Lacy fidgeted nervously as she waited in line to be sorted.
The group of other first years around her were chatting enthusiastically about
the reputations of the four houses.

“Gryffindor is the best house, I think. I hear Slytherins
are malicious.”

“What about Hufflepuff?”

“Ravenclaw is better.”

Lacy tried her best to tune out the noise and focus on the
students as they sat beneath the sorting hat one by one. Rana stood in front of
her, though they had not spoken since that morning on the train station
platform. Lacy wondered if they would end up in the same house; that would be
just her luck.

At last, Rana was called to sit under the sorting hat. Lacy’s
hands started to tremble: that meant it was almost her turn. Rana flounced up
to the stage, brushing a curl of hair out of her face. She sat on the stool, no
curves in her back, poised with the air of confidence. The sorting hat had barely
touched the crown of her head before booming, “SLYTHERIN!” Lacy giggled. She should have seen that one coming a mile away.

“Lacy Marina!”

Lacy stepped daintily up the steps, trying not to meet the
eyes of the hundreds of students that were staring at her. Talk about pressure.
The headmistress-McGonagall, right?-placed the sorting hat on top of Lacy’s
head. It rested there silently for what felt like forever before finally
speaking. 

“Ah, Lacy,” it murmured, “you do not think of yourself as
courageous, but you are just that.” Before Lacy could respond, the hat had
begun shouting. “GRYFFINDOR!”

A table full of students in the center of the room became
chaotic as the members of the Gryffindor house cheered. Lacy couldn’t help but
smile as she made her way across the Great Hall to meet her fellow house
members. But just before sitting down, she met Rana’s eyes. Lacy sighed. Rana
already didn’t seem to like her, and now they were members of rival houses.
That was just brilliant.

“Welcome to Gryffindor House, Lacy!” a girl waved slender
fingers in her direction as she held a fork gently to her lips. “I’m Kylie.”

“Nice to meet you, Kylie. I’m Lacy. But you knew that.” Lacy’s
face burned. She had never been good at making conversation when she met new
people. Much to her surprise, the table erupted into laughter.

“You’re a hoot! We’re glad to have you on board,” said the
boy on her left. His freckled nose scrunched up as he laughed, his eyes
squinting so that Lacy could just barely see the green around his pupils.

“I’m sorry, you are..?” she began.  He took her hand and began shaking it
vigorously.

“I’m Mason. First year as well! I can tell we’ll all just be
the best of friends.” Lacy laughed, and looked around at the students at her
table. Some were eating, or sharing food, for that matter. Though Lacy didn’t
see why, as each time you took a serving of something from the middle of the
table it replenished itself. A group of students huddled at the end of her
table, speaking in hushed whispers. Lacy wondered what could possibly be such a
big secret on a night like this.

The room grew silent, and Lacy looked around to see
McGonagall standing at the podium at the front. She was smiling warmly, which
made her motherly wrinkles seem to fade away completely.

“Welcome, students, to another wonderful year at Hogwarts! I
trust you are all getting to know your new House members well. I would like to
remind you that the Forbidden Forest is restricted to all student access. Now,
I would like to explain what we fondly call the House cup. As you go through
your studies, your house will be awarded points for good behavior, and points
will taken away for any misconduct. At the end of the year, the House with the
most points wins the house cup. With that, I hope you have a wonderful year.
And good luck to all of you!”

Kylie nudged Lacy and whispered, “Like we need luck.
Gryffindor is the school favorite.” Kylie leaned on her elbows as she talked, fiddling
with her auburn braids. “In fact, I hear that sometimes, even when we’re
losing, we get awarded last minute points.”

“That doesn’t seem fair…”Lacy murmured. Wasn’t that kind of
like cheating?

“Of course it’s fair!” Kylie answered, her blue eyes
shimmering with energy. “We’re the best House.”