Crossing the Pond

Crossing the Pond

Chapter 4: Looking at your Heart

    The hall behind the large wooden door was larger than anything Callie or Danaya had ever laid eyes on. The ceiling seemed to stretch off into infinity, and the torchlight cast eerie shadows on the walls. Off to the right they could hear the sound of hundreds of chattering voices; the rest of the school must have already arrived. Hagrid, after making sure all of the students were safely into the entrance hall, raised his hand once again and herded the group into a small antechamber off to the side, smiling kindly. "You'll wait here until the sortin' ceremony," he said, winking at the nervous bunch. "Be good, now!" With that, he closed the door to the room and was off.

    Callie turned and stared at Danaya. Her stomach had suddenly come under attack by millions of butterflies, and she wanted to cry. "Danaya," she murmured, "I'm really nervous."

    "Just relax," Danaya answered. She was staring straight ahead at the wall, face still as stone. "I'm sure they just point a wand at you and tell you where to go."

    "I heard you have to wrestle a Hippogriff," a first year piped up from a corner. Callie's eyes grew wide, and she latched onto Danaya's arm.

    "I don't want to wrestle a Hippogriff!" she squealed. When the only response she received was an exasperated glare, Callie sighed. "Seriously, though. I'm nervous beyond belief. My knees are shaking and my tummy's full of butterflies and..." Callie squished her green eyes shut. "I feel like I'm either going to cry, throw up or both." Danaya's face immediately turned from angry to sympathetic. She threw an arm around Callie's shoulders and hugged her tightly.

    "Don't worry," she repeated. "I'm sure we'll both be sorted into the same house. If you need anything at all, I'm here to protect you, okay?" Callie sniffled and nodded, and Danaya hugged her once again. "Just stay calm. Breathe, Cal. It's exciting, not scary." The slamming of a door and the sudden silence of the students around the pair cut off her comforting words. The two teenage girls looked up to see a tall, stern looking witch in emerald robes with her hair pulled back into a tight bun standing before the group. She gave a slight nod in the direction of the two exchange students before addressing the whole crowd.

    "Good evening, and welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. My name is Professor McGonagall." She paused and took in the room with her sharp eyes; the woman clearly didn't miss a beat. "Now before you begin your education in the Magical Arts you must be sorted into your houses. The four houses are Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. While you are here your house will be like your family. You will eat with your house, attend classes with your house, and spend your free time in your house's common room. Your triumphs here will earn your house points; your failures will lose points. I expect excellent behavior from each and every one of you, no matter what house you are in or how old you are." The witch shot another look towards Callie and Danaya; that last remark had been directed exclusively at them. Callie shivered, already feeling a sense of dislike towards McGonagall. Danaya, on the other hand, felt nothing but awe and respect. McGonagall began to speak again. "Now, if you'll follow me we will enter the Great Hall where you will be sorted into your houses." She turned on her heel and headed back through the door she had entered minutes ago, beckoning for the first year students to follow her. Callie grasped Danaya's hand, and the pair closed up the back of the line as they re-entered the entrance hall and marched into the mysterious room to the right.

    The Great Hall held too many wonders to be seen in such a little time. Callie's first reaction was to gaze up and stare at the hundreds of candles floating in the air; her eyes were soon led all the way to the top of the ceiling, which was actually a replica of the starry sky outside. "It's bewitched to look like the night sky," Danaya murmured, also gazing in awe. "But I never thought it would be that realistic."

    "Sure beats the Weather Channel," Callie whispered back. She was beginning to feel nervous as she slowly walked towards the front of the hall, being examined by hundreds of pairs of curious eyes. People were straining to get a good look at the Americans; some students even resorted to standing on their chairs to catch a glimpse of the two girls. Danaya shivered.

    "So do you feel like an animal on parade?" she asked as they finally reached the small area in front of the faculty table.

