Rhodri was poked in the arm
for what seemed to be the ten-zillionth time by the young boy with a mop of
black hair and dark eyes beside him. "Hey, do you think we're there
yet?" he asked, his voice quivering with excitement, though one look out
of the window at the blurred countryside could give the negative to his
question far better than Rhod. But the boy didn't bother looking, bounced on
his seat, hands gripping his new school robes excitedly. Rhod doubted that his
friend had even waited for the Express to be off before changing.
"No, I don't think so,
Ben… But I think we must be closer than we were five minutes ago," he said
for his friend's sake. The last time Ben had asked had been five minutes ago. He
appeared to be satisfied with Rhod's answer, though, going back to watching out
of the window anxiously. Rhod was surprised that he wasn't watching his watch
for a decent interval between his last and his next query.
"Hey, Rhod!"
insisted Ben suddenly, "Didja know that Harry Potter's in Hogwarts?? He's
a second year now! I wonder if we'll get to meet him!" The boy positively
squirmed.
Rhod blinked… He hadn't
realized. But he should have. Twelve years ago, had it happened?
"Really?" he asked, though he had learned that Ben's sources were
just about infallible. He knew everything, it seemed sometimes. But Harry
Potter?
Ben nodded impatiently,
"Oh, I hope I'm in Gryffindor! That way I should get to see what he's
/really/ like! I wonder what he really saw when he battled You-Know-Who as an
infant!"
"Where'd you learn all
of this, anyway?" Rhod asked, musing more over Ben's skills than Harry
Potter. He was certain he'd hear plenty about him during the journey.
Ben looked hurt, as if Rhod
had just questioned the accuracy of his information. He was always right.
Almost. Except, Rhod recalled, that one time where he thought that his entire
town was about to be run over by vampires and strung up the whole place in
garlic. Most of the time. "Ah, it's one of the second years. He's also in
Gryffindor, I think… Had a toad he kept losing, named Rover, I think. I dunno…
But didja know Harry won the House Cup last year? After the Slytherin House
thought the had it all won, too!" Rhod settled in for a full batch of stories
about Harry's first year.
Three hours later, the
stories were still coming. Rhod's eyes were a little glazed over, but he was
still doggedly listening. Ben had never obsessed so much before. And to make
matters worse, a boy, named Colin Creevy, with a camera, had joined them. He
seemed to obsess as much as Ben. Rhod respected Harry as much as any other boy
who had ever heard the story of how the entire wizarding world had been saved,
but this was too much!
Desperately casting about
for something to, well, distract Ben for a little while, Rhod cast about for
the sweets cart making its slow procession down the crowded compartment.
Digging a couple of Sickles from his pocket, he hastily got as many chocolate
frogs as they would buy. Ben collected the cards avidly, pestering Rhod for the
ones he didn't have, and sometimes for the ones he did have. Already he was
missing only a few.
Rhod didn't collect them,
personally. He had tried for a couple of months, but after he had gotten about
fifty his parents had thrown them out. His own family was rather conservative,
and didn't really encourage him in frivolous activities, like collecting Famous
Witches and Wizards Cards or decorating his room in his favorite Quidditch
team. Finally they had settled for letting him collect small amulets from all
around the world - there was even one from a witch doctor from Peru.
"Rhod, look at that one
you have! It's Ptolemy! I've been trying forever to get one of him! You're so
lucky!" Rhod glanced down and frowned at the card. Ptolemy gave him a
sheepish wave and bustled off to the corner while Ben jiggled it in his hand,
"Can I have it? Please?" When he had it in his possession, he grinned
at it for a few minutes before tucking it into his robes. Rhod grinned to
himself for a different reason; he had done something nice for his chum and
gotten him off the topic of Harry Potter. Maybe he'd start talking about the
other wizards he didn't have, or maybe - Ben interrupted his thoughts by asking
Colin, "Hey, I wonder when they're going to have a card for Harry-"
Rhod rose abruptly,
scattering the last wrapped chocolate frogs to the floor. The pale, dark-eyed
third year behind him gave a start before she went back to jabbering with her
friend beside her. Ben looked up at him in confusion, and Rhod mumbled,
"And what about when I'm on a card?" The look on his friend's face
only developed into a totally baffled expression. "Nothing," he
enunciated, clearer this time. With that he scooped up his dozing kitten from
atop his luggage and swept off -er, dragged and stumbled off- with his trunk to
find a smaller, quieter car to fume in.
It was much emptier at the
end of the train, and when he reached a compartment with only two boys with
their gold and black heads drawn studiously over one book, Rhod settled his
things and sat in a corner to think for a while.
