Green Sleeves: A Hogwarts Story
Chapter 1
A new generation in Hogwarts. Things are basically the same. Headmistress McGonagall has aged, along with many teachers. Every trace of her black hair is replaced by grey. She has been replaced by a Professor Terinsby, who is much more fun, in Transfiguration. Professor Flitwick has retired, replaced by the austere Professor Hertweiz. Professor Sprout is entering her last year at Hogwarts, much to the disappointment of most students. The mer-people have been acting strangely, so the lake are has been blocked off until further notice. Entering Hogwarts are the offspring of some familiar faces. Diana Greensinger is the daughter of the former Luna Lovegood. Luna, since graduating from Hogwarts, married a muggle poet named Travis Greensinger. Her odd disposition has never left her and has been somewhat adopted by Diana. The resemblance is uncanny, except Diana's hair is curly and shoulder-length. Also joining is the son of Hermione Whitten, (yes, our Hermione) Darek. He is under extreme pressure to live up to his mother's name, especially since his sister, Allexes (All-eeks-ehs) turned out to be a Squib. Karen and Sinallette Weasley, twin sisters. Have all the mischievousness of their father, Fred Weasley, and uncle, George, following their cousins Renol and Terrance. Renol Brown, Ginny's son, is sixth year, and has made quite a name for himself in Quidditch. Terrance Weasley is Ron's son, fifth year, aspiring Hogwarts teacher. Then last, but most certainly not least, the lovely and talented Verille Potter, daughter of, if you hadn't guessed, Harry Potter. She is attending after her second-year brother, Polois. A little background on Harry, after graduating he became an auror and married a colleague, Ghissa Gerranauf. He and Ginny lost contact after he went to defeat Voldemort. Verille and Polois have much expected of them. Verille loves it, but Polois isn't quite as stable. These, along with all-new faces in the history of Hogwarts, will endeavor into new adventures and fresh stories, all intertwining, connected by a single, wondrous school. An adventure too big for one main character. Our heroine is the aforementioned Diana Greensinger, our hero: Warren Strillo, Slytherin, second year. Now we join in the feast, but it has not yet begun, for the Sorting Hat must do his part. He has sung his new song, and has gone through the A's and partly the B's. The first years lined up have already made friends and are whispering amongst themselves. The girl with fair, curly hair stands alone amongst all the happy people, lost in her network of unusual connections in her thoughts. She stares at the Sorting Hat, wondering if it has a real name, like hers, Diana Greensinger. She wondered if perhaps it knew something none of the others did. Maybe the world was really run by magic, singing hats and nobody knew it. Wouldn't that be interesting?
"Berold, Kerry!"
The harsh voice of the Deputy Headmistress, Professor Hertweiz, rang once again over the anxious students. Diana was annoyed by this intrusion upon her own little world. She began singing to herself, a song her father had written for her as a young child.
Begin at the ending
Go forward in reverse
A destiny in silver
The brightest living curse
And try to find the bronze one
With a knife stuck in his hand
Forget to forget to remember
And graze upon the sand
Not one of his better works, but she liked it all the same. Mostly because it was for her, inspired by her. In a way, it belonged to her and no one else could touch it.
"Bhandi, Dachki"
Well he didn't sound English. Diana wondered if her could make snakes dance, his name suggested so. Not that she would know, really. The boy got into Gryffindor.
"All right Dachki," said someone behind her. She turned to see someone who looked quite familiar. She had blazing red hair and a face covered in freckles. Her mother had told her about a family where all of them were like that.
"You," she said, pointing to the girl and making her way towards her, "Are you a Weasley?"
"Wow, we must be famous, eh?" said the girl, "Yup, I'm a proud Weasley. Karen Weasley, exactly one-half of the new and improved Weasley duo."
"Dad would beg to differ," said another, "We aren't the ones who opened the most famous joke shop in the history of British wizardry."
Diana looked around Karen and found…another Karen.
"Clones!" she exclaimed, making the clones laugh at the same time.