    "Just a little." Callie quickly glanced at some of the teachers, catching Hagrid smiling proudly at the group. "I like the big guy," she added quickly before Danaya broke away. After a moment, the conversation in the hall died down and silence reigned. Callie turned and looked out over the school en masse. She caught sight of the redheaded Weasley family, all sitting at the Gryffindor table, and a glimpse of a silver head that unmistakably belonged to Draco Malfoy. Danaya smiled and winked at the Gryffindors; a young, brown haired boy turned to what looked to be his brother and started whispering excitedly. "Already flirting, huh?" Callie asked. Danaya just grinned. Callie turned around and looked at the faculty table again; to her surprise a stool had been brought out with a ragged old wizard's hat set on top. She furled her brow, trying to figure out what it was. Unfortunately, the hat began to sing, causing Callie to jump backwards and grab Danaya's sleeve. "Holy crap!" she whispered. Danaya giggled. Callie stood stone still, hanging onto the hat's every word until finally, the song ended and the hat was still once more. After a minute of applause, McGonagall was again front and center. She held a scroll of parchment in her hands and turned to face the new students.

    "When I call your name, I will place the Sorting Hat upon your head and you will be sorted into your house." Without further ado, she snapped open the scroll and began calling names. "Anderson, Robin!"

    A young girl with black pigtails timidly tiptoed towards the stool. She sat down and allowed Professor McGonagall to place the hat on her head. It fell down over her eyes, and a giggle rippled through the room. After a moment, the hat screamed-

    "RAVENCLAW!"

    The second table from the right suddenly broke into a cheer, and Robin Anderson hopped down from the stool and skipped over to join her new house. Callie smiled weakly; she was half relieved that she wasn't wrestling a Hippogriff, but still a bit nervous about having her house announced in front of the whole school.

    The next name was called. "Argall, Christopher!" A young boy with brown hair was sorted into Hufflepuff. And then- "Bailey, Michelle!"

    "Wait a sec!" Danaya hissed. "They forgot me!!!"

    "Maybe they're leaving us for last?" Callie offered weakly as Michelle was sorted into Gryffindor. "Look, there's no way they could have left us off the list. Let's just wait until the end of the ceremony."

    "You're so passive aggressive," Danaya whispered back, obviously peeved at having been passed over. Callie sighed and glanced out over the school again. Harry was looking at her and giving her an encouraging smile. Callie grinned back slightly, pushing her glasses back up onto her nose.

    McGonagall read through the B's, C's, D's, and the rest of the alphabet up to the S's. "Sukimoto, Maiko" was sorted into Ravenclaw. Alphabetically, Callie was next. She tensed up and stared at the scroll in Professor McGonagall's hand, too afraid to stare directly at the teacher. McGonagall opened her mouth-

    "Thomas, Maximillian!"

    "Crap," Callie spat. Danaya smirked, watching the scared looking boy as he was sorted into Hufflepuff. Next up was Jason Turin, the boy who had latched onto Callie during the trip to the school. He brazenly walked towards the stool and took a seat, looking proud and dignified as McGonagall placed the hat on his head. Callie couldn't help but smile at his "holier-than-thou" attitude. Seconds later the hat shouted a very defiant "SLYTHERIN!"

    What the girls now knew to be the Slytherin table let out a cheer. Jason smiled at Callie as he skipped down to join the other first years who had been sorted into the same house.

    McGonagall passed through U, V, W, and finally reached "Zabini, Olivia." The other first year who had been in the boat with Callie and Danaya stepped forward and plopped herself down on the stool, feet dangling several inches from the floor. The hat was only on her head a few seconds when it once again rang out, "SLYTHERIN!" through the entire room. The Slytherin table cheered once again, and finally, only Callista Summers and Danaya Ayanada remained standing at the front. Both felt incredibly isolated and embarrassed to be stared at by so many people, but McGonagall interrupted this quickly.

    "As you should all know, this year Hogwarts has the honor of hosting two exchange students from the United States. They will now be sorted into their respective houses. I expect the students of those houses to lend an extra hand as they adapt to life here at Hogwarts." The room was once again utterly silent; McGonagall seemed to have a talent for quieting a room. Finally, she cleared her throat and called a name.

    "Ayanada, Danaya!"

