I am so sorry that it's taken me so long to update, but you know how school
is. So long, so boring, and so time consuming. Well, anyways, here it is.
The new chapter in A Time to Remember. Enjoy!
Chapter 9
A House, a Sorting, and a Sticky Situation
After Snape had taken her to the portrait of the "Fat Lady," as he called her, and had given her the password "Beddoflop" (after one of the Weird Sisters' new hits, of which the portrait seemed rather fond of), he gave her clear instructions that she was to wait in the common room for Professor McGonagall. Persephone gave him one last glare before stepping through the portrait hole.
Persephone threw herself down onto one of the many poofy couches in a defeated manner. Negative thoughts pounded through her brain in a steady rhythm. Most tended to say that she couldn't do it or that it was too much to handle. Not even one encouraging thought managed to pass by.
"Ms. McCain?" a stern voice said to her.
She looked up. A tall rather capable looking woman in a very crooked pointed hat looked down at her from behind her spectacles. Her long loose robes fell in deep green waves down to her toes. The straight pointed nose reminded Persephone of some sort of bird, but the tightly coiled hair reminded her of something very sleek, like a seal or otter.
"Yes?" she answered. "Who the devil are you?"
The woman stiffened and gave her a small stern glare. "I'm Professor McGonagall, your Head of House. I'm supposed to show you to your room." The woman passed her with a swish of robes. "Follow me."
Persephone reluctantly stood and followed her new teacher up a flight of steps into the third door up, which held a sign that plainly read "Seventh Years." The woman opened the heavy door quickly and stepped inside. Four beds with thick scarlet velvet draperies took up every side of the wide round room filled with ancient furniture and lots of medieval stonework. She looked around her in awe at the heavy wooden desks and tables, the large bureaus, the warm round stove in the middle of the room. It reminded her of a princess's room she'd heard described in a book once. It was a dream come true.
"Oh, my..." she managed to get out.
McGonagall looked at down at her, the glare in her eyes receding to delight. "Wonderful, isn't it? I had this very room when I was a student." She coughed and gruffed herself up a bit. "Now, you'll be staying in here with the other seventh years, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, and Hermione Granger, who I believe you already know. They won't be arriving for another three days however, so you'll have the Tower to yourself. Meals are in the Great Hall at 7:30 for breakfast, 12:30 for lunch, and 6:00 for supper. Be sure to be there on time. You'll dine at the Head Table until the school year begins. You are welcome to explore the castle, but beware of Peeves, the Poltergeist. The ghosts should be willing to give you directions to places, as well as the portraits, if you need them. I suppose that that's everything." She glanced down at Persephone again. "I'll see you at supper, which, by the way, is in two and a half hours. Good afternoon." She turned and left Persephone alone in the room.
Persephone turned about in a full circle to see the room. She hurried over to the one bed that had a trunk on the end and, upon closer examination, saw that it was hers. She saw an envelope tied to the top and picked it off and opened it. It read:
"Dear Persephone,
Professor Snape told us that you had to leave for Hogwarts early. We understand that it's important and hope that you are all right. Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Ron told us what Professor Snape said and we all understand. We are truly sorry. The children will be there on the first day of school and I'm sure that you'll see each other then.
Our sincerest condolences,
The Weasleys"
As she looked once more in the thick parchment envelope, an extra piece fell out. Though this paper was much smaller and of a lesser quality, it appeared to have a more important and perhaps even longer letter on it. It was a corner of a larger piece of parchment torn off and written quickly and messily, but it was, just barely, legible.
"Persephone-
I heard what happened to your sister and her family. I am truly sorry. Really, this letter is very good, isn't it? That was sarcasm in case you didn't pick it up. Anyway, I had to write this quickly. Mum is writing a much better one and she's having me put it with your things, so I decided I'd write you one as well. I would still like to see you, but sooner than a few weeks. I've decided to come on the second day of school to visit. I never thought that I'd ever want to revisit school but for some reason, if you were there, I could go anywhere. Well, I'll see you then. Take care.
-Percy"
Persephone sniffed a bit as the tears came up into her eyes. She quickly berated herself. 'This is no time to think of either Io or of Percy. Go take a walk now before you decide to either start mooning or bawling.' She dutifully got up and stormed out of her dorm room, through the common room and out through the portrait hole.
The halls were, of course, empty and Persephone began to run away down one, away from her room, away from her letters, and most importantly, away from her thoughts. She continued to run without looking, but taking comfort in the feel of cool and comforting air rushing through her air and the absolute freedom of fast movement. It wasn't until she felt as though she'd run through a thin sheet of ice that she actually stopped. She gasped and her eyes shot wide open as the chilly feeling went from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes. Turning around, she saw that it was a ghost that had caused the oddly refreshing feeling.
"Excuse me," she whispered to the disgruntled looking male ghost. He huffed about as he tried to straighten his intricate and delicate looking clothing, but, being a ghost, none of his primping took affect. She glanced at his flyaway hair and piercing transparent eyes before trying to introduce herself. "I'm Persephone. Who are you?"
He looked at her disapprovingly. "I, as you may very well know, am Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington. I am the Gryffindor House ghost. I don't believe that I've ever seen you here before. Besides, you sound like a foreigner. American, I suspect," he added with just a hint of disgust.
Persephone only smiled. "I am, and I go to school here now. I'm in Gryffindor." His face brightened significantly, but his eyes still showed his distrust of the American intruder.
"Well, than I am glad that it is I who am her to give you my most heartfelt welcome and hopes that you shall enjoy your time here. Hogwarts is a magnificent school, as you'll very well see for yourself at the beginning of term." He started as if just realizing something. "Er, if you don't think me rude in asking, why are you here so early?"
"Well, I was sent for by Dumbledore. He wanted me to come here for safety. I don't know if I ought to tell you for what just yet. If you really want to know, you should ask Dumbledore yourself. I'm sure he'll tell you."
The ghost looked completely disgruntled by this answer, but made no comment. Instead, he said, "It's nearly suppertime, you know. You should make your way to the Great Hall soon, if you don't mind my saying."
She stared at him. 'How long have I been running,' she wondered. "Thank you, Sir Nicholas. Could you, er, please direct me to the Great Hall?"
He smirked at her in a pleasant way. "Certainly. You're very nearly there. Just take this corridor and turn right at the first place. Keep going and you'll see a pair of large doors. Just go through and you'll be in the Hall." He bowed low in front of her causing, to Persephone's astonishment, his head to fall nearly completely off of his shoulder, held on only by the small bit of skin and tissue that still clung to his neck. She took a step back. He grinned at her surprise and floated away through a wall.
She carefully shook her head and took off in the direction that he had told her. After a few more minutes of running, she came into the Hall completely breathless and sweating and quite ready to eat.
With her head downcast, she approached the table at the far end of the room, passing four other long tables along the way, and taking a seat between Snape and McGonagall. McGonagall gave her a bright smile, but Snape barely gave her an acknowledging glance.
In a minute, the plates in front of her filled magically with food. Persephone had to fight to keep her mouth shut and not gape. As the other teachers began to chat idly, she ate like a ravenous wolf; one heaping forkful right after another. She began to catch passing glances from her teachers, but didn't notice. She'd never tasted anything so wonderful in her life. Her mother's food had been good, and Mrs. Weasley's had been marvelous, but Hogwarts food was absolutely spectacular. She ate everything in sight from roast turkey to baked potatoes to something called steak-and-kidney pie to slice after slice of hot home baked bread.
"Ms. McCain?" a voice to her left said sharply. She looked up at the pointed face of her head of house.
"Yes?" she managed to ask without spraying the table with crumbs.
McGonagall sniffed disdainfully. "Ms. McCain, do you always eat so...violently?"
Persephone looked at her in confusion. "Violently?" She looked at the fork in her hand that was piled with food and the nearly emptied plate. She colored a deep crimson. "Oh, you mean...because I'm...oh. Well, no, not usually. I just haven't eaten much today and I'm kind of hungry. I'm sorry if that's not very good table manners."
Snape raised an eyebrow at her in what could have been called amusement, but was more likely disgust. A stout teacher beside him looked about ready to burst out laughing; her stringy, bush-like hair was already shaking with suppressed mirth beneath her crooked and wobbly hat. McGonagall on the other hand gave her a pursed lip smile.
