Beautiful
I climbed into the carriage and Ron followed. We each got one side to ourselves. With Eve, Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon with Harry and the others it was pretty quiet. I had laid down on my seat and was looking at the ceiling of the carriage, Ron did the same.
We needed something to talk about, I knew he would have wanted to bring up Ginny again so I had to think of something fast. "Truth or dare?" I asked. It seemed that every weekend the girls in my dormitory would play this game, I never participated but I heard some of the silly dares and outrageous things the girls would admit.
"Truth." Ron replied, as though he wasn't sure of his answer.
"All right." I said. "If you were to trade places with anyone, who would it be and why?"
"Viktor or Harry." Ron replied, I was shocked to hear Viktor's name. "Why?" I asked.
"I want to see what it's like to be noticed by people, to do something and have people react to it. Everyone seems to like them too, they get a lot of attention. From everybody." He looked at me. "Truth or dare?" He asked.
"Truth." I replied.
It took him a minute or two to think of a question. "Where do you go when you want to be alone?" He asked.
"If I told you that, you would come find me." I paused. "I go outside, I watch the sunset, or the sunrise, depending on what time it is. It's usually when I'm 'angry."
"I go to the astronomy tower." Ron said absentmindedly. "It's usually really quiet up there, gives you a chance to think about things."
After a few minutes of questions, it was Ron's turn again. "Truth or dare?" He asked, even though the question was pointless now, the only answer the both of us used was 'truth'
"Truth." I replied.
"If you could have anything you wanted, what would it be?"
I thought about the question. What did I want? I wanted Ron to like me, but to say something like that 'I want to be liked' would sound sort of stupid. So many answers, so many things I want would sound stupid. I want a successful career, a marriage and children when I'm older, but what about now? What did I want right now? I wanted Ron to like, maybe even love me, and I wanted to be beautiful. I couldn't tell him that. But I did. "I want to be beautiful."
He said nothing.
~*~
Having left early, most of the prefects arrived before us. We ended up arriving at the same time as the new first years, Hagrid was helping them out of the boats. We passed McGonagall on our way to the Great Hall, she was on her way to collect the first years.
"Are you two the last ones to arrive?" She asked us.
"I think so, unless Malfoy and the others are still on their way."
"Alright, go ahead to the Great Hall."
We entered the Great Hall and sat across from Harry and Ginny. "Finally, I thought you'd never get here." Harry said.
"I wish the Sorting would start soon, I'm starving." Neville groaned.
"Join the club." Ron said. "I haven't eaten since nine o'clock this morning."
I didn't see what all the fuss was about, I ate at the same time Harry, Ginny and Ron had, but I wasn't in the least bit hungry.
A few minutes later, Professor McGonagall entered the great hall with twenty or thirty first-years following behind her. A few of them were quiet, staring around the Great hall in awe. A few of them were whispering to each other about their surroundings and then there was two kids, a girl and a boy who seemed to be fighting. They were elbowing each other, trying to push other into the tables. The girl actually ended up hitting Dean Thomas.
"Settle down." I heard professor McGonagall say, none of the kids seemed to be listening. I wondered if we were that bad when we were first years. She stopped at the front of the room, and everyone in the hall fell silent.
"For those of you who have not heard about the Sorting ceremony before, the process will go like this; When I call your name, you will come up to the front and put the Sorting hat on your head. Once sorted, you will go to that table and join your fellow classmates."
When this castle was newly built The founders had a plan To look for young students to teach From all across the land
Each founder had the own ideas Of which students were the best For each prized different qualities Which they themselves possessed
Kind-hearted Hufflepuff chose students Of a generous mind
Whilst Ravenclaw made sure The smartest were not left behind
Sly Slytherin thought bloodlines and breeding Made his pupils the best
And Gryffindors were picked for courage When put to the test
But sorting was a tedious task Much lent to inducing boredom So these fine four had me stitched up So I could do it for them
So come on up and don't be shy Sit back, enjoy the show Just put me on your head And I will tell you where to go!
Everyone in the Great hall started clapping. "Avellen, Jared" was the first person sorted, I recognized him as one of the elbowing kids, he was sorted into Ravenclaw. "Bentley, Kirsten." A girl with blond hair and hazel eyes walked up and put the Sorting Hat on, after a few minutes she had been placed in Hufflepuff.
