A/N: There's been a slight change in plot line, so just to let you know, SPEW has not been mentioned… :-D You'll see why later!
I do not own any of this story except Aeryn, Melanie, and Jacob. The Sorting Song is straight from the book. My apologies to Nercia Genisis, but I'll try to work the song into another story.
The chatter of over a hundred voices seemed warm and friendly as I walked into the Great Hall. These people would be my classmates, my friends… perhaps, at some point, I might even find someone to love among them.
In my next-to-last year? Yeah. Sure.
The flickering candlelight danced in my eyes as I tried to absorb the entire Hall in one go. I had heard stories about the size and wonder of it from the Sisters, a few of whom had attended the school in their youth, but none of their words had done it justice. The soft candlelight warmed the walls, casting pools of life around them onto the proud and majestic arches. Students' faces looked radiant as they talked rapidly, each trying to out-do the other with stories of their summer escapades and adventures. A brief flash of light caused me to wince, and I looked around, trying to figure out where it had come from. There was a boy standing by Harry, holding a somewhat bulky camera… but the flash had been too large for that. Several of the students looked up, and I followed their lead.
The ceiling above my head was full of dark storm clouds, each pulsing with lightning showers and grumbling thunder. I gasped slightly as rain drops began to fall, and disappeared long before ever hitting my face. This enchantment was far more realistic than anything I had ever seen the Sisters do.
Professor Dumbledore cut off my train of thought as he gently pushed me toward the line of students, all of whom looked like deer caught in headlights. I glanced up at him somewhat apprehensively, but he was already moving toward the teacher's tables at the front of the Hall.
"Oookay, then…" I said softly, finding my own way to the end of the line. The ceiling overhead was growing darker and the rain was falling harder as more clouds drifted in for another thunderstorm, and a larger, brighter flash of lightning caught the attention of more than a few of the students already seated at the tables. Professor Dumbledore calmed the rumble of the students as he stood at the front, and cleared his throat.
"Welcome, students! The year has not yet begun, and we are already enjoying the company of our home, our friends… and even our secret passages." He paused as a few sniggers rippled throughout the students. I scanned the multitude, trying to figure out who he was referring to, but I couldn't see any suspicious people before he continued talking.
"There are a few things to cover before we nourish our stomachs as much as we have nourished our skill for gossip, but first," he continued, "it is time we saw to the Sorting!"
At this, a stern teacher entered with a stool and a ragged old hat. I glanced over toward the Gryffindor table to see if anyone was reacting… but no one seemed to find anything strange about a musty hat. I scanned the table for a moment longer, but didn't see Harry or Ron, which was strange. I thought they had entered with me.
A twitching movement at the corner of my eyes caught my attention and I looked back at the front of the Hall. The tattered black hat had started to move, and it seemed to have a mouth…
A thousand years or more ago,
When I was newly sewn,
There lived four wizards of renown,
Whose names are still well known:
Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,
Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,
Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,
Shrewd Slytherin, from fen.
They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,
They hatched a daring plan
To educate young sorcerors
Thus Hogwarts School began.
Now each of these four founders
Formed their own house, for each
Did value different virtues
In the ones they had to teach.
By Gryffindor, the bravest were
Prized far beyond the rest;
For Ravenclaw, the cleverest
Would always be the best;
For Hufflepuff, hard workers were
Most worthy of admission;
And power-hungry Slytherin
Loved those of great ambition.
While still alive they did divide
Their favorites from the throng,
Yet how to pick the worthy ones
When they were dead and gone?
'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,
He whipped me off his head
The founders put some brains in me
So I could choose instead!
Now slip me snug about your ears,
I've never yet been wrong,
I'll have a look inside your mind
And tell where you belong!
The students applauded as the rip closed and a strict-looking lady professor stepped forward with a thick role of paper. She cleared her throat and glanced at the top of the roll before looking at me over the edge of her spectacles.
"We have a transfer into our sixth year, Aeryn Mitchells," she said, beckoning me forward. "As a transfer, we shall Sort you first."
I slowly walked forward, conscious of the whispers and eyes that followed me. The stool now seemed unbelievably far away, but a few breaths later, it was right there in front of me. I glanced at the professor again and she said softly, "Well, put it on already."
I tried to swallow past the lump in my throat and gingerly picked up the hat. I had never seen a piece of clothing talk before, let alone sing, and now I was supposed to place it on my head? What was it going to do, evaluate my brain and decide which House I was smart enough for? Or maybe it would eat my brain and implant a new one, specially designed for learning witchcraft and wizardry. That was stupid… wasn't it? The hat was about eye level now, and my arms were slowly – very slowly – lifting it over my head. I clamped my eyes shut and lightly placed it on my head.
