Young Writers Society

Robin
"Come one," Robin said, "We'd better get changed into our school clothes." The twins nodded. Once they were fully changed, Robin noticed Harley peeking out the compartment door.

"What's up?" she asked her.

Alexandra Wakefield:

She sat back down in her seat, giving a content sigh. "I'm just so excited to be going here!" she exclaimed. She began to kick her feet back and forth. "I mean, I've always had my suspicions about doing magic. I thought I'd go on some quest to save the world like in the books I've read. But finding out that there's a bunch of other kids like me, and that we're all going to the same place is way cooler!"

Not for the first or last time, Blake stared at her. "It's a school," he said. "You have to do work, and learn new concepts. To add to it, you have to interact with people you've never met in your life. Why on Earth are you so excited?"

It was her turn to do the staring. "Because it's school. And I know people won't think I'm weird there like at my old one!"

Her friend crossed his arms, looking away from her. "I was homeschooled. Most wizards are because they worry that we will accidentally cast magic among the Muggles."

She suddenly felt very sorry for Blake. She had quickly realized he didn't like his family and their reputation, especially Angelus. That meant he was forced to spend time with the people he hated.

He jumped in surprise when she put her arm around his shoulder. "Then I'll show you the ropes once school kicks off!"

Elektra Medea Varicius

Finally, the train stopped. They had reached Hogwarts, oh Hogwarts, the land of her reign. She woke her fellow Head Boy who’d been sleeping in the opposite seat and charged out, calling for students to stay in their compartments and wait until they were told to come out. This was really hard work, as excited students here and there would dart out of their compartments, thinking that they would somehow reach the castle earlier than the rest. To these students, Medea flashed her scary face, with blood streaks, red eyes and mussed up black hair with a hiss. It always worked
.
When the corridors were all silent, she, along with other head boys and girls, tapped on the compartment doors in an orderly fashion and escorted the students out, handing them to Hagrid or the thestral chariots.

As luck would have it, Medea ended up in the Croft compartment once again, in beautiful black Hogwarts robes and gleaming golden hair with azure eyes. Everything else about her was the same, she hated to change her facial structures as it was really painful. She frowned briefly at Alexandra’s male uniform and turned her attention to Blake, who, much to her surprise didn’t even seem excited.

That bloody Croft family, she thought, what have they done to that poor boy?

In any case, she beamed at them and gestured at the open compartment door.

“Alright guys, let’s head out now. Hagrid’s expecting you on the boats near the lake.”
Alexandra positively beamed. There was something so feminine about her face… Medea’s resolve to make her into a girl strengthened.

“Boats? We’re going on boats?!” She exclaimed.

“Yup! This is only a first year thing though.” Medea replied sweetly.

Before Alexandra could ask what happened after the first year, Medea pushed the children out the compartment door and towards the outside door.

“Come on now, before all the good boats are taken!” She giggled, as the two children ran outside, escorted by a prefect near the door.

Medea ushered more children outside, and finally jumped onto a thestral chariot with the Slytherin Head Boy, and a few other Slytherin friends.

Blake Croft:

He ended up in a boat with Lex and the boy from their compartment. Lex was quick to ask him for his name; it turned out to be Carson Grey. She struck up a conversation with him, but ended up being the one to do the majority of the talking. Blake doubted it was because Carson was a shy kid - Lex just had that type of effect on people, himself included.

He occupied himself with thinking about the classes he would soon take. History of Magic could prove to be an interesting one, but he didn't have high hopes. Professor Binns was infamous for being a boring teacher. Herbology didn't arouse his interests. There was a chance Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration could be helpful, but he found his heart racing at the thought of one class: Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Blake, did you hear me?"

His attention returned to Lex. "No. I'm sorry. My mind was elsewhere," he quickly apologized. "What did you say?"

"I was asking why you wanted to be in Slytherin. It's not just because your family has always been, right?"

He glanced at Carson Grey. It would be a gamble, but something told him Carson didn't have any friends to tell. He confided in the two, "I have big ambitions." Then he fell silent, nervous about their reactions. What if they laughed when they heard what he wanted to be? What if they said it was impossible?

"To do what?" Carson asked.

Blake took a deep breath. "I want to become an Auror." Upon seeing Lex's look of confusion, he added, "An Auror fights dark wizards.

