Moonlight

Chapter 5: Sorting Ceremony

Rated T for Teen

"So, in about two hours you're leaving for an entire year…" Sam said unhappily. She and Danny were sitting under a tree one a hill that overlooked Amity. Danny often came here when he needed time to think. Sam wasn't surprised to find him there.

"Yeah." he answered. "I guess that I won't see you for a long time."

"I guess you won't, too."

Silence…

"Hey, Danny?"

"Yeah, Sam?"

"I bet there are going to be a lot of curious people when you pop up."

"Yeah, by Dumbledore's tone, I'd say that I'm probably a first." he chuckled then fell silent again.

"Hey, Danny?" she asked, shifting around to look at him.

"Hmm?" he asked as he also shifted to face her.

"Well, it's a boarding school so uh…" Sam said slowly then picked up speed and smiled. "…don't knock some girl up or something."

Sam chuckled slightly for a minute, expecting him to laugh at her teasing of his beauty, but stopped when she noticed Danny's silent and unreadable expression.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna make you a promise that I won't." he said seriously. "And this is how I'm going to do just that."

Sam jumped when she felt his soft and angelic lips crash down roughly onto hers. It was harsh, sloppy, heated, and pure heaven.

As Danny's lips moved like fire against her own, her logical side said that she shouldn't be letting her best friends kiss her. Her strong, smart, and insanely hot best friend…

After a few minutes, or hours, or possibly one hundred days filled of fire, Danny broke from their kiss and locked his midnight blue eyes with her violet ones. They were deep, luminous pools of emotion. In them, she saw hunger, belonging, and… was that… love?

"I swear to God that I won't knock up anyone." he said firmly, though there was a bit of laughter in his eyes. "Because I only have eyes for you. And yes, before you say anything, I know that all this is completely corny but it's true. Samantha Leah Manson, I think that I'm- no wait, that's not right. I know that I'm in love with you."

Sam stared at him. For a long time, neither of them moved. Then Danny sighed.

"It's okay if you don't like me back." he said, trying and failing to hide the sadness in his voice. "I understand. I just wanted you to know before I left." He began to pull away. Sam didn't like that.

"No!" she nearly yelled, grabbing his left arm and yanking him back. "You really are clueless aren't you?"

"Sam, are you saying…?" he asked hopefully.

"Duh." she replied smiling. "Danny, I love you."

He smiled as he said "Then that's all I needed to hear."

This time, the kiss wasn't rough and demanding, it was soft and tender. Well, it was until they jumped apart when they heard:

"I GOT THE LOVEBIRDS ON TAPE!"

They jumped apart to see Tucker jumping around happily behind a bush with a video camera in hand. It took them about three seconds to get over the shock before they both yelled "TUCKER!"

"Uh oh!" Tucker yelled as he sprinted away with Sam hot on his heels yelling "TUCKER MARTIN FOLEY, GET THE HELL BACK HERE AND FORK OVER THAT TAPE!" and Danny following close behind. (1)

Danny unhappily dragged his trunk into the living room were Dumbledore waited. He had finally kissed Sam and now he was leaving for about a year! Sure, she said she loved him but what if someone better than him came along while he was gone?! He had no idea if she would wait for him or not.

"Ah, Daniel. You're here. Good." Dumbledore said nicely as he rose up from the couch. Danny noticed that Snape wasn't with him this time; not that it made any difference, dude was so quiet…

"Oh Danny!" his mother wailed as she flung her arms around him. "I'm going to miss you so much!"

"You stay safe, now, you hear!" he father playfully warned as he rapped his arms around both of them.

"Yeah, little bro." Jazz agreed. "I don't feel like heading over to England, guns blazing, at some random hour to save your butt from extinction."

"Well, me and Tuck really can't top that, but we're going to join the hug anyway." Sam said as she and Tucker joined in. Finally, the broke apart but everyone caught the peck on the cheek that Sam gave him and the light pink blush that rose up on Danny's face.

"Finally!" everyone, except for Tucker and Dumbledore, nearly yelled. Sam gained a light pink blush and Danny's changed straight from a rosy pink to a light red.

"I'll see you in about a year." Sam said and rapped her arms around his neck. "Write to me every chance you get, okay?"

He snaked his arms around her waist and pulled her closer as he said "You'd kick my ass if I didn't."

