I was released from the hospital wing two days after James had visited me. My puzzle book from Remus was almost complete when Dumbledore strode in, merrily humming some song that I didn't recognize. Reaching the foot of my bed, he smiled and spoke.
"I assume you are ready to leave, Miss Douglass?" He didn't let me respond before he continued. "Good, good. Now we must be off. Poppy will gather your things for you while you change into your robes."
He handed me a pile of black cloth before the nurse ushered me into the nearby washroom to change. I emerged five minutes later looking like a true Hogwarts student, robes and all. I was pulling my hair back into a ponytail again when I reached Dumbledore and the nurse who were talking in quiet undertones. I coughed lightly and Dumbledore looked over the nurse's shoulder and met my eye.
"You are prepared to leave then?" He asked me before turning around and walking toward the great oaken doors. The nurse shoved my belongings (what few I had) into my hands and then gave me a shove after the Headmaster, who was walking quickly. It took me a while to catch up to him – I was still getting used to walking with shorter, younger legs. I followed him out of the hospital wing and up a flight of stairs, where he hurried two straggling students along to class. Reaching the end of the hallway, Dumbledore approached the gargoyle and muttered "Peppermint Humbug" under his breath. Instantly the gargoyle stepped aside and a stairway began slowly climbing upward. Dumbledore moved forward and caught the stairway at its third step, and I fell behind on the seventh step.
The stairwell slowly twisted upward into what seemed to be another tower. After a few moments it shuddered to a stop and Dumbledore climbed the extra two steps and opened the door that the staircase had led us to. Following him inside, it was as if I had stepped into a daydream. The headmaster's office was just how I had always pictured it. A large desk sat to one side, with a few tables in between it and the door. The walls were crammed with glass cases that held various odds and ends. I noticed a chocolate frog card of Dumbledore waving at me from a nearby case, and as I looked up I noticed that a few of the portraits of previous Headmasters were doing the same.
"Is this her, Albus?" one of them whispered as I passed by. Dumbledore gave a silent nod to the portrait and then walked around the other side of the desk to have a seat.
"Now," he began, putting the tips of his long fingers together in front of his face. "Where do we begin? Obviously you need to be sorted, and then I suppose you must be given a wand and proper casual attire – those clothes will not be enough, I imagine. We also –"
"Sir?" I interrupted. "I don't really know if I can do magic. I mean, are you sure I am a witch?"
"My intuition says that you are not only a witch, but a fairly powerful one. I may look old, Miss Douglass, but I know when to trust my intuition."
"Well then," I continued, still unsure. "I know this sounds sort of, well… obvious, but I don't have any money. If you went through my wallet, you'll know that I only have a few pounds in..." Gulp. "…muggle money". I found the words hard to say – as if I was talking about something that had always existed, even though I had never realized that Muggles were anything more than literary fiction.
"No matter." Dumbledore smiled secretly – my interruption apparently did not bother him. "I shall loan you some money and that will be that." It was a kind gesture, but I felt uncomfortable with it. Nonetheless I allowed him to continue.
"Then there is the matter of your lack of magical knowledge. Obviously you are the proper age to be starting as a first year…" Even though I'm actually seventeen, I look eleven. Great. I'll need to remember that. "… so there won't be any major issues. I shall have your head of house arrange for a tutor for you. You have only missed ten weeks, so you should be caught up by Christmas, if we haven't found you a way to get home by then."
"The first order of business is your wand. We cannot have you doing magic without a wand, no matter how you got here in the first place." A look of sadness passed over his face, or I thought one did. His face went immediately back to as it had been – his normal smile barely faltered. "I have asked Mr. Ollivander to bring a sample of his wands up to the office for you. He should be here in a moment-"
He was cut off by the small fire to the left of his desk, which I hadn't noticed before, turning green and growing large. A figure appeared, spinning quite rapidly, then slowing down and finally stepping into the office. The strange, creepy Ollivander smiled and nodded at Dumbledore who returned the favor. His large eyes then turned to me and looked at my small, trembling figure (even though I knew that he had used Floo Powder, it still unnerved me to see someone step out of green flames unharmed).
"Ah, yes. Miss Douglass," he began, placing the dozen boxes that he had been carrying down on the desk in front of him. "We should start with your measurements." A measuring tape flew out of nowhere and began measuring my arm length and diameter as Ollivander rifled through the many boxes. Finally, the measuring tape disappeared and Ollivander pulled a wand out of a box. He handed to me, mentioning something about a dragon tooth or something and told me to "give it a wave".
I swish-and-flick-ed and a vase nearby Dumbledore simply wobbled on its stand. Wait, what? Ollivander yanked the wand from my hand and replaced it with another. I tried again and this time the vase flickered into disappearance, causing the flowers and water to fall to the floor, before reappearing. Did I really just do magic. Crappy magic, but still magic…Dumbledore cleaned up the mess with a simple wave of his hand while Ollivander replaced my wand once more.
This time was different. I could feel the wand fit perfectly into my hand as a warm shiver ran down my spine. I might actually be a witch.
"Congratulations, Miss Douglass!" Ollivander said suddenly, startling me again. I need to pay attention to things more often. I'm a regular neurotic mess. "Ten and a quarter inches, oak and ivy, unicorn tail hair… Very fine wand, very fine indeed."
I held the wand close to my chest, as if I felt that it would leave when Ollivander did. Gathering up his wand boxes, Ollivander leapt back into the newly Floo-ed flames with a smile on his face. Muttering the name of his store, he turned quickly and disappeared into the flames.
I looked back at Dumbledore, who was eyeing me closely. "You asked me if you were a witch, Miss Douglass. Now you know that my intuition is often correct." Smiling, Dumbledore closed his eyes in thought. Suddenly, he stood up and walked over to one of the older looking glass cases in his office. Atop the case sat an old, withered looking hat with a wide brim.
The sorting hat. This gets weirder and weirder.
Picking the hat up gently, Dumbledore turned to me. "Now for the next necessity - this won't hurt a bit. I'll just put the hat on your head and –"
"It will sort me. I know." I said without thinking. My cheeks immediately flushed – I'm new here. I'm not supposed to know that!
Dumbledore looked at me over his half-moon glasses with a look of curiosity, but he didn't inquire as to how I knew about the sorting hat. Instead he simply approached me and placed the hat on my head. There were some quiet mutterings in my ears before the hat finally spoke.
"You are particularly strange to sort, young Douglass." His (it's?) voice startled me and caused me to jump when it first spoke, but after the initial shock was over, a worry set in. What if I can't be sorted? What if that wand thing was a fluke and I'm not a witch after all?
"You are smart, yes, but also loyal and true. You have ambition, but your heart shows not the motive found in Slytherin…" I did an internal happy dance. I did not want to be put into Slytherin.
"Happy with that, are we young Douglass?" the hat asked before continuing. "Well, I think I've made my mind up, you belong in only one house."
Silence, then…
"GRYFFINDOR!" it shouted to the almost empty office.
At the same time, mutterings began behind the door to Dumbledore's office just before it slammed open and a young, loud voice cried "I told you so!"