"Not to worry, Ms. McCain. I thought that perhaps your short time with the Weasleys had already begun to affect you. Those boys must be the messiest eaters in all of Britain."
Persephone put her head down and finished her meal as cleanly as she could and excused herself from the table.
On her way back to the Gryffindor Tower, she passed Sir Nicholas again and stopped to chat about her friends and their exploits during their past years in Hogwarts. She came away from him knowing more about them than she thought that even Mrs. Weasley knew. He told her everything from them defeating Voldemort numerous times, to Harry and Ginny's little after curfew exploits. Even Sir Nicholas himself couldn't hide his blush when he told Persephone of how he'd stumbled upon them in the Astronomy Tower, a vacant classroom, and even in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. As she continued walking, she tried to think of how she would have reacted in any of their positions during their countless adventures and could only imagine herself coiling into a small little ball crying her eyes out until someone came to rescue her. She couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to meet the man who had killed your parents face to face. All of a sudden she had a newfound respect for the boy called Harry Potter.
After re-entering the Gryffindor common room and climbing the spiral stairs to her room, she collapsed down on her bed and looked out of the nearest window. The sun had barely begun to set and the deep and mellow colors of twilight still conquered the sky. Her eyes scanned down across the room, stopping to rest on the two letters that sat undisturbed atop her trunk. From her place, she could see the messy scrawl of Percy's letter and the even handwriting of Mrs. Weasley and was overcome with a feeling of homesickness as she thought of her mother, father, and brother locked up in the small and cramped flat. The tears gathered in her eyes as she thought of the brothers and sisters she had once had and she couldn't hold them back. Rivers formed on her cheeks and chin and lips as sobs racked her body.
The sun set outside and the dark forest and castle grounds fell silent except for the quiet echoes of agonized cries and muffled screams of sorrow.
~`~`~`~`~
The three solitary days passed terribly slow for Persephone and were filled with mandatory meals, sympathetic talks with her teachers, and hours upon hours of guilt-ridden and painful crying. By the time the first day of school arrived, Persephone was filled with happiness and excitement at the prospect of seeing her friends and, more importantly, her brother again. She'd been very disappointed, practically heartbroken, when he decided that he'd rather stay at the Ministry with their parents.
She had been allowed to accompany Rubeus Hagrid, the groundskeeper, to the train station to greet the arriving students. She stood beside his mountainous form quietly. She knew that the teachers were worried about her. She knew that they wondered why she didn't eat as much as she had that first night. She knew that her eyes were sunken and blank, her cheeks hollow, and her skin pale, but she didn't care enough even to Change.
"Say there, Persephone, I hear that you've got yerself a brother, eh?" Hagrid rumbled from beside her.
She nodded her head slightly, but didn't speak. He tried to start conversation again. "And he's gonna be a third year this term, that righ'?" Again, she nodded.
After a few more questions of a similar nature and similar responses, he gave up and took to waiting quietly with her.
Barely three silent minutes had passed when a train whistle broke the uncomfortable quiet. Persephone turned to see the train coming and granted herself a small smile. Not quite a minute later, the train slowed and stopped with a puff of steam in front of them. The doors immediately opened and the once practically empty platform was suddenly crowded with students from every race, age, and house. Persephone found herself overwhelmed at the sight of so many new faces, but a familiar one soon came off the train only to tower above everyone else and look from side to side. When the redheaded boy saw her, he waved frantically at her.
"Persephone!" he cried, his voice somehow traveling over all the others. She gave him a shaky grin as he ran over with four shorter people in tow. Coming to stop in front of her, she was greeted by the smiling faces of Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione. Though she was quite glad to see them, it was the fifth face that caused the tears to rise into her eyes.
"Archie," she whispered. In a swift movement, she had him wrapped up in her arms and tears of grief, happiness, and relief fell down her face like rain.
'My brother,' she thought to herself. 'My brother.' The boy in her arms was shaking with sobs as well. Her fingers stroked his straight black hair frantically and his hands gripped the back of her school robes so tightly that she thought they might rip. After she had let him go, she looked into his face. It was thinner than she remembered, and the eyes seemed bigger, but that may have been because he was so scrawny. Deep circles fell to the tops of his cheekbones and his small frame (inherited from their mother) seemed to quaver ever so slightly. Still, Persephone couldn't imagine a more lovely sight.
She turned to her friends. "Thank you," she said, barely audible. "I don't know what I would've..." She sniffed as more tears reached her eyes. Four pairs of arms wrapped about her in a very awkward and completely uncomfortable embrace, but that hardly mattered to Persephone. Once they let her go, she led them to the carriage she had taken up and had reserved for them. They piled in and once more, she could only think of how happy she was that she had them all.
"I'm sorry I haven't kept in touch," she said to them. "I haven't left Gryffindor Tower for anything more than mealtimes. I should have owled you all the minute I got here." She took in a delicate and shuddering breath. "But things have been so, you know..."
She was saved from further explanation by a warm hand on her shoulder. She smiled at Hermione and changed the subject. "So, how's the family been?"
Ron grinned. "Pretty good, actually. You wouldn't believe the trouble Fred and George got into with their joke shop ideas. They decided that they'd test this new candy on Mum. She couldn't stop singing nursery rhymes for an hour. They figure that they'll call it 'Little Ditty Dandies' or something like that." He stopped to laugh along with the rest of the carriage riders. "You should've heard her. 'Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb!'"
After Persephone's laughter had died down, she noticed Ron looking at her mischievously. She looked at him uncertainly. "What? Have I got something in my teeth?" She rubbed her teeth with her finger harshly.
He laughs. "No, no. I was just thinking about another of my brothers." He glanced at Harry quickly, and Persephone saw that he, too, had a rather frightening smile on his face. "You see," Ron said, turning back to Persephone. "Harry told me this rather interesting story. He heard it from Bill, my ever reliable brother. I hear that you and Perfect Percy have indulged in a little, shall we say, 'extracurricular activities?'"
Persephone didn't know whether to gape, cry, or laugh. Her mother had used those very words when she'd been under the impression that Persephone had liked Percy (which, and Persephone had to give her mother credit, had been true but Persephone hadn't known it). She was stunned to think that Bill would betray their confidence like that. And she was terrified of what everyone would think of her, most importantly, her brother, mother and father.
"Where did you--how did you--when did he?" She couldn't manage to finish any of her sentences, but Ron seemed to get the gist of it.
"Actually, Bill didn't mean to let it slip. He'd been teasing Percy about something in Percy's room and Harry happened to walk by at just the right time and heard him say, 'And Persephone is practically head over heels for you, Perc, and you spend your time writing her letters instead of snogging! It's incredible! It's hard to believe you're a Weasley! If it had been me, I'd have been all over her after that first kiss. But no! You take the gentlemanly approach! You two kiss and instead of kissing her again, you write her letters! Amazing!'" He turned to Harry. "I got that right, didn't I?"
Harry nodded. "But you did forget to tell her about what happened next. Go on."
Ron looked back at Persephone. "Then Harry stormed on in and scared the living daylights out of them." He closed his eyes as if imagining the look of shock on his elder brothers' faces. "Of course, they made him promise not to tell anyone, but they should've known that he'd tell his best mates. Pretty stupid of them to be talking about it in the first place, really." He gave Persephone a skeptical look. "Is it true? I don't think that you'd kiss anyone on first sight, least of all Percy."
Persephone turned a bright red color similar to that of a ripe strawberry. "Er..." she managed to say.
All four of her friends made different noises at her not-quite confession. Harry sounded surprised, as though he hadn't quite believed the story himself. Ron sounded completely and utterly disgusted, as though he had just found out that his brother was a frog. Ginny seemed triumphant and terribly happy (Persephone supposed that Percy was one of her more favorite brothers). Hermione sounded as though she had been expecting it all along, as though it were the natural way of things. Only Archie seemed totally confused about everything and Persephone had no intention of explaining it in a way that he could understand.
Luckily, just at the moment when Persephone would be expected to explain, they reached the castle. Persephone gratefully hopped out and rushed them into the Great Hall where there would be too much noise for them to hold a proper conversation.
After seeing her brother safely to the Hufflepuff table, she joined her friends at the Gryffindor one. She chatted lightly with Hermione (who introduced her to Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, their dorm mates) as she waited for Dumbledore to start the Sorting and serve dinner.
