บท 39: Harry Potter (2)
At the Dursleys' house, they moved me to the second bedroom on the upper floor after Hagrid's threats. Dudley and I had all the upper floor to ourselves. However, Dudley seldom stays in his room nowadays. He preferred to room with his parents out of fear of my freakiness.
He had surgery to remove the pigtail from Hagrid. I felt no pity towards him. I thought the tail fits his personality well as a wannabe pigman.
Before going to Hogwarts, I read a bit of everything from the books I bought. They were different from the 'muggle' school books. I found them difficult to read by myself as the theories are different from what I used to. So, I would wait for the lesson later at Hogwarts for the full explanation. For now, reading a few chapters ahead won't hurt.
September the 1st was finally here. Uncle Vernon begrudgingly took me to the Kings Cross Station. I could see that he would prefer to be anywhere else than here. He threw my trunk to the ground with a loud thud and drove away without looking back. Thankfully, I held Hedwig and the cage with me, so she was safe.
Some people stared because of Hedwig, but I ignored them. I was wandering around the station, looking confused. I didn't know how to get to the magical platform, as Hagrid didn't tell me. Everywhere I saw, there were only muggles. I was the only one bringing a cart of trunks and owls. I was embarrassed, but what could I do?
I was getting agitated as it was close to 11 AM, which was the departure time. But then this family of redheads walked by with the same-looking baggage as me. The mother was shouting too, so it was not hard to spot them.
I've never seen so many redheads in my life. I had no other choice but to ask for their help. I didn't want to be late.
When I approached, this little girl was hiding behind the mother. I ignored her and asked the mother where the platform to Hogwarts was. She said I had to walk or run through the wall between platforms 9 and 10. I was skeptical.
Then she ushered one of the twin redheads to show me. Seconds later, the redhead's gone. Next, the other twin and an older redhead went through the wall. I was amazed.
It's magic :)
Soon, It was my time to walk through the wall. One second I was looking at the wall then I was looking at a red color train with the Hogwarts crest on its locomotor head. The train was huge. I wanted to marvel more, but I had to hurry before the train departed.
During the train journey, I sat with Ron Weasley. He was one of the redheads from the herd redhead family before. He had a pet rat named Scabbers, that was old and odd. The rat slept all the time. I didn't understand how he got it to Hogwarts. The school never mentioned any pet rats allowed in. But maybe I was wrong? Or was I? I was glad to have Hedwig with me, though.
The journey went uneventful at first. But then a bushy-hair girl came in asking for a toad. We didn't see any toad, then we told her so. But she didn't leave. She was rude to Ron.
Ron was about to cast a color-change spell on Scabbers but sadly failed. I thought it sounded funny. Wasn't the spell usually in Latin? But then the bushy-hair girl scrutinized Ron after. She told us she had read all the books and practiced the spells at home.
I was irritated at her. It's not like we came to school already knowing everything. So, I felt like she was bragging at this point.
Soon after, she left, thankfully. I did not like her much. Ron explicitly told me so as well. Our journey was finally at peace, or so we thought.
After some time, Malfoy suddenly came to my compartment. He talked about the wrong sort again. I wonder why he said that all the time. Did he not tire of it? But then, Ron and Malfoy started to bicker. They were both wrong, and I was annoyed. So, I just shooed Malfoy and co away. But Ron thought I defended him or something. And Malfoy felt hurt.
Whatever.
After hours on the train, we finally arrived at the Hogsmeade train station. Hagrid greeted us, then escorted us through the Black lake and to the Hogwarts Castle, where we met Professor McGonagall. She looked very stern. She had this deep voice that invited attention.
Professor McGonagall walked us to the Great Hall, where all the students were. We needed to be sorted into our houses. I was worried about the method of this sorting, and so were other students. But then, Professor McGonagall put a black hat on a stool. The hat looked ancient but well-kept. I find it amusing that she put it there. Like what for?
But then, to my surprise, the black hat talked. It sang a weird song about sorting students into four Hogwarts houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. I knew a little about each from Ron and Malfoy. But I didn't care much, except I hoped not Slytherin.
It turns out, that people were sorted to their houses by this hat. Professor McGonagall called the students one by one. But then, when she called my name, everyone went silent.
Here we go again. *sigh*
I spent quite some time with the hat. I begged it not to put me in Slytherin. It wanted me there, but I persistently refused. Malfoy was there, and I wanted nothing to do with him. He annoyed me.
Thankfully, the hat put me in the Gryffindor in the end. I put a smile on my face and went to the Gryffindor table. At the table, people congratulate me like there's no tomorrow. They cheered and shouted my name like I was a hero. I was grateful for the welcoming vibe but also weirded out. I wonder if I would get this kind of treatment a lot. I was not the hero they thought I was.
We watched the remaining students waiting to be sorted, one of them was for Ron. I saved him a seat beside me. I knew he would appreciate that. He told me all his family went to Gryffindor and he wanted to be there too. It would be nice to have him here. He was one of my first friends at Hogwarts.
Looking at the front, only three people were left unsorted: Ron, a girl, and another guy. The girl went first. She got black hair. I couldn't see her well, but I heard her name: Vautour. Some people whispered a little at the name, but soon she was sorted to Ravenclaw. Not long after, Ron was sorted into Gryffindor. I was happy greeting Ron that I did not notice the last guy's sorting. Soon the ceremony ended, and we feasted on all of the food that suddenly appeared on the table. *Woah* Magic...
We all feasted to the night. I've never eaten this much food all my life. Ron ate a lot beside me as well, though a lot messier. I talked to other Gryffindors in our year. There was an Indian girl named Parvati Patil, Hermione "the bushy-hair girl" Granger, Seamus Finnigan, Neville Longbottom, Lavender Brown, Dean Thomas, and others.
It could be my eyes playing me, but Parvati doesn't seem to like Hermione. I wonder why? Well, I might actually know why.
After the feast, Professor Dumbledore made some announcements. Some were worrying, like the deathly 3rd-floor corridor and the forbidden forest, but others were the usual rules. We also would have a compulsory medical exam tomorrow after breakfast.
After the feast, Percy Weasley (one of Ron's brothers) escorted the first years to the Gryffindor dorm. The dorm's location was on the sixth floor of the north castle. We walked quite a bit.
There was a painting of this old fat lady at the gate, and we needed the password to enter. Percy said the password, and we joyfully entered the dorm. There was the common room right after the entrance. It looked very warm with a fireplace and red-gold color everywhere. The dorm looked very homey. I couldn't help but smile... :)
I could get used to this. Feeling home...
I room with Ron, Dean, Neville, and Seamus. We all fell asleep soon after arriving at our room. The journey was exhausting.
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A/N: Sorry for some short chapters. I got busy with work, so I only had little time to write. I will try to upload longer chapters, but I can't promise. Hope you understand. Thank you ~
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