Ch.9 Why have you got a chocolate frog with a harness on?
Authors note: I have my reasons,I really believe in the hat taking into account what you value the most and not just what you flat out are. hope it fits to you too! also thank you very much for the review I received, it was very nice and made my day!
Arthur did not pay attention to anything the two prefects looming over him were saying, one having a tight curly fauxhawk and a partially blue crest on his robe, the girl with a blonde ponytail having green, with two shiny badges pinned on both.
All of his attention was directed at the girl practically melting the chocolate frog that was desperately trying to break free of her grip coming to a halt as the spell slowly wore off, with the chocolate frog being…...in a tiny harness made of licorice…
What made it even odder was the boy (who was unnecessarily pretty) holding onto an open can of muggle soda and frog fact pamphlet sticking out of his pocket.
Everyone seemed to momentarily forget what had occurred as they stared at the two who didn't notice this as they got really into laying the lecture on thick.
Even Malfoy had forgotten to whine about his wound and how he'd never be able to enjoy celebrating all his quidditch wins (whatever that was) ever again because the music would be tainted from this memory, opting to look disgusted and kept switching between her robe crest and the frog.
After slowly realizing everyone wasn't paying attention to them finishing each other's sentences of how much trouble Arthur was in they seemed very embarrassed.
"Oh stop looking- frogs absorb water don't they? So chocolate frogs should absorb soda? Right?" The boy muttered, turning dark and hiding his soda behind his back.
The girl turned red and nodded seriously, "Only experimenting-" she seemed to realize she wasn't the one who was supposed to be embarrassed and whirled back around to Arthur wagging her finger in his face.
"You!" She yelled, almost whacking his nose from how close she was, "No looking at us funny! You're the one breaking the record for earliest detention ever!" and waved her hands in the air causing loads of what looked like a ball of chocolate cockroaches to fall out her pocket.
Arthur stared with wide eyes at the tall mass of candy cockroaches as it was very hard not to ,"What record are you trying to break?"
The girl went back to turning red, "The one about getting as many snot nosed kids as possible to mind their own business!" and dove down shoveling it in her pockets so hard she accidentally ripped out pieces of the train carpet as the boy with curly hair took over.
He folded his hands behind his back and looked at him sternly, "Now-"
"What spell do they use on the frogs?" Arthur interrupted waving his hand high in the air, as the girl was on the ground fake crying about the melting chocolate frog as if it were her closest friend.
" What? To make them act like their organic selves?"
Arthur nodded so fast his neck almost came clean off as Hermione suddenly perked up ready to learn.
"Couldn't tell you, now-"
The girl popped up with chocolate on her face from having eaten her dead long lost friend, "You'll get to go to the sorting hat!"
The boy glared struck a dramatic pose with her, "But we'll have to tell the professors! you'll get an idea of your punishment tomorrow!"
They both stood in silence with their pose before backtracking, the boy whirled on her and glared,"Claire! You ruined the secret! they were supposed to get nervous and spread rumours like it being a cornish pixie handing standardized tests or someth-"
Claire stood her ground,"Well I'm sorry.Michael.We usually go with the sorting hat rhyme! I didn't know you wanted the punishment rhyme!"
"That's for older years when they-"
"Shut up!"
The first years stood in silence with Malfoy looking like he was about to rev up the whining engine, and Arthur hurriedly drawing on a stray piece of paper of a niffler he'd seen in Hermione's book planning to make it chocolate so he could strike on halloween . The prefects then turned and yelled at them to hurry up and get in their robes looking frantic (even though, they'd already been spoiled by Hermione because she'd made sure that if she didn't know every inch she'd at least have a centimeter more than everyone else) , as they ran off probably to go over their rhymes and polish their badges in sync.
Arthur had split into a compartment to change into his robes with Neville, Narrowly missing the large boys that stood guard behind Malfoy grabbing a fist full of his shirt by a hair, They filled the time chatting about what Quidditch was.
It was very confusing at first, but he could begin to understand why Malfoy would cry over it.
Neville seemed to be reminiscing about matches he'd seen before, excitedly telling him how one of the beaters almost fell off the broom.
Arthur pulled on his robe, the zipper having gotten stuck as the collar started to choke him, and it was short enough for his shoes and ankles to show.
It had been on the return rack from some boy who had decided he just couldn't wait for Hogwarts to begin so he ran around in it all summer, having gone swimming in it and left it out on a rock to dry, making it shrink.
