2. The Sorting
Professor Sinistra walked up and unrolled a parchment before talking. "Allen, Theodore!" She called and a boy to the left of Rose walked up to the stool and put the hat on.
"SLYTHERIN!" The hat called after a moment of thinking.
"Anderson, Jacob!"
"HUFFLEPUFF!" Another short blond boy went over to the table over which black and yellow banners hung.
"Atherton, Selene!" Out of pure instinct Rose grabbed the closest hand available. She always did that when something exciting and scary was about to happen. The hand belonged to Scorpius.
Selene went on unsteady legs up to the stool and let the hat slip over her head and after a few seconds thinking, the rift in the hat opened. "RAVENCLAW!" Rose saw a smile appear on Selene's lips and beamed at her in encouragement. Even if she loosened her grip of Scorpius's hand, she didn't let go of it, and he stood there beside her without moving it an inch.
Chastity Baddock was named a Slytherin, while Juliet Badger was a Hufflepuff. Drew Barbary, Linus Bletchley and Louise Blishwick were all sorted into Slytherin and followed Chastity.
Richard Cadwallader joined Juliet Badger at the Hufflepuff table, Michael Connelly became the first Gryffindor before Miranda Corner and Caspian Creevey were made Ravenclaws. Nicole Davies followed Miranda and Caspian to the table beneath the blue banners and Kevin Finnigan went to the Gryffindors.
Marcus Goldstein, a black-haired and tall boy was sorted into Ravenclaw, and Rebecca Goyle was made a Slytherin as Scorpius's hand tensed. Melanie Harper and Meaghan Lee, two girls who had seemed to have befriended each other on the train went separate ways as Melanie was sorted into Slytherin and Meaghan into Gryffindor. Christina Macmillan was sorted a Hufflepuff when the tension in Scorpius hand was almost painful, he was squeezing Rose's hand so hard out of worry.
"Malfoy, Scorpius!" Professor Sinistra called and Rose squeezed Scorpius's hand before he sat down on the stool. Rose heard her cousins at the Gryffindor table whistle when the hat slid over Scorpius's eyes.
Almost an entire minute went by as the hat seemed to be debating with itself. Rose was getting nervous when at last the rift opened.
"RAVENCLAW!" It called, and Rose almost jumped up and down in excitement. She followed his way to the table where Selene smiled at him and caught his eye when he looked up and smiled in relief at her. Rose smiled and winked at him.
Sean McCormack joined the girl before Scorpius as a Hufflepuff, and Cassandra Moon was the first Gryffindor girl to be sorted. Michael Nott was sorted a Slytherin before it came to P.
"Potter, Albus!" Sinistra called and Rose gave Al a small nudge as he walked up to the stool, sat down and put on the hat.
This time it didn't take too long for the hat to decide, but enough to make Rose almost bite her nails, a habit she had had since she was smaller and still was plagued by.
"RAVENCLAW!" The hat called out and Rose beamed at Al when he lift the hat off of his head and joined Scorpius and Selene.
Alan Powell went to the Gryffindor table and so did Jonathan Richards, before a William Rosier was sent to Ravenclaw as well as Matthew Simmons. Lily-Anne Smith and Catrina Summerby were both sorted into Hufflepuff, but their friends Felicia Tremlett and Jennifer Thomas were made a Ravenclaw and a Gryffindor.
Suzanne Walters and Anthony Wayne were made Hufflepuffs before the first Weasley was sorted.
"Weasley, Lucy!" Rose saw her red-haired cousin walk up to the stool and, unsurprisingly enough didn't last very long up there.
"GRYFFINDOR!" All the Weasley relatives broke out into loud cheers while other students just clapped their hands, until they all turned to watch Molly step up and try on the hat.
In an amount of time as short as it had been with Lucy, the rift opened. "GRYFFINDOR!" Molly ran to her twin and cousins until finally, it was Rose's time.
"Weasley, Rose!" The professor called, and with one last glance at the others at the Ravenclaw table, Rose went up to the stool to face her doom.
"Ahahaha!" A voice in her ear chuckled. "Yet another Weasley? Well, you seem different than the other girls. Hmm… Lets see… Lots of bravery and loyalty… But you're also little miss Devious, eh?"
