Chapter 6
Of all the possibilities the twins had discussed in the days leading up to September first, this had not been one of them. An odd combination of elation and guilt whirled through Ava as she sat with the other students, turning her Sorting over and over in her mind.
Ava would never tell Alya how she had taken slightly heavier steps to quell the shaking in her legs as she walked to the stool. She met Alya's eager gaze for a split second before the hat dropped over her eyes, shrouding her in darkness.
"Ah, a second one," a voice mused in her ear. Ava bit her lip to keep from flinching.
I was first, actually, she thought to herself, and very nearly fell over when the voice chuckled.
"Ambitious and competitive, I see," it answered. "I see a healthy amount of determination and loyalty too, all very Slytherin traits, however…"
I'm muggle-born, Ava supplied a little bitterly.
"Yes, that is the unfortunate stumbling block. Of course, it would be a great injustice to place you in a House where you do not belong. You might do well enough in Ravenclaw, but in Slytherin you would thrive. I see it here in your head, the drive necessary to persevere despite challenges that might arise—and persecution will arise, Miss Walsh, with your heritage—but I can see your ambition outweighing your fear. Your choice is clear to me. The Houses were meant to be united… This one may be the key…"
Ava frowned at the hat's last comment, which appeared to be said more to itself than to her. Key? The key to what?
Before she could formulate her thoughts enough to ask what it meant, the hat bellowed "SLYTHERIN!"
Ava traded stunned looks with Alya across the tables again. Her sister's book had been very clear—Slytherin students were always half-blood or more, never muggle-born like them. They'd discussed the possibility of being separated, of course, but as they'd told the Slytherin Prefects on the train, they'd expected to be in Ravenclaw together. All of their plans and dreams for this bold, new world centered on being together. Sharing a dorm, classes, study time… They didn't know quite what to expect from their curriculum, but they'd taken solace in finding out side by side.
And yet… she'd leapt at the chance to be in Slytherin. Your choice is clear, the hat had said, and Ava had snatched it with both hands with only a brief passing thought about Alya. It wasn't that she didn't love her sister, who had been her closest friend and confidant since they were small. But she also relished the thought of being distinguishable from Alya for perhaps the first time outside of their family.
Ava didn't regret her choice and she didn't regret not being with Alya either.
An ugly feeling gnawed at her until Ava broke her sister's gaze under the pretense of listening to a conversation with the people around her.
Was it wrong of her to want to be more individual? Would Alya feel betrayed if she knew?
She half-listened as the Headmaster issued start-of-year notices and rules. He introduced the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Alastor Moody, who reminded Ava of some sort of old, weathered pirate captain. He was certainly intimidating enough with that odd-looking eye, gnarled hands, stilted walk, and clunky staff.
Abruptly the table in front of her filled with glorious platters of food and Ava's stomach grumbled approvingly, though her awe was still somewhat dampened by her shame at having left her sister without a second thought.
She glanced up instinctively and caught Alya's eye. Her twin was positively beaming, and Ava returned the grin effortlessly.
Amazing! Alya mouthed at her, then set to loading her plate with all of her favorites.
Ava's smile dropped even as she loaded her own plate. Would her sister smile that big knowing Ava had willingly left her for a place in Slytherin?
Dinner passed more quickly than Ava expected, and soon enough the remains of their excellent meal were whisked away. Announcements were made, including that of the Triwizard Tournament and guests from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons who would be arriving in about two months' time.
Ava furrowed her brow as she listened, vaguely recognizing the names of the other two schools from Alya's rambling research. According to the excited gasps and chatter from the other students, the tournament was a big deal. She thought Alya might have mentioned something about it, but she'd have to ask about it later. Once the announcements had been made and Professor Dumbledore dismissed them to their dorms, the students rose and thronged to the doors. Ava only caught a brief glimpse of Alya waving at her from one of the staircases before she was led downward towards the dungeons with the other Slytherins.
Currently Ava found herself trailing behind the others, lost in her own thoughts as her new Housemates chattered away ahead of her. She was in the throes of her debate over telling Alya about the conversation with the Sorting Hat when she sensed a presence beside her. She peered out of the corner of her eye at the tall, blonde prefect who had visited their compartment earlier. The girl's face was utterly impassable.
"So," she began, keeping her voice utterly neutral. What had her name been again? "You made it into Slytherin House after all. Congratulations." The prefect offered her a fleeting smile.
