Chapter 8.2

"Well, that was tiring and creepy," as soon as Hagrid left, Nicole said under her breath. But Professor McGonagall was quick to catch on to it.

 

"Pardon me," Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows and looked straight toward Nicole. How she knew that the one who spoke was Nicole, only Professor McGonagall knew, "Did you find something unsatisfactory, Miss Ashbridge?" The Professor asked.

 

"You remember me?" Instead of answering the Professor, Nicole acted surprised, "I thought you would have forgotten about the little old me."

 

"If you have nothing to say, let's..." Professor McGonagall decided to ignore Nicole, but Nicole did not want to miss the opportunity.

 

"Okay fine. If you are insisting so much, then let me tell you," Nicole shamelessly interjected, "The path we followed was through a tunnel. It was dark, slippery and smelly. Not to mention the number of times we slipped and hurt ourselves. What if something happened to us? Who will answer our parents? And if that was not enough, you had the stairs. I won't be surprised if someone's missing and has dropped dead on the stairs." Nicole was on a rant rampage. And probably the first time, Alex sided with Nicole in her verbal skirmish with Professor McGonagall.

 

Meanwhile, Professor McGonagall's eyebrows twitched, and her face turned ugly, but she tried not to lose her composure, "Your suggestions have always been welcome, Miss Ashbridge. I will let the administration know about this."

 

"You always say this," Nicole shrugged and turned her face away.

 

'You little...' Professor McGonagall wanted to curse, but she couldn't even do so in her thoughts.

 

"Ahem..." Finally, Professor McGonagall took a deep breath and cleared her throat, "Let me welcome you all to Hogwarts."

 

"... Before you are taken to your rooms, you will be taken to the Great Hall, where you will be sorted into your Houses' before the start-of-term banquet. Sorting is a very important ceremony. While you are here, your House is the closest thing you will have to a family within Hogwarts. You will attend classes together, sleep in the same dormitory, spend time in the same common room and even eat together."

 

"... The four 'Houses' are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each House has its own noble history. And each has produced outstanding witches and wizards," Professor McGonagall explained.

 

 

"... While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your House points, while any rule-breaking will lose House points. At the end of the year, the House with the most points is awarded the House Cup, a great honour," Professor McGonagall explained, her face emitting pride.

 

"I hope each of you will be credited to whichever House becomes yours," Professor concluded.

 

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting." Professor McGonagall said, and her eyes turned towards Nicole, "And silence is something we value very much here at Hogwarts. Keep that in mind."

 

"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."

 

But as soon as she left, the students began to chat among themselves.

 

But soon, a voice silenced everyone in the room. A silvery, white-haired boy walked up and stopped in front of Potter.

 

"So it's true, what they were saying on the train. The famous Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts," the boy said, getting everyone's attention. And this one sentence sent everyone into a frenzy. The boys jumped over one another to get a glimpse of the legend.

 

But the boy paid no attention to the uproar he had caused. Extending his hand toward Potter, the boy introduced, "I am a Malfy, Draco Malfoy. And this is Crabbe and Goyle."

 

Listening to the boy's name Ron let out a snicker.

 

"Think my name's funny, do you? I have no need to ask yours. Red hair and a hand-me-down robe. You must be a Weasley," the boy replied with scorn, "You'll soon find some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. You need someone to help you with that," Malfoy turned towards Potter after one-punching Ron.

 

"Hey, who are you to decide which family is better than the other" Nicole took a stand for Ron. Though she did not have much impression of Ron, Draco went personal. Involving one's family in petty fights was not something she liked.

 

"And who are you to pitch in, bitch?" Malfoy did not shy away from cursing Nicole. He even put his hand in his jacket to pull out his wand.

 

"You..." Nicole was at a loss for words. She had never thought of receiving a curse right from the star, so the counter to that might take some time.

