Chapter Two: Fainting at the Sorting
Once the train had stopped, the two were led along with the other first years towards a group of small boats by a giant of a man with thick black hair that seemed to cover nearly his entire head, leaving a small area for merry red cheeks and dark eyes to peer through. He spoke in such a booming voice while introducing himself as Gamekeeper Hagrid that Nara nearly scrambled back onto the train before Crede caught her arm.
The two of them stepped into a boat along with two other girls. One was a red-haired girl who held a book clutched tightly to her chest, while the other was a blonde who seemed utterly transfixed upon the carriages at the other end of the train yard, where the older students were heading. She seemed to be chewing on a few strands of her hair thoughtfully, and the most peculiar thing about the girl was that her wand had been placed behind her left ear. She wore a slightly dazed expression that appeared to convey both curiosity and quiet remoteness at once.
The boats were soon ready and made their way across the shimmering water towards the castle in the distance. Conversation in their little boat was all but nonexistent for the first bit, because the red-haired girl was intent on her book while the blonde was entirely focused on a bit of seaweed, which she had plucked from the water and wrapped around the end of her wand.
Seeing this, Crede peered at the wand, then up at the girl. "Errr… you like plants then?" He tried to sound politely curious, hoping to start an actual discussion.
Raising her eyes from the wand to meet his, the girl lost her dream-like expression as she stared uncomfortably at him. A long moment of silence followed, during which Crede felt more and more as though he had said something wrong. Just as he was about to make an awkward apology, the girl burst into hysterical laughter. She held her sides and laughed so hard that Nara squeaked and nearly fell out of the boat.
Crede stared at the girl in baffled surprise, finding himself inching away from her for his own safety. "Right… well… glad to see you're in such a great mood then. I…" He trailed off while attempting to find something he could possibly say in reply to such a reaction without sounding incredibly rude. Eventually he just settled on not saying anything.
Finally calming down, the blonde sat back up and looked at him for another moment before turning to the lake and appearing to forget that the incident had ever happened. Crede was left decidedly confused.
As she peered into the water, the girl let out a gasp of delight and pointed at a giant tentacle that rose from the lake and waved lazily at the approaching boats. She bounced up and down a few times and looked back to the others. "Ooooh, a Salz-barted Aquafinesh."
Blinking, Nara looked past the girl. "A… a what?" She spotted the tentacle and squeaked, scrambling to the back of the boat.
Not seeming to notice this, the girl excitedly explained. "A Salz-barted Aquafinesh. My father spent two months looking for one last year. I bet they brought it here to hide it."
Biting her lip, Nara shrank back as the boat passed the waving tentacle. "Are they d-dangerous?"
The girl shook her head. "No, not unless you have sugar cookies. Then they make the sound of a glump fisted nazlerag until you give it up." She then turned back to watch the tentacle disappear into the distance.
Finally looking up from her book, the red-haired girl leaned close to Crede and Nara, whispering, "It's just the giant squid. He doesn't bother anyone."
"Oh...right." Crede extended a hand. "Credence Moon."
She beamed and shook his hand a little too eagerly. . "Ginny... Ginny Weasley. How are you? Do you like it here so far? I mean the castle is beautiful..."
To that, Crede nodded slowly. "Yeah, it's great... not anything that I would have expected though. It's… a lot more than I was thinking it'd be."
Ginny appeared confused for a moment before comprehension dawned. "Why not? Oh! You must be from... the muggle world?" She sounded terribly excited.
With a shrug, Crede nodded again. "I guess it shows." He looked up to see that they were nearly to the edge of the lake and now most of the first years were exclaiming and chattering amongst themselves about the sheer majesty of the castle.
Tilting back her head to stare at the school, Nara found herself shivering and abruptly hiccupped. The blonde girl immediately turned to her. "Are you okay? Do you need some Marshberry Gingersap?" She held out a small bottle. "It's for nerves. My father got some as a gift for his article on illegal erumpent racing."
Accepting the bottle with a doubtful look, while hiccupping again, Nara took a tiny sip and quickly handed it back before swallowing. The liquid burned horribly on the way down, much like hard liquor, and she found her eyes watering terribly. On the plus side, she wouldn't need to worry about sinuses for a time, and her hiccups were gone.
