Serena's POV:
Fred, George, Lee, and I got off the train together. "Oh dearie, I think we'll have to help her with the luggage again?" Fred states. "Or did you learn how to handle it in the few hours we were together?" George says while snorting. I laugh, "I still need help with my luggage. Please help me with my luggage, my good friends." "Well, since she asked so nicely, what do you think Georgie?" Fred asked. "Hm, why not," George says and proceeds to help me with my trunk.
"You must be Serena." someone says. I turn around to see a giant man with a big beard. "Rubeus Hagrid. Hogwarts gamekeeper. Pleasure ter meet you." he says. I smile. "Nice to meet you too, Mr. Rubeus Hagrid." He chuckles. "Oh ho, just call me Hagrid. Hagrid will do. Now professor McGonagall has told me all about you. Follow me." I follow Hagrid into a boat. "First years! First years! Over here, first years!" Hagrid yells. The first years slowly fill up the boats but they all seemed scared of me, so they all avoided the boat I was in. I was in a boat alone with Hagrid. Fine by me. When all the first years were in the boat, the boat magically floated towards the castle. Awesome, I thought.
We arrive at the castle and I am immediately blown away by the beauty the school held. Professor McGonagall was waiting at the top of the stairs. She looks at me and signals for me to come. She pulls me aside and says in a low voice, "Now Serena, remember, here I am Professor McGonagall, not auntie McGonagall." I roll my eyes, "I know, I know. We can't let people know that you're my aunt because then they'll know why you favorite me, right? It's not like our last names aren't going to give it away." "I don't play favorites. But, make sure you get into Gryffindor and make me proud," she says and gives me a wink.
Just when I thought I couldn't be more surprised, we walk into the Great Hall. I was blown away by how beautiful the ceiling was and the candles that floated above the students while they were eating. I look around and a certain blond head stood out. Draco Malfoy's. He noticed me too because then he mouthed "Slytherin" and winked. I look away from him and see five redheads. All at the Gryffindor table. The twins gave me a thumbs up and went back to looking at the front of the room.
McGonagall stood next to a stool with a shabby old brown head on it. She explained about the sorting where I zoned out. She already told me about the sorting back when I was a kid. "...into four different houses... blah blah blah.." Then, the hat started singing. After the hat finished singing, McGonagall said, "Now let the Sorting begin. Please come up as I call your name." I zoned out again. "McGonagall, Serena." my aunt said. I step up to the stool and my aunt places the hat onto my head.
"Oh my, we've got a McGonagall. Now you've got the wits of a Ravenclaw and the kindness of a Hufflepuff, this is tough. Oh, but you'll do great in Slytherin." No, I won't. Besides I'm not gonna lose that stupid bet with that git, Malfoy. "What's that you say about a bet? You don't want to be in Slytherin? Oh well, then better be.. GRYFFINDOR."
"YES, THAT'S OUR FRIEND! WE GOT MCGONAGALL!" I could hear the twins cheering for me as I head to the Gryffindor table and sit down with them to watch the rest of the sorting ceremony. As I sat down, the twins turned to me. "You didn't tell us that you were related to McGonagall," Fred says, punching me playfully in the arm. "Sorry, I forgot," I say, smiling sheepishly. Across from me was a boy with red hair like the twins munching furiously on a chicken leg. Next to him was a boy with really dark, messy hair and a girl with brown hair. "Hi, I'm Hermione Granger." She reached out her hand and I shook it. "And I'm Harry. Harry Potter." The boy with the messy hair said. "Are you really? That's so cool. I've never met anyone famous before." I say. "And this is- WILL YOU STOP EATING?" Hermione yelled. The kid with red hair reluctantly put down his chicken wing and said, "I'm Ron. Ronald Weasley." "I'm Serena McGonagall," I say with a smile. "Are you related to Professor McGonagall?" Ron asked. Hermione rolled her eyes at this. "Yes. She's my aunt." I reply. "That's cool," Harry says.
"We better head back to our dorms. Come on, I'll show you." Hermione says after a while. I follow her outside the Great Hall and wait for her to finish her conversation with Harry and Ron when someone grabs my arm and leads me into an empty room. I look up and sigh. Malfoy. "What do you want?" I ask. "Congrats on making Gryffindor." he sneered. "For the record, you're going to regret it. You're going to wish you were in Slytherin and you're going to wish that maybe you should've just given me the ten galleons. And speaking of, I'm not giving it to you." he spat. Then he left the room angrily. What a weird kid.
Seconds later Hermione, Ron, and Harry burst into the room with worried expressions on their faces. "Bloody hell, why'd you disappear on us like that?" Ron asked. "We were so worried. One minute your there and the next you're not. And what happened there?" Hermione asked, gesturing to the now red part of my arm. "Malfoy happened. He grabbed me over here, and I guess he has a tight grip or something because now it's red." I say. "That stupid git. You should tell McGonagall. And once we're done with him-" Ron started. "No, no, it's fine. You don't have to worry about it." I say. "Well come on then, let's get you unpacked and settled in."