Disclaimer: Everything about Harry Potter and his world belongs to J K Rowling; I'm just borrowing it. Any characters I have created are purely fictional and from my own head, any relation to other fictional characters or actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Oh and try to spot the line that has been paraphrased from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, if you can find it let me know in your review. Just so everyone's clear, it doesn't belong to me either, I'm just borrowing it. :)
AN: I already had this chapter written so I might as well give you an update now instead of tomorrow, which is what I originally planned. I didn't get many reviews for my last chapter, but thanks to those of you who did take the time to review :) In answer to the question I was asked: Maddie is the elder of the two sisters, Vinny is two years younger. Now enough of me talking, I believe we have a Sorting Ceremony to attend….
Chapter 2: I Don't Mind – You Choose
Outside her compartment the corridor was in chaos, students were busy moving up and down the train, obviously trying to get back to their own trunks in order to change. Glancing towards the back of the train Maddie saw a familiar face coming towards her. it was one of the boys from Madam Malkin's. He was making his way down the train, propelling some of the smaller students out of his way as he went. Behind him a girl with bushy brown hair was chastising the students as she passed, urging them to get a move on and change quickly.
"Ron!" Maddie exclaimed as they got nearer, a little surprised at her own daring. Not that she was usually shy, but greeting someone much older who had only met her once and hadn't even spoken to her was a bit confident even for her. Ron looked around in confusion before catching sight of her peering out the compartment door. He gave her a friendly grin.
"Maddie isn't it?" He asked, continuing when she nodded. "You alright there? This is Hermione, we're heading to the prefect compartment." He indicated the brown haired girl who gave a friendly smile and an approving nod.
"Nice to see someone's already changed." She said and Maddie hadn't the heart to tell her she had arrived in her school robes anyway and hadn't needed to change.
"See you at the feast." Ron called as he and Hermione made their way further along the train. Hermione gave her a friendly wave, which Maddie returned, before she turned round to look at the other students. The door of the compartment next to hers opened and a small, rather scared looking face peeped out, when the girl caught Maddie's eye she looked even more terrified and seemed about to draw back inside when Maddie hailed her.
"Are you a first year too?" She shouted over the noise from the rest of the students. The girls face relaxed instantly and she nodded. "Hold on, I'll come over." Maddie left her own compartment and pushed past a couple of older students to join the girl. They ducked back inside and closed the door, instantly silencing the noise outside.
Maddie took a seat next to the girl she had spoken to and looked round, there were two others in the compartment besides them who both looked like first years. One was a thin boy with blonde hair and glasses, the other a girl with long black hair and a mischievous look in her bright blue eyes.
"I didn't realise you were a first year too." The girl next to Maddie was saying rather nervously, tugging on one of her reddish brown plaits "I saw you talking to those older students and I thought you must be a second year." Maddie shook her head.
"No I met Ron in Madam Malkin's before the start of term." She told her "I'm Maddie by the way."
"Oh right, I'm Sally." The girl replied, her face relaxing into a smile, "This is Josh and Alicia, they're first years too." Maddie grinned across as she was introduced, noticing that they were already changed and thinking with a smile that Hermione would be pleased.
"So what house do you think you'll be in?" Alicia was asking, Maddie shrugged so the girl continued, "I think I'll probably be in Slytherin, both my sisters were, although they've already left." Maddie raised her eyebrows in surprise and Alicia guessed what she was thinking. "I know, big age gap right? I think I was a bit of an accident." She laughed; obviously this didn't bother her too much. "Of course they were sorted before this whole thing with you-know-who started over, now people have started to say that all Slytherins are bad again, the old prejudices have returned. It's not true though, I was telling these two earlier." She waved her hand in Josh and Sally's general direction. "My sisters aren't like that at all, they would never be Death Eaters and neither will I."
She said this final statement rather determinedly and Maddie actually began to hope that she too would be in Slytherin, she liked the look Alicia, and she had an air of confidence and fun about her. She seemed a lot more exciting than Sally, who was looking at Alicia in awe, as if she herself would never dare say as much as she did. Not that Sally didn't seem nice of course, just a bit too quiet for Maddie's liking.
"I'll probably be in Ravenclaw." Josh spoke up for the first time since Maddie's arrival, pushing his glasses up his nose as he did so "My older brother Anthony is in that house, he's in sixth year now." Maddie saw Sally's brown eyes grow even bigger at this statement.
