Author's Note: I fail as a Harry Potter fan. Percy's two kids are Molly and Lucy, not Audrey. I don't know where I got Audrey, but that's what I thought it was. So, Krempton is Lucy's kid. OK? OK. Also, the date in here is around 2056. Quite a stretch, but what am I going to do now that I started it. Let's just pretend that the Muggle world is a little more advanced than it is today, and the Wizarding World is pretty much the same. So, without further babbling, I give you: Chapter 10.
Hogwarts
"I'm so excited to be able to come to this historical school. Thank you for allowing me to study here for a year!" Brigitta finished her speech ecstatically and she heard a roar of applause.
Today had been a blur. First thing in the morning she had left with Ms. Krempton by the Floo Network to a village outside of Hogwarts called Hogsmeade. Cameras were flashing everywhere and reporters were trying to ask questions. Brigitta was very glad that Ms. Krempton had made her dress up for this occasion now.
"Ms. Corinth! Ms. Corinth! How does feel coming to Hogwarts?" a reporter asked as they walked along the street.
"Exciting, sir. I can't wait!" she answered.
"Brigitta don't answer any questions," the coordinator hissed.
"Oh, right, right. Sorry, I forgot," Brigitta said. We all know, of course, that she didn't forget, as a vain professor once said, "Celebrity is as celebrity does."
A carriage was waiting for them at the end of the path, and there was somebody already in it. He looked like he was in his fifties, with graying black hair.
"Behave yourself, this is the headmaster," Ms. Krempton whispered as they got closer. Brigitta nodded and smoothed out her green dress. She stepped into the carriage and sat across from the man. He had bright green eyes.
"Hello Ms. Corinth. How do you do?" he said and offered his hand.
"Very well, thanks. And you?" she said as she shaked it.
"I'm pretty good," he said, which surprised Brigitta. He was very nonchalant.
"Professor Potter," Ms. Krempton said as she entered the carriage.
"Ah! Meghan. How are you doing since you've been graduated?"
"Fairing pretty well, sir. I found a job for the Ministry as an ambassador. Look where it landed me," she said and smiled at Brigitta. Even though they'd gotten warmer towards each other, Brigitta couldn't say she'd miss the woman hissing corrections in her ear.
"Now, Brigitta, before we arrive at Hogwarts there's some things we have to tell you," Professor Potter told her. She nodded her assent, so he continued, "After you make your welcome speech, which I'm sure will be grand, we're going to sort you into one of four houses."
"Houses?" she asked curiously.
"Don't interrupt," Ms. Krempton whispered.
"It's fine, Meghan, she can ask questions," the headmaster said. Her mentor rose in color. "Like dormitories, they are the four houses of Hogwarts. There is Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Gryffindor, my own house, is where the brave dwell at heart. Ravenclaw, which is named after Rowena Ravenclaw, is best described by her famous quote, 'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure', Hufflepuff is for the hardworking and loyal, and Slytherin is for the ambitious, cunning and resourcefulness."
"Why do I have a feeling Slytherin is known for more than that?" Brigitta thought, "How do I get sorted into a house?" Brigitta said outloud.
"A hat," he said simply.
"I try on a hat?" Brigitta asked, skeptical.
"Yes. He's magical. Who knows how many spells was put on him, the thing is a fantastic work," he chuckled at the sight of Brigitta's confused face.
"So, he can see my thoughts, or something."
"Precisely."
"I see."
"Also, Beringian starts when you are twelve. Hogwarts begins at eleven, so instead of you being in the third year, a year behind your age, we'll put you in the fourth year."
"That's no problem."
"Once you are sorted, you will go to that house's table. From the staff table, from left to right it is: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin. Do you think you can remember that?"
"I will try valiantly."
He laughed, "You will succeed, if you try valiantly."
"Is there really a giant squid in the lake?"
"Yes, how did you know that?" he glanced at Ms. Krempton, "No doubt, Meghan made you read Hogwarts: A History."
"It was a good idea, so that she knows a little bit about the school." Ms. Krempton huffed.
"A little? I practically know the whole interior!" Brigitta said annoyedly.
Professor Potter laughed again, it was a melodious, calming laugh, "I always thought that book was too detailed."
Hogwarts had just come to view. "Wow, it's huge!" Brigitta said with awe.
"Welcome to school." Ms. Krempton said.
"I have something that you would find useful, it's my brother's, so I'll need it back," the headmaster said, pulling something out of his robe pocket. It looked like a large piece of parchment.
"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," he said and tapped his wand on the paper. Ink appeared all over the paper.
"Interesting, it's a map of Hogwarts. Ingenious, really. How do you get it blank?"
"How did you know it could go blank?"
"Deduction, I suppose."
"Mischief Managed," he tapped it again and it went blank.
"Fascinating. Who's Moony, Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail?"
"They call themselves the Marauder's," Albus Potter said mysteriously, "This is so you don't get lost at Hogwarts, it's quite a big castle, and classes are all over the place."
"Thanks, Professor!" she said gleefully as he transferred it over to her.
"Now, no nonsense, Ms. Corinth, it's not going to be used for mischief." Ms. Krempton said, turning her nose up at the thing.
"Oh, never," Brigitta said, trying to suppress her grin.
Brigitta snapped back to the present when she saw an old man, presumably a teacher, walk down the center of the Great Hall with a stool and a dirty, patched hat in the other. Brigitta looked on doubtfully, she wasn't sure if she wanted to try on the hat. But, it was a Hogwarts tradition, and this is what she had signed up for. Professor Potter was announcing her year as she walked over to the stool and plopped down. Brigitta took a deep breath, it was a little nerve wracking, the hat was going to be inside her head, after all.
"An American, interesting." the hat said. Brigitta looked up at it, and it continued, "I'm not used to sorting older children, fourteen is quite a difference, mentally, than an eleven year old."
"Can we get on with this?" Brigitta whispered.
"Impatient, I see. Bravery, my word, quite a lot of it. But intelligence, overwhelmingly..."
"Why are we always overwhelmed? Why can't we just be whelmed?" Brigitta thought, and obviously, the hat heard it as well.
"Inventing spells at age twelve, very impressive, Brigitta."
"Thanks."
"Slytherin would not suit you well, you'd be disgusted with them too much. Hufflepuff, you're kind, caring, hard working, but you've got so much potential. Ravenclaw or Gryffindor?"
"Well, you are the expert here."
"You don't want to choose?"
"Well, I don't like making big decisions."
"Interesting, a Gryffindor would want to make huge decisions."
"Then, put me in Ravenclaw," she thought.
"No, no, no. It wouldn't do. It's gotta be... GRYFFINDOR!"