Resorted

When Avotica emerged from her dormitory, the common room was almost full again. Draco wasn't in the common room any more; to her relief, but the rest of the Quiddich team was down there, talking through new strategies for the next game.

There was a group of giggling girls, and few people huddled in the corner doing homework and studying. There were people chatting by the fire, and a group of people near the door playing exploding snap. Every time the cards exploded, a small squeal could be heard from the large group of girls, who were sitting rather close to the game.

Avotica passed the people quickly, heading for the door. There was a loud explosion as she opened the door, which made her jump. She quickly regained herself and walked out of the common room. She walked quickly out of the dungeons, not wanting to be in the gloomy place for too long. She was walking so fast that she bumped right into someone before she realised it.

It was Loki. Of all the people she could meet in the dungeons, Loki was among the least likely. Still, there he was, beaming at her. She was still rather annoyed at him for asking her so rudely to kiss him, so she excused herself, and dodged around him.

"Avotica, wait," Loki called after her, but she ignored him. He caught up with her quickly, as he was much faster than she was. "Avotica, can I just talk to you?"

"Why? So that you can ask me something disgusting again?" The anger hinted largely in her tone.

"Avotica, I'm sorry about that, but I need to talk to you."

"Well, I don't want to talk to you." Avotica turned away, but he grabbed her arm.

"Avotica, please. At least just listen." Avotica reluctantly turned back to him.

"What?"

"I'm sorry for asking you to kiss me before. It was completely inappropriate and I'm an idiot. I still want to be friends. Will you forgive me?" Loki's eyes were pleading.

"I'll think about it," she said teasingly, and acted as though she were actually thinking about it. "Is that all? You just came to ask that?"

"No, actually," he said, pulling a piece of paper from his pocket, handing it to her. "I was told to give you this."

"Thanks," she said, taking the paper. She unfolded it and read it.

Dear Miss Wiccan,

We have decided to move your Sorting ceremony forward. Please meet outside the gargoyle guarding my office at 3 O'clock.

Professor Dumbledore

"What does it say?" Loki asked with curiosity.

"Uh, it says I have to go to Dumbledore's office to be sorted at 3. What time is it?"

"Quarter to three. Better get going then."

They walked off to Dumbledore's office quickly, Avotica leading as Loki had never been there before.

"Why are you being sorted?"

"The teachers seem to think the Sorting hat put me in the wrong house," she told him.

"Did it?"

"Yes," she said simply, "because I asked it to."

"Why would you ask to be put in Slitherin?"

"That," Avotica said sternly, "is none of your business."

They walked for the next five minutes in silence, until they came to a sudden halt as a vase flew at them and shattered on the ground. Then another vase came flying across the room, smashing on the wall beside them. They heard mad giggling, and a blue thing flew at them and began to circle them.

"Aww, Ickle first years," it said, giggling.

"A poltergeist!" Avotica said, intrigued.

"It's Peeves!" Loki whispered urgently in her ear. "He reeks havoc in the school. The teachers can't control him, only the Bloody Baron can."

"Who?"

"The Bloody Baron is the Slitherin ghost. I would have thought you'd have known that."

This gave Avotica an idea.

"Peeves, stop it!" She said sternly.

"Or what?" He said, stopping to throw a book at them.

"Or I'll get the Baron."

"You wouldn't." Peeves said, although he didn't sound too sure of himself.

"Oh, yes I would. You see, the Baron and I are good friends, and I don't think he would be too happy to see you throwing things at me."

"He never told me he made friends with ickle first years," Peeves said, poking his tongue out. Avotica ducked as an ink bottle came hurtling her way.

"Why would he tell you?" She said cunningly. "You're just an annoying poltergeist, not someone who has any authority. Now shoo before I have to call the Baron. He would be annoyed at you for making me call him just because you can't behave. Who knows what he'll do as a punishment."

"Oh no, magnitagas!" Peeves flew off, looking scared.

"Wow, well done," Loki said, patting her on the back. "But what are magnitagas?"

"I don't know, maybe some sort of ghostly torture. I'll look it up when I go to the library next."

"But what will you do if Peeves finds out that you lied?"

"Well, I don't know. I'll be able to do something about the situation before that happens, though."

They reached the gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office soon after their run in with Peeves. And not a moment too soon, for the gargoyle jumped out of the way, revealing a spiral staircase to Dumbledore's office.

"Cool," Loki muttered.

"I'll see you later," Avotica said, walking towards the stairs.

"Yeah, see you," Loki said, waving. He walked down the corridor, looking back every so often at the staircase, which still seemed to amaze him.

