The Founding of Pigwarts III - Chaos Is Served
Chapter 7: The Sorter and the Sortees
The room went dark. Then, before anyone managed to scream, a sole lamp burst to life beside Ginny. It was big and round and white, reminding of the bottom ball of a snowman. Everybody watched in awe as it hovered before them, but the amazement passed since it was still nothing but an ordinary lamp, which now proceeded to raise its head and let out a shrill cry, recapturing all the attention once again.
On a closer look, the hovering snowball turned out to be a hovering snowball with a head. Except that instead of snow it was covered with a delicate flowing material that seemed disturbingly organic. No limbs of any kind were on display, but they could have been somewhere inside the glowing whiteness.
And it was definitely alive. If anyone decided that its movement and cry wasn't good enough evidence, then one look into its eyes was all it took to silence the doubtful. In contrast to everything else, the creature's eyes were a purple so deep it was almost black with tiny flecks of gold, and it seemed to look right through the students in front of it.
A small wave of whispers crossed the crowd that was currently not facing the thing and therefore capable of more than just feeling shivers run up and down their spine.
"It's a ghost!"
"It's a ghoul!"
"It's a vampire!"
"It's not a vampire, silly. They don't hover and glow."
"Well, don't blame me when it bites you."
"Is it really a snowflake butterfly?!"
"I don't think it's a butterfly, Luna."
"It's in cocoon," she explained, looking rather stunned that Susan did not know it. "They get all white and glowing then. And it is said that at that point they are able to see into a person's soul. Good choice. It will definitely make all the right choices."
"It's not a snowflake butterfly, is it?" Terry whispered to Hermione. He had shared a House with Luna long enough to know that even though there was not very much truth in her usual ramblings, she still managed to surprise people once in a blue moon with real knowledge about real creatures in the real world.
"I seriously doubt that," she whispered back. "But I thought they were going to use the Sorting Hat! They were supposed to use the Sorting Hat!"
"Calm down, love. Let's see how this snowflake butterfly does first."
"It's not a snowflake butterfly!" Hermione hissed. "If that's a snowflake butterfly then I'll... I'll... eat my lecture notes!"
"It's in cocoon!" Luna declared again, a bit louder now, shocked that even Hermione didn't know about it.
"All of them?" Draco raised his brow. "All those five piles? And those boxes under the bed? And the ones in the wardrobe? And then the..."
"Shh!!!" she glared at him, while Terry was desperately trying to suppress his grin before Hermione turned around and saw it.
"This is Seraphine," Ginny introduced, taking a step closer to the creature, although not too close.
"That's right," Luna whispered knowingly. "Seraphine is the scientific name of the snowflake butterfly."
"It is old and wise, and it can look into your souls and beyond," the redhead continued. "It will be the one to Sort you into the Houses, and its decision is final. Unless it gives you a choice. Our choices might be a lot more important than our abilities. In that case, choose well. I will let it do its task now."
The thing called Seraphine let out another wail, which sounded a bit disapproving, but not threatening enough to bolt towards the exit.
The first student was a small pretty girl with golden locks and large blue eyes filled with fright and fascination. It didn't take long before another wail filled the room and Ginny, who apparently knew snowflake-butterflyan, pointed the girl toward the Weasley table. The Professors exchanged a few looks and some rolled their eyes at Ron's very victorious grin. The next student, a brunette boy, received an encouraging smile from Hermione, and then it was Ron's turn to grin again. But very soon Harry got his chance to wave, which was followed by Draco's smirk.
Getting used to the creature's screeching and their own grinning, smiling, waving and smirking, those at the high table were quite surprised when reaching the one but last student in the row, the deafening cry did not come. Giving up their grins, smiles, waves, and smirks, all waited in curiosity for what was to come next, but when it did come, it was rather disappointing. Yet Seraphine's cry was longer than usual and by the cunning expression on Ginny's face, the best was still ahead.
Everybody took a moment to examine the boy. He was small, but that was no surprise because all First Years were small. But he stood straighter and braver and prouder than his year mates, and suddenly it felt rather weird that no one had noticed him before. He stood out, yet before they had completely overlooked him. He demanded attention, yet before he had been as if invisible. His hair was blond but eyes dark, and those with vivid imagination would have classified him as the personification of shadows and light.
"He's all contradictions," Luna couldn't keep the product of her vivid imagination to herself, and even those who graced her with a funny look had to agree silently. Except for those who thought that their glare was too valuable to waste it only on one person.
"It gives you a choice," Ginny finally announced. "Which House do you choose – Granger or Malfoy?"
The boy thought for a while, but in the end picked Malfoy. Draco smirked. Hermione smiled. Draco noticed.