Her face lit up. "Then you'll be like a wizard superhero?!"

"Er...Something like that."

A young, blonde, short-haired youth was sat rigidly in a boat sailing over the inky black waters of the great lake. She had an old Ravenclaw scarf of her sister's tied around her neck, and was clad in slightly-too-big Hogwarts robes. She shivered from mingling cold, and excitement. She was sat in a boat with five other children, all of whom were gazing at a big, black castle looming through the gloom.

The blonde-haired girl turned excitedly in her seat towards a girl sitting at the front of the boat. "That's Hogwarts."

"I know!" The girl murmured back, eyes turned towards the castle. "Isn't it incredible?"

The blonde-haired girl stuck out a black mittened hand. "I'm Melissa. Melissa Twiffling."

The other girl turned around. She had startling ice blue eyes, and a relaxed demeanor. "I'm Brinley Parks." She grasped Melissa's hand.

Melissa excitedly pointed down at he slightly rippling water. "Look!"

The water was rippling more and more, and the tip of a pink tentacle pierced the top of the lake. It limply rose into the air, then slammed down onto the top of the water, sending lake water spraying onto the heads of the first years.

Stella Roux

On the train speeding it's way towards Hogwarts shy first year Stella hides in one of the back carts. Even more to her liking she finds an abandoned compartment with no sighs of life in it other than some stale Botts Beans half nibbled on and some chewed pieces of Droobles Best Chewing Gum. She is hunched in a corner of one of the seats with her knees to her chest and a copy of her favorite muggle book in her face. Nothing can distract her from its contents except for the nagging of her puppy who makes his face a barrier between Stella's vision and the pages of the book. She has to move it out of the way for the books safety. Near her puppy it is at risk of drowning. Drool drips out of his wrinkled face and she smiles at him. Being a Mastiff she has to enjoy him being small enough to sit in her lap while she can before he gets bigger. Once he is satisfied with her he jumps of the seat and decides to treat himself with the aged and partially eaten beans. Before she puts the book away she admires the cover next to her puppy who has the name that shares with the protagonist. Montag of Ray Bradbury's genius muggle mind. It's only moments later her and the other students must make their way off the train. It's when she gets on the boats she starts to worry.

She comes from a long line of great witches and wizards. They aren't famous which makes them even more great, they did everything they did not for the fame. They expect her to be great, they expect her to be a Gryffindor like everyone in her family. Decades of pure blood and pure Gryffindor traditions to end for a black sheep. She knew even before the sorting what house she will be in. Ravenclaw a disappointment to her family when they find out, but a joy for herself.

While she is sitting in the boat footing towards her new home she unconsciously bounces her knee up and down until the boy sitting next to her elbows her in the ribs. She stops. Shouts of excitement pull her attention away from over own boat to the one floating directly across. A few girls sitting together excitedly point out a figure in the water that appears to be a pink tentacle but vanishes as quickly as it appears splashing the girl. Uncomfortable with the thought of a strange creature beside their tiny boats she scoots away from the side towards the boy who earlier elbowed her. He smirks at her and she awkwardly redirects her attention to Hogwarts again. Excited for a change from a home of heroes to this and the first thing she plans on seeing is the library.

Melissa took a great, shuddering gasp. Everything was soaked, from the woolen beaney on her head, to her socks stuffed inside a pair of trainers. "That was awful!" She decided.

"That was amazing!" Brinley argued, looking thoroughly excited.

"What was that?!" A boy in a boat up from the front shouted as he shook beads of water out of his short hair.

"Jus' the giant squid, nothin' to be scared of!" A tall, wild looking man shouted from the frontmost boat. He was so big, he needed one all to himself. The boats neared a large cavern carved out of the side of a cliff. The self-driving boats eased their way through. Melissa felt a drop of water hit her head from a stalactite on the roof of the cave. They parked smoothly on a shore of pure rock.

"Follow me! And stay close, mind ye', don' get lost." The wild lookin gman instructed. The first years followed him without question. The lantern provided little light, and they were keen not to be lost down there, though Brinley defiantly said that the Headmaster, Dumbledore, would never let a student stay lost down there. Nonetheless, she followed The wild man through the passages.

