The Crystals of Hiraj

Chapter 2 - Off to Hogwarts

“Are you ready to go through the barrier? Remember, just run at it,” said Mrs. Parker.
“Nicholas, you go first.”
Nicholas lined up the cart with the barrier and started to run at it. Just when he thought he was about to hit it and get hurt, the crimson Hogwarts Express appeared before him. All around him were students chatting about their various summers.
“Wow,” he said as Holly appeared next to him. They stood there a few more minutes while their parents arrived before going off to find a compartment.
There were a few empty compartments at the end. They chose one and got settled into it.
“The train is leaving in five minutes. We’re going to go now before the crowd gets too big. We have to say goodbye,” said Mr. Parker.
“I can’t believe you two are already going to Hogwarts. And in a few years, you will too, Elizabeth,” said Mrs. Parker.
Nicholas and Holly hugged their parents goodbye and promised to owl them as often as they could. When they were gone, and the train had started off Holly exclaimed,
“I can’t believe we are actually leaving for Hogwarts! I have been waiting for this moment all my life!”
Nicholas nodded, looking out the window. For all he wanted to go to Hogwarts, he would miss the Isle of Drear and his family. No matter what Holly said with her talks of finally returning to the mainland, he knew the Isle would always be home for him.
Holly noticed that Nicholas wasn’t paying attention to her rantings about Hogwarts and told him,
“Nicholas, don’t be sad about leaving home. We all have to do that sometime. Anyway, well be going back for Christmas and Easter breaks. And after that, we’re staying home during the whole summer. Now let’s go and find our friends.”
As if on cue, someone knocked at the door at that very moment. Holly slowly opened it, revealing a rather tall boy with carrot-colored hair and chocolate-brown eyes. He moved aside to reveal a girl with long black hair and bright green eyes. They looked somewhat familiar.
“Hi, I’m Emily...” said the girl, smiling. “Wait, you look familiar... Parker, right? Nicholas, and Holly?”
The twins nodded.
“Emily Potter? And Jeffrey Weasley? It’s nice to see you again.” said Holly politely.
“We were looking for a compartment to sit in,” said Emily, twitching her head in impatience. “All the others are full.”
“Well...” Holly looked at Nicholas, who ignored her, watching the green countryside streaming past them. Hogwarts was said to be in Scotland, so maybe it wouldn’t be too much unlike home.
“You can sit here,” Nicholas said brusquely. He had to stop thinking of the island. Hogwarts was his future, his home for most of the next seven years. He had to get used to it. “How have you been? Since we left, I mean.”
“Well, actually, I have to tell you, we’ve been looking for you. You remember that horrid girl Sasha Malfoy? Well, she said that you two would support neither her father nor my father. That’s not true, is it? You’re not going to support a servant of the Dark Lord Voldemort, are you?” Emily sounded like a true recruiter.
“Umm...” What was this all about? Sasha’s and Emily’s childhood rivalry had gone as far as to have them compete for followers? Why them? “Why us? Why are you trying to gain our support?”
Emily looked worried. She exchanged glances with Jeffrey before he said,
“We don’t know. But our fathers all told us that you were important to have on our side. Probably something about your parents’s research.” There was a knock on the door. Both Emily and Jeffrey jumped. Emily walked towards it muttering under her breath,
“If it’s Sasha I’ll kill her.” or something like that. It turned out to be the food seller, and the kids each bought piles of their favorite sweets. Nicholas liked pumpkin pastries, and he grabbed for the last one when someone got it just before him.
“You have to be quick if you want the reward,” teased Emily, waving the pumpkin pastry in front of him, smiling. Nicholas smiled back and tried to catch the orange package. Every time, Emily managed to pull it out of the way just in time. After a while they collapsed on the floor laughing.
“You’re so quick. I usually win at that kind of thing.” gasped Nicholas.
“My father always called me Windfingers. I used to snatch his papers away from him if he worked too much. But now he hasn’t been back home in such a long time. He sends letters, but it’s not the same...” Emily smile had faded. “He’s always off hunting some criminal or another. Sometimes I wish he wasn’t and Auror but something more boring, like Aunt Hermione. She’s an accountant.” She grimaced.
“Dad said Aunt Hermione once was an Auror,” injected Jeffrey. “He said they all were Aurors together, him and Hermione and Uncle Harry, traveling all around the world. But then Mom got pregnant and your mom got pregnant, so they had to stop.”
“That’s not true. How could Mom get pregnant if Dad was traveling around the world?” said Emily, laughing.
“Well...” everybody started laughing.
Maybe Hogwarts wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