Before Persephone could question Hermione about the grading system ("What the heck does a 'T' mean?") Dumbledore stood at his spot at the Head Table.
"Professor McGonagall?" he called, looking past the House tables to the large double doors at the end of the Hall. "Are you ready?"
The grim-faced Gryffindor Head of House walked briskly to the front of the Hall with a gaggle of first year students doing their best to keep up in her wake. She stopped beside a stool that Persephone hadn't noticed. A dirty and dingy hat covered in rips sat atop it. Persephone looked at in curiosity as Professor McGonagall began to speak.
"As I call your names," she said to the first years, "You will come and sit down and place the Sorting Hat on your head. It will call out your house. Either Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, or," she sneered ever so slightly, "Slytherin. Your House will be like your family for your next seven years here. Good behavior will earn you points while bad behavior will take them away. At the end of the year, the House with the most points will win the House cup, a great honor." She glanced at the Sorting Hat expectantly.
A wide rip by the brim opened up like some strange cloth mouth and a song poured out.
"I may not be very pretty
I may not be too clean
But I can see inside your head
And, there's a lot to be seen!
I can say which house you ought to be
And which one you ought not
I can see all the good inside you
And, unfortunately, all the rot.
You may like to be in Hufflepuff
Where the people are kind and true
And never say a harsh word
But would rather be friends with you.
Or maybe you belong in Slytherin
With all the cunning and the drive
Where ambition is number one
And power keeps you alive.
Or perhaps it's in Gryffindor
Where you'll find your courage lies
With the strong of heart and daring
And the brave you have your ties.
Or suppose it's in Ravenclaw
With the witty and the smart
That your intelligence is complete
And intellect is an art.
Whether you're a little witchy
Or a little wizard-man
I shall find your true calling
And let you try your hand.
You'll see the school through different eyes
Through sly Slytherin and brave Gryffindor,
Just Ravenclaw and kind Hufflepuff
And remember it forevermore!"
Everyone applauded politely for the singing hat, but Persephone was too dumbfounded to speak properly. She'd never seen a hat sing before and was at a loss for things to say. Instead she gaped and stared at the hat as though it were alive, which it very well may be.
Professor McGonagall unrolled her parchment and began to call names. "Ackleby, Freda!" A timid and shaking little girl approached the stool and carefully placed the large hat over her blond head. After barely three seconds time it called out "HUFFLEPUFF!" in a distinct voice. The girl walked dazedly to her table amidst cheers.
"Amperson, Nathaniel!"
A surprisingly tall and stocky looking boy sat down and jammed the hat onto his thick looking head. "SLYTHERIN!" the hat finally called after a minute or two.
Persephone watched the sorting with interest and cheered loudly when "Bundle, Mathilde!" became the first Gryffindor. She clapped lightly for "Drebben, Kendrick!" when he became a Ravenclaw after a record-breaking thirty minutes on the stool, during which he looked about to faint.
Finally, after "Zurill, Vanessa!" became a Hufflepuff, the Sorting was complete and McGonagall picked up the Sorting Hat and stool and took them from the Hall. Dumbledore stood again with a merry twinkle in his eye.
"Now that our newest pupils have been Sorted into their houses, I say...Let's eat!"
Everyone cheered loudly as the plates had their food magically appear in front of them. All the first years oohed and ahhed but began to eat before they had even finished their expressions of awe. Persephone, too, ate like there was no tomorrow. She hadn't realized how hungry she'd been for the past couple days until just at that moment. She also noticed that when she put her mind to it, she could eat just as messily and fast as the boys. Hermione noticed too and commented on it.
"Do you always eat like there's a ten week famine on the way?" she said to Persephone with her nose all crinkled up.
Persephone looked at her sheepishly. "Shorry," she said through a mouthful of food. "Jusht 'ungry, I guesh." She continued to shove the food into her mouth like it were coal and she was a furnace on a steam engine.
After nearly an hour of dinner, the plates finally magicked themselves clean and everyone stood up from the tables and headed to their common rooms, chatting the whole way.
Persephone dutifully followed Ron and Harry (Hermione, as Head Girl, had to take the first years on a little tour first) out of the Great Hall towards Gryffindor Tower. She didn't think they'd really noticed her and she did want to listen to them. Maybe they would talk about something interesting, like Quidditch or one of their adventures. She strained her ears carefully to listen.
"I dunno, Harry," Ron said doubtfully. "The plan seems a little dodgy to me. What if it backfires? We could end up with not one or two, but three people angry with us. You know that Hermione won't like it." He shook his head. "I can see that little vein in her forehead throbbing already."
Harry laughed. "Oh, come on, Ron. It's not all that bad. And how could it end badly? We're two very talented wizards you know."
Ron wasn't convinced. "Yeah, but so is he, and she's not all that bad either, come to think of it."
"Don't be such a wet mop, Ron. It's just a little trick. No one will be any the wiser. It's so simple, and foolproof, and it's bound to work like a charm!"
Persephone, finding that she was terribly curious at this point, decided to interrupt. "Who're you playing the trick on, guys?"
They turned around abruptly. Persephone looked at their shocked faces with amusement.
"Er...no one, Persephone," Harry said quickly.
"Yeah, that's right, no one," Ron continued. "Not to worry, Perisifny--I mean, Perisifinee--no, that's not right--what is it again?"
Persephone laughed at him. "It's Persephone, Ron." He nodded and looked awful sheepish. "So, do I know this 'no one'?"
Harry's face paled somewhat. "No, no you don't."
Persephone gave them one last smile and turned around to go to the common room. As she was leaving them, she heard Ron say, "Can't we pick friends with normal names? Hermione, Parvati, Seamus, Persephone. Geez, what I wouldn't give for a Jack and a Jill..."
~`~`~`~`~
The next day, a Thursday, passed by with very little to talk about. Persephone attended her first Potions lesson, her first Arithmancy lesson, and her first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. And, she was happy to find, she had very little homework, except for a two parchment essay on the benefits and downfalls of Immunizing Potion, which was supposed protect a person from most diseases ranging from simple Kneazle Pox and all the way to Fire-breathing Fever.
Friday, however, was a completely different story.
The lessons passed easily enough, of course (Herbology, Divination, Transfiguration, and Astronomy was scheduled for later in the night), but the minute the last class had been dismissed, and Persephone was on her way to the Gryffindor common room to put away her books and things, she was confronted with a most unusual request from a most unusual person.
"Professor Dumbledore wants to see you, miss," a small creature that came no higher than her knee said in a squeaky voice. Persephone stared at the thing in surprise. Its large eyes were so hopeful and uncertain that she had just been about to reach out and pet it before she realized what she was doing.
"Who--Who are you?" she asked it instead.
The being looked up at her in shock. "I--I is Dobby, miss. I is sent by Professor Dumbledore to come and get you, miss. He says to take you to his office, miss." He held out one long fingered and thin hand as if beckoning her to follow him. "Come along, miss."
Persephone gave him one last skeptical look then followed him. He led her quite quickly to the escalator-slash-gargoyle and said the password to it. Persephone was very amused at the new password.
"Little Ditty Dandies."
With a quick short bow, Dobby scuttled off away from her, leaving her by herself as the gargoyle activated and spun around to reveal its escalator- like steps. She carefully stood on one and fretted the whole trip to the top. Had something else happened to her family? Had Nodoren found out how to get to her? Was she in danger? Was everyone in danger?
Her heart rate quickened with each agonizingly slow foot up. She could feel the adrenaline and agonizing anticipation making its way from her brain, to her heart, to her stomach, and finally to her toes. When the ride was finally over, she all but ran to Dumbledore's door and thrust it open without even so much as a knock.
"Professor," she called, close to tears. "What's happened? Are my mom and dad okay? Is he here? Is Nodoren here?"
Dumbledore stared at her in surprise. "Whatever gave you that idea, child?" His voice was even more surprised than his face.
Persephone looked at him carefully. "Well, I assumed something had happened. You sent Dobby to get me. I thought that maybe..." She trailed off, not wanting to finish her thought.
He chuckled at her. "Nothing like that has happened, my dear." He looked over beside his desk. "But something has indeed happened."
Persephone followed his gaze. A tall figure stood up quickly; a tall redheaded figure. As soon as Persephone saw who it was, she flung herself at him.
"Percy!"