Avotica was nervous, very nervous. Each step she took up the stairs added to this anxious feeling. She hoped beyond hope that her parents would accept that she wasn't in Slitherin, but she doubted that very much.

She knocked on the thick wooden door at the top of a staircase. There was a quiet, crackly voice that told her to enter. She walked into Dumbledore's office for the second time that year.

"Ah, Miss Wiccan. Please, sit." Avotica walked forward and sat down on the seat in front of Dumbledore's desk.

Dumbledore had risen from his chair and gotten the Sorting hat from on top of his shelf. He walked over to her and placed it on her head. Before he did so, he whispered in her ear, "no bargaining this time."

Hmmm… A lot of indecisive thoughts. You seem to have been up to a lot since we last talked. Hmmm… It seems that you have been a bit mischievous. A little bit cunning, maybe somewhat sly. I don't know, maybe you do belong in Slitherin after all. You seem to have grown to it. Better put you in…

"Slitherin!"

Professor Dumbledore took the hat calmly from her head, not showing any signs of being surprised at all. He turned, and put the old hat on the shelve, and as she watched him, an idea formed in her mind.

"Professor?" she called to him questionably. "May I look at the hat again?"

Dumbledore made a strange, incomprehensive mumbling noise, but handed the hat back to her none the less. She took it, and concentrated. Suddenly, the hat was engulfed with a green smoke. Dumbledore was watching curiously, but said nothing. When the smoke cleared, the hat look new, yet it was still floppy and a rather ugly shade of brown. Dumbledore took the hat from her hands and examined it. He then peered at her through his half-moon spectacles with such a penetrating stare, she began to blush. He handed the hat back to her.

"Can you change it back?" he asked, with no hint of the slightest surprise. She didn't answer, she just concentrated.

In less than a minute, the hat was back to its normal, grubby self. Dumbledore held out his hand to take the hat back. When it was back on the top of the cupboard, he turned to her and gave her a curious but penetrating stare.

"You have a special gift. It seems you can control temperatures, and renew, as well as age, items. Is there any other gift I am not aware of, Miss Wiccan?"

"Well," Avotica began, wondering if mind reading was really considered a gift. "I can, sort of, see people's thoughts." If Dumbledore was surprised, he didn't show it.

"In what way can you read thought?" He asked.

"I can, well; I can see what someone's thinking. Like words written on paper. I can read them."

"And do you read them when you touch someone, or when you're near someone?" Dumbledore seemed completely unfazed by this strangeness.

"When, well, when I look into someone's eyes." Avotica felt a weight lifted off her, like she was finally free of the burden of the secret.

"So, as a result, you avoid looking people in the eye." Dumbledore sounded almost amused. "They say eyes are the windows to the soul. Apparently, to the mind too."

Dumbledore smiled at her, but Avotica kept her eyes downcast. "You may go now. I'm sure you have other things to attend to. Good evening, Miss Wiccan."

"Good evening Professor," Avotica said as she walked off.

Avotica walked quickly back to her common room, half relieved that she didn't have to leave the Slitherin house, half horrified that the sorting hat actually believed that she belonged there. Unfortunately, looking where she was going was not a strong point of Avotica's, so she soon found herself sprawled on the ground after ploughing straight into someone.

Unfortunately, it was Draco. She seemed to meet him at the most inconvenient times, and now was a very inconvenient time. He was obviously very angry, and he was in no mood for her. He jumped to his feet, and grabbed his wand to point it at her. She recoiled in fear, not knowing what he was going to do.

But, her fear suddenly left her, but panic quickly filled that space. She realised she had unleashed her freezing powers before she could see the reaction. If she wasn't so frightened of being blamed, she would have laughed at the sight of Malfoy's hand frozen, as the other one had been burnt.

Draco stared at his hand in horror, and Avotica took that time to flee. She wasn't sure where she was going, she was just getting away. Her heart was racing in her ears, pounding away in time with the thumping of her feet on the ground.

And very suddenly, as she rounded a corner, she bumped straight into another person. They were both knocked backwards, and Avotica found herself very close to tumbling down a staircase. The person she had bumped into had stumbled backwards into a wall, quite close to a portrait of an elegant woman, who said in an offended voice;

"Watch out!"

Avotica rolled away from the staircase and jumped to her feet to go and help the girl she had knocked over up, only to find she was already being assisted. She had run into Freya, who looked very distressed after being bumped into. She almost didn't believe it when she saw it was Loki helping her up.

She skipped emotions quickly, and quite sudden found herself very angry. He had lied. Loki had lied to her. He had told her that he and Freya were not together, but they were. It wasn't so much that she was angry at him for having a girlfriend, it was just that he had lied to her.

