Sasha Liliana Jackson & The Secrets of Hogwarts

Chapter Five: A Sorting Hat

The door creaked opened and Hagrid told them to wait in the corridors that led into the Great Hall and await further instructions. Finishing his job leading Sasha, Rowan, and the other students to the castle, Hagrid went to join the rest of the staff and students without them. All of the students started chatting to each other excitedly.
"I can't wait to be sorted into our Houses," Rowan whispered to Sasha. "Can you?"
Sasha remained silent and kept her gaze downcast. Rowan soon had a guilty expression, she'd remembered their conversation when Sasha was getting her first wand. Sasha had been treated like an outcast for almost her entire life and she feared that her House might shun her out too.
"I'm sure I can," whispered Sasha quietly.
There was chattering amongst the first years for a moment before a girl spoke up for everyone to hear.
"I heard that Sasha Jackson is here," the girl said.
Once everyone saw who was talking, the chattering started up again, but it seemed that everyone had the same topic in mind now. They wanted to know where Sasha was. Sasha felt herself flushing fiercely and inched closer to Rowan, who looked at her with sympathy.
"Is that true?" one girl asked.
"The Jackson's Sister is here?" someone else asked.
"Where is she?" the girl asked. "I'd like to meet her."
"I think this is her," a boy next to Sasha said. "Right over here — am I right?"
In that moment, Sasha felt like crawling into a hole. Sasha didn't want this kind of attention all at once and, from the looks of it, neither did Rowan. The entire class of first years gawked at Sasha as if she was something to look at in the zoo, and Sasha had never felt more awkward in her life — which was saying something.
The girl who fell into the lake stepped to see Sasha and Rowan standing together. The girl has short and messy dark brown hair with an orange highlight and fierce violet eyes.
"Uh oh," whispered Rowan quietly. "That's Merula Snyde." Luckily, Merula didn't hear Rowan.
"So, you are Sasha Jackson?" The girl looked at her. "Sister to Jacob Jackson? The same Jacob Jackson who was expelled from Hogwarts for breaking school rules in search for the Cursed Vaults?"
Sasha nodded and stepped back as the girl smirked before she said, "I'm going to be the most powerful witch in all of Hogwarts had ever seen! Admit it, Sister of Jacob!"
"But we're all first years here and we haven't even been sorted yet," admitted Sasha.
"You're just like your brother, a freaky coward." This made Sasha flinched and blinked back angry tears, but all of the students started inching closer to Sasha and started glaring at Merula. Rowan, Penny, Charlie, and Tonks were in the students who all sided with Sasha.
Merula became red in the face and she clenched her fists in anger, her violet eyes alight with deep vengeance, as if Merula was stunned and angry to see everybody had sided with both Sasha and Rowan.
"Miss Snyde." An angry voice came from an older woman who stepped up behind her. She had a tight bun on the top of her head, green robes, and a look that demanded attention. She pulled Merula away from Sasha and Rowan by the robe collar and everyone turned to look at the professor. "After you had been Sorted Miss Snyde, I will see to it that you shall have detention for bullying other students."
After the professor pulled Merula away from the other students, the teacher turned to look at the other first-years. She cleared her throat when she said, "Hello, and welcome to Hogwarts. I am Professor McGonagall and I will be leading you into the start of the year banquet in the Great Hall in a moment for the Sorting ceremony. There, you will be sorted into one of four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin. These houses will be your family during your stay here at Hogwarts, and we expect you all to be a benefit to them all. You will help your house throughout the year by representing them well in the hopes of earning honor and house points, and you will try to avoid breaking the rules at the cost of dishonoring your house and losing house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup — a great honor at Hogwarts. Now, wait here a moment and try to make yourselves presentable. I will be back in a moment when we are ready for you."
When she left the room, the chattering started up again.
"How do we get sorted into the Houses?" Rowan asked Sasha, who had a recognition gleam in her eyes from her brother's letters.
"Professor McGonagall has to put a talking hat on us and the hat will decide which House we will belong to," explained Sasha. "Or which one we will feel that's right for us."
"How did you know that?" a boy asked curiously.
