━━━━━━ CHAPTER FOUR.
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evelyn, lani and ginny had all changed into their robes when they felt the train stop.
evelyn opened the door. "ready?"
the other two nodded. they left the compartment and walked down the aisle, looking around them as they walked. they picked seats around the end of the train, so it took a while to get to the door. while walking, they met another girl.
this girl had straggly, waist-length, dirty blonde hair. she had very pale eyebrows and protuberant eyes that gave her a permanently surprised look. she had a magazine in her hand and great big glasses on, which she looked at them through.
"hello," she said dreamily. "first year too?"
"yep," ginny nodded. lani looked as though she was about to ask what she was wearing, but evelyn stomped on her foot. while lani's eyes watered with pain, ginny had a conversation with the girl.
"you're a weasley, aren't you?" the girl looked at ginny.
ginny nodded. "yeah, ginny weasley."
"how nice," the girl adjusted her glasses and smiled in the same dreamy way she talked. "luna lovegood. you ought to be careful," she said to lani suddenly, who was taken aback. "i've heard there are a lot of nargles around here, i wouldn't want to stay around them if i were you," she nodded at her. lani looked at evelyn for some kind of help, who simply nodded in a mock sort of way.
"yeah lans, you don't want to go around looking for the nargles."
"i can't believe a ginger is talking to me right now."
ginny turned around, her red hair whipping around as well. "excuse me. i'm fond of gingers, thank you very much."
"i'd be surprised if you weren't. your whole family has red hair."
"oh plea—"
"come on, we're nearly there," evelyn interrupted as she saw luna get off. evelyn hopped off the train and the other two followed.
the cold, night's wind hit them. shivering, evelyn, lani, and ginny looked around. suddenly, they heard a voice.
"firs' years! firs' years this way!" a voice yelled. they turned to see a giant man leading everyone to some boats. "this way please! no more than four to a boat!"
they moved to get onto a boat. before they did though, they heard someone calling for them.
"hey, wait!" it was cynthia diggory. "good luck, alright? don't believe anything ron's told you," she added to ginny. "you'll do perfectly fine. we love you no matter what, bye!" and she raced to get back with the older kids who were all going in the same direction.
ginny let out a sigh of relief, clearly she was still worried. the three of them got onto a boat with another boy, who looked shy and almost disappointed that they had chose this boat to get onto.
"hello," evelyn smiled kindly at the boy sitting next to her. "you look sweet, i'm evelyn potter!"
the boy looked at her and returned the smile, although it was smaller. he had curly brown hair and a comforting look in his eyes. "thank you, my name's benjamin caddel."
"oh, we could call you ben!" ginny suddenly yelled out, which made evelyn and lani laugh. benjamin jumped, which caused water to come into the boat. their feet were soaked.
"oh! oh no, i'm so sorry," benjamin covered his face with his hands.
"i'm sorry if i startled you!" ginny looked at him sadly.
"no, no it's my fault!" benjamin shook his head quickly, a bit of panic in his voice. "i didn't mean to, i swear!"
"hey, it's okay!" evelyn frowned, putting her hand on his shoulder. she didn't know why he was so worried. his face flushed and he was looking at the other three through the open gaps in between his fingers with apologetic eyes.
lani nodded and looked at benjamin. "yeah, don't worry abo—woah!"
a castle was visible to the children now.
"wow!"
"cool!"
"it's huge!"
voices of excited first years were heard up all around them. they stared at the great castle that was hogwarts. the boats had finally sailed across the big lake and everyone came out of them. evelyn, lani, ginny, and benjamin all stayed together, walking quickly. the giant continued to guide them until they were at the front door. then he turned to face them.
"i'm rubeus hagrid." he smiled broadly at the little first-years. "i am the gamekeeper at hogwarts, i am!" then he turned to the door and knocked. the door opened and a tall woman with her hair in a tight bun stood, looking at everyone that was outside.
"thank you hagrid, i will take them from here," she said to hagrid, then faced everyone else. "this way please," she said, walking into the castle and up the stairs. everyone followed.
"this is bloody brilliant, isn't it?" lani turned to evelyn.
"it really is, and we're staying here for the rest of the year!"
lani nodded, grinning. the group of first years stopped. they were all standing closely together. now that they were in the castle they felt much, much smaller. the woman who lead them down the hall turned to them.
"welcome to hogwarts, i am professor mcgonagall. the start-of-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."
evelyn half glanced at leilani standing beside her. despite the two of them being inseparable, their personalities were quite different. james had always said that evelyn would have no problems making friends at hogwarts because of her way with words and her confidence. james had also said that lani would probably scare them off due to how quick she was to talk without thinking. it was as if lani was thinking the same thing because she returned a quick look, then looked away to listen to mcgonagall.
"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 honour. i hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."
evelyn felt ginny shift uneasily behind her. just then, mcgonagall opened the doors to the great hall and the first years were moved to the front of the hall in a line. they watched as mcgonagall put a large wizard's hat on a stool in front of them. evelyn let her mouth hang open as the hat sung for the school. after the song, the great hall burst into applause and professor mcgonagall stepped forwards with a scroll in her hands.
"when i call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said.
instead of listening to names being called, evelyn turned to lani.
"nervous?"
lani scoffed. "me? nervous? never. no way." liar.
