CHAPTER FOUR:4
The scarlet steam engine began to roll away, and Ginny pressed her back flat against the corridor wall, panting.
Her life was now a form of entertainment for the wizarding world. She was somewhat of a celebrity; she had acquired eternal fame without meaning to, and had no wish to continue to display her life to the public.
Finally having caught her breath, Ginny gathered herself up, levitated her trunk, and set off to find an empty compartment.
An easy task this might seem, Ginny found it rather difficult to heave her enormous, cumbersome trunk along the corridor with her and still try to remain unseen to the students in the compartments.
At last, Ginny opened the door to the second to last compartment and entered it, pulled the shade down, placed her trunk on the rack, and sat down.
She let out a small cry of relief, relaxed her shoulders, and fell backward so that she was lying across the seat.
What was she going to do if this all continued? Of course, she would try her best to ignore it all, as Harry had always done, but her temper was quite more like a ticking bomb than Harry's was.
Deciding to put all thoughts of tempers, Harry Potter, and unwanted fame out of her mind, Ginny took out the book she had assigned for the seventh years, her former classmates, and began to read.
Though a few minutes of reading the book had succeeded in making her temporarily forget about those things, it stirred up a new fear: incompetence.
As Ginny read the seventh edition of A Guide to Defense against Dark Magic, she realized that she could barely perform most of the spells in the book! How was she to teach that which she did not know?
Distressed, Ginny leaned her head against the cool glass of the window and closed her eyes. Obviously, Dumbledore would not have permitted her to teach if he was not completely confident in her. If he had not believed that she would succeed in instructing all the students, including the seventh years, he would never have offered her the position.
Nevertheless, Ginny was not completely confident in herself. She was utterly overwhelmed by all that she was expected to do, and she knew that she could never fulfill all of her duties.
In case you've forgotten, you helped defeat Voldemort just weeks ago.
"I know, okay!" Ginny yelled at herself in exasperation.
However, Ginny's mood lifted considerably for the rest of the train ride, having realized what a small feat teaching seemed compared to killing the Darkest wizard ever known.
About a half hour later, Ginny heard a knock on the door to her compartment. Half wanting to ignore it, Ginny circumspectly rose from her seat, wand out, and peeked under the shade.
"Luna!"
There Luna Lovegood stood, wearing her trademark radish earrings and butterbeer cork necklace, smiling as the redhead attacked her with a hug.
"Oh, Luna, come in, you've no idea how glad I am to see you!"
Slightly baffled, Luna entered the compartment and sat down across from Ginny.
After closing the door, Ginny sat back down and continued to smile at her friend.
Neither of them spoke, however, and an awkward silence filled the room.
"Er…"
Luna chuckled softly, avoiding Ginny's gaze as she broke the silence.
"This year's going to be, er, different."
Ginny stopped smiling. She suddenly remembered that Luna was no longer her classmate, but her student.
"Yeah, I 'spose it will."
The compartment was so quiet that the trolley witch's cart could be heard rolling toward them in the corridor.
"I'll be right back," Luna said rather quickly as she jumped up and pulled some money from her pocket.
A few seconds later, Luna returned, her arms laden with sweets, and shut the door behind her.
"Chocolate frog?" she asked quietly, holding one for Ginny to take.
Ginny looked up, nodded, and accepted the chocolate. Slowly she unwrapped it and took a small bite from the enchanted sweet. Luna smiled weakly, and began playing with her newly purchased Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.
Ginny thought quietly for a few moments, occasionally taking a bite out of the chocolate frog. She had been so delighted to see that her friend had come to visit her on the train; despite the fact that Luna knew their relationship would be completely different this year.
And suddenly Ginny realized her problem; it had absolutely nothing to do with everyone else, but everything to do with herself.
Though she knew that Ginny would no longer be considered her peer, Luna still sought to remain friends with her. Luna did not care that Ginny would be a professor; she did not care that Ginny was set apart from everyone else because of the events that had taken place over the summer; Luna did not even care that Ginny had not found her and said hello. Ginny, perhaps, felt the most guilty she ever had in her life.
