The hat of horrors (OPEN, Oliver Bennett)

The loud crowd of anxious parents and rowdy students surrounded Katherine as she stood on the platform of 9 and 3/4. Her mother kissed her cheek and gently smiled at her eleven year old daughter. If it was up to her, Katherine would stay at home for at least another ten years. But the Hogwarts letter that came to their door a few months ago ruined that fantasy. All her mother could do faced with the imminent misery of her only child leaving the nest was to put on a brave face and smile - for Katherine's sake. After all, it was her that was about to being a whole new chapter in her life, not the other way around. "Don't forget, I packed all your new outfits in the blue suitcase. They are arranged by color so it makes it easier for you to unpack", her mother spoke with a sweetness in her voice and a smile that could dazzle an unaware stranger just passing by. She was a woman of belief that a meticulously designed outfit could ease most if not all of life's hardships.

"Leona dear, don't overwhelm the girl. I am certain that she will have plenty of time to appreciate your packing skills when she gets settled in her new room", said her father with a smirk. Tobias, a man of a more solemn nature and appearance, handed Katherine a beaded bracelet with sapphire crystals. The same one he crafted himself on the day she was born. "Remember to wear it on your sorting ceremony. It is for good luck. And it might have a protective charm or two", he grinned as Katherine hugged him firmly. The sorting ceremony worried her the most, so her father's gift was exactly what she needed. All the rumor of a talking hat figuring out where you fit in was ridiculous to her.

After a long, heartfelt goodbye from her parents and a continued promise that she would write to them every single day, Katherine boarded the train with her blue suitcase in hand. She had passed at least half of the train's length before finding an empty compartment. Seeing how she didn't know anyone here, she didn't really feel like barging in a compartment filled with students who for the most part seemed a lot older than she was. Putting her blue suitcase underneath her seat, Katherine tried to make herself comfortable and not seem so nervous. But the truth is that she was, extremely so. She pulled out a book from her bag in hopes of passing the time with a quick read. Perhaps that would get her distracted enough not to think of the horror of a talking hat being placed on her head.

YES! Ollie was officially a Fourth Year. This meant, he could go to Hogsmeade freely every weekend, and he could register for more interesting classes, and he could sort of maybe learn how to sneak out past curfew and stuff his face food. Although, he already knew how to do that because his Common Room was super close to the Kitchens. Nevertheless, Ollie was excited to see all the wonderful people he had met in his past years. One, Blake. Obviously. Two, Victoria. Even more obviously. Third, Ariel. Also, obviously. Fourth...well, he’d really only met three super cool people that he wanted around all the time, but Mademoiselle O’Donnell and that Hunter kid weren’t that bad.

When his parents and brother arrived at Platform 9 ¾ , Ollie was more than ready to board the train. He kissed his mother goodbye, a little embarrassed to STILL have to do that and rushed inside without waiting for Matthew. Ollie figured his younger brother would follow anyway, so waiting to see if he was behind him was a waste of time. Ollie KNEW Matthew was behind him. He always was.

It wasn’t that Ollie was embarrassed of his brother, no. Well, maybe a little bit. Matthew was one of those annoying little kids that nobody wanted to hang around, but he was his brother...he HAD to love him. Ollie scanned the compartments, checking to see if anyone he knew was around. He was mostly keeping an eye out for either Ariel, Victoria or Blake, but after a few compartments he’d given up. Neither of them was anywhere close. There was one that was mostly empty, only a girl with blonde hair and a cute little baby face was inside. Grinning, Ollie figured he could make new friends. He slid the door open and peeked in, “Hey! Mind if I take a seat?” he asked her, a goofy grin still on his face. If Ollie were shy, maybe he’d let the girl be, but Ollie wasn’t shy. Instead, he didn’t even wait for a reply, he just walked in and sat across from her. She seemed nice, like the innocent kind of nice.

“I’m Oliver. Fourth year, Hufflepuff.” he said proudly, waiting for Matthew to walk in out of nowhere and make another weird comment like he had that day they saw Victoria at the ice cream place. And then Oliver noticed the book on the girl’s lap. “Oh, I’m sorry if I interrupted….” he said nervously, suddenly wishing for anyone else to come in and sit down next to him. Even that annoying red head girl, whose name he kept forgetting, the one in Slytherin...Matthew’s girlfriend, would be welcome. Oliver hated feeling uncomfortable

Her reading session was interrupted by the sound of the door sliding open. Soon after, a male voice followed. Lifting her eyes off her book and towards the noise, Katherine saw a raven haired boy introducing himself. He seemed older than her, so the blonde guessed that this wasn't his first train ride to Hogwarts. The boy apologized for interrupting her but Katherine was actually glad for the company. "Hi", she said a bit shyly, a tiny smile playing on her lips. "Oh no, you weren't. I was just reading. Go ahead", she encouraged him realizing that this train ride might be a bit more fun if she wasn't alone. Besides, she had to start meeting new people anyway. Wasn't this the perfect time to start?