The train was almost to Hogwarts and the kids were changing into their robes when there was a knock at the door. Holly opened it to reveal a girl with brown eyes and auburn hair. Nicholas almost didn’t recognize her.
“Sasha Malfoy? What happened to your hair?” Exclaimed Holly. Sasha’s hair had been her father’s pale blond the last time they had seen her. Even Emily looked shocked.
“I dyed it. Holly, right? And Nicholas. I came to talk to you, but I see Emily got to you first. I just wanted to tell you that sometimes people change. And that parents don’t always make the child. I’ve come to ask for a truce, Emily.”
This time Emily’s jaw dropped.
“What?! You’re a Malfoy! Malfoys don’t offer truces to Potters!” Emily look completely shocked. It was as if someone had done the impossible, had made pigs fly or had turned straw into golden thread.
“Yes, you hadn’t expected this.” Sasha laughed. “A truce would be the last thing my sister would offer, or my mother. I really meant it, Emily. I’m tired of this rivalry. My sister hates me, so who best to become friends with but those she hates?” She turned to leave. “Oh, and by the way, avoid Sophia and my mother. They’re horrid.” Sasha grimaced as she disappeared the way she had come.
Emily still looked dumbfounded.
“How could she do this? It defies her family, her honor. And dying her hair! The Malfoys are very proud of their hair. She must be trying to trick me! There’s no other way she would have done that. But what does she want...?”
“Emily, are you sure about this? She seemed pretty sincere to me,” Holly looked confused as well. “Sasha and Sophia never liked each other. Her words sounded true.”
“Malfoys can lie like snakes,” Jeffrey said in complete seriousness.
“You should -” The train screeched to a halt before Nicholas could offer his opinion. They all walked solemnly out of the train, Emily and Jeffery trying to puzzle out Sasha’s intentions together, the twins astounded by the others’s certainty that Sasha was lying.
“How could their rivalry grow so much?” mused Nicholas as they stepped out of the train.
Outside, the dark station was lit by a multitude of lanterns floating overhead. Most of the students were heading right, towards a dirt road on which stood what Nicholas could distinguish as a multitude of horseless carriages. He started walking that way before a loud voice called them back.
“First-years, over here. This way, first-years.” The speaker was a middle-aged woman in sky-blue robes. Her gray-streaked blond hair was pulled back in a braid. As all the first years gathered around her, she stomped her feet in impatience at having to wait in the cold. Emily pulled her cloak around her, but Nicholas left his as it was. The weather was colder than this on the Isle, even in summer.
The woman led them off, saying,
“I am Professor Von Struddle, the Assistant Headmistress and Transfiguration teacher here at Hogwarts. I trust that you have had an adequate trip. We will be taking boats across the lake to get to Hogwarts.” Her words were quick and crisp, as if she couldn’t wait to stop talking.
When they reached the lakeshore, they finally saw Hogwarts castle.
It was amazing. The castle towered over them, ablaze with lights from every window, Hogwarts had many towers and turrets sticking out every which way like chimney stacks, but it dominated the setting majestically,
The boats were small, fitting only four people, so the twins jumped in after Emily and Jeffrey. The boats started off on their own. Emily started excitedly,
“We know what she wants!”
“Who?”
“Sasha, you nimwitt!” Emily became solemn. “She wants you.”
“Us?”
“Remember? Our parents all sent us to get you. We got there first, so she offered us a truce so she could get you anyway!” Emily looked proud of her deduction.
“But if she wanted us, why didn’t she come earlier? Before we got to know each other. If it was a race, why did she take so long to come?” Holly looked as unconvinced as Nicholas felt.
“Malfoys don’t always make sense. The only thing that you know for sure about them is that there out to trick you.” said Jeffrey with absolute sincerity. Emily nodded along.
“Duck!” The boats approached a cliff face covered in vines, and the students ducked as the boats slid smoothly through the ivy. They reached a small harbor of pebbles that led to a massive oak door. Professor Von Struddle pushed through the whispering students and knock on the solid door.