"Luna, I really am glad you came to see me. And I hope that we can still be friends, despite, my er, position."
Luna looked up and grinned.
"So, Professor, what have you got planned for us this year?"
After nearly an hour of conversation, Luna left Ginny's compartment to go put on her robes. Ginny selected her own plum robes from her trunk and put them on, feeling a lump of anxiety rise in her throat.
Finally, the Hogwarts Express came to a halt, and Ginny waited in her compartment for the students to file out in order to avoid any staring, cheering, applause, or any other form of acknowledgment. When she was sure that they had all gotten off the train, she levitated her trunk and walked along the corridor.
As she emerged from the train, Ginny looked up and marveled at the splendor of the Hogwarts castle as if she had never before laid her eyes on it.
A booming voice interrupted her thoughts, and Ginny smiled. Hagrid.
She hurried over to the great man, weaving in and out of gaping students.
"Hagrid!" she greeted warmly, glad to see someone who would not embarrass her by asking for her autograph.
Hagrid turned around, lowered his gaze to Ginny and returned the smile.
"Ginny," Hagrid started, then lowered his voice and said cleverly, "or Professor Weasley, now, innit."
The mass of First Years Hagrid was leading toward the lake was staring at her with more surprised expressions than they had worn when they first gazed at Hagrid.
"Erm, Hagrid, how am I to travel up to the castle?" Ginny asked, trying her hardest to take no notice of the gawking eleven year olds.
"Oh! Thank goodness yeh reminded me! Dumbledore told me ter catch yeh as yeh got off the train. Well, most teachers don' take the train o' course, but the ones that do have got ter hurry up 'fore the students arrive at the castle."
Hagrid looked around to make sure none of the first years was listening before he continued.
"Yeh've got ter fly up."
"Fly? On a broom?"
Hagrid shook his massively furry head. "No, no, not on a broom. On a thestral! Now yeh'd better hurry up, the carriages are 'bout to leave…" Hagrid trailed off, and jogged toward the last carriage, which was empty. The ground shook as if a small earthquake was occurring beneath their feet as Hagrid jogged back, tugging a thestral along with him.
Ginny eyed the horse-like creature with caution. Though she had ridden a thestral once before, she had not been able to see it because she had never witnessed anyone's death. Now, of course, she could fully see the leathery-winged creature and was not at all looking forward to riding it.
Hagrid gestured for her to come quickly, and he made sure she got on the creature's back.
"Don' worry 'bout yer luggage, then. All righ', off you go!" Hagrid slapped the side of the thestral and it immediately plunged into the air. Ginny didn't even have time to register that she was flying before the creature soared through the velvety sky and landed gracefully just outside the door to the entrance hall.
Bewildered, she hopped off the creature's back and looked down toward Hogsmeade Station where the carriages were now beginning the ascent toward the castle.
"Er, thanks," Ginny said to the creature, which was sniffing the ground intently, before she took a deep breath and entered the grand castle that was Hogwarts.
The Entrance Hall was brightly lit and very quiet, and Ginny walked slowly toward the door to the Great Hall. Apprehensively, she pushed it open, unaware of what to expect when she did.
The House tables were in their usual positions, as was the staff table, and each was set with the customary gold plates, goblets and dining ware; however, Ginny could not help but notice that something was different when she stepped inside the majestic room.
The Hogwarts teachers were not sitting at their table yet, but chatting animatedly amongst themselves all over the room. Dumbledore, however, was nowhere to be seen.
This is too weird.
Finally, Ginny decided to approach Professor McGonagall and ask her what she was supposed to be doing until the feast started.
"Erm, Professor?"
Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, and Sprout stopped their conversation and looked at Ginny. Each of them offered a cheery, "Hello!"
"Ginevra, I assure you that it is quiet all right for you to address us by our first names," McGonagall told her with a grin.
Ginny felt a tingling sense of embarrassment at addressing her colleague as "Professor."
The three teachers chuckled, and Flitwick and Sprout backed away from McGonagall and Ginny to leave them a lone for a few moments.