 

"Ughh..." But before they could engage in a mutual exchange of curses, Malfoy made a disgusting face as he pulled something slimy out of his pocket robes. "What is this?"

 

"Trevor!" Cried the fat boy who was called Neville blissfully. It was his frog that Malfoy was holding in his hands.

 

Pushing everyone aside, Nevile walked in front and snatched his frog from Malfoy's hands.

 

"Thank you... Thank you... I couldn't find him anywhere," Neville said with a quavering voice, "Grandma would have been very... very angry."

 

But Malfoy did not care what was going on with Neville and how pitiful he sounded. Disgustingly looking at the slimy liquid on his hands, Malfoy tried to shake that off. After that, he even wanted to punch the piece of meat in front of him. But before he could move his thoughts into action, Professor McGonagall came back.

 

"What is going on?" Professor McGonagall smacked Malfoy at the back of his head with the papers she had rolled back together.

 

"Move along now," The Professor ordered Malfoy, "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start." Professor McGonagall did not pry into the matter and said.

 

"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told everyone, "And follow me."

 

Getting their orders, students pushed one another to get in the line. Potter got into the line behind a boy with sandy hair. Behind Potter was Ron, followed by Hermione and Nicole. After she had gotten in the queue, Nicole looked around to find her brother, but he was way back in the line.

 

'Weird, why would he leave me now?' Nicole thought.

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

Soon the students following Professor McGonagall entered a large hall full of students sitting in rows. Every first-year was left amazed by everything their eyes fell on. Be it the candles floating in the air, the clear transparent roof or the size of the hall itself. Nothing was ordinary.

 

But before they could take in all of it, scream or, to be precise, screams were heard from the back. When Nicole turned to look behind like others, she found the silver-haired guy Malfoy on the ground with his two buddies who were walking behind moments ago were now all over him. What followed the short moment of silence was a burst of laughter throughout the hall.

 

Nicole first looked at the trio on the ground pushing and punching each other and then towards her brother, who just shrugged when saw her looking at him and skipped the queue, 'accidentally' stepping on Malfoy's feet.

 

"You know something. You are the best thing I got without asking," When Alex was close enough, Nicole said, "But this does not mean I have forgiven you. You have to apologise to Hermione after this sorting or whatever it is done," Nicole told Alex.

 

"Let's not dwell on the small stuff," Alex, with a finger poking Nicole's back, pushed her forward and walked beside her, "Believe me. You will soon realise that you might want the world to be all pink and jolly, but it is pitch black. It's harsher and crueller than the four walls of the orphanage both of us are used to. So need to get attached to anyone so fast."

 

"Hey, that's racist. You can't just single out a colour," Nicole giggled, "And I don't care about all the stuff you just talked about. For you will always be with me. Taking care of me. Fighting the bad guys for me," Nicole said and smiled, "So please apologise to her, for me..."

 

For everyone else, Alex was a tough guy. He would rarely concede. But in front of that smile, Alex melted in seconds.

 

"Fine..." Alex looked away from his sister's face and, with quick steps, left Nicole behind.

 

"Hey, wait for me," Nicole ran behind Alex and caught up with him, "Which House do you think we will be in, brother? I want to be in the same one as yours." Nicole expressed her wish.

 

"All of them are practically the same. Each House has its own legends to back its legacy. So whichever House you are sorted to, don't feel inferior to anyone," Alex explained, "As for us being in the same House? Given the difference in our intellect, I doubt that." Alex pursed his lips, trying to hold back his smile.

 

"You think so?" Nicole failed to register the meaning behind Alex's words, "You are more talkative than usual," Nicole pointed out.

 

"Well, I just feel like talking to you a bit more, that's all," Alex tried to play it down.

 

"You really don't think we will be in the same House, do you?" Nicole looked at her brother and asked. Even she had started to feel nervous in her heart.

 

But before Alex could reply and reassure her, they were interrupted by a loud voice which rang across the hall.

 

"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me...

 

'What is this shit?'

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