Ch. 9 Rumors and Recognition
Whatever it was that had delayed the Start-of-Term Feast, Rose decided it didn't know how grouchy Weasleys could get when they were promised then denied food. Her stomach growled mournfully, and she tried to ignore it as James and Lorcan loudly moaned complaints to Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor House ghost.
Luckily Roxanne was sitting between her and the boys, though she too was looking at her empty plate like somebody had died. Rose turned to her left and tried to strike up a conversation with Albus to distract herself, but the black-haired boy was refusing to speak while his brother James was nearby.
Lily was right; the two Potter boys had never fought like this before. Rose didn't know where to start mending the rift between the brothers, but she was glad her cousin was sitting with her Hufflepuff classmates and wasn't here to see more of this. While the Weasley-Potter Clan usually picked one of their various House tables to eat at in groups, even they weren't bold enough to break traditions at an official Feast.
Of course, a Feast would require actual food…
The Great Hall was full of conversations, and it took another ten minutes for the people that weren't out of their mind with hunger to realize that the new First Years should have arrived by now. The scorched Sorting Hat was sitting unused on its stool in front of the Head Table. Professors started looking at each other wearily while students started to speculate, and it wasn't until a side door opened to admit Hagrid that everyone got their answers.
Rubeus Hagrid was a lot older than he had been in the days of the Second War, and it showed in the stiff way he walked and his grey mane of wild hair. Like most wizards he lived longer than muggles, but Rose's mom suspects that it's his giant blood that had let the man keep most of his strength as time went on. Even so, while he kept his position as Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts he had tearfully given up being Groundskeeper in favor of his teaching position for Care of Magical Creatures Class. He had been forced to retire from one of them when it became apparent he could no longer keep up with both.
Rose's first memory of the man was him crying to Mum, Dad, and Uncle Harry in the living room, giving great heaving sobs about how "they can' make meh choose between two of ther greatest thin's in me life"!
Dad had seemed a little disappointed he chose to keep teaching, while Mum and Uncle Harry had been eager to give him advice for his class schedules. After he left they had to buy a new sofa for the living room, and Mum had spent an hour enchanting the new one not to break for the next time he came and sat in it.
The entire hall watched Hagrid shuffle past his seat to tap McGonagall on the shoulder, and everyone grew silent as they strained with curiosity to hear what he had to say to their Headmistress.
They needn't have worked so hard, as even Hagrid's whisper was loud in his excitement as he got to the good part. "Thar seems tah be a Kelpie in deh lake now… firs' year tried ter ride i', and another jumped after 'im…"
Chaotic noise ensued as they watched the Headmistress immediately stand to leave with him, and Rose watched curiously as the new assistant Mister Orion followed her. She wondered how close his relationship was to that Zoey girl who had claimed to help take care of his pet.
"Rose?" She jerked with shock, then disbelief that Albus was speaking to her again and immediately gave him her undivided attention. "What's a kepie?"
"Hagrid mentioned them in Care of Magical Creatures last year," She informed him without annoyance, since that wasn't an elective he had chosen. She noticed the rest of the clan was listening and spoke a bit louder so they could hear her, though she didn't take her eyes of Albus. "They're meat-eating water demons that live in lakes and rivers. They can change into several shapes, but usually takes the form of a horse so that it can get people onto it's back voluntarily when it drowns them."
"People?" Roxanne breathed in horror. "It eats humans? Salazar's snakes, what if it ate that first year?"
"We're in Hogwarts, safest place in the world. I'm sure it didn't even get close," Rose assured even as her stomach clenched and she suddenly wasn't quite so hungry anymore. "But I'm sure Hugo will tell us all about it."
"Ah-choo!" Zoethia sneezed explosively for the fifth time that minute, the sound echoing off the walls as she accepted yet another tissue. When she blew her nose it honked louder than her sneeze had, and the tiny girl smiled sheepishly and grew pink as she buried deeper into the towel draped across her shoulders. "Sorry. Can't really help it."