The door creaked open to reveal an entrance hall whose top was hidden in darkness, even though torches were hung every few feet on the wall. Professor Von Struddle led them to a small chamber off the main hall and told them,
“I can finally say, welcome to Hogwarts. Soon you will go to the start of term feast, but first you must be Sorted into your houses. Your house will be like your family during your years at Hogwarts. You will go to classes together, and sleep and eat together. The four houses are Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Gryffindor. Each have their own history and wizards. As I am the head of Ravenclaw, I hope there are many potential Ravenclaws among you, but I’m afraid the final choice of house depends on what’s inside. I will return when we are ready.” And she turned and strode out into the dining hall.
“I’ll bet I’m going to be a Gryffindor.” Emily declared loudly after she was gone. “My father was a Gryffindor, and so was my mom, and so were my grandparents and most of my other relatives.”
From the corner of the room in which she sat with her cronies, Sophia chuckled,
“You Gryffindors are always overproud of what everyone knows you have.” And with this she stood and glided to the front of the room where Professor Von Struddle had stood. “And what do you say about me? ‘She’s obviously going to Slytherin, that snotty brat’? ‘Slytherin is where all the dark wizards go, she’s obviously going there’? I mock your taunts!”
Emily blushed. She opened her mouth, then closed it when Jeffrey whispered something in her ear. Instead Jeffrey spoke,
“I apologize for our hateful comments.”
At that moment Professor Von Struddle entered the room.
“Form a line and follow me.”
Nicholas got into line behind Holly, in front of a pale boy he remembered as Alexander Baylocq. Alexander had been picky about people calling him Alex, he remembered.
The great Hall was even larger than the entrance hall. The top was filled with glittering stars. Nicholas heard Jeffrey laugh in front of him,
“ ‘It’s bewitched to look like the sky outside.’ I’ll never forget Aunt Hermione lecturing to us about Hogwarts: A History.”
Underneath the fake sky, thousands of candles hung in midair, illuminating the room. Four long tables were aligned across the room, set with golden plates and goblets. All the older students were watching them go by from the tables. Professor Von Struddle led them in between the students and the teacher’s table. A small stool stood in front of them, and on it was a tattered, patched, ripped, and ancient hat. Suddenly, the brim opened up and the hat began to sing:

My brim is black
My cone is tall
Brains I do not lack at all.

Four houses there are
Come enter their door
Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor.

In Gryffindor where dwell the brave
Friendship and courage are needed here
Only you can endure your fear.

Hufflepuff where lie the true
Always loyal to their fellow
In the colors of black and yellow.

In the hues of bronze and blue
Ravenclaws hold ready minds
To their many exploitful finds.

Sharp of wit and tongue
The Slytherins search for power
To conquer the world when comes the hour.

So put me on, I do not bite
To find which house you will remain
Until the Crystals begin to rain.
Until the Crystals begin to rain.

Everyone applauded. Professor Von Struddle stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.
“When I call your name , you will put on the hat and get sorted. Afzal, Olga!”
One of Sasha’s companions went to the stool and sat on it. She had barely swept the hat on her head that it shouted out,
“SLYTHERIN!” Olga smiled and walked to the Slytherin table, full of cheering students.
“Amincy, Lauren!” The diminutive girl scampered to the stool. She put on the hat, and shortly after, it yelled,
“HUFFLEPUFF!” Lauren beamed and walked to the cheering table on the far left.
“Archer, Rowan!” Nicholas’s old friend walked slowly to the hat, and settled it over his head. He remained there for a few minutes before the hat shouted,
“RAVENCLAW!” Rowan marched decidedly to the table to the right of the Hufflepuff table.
“Bahlyn, Abigail!”
“HUFFLEPUFF!” Abigail laughed as she joined Lauren at the Hufflepuff table.
The sortings went on as expected. Emily guessed every person’s house before they got sorted.
“Luke Bezell is a Slytherin, he’s friends with Sasha. The Carment twins are Ravenclaws, obviously.”
“Darrow, Katherine” became the first Gryffindor, and the table on the far right exploded with cheers.
Slowly, people filed by, but Nicholas noticed something strange. After Hibiscus and Jasmine Carment, Carlotta and Jessica Holmer were the second pair of twins to be sorted. And a while after them came Grace and Hope Kaleen. Adding him and Holly, and Sasha and Sophia, that made at least five pairs of twins!
“Emily, aren’t there a lot of twins?”
“Yes. Good you noticed. Supposedly it means that chaos and danger are coming, according to Mom. The twins are a sign of change and disruption. Maybe that’s why Dad said to look for you...” Emily started frowning into the distance. Nicholas was about to ask her more, when Jeffrey said,
“Don’t talk to her. That expression means she’s onto something important.”
And it was almost the Malfoys’s turn. As Anna Maibach strode toward the Ravenclaw table, Sasha stood, grinning.
“Malfoy, Sasha!” She walked swaggeringly to the stool, picked up the hat, and shoved it on her head. Looking straight at Emily, she smiled and waited. After almost a minute of silence, the hat exploded with,
“RAVENCLAW!” Emily jerked out of her reverie and gasped audibly. Sophia’s reaction was more violent. She glided to her sister and slapped her full-handed on her cheek. Sasha sat down hard and whimpered in pain. Sophia was about to kick her when the teachers got there and pulled Sophia off her sister forcefully and made her sit on the stool and wear the hat. The hat sat on Sophia’s head half a minute, and Sophia gaped at what she could hear inside the hat. Once the hat had screamed,
“SLYTHERIN!” Sophia stormed to the table and sulked there, surrounded by her worried friends.
The hall had quieted after that incident, and almost no one cheered as “Mark, Eric” got sorted into Hufflepuff. Pure silence greeted the sorting of “Matteauer, Alexandria,” one of Sasha’s friends, “Mikelevitch, Hansen”, and “Mikelevitch, Igor,” two of Sophia’s cronies, into Slytherin. Nicholas saw Alexandria bend over and talk hurriedly to Sasha from the Slytherin table.
But soon enough, Professor Von Struddle got to,
“Parker, Holly!”

