As Strong As We Are United
Chapter 13 – Sorting Songs
Early in the morning, Professors McGonagall and Flitwick entered the Great Hall. "Rise and shine," called Professor Flitwick in his high, squeaky voice. Many of the students grumbled in reply.
"Everyone get up now," ordered Professor McGonagall. "All of the girls please come with me. The boys go with Professor Flitwick. We will take you to the changing rooms to pick up your school robes and then to the visitor showers for you to wash up for breakfast." Professor McGonagall turned her attention to the seventh year students, who had spent the night in the Great Hall. "You six may return to your own quarters to prepare for the day."
"Thank you, Professor," chorused the half-asleep seventh years. They then quietly trudged out of the Great Hall and up to the Scooby Common Room.
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Nearly an hour later, the six students and the Scooby faculty were all dressed and seated in the Scooby Common Room. Lorne was the last to arrive. He was wide-awake and dressed in an electric blue suit. "Somewhere over the rainbow," he sang beautifully. "This castle has some fabulous acoustics," Lorne told the group.
"Are you ready to help with the sorting?" asked Cat.
"I am totally psyched to be doing this," replied Lorne. "It'll be fabulous to do my thing among a group of innocents. Screening for evil is totally exhausting to the psyche."
"I wouldn't count on all of them being innocents," commented Draco. "Even in first year, some of the Slytherins are already preparing to take the Dark Mark when they come of age."
"Like you were?" asked Harry.
Draco scowled. "I told you before that I never wanted the Dark Mark. I just enjoyed making your life miserable."
"You give yourself too much credit," replied Harry. "With Voldemort wanting me dead and all, your annoying teasing was the least of my worries. Although, you did succeed in making Ron crazy."
"Hey," said Ron in an annoyed voice. "I could have ignored him easily, if he hadn't been constantly harassing Hermione. And I do recall a time in fifth year when Draco annoyed you enough to attack him." Harry looked confused. Ron shook his head in exasperation. "How could you forget about the fight that earned you a quidditch ban?" he asked his best friend.
"That was different. He insulted my parents," stated Harry, while shooting a nasty look at Draco.
"Yeah, yeah, I was a little snot back then. I grew up. Not to mention that I also helped rescue you from Voldemort. So, can we all move on now?" asked Draco.
"If you can read evil, maybe it wouldn't hurt to do a reading on Malfoy here," suggested Harry. "It's easy enough for him to claim to be good now."
"Come on, Harry," said Ron. "Draco did help rescue you and Dawn. He also took a Cruciatus Curse for Hermione. What more do you need?"
Harry gave Ron a disgusted look. "We've been friends for seven years now, and you can't tell when I'm kidding?" Ron blushed and bowed his head sheepishly.
"Lorne, I wouldn't mind you giving me a reading. What do I have to do?" asked Draco.
"All you have to do is sing," said Lorne.
"Ooh, do that song that you sang to me for Valentine's Day last year," suggested Dawn.
Draco cleared his throat and began to sing. "Don't ask me, what you know is true. Don't have to tell you. I love your precious heart. I, I was standing. You were there. Two world colliding, and they could never tear us apart."
"Talk about hidden talent. Have you ever considered singing professionally?" asked Lorne. Draco looked at the demon strangely.
"Well is he evil?" asked Harry.
Lorne looked at the dark haired youth. "Young Mr. Malfoy here is egotistical, a bit pompous, cunning, and overly ambitious. However, he is NOT evil."
"Told you," Draco said to Harry.
"Aren't you the least bit offended by being called egotistical and pompous?" Shannon asked Draco.
"No, why should I be? Lorne is absolutely right. I'm all those things," stated Draco matter-of-factly.
Dawn turned her attention back to Lorne. "There was a point in the middle of all this," she said. "You may come across some students who make the employees at Wolfram and Hart look like angels, especially when listening to some of the older Slytherins. Don't forget, that you are going to spend today listening to second through seventh years to form a baseline for your sorting decisions."
