chapter two
❛ welcome to hogwarts ❜

    "WELCOME TO HOGWARTS!" The woman, who Hagrid had introduced as Professor McGonagall, spoke. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses." Ariel was very keen on listening to the stern-faced woman clad in emerald-green robes, but was distracted by the hubbub going on behind the closed doors of the Great Hall.

The Professor went on explaining the eleven-year-olds about Hogwarts and its houses, when Ellie felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see a taller, sandy-haired boy looking at her with a tensed look on his face, craning his head down a little, whispered, "Hi, we met earlier," Ellie could not hear him on top of McGonagall's voice and she was having a hard time concentrating considering she had never had a boy so close to her ( playing with babies at the park didn't count ) and could not remember where she had seen him before. So he continued, "When I accidentally crashed into your trolley? Back at the station?" A bulb went off in Ellie's head and she instantly remembered the boy who had "accidentally" embarrassed her by making her fall on her butt.

She wasn't mad at him but went on with a pout on her face, "Of course I remember! You made me fall."

"Sorry about that, really." His nervous stance was making it very hard for her to act mad at him and unknowingly, a smile had crept up on her face as he said, "I think my book fell there, any chance you picked it up?"

It wasn't a very clear memory but she did remember scurrying up and putting in something she thought had fallen out of her bag. "I think so? I'll check afterwards and give it to you as soon as possible." During this brief conversation, Lily's tugs on Ellie's arm had gone completely unnoticed by her, but it was too late now, the boy's cute smile couldn't have saved her from McGonagall stopping mid-sentencing and calling out, "Perhaps students can wait until we reach the Great Hall to complete their very important talks?" She immediately turned her head towards the teacher, flinching and quickly replying with an almost inaudible, "Sorry, mam."

McGonagall hadn't particularly called Ellie or the boy's names out, but Ellie knew by the way the Professor was staring daggers at the two, raising her voice in their direction, and if that wasn't enough, all the children went completely quiet and were looking at the two now.

Great. She thought to herself. School hasn't even started and I've already made the worst impression on my teacher.

She didn't dare look back at the boy, who had gone completely red himself, and was instead focused on her very interesting looking shoes now with her heart pounding in her ears as she took in slow breaths. Trying her hardest to ignore Severus' huff of disappointment or someone stifling their laughter in the background, or even the small sorry the boy had whispered, she instead focused on Lily moving her foot towards Ellie's, touching it slightly, as if trying to tell her it's alright.

McGonagall went on but Ariel was now thinking about ten different things to yell at the boy who had made a fool of her twice now.

Soon enough, Professor McGonagall opened the doors to the Great Hall and an array of ghosts disrupted the crowd of eleven-year-olds. Any residual embarrassment left with Ariel was replaced with a mix of horror and utter excitement as everyone bent down to make way for the ghosts, screaming, laughing. Both Lily and Ariel yelled and tried to cover their heads with their robes.

"Move along now, the Sorting Ceremony is about to start." said the sharp voice of Professor McGonagall and most ghosts seem to either fade away or make way for the children, who were asked to form a line and follow her into the Great Hall.

It was as if this day was made for the awe and enjoyment of Ariel, or at least that was the first thought that came into her mind when she entered the Great Hall. First, the view of Hogwarts from the lake and now this? Ellie could faint. She let out a sigh, enchanted by the Hall and the thousands of candles floating in mid-air over the four long tables. It looked like the heavens collided with Earth and Hogwarts was born, if anyone looked at Ariel right this moment, they would see her eyes quite literally shimmering, reflecting the Hall.

She grabbed Lily's arm in excitement and saw the same lit-up expression on her face as the girls giggled to themselves, unable to contain their happiness at this. Both came from loving homes, for sure. But there was something about Hogwarts. Something so special, that it made its way into the hearts of anyone that dares call it home. And that is exactly what the girls felt. Home.

As the hat placed on the four-legged stool started singing, it had supposedly caught everyone off-guard as there were several laughs heard from the audience as well as a huge round of applause when it got over. McGonagall too had a smile on her face as she cleared her throat, looking over the children, and started calling out the names in alphabetical order, "Aubrey, Bertram."

