Chapter 10

In front of the crowd of students, Jaguar felt a certain calmness overtake her. She stood between Lily and a boy she didn't know, looking out at the sea of faces. And she waited, nearly breathless.

The woman who had introduced herself as Professor McGonagall had led the new first years through the Great Hall, to the front of the room, where she instructed them to stand in front of the table filled with teachers.

Now, Jaguar stood, almost trembling with nerves, while Lily clasped her hands together beside her, looking as though she might faint. And now, everyone was staring at an old raggedy hat placed upon a stool. Suddenly, to the amazement of the first years, a rip in the hat's brim opened up, and the hat began to sing:

Long ago, when Hogwarts School was newly found

Four great humans, courage and honour bond

Knew the world had lived long enough in strife

And worked to improve qualities of life

For every wizard born, and every witch too

Putting their heads together

They knew just what they had to do

Each child born of wizard blood would surely have a place

Whether with Rowena Ravenclaw

The beauteous and fair

There they would have books

More than they could ever share

Or perchance with Helga Hufflepuff

Hard-working and kind-hearted

In her house, with their friends

They would always have enough

Or in the house of Salador Slytherin

In the highest tower of all

He built it up just to ensure

His pupils would never fall

Or in the great house of Gryffindor

Which Godric claimed his own

The courageous and chivalrous

Would find this house their home

So put me on, I will decide

Where you need to be

I know your mind

I see your heart

There is no smarter hat than me!

The Great Hall burst into applause, and the hat bowed to all four tables, and then to the first years.

"Oh!" Jaguar heard Narcissa Farling whisper. "That's all we have to do!"

She also heard Paris reply with scorn, "Yes, Narcee, but we have to put it on our heads."

Jaguar bit her tongue to keep from retorting, Well, where else would you put a hat?

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward, holding a long scroll, and addressed the new students.

"As I call your names, step forward to put on the hat, and sit on the stool."

Lily gasped suddenly, and stumbled a bit. Jaguar looked at her worriedly. "Are you alright?" Lily nodded silently.

"Silence, please," Professor McGonagall said, looking sternly at Jag. Then:

"Agamore, Keven," she called.

The boy who was unlucky enough to be called first stepped forward nervously, and put the Sorting Hat on his head.

A few seconds later, it yelled, "RAVENCLAW!"

The table second from the left applauded loudly, and everyone else clapped politely.

Lily, seeing that it didn't look too hard, let out a breath she hadn't been aware of holding.

She looked down the line at Sirius, then at Jaguar, and knew that they would be placed in Gryffindor. Both of their parents had been in that house. So maybe even Remus and James would be as well. Of course, Lily's mother had also been in Gryffindor. But she had never been around that influence… But she didn't think she would fit with the Slytherins, or the Hufflepuffs… Maybe Ravenclaw.

She didn't really notice, lost in her thoughts as she was, when "Anderson, Michelle" was sorted into Hufflepuff.

Lily did look up, however, when she heard, "Asriel, Jasmine!" She watched the tall blonde girl who was the daughter of the Assistant Minister of Magic, and James' cousin step out of the line.

"Yeah, Jas!" James yelled. Half the first years in line jumped at the sudden noise.

Jasmine looked back, and flashed him a grin. She looked completely composed, and ot nervous at all.

In fact, despite what appearances might suggest, Jas was more nervous than she had ever been in her life. Of course, the family of a politician had to learn a certain amount of composure, if only to keep out of the tabloids. Her hands shook slightly as she set the hat atop her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled, hardly touching her head.

Jasmine smiled and handed the hat off to "Bell, Jakarta", before heading off to the Gryffindor table.

Lily thought, My last name is Evans… E. It's at the beginning of the alphabet. Oh no.

For a moment, Lily thought she was going to be sick. She stumbled again and grabbed Jaguar's arm for support.

Jaguar laughed uncertainly. "Don't have a heart attack, Lils. You'll probably be in—"

At that moment, the Slytherin table erupted in cheers to welcome their new addition, a girl named Talica Belvedere.

