YOUR ADAPTATION OF LOVE
I
A PLACE CALLED HOGWARTS
Her eyes were wide with wonder as her feet moved busily across the hard stone pavement. It was dark but the candles that glided alongside the party of three illuminated her emerald tinted iris. Her skin glowed like a fresh pearl in the night and her chestnut hair gathered so carelessly behind her ears. Her thoughts roamed quite calmly in her mind- Hogwarts, the voice inside her resided.
"It's not too far now Miss Cul de Louf." smiled the short man who previously introduced himself as the Hogwarts Headmaster Armando Dippet, he was nearly bald and seemed quite feeble, he was however a very approachable wizard. Beside him was another wizard, she knew him, not well but she knew him enough to trust him to lead her to a world unknown to her. His name was Albus Dumbledore, she had heard her grandmother speak of him on occasions and had visited their quaint country cottage a number of times.
"School life should prove to be very exciting and challenging for you Ms. Cul de Louf." smiled Albus Dumbledore.
"It shall prove challenging, exciting however? That I'm not too certain."
"Oh come child!" Armando Dippet exclaimed as he took her to his arms, "You must foresee the events before you with the best of possibilities."
"I agree, but it is hard to remove oneself from the only world one has ever known and just immediately accept and assimilate oneself with the customs of another strange world. Its quite impossible to for me to do that of what you asked- seeing the best of forthcoming events are hard when you are not even prepared as to what extent and concentration of trials will you face in the unfolding of such occurrences." argued Aldyth.
Armando Dippet had to stop himself, he looked at her innocent face with such wide eyes and laughed heartily, "My, My... This one is quite a deep thinker, don't you agree Professor Dumbledore?"
"Just like her grandparents." Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling behind his half moon spectacles.
"Im not sure whether that will be useful to me, specially within this school context." Sounded Aldyth with a hint of confusion.
"The staff will be well entertained and pleased with such maturity and I'm certain that students will be impressed." Dippet replied as he smiled at her with new found fondness.
And for the first time that night, Aldyth smiled.
Satisfied with her reaction, he continued towards his office and started to hound Aldyth Cul de Louf of the school rules and customs, "There are four houses in Hogwarts Ms. Cul de Louf, they are Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw- Professor Dumbledore here is the Head of Gryffindor House. Each house values different attributes in people and you must be sorted into one of them, we do this with the sorting hat."
"Ive heard of the sorting hat." She smiled deviously.
Headmaster Dippet gave her a suspicious look as he finally came to a halt infront of an ugly stone gargoyle, she looked at Professor Dumbledore to see if he too displayed the same expression the Headmaster did but to her surprise he shot her a playful smile and a cheeky wink. The headmaster soon stepped within the enclosure of the winged gargoyle and gestured Professor Dumbledore and Aldyth to follow. Once they had completely submerged themselves within its boundaries, it began to move in a slow circular motion until finally it stopped to reveal the circular Headmaster's office. It was a large room filled with books and moving portraits, in the distant the fire danced so eagerly as to give a warm welcome to its guests. Armando led the party, he immediately reached for his tall chair which were elaborately carved with eloquent and majestic patterns. He watched Aldyth approach the chair across the table from him with caution, he smiled and announced, "The chair is now hexed dear child, now sit so we may begin."
Aldyth's expression did not alter nor did her cautious steps but when her fingertips trailed against the chair's aged leather, she suddenly had the urgency to sit. Since the beginning of that week, she had not been granted with any time to digest what had occurred, although its intensity had only drifted past her in its first days it was now truly immersing itself into her, impregnating her thoughts with nothing but woe and driving her actions with no sense of direction. The only sense of being she knew within the strangely named school was Dumbledore- his presence fed her confidence.
As soon as she has finally rested her feet and leaned her back against the warm leather chair, she felt those sleepless nights slowly imprisoning her. Her attentiveness growing shorter with every ticking sound of the clock but she forced herself to stay widely awake, her round eyes gazing at Dumbledore who had rested himself on his feet next to the headmaster.
"The sorting hat if you please professor Dumbledore."
In an instant, Dumbledore seemed to have glided from the centre of the room to one of the shelves fixed onto the wall and within only seconds, he was back with a poorly patched hat. Aldyth smiled inwardly, she knew of the sorting hat quite well, she knew its secret rather than what it is perceived to do.
"Now if you don't mind Aldyth, I will now place the sorting hat on you." announced Dumbledore. His lips parted to reveal a shy smile, his eyes squinting with curiosity.
