Disclaimer: I only own Hex, Maeve, Peter, Norman, the Healer's Garden and Maggie McGonagall, whom you will meet later. JK Rowling owns the roof over their heads, clothes on their backs, and food in their dear little fictitious bellies. She also owns the Hogwarts Express, the carriages (it's monopolistic market control, I tell you!), Harry Potter, and all his friends. Hanna-Barbera owns Scooby-Doo. Santa Claus belongs to everyone, and no one wants to admit they own Brussels sprouts. :-p
Introductory Remarks: Thanks, Taracollowen, my staunch supporter. So long as one person digs it, it's all worth it. :D ~ Ara Kane
Hogwarts
It was already dark when the Hogwarts Express reached its destination. Hex and his new friends, all of them now wearing their black school robes, made their way down the aisle to get off the train as a female voice instructed them to leave their trunks on board.
They found Hagrid on the platform, holding a lantern very high above his head and roaring for the first year students to come to him. The huge man, however, found time to give Hex a wink.
The rest of the students were to take carriages to Hogwarts. Draco Malfoy glared at Hex as he stalked by with Crabbe and Goyle. "I'm not through with you yet," he said.
Hex blew him a kiss before getting into a carriage with his new friends. "You're mental," Ron chuckled, shaking his head in admiration.
"D'you know what house you'll be in?" Hermione asked him when their carriage began to move. She had been able to join them because Ginny was riding to Hogwarts with some fourth year friends.
"What is it about this whole House thing?" Hex asked. "Is it like a class?"
"Each year is divided into houses," she explained. "You take all your classes with your house. Sometimes you'll have classes with another house, and we get to choose some of our own classes, but you'll always be with your house."
"Oh. Well, no, I don't know what house I'm in yet. What house are you guys in?"
"Ron, Harry and I are in Gryffindor House," Hermione said.
"Maeve and I are in Hufflepuff," Peter said. Maeve nodded and smiled at him as she petted Norman with a small hand. The cat hadn't left her since he first jumped on her lap.
"Hufflepuff?" Hex laughed. "Sounds like a breakfast cereal." (A/N: There's my title!)
"It may sound funny," Peter said, "but I'd rather be in Hufflepuff than in Slytherin."
"I take it Ferret-face is in Slytherin?"
Ron smiled slightly. "Well, yes, but besides that, Slytherin House is known for turning out all the Dark witches and wizards that ever came from Hogwarts."
A solemn hush had descended over the carriage. Hex noted that the others were all looking sideways at Harry. "Dark witches and wizards?" he asked, although he felt like he shouldn't have.
Hermione looked at him incredulously. "Don't you know anything? And they're letting you in as a fifth year?"
"You didn't know anything until you got your letter from Hogwarts," Ron pointed out.
"Neither did I," Harry said flatly. He turned to Hex. "Just so you know, the story is that a very powerful Dark wizard named Voldemort" — at this point everyone else in the carriage cringed — "and a group of his followers were killing and torturing witches and wizards all over the magical world. For a while we all thought he was destroyed, but he's back, stronger than ever, and gathering his people again. And we're doing all we can to stop him."
"Freaky," Hex said. From the looks on the others' faces, he could tell there was more to the story; but from the hardness in Harry's voice, he could tell that was all they were willing to let him know.
When the carriages came to a stop, Hex disembarked and found himself standing in front of a tall, forbidding castle, darker even than the inky black sky.
"Mr. Holmstrom?" said a crisp voice at his side. A thin witch in black robes appeared as if out of nowhere. "You will come with me."
"That's Professor McGonagall," Ron whispered. "Better get hopping. We'll see you inside."
"Good luck," Maeve whispered. Hex remembered she still had Norman only after Professor McGonagall had herded him into a small chamber along with a bunch of little people. First years, he supposed.
Professor McGonagall addressed the group. "Welcome to Hogwarts," she said, even though she didn't sound like she meant it. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.
"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.
"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting. I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly." (A/N: From Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling, p. 114. I made it so she gives the same speech every year. Hey, if it ain't broke…right? :D ) With that, she left the chamber.
Hex watched the other students try to straighten their hair and clothing. All of them were wondering what the Sorting Ceremony would involve. He listened to a skinny boy with too-long hair spread the rumor that they would have to wrestle a troll and it would fling them to wherever their house was. What if you won? Hex wanted to ask, chuckling to himself.
Professor McGonagall was back in a few moments. "You will come out now," she told the group of new students. "Follow me, and proceed in an orderly fashion."
They filed out into the Great Hall, with Hex bringing up the rear.
There wasn't a troll in sight when they entered the massive chamber, but there was plenty more to see. Before them were four long tables set with golden plates and goblets, full of people in long black robes and pointed black hats. Behind these tables was another long table, occupied this time by the teachers. Nearest the new students were a small, low stool and a patched black hat. Everything was drenched in glittering, golden light from the thousands of candles hanging far overhead.
After a moment of silence, the hat — yes, the hat! — began to sing.
[INSERT HAT SONG HERE] (A/N: Yes, I know, I'm lazy. But I really can't think of anything.)
