Etched, Engraved, Everlasting (a Hogwarts Mystery Year 6 Retell)

2 - Em

If I had to be honest, I had no idea just what Hogwarts would have been like.

All my life I had heard of my siblings facing trouble there, and it was a never-ending topic of conversation among my family. Amidst the hardcore studies, there was trouble brewing. After I received my letter, my parents almost stopped me from going, and I didn't have any trouble agreeing with them when they shook their heads. But Clara kept begging and pleading, telling them that she'd keep me safe. It was then when she told me what she was truly hiding, and I had to say, I've never felt more moved by the amount of care she had for me.

So they said yes. And that was when I began to wonder just what laid in store for me--just one month ago.

Walking into Hogwarts still felt like walking into a dream, really. It was like going into a trance you knew you wouldn't want to wake from. Huge chambers filled with history and mystery made up this incredible fortress for us to study magic--and, in my family's case, solve a huge case that would potentially put the school at ease once more. Candles burned bright everywhere, flames in torches lit with a welcome glow. Everywhere I looked, there was something cool to see--even now, as I stood in the Great Hall, a small soul among many others my age gazing at a worn old hat atop a tall stool.

The hat suddenly ripped open at the brim and began to sing its song.

As years passed in this hallowed school
I aged to do my task
To sort all younger magic folk
In houses--which, you ask?

Brave Gryffindor, we are to start
For sheerest courage and dare
With loyalty and strength to heart
They'd sacrifice and care

Sweet Hufflepuff, ah yes, that's one
To see the hard work shine
Among their brethren in the sun
Always patient, just, and fine

Then Ravenclaw, intelligent
With smarts and certainty
Give credit to the ones who went
To read, to know, to see

Shrewd Slytherin, the ones so sly
They love to meet their match
By any means, they dare to try
Ambition, that's their catch

They started off as founders four
To build this wondrous school
They made me with their goal of core
The custom, placement rule

So put me on, try me out
And I will look to see
The house where you belong, no doubt
The house where you will be!

For a talking hat, it wasn't a bad verse at all. I glanced over at the Gryffindor table and caught my older sister's eye; she just gave me an encouraging nod as she clapped with everyone else.

"Now, when I call your name, you will come forward to be Sorted," Professor McGonagall told us then. She unfurled a long scroll in her hands then, and began reading it aloud.

"Ahn, Eunice!"

A tall girl with tan skin and a rebellious white streak in her black hair walked up and put the hat on her head. I counted approximately ten seconds as she sat on the stool before the hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"

I glanced over at the table where everyone was wearing black robes followed by green accents--the same table where Eunice Ahn was walking to. I shouldn't be surprised to see them grinning like maniacs at the new addition. Like the Sorting Hat said, they'd achieve their means by any means necessary.

"Amherst, Remy!"

Next, a burly boy with ash blond hair walked past me--almost pushing me to the side--and put on the hat.