Cartessa Harp was nervous for the first time in her life. Before
coming to Hogwarts she had always proven herself to others by the power of
her magical abilities, but now she was being forced into a social situation
with kids her own age, and she wasn't sure how to react. The words
Kindness, Feelings, and Compassion had been somewhat erased from her
memory, and now she was going to get a crash-course to see how much they
were still there, in the back of her mind.
Moving from Jupiter Academy for Young Magical Masters in Sudan to Hogwarts School in England was not something she had been prepared to do, and nor had she wanted to. Her mother, however, had taken the job as Defense professor and Cartessa had been asked to co-teach and take some lessons at the same time. On a whim, she had consented, but the sheer reality of it now all came down on her head and she wished more than anything to be back in Sudan.
Her first wake-up-call was upon entering the castle over the summer. It was a grand place, and much more luxurious than Jupiter Academy, where they starved and beat the magic out of you until you could do it right, but it just didn't suit her. Her somewhat sleazy, off-the-shoulder top and her baggy khakis against the conservative, black robes of the Professors made her feel ridiculous and out-of-place. Though her skin wasn't as dark as her mother's, it, also, made her feel conspicuous against all the light skin. The sheer size of the place discomforted her, and some of the older Professors were giving her calculating looks, as if they were going to judge her right on the spot.
She knew her mother, Professor Somanga Harp, had gone to Hogwarts and that she also was nervous there. Though she did not explain why, Cartessa knew that her mother had some sort of reason for leaving Britain that she was not eager to face.
All the Professors seemed all right, though they didn't speak to her much. Professor McGonagall made pains to introduce herself and get to know her, which was greatly appreciated, but the rest just weren't interested in her. One Professor with longish black hair and a big nose, who seemed kind of like a grumpy recluse, didn't even introduce himself. She asked her mom whom he was, but she didn't seem to know whom she was talking about.
On only her second day there, Cartessa came upon a guy a year or so older than herself, whom was hanging around the school, looking bored as hell. He had really dark hair; so brown it looked black, and really light eyes. He was ordinary looking; he was nothing special. She avoided talking to him for a few days out of sheer fear of awkwardness.
Finally, however, he approached her.
"Hi," he said, "I'm Harry. Harry Potter." Cartessa soaked that in for a moment. She had always despised the Harry Potter who she'd heard so much about. There was so much hype about him, but he didn't really do a thing. If there was one thing she hated, it was people who didn't work for what they got credit for, and in her opinion, Harry Potter deserved no credit whatsoever. She had even had to write a paper about him at Jupiter Academy, hypothesizing the reason he defeated Voldemort as a child, and now she was meeting him in the flesh. It was as strange as it would be for you to read Pride and Prejudice, write an essay on it, and then meet Jane Austen the very next day.
"I'm Cartessa," she said, "It's nice to meet you." She decided to give his name no recognition, in a mini-protest against his undeserved fame.
"I've never seen you before," he said.
"I've never seen you before either," she said and then she thought, "Except in those dumb old newspaper articles when you were about two years old, which I had to research."
He smiled slightly, "Are you new? Why are you here during the summer?"
"I'm the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," she said, loving the way this made his eyebrows shoot up in confusion, "I co-teach with my mom, but I get to take a few classes as well. Why are you here during the summer?"
"Well, you know about me and Voldemort and all, right?"
She nodded.
"Dumbledore made me come back early from my aunt and uncle's because of the rising threat and stuff," he said, "It's better than being back there with them, but I'm so bored here. There's nothing to do, no Quidditch—nothing!"
She nodded pityingly and then said, "I hate Quidditch. Can't stand that game. What position do you play?"
"Seeker."
"Ugh, that's what I hate the most about it—Seekers! The Chasers can work their asses off, but if the other team gets the Snitch, they lose. It's so dumb," she said.
"You really hate it that much? I can't believe it! Quidditch is the best game out there! The Seeker thing—it's really hard to catch the Snitch, so if they work really, really hard and get more than 150 points, they can still—"
She interrupted him, "I'm not going to become a Quidditch convert or whatever, so don't bother."
He shrugged and there was an awkward silence, "So how'd you become a teacher so quick?"
"I went to Jupiter Academy for Magical Masters, where you can focus on one thing really rigorously. It's this really tough school where they can abuse you and stuff, just to make you succeed. It's kind of brutal, actually, but I asked to be in it and I got a lot out of it. That's why I'm so good at defense," she said.
"Where is it? I've never heard of it," he said.
"It's in Sudan, in Africa, you know. It's kind of frowned upon by most 'cause of the whole abuse thing, and it's pretty small. You wouldn't find it in the Triwizard Tournament or anything," she said. Then she remembered the letter Dumbledore had sent her mother about Potter and the Triwizard Tournament. Dumbledore and her mom were constant correspondences because of their mutual interest in eradicating Voldemort.
"Are you going to be in a House?" he asked.
"A what?"