"Twins, my dear," said the second Karen, "I'm Sinnallette Weasley. Our father and uncle are soon to be internationally famous, in case you hadn't heard."
"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" asked Diana, remembering the joke shop on Diagon Alley. She had seen no one who looked like these clones there.
"Yup," said Karen, beaming, "But our dad'n'uncle don't have time for the one shop they started on Diagon Alley, no sir."
"They've made franchises everywhere," said Sinnallette, "They have main offices in London."
"And soon in Paris," Karen put in.
"And Tokyo"
"And Cairo"
They both then looked at Diana.
"We didn't get your name," they said in unison.
"Oh, I'm Diana," said Diana, "Diana Greensinger."
"Are your relations famous?"
"No," she said, "but my mum knew someone by the name of Weasley."
"That narrows it down a lot," said Sinnallette, jokingly.
"I believe his name was Don…"
"Uncle Ron!" they exclaimed, "Oh yes, he's ours."
"He's managing bands."
"Ever heard of Cretin and the Dirty Cauldrons?"
"No…" said Diana, trying to remember. If they were famous, they would have been in the Quibbler, the magazine her mother worked for.
"You will," said Karen, confidently.
"So who's your mum?" asked Sinnallette.
"Luna Lovegood-Greensinger," said Diana.
"We'll ask if he knows her," said Sinnallette.
"You can call me Kar, by the way," said Karen.
"And I go by the name of Sin," said Sinnallette with a diabolical smile.
"You can call me Diana," said Diana, liking her name fine the way it was.
"How about Dia?" asked Kar.
"Or just Di…" said Sin.
"It really doesn't matter to me," said Diana.
Professor Hertweiz yelled over the students again,
"Dovis, John"
"This is going too slowly," said Kar, taking out a piece of gum and chewing on it. It was an odd grayish color.
"What's that?" asked Diana.
"That, Di, is Smoke Signal Chewing Gum," said Sin, "Patented by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, a twist on an old muggle trick.
"If you're lost in the woods, the mountains, or boring bus stations, have no fear, easy smoke signals are close at hand," said Kar, as if reading it right from the pack. Thick gray smoke spewed from her mouth as she spoke, "just chew and puff without worrying about burning the place down."
"Then there's a list of boring side effects, we've only read up to fifty," said Sin.
"I got up to fifty-two," said Kar.
"Side effects?"
"Well I forgot what they were…" said Kar, looking at her sister. Sin shrugged.
"Ericson, Kelly!"
The smoke from Kar's gum was quickly spreading throughout the gathered first years. Several people started coughing, others were looking around with confused expressions on their faces. The smoke billowed from Kar's mouth, while Sin was checking out people's faces. A huge smile took up half of her face.
"Fitzlery, William!"
The smoke was rapidly filling the Great Hall. The older students sitting at the tables had begun to notice it. They were whispering amongst themselves, and Diana distinctly heard "Fire" from someone. More people were coughing, sneezing, or looking around wildly. A few looked ready to scream out "FIRE!"
"Frederick, Gerald!"
There weren't many left who hadn't noticed the smoke. The teachers in the staff table had become aware of the strange behavior of the students. Headmistress McGonagall strained to see what was happening, and the ancient caretaker, Filch was already making his way through the crowd of first years. Halfway to Diana and the clones, he started coughing uncontrollably, and couldn't seem to see where he was going. Professor Hertweiz looked over at Headmistress McGonagall who was surveying the scene with a look of severe censure. Hertweiz decided to keep calling names.
"Um...Gallomoon, Jade!"
Filch was getting close to them. Another teacher had met up with him, using a spell to clear a path through the thick smoke. Diana wanted to see what happened, but Professor Hertweiz was also getting close. To Diana's name that is.
"There," said Filch between coughs, gesturing toward Kar and Sin. Kar was rubbing her hands together, Sin looked ready to explode with laughter.
"Geomon, Harold!"
"Well, well..." Filch erupted in a coughing fit before he reached the final "well."
Sin was desperately trying to suppress laughter, and Kar, having tried to do the same, had joined Filch in a loud, plegmish, coughing spree. The teacher who had accompanied Filch gently patted them both on the back.