Lily opened her mouth to respond, but, "Black, Sirius!" McGonagall called out.

Jaguar tensed. Her eyes seemed to be glued to Sirius as Ari Black and her friend Annabelle Potter stood up to cheer. "You put him in Gryffindor!" Ari yelled, and the Gryffindor table applauded.

Jaguar clenched Lily's arm suddenly. "Good luck, Siri," she whispered.

James was practically hopping up and down in excitement until someone told him to knock it off. Too bad. It had rather looked as though he badly needed to use the bathroom to Lily.

Sirius put the hat on his head. It slipped over his eyes, and he could feel the brim of it somewhere near his mouth.

"Well now," the hat's eerie voice spoke inside of Sirius' head. Sirius found the feeling to be exceedingly disconcerting. Like an itch he couldn't scratch. It bothered him. "Another Black, hmm… Another troublemaker…"

Sirius thought, If you don't put Jaguar Brazil and I in the same house, she'll go insane, you know. It was a bit desperate, since he had no idea whether or not the hat could hear his thoughts.

"Brazil, eh?" the hat laughed. "You certainly are brave. But you are also very cunning, and intelligent… And very loyal. I could put you in any of the houses… Perhaps Slytherin… No, better be—

"GRYFFINDOR!" The last word was projected to the rest of the hall, and Sirius shot up, and ran over to the Gryffindor table, where everyone cheered him, knowing that he was the Minister's son.

After Sirius was sorted, Ruthie Bloom became a Ravenclaw. And then it was Jaguar's turn.

I've been waiting for this my entire life, Jaguar thought, a bit dazed.

It seemed as though most of the people in the hall knew of her. She received a fair amount of applause, which only served to make her feel more pressured.

She lifted the hat and lowered it onto her head, as Paris called out, "Hooray, Jaggie!"

Listen, Hat, thought Jaguar immediately, if you can hear what I think, know this. You had better put me in Gryffindor, or I will rip that brim of your right off!

The hat, to her surprise, laughed. "I've had worse threats than that, girl. Your friend Sirius told me you would want to be in the same house as he…"

Did he..?

"More or less… Another Cortez to add to the Hogwarts family. Bunch of pranksters… Though not as awful as some."

I'm not a Cortez though… I'm Jaguar BRAZIL.

She felt the sorting hat dig into her mind, then stop abruptly. It was silent for several seconds, as the Great Hall waited to see what house she would be put in.

"Do you mean to tell me that you are not of the great Cortez lineage?"

I am… But I am also of the Brazil clan… Jaguar BRAZIL, you know…

"Well, students of the Cortez family have always been in Gryffindor. Why break tradition?"

And so the hat called out, "GRYFFINDOR!" and Jaguar rushed to join her new house.

Soon, the name of one of the girls who had been in the boat with Jaguar and Sirius was called, and Ambika Dawes was sorted into Ravenclaw.

A boy was sorted into Slytherin, and then it was Lily's turn.

Jaguar and Sirius clapped loudly for her, but Lily appeared frozen for several seconds. Finally, Remus, standing a few people down from her, moved to push her forward. She stumbled then to the stool and put the hat on her head.

When she was sorted into Gryffindor a few moments later, she pulled off the hat, looking quite shocked, and joined Jaguar and Sirius.

The hat hardly touched Narcissa Farling's head before it placed her in Slytherin.

The girl looked very surprised, looking over at the Gryffindor table a bit longingly, before sighing and walking to the table belonging to her house.

There were still more than half of the first years to be sorted, and the older students had begun to shift around a bit.

"I dunno why we can't eat as they do this…" Annabelle sighed, rubbing her stomach. "I haven't eaten since breakfast!" Several other students agreed with her.

"Oh, don't worry, Anna!" Ari said, slightly louder than would have been necessary. "You could afford to skip a few meals."

Annabelle looked horrified, and turned away from Ari.

Jaguar and Jasmine Asriel began to talk about how hungry they were, and how good the food was supposed to be at Hogwarts, while Sirius talked to no one in particular about how good he was at Quidditch.