"You may have a point there," mused Lorne. "But this should still be fun. And hey, if the rest of them sing as well as blondie over here, I just may discover some unknown talent today. So, kiddies, when do I get started?"
"You'll start reading some of the older students after breakfast," Wesley informed Lorne.
"Speaking of breakfast, I'm starved," stated Ron.
"So what else is new?" mumbled Hermione, causing Harry to chuckle softly. Ron looked indignant, but immediately smiled when the group began to stand.
"I'm starved too," commented Charlie, taking Buffy's hand and leading her to the portrait hole.
"I think it's a Weasley thing," Buffy whispered to Hermione, as they passed. "Is everyone else coming?" asked Buffy to the group.
"I would like to wait a bit," said Lorne. "I want everyone to notice me, when I make my entrance."
"You do know that you're green and have horns, and your suit – not exactly subdued. I don't think anyone is not going to notice you," quipped Oz.
Lorne shook his head and sighed. "You just don't understand the business. I must make a proper entrance."
"Whatever say, dude," Oz conceded.
"Wesley and I will wait with you Lorne," Cat offered. "We can head down in about a half hour. By then everyone will be seated."
"Thank you, sweetie. I'm glad someone understands," Lorne replied to Cat, who smiled in return.
"Can we go now?" asked Ron. "I'm still starving here." Hermione shook her head and pushed Ron in front of her and out the portrait hole. The other students and faculty followed, leaving Cat, Wesley, and Lorne behind.
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The entire school had appeared at breakfast unusually early. Everyone was excited to see how the Empath was going to sort the first years. Many students were also debating who among them would be chosen to form a baseline for the qualities valued by each of their houses.
"Most of the school has been here for nearly an hour," commented Faith, as Buffy took a seat beside her sister Slayer. Charlie took the seat on the other side of Buffy.
"I'm surprised you're here so early," commented Buffy. "I didn't figure we would see you for breakfast. You never were one to get up early. I thought you would barely make it in time for our first class of the day."
"I probably will on most days, but I wanted to see the kids reactions to Lorne," replied Faith. "Where is he anyway?"
"He wants to make an entrance," said Willow, who with Oz at her side had taken a seat on the opposite side of Faith. "Wes and Cat are waiting up in the Common Room with him. They should be down in about half an hour."
"I trust everything is fine with our guest?" Professor Dumbledore asked the Scoobies, who had just arrived at breakfast.
"Lorne will be down with Wesley and Cat shortly," Willow told the aged headmaster.
"Ah yes, I am sure that our guest wants to make an entrance," stated Professor Dumbledore simply.
"How did you know?" asked Oz.
"The headmaster tends to know about everything that happens in the castle," explained Willow.
"You flatter me, Professor Rosenberg. I simply made an assumption based on the personality of our guest," said Professor Dumbledore. Willow giggled softly. Professor Dumbledore turned his attention to Oz. "Mr. Osborne, how are you settling in at Hogwarts?"
"Hogwarts is great," replied Oz, in his usual brief manner.
"I'll agree to that," said Spike, as he and Genevieve took their seats at the staff table. "I can't remember the last time I was able to look up at the morning sky."
"Hey, that's right," said Buffy. "But doesn't the sunlight from the windows cause problems?" she asked, while looking up at the high windows that the owls used for entry to deliver the morning post.
"They're too high," explained Genevieve. "No direct sunlight reaches this low. All of the light is coming from the enchanted ceiling, which really is beautiful. I definitely need to sneak in here one morning to watch a sunrise."
"Cat told me that she slips in here sometimes to watch thunder storms," Faith told Genevieve.
"Never thought to do that, but it would be cool," added Charlie.
"We should do that some night during a storm," Buffy said to her boyfriend.
The conversation slowly died down as the faculty began eating their breakfast. Nearly twenty minutes later, the doors to the Great Hall burst open. Everyone turned to see Lorne enter, flanked on either side by Wesley and Cat.
"The sun will come out tomorrow," sang Lorne. Everyone was staring at him. Lorne did not even consider that the students were concerned by his visage. "Just testing out the acoustics," he explained. He walked up the middle of the Great Hall toward the staff table, continuing his song. "Come what may. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. I love you, tomorrow. You're only a day away. Tomorrow. Tomorrow. I love you, tomorrow. You're only a day away."