"Yeah, I suppose so."
The girl, Carina, rested a hand lightly on her shoulder, slowing their pace as a gap grew between them and the other students. Ava stiffened as the prefect nudged her off to one side as they walked.
"Did I do something wrong?" Ava asked, trying to keep the quiver out of her voice.
Carina shook her head. "No, not at all. I wanted to speak to you about your Sorting before we meet the rest of our House."
A creeping sense of foreboding curdled Ava's stomach. "This is about me being muggle-born, isn't it?"
Carina studied her for a moment, lips pursed, then nodded. "Yes."
"Because I'm not supposed to be here?" Ava challenged.
The older girl cocked her head to one side, a sheet of blonde hair falling over one shoulder. "Not according to tradition. Is there any way one of your parents might have been a Squib?"
"A what?"
"Someone who was born into a magical family with no magic of their own," Carina explained.
Ava shook her head. "No. It took Professor McGonagall transforming into a cat and back again to convince them of magic when she first brought us our letters."
Carina frowned slightly, opening her mouth as though she wanted to say more, then appeared to think better of it. "Right. Listen, there are a few things you need to understand, Miss Walsh," she said, her tone more serious than Ava would have liked. "Muggle-borns are never sorted into Slytherin House. Ever. I'm sure in your reading you've discovered that in Slytherin House, blood purity matters a great deal, and once people find out about your lineage, you will be treated differently."
The Sorting Hat's words abruptly echoed through Ava's head. Persecution will arise.
"You think they'll try to hurt me?"
Carina shook her head. "They won't attack you outright, but it won't be easy for you either. There will be rumors, especially about your parents…" She trailed off, raising an eyebrow in question, and Ava bristled.
"My parents have always been faithful," she insisted coolly. "It shouldn't matter if they're muggles anyway."
Carina sighed. "To most of the school, it doesn't. But you're in Slytherin now, and to them it will. If they don't outright shun you, they'll come up with any explanation to make it make sense, no matter how outlandish. You need to be prepared for that."
Ava shifted uncomfortably. "What about my sister? Will they talk about her too?"
Carina pressed her lips into a grim line. "Most likely."
Ava's stomach churned. "How do I protect her?"
At first Carina didn't respond, and Ava wondered if it meant there was no way to protect Alya from the backlash. Carina pulled Ava to a halt before a blank stretch of wall, resting her hands on Ava's shoulders.
"Listen, eventually they will all find out that you're muggle-born," Carina told her in a low undertone. "But for now, don't tell anybody."
Ava opened her mouth to argue, insulted that she was being told to hide her true lineage, but Carina pressed on.
"Let them get to know you for you first, to care about you before blood," she explained softly. Without another word, she turned to a blank expanse of wall beside them, cleared her throat, and announced, "Balderdash."
Ava's response died in her throat as the bricks unfolded themselves to reveal a passageway. Although she remembered Alya reading to her about the Slytherin common room being in the bowels of the castle, she hadn't given it much thought until now, when it flipped her expectation on its head.
On one wall, an ornate fireplace blazed with heat, surrounded by well-worn, comfortable-looking chairs and couches. Bookshelves stood resolutely to either side, separated from the fireplace by a barrier of stone and displaying a number of mismatched volumes which Ava imagined Alya's fingers would be itching to delve into. Across the room were a number of small tables, presumably for studying and down time, flanked by two staircases leading even further downward.
Ava's brow knitted when she noted the absence of chairs in the study area as students milled about. A moment later she realized the older students were dragging the chairs closer to the fire, situating them in a large half circle behind the cushy chairs and couches already there.
She made these rather mundane observations within a few seconds of entering. Her breath, however, caught on the furthest wall, which really wasn't a wall at all. It was a massive, slightly concave window displaying the depths of the Black Lake, and with how close they still must be to the surface, Ava estimated a fair amount of sunlight would still reach them in the daytime. Enough light, she hoped, to investigate what she saw now.
On the other side of the glass, eerie forms moved about, carrying strangely glowing orbs in webbed, gray-skinned hands. The orbs illuminated their weedy, green hair drifting lazily about their faces and yellow eyes peering with great interest at the students. Silver-scaled tails glinted in the flickering light as they flicked lazily this way and that. The smallest form, easily five and a half feet tall and boasting a string of pebbles tied around its neck, met Ava's gaze, cocking its head to one side and grinning with broken, yellowed teeth.