"You mean in the same year as Harry Potter?" She squealed in excitement, Josh nodded and Maddie rather thought he'd been hoping someone would make the connection. "What's he like?" Sally gasped.
"Anthony said he seems nice, he's a great seeker apparently. He manages to get himself into a lot of scrapes though. Every holiday Anthony comes home relating some new tale of what Harry Potter has done that term." Josh grinned at Sally's excitement "Harry's in Gryffindor though so he doesn't know him that well. He's friends with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger mostly." At this Sally nearly fell of her chair in excitement.
"Ron! Maddie you said that red haired boy was called Ron." She squealed rounding on Maddie "Was that the same Ron who's friends with Harry Potter?" Maddie laughed, personally she didn't see what Sally was getting so worked up about. Sure she knew all about Harry Potter and what he had done, but at the end of the day he was just another guy, a very talented and lucky one it seemed, but still just an ordinary human being. Maddie didn't hold with hero worship.
"Yes it's the same one." She told Sally, "I met Harry when he was in Madam Malkin's with Ron, it was him I talked to really." Sally's mouth dropped open, and Maddie thought it was time she shattered her illusions. "Seriously he's just a normal guy, he introduced himself and Ron and told me not to worry about the sorting. He was really nice, he's just like any other normal sixth year."
Sally looked a little put out and out the corner of her eye Maddie saw Alicia rolling her eyes. She was thankful that at least one person agreed with her. Thinking that a change of subject was in order, Maddie continued before anyone could say anything more about Harry Potter.
"What house do you think you'll be in?"
"Oh I don't know, I'm not too worried about it. I don't have any older brothers or sisters and my dad is a muggle so I've no idea. Of course they say families don't always end up in the same house anyway." Sally shrugged "I doubt I'll be in Gryffindor, I'll probably end up in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff."
"I wouldn't mind being in Gryffindor." Alicia stated suddenly "If I'm not in Slytherin I'll probably end up there. Don't you have any idea what house you'll be in?" She asked again turning to Maddie. "Do you even have a preference?" Again Maddie shrugged and shook her head.
"I didn't really have much idea about it all before I got on this train." She said, and remembering how Draco had reacted to that news she continued quickly, "My parents went to Beaubaxtons and I'm the oldest in my family. So far I've met people who are either in or think they'll be in all of the houses so I'm not really that bothered."
The train, which had been slowing down gradually, now came to a standstill with a hiss of steam and smoke. Maddie heard the doors being flung open and the babble of voices as students quickly began to disembark.
"Firs' years this way." A great booming voice floated through the window of the compartment and Sally jumped up at once.
"That's us, come on we don't want to be left behind."
All four of them scrambled out quickly and made their way over to the owner of the voice. Maddie's eyes nearly fell out of her head when she caught sight of the enormous bearded man, his dark eyes twinkling down at them as he ushered towards the boats.
"Who's that!" hissed Sally in amazement as they walked towards the lake.
"That must be Hagrid." Maddie informed her. Much to the surprise of Josh and Alicia.
"How do you know that?" Josh asked incredulously "I thought you didn't know anyone who'd been here before?"
"Oh Draco told me on the train." Maddie said lightly, and thinking this explained everything she began to look with interest at the horseless carriages the rest of the school were climbing into. She saw Hermione, Ron and Harry all clambering into one and further down spotted Draco impatiently pushing a few younger children out of his way so he could get to a carriage.
"Draco? Draco who?" Maddie realised Sally was persisting with the topic and turned back quickly.
"Not Draco Malfoy?" Alicia's blue eyes were wide with shock now and Maddie hoped this wasn't going to be a repeat of the Harry Potter incident, except this time it was Josh who didn't look overawed.
"Yes Draco Malfoy, he's a sixth year. Why?" Maddie replied with a frown.
"You've heard about his father haven't you?" Alicia asked, "What was he like? I heard he bosses the younger students around like he owns the place."
"He's a nasty piece of work my brother told me." Josh interrupted; he seemed to take his brother's word on Hogwarts as gospel "You wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of him." Alicia nodded in agreement and Sally's eyes were beginning to grow wide again, this time with fright. Maddie laughed suddenly.
"Guys he didn't seem that bad. He helped me with my trunk." To her surprise this news didn't seem to placate the others, instead Josh's eyes widened.