Lorne arrived in front of the staff table, all eyes still directed on him. He put out his hand to Professor Dumbledore. "Headmaster, it is so good to see you again. Thank you for inviting me to help you."
Professor Dumbledore smiled at the demon. "Lorne, it is always a pleasure to see you. I should be thanking you. We are truly grateful that you have agreed to come to our aid. Please, take a seat and have some breakfast. The house-elves have outdone themselves this morning in preparation for your arrival."
"Thank you, Professor Dumbledore," replied Lorne. He walked around the table and took the seat to the right of Professor Dumbledore, who motioned for the students to return their attention to their breakfasts.
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As soon as he finished his breakfast, Draco walked over to the Gryffindor table and slid beside Dawn. "Did you see the looks on everyone's faces, when Lorne walked in?" he asked Dawn. She nodded and giggled.
"I'm not sure what shocked them most," commented Shannon, "the fact that he's a demon or that he sounded like he was in the middle of a Broadway show."
"He does have a beautiful voice though," mused Hermione.
"And I love his outfit," said Lavender, who along with Parvati had wandered down to join the other seventh year Gryffindor girls.
"It sounds like you know him. What can you tell us?" asked Parvati.
"His name is Lorne," said Dawn. "He works with my sister's ex in Los Angeles."
"So how does he read people?" asked Lavender. She seemed genuinely interested.
"He makes them sing," said Draco. "He read me this morning." Lavender, who had always avoided speaking to Draco, seemed torn as to whether or not to ask him more. Draco sighed exasperatedly. "I don't bite," he told Lavender.
Lavender looked a bit ashamed. "Sorry," she mumbled. In no time, she was asking Draco all kinds of questions about his reading with Lorne. Draco entertained the Gryffindor girls until breakfast was cleared from the tables. "I better get back to the Slytherin table," he said, as Professor Dumbledore rose from his seat. Draco gave Dawn a quick kiss on the cheek and dashed off to the other side of the Great Hall.
"He really has changed," commented Parvati.
"He was actually being really nice to us," added Lavender.
"I can finally see why you're dating him," Parvati said to Dawn, before dragging Lavender back to their seats beside Seamus and Dean.
When the girls returned to their seats giggling, Ron, who was sitting across from Seamus and Dean, looked down toward Hermione. Ron raised an eyebrow, confused by what Lavender and Parvati were giggling about. Hermione shrugged in reply.
Ron did not have time to ponder the girls' reaction further, because Professor Dumbledore began speaking to the assembled students. "I would like to introduce you all to Lorne. He's the Empath I was telling you about last evening. Lorne will be working with us to sort the first years into their houses. Please show Lorne the same courtesy that you show all of Hogwarts' visitors."
Lorne rose to his feet and addressed the students. "Hello, all. I'm Lorne, and I will be your Empath for the next couple of days. Now, the headmaster and I have discussed the best way to do this. Today I will do the readings of the older students; so that I can better understand the qualities that define each of the four houses. While I am doing the readings for the older students, only other students of the same house may be in attendance. So, in an hour I would like all of the Gryffindor students to return to the Great Hall. At 11:00am, all Hufflepuff students should come to the Great Hall. After lunch, I will work with Ravenclaw at 2:00pm and Slytherin at 3:30pm. Tomorrow, everyone is welcome to attend, while I begin sorting the new first years. Are there any questions?"
"Yeah, how do you do a reading?" someone called from the back of the Great Hall.
"Oh, that's easy enough," replied Lorne. "The person being read just has to sing a song for me. It can be anything really. I suppose you should all think about what you might like to sing, if you are chosen."
"Can you tell our futures?" yelled someone else.
"No one can really tell your future. After all, one decision can change everything. However, I can tell you where you will wind up if you continue down your current path. I can also help you sort out a problem you may be facing. But that is not our current purpose. In the next couple of days, we will focus solely on sorting the new students. If Professor Dumbledore is interested, I would be willing to come back to Hogwarts to do full readings later in the year. Do you have any other questions?"
