I looked at the ragged group around me. My father would not have liked me hanging out with people like this. I had a hard time convincing myself that he'd never know who my friends here were. The boy named Erik who was still blocking out Marlene gave me weird feelings. He reminded me of a lion with his long messy hair, and his narrowed eyes. I quickly looked away from him in favor of the girl who shared my seat. I immediately liked her. She seemed very kind, although her appearance was a little intimidating for a girl who grew up on a religious compound. I heard a noise from my feet.
It was Uriah scooting himself against the window from his spot on the floor. It turned out that his brother wasn't with the group because he was something called a Slytherin Prefect, and got the privilege of the back carts. Actually, besides the gray first year ensemble, everyone in the cart bore the green ties that she was told identified the Slytherin house.
"The best house!" Uriah exclaimed with a large grin, "My whole family is from that house. People here will tell you that everyone there is evil, but that's a load of dragon shit." Tori rolled her eyes at him. I looked to her. Dragons, were dragons real? She laughed at the look on my face.
"They say that there's always some truth to a rumor," I heard a voice from the corner. My gaze once again fell upon the boy who'd restrained me. Meeting his cool gaze, I tensed. His tone was playful, but his eyes seemed to be warning me.
"Only if it's about a slut," Erik beamed in response, "Those are the ones I like to hear." His casual mention of a sexual term disturbed me, and I looked immediately at my feet again, trying to will away the heat that spread from the center of my chest to my face.
"Shut up, Erik," Four retorted. The humor that laced his voice was gone, and I looked up to see his serious eyes had turned icy, focused now on the lion man. I could feel the air thicken with tension. It made the hair on my arms stand on end, and I pulled my legs from the floor up to my chest.
"You know what?" Tori stood, pushing past Erik to the door. She opened it and pushed him, catching him off guard. She blocked the entrance on his side, allowing the other girl to slip past her into the cart.
"You're voted off the island," Tori grinned, "Marlene, you're in!" She closed the door in his face. His expression held an emotion I didn't recognize for a moment. Then he shrugged and headed towards the back of the train.
I kept my knees hugged to my chest while the group around me began to chat again. I hadn't realized I'd been digging my nails into my arms until I finally let my legs go, noticing a scratch I had given myself. I licked my finger and wiped away the small line of blood.
"Sorry about that," I heard Tori's voice directed towards me, "Erik can be a real prick sometimes." She put a hand on my shoulder. A smile started to break out across my face until I felt the train shake. My gaze immediately fell out the window. What was wrong? Why was it shaking? I heard a whistle blow, followed by two booming sounds that vibrated in my chest. I started to panic until I heard cheering from the other carts. I watched as the crowd outside of the train started to move backwards. We were moving!
I searched the crowd selfishly for my mother's gray clothing. She wouldn't be there, she was much better at letting go than I was. I felt the confirmation settle in my chest. Right when I started to tear my gaze from the platform, I caught a splash of gray in my vision.
There she was, the very last person before the train left. I rushed to stand on the chair and lean out the window, waving at her. She was overtaken by a thrall of parents, squishing to say a very last goodbye to their children for another year. I stayed there, hanging out the window, until the specs of people disappeared around a corner. My body slinked back into the chair, suddenly too warm compared to the wind that had just been whipping at my face.
They sure were a talkative bunch. I quickly got a breakdown of the houses at Hogwarts, and some insight into their lives. Uriah came from what was called a Pureblood family, a family of only magical decent. I couldn't imagine growing up in a life like that. Marlene and a girl named Lynn, who burst in after the train started moving, were his friends from back home. Their families had all been friendly for a long time.
Tori came from a half-blood family, but had grown up in the non-magical world.
"Muggles, so I understand where you're coming from," Tori winked at me. She was a Fourth Year, and her brother was in his Seventh Year. She seemed very close to him, though he was in a house called Gryffindor.
"So now that we've made the go-around, how about you?" Marlene punched my knee. I immediately felt uncomfortable with the attention, but I cleared my throat. Suck it up, will you?
"Well, my name is Beatrice," I thought for a moment. My life wasn't nearly as exciting as all of theirs. All I could think about was how my upbringing was so different, and I had immediately gotten picked on because of where I came from. Everyone knew about the religious bases, and most had set feelings about them. Now was a good time if any to leave that behind. Looking at Four, who I realized didn't say much either, I gathered my courage.