"Spit...cough wheeze...out" said Filch, holding out his hand.
In a thick stream of gray smoke, Kar spit the moist lump into Filch's hand. He looked at it in disgust. Then he noticed the second Karen, Sin.
"Ah..." he said, coughing violently, "Weasley's eh?"
Kar and Sin looked at each other with identical mischievous looks.
"Karen and Sinnallette Weasley," said Kar.
"Popularly known as Kar and Sin," said Sin.
They both bowed as they chorused, "At your service."
"Yeah...cough...yeah," wheezed Filch, "After the feast, the headmistress will meet up with you."
"Us?" said Kar, "meet the Headmistress in person?"
"I feel like a celebrity," said Sin, beaming.
Filch scowled at them, then headed off, coughing all the way. The other teacher tried to pat his back again, but he refused to be helped. The teacher decided to clear the smoke instead.
"Greensinger, Diana!"
"That's you," said Kar and Sin.
"That's me..."
Diana hadn't realized how nervous she was until now. She made her way through the crowd of panting students, and up to the stool. It felt like Judgement Day, she wondered if she would be chosen for Ravenclaw like her mother was. She sat on the magnificently high stool and allowed the Sorting Hat be placed on her head.
"You are quite unique," said an eerie voice in her head. Uh-oh, now she was hearing voices.
"You aren't hearing voices child," said the voice, "It is I, the Sorting Hat."
Have you a name? thought Diana.
"I am dubbed the Sorting Hat, I don't think I would have any need for more a name than that. Now, shouldn't I be asking the questions?"
That depends on what questions you have to ask.
"Ah, I see, now. Daughter of Luna Lovegood. She was very much like you I think."
Diana was curious as to how, for this was surely something only her mother and the Sorting Hat would know.
"For example, child, I believe she too briefly wondered if the world was run by magical, singing hats."
Really?
"Really. I can't quite be sure, so many pass through here, it's hard to remember who is who."
Have you decided?
"Anxious, are we? Well, then, let me think...I believe...perhaps...but no..."
Is anything wrong?
She received no answer, several people were watching her, including Kar and Sin. Diana was growing impatient by the indecision of...
"GRYFFINDOR!"
It took her a moment to realize that the hat had just announced her house. Hertweiz took the hat off of her and Diana went to sit with the table that had just erupted into cheers. She sat next to a boy with blazing red hair and a face full of freckles. It couldn't be...
"Terrance Weasley," said the boy happily, taking her hand and shaking it. Just as she thought, another Weasley. They seemed to be spreading like wildfire.
"Have you met my cousins, yet?" he asked, "They're starting this year, a bit too much trouble than they're worth if you know what I mean."
"Kar and Sin?" asked Diana.
"Aye, that's them, bloody troublemakers at that," he said, "M'dad says they're exactly like their dad and his twin. It's just uncanny that Uncle Fred would have twins, ain't it?"
"They seemed nice," said Diana, "They started the smoke."
"I figured as much. That's a new product," Terrance added, "We were the first to get it, too." He pulled out a pack of chewing gum. It was gray with bright yellow letters saying Smoke Signal Chewing Gum, you never know when you'll need it. Diana found that that was perfectly true, and she made a mental note to ask her parents to send her some, or at least get some when she went home for the holidays.
"So, which Weasley do you come from?" asked Diana.
"Oh, you mean m'dad? He's Ronald Weasley, Ron for short."
"Manages bands, right?"
"Sin and Kar tell you that? Yeah, he does. Right now's just one, I trust they told you?"
"Cretin and something"
"And the Dirty Cauldrons, yeah, that's right. I like them, I got to meet them once or twice. Ever heard of 'em?"
"From Kar and Sin"
Hertweiz had gotten up to a girl named Phoebe Jasper, who was put into Slytherin.
"Yeah, well they'll be famous soon enough," said Terrance.
"That's what the clones said," said Diana, then quickly added, "Kar and Sin, I mean"
"Dad told us to," said Terrance with a smile. He then became alert and quickly stuffed the gum away. Diana looked toward the staff table to see that Filch was watching them. He scowled and looked away.
