Twilight to Dusk

Chapter Four

They fell silent for a while. Ari could tell that, whatever Ema said, she was slightly angry at Jamie's defensiveness over her sister. Ema, of course, would never admit this, not if someone had threatened her with torture, dismemberment, and a gruesome death.

Ronnie wasn't one to talk when other people weren't talking while Ari herself was still feeling slightly depressed over her row with her mother.

The train rattled onwards. Big, looming mountains were coming gradually closer. The sun was sinking behind them, staining the pearly white clouds orange and pink. Ari was starting to get uncomfortable with the silence, to the point where she debated going "to the toilet" to find Sarah and bring some sound into the room.

"AND THEN IT WAS LOUD!" shouted Ema at this moment, making everyone jump and frightening Ari out of her skin.

"Potter! Was that necessary?" asked Jamie, though she could barely talk through her laughs. Soon they were all rolling around on the floor, shrieking with mirth.

The compartment door opened. "Um, is this normal hysteria, or does someone need a doctor?" asked a voice.

They all looked up. Ari felt heat rushing to her face. Standing in the doorway were Rodney Macmillan, and his friend Andy Finnigan.

Ari looked around and saw that Ema was blushing too, looking at Andy.

Ari raised her eyebrows, almost forgetting her embarrassment. Ema fancies Andy? She thought to herself, more a question than a statement. Ema? The girl who didn't brush her hair, who frequently dunked boys and girls in water fountains, who had thrown rotten tomatoes at the class bully, who had sworn to Ari, on pain of death, that she was never going out with a boy because they were crude creatures?

Jamie showed no trace of embarrassment but was still laughing, while Ronnie looked confused. "What's a doctor?" she asked.

"Yeah, Rod," said Ari coolly, desperate to get the heat to leave her face. "Didn't you think that some people in here might not understand that joke?" Pathetic! her brain screamed at her. Where had her sarcasm and cynical behavior gone?

Rod raised an eyebrow at them and shrugged.

Ari was mortified. The look in Rod's eyes were calculating and she suddenly felt transparent. He knows, she thought, uncomfortably aware of the heat creeping up her neck.

Now Jamie was looking at her. Ari got up and went to her bag, desperate for something to do. She pulled Shadow out from under her scarf and pretended to be feeding the cat her pumpkin pasty. Shadow meowed indignantly, as she didn't like the pasties. When Ari looked around, Rod and Andy had left, but Jamie was still staring at her, grinning in a very disconcerting way.

"Shut up," said Ari before Jamie opened her mouth.

"Oh, come on, Ari, no need to be so embarrassed," said Jamie. "You clearly weren't looking at Ema." She made a swooning face, looking ridiculously in love. "Oh, Andy! Come love me!"

Ema said something that made Ronnie wince and say, "Em! Language!"

Jamie rolled her eyes. "Well, at least you two don't like the same guy, then we'd all be in real trouble."

"I do not like Rod!" yelled Ari.

"I do not like Andy!" yelled Ema at the same time.

"I hate him," said Ari. "I was embarrassed that someone I hate that much saw me enjoying myself."

"Hate and love walk hand in hand," said Ronnie in a valiant but failed attempt at an American southern accent. "And I'm sure that Ema hates Andy too."

"SHUT UP!" yelled Ari and Ema together, causing Ronnie and Jamie to fall into each other laughing.

"Attention Hogwarts students -" the voice made the girls sober up enough to listen "- the train will be arriving at Hogsmead Station in ten minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train. It will be carried in separately."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Ema in a bored voice. "We'd better change."

* * *

It was dark and crowded on the platform therefore Ari was glad that her pet, at least, could be carried in a pocket, rather than Ema, who had to lug along a large owl in a large cage, and Ronnie, whose eagle's cage took up what felt to Ari to be a five foot radius about Ronnie.

"Oh, damn it all," said Ronnie angrily, opening Magic's cage and letting the eagle soar out.

"Language, Ronnie!" said Jamie indignantly.

