"Right this way," Prefect Finn Graves Scholt said, beckoning first-years forward into the entrance hall. Headmaster Fontaine was very clear on his intent for the Sorting to hurry up this year. The class of 2014 was the largest Ilvermorny had in thirteen years. While the Sorting was more efficient here than in Hogwarts, the Wand Ceremony was going to be a pain.
As the next of the Knight Buses unloaded, a lanky blonde witch who towered over the other first-years approached, the brim of her hat turned upwards to the sky. Finn smiled, recognizing the second of his four sisters in the crowd.
"Good luck, Dee," he said as she passed.
She gave him a nervous smile as she continued past him into the hall. Finn remembered his own first time, seeing the crimson wallpaper, with black silhouettes of creatures on the wall, the stone pillars, and the skylights welcoming in the setting sun.
He wasn't quite as nervous as Aideen was, or Freya. Probably because he was the eldest, and as such didn't have any family anxiously watching to make sure he got into Wampus, as he was supposed to.
Finn knew his sister would get in, though. He knew his sisters, and they were all warriors, in their own ways.
Freya was the most traditional, and resembled their mother so closely, with both dark hair and dark eyes, and was like the thunderstorm that raged the night she was born. She was strong, hard, and with an erratic temper, a force to be reckoned with. She was always doing something. To relax was a foreign concept.
Aideen was like the ocean— mostly a calming source, maternal almost in how she treated others, and not as showy as Freya or Belle, but her brand of heroism and courage was still there, if difficult to see. It was like the waves eroding a cliff over several years. To many, she didn't seem the warrior type, but Finn knew his sister.
Belladonna, often called Belle, was like a raging wildfire. Out of control, unpredictable, and filled with raw power, she liked challenges, and was certainly a fighter. She was always in a fight with one of the other neighborhood children. But like a fire, there was something charismatic about her destructive nature.
Rionach was the baby of the family, and she was like ice. She was cool, calm, and collected, and impressive in her few raw displays.
Finn's reverie was broken by a sharp elbow to the ribs. "Ow!"
"Like that hurt, you big baby," Christine Booth teased. Despite being on the Quodpot Team for Thunderbird, the greatest of Wampus's rivals, Christine and Finn had maintained a long-standing friendship, fueled with bickering and the occasional short-lived duel.
"You don't have to elbow me that hard, I haven't gotten on my broom for the season yet!" Finn cried.
"Hurry along," said Professor Calderon-Dean. "We've got to get through a lot of students."
"Yes sir," Christine and Finn chorused. They hurried off, and had to separate to sit with their houses. Finn couldn't help but steal glances at Christine when he wasn't glancing down to see if his sister had come up yet. She'd grown prettier over the summer, with her sweet blonde hair, and her figure becoming really developed.
"Quit eying her," Freya hissed. "Dee's up."
Indeed, the little blonde witch had stepped on the Gordian Knot. After a moment, the Wampus roared, just like Finn expected— but then the Pukwudgie shot its arrow.
Finn felt as if the air had been knocked out of him. Freya reached for his hand and squeezed it so tight, her fingernails were digging into his wrist.
Aideen stared up at them, clearly bewildered. She hesitated a single moment before replying.
"Wampus."
Finn let out a sigh of relief, but Freya gripped his wrist tighter. Her dark eyes were as relentless as the rain on the night she was born.
"We can never tell Mom and Dad she was almost chosen for Pukwudgie," Freya said. "Especially when she didn't show any magic till a week before her birthday. Add this, and they might kick her out."
Finn nodded, remembering the family opinion on Pukwudgies. Their father, Abraham Scholt, had always rambled about how the Pukwudgies were weak-willed softies with no real courage, and their mother, Lavender Graves, always talked about the sniveling pushovers the Pukwudgie girls were in her year. And from what Finn observed, the same could be said for his year.
Aideen already had one foot out the door before she levitated her favorite doll. Finn had overheard his parents making arrangements to pass Aideen off to a No-Maj family if she turned out to be a No-Maj herself.
This might end for sure in her expulsion from the family.
In the Opening Feast, everyone was to sit at long tables, like at Hogwarts. It was always strange for Finn, not seeing the normal round tables that were scattered all around the Dining Hall.
He and Freya sat at the Wampus table, saving a seat between them for Aideen, who exited fairly early, brandishing a wand.
"Cedar and horned serpent horn!" Aideen cried, showing it off. Finn thought her wand very plain, with an undefined handle and a surprising lack of marks down the side, the only extraordinary thing about her wand being the pearl attached at the end.
Freya dropped her voice low. "We can't tell Mom or Dad about Pukwudgie, ever."
"I know," Aideen said, reluctant to stop talking about her wand.
Satisfied that that had been resolved, Finn stole a glance at the Thunderbird table and found Christine staring back at him.