The nervous boy sat on the stool and the hat was put on his head, and in a few seconds it shouted, "RAVENCLAW!" The Ravenclaw table cheered in applause as a smiling Bertram went on to sit with them. This went on for a while with surnames like Avery and Abercrombie being called out but the letter A ended soon. So far, all students were met by cheers and applause, surprisingly, that wasn't the case for the next one, "Black, Sirius."

When the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" There was absolute silence for the Black boy, Ariel also noticed several pairs of glaring eyes from the Slytherin table. A few seconds later, the Gryffindor table erupted into cheers seeming to notice the boy's nervous look on his face.

Ariel didn't understand much, but she and Lily had started to understand the Sorting Ceremony and were now hoping to be sorted in the same house. Severus tried not to show it, but he was wishing that too.

"Evans, Lily." Ellie squeezed her hand and mouthed good luck as the redhead made her way to the stool. It only took a few seconds for the hat to shout, "GRYFFINDOR!" Ariel smiled and clapped brightly among the others and hoped she would get Gryffindor as well.

Considering Ariel's surname started with an S, it was taking a bucket load of time to get to her name. She always thought having a name starting with the letter A had a lot of downsides, she was the first to submit all the projects, first to be called out for any speaking activity, first to be standing in lines to get to the other classes, but now she was starting to miss it.

It only worsened, when the-boy-who-had-embarrassed-her-twice now was called out way before her. Remus Lupin. She thought his friendly face and soft smile would have made them friends, but he had made it quite clear that he would rather have her falling or getting scolded in front of everyone. And when he got sorted into Gryffindor, she was the disappointed one.

After waiting and waiting and waiting, the Professor finally called, "Serrano, Ariel."

With a thumping heart, the girl went and sat on the stool as McGonagall put the hat on her head.

Ah, a Serrano, a voice in her head spoke, making her jump slightly. That's a lot of secrets in such a little head, eh? The thought of the hat looking into her mind scared her but she let it continue. Well I see passion, perhaps a Gryffindor? Ariel grinned at the thought. A passion to learn? Hm, you're going to need this for the life you shall lead, I know where to put you, "RAVENCLAW!"

The whole Ravenclaw table cheered loudly and Ariel forgot how much she wanted to be in Gryffindor a moment ago. She sat on the table as some senior students patted her on the back. She looked over to the Gryffindor table to see Lily talking to her fellow Gryffindors, and glancing back at Ellie with a bittersweet smile on her face. Ellie smiled back and took it as a sign to talk to other first-year Ravenclaws.

Bertram Aubrey, the first boy to get sorted, was not a very talkative boy but liked talking about quidditch a lot. He also tried to talk about how his reflection on the polished drinking glass looked especially marvellous ( but Ellie really couldn't concentrate because his eyes felt like they were piercing her soul ).

Priscilla Travers, the girl who was coincidentally the next Ravenclaw after Ariel was sorted, came from a very prestigious family, "I'm just glad I was sorted in Ravenclaw. Of course there was no doubt, Travers' are known for being sorted in Ravenclaw, but...could you imagine?" she exclaimed, leaning towards Ellie and Bertram and lowered her voice so that the first-year muggleborn boy couldn't hear them, "Being in Gryffindor? With those.... blood-traitors and muggleborns?" Ellie audibly gasped at her sentence and was quick to say, "Well, I'm a half-blood, Priscilla."

All colour drained from the blonde girl's face, guilt quickly replacing her earlier expressions, "No-No! That's not what I meant, it's just, my mum and dad always tell me how muggles-" stopping at Ariel's quirk of eyebrow, "Don't they-hurt their children?" This caught Ariel off-guard.

She knew a little about the prejudices held by some purebloods in the wizarding world, but she would've never guessed it stemmed from something so barbaric said to the children.

So Ariel started laughing. Quite loudly.

Bertram Aubrey looked away in discomfort while Priscilla just wondered if she was alright with a wide-eyed expression.

"Of course not!" Ellie said, in between laughs, "I mean, I suppose my mother can get quite irritable sometimes? And maybe a little loud, and maybe she'll threaten the dressmaker here and there..." she trailed off, saying the last part under breath, "But she would never, ever hurt anyone, let alone a child! What gave you such an idea!" Priscilla looked quite confused at the revelation and opened her mouth to say something when she was interrupted by an unknown voice.

