Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this chapter, or in the Harry Potter series.. All of the characters are property of J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, her managers, publishers, etc. I do not claim any credit for this wonderful series of books, nor do I make any profit out of this fiction that I write. It is all for personal enjoyment.
Chapter 6: Larine AvolareHarry and his two best friends left the Great Hall silently, not wanting to attract attention to themselves. They stepped lightly on the stone floors of the Hogwarts Castle and headed towards the second level girls bathroom. They didn't need to tell each other where to go – they knew instinctively where the most private place in Hogwarts was.
The three friends had spent a lot of time in this particular girls bathroom. During Harry's first year, they had defeated a large troll in the bathroom, quite a feat for first-timers. In their second year, they had mixed a batch of Polyjuice Potion within the large room, and had also found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets under one of the sink fixtures. The reason the room was so deserted was because of a ghost that often resided in the pipes of the bathroom – Moaning Myrtle she was called.
Moaning Myrtle had once been a student at Hogwarts, but had been killed there when the heir of Slytherin had opened the Chamber of Secrets and released the Basilisk upon the school. Now, Myrtle just sat in the pipes and wailed – no current student at Hogwarts wanted to hear that while going about their "private" business.
So, the second the silent trio entered the bathroom and shut the door, they no longer saw reason not to talk, and began talking all at once.
"Can you believe this!" Ron said.
"Neville and I are so upset about this whole thing," Hermione complained.
"Oh, well at least you've got someone to be upset with, there is not a single Gryffindor at my table." Harry said stalking about the room.
"And Ginny is in the same table as Draco! Mum's going to love hearing that!"
"Well, I do think
Dumbledore went about this the wrong way."
"And to think that a story
about this was published in The Quibbler last month!"
"Yeah, Luna mentioned that. No one can blame anybody for not taking what was written there as complete lunacy though."
"There has to be some logical reason for this despite the necessary "being united," stuff they're feeding us."
"And how did they choose where to place us in the first place! Did they just pick us randomly while we were vulnerable up in the air?"
"I can't believe there are no Gryffindors at my table! I'm surrounded by Slytherins and Hufflepuffs!"
"Oh, god forbid!"
"Wait, you two!" Hermione said, commanding Harry and Ron's attention immediately. "We need to think about this calmly if we expect any answers, alright?"
"Right," Harry and Ron said in unison. Harry took out his wand, which he had stashed inside his robe, and gave it three small flicks. Three chairs appeared out of no where next to Harry, Hermione and Ron. Harry paused and looked at his wand confused. Had he just made three chairs appear from his wand? Harry looked up at Hermione and Ron looking for confirmation. They stared blankly at him, until Ron spoke.
"Harry, you know you just made three chairs appear," he started slowly.
"Yeah, I uh noticed that I guess," Harry said, and then carefully walked in front of the chair that had appeared nearest to him and sat down gingerly, testing it to make sure it didn't disappear as quickly as it had come. The chair was solid.
"Well done, Harry!" Hermione said, looking rather relieved that the chair held, "That must be a pretty advanced flick you gave your wand." She too, took a seat in her comfortable-looking chair; Ron sat down in his.
"Right," Ron said, trying to situate himself, "So where do we start?"
"Well, I suppose we should start with the most general question: Why? Why did Dumbledore and The Sorting Hat decide to switch all of our houses?"
Harry thought for a moment. "Well, The Sorting Hat said it was because we are stronger united. When we were separated in our separate Houses, it was as if we were all competing within Hogwarts. I suppose that, seeing how things are changed now," Harry added cautiously, "Dumbledore thought to give us the 'ol switch-a-roo. This way, we could realize we are not four competing Houses, but instead one unified school."
"Yes, Harry, that's what I thought as well," Hermione said, sounding a bit surprised. Harry looked to Ron, to see his reaction.
"Ron?" Harry asked. Ron had a sour expression on his face.
"Ginny's been put in the same house as that git Malfoy…the bas-"
"RON!" Hermione screamed, lightly slapping his arm. "Let's just stay on topic, please."
"Well," Ron said, his expression still not changed, "Why did they put her with him? Why didn't they just kick all of the Slytherins out on the streets? They're all awful and soon-to-be Death Eaters."
"Oh come on Ron. This is what Dumbledore and The Sorting Hat were talking about. We are classmates with the Slytherins, we shouldn't be judging them all based upon Malfoy."
