From the view in Brightstone Village, Hogwarts castle had always been an impressive landmark in the distance. Now that Lysander was here, up close and personal, it felt almost like an entirely different place to the one he'd spent so much time longingly gazing at. He could recognise the overall shape, mostly from the layout of the towers, but there were so many details he had missed, or just not paid enough attention to. Even with how much his father had told him about the school, or the pictures he'd shown, it all felt so new. By the time Lysander had stepped through the castle's looming doors, the tie around his neck had been slackened considerably, feeling too tight no matter how much the boy had loosened it. He wasn't used to dressing this way, his uniform felt a little uncomfortable on his skin in the way that new clothes could, even after the lengthy train ride from the station to adjust. The cloak he enjoyed however, using his arms to spread the fabric out in such a way that it caught every breeze and fluttered behind him like a superhero's cape. Heck yeah, he could get used to that.
Stepping into the Great Hall, his hands comfortably clasped in his sister's out of sheer excitement, Lysander gazed around in awe. There were hundreds of other magical kids there, some he thought he could recognise from his time spent playing around in the village or attending any of the Pigtrotters events. He could make out Alistair's head over at the Slytherin table, but his lycanthrope cousin wasn't looking his way for the boy to catch his attention, perhaps pointedly so. That was okay, instead, he turned his attention to the adults at the back of the hall, his eyes immediately spotting his father's face at the long table behind the podium. "Dad! Dad!" Lysander called out with a grin, taking a step forward and standing on his toes to wave at his father and get his attention. It was so cool to finally see him at work, and the thought that he'd get to see him every day blossomed a warm feeling in his heart. "Ellie, look, it's Dad! Hey Dad!" Sander his sister's hand in case she had somehow magically missed the fact their father was at the back of the room, despite all of his shouting. The boy didn't stop waving until his dad waved back, before finally lowering his hand and dropping back onto his heels. "This is going to be so cool." He whispered loudly to his sister and their best friend, with a particular look to the latter of the two to make sure he was okay. A crowd like this wasn't one he thought Spencer was used to, but he let him know he was there with a quick little thumbs up. Lysander was glad he didn't have to do this alone, like some of the kids around them were. Having Ellie and Spencer at his side, and a few other familiar faces - Wendell, whose fall down the side of the train platform still left Sander chuckling, Alexei, and Elizabeth and Scott, all people he'd met before coming here made him feel that much more confident about the whole event. There were definitely more than a few nervous faces in the crowd, but Lysander felt like there was nothing to fear. This was fun, it was new, and it was exciting. He'd finally be able to learn to brew his own potions like Dallas, to fly a proper broom like Kida, and cast his own spells instead of relying on his parents or the adults in his life. He could finally start to do things himself, and for him, that was amazing.
The Headmistress started to speak, but Lysander's attention couldn't help but drift up toward the ceiling, taking in the magically projected sky that shimmered above them. He didn't often gaze at the sky on a regular day, it was all the same darkness and stars, but this sky was enchanting. "I want that in my bedroom. Do you think our dads can do that?" He whispered again to Eleanora. He'd heard about one of his fathers using magic to make it look like he had written in the stars, but Lysander didn't know if he could make an entire sky. He hoped so. It would be a long time before he'd be in his own bed again, a thought he tried not to focus on, but when he was back he wanted to fall asleep under some magical moving stars instead of his plain old ceiling. The boy glanced back down, realising the Headmistress had stopped speaking and he'd totally missed out on all of the important information she'd had to give. Oh well. He could probably catch up on any important details later. Instead, he listened as she began to call off names, and instinctively gave his sister's hand another squeeze. It was happening. It was all happening. He had thought there would be more talking, but already the talking hat was being lowered onto the head of the first student.
For the duration of the ceremony, Lysander played a whispered game with Ellie and Spencer of guessing what house the people in the crowd around him would be sorted into, yet even with all the assumptions about where the other kids would go, Lysander couldn't figure out where he'd end up. There was a lot of Gryffindor in the family - Aeon, Kida, Dallas. From what he knew it was one of the most fun houses to be in, an opinion that was probably biased, but he didn't know that. But Brodie, one of his father's, had been a Slytherin, and so had Alistair and Esme. They were total opposite houses, and from what he had heard, Slytherin wasn't full of the nicest of people. But he loved his father and didn't think he was anything close to being a nasty person, and Merlin, one of the famous wizards from his chocolate frog collection had been a Slytherin, and he was one of the greatest wizards of all time, which was exactly what Lysander wanted to be. It was difficult to guess, and he was itching to get it over with and find out.
Spencer was off first, and Lysander gave his best friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder, as if to say, you've got this. Wendell was next up, in his classic clumsy fashion, and Lysander clapped loudly after the boy's trip up the stairs. "Yeah, Wendell!" He whooped, ceasing his applause to listen out for the sorting hat's judgement. It sucked having a surname closer to the end of the alphabet than the front, and before too long Lysander was tired of waiting for his turn. A part of him wanted to just go out ahead of whoever was called next, and with how hesitant some of the other kids were, he'd have had ample time to, but he kept a hold of Ellie's hand and tapped his foot impatiently. The next person went up ahead, and as they sat down, Sander was struck by a sudden realisation. "Psst, Ellie. Is that old lady our dad's mum?" He mumbled to his sister, pointing out the headmistress with his free hand. He didn't know a lot about the woman, since his father didn't like to talk about her, he was sure she was the same one he'd met once or twice in the past. Now that he was actually paying attention to her and not everything else in the Great Hall, she did look incredibly familiar.
As Ellie was called up, Lysander reluctantly let her hand go, and watched her take her turn under the hat. He was just as eager to find out where she would be placed as much as he wanted to know where he'd go. Would they be together? Separated? He didn't know what that would be like, to be in a completely different house to his sister, but their dad had told them they'd still see each other every day no matter what, so it didn't sound too bad. Still, he held a hope that they'd stick together.
"Summers, Lysander."
Lysander practically threw himself forward before the headmistress had finished calling his name, almost knocking another kid out of his way in his enthusiasm. This was it. His time to shine. He strode confidently up to the front of the hall, beaming at his father as he made his way even closer. It was a shame that both of his parents couldn't be there to witness his big moment, but one was better than none. He gave his dad another wave, to make sure he was paying all of his attention to him, and reached the top of the steps. His eyes shifted to the headmistress, a stupid smile on his face as he waited to see if she'd acknowledge who he was, or recognise him in some way. Instead, she nodded towards the stool with the smallest of smiles, and with an inaudible huff under his breath, Sander turned and sat down, feeling the weight of the sorting hat settle over his head. It was bigger than he had expected. Big, and full of secrets. Probably. Hellooo? The boy thought loudly. Apparently the hat was telepathic on top of being able to talk, so that was cool. Are you the same hat that Harry Potter wore? Did Merlin wear you too? The thought that tons of the famous witches and wizards from his chocolate frog card collection had worn this same exact hat, and had this same special moment as Lysander was exciting. He was going to be just like them one day, he hoped, and this was the start of that journey.
i'm so, so sorry
"Hello to you too. Now let me see here. A healthy sense of adventure, competitive to a fault, a fair amount of recklessness. You must be a... GRYFFINDOR!"