Well, hello, Miss Jumpy! I'm not going to eat your brain, you know, the Hat chuckled. I gasped in surprise as I realized that it hadn't spoken aloud, but in my head.
Yes, I'm not your ordinary talking, singing hat. Although, my brother can also turn himself inside out.
I smiled weakly as I listened to the Hat's somewhat detailed description of his brother's discovery of this.
Um… Mr. Hat? I tentatively tried thinking at him.
…but he – yes, what is it? The Hat seemed almost annoyed that I had cut him off.
Aren't you supposed to be Sorting me? That professor doesn't look too happy about you spending extra time one me… I glanced over at the lady professor, who was alternating between frowning at me, at the Hat, and at the incredibly long roll in her hands.
Oh, McGonagall will be fine, the Hat said serendipitously. However, you are right on one thing. We need to figure out what House you're going to belong to. You're much too bright for Hufflepuff, and I believe you have much too much common sense for Gryffindor. They're all a bunch of daft, brave, book-smart, reckless people. There is something puzzling about you, though. Your heart is not dark, and yet there is a darkness about you that would do well in Slytherin. Still, that is not the kindest of Houses to those who used to cry when watching Bambi. You will be well suited to the raven; an intelligent creature, greatly suited to surviving on its own. Its wisdom serves it well in the real world, and no issue is ever too great or too small for its notice. Always remember that.
"RAVENCLAW!" the Hat called out, its voice echoing painfully in my mind as well as my ears. The applause broke the spell of the hypnotic works that the Hat spoke, and I slowly stood from the stool, blinking in what now seemed like really bright candlelight. Some of the Ravenclaw students motioned for me to come over, and I slowly wound my way to an empty seat at the table.
I sat down slowly, all of my sudden confidence at being placed wiped out by the realization that I wasn't in Gryffindor with my new friends. I glanced up at them quickly, but they were already talking to the others at their table. Ron caught my eye and waved, but his attention was soon claimed by his neighbor. I tried not to obviously check out my own neighbors, but my efforts were soon unnecessary.
"Hi!" a bright voice chirped in my ear. I looked to my right and saw a small blonde smiling at me, her elbows resting on the table and her chin cupped in her hands. Her vivacious smile was catching, and I couldn't help but smile back at her.
"Hi…" I said slightly shyly.
"I'm Melanie Stephenson, it's so great that you're here, I can't wait to get to know you! Where are you from, are you enjoying the castle, is it your first time here, don't worry I'm like this all the time, you'll get used to it," she said in a flurry of words. I looked at her for a moment before laughing in my shock.
"Wow… um… I'm from Devon… well, really, a small part of Devon… and I love the castle, I really do," I said earnestly, looking around at all of the enchantments before looking at Melanie again. "And yes, it's my first time here," I concluded.
"Oh that's just brill! I've got some family in Devon, maybe they knew your family, and wouldn't that be so much fu—"
"Melanie, would you let her catch her breath?" a beautiful strawberry-blonde boy said over her shoulder. Melanie glanced back at him before catching her breath and letting it out in a sigh. "Thank you," he said facetiously, glancing over at me with a wry smile and mischief in his eyes. "Aren't you going to be a good sister and introduce us?" he asked. Melanie simply sighed again.
"This… is my twin brother Jacob, he's a real bore so don't pay attention to him – hey!!" she broke off, pushing his elbow out of her stomach.
"What she meant to say is that I am a charming, wonderful, unique person who is completely worth getting to know," he shot over her shoulder. I couldn't help myself; the giggles just poured out of me until I was considering finding a cork for the unexpected burst of nervous energy. Melanie and Jacob just watched me, Melanie with a somewhat concerned look and Jacob with just a smile on his face.
As I wiped the tears from my eyes, he looked at me and said, "You know, I have a horrible memory. What is your name again?"
I smiled, at ease now, and said "Aeryn Mitchells. I… grew up in a Catholic orphanage that has its roots in Ireland, so since I didn't come with a name, they named me in honor of their home."
I slowly looked up from where my gaze had fallen; the table was impervious to the little scratches my nail was making, so it was pointless to keep doing that. Their faces weren't what I had expected, though. They were still smiling…
"That's like us! Well, kind of," Melanie started off.
"What she'll take forever to say is that we were under the care of a nanny until we started coming here. Our parents are members of the Ministry of Magic," Jacob said rather succinctly.
I smiled half-heartedly… even if they didn't have much access to parents, like me, they still had each other… my heart twinged and I quickly readjusted my thinking.
Melanie looked at her brother, somewhat aghast that he had cut her off again, and I started laughing. The last name was finally called, and a new Hufflepuff student walked over to the yellow and black table.
