I stand next to Minny as more and more students are pulled up to the stool.

"I think she's a squib," I hear students whisper.

"Minny?" I whisper as I look up at her.

"Yes," she answers as she looks down at me.

"What is a squib?" I question.

"Nothing you need to be concerned about right now," she answers.

"Why didn't I get a house like the others?"

"It is called a hat stall. It is when the hat has a very difficult time placing you in a house. I just wanted to let you know that there is nothing you need to be concerned about. Normally, when there is a hat stall, it just takes longer than normal, but you seem to be extremely difficult for the hat to place. The hat is extremely old, and I have a feeling you may have hurt his very fragile ego, so he will think about your house while he continues to sort others," Minny explains.

"Do you know what house I will be in?" I question.

"I don't Miss Noir, only the hat truly knows," she answers, but her voice makes me think she is hiding something. 

Students after students step up to the stool to receive their house. The more that receive their houses easily, the more nervous I become. I glance up at Minny, she seems calm and focused as normal. I take a deep breath and try to change my body language to be as controlled as Minny's. I then try to make my emotions as controlled as Minny's, but it doesn't work.

What if Minny is wrong? What if I don't have magic like the other students? Is that something that they could mess up? Who is in charge of deciding who has magic and who doesn't? Is it a trustworthy system? When was the last time it failed? Could it have failed with me? What would happen then? Would I go to a new non-magical family in England? No, wait, would I go to a family in France? Would I go back to the girl's home?

"Miss Noir," Minny whispers as she guides me back towards the stool. I look around and notice
I'm the only student left. Minny lifts the hat off the stool and waits for me to climb up. I didn't notice I was shaking until the stool rattles against the floor. Minny places the hat back on my head.

The hat sighs as if he is annoyed that I'm back, but the hat can't be more annoyed that I'm back than I am.

"Anywhere or nowhere?" the hat asks. "That is the question. Is it that you belong everywhere or nowhere?"

I close my eyes, wishing that it would make this feel quicker. When I open them, I see the whole room looking up at me in an unsure way.

"Ravenclaw!" the hat announces.

Minny lifts the hat off of my head and I start to walk towards the table with a blue banner that hangs over it.

As I walk, I hear a voice scream over the clapping, "Go Syria!" Whistling follows the cheering.

I slow down and look for the voice of the cheering. I spot a red-headed boy with fingers in his mouth to make his whistling louder. I quickly look away and find an empty spot on the bench and sit next to a girl with long straight black hair and bangs that cover her eyebrows.

"Hello, I'm Syria," I introduce myself.

The girl looks at me and then scoots over on the bench as far as possible.

"Let the feast begin," announces a man with a long white beard and glasses that resemble half of a full moon.

Bowls and platters with mountains and hills of food appear in the middle of the table. I look around at the food lines at the other tables as well. I look around and nobody seems shocked at the amount of food. I grab a scoop of the mashed potatoes and some of the chicken. I eat what is on my plate before I grab more food. The feeling of knowing I can eat all I want is strange. It is addicting. At the girl's home, we had learned proper etiquette, but now that is lost and now I'm eating as fast as possible.

"Dude slow down, you are acting like a dog," says a boy across from me, looking at me in disgust.

I put down the chicken leg I was eating and look around me. The students down the table have stopped to watch me. I wipe my fingers on the napkin in my lap and I keep my eyes down the rest of the feast. I feel people's eyes, but I refuse to look up.

I don't notice people are leaving till someone bumps into my back. I stand from the bench and follow the sea of navy blue out of the Great Hall. We enter a towering room where staircases weave together, blocking the view of the ceiling. I climb up the staircase, every step more work than the last. My eyes can't seem to focus though I'm trying to pay attention. My legs feel heavy, and I clutch on the railing to drag myself up. I make out the sea of blue through my blurry vision and can see them creeping farther away from me.

"Come on love. You're almost there," a voice whispers.

Hands grab my arms from the railing and half carries me. I try to rub my eyes in hopes that I will be able to make out the face, but it is like the windshield wipers on a car when the rain is coming down so hard. My head starts to feel too heavy. I surrender in the fight and let my head fall onto the person's shoulder.

"Almost there," they say again, a little out of breath.

We reach the top of the stairs, and I hear the voice whispering again, but it is directed to someone else instead of me. Someone lets me go, and I plop down onto a large velvet chair.

"Hey, welcome to Ravenclaw," greets a voice, causing me to lift my heavy eyelids.

The girl is wearing a navy blue headband over her straight brown hair that ends at her jaw.

"I'm one of the Ravenclaw prefects," she says in a soft voice. "You're going to walk up the stairs and look for a door that has your name on it," she explains while pointing to an archway that has the night sky carved into the top. "That will be your dorm for the year. Does that make sense?"

I nod, and she holds out her tan hand to hold while I stumble from the chair. I walk to the staircase entrance and hold onto the bronze railing, which looks as though it is wrapped in ivy and flowers. The steps are made of marble, sparkling tile, with bronze and blue stones sprinkled through the pattern.

I pass multiple doors, done displaying a gold plaque with my name on it. I continue up the steps and stop when I see my name on it. I push the bronze ornate knob and open the door.

The girls that I had passed on the train stop their laughing abruptly as I walk in.

"Oh, umm-," I stutter. "Hi, I'm Syria," I rush out. "Oh, well you probably already figured that out from the names on the door," I ramble.

They continued looking at me and decided to stop standing awkwardly and move to the one bed that didn't look like it had been taken.

"That is Emelia's bed," a girl with long brown tells me.

"Oh I'm sorry! All of the other ones looked taken," I explain while moving away from the bed.

"They are, Emelia needs two beds. One for sleeping, one for her pre-bed time meditation," she says in a voice that makes me look stupid.

"Oh so... Where am I supposed to sleep?" I question.

"I guess you can sleep on the floor, just try to not be in the way," she responds.

I pull my trunk off the bench at the end of the bed and pull into the corner of the room. I fill up the metal latches and pull out the pajamas I had gotten with Dora and Andromeda. I grab the toothbrush and toothpaste Andromeda had given me and I go into the tiled bathroom and lay my clothes on the counter. I pull the ribbons out of hair and undo the braids that Andromeda did this morning. I pull off my clothes and fold them in a pile before putting the pajamas on. I squeeze out the toothpaste on to the brush and watch myself in the mirror while I brush my teeth.

Tomorrow is the start of my new life. Not today, because if today was the start, this new life may be just as bad as my old one. Tomorrow will be great. I will make friends. I will get through my classes.

I take a deep breath, closing my eyes before opening them again to look into my own in the mirror.

"I won't just get through. I will exceed," I tell myself.

Hello loves, it has been a minute. I decided to post for my birthday! I'm not entirely back yet, but expect to see a little increase in updates. I want to be honest, I did not expect to be away for this long. I talked a little about stepping away because of health reasons, and it has become a bigger ordeal than I expected. Trying to change a ton of lifestyle type things to see if it helps is draining, especially while starting school again and not just summer classes. I do miss y'all and I miss the outlet that writing has given me. My goal was to have pre-written chapters, but I have had writer's block, that seems like it is slowly starting to go away. My goal is to start off really slowly to a regular posting schedule, a chapter once a month. You may also noticed I haven't been active on here, and I hope to slowly become more active again. So, in the end, I'm not back completely, but you should start seeing me a little more often than you have.