Disclaimer: The plot from Harry Potter belongs to Rowling as well as her characters. The rest is mine.
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'New at Hogwarts'
Chapter 8
Gryffindor vs. Slytherin
It was October 1, the sun was shinning bright above the horizon, birds were chirping happily, flowers bloomed despite the cold and Alex felt really stupid. Now the man who would be her potions teacher would not only give her low grades and detention each week for nothing, but he'd also think she was a baby, telling her parents she'd crashed into him and got a big bump that hurt. 'Way to go, Alex!' Her mind scolded her as a very weak sunray hit her on the face. 'Why do these things always happen to me?' She thought gloomily.
One hour later, the three Kevingstons were up and about, gathering all of their belongings (including all the school stuff they'd bought and after making sure they'd left nothing behind and saying their goodbyes to Tom, Anna, Robert and Alex headed towards the walled courtyard.
"Dad, how are we going to get to Hogwarts?" She was hoping her father answered 'on a broom', but his reply was even better.
"We'll apparate"
"You mean like in the movies?"
"Something similar to that, yes. Now make silence and grab my hand. Honey, are you ready?"
"Go on Robert. On the count of three."
"Very well. 1, 2. . .3!"
There was a loud 'CRACK' and they were gone.
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"Here we are, Hogwarts!"
The huge castle stood before them, its great towers casting long shadows on the lake below it.
Alex stared with a mixture of awe and fear of what awaited her there.
"You never said the school was a castle!" She exclaimed.
"You never asked." Her father told her, raising his eyebrows.
Mrs. Kevingston raised her wand and a white ball of light soared up in the sky.
"Aren't we going to knock or something?" Alex, whose feet were starting to feel cold, asked.
"I just did"
"Oh"
"So when do the other students arrive?" Mrs. Kevingston, who had always found her daughter's questioning a bit irritating, took a deep breath.
"They're already here, of course!"
"WHAT!"
"Alex! Keep your voice down!"
"How am I supposed to keep my voice down when I've just found out that everyone else is already here! When did they arrive?" Alex was trying desperately to keep her temper er- under control.
Mr. Kevingston realised it was his turn to answer the questions before his wife and daughter started a shouting competition.
"The rest of the students arrived here September 1 and-" But Mr. Kevingston was interrupted as usual. This time however, it wasn't Alex the one who did it.
"Robert, Anna! How have you been?"
Turning to the great iron gates, Alex saw an old wizard with a long silver beard and matching silver hair. His blue eyes were hidden behind his half-moon spectacles.
"Albus Dumbledore!" her father roared, a smile appearing on his face. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Indeed it has." Dumbledore answered, the iron gates opening to let them through. "How are you Anna?"
"I never thought I'd be back here at Hogwarts. I'm glad I was wrong Albus!" For once, Mrs. Kevingston seemed actually convinced that letting her go to Hogwarts was the right thing.
"Well, it's been a while since Voldemort was last seen." Dumbledore too, seemed happy to see them. He hugged them both and settled his gaze on Alex.
"So, Alexandra, I must apologize for making you join us so late, but as you will understand, there were some matters that had to be dealt with since you know no magic at all. Why don't we continue this conversation in my office? It's starting to get quite chilly out here."
Alex was the first one to follow, admiring every inch of the castle where she would be spending the following months. It was magnifiscent. All those staircases that moved and the suits of armor. The group came to a halt before a statue with the form of a gargoyle that no sooner had Dumbledore givien it the password, came to life and moved aside, revealing a spiraling stair.
Dumbledore´s office was round, it's wall (since it's round we can't say there are many, can we?) covered with portraits of witches and wizards and above the fireplace rested the most beautiful sword Alex had ever seen. It was silver with enormous rubies on its handle.
"Take a seat" Dumbledore said motioning towards the two chairs in front of his desk. "It seems like we're missing one . . ." and with a flick of his wand, an extra chair appeared between the other two. "There we are!
Now, Alex, as you may already know, you should have started school when you turned eleven but due to circumstances the first letter never reached you."
"You mean you sent a letter before the one she got?" Alex's mom interrupted.
