A/N: Hello everyone!
You've been looking forward to this chapter, haven't you? All I have to say is, please don't shoot me if you don't like the outcome!
Ernie: It. Was. A. Difficult. Chapter. To. Write. Wasn't. it. Cinammon?
Indeed it was Ernie, indeed it was. And boy am I glad it's over!
Ernie: And. Now. For. The Thank. Yous. We'd. Like. To. Thank. Svata2004
Glad you liked it. As per you request... heeere's more!
Ernie: Thank. You. Anna.
My what a flattering review that was! Thank you. You made my day by reviewing! Here's the sorting. Don't be too hard on me!
Ernie: Thank. You. Devlin. Rose.
I read all of my reviews and I appreciate every one of them, I promise! I try to post an answer to them in every next chapter, but I'm sure you know as well as the rest of us how life can get in the way of addiction... err... fanfiction, I meant to say fanfiction! It's not always easy to answer every review, but I'll have you know that I definitely remember you. I've always loved your name.
I know what you mean. Bad Boy Redemption is one of the great spices of life. Unfortunately, I love bad boys in real life as much as I love them in fiction, and that's a real pain in the butt! In fact, I hereby announce, that I have sworn off men! No, really. You don't believe me? For a while at least. Talia however, most certainly has not. And neither have the rest of the girls in the gang. I'm not giving away any pairings though. They are fun to write, but they are not central to the story. This is an Action/Adventure after all! You'll just have to keep your eyes and ears open in chapters to come.
Ernie: Thank. You. Nexos23.
Yes, this is the other long awaited chapter, where you all finally get to find out what houses Wyatt and Talia are sorted into. No, Draco has no idea how to handle Talia. Even the most devoted Draco fans have to admit that Draco is very much a spoilt brat, used to getting what he wants. Talia just might have a few lessons to teach him up her sleeve.
Ernie: Thank. You. Songwithoutwords.
I'm so glad you liked the previous chapter! And I really hope this chapter satisfies too, though I'm rather scared it won't. Let me know will you?
Ernie: Charmedfanatic3000.
Running out of good things to say? I don't know Alex, "excellent, excellent, excellent story" seems to hit the spot! My only fear is the exceedingly high standard you wonderful people have set me. I'm scared to death I won't be able to match it in chapters to come and you'll be disappointed in me. Well, here's more of hopefully the same! I hope you like it, and please let me know!
Ernie: Charmedsisters
Thank you darling. Or is it darlings? Either way, thank you very much. Enjoy this next chapter!
Ernie: Thank. You. Nyc-azn7.
Oh please don't die on me! Here's what happens next. Hope it makes you happy!
Ernie: Charmed148
Glad to hear your exciting news! Made the academic team, you say? How exciting! Well done! And yes, I'm the first one to admit that real life has a way of interfering with fanfiction. ::sigh:: I've just looked at the HP Lexicon: it looks like the word is "thestrals". Neither threstals, nor thesrtals, so it would appear that we're both wrong. I'll correct it when I have the time. Thanks for the heads up!
As for Harry getting angry when Ginny calls Voldemort You-Know-Who, well... Harry went through a lot in the past five books, don't you think? After what happened in his sixth year – according to this story – he's more determined to see Voldemort's end than ever! So far, Harry had only been trying to survive and keep all his friends alive on the way, but now things have changed. Harry's grown up and he's become a man on a mission and a force to be reckoned with. Last year, he took an active, aggressive (he used the Avada), role in the war against Voldemort. He's stopped feeling sorry for himself (OotP) and he's now extremely pissed off. He's not willing to cut Voldemort any slack and that includes not giving him the satisfaction of being called anything other than his real name in all its disgusting glory. He can't do much for anyone else calling Voldemort You-Know-Who, but he does get upset hearing his friends use it. Especially since they've been fighting beside him for years. He doesn't always have the same angry reaction he did there, but you have to remember that Harry has a volatile temper. Seeing the thestrals, reminds him of everything he's gone through with Voldemort and it's upsetting. The use of the epithet by Ginny upsets him because it comes at just the wrong time, when memories come rushing back. Ron used the epithet back in the train, and didn't provoke the same reaction. Harry noticed it then, but he let it slide. Perhaps the most upsetting part for him, was that Ginny was the one to use it. Out of all his friends, surely she's the one to have the most right to call Voldemort by his name. You see, other than Harry, Ginny's the one Voldemort made suffer the most. Does that make sense now?