Pansy Parkinson stood up and spoke. "I have to ask. What exactly are you? You definitely aren't human."
"Well of course not, sweetie," answered Lorne. "I'm a demon from a Pylea, a very dismal dimension – no music or anything. Any other questions?" No one spoke.
Professor Dumbledore rose again. "We will see the Gryffindors back here in one hour. Everyone may return to their house common rooms. First years, Madame Hooch with some assistance from the house quidditch team captains has agreed to begin your flying lessons today. You may all meet her in the entry hall."
Hermione glared at Harry. "You didn't say anything about teaching the first years to fly."
Harry shrugged. "Neither did Draco. Why don't you annoy him about it instead of me?" Hermione looked taken aback. Many of the nearby students were staring at Harry. "Get back to your own business," Harry told them, before stalking out of the Great Hall to meet Madame Hooch.
"Sorry, Mione," said Shannon. "We forgot you didn't know about the flying lessons. Madame Hooch asked Harry and Draco, when we left you and Ron with the first years."
"Don't worry about it," Hermione replied. "It gave Harry an excuse to publicly blow up at me," she added in a whisper. Dawn and Shannon smiled conspiratorially.
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At 9:30am all of the Gryffindors gathered in the Great Hall. Lorne was standing in front of the staff table with Professor Dumbledore. "Come closer everyone," called Lorne. "Don't worry about house tables. Spread out across all four tables near the front." The students did as they were told. Many looked nervous.
Professor Dumbledore spoke. "I am going to use a spell to randomly choose a student from each year to sing for Lorne." The headmaster raised his wand. "Randomus Seventh Year." A glowing light appeared first at the tip of his wand and then flew out over the students' heads. After circling the students several times, the light came to rest over Hermione's head. "Miss Granger, you will be representing the seventh year Gryffindors," said Professor Dumbledore.
"Come up here beside me," Lorne instructed Hermione, who got up and stood beside the demon. "Now," continued Lorne. "I need you to sing anything you would like."
Hermione closed his eyes and took a deep breath. She had been hoping that she would not be picked. She knew that she had a fairly good singing voice, but she was uncomfortable singing in front of so many people.
Hermione quickly chose an American song that had always reminded her of how she felt about Ron and her hopes for the future. Her eyes still closed, she began to sing. "Late at night, when all the world is sleeping. I stay up and think of you. And I wish on a star that somewhere you are thinking of me too. Cause I'm dreaming of you tonight. 'Till tomorrow, I'll be holding you tight. And there's nowhere in the world that I'd rather be, than here in my room, dreaming about you and me."
Hermione began to get into the song. She smiled to herself, when she realized that her dreams had already come true. Her eyes scanned the room, carefully avoiding Ron, as she continued. "Wonder if you ever see me, and I wonder if you know I'm there. When you look in my eyes, do you see what's inside? Do you even care? I just want to hold you close, but so far, all I have are dreams of you. So, I wait for the day and the courage to say how much I love you. Yes, I do."
Ron could not help himself. His eyes were glued to Hermione's form. Even though she refused to look at him, he knew that she was singing directly to him. "Cause I'm dreaming of you tonight. 'Till tomorrow, I'll be holding you tight. And there's nowhere in the world that I'd rather be, than here in my room, dreaming about you and me."
"I can't stop dreaming of you. I can't stop dreaming. I can't stop dreaming of you." Ron sighed to himself. Sometimes he still could not believe that he and Hermione were together.
Lavender and Parvati both noticed the lost look on Ron's face. Misinterpreting it, Lavender whispered to Parvati. "We have to get them back together." Parvati nodded her head enthusiastically.
"Late at night, when all the world is sleeping. I stay up and think of you. And I still can't believe that you came up to me and said I love you." Hermione caught Ron's eye for a fraction of a second. "I love you too."
"Now I'm dreaming of you tonight. 'Till tomorrow and for all of my life. And there's nowhere in the world that I'd rather be, than here in my room, dreaming of you endlessly." Hermione was taken aback, when the Gryffindors burst into applause for her.
