Blast! I hate these stupid plot bunnies! This time its Zuri... ~*g*~
"Nichols, erm... Zu-rye-ziep?"
Sighing, she stood up. That glitch in the name always meant it was her turn, no matter where she was.
"Its Zur-ee-zip Professor."
"Oh, yes, of course dear. Well, come here."
Reluctantly, she began to approach the stairs. She grew more self conscious with every step. Sitting herself on
the stool, she took a deep breath and pulled on the sorting hat.
'Good day Zurizip!'
Not wanting to be rude to the thing that was going to determine her future, she politely answered.
'Hello...'
'Now than, where shall I put you?'
'I thought you were the one to decide that...'
'Ah, but it is your decision as much as it is mine.'
'May I make a request than?'
'Of course.'
'Could you possibly not put me in Huff'n'puff?'
The hat chuckled.
'Oh my! That is a new one!'
It continued to chuckle, and then began to mutter to itself.
'Well now, good manners and family lineage would dictate that I put you into Slytherin...'
'What are rules for but breaking?'
Again it laughed, ringing in her ears, this seemed to be taking longer than usual...
'You certainly have been an eye-opener! Which is exactly why I am putting you into "GRYFFINDOR!"'
As she took the thing off, she rolled her eyes at its humor. Inanimate objects were often like that when brought to life, either utterly ridiculous, or incredibly serious. As she began to walk to the Gryfindor table, a smattering of applause met her. She gave everyone a strained smile, and made her way to the very end, where a few seats were left open. She took a place away from the people, on the very edge. First days were not her strong point.
Though she knew that she would probably be getting into trouble for talking later in the year, for now she was content to sit by herself and watch the world go by.
As the rest of the people were called, Zurizip let herself drowse, and think about the trip to Hogwarts. A few third years had been walking up and down the train, asking if anyone had seen a toad. She had, but didn't say as much. The thing had jumped onto the seat next to her, plainly scared about something, so she let it be. When
they had woken her up for the third time, she had shooed it into the aisle. The owner, a third year Gryfindor, had tried to grab it, but missed twice before another girl his age had helped him. Muttering about people who didn't keep track of their pets, she had rolled over and gone back to sleep.
Now the loud clap of hands awakened her. It was clear that the headmaster had just made a speech, and judging by the looks on the faces, it had been a good one. She yawned, and sat up. Never one for speeches, she clapped along with the rest. Food appeared on her plate, and she raised her eyebrows, then began to eat.
"Blast! We've missed the sorting again!"
The comment and the scraping of chairs made her look up when she was done. A red-headed boy and a boy with black hair had just pulled up seats next to her, a second later, a girl she had seen on the train joined them. Hermione, that was her name, she had helped the boy with the toad catch him, who had he been? Neville, that was it. She looked down again.
"Hullo, are you a new first year? Welcome to Gryfindor! I'm Ron Weasly!"
"Erm, hi."
"I'm Hermione Granger, who are you?"
"Zurizip Phoniexlia Nichols"
"That's a nice name, especially the middle, oh yeah, this is Harry Potter!"
"Hermione!"
Her head shot up.
"H-H-Harry P-Potter?"
Those green eyes were rather unnerving. She suddenly wondered if he had even heard of her family, and desperately hoped not. Realizing that all three of the third years were staring at her with an interested look, she quickly stood up, thankful that the prefects were already getting ready to leave to the towers.
"Wait a sec, what did you say your name was?"
She Panicked.
"Shit!"
And with that she was gone, leaving the three very confused. Finally Ron broke the contemplation.
"Rather outspoken for a first year isn't she?"
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I wonder what I said?"
"Rather what did my name say?"
"Yes, I noticed that to, what was her name?"
Harry cocked his head, trying to remember.
"Zu-rye-ziep?"
"No Harry, it was Zur-ee-zip."
"Oh yes, Zurizip Nichols."
Ron snickered.
"Wonder if she's related to Draco."
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Well, it's a wizarding family name for sure, except the last name isn't right for a wizard."
"Maybe her parents are mixed?"
"No, it's her middle name that bothers me, that's the right kind of wizarding name."
"Maybe the mother was a wizard, and wanted to keep the family name?"
"Probably."
Ron shrugged and dropped it, Harry however was still curious. Why in the world was she afraid of him? He had seen all manner of reaction to his name, awe, surprise, but never fear. He rushed through his dinner, and finally decided not to worry about it. He didn't think about it again for a long while. Which was just fine with her.
* * * *
Not to bad if I do say so myself...
Sorry bout the constant stressing of the name, its a difficult name, and thats why I do it.