"Hey! That's not fair! You can't smile when he picked me."
"He picked your House," she corrected, keeping her smile. "And when have you ever been fair?"
Draco glared at her but didn't say a thing, turning to watch the Sorting instead.
Once all the First Years had been Sorted, it was time for the Second Years. Everybody had to be Sorted, even those who had had a House at Hogwarts. This caused a couple of angry whispers when Gryffindors got Sorted into Malfoy, Slytherins into Potter, Ravenclaws into Weasley, and Hufflepuffs not into Weasley. But no one dared to argue with Seraphine.
A few were given the Choice again, for example another shadow-light boy, so similar to the first that they had to be brothers. He chose Malfoy as well, just like his younger brother.
It took a while to Sort all the 300 or so students, but finally it was done, and Ginny led the snowflake butterfly out through the door, all the candles back in the Hall erupting in fire.
---
A few steps away Seraphine was giving her a disapproving look, letting out a soft wail.
"It was best this way, and you know it," Ginny defended herself, receiving another cry.
"You think it's safe? All right, but let's go a bit further."
Once they had reached an antechamber of the Hall, Ginny took out her wand, and pointed it at the hovering creature, "Ära ulu enam!"
"Gladly," the thing answered in normal speech. "Now tell me why it was for the best to call me it."
"Elementary," she stated. "Calling you a she would have given them another clue. And there's always a chance that only the male cocoon. Besides, how can you tell the gender of a snowball?"
"I'm not a snowball," the snowball with the head declared angrily. "Next time we'll dress you in cobwebs and pour over with flour. Now help me get this thing off!"
Ginny complied, waving her wand again, and the cocoon cracked, emitting not a beautiful butterfly, but a rather angry-looking Daphne holding a candle.
"And I almost set myself to fire with this," she gestured with it.
"I told you we should have used non-flaming flames!"
"No, you said we didn't have time to find the correct spell and had to make due with ordinary fire."
"Never mind that," Ginny brushed the matter away. "You didn't catch fire, did you? No need to cry over un-spilt potion."
"Fine," Daphne glared. "Let's go back now. I'm hungry."
"Sure," she agreed. "Although perhaps..."
"Now what?"
"You should stop hovering. It's sort of a giveaway, don't you think. And then our plan to oversneak Draco and Hermione is ruined."
Daphne glared some more, but then whipped out her wand, turned its tip towards herself and spoke the incantation Sa ei ole õhupall, after which she fell to the floor like an iron bird.
"Ha!" she declared once Ginny had helped her up and they were heading for the Hall. "Oversneak us!"
---
The dinner in the Hall went like all the dinners that have over 300 hungry people who have spent half the day travelling, then waited for a while longer to be taken over a pond by boat when it would have been forty times faster to just walk, and then stood by the wall for another eternity to have something white and hovering Sort them into Houses just to go and sit at the empty table and wait for everyone else to get there as well.
The Professors were currently eating, arguing about the existence of snowflake butterflies, and discussing who they still remembered from Hogwarts.
"Poor Robbie," Draco was saying. "True, he wasn't as sneaky as the rest – but to be sorted into Weasley? No one deserves that."
"Hey!" Ron protested.
Hermione frowned. There had to be another explanation. Anything but the snowflake butterfly. She couldn't live with the knowledge that Luna had been aware of something she had never even heard about. No, there was something fishy about it, and it had nothing to do with the salmon the house-elves had cooked.
Ginny slipped back in through the door, bringing Daphne with her this time. A few students raised their heads and looked with curiosity, but most were busy with dessert. Walking up to the Professors table, Ginny took the seat beside Harry, and Daphne the one beside her.
"And where have you two been?" he inquired.
"Dean got loose," Daphne explained.
"He's still in the cow mode?"
"Yes."
"Good that you found him, then," Harry nodded. The surprisingly true rumour about Dean going cow again and the concurrent circumstances had reached every nook and cranny of the Castle. Ginny had been very happy that the Rumour Mill worked just like it should.
"Where did you find a snowflake butterfly?" Luna questioned. "They only live in Antarctica."
"From Antarctica," the redhead supplied.
"Yes, that was very clever of you," Luna agreed.
---
"It's time," Ginny solemnly declared once the dessert was over. The whole table fell quiet, expecting some entertainment after the rather uneventful last minutes.
"Ron, it's time," she repeated and elbowed Harry in the ribs.
"Why did you do that?"
"Well, I couldn't reach him. Pass it on."
Harry stared at her for a moment, then proceeded to elbow Ron.
"Why did you do that for!?"
"Ron, it's time," Ginny insisted, bowing over Harry.
