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The Sorting
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As soon as the first years entered the hall, The room began buzzing. The new students gazed around in wonder at the floating candles, the silvery ghosts wafting through the air as they watched the ceremony, and at the enchanted ceiling. But among the normally short eleven year olds, there were four taller students. And two were definitely not human. The first of these seemingly out of place students, was the blonde girl. She had her hair pulled into a French braid and wore a pleasant expression as she gazed around the hall. The second girl was nearly as tall as Ron now was. She had a lovely olive complexion and raven hair and eyes. She reminded Harry of a slimmer, younger sister or cousin of Madame Maxime. The other two taller students were both boys, and despite their, relatively speaking, towering heights, they both looked quite young. One boy had dark, well tanned skin and a shock of nearly white blonde hair, which was cut in what looked like a slightly longer military fade. He had sparkling blue eyes with deep crinkles at the corners and he was watching everything with a relaxed interest. The other boy was fairly pale and had a smattering of freckles and curly jet black hair which he was nervously running a hand through. He looked much more like the rest of the first years except for his great height.
"They're giants!" hissed Hermione, but Harry had already guessed that. Well two of them seemed to be giants. He wasn't sure about the girls.
The line of first years stopped at the front of the hall and McGonagall disappeared for a moment. The first years all looked at one another and wondered what would happen. A bold girl struck up a conversation with the blonde giant in line next to her. The two taller girls began conversing in hushed tones and the rest of the hall took it as a cue to begin murmurings of their own. Harsh sounding comments were emanating most often from the Slytherins of course, but there were furtive glances from all around the room.
Professor McGonagall strode back into the great hall and her presence silenced all conversation. She carried an old stool and a wizard's hat which had definitely seen better days. She set the hat on the stool and the Sorting Hat began to sing its song about the different houses at Hogwarts. Everyone clapped at the clever song as the hat bowed to the room. Ron found it rather amusing that some of the first years seemed to be quite taken back by the singing hat, but he quickly shut up as Professor McGonagall unrolled the scroll of names and began reading them aloud
"Lacy McDougal!"
The petite girl with a smudge on her nose raced up to the front of the room and put the Hat on. She'd been the one to speak with the Giant, unafraid and perfectly at ease. Harry thought it wasn't terribly surprising when the Hat shouted:
"Gryffindor!"
The Gryffindor table stamped, thumped and shouted their welcome and approval. Lacy hopped off the stool, tossed the hat back on the chair and raced over to the table. The Sorting Hat seemed to shake itself a bit and Harry could have sworn it huffed in exasperation after being tossed so rudely, but it quickly settled back and awaited the next student. Lacey was headed right for their part of the table, so Hermione slid over into Ron who slid into Harry to make room.
"Hi!" Lacy said with a big smile for the table as she sat next to Hermione. Her new housemates all began introducing themselves.
"Amus Littleton!" McGonagall called and a tall, skinny, bookish boy with shaggy blonde hair sat on the seat.
"Ravenclaw!"
The Ravenclaws shouted and pounded fit to beat the Gryffindors as the new student took his place at their table.
"Say, I bet that's the new Defense teacher," Ron said pointing to the table. A pretty woman in a robe of a decidedly different cut sat between Professor Flitwick and Professor Snape. Snape normally hated the Defense Against Dark Arts teachers and didn't seem to be too happy with the seating arrangement, but he didn't seem overly put out.
"Cynthia Bludgestrom!"
"She looks human to me," Harry observed.
"Yeah, and Snape doesn't look too angry. Just his normal level of disgruntlement," Ginny said.
"Slytherin!" The Hat yelled, drawing their attention to the Slytherin table where the new student, a grease ball of a kid, sat down. Draco Malfoy seemed to be holding court with his usual lackeys a few seats down.
"Hope Felton!"
"Being fifth years hasn't seemed to have improved any of them," Hermione observed dryly before erupting into cheers for another Gryffindor, "Oh, Look!" She was pointing to the front of the room where McGonagall had called a Nodens Oak.
One of the giants, the boy with the blonde hair, was headed for the stool. He sat down carefully and put the hat on. Amazingly it covered his whole head as it had for the smallest first year. The hat considered for a moment then yelled
"GRYFFINDOR!" The Gryffindors immediately began applauding out of habit and politeness, but then they thought about it: If this is where the sorting hat had placed him, who the hell cared who he was? Hagrid was a good sort and Look! The Slytherins were all smirking! Gryffindors weren't the discriminatory types! Hell no! The applause had become deafening by the time Nodens had taken his place at the table.
"He's named after the Celtic god of healing," Hermione whispered to her friends, "I-"
"Read it in a book, did you?" Ron asked. Hermione huffed and rolled her eyes.
"Silas Turner!" The room returned its attention to the sorting. Harry looked up at the head table. Hagrid was smiling so broadly Harry was sure his face was going to split right in two. Harry caught his eye and Hagrid gave him a thumbs up. The next Giant, a Cernunnos Isletrekker was sorted into Hufflepuff. The Slytherins had about three types of fits when that was announced. This was a horrid, human-hating giant, after all. Hardly someone to be put with the Hufflepuffs.