"That's bad news, now you owe him something." He said and Maddie was surprised to see Alicia nodding in agreement. Before she could tell them they were being ridiculous though they found themselves clambering into a boat and conversation ceased as the fleet began to move off across the lake and all the first years gazed up in awe at the castle looming above them.
Next to her Sally was beginning to look slightly sick and Maddie wasn't sure if it was seasickness or just nerves, she figured it was the latter since the motion of the boats was so smooth it couldn't possibly make anyone sick. In contrast to Sally Alicia was looking up at the castle with the sparkle of adventure and excitement back in her eyes, Josh looked somewhere between the two and thankfully for Maddie all three of them seemed to have forgotten about Draco Malfoy.
The castle ahead of them looked spectacular and, like so many students before her, Maddie thought it looked like something out of a fairy tale, with it's looming towers and lighted windows twinkling in the gathering dusk. With excitement growing in her stomach Maddie clambered out of the boat at the other side of the lake and followed Hagrid and the other students through the main doors where they stopped in front of a rather severe looking woman.
After greeting them and introducing herself as Professor McGonagall she went on to explain the sorting procedure. Harry had been right Maddie recalled, it didn't sound that bad at all. Before she knew it they were passing through the doors and into the Great Hall.
As she walked down between the tables Maddie craned her neck round and spotted Harry, Ron and Hermione at what she assumed must be the Gryffindor table, she caught Hermione's eye and was rewarded with a friendly smile before she was ushered along by the crowd and the familiar faces disappeared from sight.
Standing at the front with all the other first years waiting for the sorting to begin Maddie realised that most of the school was gazing at the hat expectantly and she joined them. Suddenly the brim of the hat opened and it began to sing a strange song about the various houses and how they needed to unite against the enemy. Maddie assumed it was talking about Voldemort and listened with interest, next to her though Sally was looking more alarmed by the second.
"See even the hat is telling people not to be prejudiced against Slytherin, I told you they weren't all bad." Alicia hissed, leaning over.
"It's a hat!" Sally responded, sounding slightly hysterical "It shouldn't be saying anything!"
There was no time though to respond, the hat had finished it's song and Professor McGonagall was now instructing the new students to come and sit on the stool when their name was called. Maddie could see that the eyes of the other students in the Great Hall were now trained on the group of first years with interest. At least most of them were, Maddie finally spotted Draco Malfoy at the Slytherin table busily conversing with a rather haughty looking black boy sitting next to him, paying no attention whatsoever to the sorting ceremony.
"Atherton, Jenny." Professor McGonagall called; a tall girl with blonde hair approached the stool slowly. The hat was dropped over her head and for a few moments there was silence as everyone watched expectantly. After a while the brim of the hat opened again and it called out:
"Ravenclaw." There was a burst of cheering from one of the tables and the girl went over to sit with her new housemates looking relieved.
"Bennett, Sally." Was the next name to be called and next to her Sally gave a nervous squeak before stumbling over to the stool and having the hat dropped on her head. Maddie was suddenly glad her name was from the middle of the alphabet not the beginning.
"Ravenclaw" The hat shouted again and Maddie grinned as Sally, looking only slightly less anxious made her way over to the table and sat down next to Jenny. Several more students were sorted, 7 Hufflepuffs, 5 Gryffindors, 1 Slytherin and 3 Ravenclaws, including Ross before:
"LeCardieu, Madeline." Before the hat dropped over her eyes, Maddie caught sight of Draco who had stopped talking to his friend and was now gazing at her with slight interest. Next thing she knew she was looking at the inside of a hat and a voice was whispering in her ear.
"Hmmm where should I put you then? Hufflepuff? No I don't think so. Not Ravenclaw either I don't think. You've got talent I can see that and a lot of confidence. Oh yes it's all here, not going to let anyone push you around are you? So Slytherin or Gryffindor?" The hat paused and Maddie wondered if she was actually expected to answer. In truth she didn't mind which house she was in, Alicia had said she would be in Gryffindor or Slytherin but she hadn't been sorted yet so she didn't have that to sway her choice, nor did she know enough about the houses to decide one way or the other. "Well, well, well," The hat continued "You'd do well in either house and I see you have no prejudices about it so it better be…"
"Slytherin!" The last word was shouted to the hall and Maddie heard a burst of cheering come from the Slytherin table. Even Draco was clapping politely, although he still had that indifferent look on his face that Maddie had seen when she first met him. Refusing to be put off Maddie gave him a small smile before sitting down in the only empty part of the bench: opposite and down the table a little from him. She was next to the boy who had been sorted earlier and he regarded her with a slightly pompous look as if he were reserving his judgement on her for now. It wasn't the friendly welcome she would have hoped for but Maddie wasn't one to let things like that get her down. She twisted round to watch the rest of the sorting. Two students later (both Gryffindors) Professor McGonagall called:
"Morgan, Alicia" Maddie craned her neck to get a better view and it wasn't long before the hat shouted.