The hat didn't even have to touch Jaessika Ice's head before placing her in Slytherin. Well, no surprise there. The girl practically pranced to her table.

Guinevere Knight was sorted into Ravenclaw, right before Remus Lupin and Amaryllis McGee became the newest members of Gryffindor House.

Amaryllis McGee looked horrified as she removed the hat and practically flung it to the girl behind her, who also joined them at the Gryffindor table.

Soon enough, Paris Morgan was sorted, and what most people thought would be an easy decision ended up taking nearly ten minutes.

Paris was eventually sorted into Slytherin, although she looked close to tears.

Ki-Lin Morrison became a Ravenclaw, and then Peter Pettigrew approached the Gryffindor table shyly. He tripped and nearly sat on Ari, who did not take kindly to that. "Watch it, you!"

Peter didn't look like a Gryffindor. Under a crown of dirty blonde hair, his shifty brown eyes stared around him. His face was covered in acne, and he was overweight.

A black girl, Athene Plains was sorted into Ravenclaw, before James became a Gryffindor, to no one's surprise at all.

Annabelle whistled loudly with her fingers in her mouth.

Several more students were sorted, before the last one, a girl named Zulieka-Anwen-Theone Zen became a Slytherin.

The feast was set to begin, and the first years began to look around hungrily.

"Ack," said Ari. "Don't eat us!" Several people giggled.

First, before they could be fed, a tall wizard with long white hair and half moon spectacles, wearing long silver robes, stood up, and addressed the room. Although he spoke quietly, the whole hall quieted to hear what he said.

"Welcome," he said, "to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For those of you who don't know, I am the headmaster, Professor Albus Dumbledore. First years are now seated with the house they will live with for the next seven years. Of course, if anyone has any complaints about their placement, I will be happy to receive them on parchment which I will then toss into my fireplace. So do become acquainted with those around you! Now, I'm hungry. What say we eat?"

Professor Dumbledore clapped his wrinkled hands together, and food appeared on all of the tables.

Jaguar almost threw herself across the table, scooping food right off of other people's plates.

"Hey!" the girl on the right of Jaguar exclaimed , when a chicken leg was ripped right out of her hand.

Jaguar looked up, startled. "Uj! Lmb—uh—" She swallowed, choked, and reached around for water, which just happened to be in Remus' glass. He, however, was accustomed to such behavior from his friend. "Sorry," Jag finally said. "Here." She offered the meat back to the girl.

"Um…" the girl said. She shook her head. "No, that's okay…"

Realizing that people she didn't know were staring at her, Jaguar set her fork down carefully and looked at the brunette girl seated next to her. She looked very familiar.

"Who're you?" asked Jaguar.

"You've got food on your face," the girl pointed out. "My name's Aaliyah Fairman. We've met, don't you remember? At Annabelle's house?"

Jaguar remembered a weekend spent at James' house a year or so back when Sirius was off on vacation, and Remus was sick, as always.

"You're Annabelle and Ari's friend," said Jaguar.

The third year girl smiled. "You're James' friend."

A few minutes later, when they had gone back to eating, Aaliyah said, "When I saw you at Anna's house, you and James talked about Quidditch. Like, incessantly." She laughed, and her nose crinkled slightly. "D'you think he'd want to try out for the house team this year?"

Jaguar dropped her fork. "I thought first years couldn't—"

Aaliyah made a face and chopped her hand through the air. "That is McGonagall's rule. The captain can do whatever she wants if it's good for the team. And the rule is quite circumstantial anyhow. First years are just always second string."

Jaguar grinned. "Well then, I will try out, Captain!"

The tall girl pushed a stray hair out of her face and giggled. "You don't—ooh! Dessert! You don't—Jaguar!" The first year had gone back to focusing on her food. "Jaguar!"

"Huh?"

"I was saying that you don't look like a Quidditch player. You're smaller and skinnier than most seekers. But you do look strong and quick. Your hair might get in the way; it's quite long… But that's easily fixed…"

Remus glanced at Jaguar, who was smiling uncertainly at the Quidditch captain. He thought Aaliyah's compliments were a bit ambiguous in intent and meaning.