The Hufflepuff reaction was much the same as the Gryffindor one, and not a few Hufflepuffs glared at the Slytherins across the hall. Many Gryffindors joined the Hufflepuffs in silencing the Slytherin snickers with frosty glares.
"We're almost done, but look, those girls still haven't been called. Lacey, do you know who they are?"
"Ravenclaw!"
"Who? Oh, the Yank? Yeah she was on the train. Some American girl. I think she's a transfer student or something like that. The other girl showed up at the water's edge with the other two,"
"Julia Xie!"
"Really?" Hermione said more to herself than anyone else.
"Slytherin!"
"Interesting. Know why?" She asked Lacey as the sorting continued.
"June St.Croix!"
"Sorry, " Lacey shrugged. Hermione nodded and watched as the last of the first years, a pleasant looking girl with her hair in many beaded dreadlocks, was sorted into Hufflepuff. A murmur went up in the hall as Professor McGonagall re-rolled the scroll, but there were still two students left. McGonagall motioned for silence and spoke to the hall.
"Tonight we also two special students. Iseult Stonehammer will be joining a fifth year class," she indicated the tall girl with the dark hair, "and Lisa Green is going to be transferring into the fourth year class," McGonagall announced and gestured for Iseult to come forward. The tall girl tilted her head and strode to the seat. She perched on it as if she was unsure the stool would take her weight. It did easily and she put the hat on. The hat considered for an even longer time than it had with Nodens. Cernunnos' sorting had taken seconds, so Harry got the impression that this girl was yet another student who would do well in either of a few houses.
Finally, the hat yelled: "RAVENCLAW!" and the Ravenclaws burst into applause. Harry looked over and saw that Iseult was being welcomed to a seat between to Cho and Terry Boot, another fifth year. Cho saw him looking at her and Harry's cheeks went red as he smiled. Cho seemed to giggle and she smiled back. Harry quickly turned his attention back to the front of the room where the last girl was standing patiently. He hoped no one could see his burning cheeks. McGonagal was addressing the Hat.
"..She comes from the American school, Hawkwing, in Colorado," more murmurs arose. Hawkwing was arguably the best of the three American schools; Riverdell, Hawkwing, and Coldrocks.
"She was one of the Lupine tribe,"
"Oh! Some of the world's most famous Animagi came from that tribe!" Hermione squealed, "And they are very good with magical creatures! I read it in "Wizarding schools around the world" last summer. Ron rolled his eyes at the mention of extra reading.
"What's a tribe? Like our houses?" Ginny asked.
"Something like that," Hermione said, "They seem to have 5 tribes at the Hawkwing school. The Lupines, the Felids, the Corvidae, the Ursine and the Piscine." She said in a hushed whisper.
At the front of the room, Lisa approached the Hat on its stool.
"Hello," she said to the hat before picking it up. She sat down, then put it on her head. The room was mostly silent as the Hat considered. Finally, the Hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" and the Gryffindors erupted into applause. Lisa blushed slightly and handed the hat back to professor McGonagall who took the stool and hat from the room.
"Ooooh, I can't wait to ask her about Hawkwing! I bet she's very good at transfiguration!" Hermione grinned.
"Wonderful, she can help us with our homework," Ron rolled his eyes. His sister kicked him under the table.
"Shhh! Be nice!" Ginny said with a hiss. Lisa hesitantly walked to the table and George and Fred each scooted to one side, creating a seat between them. She sat down and smiled nervously.
"I'm Fred, and he's George. We're Sixth years! That over there is our little sis Ginny, she's another 4th year and the other redhead is our brother Ron. He's a fifth year. That's Lee Jordan with the dreads. Oi! Lee! Come say "hi!" and that's Hermione she's just about the smartest kid here and the kid with the scar is none other than Harry Potter himself," Fred said in a rush.
"Don't worry," Hermione said across the table, "There won't be a test."
"Always you and tests!" Ron grumped and Hermione swatted him while Ginny kicked him again, "Ow! watch it!"
"Welcome to Gryffindor," Harry said reaching across George to clasp hands with the new girl.
Lisa smiled and her blue eyes sparkled. Harry's smile almost faltered. Had he seen her before? Maybe she'd been at Diagon alley getting new supplies just before the term had started. Harry thought that somehow every Hogwarts student had decided to shop on the same day. And while it was nice to see his schoolmates, he'd also had to stand in line, which was a new experience on Diagon alley. Yeah, now that he thought about it, he'd seen her getting new robes. He remembered he'd though it odd that such a happy looking kid could have such dour looking parents.
"Thank you," she said in her odd American accent, "it's just a little bit overwhelming," She admitted. Hermione nodded and clasped hands with the new girl as well.
They hushed as Dumbledore stood to give his yearly banquet speech.