He stuck his hands in his pockets grimacing as he wiped off the piece of snapping bubblegum that was inside(He sniffed it to see if it was any good. It was not, it had a strong bite to it, literally.) They had tried washing it but it had sand that wouldn't go away and smelt like very bad perfume, the left pocket had contained a broken drumstick. The boy must've had a really fun summer.
"And then- when the beater was flailing around and such, he managed to hit the snitch with his bat! Right into the crowd! Some old lady with a full Montrose magpie costume caught it! She went nuts over it."
Arthur leaned in eagerly, "She keep it?"
Neville grinned at him, "No! They did try to claim that since she was rooting for them the points should go to them though, but they had to replay and it went on for weeks!" he said looking envious of himself for having gone.
"Wicked" Arthur exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air, smiling right back. He felt a lot more lighter and like himself again.
But Nevilles mood seemed to grow heavier and heavier as he clutched to his robes,"What house do you think you'll get in? I'd like Gryffindor...but..."
Arthur hopped around on one leg trying to pull his sock up , "But what?"
"I don't think I belong." he whispered looking ready to break down from nerves.
Arthur patted his back,"Gryffindors the brave one right? You really got it calling him a phantom rat! It was spot on too!"
Neville smiled weakly,"I didn't really do anything- you're the one who knocked him in the head with that instrument case-"
"Didn't really do anything?." Arthur repeated faintly ,"You started the entire thing!"
Neville blushed, "Wish I thought of it though. The look on his face..."
"Tell you what, we can form our own marching band and line up taking turns with our cases on him-"
Neville looked elated at the idea. He also looked like an oboe player.
The whistle blew signaling it being time to get off.
They both rushed to the door with the other students pushing trying to get ahead, as they got out he heard a familiar voice booming through the empty night air.
"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"
Arthur ran over to the kind faced Hagrid with sand spilling off his robe sleeves, The giant man's black beetle eyes were being reflected and extra shiny in that moment due to the lamp he was holding over his head.
Hagrid smiled down at all of them leading them silently through the dark path, with crickets and the sound of calm water.
They all gasped in awe, tripping over each-other as they came into view of a huge old castle, filled with towers and grey pointy scaly roof tops, thousands of trees behind it and the milky moon in full view.
Arthur was one of the kids who had ran forward to get a better look but skidded to a halt with the rest of them passing him up.
"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid roared, his voice cutting clearly through the quiet night and awe stricken first years.
Everyone excitedly ran to the boats clambering in, but Arthur stood there in horror.
Boats. They had to get there by boat.
Hagrid noticed him being left behind and walked over his heavy footsteps making the pebbles on the ground bounce.
"Ye' don' wanna haf to swim do ya?" He said smiling broadly pushing him over to the nearest boat.
Arthur tried struggling but it was no use, he started breathing heavily, "Can I? I can take the long way I don't min-"
Hagrid pushed him into the boat and he landed face first.
He looked at him worriedly but marched off to his own boat, "Sorry 'bout tha'. We're about to go now!"
Arthur whimpered, gripping whatever he could very very tightly, looking slightly up and seeing Hermione ready to open her mouth and give him the thirty most hottest tips on avoiding seasickness and a sympathetically smiling Neville.
Some girl Arthur hadn't seen before looked at him weirdly and scooted away from his end muttering about how she didn't want vomit on her brand new shoes. (Which were the kind that you drew on, she had covered it in drawings of bats and hearts)
He flopped his face back in the wood ignoring the 'ahhhing' and 'ooohing' of his classmates (Along with Hermione yelling in his ear to stare at a fixed point,He took this advice very seriously and continued to stare at the unmoving wood.) at Hagrid pointing out parts of the castle. His wand didn't seem very happy with the predicament either, fizzing in his pocket.
Arthur held on for a while before hearing a gasp and a hard shove to his back urging him to get up. He refused to,"Boats! It had to be boats! I'd take using a dragons back as a bridge over this!" he moaned.
"There's something in the water! It's waving!" Came the voice of Hermione who ignored him entirely sounding like she was now leaning over the boat.
Not wanting to be left out, Arthur grudgingly slid over the edge to see, getting close to her incase he fell in, she reached her hand out looking like she wanted to touch the water but thought better against it.
The thing in the water began to take human form, with shiny wide eyes and rounded off spikes in its neck.
Arthur stared for a bit, the adrenaline clouding his fear for only a moment, shakily skimming the cold lake with his fingers, the fog hitting his face cooling him down, he and Hermione had seemed to finally agree with something and shared an odd smile.
