Amisty stared up at the witch who opened the door, slightly wary of the stern look she directed at all the first years.
"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid smiled, gesturing to the group with a sweep of his arm.
"Thank you Hagrid, I'll take them from here," She nodded at him, before pulling the door open with a creak.
Amisty's jaw dropped, and she heard a small 'wow' from Hermione, who was standing next to her.
The sight before her was amazing. A massive hallway, covered in flaming torches and grand marble staircases greeted the group of eleven-year-olds.
Amisty could barely take her eyes off of the magnificent sight, until Hermione gave her a light tap on the shoulder, and the two walked together, following the crowd. Amisty covered her ears as sound flooded out of a hallway, louder than it should have been.
It died down quickly, however, as Professor McGonagall sent a glance her way, waving her wand in a silent spell.
Amisty smiled her thanks, and the Professor nodded. Amisty followed along quickly, as everyone piled into a small, dank room, lit dimly by one torch. She listened as Professor McGonagall explained the rules of Hogwarts, and then left with a tip to clean yourself up a bit.
'I would really like to get into Gryffindor, but I suppose Ravenclaw doesn't sound too bad,' Amisty thought, adjusting her cloak and robes quickly.
She sent a quick glance in Harry's direction, spotting him having a conversation with Ron, his face turning pale.
'I hope it isn't bad, Harry's as pale as a ghost,' Her brow furrowed, until her attention was snatched away as she saw real ghosts float by, having their own little conversations.
A small yelp escaped her throat, only muffled as she slammed her hand over her mouth. Amisty watched as a ghost wearing tights looked at the first years with interest.
"New students!" The ghost exclaim, "About to be sorted, I suppose?"
Amisty nodded hesitantly, her mind whirling. Real life ghosts, actual real life ghosts.
"Move along now, the Sorting Ceremony is about to start!" A voice scolded, hurrying the ghosts into the wall.
"Form a line now, there we go, follow me," Professor McGonagall ordered, herding the first years into the main hall in a neat, single file line.
Amisty looked around the Great Hall, amazement clear on her face. She had never seen such beautiful things in her life. She nearly tripped, a result of not watching where she was going and her foot hit the stair. Gladly Hermione steadied her before she could fall on her face.
"Thanks!" She whispered, blushing slightly
"Don't mention it!" Hermione replied softly.
They had stopped walking, everyone's eyes in the hall trained on the first years, Amisty was extremely nervous, her hands fidgeting.
She watched as Professor McGonagall dragged a small stool in front of the group, and placed a frayed, dirty looking wizard hat on top.
The green-eyed girl looked around, confused about what were they waiting for. When the hat began to sing, she nearly jumped out of her skin.
Pink flushed to her cheeks, and she was incredibly glad that everyone's eyes were on the hat and not her.
That is, until she noticed Fred or George Weasley looking at her, she couldn't quite tell the difference yet. There was a sparkle of laughter in his brown eyes.
'Shut up!' she mouthed, rolling her eyes as one or the other tapped the second one on the shoulder.
Soon both of the boys were watching at her, silently shaking with laughter.
'I'm going to kill you,' She narrowed her eyes at them, returning her gaze to the hat, who had finished singing its peculiar song.
"When I call your name, step forward and place the hat on your head, and sit down to be sorted!" Professor McGonagall announced, unrolling a long piece of parchment, and calling off names.
Amisty watched as first year after first year got sorted into houses, each table cheering loudly when someone got sorted into their house.
She kept on watching, finding that Hermione got sorted into Gryffindor, the girl she had nearly given a heart attack went into Hufflepuff, and Neville got sorted into Gryffindor as well.
Draco walked up to the hat with confidence, and the second the hat touched his head it sorted him into Slytherin, which Draco was clearly pleased about. Several people went up next, getting sorted into varying houses, it all went by so fast Amisty barely knew who was in what house.
"Potter, Harry!" Amisty heard Professor McGonagall announce.
The hall went silent, all eyes fixed on Harry. Amisty groaned inwardly, having yet to understand why Harry was so famous. It took a while, but the hat soon shouted out an answer.
"GRYFFINDOR!" Amisty cheered, along with the whole Gryffindor table.
Harry seemed relieved with the hat's decision, a smile on his face. That's when Amisty realized it was her turn, she suddenly felt very cold, heart thumping.
"River, Amisty!" she heard. Amisty walked quickly to the stool, pulling the hat over her head as fast as she could, barely noticing the reassuring looks that Hermione, Neville, the twins, and Harry gave her.
A voice practically yelled into her ear, "Hm, interesting, street smart, cunning, brave, and loyal, what am I going to do with you?"
'By any chance could you maybe talk a bit quieter?' Amisty asked inside her head, hiding her cringe by gripping the stool tightly.
"Sorry dear, forgot about that little thing you have going on. Anyways, what house would you like to be in?" The voice talking in a normal voice now
"The house with all my friends, please," She thought.
"What about Ravenclaw? I'm certain you would fit in there perfectly," The hat replied, as if pondering the idea.
"I don't really know about that, sir. My friends would be really disappointed, wouldn't you think?" She thought back, pleading slightly.
