After a slightly shorter chapter last time out you lucky people are getting another real whopper this time. I generally don't go over 6k words but this story just seems to warrant it as there's always so much to say about our quirky heroines.
This time out it's Shelley and the Sorting Hat, what could possibly go wrong?
A quick thank-you for all of the faves, follows and reviews so far. Especially to Balrog1788 for the excellent suggestion that you will find we have gratefully accepted below.
I'm hoping for a chapter every two weeks, as I feel that this is achievable, but you all know how crap I can be when it comes to updating so don't hold your breath 'kay.
Big love to the mighty Tenzo51 without whom this story wouldn't have even happened, let alone be anywhere near as good as it is.
Enjoying yourselves yet? I know we are.
I'm not JKR and I don't make any money from this. Which is a bit of a shame.
DtR xx.
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The Excellent Adventure of a Wolf, a Loony and a Very Bored Heroine.
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4. You Can Leave Your Hat On.
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When they pulled into Hogsmeade station and she heard the rather ominous announcement that they were to leave their belongings on the train where they would be 'taken care of', Shelley Potter had a brief moment of uncharacteristic anxiety. This was mainly due to the many items stored within her trunk that, if they were discovered by an over-zealous professor, may have been considered to be against the rules.
She really hoped that nobody did open it. Especially since the first thing that they would be likely to see would be her old and worn, but still well cared for, shiny and very sharp hatchet.
Shelley would be the first to admit that that would probably raise a few red flags with an educational establishment. Red flags that might persuade them to look deeper into her belongings. Past the innocuous sounding titles of her extra, non class related books, under the sleeves to their actual titles. Titles that hinted at their dark and dangerous contents. Titles that she was aware should not be owned by any student at Hogwarts, let alone the so called 'champion of the light'.
And these were nowhere near the end of the list of probably proscribed items that were nestling at the bottom of her expensive, expanded trunk.
Still there was nothing to be done about it now. If she had to deal with the consequences if there was a routine search procedure in place then she would simply have to do so. Shelley was confident enough in her intellect, logic and negotiation skills that she should be able to keep most of her things. And if not then she could just get her new prospective friend and enforcer Artemis to steal them back for her.
Having a were ... sorry ... true wolf on the payroll was going to be very useful indeed.
"Shall we get going then girls?"
The chaos taking place on the platform at Hogsmeade station was not something that three out of the four girls peering out of their compartment window really wanted to get involved with. Susan, Hannah and Artemis would have been quite content to stay safely on the train until things calmed down a bit before departing but their famous, raven haired travelling companion was far too excited to let them get away with this and dragged them out into the mayhem. At least it wasn't difficult to keep track of each other, the golden blonde, scarlet red, jet black and snow white heads contrasting so well that they were easy to spot even among the horde of mainly taller, black robed, students.
The four, young, differently haired witches carefully picked their way through the heaving mass of bodies. Well three of them did anyway. The resigned girls sighed heavily before moving to follow Shelley as she weaved, bounced, cooed and squealed her way towards the cool looking horseless carriages that she had spied from the train.
Unfortunately, her examination (which was making the poor threstrals very nervous) was cut short as an enormous voice boomed out across the station.
"Firs' years, firs' years, over 'ere."
Hagrid's bellow reached the ears of the group, causing a strange, mewling sound to be emitted by the disappointed girl who was currently hugging one of the invisible, winged ponies and smoothing it's mane. Shelley pouted when Artemis pulled her away and from her fascinating inspection and after Susan and Hannah. As the two small, pureblood witches automatically changed direction and made their way over to the huge man, Susan risked a quick glance behind them to confirm her suspicions.
Sure enough, right there, trailing along in their wake were the little monsters that she and Hannah had shared the last half of the train ride with. Shelley Potter and Artemis Amarok. Of course, they did, at least, make what could have been a very long, dull journey a lot more interesting. Interesting. Yes, that was definitely the operative word, what with Shelley's enthusiasm for all things magical, her brutal intelligence and ... er ... unusual demeanor and Artemis being an actual, real life, monster.
