~Hermione~

Seeing Piper cry was heartbreaking. Going up to the castle without the girls felt wrong. I only met them a couple of hours ago but they were really nice. I take my place at the Gryiffindor table next to Harry and Ron. I glance to the doors a couple of times before they slowly open up and reveal the girls and guys. I look at Piper and see that she seems a lot happier than she was an hour ago. McGonagall walks past them and takes her place on the podium.

"Students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, please welcome the exchange students from Lady Hecate's School of Magic."

Around the hall are scattered claps as the group walk forward. McGonagall steps forward and puts the Sorting Hat on its usual stool. The hat stayed perfectly still until Leo called out

"Is something supposed to happen or do we stand here and sort ourselves?"

The hall erupted into laughter with the exchange students joining in. The brim of the hat tears open and starts talking.

"You know, I was going to sing but now I just don't feel like it. Alrighty McGonagall, bring it on!"

McGonagall strode up to the hat and unrolled a scroll. Even though she kept a calm demeanour, I could tell that she was trying not to laugh. She clears her throat and starts reading out the names.

"Di Angelo, Nico"

Nico was a small kid with dark hair and even darker eyes but his skin was a pale olive. As he walked up to the stool, all the ghosts became restless. When he was twenty feet away, the hat let out an ear splitting shriek.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! DON'T PUT ME ON THAT BOYS HEAD!! HE'S BEEN THROUGH TOO MUCH!!!! HE'S BEEN THROUGH MUCH WORSE THAN EVERYONE IN THIS HALL PUT TOGETHER!!!!!!! HE'S BEEN THROUGH WORSE THAN THE CHOSEN ONE!!!!"

After screaming, the hat starts sobbing uncontrollably. Somewhere between his sobs, the hat chokes out

"Gryiffindor."

Nico walks to the Gryiffinor table and quietly sits down next to Harry. Harry looks at Nico, dumbfounded, as Nico is only fourteen. McGonagall looks down at the scroll again, ignoring all the stares in her direction.

"Grace, Jason"

The blondie walks up and takes his place on the stool. The hat is placed gently on his head and this time, thankfully, it stays quite. After about ten seconds, Jason is also placed in Gryiffindor.

"Jackson, Perse-"

"JUST PERCY!"

A small smile plays on the edges of McGonagall's mouth.

"Jackson, Percy"

Percy walks up and at ten feet away, the hat lets out a tortured scream.

"YOU WENT THROUGH THERE AS WELL!!?????!!!!!! NOPE, NO NO NO!!! I REFUSE TO GO ON HIS HEAD!!! HES BEEN THROUGH WORSE THAN HARRY POTTER!!! *hic* Gryffindor *hic*"

After the hat finishes crying, Percy walks over to the Gryiffindor table and sits next to Jason. The hat calms down and McGonagall reads out the next name.

"Levesque, Hazel"

Hazel walks up, her cinnamon toast hair bouncing behind her. She sits down, eager to be sorted. When the hat is placed on her head, it takes a little longer than Jason did.

"You would do well in Hufflepuff but I think that you belong in GRYIFFINDOR!"

Hazel takes off the hat and jumps on top of Percy, messing up his already messy hair. She then plops herself down next to Nico and they start talking in Latin. I only caught a few words because my own Latin is limited but I caught the word "pater". Dad.

"Lunar, Lilian"

Lily goes up and sits down on the stool. As soon as the hat is placed on her head, it lets out a torrent of curses that made me glad that the first years were in a completely different room. The hat was snatched off her head but it kept going until McGonagall jammed it onto her own head.

"Might I remind you, THIS IS A SORTING!!!"

It calmed down and spat out

"Slytherin"

And the hat also added a mumbled

"Sorry Headmistress McGonagall, it won't happen again."

Wow, it's that bad. After Lily takes her place in Slytherin, the hat was put back on the stool and the next name was called out.

"McLean, Piper"

Piper walks up and practically jumped onto the stool. As soon as the hat was placed on her head, it let out a gasp of surprise.

