Karkat Vantas and a Fucking Cherry-Red Stone.
Chapter Six: Sortings and Low Tolerance for Babblings
AN: Back again. Now, did I get my life back in order? That's a no. Am I finally relaxed? Hah. No. Am I still stressed out of my mind? Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! No really, that's it. So here I am, waiting for my dinner to be done, cat in lap and ready to return to this dumpster-fire that I call a fanfic. Hope you enjoy it. It only took me like a year. And a half…
The rest of the train ride had thankfully passed quietly, which Karkat contributed to his yelling. Ironically enough.
He had hoped to meet Kanaya on the train, but he hadn't been able to find her. Or rather; he had looked in a few cars down the train, hadn't seen her and let that matter rest. It wasn't all that important anyway. He was certain that she got other friends and had only invited him because she was polite. People were like that. Polite. To spare others feelings, but if were able to look past the false veil, you would only get hurt even more. Kankri was wrong; politeness wasn't something to strive for. Bluntness and truth was. Or so he had decided a few years ago, when one of Kankri's speeches had been too much for him. He had lived by those rules ever since.
Soon they arrived. The older student all walked towards some carriages, but the first years were led by some random professor, or groundskeeper, as he introduced himself. It wasn't all that important. Karkat was sure he wouldn't see much of him. Karkat regretted that decision as soon as he saw the old, leaky boats. This groundskeeper would be his new archenemy.
The boat ride was… well… wet. And cold. He should leave it at that. After some chatter between the groundskeeper and the Deputy Headmistress, Umbrage, they finally reached the castle.
They had been ushered into a small room, where he finally found Kanaya. They had both been unable to find each other on the train. Kanaya admitted that she had only been able to search a small portion of the train, before a prefect had ordered her to find a seat. They weren't able to talk much more, before Professor Umbrage had ordered them all to follow her.
The Great Hall certainly lived up to its name. It certainly was great. And huge. And… pretty amazing actually. Karkat wondered briefly, if anyone got hit by the melted wax from the floating candles, but figured that there was some sort of spell or charm that kept the students safe from being occasionally burned. He hoped. All the first year students looked around the room nervously, but with Kanaya by his side, Karkat felt a bit better. Not that he was nervous or anything, no sir.
The witch who had introduced herself as Umbrage, placed a stool on the floor along with a mouldy old hat that had certainly seen better days. Karkat nearly jumped in shock when the Hat began to sing about the different houses. It was as he had expected from whatever Kankri had told him. Gryffindor valued honour and bravery. Hufflepuff was all about hard work and loyalty. Slytherin searched for those with ambition and cunning (to be frank, that didn't sound as bad, as when Kankri had told him tales about the Slytherins, but Karkat could feel a small headache building, so he decided to just focus on the matter of hand, and not whatever the Houses represented. It wasn't like it was important or anything) and Ravenclaw invited the witty, those with love for learning and wisdom. So far, Karkat couldn't see what House he would fit into, but alas, no child (or adult) was only made up from one House. Everyone had a bit of every House in them. Or so, one of his books had said. He thought that it sounded rather clever. And a tad confusing.
"Ampora, Eridan!" Umbrage called and a dark-haired boy with a purple streak, staggered nervously up to the hat.
After a moment the hat yelled, "SLYTHERIN!" the table far to the right clapped for their new member. Karkat noticed that their colours were green and silver.
The Sorting seemed forever. A Captor, Sollux apparently belonged to Ravenclaw. John Egbert, the boy from the bookshop and train, was a Gryffindor (he got the biggest applause so far as the red and gold table seemed rather excited to have him). Jade Harley, John's cousin, was a Hufflepuff. Lalonde, also a Ravenclaw. Leijon, Gryffindor. Karkat only half listened to names and their destination. Only five children had been sorted and he was already bored. A long way to the V's. He idly wondered if the rest of the school was as bored as he was. Karkat quickly refocused on the Sorting when 'Makara, Gamzee' was called forth. It was the kid, Kankri had warned him against, and when he thought about it, it was also the clown-kid that had visited him in his compartment along with McStutters. He honestly didn't seem all that dangerous.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" Karkat nearly laughed out loud. From all the warnings, he'd heard, he hadn't expected Makara to end up in Hufflepuff, the House for the so-called losers. He ended up rolling his eyes. So much for being dangerous.
"Maryam, Kanaya!" Kanaya walked forward with grace. Karkat whispered a quick 'good luck' and was rewarded with a nervous smile. She wasn't on the stool for long, before the Hat proclaimed her to be in "RAVENCLAW!" for the next seven years of her life.
Karkat gave an assuring smile to Aradia when she was called up next. She also ended up in Ravenclaw. The Mohawk was next and got Sorted into Hufflepuff. What a surprise. Or maybe he just wanted to be in the same House as the clown. They seemed to be great friends. Hmpf.
