So This Is How It Is

'Firs' years,' called the voice again.

The train stopped very suddenly, making them fly forward in their chairs (as there were no seatbelts).

'All right, everyone out! Every single last one of you out! I've got better things to do than watch kids from 11-17 get out of a bus AND drive you there,' their conductor complained. 'Come on now! No, don't talk! You can talk when you get in there--' and on and on he went. The conductor was very tall, maybe 6'6" and was very grouchy all of the time. He was quite old, and seemed to have had too much experience with Dark Magic...yet he wasn't 'evil.'

Anyhoo, all the nervous-looking first years went up to Hagrid. Very few of them had seen a man so big, and yet he was only a half-giant.

'Can you believe we were once like that?' Zia saw someone hiss into another one's ear. The one who was whispering [who was in front of them] had bright red hair, and the back of his robe was very patched and worn. The person he had whispered to had jet black hair just like Zia, and very untidy. {Mind you, from the back, Zia couldn't tell who our raven-haired hero was.} Was that...

Zia entered the Great Hall, and wondered where Tonya and Cho were. She wanted to sit next to them at the Ravenclaw table. Instead, she saw Lavender and Parvati around her.

'See you, Ziara!' Parvati called as they went over to the Gryffindor table.

Oh, so they thought she--Zia smacked her hand onto her forehead. DUH!! Now she just needed to find Ziara...she saw her sitting down with Cho and Tonya. That jerk! She's only there because she has no one to hang with at our table! Zia thought.

She went over to them. 'Excuse me, but I'm Zia.'

'No you're not,' her twin insisted.

Zia whispered something in Cho and Tonya's ears.

'Get out of here, Ziara!' Cho yelled.

'Tricked ya!' Ziara went off by herself, giggling. ('I can't believe they fell for it! Like, oh my god!') She pulled out her mirror and checked her hair. It was in French braids, while Zia's was pulled into a simple ponytail. She liked it that way. It didn't interfere with Quidditch, which she played as often as she could.

Professor McGonnagall stood up from the table at which she was sitting, and pulled out a stool, and the Sorting Hat, and said, 'When I call your name, you will sit down on the stool, and I'll put the Sorting Hat on your head, and you'll be sorted.'

'Baker, Lola!'

A small girl with longish bright red hair stepped nervously up to the Sorting Hat, and threw herself onto the stool, as if she thought to herself, 'If I don't do it now, I'll run back to the line.'

'Hmmm...,' the Sorting Hat began. 'Oh, I know! Gryffindor!!'

Lola looked a little shocked to hear a voice just inside her head, so Zia assumed she was Muggle-born. Lola raced off to the Gryffindor table, looking very relieved.

'Cooper, Kelly' were Professor McGonnagall's next words.

Kelly went to Hufflepuff.

Then, 'Cortez, Mackenzie' went to Slytherin.

Until ('Finally,' a certain redheaded boy in Gryffindor thought) 'Zazzaro, Joseph' was called up. He bolted over to the stool and wouldn't even let Professor McGonnagall put the hat on. He slammed it on himself. 'Ravenclaw,' the clearly tired Sorting Hat yelled.

Joseph ran over to their table.

Dumbledore stood up, and the room fell silent. 'I must quote myself on this day four years ago. Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Now...let the feast begin.'

Fourth year students and below looked a bit confused. Yet they soon recovered.

Food appeared on their plates, as they dug in.

----------------------------------------TIME OUT-------------------------------------

Ok, before, I was sort of concentrating on what Zia was thinking, and now I'm going to concentrate more on Harry.

-------------------TIME IN------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone was eating and talking, and Harry was drowsy. He had to try hard to keep his eyes open, and he could tell the majority of people at his table felt the exact same way.

The leftover food, quickly as it had come, disappeared, and everyone headed upstairs, and the Prefects were in front. 'This is the best path to the dormitories,' the Prefects stated. 'Up these stairs, now. And these, and these, and these, and--' The prefects seemed to drone on forever.

Finally, they heard 'Password?' and most managed to open their eyes wide enough to see a rather stout lady in a pink dress. When no one responded to her question, she repeated, 'Password?'

'Out of my way! Move over! I know the password!' Seamus Finigan marched to the front of the line. 'Defense Against the Dark Arts.' The Fat Lady's portrait opened.

'Whoa!' some of the first-years exclaimed.

'Boys dormitories upstairs on your left, girls dormitories upstairs on your right. Your belongings have already been brought upstairs. If they haven't, please let a Prefect know,' Seamus recited in one breath.

'Seamus, you need to chiiiiiiill...just chiiiiiiiiill,' his buddy, Dean Thomas advised.

'Dean, shut up,' Seamus hissed to his friend.

~*~

Ziara yawned and turned over in her four-poster bed. She leaned over to her bedside table. Yikes! It was 9:47. Classes started at 10. She pulled on a tie-dye shirt and some jeans that were capris, and rushed down the stairs into the common room. It was deserted (well, duh). She brushed her hair until 9:50. Uh-oh. Ten minutes to eat. Ziara rushed into the Great Hall, and saw her sister.

'Hi, Zia.'

'Hi,' her twin replied. 'What's up?'

'Nothing. Except, do you have my mail?'

'Uh, yeah. Right here. You got the Daily Prophet.'

'Thanks, sis,' Ziara thanked her sister.

'No problem.' Zia returned back to what Cho was saying.

Having no one else to sit with, Ziara sat next to her brother.

'Slept late, I see?' he said, laughing with his friends.

'Zach..........................duh! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

He laughed.

'Zach...I'm not in the mood.'

'I can see that...'

She walked off towards her sister, and dug in, as she only had 7 minutes left.

~*~