"Can I join you?  All of the other compartments are full."

Nerida Waters slowly looked up from the book she was reading- the Standard Book of Spells textbook- to see a bushy haired girl staring at her expectantly. Brushing a lock of her dark hair from her face, Nerida's face broke into a large grin as she tucked away her book without a second thought. "Of course." Nerida exclaimed hastily, not wanting to deter the girl in any way possible, "I'm Nerida, Nerida Waters."

     The girl, who had initially looked slightly awkward, smiled with relief as she sat across from Nerida. "I'm Hermione Granger." She said excitedly, "A first year."

     "Really?" Nerida asked, "Me to!" Her smile slightly faltered, "I don't know much about magic though, I didn't exactly grow up in a wizarding family..." she bit her cheek, inwardly cursing herself for mentioning that.

     "Are you muggle-born as well?" Hermione asked, but before giving Nerida a chance to answer, she went on. "All of this magical stuff is fascinating, I never even imagined that any of this stuff could exist. But when Professor McGonagall came and told me about it, it just made my entire life seem complete." She suddenly flushed a deep red. "Y'know?" She asked rather weakly.

"Yeah," Nerida agreed eagerly, bobbing her head up and down. "It seemed as if a part of me was almost missing, and then I got my letter!"

     "This whole new world is fascinating." Hermione, looking immensely relieved once more, pulled out her wand. "I've already been practicing spells and such, minor ones of course, but spells all the same.  They've all worked pretty well for me so far."

     Nerida's eyes widened, "I've been practicing and studying as well, but I thought I'd be the only one, thank Neptune I'm not." She didn't catch the confused glance Hermione sent her at her use of words, "I'm really nervous because I don't want to be the worst in any of the classes, and I'm sure all the kids coming from a wizarding family have an advantage." She finished, a bitter edge to her words.

"It's also quite interesting," Hermione added fairly, "It doesn't even seem real, it's like a movie or a book.  I love going through the textbooks and reading about all of it."