Singly they were a discomforting blend of sweet, energetic, peculiar and outright insane. She wasn't entirely sure how these two wildly different girls had become friends and even less sure that said friendship could survive contact with the zoo that was Hogwarts school. One thing that she was sure of though was that the two of them together were more than a bit of a handful. A handful that would need to be watched very carefully. Admittedly they were being awfully cute now, swinging their linked hands together as they walked but the whispers and twin smirks on their faces as they returned her look were also rather worrying.
"Hagrid! How are ya, big man?"
"Alright Art'mis."
Finally letting go of Shelley's hand, the little white wolf swiftly clambered athletically up the back of the friendly half giant and gave an enthusiastic hug around as much of his shoulders as she could manage.
"You've cheered up since the Alley then?"
"Yeah. Sorry about all that Hagrid, I was just kinda tired and grumpy."
"S'alrigh' Arte' I didn' really mind. Now then, get yer little friends and get in the first boat, I promise ye won' regret it." He chivvied them along with a grin before turning to the rest of the new intake. "Right you lot follow young Art'mis 'ere to the dock and only four to a boat mind."
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As the boats emerged from the overhanging plants and out onto the lake they came onto a sight that literally took their breath away. The castle was lit up in natural candlelight that glowed beautifully through every window and doorway visible to the approaching youngsters.
Shelley's hand found the nearest one available and gripped tightly to it.
It was a testament to just how serene and incredible the view was that Susan Bones simply returned the pressure without any of her usual snark at someone who she barely knew invading her personal space like that. She didn't quite know why she didn't let go even after they had disembarked and ascended the many stairs to the main entrance. But it was quite comforting though, so she shrugged and allowed it to continue.
"The firs' years Professor, safe an' sound."
"As ever Hagrid, thank-you for your assistance, and I'll see you inside."
The big man beamed at the praise like an enormous, over-eager puppy and gave Artemis and Shelley a not so discrete wave as he bounced off into the castle proper while the deputy headmistress turned to address them. Her speech was more informational than inspiring and Artemis had tuned her out long before the four ghosts came drifting through the walls to claim what small amount of her attention remained.
She grabbed the notice of the nearest one and started up a conversation with a fast 'hello' and introduction.
"Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service ma'am, but you can call me Nearly Headless Nick."
"Why nearly headless."
The Gryffindor ghost was busy regaling the white haired young wolf with the details of his demise and subsequent quest to join the Headless Hunt when he 'felt' something penetrating his side. The suddenly annoyed spirit turned to accost his small, raven haired attacker who appeared to be scraping something off her wand and into a small plastic pot.
"Will you kindly stop poking me with your wand, young lady. It's very rude."
"Sorry."
Shelley Potter looked anything but. And Minerva McGonagall chuckled quietly to herself as she surreptitiously moved a bit closer to the group to listen in as her probable, prospective young lioness set about pissing off the ghost of what was almost certain to be her new House.
"I was listening to your story earlier and I was just wondering. Are you unhappy in your ... er ... un-life? Because if you did want to move on I know where I can get my hands on the parts necessary to build one of those portable particle accelerators like they used in Ghostbusters."
"What's a ghost buster?"
"You know, like the film." Sir Nicholas' blank look continued unabated. "You must have at least heard the song ... "
Since he clearly hadn't heard the song, Shelley decided to sing a bit of it for him. Just to help out like.
"If there's somethin' strange, in your neighbourhood.
Who you gonna call?"
Inevitably, more voices joined in at this point.
"GHOSTBUSTERS!"
The response from the very few muggle raised first years confident enough to join in was more shouted than sung and caused all of their ephemeral, other worldly visitors to flinch noticeably. And then they fled. Even the Bloody Baron didn't seem to want to stay in the same room as excitable little lunatic with the manic grin in her emerald, green eyes. A lunatic who, if he understood the concept correctly, wanted to 'bust' them and since this didn't sound like a very healthy option for him, he quickly retired with the other ghosts.