He patted her head uncertainly and tried to disentangle himself from her. She finally did let go and looked up at him a little more adoringly than Percy could easily stomach.
"I didn't think you'd come," she whispered and before he had a chance to respond, she claimed his lips in a frantic kiss. He mindlessly wrapped his arms about her and pulled her up on her tiptoes to kiss her more fiercely and passionately than he ever had before.
It wasn't until a slight cough interrupted them nearly three minutes later that they let go of each other, gasping from loss of breath.
They turned to Dumbledore in embarrassment, and were therefore quite perplexed to see his bright blue eyes twinkling more than usual. "I take it that you'll want to spend the rest of the evening in each other's company, but I do have to talk to you a bit about the, er, rules that we have here at Hogwarts concerning, uh, extracurricular activities." Again, Persephone didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
~`~`~`~`~
A few minutes later, Persephone and Percy came out from the gargoyles magical staircases with equal looks of disgust on their faces.
"It's one thing being told about the birds and the bees by your parents," Persephone whispered quietly so that only Percy could hear her. "But it's way more gross and uncomfortable when it's the headmaster."
Percy gave a sharp and short laugh. Then his face blanched at the memory of Dumbledore's "talk." 'More like a goddamned lecture, if you ask me,' he thought to himself.
They made their way towards the Gryffindor common room in companionable silence. After they had climbed through the portrait hole, they were bombarded from all sides by two Weasleys, Harry, and a giggling Hermione.
"Percy, you have to come and see this!" Ginny shouted at her older brother as she hugged his arm.
Harry chimed in. "Yes, you too, Persephone! It's an absolute--an absolute- -well, I don't know what exactly, but it's an absolute something."
Then, as quickly as they had gotten into the common room, they were ushered back out again.
The four Gryffindors led them down out through the large front doors and over the grounds to the front gate and road that led to the nearby Hogsmeade. Despite Percy's protests and Hermione voicing out her concerns of willingly breaking some of the most important school rules, they were still rushed onward.
Once in Hogsmeade, they were led straight down to the end of the lane and stopped in front of a very dilapidated building that looked as though it had been built perhaps over a hundred years ago.
Persephone stared at it completely unimpressed. "Yes, it's an old house. So what?"
Percy, too, was uncomprehending. "It's the old Shrieking Shack, Harry. What's so special about it?"
Hermione and Ginny, now giggling helplessly, looked up to Harry to explain.
"Inside, Percy," he said breathlessly. "You won't believe what we found inside. You have got to see." He started pulling them to the front door of the old house. Persephone looked up at Percy in complete confusion.
"Um, Harry, in case you don't remember, all the doors are sealed shut." Percy had an expression somewhere in between anger and amusement at the prospect of being taken all the way up to the Shrieking Shack without his consent, when, he knew, he would much rather be spending his weekend with Persephone in the Astronomy Tower if he could.
Ron waved his comment aside. "You really don't think that Hermione's our friend for nothing, do you?" Hermione interrupted with a sharp "Hey!" Ron glanced at her impishly. "Just kidding, Hermione. Actually, Perc, she figured out how to get the front door open. Just a simple Opening Charm. Obvious and easy, but, you know what they say. The best place to hide something is in plain view, you know."
They reached the doors and Harry brusquely pushed them open and shoved Persephone and Percy inside. As soon as Percy had regained his composure, he turned around to face the four young students. "All right, so where's this special thing that you wanted so desperately to show us?"
Harry grinned in an almost demonic manner. "Nothing, really," he answered. "We just thought it was a good place to lock you two up. Broom closets are getting really hard to reserve nowadays, you know." And with that, the door was shut in their faces.
As Persephone ran beside Percy to open the door before they had a chance to lock them in, she heard the distinct voice of Hermione and the unmistakable incantation to a Locking Spell, but not the kind that could be averted with a simple "Alohomora," but the kind that was timed. And, unless Persephone was much mistaken, that certain incantation was good for nearly twenty hours.
Persephone hit the door with a frustrated cry. She could still hear the laughter of her so-called friends from behind the door and she didn't feel the least bit bad for cursing at them with some of the foulest language known to man.
Percy, too, was indulging in some completely out of character words at his siblings and their friends. But, as they soon realized they were being insulted, they had left. Persephone, after beating on the door a few more times in anger, settled herself in a battered and scratched up chair that happened to be in the corner. Percy took to pacing across the room.
"When I get my hands on them..." Persephone managed to distinguish from his constant mutterings. She laughed weakly and looked up at the ceiling in defeat. She couldn't help but imagine what SHE would do if she ever got her hands on them...
~`~`~`~`~
A few undistinguishable hours later after night had fallen; Persephone awoke with a start from her uncomfortable position on the chair. She looked around dazedly, looking around for what could have caused the cracking noises that woke her up. She saw Percy lying spread-eagled out on the floor snoring softly, and the pitter-patter of rat's feet, but nothing that could have made a CRACK noise.
She stood up and stretched. It felt good to get all the cricks in her back sorted out. Then she started walking towards Percy. She knelt down and carefully shook his shoulders. He woke up quickly and looked about him as dazedly as Persephone had only moments before. Eventually he saw Persephone and sat up quickly. "What is it?" he managed to say through an ear-splitting yawn.
"Did you hear something?"
He looked at her with pursed lips. "If I heard something, do you think I'd still be sleeping?"
She glared and shoved him on the shoulder. She was about to tell him off when she heard footsteps approaching the door. "Do you hear that?" she hissed at him.
He nodded and motioned for her to be quiet. "It can't be Ron or Harry," he mouthed to her in little more than a breath. "It's past two o'clock in the morning." Persephone felt something like an ice hand grip her heart as it leapt into her throat.
"Who could it be, then?" she whispered back.
He shrugged and motioned for her to be quiet again. They heard the sound of a voice next. A male voice.
"This is where he said to meet, MacNair," the man's gracefully elegant voice said. Persephone noticed Percy stiffen. "The Dark Lord has his own reasons for choosing meeting places. It's not for us to question him." Now Persephone stiffened as well.
"I just don't understand why we had to come to the Shrieking Shack," a gravelly voice, MacNair, said in response to the other. "This place gives me the willies. Don't you remember the stories, Lucius? The hauntings?"
"Of course I do," Lucius snapped. "But he says that he wants us to meet someone. Some fellow or other by the name of--oh, damn. What was his name again?"
Persephone looked at Percy anxiously, but he was shaking so badly that she didn't expect much in the way of comfort or explanation from him.
"It started with an 'N,' I think," Lucius continued. "Nolorahn, or something. Nooren, Nodrean, Noreden, no, but that's close." He paused for a minute. "Nodoren. That's it. We're meeting a Nodoren."
Persephone nearly fainted from the shock of the name. Nodoren. He was coming here. He would be here soon. She clung to Percy's arm so tightly that he had to pry her fingers off of him.
"Now, let's go inside," Lucius said. "The others should be coming soon. He told us to wait inside for them."
Percy jumped up and grabbed Persephone around the waist. He hoisted her onto his shoulder and sprinted up the narrow staircase into a small bedroom on the second floor as quietly as he possibly could. He threw her down onto the old moth-eaten bed and closed the door to the room behind him quickly but silently. He cast a complicated Locking Spell on it of a different variety than Hermione had used. It was of the kind that would only unlock to a spell cast by the person who locked it. He walked over to Persephone and sat beside her on the bed.
He grabbed her hand in one of his and held it tightly. She could feel him shaking again and wondered what he was thinking. 'Probably wishing that he were anywhere but here,' she surmised. And she couldn't say that she blamed him because she was wishing for the exact same thing with all of her might. Not to mention that she was terribly afraid of being so close to the man who had killed her family. And also the fact that he was the same man who was trying to kill her. All in all, she would have been much happier to be in Hell as long as Nodoren wouldn't be there with her.
They sat as still as statues and listened to Lucius and MacNair open the door downstairs noisily and begin to talk about some of the more recent Dark Revels they'd attended. Persephone leaned against Percy and hid her head in his shoulder to muffle the sob that she couldn't contain. He wrapped one arm about her tightly and pulled her closer to him. They stayed in that position for some time; listening to the voices downstairs, waiting for new ones to join them, and try to think of ways to get out of the sticky situation that they had just found themselves in.
~`~`~`~`~
Wow, another chapter and another ending. I know that it's kind of a mean place to stop, but this is the longest chapter I've written so far and I thought it seemed an okay place. Anywho, don't forget to review!