     "Same, but I'm sure that will all change as soon as homework and stuff begins." Nerida joked, grinning loftily.

~~~~~

The two girls chatted for most of the train ride, talking about the things they had learned about the wizarding world, comparing what they knew, and of course, practiced a bit of magic.  At around 12:45, the two new friends were interrupted by a pretty young woman, smiling brightly, opening the door, "Anything off the cart dearies?" She asked kindly.

     Nerida exchanged half excited half nervous glance with Hermione before reaching into her pocket, fishing around for some of the strange wizarding money she had gotten from Diagon Alley when shopping for school supplies. Standing up, she walked outside of the compartment to examine the cart, her eyes widening as they roamed over all of the many options. "I'll- I'll have some of Droobles Best Blowing Gum." Nerida finally decided, handing the trolley witch some money as she grabbed a small box of it, heading back into the compartment.

     Sitting back down, Nerida pulled out a piece and began chewing it as Hermione went out and bought some Cauldron Cakes. Hermione returned, opening the package and biting into the sweet, smiling in content as she chewed it.

"This is quite good!" She exclaimed in surprise, examining the package momentarily before taking another bite.

     "Better than any sweets I've ever had." Nerida added in agreement, chewing the bubblegum with content.

Suddenly the door to their compartment slid open, revealing a chubby and red faced boy, appearing incredibly distraught and was sweating immensely. He had unshed tears in his eyes. "Sorry," he asked in a mournful voice, "but have you seen a toad at all?"

Hermione shook her head, "A toad? No."

"He keeps on getting away from me." The boy wailed, "One moment he was in my lap, the next he wasn't even in my compartment!" There was a moments pause, "Keep an eye out for him, will you? His names Trevor, if you find him, please return him to me."

"We can do better than that, we can help you look for him." Nerida said determinedly, casting a look at Hermione, who nodded in agreement. "What's your name again?"

"Neville Longbottom." He responded, slightly more hopeful.

"Right, well I'm Nerida Waters and that's Hermione Granger ." She gestured towards Hermione, "Don't worry, we can find him." She said cheerfully, standing up with Hermione and the trio exited the compartment.

"Right, well, we might as well split up." Hermione decided, "We'll cover more ground that way, Nerida, you go up towards the front of the train, and Neville and I will work our way towards the back."

     Nerida promptly spun around in her foot, heading for the front of the train as her eyes scoured the corridor, keeping an eye out for any toads. "Trevor." She called out in a voice just above a whisper as not to bother other people, "Trevor!" She called again, a bit more loudly, in a sing-song voice. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!  Neville's almost lost his head with worry looking for you, it'd be great if you could just come here before he gets too upset!"

After a few minutes of completely pointless calling, Nerida took to checking in on compartments like Neville had previously done when he stumbled upon her and Hermione.

She would introduce herself briefly before providing a brief description of Neville and Trevor, asking students if they had seen the toad, and to keep an eye out for him in the future. Most students were friendly and helpful, agreeing to do that much, however Nerida had the misfortune to also run into a few nastier ones that went from refusing to flat out insulting her, Neville, or Trevor, in some cases, all three.

"A toad?" A young girl with a black bob and flat nose shrieked shrilly, "How disgusting! Tell that stupid boy to keep track of his animals before they contaminate us all." She paused before glancing over at Nerida, "And get out of our compartment, we don't need people like you in here."

Several snickers from the others in her compartment followed that comment. Thoroughly disgruntled, Nerida left without saying anything, however she was fuming with anger.

"Absolutely foul girl." Nerida muttered under her breath with distaste and she continued her search for Trevor, "Sorry excuse for a witch if you ask me, someone should teach her some manners before she opens her big, fat mouth around the wrong person and knocks some sense into her! If I could, I'd-"

She was shaken from her thoughts as she heard her name being called from further down the corridor. Spinning around, Nerida saw Hermione walking towards her at a very fast pace.

     "Nerida!" Hermione called as she neared her, "Have you found Trevor?"

     Gloomily, Nerida shook her head, going towards Hermione. "I take it you haven't either?"

     "No." Hermione responded grimly, "But I have changed into my Hogwarts robes, I reckon we'll be arriving at the castle soon.  You should probably change as well, it wouldn't look good if your not ready."

     "Alright." Nerida sighed, heading down the hall towards their compartment with Hermione at her side. "I wish I'd have found Trevor," said Nerida rather guiltily, casting a glance at the empty corridor behind her, "But there's not really very much more I can do.  Anyways I've run into some rather horrible people." She informed Hermione darkly, "Hope they don't find the toad before Neville does."

     "You'll never guess who I saw." Hermione said as they entered the compartment, closing the door behind them and shutting the blinds so that Nerida could change.  Turning around to give the dark haired girl some privacy, she didn't give Nerida a chance to guess. "Harry Potter!"

     Nerida, who had been rummaging through her trunk to find her uniform, stuck her head up in disbelief. "The boy who lived?" She asked in awe.

     "Yeah." Hermione gave a nod of confirmation, although she flinched slightly at the use of the dark wizards name. "He's a first year like us, he's nice enough, although slightly awkward and really humble.  However he was with a rather rude boy named Ronald Weasley."

     "Wow." Nerida commented breathlessly, sticking her legs into the skirt. "Great Neptune- Harry Potter!  That's so cool." She said fervently.

     While Nerida hadn't grown up in the wizarding world, she had heard of the legendary Harry Potter.  Where she came from, tales of the one year old boy who had survived the killing curse from the worlds most powerful dark wizard circulated like wild fire, and Nerida couldn't wait to write back home to tell everyone she was going to school with the Harry Potter.

     "I know." said Hermione rather smugly, "If you'd like, I could take you to their compartment, but first I'd like to go up to find the conductor and ask how much longer 'till we arrive."

     "Ok." Nerida said eagerly, buttoning up her blouse and straightening her tie as she slipped into the Hogwarts robes. 

     She caught her reflection in the mirror and grinned proudly as she examined herself.  She looked like a real witch, it seemed almost too good to be true...

     "Are you done?" Hermione asked, turning around without waiting for an answer.  Nerida quickly tore her eyes away from herself, nodding at Hermione. "Alright, lets go then."
~~~~~

     "Ok, before we go in," Hermione said, casting a glance at Nerida, "Don't embarrass me."

     Nerida feigned innocence and surprise, clutching her heart as she looked up at a Hermione. "Embarrass you?" Nerida asked in a mock hurt voice, "Why, I never!  When have I ever embarrassed you, Hermione, in the short..." she paused, thinking deeply, "3- no 4- wait no, actually maybe... ok, never mind, in the short few hours that I've known you for!"