A girl named Peixes also got Sorted into Hufflepuff, which she seemed to be very satisfied with. Pyrope, who seemed to be blind, if you noticed her cane, but didn't have much trouble finding the stool, got sent to Gryffindor. Serket, the girl with the spider and a wicked grin, got sent to Gryffindor as well. She seemed surprised, but quickly joined the Pyrope-girl. Strider, a boy who lazily walked up to the Hat, wearing sunglasses (who wears sunglasses indoors?) was put in Slytherin.
"Vantas, Karkat!" he was finally called, and Karkat wished that he didn't have to be Sorted right now. Couldn't it wait? For like… the rest of his life?
Karkat walked uncertainly up to the stool with the moulding hat, suddenly not so sure about this whole deal. Actually wishing to just turn around and leave. Why did they need to Sort the first years in front of everyone else?! He most likely looked like a wreck, but tried not to show the growing feeling of panic in his chest. He reached the stool, sat down and darkness surrounded him when the Deputy Headmistress placed the hat on his head.
"Hmmm… I see plenty of dreams and ideas for your future, huh? You certainly don't dream small. Wanting to be a leader? Perhaps the Minister of Magic? …No? you want to be higher up than others, so they won't look down at you? Plenty of loyalty as well, not a bad head, and also hardworking. A fair sense of honour. But what is… hmmm… is it possible to..? …no… but who would..? …oh… Oh!... this is something you must solve yourself, I'm afraid. Just remember to look out for yourself. Only trust the few.
I believe that SLYTHERIN will fit you best!"
Karkat froze, but the table, far to the right, started to clap loudly, so he stood up and stumbled towards the table in green. When he sat down, he risked a glance at the Gryffindor table. His brother looked more shocked than Karkat had ever seen him be. He was probably more shocked than Karkat. Imagine telling your brother horrortales of this place, and finding out that it's the place where your brother belongs. This line of thought didn't make Karkat feel better.
~naknaknak~
While being guided to his common room by the prefect, Karkat glanced at Kankri, who had apparently been staring worriedly at him for some time, but they didn't get a chance to talk before they were led in different directions. Tomorrow then.
Down in the dark common room, they were directed towards their dorms, where they would share rooms with their classmates. Sweaty Guy was there, along with Sir Sunglasses, another kid Karkat couldn't remember the sorting of, and Purple Streak. Karkat couldn't be bothered to remember their names at the moment. It was too goddamn late to be polite.
The other boys in the room seemed to share his sentimentality and went straight to bed. Well, except for one boy. The boy he couldn't remember the sorting of. His eyes were red, like Karkat's, but instead of being crimson, the other boy's eyes were more of a rusty colour. Karkat secretly hoped that the other boy had received as much trouble for the rare eye-colour, as he did himself. Or maybe it was more common in magical families. He hoped not.
The other boy walked towards Karkat and stretched out his hand. Karkat nervously shook it. It seemed awfully mature and grown-up to shake another kid's hand. What eleven year-old shook hands willingly anyway?
"My name is Caliborn Uranian. Your name is Karkat Vantas, correct?" it came out more like a command, than a question. Karkat nodded. He certainly didn't like this Caliborn Uranian. He was a douchemuffin.
"Good. Here in Slytherin, we need to stand together. Everyone is suspicious of us, so we need to show an united front, so no fighting outside the common room. And as we are obviously the superior house, we have to live up to that. So no slacking off. You need to show your best. We need every student here in Slytherin. Even those who are obviously usele-" a groan interrupted him mid-speech.
"God-fucking-damnit! Are you gonna drawl on forever or what? We're all pissing ourselves in our half-asleep state, so I'd rather go to bed, than listen to another word come out of your shit-blubbering hole. Jesus! And no, I don't give flying fuck about what you think of me! I will probably not live to your insane expectations anyway! This is fucking school and we're like, eleven, so cry me a river, you whiny little fuckstick!" Karkat had finally lost his cool, after a long and trying day. Making an enemy out of a classmate the first day, might not be the smartest move, but he'd already tried to be polite (-ish), but he'd been polite the whole day! He'd reached his quota! There was only so much politeness he could do in one day. Come back tomorrow.
Caliborn was shocked, and didn't seem to mind, when Karkat crawled into bed, pulled the curtains on his bed shut and went to sleep. Or perhaps he was just shocked that anyone was stupid enough to be so rude to the son of one of the greatest wizards of all times; Calious Uranian. Karkat Vantas would regret his decisions, but firstly, Caliborn needed to inform his father about this.
A/N: If any of you wonder why I placed the different characters in their specific house, you are welcome to message me, I'd love to hear it :) The reason why, I didn't squeeze in the Sorting song? I think we've all read it plenty of times, and I would never be able to actually write original lyrics to a song that should make sense in this context. I tried. Oh and I wouldn't be so cruel to leave y'all hanging with Karkat's sorting. I've seen it done plenty of times in other fics, and you guys deserved a medal for waiting this long! Gold star to all of you!
Over and Out - TL