Ernie: Thank. You. Winter. Blaze.
Your wish is my command, my queen. You asked for more, well here's more!
Ernie: And. Finally. Saving. The. Best. For. Last. Mixer.
Have you any idea with what sense of anxiety and anticipation I look forward to your every review? I cannot help but dedicate this poor chapter to you for your kind words. "The sweet symphony of (my) words"? "Send(ing) shivers down (your) spine"? Wow! I don't feel worthy! The chapter that follows somehow pales in comparison. Even Ernie appreciates you!
Ernie: I. Do. You. Recognize. My. Worth. And. Value. Even. When. No. One. Else. Will.
And you seem to be a fan of subtly introduced background information! My kind of guy! You're not single by any chance, are you? No, forget I asked. I've just remembered, I've temporarily sworn off guys!
..oo00oo..
On with the show! Please excuse any mistakes you might find in the following chapter. It hasn't been betaed. Poor Nightcrawler is drowning in work and hasn't managed to get back to me in time, but I didn't want to make you wait for this chapter.
Enjoy, and don't forget to review!
..oo00oo..
Chapter 16: The Sorting
Talia, Wyatt and their new friends walked into the large entrance hall to the squeals of the students that had gone before them. A ghostly apparition with a goofy grin and a bowtie floated gently in front of them carrying an armful of liquid-filled balloons.
"Don't even think about it Peeves!" threatened Ron.
Peeves let out an evil cackle.
"And who's going to stop me? You, Weasley?"
Wyatt glared at the poltergeist as he spied behind him a couple of second years covered from head to toe in green slime.
"That is enough Peeves!" he said firmly.
Peeve's ghostly eyes snapped to Wyatt and Talia who stood next to Ron and Hermione.
"Halliwell!" If the poltergeist could, it would seem that he would have paled at seeing Wyatt. His normally cheeky face twisted to a grimace of absolute terror. "I didn't think you and Turner would be back so quickly...! No, I definitely didn't see that one coming..." he said to himself before leaving abruptly.
"Wow!" exclaimed Ginny, "I don't think I've ever seen Peeves listen to anyone other than the Bloody Baron before..."
"Yeah, how did you do it?" asked Harry with a puzzled frown.
"And how did you know who Peeves was?" continued Hermione suspiciously. "I thought you said you were new."
"We are," answered Talia smoothly, "but, you know how we said we were home schooled? Well, we came here over the summer for a few summer lessons, just to make sure we were up to the same level as the rest of you. Dumbledore's idea. Just for a couple of weeks," she said, undermining their stay at Hogwarts purposefully, "but it was enough to... acquaint ourselves with the school and its... aspects. Hogwarts A History helped too, of course," she told Hermione with a warm smile that would have won over Death itself.
Wyatt looked at his cousin with admiration. He envied her skill at smooth lying and half-truths. This particular skill came in handy when one was a witch living in the muggle world. And when one was a Wiccan living in the wizarding world, and didn't want their wiccan status known. Talia's skilful lying had already saved them on numerous occasions throughout the train ride, and Wyatt was glad that at least one of them could lie with ease. If it was up to him, he would have already spilled all their secrets to the four teenage wizards.
"That doesn't explain why Peeves seemed almost scared of you," prodded Hermione, seeming still unsatisfied with Talia's explanation.
Talia pressed a hand to her mouth trying to smother a laugh.
"Wyatt threatened to banish him to the afterlife," she managed.
Wyatt 'hrmfed' almost inaudibly.
"You know Wyatt, you really should let it go. Dyeing your hair blue wasn't all that bad and the rest of the goo came off. Eventually..." said Talia with amusement.
Wyatt scowled.
"You don't know what you're talking about Talia. I had to scrub in the tub for hours to get that pink goo off, and my hair was blue for a week! I will certainly not let it go," he said loftily, crossing his arms over his chest, "not until I'm good and ready!"
"Aren't ghost banishings supposed to be really hard?" asked Ginny.
Another exchanged glance between the cousins.
"I saw my mother do it a few of times," Wyatt said, daring a half-truth. He neglected to say that not only had he witnessed more than a "few" of banishings, but in most occasions, he had been helping directly with them. Ever since he was seven years old!
Talia smiled at him. The sixteen-year-old was getting better at half-truths, but still terrible at outright lies. Wyatt grinned mischievously and the two cousins shared a secret look. She'd make a proper liar of him yet!