Holly slowly stepped to the stool holding the hat. She was very nervous. How could she fit into any house? She wasn’t brave, or loyal, or cunning, or very smart, either. The walk to the stool lasted too little time. As she sat down and slipped the hat over her head, she felt as if her end had come.
“Hmmm,”said a voice somewhere over her head. “Another twin, eh? But you are important. Very important. You have the spirit of the river in you. Yes, I see intelligence, and hidden courage. Maybe Ravenclaw would fit you. But- no- Yes, yes I see. There’s only one place in which you can accomplish your mission, only one place in which your skills can fully bloom. Your courage to change will help you in GRYFFINDOR!”
Holly stumbled to the cheering table. What had just happened? What was “the spirit of the river”. But Holly had to stop thinking about her cryptic message, for Nicholas had sat down on the stool.

Nicholas was glad his sister had been sorted into Gryffindor, but he now worried about himself. He hoped to get into Gryffindor, but he felt that he might get into Slytherin. Wanting to prove yourself was a whole lot like wanting power. As the hat slipped over his dark eyes, he heard a voice over his eyes,
“Oooooh. The second twin, the ember. You have great heat awakening in you. I see courage to prove your strength. Slytherin, or Gryffindor will fit. But you will need that courage, and it must grow to complete your task. Yes, white squire, you must be in GRYFFINDOR!”
Nicholas sighed in relief as he ran to the Gryffindor table. As he sat down next to Holly, she started saying something about spirits and rivers, but after Arianna Ponteri was quickly sorted into Slytherin, it was Emily’s turn.

Emily smiled smugly as she marched to the stool, but inside she was a little worried. How had Sasha managed to get sorted into Ravenclaw? She was a Malfoy! Maybe her truce was real after all? But as she shoved the hat on her head, all thoughts of Sasha dissapeared when a small voice resounded above her ears.
“So, you are the last of the Potter children. But you have a strength in you, the spirit of the wind. Winds blow bravely, to go where they are not welcome. I see the courage to travel with the wind in you. You must go in GRYFFINDOR!”
Emily had always known that she would be in Gryffindor, but the Hat’s words mystified her. She had the spirit of the wind, did she? When she sat down next to the sandy-haired twins, they were talking about spirits, too. Emily contributed her spirit and they became so deep in converstion they missed all of the sortings until it was Jeffrey’s turn.

Jeffrey strode to the stool, ready to be sorted in Hufflepuff. His parents would be sorely dissapointed, but loyalty to Emily was the only thing he had. He wasn’t brave or cunning, and not very intelligent. He pulled on the hat and a voice spoke above his nose.
“It is you, the last spirit, the spirit of the soil. You are loyal and steadfast, I see. But you are ready to surrender to being in Hufflepuff, ready to be humiliated? You have courage, you see. Courage to hold, courage to be prone. That courage will get you far, dirt spirit. Always remember, dirt may seem plain, but it holds treasure inside. GRYFFINDOR!”
Jeffrey sighed in relief. He would be able to stay with his friends, and with the girl he had sworn to protect, always.