"For what?"
"For your speech, of course," she rolled her eyes.
"What speech?" came the oblivious answer.
"You're the Headmaster. Ergo you give a start of the year speech," Ginny explained with the patient tone of a person who is not going to be patient for much longer.
"But... nobody told me I had to do a speech!" he cried, first notes of panic in his voice. However notorious his sister's persuasion skills might have been, they would never reach as high as the special skills she used on the reluctant.
"You are the Headmaster," she hissed. "That's what Headmasters do!"
"You mean wearing purple is not enough?"
Ginny covered her face with her hands. Although she had wondered about the purple, and come up with some rather disturbing explanations for it. But even though that mystery was now solved, she still had to deal with his brother and get him give the speech before the students fell asleep at the tables after the hearty meal or simply lost interest. She could convince him, glare at him, and threaten him, and get her way in the end, but there was also an easier way.
Without a warning she stood up and announced to the entire hall,
"Silence, please. Our respected Headmaster would like to say a few words," and then, turning to Ron, she added, still loud enough for everybody to hear. "They're all yours, Headmaster."
Ron turned red as a tomato, adding a stripe of crimson between the fiery oranges of his hair and the bright purple of his robes. Not having a choice, he stood up, and Ginny congratulated herself on the mission completed. But a standing Ron and a speaking Ron were two different things, as everyone soon realized.
He stood, glowing like a setting sun, opening his mouth a few times and making guttural sounds, but that was all. Ginny, seeing the gazes that were exchanged between the students, quickly gave Harry another kick. Getting the point without further explanation, he turned towards his friend, and whispered,
"Say 'Hello'."
"Hello," Ron repeated automatically, and that was a start, but unfortunately it seemed to be the end as well.
"Say something more," Harry prompted.
"Something more," Ron repeated obediently.
A few sniggers were heard, and the next kick Harry received was notably harder than the first ones.
"What?" he mouthed to his wife.
"Hit him," she mouthed back.
"What? Why?"
"It will bring him back to earth."
It did, only a bit more literally than Ginny had meant it. Letting out a barely audible yelp, Ron's legs gave way and he tumbled down. Only instead of getting up, blushing like a dozen boiled lobsters, and perhaps still saving what could be saved, he not only remained on the floor, but crawled under the table, and refused to come out.
Once she had quite accidentally dropped her spoon, Ginny stuck her head under the table and gave him a look that promised lots of pain and zero pancakes. For ever.
"I'm not coming out," Ron whimpered and tried to back away, only to hit someone's legs.
"Weasley!" a sharp voice proclaimed the coming blow, but from his seating he was able to get some satisfaction from seeing those shins receiving a kick as well. He would have laughed at it, if not the situation he was currently in. They should have told him in advance! Then he could have prepared a speech, worn normal colours, and disappeared without a trace before the dinner.
With a metallic click another spoon hit the floor, and very soon another angry face was staring at him.
"Ronald Weasley, get out of there right this second," Hermione demanded.
Ron shook his head again, conveying that his coming out from under the table was less probable than a crumple-horned snorcack dancing tango on it.
Quite unexpectedly but rather luckily for him, she seemed to get the point, and once the wayward spoon had been found and put back to its original place, Hermione stood up herself.
"Our respected Headmaster," she said, managing to speak the word 'respected' with only minimal sarcasm and eye rolling, "seems to be planning some kind of surprise for you. Until then, there's a few things I would like to tell you. First..."
Hermione went on explaining the school rules, giving administrative information, and prompting everyone to study well and give their best in each lesson. At least, that was what her mouth was doing, but as Draco found out relatively soon, her hands, hidden behind her back, were busy with something completely else. He had to admit that when it came to delivering a speech about the importance of studying and casting moderately difficult non-verbal spells behind her back without no one else noticing, his fiancée managed it with flying colours. And colours did indeed fly, as different spells were thought and done. At the end of it, but not her speech, she was holding a little glowing pearl in her palm. She wrapped it in a piece of conjured parchment before dropping it to his lap.
Picking up the pearl, Draco unwrapped it, and without much surprise – because she was smart - found a writing on the wrapping.
Another spoon was quite accidentally knocked to the floor.
"Weasley," he hissed. "Hermione sends you this. Once she has finished talking, come out, stand up, threw it up in the air, and cry 'Aha!'"
"What does it do?" Ron frowned, giving the object a suspicious look.
"It makes you invisible, and erases the scene of your utter embarrassment from everyone's minds."
"Oh. Okay. Thanks."