Stella

They finally reached the grand doors of Hogwarts Stella has read about so many times. Inside the first years figited and most wouldn't stand still anxious of the moments to come. She knew what was going to happen and had the exact moment run through her head with every scenario possible. She has been imagining this since she was old enough to to know what a wand was. A teacher introduced themselves and went through the normal speech of how important the next few moments are and would decide the next 7 years of their lives here. Then the doors opened.

Candles floated up to the ceiling which looked as though it is the night sky with millions of stars. They twinkled in places she never even knew there were stars. She purposefully distracted herself to avoid making eye contact with the other students. She noticed a few were passing around Knuts and Sickles betting on which students will go in which house. She allows herself to walk slower than the movement of the crowd so she blends in, not to be noticed until she runs into a girl with scuffed sneakers and really short hair. It was hard to tell if she was a girl or not. Stella immediately steps into the shoeleace of her so called lucky Converse and falls on her butt. Luckily they were in the back of the crowd so no one was paying attention. Stella still turns bright red.

Harley Forest
Harley and Casey, being fourth years, were already in the great hall when the first years arrived. Harley looked at their faces, a sea of awe, wonder, and excitement. Harley flashed back to her first year. Oh that was embarrassing... During the sorting, she'd fallen off backwards over the stool when the sorting hat had called out her house. She'd trudged over to the Hufflepuff table, her face a bright red.

Harley shook her head. Those memories were in the past. She exchanged a look with Casey from the Ravenclaw table. His eyes were teasing as he motioned to the stool where the sorting hat sat. Harley blushed and looked away. He always teased her every year about that incident. She gazed around and made eye contact with Robin, right next to Casey. She smiled and Robin smiled back. Harley turned her attention back to the front. It was time for the sorting.

Andromeda Rubia Mackintosh

Here she was once again, in gleaming sun yellow robes bought just for the occasion, about to escort the first years into the great hall. She loved this job. She loved those little faces staring up at her, enchanted by the magical world they’d just stepped in. She stepped deftly, not about to be late.
As usual, she opened the door to Hagrid’s loud knock and gave him a gigantic smile as he brought the children, cold, sopping wet, but with excitement radiating off of them in.

“Thanks, Hagrid!” She said with her melodic, tinkling voice as she waved him in before turning to her new batch.

“Hello children!” She boomed after casting a charm to louden her voice. The children that had been talking now stood still, listening. She cast a swift eye over them, stopping momentarily on a girl who seemed to be dressed in boy robes, and a girl soaked from head to toe in lake water. She siphoned the water off of her robes and hair, evoking a collective gasp from most of the first years. She smiled. This year’s batch was mostly Muggleborn.

“Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Inside these doors you’ll find your gateway to learning how to use your magic. I must warn you, it isn’t as easy as saying gibberish and waving your wand. Doing that may cause death and serious injury. I always tell my students to remember the Witch Amphiothe, who said the name a bit wrongly and ended up transfiguring herself into a frog! Therefore, I expect all of you to do your best and study well. Hogwarts can be a dream if you work hard to stay inside it. Come on now, hop along inside!”

With a smile, she held the door wider open for the students to get past and walked right in in front of them into the Great Hall, followed by smattering applause.

She took her place next to the Sorting Hat and waited for Minerva McGonagall to speak a lengthy speech about unity, hard work and success.
Afterwards, she headed to the front of the Hall, conjured a pretty stool and placed the Hat upon it. From within her robes, she pulled out a piece of parchment.

“Croft, Blake, please come forward.”

Blake Croft:

His feet felt like lead as he made his way up to the stool. He felt so small as the whispers of the students reached his ears. He wished he had pockets. If he did, he would have stuffed both hands into them to stop all of the students from seeing that they were shaking.

As he sat trembling on the stool, he crossed his fingers and began to desperately think, Please let me be in Slytherin. Please let me be in Slytherin. He kept thinking the same thing over and over again as the hat was lowered onto his head with the hopes that his desperate wishes would come true.

"Slytherin?" a small voice questioned into his ear. He knew that it was the hat talking; he had heard about it from family members. But still, there was something about this situation that made him uncomfortable and absolutely terrified. "You have a great mind, I see. And a thirst for knowledge."

Not Ravenclaw! he begged, realizing what the hat was getting at.

"But you also want to prove yourself, and you're quite cunning..." The hat's voice suddenly grew louder. "SLYTHERIN!"