Other than the horrified gasps of outrage from some of the more traditional purebloods watching this scene, there was a general sense of relief from the new students at their departure. Although not from Messers Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle or Weasley as they would have, frankly, preferred the continued presence of scary ghosts to that of the much more frightening Miss Potter. Even those who hadn't met her and experienced Shelley's ... unique personality, now started to move away from her.
"Come on you lot it's time for the sorting ceremony."
The relief was now unanimous as the youngsters quickly moved to follow their new deputy headmistress.
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The pale green and pink, segmented eyes followed Hannah Abbott as she headed down to the cheering table full of yellow and black robed students. The blonde witch's robes shifted and changed colour as she walked towards them and then she was lost to Artemis' sight, swallowed up in a sea of yellow. And then it was her turn.
Artemis Amarok, last descendant of the true wolves was about to go under the Hogwarts sorting hat.
She had discussed what would happen in their sorting with the three other girls that she had shared the compartment with today. Bearing in mind that two of them were well off purebloods and the other two had read extensively from Hogwarts; A History, there were no over the top stories about written tests or fighting trolls.
It was just a raggedy old hat on a three legged stool.
~Greetings Artemis Amarok, princess of the true wolves.~
Luckily Artemis was well versed enough in speaking through her thoughts, what with the telepathy that her pack used on a regular basis, that it didn't freak her out at all.
~Greetings ... er ... sorry I don't know your name.~
~Just call me Hat dear, everyone does.~
~Okay. So are we just chatting or is this like some kind of Vulcan mind meld?~
~Well I'm no Mister Spock.~
Okay so bonus points for the ancient Hogwarts artefact for knowing about Star Trek references.
~But this is not the Starship Enterprise and I have four dozen more of you to get through tonight so let's get to it shall we. You yearn for family, for pack. In which case there really is only one option for you little, magical, snow wolf.~
"Better be ... HUFFLEPUFF!"
As the hat was whipped away Artemis flashed a quick, sharp toothed smile at the green robed deputy headmistress then glanced over at Shelley and inclining her head towards the Hufflepuff table. She waited until she received the tiniest of nods and the twitch of a lip in return before bouncing off excitedly after Hannah to her new House. Her new family. Her new pack.
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Shelley stood near the end of the ragged line of eleven year olds and stared hungrily at the Sorting Hat. Even though any colour had long since faded and, with it's ratty appearance, it was more than showing it's age, she still thought that it was one of the coolest things that she had yet seen in the magical world. Seriously, it was totally ancient and it talked and sang. Talked and bloody sang.
She wanted one. Like badly wanted one.
Shelley thought about the odd looking and slightly crooked top hat that she had recently purchased in a run down, second hand goods stall in Kingston market. Since it was mostly a faded black, she had originally bought it to use as a more stylish (to her) alternative to the required, pointed witches hat but now ... well ... let's say other possibilities were beginning to occur to her.
Of course, she was going to make damn sure that her intelligent, talking hat was a damned sight nicer, prettier and altogether much more colourful affair than this dowdy, dull, grey one sitting on the three legged stool.
Yay! New project.
She was pretty sure that she could make her hat talk and sing like the Sorting Hat if she had access to the proper spells, enchantments and such, given her prodigious magical power and stubborn nature. And that stubbornness was going to be needed to persuade, cajole and possibly intimidate those who guarded the secrets of Hogwarts to give them up to her. It was a pretty accurate measure of just how strange the green eyed girl was that she regarded this as a fun thing to do with her down time.
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"Shelley Potter."
The whispering and staring that her introduction inspired in the great hall was not unexpected and, having practised on the train with her new, sort of friends, Shelley managed to ignore it. Mostly. She simply gathered herself mentally, rose to her feet and, while making a gargantuan effort not to skip, strode with great purpose and not a little excitement to the centre of the stage.
Where she then proceeded to undo all of her good work, when she reached a smirking Professor McGonagall, by nearly tearing the hat out of her hands and jamming it onto her own head while sitting down with a firm thump. She ruined her already quickly diminishing (thanks to the rumour mill being fed by Messers Malfoy and Weasley) reputation for mental stability still further by immediately bellowing out in her excitement.
"Hello Mister Hat!"