Left all alone under the table, just like he wanted, Ron took a deep breath and squeezed the object in his hand, listening to Hermione talk about the significance of being gentle with books. Despite his panic, fear, and the not so comfortable position he was in, he still managed to almost fall asleep before she was done with her speech, which had turned from the crime of mistreating books to the crime of being impolite to house-elves. Even here and now, he was ready to bet all his embarrassment that someone had given her a subtle (or perhaps not so subtle) hint about finishing before morning. The annoyed note in her voice was quite noticeable.
"And that is all from me for now," Hermione reluctantly concluded the speech. "I'm sure our respected Headmaster is ready with his surprise."
She stepped away from the table and gave a smile both encouraging and threatening to the emerging Ron, who stood up, turned around, blushed furiously, and then tossed the pearl up into the air, crying, "Aha!"
As everyone's eyes were turned to the flying object, Hermione surreptitiously slid out her wand and aimed. The tiny pearl turned into a sizzling globe of light and energy, growing bigger and bigger until it exploded with a deafening bang, pouring the Hall over with golden sparks. Some clapped, but that was not all. With four other, slightly less deafening bangs, four colourful figures appeared, speeding through the air, shooting low over the students' head and criss-crossing the room before coming to stay relatively still in front of the door. It was only now that people were able to see them clearly, and now even Ginny looked in awe at the red and golden phoenix, blue and bronze owl, green and silver dragonfly, and yellow and brown bee, all hovering around what looked like a faint letter P, getting stronger and stronger. Once the school's emblem was entirely drawn out into the air, it started to get brighter and bigger, until it filled all the space from the floor to the ceiling. Only then did it blast with another bang, raining down in colourful sparkles, upon every table in its House colours.
Now there was a raucous applause, making Ron blush even deeper.
"Well done, Ron," Harry clapped him on the shoulder, earning a look of pure surprise from him.
"You can see me?"
---
"Get in! Hurry, close the door! Were you followed?"
Neville blinked in shock, staring at the many faces looking back at him. Just a moment ago he had been calmly walking down a hallway, returning to his room after a short but refreshing stay in the gardens, only to be stopped by a hand reaching out from what seemed an ordinary patch of wall, dragging him inside, and giving him orders in urgent whispering.
It was rather late, and all the students had been taken to their respective Houses, those few too excited to sleep caught roaming the Castle and gently guided back, and then several others up to no good discovered creeping in dark corridors and threatened to be fed to the Giant Jellyfish if they didn't suppress their mischievous urges, at least till the next night. Heading to bed after his usual evening stroll, Neville had thought all the day's surprises over and finished with. Clearly, he had been wrong.
"By whom?" he asked to buy himself some time, and perhaps even figure out what was going on. The room was small and dim, but he knew the people sitting on the floor well enough to recognize them even in such a faint light. He wasn't much surprised to notice Ginny and Daphne because those two were always everywhere, especially when something extraordinary was going on. But there were also Harry and Ron, Susan and Terry, and in the furthest corner Blaise had made himself comfortable.
"Hermione or any of her spies," Ginny explained.
"Her spies?" he repeated in confusion.
"We're hiding from her, mate," Harry spoke. "She goes round the Castle trying to force us to have a discussion about timetables, lecture notes, and books. Our last chance, she says. We can't go in front of the children unprepared, she says. We have to stay up all night and listen to her talking about why she chose just those books for us, or how important the right order of lessons is, or what to do when students behave in certain ways."
"But isn't it crucial to know all this?" Neville wondered. "You should plan your lessons in advance, shouldn't you?"
"It's their first day, for Merlin's pink underwear!" Ginny exclaimed softly. "They need to get used to this place and us, and we need to get to know them. First day is for introductions mostly, not for surprise tests. We have the whole year ahead of us, no need to rush."
"Besides," Susan added. "She thinks we can't do anything without her help. I am perfectly capable of making lesson plans and finding the right books on my own, but she has got a weird notion that she has to check everything, and only her notes and ideas are worth to be used for teaching. She's gone a bit power-crazy, it seems. Or just crazy."
"And the students," Terry decided to toss in his five Sickles. "These children have survived the war! They have had bad times and worse times and downright horrible times. True, they do need a good school, good teaching, and good discipline, but they also need support and gentleness and knowing that they are not alone."
"So does Hermione," Harry spoke in a tired voice which indicated he had said it before, and didn't expect anyone to start listening to him now. "She's not crazy, and she's not a bad teacher. She's just worried, I think. And tonight's incident with the speech..."
"Hey!" Ron protested. "It's not my fault you didn't bother telling me about it. We have to be prepared for tomorrow, she says. But I had no chance to prepare myself for tonight. I really wouldn't have minded her writing my speech."