"This school is just full of talent," commented Lorne, who began scribbling some notes for himself. "Thank you so much, Hermione."
Professor Dumbledore again raised his wand. "Randomus Sixth Year." This time the light came to rest above Collin Creavy. He jumped out of his seat and ran up to Lorne's side.
"Whenever you're ready Mr. Creavy," said Lorne.
Collin nodded enthusiastically, took a deep breath, and began to sing. The Gryffindors looked at him strangely. His singing was not half bad, but the song he chose was a bit out of the ordinary. "It was a night like this, forty million years ago. I lit a cigarette. . ."
Everyone laughed as Collin did a dance to the song's refrain. "Open the door. Get on the floor. Everybody walk the dinosaur. Open the door. Get on the floor. Everyone walk the dinosaur. Boom, boom, Ika lika lika, boom. Boom, boom, Ika, lika, boom, boom. . ."
"Is that a muggle song?" Parvati asked Dawn. "It's really weird."
"It's a muggle song, but it's even weird by muggle standards," Dawn replied.
During the next hour, the Gryffindors enjoyed listening to the second through fifth year students singing. Some were very good. Some were just plain awful. But, everyone had a very good time.
When the second year student finished his song, Lorne once again addressed the group. "I want to thank all of you for helping me this morning. Gryffindor house seems to have some real talent. In my readings, it was easy to see the bravery and daring that define Gryffindor in you all."
"You are all excused for the rest of the day," Dumbledore informed the students. "Please feel free to return to your common room or to enjoy some of the beautiful weather out on the grounds. I will see you all for lunch."
Dawn, Shannon, and Hermione agreed to go back to the Scooby Common Room. Ron, overhearing the girls, decided to join them. However, he took a different route, so that it would not appear that he was following the girls. Ginny and Neville joined him, making the excuse to their friends that they wanted to speak with Cat and Charlie about their duties as teaching assistants.
Ron, Ginny, and Neville arrived in the Scooby Common Room a few minutes after Dawn, Shannon, and Hermione. Lorne was also there, taking a break before meeting with the Hufflepuff students. "Hermione, you really do have a beautiful voice," the Empath was telling Hermione, who was blushing deeply.
"He's right. I never knew you could sing like that," said Ron from near the portrait hole. "You were amazing."
Lorne smiled at the red-haired teen. "I assume that I'm not breaking any confidences by saying that she was singing every word of that song to you."
Hermione's blush darkened. "I just hope that no one else noticed," she said softly.
"Don't worry, sweetie. I never even noticed you look at him. I only saw what you feel for Ron empathically," assured Lorne.
"Yes well, while Hermione has been very good about ignoring Ron. Ron has made it totally obvious that he wants Hermione," noted Ginny, a hint of disgust in her voice.
"That shouldn't be a problem," said Shannon. "He had that lost puppy-dog look before you made up too."
"And it's totally believable that both Ron and Hermione are too stubborn to get back together even if they still have feelings for each other," stated Neville. "In third year, they didn't speak for months."
"That isn't the problem," said Ginny. "Our gossips, Lavender and Parvati, have decided to make it a personal mission to get these two back together."
The students looked at each other worriedly. "Well, I hate to leave you with your dilemma, but I need to get back to the Great Hall to meet with the Hufflepuffs," said Lorne, as he stood. The students waved to him, as he left through the portrait hole.
"Maybe this isn't such a problem," commented Shannon. "It could take months to get these two back together for as stubborn as they can be." Ron and Hermione smiled at each other.
"And even if you get back together," added Dawn, making finger quotes during the last two words, "that doesn't immediately put you on speaking terms with Harry. And he's the one that Voldemort needs to believe is alone."
"But it's still best to drag out the breakup for as long as possible," said Ginny. Everyone else agreed.
"So, what does everyone have planned for the day?" asked Dawn.
"I had hoped to start planning some of the school activities for the year, but Harry and Draco are helping with flying lessons," Hermione informed her friend.
