#1 Realm of Magic

Chapter 12

Finn

I quickly climbed into the boat behind Ez, with August behind me. Laila went and sat with some of the girls from the girl compartment. As soon as everyone was seated, the boats started floating fastly across the water. August and me chatted about favorite Quidditch teams, while Ez started reading a book. After we decided that the Chudley Cannons were the best, I looked over Ez's shoulder and saw that she was reading The Maze Runner, my favorite book.

"Ez, do you like the Maze Runner?" I asked, astonished. She turned around, embarrassed, and said, "Yeah, it's a really good book. My favorite character is Newt." I told her that Newt was also my favorite character, and after that we discussed our favorite parts of the book until we reached the shore of Hogwarts. We climbed out of the boat and met up with Laila.

As we walked up to the steps of the school, everyone looked around in astonishment. I was so in awe, I tripped on the step and fell down. People all around me started laughing. I stood up and continued walking. As soon as we reached the entrance to the school, a middle-aged man wearing a teal robe walked through the doors.

"Hello students. My name is Proffesor Graham. The start of the term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"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. 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 honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"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."

My heart pounded in my chest loudly on the uncomftorable silence that followed Proffesor Graham's leaving. After what seemed like an eternity, Proffesor Graham returned.

"Now form a line, and let's get a move on." We all got in a line and walked through the magnificently enormous doors. I saw four giant tables lined up, with a gap in between the sets of two tables for walking. Another huge table layed horizontally in front, with many men and women sitting at the front table. In front of that table was a stool, with a simple witches hat sitting on it. That's when I knew this was going to be the weirdest day of my life.