends with them. And little did I know that that was precisely what would happen, that people would accept me, that I would be loved for once.