"My brother sent me some letters about his time here." Sasha flinched after she remembered hearing what happened with Jacob and him being expelled. "Though, he didn't mention anything about the Cursed Vaults. I think." Sasha raked through her memory to remember anything about her brother mentioning the Cursed Vaults in the letters, but nothing came up. "But he ran away before I could ask him about it."
A lot of the students could see the sadness, anger, loneliness, and confusion going through Sasha. But they don't know how to help her. Rowan gave Sasha a sidelong hug and Sasha's stormy emotions calmed down a bit. One by one, the students started gathering around Sasha and started to stay behind her, showing their silent comfort and support towards Sasha.
At that moment, Professor McGonagall walked back into the corridor with an expectant look. She told them that it was time for them to attend the Sorting Ceremony and they were to walk into the Great Hall in an orderly fashion and listen for further instruction. As they lined up and the doors opened into the other room, Sasha instantly began to worry. Sasha wasn't sure if she was going to be completely accepted into the House, she's afraid that she might become another outcast and be neglected once again. As Sasha's part of the line got into the Great Hall, Sasha looked back nervously at Rowan and she gave Sasha a reassuring smile. Sasha took a deep breath and her eyes grew wide when she saw the room in its entirety.
The Great Hall was enormous. There were two long tables on each side of the line the first years walked along, and every student was looking directly at their group. Above them there were several small candles floating in the air to light up the room. On the far side of the room, just above the four long tables, there was a table with several adults, most likely the professors, who were facing toward them. One thing that really stood out to Sasha was the presence of what seemed to be ghosts floating around the Great Hall. Most of the first years began to whisper to each other about it for a moment, but they didn't seem to faze the older students. It didn't take Sasha long before they were standing just below the professor's table with Professor McGonagall in front of them with a single stool sitting beside her that had a large, old-looking hat on top of it. The quiet murmuring among the students instantly stopped once they were all standing in a semicircle around Professor McGonagall and the stool.
"Welcome to the Hogwarts Sorting Ceremony," Professor McGonagall announced. "One by one, each of the first year students will be called to be seated by the Sorting Hat into one of the four Hogwarts Houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. When I call your name, take a seat on the stool."
"Haywood, Penny!" McGonagall called.
A lighter blonde girl stepped forward out of the crowd of first years and her face beamed excitedly when she sat down on the stool to see everyone staring at her. Professor McGonagall placed the large wizarding cap on the top of her head, and Sasha was shocked when an inquisitive face suddenly formed on the front of the Sorting Hat.
"Hufflepuff!" the hat shouted.
One of the four tables with the yellow highlights, presumably other students in the Hufflepuff House, began to cheer loudly once the hat announced her house. Considering all of the strange events that happened since finding out they were a witch and wizard, Sasha knew she shouldn't have been that surprised to see that a hat could talk, but it still made Sasha jump when it yelled out the name.
Following Penny Haywood, several other students were called to take their turn getting sorted into the four houses. One of the first faces Sasha recognized who got sorted was Ben Copper, who was sorted into Gryffindor — the House of the Brave. Though, he had to return the hat from accidentally wearing it as he quickly make his way to Gryffindor table. Charlie Weasley was sorted a while later, and he was also sent into Gryffindor, which wasn't surprising, considering he seemed pretty brave for accidentally hexing Merula back on the train. Next, Sasha recognized Merula Snyde, who was immediately sorted into Slytherin, the house known for having witches and wizards having very strong ambitions. Not long after she was sorted, Sasha heard her own name called.
"Jackson, Sasha!" Professor McGonagall read.
When Sasha's name was called, there was immediate murmurs and whispers that went across the room that instantly made her feel nervous. Sasha slowly stepped forward towards the stool. She caught Rowan's eye, who smiled at her encouragingly.
The last thing Sasha see before the hat dropped over her eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at her. Sasha waited.
"Hmm," said a small voice in her ear. "You are a very rare and complicated case. You have an almost perfect combination of all four houses, just like your bloodline. You're equal in your intelligence, bravery, loyalty, and ambition. But you doubt yourself, though there are times you had shown that you are wiser beyond you age as well as your courage and wisdom goes. Hmm..."