"You can call me Tris."
"Tris," a voice called to me, shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes, clouded from my nap. I hadn't realized I'd fallen asleep. It was easy to with the gentle hum of the train. When I regained my senses, I realized that I wasn't the only one. Our cart had reduced to a pile of sleeping children. I turned and noticed Tori had woken me. She grinned and pointed at the window behind me. I turned and squinted to get a better look.
I saw dim lights over blue. Rubbing my eyes and getting a closer look, I gasped, taking in a large castle across a lake. The grandness of such a thing astounded me, and I kept admiring it as the train slowed and my new friends stirred.
"Let's go!" Marlene shouted, dragging out the last vowel until we exited the train. She pushed past the crowd of people rudely, but I didn't care. Her energy was contagious, and I soon found myself in a line of my friends, using her as a human shield. It was easy to lose them in a sea of Hogwarts robes, but luckily they herded me like a sheep to where I needed to be.
Uriah treated us all to his rendition of 'Rock the Boat', on our way across the lake, much to Marlene's dislike. She grabbed onto Lynn for dear life while I laughed from the sidelines.
We all found ourselves in front of a large pair of doors, waiting for something called the Sorting Ceremony. Tori, Four, and Zeke (who turned out to be almost a carbon copy of Uriah), promised that they'd see us after. I felt my nerves build in the pit of my stomach. It was the same feeling I got when getting assigned my volunteer work for the week. It was completely out of my hands, but whatever they chose, would either amount to a great, or an awful, exhausting week.
This was going to be my house for the next seven years of my life at Hogwarts.
Please be Slytherin.
We filed into the Great Hall, and I was struck by my first glance at real magic. I had kept my face down in the station, so I didn't catch the little spells and quirks there, but I was taken by the floating candles above the hall, and the long tables set with fine plates. It was the grandest thing I had ever seen. So of course I didn't notice when I ran into the boy in front of me. I immediately went to apologize, and received a glare from the boy who had insulted me earlier.
Oh dear. He looked much too large to be a First Year.
"Watch yourself, Stiff," He spat at me. I frowned.
"It's Tris," I retorted. He scoffed and faced front again.
Our names were called out in alphabetical order, and I watched as an old hat was placed upon the heads of the students.
Of all the kids I knew, the one in front of me was called first. The hat was barely placed upon his head when it shouted "Slytherin!" My heart dropped. As much as I hoped we didn't share a house, I wanted to get into Slytherin so much more.
Marlene was after him, and she received Slytherin, as well as Lynn.
Uriah's last name was Pedrad, so he came right before me. The hat seemed to sit forever before it shouted "Slytherin!" I clapped for him, my heart beating a mile a minute in anticipation for my own Sorting.
"Beatrice Prior!" The older woman called, her voice echoing through the hall. I exited the line, and time seemed to slow to a crawl as I approached the large chair at the front of the room. I could feel the blood pulsing through my head, hot and loud in my ears, and the thought crossed my mind that I might pass out.
My body found the chair and inched its way into it, closing my eyes and sending a silent prayer.
Everything went black.
I felt like I was in a room. I could feel more pressure in the air than I had in the Great Hall, feeling walls closer around me. I reached out to get a feel for where I was and a light turned on.
A table spread out before me with four things on it. A knife, a dead fish, a whip, and a collar. I felt my heart pounding in my ears once more.
"Hello Beatrice," A raspy voice sounded in the room. I jumped in response, looking around me. It was quite empty. Not that it would do me much good anyways, because the voice sounded like it was coming from everywhere.
"I am the Sorting Hat," the voice replied, "And this is the Sorting."
I looked once again at the items on the table.
"This is a suspended moment in time for everyone else, so this could go on forever if I wanted to," I could hear the humor lacing the voice. I felt a creeping up my spine.
"Luckily I have purposes to serve," he laughed, "Now choose."
I looked at the objects again, considering.
"Don't take your time about it, just choose!" He shouted. I startled. Anger was building in me.
"No," I replied, crossing my arms.
"Suit yourself," he laughed. And the room became bigger.
