Gryffindor Scum, Slytherin Slime by Rei-chan
Before we begin...
This is the story of Anthony and Lauren Sinclair in their first year at Hogwarts. As time goes on they start to take a very different outlook on life. Strange things start happening to them, which changes their lives forever. Will they solve the mysteries appearing now very frequently? Will Anthony ever do well in Potions? Will Lauren have one Charms lesson without storming out? Why did Anthony end up in Gryffindor, and Lauren in Slytherin? Why does Snape treat Lauren better than others? Why do I keep as so many rhetorical questions? If you like Snape, read this!
Legal stuff: Nearly everything in this story is copyright of JK Rowling and WB, but everythng else that isn't is my own creation - don't steal it! Also, a special thanks to the real Anthony and my other best friend Adam- Lucas for being such wonderful inspiration!
Chapter Three: "Gryffindors you shall be." Anthony and Lauren can't believe they're finally at Hogwarts. Their spirits are high and nothing can bring them down. Until they meet with fate…
The trip to the castle was slow and chilling, as icy cold water lapped up the sides of the magically moving boats and frozen winds beat their faces.
"Alrigh'?" Hagrid bellowed, so he could be heard over the rushing winds and crashing water.
"Yeah, I'm having the time of my life!" Lauren snapped sarcastically. In the boat with Lauren were Anthony, Vince and Andrew. Lauren now understood why Hagrid had his own boat. It was because he took all the space up!
"This is so exciting!" Andrew shouted with so much enthusiasm Lauren and Anthony felt like leaning overboard and throwing up. Lauren leaned as close to Anthony and Vincent as she could without upsetting the balance of the boat.
"I know there could be a better time to do this, but we don't have much choice, do we? Anthony this is Vincent Divos, Vince this Anthony SINCLAIR!" She had to yell at the top of her lungs to make her last words heard, because a vicious wind picked up and drowned out any existing sound.
Time passed without them noticing. Dusk was falling and the sun was beginning to set behind the castle. The light gave it what appeared to be a glowing outline and it appeared more enchanting than ever. The sun stained the sky with its orange and purple streaks. The wind had now calmed to a gentle howl and the snow eased off to a few gentle flakes falling every now and then. Lauren glanced at the reflection of Hogwarts in the rippling waters and smiled to herself. She privately imagined a romantic day, sitting on the edge of the lake, dipping her toes in to the refreshingly cool water, the sun beaming down her...
Her daydream was shattered by Anthony's grinning face. He was staring at her in disbelief, his face screwed up with the effort of stopping himself from laughing.
"Earth to planet Lauren!" he exploded into a fit of giggles, "having a nice daydream?" Lauren punched him gently, annoyed at herself that she let her feelings show so obviously like that.
"Shut it, twit. I was just thinking 'bout something." Anthony's smile grew even more enormous as his mind devised new and more horrible insults.
"Hey, that's twice you've 'zoned out' in one day. Keep doing it and you'll be declared insane. Ooops, I forgot. You already are!" Lauren had her own comeback ready, but before she got a chance to deploy it, Vincent had started on Anthony.
"You leave her alone!" he growled, bearing his fists and launching himself towards Anthony.
"Yer stupid idiot!" Hagrid bellowed, glaring at Vincent, "yer'll capsize th' boat!"
The boat stayed right side up, however it did jerk dangerously towards the left and threw Vincent over board. Droplets of water sprayed the other passengers of the boat as he plunged in to the icy-cold lake.
"Help!" he gurgled, waving his arms madly like a bedraggled bird. This was a bad idea straight away. If he had stopped flapping about he wouldn't have sunk so quickly. Hagrid leaned over the side of his own boat and held out one of his gigantic arms. Grabbing Vincent around the waist, he yanked him out of the lake, showering even more water into the boats. Placing Vincent back in the boat, he muttered something along the lines of, "got no brains, tha' boy, no brains at all." No one dared to say another word. They didn't like the idea of enraging the giant of a man if they could help it.
The boats soon entered a rocky cavern that overlooked the lake and they pulled up to a dingy little dock. The passengers were eager to get a closer look at Hogwarts as they leapt out of the boats
"Everyone here?" Hagrid checked that that number of students roughly matched the count he had taken at the station. Slowly the great oaken doors creaked open as Hagrid gave them a mighty push. As he walked inside the line of children stuck behind him like a shadow. Upon entering the grand entrance hall, they all felt pretty nervous. Few of them had ever been anywhere quite as big as Hogwarts, and had a nagging feeling that getting lost would be very easy. Waiting at the foot of a marble staircase was a teacher whose face was stricter than the faces of all their parents put together.
"Oh hello, Hagrid." She spoke in a very noticeable Scottish accent. Hagrid nodded and she turned to the students. "And these must be the new first- years. Welcome to Hogwarts. I am deputy Headmistress, Professor McGonagall. Before you join the rest of the school for the start of year feast, you must be sorted in to your House." There were murmurs of understanding from all around. "Your House's reputation should be very important to you. You must work hard to gain House Points," she increased the sternness of her voice, "and behave yourself so that you don't lose any. The House with the most points at the end of the term will win the House Cup. The four Houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. The Sorting Hat will be placed on your head and it will decide which House suits you best." She gestured them towards the great hall where the rest of the school was sat, anxious to see which new students would join their House. She ignored the shouts of "Haggis!" from the cheeky student at the back of the crowd, but shot a sharp glance at him to show that she did hear.