"black, leilani!"
evelyn watched as her friend stepped up to sit on the stool. mcgonagall put the hat on her head. ginny moved up so that she was standing beside evelyn and turned to her.
"i'll bet you five galleons that she gets into slytherin."
"what?"
"five galleons! take it or leave it."
"i—alright, alright!" evelyn glared at her. lani wasn't a slytherin, was she?
lani heard a voice in her head while sitting on the stool, she found it odd.
"lots of courage, i see. yes, some loyalty there too. quite a leader as well, i see some ambition in this one though. where to put you, where indeed?"
as the hat was arguing with itself in lani's head, she was growing more and more anxious.
"but what about here? quite different, but seems best. yes indeed, better be... SLYTHERIN!"
the sorting hat yelled through the hall and there was clapping, mostly from the slytherin table. lani blinked, a bit shocked, but gathered herself together and moved over to the table. ginny smirked at evelyn's widened eyes.
"what did i tell you? i'd like my money before tomorrow morning, thanks."
evelyn opened her mouth to reply, but stopped when she heard who was being sorted next.
"caddel, benjamin!"
evelyn and ginny looked at the shaking benjamin slowly sit on the stool and glare at the hat being placed on his head. it wasn't even two seconds before the hat shouted—
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"eh," ginny shrugged. "i knew that one too."
"yet you still doubt that you'll be a gryffindor," evelyn sighed as "creevy, colin!" became a gryffindor.
they waited a while. but it was only a matter of time when—
"malfoy, carina!"
"oi!" evelyn nudged ginny. "what do you reckon carina will be in?"
"train girl?"
"yeah, hurry!"
"hmmm," ginny thought for a moment. "honestly, i don't know."
carina took longer to be sorted than anyone else before her. it was nearly five minutes before the hat finally made its decision.
"SLYTHERIN!"
"well that's interesting," ginny watched carina sigh in relief and walk over to the slytherin table, a proud draco putting his arm around her once she sat down. "maybe she is a true malfoy."
"about time we found out too," evelyn raised an eyebrow. "i'm hungry."
"shut up, it's nearly your turn."
she was right. in a minute or so professor mcgonagall called out,
"potter, evelyn!"
evelyn whispered to herself while walking over and sitting on the stool. "you'll be fine, don't freak out, don't freak out."
the sorting hat was placed onto her head and although everyone else heard this voice too, she wasn't prepared for it. the sorting hat beginning conversation in her head made her jump.
"hmmm, another potter eh? lots of bravery, i see. quite a bit of patience too, and loyalty as well. very loyal, and determined. it seems best to put you in GRYFFINDOR!"
the hat was removed from her head and a smile automatically took over evelyn's face. not like the ones she practiced, a genuine one. she walked over to the gryffindor table, sitting across from hermione and cindy who greeted her with warm smiles.
"welcome to gryffindor!" a voice said beside her.
"yeah, great to have you here, potter junior!" another said, on the opposite side.
"for sure, the more the merrier!"
evelyn turned to see a pair of identical twins on either side of her.
"hi! who are you two?" she said, her head darting from one to the other. she recognized them from somewhere.
"i'm gred, that's forge over there," one told her.
"shut up you two," cindy rolled her eyes at them. "that's fred and that's george."
evelyn just remembered where she recognized them. they were seb's best friends. he hung out with them as much as he could, according to lani. despite sebastian being in ravenclaw and the pair of twins being in gryffindor, they were as close as ever. evelyn saw them once while going to visit. she also remembered seeing them with ginny at king's cross.
"weasleys, aren't you?"
"through and through!"
"pleasure," she grinned at the two of them, then turned to hermione and cindy. "have you found harry or ron yet?"
hermione glanced at cindy, who shook her head, then looked back at them. "we really don't know what could've happened to them. i mean we wer—"
"yes!" ginny popped up beside them, beaming. "i'm a gryffindor!"
"i told you!" evelyn high-fived her.
one of the twins then moved back so ginny could sit down. "well done, if you didn't get in mum would've had a proper fit."
"shut up, fred," ginny gave him a look, but her smile still remained on her face.
fred nudged her playfully as dumbledore suddenly had gotten their attention. they all turned to face him.
"i have two words for you. tuck in." he smiled.
the empty plates that were on the tables now filled with food. roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, and everything else you could possibly imagine. ginny let out a small "woah!", unlike evelyn, who immediately started to pick up food and devour it.
"charming," hermione sighed, looking at her. "you could give ronald a run for his money."
"speaking of ronald," ginny looked up from the food she started on. "where is he?"
"we don't know," cindy shrugged sadly.
"hey," a boy suddenly said. "where's snape?"
evelyn knew who that was, her whole family did. he was her father's nemesis, apparently they completely hated each other while they went to school. harry came back from hogwarts on christmas break, going on and on about how snape hated him and treated him unfairly. surprisingly, her mother was friends with snape as a kid, but they apparently lost touch after school. evelyn watched the older kids look at the teachers table, in search for snape.
"maybe he's sick?" hermione questioned.
"maybe he left!" cindy's eyes lit up.
"or maybe," a cold voice said behind them. "he was wondering why potter and his little sidekick weasley thought it was a good idea to fly a car to get to school."
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b's notes
love the using the philosopher's stone references icl