Different Perspectives

Surprises

Chapter 2

(In this story, I changed a lot of the actual plot to make my story more alive towards my characters.)

"Firs years o'er here!" A deep voice bellowed. Looking around, I saw a giant man. Taller than any man I had ever seen and wider than anyone, he looked frightening. He flashed a smile to someone behind me and turned from a menacing person to a warm person. "Come on. Harry!" "Hi Hagrid!" Someone said. I swiveled around and caught sight of a black haired boy with a famous lightning scar. "Harry Potter!" I squealed. The giant, Hagrid, split is up in groups of four and we were joined by two girls, who introduced themselves as Padma Patil and Lavender Brown. We set off down a beautiful river that was illuminated faintly by softly glowing lamps along the riverbed. After some time immersing myself in the scenery, Sapphire grabbed my arm. "Ooh! Look at that!" She said in a hushed whisper. A collective gasp echoed from all the boats as we watched a black as midnight castle with yellow squares all over it. Within moments, the boats glided across the still water and docked at the bottom of the hill with the castle on the top.

We hiked up the narrow twisting path and by the time we reached humongous oak doors, we were all panting slightly and sweating. The doors opened and a stern looking lady stepped out. "Thank you Hagrid, I'll take the First Years from here." Hagrid nodded and left through the doors and disappeared out of sight. "Come along now! Follow me!" She said in an equally stern voice. We all tentatively shuffled inside, huddled together in a large group as we followed the lady. "I'm Professor Minerva McGonagall, head of Gryffindor House." She said as we stepped into a large hall. "This is the Great Hall. Sit down there on the benches and wait for me." With that, she strode off, leaving us to scramble for the benches. Sapphire and I sat down and we exchanged nervous looks of anticipation.

Professor McGonagall walked in carrying an old, dirty looking patched hat in one hand and a long thick scroll. She conjured a stool and placed the hat on it. "When I call your name, come sit on the stool and and try on the hat." At these words, I heard a red headed boy next to Harry Potter breathe a sigh of relief, "I am going to kill Fred and George, they said something about fighting a troll! All you have to do is try on the hat!" No sooner had these words left his mouth, the Sorting Hat burst into song. When the song ended, I was shocked but clapped loudly, waiting for the moment that I would have to try the hat on. I hoped I would be in Gryffindor, where my parents were. I knew Sapphire was in Slytherin, her entire family and her last name was Slytherin! Yet, she was worried.

"Granger, Hermione!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Greenewood, Erin!"

Shakily, I walked to the Hat and plunked it on my head. I heard a voice muse, "Greenewood. Yes, I remember you should be placed in Gryffindor, as your entire family was. You're different though, hmm. Difficult choice. A great deal of bravery, loyalty. Hufflepuff? Gryffindor? Maybe even Slytherin. Actually, I think you're intelligence outweighs everything else so it better be...

RAVENCLAW!!!!" The Hat shouted loudly. I was stunned. Some of the Professors looked surprised as they remembered my parents. Some other older students looked at me puzzled as though they recognized my surname.

Then, the Ravenclaw table burst into warm applause. I tentatively walked to the table where a pretty girl made space for me and patted the space next to her. "Thanks!" I muttered. "No problem, I'm Cho Chang."

"Potter, Harry!"

Silence enveloped the Hall as everyone waited anxiously. The Hat seemed to be taking an extraordinarily long time to decide and seemed to be murmuring to Harry. Harry was mouthing words I couldn't make out and finally,

"GRYFFINDOR!"

At the Gryffindor table, I saw red headed twins shouting in glee to each other. "We've got Potter!" As their table burst into wild applause.