He was still shaking and smiling from ear to ear by the time he reached the Slytherin table. He didn't care about the cheers coming from his now housemates; now that he had achieved his goal of being in Slytherin, he had only one thing left to worry about.

His gaze traveled to the back of the line and settled on Lex. He hoped with all of his heart and soul that when her sorting was over, he would find her sitting right next to him.

Carson Grey

Carson stood patently, a little fidgety as always, while he waited for his name to be called. Once Blake was seated with the Slytherins, he looked towards the sorting hat, anxious. What house did he want to be in? Not Hufflepuff for sure. Ravenclaws seemed too smart for him. Gryffindors seemed alright. But Slytherins where also fine.

"Grey, Carson, please come foward."
He walked foward, perhaps too swiftly. His mind was suddenly clouded with worry and wonder. He just wanted this moment to be over. He just wanted to know what house he was. He set the Sorting Hat on his head.

"Ah, Carson Grey, eh?" A small voice said, making him jump a little. He nodded just the slightest bit to confirm the Sorting Hat. "I see you are a lively young boy. Oh, and a jokester. Ah ha..." The SortinHat made the move to shout out Carson's house but paused, closing his mouth. "Oh my young boy. You've been hiding things, haven't you? Your not all who you seem to be. Cunning, sly, and tricky. Filled with hatred for your brother, eh? I must admit, you would be a good Gryffindor..."

Carson didn't know what to think.

"But I think your cunning will get in the way of being truly loyal. So...SLYTHERIN!" The Sorting Hat cried the last word to everyone.

Carson removed the hat and found everyone staring at him. No one clapped or cheered at first and he looked at the clock.

7 minutes.

He had been a hat stall.

"A hatstall." Melissa whispered to herself.
"A what?" Brinley asked.
"A hatstall. It's where the sorting hat takes a long time to sort someone. I don't know how long exactly, though."
"Does it mean anything?" Brinley asked nervously.
Melissa frowned. "I have no clue. Maybe it means you're not all that magic."
Brinley recovered. "I'd bet I'm not a hatstall."
Melissa didn't answer.

Carson Grey

He took his seat next to Blake and looked around. A few Slitherins patted him on the back and most congratulated him. But some just looked at him.

He remembered that his father said he had been a hat stall. He rememberd asking what a hat stall was exactly, and his father had told him that a hat stall is when the sorting hat takes more than 5 minutes to sort you. He learned that 3 minutes was around the average and above that was out of the ordinary and a hat stall hadn't happened since Tom Riddle and Professor McGonagall. And of course, his own father.

He sighed, missing his father.

The hat stall was a surprise and she silently hoped she wouldn't be one either. She finally reasoned with conflicting thoughts that it was rare. "Though so would being a Ravenclaw in her family." The though kept in like poison slowly taking over her thoughts. A few girls were called and put into Hufflepuff and a boy to Gryffindor. Her thoughts wandered hoping maybe they wouldn't call her.
"Stella Roux" Her name filled the hall and she sucked in a breath then exhale loudly.
"Just... Breathe... Think confidence. I am a hero and worthy of Gryffindor. Gryffindor. I am a Gryffindor. Not a Ravenclaw." Stella thought to herself, putting the last bit of effort she had in trying to not be a family dissapointment. Her movements are stiff and almost robotic. She sits down and the hat is set down on her head. It's slightly heavy and she jumps a little when she hears a voice echo in her head. Her face flushes with warmth and she bites her lip.
"Stella I do enjoy so looking through this intelligent mind of yours. Yet... You do not seem to allow to go to its potential. You want so much to be brave and like your family. You don't fit in, but what you are asking for wont allow you to fit in either. You will be isolated amongst them like you are with your own family." Tears pool under her eyelids and she refuses to let them pass, even though she knows what is coming.
"Ravenclaw!" The crowd cheers for her and the sea of blue Ravenclaws stand up cheering. She doesn't want to move. She wants to melt into the floor, but she moves like she knows she has to and walks towards the sea of enthusiastic blue. A metallic taste fills her mouth and she realizes she is still biting her lip.
Stella sit down and puts on a fake smile like always really hoping someone would see her mask as a cry of help and yet she doesn't want to let people in. She is afraid of getting hurt, getting judged. A mask is so much safer.