A gwaffing laugh came from her right. "Merlin, it sounds like you swallowed an elephant." Hugo announced, a grin spread across his freckled cheeks. The other first-years had been taken away already, but the two of them had been held behind while Snottgrout had disapparated off to grab Mister Prin, who seemed to be the school Healer as he immediately started checking their injuries.
The best thing he had done was make a dozen thick towels appear, warmed as though they'd just been pulled out of a dryer. It had taken three of them for Zoey to finish drying off, two of them for her hair alone and it was still damp, before she contentedly wrapped herself in a fourth while more adults appeared to hear accounts of what had happened. Trisha had been released first, since she'd been unconscious for most of it, and Mitchell had left just a few minutes ago.
When Miss McGonagall and Jonovan arrived, they had sent Mitchell after the rest of their class with a large man Zoey hadn't met before. Whoever he was he seemed disappointed that he'd been sent away as it was finally explained that the hippocampus was actually a kelpie.
"Mister Weasley." The Headmistress admonished, impatiently waiting for Hugo to finish his account of what had happened.
"Right, sorry. Er, well I don't really remember much else. After they started petting Zoey-"
"Would you stop calling it that-"
"They were petting Zoey," Hugo refused to relent, "And then a hippocampus came up to the boat, and that's where things get kinda funny. I dunno why I wanted to ride him, but Uncle Harry used to have that hippogriff so I knew they were sorta similar. I think Zoey tried to stop me- sorry, I didn't really hear you, honest- and I only noticed something was wrong after it started to swim away from the castle."
"The kelpie kept trying to go down," Zoey couldn't help but add, "But it couldn't because of net the boats were caught in. It was swimming for the nearest edge when I jumped after them."
"It was?" Hugo blinked in astonishment. "Huh, I guess it was. Next thing I properly remember is being thrown off its back and getting caught in the net myself. It was gone by the time you cut me out."
"I didn't get you out. It was Tristan," Zoey announced in a flat voice. "The merman who approached us first."
"A merman named Tristan?" He asked in astonishment.
"A human named Hugo?" She shot back, annoyed and ready to get somewhere with a fire. "Anyways, I needed his help swimming back to a boat after the kelpie bit me." She gestured to her bandaged forearm, where Mister Prin had had to reattach her mangled flesh. Hugo's only injuries was a scrape on the head and some swallowed lakewater, which the Healer had easily taken care of.
"A merman helped you?" McGonagall asked in complete shock. "Why?"
"Huh, you know, I really didn't stop to ask." Zoey winced at herself and immediately apologized as she brought a hand to her temple. "Sorry miss, I'm tired and I have a headache."
"You should get something to eat." Jonovan finally pulled her into a comforting hug the way he'd been dying to, but had tried to resist until they were alone. "Is there anything else you need before I take them back, ma'am?"
His tone didn't match the respectful words at all, and it made McGonagall raise her eyebrows as she looked to the Healer for his assessment of the students' health. He gave a relenting nod. "I'll need to see the girl for the next few days to check on that bite, but I suppose they can both join the Sorting Ceremony for now." He ran a hand down his face wearily. "Patient paperwork before the Start-of-Term Feast; has to be a new record."
Jonovan nodded curtly and walked out without waiting for another confirmation, tugging Zoey along. Rasputin was crooning from his shoulder, relieved to be back with his owner and away from the nasty sea creature.
As soon as they were alone Jon whirled on her and grabbed her shoulders with white knuckles, a frantic look in his eye as he screamed "How can you be so stupid? Something magical swims up with teeth and you decide 'oh, I should jump in after it'!"
"Hey, I'm not the one that decided to get on it's back." She crossed her arms defiantly. "And I'd promised the kid he'd see his sister in less than an hour."
They glared in silence, each determined to hold onto their righteous anger but both folded under the pressure at the same time and pulled in for another hug. Jon made sure to avoid her injury as he kissed the top of her head. "Are you sure you're all right? Is your head okay?"