"Well, at least we know your not getting into Ravenclaw." Hermione muttered, shaking her head at Nerida. Before the girl had a chance to react, Hermione pushed open the door to the compartment.

Sweets were littered across the floor, accompanied by their wrappers if they were unopened. A red head sat, dangling a rat by its tail as he examined it. Meanwhile, a black haired boy was across from him, looking mildly surprised but still calm.

"What has been going on?" Hermione asked in a bossy voice, looking between the two boys and the mess with an air of shock.

"I think he's been knocked out," the red head, whom Nerida assumed to be Ronald Weasley, said to the black haired boy who could only be Harry Potter. He gave the Ray a closer inspection, "No- I don't believe it- he's gone back to sleep."

Nerida felt rather miffed, so this was the legendary Harry Potter? He wasn't much.

Turning his attention away from the pathetic rat, Weasley looked at Potter. "You've met Malfoy before?"

Potter launched into an in depth explanation of his run in with some boy named Malfoy. During all of this, Nerida folded her arms across her chest, struggling to decide whether she should be insulted by their rudeness or paying attention to their conversation. Her eyes caught Hermione's and Nerida gave her an annoyed look, fed up with how the two boys had treated the two of them.

"I've heard of his family," said Weasley darkly, "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side."

Nerida unknowingly clenched her fists at the mention of You-Know-Who. She had only been a baby at the time of the dark wizards reign, but she had heard countless stories and knew much of the stigma and hatred that man stood for remained in the magical world today. The era in which he took power had been horrible for people like her, and if this Malfoy boy had an inkling of empathy towards You-Know-Who in any way, shape, or form, Nerida was going to make sure she stayed far, far away from him.

Weasley looked over at Hermione, "Can we help you with something?"

"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, Nerida and I have just been to the front to ask the driver and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!" Hermione said this all very fast.

"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," Weasley responded harshly, referring only to what Nerida could assume to be the rat, "Would you mind leaving while we change?"

     "All right- we only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," Hermione lied in a sniffy voice, "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know that?"

     She promptly left, Nerida hurrying after her.

"Honestly, the nerve of that boy," Hermione grumbled angrily as she and Nerida headed towards their compartment, "All I do is attempt to help him out by informing him that we've almost arrived at the castle, and what does he have to say in return? He tells me to get out!"

Before she could offer up a decent response, Nerida was interrupted as a voice echoed throughout the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

Nerida's eyes widened and she saw a hint of nervousness in Hermione's eyes. Popping a fresh piece of bubble gum into her mouth, she and Hermione joined the mass of students in the corridor.

The train began slowing down, and after a few moments of its declining pace, it finally came to a full stop. People began pushing their way through towards the door, everyone trying to get out of the train as fast as possible and onto the tiny, dark platform. The cool night air hit Nerida's face and the corners of her mouth lifted upwards, feeling refreshed after being cooped up in the stuffy train for that long.

A lamp came bobbing over the sea of students, accompanied by a masculine voice: "Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"

     Attempting to stay near Hermione, Nerida stumbled through the crowd, headed towards the man and the lantern he held.

     "C'mon, follow me - any more firs'-years?  Mind yer step, now!  Firs'-years follow me!" 

     Casting a glance up at the cloudless sky, Nerida let out a puff of air in relief that there would be no rain tonight.  She didn't know what she would have done in the case that it was, it would've been a nightmare if she got wet before even arriving at the castle.  After all, she didn't want her secret being released so soon, and if she could help it, no one would ever find out.

     "Yeh'll get yer firs' sought o' Hogwarts in a sec," the man shouted over his shoulder towards the mass of first years trailing him down the steep and narrow path. "Jus' round this bend here!"

     There was a chorus of 'Oooooh' 's, only Nerida didn't join in. 

     The narrow path had opened suddenly to reveal the castle perched atop a high mountain, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, its many turrets and towers illuminated in the dark night.  But there was one small problem- it was across a lake.

     Her breathing noticeably quickened and if it had been daytime, everyone would have been able to see how much paler Nerida had just become.  A chilly breeze blew and she shivered in her robes which now seemed thinner than ever, not realizing the man had spoken as everyone but her headed for the fleet of little boats sitting in the shallows of the water, right on the shore.