Chapter 9
A House, a Sorting, and a Sticky Situation
After Snape had taken her to the portrait of the "Fat Lady," as he called her, and had given her the password "Beddoflop" (after one of the Weird Sisters' new hits, of which the portrait seemed rather fond of), he gave her clear instructions that she was to wait in the common room for Professor McGonagall. Persephone gave him one last glare before stepping through the portrait hole.
Persephone threw herself down onto one of the many poofy couches in a defeated manner. Negative thoughts pounded through her brain in a steady rhythm. Most tended to say that she couldn't do it or that it was too much to handle. Not even one encouraging thought managed to pass by.
"Ms. McCain?" a stern voice said to her.
She looked up. A tall rather capable looking woman in a very crooked pointed hat looked down at her from behind her spectacles. Her long loose robes fell in deep green waves down to her toes. The straight pointed nose reminded Persephone of some sort of bird, but the tightly coiled hair reminded her of something very sleek, like a seal or otter.
"Yes?" she answered. "Who the devil are you?"
The woman stiffened and gave her a small stern glare. "I'm Professor McGonagall, your Head of House. I'm supposed to show you to your room." The woman passed her with a swish of robes. "Follow me."
Persephone reluctantly stood and followed her new teacher up a flight of steps into the third door up, which held a sign that plainly read "Seventh Years." The woman opened the heavy door quickly and stepped inside. Four beds with thick scarlet velvet draperies took up every side of the wide round room filled with ancient furniture and lots of medieval stonework. She looked around her in awe at the heavy wooden desks and tables, the large bureaus, the warm round stove in the middle of the room. It reminded her of a princess's room she'd heard described in a book once. It was a dream come true.
"Oh, my..." she managed to get out.
McGonagall looked at down at her, the glare in her eyes receding to delight. "Wonderful, isn't it? I had this very room when I was a student." She coughed and gruffed herself up a bit. "Now, you'll be staying in here with the other seventh years, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, and Hermione Granger, who I believe you already know. They won't be arriving for another three days however, so you'll have the Tower to yourself. Meals are in the Great Hall at 7:30 for breakfast, 12:30 for lunch, and 6:00 for supper. Be sure to be there on time. You'll dine at the Head Table until the school year begins. You are welcome to explore the castle, but beware of Peeves, the Poltergeist. The ghosts should be willing to give you directions to places, as well as the portraits, if you need them. I suppose that that's everything." She glanced down at Persephone again. "I'll see you at supper, which, by the way, is in two and a half hours. Good afternoon." She turned and left Persephone alone in the room.
Persephone turned about in a full circle to see the room. She hurried over to the one bed that had a trunk on the end and, upon closer examination, saw that it was hers. She saw an envelope tied to the top and picked it off and opened it. It read:
"Dear Persephone,
Professor Snape told us that you had to leave for Hogwarts early. We understand that it's important and hope that you are all right. Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Ron told us what Professor Snape said and we all understand. We are truly sorry. The children will be there on the first day of school and I'm sure that you'll see each other then.
Our sincerest condolences,
The Weasleys"
As she looked once more in the thick parchment envelope, an extra piece fell out. Though this paper was much smaller and of a lesser quality, it appeared to have a more important and perhaps even longer letter on it. It was a corner of a larger piece of parchment torn off and written quickly and messily, but it was, just barely, legible.
"Persephone-
I heard what happened to your sister and her family. I am truly sorry. Really, this letter is very good, isn't it? That was sarcasm in case you didn't pick it up. Anyway, I had to write this quickly. Mum is writing a much better one and she's having me put it with your things, so I decided I'd write you one as well. I would still like to see you, but sooner than a few weeks. I've decided to come on the second day of school to visit. I never thought that I'd ever want to revisit school but for some reason, if you were there, I could go anywhere. Well, I'll see you then. Take care.
-Percy"
Persephone sniffed a bit as the tears came up into her eyes. She quickly berated herself. 'This is no time to think of either Io or of Percy. Go take a walk now before you decide to either start mooning or bawling.' She dutifully got up and stormed out of her dorm room, through the common room and out through the portrait hole.
The halls were, of course, empty and Persephone began to run away down one, away from her room, away from her letters, and most importantly, away from her thoughts. She continued to run without looking, but taking comfort in the feel of cool and comforting air rushing through her air and the absolute freedom of fast movement. It wasn't until she felt as though she'd run through a thin sheet of ice that she actually stopped. She gasped and her eyes shot wide open as the chilly feeling went from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes. Turning around, she saw that it was a ghost that had caused the oddly refreshing feeling.
"Excuse me," she whispered to the disgruntled looking male ghost. He huffed about as he tried to straighten his intricate and delicate looking clothing, but, being a ghost, none of his primping took affect. She glanced at his flyaway hair and piercing transparent eyes before trying to introduce herself. "I'm Persephone. Who are you?"
He looked at her disapprovingly. "I, as you may very well know, am Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington. I am the Gryffindor House ghost. I don't believe that I've ever seen you here before. Besides, you sound like a foreigner. American, I suspect," he added with just a hint of disgust.
Persephone only smiled. "I am, and I go to school here now. I'm in Gryffindor." His face brightened significantly, but his eyes still showed his distrust of the American intruder.
"Well, than I am glad that it is I who am her to give you my most heartfelt welcome and hopes that you shall enjoy your time here. Hogwarts is a magnificent school, as you'll very well see for yourself at the beginning of term." He started as if just realizing something. "Er, if you don't think me rude in asking, why are you here so early?"
"Well, I was sent for by Dumbledore. He wanted me to come here for safety. I don't know if I ought to tell you for what just yet. If you really want to know, you should ask Dumbledore yourself. I'm sure he'll tell you."
The ghost looked completely disgruntled by this answer, but made no comment. Instead, he said, "It's nearly suppertime, you know. You should make your way to the Great Hall soon, if you don't mind my saying."
She stared at him. 'How long have I been running,' she wondered. "Thank you, Sir Nicholas. Could you, er, please direct me to the Great Hall?"
He smirked at her in a pleasant way. "Certainly. You're very nearly there. Just take this corridor and turn right at the first place. Keep going and you'll see a pair of large doors. Just go through and you'll be in the Hall." He bowed low in front of her causing, to Persephone's astonishment, his head to fall nearly completely off of his shoulder, held on only by the small bit of skin and tissue that still clung to his neck. She took a step back. He grinned at her surprise and floated away through a wall.
She carefully shook her head and took off in the direction that he had told her. After a few more minutes of running, she came into the Hall completely breathless and sweating and quite ready to eat.
With her head downcast, she approached the table at the far end of the room, passing four other long tables along the way, and taking a seat between Snape and McGonagall. McGonagall gave her a bright smile, but Snape barely gave her an acknowledging glance.
In a minute, the plates in front of her filled magically with food. Persephone had to fight to keep her mouth shut and not gape. As the other teachers began to chat idly, she ate like a ravenous wolf; one heaping forkful right after another. She began to catch passing glances from her teachers, but didn't notice. She'd never tasted anything so wonderful in her life. Her mother's food had been good, and Mrs. Weasley's had been marvelous, but Hogwarts food was absolutely spectacular. She ate everything in sight from roast turkey to baked potatoes to something called steak-and-kidney pie to slice after slice of hot home baked bread.
"Ms. McCain?" a voice to her left said sharply. She looked up at the pointed face of her head of house.
"Yes?" she managed to ask without spraying the table with crumbs.
McGonagall sniffed disdainfully. "Ms. McCain, do you always eat so...violently?"
Persephone looked at her in confusion. "Violently?" She looked at the fork in her hand that was piled with food and the nearly emptied plate. She colored a deep crimson. "Oh, you mean...because I'm...oh. Well, no, not usually. I just haven't eaten much today and I'm kind of hungry. I'm sorry if that's not very good table manners."
Snape raised an eyebrow at her in what could have been called amusement, but was more likely disgust. A stout teacher beside him looked about ready to burst out laughing; her stringy, bush-like hair was already shaking with suppressed mirth beneath her crooked and wobbly hat. McGonagall on the other hand gave her a pursed lip smile.
"Not to worry, Ms. McCain. I thought that perhaps your short time with the Weasleys had already begun to affect you. Those boys must be the messiest eaters in all of Britain."