The great hall had five long tables, one for each House and the other for the staff. The light was provided by hundreds of candles, rather eerily, floating above the tables and the ceiling was bewitched to look like the sky outside. Looking upwards fooled you in to thinking you were still outside. Now night had fallen completely, the ceiling was a cloak of black velvet blanketing shining stars. The drone of voices made by the pupils already sat around the hall was silenced by McGonagall placing the hat on a three-legged stool in the centre of the hall. A few voices started murmuring again, saying, "I wonder what its song will be like this year?" However the noise once again died down as the hat opened its mouth-like tear.
"Passed down from many generations
Is a tale from times of yore,
A tale of the Hogwarts founders
Great mages were these wizards four.
These talented people formed the Houses
And you'll find I'm never wrong,
When I look inside your head
I'll see where you belong.
You may well be a Ravenclaw
An intelligent, reliable friend,
Or maybe you're more Hufflepuff,
Loyal to the end.
You may be a young Gryffindor
Bravery is what they do best,
Or might you be a Slytherin?
Who rise above the rest.
So place me on your little head
So I see what you're thinking too,
And from your personality
I'll find the House that best suits you!"
There was some short, polite applause afterwards, and Professor McGonagall commented on how the song had improved since the previous year. As the last remaining sounds of clapping died away she spoke.
"When I call your name out, please step up the stool and place the Sorting Hat on your head. When it has finished deciding what House to put you in, return it to the stool and go and sit down. She carefully unravelled a scroll and rattled off the names. Adrian, James found himself in Ravenclaw and Austin, Tara ended up as a Hufflepuff. A few more names passed and Lauren was rather disappointed when Divos, Vincent turned out to be a Slytherin. Vincent came across to her as quite a nice person, but then again, things weren't always what they seem. Super-happy Finnigan, Andrew was a Gryffindor, although it was not surprising. His older brother Seamus was also one.
The inhabitants of the hall eyed the students carefully as they took their turn to be sorted. A loud cheer by their corresponding House would welcome each new first-year. The stream of pupils pacing up to the centre of the hall and then back again dragged along very slowly. There was a new Hufflepuff made, then another Ravenclaw. Lauren was lost in her thoughts until an unusual name caught her attention.
"Malfoy, Belladonna." Lauren could hardly believe that anyone would name their daughter something as horrible as that. But after seeing her she had second thoughts. Maybe it was a good choice after all, as Belladonna looked as vile as her name. Although she had long white-blonde hair, her expression was so revolting it could sour milk. She lifted the hat above her head, and as it hovered there it shrieked "Slytherin" before it even touched a single hair. She sauntered over to the Slytherin table with a triumphant smile and was clapped particularly hard on the back by an older boy. He owned the same white-blonde hair and his was saturated in a bucket load of gel. Now Lauren definitely knew she didn't want to be in Slytherin.
After what seemed an eternity, Lauren though that it must be time for Sinclair, Anthony to be sorted, however, there was one more person first. "Shizumi, Rei." A girl with a lot of ginger hair moved towards the Sorting Hat, looking very irritated. She slumped onto the stool and placed the hat on her head, and was quickly sorted into Gryffindor. As Rei took her seat, Lauren listened to Professor McGonagall say her brother's name. Lauren mouthed a "good luck" to him as he confidently strutted up to the stool bearing the hat. He slipped the Sorting Hat on his head and sat on the stool, swinging his legs. The hat took a little while before it said anything. It appeared to be deciding where to put Lauren's loud, rude mischievous brother. However, the Sorting Hat had other views of Anthony, as it must have picked up in his more commendable qualities. He did have tremendous courage. He did have a passion for justice in the world. He did care about other people, even when on the surface it appeared he didn't. Lauren swallowed hard. Did she have what it takes to get in to a house like Gryffindor?
Anthony obviously possessed the makings of a Gryffindor, as the Sorting Hat eventually erupted a hearty "GRYFFINDOR!" Anthony marched proudly up to the Gryffindor table and happily received the handshakes and cheers from his fellow housemates.
"I knew it all along!" he sneered, although he wore a faint look of relief on his face. Lauren knew exactly what was coming next. Her stomach tied itself in a knot as Professor McGonagall stated, "Sinclair, Lauren." She edged uncomfortably towards the stool with her legs feeling like jelly. What would that hat see in her head? I won't know unless I try it on, she thought to herself. She pulled it over her hair and listened attentively, anxious to find out the hat's decision. She felt it shift slightly on top of her head. Slowly it began to speak but in such a low tone Lauren had to concentrate hard to catch its words.
'"Hmm, let's see..." It rubbed what would be its lips together in thought. "Now, you've got plenty of courage like your brother, but you're just not Gryffindor material." Lauren's heart sank into her stomach, and was temporarily grateful that the brim of the hat covered her face so no one could see her horrified expression. The hat continued. "I suppose you are quite intelligent, but you're no Ravenclaw either." She felt a new sense of foreboding build up inside as it dawned on her what the hat was uncovering from her memories. Images formed in her head of Mr. Ollivander giving her the suspicious eye, and of the weepy-faced old witch. Lauren gasped silently as she recalled what the witch had said to her. The hat interpreted Lauren's worried thoughts. "Evil?" It chuckled to itself, as if enjoying a private joke. It said no more on that matter and carried on with her personality review. "Ambitious young one aren't you?" it whispered smoothly, "oooh but with such a temper. You let your nasty side get the better of you too often. A Dark Wizard in the making, perhaps." It gave one last disturbing chuckle before delivering the heart-breaking decision to the impatiently waiting onlookers. "SLYTHERIN!"