"Damn, damn, damn, damn," sang Ema under her breath, earning herself a painful kick from Jamie, which she had no chance of deterring due to Star's cage.

"Honestly," said Jamie, shaking her head. "Can't you guys think of some more intelligent ways to express your anger?"

Ema said something that Ari knew would have earned her another kick from Jamie if the horseless carriages hadn't been trundling up the hill towards them at that moment. "Come on," said Jamie exasperatedly, grabbing Ema's sleeve and dragging her down the long line of carriages. "We want a carriage to ourselves."

Ari knew that to ourselves meant, in Jamie's mind, without Sarah. They managed that, at least, but in Ari's opinion, they didn't manage anything else.

No sooner had the four of them clambered into a carriage when Andy and Rod, who seemed to Ari to be stalking them, looked in. "Any room in here?" asked Andy innocently, making it perfectly clear to Ari that he was trying to embarrass them.

"No," said Ema pointedly.

Andy raised his eyebrows. "What's with you?"

"She loves you and wants to have your babies," muttered Jamie so only Ari could hear her. Ari laughed nervously, trying to tear her eyes away from Rod.

"That means yes in Ema Language," Ronnie said, grinning at Andy who grinned back and squeezed in.

To Ari's horror, Rod then moved in so he was sitting right next to her. Their thighs were nearly touching. Ari scooted a few inches to the left, pressing herself into Jamie, desperate to avoid contact with a boy she, well ...

Jamie and Ronnie were grinning, while she and Ema suffered in silence. Ari tried hard to stop her heart beating, tried not to look to her right at Rod. She looked at Ema, then at Ronnie, then, when all else failed, across Jamie and out the window.

The ride to the castle took forever. When, finally, the carriage crunched to a halt, she waited a few moments after Rod had departed and then sped out and up to the castle, Ema hot on her heals, the other two laughing like hyenas behind them.

* * *

After Jamie stopped laughing, she and Ronnie made to follow Ema and Ari. Ronnie was still clutching her for support, but Jamie had managed to reduce her hysteria to a mere giggle fit. "Ronnie! Ronnnnnnn-iee! Hello in there! Let's go!" she called, shaking Ronnie slightly. Still sniggering, they headed up to the castle.

They were halfway up the stone stairs when a most unwelcome threesome blocked the door.

"Damn it," said Ronnie, all signs of laughter gone from her face. "It's the GoB."

The GoB meant the Gang of Bitches, were Ronnie's identical twin Valerie and her Slytherin friends Justine Crabbe and Louise Goyle. Ema had coined the phrase GoB.

Though Jamie, Ema and Ari were content to be enemies with them, and half liked it, for Ronnie it was quite a different matter. She was terrified of her sister, who was stronger, both physically and with a wand. She also, Jamie knew, had to worry about her parents' reactions if she managed to do anything to Val and her friends.

Now, Jamie watched Ronnie's face go paler than usual as she stopped dead, staring at the Slytherins.

"Excuse me," said Jamie with a creditable attempt at politeness. "We need to get through."

Val smirked at her and Jamie suddenly noticed how much taller the three of them were than herself. She, after all, was only an inch or so taller than Ema, but she had never noticed it before, probably because Ema was so skinny, and had the appearance of being much smaller than she actually was. Now, looking at the three Slytherins towering over her, her vertically challenged body felt extremely vulnerable. She looked at Ronnie, standing about a head taller than her and prayed for her to do something - anything.

They were lucky. Professor McGonagall appeared behind Val and her friends, clearly waiting for the first years. "You five are going to be late, you know," she snapped irritably though, Jamie noticed, she was mostly addressing Valerie. "Scoot along."

Val gave Jamie and Ronnie one more contemptuous glance, then she and her friends jogged off.

Jamie and Ronnie broke into a very fast walk, but Jamie could have sworn that Professor McGonagall gave Ronnie a small encouraging smile.

* * *

"There they are!" said Ema in relief, seeing Jamie and Ronnie enter the hall. She and Ari had sprinted to the Ravenclaw table where they had chosen seats as far away from all boys as possible. When Jamie and Ronnie started taking so long, however, they had gotten slightly worried, especially with all the mystery surrounding the place.

