The halls were crowded with people, and I almost lost sight of Alex. Her flaming red tips of hair certainly made her easy to spot though (though for a bit I followed a guy who had hair just like hers).

I stopped outside the train. Woah. The castle glimmered over me, lights sparkling in the air. It was magnificent, amazing, it looked like a home.

"Rei!" A voice called out, shifting me from my reverie. "I've been looking for you EVERYWHERE!" It was Alex, looking like she might throttle me.

"Well, you see-" I was thankfully cut off by a voice.

"First years, first years over here!" A tall, scruffy looking man was waving his arms, but nobody was listening to him.

Alex and I just looked at each other, and sidled up to him. "Who're you?" Alex asked balefully.

"I'm the gamekeeper, Mahogany Walsh. My first year here, though." He replied, looking through his mop of black hair down at us, and resumed his fruitless calling.

"Hmm..." I thought, "Time to make my mark on this place." Looking around, all the first years were scattered throughout the crowd.

"OI!" I yelled, making a couple besides me jump,"FIRST YEARS OVER HERE! IF YOU DON'T I'LL FEED YOU TO THE GIANT SQUID BODY PART BY BODY PART!" I had learned a lot about the giant squid.

The first years came scuttling over, people still looking at me weirdly. I bowed deeply to Mahogany. "The floor is all yours."

"Oh, um alright." He twitched his hands nervously. "Follow me." Mahogany started to walk off in a direction, pushing and shoving through the crowd. Time to yell again.

"PEOPLE I DON'T CARE WHY ON EARTH YOU ARE JUST STANDING THERE, BUT MOVE, YOU FREAKING IDIOTS! SOME PEOPLE HAVE PLACES TO BE!" I screamed. Everybody stared at me, silent. That might have to do with the fact that I was standing on Alex. What? I'm short, she's tall.

Finally, someone broke the silence. "Well, she's certainly a short screamer."

"What?" the person behind them asked.

"Because she's short, and she was screaming-oh never mind."

Everyone went back to their conversations. "Umm...Rei you can get off now." Alex said, and promptly dumped me off.

"Thanks," I groaned, as I peeled myself off the ground. Mahogany was still staring at me. "What?" I mumbled, blushing a little. His staring was creepy.

"N-nothing," he stuttered, and kept walking. The crowd parted for him this time, stealing glances at me. Maybe that wasn't the best idea. People seem scared of me. I don't want to be known as a scary person.

I was so immersed in my thoughts, I didn't notice a loose brick until I tripped over it. I toppled into the lake! It was like falling onto ice cold pavement when I fell off Alex. Squeezing my eyes shut, I swam for the way I thought was up. Thank god I was right!

My head burst through the surface of the water in a splash. The whole group of first years watched in total silence as I swam to shore. Why was Mahogany just standing there?

When I got onto land, the whole group burst into whispers. I could hear snippets, like, "so clumsy" and "deserves falling in the lake for yelling at everyone". Who do they think they are? My hands balled up into fists and my cheeks felt hot.

Alex saw my face, and whispered, "Ignore them. If you get angry, it'll just prove them right." I knew Alex was right, but I so BADLY wanted to punch them in the face! I took deep breaths in and out. Calm down, Rei. You're just dripping wet, and people are gossiping about you. Calm down.

Mahogany led us a short distance to a bunch of wooden boats. "Climb on in." He gestured to the boats.

"Come on!" Alex yanked me to the nearest boat. Woah, she was way too excited about the dirty and dingy boats. She sat in the front, and I sat in the middle, dripping water.

"Umm, excuse me, can I sit here?" A pale redhead girl looked at me fearfully, like I was going to scream at her.

"Yeah, sure!" I piped up extra cheerfully, to make sure she knew I wasn't going to bite her. Like who does that?

"Oh thanks!" She smiled cheerfully, and climbed into the boat. "I'm Isa Hathaway, by the way."

"Nice to meet you, Isa." Alex said. I think she was feeling lonely all there by herself.

Suddenly, the boats lurched forward, and Alex almost ended up as wet as me! We zoomed to the castle. What happened to enjoying the scenery?

All too quick, the boats crashed into the shore, and all the first years tumbled out. And where oh where was Mahogany? All us first years huddled together outside the door, shivering. Except no one was huddled near me. I was soaking wet and shaking so hard, I probably looked like I was having a heart attack. Everybody just stood there. You could literally hear crickets.

"Bloody cowards, the lot of you," Alex finally groaned. She marched up to the door and knocked on the door. The whole group crowded around her. I stood outside the group. They wouldn't let me in. Isa stood next to me, though. She's nice.

The door creaked open. A tall stern, old woman was standing there. "Who knocked?" she frowned.

The boy who knocked me over on the train pointed at Alex. "It was her! She knocked!"

The woman frowned even more, showing a lot of frown lines. "Your name is?"

"William Vanderbilt, ma'am," he piped up. What an obnoxious brownoser!

"Well, Mr. Vanderbilt, I would advise you to have just as much courage as she does, willing to knock on the door, not knowing what the consequences were."

Alex, who had look terrified, now beamed, her smile lighting up her face. "Really?" she asked before she could stop herself.

"Yes, really. Now come on in."

The group of first years hopped on inside. The warmth hit me like a blazing oven. As I passed the woman, she sniffed. Well then.

The woman stood at the head of us. "I am Professor Esmeralda Paxton, head of Slytherin house. Behind these doors-"she gestured to the massive doors behind her"-lies the Great Hall. You shall get sorted into a house, either Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Gryffindor. Your house will be your family. Good luck." With that, she opened the doors and strode in.

The Great Hall was massive! The moon shone from the ceiling, and there were hundreds of students. All of them shut up as we walked in.

Squeak.

Squeak.

Squeak.

Everybody stared at me, and my cheeks burned bright red. Why did I have to be soaking wet? I squeezed my eyes shut and wished to be dry.

Nothing.

And everyone was still staring.

I had to do something. So I did what I  normally no-make a joke out of it. "Come on guys," I said,"Don't you know dripping wet is the new trend?"

Thankfully, laughs punctuated the silence. I sighed with relief. Then I saw Professor Sniff-At-Wet-People get up in front of the school. I tuned her out. I already knew all about the Sorting.

"Hathaway, Isabella!" Isabella moved from next to me. I shot her a thumbs up. Isa looked like she was going to barf. She sat on the stool, and after a while, the hat shouted, "Gryffindor!" Isa looked relieved.

After a while was Alex. She skipped to the stool, and barely did she put the hat on, when it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

I was getting queasy. What house would I be in?

Soon, it was just me and Vanderbilt. He stalked up to the hat and it immediately shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"

I was the only one left. Dripping wet me.

"Wood, Reyna!"