    Danaya courageously stepped forward, shoulders back and head held high. Now Callie was standing by herself; she kept her eyes fixed completely on Danaya's face. Danaya sat down on the stool and let Professor McGonagall place the Sorting Hat onto her head. There was silence for about fifteen seconds, and then-

    "GRYFFINDOR!"

    The Gryffindor table let out the loudest cheer of the night. The Weasley twins leapt to their feet and started leading a cheer inaudible over the rest of the noise. Danaya's face broke into a huge grin, and she excitedly darted over to the Gryffindor table, whispering to Callie as she passed, "See ya in a few!" Callie nodded, swallowing and trying to calm her nerves. The room quieted down again, and McGonagall once again read from her scroll.

    "Summers, Callista!"

    Callie took a deep breath and swallowed. It felt like a ten-pound ball of lead had been dropped right down her throat and into her internal organs. Each step was like walking on glue- the hat seemed so far away. Finally she made it to the rickety stool and cautiously sat down, trembling with nerves, face flushed red. Before she could think the hat was on her head, falling over her eyes, knocking her glasses down on her nose. To her surprise, she heard a small voice in her head.

    "Interesting, interesting... well. You're going to be a bit of a troublesome one, I can see." Callie shut her eyes tight, wishing for a quick decision. The hat hesitated, then continued. "You're courageous, obviously, and very intelligent even though sometimes you don't act like it. You don't mind breaking rules either. Any house would suit you. Gryffindor? Maybe that would be best." Callie wished the hat would just shut up. "But then... there's a little something there... yes, yes. A little extra snap, a little extra cunning. Well, at first I was thinking Gryffindor, but now I think we'll go with..." Callie swallowed again. Here it was.

    "SLYTHERIN!"

    Everything went silent. Although the Slytherins were cheering and banging their fists on the wooden table, Callie could hear only the thumping of her heart. McGonagall removed the sorting hat from her head. She stood and made her way timidly towards the Slytherin table, still unable to comprehend the cacophony being caused by the students. She looked up at Danaya, tears forming in her eyes. Danaya simply shrugged, a helpless smile gracing her beautiful face. Callie turned away and looked down so no one could see her cry. She continued walking towards the back of the Slytherin table, throat tight and breath catching in her throat. This wasn't right. She and Danaya were supposed to be together. They were best friends, personality clones. They couldn't be separated. She couldn't function without Danny. She would be completely lost. Callie sniffed and yanked her glasses from her face, wiping the tears from her eyes with her hand. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen.

    "Are you all right?"

    A soft female voice brought Callie back to life. She blinked and put her glasses back on her nose, bringing the face of a teenage girl with light blonde hair and brown eyes into view. Callie nodded, and the girl immediately embraced her. "Oh, poor girl... come on, sit down." She pulled out a vacant chair from the Slytherin table and sat Callie down, taking her glasses off of her face and wiping them clean. "What's wrong? Not the house you wanted?" Callie nodded, then shook her head, then looked up.

    "Who are you?" She asked. The blonde girl laughed.

    "Oh, sorry. My name's Molly Whitby, a sixth year. We'll be roommates. Callista, right? Is Callie okay?" Callie nodded again. "So you didn't want Slytherin?"

    "No... I mean yes... I mean... well, I wanted to be with Danaya!" she whispered. Albus Dumbledore, recognizable from many books Callie had looked at, was speaking. She lowered her voice more. "Danny and I are best friends. We've never been separated, ever. And I have no social skills whatsoever without her. I'm totally lost." Callie instantly broke down again, tears flowing fresh from her eyes. Molly sighed and wrapped her in a hug. The two sat there in their own world, Molly rocking slowly, trying to calm Callie's nerves. Finally, she spoke.

    " I understand. I know how it feels to be separated from someone you care about," she murmured lovingly. "But don't worry, we won't bite. Now why don't you sit up and eat dinner?" Callie opened her eyes and looked at the table, which was suddenly full of food. To her surprise, four more girls were smiling back at her.