"I can think of a reason or two." Ellie looked to her left to find a boy throwing a cheeky smile at them and extending his arm to shake, "Hi, I'm Theodore. Theodore Milburn, you can call me Theo." Ariel's mood seemed to have gotten better since her conversation with Priscilla and shook his hand with a smile on her face, "I'm Ariel, Ariel Serrano. You can call me Ellie."

For the rest of the feast, Ariel shared a few words with Priscilla and Bertram but mostly talked to Theodore. Theodore was a muggleborn, and she could tell now why Priscilla wasn't too excited to talk to him. He was lovely, however, "Well, I was actually getting ready to go on my trip to France with my old folks! Professor McGonagall, over there, personally came to explain everything to us." he continued, and Priscilla couldn't help but, very subtly, overhear, "They were obviously shocked and happy, but pops was quite bummed to cut our France trip short, you know, for the packing and all."

He loved to talk just as much as Ellie did, which was delightful. Every detail would somehow lead to an entirely different conversation and soon enough, Priscilla joined in as well. She looked hesitant to talk to the muggleborn, but couldn't help but laugh at Theo's poor attempts at cracking jokes.

Ellie realised Hogwarts was very nice to the little mermaid.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ⋆*･ *･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

The feast ended and the first-years were escorted by their respective house prefects to their dorms. On the way out of the gates of the Great Hall, Ellie caught a glimpse of a familiar face among the bustling crowd. It was Lily, seemingly looking for Ellie in the crowd as well, and hurried towards her as soon as they caught each other's eyes.

"Lily!" Ellie called out, her voice filled with both joy and longing. "Ellie, it's so good to see you," Lily said, her voice tinged with a hint of wistfulness. They embraced, cherishing the familiarity and connection they had formed in such a short time.

Ellie sighed softly. "I wish we could be in the same house, Lily. It feels bittersweet to walk different paths within Hogwarts." Lily nodded, understanding Ellie's sentiment. "I feel the same way, Ellie. But let's remember, houses won't define our friendship. Severus is also sorted in Slytherin, he said we will probably have many classes together as well. Just, not the same dorm rooms."

The thought of them being friends despite their house differences made Ariel's lips curl into a smile. "Promise?" she said, extending her little finger, delicate and dainty, towards Lily. Her heart swelled with affection as she intertwined her own pinky finger with Ariel's, their fingers creating a delicate, unbreakable bond. The simplicity of the gesture held profound meaning for them. "Promise." They smiled at each and until Lily took in a breath carried on, "Well, we've got to go now- oh!"

Lily seemed to have been interrupted by a thought when she saw Remus Lupin behind her, "- Ellie, Remus wanted to talk to you about something!" and before Ariel had a chance to open her mouth and ask her to stay, because she obviously did not want to talk to that boy, Lily hurriedly exclaimed, "Alright, bye!" and scurried off with the other Gryffindors.

Ariel sighed and looked at Remus, who was nervously looking back and forth at the floor and at her.

"For the last time, I will give you your bloody book back as soon as I go to my dorms and look for it!" she whisper-yelled, but immediately fell in a hole of guilt when she saw the said boy wince, "I'm sorry, I-I'm usually not that angry, but I suppose, I am sometimes-" but was quickly interrupted, "No-No, I completely deserved it, and that was why I came here actually. I wanted to apologise."

Ariel's eyes softened at the revelation, she didn't enjoy being mean to people, it just came naturally to her once the said people made her feel insulted or even slightly mad in any way.

"It's alright, Remus is it?" she softly said with a smile, which surprisingly, made Remus look away in embarrassment, and say a small Yes, Ariel. Ariel couldn't understand this behaviour of his, but smiled a bit more at the mention of her name, "And really, I will give you your book back by tomorrow, I promise."

Remus only nodded as Ariel walked over to the other Ravenclaws, looking at her from a distance, smiling, before mentally reprimanding himself and going over to three boys of his, calling out his name.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ⋆*･ *･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

A/N:

hi! ik this chapter is sooo boring but the first few chapters will be considering theyre mostly set in the first year and its more me introducing the characters and setting the base, their inner monologues etcetc

ANYWAYS hope you guys are enjoying this either ways!! i lovee lily and ariel's friendship and dw shes gonna get buddy-buddy with her ravenclaws too