MINNIE PARISH
CHAPTER 6
Thankfully, the night on the ship wasn't bad. In fact, it was actually really fun. I found out it took the ship exactly 24 hours to reach our destination. So we had to sleep on the ship. We got to choose who we were bunking with, so Christie, Denyse and I got to stay in the same room. Unfortunately, it wasn't just us. A girl named Noreen joined us. Right from the get go, I could tell she was not to nicest person…
"Okay, well I need a bottom bunk, or I won't get my beauty sleep." Was the first thing she said when we were all in the room. The three of us looked at each other.
"I don't mind the top bunk." I offered.
We ended up with the girl Noreen on the bottom bunk and me directly above her. Then Christie was on the top bunk and Denyse on the bottom. But it didn't matter. Because after the brat Noreen fell asleep, Christie, Denyse, and I sat on Denyse's bed and whispered conversations.
"So you and Jared huh?" Christie lifted an eyebrow at me playfully.
"Ugh! Please don't talk about my brother like that in front of me!" Denyse complained, though I could tell she was joking. I just laughed at Christie's question, though.
"Yeah, I guess. I don't really know yet. I think I'm just gonna try and focus on academics this year, and if romance comes, then it comes." I shrugged.
"Wow, I wish I could be like you." Christie said in fake admiration. "But I'm not! I'm going to chase every boy in school this year!" We all laughed.
That morning, we all woke up to a woman's calm voice. It sounded like it came from a speaker.
"We ask all students to collect their things, clean their rooms, then exit their rooms. We will then proceed to transform the room into proper daytime housing. Thank you."
We all hopped out of bed, dressed, and did what the woman asked. When we reentered the room, it was a nice small living room. Noreen left shortly after the announcement, so it was just us three. We all sat down on the plush couch and chairs.
"Should someone go find the boys? Jared and Zach?" Christie asked. Denyse offered and left. She arrived back shortly with the two boys.
"They were looking for us anyways, so it wasn't too hard." She said when we asked why it didn't take too long. We all sat down again, talking.
"So what houses did that test put you guys in?" Zach asked.
"Slytherin," Christie said.
"Ravenclaw," Denyse said.
"Gryffindor," Jared said. Everyone looked at me.
"I… Uh… Zach what house did it put you in?"
"Hufflepuff," He mumbled. "But why don't you tell us yours?"
"Okay, promise not to tell anyone?"
"Minnie, I'm sure your dad won't mind what house you get into."
"No, it's not that… It's well… it didn't find a house for me."
"What?!"
"Are you kidding me!"
"The test didn't work or what?"
"No it just… it put me in all four houses." I took the paper out of my pocket. It's the paper that told me about it being inconclusive. "Here." I handed it to the nearest person. They passed it around.
"That doesn't make sense!"
"I already talked to the headmaster about it. He said it was probably just human error in this. He said, when we get to the sorting ceremony, the hat will decide which will be best…"
"Well which house do you wanna be in?" Jared asked.
"I don't know… I really would be happy with any of them…"
"So the sorting hat will make the final decision." Christie said.
"The sorting hat will make the final decision…" I repeated.
TIME SKIP. THEY'RE IN THE GREAT HALL WAITING FOR THEIR NAMES TO BE CALLED. (A/N: btw, the Wolfmount Castle is an exactly replica of the Hogwarts Castle)
They got to the J's.
"Julian, Gothart Zachariah." The Deputy Headmistress, Professor Smith, said. Zach stepped forward. We waited in silence for only a minute before the sorting hat screamed out "HUFFLEPUFF!" The Hufflepuff house clapped politely as Zach went to join them.
A little while later, they got to the M's.
"Maybank, Denyse."
"RAVENCLAW!" The Ravenclaw house clapped politely for their new member.
"Maybank, Jared."
"GRYFFINDOR!" The Gryffindor House hooted and cheered as Jared jogged to join them.
Then they got to the P's.
"Parish, Hermione." I stepped up nervously. I sat on the stool and felt the old leather hat move around my brow.
"Parish, Parish, Hermione Parish." The hat murmured in my ear. "Your father was in Slytherin, was he not? Though I did debate putting him in Ravenclaw… But you… You're different, aren't you. What's funny is… What's funny is you don't belong anywhere, do you. Not in the brave, not in the kind, not in the ambitious, not in the smart. You belong in all four, when in none of them…"
"What?" I muttered.
"The old prophecy. Yes, the old prophecy. That must be. Or can it? Could it?"
"What prophecy?" I asked it. "What could be?"
"Oh, you wouldn't know, would you? No, the lies covered it up. No one these days do…" I heard people started to mutter around me. I have been on the hat a while, haven't I.
"What are you talking about?" I asked, now irritated.
"It must be. It will be. This is what Simone would want."
"Who's Simo-" I started to ask the hat. But the hat shouted something.
"SOUMARAUX!" The hat shouted, just as it would Gryffindor, or Slytherin. People started murmuring even louder. I probably looked just as bewildered as the next person. I looked behind me as the hat was being taken off by the Professor. Headmaster Remington caught my eye and motioned for me to come to him. I did so.
"Professor, what-" But he put a hand up for me to stop. Then he motioned for Professor Smith to come also.