    "Are you all right?" the girl farthest to the left asked. She had short, reddish brown hair with bleach blonde highlights and true blue eyes. Callie nodded, sniffling and wiping at her tears again. "It's okay. I felt the same way when I got Slytherin. My name is Sadie Callaway." She reached across the table and extended her hand. Callie shook it, managing a weak smile. Sadie gestured at the three girls to her right. "In order, they're Laura Lee, Morgan DeMarco and Rin Walken." The girls waved, all except for Laura. Callie waved back, feeling a bit better.

    "So you're not all evil like I've heard?" Callie asked timidly. Sadie laughed.

    "Nah, only some of us." As she spoke, a boy with blonde hair and brown eyes identical to Molly's popped up behind Rin.

    "Molly, is she okay?" Marcus asked, putting his hands down on the table on either side of Morgan's shoulders.

    "Fine," Molly answered. She glared at her brother. "You know you're not gonna get any this year either, don't you?" Morgan, a tough, athletic looking girl with dark blonde hair pulled back into a tight ponytail, looked about ready to uppercut Marcus, who grinned mischievously.

    "Aw, but you're all so cute!"

    "He's my twin brother," Molly whispered to Callie. "One of the evil ones."

    "I am not!" Marcus retorted, standing up straight again. "The only evil one here is you, you little-"

    "Marcus!" Sadie shoved her chair out with a scraping noise and took the blonde boy by the arm. "How about you bring us some chocolate pudding from that side of the table, hmm?" she asked. Marcus wrinkled his nose, but followed orders. Sadie smiled, satisfied, and sat down again, digging into a baked potato.

    "So... do you guys play Quidditch here?" Callie ventured. Rin nearly spat out her pumpkin juice laughing.

    "DO we? It's only the most important thing to the entire male population of the school!" she squeaked. In the dim light Callie caught the sight of yellow orange hair and, to her surprise, yellow eyes. "Do you play?"

    "I was a reserve seeker at my old school," Callie answered, finally taking a bite out of a chicken leg. "They told me I should try out for my house team here."

    "We already have a seeker," Rin answered. "But I know we need a new chaser and keeper this year. You should go out for the team. Dumbledore said house try-outs are next week. I bet you'd make a fine Chaser." Callie smiled more brightly.

    "Thanks! I will!" She let her eyes fall to Laura Lee, the only girl who had yet to speak. Laura had long black hair, black eyes and extremely pale skin. She looked like a mix of an Asian princess and a Scandinavian snow queen. She was also glaring icicles at Callie. Their gazes met and a spark of rivalry automatically hit. Callie furrowed her brow, then turned her gaze back to the other girls, trying to ignore Laura's glowering. "Okay, here's a big question... any hot guys in this school?"

    She had said the magic words. Sadie, Molly, Morgan and Rin immediately started detailing the make-up of handsome boys at Hogwarts all at once, beginning in Slytherin and extending to the other houses. When they had finished with boys, they started on teachers, explaining the curse of the Defense Against the Dark Arts job and who would let you get away with what. The dinner and conversation continued happily, until each student was too full to eat another bite. Finally, Dumbledore tapped his glass with a knife and called for silence. When the hall had substantially quieted down, he stood and gazed out over the student body.

    "Now that we are all filled to the brim and it is decently past all of our bedtimes, I would like to wish you all a good night and a wonderful first day of studies tomorrow. Prefects will please lead students to their respective houses. Thank you all for a wonderful evening!" The school broke into chatter again as chairs scraped the floor and prefects called for new students to follow them to their houses. Callie tried to look for Danaya above the pandemonium, but couldn't distinguish her from the rest of the heads. Her eyes then grazed back towards the staff table, where she saw a tall, pale man with longish black hair staring at her intently. She immediately blushed and moved her eyes, heart beating. "Who is that teacher?" she asked Molly as the crowd started migrating towards the door.

    "Severus Snape, Potions Master," Molly replied sharply. "He's also the head of our house. You'll be fine as long as you don't cross him." Callie sighed.

    "Can't promise any of that."