"Anna, please. I know you must have half a million questions, which of course I'll answer later on." Mrs. Kevingston nodded and let him go on.
"Since you are almost fourteen, you should be in fourth year. However, and I am sure you will agree, you lack the knowledge necessary for that level and if I were to put you there, you'd feel terribly uncomfortable. As it would be terribly unfair to make you course first year, not to mentionas uncomfortable, I have decided that you should course third year. You will as well, be taking extra classes each afternoon and during the weekends, unless, of course, you prefer to course first year?"
Alex looked dumbfounded at the man before her. Did he really expect her to be able to cope? 'But,' a part of her said. 'if he thinks I can, then why shouldn't I be able to do it?'
"No, thank you sir. I think I'll manage just fine."
Dumbledore smiled. Then I guess the only thing left to do is see which house you'll belong to.
'Oh, that.' Alex had completely forgotten abou it.
Just then, an elderly witch came through the office's door.
"Ah, Minerva, here you are. Shall we proceed?"
"Very well." Minerva McGonagall replied and took a very old hat Alex hadn't noticed before from a shelf.
"Sit here", she instructed to Alex pointing at a smaller chair.
She sat there, not knowing what to expect when all of a sudden the witch placed the hat on her head. This, being a bit big for her, covered her eyes. But what made her jump was the fact that you could hear the hat talking in your head.
'Hmmm . . .where shall I put you?' It said in her head.
'Well, what houses are there?' Alex thought back to the hat.
'Maybe Ravenclaw?You seem eager to learn. . .'
'What else?' She asked truly curious.
'There's Hufflepuff. You seem to be extremely loyal to your loved ones', it whispered.
'Hmmm', she said, not really convinced 'what else?'
'Perhaps Slytherin?'
'Slytherin? It sounds interesting . . .but, I thought there were four houses?'
'Gryffindor?'
'Hmm . . .Slytherin or Gryffindor?'
Everyone around the girl was expectant. The hat was taking extremely long to decide.
'Tell me more about Slytherin', Alex asked.
'Severus Snape'
'Wha- damn hat! You may talk in my mind but not read it like a book!'
'You asked', it replied, and Alex were sure that if it had had a mouth, it would be grinning.
'If you know that I want to be as far as possible from him, then you'll know better than to put me in his house!' Alex warned the hat. It was beginning to bug you.
'Allright then,you'll belong to . . .'
"Gryffindor!"
Taking of the old hat, Alex placed it back where it had beenbefore. Her mother was clapping and whooping excitedly, while her father was smiling radiantly.
Alex's mom hugged her tightly. "Oh, our same house! And I thought that you'd go to Slytherin since-" What she had been about to say, Alex didn't find out right there despite the fact that the room had gone suddenly quiet as her mother had abruptly stopped before she could finish the sentence. Alex saw Dumbledore exchange looks with Minerva after glancing at both her parents.
Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Hmm-hmm. . . well, now that Miss Kevingston has been sorted, Minerva, why don't you fetch Miss Granger?"
She nodded and went out through the door.
Five minutes later, professor McGonagall was back, followed by a girl around Alex's age with bushy light-brown hair.
"Miss Kevingston," Dumbledore started "may I introduce you to Hermione Granger, remarkable student, excellent behaviour and your fellow Gryffindor as well as your guide.
Miss Granger, this is Alexandra Kevingston. She'll be joining you from now onwards. So, now that presentations were made, what about you show her to your dormitories, Miss Granger?"
Hermione nodded and waited until Alex'd finished saying goodbye to her parents and then both girls walked out of the office.
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"So, why did you start school so late? I mean, Dumbledore told us that you'd be joining us later and that you'd be in third year but he didn't really say why." Hermione asked, trying to start a conversation.
Alex sighed. "It's a really long story. But to make it short, let's just say I didn't get my letter the first time Dumbledore sent it.
So, 'remarkable student'?" Alex asked with a small smile.
"He was exaggerating, really, I'm not that good, well okay, maybe I have a couple of good grades . . ." Hermione babbled.
Alex smiled. It seemed like she'd made the right choice after all.
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A/N: chapter 8 finished! Hope you enjoyed . . .review!
Catgirl89