After finishing her examination of Jaguar, Aaliyah asked, "What position do you play?"

Jaguar glanced at Remus, who played the same position as she did (except when she wouldn't allow him to). "Seeker," she replied, turning back to the brunette.

"Well then, I suppose it's good you're small. And we've no seeker at all this year. He graduated." Aaliyah frowned and looked sad for a long moment.

Just then, Dumbledore stood up from his seat, which looked rather like a throne and was higher backed than the chairs belonging to any other professors.

"I trust that you are all well fed and watered," he began. Several of the older students cheered at this. "So if you can still move, I would like to ask that the prefects now lead the second year and higher students to your dormitories."

Soon, only some of the teachers and all of the first year students were left.

"Now, we'll leave you first years here to socialize with each other…"

Lily moved to the chair next to Jaguar's. "Can you believe this?" she asked. "We're going to learn magic! I mean, I can hardly believe it… I keep expecting to wake up any moment."

Well, it wasn't a nightmare, so Jaguar wasn't worried much about that… She rarely had regular dreams.

"Oh, yes!" a saccharin voice behind Jaguar jumped in. "It's wonderful!"

Maybe it is a nightmare…

Jaguar turned her head slowly. Go away, go away.

Paris was smiling again, and looked sincere.

"Hi, Paris," said Jaguar glumly. Way to rain on the parade. "And how are you?"

"I'm fine," Paris sighed. "I just wanted to see my favorite cousins. I mean, can you believe you're in Gryffindor? I mean, maybe you, Lilian. My mother says you were raised by a muggle. But still, I mean, you're of Morgan blood!"

Jaguar smiled sweetly. It hurt her jaw. "You are a Morgan. We, however, are from the Cortez family. And all Cortez are Gryffindors."

Paris snapped her fingers. "Jaggie, I know for a fact that that is not a fact." The raven-haired girl nodded her head toward Lily. "I was looking for you. I'm sure my mother wouldn't mind if you stayed with us too when Jaguar visits this summer." She raised her eyebrows.

Lily could see Sirius shaking his head rapidly out of the corner of her eye. "I'll think about it, Paris."

Paris Morgan glared at Sirius suspiciously, then said, still glaring, "You don't know me yet. This year will give up plenty of time to get to know each other." She turned and flounced away.

Jaguar shook her head. "Ugh." She turned to speak to a girl down the table.

James raised an eyebrow at Sirius. "What was that?"

Sirius raked his fingers through his dark hair. "I hope she and Jag don't kill each other," he remarked. "Paris just wants attention. She goes about it the wrong way entirely. And Jaguar can't stand any Morgan."

"Neither can I," James replied darkly.

The Morgans were one of the oldest wizarding families. They were said to have descended from the extinct Slytherin family. They were not quite as old as the Black family, or the Cortez family, or the Malfoys, but were older the Potters by far. Morgan had spread and were now all over the world. Jaguar's grandmother had been a Morgan. They were all muggle-haters, but Rose Morgan was different. She was a Revealer, heir to one of her cousins, who was in the Ice family and married to a Malfoy. She had been the only suitable person in all three families.

Unfortunately for the Morgans, Rose had married Briant Cortez. And so one of the most pure-blooded dark families was sullied. To make it worse, Rose had handed down her craft to her youngest daughter, Nivea Cortez, rather than anyone on the Morgan side of the family, or even her daughter Iris, who would have been much easier to persuade to the dark side.

Jaguar wasn't quite sure what a Revealer was or did, but she knew that it was a fairly important job to have.

After 20 minutes or so, Professor Dumbledore returned with eight fifth year students, who wore bright badges on their chests, and looked extremely satisfied with themselves.

"In each year," said Professor Dumbledore,"5th and up, there are eight prefects. One male and one female from each house. There are the students you should go to with any problems. Now, they will lead you to your home for the next seven years."

Gryffindor's password is Godric's Goosepimples, thought Jaguar as she drifted to sleep on her extremely comfortable bed, with golden drapes drawn around it. No one will be able to guess that one…