After the hat finished its song, it bowed to the entire Great Hall amid great applause. Professor McGonagall then came forward with a roll of parchment. "When I call your name, you will come forward and try on the hat," she instructed the new students as she unrolled her parchment. "Aaron, William!"
Hex watched the skinny boy leave the line and approach the stool. He looked nervously at the hat, as if it was still going to turn into a troll and come after him. But he picked it up, sat down on the stool, and put it on. "RAVENCLAW!" the hat shouted after a while. A table full of people applauded as William took off the hat and walked, relieved, to join the Ravenclaw table.
"That was it?" a girl next to Hex asked no one in particular. "All we have to do is try on the hat?"
Wanna try wrestling a troll? Hex wanted to ask her.
He watched Professor McGonagall call forth people in alphabetical order. "Hitchcock, Mary Sue!"
A rather pudgy girl came forward, tried on the hat, and was pronounced a Slytherin. Then it was his turn. "Holmstrom, Hex!"
Hex came forward, trying not to look at anyone, sat down on the low stool with some difficulty, and tried on the hat. It came down right over his eyes.
"Hmm," a small voice whispered in his ear, "where shall I put you? This is an older head than I'm used to reading…sharp, very sharp, stubborn and a little bit reckless, too…a lot of curiosity, and, oh yes, even more endurance — I believe I shall put you in HUFFLEPUFF!"
The hat called out this last word to the rest of the Hall. Hex removed the hat and joined Maeve and Peter at the Hufflepuff table. "Sounds like a breakfast cereal?" Peter asked him with a smile.
"It still does," Hex said, grinning as he sat down next to Maeve. He turned to his other side and nearly fell off his chair in shock. "Holy sh—"
The plump, jolly-looking ghost sitting in the chair next to him tsked warningly. "I wouldn't say any more if I were you," he said with a smile.
"That's the Fat Friar," Maeve told him. "He's our house ghost."
Hex took a look around and saw that there were ghosts sitting at the other tables, too. "Oh. Just my luck that I end up with one I have to watch my language around."
"Hex Holmstrom?" someone drawled from behind him. "What kind of a name is that?"
Hex turned to find Ferret-face sitting at the table next to theirs. "Better than yours, that's for sure."
"I'll have you know that Malfoy is an incredibly old wizarding name."
"It needs to be discontinued," he replied coolly.
Malfoy glared. "You have a smart mouth."
"And it needs feeding." Peter nudged Hex. "Forget him, Hex. Trading insults with Ferret-face is just a waste of time."
Hex laughed and turned away from Malfoy without another word. Before him, the golden serving plates were now filled with food. "Yeah, I can think of a better way to spend my time."
After the start-of-term banquet, the students got up, sated and sleepy, to go to their respective dormitories. Ron and Harry caught up with Hex as he prepared to follow the other Hufflepuffs to their dormitory. "It's too bad you didn't get sorted into Gryffindor with us," Harry said. He sounded a lot friendlier now than he had on the carriage ride.
"At least you're in Hufflepuff — that means you'll get to have most of your classes with Maeve," Ron whispered with a grin, looking over to where the small girl was surrounded by quite a few admirers. All of them were trying to take Norman, to carry him for her, and avoid the cat's wildly slashing claws at the same time.
Hex grinned, making sure Peter hadn't heard. "It doesn't mean we can't be friends, right?"
"Right." Harry nodded and smiled. "We'll see you in Herbology…Hufflepuff and Gryffindor have that class together."
"Yeah, see you." Hex watched them go and was about to follow the other Hufflepuffs when Hermione blocked his way. "Hi."
"Professor Dumbledore would like to see you," she told him. "I'm to take you to his office."
"Lead the way," he said. He gestured to Peter and Maeve that he had to go somewhere with Hermione, then followed the prefect down a number of drafty, dimly-lit corridors and passageways. A number of mysterious shadows flitted around just out of the corner of his eye. "I feel like I'm in a Scooby Doo cartoon," he murmured, half-expecting a badly-disguised villain to jump out from behind the stone gargoyle now looming before them.
"You get used to it," she said, stopping in front of the gargoyle and rapping on it smartly.
Hex jumped when the gargoyle stepped down from its pedestal. "Holy cr—"
Fortunately he didn't finish that exclamation, either, because the gargoyle moved aside to reveal a doorway in which the formidable Professor McGonagall stood. "Thank you, Miss Granger," the older witch said. "Come in, both of you."
He followed Hermione into a circular room crammed full of all sorts of strange objects that hummed, whistled or spewed a jet of silver bubbles at regular intervals. Besides Professor McGonagall, two other witches were inside. They stood by a desk, at which sat a silver-haired wizard who looked like Santa Claus after a very successful crash diet. Hex supposed this was Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts.
"They have arrived, Professor," Professor McGonagall told the seated wizard.
Dumbledore turned to the pair and smiled. "Hello, Miss Granger. Welcome to Hogwarts, Mr. Holmstrom."
"Uh, thanks," Hex said, "sir." These were the first adults ever to welcome him to a new school. He supposed they hadn't seen his records yet.