     "Nerida," Hermione whispered to her nervously as others walked towards the boats, "Are you alright?  We're supposed to be getting into the boats."

     Nerida squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, battling with herself internally.  She couldn't get wet, she couldn't.  One drop, just one drop, that was all it would take to ruin everything.

     But she had to get into the boats, she had to get to Hogwarts and this was the easiest way to get there without drawing much attention to herself.

     Opening her eyes, Nerida swallowed before shaking her head at Hermione. "Hermione, I can't get wet." Nerida informed her friend in an urgent whisper.  The bushy haired girls eyebrows shot up in questioning, but Nerida plowed on. "I just can't, even one drop of water would ruin everything, I can't get wet." She practically moaned, feeling helpless.

     Hermione gathered herself as a steely, determined attitude seemingly overtook her. "Ok." Hermione said, nodding at Nerida, "We'll have to be extra careful, you sit in the middle and keep your robes tightly around you if you can't get wet, try to cover all that you can in fabric.  We can do this, we can keep you from getting wet."

While Nerida stood there, shivering in fear, unable to move due to anxiety and shock, Hermione calmly but firmly steered her towards the last boat which had room for two more. Unfortunately it was occupied by Harry and Ron, fortunately the two seemed to be far more interested in calming their own nerves to notice the look of sheer terror on Nerida's face.

She covered every single part of skin except for her face, drawing her hands inside her sleeves, pulling the collar all the way up, tucking her legs underneath her robes. Nerida also proceeded to look down so that her hair would provide a curtain for her face, praying to Neptune that she would stay drier than the Sahara desert. She didn't hear anything the man was saying, her attention focused on making sure that she was covered and completely dry.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Nerida felt someone tapping on her shoulder and she looked up to see Hermione watching her carefully. "We're done, we're in an underground harbor of some sort." Hermione said lamely as Nerida practically leapt out of the boat, staying far away from the lakes lapping waves.

"Oy, you there!" The man called, checking the boats as people climbed out of them, "Is this your toad?"

"Trevor!" Neville cried in relief, holding out his hands.

Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after the mans lamp, coming out at last on to smooth grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?" Without waiting for an answer, the man raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times in the castle door.

It swung open almost immediately. A tall, gray haired witch in emerald green robes stood there. She had a no-nonsense aura about her and a stern face, making Nerida's first instinct to obey everything this woman said without hesitation.

"The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall," said the man.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."

She pulled the door wide. The Entrance Hall was so large that you could have fit an entire house in it. The stone walls were lit with flaming torches giving Nerida an impression that she was in a medieval century castle, the ceiling was far to night to even see, and a majestic marble stair case facing the first years and the Professor led them to the upper floors.  The crowd of eleven year olds followed Professor McGonagall and Nerida soon found herself steadily warming up, the situation with the lake and boats just lingering in the very back of her mind as the first years were shown into a small empty chamber just off the hall.

     "Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall curtly but not unkindly. "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.  The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts.  You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room."

     "The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.  Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards.  While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points.  At the end of the year, the house with the most house points is awarded the House Cup, a great honor.  I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours."

     "The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school.  I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

     Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, on the dirt covering Weasley's nose, and on Potter's hair which stood on end.  Nerida nervously ran her hand through her own unruly hair in an attempt to make it more presentable.

     "I shall return when we are ready for you," spoke Professor McGonagall, "Please wait quietly."

     She left the chamber.  Nerida gulped.

     "Nerida, what exactly happened at the lake with the boats?"

      Turning towards Hermione, Nerida attempted to play it cool only she failed miserably. "I-" she swallowed thickly, "Not here, Hermione," she whispered, her voice barely audible, "Not now."  And not ever, she added silently in her head.

     Hermione gave her a calculating look, almost as if she were studying Nerida, however before she could say anything, Weasley said something about how they would be sorted with a test.

     Nerida's stomach lurched with nerves.  A test?  In front of the whole school?  She barely knew any spells, only a few simple charms and such, like alohomora.  And Nerida doubted that an unlocking spell would be of any use if there was a test.  Glancing around the room anxiously, Nerida saw that several of the students had noticeably paled and no one was talking much, except for Hermione, who was murmuring very fast about all the spells she'd learnt and wondering which ones she'd need.  If Nerida had the energy, she would have gladly told Hermione to shut up.