She didn't stop to apologize, she just rushed straight past. It seemed Loki had notice her because she heard him calling her name. She blocked him out and kept walking. Apparently, he didn't give up easily.

"Avotica, wait," he called as he grabbed her arm and spun her around.

"You lied," was the first thing to come out of her mouth. "You lied to me."

"I never…" Avotica looked straight into Loki's eyes, able to read his thoughts as clearly as if they were written down on paper. What is she talking about… Freya? But she doesn't understand… I told her I didn't like Freya. I did once… She knows I like her…

"You like me?" Avotica said, trying to sound calm. "How long will it last? How long did you like Freya for?"

"This is different," Loki began.

"How? How is it different?" Tears of frustration were running down her face.

She saw the words in his mind before he said them. …I love you…

"Because I love you."

"How many times do I have to tell you Loki? We're eleven, for crying out loud! We don't know what love is. We're too-" Avotica never finished. She felt soft, wet lips against hers, and she felt frozen in shock. Loki pulled away, but Avotica was still in shock.

"Romeo and Juliet were barely teenagers, and they died for their love. Were they too young?" Loki left Avotica standing alone, staring after him.

Romeo and Juliet? Avotica wondered, not understanding the significance.

Avotica walked slowly to her common room. It was getting near sunset, and everyone was heading to the great hall to eat. Avotica wasn't hungry. She got to her common room a short time after the corridors in the dungeons had become deserted. She opened the common room door quietly, and closed it behind herself again.

When she turned, she was startled to see a blonde boy staring at her. Draco was glaring at her with cold, evil eyes. Both his hands were lightly bound, his fingers sticking out the end. The plasters didn't prevent him from pulling out his wand, thought. Avotica backed away, but soon found herself against a wall.

"You're a sorry excuse for a squib," he said, advancing on her. "Can't cast a simple spell, yet you can burn one hand, and freeze the other." He sounded very angry. He pointed his wand directly at her. "So, how do you do it?"

Avotica was much too frightened to do anything, but it took all her will power not to release her fear. She ducked around Draco and crawled towards her dormitory. She felt something curl around her leg, dragging her away from her dormitory. She kicked at Malfoy's hand, but her just laughed.

"Why don't you just freeze me? Or maybe you want to burn me." Avotica kicked again, still keeping her fear from being released. "What? Are you powerless now, huh? Truly becoming the squib you were born as?" Suddenly, Avotica just gave up. She released fear, releasing anger at the same time.

Although she couldn't see what was happening, she could tell it was painful from the way Draco cried out. She felt no hands restraining her, so she crawled away, just as people began to come into the common room from the dormitories. Avotica quickly changed her direction, crawling towards the common room exit. She swung it open and raced out, not bothering to close it again.

She ran quickly to Myrtle's bathroom, wanting to be somewhere no-one else would be. Myrtle was upset too, it would seem. She was crying, and there were a few puddles on the floor here and there. The bathroom was also chillingly cold.

"Myrtle?" She called, stepping closer to the ghosts cubical.

"What?" She asked in an annoyed voice.

"Myrtle, what's wrong?"

"Why do you care? Nobody cares?" Myrtle began sobbing louder.

"But I'm not nobody, and I do care."

"No, you don't," Myrtle said stubbornly. "You're just saying you do so I'll stop crying." She wailed again.

Myrtle wouldn't let Avotica into her own cubical, so she enter the one along side it. It didn't take long to calm Myrtle down, but it was quite a task to keep her calm. Myrtle was a self-centred, miserable ghost, who felt very sorry for herself. She seemed to think that no-one was worse off than she was.

So Avotica began to talk about herself. She told Myrtle that she was a squib who had never been around children, and how nobody paid any attention to her. She told of how people seemed to always make decisions for her, and people always made her feel like she stuffed up when she made up her own mind, like she never did anything right. Myrtle didn't listen intently. Instead, she snickered at Avotica's story, adding comments on different parts of the story about how her life was worse than Avotica's.

"Fine," Avotica said eventually. "You have the worst life because you only see the horrible parts. If you saw more of the good parts, you might be happier."

"What happy parts?"

"Birthday parties?"

"Nobody ever came. My parents always forgot the date too." Myrtle was sobbing.

"Christmas?"

"We didn't celebrate Christmas. My parents said I should focus on study."

"So you were smart," Avotica said, stating the obvious.

"Yes," Myrtle said reproachfully. "I was the smartest in the class. So, all the kids hated me." Myrtle started wailing again.

Avotica gave up. She sat on the toilet seat in the cubical, listening to the moaning of Myrtle. She began to doze to the sound of her sobbing, and she finally fell asleep, literary tired of her crying.

She was awaken some time later by the sound of something gliding heavily along the tiled ground, through the door.