I blinked, observing my new surroundings. There was a cage surrounding me with sand covering the floor. It appeared bigger than the other room, but it felt more confined. I realized why when I turned around and a lion was in my face.
My breathing quickened, and I backed up, trying to consider what to do next. My eyes flicked around the cage.
There was no door to the cage, no escape. Nothing to use against it, because I had stubbornly not taken anything. Ugh. It started to pace around me, and I took a deep breath, walking forward and holding my chin up. When it returned to the front of me, I lowered my head, putting my face level with its. My legs felt like they were going to give, but I held its gaze. After a few more circles like that, it returned once more to my front, sitting down. We blinked together.
His gaze seemed to soften, and the corners of his eyes turned up. Yet he still sat in front of me. We stayed like that for what felt like an hour.
When I finally decided there was nothing else to do, I slowly moved the muscles in my arm, reaching towards the lion. When he didn't move, I buried my fingers in the fur behind his ears, scratching him like a big cat.
He responded as such, rolling on the ground and purring.
With a flash, I found myself on the platform once more. I had just said goodbye to my mother, except I was watching her leave this time. I felt a pull at my chest as I watched her walk away. Suddenly a green light flashed at the corner of my eye. I would have turned to look at it, except that I noticed a change in my mother's movement.
"No!" I shouted, as I ran to help her, but more green flashes shone from around me. Sensing the danger and futility of the situation, I turned towards the light, focusing the energy in the powers that I knew I had.
There was a line of people next to the train, sending out green spells and laughing as parents and children fell to the ground.
"Someone call the Aurors!" I heard a woman yell. A phone on the ground caught my eye. Somehow I knew what they were. And somehow I knew the number.
"No!" The yell came from my chest once more, my hand reaching up and tensing. I felt a huge weight in my arm and my chest, but pushed through it, almost giving up halfway through. 'for mom,' I told myself, yelling with the effort.
And the huge train that I was to board spilled from the tracks and crushed the attackers.
The scene changed again, and suddenly I was in a large office.
"We know Uriah and Lynn did it," A tall, thin man offered to me. I felt shame. I was in trouble. Well, they were in trouble.
"If you could only just tell us that they did, then you would be able to stay here. If they did it, then they would be expelled from the Quiddich team, but if you don't admit it, then you will be asked to leave the grounds, effective immediately." The professor stared her down. She lowered her chin, considering the options.
"It was me," I told him.
"No, none of us did it," I replied, furrowing my brow, "This is all a test."
And I was back in the black room.
"Tris," the voice came again, calling me by the name I called myself. I shuddered. Something was wrong.
"Your results were inconclusive." The Sorting Hat told me.
What? What did that mean? Was I not allowed to be in a house? Did I have to leave Hogwarts when I had only just come?
"No," he started, and I was surprised that he knew my thoughts. Well of course he did, stupid. He's in your head.
He laughed in response.
"No, it means that you're something called Divergent." He told me. I weighted that in my mind. Diverge like a river. Like a split.
"Yes," he continued, "The first test is supposed to be a basic test based upon your choice of weapon, then how you use it. For example, the fish would have gotten you Ravenclaw, where the whip would have gotten you Gryffindor. Because of your lack of choice, I could assign you nothing, but because of your quick thinking and bravery, I could assign you Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.
"The second test was about morality and strength. If you ran, it would have knocked out Gryffindor. You didn't run to your mother, which made Hufflepuff inconclusive, didn't call the Auror for Ravenclaw, but showed great strength, cunning, and bravery, filing you for Slytherin or Gryffindor.
"The third test broke the scenario. In the Sorting, you lose your lucidity. You have no idea you're here. But you broke out, thus inconclusive.
"Because of your loyalty, cunning, bravery, and power, you have Divergence for every house. So you get to choose."
"Slytherin," I stuttered quickly, "Please."
"As you wish," he responded, the room fading, "But to spare your own life, I suggest never mentioning your Divergence."
Her heart was still beating in her ears when the hat yelled, "Slytherin!" She forced a grin on her face, running to her new table. Lynn, Marlene, and Uriah greeted her, but she had to hold her hands between her thighs to stop their incessant shaking.
Author's Note: Updates now! YAY! Hope you like it. holla at me if something's weird or great.