Chapter Four: Welcome New and Old
Rose Weasley
Rose Weasley was second to last, of course. One of the many curses of being a Weasley.
She had counted thirty-six students before her. A few names she had picked out—Edgecombe, McKinnon, Rosier, Montague, and Flint—as prominent wizarding families. The boy who still waited with her she took to be a Zabini, based on his dark skin and sour expression. Like the Flints and Montagues, the Zabini family had narrowly avoided arrest after the Great War, instead being assigned two years of civic duties. Which Rose of course had read about in The Dark Years: The Rise and Fall of the Death Eaters.
"Weasley, Rose!"
Rose knew that most students had grown bored of the sorting, but she still felt gazes turn to her with the word Weasley. Trying to look as tall as possible, she strode up to Professor Howland, head of Hufflepuff House, and sat with her legs crossed and an air of pride.
Rose had had thirty-six sortings to calm her nerves. She had come to accept that whatever would happen, would happen. And she had her wand, after all, so there was no way she was a Squib. Or at least it was very unlikely...right?
"Well well, another Weasley," muttered the hat once it was on her head. "Classic red hair. Brash attitude. But not bold. No, no, you think before you act. Perhaps too much? No, there is much more Granger in you. Better be—RAVENCLAW!"
Rose let out a heavy breath she hadn't known she was holding and stood up smiling. She could see each one of her cousins cheering; even Louis stood and smiled, proud to welcome his younger cousin into his house.
Too late, Rose realized that she had stood in front of the Hall too long. She managed an awkward curtsey—she wasn't sure to whom—before heading toward the Ravenclaw table.
Rose found an empty space at the far end of the table as "Zabini, Sebastian!" was placed in Slytherin and the Sorting Hat was cleared away. Good riddance, thought Rose. She was glad she would never have to see that dreadful hat again.
"Greetings, Hogwarts students, new and old!" called the familiar voice of Headmistress McGonagall. Rose smiled and gave her undivided attention. Of all the famous witches and wizards her parents had introduced her to, she held the highest respect for Minerva McGonagall. Not only was she brave and fiercely loyal, leading the defense against the attack on Hogwarts, but she was wise and shrewd, and one of the greatest teachers Hogwarts had ever known. There had been talk of her retiring. Even now, Rose noted that her hair was whiter, her wrinkles more pronounced that the last time she had seen the Headmistress at the holidays two years prior. But more than anything else at Hogwarts, Rose was grateful to be under the great witch's tutelage.
The last whispers among the hall fell silent as the Headmistress stood, as if in vigil, waiting for the hush to fall. Once it did, she smiled. "I am ever proud to welcome new students into our halls. Education and friendship are the two most powerful forms of magic imaginable, and more than anything, these are what we cultivate here at Hogwarts. I expect each and everyone one of you to accept these young witches and wizards with open minds and open hearts.
A few notes for newcomers, and gentle reminders to the old." McGonagall actually paused for the sniggers from the Slytherin and Gryffindor tables. "The Forbidden Forest is out of bounds for all students. The it was it is called 'Forbidden.' Many of you seem to misunderstand the meaning of this word." Fred and Tyler air-high-fived across the Hall. But what seemed like a mundane gesture trailed in the form of two magical hands soaring through the hall, meeting with a loud crack above McGonagall and a series of small multicolored fireworks.
McGonogall continued without missing a beat. "How lovely of you two gentlemen to remind us of the House point system. Each year, the four Houses compete for the House Cup. Points will be awarded for good behavoir and successes in class, while points will be detracted for...shenanigans. As such, Slytherin and Gryffindor will begin this year with negative five points each."
Roars of outcry rose from the two houses. Gryffindors complained of house loyalty and how dare McGonogall do this to her own house while Slytherins outright cursed the Headmistress.
"SILENCE!"
Everyone stopped in their tracks from the roar of a tall, dark-skinned professor. His beard, neatly braided, fell low to blend in with his robes, and his eyes were nearly as black as the garment.
"Thank you, Professor Raghavesh," said McGonagall simply. She let the still silence hang a moment longer before smiling. "Well, I do believe that is enough business for one night. Let the feast begin!"
Rose had finished her third plate before she was pulled into a conversation. She ate meat pies, biscuits, and mashed potatoes dripping with gravy nearly as rich as Grandma Weasley's. And so it was with a mouthful of pot-roast a gravy dribbling down her chin that she first heard her name.
"Rose Weasley, right?"
"Hum? Hwo afk?" Rose managed as he choked down the food.
She looked up to meet the eyes of a petite girl with round glasses and slightly windswept blonde hair. The girl giggled and, not unkindly, indicated the gravy on Rose's chin. Rose quickly grabbed her napkin and wiped her face, though she would rather hide behind the napkin entirely, since her face was as red as her hair.
"Sorry, I just-" Rose cleared her throat and decided to start over. "Yes, I am Rose Weasley. Daughter of Ronald and Hermione Weasley, friends of Harry Potter who-"
The girl interrupted with laughter. "I'm sorry, you're going to have to slow down. I'm muggleborn, you see. These names make about as much sense to me as all this Charms and Incantations mumbo jumbo." The girl smiled and offered her hand across the table. "Besides, I asked about you, Rose Weasley, because I did not know anything about you. I just caught your name during Sorting."
"Oh." Rose immediately felt bad. She was so used to people crowding her, demanding information about her family, that she didn't take kindness at face value anymore. But this girl seemed nice enough, with a gentle smile and bubbly demeanor. In fact, she was still staring with wide blue eyes and her hand offered across the table. "Yup, Rose Weasley. Er, Ravenclaw first-year."