"Well, Minerva," Ginny started, awkwardly addressing her former teacher, "I'm really not sure what I'm supposed to be doing right now."
McGonagall gave Ginny a rare smile. "Nothing, really. You'll all sit down when Dumbledore arrives, and I have to bring the First Years in. Then of course the feast, but-"
Just then, Dumbledore entered the Great Hall and strode over toward Ginny and McGonagall. The teachers fell silent immediately, and McGonagall nodded her head in Dumbledore's direction before exiting the room into the Entrance Hall to await Hagrid and the First Years.
Dumbledore approached Ginny with a smile, and gestured for her to follow him up to the table.
Ginny consented and took the seat Dumbledore indicated just to his left. The other teachers (including Trelawney and Firenze, both of whose appearances at the feast shocked Ginny) slowly filed into their own seats, and Ginny suddenly realized that Hogwarts was also in need of a Potions teacher. She'd completely forgotten last year's disastrous Potions lesson taught by Fleur Delacour, and how Fleur left the castle screaming and covered in pimples after a cauldron full of Instant Blemish Solution exploded while she was stirring it.
Ginny grinned at the thought of a pimply Fleur, and suppressed the immense urge to laugh. Instead, she opened her mouth to ask Dumbledore whom he had appointed to replace the part-veela, but the students were entering now and took their seats at the House tables.
The Great Hall was instantly filled with students chattering away excitedly. Gratefully, Ginny thought, they didn't notice her at the staff table yet.
She looked down the table curiously, but to her disappointment, the new teacher had not yet arrived.
Ginny drummed her fingers on the table in hopes of distracting herself from her rumbling stomach while waiting for McGonagall and the First Years to enter the Great Hall. Ginny thought back to her own Sorting, and her quite disastrous first year at Hogwarts, which included her possession by Voldemort's diary and ended with Harry Potter saving her life for the first time…
Finally, the doors to the Great Hall burst open, and Hagrid trudged toward the Staff Table. The platform on which the table was set shook beneath the teachers' feet as Hagrid pulled his chair out and sat down.
Once Hagrid settled himself in, the tremulous First years entered the Hall preceded by McGonagall, looking sterner than ever. (Ginny was sure that her unusually steely façade was purely an act to scare the First Years.)
McGonagall, or Minerva, as Ginny would have to start calling her, strode briskly up to the front of the staff table and set a three-legged stool down on the floor. Then, she placed a patchy old wizard's hat atop the stool, and drew a long roll of parchment from within her robes.
The students and staff settled down in order to watch the Sorting of the newest Hogwarts students, and of course, listen to the ever-changing Sorting Hat's song.
The First Years stared at the hat skeptically until a long tear near the brim opened up like a mouth and the hat broke into song:
Many, many years ago,
Before I sat upon this stool,
Lived four wizards, whom you know,
Created Hogwarts School.
Their names are still known far and wide;
Their Houses flourish still.
I'll tell you in which you belong,
Which Founder's mold you fill.
Gryffindor accepted only those
Who were audacious.
Ravenclaw prized knowledge
Rather than minds that were spacious.
Slytherin was cunning,
And thought pure-bloods were the best.
Kind and sweet old Hufflepuff
Accepted all the rest.
The story goes, you know I'm sure,
Smoothly enough until,
Gryffindor and Slyth'rin
Formed a covenant to fulfill.
Their last remaining heirs, they said
Would finish out their battle,
For each would have great talents that
The other could not rattle.
I waited for a thousand years,
To see what would occur,
All the while Sorting students
By what the Four Founders preferred.
There came a day when Slyth'rin's own
Descendent put me on,
And I could tell he was the one
From which the fight would spawn.
Then fifty-four years after him
Came a young boy with a scar.
Gryffindor's heir, I knew would
Bring the battle up to par.
The Final Duel, so it was called,
Would end the eternal war
Between the forces good and dark,
And would result in death for sure.
Harry Potter and the Dark Lord
With strength and powers of their own,
Attempted to thwart the other,
Though neither was alone.
The Half-Blood Prince aided the Lord,
The other servants he was above.