Soon afterwards, the boats landed and the students were gathered up and led to the front door of the castle, where they were left to talk amongst themselves. Crede had just turned to Nara and asked if she was all right when the door flew open and a tall, severe looking woman walked through the opening. After surveying them quietly, she spoke. "Good evening, students. My name is Professor McGonagall. If you will all follow me, we will proceed to the Great Hall."
They entered and began moving through the impressive hallway. Crede noticed a painting of a knight on horseback, and as he peered at it, the knight drew his sword and challenged him as a cur. All around them, the paintings were moving and greeting the incoming students.
As they walked along, Nara found herself suddenly facing a small man floating in the air in front of her. He wore loud, obnoxious clothing and a gaudy bowtie. He had popped from nothingness directly in front of the small girl, and made a face at her, prompting Nara to yelp and jump away.
Professor McGonagall shouted at him as she strode quickly to them. "Peeves!" The little man stuck out his tongue at the approaching woman and cackled, disappearing again.
The group finally arrived in the Great Hall, and Nara hid behind Crede as all of the students within stared at them. The sheer majesty of the incredible room caused them all to gawk slightly and Nara's eyes grew wide and she jumped when Ginny tugged on her sleeve.
Pointing up to the ceiling, which resembled the night sky complete with shooting stars, Ginny said, "My brother said they enchant the ceiling to make it that way."
Nara swallowed and gave a quick nod. "N-nifty." Her voice shook a bit as she gazed at the ceiling before returning her attention to the important business of attempting to appear completely invisible.
Meanwhile, Crede spotted a small shorthaired white cat peering at him from underneath one of the tables as they passed. It appeared to be watching him intently, as if judging his worth. Its eyes continued to follow him as they stopped at the front of the room and Professor McGonagall introduced the Sorting Hat. His attention was torn away from the cat when the hat quite abruptly burst into song, detailing the differences between all four school houses.
Soon thereafter the actual sorting began. Nara watched with increasing nervousness as Creevey, Colin was sorted into Gryffindor, with others going to various houses including Darcy, Julianne; DeGeorge, Alan; Goodall, Sasha; and Lawson, Peter to Ravenclaw. When Lovegood, Luna was called, the blonde girl from before stepped up and appeared to engage in a spirited conversation with the hat, having to be very nearly physically dragged from the stage after being sorted.
Finally, it was Nara's turn. She froze when her name was called until Crede gave her a little push, causing her to stumble forward up the steps. Making her way slowly to the stool, she stared out at everyone and tried to calm her breathing. The blond boy who had all but threatened her on the train waved from the Slytherin table with a smirk.
While Nara hyperventilated, Crede was startled out of his own deep-breathing exercises as that small cat made a beeline from its place under the table straight to him and ran up his leg on the inside of his robes. He squirmed and muffled a yelp while peering down into his robes. Upon seeing the tiny creature clinging to the front of his shirt, meowing softly and gazing at him with expressive green eyes, he smiled and reached up to hold it there.
On the stage, Nara sat upon the stool, shaking almost beyond what was humanly possible at all of the attention. While she considered bolting for the door, Professor McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on her head. Immediately, it began to speak to her.
"Oh yes... yes... you have a very inquisitive mind, I see... You're a bit on the jumpy side, but we can work with that. Bravery isn't everything, but don't let Godric hear you say it. Yes, I believe that you would work best in… Ravenclaw!" At the words, the members of the house in question burst into applause and cheers, while the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors clapped politely and the majority of the Slytherins simply hissed or remained quiet.
Taking all of this in, Nara did the only thing left to her incredibly shaken nerves. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fainted, falling backwards off of the stool to land on the floor with a dull thud, which prompted a few snickers from the Slytherin table as well as at least one area of outright laughter which was quickly silenced by a severe look from Professor McGonagall.
Kneeling next to Nara, McGonagall waved a wand over her face and spoke quietly. Immediately the young girl blinked and sat up, looking confused until she realized where she was and what had happened. By now there were little spurts of giggles and laughter coming from several places around the hall, and she felt her face grow warm as she blushed.
Once she had assured the professor that she was indeed all right, Nara stood and made her way down to the Ravenclaw table, attempting to ignore the snickers from the Slytherins while the other three houses applauded upon finding that she wasn't hurt.