As "Ellis, Suzie." Was walking up to the Sorting hat, I realized that she looked a little bit like Cho Chang, I absentmindedly wondered if they were somehow related that I missed what house she was sorted into. I looked across the table at Ginny, who whispered "Ravenclaw."
"I wonder who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will be?" Harry asked aloud.
I looked up at the staff table. Sure enough, there was one empty seat, in between Snape and Hagrid. "I don't know and as long as that Umbridge is gone I don't care who teaches us." I said, Ron nodded in agreement as his stomach growled.
I found it odd that there were only two 'H's in the Sorting this year. "Harliss, Ashley" who was made a Slytherin and "Hendrickson, Katie." Who was made a Gryffindor, I clapped but you couldn't hear me over the rest of the table.
Being halfway through the Sorting, people were starting getting restless, mostly because they were hungry. "Moore, Matt.", a new Hufflepuff, marked the middle of the Sorting ceremony. It went on to the 'S's and there were also only two. "Sachs, Justin." A boy with black hair and blue eyes was made a Slytherin and a girl with dark brown hair and eyes, the other of the two elbowing kids "Shay, Scott." Was made a Gryffindor.
I listened as best I could to the 'T's but missed three of them because Ron, Harry and Neville had been talking about the possible Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. They quieted down just long enough for me to watch "Turner, Holly" get sorted, when the Sorting hat called out "Gryffindor" I clapped as loud as could but still I was drowned out by the rest of the Gryffindors. Holly looked a little bit like me actually, brown hair and eyes, with the exception of perfect teeth.
A few more names had been called, but none of them were sorted into Gryffindor. Professor McGonagall rolled up the parchment and put it in her cloak pocket, she then left the Great hall with the Sorting hat and the stool.
Dumbledore stood up, he had much more silencing power, the whole room became silent immediately. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts . I hope you all enjoyed your summer vacation. I can see, by the look on your faces, that you are waiting for the feast to begin." He smiled, looking around the room. "So I will try to keep it short. First things first, you will receive your timetables in the morning, and the classes will begin tomorrow. As for questions regarding Quidditch, I ask that you speak with the head of house. " He looked around the room. "Let the feast begin."
"Finally." Ron said, as the tables filled with food. He reached for some of everything and piled his plate with food, as did Neville and Harry. Ginny and I took a little of everything, sampling in smaller portions.
"So what's fifth year like?" Ginny asked me, grabbing another baked potato with her fork.
"Academically, you mean? Well, it's harder, definitely harder. Of course, I guess it depends on the person." She pointed to the butter and I passed it to her. "You should do fine if you don't leave everything until the last minute, like Harry and Ron did. Of course, I didn't have Quidditch practice or anything like that."
Ginny nodded. "Are the OWLS hard?"
"I studied so it wasn't too hard, the written was a lot of multiple choice and short and long answering."
I heard Ron, Neville and Harry talking about Quidditch and then I asked Ginny, "Do you think you're going to try out for the Quidditch team? You did pretty good as Seeker last year."
"Yeah, I was thinking about trying for Chaser."
Even though the feast went on for almost two hours, it seemed short. I talked to Ginny the whole time mostly, talking once to Luna when she wandered over from the Ravenclaw table. Ron, who was sitting beside me leaned against my shoulder and put his hand on his stomach.
"Have enough to eat?" I asked, laughing.
"I think I gained ten pounds, I don't need to eat for another month."
I tilted my head and leaned against Ron's head. "We still have to escort the first years to the Common room."
"I don't think I can move." He said, I laughed.
Colin, who had been sitting beside Ginny (across from me) took a picture. I thought of Draco and Ginny this afternoon, the sunlight on their faces, how perfect they looked. I hoped that, just for one moment, in that photograph, Ron and I looked perfect together.
~*~
Sorry, it took so long. I had food poisoning and about when I got over that we had to go visit my grandparents. I have two of my cousins staying over but I can still work on Beautiful. I hope you liked it. please review!
HEY EVERYBODY. I just want to let you know that my new friend Holly wrote the sorting song and if it wasn't for her it could've taken even longer for the chapter to come out. Everybody give her a round of applause! This chapter is for you, Holly!