The blonde shook her hand with surprising force. "Briony Burns. Me, too. So, what was this you were saying about your-"
"Famous family? Parents who defeated the greatest wizard of all time? Mother who heads Magical Law enforcement and singlehandedly pioneered the Elvish Liberation Act of 2002?" Another blonde girl sitting beside Briony cut in. She was much more polished, her long hair in a braid and her robes immaculate and quite clearly expensive. "Elizabeth Carmichael by the way. Liza. Saves you some time. But you must tell me what it is like to be the daughter of the Hermione Weasley née Granger."
This was exactly what Rose had been expecting at Hogwarts, and why she had no intention of making friends, in her house or otherwise. "It's quite normal," she responded tersely.
"It can't be normal," another girl insisted. "Your family has to be the least normal in the Wizarding World."
"Excuse me?" Rose whipped around to face the girl, who visibly paled.
"I'm sorry," she stammered. "I didn't mean that in a bad way. They're like, more than normal. Extra normal. Extraordinary! That's what I meant."
Rose blew a hair out of her face and returned to her food. "Yeah, well, it's hard to live up to 'extraordinary' every day of your life."
Despite what Rose thought were strong visual cues to leave her alone, Liza went on. "Yeah, there must be a great amount of pressure on you to live up to two-thirds of The Golden Trio. At least you were placed in Ravenclaw, a reputable house. But to think that the son of Harry Potter-"
Rose slammed down her pumpkin juice, causing several nearby students to jump from the clatter. "A reputable house? As opposed to what? Are you saying that my cousin chose to-"
"Well I'm certainly not saying that he deserves to-"
Rose and Liza were so heated that Briony practically had to yell in order to say, "Wait, are you telling me that you can choose your house?" The fighting girls stopped in their tracks and turned to Briony; Rose sent a silent thank you while Liza's looked softened into what seemed to read 'poor muggleborn.'
"Not really," Liza said, her former malice replaced with superiority. "But I read in Hogwarts: A History that the Sorting Hat is more powerful than a Legimens at seeing into the mind. It can reveal secret desires that even we may not know about ourselves."
Rose bristled at the comment, though she did not bother to stir up the fight. Actually, Liza was right. Hogwarts: A History (which Rose had read through four times) explained that the Sorting Hat tended to find the strongest desire within a person, no matter how innate it may be. Then why was Albus in Slytherin? Nothing she knew about Al fit Slytherin at all, and he and Rose had been close for their eleven years.
Since his sorting, Rose could not bring herself to look her cousin's way at all, though she knew he was probably looking for her. She didn't think her prejudice against Slytherin was strong enough to make her dislike her cousin. But rather, she questioned whether she really knew Albus at all. Was it her same lifelong friend sitting at the Slytherin table? Or had the Sorting Hat stirred up something within him. Something that would only fester in their time at Hogwarts?
"-So I highly recommend reading Hogwarts: A History," Liza was still saying to a visibly bored Briony. "You never know what facts may come in handy in your daily life at Hogwarts. And I always say, you can never be too prepared."
The feast fizzled out as Liza continued to talk, mostly to the fourth girl, Gloria. Rose and Briony finished their desserts in silence, but every so often Briony would smile or wink at something that the other girls had said, and Rose found herself laughing along. It was almost like dinner with her cousins, and she had known them her whole life.
Once the last of the food was whisked away, two sixth-years who introduced themselves as Regina Clearwater and Bryson Finch-Fletchley led the first-year Ravenclaws out of the Hall.
The two prefects lead them up the Grand Staircase. Before the older students could explain their enchantments, the staircase directly above them shifted, causing Briony and two of the boys to scream.
After climbing to the fifth floor, the group of students reached the bronze eagle-shaped knocker that Rose knew to be the guardian of the Ravenclaw Common Room. The eagle's head became animated, looked over the new students, and spoke in a deep voice. "The man who invented it doesn't want it. The man who bought it doesn't need it. The man who needs it doesn't know it. What is it?"
"In order to enter the common room, you must answer the riddle the eagle poses," explained Regina.
"What if you don't get it?" asked one of the boys who had jumped at the staircases.
Bryson opened his mouth, but Liza spoke first. "Then you have to wait. But it's quite obvious. Though rather grim for welcoming day, don't you think?"
Bryson smiled. "I suppose so. But at least we have such a promising new class." He turned to the knocker. "A coffin."
"Very well." And with that, the door swung open to reveal the lavish common room. Rose and several other students gasped. Rose knew, from her reading, that the room would be filled with plush furniture and bookcases, but she hadn't expected so many books. The walls themselves were inlaid with shelves holding every sort of volume, from ancient worn leather to new muggle paperbacks. Rose could just see herself curling up with a book or two on these couches every night.
"This is where we leave you," said Regina. "Girls are the first room up the staircase to your right. Boys, same to the left. Feel free to ask any student in the common room if you need help. Like McGonagall said, we're all here to help you."
As the prefects left, most of the first-years followed them up the stairs to their dormitories, but a handful including Rose stayed to inspect the common room. She knew that her luggage would be on her bed, so she was in no rush. The room was full of returning students catching up on their summers, but Rose found an empty cluster of chairs next to a window and sunk into one. There would be plenty of time to leaf through books later. Right now, she just wanted to close her eyes and feel at home.