"He is quite an unpleasant piece of work," said Diana.
"Unpleasant? Try loony, the man's rotten," it wasn't Terrance who had spoken, but the boy on the other side of her. He had dark, dark, almost black, brown hair, and amazingly green eyes. He was tall and quite handsome.
"This is Polois," said Terrance, "Polois, this is..."
"Diana," she said, "Greensinger"
"Polois is a family friend," said Terrance.
"Ever heard of Harry Potter?" asked Polois, exchanging grins with Terrance.
"Who hasn't?" said Diana, "What of him?"
"I am his one and only son," said Polois proudly, almost too much so for Diana, "My sister Verille is a first year, too."
"I haven't met a Verille," said Diana. The truth was, her mother has lost contact with every friend she had at Hogwarts. When she married the muggle Travis Greensinger, she basically just lived the life of a muggle, with some magic here and there to help with some things. The only connection Luna Lovegood kept with the wizarding world was through her own father's magazine, The Quibbler, full of the most interesting stories. But it was very limited, and The Quibbler had promised Harry Potter's privacy when he married and had children, so Diana knew nothing of Polois or Verille Potter, whereas anyone who read The Daily Prophet or any other wizarding media knew. The few trips Diana had made to Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade was when she was very young and her mother needed various magical items not stocked by muggle stores. She had never realized how out of touch she was until now. And poor Diana had never had any real friends. She didn't go to school, she didn't socialize with the neighborhood muggles, and she didn't have any cousins or brothers or sisters. Her only living relatives besides her parents were her Grandpa Lovegood and Grandmother Clarence Greensinger. For once, Diana actually felt a pang of sadness, but she refused to let it get to her. She had already made some friends, and it was a good start. These were even the children of people her mother claimed to know.
"Do you have an aunt named Ginny?" Diana asked Terrance.
"What? Oh, yeah," he said.
"My mother used to know her."
"Who's your mother?"
"Luna Lovegood."
"Hm...I seem to remember her mentioning someone by that name," said Terrance. This made Diana feel a lot better.
"Does she have kids here, too?" she asked.
"Oh yeah, if you'll look over at the Hufflepuff table (that's the farthest one, by the way) you see the boy with sandy brown hair?"
She looked over, and spotted several boys with sandy hair.
"Um, is he fidgeting with his sleeves?"
"No, he's the one talking to the blonde girl, you see 'im?"
"No...oh yes, there he is!"
"That's m'cousin, Renol Brown. The girl, by the way, is Tori Kennerly, his girlfriend.
"He stole her from me," said Polois, jokingly bitter.
"Linnsington, Amanda!"
She was put into Ravenclaw.
"Oh, my sister should be up in a moment," said Polois.
"Calm down, they're only in the L's" said Terrance.
"Merrigold, Mary"
"The M's," corrected Polois. Diana found it quite redundant to name a child Mary Merrigold, but it did have a nice ring to it. Mary turned out to be in Gryffindor. She took the seat across from Diana, who introduced herself and her two new friends.
"Isn't Mary Merrigold a little redundant?" asked Diana, trying not to sound mean.
"I know," said Mary, warmly, "My friends call me Rae, that's my middle name."
"All right then, Rae," said Diana. It seemed a lot of people here liked to stray from official names.
"Nakkaley, Quincy"
Polois muttered, "Any second..."
Terrance rolled his eyes and said, "Loosen up, they still have the O's to go through."
"Why so tense?" asked Diana.
"They're Harry Potter's children," said Terrance, "There's a ton of pressure on them, and everyone expects them both to get into Gryffindor."
"Oh..." She still didn't see why Polois was so nervous. So what if Verille didn't get into Gryffindor? Maybe she'd like it better somewhere else. But when she told him that, she was met with, "But dad...he'd be disgraced."
"Why? Why is it so important what house his daughter is in?"
"Because the house is everything," said Polois, but Diana made it clear that she did not understand. Polois looked to Terrance for help, but he shrugged, seeing it from either side, both made sense. Polois went back to muttering "Oh please" and "Any second."