"My dear, you're related to that! I feel so sorry for you. But you definitely deserve to go to GRYIFFINDOR! And not because I feel sorry for you. You have proven yourself worthy of a spot in Gryffindor."

The hat glares at the hall, daring anyone to challenge his little speech, while Piper bounces over and plops herself in between Percy and Jason, cuddling up to Jason, a much perkier that she was an hour ago.

"Noimosýni, Alexandra"

The mystery girl. None of the exchange students had any idea of who she was, so it made her more interesting. She walks up confidently but is stopped just like how Percy and Nico were stopped, minus the crying.

"YOU WENT THROUGH THAT AND YOU GOT YOUR HEART BROKEN RIGHT AFTER!!!!?????!!!!!!! And, MERLINS BEARD!!! YOU DID THAT WITH A BROKEN ANKLE!?!?!?!?!?! And, NOPE, DO NOT PUT ME ANYWHERE NEAR THAT GIRLS HEAD!"

Alexandra's face turned as red as Ron's hair and she came over and sat herself next to me.

"Oh come on!"

Harry stands up, outrage plastered on his face.

"Mr Potter, please take your seat."

"No! I saved the freaking world! And the hat is saying that these new comers have gone through more that all of Hogwarts combined. How is that possible! Nico is three years younger than everyone in our year and the hat is saying that he's gone through worse than me, Ron and Hermione?"

"Don't drag me into this mate!"

"Mr Potter! As Headmistress of Hogwarts I am telling you to SIT DOWN!!"

Harry sits down with a huff and glares at the hat. Alexandra's mystery has gone up several notches, but I push down my curiosity and check on her.

"Hey Alex, are you ok?"

She nods her head mutely and stares at the remaining two boys.

"Valdez, Leo"

The Latino santas elf rushes up the steps and falls on his face. The hall erupts into laughter again but Leo seems unfazed by the laughing. He stands back up and sits down on the stool. The hat is placed on his head and five seconds later,

"GRYIFFINDOR!"

Leo bounces over and sits on my other side. I focus on the last guy, a big, burly Asian kid.

"Zhang, Frank"

He walks up and thirty seconds later, he's sitting next to Hazel, her head on his chest. The doors open again and the first years pour through. After they're all sorted, the feast magically appears and everyone digs in. For some reason, all of Percy's food is blue. He gets weird looks from everyone except the exchange students but he just keeps shovelling food into his mouth. Merlins Beard, he's just like Ron. After dessert, everyone goes back to the common rooms except for the first year Gryiffindor's, the exchange students, Harry, Ron and myself.

"Alright first years, follow me!"

I lead everyone to the common room and when we get to the fat lady, Ron calls out the password.

"Half Blood"

The exchange students take one look at each other and burst into laughter. I see a little girl in an oversized robe run over and tug on Piper's skirt. Piper looks down and her face lights up in delight. She scoops up the girl and cuddles her while everyone stares at them and says Awwwwwww.

The girl takes off her oversized robe and drapes it over Pipers head. Jason walks up behind her and fixes up her robe so that it's over her shoulders rather than her head. The little girl has dirty blond hair and big brown doe eyes. With the three of them clustered together, I can imagine them as a family.

Family

Something I don't really have anymore. I look down at my shoes, trying not to cry, when I feel a gentle hand on my right shoulder. I look up and see that Ron and I are the only people left. Tears stream down my face and I open my arms for a hug. He steps forward and envelopes me in a warm hug. I breath in his minty scent, but the tears don't stop flowing. I let go of him but I don't move. Ron gently grabs my hand and leads me into the common room. He sets me down in my favourite armchair by the fire and calms me down.

I don't know how long I stay in the chair but at some point Ron left and Hazel comes up to me and leads me to my dorm and sets my on my bed. She takes my shoes off for me and gets me to lie down on the bed. As she brings the quilt up to my chin, she gives me a hug and leaves the dormitory. As the fire dies out, I wait in the darkness for one of the girls to come up but they never do. Eventually, I drift off into clutches of sleep.