I climbed into the carriage and Ron followed. We each got one side to ourselves. With Eve, Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon with Harry and the others it was pretty quiet. I had laid down on my seat and was looking at the ceiling of the carriage, Ron did the same.
We needed something to talk about, I knew he would have wanted to bring up Ginny again so I had to think of something fast. "Truth or dare?" I asked. It seemed that every weekend the girls in my dormitory would play this game, I never participated but I heard some of the silly dares and outrageous things the girls would admit.
"Truth." Ron replied, as though he wasn't sure of his answer.
"All right." I said. "If you were to trade places with anyone, who would it be and why?"
"Viktor or Harry." Ron replied, I was shocked to hear Viktor's name. "Why?" I asked.
"I want to see what it's like to be noticed by people, to do something and have people react to it. Everyone seems to like them too, they get a lot of attention. From everybody." He looked at me. "Truth or dare?" He asked.
"Truth." I replied.
It took him a minute or two to think of a question. "Where do you go when you want to be alone?" He asked.
"If I told you that, you would come find me." I paused. "I go outside, I watch the sunset, or the sunrise, depending on what time it is. It's usually when I'm 'angry."
"I go to the astronomy tower." Ron said absentmindedly. "It's usually really quiet up there, gives you a chance to think about things."
After a few minutes of questions, it was Ron's turn again. "Truth or dare?" He asked, even though the question was pointless now, the only answer the both of us used was 'truth'
"Truth." I replied.
"If you could have anything you wanted, what would it be?"
I thought about the question. What did I want? I wanted Ron to like me, but to say something like that 'I want to be liked' would sound sort of stupid. So many answers, so many things I want would sound stupid. I want a successful career, a marriage and children when I'm older, but what about now? What did I want right now? I wanted Ron to like, maybe even love me, and I wanted to be beautiful. I couldn't tell him that. But I did. "I want to be beautiful."
He said nothing.
~*~
Having left early, most of the prefects arrived before us. We ended up arriving at the same time as the new first years, Hagrid was helping them out of the boats. We passed McGonagall on our way to the Great Hall, she was on her way to collect the first years.
"Are you two the last ones to arrive?" She asked us.
"I think so, unless Malfoy and the others are still on their way."
"Alright, go ahead to the Great Hall."
We entered the Great Hall and sat across from Harry and Ginny. "Finally, I thought you'd never get here." Harry said.
"I wish the Sorting would start soon, I'm starving." Neville groaned.
"Join the club." Ron said. "I haven't eaten since nine o'clock this morning."
I didn't see what all the fuss was about, I ate at the same time Harry, Ginny and Ron had, but I wasn't in the least bit hungry.
A few minutes later, Professor McGonagall entered the great hall with twenty or thirty first-years following behind her. A few of them were quiet, staring around the Great hall in awe. A few of them were whispering to each other about their surroundings and then there was two kids, a girl and a boy who seemed to be fighting. They were elbowing each other, trying to push other into the tables. The girl actually ended up hitting Dean Thomas.
"Settle down." I heard professor McGonagall say, none of the kids seemed to be listening. I wondered if we were that bad when we were first years. She stopped at the front of the room, and everyone in the hall fell silent.
"For those of you who have not heard about the Sorting ceremony before, the process will go like this; When I call your name, you will come up to the front and put the Sorting hat on your head. Once sorted, you will go to that table and join your fellow classmates."
When this castle was newly built The founders had a plan To look for young students to teach From all across the land
Each founder had the own ideas Of which students were the best For each prized different qualities Which they themselves possessed
Kind-hearted Hufflepuff chose students Of a generous mind
Whilst Ravenclaw made sure The smartest were not left behind
Sly Slytherin thought bloodlines and breeding Made his pupils the best
And Gryffindors were picked for courage When put to the test
But sorting was a tedious task Much lent to inducing boredom So these fine four had me stitched up So I could do it for them
So come on up and don't be shy Sit back, enjoy the show Just put me on your head And I will tell you where to go!
Everyone in the Great hall started clapping. "Avellen, Jared" was the first person sorted, I recognized him as one of the elbowing kids, he was sorted into Ravenclaw. "Bentley, Kirsten." A girl with blond hair and hazel eyes walked up and put the Sorting Hat on, after a few minutes she had been placed in Hufflepuff.