"Slytherin." Alicia almost ran to the table, her eyes twinkling again as she grinned at Maddie who was cheering along with the rest of the Slytherins. Well almost all of them, Maddie noticed Draco had gone back to chatting with his friend.
"This year is going to be so much fun!" Alicia exclaimed as she slid onto the bench next to Maddie and glanced down the table grinning at the rest of the Slytherins. She got a few friendly grins back, but not as many as the first years at the other tables were getting. "Boring lot" she mumbled to Maddie pulling a face "Is it something that happens as you get older do you think or are they just all miserable?" Maddie giggled and they returned to watching the sorting. Slytherin got 4 more boys and 3 more girls, making it the smallest house that year.
The sorting over and done Professor McGonagall removed the hat and stool and the Headmaster said a few words, mostly about not going into the Forbidden Forest and how they all needed to unite against Voldemort now he had returned to power.
"So which one is Professor Snape?" Alicia asked no one in particular when Professor Dumbledore had finished and they were all tucking into the feast that had magically appeared.
"That one." Answered an older student who was sitting opposite them; she had been one of the few to respond to Alicia's friendly grin earlier. Maddie looked where she was pointing and saw a greasy haired, hooked nose teacher sitting next to Professor McGonagall. Maddie wondered why Alicia wanted to ask about him.
"You know he's the head of our house?" The girl was continuing, as Alicia nodded "He favours us quite a lot, but don't get on the wrong side of him." she warned. "By the way I'm Lauren, a third year. Welcome to Slytherin." With that she returned to her shepherd's pie and conversation with the bulky looking boy sitting next to her.
Maddie looked down the bench at the other first years. There was one girl with red hair who looked quite friendly and smiled when she caught Maddie's eye. Unfortunately she was separated from her and Alicia by two rather snobby looking girls who were making conversation with each other and three of the four other boys, who regarded her with the same expression as the boy on her right had done. Luckily the final boy seemed a bit more open to conversation and began speaking to the red haired girl as Maddie turned back to her meal.
"Julian Feldmarsh." Maddie was startled to find the boy next to her was holding out his hand, although he was still regarding her with the same haughty stare.
"Maddie LeCardieu." She returned shaking the offered hand. "This is Alicia." Julian nodded briefly at Alicia who was looking on with interest, before turning back to Maddie.
"I thought that's what Professor McGonagall said." The boy was now regarding her with a little less disdain. "Are you related to Helena LeCardieu from the French Ministry of Magic?" Maddie nodded and nearly all the haughtiness vanished from the boy's expression. Maddie wasn't really moved by this though, she didn't like the idea of trading respect off her great aunts name, especially when she hadn't even been aware her relative was so well known.
"Really? Wow this is great, I've made friends with someone who knows people in high places." Alicia laughed and Julian looked put out; clearly Alicia felt the same way about Julian as Maddie did.
Looking up Maddie noticed Draco was listening in on the conversation with interest. She couldn't help but roll her eyes at Julian's behaviour, to her surprise instead of a sneer Draco actually gave her that strange sort of half smile he had given her on the train before his attention was commanded by a rather large blonde girl sitting nearby.
All too soon the feast was over and Professor Dumbledore was informing them all that it was time to head to their dormitories to get a good nights sleep before lessons started in the morning. As soon as he finished speaking there was a loud scrapping of benches as all the students rose and began a mass exodus towards the doors. Just as she was wondering where exactly their dormitories were she heard a familiar cold voice addressing them.
"First years, follow me. As a prefect I will show you to the common rooms." Just as before Maddie sensed he was doing this more out of duty than wanting to help them, although she suspected he rather liked the idea of bossing round the first years. As Draco turned and began striding towards the doors the first years quickly scrambled up to follow him. At the door Maddie noticed several Slytherins actually moved out of Draco's way as he led his gaggle of first years into the entrance hall and down some steps. Obviously the Slytherin dormitories were in the dungeons Maddie realised as she trailed down the stone passageways, having to walk rather quickly to keep up with Draco's long strides. Luckily she was quite tall for her age so walking quickly was enough, she couldn't help but giggle though when she noticed Julian was having to trot to keep up with the group.
