Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world
of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest
are mine.
Author's note: Hey! Thank you all for the wonderful reviews, they're sooo great to read! Sorry I haven't been writing so much lately, report cards came out two days ago and my mom's still mad over the four B's. Anyway, please read, and most importantly, review. I hope you'll like this one, and maybe it'll become clearer as it all goes along. REVIEW!!!!!!
Chapter 5
"Oh no," Nirry said in dismay, "where do I
go?" They had reached the great doors of Hogwarts and were now
standing in line with other, chattering students all trying to push themselves
into the warmth of the Great Hall.
"Why don't you go ask a teacher?" suggested
Hermione promptly. "Look, there's Professor McGonagall, our
Transfiguration teacher."
Nirry nodded gratefully at Hermione and went off jostling
against the crowd over to the rather stern-faced teacher who stood just inside
the doors, waving students in.
"Pro-professor, um, McGonagall?" Nirry said,
nearly losing her balance against the torrent of people. "I-I'm
Nirry and I was wondering, oh-"
McGonagall snapped her head up. "Ah, yes, Nirry
Dumbledore, right? You should stand right here with me for the time
being, and wait for this crowd to subside. You will be accompanying the
first years to try on the Sorting Hat." With a slight smile on the
Professor's face that was quite hard to see, considering the hard wind that was
coming in, Nirry swallowed the question she was about to ask;
"What's the Sorting Hat?" McGonagall didn't even hear her.
Nirry had heard all about the four Houses from Harry, Ron,
and Hermione, but didn't know how she was picked for them. Maybe it had
to do with the Sorting Hat.
A thought rocked Nirry. What if she was put in
Slytherin, the House with Malfoy and his buddies? She wanted to be in
Gryffindor, where her friends were. Dear God, she prayed, not
Slytherin.
Professor McGonagall said, rather loudly, "Now, please
follow me, first years and Nirry, right here." While she had been
thinking, the rest of the students had gone by and Hagrid had delivered a bunch
of small, dripping first years into McGonagall's care. Nirry now noticed
she was at least a foot taller than the tallest eleven year old there.
She sighed, hoping that it wouldn't be too visible in the Hall where her
friends were going to see her coming in. Nirry posted herself at the end
of the line and they marched slowly into the Great hall where other students
sat at four long tables. Nirry glimpsed some vivid Weasley hair at the
one to the far left of the Hall, and smiled slightly at the expression on Ron's
face. Her stomach was tied up in knots. She didn't even hear the
song the Sorting Hat sang from where it sat on a stool because she had looked
up, and seen a most pleasant sight: the dull clouds circling endlessly over a
bewitched sky, much like the state of her stomach. Maybe she shouldn't
have eaten so many Frogs and Beans, or other those Cauldron Cakes on the train,
now that she thought of it.
"Avery, Clarence!" McGonagall was now
shouting out the names of the first years, who stood shivering in a line next
to Nirry.
To her surprise, the hat shouted out,
"HUFFLEPUFF," and the Avery boy had gone over to sit with a bunch of
enthusiastically waving people at the table next to Gryffindor's.
She glimpsed a sneering face on the Table to the right of
her, and she recognized Draco Malfoy's face. She curled her lip and
discreetly turned away. She caught Harry's eye and saw him grin at her.
"Tutundra, Valeze," became a Slytherin, and still
Nirry waited. She supposed McGonagall was putting her last, and she felt slightly
spooked, all alone on the platform with only an old hat with magical powers
next to her. Then, finally, her name was called, and she walked over to
the hat as she had seen others do before her. Fingers trembling slightly,
she lifted the hat off the stool and sat down.
"Well, well, well." Nirry gave a start and
realized the hat was talking to her.
"WHAT!" she gave a great jump but still managed to
stay on the stool, but she heard snickers coming from the table; Malfoy's, no
doubt.
She steely calmed herself down.
"Yes, sorry about that, and now, Nirry, isn't
it. I see, hhmmm... strong family ties, temper, oh, my yes, temper, good
gracious, look at the courage too, intelligence, yes, certainly, now where
should you go?" The Hat mused in her ear. It was still
disconcerting, but Nirry gripped the edges of the stool and thought,
"Please, Gryffindor, please."
The Hat still mused, "Yes, Gryffindor or Slytherin, I
can see that, the question is which. You do know who was in your family,
don't you?" This question was directed at her, and Nirry felt a
sense of resentment.
