Class of 78 - Ivy's Story

Chapter 2 - Sorting Pains

As the children followed each other off of the train they saw a huge man with a lantern. He was shouting for all of the first years to make their way towards him. He was impossibly tall and had a large shaggy beard, at his side sat a large slobbering dog.

Iris squealed and ran over to the dog, kneeling before the great beast. She held her hand out for the dog to sniff and waited. the dog licked her hand and she took it as her cute to drop to her knees and give it all of her attention. the dog of course didn't mind and turned over on his back so that she might scratch his belly.

"Hello doggy! You're such a good boy! Yes you are!" The large man let out a booming laugh and smiled down at Iris. "This here is Fang, a right coward if you're ever in trouble." Iris smiled up at the man and stood up as she wiped the slobber off her face that was a result of getting licked by Fang. She held her hand out to the man

"I'm Iris, I think your dog is adorable! I've always wanted one but my parents won't let me" she shrugged. The man took her hand and gave it a shake. "The name's Hagrid it's nice to meet yer" it was this moment the boys finally caught up to her.

"Iris what the bloody hell do you think you're doing running off and leaving us to fend for ourselves?!" Sirius asked dramatically as he and James pretended to cry and lay their heads on each of her shoulders. Iris rolled her eyes and giggled at their antics.

"I'm sure you lot were fine! Look, there's a dog!" Iris pointed excitedly at Fang. The boys looked at the dog in a mix of disgust and fear, it was remus who decided to speak up

"That's the right beast that is!" Hagrid laughed and turned his attention to the rest of the first years telling them to follow him to the boats. He instructed the students to get in four to a boat. As everyone else went to find a group, the five children stared at each other with grim faces. They were waiting to see who would volunteer to find another group. After a tense stare down it was Iris who rolled her eyes and shot them a look.

"For merlin's sake! I'll go without you a lot , it's ridiculous, it's only a bloody boat ride!" she stomped away before they could say anything else. She could hear them laughing as she made her way to find a different group. She found a boat that had three people in it and without thinking she hopped in. The boat started to drift onto the lake all by itself. The three people already in the boat looked at her and smiled politely.

Iris waved and smiled back.

"Hi I'm Iris! Sorry for just hopping in, me and my friends had five and I was the one who decided to find another group." she shrugged and looked at the red headed girl next to her.

The girl smiled and introduced herself. "Hi my name is Lily, it's nice to meet you Iris."

The next to introduce themselves was a boy with sandy blonde hair and a chubby figure, he smiled and waved "Hello! The name's Peter!"

The last boy had black hair that hung down to his chin and had what Sirius called a resting bitch face. He looked her up and down before saying anything "Severus."

Iris looked at Lily with a furrowed brow, Lily just rolled her eyes at the boy before looking back at Iris.

"Don't mind Severus Ivy, he's shy. '' Iris nodded and gasped as the school came into view. The picture of the castle on the edge of the water against the sunset was truly a sight to behold. It took the young girl's breath away as she stared up at it in awe. Suddenly they were getting off the boats and being led into the castle by a stern looking witch. She led them through the castle until they got to a set of great oak doors. She then turned and addressed them all.

"Good evening, my name is Professor McGonagall and I will be one of your teachers here at hogwarts. These are the doors to the great hall. When we go in you will wait to be sorted into a house. The four houses are Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, and Slytherin. While you are here your house will be your family, you can earn points for your house or you can lose them. At the end of the term the house with the most points is awarded the house cup. Now let's go inside and begin." She opened the doors the first years shuffled in behind her to the front of the room.