"'The hat feels itself honor-bound to give the school due warning whenever it feels necessary… Its advice is always the same: Stand together, be strong from within.'"
(OotP, 187, 189)
Aside from the Gryffindor Tower, the Great Hall was Alice's favorite room in the castle. The four House tables ran the length of the room. Each had a banner above it spanning the entire length of the table; red and gold with a lion for Gryffindor, green and silver with a serpent for Slytherin, black and yellow with a badger for Hufflepuff, and blue and bronze with an eagle for Ravenclaw. The founders' table ran the width of the room across from the door. Its banner was purple with all House mascots united around a letter "H." All the founders sat at the table dressed in their House colors. Hufflepuff sat on the right, wearing black robes with canary colored stars. Her long white-blonde hair hung down to her waist, and her brown eyes stared over the crowd with interest. Ravenclaw sat on her left. Rowena was originally from the Far East, and her dark, narrow eyes surveyed the incoming first years. Her dark hair glistened against her midnight blue robes with bronze stars. Slytherin sat next in his sly glory. He sat with his arms crossed in his emerald and silver robes, looking down at the crowd with through his greasy hair and beady eyes. On the very left sat Gryffindor in his crimson and gold glory. His bright blue eyes watched joyfully as the Head Boy and Girl led in the first years. His curly, graying brown hair fell almost to his shoulders, and his had occasionally winked at someone.
"Welcome, new ones!" said Hufflepuff. "I'm sure you've already been told about the ceremony, so let's get started." She waved her wand, and a three-legged stool appeared on the front of the stage. Ravenclaw glided soundlessly to the stool and drew a small, smoky gray circle behind it at approximately head level of a person sitting on the stool. Upon completion, Gryffindor and Slytherin joined her behind the stool, and Hufflepuff began reading names.
"Bones, Andrea!" she called. A little red haired girl at the front of the line walked nervously up to the stool and sat down.
"Close your eyes, my dear," began Ravenclaw. "Try to relax," she added. Ravenclaw seemed to mime sucking something from inside the circle with her wand. A gray smoke ball fell from the wand tip into her waiting left hand. Each founder put a hand underneath Ravenclaw's, and they watched the smoke ball turn yellow.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted Gryffindor's hat as the smoke ball faded away. The same ritual continued, the yellow balls going to Hufflepuff, blue to Ravenclaw, green to Slytherin, and red to Gryffindor. Finally, they reached the last name, "Zdelictch, Sarah!" She sat on the stool and Ravenclaw proceeded once again, except the ball stayed gray. It could take a few seconds up to about three minutes for the ball to pick a color. This one remained gray for five minutes before the school became anxious. Murmurs ran around the room; "Why hasn't it changed yet?" "Is she a Muggle?" "Which House, honestly!"
"Did you do something wrong?" spat Slytherin.
"Of course not," replied Ravenclaw, uncharacteristic sharp.
"Perhaps she has qualities we all value!" said Hufflepuff cheerfully. The other founders rolled their eyes collectively.
"I suggest we resolve to the old way," said Gryffindor. He referred to a previous selection method in which each founder handpicked students, but as they aged, they sought to find a way for future teachers to pick students for Houses according to the original standards. Each founder took his or her hand away and all smoke vanished with a wave of Gryffindor's wand. Hufflepuff stepped around in front of the girl with a big smile.
"Now, dear," she began, "Do you work hard at every task you are assigned?"
"I- I think- I don't always need to," the girl replied.
"Don't need to?" said Ravenclaw, moving to stand next to Hufflepuff. "Do you succeed without trying hard? Things come easily to you?"
"Sometimes," the girl replied. "I get by."
"You are busy with other things?" asked Gryffindor.
"I guess so."
"Would you consider yourself cunning?" said Slytherin slyly.
"Or honorable?" added Gryffindor.
"I can be sly…"
"Dear, are you pure-blood?"
"SALAZAR! We agreed not to ask that, since parentage should not matter!" scolded Hufflepuff.
"You three agreed. I did not," hissed Slytherin.
"Sal, don't be difficult," Gryffindor groaned.
"You're not above the rest of us either, Godric," said Ravenclaw.
"Rowena, I was only-"
"Please, everyone-" begged Hufflepuff.
"Helga-"
"Quiet," said a voice finitely. The founders looked up to see Gryffindor's hat sighing in frustration.
"Yes, Sorting Hat?" said Gryffindor quietly.