Total shocked silence greeted her enthusiastic shout. If a pin were dropped at this moment it would have been easily heard. Then as the murmurs started grow after a few seconds, staff and students alike were stunned into silence again as the musty, ancient headgear roared with laughter.
~Oh my word, Miss Potter, I've been waiting a long time to meet you. And well aren't you just the special little snowflake.~
Okay, so voices in your head were normally thought of as a bad thing but since Shelley had been having an ongoing mental conversation with her wand-staff all summer (not that she was going to be revealing that little snippet of information to anyone soon) she was more open to them. Also there was the fact that she was highly observant and had watched the previous students undergoing this process, carefully and with interest so, based upon their reactions, she had kind of suspected that this would happen.
She instinctively knew that she didn't have to speak out loud but decided to anyway for a couple of reasons. First was the fact that she hated it when people mangled both reason and the English language and how were they ever going to learn if they weren't corrected by those smarter than themselves, ie. her. Second, of course, was that Shelley did have a rather playfully vindictive streak in her and wanted to show the Sorting Hat who was the boss here.
"Well if you're calling me a snowflake then of course I'd be special. It's something of a tautology to call a snowflake special since they are, by definition, unique, individual and ... you know ... special."
~You don't have to talk out loud dear, I can hear your thoughts just as well.~
"What you mean is that I'm embarrassing you by arguing with you in front of everyone and that I should shut up."
~Yes.~
~Oh okay, I'll stop then. Sooo. How do we do this then? Hogwarts; A History was a little vague on the details.~
Shelley couldn't be one hundred percent sure but she definitely thought that she could hear some more sniggering coming from the Hat.
~Well, usually I would take a little poke around in your brain and then, based on what I found to be your strongest inclinations, place you in whichever of the Houses you were most suited for.~
~Most suited for? Isn't that just a teensy bit on the simplistic side? I mean people, even when they're only eleven, can't be summed up by a single, defining trait. I don't doubt that there are some who can but they're normally much more complex than that anyway.~
'Mister Hat' would have been smiling broadly if it were physically possible for him to do so.
~You're quite right of course Miss Potter, but if I were to do a full psychological work up of every student to pass through the gates we'd be here till next week.~
~I suppose so.~
~I'm sensing a 'but'.~
At this muttered aside, the meaning of which Shelley slightly misunderstood, she lifted her rear end off of the stool and turned around to inspect it.
Much to the amusement of the Hat and the consternation of the everyone else in the great hall. All of whom, staff and students alike, were watching this, what was possibly the longest sorting in the whole history of Hogwarts school, with equal parts bemusement and fascination. That this longest sorting was of the famous 'girl-who-lived', the supposed champion of the 'light' who had defeated a dark lord while still an infant, was incredibly confusing for the poor dears. No matter what their differing political views or sensibilities, all of them were thinking the same thing.
I mean seriously, how long did it take for the hat to just damn well put her in Gryffindor and be done with it?
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At the Hufflepuff table the new intake of Badger witches were having their own discussion as to what was going on beneath the sorting hat.
Susan Bones being a proud, pureblooded witch from an old family, seemed to rather take umbrage at the amount of time that she was taking. Shelley was clearly using the time to having some kind of philosophical debate with the Sorting Hat instead of just getting the hell on with her sorting and getting out of the bloody way to let everyone else have a go.
"What is she doing?"
"Hell if I know." Artemis shrugged.
"Your friend is bloody weird."
"Yeah. Ain't she great?"
Susan looked at Artemis who was now leaning forward across the table with her chin in her hands, staring at the girl on the stool, still half obscured by the hat, with a big, goofy grin on her face. She shook her head, turning to Hannah to ask what it was precisely that she saw in the wolf only to be presented with the sight of her best friend in exactly the same position. Albeit with a different target.
The blonde witch was gazing dreamily at her American pen-pal giving off the occasional sigh and absent mindedly rubbing her finger along the still visible tooth marks on her neck.