"What?" Rose thought.
"Yes, you like mischief, but not as much as your male relatives. And you wouldn't be arguing much about whether or not you would choose your own personal gain over rules. But your mind is outstanding! Very clever, very witty… And you search knowledge more than fame… I think I've made up my mind…"
"RAVENCLAW!" Rose felt like she had swallowed an entire cauldron of liquid luck when she joined her friends at the table, laughing and smiling. After waiting for so long to be sorted, the rest went by fast with only two girls left, both of the girls seemed to dislike the other, something that didn't surprise Rose when Patricia Wood was sorted into Gryffindor and Isabella Zabini into Slytherin.
The woman in the Headmistress' chair stood up and raised her hand for silence, which fell instantly.
"For those who don't know, I am Professor Mafalda Hopkirk, previous professor in Muggle Studies, and Headmistress of Hogwarts. I give all of the new students a warm welcome, and a warm welcome back to our older students.
Try-outs for the Quidditch teams are yet to be scheduled, and your head of house will inform you of the date as soon as possible. Also I would like to note that first-years may try out for their teams if they have flown before, in that case contact Madam Hooch," she paused and gestured towards a witch at the far left of the table who nodded. "and she will test your flying skills. If you are approved of you may visit the try-outs to apply for your wanted position. If you get it, you may send for your own broomstick.
As usual, the castle will host four exchange students from other schools, and any of our sixth-years who wants to visit another school, please contact your head of house to see over the options. That is all for now, lets not keep the food waiting." Professor Hopkirk sat down and the student's applauded her and when Rose turned her gaze to the empty plates and goblets on the table she was pleasantly surprised by dozens of dishes that had appeared on the plates.
Rose grabbed the roasted chicken closest to her and mashed potatoes and the pumpkin juice and served herself.
"Finally we got some guy with Weasley genes in Ravenclaw." Victoire was speaking to Dominique, who were both sitting closest to the First-Years "I was beginning to think the entire population of them was getting dumb."
"The entire population of what?" Rose said, intrigued by the remark. Victoire didn't talk like this around grown-ups. At least not since aunt Fleur had become as angry as grandma Molly with her when she'd commented on something Rose hadn't understood back then, and still didn't understand.
"Weasley males. At least in our generation. No one but Al seems to have a brain. And he's not even a Weasley to the name." Dominique explained. Rose had to agree there, not many of the boys in the entire family were smart. Of course, they had occasionally bright ideas, but none of them would ever qualify as a Ravenclaw. Except for Al.
While they were eating, everybody chatted about their families and also Quidditch. Rose learned that Miranda and Nicole were both halfblooded, and that Felicia was muggleborn and that all three of them had shared a compartment. Rose, Al and Scorpius however where all being interviewed by the boys, except for the Rosier boy, who Rose later found out had an uncle who had been a Death Eater and was now in Azkaban.
"So, how's your dad, I mean, he's the Harry Potter, right?" Marcus Goldstein asked Al curiously.
Al just shrugged. "Dad's fine I guess. I mean, he's a great dad and all, but he's not all snotty and stuff because he's famous. He got used to that when he first started Hogwarts I guess."
"When he started Hogwarts?" came from Caspian.
"Well yeah, silly! Back then he was named as the Boy Who Lived, because he survived an attack by Voldemort when he was just a kid! No one else did that! And he survived a lot more too!" Marcus exclaimed at the question, and actually seemed upset that someone could be so stupid to ask such a silly question.
"Hey," said Marcus and turned to Rose, "your parents are friends with him right? And they were here at the same time, right?"
"Yes." Rose said, trying to avoid more questions by turning to Selene, who so far only had listened.
"Didn't he marry your aunt?" The boy persisted. "What do you think of that? What does your dad think of that?"
Rose stifled a snort. Who was he, Rita Skeeter? That cow had gone under years ago, as her father had put it. "I don't mind, Auntie Ginny is nice and from what I've heard, she was in love with him for years before they got together. And dad apparently gave Uncle Harry permission." Rose remembered the Easter when that had come up, dad had joked about it and then Auntie Ginny had mumbled "bat-boogey hex" which had made him visibly shrink.