Ben was the best friend he
had ever had. He was always so kind when Rhod openly gaped about in amazement
when he visited the Muggle village Ben lived in. He was always so interesting,
but almost depended on Rhod during school to help him. Rhod helped him, he
didn't mind. But Ben had the annoying habit of going crazy for certain things
in particular. Right now it was Harry Potter. "Stupid /famous/ Harry
Potter," he gargled under his breath. Ben had not yet realized, or maybe
Rhod just wasn't too open about it, that Rhod's biggest dream was to be great
and famous. Harry Potter already was, "I'm going to be great like him
someday - and I'll actually have to work at it. Everyone will see! And, and,
I'll find You-Know-Who and vanquish him once and for all!" He grinned to
himself and played a couple of scenarios like that through his head. Before he
caught the vague but evil figure with no defining features with a great curse,
he realized how silly he was acting. He was going to do something as great as
what Harry Potter had done, but not for years yet.
"Harry Potter…
Agh!" He wouldn't mind so much if he didn't have to listen to it so much…
To distract himself from the
declining spiral of his thoughts that he was beginning to recognize, he decided
to get his robes on. For a good while he just admired the way they fell
straight down to lightly brush the floor. On a second thought, he rummaged
about in his trunk to find his wand. Grasping it, he waved it about happily,
watching a spray of sparks fly from it. His family might not support
spendthrift personal hobbies, but they did get the best for him. They'd get the
best for Daphne too, when she came to Hog warts in a year's time. Fir and
dragon heartstring, nine and three quarter inches, fairly pliant. That's what
Mr. Ollivander had said when he put the fourteenth (Rhod had counted) wand in
Rhodri's hand. He wished there were a mirror so he could see himself; he must
have looked a genuine wizard. He tried to imagine it instead, as he was good
at. It wasn't very hard to place his brown hair, clipped in a military style
with only a small braid down his neck, and blue eyes over the Hogwarts robe. He
got the distinct feeling he looked silly, but that was impossible, as he
started to mature his features and made his eyes look a tad harder. There.
Perfect. So wonderful, in fact, that he stored it among his most memorable
memories. Coming to Hogwarts already triumphant, he thought.
The train was slowing; Rhod
could tell as the windows showed distinct pictures of a picturesque forest and
mountain scene. Ben burst in on him, bringing both of the boys on the other
side of the compartment's heads up. Rhod had forgotten about them.
"Rhod! I've been
looking all over for you, in all of the compartments. Why'd you go off like
that? There was this boy with the most amazing spotted cat! Like a little magic
leopard! He said he did the coloring himself, and the cat helped him!" At
least he wasn't talking about- Never mind him.
Ben was about to continue on
when a voice reverberated in the train, "We will be reaching Hogwarts in
five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to
the school separately."
Ben tugged on Rhod's arm as
he bent to scoop up his kitten once more. She didn't even have a name, as his
parents had only given her to him this morning. She looked perfectly
comfortable in his sleeve, and he at last allowed himself to be dragged away.
"C'mon, we've gotta get to the doors!" They wove their way through
the sudden crowd as the train came to a complete rest. Thus they came out near
the front of the throng of students, totally encompassed in darkness.
Suddenly, a great figure
loomed before Rhod, and he jumped back into the taller Ben. As lamplight
infused the immediate area, he realized that it was the largest man he had ever
seen. "Sorry there, tyke. All right there?" he asked of Rhod, then
shouted over the heads of everyone, "Firs' years! Firs' years with me!
Follow me, now!"
Rhod felt nothing like he
had on the train, even as he led the way down the narrow path behind the giant
man. As he heard the announcement of the first sight of Hogwarts, Rhod didn't
hear the last two words; too busy ogling the castle. What a beautiful sight!
And he would get to stay at it!
He almost splashed into the
lake, as he was too busy staring at the castle to pay attention to where he was
going. He wrenches his attention away to be followed by Ben and those two boys
from his compartment into his boat. For once, Ben wasn't jabbering. Rhod hoped
he was still breathing.
They passed under the ivy
curtain that the boats sped right through, and reached the castle. The giant
accounted for all of the first years, then knocked thrice on the huge doors.
The swung open almost before he touched them, and a tall, black-haired witch
with a stern mien met them.
"Firs' years fer you,
Professor McGonagall." McGonagall, thought Rhod.
"Yes, thank you. I
shall take them from here, Hagrid," the professor said, as Rhod stored
away Hagrid's name and she pulled the doors wide open.
The entrance hall was
nothing to scoff at, being so huge that Rhod was sure it would dwarf that of
the ancient castle overlooking his village on a promontory. The ceiling went on
forever, the illumination of torches only achieving so much.
The first years were led
into a smaller room, and Professor McGonagall explained the system of Houses to
them. Afterwards, she left them with the strong suggestion to smarten up. Rhod
adjusted his robes and cloak as best he could, wishing he looked like he had
imagined himself on the train. Beside him, Ben started scrubbing at his face
with a sleeve. "You've got chocolate on your chin," Rhod offered
helpfully.
"So, what House do you
expect to be in?" wondered Ben, his voice muffled by his sleeve.
"Oh, I don't know… They
all have their points…" Rhod muttered noncommittally, trying to hide his
ignorance. He didn't want to admit that he only knew the barest bit of information
about the Houses, and that only because he had had to look up Albus Dumbledore
for an essay.
