Chapter 6: Legacy

Miranda Bailey squints at her scroll before she reads out the first name on her list.

A few students go by, and are sorted into various houses, and each time, the receiving house cheers for their new addition and welcomes them at their long table.

Meredith glances at Cristina whenever someone is sorted into Ravenclaw, because she knows how much it means to her friend to end up there, and she figures if there is about even numbers of students sorted into each of the houses each year, that this means that Cristina (and her), have diminishing chances.

By the time her name comes up, Meredith nearly falls over in anticipation, and she walks carefully over to the seat in front of the entire room, and Miranda Bailey places the sorting hat on her head, and it begins talking.

"Hm… What a great legacy…" says the sorting hat.

Meredith groans, as it goes on about that for a moment.

Under her breath, Meredith keeps whispering 'Ravenclaw,' over and over, in the hopes that somehow the hat will hear her.

"Ravenclaw, huh," says the hat. "You'd like to follow your friends I see…" the hat announces.

Meredith reddens, mortified that the hat has exposed that she wants to be in that house for Cristina, and not for the legacy of Ellis.

"Well then…" the hat pauses. "RAVENCLAW!"

Meredith jumps up excitedly, and grins from ear to ear as she accepts her place at the Ravenclaw table, much to the delight of her mother, though she doesn't even bother checking.

Instead, she sits as close as possible to the redhead she'd spotted earlier, in the hopes that she might congratulate her, and that they could strike up a conversation.

"Alex Karev…" says the hat, several students later. "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Alex looks a bit embarrassed himself to be sorted into such a 'soft,' hat, and he only seems to accept his fate after having been joined by George O'Malley, and Izzie Stevens.

Finally, they reach the end of the alphabet, and Miranda Bailey calls out Cristina's name.

"Cristina Yang…" says the hat. "Already well-researched, such great dedication…" the hat supplies, much to Cristina's delight. "RAVENCLAW!"

Meredith pats the seat next to her at the table, and Cristina sits in it, and reunites with her friend from the train, and as they wait for the end of the ceremony, Meredith finally does look up to watch and sees that Richard is smiling at her.

"Your attention please," says Miranda Bailey, as she clinks her spoon against her glass.

"Let the feast begin!" Richard Webber announces, and with the wave of his hand, the food appears on the tables.

"Guess those mommy-issues are working for you?" asks Cristina, as she picks up some salad.

"I guess so…" Meredith smiles, unwilling to admit at this point that she'd been gunning for Ravenclaw for entirely different reasons.

"Anyway, we ended up together, didn't we? I hope we're in the same room, that would be awesome," she smiles.

"Yeah," says Meredith. "It would be," she adds, as she picks out some chicken wings.

All of the food is delicious, and Meredith and Cristina eat up to their heart's content.