"Are those mermaids?" Ava blurted at Carina as she closed the passage behind them.
"Hmm? Oh, yes. Selkies of the Black Lake," the other girl answered somewhat distractedly. "You'll learn more about them in a bit. Come on, orientation starts soon."
Ava finally tore her gaze away from the selkie—it couldn't possibly be fully grown yet, she decided—and allowed herself to be led to the front row of seats, where other first years had taken up residence on the couches. Many of them, like her, were watching the selkies with just as much interest as the creatures themselves exhibited.
Ava didn't bother to initiate any conversations just then, as she was still rattled by her conversation with Carina. Her eyes flicked to the older girl, who appeared to be in a somewhat heated discussion with her fellow Prefect. The boy gestured behind him and Ava's stomach sank as Carina cast a cursory glance at her for a split second before returning her attention to her partner. It wasn't hard to imagine exactly what they were arguing about.
The debate ended when Carina lay a hand on his arm, leaning forward to whisper fervently to Willoughby. The boy's shoulders tensed for a long moment before slouching slightly in defeat. He nodded, then the two of them placed themselves at the front of the room, near the fireplace.
"Right then," Willoughby announced, clapping his hands together to get his Housemates' attention. It took a moment or two, but they quieted and turned their attention to him. "Welcome back, ladies and gents. The Headmaster's already gone over the bulk of the rules, so I'll just go over a few things in the castle you first years ought to be aware of, then Carina will take over."
He spent the next few minutes explaining their common room, where the dorms were located, and where the bathrooms were found. He went on to talk about how to locate the entrance to the common room by searching for the small snake carving on the brick beside one of the torch mounts, and how often the password changed. He went into the various trick doorways, moving staircases, hidden passages, and the castle's ever-changing floorplan, issuing warnings for certain corridors that Ava hoped she would remember come morning. She almost wondered if she ought to be taking notes.
"You'll be getting your timetables at breakfast first thing Monday morning from Professor Snape," Willoughby finished. "He's our Head of House and the Potions Master. He's not got the best temper, so it's best to stay in his good graces."
He nodded to Carina, who stepped in.
"Just use your common sense and you'll get along just fine with the castle and Professor Snape," she summarized.
Ava cocked her head, trying not to appear too bewildered or astonished next to her classmates. Most of them nodded as though it were completely normal to live in a castle whose floorplan changed on a whim and was adorned with tricks and traps. Then again, she realized, for the purebloods, it probably was.
"Getting along with the other Houses," Carina continued more carefully, "is a little trickier." Her tone had shifted, taking on a note of solemnity as she drank in the sight of her Housemates. Behind Ava, much of the upperclassmen's fidgeting quieted.
"When you first arrived in the castle, you were told that your House would be like your family. Nowhere is that truer than here in Slytherin House," she said, a proud smile ghosting across her lips before it fell. "I'm sure you noticed the reactions of the others to your Sorting this evening. Every one of us in this room has gone through the exact same thing." For a moment, her eyes glazed over, and Ava wondered if the older girl was remembering her own Sorting. Then she blinked and her face cleared.
"I'll be frank with you. Slytherin House is not well-loved, and it is helped little by the reputations of Dark Wizards who came before us. Many students hold us in low regard and are not shy in showing it." Her face darkened and the palpable tension in the room abruptly tightened Ava's muscles. She held her breath as a collective murmur of disdain rippled through the room.
Then Carina released a long, slow breath and reached out to clasp the hand of a girl she'd sat with at dinner. She offered her House a reassuring smile, turning her gaze to each of the first years. Her gaze lingered a moment longer on Ava as she spoke. As quickly as it had risen, the tension in the room dissipated.
"But here," she said, "you are safe. We're a family here, and tonight we'd like to begin teaching you a tradition handed down through generations of Slytherins."
Chairs creaked as the students behind Ava straightened in their seats and the girls on either side of Ava leaned forward in anticipation. Ava's brow knitted as, instead of continuing her speech, Carina crossed to the wide, concave window. The selkies on the other side shifted closer to the glass, a few of them grinning and suspending their glowing orbs in the water. Carina moved her hands rapidly in front of her for a moment, and the selkie responded in kind. The girl turned back to them, grinning.