"Permission? Really? Hey, didn't your mom date that famous artist Dean Thomas when she was at Hogwarts?" Marcus switched back to Al and Rose decided she didn't like him. At all. Definitely not.
The plates where all soon emptied and Rose was starting to feel full. Just then appeared the dessert, and Rose forgot all thoughts of being full.
Selene was amazed by the castle so far, and all she had seen was the Great Hall. The candles that floated high above in the air, the ceiling, the food that just appeared on the golden plates, but most of all she was amazed by how normal it all seemed to her.
Everyone was acting as though it was nothing new to them, except for maybe the other muggleborn students, which in turn made her act like nothing was unusual. Selene was eating a cake that tasted delicious, and she was enjoying the mere sight of the Great Hall. Those three other girls were talking about Quidditch and Witch Weekly, which seemed to be some sort of magazine. Rose was being questioned again by the boy Marcus, both Scorpius and the Rosier boy (whom she had found out was the nephew of a Death Eater, whatever that was, she would have to ask Rose) were eating quietly, rarely talking with the other boys who all seemed fixed by Rose and Albus.
In fact, she and a boy whom she remembered being called Matthew sitting next to Rose were the only ones not talking.
"Hi." Selene said to him and he looked down on her, breaking his studying of the ceiling.
"Oh eh, hi." He answered and seemed a bit shocked that she had talked to him. "Uh, I'm Matthew, you can call me Matt."
"I'm Selene, I don't have a nickname." She smiled at him and he blushed. "Are you also muggleborn?"
"Yes. My mom and I live in a flat in London. I never expected there'd be such a thing as magic, and neither did mom."
"Neither did my family. I have and older sister who got real jealous of me when she found out that I could do magic and she didn't. My parents where happy though."
Matt nodded. "So… do you like music?"
"Yes, you? What kind?"
"Eh, metal you know, Evanescence, they're real good even if they're an old band you know. You've heard of them?"
"My sister listens to them, but I think it's a little too dark for me like… I prefer HIM."
"Oh right, that Finnish band, I think mom has a CD of them. It's a shame that they retired now, right? They've been playing for almost twenty years! Well, Ville Valo has at least."
Selene nodded. "My favourite is When Love And Death Embrace."
"Mine's Kiss of Dawn. It's a shame MP3's and I Pod's don't work around here."
"Mhm, I'm gonna miss the music."
"Hey Selene! I've got an idea!" Rose said, she had obviously been listening to their conversation. "My mom is muggleborn and since she works at the Ministry, we've got permission to use a TV, which is enchanted so it will work around magic, maybe you could do that with those MP-thingies!"
"Really? But how about batteries?"
Rose looked at her for a moment. "What's that?"
Selene wasn't sure how to explain batteries to someone who had a TV, but didn't know what batteries were. Luckily, Matt decided to answer instead.
"It's a source of power, which you can load and use until it runs out of energy, some you can re-load using a device witch transfers the energy from the plugs that are part of an electric network. Kind of."
"Oh electricity! I think my granddad has talked about stuff like that. Maybe you could make a never-ending battery? Or at least 'load' it so it will hold very long?"
"Maybe. I don't know all the limitations of magic. Do you know any?"
"Well, you can't raise the dead, so far you can't cure lycanthropy, werewolves you know, and you can't conjure food out of nowhere."
"Then were does this come from?" Selene asked and made a gesture towards the table.
"Ever heard of House-elves? Well, they're beings that have been serving wizards for centuries, but not until my mom started working at the Ministry have they been rewarded with payment and days off and such, there's about hundreds of them that take care of Hogwarts like cooking, washing and cleaning. According to my dad the kitchen is right underneath us, as well as tables that have been set up exactly like ours, and when dinner or any food at all is served they send it up from those tables."
Selene was stunned.
"How does these House-elves look?" Matt inquired.
"Well, you have probably been to Gringotts both of you so, imagine a goblin, only they look friendlier and have bigger ears and eyes and they're also thinner and a bit taller I think. I've never really seen one beside the other so it's hard to know." Rose explained and shrugged at the last part. "Maybe we can sneak down to the kitchens and you'll see exactly how they look. Dad says they give away food to students who come down there."
