The Gryffindor Table 2024-2025

"Better be GRYFFINDOR!" the Sorting Hat exclaimed loud enough for the Great Hall to hear.

Cheers from a table decked in black cloaks, lined with red and accented with gold stood up and cheered as she stumbled her way over. The energy of the table was exhilarating. Thea quietly took a seat as the next student was sorted. She attempted to take calming breaths as she scanned the people around her. The people at this table seemed to exude the confidence of knowing oneself deeply and being unashamed about it.

She looked at the Sorting Hat in puzzlement. How? she thought to herself. How can someone like me, who doesn't have a clue who they are, be sorted into a house like this?

Thea gingerly picked around the other first years and loaded up her plate despite not having much of an appetite. She smiled shyly at some of her peers and shook hands with others. Most noticed her accent but only a few commented on it passingly, she didn't feel like becoming "The American" on night one. Silence was best.

This will be my first night away from my parents, she thought grimly. She noticed the student next her seemed to be equally as quiet and bewildered as her, an awkward silence shared between them until she broke it.

"Hi," she said with a small smile, catching Thea off-guard.

"Oh!" Thea exclaimed but extended her hand toward her. "Hi, I'm Thea."

Olivia saw Thea's outstretched hand but didn't take it. It was better to be careful. "My name is Olivia," she said instead, hoping Thea wouldn't take too much notice of her accent, which was anything but British. "Guess we're both feeling a bit... lost?" Olivia then asked without really meeting Thea's gaze.

Was this a potential friend after all? Maybe. Although she'd probably pull away when she found out my secret... Olivia was snapped out of her thoughts. "Sorry," she said, blushing a little. "I just... don't usually talk that much."
Olivia waited for Thea to answer, hoping she wouldn't think Olivia was strange.

Olivia thought about what her father had said before she went to Hogwarts. "Just be yourself and they'll love you as much as I do, regardless of your secret." But Olivia wasn't so sure. She'd heard about people's opinions about people like... her. Olivia intended to be herself, on her own terms. She looked at Thea and really hoped that it would work out. That she would be Olivia's first and only... friend. The word felt strange, unfamiliar. Olivia thought that Hogwarts wouldn't be hell after all if she had someone or a few by her side.