𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 | 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳

2 || The Sorting

The hall burst into applause as the hat finished it's song, the rest of the first years in line looking stunned. I glanced at the table full of the staff and caught Professor Dumbledore's eye, and he winked at me.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," said Professor McGonagall. "Abbott, Hannah!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted. The Hufflepuff table erupted into cheers. I thought about what the hat had said as more students were sorted, not really paying attention, until:

"Dream, Ashlynn!" I took a deep breath and strode over to the stool, picking up the hat and placing it on my straight locks.

"Hmmm...your parents were both Gryffindors, I see..." The hat was...speaking to me? I clenched the sides of the stool. "Yes...a brave heart, through and through....GRYFFINDOR!" the hat screeched and the Gryffindor table cheered. I caught Harry's eye and gave him a grin before sitting next to two red haired boys who must've been Ron's twin brothers, Fred and George.

Hermione was also sorted into Gryffindor and came bouncing over to me. I gave her a hug and she beamed as she shook hands with the people around us. The Malfoy boy was sorted into Slytherin (which I noticed had some not-so-nice looking people in it) and finally, it was Harry's turn.

The hat sat on his head for a while before shouting, "GRYFFINDOR!" like me, and I couldn't fight the smile off of my face as he looked at Hagrid for approval and then sat down across from me. Fred and George were chanting, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"

"Ron looks like he's going to throw up," I whispered, and Hermione giggled. "GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled, and Ron almost threw the hat off and ran over to the table, his brothers shaking his hands.

"Well done, Ron, excellent," a pompous-looking boy shook his hand, and he had red hair as well, so I assumed he was another Weasley boy.

Dumbledore had gotten up to the center of the room and raised his hands.

"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts. Before we begin our banquet, I'd like to say a few words. And here they are: NItwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" he sat back down. Hermione stifled a giggle.

"Is he, er-a bit mad?" Harry looked at me. I shook my head.

"He's really kind...eccentric is the word, I guess," I explained. Harry's mouth fell open as the dishes in front of us filled with delicious looking food of all sorts.

I piled potatoes on my plate and added some steak while chatting with the people around me. Everyone was so welcoming, I almost let my guard down. Almost.

Eventually, the talk turned to our families. I put on a brave face.

"What about you, Ashlynn?" Hermione asked me, dabbing her lips with a napkin.

"I don't know who my parents are," I said cautiously. "I've lived in an orphanage my whole life." People gave me sympathetic glances, which I hated. The topic of conversation switched again and I relaxed, the dinner foods replacing themselves magically with desserts. I was halfway through my fourth slice of cherry pie when I thought of Tiny, and how he had never gotten to try any dessert other than the extra cake I snuck him on my birthday this year. My fork clattered to my plate.

"Ashlynn, are you alright?" Hermione asked worriedly. Harry and Ron were in conversation with a ghost, and I turned to her and said in a low voice:

"I'm alright, just miss some of my friends back home." Hermione gave me a nod.

"Ouch!" I heard suddenly. Harry had clapped a hand to his forehead.

"What is it?" Ron's other brother, Percy, asked.

"N-nothing."

I tilted my head, but didn't say anything as Dumbledore got to the front of the room once more and the desserts disappeared from our plates. The hall fell silent.

"Ahem- just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.

"First years should note that the forest on 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 eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.

"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 the 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."

Harry and I laughed, but some didn't.

"He's not serious?" I muttered to Hermione. She shushed me.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. I noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed.

Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.

"Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!" And the school bellowed:

"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.

Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.

"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

Percy, Ron's oldest brother at Hogwarts, shouted for the Gryffindor first years to follow him, and I got up with Hermione.

"Hermione, were your parents wizards?" I asked her suddenly. She shook her head.

"No, they're both Muggles. They were pretty shocked when we got my letter."

"You got a letter?" I exclaimed. Hermione just giggled and shook her head.

"The password opens the portrait hole to the tower," Percy was saying. I craned my neck to get a glimpse of the portrait-it was of a very fat lady in a pink dress. "Caput Draconis!"

The painting swung open to reveal a circular room filled with cushy armchairs. A fire crackled merrily in the fireplace.

"This is where we live?" I said, turning my head this way and that.

"No, this is the common room," Fred laughed, pointing to a door that read "Girls Dormitory."

"Off you go, you've got a big day tomorrow!" Percy led the boys to their respective dormitory and I climbed the stairs behind Hermione, pleasantly surprised to see my trunk at the foot of a four poster bed.

"This bed is huge!" I cried, bouncing on the red sheets. "Our beds back home are half this size."

Hermione and I got ready for bed, talking non-stop about everything, really, when our roommates, Lavender Brown and Pavarti Patil told us they were going to bed, so we did the same.

"'Night, Hermione."

"Goodnight, Ashlynn."