Hannah was going to have to hit Shelley up for some of her photos of the two of them on the train so that she could send them off to Arte's pack. Alice Amarok probably wouldn't appreciate it so much but in Arte's dad Roald, she had found a most surprising fellow conspirator in the fun game of embarrassing the pack princess in front of her extended family. The post scripts that he had included in her little wolf's return letters over the latter part of the summer had been full of mischief and hysterically funny.
Of course, Hannah had had to make very sure that her mother didn't find out just who she was corresponding with but the danger of discovery made things so much more exciting for her. She realised that this meant that, in her own way, she was just as big a freak as both Shelley and Arte'.
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Back on the stool the Hat had finally managed to get the entertaining but infuriating Miss Potter to sit down again and was now desperately attempting to get on with his job. His only job in this school. A job which she was making unreasonably difficult as she wandered off on another tangent about enchanting inanimate objects to have, what she called, artificial intelligence. Had he been listening more carefully he may have tried to dissuade her from such research rather than simply trying to get back to his original purpose.
~Well the headmaster wants me to put you in Gryffindor, and while I don't appreciate the senile, old, bearded wonder interfering in my business, quite honestly you would probably do rather well there.~
~But wouldn't I do equally as well in any of the other Houses as well? If you really have been looking around in my brain you must know that I have more intelligence by far than your average wizard or witch. Or even your non average one. That would put me firmly in Ravenclaw I believe ... ~
He couldn't fault her logic as far as that went. The young Miss Potter had a startling and frightening intelligence the likes of which he had never seen before, making her mother look like a half brained cave woman. She also had more than the requisite amount of arrogance to fit in just nicely with the Ravens. As he began to voice his tentative agreement, however, she just started talking again. Straight over him. The ancient hat twitched since this had never happened to him before.
~ ... But then you would have to take into account that I have plans and ambitions for ruling the magical world that stretch way outside the borders of Britain and the cunning and purpose to see those plans through. A big old tick for Slytherin House right there. Old Sally might even be so impressed that he would come back to make me his heir.~
The Hat's twitching grew all the more agitated here. Both at the fact that the eleven year old had just called one of the founders of this venerable institution 'Old Sally' and her highly inappropriate remarks about the 'heir of Slytherin'. If she only knew, he thought, before having another peek around her mind and realising that it wasn't that she didn't know. She simply didn't care. It was at this point that he was practically begging her to shut up.
~If I put you where you want to go will you promise to stop talking.~
~Okay. Badgers please.~
Well that was fast. And not a little surprising.
~Really? Are you sure Miss Potter?~
~Well we could have a nice little chat about the origins of the magic that first enchanted you and how it relates to the founders' ideals for an educational system based upon ... ~
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Thank-you Mister Hat."
There was only one person in the great hall that caught the hat's whispered follow up comment of 'and may God have mercy on your souls' and she wouldn't be telling. Minerva McGonagall was just feeling mightily relieved that she wouldn't have to deal with the girl in her House. Shelley Potter may be very smart and very talented and very powerful but she was also very weird and more than a little frightening. She had enough trouble keeping the Weasley twins in line without adding the manic Miss Potter and her ... enthusiasms into the mix.
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A shocked silence descended on the great hall (again) which Shelley only appeared to notice as the Hat was lifted from her head and she was greeted by the sight of an open mouthed McGonagall. The deputy headmistress recovered first and chased the blinking 'girl-who-lived' away towards the yellow clad table with a swift, shooing motion of her hands. This looked to be the starting gun for the 'Puffs to break into wild cheering and stomping, chanting over and over as she descended to the main floor and approached her grinning new Housemates.
"We got Potter! We got Potter! We got Potter!"
As far as she was concerned this sort of reception was totally deserved since any House in the school should be honoured to have someone of her indisputable genius and skill in it. With a grin to her friends, Shelley jumped up onto the table briefly to give a little bow and a wave to her adoring audience before dropping into the seat next to a less than impressed looking Susan Bones.
"How the bloody hell did you get the Hat to put you in ... " Her hand went up in a 'stop' gesture as Shelley opened her mouth to respond before her question was even fully out. "No, you know what, on second thought, I really don't want to know."
