Chapter 1, Day 0 : The Sorting Ceremony.

What a rush! Today was a day Margaret wouldn’t soon forget; of course she felt sad for all the lives lost, but encountering a real Hebridean Black, exploring ancient ruins, going on a Gringotts ride...

The beautiful glow of the moon and the soft night wind’s comfort would soon come to an end as the Hogwarts Castle crept closer and closer as Professor Fig and her walked inexorably towards today’s most terrifying challenge.
The old man glanced at the quiet girl next to him, “You did a smashing job today, Margaret, you can be proud of yourself.” he said, smiling at her.

Looking slightly more gloomy than usual, her gaze quickly moving between the road ahead and the menacing castle, she thanked her mentor with a soft nod.
“I wonder...” he quietly whispered to himself.

“There we are! Hogwarts!” exclaimed Professor Fig as their last steps finally brought them in front of the doors to the Great Hall. “Now, if we’re lucky, the Headmaster will allow you to get sorted tonight - we did arrive quite late- and I’ll see you tomorrow. Once again, I’m proud of what we did today.” The old man was positively beaming as he spoke, his head peaking inside the Great Hall.
“Now, Miss, I know this won’t be easy on you, but please, walk towards the Sorting hat, don’t feel rushed, do not run, and do not use the Swift spell.” Margaret nodded before the worried man disappeared.

The pale girl pushed the doors open gently, slithering between the small gap and conscientiously closing them behind her. The Great Hall fell completely silent as all heads turned to her.

“Ah there you are, Miss, quite late aren’t we?” exclaimed the Headmaster. She quickly bowed an apology and started walking briskly towards him and the Sorting Hat.
The buzzing whispers of the students, their insistant gaze and the reverberating sounds of her steps on the floor overwhelmed her senses “Makeitstopmakeitstopdontlookatmestopitstopiticandothisthisisnothing” her pace was accelerating, all these eyes felt like knives, the whispering was getting louder and louder and every step felt like a ticking clock.

“HAH! DYKE!” Yelled a student, she didn’t even flinch, her eyes were looking everywhere, trying not to lose sight of her path while avoiding looking at someone, her breath was getting shorter, her lower back and abdomen were getting tighter and her hands started shaking from the adrenaline. “Why are you doing this? Why don’t you just run away?” she thought, but as her mind started betraying her, the soft and warm smiles of the professors waiting for her welcomed her to take a seat.

After a quick nod she quietly sat on the stool and the hat was delicately plopped on her head by Professor Weasley, who smiled and held her shoulder, wanting to reassure her, eliciting an instantaneous flinch from Margaret, much to the laughter of the students, and dismay of the kind lady.
“Silence!” yelled Headmaster Black.

“Ohooo what an interesting mind” said the Hat “My, my, my, I haven’t seen anything quite like this for a long time... I see creativity, kindness, loyalty, an insatiable thirst for knowledge, an agile mind, ready to bend the rules when the need arises, could this be what they call a Hatstall?” The whispering students were getting louder but the Hat kept talking “You had quite the day, didn’t you, young lady? But despite all this, the biggest challenge was going through this room, and before that, through mentorship? How peculiar. You would make any house proud but...Courage, is what you displayed the most of, that makes you...” “GRYFFINDOR!” he exclaimed, to the cheers of the students in red, and the boos of those in green.

“Charming, charming, now everyone, to your common rooms!” said the Headmaster.
It was finally over, the whispering turned into a piercing brouhaha but the gazes were mostly gone, and as the room emptied Margaret felt more and more relieved.
“I’m sorry for making you jump, young lady” said the kind professor Weasley, smiling at the new student, her eyes mesmerized by the magical ceiling.
“Let me accompany you to your dormitories, I won’t pry but I must assume you had quite the day to arrive this late into the sorting ceremony.”

The rest of the evening was only a blur to the poor girl as she nodded and shook her head to the increasingly uneasy professor accompanying her.
Now in front of the common room, the warm lady bowed her goodnight and as she turned around the young girl tried apologizing.
“...” much to Margaret’s embarrassment, her voice wouldn’t come out, instead, her voice cracked quietly and the worried professor turned around “Pardon? Were you saying something young miss?”
The visibly embarrassed girl quietly cleared her throat, her emotionless face turned towards the professor but her eyes moving wildly, passing everywhere but on her kind eyes “I'm sorry, Professor, I wanted to apologize, thank you for accompanying me.”
The lady smiled gently “Goodnight little miss.”
“Ah, yes, thank you.”

The worst of today was over, after a quick glance into the common room, realizing there were students loitering inside, she sat on the floor outside, next to the Fat Lady’s worried gaze.
Margaret would only enter the room a few hours later, when she was certain it would be empty, much to the Fat Lady’s annoyance.
On her way to her room, she looked back towards the entrance, noticing a blinding green glow before a powerful voice boomed “GRYFFINDORKS! QUIDDITCH!”
Jumping slightly at the scream, the girl entered her room, readying herself for another hurdle : falling asleep.