They stopped abruptly outside what looked to Maddie like an ordinary stone wall and Draco addressed them again.
"The password is 'Serpent'." He informed them, and on cue the wall opened in front of them revealing the common room inside. A few students were already sitting around on the green couches and chairs that surrounded the roaring fire, but Draco led them inside and straight to a set of stone steps. Maddie could see they would be usually covered by a tapestry but for now it was tied back.
"The girls dormitories are up here." Draco was informing them "You are all to unpack your trunks and go straight to bed, someone will be up to check you have done so later." With that he marched off to the other end of the room, the boys trailing after him.
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"I'm Ophelia." The red haired girl introduced herself as they climbed up the steps. Maddie and Alicia smiled and told her their names just as the stairs ended at a wooden door. Maddie pushed it open and they entered to find a rectangular room richly decorated with green and silver. There were 5 four-poster beds, each with green curtains around them, and a trunk standing at the end. Maddie's was between Alicia's and Ophelia's for which she was grateful. The other girls whose names she had forgotten since the sorting had been allocated the two beds on the opposite wall. Another thing Maddie was rather relieved about was the two windows at the end of the room, she hadn't really liked the idea of sleeping in a dungeon so it was a relief to know that their rooms were actually above the common room and therefore on the ground floor of the castle. She went to look out and saw they had a partial view of the lake along with a queer looking hut with smoke pouring from its chimney. Wondering what it was, Maddie turned away and went back to unpacking her trunk.
Maddie couldn't help grinning to herself as she hung her spare robes in the wardrobe, finally she was at Hogwarts and tomorrow she would begin learning how to do magic herself. Of course she had grown up around all things magical so she already knew a lot about it but children weren't really allowed to do magic of their own until they had been properly trained. She had been waiting for this day most of her life and her good mood was only increased as she thought how quickly she had made friends and got to know people. The only dampener on her spirits was the two haughty looking girls also sharing the dormitory, she contemplated introducing herself to try and break the ice but was spared the trouble.
"I'm Olivia and this is Emily." The taller of the two girls was addressing her and the others, looking a little less snobby than before, although still managing to convey the idea that she thought she was doing them a favour. Maddie, Alicia and Ophelia all introduced themselves in turn and Olivia began talking about her family and asking them detailed questions about their own. Emily said very little, only speaking when Olivia looked to her for agreement with something she was saying, Maddie got the impression that they had known each other before Hogwarts and that their friendship had been like this for many years. After she had spent a few minutes grilling each of them on her background Olivia seemed to decide that they passed the test for now and became a little more friendly, sharing with them information on the Professors that her fourth year Slytherin cousin had told her.
"Apparently History of Magic is taught by a ghost called Professor Binns." She was saying as they all got changed for bed. "One day he died and just carried on teaching anyway. Peter reckons he doesn't even know he's dead yet." They all laughed, although Maddie wasn't quite sure she liked Olivia and the way she had checked out their backgrounds before consenting to speak with them. She consoled herself though with the fact that she could sit with Alicia and Ophelia during class and would only have to speak with Olivia in the dormitory.
Olivia's description of a Professor Sprout was cut off by the arrival of a fifth year female prefect who told them in was time they were in bed and waited until they were before extinguishing the lamps and leaving. Maddie was actually quite glad to be in bed, it had been a tiring day and it was nice to crawl between the warm sheets and snuggle down under the blankets. She heard the others saying goodnight and replied sleepily before closing her eyes and drifting off into dreams of steam engines driven by ghostly professors who wore talking hats.
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So there you have it, Maddie has been sorted into Slytherin. From what you have read about her so far you may or may not think this is an odd choice, it depends how many of the little Slytherin traits in her nature you have picked up on. If you haven't, don't worry, they weren't very obvious and you will see more of them soon, like Alicia said however this doesn't make Maddie a bad person, I'm sure as you've worked out she is actually very nice. The reasons for her house placement and the effects it has on the life of some of the characters will play a major role in this story. Whilst you're waiting for the next chapter please review!
Love and lollipops,
Sivany