Professor Dumbledore stood up for a second as the Hat was taken out of the room, looking as though he were about to say something of dire importance. He surveyed the students for a minute longer before breaking into a smile and saying, "I have only two words to say to you… Tuck in!"
Food suddenly appeared on the platters before them. I fought down a cry of surprise and furtively looked around before quickly ducking my head under the table. I don't know if I was disappointed by the sight of my housemates' legs or not. As I sat upright, I caught Melanie looking at me, one eyebrow cocked in amusement.
"I – uh – well – erm…" I stuttered, a blush steadily rising on my cheeks.
"Aeryn…?" Jacob's voice said behind her.
Oh great… he saw that too? I thought despairingly.
"Yes?" I tried to ask calmly. His innocent face didn't seem to have any mischief in it…
"Could you pass the salt and pepper?"
Such a mundane question. I breathed out, just realizing that I was awaiting their condemnation as a dork. I flashed a smile at him and said, "Sure!"
As he took the shakers from my hand, he caught my eye and said, "By the way… it's magic!"
I flushed again, going red to the very roots of my hair. He chuckled softly and I focused on my food for a few minutes of – was it companionable silence? It certainly wasn't awkward, whatever it was.
As though those thoughts were the cue, Professor Dumbledore stood up and the room quieted.
"So!" he boomed, as he smiled at the students again. "Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices.
Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty-seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it."
I looked at Melanie in surprise.
"Filch is the bane of this school and the bane of my existence," she muttered darkly before turning back to Professor Dumbledore.
"As ever, I would like to remind you all that the Forest in the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year.
It is also my painful duty to inform you that the inter-house Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."
At this, a mutter of protests rose angrily throughout the congregation of students. Next to me, Jacob's voice rose in an angry shout. I looked at him in surprise, but he just fumed at where his dessert had sat before the professor had started talking, his napkin crumpled and twisted in his hand.
"Is he okay?" I whispered to Melanie.
She glanced at him briefly and nodded, her attention more focused upon Professor Dumbledore as he continued.
"This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy – but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts—"
His words were cut off as a large rumble of thunder precipitated the opening of the Great Hall doors by a few seconds. There was a man in the doorway, leaning on a staff and wrapped in a wet black traveling cloak. Shivers ran down my spine as I watched him slowly stump his way down the Great Hall. As he passed by, I caught sight of his face and couldn't suppress a gasp of horror.
His face had scars covering it entirely, with signs of battle evident in every crevice. His nose was strangely misshapen, as though a large chunk of it was missing. His lanky hair looked as though it hadn't been washed in ages, and dirt seemed to have embedded itself in his skin. He turned to look in my direction, and my horror increased tenfold. His eyes were misshapen and ghastly; while one was dark and normal, the other whirled in all directions, even facing the back of his head.
The man shook hands with Professor Dumbledore and sat down without any ceremony. Professor Dumbledore seemed to think that nothing of this was overly strange; in fact, he introduced the man as calmly as though talking about the afternoon tea.
"May I introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Moody."
Melanie took a sharp breath at this, and I poked her in the shoulder. She glanced over, and leaned in to whisper in my ear in the ensuing silence.
"This is bad news… see the man who's scowling at Moody? In the corner?"
I scanned the teacher's table quickly, but this professor was making no effort to hide his dissatisfaction. A scowl twisted his entire face, while his dark hair hid his eyes. His arms were crossed somewhat menacingly, and his shoulders were hunched slightly as he watched Professor Moody.
"That's Professor Snape," Melanie continued after I nodded. "He's always wanted the Defence Against the Dark Arts assignment, but he's never been appointed to that position. He's always taught Potions. I heard that he actually had a couple problems with Harry Potter's – you know, the fourth year? – his dad back when they were in school, so now he hates almost all Gryffindors. Regardless of that, if he finds out you have Gryffindor friends, then he probably won't be very nice to you."
I nodded again, somewhat put out by the fact that a teacher could be that temperamental.
Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat authoritatively and continued.
"As I was saying, we are to have the honour of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event which has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."
A loud voice erupted from the Gryffindor table, shouting, "You're JOKING!"
The entire Hall looked at a red-headed boy that I recognized as one of Ron's older twin brothers, and laughed. Even Professor Dumbledore chuckled as he surveyed the shocked sixth year.
"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley, though, now you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar—"
Before the Professor could get another word out, stern Professor McGonagall was clearing her throat in a rather obvious attempt to get him back on topic. I laughed softly as I saw the Professor's face grimace slightly.
"Er—but maybe this is not the time… no… where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament… well, some of you will not know what this Tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely.