"A house," he repeated, "There are four Houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw. Gryffindors are brave, Hufflepuffs are hard workers, Slytherins are ambitious, and Ravenclaws are smart."
"Which are you in?" she asked.
"Gryffindor," he said
'Typical,' she thought, 'Little Harry Potter's in the brave house.' Harry seemed nice enough, but he annoyed her for some reason.
"I wonder what house I'd be in," she said aloud.
"Which do you think you'd be in?" he asked.
She thought for a moment, but really had no idea. She was certainly ambitious, which kind of goes with hardworking and smart, but she was also brave. She thought about the house system and decided it was stupid. What if someone was nothing? Or everything? Then what would happen?
Harry went off into how the Sorting Hat chose them all, which led into other general topics. Before they ran completely out of things to say, Cartessa made sure to give some excuse to leave.
"I'll see you around," Harry said.
"Yeah."
The rest of the summer, Harry and Cartessa met to talk more and more frequently. Harry had summer assignments to complete and Cartessa had extra studying to work on. They'd help each other out and overall became very close friends. She still resented him for his fame, and thought him rather dull, but once he let it slip that he was still getting over his godfather's death, she found all enmity fade away. Eventually, she felt downright sorry for him. He'd been through a lot more than she'd heard of when she was in Sudan, like defeating Voldemort four times, and he was an orphan on top of it all. Who wouldn't feel for the poor guy?
When the last of the summer days had slipped away before her eyes, September first arrived. Cartessa felt sick with the fear of facing an entire student body. She'd gotten Dumbledore to agree not to sort her in public, but she still had to be announced and sit with all the other students at her house table, whatever that turned out to be.
That morning, she walked up to Dumbledore's office. The school was extremely hard to navigate, but with the help of Harry and the staff, she'd begun to adjust to it.
"Cartessa!" said the old Professor, "You're hear for your sorting! Excellent, excellent! The hat's right here, all you have to do is put him on your head."
She complied silently, her insides cramping spastically with anxiety. She wasn't really sure why she was nervous, but she was. Whatever the hat said would determine whom she would associate herself with for the next several years.
She jumped and knocked a chair over when the hat spoke in her ear, "Don't be nervous, Harp, I will put you in the best place possible. Hmm. . .I see. . .Huh! A strong desire to kill your father, I see, and intelligence too. You are a hard worker, I suppose, but that's not what comes out the most. No, you will be in either Ravenclaw or Slytherin."
Cartessa remembered Harry's animosity towards the Slytherins and wondered what he would say if she was put in Slytherin.
"You want to be great, this is true, and the thing about killing your father leads me to think that you will be best suited for--SLYTHERIN!"
Thanks for reading this so far! I'll try to get the next chapter up soon! Review please!
Moving from Jupiter Academy for Young Magical Masters in Sudan to Hogwarts School in England was not something she had been prepared to do, and nor had she wanted to. Her mother, however, had taken the job as Defense professor and Cartessa had been asked to co-teach and take some lessons at the same time. On a whim, she had consented, but the sheer reality of it now all came down on her head and she wished more than anything to be back in Sudan.
Her first wake-up-call was upon entering the castle over the summer. It was a grand place, and much more luxurious than Jupiter Academy, where they starved and beat the magic out of you until you could do it right, but it just didn't suit her. Her somewhat sleazy, off-the-shoulder top and her baggy khakis against the conservative, black robes of the Professors made her feel ridiculous and out-of-place. Though her skin wasn't as dark as her mother's, it, also, made her feel conspicuous against all the light skin. The sheer size of the place discomforted her, and some of the older Professors were giving her calculating looks, as if they were going to judge her right on the spot.
She knew her mother, Professor Somanga Harp, had gone to Hogwarts and that she also was nervous there. Though she did not explain why, Cartessa knew that her mother had some sort of reason for leaving Britain that she was not eager to face.
All the Professors seemed all right, though they didn't speak to her much. Professor McGonagall made pains to introduce herself and get to know her, which was greatly appreciated, but the rest just weren't interested in her. One Professor with longish black hair and a big nose, who seemed kind of like a grumpy recluse, didn't even introduce himself. She asked her mom whom he was, but she didn't seem to know whom she was talking about.
On only her second day there, Cartessa came upon a guy a year or so older than herself, whom was hanging around the school, looking bored as hell. He had really dark hair; so brown it looked black, and really light eyes. He was ordinary looking; he was nothing special. She avoided talking to him for a few days out of sheer fear of awkwardness.
Finally, however, he approached her.
"Hi," he said, "I'm Harry. Harry Potter." Cartessa soaked that in for a moment. She had always despised the Harry Potter who she'd heard so much about. There was so much hype about him, but he didn't really do a thing. If there was one thing she hated, it was people who didn't work for what they got credit for, and in her opinion, Harry Potter deserved no credit whatsoever. She had even had to write a paper about him at Jupiter Academy, hypothesizing the reason he defeated Voldemort as a child, and now she was meeting him in the flesh. It was as strange as it would be for you to read Pride and Prejudice, write an essay on it, and then meet Jane Austen the very next day.