Persephone put her head down and finished her meal as cleanly as she could and excused herself from the table.
On her way back to the Gryffindor Tower, she passed Sir Nicholas again and stopped to chat about her friends and their exploits during their past years in Hogwarts. She came away from him knowing more about them than she thought that even Mrs. Weasley knew. He told her everything from them defeating Voldemort numerous times, to Harry and Ginny's little after curfew exploits. Even Sir Nicholas himself couldn't hide his blush when he told Persephone of how he'd stumbled upon them in the Astronomy Tower, a vacant classroom, and even in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. As she continued walking, she tried to think of how she would have reacted in any of their positions during their countless adventures and could only imagine herself coiling into a small little ball crying her eyes out until someone came to rescue her. She couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to meet the man who had killed your parents face to face. All of a sudden she had a newfound respect for the boy called Harry Potter.
After re-entering the Gryffindor common room and climbing the spiral stairs to her room, she collapsed down on her bed and looked out of the nearest window. The sun had barely begun to set and the deep and mellow colors of twilight still conquered the sky. Her eyes scanned down across the room, stopping to rest on the two letters that sat undisturbed atop her trunk. From her place, she could see the messy scrawl of Percy's letter and the even handwriting of Mrs. Weasley and was overcome with a feeling of homesickness as she thought of her mother, father, and brother locked up in the small and cramped flat. The tears gathered in her eyes as she thought of the brothers and sisters she had once had and she couldn't hold them back. Rivers formed on her cheeks and chin and lips as sobs racked her body.
The sun set outside and the dark forest and castle grounds fell silent except for the quiet echoes of agonized cries and muffled screams of sorrow.
~`~`~`~`~
The three solitary days passed terribly slow for Persephone and were filled with mandatory meals, sympathetic talks with her teachers, and hours upon hours of guilt-ridden and painful crying. By the time the first day of school arrived, Persephone was filled with happiness and excitement at the prospect of seeing her friends and, more importantly, her brother again. She'd been very disappointed, practically heartbroken, when he decided that he'd rather stay at the Ministry with their parents.
She had been allowed to accompany Rubeus Hagrid, the groundskeeper, to the train station to greet the arriving students. She stood beside his mountainous form quietly. She knew that the teachers were worried about her. She knew that they wondered why she didn't eat as much as she had that first night. She knew that her eyes were sunken and blank, her cheeks hollow, and her skin pale, but she didn't care enough even to Change.
"Say there, Persephone, I hear that you've got yerself a brother, eh?" Hagrid rumbled from beside her.
She nodded her head slightly, but didn't speak. He tried to start conversation again. "And he's gonna be a third year this term, that righ'?" Again, she nodded.
After a few more questions of a similar nature and similar responses, he gave up and took to waiting quietly with her.
Barely three silent minutes had passed when a train whistle broke the uncomfortable quiet. Persephone turned to see the train coming and granted herself a small smile. Not quite a minute later, the train slowed and stopped with a puff of steam in front of them. The doors immediately opened and the once practically empty platform was suddenly crowded with students from every race, age, and house. Persephone found herself overwhelmed at the sight of so many new faces, but a familiar one soon came off the train only to tower above everyone else and look from side to side. When the redheaded boy saw her, he waved frantically at her.
"Persephone!" he cried, his voice somehow traveling over all the others. She gave him a shaky grin as he ran over with four shorter people in tow. Coming to stop in front of her, she was greeted by the smiling faces of Ron, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione. Though she was quite glad to see them, it was the fifth face that caused the tears to rise into her eyes.
"Archie," she whispered. In a swift movement, she had him wrapped up in her arms and tears of grief, happiness, and relief fell down her face like rain.
'My brother,' she thought to herself. 'My brother.' The boy in her arms was shaking with sobs as well. Her fingers stroked his straight black hair frantically and his hands gripped the back of her school robes so tightly that she thought they might rip. After she had let him go, she looked into his face. It was thinner than she remembered, and the eyes seemed bigger, but that may have been because he was so scrawny. Deep circles fell to the tops of his cheekbones and his small frame (inherited from their mother) seemed to quaver ever so slightly. Still, Persephone couldn't imagine a more lovely sight.
She turned to her friends. "Thank you," she said, barely audible. "I don't know what I would've..." She sniffed as more tears reached her eyes. Four pairs of arms wrapped about her in a very awkward and completely uncomfortable embrace, but that hardly mattered to Persephone. Once they let her go, she led them to the carriage she had taken up and had reserved for them. They piled in and once more, she could only think of how happy she was that she had them all.
"I'm sorry I haven't kept in touch," she said to them. "I haven't left Gryffindor Tower for anything more than mealtimes. I should have owled you all the minute I got here." She took in a delicate and shuddering breath. "But things have been so, you know..."
She was saved from further explanation by a warm hand on her shoulder. She smiled at Hermione and changed the subject. "So, how's the family been?"
Ron grinned. "Pretty good, actually. You wouldn't believe the trouble Fred and George got into with their joke shop ideas. They decided that they'd test this new candy on Mum. She couldn't stop singing nursery rhymes for an hour. They figure that they'll call it 'Little Ditty Dandies' or something like that." He stopped to laugh along with the rest of the carriage riders. "You should've heard her. 'Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb!'"
After Persephone's laughter had died down, she noticed Ron looking at her mischievously. She looked at him uncertainly. "What? Have I got something in my teeth?" She rubbed her teeth with her finger harshly.
He laughs. "No, no. I was just thinking about another of my brothers." He glanced at Harry quickly, and Persephone saw that he, too, had a rather frightening smile on his face. "You see," Ron said, turning back to Persephone. "Harry told me this rather interesting story. He heard it from Bill, my ever reliable brother. I hear that you and Perfect Percy have indulged in a little, shall we say, 'extracurricular activities?'"
Persephone didn't know whether to gape, cry, or laugh. Her mother had used those very words when she'd been under the impression that Persephone had liked Percy (which, and Persephone had to give her mother credit, had been true but Persephone hadn't known it). She was stunned to think that Bill would betray their confidence like that. And she was terrified of what everyone would think of her, most importantly, her brother, mother and father.
"Where did you--how did you--when did he?" She couldn't manage to finish any of her sentences, but Ron seemed to get the gist of it.
"Actually, Bill didn't mean to let it slip. He'd been teasing Percy about something in Percy's room and Harry happened to walk by at just the right time and heard him say, 'And Persephone is practically head over heels for you, Perc, and you spend your time writing her letters instead of snogging! It's incredible! It's hard to believe you're a Weasley! If it had been me, I'd have been all over her after that first kiss. But no! You take the gentlemanly approach! You two kiss and instead of kissing her again, you write her letters! Amazing!'" He turned to Harry. "I got that right, didn't I?"
Harry nodded. "But you did forget to tell her about what happened next. Go on."
Ron looked back at Persephone. "Then Harry stormed on in and scared the living daylights out of them." He closed his eyes as if imagining the look of shock on his elder brothers' faces. "Of course, they made him promise not to tell anyone, but they should've known that he'd tell his best mates. Pretty stupid of them to be talking about it in the first place, really." He gave Persephone a skeptical look. "Is it true? I don't think that you'd kiss anyone on first sight, least of all Percy."
Persephone turned a bright red color similar to that of a ripe strawberry. "Er..." she managed to say.
All four of her friends made different noises at her not-quite confession. Harry sounded surprised, as though he hadn't quite believed the story himself. Ron sounded completely and utterly disgusted, as though he had just found out that his brother was a frog. Ginny seemed triumphant and terribly happy (Persephone supposed that Percy was one of her more favorite brothers). Hermione sounded as though she had been expecting it all along, as though it were the natural way of things. Only Archie seemed totally confused about everything and Persephone had no intention of explaining it in a way that he could understand.
Luckily, just at the moment when Persephone would be expected to explain, they reached the castle. Persephone gratefully hopped out and rushed them into the Great Hall where there would be too much noise for them to hold a proper conversation.
After seeing her brother safely to the Hufflepuff table, she joined her friends at the Gryffindor one. She chatted lightly with Hermione (who introduced her to Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown, their dorm mates) as she waited for Dumbledore to start the Sorting and serve dinner.
Before Persephone could question Hermione about the grading system ("What the heck does a 'T' mean?") Dumbledore stood at his spot at the Head Table.
