A/N. Hello again! Before you read, here's a little prep information: Yune is a year below Harry, so this would technically be taking place at the beginning of Chamber of Secrets. This chapter contains the sorting, which Harry and Ron are NOT in attendance for this year, because of the flying car incident. Since this is the case, J.K. Rowling did not write a Sorting Hat song for this chapter, so I wrote one myself, because you CAN'T have a sorting without a Sorting Hat song. (:

DISCLAIMER: Speaking of J.K. Rowling, she owns all of the Harry Potter series, not I, in case you were worried. All rights go to her, except for my original characters and plot, set around the world and characters that she has already created. This little disclaimer counts for all of the chapters of this story. Also, I have been making sure to plan my story so that no parts go against her original story, but if you see a mistake that goes against the books, please let me know.


Ch 2: Of Hats and Unexpected Twists

Yune's POV

September 1, 1992

When we had finally arrived at our destination, the first-years were separated from the rest of the students, and taken across a lake in boats. Reyson and I climbed into a boat, where we were soon joined by a red-headed girl and a blonde one, who introduced themselves as Ginny and Luna.

"I wonder why they make the first-years go this way," said Ginny.

Luna shrugged, and said in a calm voice, "I don't mind. The lake really is lovely. I wonder if I would be allowed to fish for plimpies here."

"Plimpies?" I asked curiously.

"Oh yes, the gulping plimpy is particularly wonderful in soup. My father has an excellent recipe!"

I looked at my two companions to see if they were also confused. They were.

Our thoughts were interrupted when the boats reached the opposite shore, and we were led inside the magnificent Hogwarts castle. Instead of going straight to the Great Hall, we were led to a side room to wait for everyone to arrive. Reyson and I had somehow lost Ginny and Luna in the crowd.

"Reyson," I asked tentatively, "What do they do to sort you, exactly?"

At first he didn't reply, which made me even more worried. He finally said, "Well, actually, I don't know. No one in my family will ever tell me; not even my older brother, and he's told me loads about Hogwarts."

Well, that was encouraging, I thought wryly. What if we were tested on our magic? I didn't think to try to learn any spells... I jumped when I heard McGonagall announce that it was time.

I instinctively grabbed onto Reyson's robes as the first-years massed around us towards the door. "Are you all right?" he asked in a concerned voice, looking down at me.

"Fine. Sorry, just nervous about it all, I guess." I dropped my hand.

"Don't worry about it. They won't do anything we aren't prepared for. Hey, if we're lucky, we'll be in the same house!" He smiled at me encouragingly.

I attempted to smile back, but what he said worried me. I didn't know if I was brave enough to get into Gryffindor. But my thoughts were distracted when I turned my attention to what was now in front of me. What my eyes saw made me gasp in amazement. We had just entered a huge room with four large tables, two on either side of us. There were banners bearing the house names on the walls, and everywhere were floating candlesticks. I looked up at the ceiling to see how tall the room was, but instead I saw an endless night sky.

When Reyson saw me gazing at it, he leaned over and whispered, "It's enchanted to look like the sky outside." I nodded silently as we shuffled with the others towards the front of the room, where a fifth table of adults sat.

We gathered around a small stool that had a very old, beaten-up wizard hat on it. To our complete surprise, it burst into song.

"Welcome, young wizards, gather round!

For I'm here to tell a tale.

It shall explain the houses you're bound

To be in, for I won't fail

In sorting you, my dear, dear friends,

To the house that suits you best.

And there you shall be by whatever ends

When I put your mind to the test.

Shall I put you in Slytherin?

You will have to be cunning.

Salazar thought only purebloods could win;

To be placed here, your ambition is stunning

Or Gryffindor is the one you seek,

For bravery there isn't lacking.

Sir Godric decided you can't be meek,

For if you are, I'll send you packing

To Ravenclaw instead, if you're clever,

For here are those that are smart.

Rowena could send you on such an endeavor

That would kill you if you aren't.

Last but not least is dear Hufflepuff,

Whose loyalty is nothing to laugh at.

They won't abandon you when things get rough

Unlike those who are a rat.

So come, dear friends, and put me on

Your rather comfy young small head,

I promise now it won't be long

Until your fate is said!"

I applauded, quite impressed, with the rest of the students in the hall. I was getting excited.