"No, of course I don't, just put me in Gryffindor and
I'll be happy!" She was tempted to just yell out "GRYFFINDOR"
herself, but then was restrained, consoling herself that the people would
recognize the voice to belong not to the Sorting Hat, but to her. Hurry
up, hurry up, she told the Hat silently.
"Yes, yes, no need to hurry, all right, I really
shouldn't do this, you should have been in Slytherin, considering your
father... oh well, GRYFFINDOR!" The hat finally shouted out the last
word, and she gave a great sigh and whispered, "Finally."
She made her way over to the table, amidst whisperings,
"Dumbledore? Dumbledore, did she say? His daughter?" and sat down with a great sigh of
relief in between Hermione and George.
"Ah, another school year, and I will spare you all the
ramblings of my thoughts for after your feast. Happy eating!" and he
sat down, not before catching Nirry's eye. He was, after all, her new
father. The golden plates suddenly filled with food and drink, including
abundant English food she had never seen before in her life, and tried them
gingerly while the others stuffed their faces. Her squeamishness before
the Sorting was forgotten and she settled at last on her familiar hamburger
with relish (literally and figuratively). Ron was teasing Hermione about
last year.
"Aren't you going to refuse to eat, Hermione?
Shouldn't the elves be free from cooking for us great wizards?"
Hermione answered as dignified as possible, since her mouth
was trying to work around a great mouthful of chicken and raisin pie, which
Nirry thought revolting.
"I've written Dobby to see that he speaks some words of
encouragement to the other elves-" she swallowed and continued,
"maybe we'll see other free elves by the end of the school
year." The others laughed and teased Hermione while Harry explained
to Nirry about Dobby and last year, where the house elf had been set free and
then hired to work for Hogwarts, along with another elf, Winky.
"I wonder what happened to Winky?" Harry said,
turning to the others as well. The plates had been wiped clean and the
tabled had been filled instead with desserts of every kind.
They discussed various possibilities, and then realized the
hall was gradually falling silent. Dumbledore stood up.
"As usual, the Forbidden Forest is forbidden, as the
name implies, and so is the village of Hogsmeade. There will be only five
visits to Hogsmeade this year, on chosen weekends, and those only to those
above third year. Finally, I must add, you will be encountering various
devices designed to protect you against the Dark Arts within various classrooms
and around the perimeter of the grounds. Good night, and schedules will
be given out tomorrow, as usual."
The students in the Hall stood up and began to move with
groaning stomachs toward their various entrances. Nirry climbed the
endless stairs and hallways with Harry, Ron and Hermione, getting more tired with
every step she took. She was barely able to keep her eyes open when they
came at last to a door which portrayed a fat woman in a silk dress, and
Hermione said the password ("tiger sabula"). She followed
Hermione up the stairs and collapsed into one of the four-poster beds, the one
nearest the window.
"Good night, Nirry," she heard Hermione say
sleepily as she too fell in bed.
* * *
For a second, Nirry didn't know where she
was. What were the red hangings engulfing her for? And where was
the familiar wooden cabin of her room at the stables? Then she
remembered. She was at Hogwarts, and this was the first day of school.
"Good morning, Nirry! First day of classes!
Get up, you'll be late!" Hermione's voice cut through her thoughts.
Hurrying downstairs and through halls after Hermione, they reached the Great
Hall and joined Harry and Ron. Over a breakfast of eggs, toast and
sausage, she woke up and started to study her schedule.
"Hey, how come I'm in fifth year classes with you guys? Shouldn't I be starting out as, oh,
like a first year or something?" Nirry asked, noticing the resemblance
between her schedule and the rest of her friends'.
Harry and Ron both shrugged. "Just go to the
classes and see what happens, okay?" said Hermione, looking happily over
her sheet of paper, which was at least twice as long as Nirry's. Nirry
shrugged as well and nodded, then looked back down at her schedule.
"What's this? 'Transfiguration, Divination,
Potions'- oh, these are the magic classes, right? Cool! We get to
learn Potion making?" she said, a smile engulfing her face.
Ron shook his head ruefully. "You wont be liking it soon, I reckon-
Snape's the teacher and head of Slytherin House, and Slytherins are with
us."
"Great," muttered Nirry. Why was Malfoy so
weird to her on the train? If he hadn't been like that, she wouldn't have
done what she did and she wouldn't be about to have trouble with this teacher
she didn't even know.
'Besides, he hates all Gryffindors," Harry added.
He stood up. "Lets go, Transfiguration first, you'll be able to see
what McGonagall'll say about your magic."
Nirry pushed away from the table and walked off with her
friends, pestering them about details on classes, most of which Hermione
answered happily.