Lilith Rodriguez's Sorting Ceremony

She was nervous, but it wasn't the bad kind—the excited kind. Her father hadn't talked much about Hogwarts, just basic stuff, really.

He'd never gone into any details about what it was like to attend and what she could expect if she was invited. Her mother wasn't much help either, being a Muggle and all. She was going in blind, so she didn't feel bad about a little nervousness.

After explaining how the night would process, a woman who introduced herself as Professor McGonagall led Lilith and the rest of the first years through large doors into a large open room filled with tables, five to be exact. The group was led between two of the tables, and Lilith noticed that the children at each table had different-colored ties.

On one side red, the other yellow. Then they were stopping, made to face an old, intricately carved table with only adults sitting behind it.

Then she heard a name called and turned her attention to the student currently making their way to a stool that had been set up in front of the staff table. She watched as an old-looking conical hat was placed on the student's head.

For a couple of minutes, nothing happened, and then the hat seemed to come to life, shouting out the name of the house the student had been sorted into: 'Ravenclaw!'

The hall erupted in applause as the newly christened student made their way to a table where the students wore blue. So blue meant Ravenclaw. Name after name was called, and each student was sorted into their respective houses.

When she heard the name of a boy she'd met on the train, she nudged him forward, giving him an encouraging smile and a lame thumbs-up.

'Hufflepuff' Yellow for Hufflepuff. Lilith cheered for the boy and continued to watch as more children were called and sorted. There were only a handful of them left, as they seemed to be going alphabetically.

Then, a name she was very familiar with was called. "Lilith Rodriguez!" She jumped in surprise but slowly made her way up to the stool and sat, cringing slightly as the hat was placed on her head, slipping down to block the room and its occupants from view. This was it. It was time to get sorted.