Now though, they saw the other two coming in. Jamie was looking like there were too many emotions to count going through her. She looked mostly relieved, Ema thought, but there also seemed to be her old anxiety about the Sorting bubbling back to the surface.

Ronnie looked pale, as though she had just been scared out of her wits. At the moment though, she was smiling oddly, as though she was a bit giddy with relief. As they took seats across from her and Ari, Ema saw Ari glance at them, then at the Slytherins across the isle.

Ema was nonplussed buy Ari's pointed staring so she turned to the other two. "So ... uh ... what happened?" she asked in what she hoped was a light, ready-to-exchange-juicy-gossip type voice.

"Just a minor encounter with the GoB," said Jamie in a similer voice, though it was clear to Ema, even with her poor ability to understand emotions, that the voice didn't exactly mirror Jamie's thoughts.

"You both look scared to death," said Ema bluntly.

"You try it sometime," snapped Ronnie. "Be confronted, with no one else around, by three huge Slytherins, all intent on blasting your guts out."

Ema put up her hands. "Alright! Alright!" she laughed. "I get your point."

"If you two hadn't run off we'd have been better for it," said Jamie pointedly. "You two are the best at Defense against the Dark Arts."

"Yeah, yeah, like you'd really need it," said Ari, speaking for the first time in minutes. "Hagrid would've come even -" she broke off, looking around. "Oh ..." she whispered, "The Sorting."

Professor Flitwick, Charms teacher and head of Ravenclaw house, was putting the ancient hat on its ancient stool. This done, he walked back to his place - on which he was propped up with several cushions - and sat down.

The door to the right opened and Professor McGonagall came in, leading a bunch of scared looking first years. Every one of them looked terrified, except for a small form near the front of the line, who looked as though excitement would bubble over at any moment and that she might be obliged to do some tumbling to let off her energy.

"Sarah doesn't look too fazed, does she?" asked Ari, sniggering.

"Is she ever?" asked Jamie, rolling her eyes. They both fell silent as the hat opened its mouth and began to sing.

Oh, I may not be pretty, lovely, or cute,
But I can get to the bottom of your brain,
To the very root
I can see everything that's hidden in your head
So put me on it, and let's see what you have to share
I can tell you in an instant what your favorite color is,
Even, if you know it, what your life's ambition is.
But that is not what I'm here for,
I'll tell you what I do
I am supposed to get to the core
And tell you where to go
To Ravenclaw, the sharp of mind,
To Gryffindor the brave,
To Hufflepuff, the fair and just,
To Slytherin, the grave,
Each of these four houses has produced Wizards fine
And you may be one of them, just step on over the line,
And sit down on my humble stool,
I'll tell you where to go,
Just put me on your thoughtful head
I'll tell all what you've got to show.

With that, the hat fell silent. Applause broke through the hall, and several of the first years glared down in the hall, clearly wishing they could just get on with it.

"That last part wasn't so nice, though," said Jamie, as "Applebee, Nancy" was sorted into Hufflepuff. "It makes it sound like it'll tell the whole hall your secrets."

"Oh, honestly Jamie," said Ema, rolling her eyes as "Bones, Marianna," was called. "You think too hard. She clapped as Marianna was sorted into Ravenclaw and immediately engulfed by a sea of people trying to introduce themselves to her. Ema remembered how startling it was to her to be suddenly surrounded by five or six people all saying, "Welcome to Ravenclaw, Ema! I'm Joe Smith, nice to meet you!" And, consequently, did not stand up to greet Marianna, who sat down near them a moment later, trying, it seemed, to sit squarely in the middle of the gap between the Ravenclaw Four and the next group over.