"I hope you're all ashamed of yourselves, fighting in front of the students like that," he scolded. "I suggest you let me decided where she should go since you all are incapable of doing so."
Gryffindor took the hat of his head, placed it on the girl's head, and stepped back to hide his blush; it is not every day that such great wizards are told off by a hat. After about a minute, the hat made its decision.
"SLYTHERIN!"
Little Sarah Zdelictch ran off to the Slytherin table, and the founders took their seats. They became suddenly aware of all the students staring at them. Ravenclaw stood up to open the feasting.
"Well, that was more eventful than planned, and even the best wizards much sometimes eat their own words, or be fed their own words by a hat!" she began, her casual tone fooling no one due to the death-glare still in her eyes. "This year will bring some new changes, but let them be announced after the feast. Bon apitette!"
The tables filled spontaneously with turnkey, chicken, steak, corncobs, broccoli, beans, potatoes, soup, cheese, and all sorts of other delicious Wizarding sweets for dessert.
"What was that about?" asked Luke Lupin, a small brown haired boy who had now joined his fellow Gryffindors and was piling his plate to the heavens.
"No idea," said Julian, staring directly at Alice as though adding, 'but she might know, tell us…'
"It's their different preferences as to admittance," said Alice. "They didn't know they were so different when it all started." She took a spoonful of soup. "It doesn't help that they have different ideas about almost every running…"
"Sounds enjoyable," said Sam.
A group of Slytherins on the way back to their end of the table passed behind them, knocking Alice into her mashed potatoes. "Oh, I'm sorry," said a dark haired girl of about sixteen. "Wait, it's you, Lyondire, never mind," she added.
"You apologize, Cassandra Lestrange!" said a blonde girl from the Slytherin table. She and a tall, dark boy stood up to confront Cassandra.
"Maggie Malfoy and Bryan Black, how adorable," she said in mock baby talk tones, and continued to her seat with the rest of her friends.
"Sorry about Cass," growled Bryan. "She hasn't been right in the head since I stopped courting her."
"I'm just glad she's in 7th year and not in my room," said Maggie. "Alice, are you all right?"
Alice was attempting a gentle scouring charm to clean by not harm her face; "What? Oh, yes, I'm fine," she replied in an offhand, annoyed voice. She picked up a fork and began to eat her shepherd's pie. "J'adore les étudiants, j'adore les étudiants, j'adore les étudiants…" she began repeating to herself.
"What?" Sylvia asked.
Once everyone was full, Slytherin stood up to begin the speeches. "As I'm sure you are all aware, there are forbidden areas around the school," he said. "The Forbidden Forest is such named for a reason, for example. You are not to enter the staff room or a teacher's office without permission."
"Curfew to be in your House is eight o'clock," added Hufflepuff.
"Thank you, Helga," said Slytherin through gritted teeth.
"Let us explain about House points," said Gryffindor. "Participation in class and good actions will gain your House points; misbehavior will lose points. The House with the most points at the end of the year wins the House cup, and those students will be honored at the final banquet."
"I'm sure you've all had a long day, so tonight we'll tuck in early," said Ravenclaw. "First years, please congregate at the end of the tables when we are done, and prefects from your House will lead you to your Common Room."
"You will get your schedules in the morning at breakfast," said Slytherin.
"See you all at breakfast!" called Hufflepuff over the clatter of everyone getting up.
"Alice! Sylvia! Over here!" called Ella Diggory from the Hufflepuff table. The girls made their way to each other. "How was summer?"
"Great! Those two months of no homework were bliss compared to OWL cramming," said Sylvia.
"That reminds me," said Alice, "how many OWLs did you get?"
"Enough…" said Sylvia sheepishly.
"You studied like mad and you got 'enough?'" said Ella. "I even got a couple I was proud of!"
"Ella, you're not stupid," sighed Alice.
"We all are, compared to you," said Ella with a teasing smile.
Alice rolled her eyes; "I have to show first years to the tower, see you later!"
Sylvia and Ella talked a bit longer, while Alice made her way to the Gryffindor first years. "First years in Gryffindor, this way please," called Alice. She led them out the doors of the Great Hall and up the marble staircase. The other Gryffindor prefects followed along and made certain no one got lost. It was the consensus that Alice was the head prefect.
"How far is it to Gryffindor?" asked a small, sandy-blonde haired girl with and Irish accent.
"The Gryffindor tower is on the seventh floor," replied Alice. "What's your name?"
"Fiona Finnigan."