"Another year come and soon to be gone. I trust you have all studied the materials and done the assignments the teachers assigned to you over the break?" A loud groan rose from the tables, "Well, each year seems to bring changes and this year's change, as it has been is the past few years, is a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher,"
"How long do you think this one will last," Ron said to Harry, who snickered.
"I would like you all to welcome Professor Stonehoof," Dumbledore said and indicated the attractive woman the students had already spied and deduced was the new DADA teacher.
"What sort of name is- ..oh." Ron said as the new teacher rose.
"Well I see what they mean about not being human. But I think that's probably ok," Harry said.
Professor Stonehoof was a Centauress. From the waist up she looked Human. She wore translucent white and gold edged robes Harry had decided looked very Greek. Gold cording wrapped and held together the ivory and gold flecked fabric of her…dress? Tunic? Pip- something. Harry couldn't remember what the clothing was called. She was fair skinned and had a few freckles. Her honey and gold hair was wild and reminded Harry of Hermione's normally bushy hair, but the professor seemed to have learned the trick of taming it slightly
Of course being a Centauress meant that the new professor was equine from the waist down. She was a pretty peaches and crème color which matched her hair quite well. She wore little belled anklets on her four hoofed feet and they jingled as she moved to stand. The tables applauded but the greeting was lukewarm at best from the Slytherin table. The first years had begun clapping eagerly but quickly toned it down after a few glares from the upper classes.
"Centaurs are very magic creatures, but I didn't think they cared about the affairs of humans," Hermione pondered as the applause died down.
"Wow," Lisa said, "I've never seen a real centaur before. We have North American Hinds near where I used to live but they don't come around often. Usually they show up to bitch at the Dean about Muggle loggers and city expansion in the area."
"Ooh," Hermione breathed, "is Hind's blood really that poisonous? The European line in this area was killed off in the early centuries so I've never seen one. We can't use the imported stuff in potions."
"I think so. The local family groups aren't terribly pleasant to be around and the teachers always go really tense when they enter the school grounds. They bitch at us when we play Quidditch too loudly," Lisa whispered back then turned her attention back to the head table.
Dumbledore concluded his speech with the usual warnings about the forbidden forest and a reminder to students to obey the school rules and not leave their towers after hours. He chuckled for a moment at his own alliteration and the teachers all plastered forced grins and chuckled half heartedly. Then Dumbledore lead everyone in the school song, conducting the cacophony with his wand, which spouted out the words into the air.
As usual Fred and George made their usual racket, but this year held a new surprise as they'd managed to choreograph a dance to the school song as well. As one, several Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors, Ravenclaws and Slytherins leapt up onto the tables and proceeded to dance and sing the school song in time. They ended in a spectacular kick-line down each house table, Fred and George in the middle of the Gryffindor line, grinning widely. Most of the room couldn't finish singing because they were laughing so hard and a few students even leapt up to join their enchanted schoolmates in the spontaneous dance number.
When the song ended the students stood there and looked around, dazed. They then bushed and they climbed down off their tables to much applause. The Slytherins were terribly put out, but the rest of the school, including Dumbledore and a handful of the other professors, seemed to think it was a fine joke.
"Ah, Wonderful! I thank you both," he addressed Fred and George, "for not including the staff in that little impromptu dance number," he clapped his hands together and rubbed them in a "let's get down to business manner", "Now I'd like to say a few words. Flippity Poodle Snolings-firth! Let's eat before the night is older!"
And with that, the tables filled with the most delicious foods, drinks and treats of all shapes and sizes. The plates which had clattered to the floor during the Weasley's dance seemed to apperate back into their places.
"I swear, the elves get better at making food every year," Ron said as he spread something green and sparkling on a piece of bread, "So what's a Yank like you doing here at Hogwarts?" he asked and took a large bite.
"Mom and Dad are both Brittish, but Dad's studying stuff for the International convocation of wizards and witches so we moved a lot. I was actually born in Greece, but then Dad was transferred before I was a year old. We've lived in Mexico and Canada, all over the States, for a month in Germany and half a year in Japan,"
"Wow! Cool!"
"I wish! We didn't stay very long and I was young, so I didn't get to pick of any new languages or friends or really meet friends, or any fun stuff like that. But we've lived the last 10 years in the States so…"
Ginny Weasley listened with half an ear as she ate. The food was good and the new students added a brand new flavor to the conversation as they always did. But something was odd. She couldn't place the feeling exactly, but living with Fred and George she'd developed a good sixth sense for being aware of funny stuff. She looked around the room and caught Malfoy's eye. He glowered at her and began making nasty jokes, most likely about her or her family from the way the Slytherins looked at her not too subtly and laughed. Ginny pursed her lips and blew him a mocking kiss. Malfoy frowned and broke eye contact as Ginny mentally marked "Weasley two, Malfoy: Zip." Seeing Draco Malfoy dance the can-can on the Slytherin table would forever be a happy thought to keep her going in the darkest of times. Too bad she hadn't a camera to take a picture to show her parents…or the daily prophet!