Lauren tore the hat of her head and thrust it back on the stool, her eyes burning fiercely. She could have shredded the Sorting Hat into hundreds of little pieces and burned them right there and then. She suddenly realised that this was just the kind of attitude that the hat was referring to. Lauren watched her robe sadly as the collar and cuffs turned a sickening green, and then proceeded to the Slytherin table in the same manner as prisoners advancing to their execution. Was she really the Dark Wizard type? Her rage had quickly subsided and she now felt depressed. All she wanted to do was crawl into a corner and die quietly.
"Hey, young Slytherin, why the long face?" inquired the blonde boy, shaking her hand roughly. "You're not disappointed about being in Slytherin, are you? I don't believe it, it's by far the best house! The most talented and unique people are always in Slytherin. It's a shame that it's so misunderstood. But mark my words, you will enjoy being in Slytherin." Shaking her hand once more he added, "by the way, I'm Draco Malfoy. I know you're Lauren Sinclair 'cos of the sorting." He turned and pointed towards the revolting blonde girl she saw earlier. She was making her move on Vincent but Vincent didn't look at all impressed. "You might've seen my sister being sorted as well." Draco continued. "She's Belladonna Malfoy, or just Donna for short. You're both first years, you might get on well." Lauren didn't think there was a slight chance of that. However if she was a boy and as good looking as Draco, she might have reconsidered!
"I heard you talking about houses," Donna said, shuffling over to Lauren and Draco. "You wanna know what I think? I reckon that "Gryffindors are reckless risk-takers with no regards for rules, Ravenclaws are nerds and they swot up to become teacher's pets. As for Hufflepuffs, well it's all in the name. So you see, Slytherins are definitely the most talented, ambitious, determined wizards there are."
"Well said, Donna," Draco replied as the two Malfoys took their seats. Lauren tuned out as the new Prefects were announced. She didn't know any seventh-years, so she quite frankly didn't care. Afterwards, she tried to make her way over to Vincent but was stopped in her tracks by a teacher standing up and raising his hand for silence. She caught Anthony's attention and smiled at him. They both recognised him to be Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts. He was an aged wizard with lengthy white hair and an even longer beard. His friendly eyes twinkled behind half- moon spectacles as he began to speak.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I'm afraid I'm going to do the announcements before the feast this time." He focused his eye on all the students before continuing. " I know how bad that is for most of you, and I sympathize wholeheartedly. I am just as hungry as you are." There was some light laughter as he paused to take a breath. "First, some good news. The new Quidditch pitch has now been finished." He allowed time for the students to cheer in gratitude. He waited for them to calm down before carrying on. "As you know, due to last term's 'little incident,' the Slytherins needed a new common room. I would like to inform you that they now have one!" The entire Slytherin table exploded into ecstatic shouts that, quite surprisingly, exceeded the volume of cheers that the Quidditch news received. "Your Prefects will guide you to the new room, however it is not all that far away from the old one. Unfortunately, as with all good news comes bad news, and right now there is a lot of it. This year, certain parts of the school are off-limits. These include the old Quidditch pitch and the corridors that house the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff common rooms. So this means that Gryffindors will be sharing the Slytherin common room and dormitories and Hufflepuff will move in with Ravenclaw. This piece of news sparked off a roar of angry voices, mainly from the Slytherin table.
Dumbledore's wand emitted a tremendous bang and the room fell silent once more. "I know that it is a little strange, but you will have to bear with us. Could I remind you that similar situations have happened in the past, many places have been restricted." He paused for a moment and sighed. "It is useless telling you to obey this new rule, as the majority of you will do exactly the opposite of what I say. So, this is what I will tell you. Please disobey this rule. Please enter all the restricted areas. Please receive the pleasure of an early grave." On the last few words of his sentence, Dumbledore changed the severity of his voice. No one laughed this time, as it was sometimes quite hard to differentiate Dumbledore joking from Dumbledore being serious. Dumbledore raised his goblet high in the air. "Here's to another successful year at Hogwarts." Everyone held up their glasses as well and the room echoed with the word "cheers!"
Lauren watched the gold plate in front of her magically fill up with food but she didn't feel like eating. She had quickly lost her appetite when the Sorting Ceremony had taken an unexpected and twisted turn. She gazed longingly at the Gryffindor table. Anthony was getting on very well with the boys they had seen on the train, it turned out that they were Gryffindors after all. He looked so delighted, laughing and smiling at the words they were whispering into his ears, not a care in the world. The whole room was filled with the sound of happy conversation. Lauren turned to look at Vincent from across the table. Even he was pleased with the results of the Sorting. It wasn't Durmstrang, but at least he could now keep an eye on the Dark Wizards developing in Slytherin. Lauren shuddered at the thought. She wasn't a Dark Wizard, was she? In her mind she pleaded for someone to pinch her and end this nightmare.
"Not hungry?" Draco asked, interrupting her trail of thoughts. Lauren was glad he didn't give her a chance to answer; talking was something she really wasn't up for right then. "I'm not surprised. I sometimes lose my appetite thinking that all this food is prepared by disgusting house-elves. Just one thought of those filthy creatures touching the mashed potato is enough to put anyone off eating." Lauren didn't know what he had against house-elves, but was beginning to get the idea that Draco was rather pompous and all-talk and not much else. He must like hearing the sound of his own voice, she thought, wishing he would go away. She was in luck, because he decided to go and bother his sister instead.
After the banquet, the plates magically cleared themselves away. All Lauren wanted to do was curl up under the covers of her bed and never come out, but she had to wait. Dumbledore had rose to his feet and signalled for quiet once more.
"Now that we have all ate and drank our fill, let us sing the school song." This was a tradition that everyone (all except Dumbledore) thought the school could do without. All the people in the hall were to sing the same words at the same time but to their favourite tune. Lauren enjoyed singing but right now she wasn't at all in the mood. Soon hundreds of voices began bellowing the words to the song and it sounded absolutely atrocious. Lauren wasn't bothered with joining in the song so she just mouthed the words to make it appear as that she was singing.
