Thanks for clicking on my story!
It's nowhere near done (or edited), but I wanted to post the very beginnings of my ideas so that I'd be motivated to continue it.
Perhaps I'll come back to this one day.
Hope you like it :)
The Great Hall was alive with bustle and chatter, and Viola could not help but feel slightly overwhelmed. When she was younger, her mother had always claimed to suffer headaches from excessive noise, and as a result, her household rarely saw such liveliness.
She glanced around. The first years were especially buzzing with excitement, discussing dorms and classes and everything in between. Not wanting to push herself into a pointless conversation about which teachers were the strictest and such, she took to admiring the Great Hall.
The floating candles were a trick she had seen before, but the ceiling was a whole other wonder. She tried to commit the starry scene to memory, and hoped somehow she could capture it again on canvas. The Hall itself was grand, not that much larger than the one at home, but the bright warm glow compared to the cold light that flooded the latter made Viola feel like she was standing in a sacred place. In a way, perhaps she was.
The students were called to form a line by the professor who had addressed them earlier, and to her dismay, she had been separated from the two girls she had met on the Hogwarts Express. Luckily, there was a group of students she recognised from various of her family's social events, the pureblood exclusive kind that featured fancy bite-sized dishes and sparkly drinks. They had all met in the past, so she approached and greeted them with a nod. Of the three, two she was friendly with, and the other, well…
"Oh hey, Vi," one of them smiled at her. "We didn't see you on the train earlier. Did you get lost or something?" Overly friendly as always, Theo was. Not that Viola minded.
She shrugged. "We never really agreed to meet up, I guess."
"So you sat by yourself, then?" Another girl smirked in a challenging manner. Though Viola considered herself a quite passive person, something about Pansy Parkinson riled her up to no end.
"I didn't. I made new friends, Parkinson, though I'm not sure you'd understand," she remarked offhandedly. "We had a great conversation about the course books this year." Pansy flushed and pointed rudely.
"Well… Well, you and your new Ravenclaw friends can go read some stupid books by yourselves!" Even by Pansy's standards, that was a weak insult.
"Stop it, Pansy. Don't ruin my first day at Hogwarts, let me enjoy this," the other boy sighed. "Viola," he acknowledged.
"Blaise," she responded, purposely avoiding Pansy's glare. Theo apparently thought that Parkinson had more temper left in her.
"Whaddya say, Pans?" Theo nudged the girl in question. "You made up your mind yet, Gryffindor or Hufflepuff?"
Pansy huffed in annoyance and rolled her eyes. Ironic, Viola thought. "I've had Slytherin blood in me since I was born! There's no doubt about it, Nott. Can't say the same about you, though. Didn't you have a cousin in Ravenclaw a few years back?" she asked slyly.
Theo pointedly ignored her question. It was a pride thing, Viola supposed. House pride ingrained in pureblood children by their prideful parents. She was grateful her father had brought her aside on Platform 9 3/4 and reminded her that despite what Mother wanted, he would be proud of her no matter what house she belonged to.
"Even Hufflepuff?" she had asked, just to push the boundaries. He had smiled back in silent approval.
However, not many had that privilege.
"Ravenclaw's not that horrible. If you wanted to be known for something other than being in the superior house at Hogwarts, it'd be for your brains, right?" Blaise reasoned, shrugging nonchalantly. Viola definitely agreed. She secretly thought that Blaise would make a fair Ravenclaw. Or a Gryffindor. Or even, dare she say it, a Hufflepuff. Not that she'd every tell him though.
She noticed Professor McGonagall standing up from her chair and whispered one final question. "Hey Theo, where's Malfoy?" Not that she was especially looking forward to seeing him, but his name was well known amongst the Purebloods, and it was strange to see him apart from his little Slytherin-to-be posse. Though she could be considered one of them, she supposed.
"Oh, Malfoy? I think he said something about meeting up with some other friends… He was with us on the ride here, though," he shrugged.
"Other friends? I didn't think he had any," Viola mused innocently, earning a laugh from Theo.
"Neither, but I wouldn't put it past Lucius to pay off some kids to play with him." They both shared a grin.
The gradual hush in chatter signaled the beginning of proceedings. A scrappy-looking black hat straight out of a muggle Halloween costume was placed on a stool. When it opened its mouth and started its song, she was hardly surprised. Although she had no siblings to recount the good old days of Hogwarts to her, her father had seemed just as excited as she had been for her first year and had told her what he remembered from his time. She smiled inwardly at the thought of all the muggleborns who hadn't seen or heard of anything like what they had today.
"Oh you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can cap them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;"
"Bloody hell, does this end?" Theo groaned.
Blaise elbowed him, frowning. "Shush, we haven't even gotten to the best part."
"Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
if you've a ready mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folks use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"
There was a lengthy round of applause as the Sorting Hat finished its song. Viola had barely enough time to consider its words before Professor McGonagall spoke again.
"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!" Viola watched intently as a pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. There was a short silence, and Viola wondered if the hat was talking to her.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" it shouted. A round of applause from the Hufflepuff table, she assumed, as Abbott took her seat. She felt Theo's grimace from beside her. But how did the hat work? Did it have the ability to read your mind? She stared at her feet, deep in thought.
"Bones, Susan!" Or perhaps it was all-knowing, in a way that it could see things that you didn't even know about yourself?
"HUFFLEPUFF!" Viola was suddenly struck with worry. What if it told her things about herself she didn't want to know?
"Boot, Terry!" She was going to be sick. What was it that Father had said one time? She couldn't remember. Just as she was about to lift a hand to her pulsing temple, a firm hand grasped hers tightly and she lifted her head in surprise. Blaise had leaned across to her, his eyes full of reassurance. "You'll do fine," he said, squeezing her hand, and she responded with one of her own.
"Bulstrode, Millicent!" The first Slytherin. More applause rang out as she joined their table. And then…
"Duvell, Violetta!" She felt Blaise's encouraging hand on her shoulder, and Theo's light nudge. Even Pansy seemed to glance towards her direction without any ill intent.
Merlin, why did her surname start with a 'D'? As Viola approached the stool, her head was a jumble of thoughts. She knew how the other houses saw Slytherin. Perhaps in Ravenclaw, she would have the peace and quiet she wanted. She thought of Theo and Blaise, and of Pansy as well to some degree.
As the hat was placed on her head, she shut eyes and prayed.
"Ah, a Duvell, and another bright one as well," a voice spoke in her ear. "I see… demure, yet strong-willed… a mind for self-preservation, but also loyalty… Now which one shall it be, hmm? Alliance, or independence?"
She couldn't respond, mostly because she didn't know the answer herself. She thought about the others again, who were almost all guaranteed Slytherins, and looked over first at the Slytherin table, and then at the line of first years waiting to be sorted. Without having to give an answer, the hat chuckled.
"I see… Even there, your clever wit will not be wasted. Well, if the choice has been made — SLYTHERIN!" the hat shouted the final word, and the applause began again.
Surely if the hat felt as if she belonged in Slytherin…? She only hoped that she had made the right decision.
Once Viola was seated at the Slytherin table, she missed the next few sortings, instead caught up in all the excitement of the Slytherins at their new legacies. Perhaps she might have regretted her decision in the future, but for now she was more than content. Midway through introductions with one of the third years, a name caught her attention.
"Malfoy, Draco!" From his place in line, Malfoy strode up to the stool, looking exactly as she had remembered him last, white blonde hair slick back, wearing the same smirk. Viola wasn't surprised when the hat declared 'SLYTHERIN' immediately without hesitation.
Theo and Pansy's went similarly, though Theo sat through a slight pause during his. Perhaps they had really wished for Slytherin as well? She could imagine the hat had seen some Gryffindor in Theo, but decided not to to insult him by bringing it up later.
A few students later, and "Potter, Harry!" brought a flurry of hushed whispers among the crowd. The name wasn't unfamiliar, possibly everyone in the room had recognised The Boy Who Lived. Viola watched as a messy-haired boy took his place on the stool and scrunched his face up as the hat was placed on his head. After perhaps the longest delay yet, the hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" and as the booming applause rang out through the hall, she wondered where else the hat thought he may have belonged. She doubted it would have been Ravenclaw or Slytherin, but Hufflepuff perhaps...?
The rest of the students dragged on until there was only one person left in the line.
"Zabini, Blaise." He sat on the stool longer than Theo had, perhaps even as long as Viola did herself. Until finally, "SLYTHERIN" was shouted, Viola didn't realise she had been holding her breath. As the final round of applause began, Blaise nodded expectantly to no one in particular and went to join them at the table.
The headmaster rose and addressed the hall as the sound died down.
"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin out banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"
There was another round of thunderous applause as endless plates of food appeared along the tables. Before anyone had moved, Theo already had a lamp chop shoved in his mouth.
"What an absolute nutter!" he exclaimed through his chews. Viola cringed and flicked his shoulder just as Pansy fake wretched. Blaise shook his head instead and settled for pouring himself a bowl of pumpkin soup. Beside Theo, who was sitting across from Viola, sat Malfoy with two of his friends on the further side. They looked more like bodyguards than friends, Viola thought to herself.
Malfoy was picking at his food for some reason, with an unreadable expression on his face. She considered striking up a conversation with him since Theo was caught up in a heated debate with Pansy about something or the other, and his own friends were stuffing their faces with mince pie. Then she recalled that he had never really done anything for her either, so she went back to skewering roast potatoes on her plate. They did taste rather delicious, she had to admit.