She chuckled for a moment before letting go. Danny held her gaze for a moment longer, putting as many things that he could into it. She seemed to catch them all because she nodded and gave him a watery smile.

"Well, I guess that it's time for me to leave then…" he said.

"Yes, it would probably be time to do so, seeing as I am on a very tight schedule at the moment." Dumbledore said and walked over to the group. "Well, Daniel, we'll be off."

Dumbledore extracted his wand from the sleeve of his mint green cloak and tapped it lightly on the trunk, which promptly vanished. When Danny raised an eyebrow, he added "I sent it to the house you'll be staying at. It's very difficult to hold onto a suitcase the way that we'll be traveling."

"How will we be traveling anyway?" Danny asked curiously.

"We going travel by Apparition firstly to Hogwarts because you need to be sorted into your house, then we will, again, teleport to the house Ms. Hermione is staying at."

"Oh, uh, okay." Danny said uncertainly.

"Are we ready to go then?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess."

"Good. Now," Dumbledore said indifferently. "grab hold of my arm and don't let go."

"Uh, okay…" Danny said and got a firm hold on Dumbledore's right arm.

Dumbledore turned sharply and they disappeared with a crack, leaving the rest of them to stare stupidly at the spot until Tucker said "Ok, that right there, was seriously screwed up."

Danny felt like he was being squeezed through a tight tube. Things flashed by him so quickly that he couldn't see anymore than blurs. Finally, it stopped and Danny's hand released it's hold from Dumbledore's arm and he stumbled backward a few steps. He placed a hand on his head which was currently spinning. Danny steadied himself and stumbled back to Dumbledore, who was patiently waiting. Dumbledore started walking away and motioned for Danny to follow. Danny walked about a step behind him, his head still hurt a little.

"You did fairly well, Daniel." Dumbledore praised as they headed towards a tall black gate.

"Huh?" Danny asked.

"Most people vomit the first time they use Apparition." Dumbledore replied and tapped his wand on the gate which then swung open. "Daniel, welcome to Hogwarts."

Danny looked at the huge stone castle that sat about thirty yards away. It was magnificently carved with ethnical design and the stone gargoyles on a few roofs were a nice touch. Farther away, Danny could see some sort of field with six very tall hoops (three at one end of the field and three at the other) next to a large forest.

Danny and Dumbledore made it up to the castle and Dumbledore tapped his wand on the big wood-and-metal door, which opened as well. They walked inside and the door closed behind them. Danny followed Dumbledore through stone and marble corridors. Suits of armor stood along a few walls along with windows, draperies, and paintings. But these paintings weren't ordinary paintings, these paintings moved! People of all shapes and sizes scurried from portrait to portrait. A lot of them saw the two men and simply dismissed it and went back to whatever they were doing before, though quite a few of them waved to the headmaster and student.

"Now," Dumbledore said as they walked through yet another vast and ornament-filled hallway. "there are a few things you ought to know about sorting.

"There are four houses at Hogwarts: Griffindor, of the strong and brave; Ravenclaw, of the smart and witty; Hufflepuff, of the loyal and true; and Slytherin, of the sly and cunning. You're going to be sorted into one of these houses now actually."

Dumbledore walked up the last few steps, that Danny hadn't even realized they were climbing until now, and opened a door that lead to a vast office filled with many buzzing and twirling instruments. They strode over to a desk and Dumbledore motioned for Danny to sit in the chair that had been placed in front of it. Danny at down and watched as Dumbledore pulled an old, battered hat from a nearby shelf. He walked back over to Danny and said "This, Daniel, is the Sorting Hat. It will tell you what house you will be in."

Danny was about to ask how a hat was supposed to sort him but the older man had already placed it on his head and let the brim cover his eyes, plunging him into darkness.

Ron walked into Hermione and Ginny's room. They looked up when he entered and Ginny said "Oh, hey Ron. What's up?"

"Oh, nothing much really, I was just wondering where Harry was." he answered.

"What do you mean, Ron?" Hermione asked questioningly. "Harry isn't here."

"Then who's suitcase is in my room?"

"That's Danny's." Ginny answered blandly.

"Who the bloody hell is Danny?" Ron asked loudly.

"The new student that's coming here today to so that I can teach him magic so he'll be roughly ready for this year." Hermione asked and looked at Ron strangely.

