The effect of those two words was massive. The Hall erupted as, everywhere, heads turned, and whispers and gasps of astonishment flew like owls at a post office.
"Dumbledore?" Sirius exclaimed, turning to Remus and James, "as in, Professor Dumbledore?"
"She never said…" murmured Remus. He caught sight of James and Sirius' faces, and shut his mouth. You have some explaining to do, their eyes were saying.
"Later," he muttered darkly, resigning to the knowledge that it was too late to get out of an explanation.
Sirius looked back up to the Teachers' Table at Rigella. Her chin was raised confidently and the pride that shone on her face was plain for all to see. She caught Dumbledore's eye and he smiled at her.
Rigella turned and sat gracefully on the stool. Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on her raven hair and a hush fell over the Hall. Peter, having at last finished his bun, looked up with cream on his face and hands.
Every eye was fixed on Rigella, waiting for the hat to decide.
*****
The Sorting Hat began to mutter quietly to itself. This was difficult. In all its time at Hogwarts, it had never seen something like this.
This girl, this Rigella, she was… interesting.
Her blood was so pure it made people like Severus Snape and Sirius Black look dirty, but it didn't matter to her. To a degree, she simply didn't care; the word 'Mudblood' may as well have not existed to her.
She was the personification of everything prized by Godric Gryffindor- brave, honest, and loyal- loyalty beyond her years.
But as suited as she was for Slytherin and Gryffindor, she had all the intelligence of a Ravenclaw.
Three options, if Hufflepuff was disregarded. But was Hufflepuff itself also an option? Helga had mad it clear she would accept any who were deemed unsuitable for the others. So perhaps Hufflepuff was where this girl belonged, if the others could not have her?
The Sorting Hat was intrigued. Never had it had a puzzle like this. Blood over bravery, or brain over blood? This was a challenge beyond words.
The girl was a mix of emotions- excitement and interest, nerves and confusion, all carefully hidden beneath total calm.
But where should it put her?
*****
James checked his watch again. Three minutes. Three minutes since Rigella had put the Hat on, and still she sat there. The Sorting Hat never took this long. It had only been a matter of seconds for him.
All over the Great Hall, students were muttering. What was wrong? Why was the Hat just sitting there?
James remembered when it had been his turn to be Sorted; his worst fear had been that the Hat would not choose him a House, that he would just sit there until someone told him to go home, he didn't belong here. But it had chosen, and chosen Gryffindor, and he couldn't be gladder. Had he not been in Gryffindor, he wouldn't have met Peter, and Remus would just be a hazy figure in the background.
Where would this strange girl end up? Which House had Dumbledore been in?
Four minutes. As suspense became too much to bear, silence fell.
*****
Although the Hat had been muttering feverishly inside her head for the past five minutes, Rigella was startled when it spoke to her directly.
Choose.
Rigella all but jumped, sure that the shock showed on her face.
What!? She hissed inside her head, conscious of the hundreds of eyes focused on her.
I cannot place you, the Hat replied. You are a puzzle. So the decision rests with you. What is the one thing you want? What do you want your House to provide you? Wisdom? Glory? Choose.
Rigella was stunned. What did she want? Stupid question. The thing she wanted more than anything was to see her family again, to undo what happened the night He found them.
But nothing now could change that. Which meant she wanted… what?
Then, in an instant, she knew. She wanted, not riches or fame, but-
Love, she whispered. I want to find love.
*****
The Sorting Hat was speechless. Then, "Gryffindor!" it croaked, in a voice that could be heard by all. The students burst into applause as Rigella stood and took off the Hat. As she placed it back on the stool, she whispered two words: "thank you."
Leaving the dais, she squeezed her way between the tables looking for a seat. She saw Kat, with a red-haired girl who looked like her twin and a taller girl with dark skin talking animatedly at the far end of the Gryffindor table, and wondered if they would mind her joining them. She had barely taken two steps, though, when-
"Rigella." She recognised the soft voice behind her. Rigella turned and saw Remus standing up from his seat. "You can sit with us if you want. We don't bite."
Smiling gratefully, Rigella took a seat between Remus and a group of first year boys who holding a conversation in dramatic whispers about some girl or another.
"Speak for yourself, Moony!" grinned a black-haired boy from across the table, his blue eyes sparkling mischievously as she sat down opposite him. "Remus here doesn't bite, he just spends the whole time with his head in a book. Some of us, however…"
He exchanged glances with a brown-eyed boy next to him and they burst out laughing.
Remus raised an eyebrow, then continued as if nothing had happened.
"Rigella, this is James Potter-" the brown-eyed boy stood and reached across the table to shake hands with her; all traces of mischief were replaced by temporary soberness- "this is Peter Pettigrew" (a small, round boy with lank blond hair made as if to shake hands, realised his were covered in cream, and thought better of it.)
"And this pathetic excuse of a human being is Sirius Black," continued Remus, smiling broadly at the boy across from Rigella. Sirius grinned insinuatingly and winked at her.