"What are you doing here anyway, Ron?" Neville asked, remembering his own presence in the room. "You are not going to give lessons, you shouldn't fear her."
"No, but he might betray us," Ginny replied. "Hermione can be really scary sometimes."
"And she isn't the only one," Ron muttered.
"Are you going to sit here all night?"
"Of course not, Neville. Just until Hermione goes to sleep."
"And how do you know when she does that?"
"Well, we..." Ginny stopped. She hadn't thought about it. But now that she did...
"You can go and look," she suggested, making it sound like a privilege. "And if you don't come back, we'll know she's still awake."
Neville gulped. Perhaps he shouldn't have said that. He couldn't really believe that Hermione had turned into some power-crazy monster, but talking about timetables and books didn't struck him like a good way to spend the night either, especially if he didn't want to fall asleep in class the next day. It would be a bit difficult, he thought, now that he was teaching it. But when his other choice would be sitting on cold hard stone floor for hours, taking a chance with Hermione didn't sound so bad any longer.
"I'll go," he said, feeling rather brave suddenly. "If I don't come back, remember that I fell for my school, my people. Farewell, sweet hideout, farewell."
"That was a good idea," Daphne acknowledged.
"Yeah," Ginny agreed. "There would have been no room here for him anyway."
---
Once again Neville was walking along serene and empty corridors, and the further he got from the hideout, the more he started to doubt whether it had all happened for real or he had simply breathed in some hallucinogenic pollen in the gardens. But no, the gardens were safe, he had made sure of that himself.
And this was definitely something new. The teachers of Hogwarts did not hide like that in fear of a stern McGonagall. Probably. Hopefully. But the image of Flitwick, Sprout, Trelawney, Dumbledore, Snape, and a few others sitting in darkness and telling horror stories about the Head of Gryffindor refused to leave his brain. And suddenly he felt very, very lucky that he hadn't wandered around in Hogwarts at nighttime on too many occasions. Merlin knows what he might have walked in on.
He checked the Library first, only to find its doors closed and locked. That was surprising because even though he did not believe everything his friends had spoken about Hermione, he had still expected her to be up and double-checking her notes and references, and adding a few sentences here and there. Well, she was probably just doing this in her own room, and that's exactly where Neville headed next.
He knocked and waited. And waited and waited and waited and waited and knocked again. And waited again, going through the pros and cons of opening the door and taking a peek inside. Yet there was no need for that, as the door was finally pulled open and a sleepy face peered at him instead.
"Neville?" she asked, suppressing a yawn. "What are you doing here? Has something happened?"
"No, I just... well, I thought that... you know... to see if... perhaps you... timetables," he ended miserably.
"Timetables?" Hermione repeated in surprise. "Sweet Salazar, Neville, do you know what time it is? Go to bed unless you want to fall asleep in your class tomorrow, which will be more difficult now that you're the teacher. You'll get the timetable at breakfast."
"But... but... but... they said you are roaming the Castle and forcing people to discuss their lecture notes with you!"
She glared at him for a while, but in the end it was his genuine confusion that stopped her from closing to door to his face.
"Don't believe everything Ginny and Daphne tell you," she spoke as kindly as she managed, gave a sleepy smile, and only then closed the door to his face.
"But Harry and Ron were there, as well. And Susan! And Terry! And Blaise!" Neville told the empty hallway.
He waited for a few moments, hoping that perhaps the ceiling or the floor or a random fleck of dust would take pity on him and answer, but when everything stayed the same and nothing made any attempt to alleviate his confusion, he let out a sigh and slowly started his way back to the hideout, half-expecting to find the room vacant and all the people somewhere else giggling at his gullibility.
Quite shockingly, however, his first thought was not hiding under his blanket and dying of embarrassment, but something rather different, not that he was going to pursue it or anything. No, he was happy with his herbs and someone else doing all the sneaking. Of course, he could…
No, no, no, no. Better stop this before starting. It might be addictive. And it would definitely be trouble. And perhaps he was wrong about it. Perhaps no one was playing a trick on him, but had been tricked themselves by someone else.
Someone sneaky and tricky and at least a bit evil. But also clever and creative and skilled. Someone like…
THUD!!!
Not putting away her wand yet, Millicent walked up to the Stupefied boy and looked down at him.
"Sorry about that," she said, not sounding one bit sorry. "It's not personal. Well, actually it is, but not against you. Of course, cursing Gryffindors is always commendable, so I think I'll just move you out of the way. Don't want any unsuspecting student tumble over you, do we?"
-----
Note: Spell translations:
Ära ulu enam - Don't wail anymore
Sa ei ole õhupall - You are not a balloon