"They added this glass wall and a glass chamber further down more than two hundred years ago," she said. "At first, the selkies and other residents of the Black Lake didn't take kindly to the developments or the students on the other side. Back in the 1890s, a girl named Elsbeth Lynch was Sorted into Slytherin. She'd been rendered deaf by a magical accident during childhood, and so learned sign language to communicate with others. She was fascinated by the lake and its inhabitants, and so over the course of her education, she taught not only her Housemates to sign, but the selkies as well. Sign language has been passed down in Slytherin House ever since so we can communicate with them.
"The first sign you learn as a Slytherin is the sign for family." She extended the first two fingers on each hand, making small clockwise circles in front of her body. She invited the first years to mimic her, and Ava tried to set aside her awkwardness as Carina and the other upperclassmen demonstrated. As she moved her hands like theirs, a strange warmth bloomed in her chest. Looking up, she found the other first years glancing at one another with side eyes and the upperclassmen beaming at them.
"What you're feeling right now is a subtle form of magic," Carina announced quietly. "It's not nearly as strong as the magic you'll be learning or performing with your wands, but it serves to develop a sense of trust and camaraderie between you and the rest of your Housemates."
A low, astonished murmur passed through the first years, and Ava looked down at her hands. Was this signing magic strong enough to overcome prejudices against muggle-borns? The worry gnawed at her even as Carina continued her speech.
"Monday morning your education begins. While you're here, your job is to learn and to stand together. Show the rest of this school what we can do. Show them that we're not evil. Show them we're so much more than what they choose to see. Protect one another and work hard."
She hesitated, looking as though she wanted to add something else. Did her eyes flick to Ava, or was it just her paranoid imagination?
"Since we've got a few days before classes begin, we'll set aside a bit of time before lunch each day to teach you the basics of sign language," she said. "If you have questions, any of the upperclassmen can help you. If you put your mind to it and practice consistently, you'll find it to be a particularly useful tool to have at your disposal. Once you've got basic conversation down, you'll be able to communicate with the selkies of the Black Lake."
She signed something to the selkie on the other side, who nodded and clasped one hand in front of the other, making small up and down movements in front of her. It almost looked like she was shaking hands with herself.
"This is the sign for friend," Carina explained, demonstrating the movements for the first years. Then she motioned to the corner adjacent to the fireplace, which gave way to a third staircase Ava hadn't noticed when she walked in. "This staircase leads to a separate chamber which allows us to more fully view the lake. Feel free to explore it more in your free time and get to know the selkies."
"That said, do not trust any of their dating advice," Willoughby cut in with a wry smile. "The school doesn't condone the drowning of boring or troublesome dates."
Carina rolled her eyes at him, then glanced down at a fine, silver watch on her wrist. "It's getting late. I'm sure you'd all like some time to settle in. A few of us will meet you first years here at eleven tomorrow morning to go over the basic signs before lunch. Welcome to Hogwarts, Slytherins," she concluded. Ava couldn't help but notice that the smile she offered them, while fond, was also somehow distant.
A/N: Whew, it's been too long since I updated! First things first, I dearly hope all of you readers have stayed sane and safe during this pandemic and the other unprecedented craziness 2020 has hit us with.
I had intended to post this chapter back in March, but I hadn't quite completed it by the time the pandemic hit. To make a long story short, I was considered an essential worker and permitted to continue working at the public library during quarantine. Our main building was shut down, so we spent the majority of our time working on projects we can't normally do while open to the public and providing a curbside service for our patrons. I was also pregnant with my second child at the time, and it's only been during my maternity leave that I've found any time to work on this story again. I've lamented leaving my readers hanging for so long and beg your forgiveness. Truly, these times are unprecedented for all of us.
Now, credit for a few of the ideas presented in this story goes to the following tumblr users: queerandgrumpy for the idea of a wall and a room like an aquarium; brosequartz for the idea of a deaf student teaching Slytherin house and the mermaids sign language; and sashaforthewin for the terrible mermaid advice. I adored the conversation they had about mermaids and sign language, so I wanted to give voice to their ideas in a story (even though I'm sure someone else has already done so).
Lastly, thank you so much for reading this far and for coming back even after such a long lapse between chapters. I can't wait to hear your feedback for this piece, and I hope to get back onto a regular monthly schedule. Thank you, and stay safe!