"But how does one get there?"
This time Rose had to think when Selene asked her question. She turned to Al and asked him something, and he nodded.
"Al says that his brother probably knows. He's a Gryffindor third year, and he has served more detention than anyone we know. Well, except for Uncle George and Teddy, Uncle Harry's godson."
Finally the feast is over. Al thought when the plates emptied. That Goldstein boy had been asking him questions non-stop together with Caspian Creevey, though the latter had been a bit nicer and asked more reasonable questions.
How did your dad survive Voldemorts Killing Curse? What kind of question was that? No one knew the answer to that one, not the most proficient witches and wizards that now lived, how would he himself know that?
The Headmistress stood up and raised her wand for silence again. It fell slowly, and the last person talking was James. Al could easily separate his voice from others after years of training.
"Good." Professor Hopkins said finally. "Now that everyone has eaten, I would like to point out a few things for our new students, as well as remind our older students of the same. Skiving Snackboxes from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes are forbidden, if you are caught using the product or any that comes with it to skip classes, you will have detention. The Forbidden Forest is as the name states; forbidden. Also Weasley-products forbidden, are their Portable Swamp, Smart-Answer Quills, Wildfire Whiz-bangs, Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder and Trick Wands, as well as any other product that can be used to create harm or help with cheating." Al smiled a bit at her list. If he knew James and his friends, half of those things along with dozens of others would somehow find their way into the castle anyway.
"Now, everybody go to your common rooms, and I suggest you sleep. School starts tomorrow and you all better be here at breakfast or else you won't get your schedules. Now, off you go."
A Ravenclaw Prefect stood up at these words and called for the First years to follow him.
He led them to what Albus thought was the western side of the tower, while at the same time informing the first years about things that they had to know.
"Our common room and dormitories are in one of Hogwarts' tallest towers, and to get inside, you must answer a riddle. If you say the wrong answer, you'll have to wait until someone comes and answers correctly." The prefect said while walking up a flight of stairs when it suddenly started moving and changed their direction. "Also, as you probably noticed, the stairs move so you must always be prepared to find another way to your classes. I recommend that you learn different routes."
Sooner or later they made it to the entrance for their common room via a spiral staircase. The door held no keyhole and no doorknob, only a bronze knocker, shaped like an eagle.
"What is distinct for a truly wise wizard or a witch?" Said the knocker, much to Al's surprise. And he was even more surprised that he was surprised at that.
"A person knowing that he or she doesn't know everything, and that no one can know it all."
"Correct." The door opened and the knocker went perfectly still. The prefect walked into the middle of the common room, followed by the First years who all tried to stare at everything at the same time.
The room was circular and airy, with a midnight blue carpet and a domed ceiling with painted stars. Blue silk curtains were hanging at the arched windows and tables, chairs and bookcases where placed throughout the room. By the back there was a door and close to it was a white marble statue of Rowena Ravenclaw.
"Through that door are your dormitories, boys up to the left and girls to the right up the stairs. You should all go to sleep now as the headmistress suggested, as you will wake up in time for breakfast due to a secret charm on all of your pillows, invented by Ravenclaw just for her students." The prefect said and stepped out of the way when all of the First years started towards the door.
By a spiralling stair to the right Rose and Selene said goodbye and went up to their own dormitories, while Albus and Scorpius went up the stairs to the left and found their way to a door with a plaque stating "First Years" and entered.
Everyone got into their pyjamas and to tired to talk they all went to sleep in their beds.
Lol, secret charm on their pillows... And I just couldn't resist putting two muggle bands in it... I had too :D Plus, I was sleepy because it was late when I wrote their conversation... And I hate Goldstein... and for some reason I got the idea that his name is Michael when I was writing it, and then I remembered it was Marcus so I had to change it all. And I gave Scorpius a friend :) So now there's two kids affiliated (lol) with Death Eaters.
So, that's the sorting and the entire evening from there on, and everybody is a Ravenclaw! Woohoo. Seriously, it would be boring to relive seven years as Gryffindors who aren't smart enough to figure out stuff who hasn't been figured out before... Okay I just confused myself there... Next chapter will come up as soon as I write it... Hehe
R&R please!
And thank you Avanell for your Review!