     Then something happened that made Nerida gasp, clutching her heart while several behind her screamed or jumped.

     "What in the name of-?"

     About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall.  Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room, talking to each other loudly and barely glancing at the first years.  They seemed to be arguing.  What looked like a fat little monk was saying, "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance-"

     "My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves?  He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost- I say, what are you all doing here?"

     A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years.

     "We're first years." Nerida blurted out quickly as all the ghosts and students looked at her, wishing she would sink into the floor right then and there.

     "New students!" Said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be sorted, I suppose?"

     A few people nodded mutely.  Nerida's cheeks were burning and she didn't dare say another word.

     "Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" Said the Friar warmly, "My old house, you know."

"Move along now, the Sorting's about to start."

Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line." Professor McGonagall instructed the first years, "and follow me."

The trooped behind her, out of the chamber, through the hall, and into a pair of double doors that led into the Great Hall.

Never in her entire life had Nerida even dreamed of such a magnificent place. Lit by thousands of floating candles, four long tables laid with golden plates and goblets were filled with students. A fifth table housed teachers, at the top of the hall, and Professor McGonagall led the first years up to there.

To avoid all of the peering eyes of the older students, Nerida looked up, as did many other first years. It was velvety black, dotted with hundreds of sparkling stars. From beside her, Hermione whispered loudly: "It's bewitched to look like the sky outside, o read about it in Hogwarts: A History."

Despite having read it herself, Nerida found it hard to believe that the Great Hall had a ceiling at all, it was easier to imagine that it simply opened up to the heavens.

Tearing her eyes away from the night sky depicted upon the ceiling, Nerida saw Professor McGonagall placing a worn out wizards hat onto a four legged stool in front of the first years. It was patched, frayed, and extremely dirty, making it easily the ugliest thing in the hall, even the ugliest thing Nerida had seen in the wizarding world in general.

As she stared at it with her nose crinkled up in disgust, the hat twitched and a rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth, and then it did the sound most astonishing thing. The rip on the hat then began to sing.

Oh you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folks use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!

     The entire Hall burst into applause as the hats song came to an end.  Even the first years were clapping, although much less enthusiastically in comparison with everyone else, no doubt due to the extent of their nerves.  The hat bowed deeply to each of the four tables without so much as a glance to the first years before becoming completely still once more.

     "So it's not a test, we've just got to try on a hat." Hermione whispered to Nerida, the disappointment clear in her voice.

     Nerida tried for a nervous smile, only it slid off her face very quickly.  Yes, trying on a hat seemed so simple, much simpler then performing a test in front of the whole hall at least.  Only Nerida did not feel particularly intelligent, courageous, hard-working, or cunning at the moment.

     She did know that she wanted to be in Gryffindor, while she had never met her father, her mother, who wasn't a witch, had shared what little information she knew about Hogwarts and her father that she knew of with Nerida.  Nerida knew that her father, whoever he was, had been in Gryffindor, and despite the fact that she knew nothing about him, she still wished to follow in his footsteps.

     McGonagall began calling names off from a long list of parchment and first years went up to the stool, trying on the hat.

     After watching Hermione, Potter, and even Neville get sorted into Gryffindor, Nerida began to sweat ever so slightly.  This was all very nerve wrecking, and as McGonagall began getting closer to the W's of the alphabetical list, Nerida found her stomach tying itself in knots.

    "Waters, Nerida!" McGonagall shouted as the applause for Lisa Turpin from the Ravenclaw table died out and the Hall fell silent once more.

     Swallowing, Nerida cautiously strode across the stage, attempting to give an air of confidence as she sat on the stool and the hat was set upon her head.

     "Hmm," said a small voice inside her ear, "Very promising mind, thirsty for knowledge... but even more of a will to prove yourself, that's very interesting... not a lack of courage or loyalty either... very interesting... so where shall I put you?"

     Nerida did not give him an answer.

     "Slytherin would do you quite nicely, it would put you on the path to greatness that you so eagerly seek, there's not a doubt in my mind about that..."

     "If you don't mind," Nerida interrupted him in the quietest of whispers, "I'd like to be in Gryffindor, that's where my father was."

     "Are you quite sure?  As I said, Slytherin suits you, even Ravenclaw could manage to satisfy your eager mind... no?  Alright then, if your so sure, I'd better put you in GRYFFINDOR!"