Chapter 3: Meet the family
Disclaimer: I only own Hestia and a few others. The other Characters etc belong to the original authors and publishers
After the Sorting ceremony, the rest of the Weasley's took turn in introducing themselves
"So this is the new Weasley on the block?" asked one of the twins
"Leave it Fred." Said the other before extending his hand across the table to her "George"
"Hestia." She replied shaking it
"I'm Percy." Said the other one sitting next to George, wearing a prefect's badge, before returning to his food
"Normally, we'd introduce you to Ron, but..." said Ginny "hey, Perce, where's Ron?" she asked as she looked up the table trying to find him
"No, I thought that he was with you on the train." Percy started as he cut his meat, "Oliver, have you seen Ron and Harry... Hang on a minute. Where's Harry?" Percy said, starting to look worried as he sent the message down to some second years who shrugged and suggest that they look up the other end of the table, the girl they met on the train perked up and said
"No, I thought they were with you, avoiding me." She finished as they all turned to see Filch run up to the teacher's table and talk to a man with long, greasy, black hair, also dressed entirely in black, before they both swiftly left
"Excuse me, um but who was that?" she asked the boy that she was sitting next to. The one Percy had called Oliver
"The name's Oliver Wood. That my friend, was professor Snape and Filch the cleaner. Snape teaches potions but everyone knows that he's been after Defence Against the Dark Arts for years." He explained
"Are you the Quidditch captain for Gryffindor?" she asked, catching a gleam of polished brass on his robes. Her eyesight helping her see what it was for
"Yes, how'd you see that?" he asked shocked at how she could see that
"I've got very keen eyes. Dad usually comes to me or mum if he's lost something." She said eating her salad
"Is he a muggle?" Wood asked
"No, he's the Weasley. He just prefers not to use his wand for small things." She explained
"So, your mother's the muggle?" he asked, confused. How could she be a halfblood, if not her mother
"Nope. She's not the muggle. She's of the Eldar." Hestia said, hoping not to give away too much
"Eldar... Sorry, not ringing any bells." Wood replied, he hadn't really paid attention in Care for Magical Creatures in his time here at Hogwarts
"Elves." She said, not wanting to raise her hair just yet
"A house elf?" he asked astounded
"Of Middle Earth. The last remaining grandchild of Lord Elrond of Rivendell." Hestia said hoping he'd read Lord Of The Rings
"Rivendell?" he asked "That existed?" he questioned
"Yep." Hestia replied pushing part of her hair down so he could see the tip of her ear
"Wow. That probably means you're more agile and swifter than most of us regular humans, right?" he asked, formulating plans in his head. Fred and George had already told him that Ginny was competent in being a Chaser, and now Hestia's sight and agility made her the obvious choice for a seeker
"Yeah." She said
"Next week, I'm holding training with the team. Come along and we'll see how you go. You should have at least a week's worth of flying lessons under your belt by then!" he said just as the plates were cleared and the Headmaster announced that it was time to retire for the night. As he left, Hestia couldn't help but remember the tales of Gandalf her mother had told her.
As they walked back, Hestia found herself next to Ginny and Wood, memorising where she had to go. They had merged with Ravenclaw for a bit, but Percy yelled "Gryffindor! This way please!" to separate them as they took a turn up the stairs. The boy with the camera, Colin, was walking around taking photos of everything
"What's wrong with him?" Hestia asked of no one in particular
"Nothing, he's just a muggle" Wood said as he went to catch up with Katie Bell and discuss Quidditch and the new changes, and get a few ideas for the new teams
"Ok, I have no idea what a muggle is. And everyone seems to be always using it! Kíli's beard!" Hestia said
"Non-magical people. And what was that?" Ginny said getting a bemused look on her face as Hestia cursed some more
"That was Kíli's beard. He had next to none, or so my grandfather said." She explained
"And that's a bad thing why?" asked Ginny
"He was a dwarf. Every dwarf has a beard to be proud of. Except Kíli. He had a shadow that could just be counted as stubble. And earlier I called Nero a son of a Balrog. Go look them up!" Hestia said as they finally arrived at the portrait, of a fat lady, attempting to sing opera
"Ugh, she gets worse every year!" complained one of the second years
"I have to agree with you, Seamus!" said another
"What she really needs is some lessons, right Neville?" said the one that apparently was called Seamus
"Password?" asked the picture in a deep voice, making Hestia gasp in shock and take a small step back into Wood
"Don't be afraid. She gets so used to seeing Gryffindor's that she doesn't even ask for a pass word sometimes. But we have to do this for first years." Wood explained just before Percy said the words
"Dragon Scales" he said confidently
"Come in" she said as the portrait swung open revealing the homely looking common room inside
"Follow me, everyone. Keep up. Quickly, come on! Gather around here. Welcome to the Gryffindor common room. Boys' dormitories is upstairs and down to your left. Girls the same on your right. You'll find all your belonging have already been brought up." Percy explained some of the older students went directly to their dorms, not needing to listen to Percy
"And you said that Percy was ok?" Hestia asked as she and Ginny climbed the stairs
"Well, most of the time, but steer clear of him unless absolutely necessary!" Ginny hissed in her ear as they pushed open the door into the room. There had been three other girls sorted into Gryffindor that year
"Hi, I'm Elanor Telcontar." Said a girl with brown hair. As a matter of fact, they all had brown hair
"Elizabeth Gardener" said another with blue eyes and honey brown hair
"Daisy Took!" said another with curly hair and bright eyes. Hearing these names reminded Hestia of her mother's stories about the fellowship.
