There are going to be a lot more character interactions coming up, since they'll be grouped up in smaller teams. I'm excited for the opportunity to flesh them out, and I hope you are too!
Additionally, starfberry requested me to change Nicholas Henry to a Litten, and since I don't really have time to go back and edit all the chapters involving him (read: too lazy), just assume he's a Litten from now on.
Also, I received another double submission, sent in by Rescue Wolf.
Hunter Wolf (Poochyena)
Will Wolf (Zamazenta)
They also have a German Shepherd named Ace and a black cat named Lucky.
Now, let us begin the chapter!
Zoe's POV
I stared at the gigantic heap of ham, watching as he started spinning the "Sorting Cap" around on his hoof. It seemed to be a Boston Red Sox hat, and I wondered how something like that had become a magic house sorter.
It wasn't like the Sorting Hat from the REAL Harry Potter school, which actually looked and sounded like a magic hat. This cap didn't even sing.
The pig shouted, "Catch!", and threw the hat at Akio, who yelped and tried to leap out of the way. But the hat swerved and landed onto his head. After just a second, Akio disappeared in a cloud of red mist.
"Grouchindor!", Pigbumps declared, the hat returning to him, "Each of you will be teleported directly to your common room after the hat sorts you. Now, for the blue frog in the corner!"
He tossed the hat at Markus, who was trying to hide under his oversized wizard hat. The cap didn't care. After a few seconds, he disappeared in a cloud of yellow mist.
"Huffandpuff!", Pigbumps shouted.
"That makes no sense.", muttered Gavin.
Then the hat landed on his head. Poof! Blue mist.
"Knowitclaw!", Pigbumps yelled.
The hat flew up and threw itself into Zeke's face. He vanished in a cloud of green.
"Slimerin!"
Rei had been sitting next to him, and the hat decided to go for her. She vanished in a flash of blue. The heat, which had been rising steadily in her presence, suddenly dropped, causing me to shiver violently.
The hat then flew towards a boy named Hunter, who was now a Poochyena wearing a blue scarf. His older brother, Will, was a Zamazenta wearing sunglasses. He tried to block the hat, but the hat flashed and sent them both away to Huffandpuff.
I noticed their pets, a dog and a cat, disappeared with them. I supposed the school knew better than to separate the boys and their pets.
The hat flew around and teleported the rest of the Vivi family.
Brianna? Slimerin.
Laura? Huffandpuff.
Erik? Knowitclaw.
Peter? Also Knowitclaw.
Sylvie? A third Knowitclaw.
Sara? Huffandpuff.
And it wasn't much of a surprise when Fiona went to Grouchindor.
After that, the hat sent Simon and Kipper to Knowitclaw, Mia and Zola to Huffandpuff, Janet and Kayla to Grouchindor, and Randa and Kai to Slimerin. Wendell went to Knowitclaw. Joel and Jack went there as well.
Daniel and Anthony disappeared in a flash of red. Barry and Steven disappeared in yellow. Lulu vanished in blue, Matthew as well. Eddie did a little spin as he vanished in green.
Finally, the hat zoomed towards me, and I saw a glimpse of green before I found myself somewhere else entirely.
It was cold and dark, illuminated by a few scattered torches. There was thick stone walls all around me, and an empty fireplace. Two sets of stairs in the back led further down, and I heard a dripping sound coming from somewhere. As my new night vision kicked in, I could see several motheaten sofas and a table with a half-finished game of chess on top of it.
Spotting the double-headed snake banner above the fireplace, I groaned.
"Sucks, doesn't it?", growled Zeke, "Inaccurate sorting indeed. Welcome to Slimerin."
I spotted him leaning against a wall, his huge turbine tail wrapped around his feet. Nearby, I spotted Brianna trying to move some dirty laundry into a corner. Kai was placing a log in the fireplace, while Randa floated above a chair. Not the group I wanted to end up with, besides Brianna of course.
"Yay.", I cheered sarcastically, "Slytherin was always my favorite house."
"We're literally stuck in a dungeon.", complained Kai, "Meanwhile, everybody else probably has some sweet, sweet tower to hang out in."
Randa added, "You got that right. You hear that dripping sound? Our bathroom is most likely the sewer itself."
Everybody glared at him, and he underwent a quadruple Paralysis.
"Well, looks like our random triggering of Pokemon moves is still up, even in a completely different dimension.", stated Brianna, "That's comforting."
Randa tried to say something, but there was the loud buzz of Paralysis, and he was blocked.
I nodded, and Zeke and Kai seemed concerned about that. Which was silly, seeing that the two were Electric-types and therefore immune to Paralysis.
After looking around a bit more, I asked, "So, uh, what do we do now?"
Zeke gestured to the two flights of stairs. "Check out our rooms, of course. Bonus points if it has only a small amount of mildew."
He started walking towards one. I noticed that one was labeled Boys and the other was labeled Girls. Brianna and I headed towards that one. I kept a close eye on my four stubby feet, doing my best to avoid tripping and making a fool of myself.
At the very bottom, we arrived at a wall of doors. One was labeled Bedrooms, another was labeled Bathrooms, and the third was unlabeled. However, the heavily nailed-down rows of boards covering it was words enough.
Brianna looked at the bedroom door, and then charged, using Quick Attack to smash it open. The door flung open, revealing our new rooms.
I whistled approvingly. "Look at the fancy digs."
Contrary to what we had assumed would be the accommodations, the room was actually quite nice. There were thirty four-poster beds, each one with green sheets and covers and had a dark canopy for privacy. In front of each one was a massive wooden chest, each with a softly glowing lock. There were bags on top of each chest, waiting to be unpacked, and they were labeled with each person's name.
The room was also home to several more chairs and tables, as well as magical torches that filled it with warmth. Although I wasn't particularly fond about sharing a room, it was definitely nicer than the common room had suggested.
Brianna headed to her bed, investigating the bag on top of the chest. Curious, I went to check my own. It had my name on it, but I had never seen this bag before.
I smiled to see that it was a simple buckle, and not a zipper, that was holding it shut. Buckles were easier to open and didn't require me to hold a piece of metal in my mouth for long.
I opened the bag, and spotted a note on the very top. It read:
Sorry, but it appears we have misplaced your bag. This could have happened in multiple ways:
You left it behind on the reverse train.
The weasels stole it.
It got turned into a chicken.
It was used in tonight's meat surprise.
It was commandeered for the communist movement.
Argyufilth the janitor burned it in his rage.
You forgot to bring it in the first place.
Or really any sort of reason at all; this is a strange place.
This bag contains all the essential supplies for your classwork, and if you ever need more, you can get more by bribing the house orcs.
Enjoy your stay at Pigbumps School of Wizcraft and Witchery!
Sincerely, Professor Bumblebore.
"Well, I guess Miss Melody's crazy plan worked.", I commented, "Problem is, what happens when we can't do magic spells..." (-o-)