"When I say your name, you are to sit on the stool and place the hat on your head. When your house has been decided, go and sit at the table with the others of your house," McGonagall instructed.

I didn't have to wait long. After three people had been sorted, one of them being Alice, who did indeed go to Slytherin, McGonagall called, "Black, Yune!"

I glanced over to where Alice had just sat down. A few of the Slytherins were looking at me curiously. My eyes took a quick sweep of the other three tables, but only a few from those houses were even paying attention at all. I sat down and set the hat on my head. As it slipped down over my eyes, I heard a voice inside my head.

"Hmm," the hat mused, "And where shall we put you? I could put you in Slytherin; I've put plenty of Blacks there before…"

I tensed. No.

"No? Hmm, perhaps not. You have a lot of your father in you, and his brave, outgoing spirit. I could put you in Gryffindor." I thought of Reyson. He had hoped we would be in the same house. "But no. Your mother's wit has prevailed, I think. Ravenclaw!"

I took off the hat and placed it on the stool, then made my way to the cheering Ravenclaw table. I had no idea what the hat had been talking about, so I blocked it out of my mind for the time being. I put on a smile for my new house members patting me on the back.

The list of names seemed to be endless. I probably would have been bored if I wasn't so fascinated by all of it.

"Alexander, Nicholas!" Slight pause. "Hufflepuff!"

"Weasley, Ginny!" That was the red-head from earlier. Slight pause. "Gryffindor!"

"Henderson, Jonathan!" Slight pause. "Gryffindor!"

"Calill, Reyson!" I looked up. On his way to the stool, he waved at someone at the Gryffindor table, who waved back; I guessed that this was his older brother. Then he searched the Ravenclaw table till he found me, and met my eyes. He sat down and pulled on the hat. Thirty seconds later, the hat announced, "Ravenclaw!"

What?

He stood from the stool, looking dazed, making his way to the table and sitting down next to me. Most of the Gryffindors were staring at him in amazement, and many of the other students, too, but Ravenclaw just cheered. I looked at him questioningly.

"I have no idea, either," he said.

"Lovegood, Luna!" McGonagall called. The strange girl from the boat had stepped forward. The hat didn't take long before he announced that she would be joining us in Ravenclaw, too. We cheered with the others, and she sat down across the table from us, smiling dreamily.

A little while later, after the last first-year sat down at their new table ("Slytherin!"), Dumbledore stood up. He made a small speech about the Dark Forest around the grounds being forbidden, and other beginning of the year announcements, and then the feast began.

When we had finally eaten our fill, the prefects came and herded the first-years into little groups, and led us to our house common rooms. The Ravenclaws headed to the west part of the castle, till we were at the base of a large spiral staircase, leading up into one of the many towers of Hogwarts. When we finally reached the top, we had to pause before a single wooden door with an eagle-shaped bronze knocker.

"What runs past mountain, meadow, field, and hill, but follows a river while standing still?" the eagle inquired.

Well that's easy, I thought to myself, A riverbank.

The prefect responded, "A riverbank." The door opened. He turned to face the first-years filed behind him and said, "Ravenclaw Tower has always been guarded by a riddle. It changes often, but everyone is given the new answer when it does. But if you happen to forget it, you're in Ravenclaw, I'm sure you'll figure it out." He winked.

Reyson glanced at me nervously. I had a feeling that he hadn't gotten the riddle as quickly as I had. We followed the prefect into Ravenclaw Tower.

We had entered a large round room with a midnight-blue carpet. Tall, arched windows with dark blue drapes made up the walls, with a just-as-tall bookcase built directly into the wall between each. A sliding ladder stood in front of one. All around us were downy couches colored the same blue as the floor, with cherry wood legs and cherry coffee tables in front of them. On the right side of the room, there was a pause in the window-bookcase pattern to make a place for a large fireplace. On the wall across from us, there was a life-sized marble statue in front of an arched window of a woman with a stern but kindly face. Cut into the wall on either side of her were entrances to two more spiral staircases, but these were narrower than the one we had just left. The ceiling above was covered in decorative designs of stars and centaurs, and overall, I decided that I would be quite happy to live here for the next seven years.

The prefect handed out schedules, said that the boys' dormitory was at the top of the left-side staircase, and the girls' was on the right.

"See you tomorrow, then?" Reyson asked.

