Night Four
Tonight was pref. I was both excited and nervous--I knew it was my last chance to make a good impression on the Ravenclaw girls.
But something unexpected happened. Early in the day, my roommates and I were studying in our room when one of our close friends burst in, in tears. It took us a while to get it out of her, but she'd been dropped. She was one of the girls that only had Ravenclaw left the previous day. And later one of my roommates got the call: she was dropped too, and three more girls on my hall had also been "released from the process."
We were all devastated. More than 15 girls got cut that day. It turned out that Ravenclaw had huge numbers of girls that they just couldn't keep, since Gryffindor and Hufflepuff had made too many cuts after night two. A Ravenclaw girl we knew hadn't gotten back until four in the morning because of how long it took for them to make their decisions.
It was with a heavy heart that I went to
Ravenclaw. My excitement was dampened by what had happened to my friends. Above all, I couldn't help thinking "why do I deserve to be here and they don't?" I know my gloomy mood must have come through, and I admitted to the girl I was paired with, who I knew well, that I was sad for my friends. She comforted me and told me she had a friend who'd been dropped when she rushed, and that things always worked out in the end.
After a while, we all got escorted into the parlor. We had each been given a flower when we were escorted in, and now my friend the vice president explained: each flower represented a quality that Ravenclaw loved in us. Mine was empathy. This cheered me a lot, and I left feeling much better.
I was terrified that I'd jeopardized my chances by being in a poor mood. I went back and signed my willingness to accept a bid, my binding contract, for:
1.
Ravenclaw
I was ready to go. Regardless of what happened the next day, I was ready and willing to accept the outcome.
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