When start of year gathering had finally finished, Lauren found out that she wasn't the only person who was glad that it was over. There was an unexpected rush of students wanting to get to their dormitories. Two Gryffindor and Slytherin Prefects lead the two houses down the winding stairs to the dungeon. Lauren overheard a couple of first-years discussing the fact of the Headmaster being a complete nutcase, and also heard the ginger-haired girl complaining loudly to anyone who would listen that Professor McGonagall pronounced her name wrong.
"She said it completely wrong! She said 'Rye,' my name's pronounced 'Ray!' Some people just can't read!"
Anthony elbowed his way through the line of students to see Lauren.
"It's funny, huh? I never thought you'd be a Slytherin!" he said, sounding genuinely surprised.
"Yeah, it's bloody hilarious," she said darkly. Anthony quickly caught on that this was not a subject he should make conversation on.
"I got a good look at all of the teachers. There's a really, really short one. Seriously, you must see him. He's got to be a Dwarf or something. There's another who looks about twice as old as our grandma, and the long haired prat with a big nose we saw before." Lauren was consumed with the heavy cloud of sadness over her to be bothered with what Anthony was nattering on about and, didn't catch a word of it.
"Really? I didn't look at any of the teachers," she replied with false interest.
The Prefects showed them around the common room before sending them to bed. It had quite a spooky feel as the lighting has a slight green tint to it. There were new, squashy green armchairs that were so comfortable that Gryffindor Prefect said that they could rival the ones in their own common room. Apart from the odd table, that was the only furniture. In the middle of the east wall was a grand fireplace, decorated with the Slytherin Crest. The student's exploring of the common room was cut short because Andrew Finnigan yawned enormously, and that triggered the goody-goody Gryffindor Prefect to shoo them off to bed.
Lauren quickly changed into her pyjamas and clambered on to her four-poster bed. It was very soft, much to her liking. She lay there with her eyes open, staring at the roof of her bed and listened to the other girls in her dorm, one by one, gently drifting off to sleep. She knew that five of the girls were Donna Malfoy, (who turned out to be an extremely loud snorer) Jodie Beaumont, Emma Saunders and Natalie Hayward, the clueless trio she had met on the train and Rei Shizumi, the girl with the awkward name.
Sleep took a long time coming to Lauren, even though she was exhausted. For quite a while she lay awake listening to Donna's rattling snores, trying to get her mind off the events of the day. When she eventually nodded off, she was troubled by nightmares. She dreamt that Mr. Ollivander and the watery- eyed witch were chasing her. Lauren suddenly ran into a giant Sorting Hat that spat out hundreds of Slytherin snakes. They coiled around her neck and began squeezing tightly, to a point where she was gasping for breath.
Lauren woke up with a start in a cold sweat. She had to think for a moment to remember where she was. She then heard Donna snort in her sleep and memories rushed back to her, horrible memories.
"I want to go home," she whimpered quietly to herself, on the verge of tears. She buried her face in her pillow and began to sob. "Am I the only unhappy person in the school?"
She wasn't.
"Another year, another load of dimwits to force-feed knowledge to." The Potions Master grimaced at the thought of his beautiful dungeon being full of noisy eleven-year-olds, spilling vials on his newly polished floor, splattering frog guts and other atrocities on his recently scrubbed ceiling. He paced over to his shelves and straightened a jar of Aconite that was on the brink of falling off. "I swear, there must be a pixie somewhere whose sole purpose is to fiddle with my jars!" he muttered to himself. The Professor caught himself in the mirror as he passed it. He put on his best student-terrorising scowl and chuckled maliciously. "Severus, you are fearsome."
Professor Snape had a reputation of being the hardest, nastiest and most unfair teacher in the entire school and had his mind set on keeping it that way. He browsed over his timetable and lesson plan for the following day. He had the new first-year Slytherins and Gryffindors in the first period. He knew exactly what kind of an impression he was going to make on them.
Snape slumped onto his rather lumpy bed, his long black hair spreading in all directions. He heaved a heavy sigh. Once again he had missed out on the Defence Against The Dark Arts job because Dumbledore insisted on giving this Reeves person a chance. He had met him in Diagon Alley earlier that day. Alorm Reeves was a friendly-looking fellow with a nice personality. Snape predicted that the students would take advantage of this if he didn't change his attitude quickly.
The Professor suddenly had the nagging feeling that he had forgotten to do something. Returning his gaze to tomorrow's timetable he realised what it was. He shoved a hand under his bed and retrieved a roll of parchment. Taking a quill from his pocket, he fumbled around on the floor for a bottle of ink. "I know there's one around here somewhere, I saw it the only the other day," he growled. "It's that damned poltergeist again, I just know it! I must remember to inform the Bloody Baron about his behaviour," he said slyly. His fingers then touched a smooth, round glass object. He closed his fingers around it and hauled it onto the bed. "Found it!" he said triumphantly. He knew that it would have been much easier just to get up and look for it, but it was really late and he couldn't be bothered.
Snape unrolled the parchment and chewed at the feathery end of his quill. He knew that it was a bad habit, but he just couldn't seem to shake it off. After applying a little ink to it, he began to write in his usual scruffy scrawl.
"Dear Laura."
Nice ending to the chapter, don't you think? You know who Laura is, right? Have you been paying attention? Just to let you know, this is a work in progress, so I might tweak chapters a little if I see fit. Also, I'll try and have chapters 4 & 5 up asap.