Finding herself in a seat next to Luna, Nara looked over as the other girl spoke to her. "It's okay. Only one fourth of the school laughed at you." This prompted a whimper from Nara before she directed her attention to the stage, where Crede had just been called. However, before McGonagall could place the hat, the doors at the rear of the room opened and a pale man with a long hooked nose and greasy black hair strode in. He made his way quickly over to the old wizard who sat in the grand chair in the middle of the stage and held a whispered conference while Professor McGonagall walked to them after putting the hat on Crede's head.
As the hat landed on his head, Crede heard the thing speaking to him. "Oh, quite right... quite right… very strong mind I see. Not one for hard work? Well then, let us put you in a house where your brain can be put to good use. How about... Ravenclaw!"
There was a long wait instead of applause, as everyone seemed to wait for him to faint as well. In response, Crede looked around and took the hat off himself since the instructors were still busy and walked calmly down to his table, taking a seat next to Nara. He checked to make sure the small cat was still secure in his robes before turning his attention to the stage.
In the meantime, Professor McGonagall had left the Great Hall, leaving the greasy man, whom Nara and Crede learned from their new housemates was Professor Snape, to continue the sorting. He proceeded to rush each student onto the stage, very nearly flinging them onto the stool, and shoving the hat on their head, tapping his foot impatiently and glaring as though it were their fault that he was held up from some very important business.
Eventually he came to Rheese, Megan. A small, pretty girl with straight blonde hair and a bright smile skipped up to the stage and did a little twirl before plopping onto the stool and looking around the large room as the hat was placed on her head. A few moments later the hat announced that she was also to be placed in Ravenclaw. Megan started to stand but paused. Her eyes searched the hall before finding Nara's. Locking gazes with the other girl, she closed her eyes and fell backwards off the stool in an apparent faint. Nara however, knew that the other girl had done so purposefully to draw the attention of the Slytherins, who were already laughing and had apparently forgotten about Nara.
Instead of gently easing the girl up as McGonagall had done, Professor Snape very nearly jerked her to her feet and gave her a push down the stairs. She bounced happily to the Ravenclaw table, seemingly completely oblivious to the snickers from the Slytherins.
Sitting across from Nara, she met the other girl's shy smile with a bright one and spoke to her. "Don't worry about it. We're in a house together, right? That means they can laugh at all of us if they laugh at one of us."
Nara smiled a bit more and nodded. "Thank you."
Both girls were quickly distracted by the old wizard standing up and introducing himself as Professor Dumbledore. He greeted all of the students old and new, and while smiling at them all. With a knowing look, he finished after a moment with, "It has been said that less is more. In this case, I believe they are correct. Under that assumption, let us merely say... Tuck in." Immediately the tables were covered with the most delicious foods any of them had seen. After the students dug in, Dumbledore left the Great Hall along with Professor Snape.
Nara was both surprised and impressed by the sheer amount that Megan managed to put away. When the other girl reached her fifth plate, she finally asked, "Umm… M-Megan? Are you all right? Did you not eat for a long time?"
Giggling at this, Megan blushed and gave a small shrug. "Nah, I'm okay. I just eat a lot. Sometimes it's like I'm eating for more than one person."
While the girls talked, Crede fed his new kitten, which accepted the food gratefully.
Eventually the feast ended and Professor Dumbledore rose once more to speak. He explained the school rules, pointing out that entrance into the Forbidden Forest was, as the name implied, forbidden. He introduced Gilderoy Lockhart as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor, which prompted tumultuous applause from nearly all the girls present.
As they were excused from the Great Hall and led toward the Ravenclaw common room by their prefect, Penelope Clearwater, Nara continued to talk quietly with Megan while Crede admired his cat. They all climbed the stairs of Ravenclaw tower until arriving at a statue of a gargoyle.
Penelope looked to the first years. "To enter the common room and dorms, you must speak the password to the entrance." Turning back to the gargoyle she spoke clearly. "Illuminate." With a groan, the statue slid to the side to reveal the entrance hole.
Leading them inside, Penelope pointed first to the left and then to the right. "Girls there, boys there. You're in the third set of dorms, and you'll find your belongings already next to your beds."
Exhausted by the long day, all of the students quickly found their rooms and before long nothing could be heard from the Ravenclaw common room except for the furtive whispers of two young girls as Megan and Nara continued to talk long into the night.