..oo00oo..
"Welcome back students, for another school year at Hogwarts!" spoke Professor Albus Dumbledore. "Before the sorting of the first years begins, I'd like to announce that this year we will be joined by two new students. Mr Wyatt Haliwell will be joining year six and Miss Talia Turner will be joining year seven. Our new students will be sorted along with the first years."
"And here I thought we could make a quiet entrance," mumbled Talia to Wyatt, under the intense gaze of hundreds of students, that assaulted them on coming in with the first years.
Professor McGonagall threw her a glare for speaking. Wyatt and Talia stood patiently with the first years waiting to be sorted.
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Now sit up right and listen good
Don't moan and groan, you'll get your food.
There is a story here to be told
A tale as old as time.
Four friends there were,
Long ago,
That had one dream, one hope, one goal
To build a school of magic,
And furnish it with knowledge.
Fair Ravenclaw there was
And pretty Hufflepuff
Shrewd Slytherin
And Gryffindor the brave.
And together, they toiled and worked
And made their dream come true.
The students came, and life was good,
A rowdy brood they were.
And the founders picked up from the throng,
Each, students for their own care
Rowena chose the clever ones,
Intelligent above the rest.
And Helga chose the loyal ones
Those unafraid of work.
Godric chose those with bravery
And courage, like his own,
And Salazar, the ambitious ones
With cunning of their own.
"Hey Tal," whispered Wyatt, "what house do you think Judy would be in if she were here?"
Talia looked him as if he were crazy.
"You're like a love-sick puppy, you know that?" she whispered back, a disgusted look on her face.
Wyatt grinned, not denying it.
"Oh, shut up and listen to the song!" an annoyed Talia said, rolling her eyes at her cousin's antics.
The school was young and happy then,
And love had filled the halls.
But that was all long ago
And I won't tell that tale.
Sufficient is to say to you,
That the founders were happy then,
And they liked the way things were.
It was then a lucky thing
They thought to ask themselves,
What the school would do, once they were gone,
To split the students fair.
Good 'ole Gryffindor
Whipped me off his head
And placed me on this here stool
And magic they all poured into me
And gave me brains and speech
So years and years later
I'd see through students' minds.
You all sit there looking bored
But there's something you all must know.
This year will be a hard one
Decisions must be made.
One thing you must recall:
The time for love has come again
And only that will save us all.
You little first years
And new students too,
Of me don't be afraid,
Come here
And place me on your head,
I'll look around your mind
And I will tell you,
Of the Houses four,
Where you ought to go.
..oo00oo..
"Love?!" said Talia raising an eyebrow and scrunching up her face in disgust. "You gotta be kidding me!"
She wasn't the only one to have noticed. Around the Great Hall, girls giggled and boys grumbled.
She looked to Wyatt for support to see him grinning, "I'm bloody surrounded!" she groaned dramatically.
..oo00oo..
"Applecore, Sarah," Professor McGonagall called.
A blonde little girl in pigtails walked apprehensively up to the hat.
And the sorting began!
Soon enough, it was Wyatt's turn. The blond sixth year walked apprehensively towards the frayed old hat. Feeling everyone's eyes on him, Wyatt hoped with all his might that he wouldn't trip. Sitting on the hat's stool he dared look up towards the Gryffindor table and his new friends. Ron was giving him a thumbs-up sign and Hermione, Harry and Ginny were grinning encouragingly at him. He moved to put the hat on his head.
"GRYFFINDOR!!!" called the hat before it even touched Wyatt's golden hair. Wyatt was surprised, but very happy. He put the hat back in its place and walked grinning to the wildly cheering Gryffindor table.
..oo00oo..
"My, my," said a gravely voice in Talia's head, "it's been centuries since we had royalty in this school, and now there's two of you?"
Talia frowned.
"Yes, well, let's try and keep that between us, shall we? Neither I, nor Wyatt, want people to know," she said frostily.
The Hat paused for a while.
"I presume the headmaster at least knows?"
"Yes."
"Then, as you wish, my lady.
"Might I also just add what a fascinating pair you and your cousin make? I most certainly predict an interesting year ahead."
Talia nodded curtly. She hated the idea of anyone looking in her head, even if it was just a dirty old hat. She wanted to get this nasty experience over and done with as quickly as possible.