Amy Clearwater got her wish and was sorted into Slytherin. "Chang, Mai," went to Hufflepuff, "Daylin, Mark," was sorted to Slytherin, and "Douglass Naomi" to Gryffindor. "Fetlick Maxwell" became the first Ravenclaw boy, followed immediately by "Fritz, Alexander". "Hollin, Kaya" also came to Ravenclaw, but "Irwin, Paul" went to Hufflepuff. Then, "Koraya, Callista," to Slytherin, then, finally, "Lastroni, Sarah!"

* * *

Sarah moved forward nervously. Now the time came, she felt scared, much more scared than she had before. Ema's words filled her brain, Sarah, I'm not sure you will be in Ravenclaw ... you don't know till the Sorting hat decides. Yes, but it will put me in Ravenclaw, Sarah had whined. Now she wasn't so sure. What if it didn't? What would she do?

She could see Ema now, watching her, and Jamie looked almost as scared as she was. She took a deep breath and put the hat on her head. Immediately, she felt calmer. Not being able to see, in turned out, was an asset.

At once, a small voice spoke, making her nearly fall off the chair in alarm. Hm ... A Lastroni. I remember Jasmine was in Ravenclaw, correct?

Jamie. She likes Jamie. As she thought it, Sarah felt stupid. She was being sorted, and she was busy correcting the Sorting Hat about her sister's name?

That's alright, said the Sorting Hat, clearly having heard her embarrassment. So she's in Ravenclaw, but you have two sides to you. You are leaning far towards the Slytherin end.

Sarah's heart clenched. No, no, no, she thought. Please, please, let me be in Ravenclaw.

I think Slytherin's the way to go for you, though, SLY -

But the hat didn't finish. At that moment, Sarah felt tears choke her, and the hat hesitated. Please, Sarah thought through her sobs, I need to be with Jamie. It's not just something I want, it's something I need. Please!

The hat was still hesitating, she could feel it. You would do better in Slytherin, it sighed eventually, but I see now why you need to be with your sister. I will explain this later to Professor Katkin, I suppose. In the meantime, though against my better judgment, RAVENCLAW!

* * *

Ari thought Jamie might fall off the bench in shock and relief. The whole hall had heard the hat begin to say Slytherin, then, for the first time in anyone's memory, the hat had stopped, apparently, pondering, and chosen Ravenclaw.

Sarah seemed to match Jamie's shock, and, oddly enough, there was no relief in either of their faces. Ari glanced at Ema, who was thinking the same thing. Jamie and Sarah were meant to be in different houses, Sarah's wand had proved that, but Sarah, for whatever reason, had managed to convince the hat to put her where she wanted to be.

Sarah was crying as she made her way over to the Ravenclaw table. No one got up to congratulate her as she sat down next to Jamie and buried her small head in her sister's shoulder.

It seemed nobody quite knew what to say to her. They all half watched as "Plisneth, James" was sorted into Gryffindor, and when, finally, "Zemmer, Robert" was put in Hufflepuff, Jamie stood up. "I'll be right back," she said to the other three, taking Sarah by the hand. She stopped to say something to the Ravenclaw prefect, Josephine, a sixth year who preferred to be called Joey. Then they walked out of the hall.

"What on earth," said Ema, looking at Ari, "was that about?" She didn't seem all too concerned, in Ari's opinion, for she started dumping a mountain of mashed potatoes onto her plate, accompanied by what looked like about half a cow and around seventeen sausages.

Though very hungry, Ari and Ronnie were slightly more conservative with their food. Ari had stopped eating red meat the previous summer, mostly because she thought it was disgusting, and helped herself to turkey and roast potatoes, while Ronnie loaded up with a steak and some steak and kidney pie, and a bit more steak.

Apparently seeing Ari's disgusted glance at their plates, both Ema and Ronnie said, with their mouths full of food, "What?"

"Honestly," said Ari with dignity, taking a bit of her turkey, which she had piled with copious amounts of ketchup, as she didn't really like it either. "You guys, between you, have eaten about three badly cared for, underfed, cows."

They both looked at their plates. Ema grinned. "Sorry," she said to her steak. "But you taste far too good."

She and Ronnie bust into raucous laughter, and Ari couldn't help but join in.