The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago, as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry – Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang…"
As the Professor kept talking, I found his soothing voice to be rather sleep-inducing. At least, that's what I blamed as I found my head nodding forward. I propped my chin on my hand and tried to tune into what he was saying once more, although the candles now seemed to swim in the corners of my eyesight. One of his comments caused a ripple of whispers and I stirred myself enough to lean over to Melanie.
"What did he just say?" I asked softly, noting the worried look on her face. Her brows knit together as she looked down the table and back before answering me somewhat tersely.
"He just said that the death toll was rising, and that's why they discontinued it… but the Departments of International Magical Co-operation and Magical Games and Sports have decided to try it again. The other schools will be arriving in October."
"Right," I said softly, about to ask about the other schools when Melanie waved a hand in my face to shush me.
"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts, the Heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year," Professor Dumbledore said seriously. "Only students who are of age – that is to say, seventeen years or older – will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration. This is a measure we feel is necessary, given that the Tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take, and it is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them…"
The muttering around me was growing loud enough to be distracting, and so the rest of Professor Dumbledore's comments were lost to me. I was about to say something to Melanie when two students stood at the end of the table. I nudged Melanie, who had her eyes closed in delight of the chocolate mousse, and nodded down to where the two students were walking down the table.
"Who are they?" I asked quietly.
Melanie rolled her eyes as she surveyed them.
"They're Anthony Goldstein and Padma Patil. They're the two Prefects this year. They're just telling students the new password for our hall." She went back to her chocolate mousse and I watched the Prefects for a minute before turning to my own dessert.
Soon enough, they were at our section of the table, and Anthony Goldstein was leaning over to whisper the password in Jacob's ear. Jacob was taken aback, looking up at the Prefect in surprise.
"What???" he exclaimed.
The Prefect leaned down and whispered the password once more before moving on. Melanie nudged her brother gently and gave him a questioning look. He just shook his head before saying, "You'll find out when we go up in a few minutes."
Melanie gave him another look before trading glances with me and shrugging. We really would find out soon enough.
The next thing I knew, students around me were scrambling to leave the Great Hall, their talk full of the announcement the Professor had just made.
Melanie turned to Jacob as soon as we walked out the hallway and said firmly, "There is no way you are putting your name in that Goblet, Jacob."
Jacob looked at her defiantly before asking, "And what's going to stop me?"
Melanie glared at him equally defiantly before softening her stance.
"Please, Jacob, don't enter. I don't want to run the risk of losing my one and only idiot brother."
Jacob sighed before giving her a rueful smile and pulling her into a hug.
"You have nothing to worry about; I wasn't going to enter anyway."
He looked at me over Melanie's shoulder as we stood there, and asked me point-blank, "Are you seventeen yet?"
I shook my head, somewhat relieved.
"I wouldn't want to compete anyway," I said slowly. "I don't have all the magic skills that I would've needed."
Jacob nodded, his thoughts focused on some distant point. Melanie pulled free of his hug and briskly stated that we needed to get up to the common room and Ravenclaw Tower before curfew.
I nodded, my eyes wandering around the corridor where we were walking. Jacob was staying behind us, keeping strangely quiet. As I looked at the paintings on the walls, an arm caught me in the stomach. I looked over at Melanie, wondering just what she was trying to do, and then noticed that there was no step under my foot.
"Oh," I mouthed wordlessly, my eyes following the staircase as it moved away from us.
Melanie laughed and starting talking about how there were so many tricks to the castle that I didn't know. I just watched the stairs swing away until another came up to replace it and we continued climbing upward. My tired brain wasn't quite up to absorbing the staircases, so I filed it away for future contemplation and tried to focus on the constant chattering in my ear.
The chattering stopped abruptly, and I looked around to see where we were. My feet had simply followed the sound of Melanie's voice, so getting back to the Great Hall for breakfast would be quite a feat the next morning. I looked at Melanie, but she was looking at the painting in front of her. It was an old Renaissance style painting of what looked like a man on trial and standing on a wooden dais in front of a whole town…
Jacob gently pushed his way between us, his face slightly grim.
"Jack the Ripper," he called, and the man on trial turned to face him with a grin.
"All right, you've guessed it! Just wait for my next one, though, it won't be as easy!" he laughed, before swinging forward and letting us in.
I gaped at the password and the painting. We had some lunatic posing as an infamous English murderer protecting us? THAT was comforting, really.
I carefully stepped over through the hole the picture had left, too tired and stunned to care about my surroundings, and quickly followed Melanie to the girls' dorm. I fell into bed in my robes, and the last thing my poor brain could register before falling asleep was the softness of the pillow beneath my head.
A/N: Sorry this has taken so long, but hopefully it's worth it! I wasn't able to update for about a week, (and it was almost finished!) but I'm back now. R&R, please!