~Rei
Before we begin...
This is the story of Anthony and Lauren Sinclair in their first year at Hogwarts. As time goes on they start to take a very different outlook on life. Strange things start happening to them, which changes their lives forever. Will they solve the mysteries appearing now very frequently? Will Anthony ever do well in Potions? Will Lauren have one Charms lesson without storming out? Why did Anthony end up in Gryffindor, and Lauren in Slytherin? Why does Snape treat Lauren better than others? Why do I keep as so many rhetorical questions? If you like Snape, read this!
Legal stuff: Nearly everything in this story is copyright of JK Rowling and WB, but everythng else that isn't is my own creation - don't steal it! Also, a special thanks to the real Anthony and my other best friend Adam- Lucas for being such wonderful inspiration!
Chapter Three: "Gryffindors you shall be." Anthony and Lauren can't believe they're finally at Hogwarts. Their spirits are high and nothing can bring them down. Until they meet with fate…
The trip to the castle was slow and chilling, as icy cold water lapped up the sides of the magically moving boats and frozen winds beat their faces.
"Alrigh'?" Hagrid bellowed, so he could be heard over the rushing winds and crashing water.
"Yeah, I'm having the time of my life!" Lauren snapped sarcastically. In the boat with Lauren were Anthony, Vince and Andrew. Lauren now understood why Hagrid had his own boat. It was because he took all the space up!
"This is so exciting!" Andrew shouted with so much enthusiasm Lauren and Anthony felt like leaning overboard and throwing up. Lauren leaned as close to Anthony and Vincent as she could without upsetting the balance of the boat.
"I know there could be a better time to do this, but we don't have much choice, do we? Anthony this is Vincent Divos, Vince this Anthony SINCLAIR!" She had to yell at the top of her lungs to make her last words heard, because a vicious wind picked up and drowned out any existing sound.
Time passed without them noticing. Dusk was falling and the sun was beginning to set behind the castle. The light gave it what appeared to be a glowing outline and it appeared more enchanting than ever. The sun stained the sky with its orange and purple streaks. The wind had now calmed to a gentle howl and the snow eased off to a few gentle flakes falling every now and then. Lauren glanced at the reflection of Hogwarts in the rippling waters and smiled to herself. She privately imagined a romantic day, sitting on the edge of the lake, dipping her toes in to the refreshingly cool water, the sun beaming down her...
Her daydream was shattered by Anthony's grinning face. He was staring at her in disbelief, his face screwed up with the effort of stopping himself from laughing.
"Earth to planet Lauren!" he exploded into a fit of giggles, "having a nice daydream?" Lauren punched him gently, annoyed at herself that she let her feelings show so obviously like that.
"Shut it, twit. I was just thinking 'bout something." Anthony's smile grew even more enormous as his mind devised new and more horrible insults.
"Hey, that's twice you've 'zoned out' in one day. Keep doing it and you'll be declared insane. Ooops, I forgot. You already are!" Lauren had her own comeback ready, but before she got a chance to deploy it, Vincent had started on Anthony.
"You leave her alone!" he growled, bearing his fists and launching himself towards Anthony.
"Yer stupid idiot!" Hagrid bellowed, glaring at Vincent, "yer'll capsize th' boat!"
The boat stayed right side up, however it did jerk dangerously towards the left and threw Vincent over board. Droplets of water sprayed the other passengers of the boat as he plunged in to the icy-cold lake.
"Help!" he gurgled, waving his arms madly like a bedraggled bird. This was a bad idea straight away. If he had stopped flapping about he wouldn't have sunk so quickly. Hagrid leaned over the side of his own boat and held out one of his gigantic arms. Grabbing Vincent around the waist, he yanked him out of the lake, showering even more water into the boats. Placing Vincent back in the boat, he muttered something along the lines of, "got no brains, tha' boy, no brains at all." No one dared to say another word. They didn't like the idea of enraging the giant of a man if they could help it.
The boats soon entered a rocky cavern that overlooked the lake and they pulled up to a dingy little dock. The passengers were eager to get a closer look at Hogwarts as they leapt out of the boats
"Everyone here?" Hagrid checked that that number of students roughly matched the count he had taken at the station. Slowly the great oaken doors creaked open as Hagrid gave them a mighty push. As he walked inside the line of children stuck behind him like a shadow. Upon entering the grand entrance hall, they all felt pretty nervous. Few of them had ever been anywhere quite as big as Hogwarts, and had a nagging feeling that getting lost would be very easy. Waiting at the foot of a marble staircase was a teacher whose face was stricter than the faces of all their parents put together.
"Oh hello, Hagrid." She spoke in a very noticeable Scottish accent. Hagrid nodded and she turned to the students. "And these must be the new first- years. Welcome to Hogwarts. I am deputy Headmistress, Professor McGonagall. Before you join the rest of the school for the start of year feast, you must be sorted in to your House." There were murmurs of understanding from all around. "Your House's reputation should be very important to you. You must work hard to gain House Points," she increased the sternness of her voice, "and behave yourself so that you don't lose any. The House with the most points at the end of the term will win the House Cup. The four Houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. The Sorting Hat will be placed on your head and it will decide which House suits you best." She gestured them towards the great hall where the rest of the school was sat, anxious to see which new students would join their House. She ignored the shouts of "Haggis!" from the cheeky student at the back of the crowd, but shot a sharp glance at him to show that she did hear.