"Oh, I'm not judging them based upon Malfoy alone. Pansy Parkinson….Crabbe….Goyle….Marcus Flint….oh yeah, hey, did I mention a little known Slytherin named Tom Riddle!?"
"Ron…" Hermione said, becoming annoyed.
"I bet that new Slytherin girl's really evil. She and Malfoy seemed pretty close. They probably share their dark secrets with each other every night while they're-"
"Ron…" Hermione said, clearly passing annoyed and becoming upset.
"Sure, she has nice hair - among other things - but that's just the type that's evil and malicious-"
"Ron, shut up." Harry said. He was very disturbed at Ron's ramblings. Were the new girl and Malfoy close like Ron thought they were? Harry quickly shook his head, causing his untidy hair to become even messier. He didn't know why he cared so much about this girl he didn't even know. Why should he care if she's seeing Malfoy?
"Yeah, Ron," Hermione said, with a hint of hurt in her voice that surprised Harry enough that he was shaken out of his own thoughts. Harry glanced at Hermione, who was looking intently at him. "Harry, I saw that that girl was placed at your table. Do you know who she is?"
"Uh…no. No, I didn't get to talk to her I mean. I didn't even know she was at my table." Harry's heart jumped. Would he be able to get to know this new girl? Again, surprised at his thoughts, he shook his head, hoping to clear them.
"Hmm." Hermione said. "Well, I suppose Ron brought up a somewhat valid point, asking why we were all sorted into the Houses – er, tables, we were."
"I got the old Hufflepuff table." Ron whined. "Hufflepuff! They were never interesting at all."
"I got Ravenclaw's table," Hermione said, half to herself. "And Harry got Slytherin."
"Ha, that's interesting, Hermione." Harry said. "When I was originally sorted, the Sorting Hat wanted to put me into Slytherin. I had to beg to get out of that house."
"Why?" Hermione asked.
"Why what?"
"Why did you beg to get out of Slytherin? You had only known you were a wizard for a for a few days. Why would you not want to be Slytherin?" Hermione asked, suddenly very interested.
Harry tried to remember back to his first day at Hogwarts. The Hall had seemed so big…everything had seemed so big back then. "Ron had told me that all of the bad wizards had been in Slytherin. I had just discovered what – who had had killed my parents. I didn't want to be placed in the same house as the bad wizards." Harry smiled as he thought of how simple it had seemed only six years ago: good wizards and bad wizards.
"Oh,' Hermione said, looking a little disappointed. Then her eyes suddenly squinted, as if she had just thought of something brilliant. "Do you remember, Harry, how last year people kept saying that I should have been put in Ravenclaw?"
"Yeah," Harry answered. "That's because you're really smart and logical and all of that. The Sorting Hat always said that Rowena Ravenclaw wanted wizards of great intelligence."
"Right!" Hermione said. 'And the Hat also said that Slytherin wanted wizards who where ambitious and cunning."
Harry nodded, and then added, "And Hufflepuff would have accepted any wizard as long as they were willing to learn. Her students didn't have to be incredibly cunning, or intelligent, or brave…" And then Harry grasped what Hermione had already figured out and they both turned to look slowly at Ron.
Ron stared back at them blankly. "What?" He asked, looking at both of his friends.
"We've been sorted into our second-choice houses," Harry said slowly. "The tables where we were placed today are the tables where we would have sat, had we not been put in our first house!"
Ron still stared at Harry blankly.
"Don't you see?" Hermione pleaded with Ron. "The Sorting Hat wanted to place Harry in Slytherin, but instead he placed him in Gryffindor. Now Harry had been re-sorted into the Slytherin table. I was sorted in to Gryffindor too, but some people think that because of my…" Hermione trailed off.
"Go on, say it. 'Because of your extreme intelligence.'" Harry said imitating Hermione.
"Well, okay,
because of my sense of logical reasoning, some people say I should have been
sorted into Ravenclaw. When we were assigned our new tables today, I was
assigned Ravenclaw's old one!"
Ron's eyes widened, as if he
understood, and then he said, in a very cynical voice, "And I was placed in
Hufflepuff today, because I'm not good at anything?! That's where I'd be if I
weren't sorted into Gryffindor? The house for the poor wizards who aren't
ambitious, or smart, or brave?!"
"No!" Hermione said. "No one thinks that about Hufflepuff!"
"Well…" Harry said trailing off, a smirk on his face. Inside however, he felt a little bad for Ron. It always seemed that Ron got the worst of each situation. Harry had always wanted to see Ron glowing in his own light. Harry had always wanted something special to happen to Ron. And here Ron was, discovering that if he weren't in Gryffindor, he's be in Hufflepuff – the joke house of Hogwarts.