Closing her book and placing it on her lap, she focused on the boy in front of her. Or Oliver as he said that was his name. "I am Katherine. First year", she finally introduced herself, although she felt like she didn't need to mention that she was a first year. Her confused and slightly anxious expression probably gave that away. "You are a Hufflepuff?", she asked curiously, remembering that Hufflepuff was one of the four Hogwarts houses. "So the talking hat told you that?", she asked not being able to disguise her terror. It all seemed so unnecessary! Couldn't they just take a test or answer a few questions instead? "Are you sorted in front of everyone?", she continued her questioning as her curiosity got the best of her. 

In reality, she was hoping that Oliver would tell her something comforting. Like it's not a big deal and all of it is done in a matter of seconds. But what she feared of hearing was something much more extreme. Maybe not everyone survives the hat of terror! Maybe not everyone gets sorted into a house. Is that possible? Could she be houseless for the rest of her Hogwarts education? "How do you like... Hufflepuff?" The fear of not actually fitting in a house surpassed even the fear of a magical hat being placed on her head. In front of everyone. Was she really the only one who saw the true madness in this whole thing?

Her parents had assured her that it didn't matter into which house she was placed in. That all houses were equal in value and importance. But somehow Katherine had doubts about that theory. Certainly the students didn't think so. Was there a 'best' and 'worst' house to be placed in? She hoped there wasn't and that this house system only dictated what colors you wear on your outfit. Not what kind of friends you can have and how far you can go in your academic pursuits.

Matthew was really getting sick of this shit. He'd just learned that word from watching television, by the way, and was determined to use it as much as possible. Mostly because his mother said he couldn't, kind of like how she said he couldn't set his great aunt's wig on fire. And if his mother told him not to do something, it meant that it was actually really awesome and she just didn't want him to have any fun because she hated him. Or something. Either way, he was excited to have a controversial new word added to his vocabulary, and also excited to share his new word with his friend Derek! Because Derek liked words and knew all kinds of different ones. So Matthew could sound smart by contributing his own new word to the conversation!

Anyway, the shit that he was done with was his awesome amazing big brother Ollie running away from him all the time. At first, Matthew had thought it was just coincidence. But now, as Ollie ran onto the train, Matthew was beginning to suspect that it wasn't just an accident. Either way, Matthew took off after him, after being detained by his mother and forced to give her a stupid kiss goodbye. But his mother's annoyingness had given his brother a head start, and when Matthew finally got onto the train he didn't know which way to go! So, without thinking about it much, he darted right and started looking in compartments.

He had looked in about a dozen compartments, and had just slid the door open on another to reveal an irritable looking older boy who instantly gave him a death glare. Quickly slamming the door again, Matthew decided he was looking in the wrong direction. So he ran to the other side of the train again, and finally, after long, exhausting days of searching, he came across his brother. Mathew beamed and bounded into the compartment. "Hi Ollie! I found you! It took me forever! Mum wouldn't let me go and - oh, hi!" he said, beaming at the girl sitting in the compartment. Because Matthew had met her - the girl from the bookshop.

"Do you remember me? Ollie, this is Katherine, whose name is too long and should be shortened," Matthew said, not even considering the fact that his brother had already been introduced. "She's a girl, so she isn't too cool. But still cooler than Ari. But her hair isn't cooler than Ari's because it's boring and not fire colored. So they're about the same maybe if you put it all together. They're both less cool than me and you." He had no idea what they were talking about. Did it matter?

Time to go back to school! Yay! Ari loved Hogwarts! It had magic, Her bestest friend Matthew, the guy who made her a princess, and of course, Hunter. She had over heard her parents talking about what had happened in diagon alley to him. How his brother was dead. Ari was determined to make him feel better with her presence!

That was all a person needed after all! Just her presence. She looked around the train after prying her family off of her, to find somebody to sit with. She was positive she'd make the conversation more interesting when she was there. She walked along, and after what seemed like forever, she finally found Matthew! She paused outside when she heard her name!

Of course they where talking about her! She was an interesting subject to talk about! She popped her head in and to her dismay, his brother was there. She didn't really remember his name because he wasn't that important. But Matthew was there. So she would suck it up.

She said, "Hey guys! Matthew!"

She sat right next to him! Everything was better now.