"It's just a headache," She sniffled into his chest as she released tears of relief now that she finally felt safe from the ordeal. "Think it's the cold. Or maybe the stress."
"Ya think?" He laughed humorlessly and wasn't surprised to see her hair had turned dead white this time. It proved their theory about the colors that had seemed random at first. He frowned when she started shaking and held her tighter. "Hey, I'm right here Zo. You're safe."
She nodded even as she kept crying for a few more minutes, carefully lifting her injured right arm to show him her bracelet. "I lost the dagger," Zoey confessed softly. "Could you tell Rex for me? I don't… I just rather not…"
Jon carefully grabbed her hand to inspect her bracelet, from which hung silver charms of a variety of weapons. One of the links was broken, and he nodded. "We'll fix it later." he promised, still refusing to let go of the hug until she wanted him too.
It took another minute for her to pull herself together, but she did, giving him a watery smile. "Thanks Jon. I'm really, really glad you're here."
He gave her a final squeeze before releasing her, looking her over and frowning. "Where's your school robe?"
Zoey grimly pointed to her arm. "I used it to stop the bleeding." Jon nodded approval of her actions and easily summoned another one from her trunk, helping her slide into it before they resumed their way to the Great Hall.
Headmistress McGonagall and Hugo were waiting for them just outside the giant double doors. Hugo grinned at Zoey, noticing her green eyes were puffy but assuming it was from the lingering cold the lake had given her. His eyes did cross in confusion at something else though. "What happened to your hair?"
Zoey laughed a bit, giving him a smile as she stood next to him. "It likes to change."
"Oh," he accepted easily, and Jon wondered how growing up with magic made such ridiculous statements commonplace. Hugo gave Zoey a heavy pat on the back, proudly declaring to his new personal hero "You are so gonna be in Gryffindor."
When the first years finally walked into the great hall, even Malfoy's group breathed a sigh of relief. It was subtle and more like a unified puff of air, but for Slytherins, it said a lot. It may surprise the other three Houses, but Slytherins also found the idea of a first-year dying to be awful, and the people walking so casually into the hall certainly weren't acting like they'd just watched somebody get drowned and eaten.
Now, if the Slytherins found it vocally amusing that so many Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors had to shout across the hall to deduce the same thing, well, that was a comment on their classmates' intelligence. Rather their lack thereof; the Ravenclaws had seemed to catch on well enough.
Scorpius noticed Rose Weasley jump out of her chair, her face deathly pale as her cousins tried to pull her back into her seat. He frowned and watched their heated arguments as the Deputy Head Neville Longbottom explained the Sorting Ceremony to the first years, and started calling them by name.
The Herbology Professor and Gryffindor Head of House handled the Sorting Hat with both hands as gently as though it were a fresh mandrake root, and with good reason. The tattered old thing was covered in soot and falling apart at the seams. Scorpius watched as one of its many rips opened and the entire hall waited in anticipation, then seemed to sigh as the tip of the hat drooped forward.
Draco had once told his son that the Sorting Hat sung a song at every year, but apparently that was no longer the case. The Dark Lord had burned the Hat with Fiendfyre during the Battle of Hogwarts, supposedly while their very own Professor Longbottom had been wearing it, and had damaged it in a way the Professors thought irreparable. There were even rumors that the Sorting Hat would need to be replaced soon, but nobody knew how to create another.
Eventually Professor Longbottom stepped up to continue the ceremony, calling out the names of the students. "Adams, John."
It sat on the head of the first nervous first year for a moment, then cried out in a hoarse voice "…Hufflepuff…"
"Hufflepuff." Longbottom repeated the declaration as he gently lifted the hat from the boy's head, and the table of Hufflepuffs broke out in cheers. When they quieted he looked at the next name on his list. "Avery, Marcel."
"…Slytherin…" it choked out again in the aged voice of a chain smoker.
