"Aren't you afraid?" He asked.
"No way," Arya answered without pause.
"That's stupid, I would be, hell, I was," Gendry answered, shaking his head, a resigned smile on his lips.
/
There are a few things the wizarding world knows about the Starks.
One, they were the only Pureblood family to side with the resistance, many Pureblooded families who had sided with the Dark Lord called them blood traitors. But most called the Starks heroes while their naysayers rotted in Azkaban.
Two, all Starks have a wolf patronus, a symbol of their loyalty and dedication to family and strength.
And three, the most wide known of all, so widespread that you could ask a first year at Durmstrang or a seventh year at Beauxbatons and they would know. All Starks are Gryffindor. Their future paramours Gryffindor.
Always. As far back as the founders of Hogwarts. Godric Gryffindor's mother was even a Stark.
It didn't matter that her father Ned was so loyal like a Hufflepuff, he was a Gryffindor. Or that Robb, her eldest brother had a bit of a ruthless streak, Gryffindor. Or that Sansa was clever and loved to read and write stories, Gryffindor. Or that Jon was even more loyal than their father and even more kind, Gryffindor. And later on she would look back at Bran's obsession with academics and test scores, the sorting hat would barrly graze his brunette locks before proudly screaming Gryffindor. Despite Rickon's temper and ruthlessness, many years later, he would become the last of their generation of Starks to become a Gryffindor.
That's why Arya is sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west that when she gets her letter the summer of her eleventh birthday she would continue this tradition.
For years, her older brothers have regalled her with tales of sneaking out of Gryffindor tour, pranking Slytherins and creaming Hufflepuffs at Quidditch.
The Stark house is full as it always was each summer. Ned and Catelyn Stark's soft hearts have made their family grown beyond their own blood. Jon has been raised along side them from infancy, her cousin but not wanting to tell him he was adopted, they had all grown up believing he was their sibling just as her father's sister, Jon's mother, wanted.
During the dark times, when the Dark Lord haf taken over the Wizarding world and Arya was a wobbly toddler, Ned, then an auror, had taken in the offspring of two slain death eaters. That was how Theon had joined their family.
After Robb, Jon and Theon's first year at Hogwarts they came home with Gendry Waters and Sam Tarly in toe.
Gendry was an orphan, not even knowing if he was a half-blood or muggleborn.
Sam was from an old Pureblood family, he had blossomed late and that and his soft heart had caused his stern father to disown him.
They had come off the train with all three of Arya's older brothers and Ned and Cat's hearts melted at the boys. Ned and Catelyn Stark were both of powerful, old families, so what were two more boys in the giant Stark castle? What were books and robes and brooms compared to vaults and vaults of coin?
Nothing at all. So Sam Tarly and Gendry Waters spent their summers and holidays at Stark manor. Sansa instantly thinks Gendry is cute but beyong a passing appreciation for his attractiveness she could care less for another addition to the household, Sam has a similar taste in books and Sansa seems to have a pleasant rapport over the breakfast table and they take weekly library trips together with Bran. Arya is the one who really comes to care for them.
Arya's childhood, filled with chasing around her five older brothers, rough housing and playing Quidditch. Though honestly, Sam tends to watch from the sidelines with a scared look on his sweet round face.
After a nasty break of her arm from bludger at the age of eight, Arya is permanently set at the behest of the Stark patriarch as the family team seeker. This is where Arya discovers her true talent and passion. Sure, she loves her fencing lessons from her father but she finds that she's a natural seeker.
When she gets her Hogwarts letter, the boys chatter excitedly around the breakfast table, the seeker of Gryffindor had graduated the past term and seeing as the Gryffindor team is mainly their family, they know that they can get Arya to at least try out even if she's a first year.
Though worried about her younger daughter's safety, Catelyn Stark proudly buys her a new Firebolt when they buy her books and get her fitted in robes as if Arya being the Seeker of team Gryffindor is a done deal.
Platform 9 3/4 is full of anxious looking eleven year olds but Arya is not one of them. Ned playfully rubs her hair, Bran and Rickon reluctantly hug her and Catelyn kisses her forehead gently. Walking arm and arm with Sansa who is back for her third year, the boys in their seventh guide her onto the train. She's not nervous at all as Jon ruffles her hair just like their father and Robb laughs at her jokes and Gendry playfully elbows her.
Sansa smiles at their antics over her scroll, she's developed an obsession with writing romantic stories this past summer and has diligently filled many a scroll the fast few months and will not be disturbed.
Finally, the train ride ends and the rest are ushered away onto threstal pulled carriages and Arya bravely journeys to the row boats the first years take to the castle.
Though the first boat, the one easiest to board, is still empty, the students avoid it because the badly burned and scowling Care of Magical Creatures professor sits in it. Arya instantly recognizes Professor Clegane from his description from her siblings. The boys don't seem to care much either way for him except awe in how massively tall he is or how grouchy he is. Sansa regalls her with tails of bravery and how she's sure that there's a heart of gold under that gruff. Arya knows Sansa tends to romaticize everyone and everything, she takes the chance and is the first and only to get in the rowboat with Professor Clegane.
He seems surprised for a moment before leveling her with anamused glance in his slate eyes, "Arya Stark."
It's not a question but a statement and Arya is the one surprised now, she doesn't look like Sansa or Robb, she does have the same silver eyes and sharp face as her cousin Jon but while he has curls of ebon, she has straight chocolate colored hair.
"Your reputation preceeds you," He says.
Arya isn't sure what to say to that so she says, "Oh."
"I'm warning you now, no trouble next year or I'll take points from Gryffindor, no sweet chirping from your sister will save your house points," He postures in that deep voice of his.
Arya shrugs, "Whatever."
And looks about at the rest of first years struggling to row to the castle. Her plan was really the smartest, let the giant of a professor do all the hard labor while she got to look out at tbe starrt night, looking for constellations that Sam's taught her. Then the lake, looking for the giant squids that surely lurk in the depths if Theon's scary stories are to be believed.
It's not long before they reach the castle and the first years are greeted by the former transfiguration professor Olenna Tyrell. She's a short old woman with clever eyes that Arya instantly likes. Sansa has told her that Headmaster Tyrell had been vying for the position of Headmaster for years and finally gotten it, making her the first female Headmaster of Hogwarts.
Arya takes a moment too long to look at the suits of armor lining opposite walls of the entrance hall and ends up last in line. It takes forever to reach the front, the sorting hat takes anywhere from a few seconds to close to ten minutes to sort the eleven year olds.
'At least it won't take long at all with me,' Arya muses, rubbing her growling stomach.
Headmaster gestures for her to sit on the stool and Arya proudly hops up the stepsa and plops herself in the stool, she catches her family's eyes, all sitting together and smiling, knowing she'll soon be sitting with them for supper at the Gryffindor table.
Headmaster Tyrell places the sorting hat on her head and before even landing, catching a wayward strand of hair atop her head does it scream, "SLYTHERIN!"