"Nirroll, Nicholos!"
He made Slytherin.
"Nommerson, William!"
He made Hufflepuff.
"Nunsby, Sarah!"
Hufflepuff.
All the while Polois kept up his muttering, nearly praying. Diana thought this really annoying, but mostly it was pointless. Maybe that was only because her mother wasn't famous. She had to admit, she couldn't relate to Polois or his sister in that way.
"Oaklin, Francis!"
Ravenclaw.
"O'Reilly, Olivia!"
Ravenclaw.
"Owenburk, Tabatha!"
Ravenclaw.
"Any second..." said Polois.
"Calm down" said Terrance.
"Wow, three Ravenclaws in a row," said Diana.
"Ozensky, Wilma!" said Professor Hertweiz.
Gryffindor.
"Parker, Angelia!"
Slytherin.
"We're in the P's..." said Polois.
"Yes, we are" said Terrance.
"Someone in Slytherin whose name has 'Angel' in it," said Rae, "Quite a contradiction, no?"
"Perring, Larry!"
Gryffindor.
"Perskin, Sylvester!"
Hufflepuff.
"Pikler, Sabastian!"
Slytherin.
"Porter, Lee!"
Slytherin.
"Porter, that's almost Potter," said Diana.
Polois looked like he wanted to whimper.
"Porter, Jackson!"
Ravenclaw.
"Potter, Verille!"
Now, Polois did whimper. Verille, though, was walking erect. She was gorgeous, tall with shiny black hair to her waist and a perfectly placed nose of the perfect size, shape and everything. She was beaming so much, it made Diana a little put off. She had turned to wave to the school, confident that everyone knew who she was. What got to Diana was, she was right. Every table had erupted into cheers as her name was called, as if by doing so she would get picked for their house. Verille looked to the Gryffindors and found her brother and waved to him. Polois responded by gesturing madly for her to sit on the stool and get sorted. Proffessor Hertweiz seemed to agree with him, for she had tugged Verille's shoulder and was clearly telling her to get a move on. Finally, Verille took her seat, and the Sorting Hat was placed gracefully on her head. It was amazing how on everyone else it looked ratty, over-sized and silly, but on Verille it looked great, almost stylish. It wasn't until Verille wore the Sorting Hat that Diana noticed how loud the Great Hall had been, for now it was as if it had been announced that somebody had died. A few people whispered to each other, but mostly everyone just watched. Polois's fingernails were now short stubs. It was an awkward moment, but in a way it was almost...magical. Thirty seconds passed, it seemed like a month. The Sorting Hat showed no sign of coming to a decision. Then...
"GRYFFINDOR!"
Everyone erupted into loud cheers, even the other houses. Even the austere Headmistress smiled and clapped. Polois began to breathe again, and Terrance patted his shoulder reassuringly.
Verille made her way to the table, beaming even more, if that was possible. She walked right up to Polois and hugged him, then took a seat beside him.
"Congratulations, sis," he said.
"You were going purple there for a minute," said Verille, "Hi, Terrance."
Terrance waved back. Diana wondered if anyone would introduce her, but Verille showed no interest in Diana. Diana looked at Rae, who was looking just as nervous as Polois had been.
"What's up with you?" asked Diana.
"I, Mary Rae Merrigold, am in the same house as Polois and Verille Potter," she whispered frantically, "This is too good to be true!"
Again with the houses. Diana had no idea why everyone was so worked up about them. She admitted to herself that she had been nervous, too, but this was pushing it. She hadn't seen much of anything special about Polois or Verille. Besides their good looks, they didn't really have any appealing qualities. Polois seemed panicky and out of touch. Verille seemed self-centered and over confident. Diana was sure that these weren't her type of people. Terrance, however, seemed very nice, just as Rae did, and Kar and Sin. Diana decided to introduce herself to Verille, since nobody else was.
"Hi," she said, "Verille Potter, right? I'm Diana Greensinger."