Ginny Weasley, fair and bold,
Helped Harry Potter, her true love.
The Battle of the Founders ended
In Gryffindor's victory.
So hopefully now each Hogwarts House
Can live in harmony.
So slip me right over your ears
And I'll do just what I said
I'll tell you right where you belong,
What's inside your heart and head.
The Great Hall erupted in applause once the Sorting Hat had finished singing.
Ginny Weasley, however, was still blushing from the Hat's mention of her name and was earnestly trying to ignore the few First Years who were pointing at her and whispering excitedly to each other.
"When I call your name, you will sit on the stool and put on the hat," McGonagall instructed the First Years once the applause had died down. "When the hat announces which House you have been Sorted into, you will sit at the proper table."
McGonagall unfurled the parchment she had been holding and began to call out the names of the First Years.
"Ambrose, Bernard!"
A rather tall boy with the fairest hair and skin Ginny had ever seen walked forward, visibly shaking from fear, and sat on the stool without first picking up the hat.
A low coughing noise emitted from the hat underneath Bernard Ambrose, but the boy was too terrified to notice. Then, suddenly, the hat burst into purple flames.
Bernard jumped up after giving a high-pitched squeal, and laughter rang throughout the Hall. Though Bernard did not seem to be hurt, he certainly re-approached the hat with caution.
"Perhaps you should pick the hat up before sitting down this time," McGonagall suggested quietly, gesturing for Bernard to try once more.
After the twenty-seven new First Years had been Sorted (9 into Gryffindor; 7 into Ravenclaw; 8 into Hufflepuff, including Bernard Ambrose; 3 into Slytherin), McGonagall picked up the hat and the stool and carried them away.
Once the Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House was seated comfortably on Dumbledore's right, Dumbledore stood from his chair and cleared his throat. The noise in the Great Hall immediately subsided as Dumbledore beamed down at them.
"While I would like begin by saying 'Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts,' I am sure that you would all much rather hear me say, 'Let the feast begin!'"
The tables were suddenly filled with delicious foods and drinks, and each person within the Great Hall eagerly picked up his golden fork and knife and tucked in.
Author's Note: So there it was: chapter four. I know that was a rather strange place to end the chapter, but the rest of the feast is too interesting to include in this not-so-interesting chapter. Yes, I admit that chapter four was rather dull, and I hope it has not driven anyone away, because I assure you that things will certainly begin to pick up from here! Part of the reason I took so long to update was the Sorting Hat's song; it was not an easy feat to convey the story I wanted the hat to tell into song-form. Although, I must say, I was rather proud with my description of Rowena Ravenclaw's preferred students ("Ravenclaw prized knowledge rather than minds that were spacious.") I will admit that not once while writing The Hair and the Heir did I even pause to think about whom the potions teacher was supposed to be after Snape had fled. (As I will remind you I wrote the story before the Half Blood Prince was published, so I had no idea whatsoever that Snape was to teach DADA and Slughorn was to teach Potions in Harry's sixth year.) Also, I had not included Fleur Delacour in THatH, so I decided that it was she who had taught potions after Snape left. Chapter five, I am excited to say, is underway already! And as I do not have to write a song for this chappie, you can expect me to update quite soon.
In response to my reviews, I thank all who have reviewed and encourage you to continue providing me with feedback. I always love to hear what you all think of my writing. (I love even more to hear that you like it!) As I mentioned on my profile, I am currently in the process of writing a post-HBP fic. I had written two chapters just before Christmas, but decided that they were utterly awful, delted them, and I am now starting from the beginning again. This fic, I'm sorry to say, you cannot expect very soon, as I place updating Bedazzled on the top of my list of writing priorities. (Or, I would, that is to say if I had a list of writing priorities…) Also, I would like for my new fic to be near-perfect in my own judgment.
Once again, I offer my gratitude to all of my readers and reviewers, and I only hope that I can continue to produce a story worth your reading and reviewing time.
hermyowninny
P.S. On my profile is a Latin phrase (not French): Meus Amor Aeturnus , which, if I translated it correctly, means "My Eternal Love."