"Well, Fiona, I hope everyone pays attention to how one gets from the Great Hall to Gryffindor Tower," said Alice. She stopped them for a moment. "By the way, when you're lost in this place-"
"When we're lost?" Fiona exclaimed.
"Believe me, you'll get lost at least once," said Alice. "I was here when they built this place, and I still get lost. When you're lost, don't ask just anyone for directions, especially the suites of armor and doors; find a prefect. Most people think it is incredibly funny to get you lost and confused on your first day." She continued the rest of the way to a portrait that took up the entire wall, of a Fat Lady in a pink dress.
"Why, hello, Alice dear," said the portrait. All the Muggle-born students (who had been fascinated with everything) gasped openly.
"Hello," said Alice to the Fat Lady, then to the students: "I'm sorry, I should have mentioned that everything moves and most things talk." The portrait swung open for them, revealing a circular hole in the wall. Alice climbed through the hole and into the Common Room. She signed with relief. She was finally home.
This was Alice's favorite place in the castle. The decoration consisted entirely of the House colors, deep reds and gold. There was always a crackling fire keeping everyone warm, the hearth surrounded by the best squishy armchairs. By the end of the week, tables would hold various people's homework piles. The windows showed the beautiful Hogwarts grounds and the beginning of the Forbidden Forest.
The First Years, predictable as always, ran upstairs to find their things. Alice walked over to the fire where Sam, Sylvia, Julian and Luke were gathered. They sat to the right of the hearth playing Exploding Snap. Alice took a seat between Julian and Luke. "Anything new or different?" asked Sylvia as she placed a card carefully on the card House.
"Nope," yawned Alice.
Julian thrust a hand over her mouth. "Careful!" he hissed. "Don't breathe, we've only two more cards!" As he uncovered her mouth, Sam sneezed, knocking down the entire House.
"SAM!" they all groaned. He mumbled something about Alice's fault.
"So, Alice," said Julian. "What's the dish with that argument at dinner?"
"I don't know," she said rather unconvincingly.
"Come off it, we know you know something," said Sam.
"I told you on the way here; it's just some leadership issues," she groaned. "It's not a problem.
"They've never disagreed about placement before," said Luke.
Alice snorted a short laugh; "Spoken by he who has seen the least to one who has seen them all. This happened once or twice before all of you got here. Why do you think they invented the hat?"
"What did they mean by 'pure-blood?'" Luke asked.
Everyone looked down and avoided each other's eyes. They all stayed silent a moment, and then Sam explained, "It means your parents were a witch and a wizard."
"Well, why did it upset everyone?" asked Luke. "I thought it would be a good thing."
"Being one doesn't make people upset," said Julian. "It really doesn't matter any more, not that it ever should have."
"It doesn't matter to most people," Alice corrected bitterly. "There are still some out there who think being a half-blood or Muggle-born makes people second class."
"Like Slytherin," Sylvia whispered softly.
"We're not pointing fingers here," Alice snapped unusually quickly. Everyone stared at her, as though there was more to the story, but no one pushed the subject. She yawned again, "I'm going to tuck in early tonight," all bitterness and anger gone from her voice. "Long day tomorrow, couple new things…"
The group bade her a slightly awkward goodnight, and Alice went upstairs to her dormitory that now bore a sign that said "Sixth Years." She pushed the heavy wooden door open and took in the sight. The circular dormitory looked the same as always: five four-poster beads with gold embroidered crimson hangings. She walked over to the full-length mirror and took in her reflection in the same way. Bright blue eyes covered by small, dark green framed oval spectacles, slightly rounded nose, pink lips, pale skin, short, modest yet curvy build; everything was the same.
Alice turned her attention to her hair; a portrait of her family from when she was young depicted her with mousy brown hair, but now it was many shades of dark red, bright red, soft orange and golden blonde. She pulled up her right sleeve, exposing a magnificent sight. Outlined in gold and red flames was an image of a single feather, extending from her shoulder to her elbow. A rose of the same fashion encircled her wrist as well. Alice knew they were remnants from the night she became able to see thestrals, but she did not remember what had happened, or who she had seen die. She took out her wand; it was a longer one at eleven and a half inches, mahogany, and a Phoenix feather core.
"Accio portraits," she said, and two colored drawings floated out of her trunk into her hand. One was of a mousy brown haired woman who was waving and smiling. The second was of a tall, dark haired man, also waving. She held them up on either side of her face and stared into the mirror at the disjointed family portrait as she asked, "Where are you?"
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