Welcome to Hogwarts

Chapter 5

We were taken off of the boats, and shuffled into a grand hallway with paintings that seemed to stare down at us. "Why honey, you look rather nervous!" A shrill voice exclaimed, somewhere up over my head. Looking up with a start, I saw the paining of a portrait of a lady holding her spectacles to her eyes and peering down at me. "Umm.... I'm honestly not that nervous..." I remarked hesitantly, squinting at the painting. "Oh, everyone says that! But once they have the hat on, they collapse like a bridge!" She chortled, like someone having a breakdown was a hilarious event. "I sure wouldn't want to go across a bridge that collapses that easily." I shoved my hands into my robe pockets, and shrugged my shoulders, smirking. The lady huffed disapprovingly, lowering her spectacles and giving me a pointed look. "You are not going to get far in life with your snarky attitude, young man!" Her shrill voice seemed to carry through the whole building. Just then, an old lady with a tight gray bun and green robes came hurriedly around the corner. "Who is that, causing a ruckus!" She shouted, her lips disappeared into her mouth as she drew them in a tight line. A kid raised his hand in the sea of heads. "Professor McGonagall? It was that boy over there! He was being disrespectful to the painting of lady Pottifer!" His hand turned to point at me, and as the crowd separated to let Professor McGonagall through, I clearly saw the boy's face. He was small and scrawny, even more than me, which is saying something. His hair was a strange mix of red and blue, and his eyes were a yellow color, much like a cat. He trailed like a lost puppy behind the teacher, genuinely pleased with himself for pointing me out. And may I mention, his smile looked oddly amphibian. Like a frog who just ate a large juicy fly and was really happy about it. "Mr. Landor, I assume?" She snapped at me, standing with her hands on her hips. I nodded dumbly, slowly taking my hands out of my pockets. "I can tell you're going to be trouble already. I'll have to keep an eye on you." She muttered, taking my arm and dragging me to the front of the line. The frog boy smiled at me coldly, yellow eyes narrowing. "Whoa, I'm not trying to be friends with the teacher, she's all yours buddy." I laughed, holding my hands in front of me in mock surrender. The boy's smile only got colder, and I decided that it was probably best to shut my mouth. After all, I had already managed to turn a teacher, two students, and a talking painting against me all within 4 hours.

"Take any seat for now, when the sorting begins you'll split off into your respective tables." Professor McGonagall explained briskly, making sure everyone was seated and happily munching on the piles of food on the banquet table. The tables for each house stretched on for a mile, enough to seat years 1-8 of each house, add a whole Rugby team, and you would still have space left over. The banquet hall was absolutely colossal, and must've been enhanced by magic, because there was no way this would fit into the castle without the walls jutting out from the sides of the old building. The ceiling must have been enchanted also, because it seemed to open out into the heavens. I immediately looked for a messy brown pixie cut in the sea of students, and I smiled widely when I finally found it sitting at the very edge of the crowd of kids at the table. "Juniper!" I called, hoping to get her attention. And sure enough, I saw her study me like a person from a different planet. "Do you mind if I sit here? I think everyone here hates me. Except you. I hope." I babbled, stumbling in my robes to sit on the long bench next to her. Juniper laughed and shook her head. "I don't hate you, don't worry. Whoah, watch it. Careful now." She said, catching my arm before I fell over onto the piles of food. "Thanks. You saved me from having actually everyone hating me!" I said sarcastically, waving my arms around as I sat down. "Why do you think everyone hates you? You are a little weird, but aren't we all?" She suggested, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Heyyy! I'm not weird! I'm special!" I said puffing my chest out proudly. Juniper laughed some more, then was about to say something, until horns blared throughout the banquet hall. I quickly covered my ears, I hate loud noises, and waited until the defining horns stopped. "First Years, new comers, and returning students, welcome to a new school year at Hogwarts!" Kids whistled, clapped and cheered enthusiastically. 'Again with the loud noises!' I mumbled in my head, clasping my hands over my ears yet again. Juniper raised her eyebrows quizzically at me. "I hate loud noises!" I shouted over the dying noise, and she nodded understandingly.