Ahhh... a fresh mind...interesting, quite interesting... I see that knowledge thrives within your mind a well suited attribute for a Ravenclaw, but what is this? Such courageous heart and words so honestly emitted, a possible Gryffindor... I see you are a hard worker but not quite a patient little one- a less likely candidate for a Hufflepuff but ahhh... a pureblood with great ambitions but not as resourceful as that of an ideal Slytherin... were shall I place you?
A house where I will find a person I have most in common with please...
A request? Hmmm... lets see...
"Slytherin!" the hat exclaimed, making the Headmaster almost jump up from his seat.
As soon as Dumbledore pulled the hat from her, Armando Dippet spoke, "That is rather strange, every Cul de Louf I have ever known was placed in Ravenclaw."
"Perhaps I shall try it again?" asked Aldyth reaching for the hat.
Both Dumbledore and Dippet laughed unpretentiously, "Once the sorting hat places an individual into a house, I'm afraid that decision is absolute." sounded Professor Dumbledore as he returned the hat to its place, "Shall I call upon Professor Slughorn Headmaster?"
"No, it shall be done tomorrow. It is far too late, the staff have not yet been informed of our new student and accommodation for Miss Aldyth Cul de Louf has not yet been prepared." answered Armando.
Hearing this, Aldyth became worried, "Then where will I be able to rest?"
"Professor Dumbledore will take you to a room in the seventh floor," the headmaster gave Dumbledore a knowing look then turned to face Aldyth once more, "You must rejuvenate all energy you have lost by tomorrow so that we may introduce you to your peers."
"Well then, can I be excused, I'm sorry Headmaster, I am just terribly exhausted." requested Aldyth, her tone resounding nothing but politeness.
"Ofcourse child." Armando answered. He gave Dumbledore a slight nod and the two figured disappeared behind the winged gargoyle.
Their steps were slow although Aldyth would have preferred to have just apparated to her room. Dumbledore have not said anything since they left the Headmaster's office but he wasn't being completely hostile, he would shot her a warm smile on occasions.
"How are people like in the Slytherin House?" asked Aldyth.
Dumbledore looked back at her, his brow raising as if thinking of how to answer her question then he smiled and answered, "Rebellious... just like all other students."
"Rebellious?" Aldyth giggled, "I suppose, curious student would be rebellious if Professors such as yourself would deprive them of precious knowledge." she humoured.
Dumbledore laughed in an instant, "Oh child, I am well assured that the majority of people would be delighted to be in your company!" he exclaimed as he took her shoulders and shook her in a friendly gesture.
"Who goes there?" a voice in the shadows shouted followed by very slow and cautious footsteps, "Oh Professor Dumbledore."
"Good evening Mr. Riddle." addressed Dumbledore as he discretely dispatched his hands from Aldyth's shoulders.
"Good evening Professor, I'm sorry, have I interrupted something."
"Oh, no child, as matter of fact you stumbled upon us in perfect timing." smiled Dumbledore as he placed his wide hands on Aldyth's back and gently pushed her towards Tom Riddle, "Aldyth, this is Tom Riddle. Tom, this is Aldyth Cul de Louf."
Tom Riddle extended his hand, his handsome face becoming noticeably pleasing as he smiled. Aldyth's lips only parted slightly to unmask a shy smile as she met his hand with her cold ones, "Its a pleasure to meet you." Tom sounded, his voice streaming through her ears like soft, cold silk.
"Like so."
"Miss Cul de Louf here have just enrolled to Hogwarts." announced Dumbledore, he then looked at Aldyth and said, "You should be pleased to hear that Mr. Tom Riddle is a brilliant student and prefect from the house of Slytherin."
"Is that so?"
Tom looked pleased at his professor's remark, "Professor, do you mind if I join you? Perhaps I could tell Miss Cul de Louf all about our school?"
"Not at all Mr. Riddle, I do think that it would be best for Ms. Cul de Louf to accommodate herself with atleast a fellow student before she meets the masses, that however all depends on whether she wishes your company."
Tom looked at Aldyth and shot her quite a confident smirk , there was never an occasion where his company was rejected especially from that of an opposite sex.
"Professor Dumbledore is certainly right, it would be best." smiled Aldyth but continued with a rather sour note, "But I'm terribly sorry, you see I'm rather tired and the only thing I would accommodate myself with at the moment is a warm bed, so I'm afraid that I must decline, I will however be pleased to seek your company tomorrow." she said politely.
The smirk on Tom's face immediately faded, but his voice remained persistent and unaffected, "Then I should look forward to tomorrow."
They exchanged smiles before they parted ways, Aldyth turned to Dumbledore and said, "That Tom Riddle is pleasing both in the eye and as a company but there seemed to be superficiality in his actions." And with this she looked back only to meet Tom Riddle's curious gaze as he walked the opposite direction.