The Forgotten Marauder
Her head ached. She was dizzy and the ground seemed to spin. But she'd never admit it.
The man looked at her, expecting to see some sign of weakness, or nausea. He was used to seeing it. He worked for the Ministry of Magic, and his job was to transport under-age wizards to places a good ways off- by Apparating, of course. He even expected she might fall to her knees on the soft grass that was a mile or so away from the Hogwarts grounds and quickly throw-up, thus removing the contents of her stomach.
But as he looked over the face of the stubborn sixteen-year old, he saw no weakness, no indication that she was going to be sick. Actually, it was quite the opposite- her sapphire eyes were clear and piercing as ever, her mouth curled into somewhat of a sneer.
There was only one word to describe her- defiant. Even her hair seemed defiant, as it fell down her back, and then twisted upward before it went past her hips.
Yes, she was certainly defiant. That was why she was here in the first place. In the words of her Headmistress at the renowned school of Beauxbatons- "she was a stubborn, challenging little wretch." So challenging had she been, that Beauxbatons had declared her too unlike a young lady, and had forced her to choose a different school to attend. Of course, she had chosen Hogwarts, not upset about leaving Beauxbatons in the least.
The man from the Ministry swallowed, for she was staring at him intently, not saying a word.
"If you please miss, I'll attend to your trunk, so-" he started.
She cut him off abruptly by dropping her trunk with a thud.
The man brought out his wand awkwardly. He mumbled something under his breath and the trunk vanished.
The girl merely gave a nod, to show her thanks, and started walking toward the distant Hogwarts castle, the lights from the windows glistening in the dark night.
The Ministry member scratched his head, confused. "Er… miss? Don't you want me to accompany you?" he yelled to her.
She didn't slow down her pace. "No thanks," she called back to him, not even so much as looking at him again. She preferred walking alone anyways.
Finally, she reached the gates that led to Hogwarts. They loomed above her, yet somehow didn't seem imposing. Suddenly, they swung open, revealing a man standing behind them.
Without knowing why, she felt he was a friend at once. With his long, snow-white beard, and half-moon spectacles that covered his blue, flashing eyes, he seemed friendly- almost comical, in fact.
He smiled at her, seeming as though he'd known her for a long time. "Finally, our promising new student has arrived!" he welcomed her. "I am Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts," he told her, extending a hand.
"Aerin Lorenta, sir," she said, shaking his hand warmly.
Dumbledore beamed at her. "How nice to meet you! But I must inquire- you don't go by Mc-Finch?"
Aerin winced slightly at the last name of her current guardian. It wasn't a forceful question. She knew she wouldn't be made to answer. That was why she went ahead and answered anyways.
"No sir. I prefer to use the last name of my… my first guardian," she replied hesitantly. She had wanted to say 'parent', but had stopped herself. Her parents were dead, after all.
Dumbledore nodded. He seemed as though he knew everything that had gone on in her life, and was sympathetic towards her. He began walking back towards the castle, gesturing for Aerin to follow.
Aerin usually was cautious towards sympathy. It almost always turned into pity, and she didn't accept pity. But she could tell Dumbledore would only be as sympathetic as she wanted him to be, and she felt she didn't need to act cautiously around him.
As they approached the huge doors that led into Hogwarts itself, Aerin felt as though she'd shrunk quite a bit. Never, since quite a long time ago, had she felt so small and insignificant.
But she brushed the feeling away hurriedly. She was here, at a new school, full of new people, and she intended to make an impression.
The doors swung open, just as the gates had, and she proceeded inside with Dumbledore. The warmth seemed to wrap itself all around her, pushing away the cold that had covered her while she'd walked outside on the grounds.
Dumbledore continued walking quickly, but not in a rushed sort of way. He approached a stone gargoyle and stopped before it.
"Sugar quills," he spoke calmly.
Aerin watched interestedly as the gargoyle sprang to the side, revealing a twisting spiral staircase. She followed him up the stairs, until they came to the most peculiar room she'd ever seen in her life.
It was full of magical items of all sorts, and on the walls, there were portraits of people she assumed to be previous Headmasters at Hogwarts. There was even a creature she recognized at once as a Phoenix.
Most of the objects in the room seemed bright and colorful, even if she couldn't make heads or tails of what some of them were.
However, Dumbledore surprised her by going to one of the shelves and grabbing one of the plainest objects in the room. It was a raggedy old hat, patched in several places, with a wide rip near the brim.
Aerin stared at the hat, as Dumbledore took a seat with it in hand, and motioned for her to sit down as well. She sat in another chair, watching the hat with interest.
Dumbledore smiled at her. "Now this," he started, pointing to the hat, "would be the Sorting Hat. It will sort you into one of the four Houses here at Hogwarts."
She continued to stare at the hat, understanding now why he'd gotten it down from the shelf, but was now starting to wonder how it would sort her. Aerin then went on to wonder what the Houses were like. She sounded them out in her mind. One, she liked the sound of in particular. Gryffindor. She repeated it once more.
After a pause, Dumbledore went on explaining about the Sorting Hat. He also added, as they drew near the end of their informative conversation, that her trunk would be immediately transported to the girls' dormitory of whichever House she was sorted into. With that, he handed her the old patched-up hat, and watched her jam it onto her head.
It was much too big for her, and went down to cover her eyes as well. She waited for a minute, feeling slightly ridiculous with the large patched hat on her head, and was about to inquire if she could take it off, when a voice spoke in her ear.
"Mmm… quite interesting… very interesting indeed," the hat commented.
Aerin got the most uncomfortable feeling that the raggedy old hat was enjoying looking at her thoughts, possibly even her past. She frowned a little, wishing for it to stop.
The Sorting Hat paid her no mind, and kept on evaluating. Every now and then it would let out a comment, like, "Well, that's peculiar" or, "Ah… mm-hmm…" Finally, it made its decision. "Gryffindor!" the hat called out.
Without the slightest idea why, Aerin felt a certain mix of pride and relief wash over her. Gryffindor… she still liked the sound of it.
A/N: This is my first fanfiction on here, and I'm trying my absolute best to keep updating it. I have the awful habit to start something, get interseted in it, then abandon it, never to work on it again. But I won't do that with this, I promise!
A little specification on my vagueness about Aerin's background: Her past is so confusing, I'm sure I could write a whole different fan fiction about it. However, to save you the details, I'll just explain now that though she did attend Beauxbatons, she is not from the Beauxbatons area. Her current guardian happened to be in the area, so she attended there. It was only after she was kicked out that the matter of distance no longer mattered, and she was allowed to go to Hogwarts instead.
Well, now, that's that! Please review! It's really not hard! You click the button and type something nice (Or horribly mean...)about what you thought of the fanfiction! It MIGHT just take about thirtyto sixty seconds of your time onan average.