As "Ellis, Suzie." Was walking up to the Sorting hat, I realized that she looked a little bit like Cho Chang, I absentmindedly wondered if they were somehow related that I missed what house she was sorted into. I looked across the table at Ginny, who whispered "Ravenclaw."
"I wonder who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher will be?" Harry asked aloud.
I looked up at the staff table. Sure enough, there was one empty seat, in between Snape and Hagrid. "I don't know and as long as that Umbridge is gone I don't care who teaches us." I said, Ron nodded in agreement as his stomach growled.
I found it odd that there were only two 'H's in the Sorting this year. "Harliss, Ashley" who was made a Slytherin and "Hendrickson, Katie." Who was made a Gryffindor, I clapped but you couldn't hear me over the rest of the table.
Being halfway through the Sorting, people were starting getting restless, mostly because they were hungry. "Moore, Matt.", a new Hufflepuff, marked the middle of the Sorting ceremony. It went on to the 'S's and there were also only two. "Sachs, Justin." A boy with black hair and blue eyes was made a Slytherin and a girl with dark brown hair and eyes, the other of the two elbowing kids "Shay, Scott." Was made a Gryffindor.
I listened as best I could to the 'T's but missed three of them because Ron, Harry and Neville had been talking about the possible Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. They quieted down just long enough for me to watch "Turner, Holly" get sorted, when the Sorting hat called out "Gryffindor" I clapped as loud as could but still I was drowned out by the rest of the Gryffindors. Holly looked a little bit like me actually, brown hair and eyes, with the exception of perfect teeth.
A few more names had been called, but none of them were sorted into Gryffindor. Professor McGonagall rolled up the parchment and put it in her cloak pocket, she then left the Great hall with the Sorting hat and the stool.
Dumbledore stood up, he had much more silencing power, the whole room became silent immediately. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts . I hope you all enjoyed your summer vacation. I can see, by the look on your faces, that you are waiting for the feast to begin." He smiled, looking around the room. "So I will try to keep it short. First things first, you will receive your timetables in the morning, and the classes will begin tomorrow. As for questions regarding Quidditch, I ask that you speak with the head of house. " He looked around the room. "Let the feast begin."
"Finally." Ron said, as the tables filled with food. He reached for some of everything and piled his plate with food, as did Neville and Harry. Ginny and I took a little of everything, sampling in smaller portions.
"So what's fifth year like?" Ginny asked me, grabbing another baked potato with her fork.
"Academically, you mean? Well, it's harder, definitely harder. Of course, I guess it depends on the person." She pointed to the butter and I passed it to her. "You should do fine if you don't leave everything until the last minute, like Harry and Ron did. Of course, I didn't have Quidditch practice or anything like that."
Ginny nodded. "Are the OWLS hard?"
"I studied so it wasn't too hard, the written was a lot of multiple choice and short and long answering."
I heard Ron, Neville and Harry talking about Quidditch and then I asked Ginny, "Do you think you're going to try out for the Quidditch team? You did pretty good as Seeker last year."
"Yeah, I was thinking about trying for Chaser."
Even though the feast went on for almost two hours, it seemed short. I talked to Ginny the whole time mostly, talking once to Luna when she wandered over from the Ravenclaw table. Ron, who was sitting beside me leaned against my shoulder and put his hand on his stomach.
"Have enough to eat?" I asked, laughing.
"I think I gained ten pounds, I don't need to eat for another month."
I tilted my head and leaned against Ron's head. "We still have to escort the first years to the Common room."
"I don't think I can move." He said, I laughed.
Colin, who had been sitting beside Ginny (across from me) took a picture. I thought of Draco and Ginny this afternoon, the sunlight on their faces, how perfect they looked. I hoped that, just for one moment, in that photograph, Ron and I looked perfect together.
~*~
Sorry, it took so long. I had food poisoning and about when I got over that we had to go visit my grandparents. I have two of my cousins staying over but I can still work on Beautiful. I hope you liked it. please review!
HEY EVERYBODY. I just want to let you know that my new friend Holly wrote the sorting song and if it wasn't for her it could've taken even longer for the chapter to come out. Everybody give her a round of applause! This chapter is for you, Holly!