Shelley grinned madly at the redhead and told her anyway while Artemis and the traitorous Hannah sat back and laughed up a storm.
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With Weasley going to Gryffindor and Zabini to Slytherin, the sorting was finally over and up at the teacher's table a very confused Pomona Sprout was staring at her newest intake of little badgers.
"We got Potter? Really? We got Potter?"
"Congratulations on your new celebrity Pomona, and I mean this most sincerely when I say ... the very best of British luck to you."
"Thank-you Minerva. I was rather expecting her to go to your House though, along with everyone else, I'm sure. Weren't you?"
"Well yes but, 'kay sera, sera' and all that."
She had expected that slim lipped look of disappointment and restrained anger that the deputy head of Hogwarts was so good at but instead all she could see was a sort of mild amusement and ... relief. When combined with the comment about needing the very best of luck it was very suspicious. Like Minerva McGonagall knew something that she didn't. A nasty feeling started to grow in the pit of her stomach.
"Wait. What? Hang on, what's wrong with her Min'?"
There's nothing wrong with her, she's just not exactly what I expected. She's ... er ... just ... a bit ... different, that's all."
Professor Sprout narrowed her eyes at the uncharacteristically amused smirk on the usually stern face of her old friend and colleague.
"Different how?"
"You'll find out."
The fact that the always prim and proper Transfiguration Mistress all but sing-songed this response out wasn't exactly helping Pomona's sense of nervousness. Minerva wasn't really known for this kind of playful interaction unless it was a very good joke indeed. And usually one that she was playing, on the rare occasions that she did so. The nervousness grew and began to morph into something more akin to outright fear.
Still, just how bad could it be having Shelley Potter in Hufflepuff? She was the 'girl-who-lived' after all, a true heroine of the light, not a raving lunatic or some kind of sneaky, manipulative Slytherin in disguise. Surely Minerva was just trying to wind her up, but even if she wasn't, it wasn't like it mattered in the long run.
She was rightly proud of the members of her House and none of them would put up with any Slytherin style nonsense from anyone. They did, however, all seem to be gravitating to the surprising presence of one of the first years in particular. Well, surprising to everyone but the girl herself, it seemed. She was just sat there, as calm as you like, basking in the adoration of her Housemates as she expounded passionately on the subject of the theory behind making ... zombie cats?
Oh dear.
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Once they were all guided to a collection of comfortable looking sofas in the common room and set up with steaming cups of hot chocolate, Pomona Sprout made her entrance. She viewed her House members, young and old, and once again marveled at the sight of all the fair featured, flaxen haired students.
There did seem to be a disproportionate amount of blondes in Hufflepuff.
Less generous people from the other Houses, especially Slytherin, would probably say something about blondes being sweet but dumb and, therefore, an ideal match for Hufflepuff. What they didn't know was that there was a lot more to the House of the hard working and loyal than they ever imagined.
Of course, there were a good proportion like that but there were also a decent amount of 'Puffs who were there only to take advantage of the fact that they would be constantly under-estimated and over-looked.
Ernie MacMillan, Wayne Hopkins, Justin Finch-Fletchley and Neville Longbottom were clearly feeling rather outnumbered and probably a bit nervous. All of these young men looked to her, to be in the first category of 'natural' badgers. The girls, however, as was more usual among the females of Pomona's House, looked much more of the latter variety.
Hannah Abbott, Artemis Amarok, Susan Bones, Leanne Malone, Megan Jones, Sally Smith and Sally-Anne Perks. And of course her ... Shelley Potter. All eight of them gazed around with the same kind of fake, vacant smiles that she knew was only probably masking the devious inner workings of their twisted little minds.
She launched into her standard welcome speech for the first years, feeling a sudden need to alter it slightly for the presence of the 'girl-who-lived' and her merry band of potential trouble-makers.
"Welcome to the Badger's Sett."
The portly but friendly looking Head of Hufflepuff House smiled gently at her new students.
"I know that you've heard it at the feast, but here in Hufflepuff we really do take the phrase 'Your House is your family here at Hogwarts' very seriously indeed. I want you to know that you can always rely on your fellow Badgers to help you out, whether you're struggling with work or simply missing home, someone will be there to provide comfort and assistance whatever your needs ... and of course, my door is always open to you."