"See you then!" I said, waving, and then climbed the stairs with several other girls. At the top was an entrance to a short hall, with seven doors that each bore a number. I entered the one that had a one on it.

This room had six beds inside, each with the signature Ravenclaw-blue curtains. The room was square, unlike the common room, with three beds on each side, and the wall at the end of the room was entirely made of glass, with drapes that were pulled closed, since it was now night time. I peaked between the drapes. The view of the mountains was splendid. I found my things, including Raven perched in her cage, placed on the bed closest to the sky wall on the left side. I sat down on the bed and sighed.

I was quickly joined by the other five girls, one of them being Luna. I smiled at one of them, a short girl with freckles, and she grinned back; this girl's bed was right next to mine.

"Well, at least we don't have to argue about which beds we get," this girl commented. She pulled her mousy brown hair into a ponytail and started organizing her belongings.

"Yes, that is rather nice," Luna remarked. Her bed was opposite mine on the other wall. "It would be a pity if the glass was to break and we all fell out," she mused at random.

The girl next to her agreed that yes, it would be a pity, but let's not think about that, and what are all our names? Hers is Tilly. I soon found out that the girl next to me was Marcia, and the other two, whose beds are closest to the doors, are Amy and Eva.

Not long after that, we had gotten ourselves organized, and Luna took out a book and began to read. The other five of us began to talk.

"Isn't it all just wonderful?" Marcia said, lying on her bed on her back, except that her feet were propped up on the pillows where her head should be.

Amy nodded. She was carefully braiding her long brown hair. "I keep pinching myself because I'm scared I'm dreaming. My parents weren't wizards, so all of this came as a really big shock."

Marcia replied, "Yeah, my folks are actually pretty boring. I used to spend hours reading because I wanted to get away from all of that practical stuff. I inhaled books. It's funny, every time I read one I always seem to remember it in detail when I think about it later."

Eva, the girl on the other side of Marcia, said, "Doesn't seem very natural…"

"What is natural about us?" retorted Marcia. Amy nodded in agreement.

"Don't be silly," said Tilly, "'Course we're natural. Just different. My parents were both wizards, thanks much, and they were probably about as boring as your parents! Well, minus most of the chores being done by magic and that sort of thing…" She trailed off, suddenly realizing how seemingly unnatural her life had been.

"So what about you, Yune? What're your parents like?" Eva asked, not unlike Reyson had in the train.

"I'm an orphan, so I don't really know," I responded simply.

They all went quiet, but then Luna piped up, looking up from her book, "That's absolutely fascinating! I wonder if they were eaten by yorkingtiles…That would be rather terrible, but that means they were quite heroic."

I started to ask what yorkingtiles were, but decided against it. I'd rather not imagine my parents being eaten by them, whatever they were.

After a while, Eva, Amy, Tilly, and Luna had all gone to sleep. I laid there with my eyes open. Now that I had time to think, it had all sort of hit me. I was a witch now, and I was at a boarding school far away from the only place I had ever known. My parents had been witches and wizards, too, according to the Sorting Hat. Mrs. Periwinkle had been a witch. She had said so at the platform.

"Can't sleep either?" Marcia whispered.

"No," I replied. "I can't stop thinking."

I see Marcia's silhouetted head nod. "Yeah, me either. I've always thought too much. I can't decide if that's a blessing or a curse."

I smile at the truth of that statement. I think back to the other children at the orphanage, and how I was different from them. Hesitantly, I asked, "Did other kids treat you, you know, differently?"

Marcia stirred. "Yeah, actually. They never seemed to want to talk about what I wanted to talk about."

"Exactly!" I pause. "Well, now we know we're Ravenclaw witches. Maybe that's why. Kind of gives you hope, doesn't it?"

She turned over and grinned at me. "You're completely right. That makes me feel a lot better."

I thought it might. "Good. See you in the morning, then?"

"You bet," she replied. Not long after, I heard her breathing slow, and I knew she was asleep. I pondered everything a little bit longer, and then followed her example.


There you are! If you are wondering, J.K. Rowling did not go into much detail of the description of Ravenclaw Tower, so some of it is invented by me. The common room is based on the small description she did have, but the dorms were never explored.

I still don't know what my update schedule shall be like, but I shall try to have a minimum of a new chapter every Saturday. I don't know this for sure, but I shall try.