"Thanks, mate." Ron said, shooting Harry a disgusted look.
"Now, come on Harry. Grow up. Ron, no one thinks you're not brave or smart or ambitious. We think you're very smart and brave! And cunning!" Hermione said to Ron. "And besides, these are not the houses we were chosen for. We were all chosen for Gryffindor. We are all Gryffindors. I'm not a Ravenclaw, you're not a Hufflepuff-"
"And, I'm certainly not a Slytherin!" Harry piped in, fuming.
"Exactly." Hermione said. "So, now that we know why they did this whole thing, and why we were sorted where we have been, there are only a few more questions."
"How long does this last?" Ron asked.
"Right," said Harry. "How long must I be surrounded by the enemy?" He couldn't get over the fact that he was one Gryffindor in the whole Slytherin table.
"They aren't the enemy Harry. They are people too, I suppose." Hermione said, not sounding altogether convinced herself. "When Dumbledore was talking to us, he seemed to imply that we would be like this for the rest of the year."
Ron and Harry groaned. The rest of the year? Harry slouched back into his chair. He was reminded of the plank of wood that had changed into a black chair. "Does anyone know what is up with our chairs being different colors? I mean, why not make them all blue or a pleasing color like that?"
Hermione looked stumped, as did Ron. "I have no idea," Ron said. "I got a green chair. Which sets off my red hair nicely, or so Luna Lovegood says." After hearing this Hermione laughed, prompting Ron to ask, "What?"
"Nothing," she answered.
"You know, it's getting pretty late," Harry said. He wanted to go unpack his things; he wanted to get a good nights sleep for tomorrows classes. He also wanted to discover more about the new girl…
"Yeah, it is," Ron said agreeing. "I need to get my books ready." He got up from his chair and brushed his robes off. Harry suddenly remembered he didn't have any books. Lupin said he'd take care of getting them, but he hadn't gone shopping. How was Harry going to go to class tomorrow without his books? Maybe he could share a book with Hermione and Ron…
"I wonder where the Ravenclaw dormitories are." Hermione said, also standing.
"Why?" Harry asked, still worried about his books. As he got up from his chair he almost tripped on one of its legs.
"Well, I suppose that that's where I'm going to be sleeping now that I've more or less been sorted into that house."
Of course. Hermione was now a Ravenclaw. Ron was a Hufflepuff and Harry was a Slytherin. A small pit grew in Harry's stomach. Why did things have to change?
"Well, I suppose I'll have to find the Hufflepuff room, then," Ron said grumpily. "This is awful, I can't believe they're switching us. We have to do something!"
"We will, Ron. We just need a good nights sleep so we can digest it all. And besides, we aren't going to suddenly stop being friends because we're in different houses, right?"
"Of course not," Harry said. "Unless, that is, my new Slytherin housemates don't somehow posses my mind and force me to begin to hate you."
"If only…" Ron mumbled, which caused Hermione to give him a quick glance. Harry laughed.
"But really," Harry said. 'We are not going to let this change anything, right? We'll have to have secret meetings or something."
"Yes, I can imagine that, Harry. Secret Gryffindor meetings! We could have them in the Room of Requirement, I suppose." Hermione said jokingly.
Harry laughed, even though he was seriously considering it. He couldn't let Dumbledore and the Sorting Hat's ideas about unity ruin the only family he had left.
"Harry, are there going to be more D.A. meetings this year, do you think? Are you up to it?" Ron asked, elbowing his best friend as Harry flicked his wand three times, making the three chairs disappear. Hermione looked impressed.
"I dunno," Harry said, stuffing his wand back in his robes. He was excited about his new chair-appearing skill. "I suppose we could. Maybe we should see who Dumbledore get for Defense Against the Dark Arts first. The only reason we started the D.A. was because of Umbridge's horrifying teaching of the subject. But it might be good to do it anyway," Harry said while exiting the bathroom with Hermione and Ron in toe.
"Yeah, you should consider it," Ron said. "Hmm…I think George told me the Hufflepuff dormitory was this way," he said pointing left. "Near the picture of the flashing fields."
"That's on my way to the Ravenclaw dormitory," Hermione said. "I heard about it during first year."
"Oh," Harry said disappointed. "The Slytherin dormitory is this way," he pointed his finger in the opposite direction towards the dungeon.