The great hall had five long tables, one for each House and the other for the staff. The light was provided by hundreds of candles, rather eerily, floating above the tables and the ceiling was bewitched to look like the sky outside. Looking upwards fooled you in to thinking you were still outside. Now night had fallen completely, the ceiling was a cloak of black velvet blanketing shining stars. The drone of voices made by the pupils already sat around the hall was silenced by McGonagall placing the hat on a three-legged stool in the centre of the hall. A few voices started murmuring again, saying, "I wonder what its song will be like this year?" However the noise once again died down as the hat opened its mouth-like tear.
"Passed down from many generations
Is a tale from times of yore,
A tale of the Hogwarts founders
Great mages were these wizards four.
These talented people formed the Houses
And you'll find I'm never wrong,
When I look inside your head
I'll see where you belong.
You may well be a Ravenclaw
An intelligent, reliable friend,
Or maybe you're more Hufflepuff,
Loyal to the end.
You may be a young Gryffindor
Bravery is what they do best,
Or might you be a Slytherin?
Who rise above the rest.
So place me on your little head
So I see what you're thinking too,
And from your personality
I'll find the House that best suits you!"
There was some short, polite applause afterwards, and Professor McGonagall commented on how the song had improved since the previous year. As the last remaining sounds of clapping died away she spoke.
"When I call your name out, please step up the stool and place the Sorting Hat on your head. When it has finished deciding what House to put you in, return it to the stool and go and sit down. She carefully unravelled a scroll and rattled off the names. Adrian, James found himself in Ravenclaw and Austin, Tara ended up as a Hufflepuff. A few more names passed and Lauren was rather disappointed when Divos, Vincent turned out to be a Slytherin. Vincent came across to her as quite a nice person, but then again, things weren't always what they seem. Super-happy Finnigan, Andrew was a Gryffindor, although it was not surprising. His older brother Seamus was also one.
The inhabitants of the hall eyed the students carefully as they took their turn to be sorted. A loud cheer by their corresponding House would welcome each new first-year. The stream of pupils pacing up to the centre of the hall and then back again dragged along very slowly. There was a new Hufflepuff made, then another Ravenclaw. Lauren was lost in her thoughts until an unusual name caught her attention.
"Malfoy, Belladonna." Lauren could hardly believe that anyone would name their daughter something as horrible as that. But after seeing her she had second thoughts. Maybe it was a good choice after all, as Belladonna looked as vile as her name. Although she had long white-blonde hair, her expression was so revolting it could sour milk. She lifted the hat above her head, and as it hovered there it shrieked "Slytherin" before it even touched a single hair. She sauntered over to the Slytherin table with a triumphant smile and was clapped particularly hard on the back by an older boy. He owned the same white-blonde hair and his was saturated in a bucket load of gel. Now Lauren definitely knew she didn't want to be in Slytherin.
After what seemed an eternity, Lauren though that it must be time for Sinclair, Anthony to be sorted, however, there was one more person first. "Shizumi, Rei." A girl with a lot of ginger hair moved towards the Sorting Hat, looking very irritated. She slumped onto the stool and placed the hat on her head, and was quickly sorted into Gryffindor. As Rei took her seat, Lauren listened to Professor McGonagall say her brother's name. Lauren mouthed a "good luck" to him as he confidently strutted up to the stool bearing the hat. He slipped the Sorting Hat on his head and sat on the stool, swinging his legs. The hat took a little while before it said anything. It appeared to be deciding where to put Lauren's loud, rude mischievous brother. However, the Sorting Hat had other views of Anthony, as it must have picked up in his more commendable qualities. He did have tremendous courage. He did have a passion for justice in the world. He did care about other people, even when on the surface it appeared he didn't. Lauren swallowed hard. Did she have what it takes to get in to a house like Gryffindor?
Anthony obviously possessed the makings of a Gryffindor, as the Sorting Hat eventually erupted a hearty "GRYFFINDOR!" Anthony marched proudly up to the Gryffindor table and happily received the handshakes and cheers from his fellow housemates.
"I knew it all along!" he sneered, although he wore a faint look of relief on his face. Lauren knew exactly what was coming next. Her stomach tied itself in a knot as Professor McGonagall stated, "Sinclair, Lauren." She edged uncomfortably towards the stool with her legs feeling like jelly. What would that hat see in her head? I won't know unless I try it on, she thought to herself. She pulled it over her hair and listened attentively, anxious to find out the hat's decision. She felt it shift slightly on top of her head. Slowly it began to speak but in such a low tone Lauren had to concentrate hard to catch its words.
'"Hmm, let's see..." It rubbed what would be its lips together in thought. "Now, you've got plenty of courage like your brother, but you're just not Gryffindor material." Lauren's heart sank into her stomach, and was temporarily grateful that the brim of the hat covered her face so no one could see her horrified expression. The hat continued. "I suppose you are quite intelligent, but you're no Ravenclaw either." She felt a new sense of foreboding build up inside as it dawned on her what the hat was uncovering from her memories. Images formed in her head of Mr. Ollivander giving her the suspicious eye, and of the weepy-faced old witch. Lauren gasped silently as she recalled what the witch had said to her. The hat interpreted Lauren's worried thoughts. "Evil?" It chuckled to itself, as if enjoying a private joke. It said no more on that matter and carried on with her personality review. "Ambitious young one aren't you?" it whispered smoothly, "oooh but with such a temper. You let your nasty side get the better of you too often. A Dark Wizard in the making, perhaps." It gave one last disturbing chuckle before delivering the heart-breaking decision to the impatiently waiting onlookers. "SLYTHERIN!"