Her smile became a little less warm at this point, but the only ones who noticed were the same potential trouble-makers that she was aiming her next comments at.
"The other Houses will look down you on for the colour of robes, they will denigrate and demean you for simply being a member of Hufflepuff. My advice when this happens is to smile at them serenely and wish them a good day. Trust me, nothing winds the ignorant little gits up more than that."
Smirks appeared on the faces of many of the girls in yellow.
"Of course, a pack of angry badgers, no matter how young, can be a vicious thing when attacked so if things do deteriorate to the level that the curses or the fists start flying then don't be afraid to give it your all."
And now the smirks were morphing into grins that looked positively dangerous.
"This is actually a good motto to live by here. No matter what it is that you're doing, no matter what your skill level, try your best, give it your all and support your friends as they support you. Work hard, play hard and most importantly ... look after each other."
Of course it was Miss Potter who chose to comment on this.
"Did anyone else just hear; 'Be excellent to each other and ... Party on dudes!', or is it just me?"
There was a snorting giggle from both Arte' and Sally-Anne and even a trace of a smile from Justin as the muggle born/raised who recognised the reference. Shelley, herself, was the only one who recognised the flash of a glare from her Head of House through the mask of that serene, beatific smile that never seemed to leave her face. Not surprising really since she was something of an expert on masking her features and her real feelings. Or rather, the lack of them.
"You're so bad."
Pomona scowled internally as she mentally agreed with this assertion from the white haired girl with the feral grin on her face.
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What with outnumbering the boys so badly, the first year girls' dorm was cosy to say the least. The eight beds radiated out, four on either side, from a large, central, rectangular rug, each having a small side table and their trunk at the foot of their four poster beds.
There wasn't much room.
"Oh no, this won't do."
Shelley pulled her wand and immediately started rifling through her mental library of spells that she had studied to find something to magically enlarge interior spaces. To the other girls it looked as if she had gone into a weird kind of a trance, which was a bit freaky. Soon, however, she snapped out of her meditative state, smiled widely at no-one in particular and began casting with that gorgeous looking, dual coloured wand.
Suspending her absolute belief in the muggle laws of physics and using the ancient focus, Shelley channelled her magic through it and began to 'push' at the stonework of the walls while firmly but quietly chanting.
"Capacious Extremis."
The walls shimmered, stretched, wobbled a bit and then snapped back into shape.
"Bollocks!"
Artemis tried not to smile as Shelley barked out the expletive, then frowned and pouted adorably. Then all of a sudden something seemed to occur to the strange little witch and she brightened up immediately while muttering to herself.
"Of course! Milennium old castle, massive warding scheme, what we need is more ... "
The small smile that made it's way to her face as her thumb moved over the tiny knot beneath the creepy looking basilisk eye embedded in her wand was far from comforting for the other witches. There was a purple flash as Shelley span on the spot and the small wand thickened and lengthened into a magnificent, four foot, staff that fairly radiated ...
" ... POWER!"
The staff thumped down onto the rug and the incantation was spoken again and this time there was no wishy-washy wobbling as the walls of the dorm popped straight out to instantly double the size of the room. Another pulse of magic and the furniture was pushed back against the stonework. A touch too hard as it turned out, making it necessary for the green eyed goddess of magic to restore her focus to it's smaller state before casting multiple reparos around the room.
This display of awesomeness resulted in Susan Bones' mouth dropping open and her giving a very impressed exclamation of surprise.
"Woah."
"Cool, huh? Right, so I'll take the bed nearest the door on this side, since it's traditionally the one that people like the least, but it doesn't bother me."
Shelley poked her wand carelessly into the knot of hair at the base of her pony tail raised her eyebrows inquiringly while continuing to take command of the group.
"Any volunteers for the other side?"
"I ... "
"Not you, you're next to me." Shelley cut the wolf off with a speed that brooked no resistance (not that there would have been after her little display of power-casting) and turned to the other girls with an expectant look.