"Yeah," Hermione and Ron said. Harry remembered second year when they had transformed into Crabbe and Goyle and had gotten access to the Slytherin Common Room. He didn't want to go back there…
"Well, I guess this is a goodnight?" Ron said. Harry nodded, not wanting to have to watch Ron and Hermione walk away. "I guess we should get going then. Meet up in the Great Hall tomorrow?"
"Yeah, I'll be there," Harry said, and then promptly turned and walked away, towards the Slytherin dormitory. "Bye," he said quietly.
Harry walked away as quickly as he could. He was in no hurry to get to the Slytherin rooms by any means, he just felt the urge to be away from Hermione and Ron at the moment. He felt a lot right then as he often had during the summer.
Harry made his way to the dungeons, where he knew the Slytherin dormitories were hidden. He had been this way with Ron before, they had tricked Malfoy into believing that they were Crabbe and Goyle. Unknowingly, Malfoy had led Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, his enemies, right into the heart of the Slytherin rooms. But that had been four years ago now, and Harry had absolutely no hope of being able to find the hidden wall entrance into the Common Room, and even if he did find it, he didn't know the password.
Harry hadn't been in this part of the school much, and was started to feel hopeless and lost. All he could see ahead of him was thick stone walls and unwelcoming gloomy lights. Harry turned a corner, revealing more wall, and surprisingly an eruption of light. What had once been dark and dreary was now very bright and dreary. Harry walked toward the light, and was amazed to see it emitting from a single open doorway. He heard loud discussion and the snapping of fire within the room. This must be the common room, Harry thought. But why is it not being guarded? Why is it open? Harry thought that anyone could just walk into the room like this. It wasn't very safe…
Taking a slow breath, he walked cautiously into the room. Inside he saw the room was filled with students who were speaking amongst themselves in little groups. The light of the fire made shadows dance on their faces.
"Harry," someone whispered from Harry's left. He quickly turned, surprised. It was Owen Cauldwell, the former Hufflepuff. "You just got here?" he asked.
"Oh, uh, yeah." He said, whispering back so he didn't draw too much attention to himself. "What's going on?"
"I have no clue. I just got here a few minutes ago myself. I came in and saw Pritchard and some others trying to close the door. Apparently they came and it was open, too. It just won't close. Now, everyone's here, just talking."
Harry nodded, as he glanced around a little more closely and noticed that everyone was talking in groups with people from their own houses. No old house intermingled with another. Dumbledore's plan isn't working too well, is it? Harry thought to himself a little satisfied. He looked back to Owen.
"Where are the boy's rooms, d'you know?"
"Oh sure," Owen said. "I asked an old Slytherin and he told me to bug off, so I had to go search for them myself. They're down that hall, there." He pointed to a hall on Harry's left. "And up the stairs. Are you going to turn in already Harry? I noticed there weren't any other Gryffindors put in here, but you can talk with us Hufflepuffs if you want."
Harry was grateful for Owen's offer, it was good to know that he didn't have to be alone here, but he declined. "Thanks, but it's been a long day. I think I need to sleep."
"Alright," Owen said, waving to Harry as he turned away and walked back to the group of Hufflepuffs who were talking together.
While walking down the rather long hall that Owen like Owen had directed him to, Harry couldn't help but notice the large heads protruding from the wall. House-elf heads. Harry had only seen a display like this in Sirius' dark house. Apparently, it was an honor for a house-elf to have his head displayed upon a wall after death, but Harry got the chills while looking at them. He smiled as he thought of what Hermione would say if he told her Slytherins had a house-elf head shrine….
Harry turned up the staircase and walked up it slowly. Upon reaching the top he found that he was alone in the very middle of a large, circular room with a very high ceiling. The only light came from a large fire burning on the wall. Harry counted the beds: 5. Each bed's head was pushed up against the wall, with a nightstand on one side, and a large trunk at the foot.
Harry walked passed the beds looking for one that had been assigned to him and had his suitcase and empty owl cage placed upon it. Harry started to wonder when Hedwig would come back, and he felt a little worried if she would be able to find him in this new place. There were no windows in this room, how would she be able to get it?
Harry's eyes fell upon a bed that had both a suitcase and a large owl cage that stood empty. While reaching out to open his suitcase, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that he was being watched. He paused, his hands midway to his un-opened chest and his gaze slid up his bed to where, to his surprise, a girl was sitting, lower body tucked securely under his blankets, her hands holding onto a large book, and her eyes staring straight at him. Or, staring straight into him rather. He recognized those eyes from somewhere, but her face was half hidden in shadow and unrecognizable.