"Ah, just like your mother, alright then," The voice said, before screaming out, "GRYFFINDOR!"
The sound vibrated in her head, and she pulled the hat off quickly after hearing a quick apology.
Amisty walked to the Gryffindor table slowly, trying to get the ringing out of her ears before she got to her friends.
Not that it did much good, by the time she had gotten to the table, the ringing was gone, but her friends were so ecstatic she had to force herself not to run out of the hall screaming bloody murder.
Amisty lowered herself into a seat beside Hermione, constantly shaking her head to get rid of the noise. The rest of the sorting went by in a flash, ending with Ron getting into Gryffindor, and a boy named Blaise becoming the last Slytherin.
Amisty was staring at her plate in hunger, the shiny gold surface mocking her.
Hermione poked her in the arm gently, pointing up at the head table, where a man with a long white beard and hair stood, his arms spread in welcome.
"Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our feast, I would like to say a few words! And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" he bellowed, his eyes sparkling as he sat back down.
Amisty laughed and cheered, smiling like crazy. Amisty watched as the plates in front of her piled up with food, her mouth watered, she licked her lips hungrily.
So many things to try she thought, piling a bit of everything onto her plate. Amisty felt Hermione's eyes on her as she shoveled the food into her mouth, chewing it and swallowing it in a few mere seconds.
"You eat like you're not going to get food ever again!" Hermione laughed, her brown eyes twinkling.
"I never get this much food!" she replied, grinning.
"I can tell" She smiled at Amisty, before the two girls burst out laughing, earning several glances from Ron, Harry, and two other boys.
Amisty waved merrily, still shaking from laughter. Harry shook his head, smiling, before turning back to the conversation with the rest of the boys.
Her eyes widened when the dinner disappeared, only to be replaced by dessert. Amisty turned to Hermione, whose eyes were also sparkling with excitement.
"Do you have a massive sweet-tooth?" she asked. Hermione nodded, before shoving piles of the desserts onto her plate.
Amisty smiled, she could get used to this.
The conversation slowly turned to families, so she quietly listened in with Hermione. Amisty smiled when Seamus, a boy with blonde hair, talked about how his father was a muggle and his mother was a witch, but his mother didn't tell her father she was a witch until after the wedding.
She was glad when the topic died down after Neville talked about how his great uncle tried to force magic out of him, avoiding talking about her past would do her some good.
The desserts vanished, and Amisty watched as the man with the long beard, who Ron had explained to her was the headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, stood once again.
"Just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. All 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" his eyes glanced at the twins briefly, who were looking up at him, giving him two big, innocent smiles. "I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you that no magic should be used between classes and in corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their House teams should contact Madame Hooch. Lastly, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who doesn't want to die a painful death." Dumbledore finished, adjusting his half-moon spectacles.
Amisty tilted her head to the side slightly, confused.
'How come, was this a usual thing?' She thought to herself, one glance around the room telling her that this was new.
"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" he cried, flicking his wand slightly, sending a long, golden ribbon to shoot off the end, forming lyrics. "Everyone pick their favorite tune, and off we go!"
Amisty had never heard a song for as long as she could remember, and rarely had any experience with music, except for the few times when she heard music playing on the radio outside of someone's home.
She softly sang the words under her breath, glad her voice couldn't be heard from everyone else singing.
"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 rot."
She laughed quietly as the twins were still on the second verse, singing a very slow, very long funeral song.
Dumbledore conducted the twins merrily, and when they finally finished, Amisty could barely breath, she had been laughing so hard.
"Ah, music. A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you go!" Dumbledore smiled, sending out all the students.
Amisty finally realized how tired she was, her epic jump this morning seemed so far away, and her eyelids slowly started to grow heavy.
She yawned, covering her mouth with her hand. Amisty followed Percy through the halls, her yawns getting bigger and closer together.
By the time they had stopped walking, Amisty was leaning slightly against Harry, who had joined her side after dinner, her head cloudy.
She barely noticed when Percy said something to a portrait and it swung open, revealing a small hole in the wall which led to a large round room, plush armchairs scattered around. Percy directed the girls through one door, up a long, winding staircase, and at last to a room filled with five four posted beds, scarlet red curtains concealing the beds from each other.
Amisty's trunk was next to the bed closest to the window, Hermione right on her left side. She changed quickly, before lying back on her bed.
"Goodnight, Hermione," She yawned, pulling her sheets above her head.
"Goodnight, Amisty" She heard the muffled reply.
Her eyes slowly closed, and she fell asleep nearly at once.
The full moon shined through the window, illuminating Amisty with its soft white glow. A small wolf appeared at Amisty's bedside, glowing softly. It's fur seeming to be made out of mist. None of the other girls noticed the wolf, for they were all fast asleep.
The wolf watched Amisty intently, crawling up onto the bed and curling up at Amisty's feet, moving with no sound. The girl shifted slightly in her sleep, startling the wolf, who stood up suddenly. It padded towards her slowly, before turning back towards the window, it's tail brushing the tip of her nose. With a small leap, the wolf jumped up to the window sill, disappearing in a puff of stars.