Sucked In

chapter 15

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"Ms Nibley, I've been asked to inform you that Dumbledore would like to have a word with you." Ms McGonagall requested while she went into the Gryffindor common room, the house that I moved into last night. I stiffened at her request whilst Hermione smiled "He probably wants you to choose your house!" My stomach twirled, my legs trembling, my hands getting sweaty while wringing them. How could I choose? I swallowed what felt like a lump in my throat. Thinking about it made me so nervous. "I hope not." I answered unsteady. Hermione put her hand on my shoulder. "Don't be nervous, it is gonna be okay. No matter which house you choose, I will always be there for you."

Her words slightly calmed my anxiety down, but not all of it. Feeling dizzy as I stood up, wanting to shrink into the ground. I couldn't choose now. I'm not ready.

***
The weekend was almost over, and we had classes tomorrow. We were sitting at the dinner table in the Great Hall and since yesterday, I've become fed up with tossing up the pros and cons in my head over which house to pick.

Even deciding where I'm going to sit has become a challenge, through my fear of offending any of my friends from different houses. I think, fuck it, I'm going to sit with whatever house I please. That, or Hermoine practically forced me to sit at the Gryffindor table.

"So when do you have to choose?" Ron asked me while chewing on his bacon. "Dumbledore asked me to talk to him today, he told me this morning that he will let the hat re-sort me tonight, so I guess I'll see what the hat says" I say with relief. I just wasn't ready to choose. "But if the hat couldn't sort you before, what makes you think it could sort you now?" Hermione asks.

"I'm not too sure actually. I first thought I could choose my house myself but now he suggests that the hat should sort me. I think he believed that I should have spent a few days adjusting, and then one house will 'call to me', but it sounds like a load of crap to me" I respond. "Does a house call to you?" Harry asks from across the table. Shit Harry, coming in with the questions I don't know the answer myself.

"Uh, well I guess they all do for different reasons. I personally can't decide, so it's a relief that the hat is choosing for me," I say back. "You're not scared it's going to put you in Hufflepuff, which you said you clearly don't belong in, or worse, Slytherin?" Hermoine enquiries. I don't bother to answer the question. My answer will no doubt lead to even more questions, so I decided to shut up and eat the food in front of me.

After we've finished our breakfast, I excuse myself and head to the library. If you had mentioned a library to me back home, I would have either ran away screaming or projectile vomited. But I figure that if I'm literally sucked through a laptop screen into an alternate reality where I'm going to a school for witches and wizards, and I can perform magic, I may as well learn a few spells.

Recently, I've brushed through Herbology, Potions, Transfiguration and Flying techniques, but the subjects that really draw my attention involve my wand, which Dumbledore conjured when I first arrived.

Transfiguration, Charms, Apparition and Disapparition, and the Defence Against the Dark Arts interest me most. While skimming the fragile, tan pages of a Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook, I come across something called a patronus. I've seen a few people taking Pottermore quizzes on TikTok to see what their patronus is, but I never really found out what it was. This book says that a Patronus is a defensive spell which produces a silver, animal guardian, used to protect a witch or wizard against Dementors.

I can recall Harry's patronus saved himself and Sirius from dementors in the third movie. To produce it, think of your happiest memory... concentrate... I skim the first few pages of the book, until I come across the title 'The rarest patronus, and what it achieves'.