"I suppose I could ... "
"Oh thanks Leanne, that's very sweet of you."
The much practised mask was in place again as Shelley gave one of her most brilliant and engaging, but still entirely fake, smiles. She had realised quite quickly that in order to fit in to this environment she was going to have to at least pretend to be emotionally normal. Or as normal as she could manage anyway. It was in this vein that she decided to help out by moving Leanne's trunk from the centre of the room to her new bed.
The twisted wand was out again and Shelley pretended not to notice how all of them flinched.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
"Wow! Erm, I mean ... no problem and ... thanks."
Doing the same for the other witches, Shelley, once again, basked in the stunned adoration of her peers at her natural talents before they started drifting off to the bathroom to prepare for bed. She stayed put, nodding in satisfaction at the displacement of her dorm-mates.
On her side of the room, there was her nearest the door, then Arte', with Hannah next and Susan taking the last bed. Across the now generous floor space it was Leanne opposite her, with Megan and the two Sallys (Anne and normal) in that order. Shelley felt, from her evening's observations of the girls, that this accurately reflected the existing friendship status of them while easily allowing for possible new relationships to form. Shelley then went off on one of her internalised, mental monologues about how clever she was and how well she was doing with all of this 'friend' business.
At which point the other young witches re-entered the room. They had all managed to finish their ablutions, change into their night wear, return and climb into their respective beds before Shelley had finished dreamily smiling at her own brilliance. The last thing that any of the new batch of Hufflepuff witches saw before sleep claimed them was their insane House-mate rummaging around in her trunk.
If they could have stayed awake longer they would have been interested, perhaps, to see Shelley's arm disappearing inside, soon to be followed by her entire head and shoulders. Not surprised any more perhaps, given the 'girl-who-lived's obvious power, skill and all around insanity, but definitely interested.
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In a certain bedroom, in a certain street, in a certain outlying suburb of Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, a large boy in blue striped pajamas was woken by an insistent bleeping from his computer. Dudley Dursley moved with uncharacteristic and largely unseen speed to the device and opened up his desktop as fast as he could.
There was only one person that would be sending him a message at this time of night and he hurried to get into his email account so that he sould send a swift, if rather sleepy, reply if it was warranted. As he had discovered to his cost on more than one occasion, it didn't do to keep his scary little cousin waiting. And he was kind of missing her anyway.
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To; bigd/dudders_at_muggle_dot_com
D,
I have arrived at Hogwarts and, as you can probably tell, since I am sending you this email and all, I have managed to set up my patented thaumaturgical suppressors. You can start sending homework requests and files through whenever you like.
I'm in Hufflepuff House where everyone is very nice, if not terribly bright, which suits my plans perfectly.
Your position in the magical world is being filled by a girl who can turn into a wolf at will. Seriously! Teeth, claws, ears, tail, the whole thing. It's really cool to watch and she's super nice and super strong.
I'm going to write to Uncle V and ask if she can spend a couple of days with us over Christmas so you can meet her then if you like.
Speaking of writing. I will be sending Hedwig with letters for the parentals and will include you in these for all of the 'normal' stuff. Everything else like our business transactions and my extra curricular projects will be done over our private email.
Well it's late (or possibly early) and I'm tired, so I'm going to try and get a couple of hours sleep before class.
Speak soon,
Love,
S.
sent from the email of; shellbell_number1_at_genii_dot_com
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Dudley smiled and rattled off a quick response, full of promises for their business stuff and good wishes for her classes, before dragging himself back off to bed to resume his broken sleep. It was not a great surprise that his dreams were filled with images of multi coloured spell-fire, sharp toothed werewolves and screaming, bloodied schoolboys.
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(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((()))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
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A word of thanks here to the truly awesome Silently Watches who has the list of students for every House in Harry's year on his profile. Really helpful.
Reviews are our cookies and you wouldn't want us starve now would you. Seriously though the feedback would be very helpful on this one guys so do let us know how we're doing with it, and I promise that I will try and answer all of your questions. Of which I am sure there will be many.
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DtR xx.