"What were you thinking?" Sasha asked the voice. "Where do I belong?"
"You have a lot of determination," the hat said. "But you're afraid people will judge you by your brother's mistakes. Desperate for true, loyal friends. Helplessly seeking knowledge and wisdom. Your inner instincts remind me of an outstanding witch I had the pleasure of knowing. You have the bravery of a true Gryffindor... the sensibility of a Hufflepuff... the ambition of Slytherins... the wisdom of a Ravenclaw..."
"I don't want to be in Slytherin," I responded. "I had an... incident with Merula already and I don't want to cause any conflicts within the House. I just want to feel accepted for whole I am, not who I'm related to or be a reject all over again."
"Good choice. That brother of yours only listened to his head and not his heart. Look where that had gotten him," the hat said. "You could do that Ravenclaw House some good, and show what Ravenclaw is really all about other than their ego."
"RAVENCLAW!" the hat suddenly shouted so everyone in the room could hear.
Without comprehending fully what just happened, Sasha quickly made her way over to the furthest table once Professor McGonagall took the hat off of her head. A half-hearted clap and cheer came from the Ravenclaw table, but Sasha saw Professor Dumbledore and Rowan clap more fiercely than the others. Sasha sat next to Tulip who was seated next to her. Tulip congratulated Sasha just as they heard Rowan's name called.
"Khanna, Rowan," Professor McGonagall called.
Everyone grew silent again as they all looked forward to watched Rowan get sorted. Just as Sasha's turn did, Rowan's turn took a few moments to figure out where she belonged. She had a sudden gut wrenching feeling when Sasha realized that there was a possibility that she could be sorted into a different House and not be able to see each other as much. Sasha didn't know what she'll do if she was separated from Rowan. Sasha looked up in surprise when the hat shouted,
"RAVENCLAW!"
Rowan quickly joined them over at the Ravenclaw table and it took another moment for the table to be silenced so that the ceremony could continue. Sasha placed a hand on top of Rowan's hand and gave her hand a slight squeeze, Rowan beamed at Sasha. The remainder of the students were quickly sorted into their respective houses once they were finished. Not long after the last ones were sorted, the ceremony came to a close. Once it did, the entire room became silent when an elderly man in a purple cloak stood up in the center of the High Table. Without any questions, Sasha instantly knew that this was Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of the school.
"Welcome to Hogwarts!" Professor Dumbledore said. "Another year of witchcraft and wizardry lies ahead! It is my obligation to inform the new students and remember the old ones that the Dark Forest is strictly forbidden to all students."
He looks at the Slytherin table. It's too soon to tell, but Sasha assumes that they're not very fond of following the rules. A lot of them simply roll their eyes, but some actually snickered in response.
"Our world is now at peace now that Lord Voldemort is gone." Sasha saw a bunch of students frowning or flinching with the sound of You-Know-Who's name. "The cause of his defeat was young Harry Potter, the son of the famous Aurors, James and Lily Potter."
One of the dark-haired teacher had caught Sasha's mournful gaze. Sasha noticed he he looked rather distressed after hearing Professor Dumbledore's words. As if he noticed her gaze, Sasha noticed his eyes staring straight at her. There's an indistinct frown upon his face, but Sasha tried her best to sustain his black eyes. He looks at her with such intensity that Sasha feel as if he's reading her mind.
"In a few years young Harry is sure to join us, but until then, I hope we enjoy ourselves in these times of peace," Professor Dumbledore continued, making Sasha break the eye contact with the teacher. "Now, let's delight ourselves in this incredible feast!"
With the wave of his wand, plates full of food suddenly appeared on all the tables in the Great Hall. Everyone began to cheer and hardly anyone was hesitant to get started with filling up their own plates. Up until now, Sasha didn't realize how hungry she had gotten.
Sasha started placing some spaghetti and shrimp on her plate, while her goblet was filled with fruit juice. While Rowan had placed some Indian food on her plate and red cherry juice in her goblet. Tulip had placed some chicken and rice on her plate, while her goblet was filled with juice too.