"Professor Smith, you must continue on as if nothing odd happened. Collect the students and continue on. Ms. Parish and I must go to my office." Smith nodded and the Professor Remington stood from his Headmaster's chair. He went to a back door and motioned for me to follow him. I did so and he opened the back door, which led to a corridor. I followed him until we got to the great bird like the one guarding Dumbledore's office.
"Muggle." he said to it. He then hopped on the forming stairs and I followed suit.
He led me to the office, where he motioned for me to sit down in front of his desk. He went behind the desk and sat down.
"I must write to the Headmaster of Hogwarts." He said to himself, taking out a pen and parchment paper.
"Professor, what-" But he held a hand up, stopping me for a second time.
"Oh, and your parents. We must inform your parents."
"Professor, if you could just-"
"Please, Ms. Parish, I'm trying to concentrate." He then got up from his desk and went to his large bookshelves and started skimming the spines, occasionally going "Oh." "Aww." "Ahh." "Naw."
"Professor! If you could please just tell me what is going on!"
"I don't know yet, Ms. Parish! So if you could please just be patient until I find just that!" He walked away from the bookshelves, returning to his desk and finishing the letters he started. He then walked to a Golden Eagle, who I hadn't noticed until now sat by a window. He gave the letters to the bird and it flew off with great speed.
"Ms. Parish, I'm sure you're hungry. Thank you for your patience. Since you currently don't have a House to eat with, you'll have to eat here." He snapped his fingers and a house elf appeared. "Get Ms. Parish, here, a bit of everything from dinner please. And bring it here." The elf disappeared. He led me to a small area with chairs and a coffee table. "I'm sorry to leave you here but I have work to do… I am sorry for the confusion, Ms. Parish. We'll sort it out soon, I promise." We left to go back to the main part of his office. The elf arrived shortly after that with a HUGE plate of food. I thanked the elf and started eating. A minute or two later, I heard a door open then slam shut.
"Where is she?" An angry, desperate voice demanded.
"Now, Will, there's no use for that tone of voice." I heard Professor reprimanded.
"Charlie! You said it was urgent! What's wrong!?"
"I'm sorry to put that. She's not in danger just… well she's in here, how about she explains what happened." Professor Remington and my dad walked in. Professor left the second dad saw me. He sat down next to me.
"What happened? Are you okay?"
"Yeah… but I'm not totally sure what happened…"
"Well just tell me what happened, even if it's confusing."
"Well on the test on the boat for what house I'm in…" He nodded. "It came out inconclusive, saying I was all four houses. Then, at the Sorting Ceremony just now, instead of yelling out a house, it yelled out something weird. Like Soomaroo or something like that… I don't understand."
"Soumaraux." Professor Remington walking into the room. We both looked up.
"What?" Dad asked.
"Soumaraux." The professor repeated. He was holding an old ancient leather-bound book. "This was Ms. Simone Soumaraux's private diary. It is the last- and current only- piece of information on her. The rest was burned after her death."
"I don't understand what this has to do with-"
"Just wait. It does. It just came by owl post from Hogwarts. They replied immediately when they got my letter on the current happenings here with this."
"And they think it'll answer the question of what all this is about?"
"It will. Just the little bit I've read says so… I want you to take it. Read it. Make notes on a separate piece of paper when necessary. Seeing how we can't schedule you into any classes without a house, think of this as your first assignment. Cross-reference, do as much research as possible. You'll have full access to the library, including the restricted section, if needed."
"Thank you."
"Okay, well off you go. Your father and I must speak about a few things." He looked at my father. "While you're here." My dad nodded.
"Umm… I don't have anywhere to go…"
"Oh yes. I'm sorry… Do you have friends here yet?"
"Yeah, one or two."
"Well I'm sure we can arrange for you to stay with them until we figure out what's going on?"
"Sure… Well one of them I left before they were sorted. But my friend Denyse- Denyse Maybank, she's in Ravenclaw."
"Well I'm sure your friend's dorm will have room for one more bed for the time being."
"Or she can stay with me." My dad spoke up.
"Sorry?" Professor Remington asked.
"I live so close by, she'll be in time for school every day until we get this figured out. I have plenty of room and the floo networks are connected. My library has enough books for her research and the floo is for when I don't have a book she needs." My dad offered.
"Hmm… we'll have to think about this… I really want to say yes, but my hands are tied. There are rules against students living out of campus… I'm sorry, William, I wish I could.…"
"Then what are the other options?" My dad asked.
"Well, she could temporarily stay in another house, if someone has room. But remember we're only thinking of temporary solutions here. We'll have to think of something longer term once we find more out about this woman and this 'Secret House'..." The Professor and my father were both quiet for a minute, thinking. "Well, even though it's getting late, but tonight has a later curfew, so it's common for first years to be exploring the castle. Why don't you go do that while your father and I talk. Come back here in, let's say two hours, and we'll hopefully have a solution by them." Professor Remington offered. I glanced at my dad real quick, just to make sure he was okay with this. He did a brief nod yes, barely even looking at me.
"Okay, thank you." And I left the office.
A/N: Soumaraux is pronounced: Soo-mur-oh. Hopefully that helps a tad :) How do you like it so far? Reviews make the chapters come faster, just a hint. I love hearing other people's opinions and ideas and constructive criticism. Thanks ya'll!
Love,
C.A.M.3