"Slytherin!" Longbottom repeated, and on it went. They had just reached "Daniels, Elisabeth" when the great hall opened and Hagrid walked in, pushing a first year into the crowd with a giant hand the size of the kid's back. The poor boy looked terrified at the attention and quickly weaved into the crowd of first years to hide.
Hagrid took heavy steps back to the Head Table and sat down with a groan, looking unhappy in a way that made Scorpius wonder if the kelpie had been killed to save those students. The giant man had a weird affection for the more dangerous of the magical creatures.
"Gryffindor." Professor Longbottom announced the Hat's decision, and Elisabeth Daniels rushed to join the cheering table on the opposite side of the Hall.
As Scorpius watched he noticed that the Sorting Hat was certainly speaking louder this year than it had ever managed before. It must have self-repairing spells on it, he decided. If he'd been Godric Gryffindor and he'd made a hat that was supposed to last hundreds of years, he certainly would've added that to their enchantment. Then again, that might be assuming too much. Godric had been the original brash Gryffindor, after all.
They had reached "McConner, Sarah" who was put in "…Ravenclaw…" when the door opened again. Headmaster McGonagall strode into her Great Hall with Jonovan Orion, the new Assistant, by her side and two students wrapped in towels. One of whom was notably tall and had quite memorable red hair.
The students grew silent as they realized that none other than a Legacy had fought with the kelpie of the lake, and of course nothing could stop the rest of the Legacy Children from abandoning their Houses to swarm around their youngest hero.
Malfoy rolled his eyes in annoyance as he watched them gather and the rumors started flying. He had no doubt the rumors would twist until the new Weasley became the hero and the tiny girl at his side was the victim, even though Hagrid had plainly told the entire hall that it had been a boy that had gotten on the Kelpie.
The real hero stepped aside to let the family gather, seeming to do her best to disappear even with her albino-white hair, and Scorpius knew from that alone she wasn't prideful enough to be Slytherin. Must be aiming for Gryffindor, he scowled as he watched her take off the towel and hand it to Mister Orion before joining the rest of the first years.
She barely made it two steps before a hand grabbed the back of her collar and dragged her into the sea of Legacy redheads, all of them giving her pats on the back and shaking her hands fiercely. It was only when Rose hugged the girl with tears in her green eyes that Scorpius remembered the newest Weasley was Rose's only brother, and was suddenly doubly glad the boy hadn't been eaten.
McGonagall, having reached the front of the Great Hall, turned to the cluster of Potters and Weasleys and cleared her throat, the sound amplified by a sonorous spell. The Hall silenced rather quickly as the Headmistress addressed the crowd at the back of the group of first years.
"If you would all kindly take your seats, we will resume the Sorting Ceremony."
By the time the Legacies had reluctantly dispersed once more, murmurs had begun traversing the House tables about the new, white-haired student with most of the halls occupants ignoring the rest of the proceedings.
"Gryffindor for sure." Nott sighed, "They may as well skip her name and just tell her to sit down next to the Legacies."
Zambians laughed, "She must be some kind of stupid to jump into the lake."
"Or brave." Scorpius mused. He felt his friends' staring at him and he cleared his throat, adding, "But there is a fine line between the two. If you get away with it, you're brave. If not, then you're stupid."
Nott shrugged, "True, but it doesn't change the fact that she'll be best pals with the Legacies now."
"Unless she gets put in Slytherin." Goyle piped up, "I don't think even the Legacies would dare tarnish their pride so much as to have a friend in our House."
"Nah, she's not ambitious enough- otherwise she'd have jumped at the opportunity to make herself known amongst the Legacies."
"But she is honest- if she's not in Gryffindor for her bravery then she'll be in Hufflepuff for sure."
Scorpius tuned out the extended conversation of House traits as the first year group gradually thinned. Everyone knew that if you were put in Gryffindor you were bound for success, whereas if you were sorted into Slytherin... Well, needless to say the world hated you, but you automatically gained a group of staunch supporters in the same situation. The other two houses were practically nonexistent in terms of notoriety.