"Oh, I think I'd want
Gryffindor, you know? But Slytherin sounds like it's really good, too. It won
the House Cup for six years in a row! And my dad's said that he never saw a
Hufflepuff that didn't get somewhere in life…" Rhod rather lost interest
in Ben's monologue and looked around the small room in a distracted fashion.
Then he heard a muffled "Hist!" Rhod looked around for the source of the whisper,
and finally his eye came to rest on a strange little man floating in the
entrance to the chamber; he caught Rhod's eye and beckoned him forward. When
Rhod came close enough, the man whispered to him through a wide mouth, "Got
something for you… Just follow me."
What was Rhod to do but
follow? He didn't know why he'd been singled out; maybe he'd just dropped
something on the way and this little man was taking him back to it. He was
about to ask about it when his nose was yanked, hard enough that a few tears
sprang to his eyes, and all he could hear was, "Got your conk! Hee hee hee!
Better run, ickle firstie. Don't want to be late, do we?"
"Peeves!" The shout rang
down the hall, and the source of the voice appeared soon after, in the form of
an older student sporting a prefect badge. With admonishments, which clearly
failed in their purpose of abashing Peeves but worked well enough driving him
away, the prefect turned to Rhod. "Professor McGonagall said she didn't have
the right number of students – good thing that little dark kid said he didn't
see you. But… guess no one told you about Peeves, huh? Why don't they ever tell
you anything useful on the train? Last year the only thing anyone could talk
about was Harry Potter…"
"Yeah, this year too," Rhod
said sullenly as he was guided back the way he had come by this student. He was
feeling embarrassed and not at all like the impressive figure he had imagined
on the train.
The older boy gave him a
reassuring grin and said, "Don't worry. Peeves makes himself a problem for
everyone. Though you're probably going to be remembered as the newest student
ever to be pranked upon by him. There's the chamber; just go straight through,
as you're late and all-" he broke off his comment to shout after Rhod, who'd
taken off at a sprint upon learning he was late, but shouted after him a bit
huffily, "I'm Geoffrey Knolls, since you asked! Can't wait to see you in
Ravenclaw."
Rhod stumbled into the Great
Hall, out of breath and robes in disarray. In the same second that it took to register
that there was a long line of first years and Ben was motioning frantically to
a space for Rhod to fill, he also was mortified by ripples of laughter
accompanying his entrance. Trying not to attract any more laughter than he
already had, he skulked to the place Ben had so thoughtfully saved for him.
"We're all glad that
you could join us, Mr. Zheldar," that, and a level gaze directed in Rhod's
direction, was his only rebuke. Then the professor returned her focus to the
hall in general, "Now, everyone, when I call your name, you will put on the hat
and sit on the stool to be sorted," announced Professor McGonagall. Then
she started, "Brookforth, Naomi!" The girl scuttled forward and propped
the hat onto her head.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the
hat shouted without hesitation.
"Creevy, Colin!"
The boy who had helped Ben
to drive Rhod away with the talk of Harry Potter rushed to the stool and dove
for the hat. In a panicked way, he shoved the hat over his head. After about
ten seconds' deliberation, the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"
The two boys Rhod hadn't
seen apart yet from the train ride over ended up being twins, "Czar", and
"Czar." They turned out to be rather interesting, as anyone would
assume they'd go together. Instead, the dark-headed boy, Timothy, was announced
a Ravenclaw, and the other, Svetlie, a Slytherin.
Goldsmith, Benjamin!"
Ben choked beside Rhod, and
scuttled out to place the hat over his head, obscuring his eyes. The hat sat
there for a moment before shouting, "RAVENCLAW!"
Ben slipped from the seat,
looking pleased with himself, and joined his House table, welcomed by loud
clapping and handshakes.
"Heckel, Marvin", "Hoggarts",
"Illios, Jane", "Kipp", and so it went on. Rhod never tired of clapping
for the choices though his hands began to buzz.
"Zazzazi, Anansi,"
a short black boy, became a Gryffindor who joined Colin in his little group of
Harry worshippers.
"Zheldar, Rhodri!"
He was the last person up
there. Slowly, he lowered the hat over his chestnut head and situated himself
on the stool. It was very black… Was he supposed to be seeing something?
"Harry Potter seems to
be on a lot of minds this time around…" a small voice commented just by
his right ear, "Let's see, though. Good mind, enough for anything you want
to put it to, anyways. Loyalty to your friends, I see. He doesn't deserve you.
Lots of vim and vigor, and, my, here's Harry again. Why such an obsession to
surpass him?"
How?
Was all Rhod could think.
"No," it
continued, "You and he have different paths. But there's a choice, you know.
In Gryffindor you could be great with ease, but never as great as you'd like…
In Slytherin, though, it will be difficult, and in more ways than you might
think, but in the end, you will be great!" There was a pause. "Eh, well then, I
guess its SLYTHERIN!"
