I always thought nine and three-quarters was a very silly number.
Not bad silly. Just the sort that sounds like a riddle you'd find scratched into the side of a tree or whispered by a talking fountain. It wasn't really a full number. Not quite a ten, not quite a nine. A number trying very hard to become something else.
Levi thought it was "inefficient."
"That's not even a fraction," he muttered, watching the brick wall shimmer as another child vanished through it with their trolley.
"Maybe it's a metaphor," I said, dreamily. "For in-between things. Like veils, and dusk, and decisions."
"I believe it is a wall," he replied. "But I will follow you, metaphors and all."
We ran together, our trolleys bumping noisily, and passed through the barrier.
And then... there it was.
The scarlet steam engine, tall and grand and humming like a sleeping dragon. Children and trunks and owls clustered in buzzing, chattering chaos. I saw a boy drop an entire cauldron. It rolled in a perfect circle before hitting someone's cat.
Levi blinked slowly. "This place is very loud."
"Trains are like thoughts," I said. "They need noise to feel real."
We boarded the train and found a quiet compartment near the end. It had one broken light and a strange smell like wet moss, but it felt like the right sort of place to begin a journey.
I sat cross-legged on the seat and said, "Do you think we'll be in the same house?"
Levi frowned, thinking. "We know you will go to Ravenclaw."
"Yes," I agreed, "because I collect facts like gnomes collect socks. But you're trickier."
"Hufflepuff?" he said after a pause. "I am... lazy."
I giggled. "But also powerful. I wonder if the Sorting involves a fight."
"That seems unlikely," he said. "How would bravery defeat intelligence? Or loyalty defeat cunning? No... this world is ruled by sentiment, not duels."
I liked that idea.
We began changing into our Hogwarts uniforms. Mine smelled faintly of peppermint and attic dust. I stepped behind the curtain, and Levi, being terribly polite, went outside to wait in the corridor.
---
Levi pov
I leaned against the wall, observing the chaos of the train.
And then I met her.
A girl with thick, frizzy hair and eyes like sharpened thoughts stormed past me, grumbling to herself.
"They've missed the train! How do you miss a train? It's enormous and noisy and red!"
I tilted my head. "Who has missed the train?"
"Harry Potter and Ron Weasley," she snapped, clearly annoyed. "Two of the most irresponsible... wait, who are you?"
"I am Levi. Nathan." The words felt strange in my mouth.
"You're new," she said, narrowing her eyes. "Muggleborn?"
"Something like that."
She crossed her arms. "Well, you've picked an odd time to start school. You're not even nervous?"
"No, except wondering on how we are going to be sorted."
"Hmph." She seemed oddly pleased by that. "Fine, don't be. That just means you'll be surprised later. Nobody tells anyone how the Sorting works. Tradition."
"I dislike surprises."
"Well, then you'll really dislike this one." She smirked and the silently. "Finally, I'm not the one being kept in the dark."
And then she disappeared down the corridor, still muttering about missing boys and misplaced owls.
I returned to Luna.
---
Luna pov
He stepped in again like nothing happened, and I asked, "Should I go outside to change too?"
"No," he said, and then snapped his fingers.
His clothes shimmered and folded around him like obedient shadows until they became the perfect Hogwarts uniform. Even his tie fixed itself.
I grinned. "Cheater."
He smiled. "Efficient."
---
Later
We arrived in Hogsmeade after the long train ride, and the air smelled like old wood and far-off thunder. The first years were herded to the boats no sails, no paddles. Just gentle gliding over the black water toward the castle.
Hogwarts rose in the distance like a dream held together by candlelight and secrets. It was even more beautiful than I imagined.
Levi watched it in silence, but I saw the faint lift in his eyes.
"Do you like it?" I asked.
He nodded once.
"It looks like it remembers things."
---
The Great Hall was taller than dreams. Candles floated above our heads like sleepy stars, and the ceiling mirrored the night sky outside, except softer, more gentle.
The Sorting Hat sat on a small stool in front of us, looking terribly old and rather smug. I liked him at once.
Students were called one by one. Each name echoed like a bell. Some went to Gryffindor. Some to Slytherin.
Then it was my turn.
"Lovegood, Luna."
I sat. The hat fell over my eyes, and for a moment, all I heard was quiet.
"Oh, another curious one. Filled to the brim with oddities and stars, aren't you? You belong where questions live..."
"Ravenclaw!" the hat called.
I skipped over to my new table, smiling.
And then...
"Nathan, Levi."
The room went strange.
He walked forward with calm steps, the Sorting Hat lowered onto his head.
---
Inside Levi's Mind – The Hat's POV
"Oh... oh my. What—what are you?"
"A guest."
"You are not human."
"No."
"You shouldn't be here. You're bound to fire and sin..."
"Sort me, or I will burn you from the inside out."
"…Fine."
"Then choose."
"Loyalty. Dormant, but deep. Kindness to one. Laziness, yes—but not apathy. Hufflepuff."
Luna pov
The hat called it out, voice shaking: "Hufflepuff!"
His robes shimmered yellow.
But Levi didn't go to the Hufflepuff table.
He walked, quietly, without urgency back to me, and sat down at the Ravenclaw table, beside my plate.
I looked at him and whispered, "Did you get confused?"
"No," he replied. "This is where I wanted to be."
The Great Hall rippled with whispers.
Professor McGonagall came over like a thundercloud in spectacles.
"Mr. Nathan," she said sharply. "You must sit at the correct table."
"Why?" Levi asked.
"Because houses are about unity. About learning with your kind."
He tilted his head. "Is there a rule?"
McGonagall hesitated.
"Well, no. But it is tradition."
"Then I decline," he said, folding his hands.
Before she could answer, Dumbledore raised a hand.
"Minerva, please continue with the Sorting. But I would like to see these two in my office later. Together, please."
Her lips pressed into a line, but she nodded and walked away.
And so the Sorting went on, as if nothing odd had happened.
We saw a girl named Ginny Weasley sorted into Gryffindor and smile so wide it nearly cracked her face in half.
---
Then we heard a crash and frantic shouting outside.
A teacher with long dark robes swept into the hall, Professor Snape. His mouth was twisted with frustration.
"Headmaster, Professors," he sneered, "we have two Gryffindors who have seen fit to arrive by enchanted vehicle. The car is now lodged in the Whomping Willow."
Whispers exploded like fireworks.
"Harry and Ron," Hermione muttered somewhere nearby, rolling her eyes.
Dumbledore stood calmly. "Ah. Very well. Minerva, Severus, please attend to them."
As they left, Levi leaned toward me and said:
"This school is stranger than I expected."
I smiled at him dreamily and said, "Oh, and it hasn't even begun yet."