"I didn't know you like spaghetti," Rowan stated to Sasha.
Sasha gave a small smirk to Rowan before she said, "There's a lot of things you have yet to know about me, Rowan."
"You're mysterious," Tulip said, her frown became a bright smile. "I like that."
"Umm..." Sasha looked between the two girls in confusion, but she began lowering her guard a bit. She tilted her head at her two new friends. "Thank you?"
She suddenly felt a wave of cool air. Sasha looked up and was surprised to meet the eyes of a woman ghost in a dress. The ghost patted her arm, giving Sasha both the sudden and reassuring feeling she'd just plunged into a warm spring lake.
"Good luck, Sasha," murmured the ghost.
"Are you Rowena Ravenclaw?" Sasha whispered softly. "Ghost of Ravenclaw Tower?"
"Yes..." Rowena looked at Sasha with burning curiosity. "I am... I don't usually come here."
The desserts disappeared as Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet and the whole entire hall had fell silent as they all looked at him.
"Ahem — just a few more words now that we are fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you." Dumbledore's light blue eyes twinkled in the warm golden light. "First years should note that the Dark Woods is forbidden to all pupils, unless without grownup supervision. A few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." Sasha shuddered when she saw the grumpy caretaker and his cat standing at the corner. "I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors." Sasha saw him nodded to a spiky, white haired woman with sharp yellow eyes. "Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Anyone interested in playing for their House teams should contact Madam Hooch." Dumbledore silently caught Sasha's eye, making her flinched back in surprise. She didn't noticed the worried and concerned looks from the professors, Ravenclaw's Heads, or Perfects. "Lastly, if you come across anything odd from the usually oddity in Hogwarts, let your professors know. Now, off to bed you lot!"
Their Head Boy, Chester, had started leading the Ravenclaw first years through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the outside marble staircase. Sasha was more alert and awake to see that the people and animals in the portraits along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed by. They had arrived into a corridor, Chester stood in front of the door.
At the end of the corridor hung a portrait of a dark-haired woman in a library and had looked up at them from reading a book with a statue of a golden eagle watching them from the frame of the picture.
"What is a river that can never be seen, but only felt?" Chester whispered the answer to the portrait, but nobody had heard the password.
"Welcome to the Common Room for Ravenclaws." As Chester stepped out of the way, the first-year Ravenclaws started head through the doorway of the portrait. Sasha felt her breath caught in her throat as she looked around the magnificent common room of the Ravenclaw House. The common room was a wide, circular room. Graceful arched windows punctuated the walls, which were hung with blue and bronze silks. There's a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains and most of the school grounds from the windows. The ceiling was domed and painted with stars, which were echoed in the midnight-blue carpet. There were tables, chairs, and bookcases, and in a niche opposite the door stood a regal marble statue of Rowena Ravenclaw.
Sasha recognized Rowena Ravenclaw she had seen at back at home. The statue stood beside a door that led, she guessed, to dormitories above. Sasha strode right up to the marble woman, and she seemed to look back at her with a quizzical half smile on her face, beautiful yet slightly intimidating. A delicate-looking circlet had been reproduced in marble on top of her head. There were tiny words etched into it. Sasha looked up onto Ravenclaw's plinth to read them: "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure."
"See that tiara on her head?" Rowan says, standing next to Sasha. "It's her lost diadem. It's said that it had the power to bring great knowledge to whoever wore it. That's why her daughter Helena stole it. She was trying to be more intelligent and famous than her mother."
Chester had directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase — they were obviously in one of the towers — they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep blue, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell asleep in their beds. Sasha's roommates were Rowan, Tulip Karasu, Skye Parkin, and Badeea Ali. The four of them had fell asleep almost instantly as soon as they had laid down on their beds.
Sasha was already in her deep blue nightgown and was looking at the sightings outside from the window, with only Hamish by her side. Sasha gently stroked the feathers of her eagle-owl with a thousand thoughts in her head. She didn't have her brother to help guide her path, but Rowan might be able to help her. She soon fell asleep with the new sense of hope that she hadn't felt in a long time.