True, the kids in Ravenclaw usually became the valued researchers, and the ones in Hufflepuff made wonderfully just lawyers in Wizengamot, but, well, they were no Harry Potters or Hermione Grangers, were they?
When Longbottom announced that the new Weasley was in Hufflepuff, Scorpius raised an eyebrow across the hall to meet James Potter's scathing look. Seemed that the Weasley-red had left Gryffindor for the second year in a row, he mused as the Hugo kid hugged the youngest Potter girl and sat next to her at the black-and-yellow table.
He absentmindedly clapped as Zambini's little sister was sorted into Slytherin and sat between her brother and Marcel Avery.
The albino girl joined Longbottom on the steps, and Scorpius wondered what her last name was. Zephyr? Zydran? He didn't know many last names, especially not ones that start with the letter 'Z'. The girl silently faced the hall as Headmaster McGonagall stood, cast sonorus for the second time and said "That concludes the Sorting Ceremony. However, as you can see, we still have a student left."
She quieted for a moment to let her students consider this. Scorpius looked at Nott and wondered if he'd been right about them skipping the girl's sorting to jam her straight into Gryffindor. It was doubtful, but what else…?
"That is because this student is not to be a first year. She will be transferring straight into the fourth year of Hogwarts." The albino girl tensed as the student's started gossiping and speculating, wondering about whether she came from Beauxbaton's or Durmstrangs.
"As such, there is a different procedure for her Sorting. Each House will present a student that they believe best personifies the qualities of their House, chosen by their Prefects. You have ten minutes to confer."
It was like a challenge, one that every table jumped to meet. Ravenclaw and Gryffindor immediately produced their Head Girl and Head Boy, respectively. As Hufflepuff tried to pick between their students, a few Slytherins had presented themselves to their Prefects. Malfoy had no interest in a magical ceremony he didn't understand, and Nott looked just as displeased by the notion.
After considering for a moment, Priscilla stood from her seat as well. She set a hand out to stop a third-year boy from passing her, looking down at him from the corner of her eye. Scorpius chuckled at his expression when he scurried back to his seat.
There was nary a person at the Hogwarts that could best Priscilla Parkinson in a battle of wills. She was the first child of a Death Eater to enroll in Hogwarts after the Second War and the tale went that after a week of hearing her classmates talk behind her back, she had marched in front of the entire Great Hall and said that if anyone had anything else to say about her family, they should come up and tell it to everyone.
Then the eleven year old had stood there as a line of students who had families in the Second War had taken that advice, marching up to her to say many, many things that would have sent any other child crying in a corner, and she took it silently. Priscilla smoothly walked away from them that day with her head held high, and over the next week every student that had insulted her or her family had been victim of a string of curses and hexes. She had done it in the true Slytherin fashion, not one incident could be traced back to the young Parkinson despite nobody doubting it was her hand, and had protected her family name in that manner for the rest of her first year.
It was somewhat of a legend in their House.
When Scorpius Malfoy, Thomas Nott, and Marcellous Zambini had arrived she had defended their names just as brutally. She had taken to Melissa Goyle even more fiercely a year later, perhaps because the girl had needed it the most. Scorpius wondered if any of them could have stood as strong as she had.
Priscilla had proven her pride and strength and cunning four years ago, and those traits had only grown. As soon as she stood to represent Slytherin, everyone else sat without protest.
Malfoy and his friends beamed with pride as she went before Headmistress McGonagall, who waited patiently for Hufflepuff to present their student. After the four Houses were represented, she spoke to them for a moment, and they stood around the stool that the Sorting Hat rested on.
The Headmistress announced to the Great Hall, "Using the students you yourself have chosen as templates, the Hat will now make its decision on where to place Malam, Zoethia."
Scorpius's head jerked up just as the Hat was lowered to cover the albino girl's eyes. "Who?"