He looked over to the wombat girl who had her legs and arms crossed looking cold and utterly bored and shining her shoes periodically.
Arthur turned to the murky water, leaning closer and closer, Hermione's eyes widened as she tried to grab his sleeve but it slipped from her grasp only making him tumble in a weird position,"Hey!-"
Splash!
The figure recoiled in shock with thousands of fish scattering, Arthur gurgled waving his hands and arms freaking out making him sink lower and lower.
He felt a scaly hand grab him and swim upward with thousands of fish mouths trying to nibble on his arms legs and head, the force of the water blowing on his face and stinging his eyes, they broke surface and he breathed in greedily as he was grabbed by a giant thick hand.
Arthur gasped once more almost passing out from the lack of air as he was hoisted over the deck like a freshly caught Marlin.
"Hoppin' Hippogriffs! Are ya mad? Goin' overboard! Nearly lost ya!"
They were all currently docked with all the students staring at his dripping upside down form like he'd gone mad as he coughed and spit out water, with Hagrid as white as a sheet.
A girl with a pug face in the crowd looked at him astonished, "Have you got worms for brains?"
The blood was rushing to Arthurs head clouding his judgement even more, he forgot which way was to look at her now that he was upside down but eventually managed it but was ruined by his wet robe half flopping in his face.
He stared at where he thought she was, very confused and dizzy ,"How'd you know the fish bit my head?"
She stared back not knowing what to say at the obviously insane dangling boy in front of her.
Everyone climbed out of the boats, but Arthur practically flew and held the cold ground in pure bliss once Hagrid dropped him.
He heard a hearty laugh, "Can' take that piece o' ground with ya- Come on, Everyone here?"
Arthur shakily got up taking one look back to see the figure staring at him only an inch above the water and politely waved mouthing a thank you, it nodded and sunk into the depth of water below. He ran with the rest up the flight of cobblestone stairs with his shoes squishing from mud, everyone staring up at the impressive door Hagrid having knocked on it opening to Professor McGonagall.
He waved excitedly at her and she gave a nod before freezing looking at him and giving a quick swish of her wand, a warm wind blew at him and he felt dry. Especially his lips.
Taking her eyes off of him making weird faces by biting his lip weirdly trying to get it back to normal, she continued her speech and led them into the great hall, telling them to get ready.
He stared up at the grand ceiling, the echoes of a door clicking and students whispering amongst themselves nervously.
Arthur looked back down to see a pink round faced girl with blonde pigtails and butterfly clips in her hair looking at him curiously.
He waved and pointed at her hair, "Have you got any more clips?"
Her eyebrows raised but dug in her pockets, "Plenty- Hannah Abbott, why do you want them anyway? aren't you the boy that got his head bit by fish?"
He blushed , clipping his hair back with them, "Arthur Dewey- I am, thanks-" he whispered.
Arthur was interrupted by someone stomping in front of them, it was Bat girl shoving her leg out. She squinted at the clips in his bangs and screwed up her face unpleasantly,"You've gotten mud on my shoe when you were bumbling around on the stairs."
He frowned apologetically,"Sorry 'bout that- It won't come off will it? The pictures?"
She glared at him making a 'I-see-you' gesture,"I have a real bat you know. Bats eat butterflies." after pointing menacingly at him and his clips she was off, back to taking her place in front of the crowd.
Arthur and Hannah stared in shocked silence looking at each other and back to her retreating form
"What's her deal?" asked Hannah in disbelief.
Arthur shrugged,"I dunno- don't tell her that it's just plastic though, see how far she gets."
He turned and grabbed his own pocket offering her a crumbly soft peppermint with pieces of sand falling off it,"Sorry,got squashed a bit."
Hannah smiled at him and fumbled with it, a few others turned to look to the source of the loud plastic crinkling. They both ducked embaressed.
She began to look nervous fiddling with her hands, "You don't think it's really a troll that we're sorted by do you? I'd only know how to make it tap-dance I think- that wouldn't work too well for us would it…"
Arthur laughed,he clapped her shoulder whispering to not spoil it for everyone, "Just a hat, a prefect slipped and squealed about it."
Hannah looked skeptical but a tad relieved.
"The trolls only wearing it-Oh- Only joking!" he rushed as she looked ready to faint.