Lauren tore the hat of her head and thrust it back on the stool, her eyes burning fiercely. She could have shredded the Sorting Hat into hundreds of little pieces and burned them right there and then. She suddenly realised that this was just the kind of attitude that the hat was referring to. Lauren watched her robe sadly as the collar and cuffs turned a sickening green, and then proceeded to the Slytherin table in the same manner as prisoners advancing to their execution. Was she really the Dark Wizard type? Her rage had quickly subsided and she now felt depressed. All she wanted to do was crawl into a corner and die quietly.
"Hey, young Slytherin, why the long face?" inquired the blonde boy, shaking her hand roughly. "You're not disappointed about being in Slytherin, are you? I don't believe it, it's by far the best house! The most talented and unique people are always in Slytherin. It's a shame that it's so misunderstood. But mark my words, you will enjoy being in Slytherin." Shaking her hand once more he added, "by the way, I'm Draco Malfoy. I know you're Lauren Sinclair 'cos of the sorting." He turned and pointed towards the revolting blonde girl she saw earlier. She was making her move on Vincent but Vincent didn't look at all impressed. "You might've seen my sister being sorted as well." Draco continued. "She's Belladonna Malfoy, or just Donna for short. You're both first years, you might get on well." Lauren didn't think there was a slight chance of that. However if she was a boy and as good looking as Draco, she might have reconsidered!
"I heard you talking about houses," Donna said, shuffling over to Lauren and Draco. "You wanna know what I think? I reckon that "Gryffindors are reckless risk-takers with no regards for rules, Ravenclaws are nerds and they swot up to become teacher's pets. As for Hufflepuffs, well it's all in the name. So you see, Slytherins are definitely the most talented, ambitious, determined wizards there are."
"Well said, Donna," Draco replied as the two Malfoys took their seats. Lauren tuned out as the new Prefects were announced. She didn't know any seventh-years, so she quite frankly didn't care. Afterwards, she tried to make her way over to Vincent but was stopped in her tracks by a teacher standing up and raising his hand for silence. She caught Anthony's attention and smiled at him. They both recognised him to be Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts. He was an aged wizard with lengthy white hair and an even longer beard. His friendly eyes twinkled behind half- moon spectacles as he began to speak.
"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I'm afraid I'm going to do the announcements before the feast this time." He focused his eye on all the students before continuing. " I know how bad that is for most of you, and I sympathize wholeheartedly. I am just as hungry as you are." There was some light laughter as he paused to take a breath. "First, some good news. The new Quidditch pitch has now been finished." He allowed time for the students to cheer in gratitude. He waited for them to calm down before carrying on. "As you know, due to last term's 'little incident,' the Slytherins needed a new common room. I would like to inform you that they now have one!" The entire Slytherin table exploded into ecstatic shouts that, quite surprisingly, exceeded the volume of cheers that the Quidditch news received. "Your Prefects will guide you to the new room, however it is not all that far away from the old one. Unfortunately, as with all good news comes bad news, and right now there is a lot of it. This year, certain parts of the school are off-limits. These include the old Quidditch pitch and the corridors that house the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff common rooms. So this means that Gryffindors will be sharing the Slytherin common room and dormitories and Hufflepuff will move in with Ravenclaw. This piece of news sparked off a roar of angry voices, mainly from the Slytherin table.
Dumbledore's wand emitted a tremendous bang and the room fell silent once more. "I know that it is a little strange, but you will have to bear with us. Could I remind you that similar situations have happened in the past, many places have been restricted." He paused for a moment and sighed. "It is useless telling you to obey this new rule, as the majority of you will do exactly the opposite of what I say. So, this is what I will tell you. Please disobey this rule. Please enter all the restricted areas. Please receive the pleasure of an early grave." On the last few words of his sentence, Dumbledore changed the severity of his voice. No one laughed this time, as it was sometimes quite hard to differentiate Dumbledore joking from Dumbledore being serious. Dumbledore raised his goblet high in the air. "Here's to another successful year at Hogwarts." Everyone held up their glasses as well and the room echoed with the word "cheers!"
Lauren watched the gold plate in front of her magically fill up with food but she didn't feel like eating. She had quickly lost her appetite when the Sorting Ceremony had taken an unexpected and twisted turn. She gazed longingly at the Gryffindor table. Anthony was getting on very well with the boys they had seen on the train, it turned out that they were Gryffindors after all. He looked so delighted, laughing and smiling at the words they were whispering into his ears, not a care in the world. The whole room was filled with the sound of happy conversation. Lauren turned to look at Vincent from across the table. Even he was pleased with the results of the Sorting. It wasn't Durmstrang, but at least he could now keep an eye on the Dark Wizards developing in Slytherin. Lauren shuddered at the thought. She wasn't a Dark Wizard, was she? In her mind she pleaded for someone to pinch her and end this nightmare.
"Not hungry?" Draco asked, interrupting her trail of thoughts. Lauren was glad he didn't give her a chance to answer; talking was something she really wasn't up for right then. "I'm not surprised. I sometimes lose my appetite thinking that all this food is prepared by disgusting house-elves. Just one thought of those filthy creatures touching the mashed potato is enough to put anyone off eating." Lauren didn't know what he had against house-elves, but was beginning to get the idea that Draco was rather pompous and all-talk and not much else. He must like hearing the sound of his own voice, she thought, wishing he would go away. She was in luck, because he decided to go and bother his sister instead.
After the banquet, the plates magically cleared themselves away. All Lauren wanted to do was curl up under the covers of her bed and never come out, but she had to wait. Dumbledore had rose to his feet and signalled for quiet once more.
"Now that we have all ate and drank our fill, let us sing the school song." This was a tradition that everyone (all except Dumbledore) thought the school could do without. All the people in the hall were to sing the same words at the same time but to their favourite tune. Lauren enjoyed singing but right now she wasn't at all in the mood. Soon hundreds of voices began bellowing the words to the song and it sounded absolutely atrocious. Lauren wasn't bothered with joining in the song so she just mouthed the words to make it appear as that she was singing.