"And training's out, without Harry, Draco, or Luna," added Willow, as she entered the portrait hole with Charlie, Cat, and Oz.
"Where is everyone else?" asked Dawn.
"Buffy, Faith, Wesley, Genevieve, and Spike are coordinating schedules," Charlie told the students. "Spike is splitting his time between DADA and Fighting Techniques."
"So why is Wesley with them?" asked Shannon.
"He wants Genevieve to tell her story to his History of the Slayer class, like Buffy and Faith did last year. So when Genevieve is in Wesley's class, Spike needs to teach DADA. They are trying to work it all out," explained Willow.
"I'm going to head to the library then," said Hermione.
"Wait." Ron stopped her. Hermione looked slightly annoyed. "We can't be together out there. Could you just bring whatever you need back here. I promise to be quiet while you do your work."
Hermione's features softened. "I'll hurry back," she promised. She kissed Ron quickly on the cheek, before heading to the portrait hole.
"Hang on, Mione," called Dawn. "I'll come with you. I want to look up some things."
As her friends left the Common Room, Shannon stifled a yawn. "Sleeping on the floor last night sucked," she proclaimed. "I'm going to take a nap. Someone wake me up for lunch." She climbed the stairs to the suite of rooms that she shared with Dawn and Hermione.
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After dinner that night, Buffy called a meeting with all of the students that were training to defeat Voldemort. "I'm actually calling this meeting to schedule another meeting. By the end of the week, classes will finally begin and you should all know your schedules. So on Saturday night I want all of us to meet to discuss our training schedule. You should all make sure that you know what free time you have by then."
The students began to argue, but Buffy put up her hand to silence them. "Ron and Hermione will have to get the prefects schedule completed by then, and Harry and Draco will have to get their quidditch schedules completed by then too. You have all day Saturday to work on it. You could even begin working on it now."
Buffy retired to her quarters, as did Charlie a few minutes later. Willow and Oz decided to take a walk around the castle. Genevieve and Spike invited Cat and Wesley down to their dungeon suite to watch a movie on Spike's now charmed television. (Somehow, probably by paying her, Spike had convinced Anya to tape Passions every day and send him the tape by owl post at the end of each week.)
Luna soon excused herself. She had promised to write to Andrew each night. Ginny and Neville soon followed. They still worried that Ron would explode at them for being too touchy in front of him.
The six seventh years were soon left alone in the Scooby Common Room. "And I worried that we would have the adults hanging over us all the time," commented Dawn. The other students shrugged, as Harry and Ron set up a game of wizard chess. Draco agreed to play the winner, knowing that it would be Ron.
"I'm just glad that the seventh year prefects are on first year duty tonight. I couldn't take another night sleeping in the Great Hall," said Hermione, as she and Dawn pulled out their personal research. Shannon, who was thoroughly bored, pushed some of the furniture out of the way to make room to do some stretching exercises.
"Harry, why even bother to play, if all you're going to do is watch Shannon," complained Ron. Harry was staring at his girlfriend as she did various yoga postures as part of her warm-up.
"Well, the quicker he loses, the sooner I get to play," commented Draco. Harry scowled at Draco, but quickly returned his attention to Shannon.
Ron shook his head. As he waited for Harry to make a move, Ron spoke to Draco. "What did you think of your housemates singing?"
Draco started laughing hysterically. "Merlin, you should have heard Goyle singing I'm A Little Teapot. It was the only song he could think of."
"That's a muggle song," said Dawn, looking up from the large book in front of her.
"No, it's a wizard song. Muggles probably learned it through intermarriages," replied Ron.
"Or it could have been the other way around," mumbled Hermione without looking up from her work.
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During the next two days, Lorne sorted the first years. Because they were all so nervous, Professor Dumbledore suggested that they each sing the school song. Fortunately, Lorne was able to determine the right house for many students without them having to sing the whole song.
The older students were very interested in the sorting at first, but as Lorne neared the end of the alphabet, everyone agreed that they would be happy to never hear the school song again. However, all four houses loudly welcomed each and every one of their new students.