"Back to the business at hand then," the hat said with a sigh at Talia's rudeness. "I believe the answer's pretty much obvious here. You will do very well in SLY-"
"Don't even think about it!!!" interrupted Talia's soft, yet furious and strangely commanding voice.
..oo00oo..
The tone she had just used on the Hogwarts Sorting Hat was the same tone that she had used on her father's subjects in the Underworld when she was Princess of All Evil. It was the tone that demanded both respect and obedience and it had never failed her.
It was because of that icy tone that something happened at Hogwarts that day, that had never happened before.
The Sorting Hat was about to announce Talia's new House – even managed to get away with shouting the first syllable - before closing its mouth promptly. The Great Hall exploded with noise and everyone watched with even more avid interest the petite girl under the large floppy hat.
..oo00oo..
Draco smirked.
She would end up in Slytherin. There was no way someone like her would end up anywhere else! He couldn't wait to see Potter and the Weasel's face!
..oo00oo..
"I beg your pardon!" huffed the Hat seemingly offended.
"Don't you dare put me in that house!" hissed Talia.
"But...why not?"
"I don't belong in Slytherin," she said with conviction. "Not anymore."
If they ever found out about her half-blood status... She would not suffer the same blood prejudice she once had! It was a decision she had come to during Harry's talk of Slytherin on the train.
But there was more to it than that.
She threw a surreptitious glance towards the Slytherin table and her eyes met the coolly amused, enquiring, steel grey eyes of Draco Malfoy. She felt a smile tug at the corners of her mouth but captured it before it broke through her defences. She turned away from the blond young man.
In all honesty, before her rather informative ride on the Hogwarts Express, Slytherin seemed as attractive a House as any – perhaps more so because she already knew Draco there – but things had changed dramatically in the past few hours. According to her new friends and, now that she thought about it, every book Talia had come across that summer, Slytherins were more liable to go to the Dark Side than any of the other houses. It didn't mean that they were all evil, but what it did mean was, that, like her, Slytherins thrived in the shades of grey between the dark and the light. No wonder the Hat wanted to put her there! Talia set her jaw in determination. She'd already had her little stint being bad, and it was a place she was determined to never visit again. Being in Slytherin, with Draco Malfoy and others like him... A delicious shiver ran down her spine at the mere thought. She had no doubt she would do well in Slytherin. It was tempting. And that was the very problem. It was too tempting, she decided. In the age of dark wizards and Lord Voldemort, she could not afford to put herself through that temptation. It was too dangerous.
"But my dear child," the Hat sputtered, "you certainly have the qualities for it! Cunning, ambition... And you are the Source's daughter! Where else would I put you?"
"Anywhere else you like. Just not in Slytherin," Talia said through gritted teeth.
Every cell of her body felt drawn to the table draped in green and silver. The delicious aroma of potential wickedness permeated the air around her, wafted to her sensitive nose, and made her pulse race. The more she tried to deny it the more it called to her. And that was precisely why she couldn't go there. She couldn't get sorted into Slytherin. Being in the wizarding world at a time when evil thrived was going to be hard enough.
"I'm afraid not even you can affect my decision, Princess," the Hat said loftily and in a tone of it's own that in most other situations would have signified the end of all argument. "You belong in Slytherin, and in Slytherin you will go."
Talia was quiet for a while, but just as the hat was about to shout out Talia's new House, she spoke again.
"Do you know what my Wiccan powers are, Hat?" Talia asked in a sickeningly sweet voice. She gave the hat no time to answer. "I hear that hellfire is an awfully painful way to go..."
The Hat gasped.
The sentence hang in the air between them, the threat unmistakeable.
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Oh, wouldn't I? Think about who you're talking to, Hat. I am Talia, Princess of all Evil. I used to be the Source's most prized assassin, you know... I killed for the first time when I was six years old. Do you honestly think that I'd stop at destroying a mere hat?"
Before hundreds of eyes, the Sorting Hat seemed to change colour. It visibly paled.
Talia smiled evilly and let her final sentence drop and linger.
"And then where would the school be, without anyone to sort the new students into houses...?"
The Hat's voice was shaky when it finally answered.
"Where would you like to be sorted, my lady?"
..oo00oo..
"What the hell's taking that long?" asked Ron.
Everyone else was thinking the exact same thing, which is probably why Hermione didn't reprimand him for his swearing.
"Is she actually arguing with the Hat?" asked Hermione in disbelief.