When start of year gathering had finally finished, Lauren found out that she wasn't the only person who was glad that it was over. There was an unexpected rush of students wanting to get to their dormitories. Two Gryffindor and Slytherin Prefects lead the two houses down the winding stairs to the dungeon. Lauren overheard a couple of first-years discussing the fact of the Headmaster being a complete nutcase, and also heard the ginger-haired girl complaining loudly to anyone who would listen that Professor McGonagall pronounced her name wrong.
"She said it completely wrong! She said 'Rye,' my name's pronounced 'Ray!' Some people just can't read!"
Anthony elbowed his way through the line of students to see Lauren.
"It's funny, huh? I never thought you'd be a Slytherin!" he said, sounding genuinely surprised.
"Yeah, it's bloody hilarious," she said darkly. Anthony quickly caught on that this was not a subject he should make conversation on.
"I got a good look at all of the teachers. There's a really, really short one. Seriously, you must see him. He's got to be a Dwarf or something. There's another who looks about twice as old as our grandma, and the long haired prat with a big nose we saw before." Lauren was consumed with the heavy cloud of sadness over her to be bothered with what Anthony was nattering on about and, didn't catch a word of it.
"Really? I didn't look at any of the teachers," she replied with false interest.
The Prefects showed them around the common room before sending them to bed. It had quite a spooky feel as the lighting has a slight green tint to it. There were new, squashy green armchairs that were so comfortable that Gryffindor Prefect said that they could rival the ones in their own common room. Apart from the odd table, that was the only furniture. In the middle of the east wall was a grand fireplace, decorated with the Slytherin Crest. The student's exploring of the common room was cut short because Andrew Finnigan yawned enormously, and that triggered the goody-goody Gryffindor Prefect to shoo them off to bed.
Lauren quickly changed into her pyjamas and clambered on to her four-poster bed. It was very soft, much to her liking. She lay there with her eyes open, staring at the roof of her bed and listened to the other girls in her dorm, one by one, gently drifting off to sleep. She knew that five of the girls were Donna Malfoy, (who turned out to be an extremely loud snorer) Jodie Beaumont, Emma Saunders and Natalie Hayward, the clueless trio she had met on the train and Rei Shizumi, the girl with the awkward name.
Sleep took a long time coming to Lauren, even though she was exhausted. For quite a while she lay awake listening to Donna's rattling snores, trying to get her mind off the events of the day. When she eventually nodded off, she was troubled by nightmares. She dreamt that Mr. Ollivander and the watery- eyed witch were chasing her. Lauren suddenly ran into a giant Sorting Hat that spat out hundreds of Slytherin snakes. They coiled around her neck and began squeezing tightly, to a point where she was gasping for breath.
Lauren woke up with a start in a cold sweat. She had to think for a moment to remember where she was. She then heard Donna snort in her sleep and memories rushed back to her, horrible memories.
"I want to go home," she whimpered quietly to herself, on the verge of tears. She buried her face in her pillow and began to sob. "Am I the only unhappy person in the school?"
She wasn't.
"Another year, another load of dimwits to force-feed knowledge to." The Potions Master grimaced at the thought of his beautiful dungeon being full of noisy eleven-year-olds, spilling vials on his newly polished floor, splattering frog guts and other atrocities on his recently scrubbed ceiling. He paced over to his shelves and straightened a jar of Aconite that was on the brink of falling off. "I swear, there must be a pixie somewhere whose sole purpose is to fiddle with my jars!" he muttered to himself. The Professor caught himself in the mirror as he passed it. He put on his best student-terrorising scowl and chuckled maliciously. "Severus, you are fearsome."
Professor Snape had a reputation of being the hardest, nastiest and most unfair teacher in the entire school and had his mind set on keeping it that way. He browsed over his timetable and lesson plan for the following day. He had the new first-year Slytherins and Gryffindors in the first period. He knew exactly what kind of an impression he was going to make on them.
Snape slumped onto his rather lumpy bed, his long black hair spreading in all directions. He heaved a heavy sigh. Once again he had missed out on the Defence Against The Dark Arts job because Dumbledore insisted on giving this Reeves person a chance. He had met him in Diagon Alley earlier that day. Alorm Reeves was a friendly-looking fellow with a nice personality. Snape predicted that the students would take advantage of this if he didn't change his attitude quickly.
The Professor suddenly had the nagging feeling that he had forgotten to do something. Returning his gaze to tomorrow's timetable he realised what it was. He shoved a hand under his bed and retrieved a roll of parchment. Taking a quill from his pocket, he fumbled around on the floor for a bottle of ink. "I know there's one around here somewhere, I saw it the only the other day," he growled. "It's that damned poltergeist again, I just know it! I must remember to inform the Bloody Baron about his behaviour," he said slyly. His fingers then touched a smooth, round glass object. He closed his fingers around it and hauled it onto the bed. "Found it!" he said triumphantly. He knew that it would have been much easier just to get up and look for it, but it was really late and he couldn't be bothered.
Snape unrolled the parchment and chewed at the feathery end of his quill. He knew that it was a bad habit, but he just couldn't seem to shake it off. After applying a little ink to it, he began to write in his usual scruffy scrawl.
"Dear Laura."
Nice ending to the chapter, don't you think? You know who Laura is, right? Have you been paying attention? Just to let you know, this is a work in progress, so I might tweak chapters a little if I see fit. Also, I'll try and have chapters 4 & 5 up asap.
~Rei