"You must be Harry Potter," she said in a rich voice that seemed to wash through his body. The girl continued to look at him, her eyebrows raised slightly.
Harry heart was beating rapidly. He was still in shock that this girl was in his bed, sitting comfortably as if it were her own. He slowly gained control of himself and lowered his arms to his sides. "Yes, I am," he said.
She nod her head faintly, "I thought so." She then stopped looking at him, and started to read the book.
Harry stood where he was confused. He did not understand why this girl was in his bed, and why she was not moving from it! Girls aren't even supposed to be in here, he thought to himself.
She looked up at him, once more. Her dark eyes were staring into him, and his body began to freeze. He needed to say something! Anything! Right before Harry was about to ask the girl who she was and what she was doing (which he figured were not the right questions to ask, but was all he could think of), the fire emitted a large blaze that lit the whole room. For the first time, Harry got to see the girls whole face and he recognized who it was. "You're Malfoy's friend," he said suddenly, his eyes widening a little. He then felt like pounding his head against the wall. His words sounded more like an accusation than a statement.
Harry saw the girl's eyes squint as she looked at him now. "Yes,' she said. "I am."
Harry felt awful about what he had just said. But it's true, his mind screamed in his defense, She's a friend of Malfoy and therefore I shouldn't care how she feels. But even Harry wouldn't buy his own lie. "Uh…sorry. That sounded rude." He said dumbly.
"It was rude," the girl retorted. She threw the blankets away from her legs, and turned to get out of the bed.
"Oh, you don't have to get up," Harry rushed.
"It is your bed isn't it?" Harry nodded slowly, forgetting for a second whether it was or not. "Then I should leave." The girl hopped off of the bed, and walked around it towards where Harry was standing near his trunk.
Harry didn't want her to leave yet. He wanted to know her name. "What were you doing in here, anyway?" he asked.
The girl stopped. She was less than two feet from him now, he could see the light from the fire framing her long hair. She smelled like a field of wildflowers – or so Harry guessed because he had never smelled a whole field of wildflowers before. His pulse started racing as she looked towards him. "I wanted to read, and this was the only quiet place I could find."
"What about your own bed?" Harry asked. He was acutely aware that he sounded rude while asking these questions, but he wanted to know the answers so badly that he didn't care.
She seemed to be getting annoyed by his questions, however, and her voice slowly hardened, while her eyes flared. "There was a large group of giggling girls whispering loudly in my room." she answered. Harry glanced down at the book she was holding and read the title: Personal Demons and How to Attack. He had seen that book on Lupin's bookshelf as well.
Harry paused for a moment, and the girl started to turn and walk away. "Wait," he asked, "how come I don't know you?"
The girl stopped midway to the staircase and turned back to face him. Her body was lost in gray shadows but Harry could still see her dark eyes staring at him. He expected her voice to be hard and un-encouraging, but instead it was soft again. It chilled him. "This is my first year at Hogwarts," she said.
"You're a first year?" he asked, very surprised.
"No," she said shaking her head and looking to the floor. When she brought her eyes up again, they seemed to be a little distant. "I'm a fifth year. I came to Hogwarts five years ago, but was called back home because my mom had gotten in an accident…she needed me there, you understand." Harry nodded, although he wasn't sure if he really understood. "I haven't been able to come back until this year – today." Her voice became weak, and she trailed off.
Harry nodded again, finding it hard to do much else. "Were you sorted when you came here first?" He asked. He had missed the sorting ceremony that year…due to the interference of a certain elf named Dobby…
"Oh, yes," the girl said, her voice sounding as if she had just been awoken from a strong memory. "I am a, er, was a Ravenclaw."
"Ah, clever and logical…" Harry said. He was very surprised that she had been chosen as a Ravenclaw. She and Malfoy had seemed so close, Harry had been sure that she would have been a Slytherin. Or maybe she just has bad taste in friends. Harry sensed that she was again, readying to leave, but he needed to know one more thing: "What's your name?"
She looked at Harry for what seemed an eternity and then nodded her head slowly and a smile crept onto her face. And I didn't think she could get anymore beautiful, Harry thought surprising himself greatly. Had he just thought of this girl – no – young woman as beautiful? He was snapped out of his thoughts when she responded, her voice flowing through his ears. "Larine Avolare," she said, and then turned on the ball of her right foot and walked down the staircase, leaving Harry watching from behind, stupefied.