Chapter 18 Sorting By Basilisk

Corin grimaced as he shifted once again, trying to ease the pain in his shoulder. He was once again standing guard, or rather sitting guard, by the back door of the train. His shoulder was pretty torn up; so much so that he and the elves there couldn't do much to heal it besides stop it from bleeding until they got back to Hogwarts where one of the elves who specialized in healing could help him. He also had a small cut and bruise on his left cheek where one of the passing deatheaters had kicked him. That had been cleaned, but again, he was waiting to get it healed until they reached Hogwarts.

He wasn't alone in his guard duty either. The four first years had taken it upon themselves to stand guard with him and were now seated around him chatting. He found it amusing that four students could be so diverse in personalities, yet become instant best friends in a matter of minutes.

Jackson had a quiet and sweet personality. And from only knowing him for about an hour, Corin could see that he was extremely intelligent. Brice was more of a hothead and a bit of a jokester as well. He and Jemma were very similar in the fact that they were very loud and always dominated the conversation. Jemma, as said before, was very loud and also very opinionated. She also was frequently hyperactive, had a quirky personality, and had a tendency to say outrageous things. Raven, however, was a bit like Jackson. She was quiet and soft-spoken. That didn't mean she was shy, just that she waited for the opportune time to speak. He knew that if provoked though, that she would probably be quite fierce.

Oron and a couple of the other elves had come back to check on him. Oron had been highly amused by the four students that had all but adopted his friend as their big brother. And according to him, Corin would be 'in for it' when Laurea found that he'd been hurt. Corintur grimaced at the thought of his girlfriend's wrath for making her worry.

"Corintur? How much longer till we get there?" Brice asked. The children, or rather Jemma and Brice, had been debating about whether you had to fight a basilisk in order to get sorted into houses. Brice maintained that all the first years had to fight some type of monster in order to get sorted, Jemma told him that was ridiculous and that all of the first years would be killed off if this were true. Finally they agreed to disagree. Raven and Jackson just shook their heads amused and continued playing chess; Raven was winning at the moment but it was close.

"About another half hour."

"Corin, how do we get sorted?" Jemma asked.

He gave a mischievous grin, "You know I can't tell you that."

"Awww, come on... please?"

"Nope."

She grumbled, then leaned back to sulk. Finally, she thought of another question. "Corin, will you be staying at the school or are you just here to guard the train?"

"I'll be staying." He replied, "In fact, I'll be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Don't tell anyone though. We don't want to ruin the surprise for Dumbledore."

"Wow, really?" Brice exclaimed, "I assumed it would be Remus Lupin. One of my older brothers had him about three years ago. I saw him on the train, so I just figured..."

"Actually, he will be teaching. I'll be teaching first through fourth years and he and Professor Black will teach fifth through seventh."

"Whoa, so all this time we've been sitting with a Professor? Hope we haven't implicated ourselves in anything your Professorship." Jemma said with a grin.

"That's it, just for that I'm giving everyone detention for a week!!" He grinned.

"Nooooo, not detention!!" Jemma and Brice cried simultaneously, then laughed when they realized that they'd copied each other.

"YES!!! Detention!! I'll make you scrub chamber pots with your toothbrushes and clip the front lawn with fingernail clippers and do Snape's laundry and..."

"EEEwwww!!"

"Okay, maybe not that last one..." They all laughed and went back to thinking, talking, or playing chess.

The attack had been short-lived according to Oron. The ten remaining deatheaters had charged through the train meeting no resistance due to the yellow mist. They had headed straight for the Weasleys' and Hermione's compartment, but had not counted on Corin using his magic to get rid of the mist. Right as they had reached the compartment door, they had been knocked over by the blast of wind and when they'd recovered, they'd found themselves surrounded by wands. No one knew the reasons for their trying to kidnap Corin's old friends, but assumed it had something to do with Voldemort's search for Harry Potter.