The door slowly creeped open. Arthur heard a sharp intake of breath before two ghosts came in, pretending they hadn't seen them and told them about their old house with Professor McGonagall's stern face popping back into view.
Professor McGonagall stared directly at Arthur who had pinned up his hair with more than necessary showing off his thick eyebrows and freckles that coated his entire face and neck , with a raised eyebrow her voice carried through the room, "I know some of you may be nervous and have some….butterflies…."
A few giggles echoed.
"But there's nothing to worry about, the ceremony will begin now. Form a single file line, and follow me."
She turned and swished her way to the door opening it and everything coming into view.
As they entered, Arthur stared in shock at the elegant tables filled with goblets, ghosts and ghouls. Hundreds of bored looking students stared at them as the first years craned their necks to look at the ceiling gasping.
"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in 'Hogwarts a History.' " came the hurried whisper of Hermione.
Arthur began to hop excitedly and shuffle around straying from the line slightly, walking next to her dragging mud, it having caked on his shoes no matter how hard he tried scraping it off. She looked curiously at the butterflies gathered on his head before wrinkling her nose at his shoes.
Arthur wrinkled it back and said in a mock-mystified voice,"Oh look...they've bewitched the floor as well..."
Hermione stared at him disgusted, "You dragged that in!"
Arthur stuck his tongue out at her and she put her hands on her hips,but they both quieted down quickly as he ran back to his proper spot, Professor McGonagall walked over, placing something down.
Hannah quietly turned around mouthing words at him that he didn't understand as the peppermint in her mouth was almost falling out everytime she opened it, "Look!" she mouthed thickly through the peppermint in her mouth.
It was an old dusty wizards hat that had never been properly introduced to water or a rag before,
It began singing loudly and after getting over his shock Arthur swayed to the rhythm, at the end everyone burst in applause, if Arthur knew how to whistle he would have. (Done it properly, but all that came out was spit and a funny noise.)
Hannah was the first to be called up he grinned at her giving a thumbs up as she wobbled to the stool clumsily placing it on her head.
'HUFFLEPUFF!' The hat yelled.
Students bunched up together excitedly waiting their turn.
It went on for a while, with Terry Boot- the guy who locked himself in the compartment earlier- becoming a Ravenclaw, he got handshakes and sat down looking real pleased with himself, but immediately pulled out his book from earlier ignoring everything around him.
After a while longer the hat opened its frayed mouth, "Dewey, Arthur!"
Arthur felt his stomach flip over and devour an acid pop, he slowly shuffled over to the hat nearly tripping over himself, awkwardly turning around seeing all the students facing him and their eyes following the path of muddy footprints, it vanishing in seconds after a sigh from Professor McGonagall nearby.
As he got closer to putting on the hat, the more he didn't like the idea. No hat knew that much about him, he didn't even tell the paper top hat he made once any of his secrets.
Arthur slowly put the hat on trying to concentrate on locking his mind, trying to feel as stubborn as he could feeling like he was going to crack a rib from huddling himself together so hard. He did not want the hat to see his memories of trying to ride a frying pan as a boat and almost drowning,or when he set loose beetles inside the entire restaurant by mistake.
A voice flooded his mind completely taking over, 'Ahh…..Don't worry…..Often the people I sort have such kinds of memories...nothing to be embarrassed of...Ah...avoid bringing ... creatures inside here however...it has resulted in disaster before...'
Arthur blanched. The voice felt creepy, it didn't echo it felt like a voice in your head, but also as if it was just whispering in your ear.
'I see.…..an odd type of balance in you eh?...'
He felt the hat pick through recent memories and saw himself whacking Malfoy in the face with his tuba case after insulting Hermione's teeth and falling into the lake.
The hat laughed gruffly, if that was even possible, and somehow replayed it. 'a very large amount of disturbing loyalty that could be dangerous...But what do you value?'
Value? Thought Arthur. The only thing that came to mind was His dad and Parkin. For some reason. And, he supposed, all the people he's met so far. The gross smell from years of students' heads was beginning to spread,along with his own smell from the lake.
'Oh yes, I'm quite glad I don't have a nose...but you should be glad you don't have stitches that can rot...Where to put you...You'd fit well in Gryffindor...But it'd be better off for everyone if you were...Yes...'
Huh?
' Oh no no...not to say it'd be bad for you...You'll feel most at home here, and the least alone. Although, I encourage you not to submit to solitude amongst yourselves, you'll thrive better with more than just your own housemates...'
"HUFFLEPUFF!" The Hat roared.