Gardener was a derivative of Gamgee, the most notable being Samwise.
Took was a name that hadn't really changed over the years, but most had forgotten what marvellous adventures the Took's of old had gone on. Even if they had been call "you fool of a Took!" by a grumpy old wizard.
Elanor's last name was a complete surprise to her. Telcontar of translated from Quenya, Strider, the name that King Elessar had given to his house to commemorate his time as Strider, a ranger of the North. The look in Elanor's eyes had confirmed her suspicions, the look of a race once proud, now reduced once again to a wandering people. Elanor was in fact one of the Dúnedain
"Well, I'm Ginny Weasley and that's my cousin Hestia Weasley." Ginny said drawing Hestia out of her musings
"Hi." Hestia said nervously before seeing where her stuff had been placed. Her trunk was sitting next to one of the four poster beds, next to the window, with her house tie, scarf and vest lay over a chair. Her bird, Gwaihir, an eagle sat on the dresser that was hers. How she had convinced her father to let her have the eagle, she will never know
"Yeah, um we arrived here and the eagle was out of its cage... it screeched at us when we tried to coax it back in." Elanor said as she put her clothes in her dresser and her towel over the guard rail of the furnace that stood in the centre of the room
"Don't worry about Gwaihir, he just likes screeching at people for no apparent reason." Hestia explained as she opened the window and shooed him out of it "He doesn't like being caged up all that much either." She said as she stood clear as the bird flew past her at a blinding speed
"I thought that the letter said only owls, cats or a toad." Elizabeth said as she too unpacked. Daisy had literally ran up the stairs and changed into her pyjamas and was curled up under the covers on her bed. Hestia and Ginny had just returned from their showers when the girl Oliver Wood had been talking to before came through their door
"Right," she started before looking around the room. The girls were mostly already unpacked. There was a cage next to one of the red heads beds, but it was empty, however, there didn't appear to be any searching "I'm Katie Bell, I've been sent down from a few years above you to make sure you're all fine." She said before continuing "Was there supposed to be something in that cage?" she asked the red head that was closest to the bed
"Yeah, my eagle. He doesn't like being caged so I let him go fly outside." She responded evenly
"Right. So, tomorrow, all of your timetables will be pinned up on the notice board that is in the common room. But from then on, once you hit second year. They're usually with the rest of your belongings. So with that, hope you enjoy your time at Hogwarts and have a goodnights sleep. I really don't want to have to come down here to tell you lot to go to sleep." Katie said as she left, flicking her wand at the candles and lights to turn them off. All of them had climbed into bed as she was talking to them anyway.
Hestia lay awake. She had to wait until Katie had left so she could take her hair out and let Gwaihir back in. As she stood up she could easily see her way around to the window. Quietly opening it, the eagle flew back in and sat on the top of Hestia's chair. Moving back over to the mirror, she let the ponytail out. Her heritage showing through. She hadn't always had red hair, she'd been born a brunette, and it had only recently finished turning itself red. Sighing, she walked back over to her bed, petting Gwaihir and wishing him goodnight before carefully arranging her hair so that no one could see the tips of her ears. She definitely had to tell Professor McGonagall about that, 1 because she was her head of house and 2, because she was the Transfiguration teacher. She needed those glamors!