"Why hello," said Verille, with a grin almost too wide, "You know who I am, and now I know who you are." She gave a high pitched giggle and went back to a conversation with her brother.
Diana got into a conversation with Terrance and Rae about wizard candy, which her mother got her every time she went to Diagon Alley. Terrance couldn't stop talking about his uncles' new products, and Rae turned out to be a regular customer at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Terrance gave each of them a stick of Smoke Signal Chewing Gum and took the liberty of reading the list of fifty-two side effects which they all forgot right away. Somehow, the conversation turned toward parents. Rae's parents both worked for the Ministry of Magic in underage magic abuse. Rae found it fascinating that Diana's father was a muggle poet, and her mother worked for a magazine. Terrance's mother was a trying to form an all-new Quidditch team, The Crueville Crusaders, from the small wizarding village she grew up in. When Terrance got to explaining his father, Rae told them that she was also a fan of Cretin and the Dirty Cauldrons. She and Terrance began exchanging their favorite songs and Diana found once again that she was left out of the conversation. Hertweiz had progressed into the W's and Diana listened for the clones.
"Hey Terrance, they're gonna call Kar and Sin," said Diana.
"Oh, already?" said Terrance, he simultaneously listened for them and talked to Rae.
"Waldesburg, Leanna!"
Hufflepuff
"Waughten, Courtney!"
Gryffindor
"Weasley, Karen!"
Kar was still breathing a tiny bit of smoke. She walked up to the stool like a supermodel in an exaggerated way. She turned and mimicked Verille jumping up and down and waving and blowing kisses to the crowd. Several people laughed. A stern Proffessor Hertweiz dragged her up to the stool and told her to sit down. Kar sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the stool. More laughter. Hertweiz looked toward Headmistress McGonagall, who gestured for her to carry on. Hertweiz placed the Sorting Hat upon the seated Kar's head, and after only ten seconds it shouted "GRYFFINDOR!"
The Gryffindors cheered and waited for Kar to join them, but she merely stood up as her sister's name was called. She tossed Sin the hat and Sin twirled it on her hand. She then threw it in the air and it landed on her head. Sin also didn't sit on the stool, preferring to stand, instead. Kar made her way to the table taking out a small card with "Sinnallette Weasley, Eldest" on it in bright green letters. She placed it on the seat beside her and they all watched Sin, anticipating for her to be placed in Gryffindor.
But this wasn't the case.
After a minute or so, the Sorting Hat opened its rip of a mouth and yelled, "SLYTHERIN!"
Diana, Terrance, and Kar were caught off balance. None of them had expected that. Suddenly, Kar's wide, goofy smile turned to a look of cold hostility. Diana sensed that there was something going on that she didn't realize. Had Kar feared this would happen? Although Diana didn't care much about the houses, she knew the dreadful dark history of Slytherin, and if Sin was in there, she was potentially evil. That's when Diana realized it.
Sin was Kar's evil clone!
Terrance poked Diana's shoulder and was asking what was wrong. She snapped back to attention.
"Huh?" she said.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Oh, uh, nothing," she said. She figured he wouldn't take too well to finding out that his cousin Sin was an evil clone of Kar.
"Well, anyway, you know the boy they just called?"
"No, who?"
"Darek Whitten, I'm not entirely certain, but I think that's Hermione Granger's son."
Polois said, "Oh, right, old friend of dad's"
Diana said, "I think my mum knew her, too"
Travis said, "I heard his sister's a Squib, and his mother earned an incredible reputation here"
Darek got picked for Ravenclaw, so Diana didn't get a chance to ask about his mother. Diana looked over at Sin, who was sitting next to a boy with oily brown hair. She seemed to be handing him a stick of gray gum. She glanced back at the Gryffindor table and gave a look of apology. Diana shrugged and turned away. She really didn't blame Sin for being picked for Slytherin. She couldn't help, she was an evil clone.
Terrance sat silent and forlorn. She asked him what was wrong.
"My dad and Hermione Granger were in love while they were in school, he won't tell me what happened between them."
"Oh..." Diana wasn't sure how to respond to that, so she didn't.