"What?!" Ron nearly yelled. "Why didn't anyone tell me that we were going to have some bloody stranger staying here?!"

"Didn't I tell you?" Mrs. Weasley said as she walked into the room.

"Uh, no!" Ron said, still unhappy that he was always the last to find out about things.

"Sorry, Ron, I guess that it slipped my mind." Mrs. Weasley blandly apologized as she walked back out of the room.

Ron grunted and turned back to Hermione and Ginny.

"Are we expected to plain trust a complete bloody stranger?!" he said affronted.

"Dumbledore trusts him," Hermione answered. "it was his idea to send him here in the first place. I was listening in on one of the Extendable Ears with Fred and George, Dumbledore was saying something about this thing that Danny could do that would be valuable in the war."

"What's that?" Ron asked curiously.

"I don't know, Mrs. Weasley was walking upstairs and we had to leave before Dumbledore could say." Hermione answered. "I wonder what Harry thinks of him."

"Does Harry even know?" Ron asked nervously.

"You were supposed to send him a letter…" Ginny said then it dawned on her.

They were in a silent shock for a few moments before they all subconsciously chorused "Oh no."

'Ah' said a voice in Danny's ear. 'So you are the new child that I've heard so much about.'

'Uh, yeah.' Danny thought back uncertainly.

'Hmm… lets have a look and see what house is best suited for you.' the hat responded and was silent. Danny was worried, what if it said he wasn't a wizard and he should head back to America?

'Hmm…' the hat finally said. 'There's courage, and strength. Loyalty is there too. And just to let you know, you're a good deal smarter than you give yourself credit for.'

'Uh thanks…?' Danny answered questioningly.

'Hmm… Hufflepuff is a little to soft for you… and Slytherin wouldn't be the best house either.' the hat answered. 'Griffindor or Ravenclaw, but which one? You're definitely thoughtful and wise enough for Ravenclaw, and you have a good bit of courage and true-of-heart which would make Griffindor a good place… hmm… better be… GRIFFINDOR!"

The hat bellowed the last part and Dumbledore lifted the hat back off his head and back onto the shelf.

"Congratulations, Daniel." Dumbledore said happily as he walked back towards the door, motioning for Danny to, yet again, follow.

As they walked back down another corridor, Dumbledore said "Now, there are some other things to discus. There is the matter of your inhuman abilities to take into account."

"Ah, yeah." Danny said uncomfortably. "How many people, uh, know about them?"

"Most of the teachers, and all the ghosts of Hogwarts and Order Of The Phoenix."

"What?"

"In order, all the teachers here know that you are a hybrid except for Professor Umbridge. The Hogwarts ghosts know that you're a hybrid, though you have nothing to worry. They are not evil and they couldn't really do anything if he tried. They aren't like the ghosts you battle back in America, these ghosts are, unfortunately, permanently intangible. And the Order of the Phoenix are basically the 'good guys' in this war."

"War?"

"I'm sorry I can't tell you more, but it's unsafe to tell you here, we could be over heard. You'll learn all about it when we get to the safe house." Dumbledore said and Danny realized that they had just walked out of the gate that Dumbledore was closing.

"Now, grab hold of my arm again and don't let go."

Danny grasped it without the hesitation this time and braced himself for the bad sensation that was sure to follow.

Dumbledore and Danny landed in an unwelcome looking city. Apartment buildings had broken windows, piles of trash lay around front doors, and paint was peeling off many doors. Danny looked and saw that each house had a number. Eight… nine… ten… eleven… thirteen… fourteen… wait. No twelve.

"Here." Dumbledore said and handed Danny a note. He took it and shifted towards a nearby light poll so he could make out the words.

The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.

"What-"

"Not out here Daniel." Dumbledore interrupted as he took the paper and stuffed it inside his robe. "Now, concentrate on that piece of paper."

"Okay…" Danny replied slowly. What was the point to this?

'The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London. The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London. The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix…' Danny repeated the phrase in his head several times before he opened his eyes and thought 'Whoa'.

Between houses eleven and thirteen, a new house was popping out. It didn't look that much different than the other houses, with the exception that there weren't any broken windows. Danny wondered if anyone besides then even knew that a house was growing out of nowhere. Judging by the fact that nobody came running outside of eleven or thirteen like a chicken with its head cut off (2), he guessed not.