    "Just don't get the rest of us in trouble like Sadie always does," Morgan laughed. She slugged Sadie on the arm, and Sadie moved to hit her back. Callie laughed as she watched the spat, spirits rising even higher. Slytherin seemed like her kind of place after all.

    Callie followed her new roommates down a corridor that she was told led to the dungeons. They stopped suddenly in front of a blank, non-descript stone wall. A tall boy with black hair said the words "Dragon Blood", and the wall suddenly opened to reveal a gray room lit by green torches and a blazing fire. High-backed chairs surrounded the fire, but green, squashy leather chairs and sofas lined the walls towards the door. Golden torches containing normal fire graced the walls beside these chairs, and green and silver tapestries hung from the ceiling in front of two doors. Moonlight streamed in from windows at ground level on either side of the fireplace. They were draped with green curtains and pulled back with silver tassels. Rin let out a low whistle. "Oooh, someone's been redecorating," she murmured.

    "I bet it was Malfoy's dad," Sadie whispered back. "Remember how much he was whining about the common room last year? I swear, that kid is the most spoiled brat I know."

    "Malfoy?" Callie spun around and scanned the crowd of Slytherins, looking for the silver head belonging to the boy in question. He was nowhere to be seen.

    "Yeah. He's bloody rich. Father'll do anything to keep him happy." Sadie shrugged and took Callie by the arm. "Come on, I'll show you our room. Hopefully that's a little more nicely done too." The group of girls ducked behind a tapestry and climbed a stone spiral staircase that opened up into a round room with seven polished wood doors. Sadie opened one and strode in, taking in a deep breath. "Oh, it's GREAT to be back!" she exclaimed. Callie ducked into the room after her, finding her luggage safely at the front of her bed and Kyo asleep on her pillow.

    "Oh, you're okay!" she breathed, running over to hug her cat. Kyo made a low yowling noise before rolling over onto his back and purring contentedly. Rin was staring at the animal.

    "Dear God, that thing is huge," she murmured in amazement. "But he's so cute!" Rin laughed, crawling onto the bed and rubbing Kyo's tummy as Callie scratched his ears.

    "He's all squishy," Callie replied, smiling at Rin. "I love him just the way he is."

    "I have a cat too," Rin said lightly. "His name is Edward, he's a little gray shorthair. Think they'll get along?" Callie nodded.

"Are you kidding? The only thing that'll get this blob of fur worked up is a big bowl of cat food. Other than that he really doesn't care about anything, including other cats." She made a bit of a face. "All he does is snooze, really."

Rin smiled. "Good!" She stood and marched back across the room to her bed. Callie studied her for a moment, then left the cat to his own devices and returned to her own trunk. She lifted the lid and pulled out a pair of Mr. Clean sleep pants and an old T-shirt. She was too tired to unpack.

    "What are those?" Sadie asked as Callie changed.

    "PJs," she replied. "My uncle bought them for me."

    "They're the weirdest PJs I've ever seen," Morgan mused. "Are they... well, mugglish?" Callie nodded, giggling at the term.

    "My uncle's a muggle. He thinks all this magic is having a bad influence on my sense of style."

    Rin wrinkled her nose. "I would say he's the one with the bad influence." Callie giggled, then caught sight of Laura. She was standing in a corner, trying to avoid looking at the new student. Callie sighed.

    "Maybe, but they're comfy." She turned back to her cat and gently lifted him from the bed. "Just move for a sec, sweetie." The cat lazily waddled towards the end of the bed. Callie threw back the green duvet and climbed in, never feeling so comfortable in her entire life. "This bed is great," she murmured, and one of the other girls giggled a bit. As she closed her eyes, she thought about Danaya, wondering if she was as comfortable as she was. The day was the most stressful one she had ever experienced. Platform nine and three quarters seemed like it had been ages ago. But at the same time, excitement was roiling around in Callie's gut like never before- the adventure she had been waiting for all summer was finally beginning, and it looked like it would be quite an adventure indeed.

With a sigh, she pulled the green curtain on her four poster closed, rolled onto her back and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.