The hall continued to buzz with excitement as all of the teachers and students filed out. Cullen could still feel his heart pumping out of his chest; is this really happening? He thought to himself. Running into countless people, he scoured the crowd for Scorpius. He’s made one friend so far and doesn’t plan on losing him in a single night. Or maybe he would find one of his siblings or Teddy, Cullen was sure he was helping around with the first years. As he looks over the large ensemble of black robes and black hats for a familiar face, he hears a booming voice ahead of him, drowning out the chatter of the kids awaiting to see their common rooms. 

The voice began, “Alrigh’, all first years, listen up!” The voice sounded deep, yet welcoming and warm. All of the first years, including Cullen turned their attention to the man at the head of the hall. He was a big man, with a large bushy beard and patched up clothing. At first glance, he seemed like he could rip you to pieces, and that he would if you got too close. However, Cullen noticed the joyful smile and cherry red cheeks hidden under his blanket of a beard, conveying a jolly man with bright eyes, helping a crowd of children find their way.

“Me name is Hagrid, I’m the gatekeeper here at Hogwarts,” the man continued. 

“I wan’ all you kids to listen closely. If you belong to Gryffindor house, you will follow Professor McGonnogal righ’ here,” Hagrid explained, gesturing to the old woman in purple that Cullen recognized from the sorting ceremony. Professor McGonnogal gave a friendly wave before speaking up. 

“If you were sorted into Gryffindor, you are to follow me this way to your common room,” she announced, slowly stepping off to a well lit corridor. A chattering group of kids around him broke away from the crowd, following Professor McGonnogal down the hallway. Cullen watched the group as they left, longing to join them. The back of his mind tingles with the thoughts of his father, and how he was once walking down that hallway to Gryffindor, and how he, Cullen Potter, never will. He isn’t snapped back into reality until he hears Hagrid’s commanding voice again.

“If you were sorted to Hufflepuff, you’re to follow Professor Sprout,” Hagrid explained, gesturing to a woman to his right. She was quite short, and you could see her graying auburn hair just poking out from underneath her patched up hat. Her plump cheeks framed her friendly smile, that spread straight to her eyes. As she made an announcement to the Hufflepuff first years, Cullen found himself glancing back to where the Gryffindors had left, yet all he could see was the last wisp of a black robe quickly disappearing around the corner. Once he looks back to the rest of the group, he notices the room feeling even more empty than before. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see a clump of Hufflepuff kids marching behind a cheery Professor Sprout. Cullen can hear her joyful voice talking with them, and as they walk away her voice slowly fades with them. Good, Cullen thinks. Now that there’s less people, it might be easier to find Scorpius. As he scans the crowd, he can only vaguely hear Hagrid direct the Ravenclaw students off to their common room. {A wave of relief falls over Cullen when he sees the very same pale boy, standing this time near the back of the crowd}. He quickly makes his way to Scorpius, luckily without too much trouble without so many kids. 

“Hi Scorpius,” Cullen utters, once he’s standing at his side. Scorpius must feel a similar wave of relief, as Cullen sees his expression soften from its previous tightened appearance.
“Hi Cullen,” he replies, a soft smile forming on his face. There’s a brief silence between them, just as there was during their last encounter. Soon enough, Scorpius speaks up again.

“I’m sorry that you weren’t sorted into Gryffindor, I know that’s what you were hoping for.”

“Oh it’s fine,” Cullen replies. Though, he wasn’t entirely sure if that was true. His dad asked him to write home after the sorting ceremony, and the thought of telling him his house makes his skin crawl.

“You okay?” Scorpius asks, a single brow raised in question. It’s now apparent that Cullen’s thoughts have crept onto his face, contorting it into a concerned look that he’s not very good at covering.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m ok,” Cullen gave him a slight reassuring smile as he spoke. Both boys are snapped back to attention when they hear Hagrid say something about the Slytherin common room. Neither of them quite heard anything else he said, but they see him gesturing to a woman to his left. Their attention is shifted to her quickly, as they both caught on that she must be their head of house. The woman is quite tall, with long silver hair that reaches her waist. She doesn’t seem old however, in fact she seems pretty young compared to the rest. Her face is tight, coming to a sharp point at her chin. She’s wearing long black robes that just cover her feet, and a lasting scowl. She raises her chin slightly at her newly acquired attention from what's left of the once much larger group. 

“Follow me to your common room,” she directs, turning swiftly and walking down a dimly lit corridor. The Slytherin first years look at each other confused, before scampering along behind her.

 As Cullen listens to the murmurs of excitement among his peers, the only thing he can think about is the letter he’s dreading to write. Before he knows it, he’s standing in front of a pair of large metal doors. 

 “Welcome,” the head of house announces, “To Slytherin common room.”