They all looked up when there was an announcement that they were ten minutes away from the station. At Corin's insistence, the four students went back to their compartments to change into their uniforms. After they'd finished, they sat back down next to Corin for the remainder of the trip. When the train began to slow, they stood and helped Corin to his feet.

When they'd stopped, Corin spoke. "Alright, let's go. You don't need to bring your luggage with you. The house elves will get it and it will be waiting for you when you get to your dorms." The four now suddenly nervous students nodded shakily and followed him out the door and onto the station platform in Hogsmead.

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" Corin escorted his four young friends over to Hagrid amid the rush of students.

"Hello Hagrid."

"'Ello Corintur. Eh, jus' so you know, that Knealin of yours escaped again. Found 'im climbing the suits of armor in the fifth floor corridor. Gave 'im to your girlfriend to watch 'til yeh got back."

Corin sighed exasperated, and shook his head tiredly. "Thanks Hagrid." He turned to the four students behind him who were eyeing the large Professor cautiously. "Jackson, Raven, Brice and Jemma, meet Hagrid. Hagrid, meet four new first years who helped me on the train after the attack."
"A pleasure ter meet yeh. Speaking of, we'd best be goin' if we want ter make it to the feast on time. Firs' years this way! Follow me." Lantern in hand, Hagrid turned away and started leading the new students down the path towards the lake.

The four students looked nervously at Corin and he made a shooing motion with his hand. "Go on, I'll see you when you get there. Good luck on your sorting! Don't worry, it isn't too painful." He grinned and they giggled, relaxing slightly and then headed down the path following Hagrid and the rest of the first years.


"Clark, Laurel."

"RAVENCLAW!" The hat shouted.

Corin clapped politely along with the rest of the teachers at the head table as the newly sorted first year made her way to her house table. He could see several glances being sent this way as he continued to watch the sorting. News of how he'd contributed to the fight on the train had made its rounds and he could see many students eyeing him curiously, not to mention the groups of giggling girls who apparently thought he was cute. He rolled his eyes at the thought.

"Edwards, Jemma." The blonde haired girl grinned nervously and skipped up to the stool and sat down. McGonagall placed the hat on her head which thought silently for a moment then declared, "GRYFFINDOR!!"

The sorting went on. After Cody Jacobs was placed in Hufflepuff, it was Raven's turn. Her sorting took longer than Jemma's. Finally the hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" and she made her way to her house table to join her friend.

Brice was placed in Gryffindor as well. Drake McGinnis went to Ravenclaw, Alton Merrow to Slytherin, Heather O'Neil to Hufflepuff, and Landon Sherk to Slytherin. Finally after Jackson, who was the last one sorted, went to Gryffindor to join his friends, Dumbledore stood.

"Welcome everyone to another year at Hogwarts! I will save announcements for the end of the feast, but for now: kibbitz, Bouillabaisse, widget!" As the feast appeared before their eyes, Corin chuckled at the astonished looks on the first years faces, then began loading his plate up with food.


YES! Two chapters in three days!! Some comments on my last chapter and some answers to some questions people wrote in their reviews.

1. The arrows Corin shot were normal arrows, not blunted in any way. They were simply spelled so as not to shoot through a person, just give them a huge bruise and to prick them with the tip of the arrowhead. Yes I know that falling from a speeding broom to the ground would injure them, but that would be their fault for attacking the train, not Corin's.

2. Someone else made the comment that I should have some drow elves in my story. Believe me, I'd love to do that. I'm a big fan of the Drizzt Do'Urden books and just about everything by R.A. Salvatore. But I don't think I'd be able to fit a drow into my story in such a way as to make it believeable. Maybe in some future story. But thanks for the review.

3. Like the idea of someone finding out about Corin's identity by finding out that Corintur means Harry in elvish. I'll keep it in mind. But they won't find out for a while yet.

Well, gotta go, hope you like this new chapter and can't wait to read more reviews!

Arye