"Professor McGonagall?" he called, looking past the House tables to the large double doors at the end of the Hall. "Are you ready?"
The grim-faced Gryffindor Head of House walked briskly to the front of the Hall with a gaggle of first year students doing their best to keep up in her wake. She stopped beside a stool that Persephone hadn't noticed. A dirty and dingy hat covered in rips sat atop it. Persephone looked at in curiosity as Professor McGonagall began to speak.
"As I call your names," she said to the first years, "You will come and sit down and place the Sorting Hat on your head. It will call out your house. Either Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, or," she sneered ever so slightly, "Slytherin. Your House will be like your family for your next seven years here. Good behavior will earn you points while bad behavior will take them away. At the end of the year, the House with the most points will win the House cup, a great honor." She glanced at the Sorting Hat expectantly.
A wide rip by the brim opened up like some strange cloth mouth and a song poured out.
"I may not be very pretty
I may not be too clean
But I can see inside your head
And, there's a lot to be seen!
I can say which house you ought to be
And which one you ought not
I can see all the good inside you
And, unfortunately, all the rot.
You may like to be in Hufflepuff
Where the people are kind and true
And never say a harsh word
But would rather be friends with you.
Or maybe you belong in Slytherin
With all the cunning and the drive
Where ambition is number one
And power keeps you alive.
Or perhaps it's in Gryffindor
Where you'll find your courage lies
With the strong of heart and daring
And the brave you have your ties.
Or suppose it's in Ravenclaw
With the witty and the smart
That your intelligence is complete
And intellect is an art.
Whether you're a little witchy
Or a little wizard-man
I shall find your true calling
And let you try your hand.
You'll see the school through different eyes
Through sly Slytherin and brave Gryffindor,
Just Ravenclaw and kind Hufflepuff
And remember it forevermore!"
Everyone applauded politely for the singing hat, but Persephone was too dumbfounded to speak properly. She'd never seen a hat sing before and was at a loss for things to say. Instead she gaped and stared at the hat as though it were alive, which it very well may be.
Professor McGonagall unrolled her parchment and began to call names. "Ackleby, Freda!" A timid and shaking little girl approached the stool and carefully placed the large hat over her blond head. After barely three seconds time it called out "HUFFLEPUFF!" in a distinct voice. The girl walked dazedly to her table amidst cheers.
"Amperson, Nathaniel!"
A surprisingly tall and stocky looking boy sat down and jammed the hat onto his thick looking head. "SLYTHERIN!" the hat finally called after a minute or two.
Persephone watched the sorting with interest and cheered loudly when "Bundle, Mathilde!" became the first Gryffindor. She clapped lightly for "Drebben, Kendrick!" when he became a Ravenclaw after a record-breaking thirty minutes on the stool, during which he looked about to faint.
Finally, after "Zurill, Vanessa!" became a Hufflepuff, the Sorting was complete and McGonagall picked up the Sorting Hat and stool and took them from the Hall. Dumbledore stood again with a merry twinkle in his eye.
"Now that our newest pupils have been Sorted into their houses, I say...Let's eat!"
Everyone cheered loudly as the plates had their food magically appear in front of them. All the first years oohed and ahhed but began to eat before they had even finished their expressions of awe. Persephone, too, ate like there was no tomorrow. She hadn't realized how hungry she'd been for the past couple days until just at that moment. She also noticed that when she put her mind to it, she could eat just as messily and fast as the boys. Hermione noticed too and commented on it.
"Do you always eat like there's a ten week famine on the way?" she said to Persephone with her nose all crinkled up.
Persephone looked at her sheepishly. "Shorry," she said through a mouthful of food. "Jusht 'ungry, I guesh." She continued to shove the food into her mouth like it were coal and she was a furnace on a steam engine.
After nearly an hour of dinner, the plates finally magicked themselves clean and everyone stood up from the tables and headed to their common rooms, chatting the whole way.
Persephone dutifully followed Ron and Harry (Hermione, as Head Girl, had to take the first years on a little tour first) out of the Great Hall towards Gryffindor Tower. She didn't think they'd really noticed her and she did want to listen to them. Maybe they would talk about something interesting, like Quidditch or one of their adventures. She strained her ears carefully to listen.
"I dunno, Harry," Ron said doubtfully. "The plan seems a little dodgy to me. What if it backfires? We could end up with not one or two, but three people angry with us. You know that Hermione won't like it." He shook his head. "I can see that little vein in her forehead throbbing already."
Harry laughed. "Oh, come on, Ron. It's not all that bad. And how could it end badly? We're two very talented wizards you know."
Ron wasn't convinced. "Yeah, but so is he, and she's not all that bad either, come to think of it."
"Don't be such a wet mop, Ron. It's just a little trick. No one will be any the wiser. It's so simple, and foolproof, and it's bound to work like a charm!"
Persephone, finding that she was terribly curious at this point, decided to interrupt. "Who're you playing the trick on, guys?"
They turned around abruptly. Persephone looked at their shocked faces with amusement.
"Er...no one, Persephone," Harry said quickly.
"Yeah, that's right, no one," Ron continued. "Not to worry, Perisifny--I mean, Perisifinee--no, that's not right--what is it again?"
Persephone laughed at him. "It's Persephone, Ron." He nodded and looked awful sheepish. "So, do I know this 'no one'?"
Harry's face paled somewhat. "No, no you don't."
Persephone gave them one last smile and turned around to go to the common room. As she was leaving them, she heard Ron say, "Can't we pick friends with normal names? Hermione, Parvati, Seamus, Persephone. Geez, what I wouldn't give for a Jack and a Jill..."
~`~`~`~`~
The next day, a Thursday, passed by with very little to talk about. Persephone attended her first Potions lesson, her first Arithmancy lesson, and her first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. And, she was happy to find, she had very little homework, except for a two parchment essay on the benefits and downfalls of Immunizing Potion, which was supposed protect a person from most diseases ranging from simple Kneazle Pox and all the way to Fire-breathing Fever.
Friday, however, was a completely different story.
The lessons passed easily enough, of course (Herbology, Divination, Transfiguration, and Astronomy was scheduled for later in the night), but the minute the last class had been dismissed, and Persephone was on her way to the Gryffindor common room to put away her books and things, she was confronted with a most unusual request from a most unusual person.
"Professor Dumbledore wants to see you, miss," a small creature that came no higher than her knee said in a squeaky voice. Persephone stared at the thing in surprise. Its large eyes were so hopeful and uncertain that she had just been about to reach out and pet it before she realized what she was doing.
"Who--Who are you?" she asked it instead.
The being looked up at her in shock. "I--I is Dobby, miss. I is sent by Professor Dumbledore to come and get you, miss. He says to take you to his office, miss." He held out one long fingered and thin hand as if beckoning her to follow him. "Come along, miss."
Persephone gave him one last skeptical look then followed him. He led her quite quickly to the escalator-slash-gargoyle and said the password to it. Persephone was very amused at the new password.
"Little Ditty Dandies."
With a quick short bow, Dobby scuttled off away from her, leaving her by herself as the gargoyle activated and spun around to reveal its escalator- like steps. She carefully stood on one and fretted the whole trip to the top. Had something else happened to her family? Had Nodoren found out how to get to her? Was she in danger? Was everyone in danger?
Her heart rate quickened with each agonizingly slow foot up. She could feel the adrenaline and agonizing anticipation making its way from her brain, to her heart, to her stomach, and finally to her toes. When the ride was finally over, she all but ran to Dumbledore's door and thrust it open without even so much as a knock.
"Professor," she called, close to tears. "What's happened? Are my mom and dad okay? Is he here? Is Nodoren here?"
Dumbledore stared at her in surprise. "Whatever gave you that idea, child?" His voice was even more surprised than his face.
Persephone looked at him carefully. "Well, I assumed something had happened. You sent Dobby to get me. I thought that maybe..." She trailed off, not wanting to finish her thought.
He chuckled at her. "Nothing like that has happened, my dear." He looked over beside his desk. "But something has indeed happened."
Persephone followed his gaze. A tall figure stood up quickly; a tall redheaded figure. As soon as Persephone saw who it was, she flung herself at him.
"Percy!"
He patted her head uncertainly and tried to disentangle himself from her. She finally did let go and looked up at him a little more adoringly than Percy could easily stomach.
