Shades of Black

Chapter 3

Indira

Several flights of stairs later, Professor McGonagall led me down the largest corridor I had ever seen. The beige stone walls reached at least thirty feet tall, with columns lining them and turning into beautiful designs on the ceilings. Tall window also lined the walls, and although it was dark I know they would allow the place to light up by morning.

Our footsteps loudly echoed around us as we continued to walk, but as McGonagall led us towards a large set of wooden double doors our steps grew quiet and were replaced with the noise of chatter coming from several people. She reached her hands towards the doors, ready to push them open, but turned back to me and smiled her kind smile.

"Are you ready, Miss Black?" She asked, seeming to be nervous for me.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be!" I straightened my back up and smoothed down my dark, straight hair.

McGonagall nodded before finally shoving the doors open and walking forward with confidence, her robes swiftly moving behind her. I followed in her steps, walking with confidence and my head looking straight.

The first thing I noticed, of course, were the four extremely long tables that sat on both sides of the aisle we were walking down. Each table occupied with hundreds of students dressed in black robes, though depending on what table they were at they had different colored ties on and scarfs on.

Above the tables were thousands of floating candles, lighting up the room with a warm glow. Also, flying even higher than them, from the rafters, were flags. One above each table and each one in different colors just like the students' accessories. From right to left, the first flag was green with a large serpent on it, and below spelled out Slytherin. Then, was a blue flag with an eagle and it belonged to Ravenclaw. On the other side of the hall there was a yellow one with a badger that read Hufflepuff, and finally a red one with a lion that said Gryffindor.

They must be the houses everyone was talking about. It seemed like it's a pretty big deal for everyone here to be so separated. Though I did see a couple of misplaced students sitting with whom were probably there friends at different tables, most of them stuck to their designated table which was kind of odd, but I'll trust the process.

While observing the room, I had hardly noticed that McGonagall and I were already up front. I also didn't hear the chatter go silent, or see everyone's eyes move onto me. I gulped. I had never been the center of attention like this, but I knew I had to keep my cool. I lifted my head and my chest and just smiled.

A man with a impressively long white beard, dressed in grey robes then stepped up onto a podium that was standing beside me. He cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Students, though it is the middle of the term, we have a very special treat. This young lady-" he motioned his hand toward me, "will be joining us and attending Hogwarts as a fifth year student." He let the other students exchange small conversation for a moment before continuing, speaking in a much louder voice.

"She has come from a very far place, all the way from the United States. So, it is mine and your duty to be very welcoming as this will be a big transition for her." A collective amount of gasps went around the room and the conversation grew louder.

He then motioned his hand once more towards a very ill looking man with stringy grey hair, who then proceeded to push a large chair to the center of the room in front of the podium. The screeching of it across the floor caused the students to quiet down again, and there eyes returned to the front.

The white bearded man spoke again once the noise diminished, "Now, this is untraditional but we will make it as normal as possible for our new student. So, Miss Indira Regula Black, please have a seat on the chair in front of me."