"I'm Cartessa," she said, "It's nice to meet you." She decided to give his name no recognition, in a mini-protest against his undeserved fame.
"I've never seen you before," he said.
"I've never seen you before either," she said and then she thought, "Except in those dumb old newspaper articles when you were about two years old, which I had to research."
He smiled slightly, "Are you new? Why are you here during the summer?"
"I'm the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," she said, loving the way this made his eyebrows shoot up in confusion, "I co-teach with my mom, but I get to take a few classes as well. Why are you here during the summer?"
"Well, you know about me and Voldemort and all, right?"
She nodded.
"Dumbledore made me come back early from my aunt and uncle's because of the rising threat and stuff," he said, "It's better than being back there with them, but I'm so bored here. There's nothing to do, no Quidditch—nothing!"
She nodded pityingly and then said, "I hate Quidditch. Can't stand that game. What position do you play?"
"Seeker."
"Ugh, that's what I hate the most about it—Seekers! The Chasers can work their asses off, but if the other team gets the Snitch, they lose. It's so dumb," she said.
"You really hate it that much? I can't believe it! Quidditch is the best game out there! The Seeker thing—it's really hard to catch the Snitch, so if they work really, really hard and get more than 150 points, they can still—"
She interrupted him, "I'm not going to become a Quidditch convert or whatever, so don't bother."
He shrugged and there was an awkward silence, "So how'd you become a teacher so quick?"
"I went to Jupiter Academy for Magical Masters, where you can focus on one thing really rigorously. It's this really tough school where they can abuse you and stuff, just to make you succeed. It's kind of brutal, actually, but I asked to be in it and I got a lot out of it. That's why I'm so good at defense," she said.
"Where is it? I've never heard of it," he said.
"It's in Sudan, in Africa, you know. It's kind of frowned upon by most 'cause of the whole abuse thing, and it's pretty small. You wouldn't find it in the Triwizard Tournament or anything," she said. Then she remembered the letter Dumbledore had sent her mother about Potter and the Triwizard Tournament. Dumbledore and her mom were constant correspondences because of their mutual interest in eradicating Voldemort.
"Are you going to be in a House?" he asked.
"A what?"
"A house," he repeated, "There are four Houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw. Gryffindors are brave, Hufflepuffs are hard workers, Slytherins are ambitious, and Ravenclaws are smart."
"Which are you in?" she asked.
"Gryffindor," he said
'Typical,' she thought, 'Little Harry Potter's in the brave house.' Harry seemed nice enough, but he annoyed her for some reason.
"I wonder what house I'd be in," she said aloud.
"Which do you think you'd be in?" he asked.
She thought for a moment, but really had no idea. She was certainly ambitious, which kind of goes with hardworking and smart, but she was also brave. She thought about the house system and decided it was stupid. What if someone was nothing? Or everything? Then what would happen?
Harry went off into how the Sorting Hat chose them all, which led into other general topics. Before they ran completely out of things to say, Cartessa made sure to give some excuse to leave.
"I'll see you around," Harry said.
"Yeah."
The rest of the summer, Harry and Cartessa met to talk more and more frequently. Harry had summer assignments to complete and Cartessa had extra studying to work on. They'd help each other out and overall became very close friends. She still resented him for his fame, and thought him rather dull, but once he let it slip that he was still getting over his godfather's death, she found all enmity fade away. Eventually, she felt downright sorry for him. He'd been through a lot more than she'd heard of when she was in Sudan, like defeating Voldemort four times, and he was an orphan on top of it all. Who wouldn't feel for the poor guy?
When the last of the summer days had slipped away before her eyes, September first arrived. Cartessa felt sick with the fear of facing an entire student body. She'd gotten Dumbledore to agree not to sort her in public, but she still had to be announced and sit with all the other students at her house table, whatever that turned out to be.
That morning, she walked up to Dumbledore's office. The school was extremely hard to navigate, but with the help of Harry and the staff, she'd begun to adjust to it.
"Cartessa!" said the old Professor, "You're hear for your sorting! Excellent, excellent! The hat's right here, all you have to do is put him on your head."
She complied silently, her insides cramping spastically with anxiety. She wasn't really sure why she was nervous, but she was. Whatever the hat said would determine whom she would associate herself with for the next several years.
She jumped and knocked a chair over when the hat spoke in her ear, "Don't be nervous, Harp, I will put you in the best place possible. Hmm. . .I see. . .Huh! A strong desire to kill your father, I see, and intelligence too. You are a hard worker, I suppose, but that's not what comes out the most. No, you will be in either Ravenclaw or Slytherin."
Cartessa remembered Harry's animosity towards the Slytherins and wondered what he would say if she was put in Slytherin.
"You want to be great, this is true, and the thing about killing your father leads me to think that you will be best suited for--SLYTHERIN!"
Thanks for reading this so far! I'll try to get the next chapter up soon! Review please!