An American Year
~~~~~~~~~~~
"Intilian, Romes" called Minerva McGonagall.
The 16-year-old climbed up on the stool, and gingerly placed the ragged Sorting Hat on his blue highlighted head. Romes looked out into the Great Hall, and saw hundreds of eyes peering down at him, scrutinizing every move he makes.
"God, please let this be over soon," Romes silently pleaded while wringing his hands.
"Hmm…why are you in such a rush? No one is going anywhere, and you, well Romes, are especially hard to place," the Sorting Hat said into his ear.
"Er, please make it quick then, um, sir," thought Romes.
"Polite. Brave. Loyal. A nice thirst for knowledge and for glory. Now where should we put you? I see now. You my young friend have a little secret. Now wouldn't this be nice if everyone knew?"
"Uh, sir? I don't have a secret. I don't even know what you are talking about."
"Oh yes you do."
"NO I DON'T!"
"You have no idea, eh? Be in for the surprise in your life."
"What are you talking about?"
"SLYTHERIN!"
"What?"
"Ravenclaw will bring you knowledge but SLYTHERIN is best!"
"You surely MUST be joking!"
"No, I am the Sorting Hat, and I believe SLYTHERIN is best. Hufflepuff is out of the question."
"Are you sure?!"
"And though you'd fit in with Gryffindor, SLYTHERIN is the right house for you. "
"YOUNG MAN, REMOVE THAT HAT FROM YOUR HEAD THIS INSTANT!" McGonagall exclaimed, walking briskly over to Romes.
"But, but, I haven't even been sorted yet!" sputtered Romes.
The whole Great Hall began to snicker. Romes can see that especially a sliver headed boy had a particularly nasty look on his pale pointed face.
"Yes you have. The hat shouted it three times! Four EVEN! Slytherin! Now please take a seat!"
Romes silently walked over to the Slytherin table and sat next to the only available seat left- the one next to the silver haired, pale, pointed face boy.
"Name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy. Are you pureblood?"
"Yes. Whole family is," Romes replied coolly.
"Good, don't go mixing around with the Gryffindors, especially Potter, Weasley and Granger. Bad blood, those folks."
"Harry Potter? THE Harry Potter? Who is Weasley? And Granger?" inquired Romes.
"Well, Weasley's the redhead, and Granger is the one sitting next to him, the girl with brown hair. Granger is a mudblood, Weasley's family is too Muggle happy, and Harry, well, he chose to go on their side," replied Draco.
"Nothing wrong with that, and thank you very much for trying to warn me of these unnecessary things, but I think I will be friends with who ever I want."
"Mark my words, you will be sorry you said that."
***
"And that concludes this year's sorting. Please welcome the newcomers, Romes Intilian, Rose Camer, and Kevin Zepher. I expect that you students will welcome them and as they say in the US, show 'em the ropes," paused Dumbledore, his blue eyes twinkling.
Dumbledore continued his speech, "Speaking of the US, I have worked out an exchange program with the American school. The school is called the Elements of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and is currently the east coast school of the US. To get to the point, 12 students from Hogwarts will be going to Elements for one year, starting next week. Then, the next year, 12 students from Elements will come here-"
Dumbledore was interrupted with the sudden whispers and squeals of students. In fact it took Dumbledore a while to resume peace within the Great Hall.
"Yes, I know this is very exciting, however, the choice will be made tomorrow. If you would like to participate, the procedures are very similar from the Goblet of Fire. You will write your name, only once, and insert it in this silver goblet," and with this, Dumbledore held up a large silver goblet. The goblet had an intricate welding, words of a lost civilization, and gold trimmings.
Dumbledore resumed, "It then will decide the 12 students who will go on the trip. And of course there is no age limit."
"I have two words to say to you, Tuck in."
And with the wise professor's words, the Great Hall broke into chatter, silverware breaking out, and food appearing onto the students' plates. Little did anyone know, the goblet is a link between evil and good. Now, it is the time to unleash its power, making it known to world- whenever the diviner, the chosen one finds it.
**
There was a swirl of energy and madness in the Emergency Room as a face appeared though the mist. A doctor coming from Athanasia's room. Beatrice was sitting quietly; her pale white face was still in shock. Frank, however, paced around the tiny waiting area, becoming a blur in the madness of the Muggle hospital.
"Erm, Mr. and Mrs. Salazar?" the doctor said.
Both husband and wife raised their heads with a jerk and slowly walked over to the physician.
"Yes, yes, of course, that's me. And my wife," Frank said hugging Beatrice close to him.
"Is she, is she," stammered Beatrice.
"I'm Doctor Limter. Yes, Athanasia is doing fine, however she must stay in the hospital for a couple of days."
With a sigh of relief, Beatrice collapsed on the sofa.
Frank said, "What happened?"
"Well, from what I saw, she has had a concussion, a deep gash across her stomach and something I cannot place my finger on, I need to run more tests."
"When can we see her?"
"Athanasia is in a deep sleep right now and I think she will start to wake in four hours."
"Nothing life threatening though?"
"None of the sort."
"Thank you, thank-"
"Now there is no need for the thank yous, I am only doing my job. And let me suggest to you to, try to get some food into you. It is 8 o'clock and you seem a bit pale-" the doctor Limter was interrupted by the beeping of his beeper.
" Well, do that and try to get some rest, I'll supply the nurse with updates in about and hour and she can give that to you." With that last piece of information, the doctor became a blur in the whirl of activity of the hospital.
"Honey?" Beatrice said from the couch.
"Yes?"
"Can you get me some coffee? No sugar, no cream, just the strong stuff."
"Sure, anything you say," Frank said as he got up to the table.
The lights started to flicker on and off.
"Damn lights. Hospital can have a whole array of coffee and no lights," grumbled Frank.
Suddenly, the entire hospital was pitch black. Only a prolonged scream could be heard. And it sounded like Athanasia's.
A/N: All original characters belong to the wonderful JK Rowling and Warner Bros.
Sorry this was out later than I excepted! I had a case of writer's block. And do you know what broke it? 2 hours strapped in my computer chair with the great works of KoRN, Tool, Incubus and Papa Roach. Thank you to the people who reviewed, Celeste Riddle (No, Draco is not gonna be portrayed as "evil" in here! It's only the beginning!) Dragonessa Smith (what's your e-mail? I can help you with changing a story from .doc to .html), Tigger Luver, and Tazy Silverpen!
Since the hit counting is off PLEASE REVIEW! That's is only when I know you people read it! If you flame, FINE! I love flames! I have a big bag of marshmallows, Hershey's Chocolate and Graham Crackers ready!
Vanessa AKA Athanasia Salazar