"I could've sworn that the Hat nearly shouted 'Slytherin' a minute ago," added Ginny.
"I'm glad someone else heard it," continued Harry, "I was beginning to think I'd imagined it."
"Has the Hat ever changed its mind about anyone half-way through the Sorting, Hermione?" asked Ron.
Hermione swallowed nervously before admitting, "If it has, it's not in Hogwarts a History, Ron."
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"You're clever enough for Ravenclaw... And... loyal enough for Hufflepuff...?!" the Hat's gravely voice wondered.
"You seem surprised."
"You are half-demon, child. Demons aren't known for their loyalty."
Talia scowled.
"I'm also half-Charmed. And the Charmed Ones are well known for their loyalty to both each other, and the greater good."
"You are correct of course. Well, the choice is simple then. Are you sure you don't want to go to Slytherin?"
"Quite sure."
"Alright then. You'll just have to go to GRYFFINDOR!"
..oo00oo..
Talia practically skipped off the stool and down the corridor to the Gryffindor table with an enormous grin plastered on her face and amidst loud, albeit confused, applause. She studiously avoided looking towards the Slytherin table and sat between Hermione and Harry.
..oo00oo..
If Draco was anyone else but a Malfoy, trained from birth not to betray his emotions, he would have gasped in shock. As it was, he merely scowled. Talia in Gryffindor?
Ha!
She was as Gryffindor as he was!
"Draco..." whined Pansy.
"Get lost Parkinson," he growled so lowly and menacingly, that the girl not only, uncharacteristically, left him alone, but actually shuffled slightly away from him.
..oo00oo..
Draco Malfoy was not the only one to take Talia's sorting badly. At the professors' table Snape scowled. This was all wrong! He had been pretty sure to begin with that Wyatt would end up in Gryffindor, but the girl clearly belonged in Slytherin, not with those damn Gryffindors!
He sneered at the smugness on Minerva McGonagall's face.
It was pretty clear that the Hat had wanted to sort her in Slytherin... so what happened?
Severus smirked. Leave it to Talia to argue with the Sorting Hat and get her way at the end! How very... Slytherin... of her!
Severus just wished he knew why she did it.
..oo00oo..
"Talia?" asked Ron between bites.
"Hmm?"
"Just what were you and the Sorting Hat talking about for so long?"
The question had been on everyone's mind, but only Ron would be tactless enough to voice it. What went on between the Sorting Hat and each student, stayed between the Hat and the student in question.
"Ron!" admonished Hermione.
But Talia didn't mind and answered Ron's question honestly.
"The Hat wanted to put me in Slytherin." She frowned. "It was quite stubborn about it, too! It took a lot of convincing on my part to make it see the... error of its ways."
"You argued with the Sorting Hat?"
Ginny seemed be clearly seeing the funny side of this, but Wyatt frowned, glaring down the table at his cousin. There was something fishy about the way her eyes sparkled when she answered that question.
"Tal... what kind of convincing did it take, for the Sorting Hat to change its mind?" he growled.
Talia looked at her cousin with large, innocent eyes. They might've worked, if he didn't know her so well.
"You know me! I can talk my way out of anything," she said airily, depositing a piece of chicken in her mouth with perfect table manners.
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny, simply stared from one cousin to the other. They were pretty sure something was going on here, that they were completely missing out on, but they had no idea what that was. Wyatt looked angry for some reason. He glared at an innocently smiling Talia.
"Talia," he growled once again, "when you say talking, you wouldn't by chance mean threatening, would you?
Talia looked sheepish.
"Talia! You know you're not supposed to do that!" the younger boy said exasperatedly, throwing his knife and fork with a clatter on his plate.
"You threatened the Sorting Hat?!" Ron exclaimed, looking at Talia admiringly.
Hermione did a perfect impersonation of a fish, openly gaping at the audacity of the girl. She herself would never even dream of threatening the Sorting Hat!
"Wyatt, you heard what Harry said on the train. There hasn't been a single evil witch or wizard that hasn't been in Slytherin, and I'm not evil." Her eyes bore in his, begging for his understanding, "I don't belong there. And besides, is it that bad to want to be with you and the rest of my friends?"
Wyatt's eyes softened at his cousin's pleading tone.
Harry saw an opportunity to ease the tension he did not understand, that had descended on the table.
"Pass the mash potatoes, would you Wyatt?" he said, cleverly diffusing the situation.