Rigella arched an eyebrow at him.
"Don't let my name fool you," he told her, leaning forward conspiratorially. "I'm actually very un-serious!"
Rigella laughed, and he beamed at her again.
Rigella returned his smile. "Interesting names," she mused.
"How so?" requested Sirius.
"You can often tell a lot about people from their names."
Sirius looked at her inquiringly.
Rigella calmly selected a chop from the plate in front of her. James seemed surprised to realise that everyone else in the hall was already eating.
"Lupin, you said your name was, Remus? Well, Lupis is the Latin name for wolf. Wolves are supposed to be very loyal, especially to their pack- their friends and family. So my guess is you're someone who would die before betraying your friends." She frowned slightly. "Did your parents have some sort of affinity for wolves?"
"Unfortunately not," said Remus dryly; "in fact the idea of meeting one seemed the last thing on their to-do list. Why do you ask?"
"In Roman legend, Remus was the name of one of the two creators of Rome. He and his brother Romulus built the city together but then fought to death over who would rule it. The two of them were actually raised by wolves." This statement was met with a rather stunned silence. Rigella looked up from her potatoes to find Peter Pettigrew's eyes bulging almost out of his face. "What most people don't realise is that Remus and Romulus were of course wizards. How else could they have communicated with wolves or built such a huge city?"
"Cool," said Remus. "So I'm destined to become a wolf. What about James?"
James smiled at Rigella. "Go for your life," he told her.
She frowned slightly. "James Potter," she mused. "What was your mother's name?"
James looked startled at the question but replied "Nevaeh Legna. And Dad's is Taiven Caedmon Potter."
Rigella's grin nearly split her face in two. "My guess is your parents were so sick of having to spell their names to everyone and having them mispronounced that they gave you the easiest name the could think of. Aside from that, I'd say there's more to you then meets the eye."
James' smile equalled Rigella's. "A lot more!" he agreed. "What about Sirius?"
Sirius looked at Rigella. Actually, he'd been studying her ever since she sat down; he couldn't take his eyes off her. Strangely, he wasn't thinking about how to get her alone in the common room- she wasn't that sort of girl. There was something about her that made him take her seriously, something that fascinated him.
"Sirius… that could mean quite a few things. Firstly, Sirius is the name of the brightest star in the sky. It's the major star of the Big Dog constellation, and it's also known as the Dog Star.
"Secondly, in the days when Muggle sailors navigated by the stars, Sirius was said to be their guiding light. All hope was gone when Sirius went Black.
"Going back even further, the Dog Star was associated with the goddess Isis, and the Ancient Egyptians used it as a basis for their calendar."
Rigella smiled at them as the food was replaced by apple pie and chocolate pudding.
"I could keep going, but if any of you were that interested, you'd have paid more attention in Astronomy and Muggle Studies. "
*****
James was exhausted by the time the boys stumbled up to Gryffindor Tower and into the dormitories. Sirius seemed completely out of it; for once he was silent as he changed into his pyjamas.
Climbing into his four-poster, James magically extinguished the lights, and for a moment the four of them lay in silence. Through the darkness, James could hear a rustling noise from Peter's side of the room. He sighed.
"Quit it, Wormtail!" he hissed angrily. The rustling stopped. Not content with the feast, Peter had smuggled more food from the Hall. The boy really was a rat.
Once again, silence reigned over the dormitory. About ten minutes later, as Remus slept and Peter began to snore, James heard Sirius' voice.
"James?" he murmured sleepily. James grunted.
"She never said what year she was in…"
"What? Who?"
"Rigella. She… never… said…" Sirius yawned enormously, "What… year… she… was in…" he trailed off as sleep overtook him
*****
7:31am. Something brushed against James feet. He rolled over and mumbled in his sleep. Another something jumped up onto the bed, snuffling at his ear with a wet nose and hot breath, and the first something began nibbling his foot.
Needless to say, James woke up.
"Get off, Padfoot! Shit, Wormtail, what the hell are you doing?!?" James launched himself out of bed and halfway across the room, franticly trying to untangle himself from the sheets. A squeaking grey rat clung to the linen, and a large black dog sat ginning on the bed, its head on one side and pink tongue hanging out. James plucked the rat off and flung it towards the bed. It landed on the mattress with a dull thud and quickly transformed into Peter, pink cheeked and squealing almost as much as the rat had been.
"Honestly, Siri, you are way too addicted to being Padfoot," James told the dog as he bundled the sheets back onto the bed.
The dog suddenly dissolved into the shape of Sirius Black, ginning just as widely as before.
"And you are way too addicted to looking at Evans! You know, it's pathetic! Every time she- OOF!"
"Why do our conversations always end with me throwing something at you?" asked James as Peter pulled Sirius off the floor.
"Because I can't talk with a pillow in my mouth."
James reclaimed the pillow from Sirius.
"Smart arse."