"I didn't think you'd come," she whispered and before he had a chance to respond, she claimed his lips in a frantic kiss. He mindlessly wrapped his arms about her and pulled her up on her tiptoes to kiss her more fiercely and passionately than he ever had before.
It wasn't until a slight cough interrupted them nearly three minutes later that they let go of each other, gasping from loss of breath.
They turned to Dumbledore in embarrassment, and were therefore quite perplexed to see his bright blue eyes twinkling more than usual. "I take it that you'll want to spend the rest of the evening in each other's company, but I do have to talk to you a bit about the, er, rules that we have here at Hogwarts concerning, uh, extracurricular activities." Again, Persephone didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
~`~`~`~`~
A few minutes later, Persephone and Percy came out from the gargoyles magical staircases with equal looks of disgust on their faces.
"It's one thing being told about the birds and the bees by your parents," Persephone whispered quietly so that only Percy could hear her. "But it's way more gross and uncomfortable when it's the headmaster."
Percy gave a sharp and short laugh. Then his face blanched at the memory of Dumbledore's "talk." 'More like a goddamned lecture, if you ask me,' he thought to himself.
They made their way towards the Gryffindor common room in companionable silence. After they had climbed through the portrait hole, they were bombarded from all sides by two Weasleys, Harry, and a giggling Hermione.
"Percy, you have to come and see this!" Ginny shouted at her older brother as she hugged his arm.
Harry chimed in. "Yes, you too, Persephone! It's an absolute--an absolute- -well, I don't know what exactly, but it's an absolute something."
Then, as quickly as they had gotten into the common room, they were ushered back out again.
The four Gryffindors led them down out through the large front doors and over the grounds to the front gate and road that led to the nearby Hogsmeade. Despite Percy's protests and Hermione voicing out her concerns of willingly breaking some of the most important school rules, they were still rushed onward.
Once in Hogsmeade, they were led straight down to the end of the lane and stopped in front of a very dilapidated building that looked as though it had been built perhaps over a hundred years ago.
Persephone stared at it completely unimpressed. "Yes, it's an old house. So what?"
Percy, too, was uncomprehending. "It's the old Shrieking Shack, Harry. What's so special about it?"
Hermione and Ginny, now giggling helplessly, looked up to Harry to explain.
"Inside, Percy," he said breathlessly. "You won't believe what we found inside. You have got to see." He started pulling them to the front door of the old house. Persephone looked up at Percy in complete confusion.
"Um, Harry, in case you don't remember, all the doors are sealed shut." Percy had an expression somewhere in between anger and amusement at the prospect of being taken all the way up to the Shrieking Shack without his consent, when, he knew, he would much rather be spending his weekend with Persephone in the Astronomy Tower if he could.
Ron waved his comment aside. "You really don't think that Hermione's our friend for nothing, do you?" Hermione interrupted with a sharp "Hey!" Ron glanced at her impishly. "Just kidding, Hermione. Actually, Perc, she figured out how to get the front door open. Just a simple Opening Charm. Obvious and easy, but, you know what they say. The best place to hide something is in plain view, you know."
They reached the doors and Harry brusquely pushed them open and shoved Persephone and Percy inside. As soon as Percy had regained his composure, he turned around to face the four young students. "All right, so where's this special thing that you wanted so desperately to show us?"
Harry grinned in an almost demonic manner. "Nothing, really," he answered. "We just thought it was a good place to lock you two up. Broom closets are getting really hard to reserve nowadays, you know." And with that, the door was shut in their faces.
As Persephone ran beside Percy to open the door before they had a chance to lock them in, she heard the distinct voice of Hermione and the unmistakable incantation to a Locking Spell, but not the kind that could be averted with a simple "Alohomora," but the kind that was timed. And, unless Persephone was much mistaken, that certain incantation was good for nearly twenty hours.
Persephone hit the door with a frustrated cry. She could still hear the laughter of her so-called friends from behind the door and she didn't feel the least bit bad for cursing at them with some of the foulest language known to man.
Percy, too, was indulging in some completely out of character words at his siblings and their friends. But, as they soon realized they were being insulted, they had left. Persephone, after beating on the door a few more times in anger, settled herself in a battered and scratched up chair that happened to be in the corner. Percy took to pacing across the room.
"When I get my hands on them..." Persephone managed to distinguish from his constant mutterings. She laughed weakly and looked up at the ceiling in defeat. She couldn't help but imagine what SHE would do if she ever got her hands on them...
~`~`~`~`~
A few undistinguishable hours later after night had fallen; Persephone awoke with a start from her uncomfortable position on the chair. She looked around dazedly, looking around for what could have caused the cracking noises that woke her up. She saw Percy lying spread-eagled out on the floor snoring softly, and the pitter-patter of rat's feet, but nothing that could have made a CRACK noise.
She stood up and stretched. It felt good to get all the cricks in her back sorted out. Then she started walking towards Percy. She knelt down and carefully shook his shoulders. He woke up quickly and looked about him as dazedly as Persephone had only moments before. Eventually he saw Persephone and sat up quickly. "What is it?" he managed to say through an ear-splitting yawn.
"Did you hear something?"
He looked at her with pursed lips. "If I heard something, do you think I'd still be sleeping?"
She glared and shoved him on the shoulder. She was about to tell him off when she heard footsteps approaching the door. "Do you hear that?" she hissed at him.
He nodded and motioned for her to be quiet. "It can't be Ron or Harry," he mouthed to her in little more than a breath. "It's past two o'clock in the morning." Persephone felt something like an ice hand grip her heart as it leapt into her throat.
"Who could it be, then?" she whispered back.
He shrugged and motioned for her to be quiet again. They heard the sound of a voice next. A male voice.
"This is where he said to meet, MacNair," the man's gracefully elegant voice said. Persephone noticed Percy stiffen. "The Dark Lord has his own reasons for choosing meeting places. It's not for us to question him." Now Persephone stiffened as well.
"I just don't understand why we had to come to the Shrieking Shack," a gravelly voice, MacNair, said in response to the other. "This place gives me the willies. Don't you remember the stories, Lucius? The hauntings?"
"Of course I do," Lucius snapped. "But he says that he wants us to meet someone. Some fellow or other by the name of--oh, damn. What was his name again?"
Persephone looked at Percy anxiously, but he was shaking so badly that she didn't expect much in the way of comfort or explanation from him.
"It started with an 'N,' I think," Lucius continued. "Nolorahn, or something. Nooren, Nodrean, Noreden, no, but that's close." He paused for a minute. "Nodoren. That's it. We're meeting a Nodoren."
Persephone nearly fainted from the shock of the name. Nodoren. He was coming here. He would be here soon. She clung to Percy's arm so tightly that he had to pry her fingers off of him.
"Now, let's go inside," Lucius said. "The others should be coming soon. He told us to wait inside for them."
Percy jumped up and grabbed Persephone around the waist. He hoisted her onto his shoulder and sprinted up the narrow staircase into a small bedroom on the second floor as quietly as he possibly could. He threw her down onto the old moth-eaten bed and closed the door to the room behind him quickly but silently. He cast a complicated Locking Spell on it of a different variety than Hermione had used. It was of the kind that would only unlock to a spell cast by the person who locked it. He walked over to Persephone and sat beside her on the bed.
He grabbed her hand in one of his and held it tightly. She could feel him shaking again and wondered what he was thinking. 'Probably wishing that he were anywhere but here,' she surmised. And she couldn't say that she blamed him because she was wishing for the exact same thing with all of her might. Not to mention that she was terribly afraid of being so close to the man who had killed her family. And also the fact that he was the same man who was trying to kill her. All in all, she would have been much happier to be in Hell as long as Nodoren wouldn't be there with her.
They sat as still as statues and listened to Lucius and MacNair open the door downstairs noisily and begin to talk about some of the more recent Dark Revels they'd attended. Persephone leaned against Percy and hid her head in his shoulder to muffle the sob that she couldn't contain. He wrapped one arm about her tightly and pulled her closer to him. They stayed in that position for some time; listening to the voices downstairs, waiting for new ones to join them, and try to think of ways to get out of the sticky situation that they had just found themselves in.
~`~`~`~`~
Wow, another chapter and another ending. I know that it's kind of a mean place to stop, but this is the longest chapter I've written so far and I thought it seemed an okay place. Anywho, don't forget to review!