At the headmaster's bidding, he and Hermione sat in the cushy chairs near the desk. "Well, Mr. Holmstrom," he said briskly, "let's get you settled in, shall we? Minerva?"
"You will enter the fifth year with other students your age," Professor McGonagall told Hex, "that means you have four years' worth of lessons to learn along with the standard fifth-year curriculum. We have tried to find a suitable tutor for you and I believe Miss Granger is the best person for the job."
Hermione flushed with pleasure, but also looked daunted at the thought of having to teach him four years' worth of lessons in as little time as possible.
"I wouldn't have recommended you, Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall said, as if she had read the girl's mind, "if I did not think you could handle it."
"Yes, Professor," she said, looking determined now.
"And we wouldn't take you in as a fifth year, Mr. Holmstrom," Dumbledore said, the firelight twinkling in his half-moon glasses, "if we did not think you could catch up with the rest."
"Uh…thanks," Hex said, "Professor."
"Now that your academics are taken care of," Dumbledore went on, "we will discuss other things. Mr. Holmstrom, we are aware that you are…not financially stable."
"I'm broke, you mean," the boy blurted out, then blushed under Professor McGonagall's quelling stare. He didn't think any teacher could cow him, but something about this one was different. Maybe it was the fact that she could turn him into a Brussels sprout if she wanted to.
"Yes, perhaps you could say that. Personally I could never understand this Muggle obsession with money, but even in the magical world such a thing is needed to feed, clothe and educate one. Thus, we have taken the liberty of finding employment for you."
"A job? Where? When do I start?"
"The Healer's Garden is an apothecary in a nearby Muggle village," Dumbledore told him. "It is run by Miss Maggie McGonagall, sister of our very own Professor McGonagall. She needs someone to do odd jobs around the shop. We have spoken to Miss McGonagall and she assures us that you can do some work for her on weekends in exchange for your lessons and board."
"Will that be enough?"
"Certainly." The wizard waved off Hex's protests. "Please do not worry about money, Mr. Holmstrom. You are — how do Muggles say it? — on scholarship." Dumbledore looked with concern at the boy's face. "Now, I believe Madam Pomfrey should look at those bruises."
He'd forgotten about those. "Y-you don't have to," Hex stammered as a dark-haired witch advanced upon him, taking a bottle and clean cloth from a pocket in her robes. "Really— they'll clear up—"
"I don't want people looking at you and thinking I can't cure anything as simple as cuts and bruises," Madam Pomfrey declared, dabbing gently at his bruises. Hex felt a delicious coolness on his skin as the swelling disappeared along with, he suspected, the discoloration.
Madam Pomfrey smiled when she was finished. "Handsome devil, isn't he? Except perhaps for that thing in his eyebrow."
"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," Dumbledore said, chuckling at the blush that spread over the boy's now-healed face. "Now, Mr. Holmstrom, I shall now leave you in the capable hands of Professor Sprout, your Head of House. Good night."
Hex nodded goodbye to him and Hermione, and let the gray-haired witch bustle him to his dormitory before remembering that he forgot to ask Dumbledore why he was here in the first place.
The Hufflepuff dormitory was located in the eastern-facing side of the Hogwarts castle. A shiny, if rather short and dumpy, suit of armor guarded the entrance. When one approached, the armor assumed a battle stance, brandishing a stout war ax. When given the correct password ("Day lily"), it let you pass with a rather jerky bow.
Professor Sprout led Hex into the common room, where a few students were still chatting, and showed him the staircase that led to the boys' dormitories. "You will stay in the one marked 'Fifth Years' with all the other fifth year boys," she told him kindly.
"I'll show him where it is," Peter said, rising from the couch where he had been sitting with Maeve. Hex wasn't surprised to note that no other guys were bugging Maeve now that the big boy was around.
"Marvelous! You've made a friend already!" Professor Sprout beamed at Hex. "Thank you very much, Peter. I hope you and all the other Hufflepuffs will make our new student feel welcome. I shall see you all in Herbology class," she said as she left for her own rooms.
Maeve also smiled at him and handed over his cat. "Norman is such a sweet kitty. Thank you for lending him to me."
Norman? Sweet? Hex looked down at the cat, which blinked at him innocently. "If you say so. Are you on your way to bed?"
She yawned delicately. "Yes, I should be going. I'll see you in the morning. Good night."
"Good night," both boys said and started off for their own dormitory. "She's nice," Hex said as they walked up the stairs.
"Yes, she is," Peter said, opening the door marked Fifth Years. "Sometimes too much so."
Hex supposed yellow was the Hufflepuff color, because it was everywhere. It was the main color in the common room, and in the boys' dormitory the bed hangings were yellow. It was kind of girly for his taste, but his bed was as big as his entire alcove back in Brooklyn.
He found his trunk and knapsack at the foot of the bed nearest the door. The hangings on three other beds were already drawn. Hex realized he was really tired.
"Do you want to use the bathroom first?" Peter asked.
"Nah, you go ahead." Hex crashed down onto his bed as the other boy left the room with his pajamas. He fell asleep without even removing his shoes, Norman sprawled across his stomach.
