Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any familiar characters, places, etc. Anything you don't recognise is probably mine.
I
"Albus Severus Potter!"
Rose touches her cousin's arm as he passes her and feels him shaking slightly. He sits down on the stool, and almost as soon as the hat touches his head it shouts, "Gryffindor!" The Gryffindor table erupts into applause, and Albus breaks out into a bright smile as he all but runs to join them. A few more names are called.
"Rose Weasley!"
She's nervous, but she feels a twinge of excitement surge through her as she approaches the stool. The elderly witch places the battered old hat on her head.
"Oh," the hat whispers in her ear, "another Weasley, hmm? Been a while since one of you has come along. Well that's traditionally a Gryffindor family." Rose feels a surge of relief. "But you're not really right for Gryffindor." The relief is quickly replaced by a cold fear. Anywhere but Slytherin she thinks, panicking. "Really? Had a similar conundrum with…oh, your uncle!" The hat seems thrilled by this. "Well, can't put you in Hufflepuff. You've got your mother's intelligence as well. I know what to do…" And then, out loud, it calls "Ravenclaw!"
The hat is lifted off Rose's head, but she can't seem to move. The Ravenclaw table is applauding and cheering for her, but her stomach is lurching and she feels like she might be sick. Albus' face stands out at the Gryffindor table, a look of shock and what could be disgust etched into his features.
"Well, off you go dear." The elderly witch gives her a gentle shove and she walks, on wooden legs, over to the Ravenclaw table and sits down silently. Not right for Gryffindor? And then she thinks of her parents, and how disappointed they'll be. At least you're not in Slytherin, a small voice within her says, or Hufflepuff. That would just be embarrassing. And then Rose can't help but laugh as a tiny boy runs excitedly over to the Hufflepuff table.
"Hi," the girl next to Rose says, "my name's Aurora."
"Rose," Rose says distractedly.
"Don't be sad that you're in Ravenclaw," Aurora tells her serenely, "the hat's never wrong. It's meant to be."
"But I come from an all-Gryffindor family," Rose says, a note of agitation creeping into her voice, "I'm meant to be over there, with my cousin."
"Shut up," the boy on Rose's other side hisses, "professor McGonagall is about to talk!"
The headmistress reads a few notices to the hushed hall, and then the plates magically fill. Aurora tucks in enthusiastically, but Rose feels too sick to eat.
"I'm muggle born, you know," Aurora is saying, "so I didn't really mind what house I got sorted into. I was quite pleased with Ravenclaw. I was the smartest at my primary school…"
Rose lets her talk, not paying attention. She's trying to catch Albus' eye but he won't look up at her.
"My aunt's a witch though, but I don't see her much. I only met her once when I was six, but I don't really remember…"
Aurora talks most of the way through the feast. She doesn't seem to mind that Rose only gives monosyllabic answers now and then. She's weird, and Rose likes her, but she just can't ignore the little voice inside her that says she's in Ravenclaw. But I'm in Ravenclaw too, now, she thinks furiously, the sooner I accept that, the better.
"First years! First years to me!"
Rose glances up the table and sees a Ravenclaw prefect beckoning to the new students. She nudges Aurora, and the two of them go over to her.
"Alright, just follow me and I'll take you all to the Ravenclaw common room," the prefect says kindly to the assembled crowd, "my name's Loretta by the way. Loretta Moss." She turns and walks away along the table where the older students are still sitting, taking their time. She is so tall and has such a long stride that the gaggle of first years has to jog to keep up with her. "This is the fastest way to the common room," she says as they ascend a flight of steep, winding stairs, "but you can get to it other ways. The entrance is through here." Loretta stops in front of a heavy wooden door with a bronze, eagle shaped knocker in the very centre. "The eagle asks you a riddle, and if you get it right, you are allowed to enter. Some of the riddles are kind of vague and there are a few answers, or any answer is acceptable depending on your reasoning. If you get it wrong, you have to wait for someone else to come along and let you in. That way you learn, get it?" The first years nod.
"If I say "everything I tell you is a lie", am I telling you the truth, or a lie?" The eagle asks. Loretta looks thoughtful for a nanosecond.
"A lie. It can't be the truth without contradicting itself."
"Acceptable." The door unlatches, and Loretta pushes it open.
"The common room is just up here," she calls back to the first years. They follow her through the door and up a tight spiral staircase. The room they emerge into is large and circular. "Alright, well, the dormitories are upstairs, girls are that staircase, boys are that one. There are two girls dormitories this year because there are so many of you. You can come to me or Fraser Green if you need any help with anything or you want to ask us something…Fraser was meant to be here tonight but I don't know where he is. Anyway, I advise you turn in early because classes start early tomorrow. Oh, and welcome to Hogwarts." Loretta leaves them, and the first years spread out across the common room, talking excitedly.
"I think I'll go and see my dormitory," Rose tells Aurora. She just wants to go to bed, so maybe she can wake up and she'll be at home, and her first day won't have happened yet, and then she might get sorted into Gryffindor where she belongs.
"I'll come with you," Aurora smiles, and they start to climb the stairs. Rose finds her dormitory on the second landing they come to. An arched wooden door is set deep into the wall, the words "First Years" spelled out in silver lettering on the wall above it, and on the door itself five plaques have been fixed to it each with a different name. Rose's name is the third one down. Aurora's name isn't there at all.
"Oh, I must be in the other dormitory," she says, her expression unreadable, "I'm going to find it and then I think I'll go to bed. See you tomorrow?" She says it like a question, like she's not sure Rose wants to be friends. Rose nods, and tries to throw in a warm smile but she's sure it comes out crooked. She likes Aurora, she really does want to be friends, but…She wishes Aurora could understand. She wasn't supposed to be in Ravenclaw. Rose sighs, and opens the door to her dormitory.
It's a circular room, with five beds with wrought iron frames, their headboards pushed against the curved wall at regular intervals. Each bed has a soft, dark blue blanket and, underneath that, a white duvet. The pillows all have the Ravenclaw crest embroidered on them. Rose finds her bed, with her trunk at the end of it, and sits down a tad shakily. She's the first girl there, so she gets quite a shock when a ball of black fur throws itself into her lap.
"Oh, hey Frog," she mumbles, scratching her cat behind the ears absently, "I wondered where you'd got too."
At that moment, the dormitory door is thrown open with a clatter and a tall girl with large green eyes and bobbed blonde hair enters, looking profoundly bored.
"Oh, I thought I might be alone," the blonde says, sounding anything but pleased to see Rose sitting there, "I couldn't take the inane chatter downstairs."
"I'm Rose," Rose says uncertainly, "Rose Weasley."
"Jennifer Nettles," the blonde says unenthusiastically, sitting down on her bed, which is the one directly across from Rose's. She unlatches her trunk and rummages around inside it, searching for something. After a few moments, she pulls out a very substantial book. "If you wouldn't mind, I need absolute silence while pondering the works of the great witch Orla Quirke."
"Don't worry; I'm going to sleep anyway." Rose puts Frog down and pulls a few things out of her trunk to get to her nightdress.
"I hope you don't snore," Jennifer says seriously, before sliding a pair of glasses onto her nose and starting to read.