Chapter 17
The rules require that the Sorting has to be done publicly, and by the Headmaster. Every eye in the great Hall is on Becky as she walks to the stool. A few of her Housemates jeer and hiss quietly as she passes, but they can sod off. None of them except Gus seemed in the least glad to have her in their House, so why should they care if she leaves?
"Rebecca Snape of House Slytherin," Neville begins solemnly. "What seek you?"
"I seek to be Sorted anew, Headmaster," she replies, using the archaic phrasing the ceremony requires.
"Do you understand that a second Sorting is for life, that it cannot be undone?"
"I do, sir."
"Then sit."
Becky perches on the stool, feeling the stares of her Housemates but looking only at her godfather as he lowers the Sorting Hat onto her head.
You again, little snake!
Me again, Becky thinks.
Didn't like the House you chose? The House you were so insistent on joining despite my counsel?
Not much, she thinks. You were right. I should have listened.
What if I've changed my mind? the Hat demands. What if that little stunt you and young Longbottom pulled have convinced me that you were right and I was wrong?
Then leave me in Slytherin, she shrugs. It's your decision.
You're not going to beg and plead?
No.
Even if I put you in Gryffindor?
Do as you see fit, she says, and means it. The prospect of staying in Slytherin doesn't fill her with dread, even though she knows it will be worse for her now that she's tried to get out in such a public way. They're children. Their cruelty and spite are petty things. She's seen what it is to genuinely suffer, and she knows that whatever her Housemates may do or say, things could be so much worse. She lives in a world without a Dark Lord, a world where her father is alive and well and happy. That's all that matters.
"Hatstall!" Arthur Weasley shouts. "She's caused another bloody hatstall!"
You've grown up since you were here last, the Hat tells her.
I've made a start on it anyway, Becky thinks.
Indeed you have, little badger. "Hufflepuff!" the Hat proclaims.
When the Hat is removed, Becky glances down at her tie, which changes before her eyes from green to yellow. Her new Housemates are cheering and clapping. The applause from the Gryffindor table is almost as thunderous. The Ravenclaws clap politely, but there is stony silence from the Slytherin table. Gus remains quiet, but he gives her a small smile.
Becky walks to her new House table and sits down next to Jack Diggory, who is also a first year. She looks at her father and Pansy standing at the back of the hall. Pansy winks, and Becky feels a rush of gratitude, in part because her godmother isn't disappointed in her, but mostly because she isn't the awful woman she was in that other world.
"You've been avoiding me," Pansy accuses.
"I haven't been avoiding you," Becky says. It's a half-truth at best. She hasn't been able to get that other Pansy out of her head, but she can't tell her godmother this.
"Liar," Pansy scoffs. "Good thing there's a wedding today and you need your hair fixed or who knows how long I'd have had to wait before you visited."
"I didn't come just to get my hair done. I could have done it myself. I can do the spell almost as well as you can now."
"Ah, but there are other spells. That one was just the tip of the hairdressing iceberg."
"Really?"
"Really," Pansy affirms. "And you can't just wear it hanging down your back for a wedding at Malfoy Manor, for Nimue's sake. I'm going to give you a fancy up-do that will make Cass Malfoy look like something the Kneazle dragged in."
Becky shrugs. "I couldn't care less what Cass looks like. It's her brother's wedding. She ought to look beautiful."
Pansy puts her hands on her slim hips and looks hard at Becky. "You've gotten over him."
Becky nods.
"Good for you. A pity for him, though, the little fool. Oh, well. Maybe you'll both come around by the time you're the right age."
"Maybe."
"But don't hold my breath?"
Becky smiles, showing teeth that lately she forgets for hours at a time are crooked. "It's silly, having a crush at my age."
"That never stopped me."
Becky knows it was Draco Pansy had a crush on in first year. Draco, whom that other Pansy married and made miserable. Later today, Becky will see him for the first time since she left that other timeline.
"What's wrong, pet?"
Becky looks up at her godmother and smiles rather sadly. "Just thinking."
"Well, hold your head still while you think," Pansy says.
Becky holds still and feels Pansy's magic slithering in and out of her curls as they twine into the most beautiful hairstyle she's ever seen. "It's amazing!" Becky exclaims. "You have got to teach me that one."
"I'll teach you all of them eventually. And all my other beauty secrets. When you're old enough," she adds with a smirk.
Becky smiles.
"Well, what do you know."
"What?" Becky asks.
"You didn't blush. You always blush when I say things like that."
Becky straightens her shoulders and toys with one of the curls that trail down her neck from the up-do. "Hufflepuff ladies do not blush," she says archly.