"Come." Dumbledore said simply and walked briskly towards the door. Danny followed him quickly, this wasn't the sort of neighborhood that you wanted to be in at night, especially if you're alone.

As they approached the peeling door, Danny wondered what it would be like. Dumbledore opened the door and allowed Danny to step in before him. Danny walked cautiously inside as Dumbledore followed behind him and quietly shut the door. To say the least, Danny wasn't really expecting the foyer to look like this. The vestibule (3) was dimly lit, the walls were a faded shade of gray-black, and many pictures of all sizes lined the peeling walls, all of which had curtains or some form of drapery over them.

Danny looked to Dumbledore for an explanation, but the elderly man put a finger to his lips, signally for Danny to be very quiet, and then walked down the hall. Danny cautiously followed him, throwing anxious looks over his shoulder. What was so dangerous about the entrance hallway? After they had rounded a corner Dumbledore said in a low voice "Sorry about that, Daniel. You remember the pictures at Hogwarts? How the moved and waved?"

"Yeah…" Danny answered in a quiet but curious voice.

"Well, those pictures back in the hallway, they can move and speak and all that, but they aren't very nice. In fact, they would have most likely scream at us as we walked by."

"Oh."

Danny saw some light ahead and wondered what it came from. As he and Dumbledore neared it, Danny could hear voices chattering and even a few laughs every now and then. Danny saw that the light was spilling from a doorway. He and Dumbledore walked through it and the noises ceased suddenly. Danny saw a red-haired man and woman, a gaunt and doggish looking man, a shaggy and tired looking man, and a woman with spiky bubblegum pink hair. He stared at them and they stared at him. Then, the redheaded woman can bustling over to him and saying "Oh! You must be Danny! It's so very nice to meet you! I'm Molly, by the way, Molly Weasley."

Now, Danny was a little taken back to the homeliness that she expressed to him, and he would have thanked her if he hadn't gone straight into shock when she grasped him in a bone-crushing hug. She let go and sighed. "You're much to thin. Well, come on! I'll show you up to the others!" she said as she pulled him back out the door and towards a staircase. As she lead him up the stairs, she was muttering things like "You're just as thin as Harry." and "Another kid that'll end up wanting to fight in the war.". The last comment didn't really make him feel too good. Up a couple of flights of stairs and hallways (after he had passed dusty paintings, creepy ornaments, and even a hall in which the heads of some weird looking creatures were mounted upon the wall like deer heads) they approached a room with light spilling out from under the crack. Voices drifted from the room, though Danny couldn't make out what they were saying.

Mrs. Weasley opened the door and pulled Danny inside. The room was occupied by a girl with bushy brown hair and a boy with red hair and was a little taller than Danny. They looked up as he entered. Danny noticed that the girl seemed to brighten up when he entered, he also took note that the red head looked uneasy but Danny couldn't tell if it was because of him or the letter he seemed to be hurrying to write.

"This is Danny." Mrs. Weasley said as she shuffled him in. "Danny this is Hermione and Ron. Well, the meetings starting soon, I best be heading down." And with that, she hobbled out of the room with Danny looking after her.

Danny looked over to Hermione and Ron who were both looking at him. "Uh… hi?"

Did I promise that he would meet Harry in this chapter? I honestly can't remember. Ugh… my head hurts… you all have no idea how hard it was to write this chapter. It's four and a half freaking Microsoft Works Word Processor pages long so shut up and be happy. School started this week and they let up on the uniforms. They erased all the rules except for the shirts and pants. This week was tough. You're lucky that you even got this chapter. My mind been obsessing over Twilight so be happy you even got this chapter at all. I promise that the next chapter will have Harry and Danny in it along with Hedwig and… Dumbledore in pissed-mode…? Yep, the Vlad muse is defintely going to be the end of me.

(1): Did you see how shitty the romance scene is? My romance muse, Hope, is on vacation and my angst and action muse, Vlad, isn't doing a very good job at it. It's hard to think when he keeps screaming for me to kill them all.

(2): It's an old family saying.

(3): A vestibule and foyer are all basically a room or hallway that separates the front door from the rest of the house.

~SaM~

PS: Surprised that Danny was nearly put in Ravenclaw? That even shocked me, and I'm the one who wrote it.