A/N… Hello all! I'm so so sorry it has taken me so long to update.
[Chapter revised as of 9/22/18]
Hope you enjoy! And if you're ever interested in what any of the characters or objects look like in my mind for this story... feel free to ask me and I will direct you to an image with the best of my abilities! I use to have a Polyvor account for this purpose, but that is now unfortunately no longer an option.
BTW... There is a movie reference in this chapter for a movie that doesn't come out until 1998 while this book takes place in 1994, so I'll need you all to just pretend that the movie is already out at the time, please and thank you!
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Introductions…sort of
McGonagall walked into Dumbledore's office to find the girl, already changed into her robes and waiting patiently in a chair while stroking a small, red snake. For a moment, she thought she heard the girl hissing at the creature, but she then dismissed the thought immediately. 'It must have been the snake. Having one Parselmouth in the school is rare enough, but two at once would be inconceivable.' She reasoned to herself.
"Miss Hale, I presume?" She asked the girl.
Rihanna jumped up, realizing she was no longer alone.
"Excuse me?" She yelped in surprise.
"My apologies, I did not mean to frighten you…I asked if you were the new student, Miss Hale." McGonagall explained, looking sincerely contrite yet somehow stern at the same time.
Rihanna blinked at her owlishly for a seconded before she came back to her senses.
"Oh, yes ma'am!" She confirmed, relaxing herself once again before getting up to greet the older witch.
Rihanna had to laugh to herself. The poor woman had genuinely though she'd frightened her when she was really just worried that the professor might have overheard her hissing to Jasper.
"You must be Mrs.—Professor McGonagall. Sorry, I'm still getting use to that term... I suppose it's best I start now." She said as she walked over to shake the woman's hand.
"It's all right dear, now if you will please follow me; it's nearly time to start the introductory ceremony." McGonagall prompted while directing her towards a spiral staircase that lead down and away from the headmaster's office.
"Yes ma'am." Rihanna eagerly agreed, assuming someone ells was probably going to fetch her things for her later.
She followed the professor through the long corridors to a set of large doors. As she glanced around, she remembered she was told that the school was made up of many rooms, moving staircases, hallways, and secret passages. 'Dam! A girl could get lost in a place like this.' She couldn't wait to start exploring. 'If the students are jerks, at least I can enjoy the school its self.'
"All right Miss Hale, if you will please wait here... the visiting schools will enter first; Beauxbatons followed by Durmstrang. After that, Dumbledore will announce that we have a new student transfer. When I call your name you will walk to the front, I will place the Sorting Hat upon your head and once you are sorted, you will take your seat at the corresponding table…. any questions?"
"Well, ummm, do you have any advice for me professor? I'm a little nervous because I want to make a good impression and you seem to be the best person to ask. That is, you seem to be the self-confident type and I'd like to barrow a little if you'd lend it to me."
McGonagall was surprised. Not only did the girl pay her a compliment, but she also seemed to genuinely want her advice. 'So why should I not oblige?'
"I suggest you keep your chin up, present yourself with poise, and smile. I would think you should have no problems making friends here. You will do just fine."
They exchanged amiable smiles, each thinking to themselves that they were definitely going to be fond of each other in the future. McGonagall knew that if things went wrong, the poor girl would surely have a rough time of it, so she was determined to help the young witch to the best of her abilities whether she was sorted into her house or not. (As she would do for any of the student here of course. McGonagall did not show favoritism...)
"Thanks professor."
Just before McGonagall went into the Great Hall, she turned back around.
"Oh, and one more thing dear…. try not to trip." She added with a teasing smirk.
Rain's face fell for a second before she realized it was the professor's attempt at making a joke to calm her. She let out an uneasy laugh. When she turned around to catch her breath and wait, the other schools were gathering by the door. The girls looked uncertain of her and some of the guys were smirking and winking, 'ha, in their dreams', while the others looked like they could care less. The man she assumed to be the very creepy headmaster of Durmstrang, stormed up to her followed by a very tall woman who she guessed was the headmistress of Beauxbatons. 'She must be part giant….cool.'
"You, gurl! Vhat arge you out ear for?" He asked rather rudely.
"I was told I was going in last. First, Professor Dumbledor will introduce the Beauxbaton girls, and then your boys, followed finally by me."
He grumbled something in Bulgarian and stepped aside. The students that overheard her all scoffed in resentment and started to whisper to one another as if she had insulted them. 'What the heck…and here I thought I was being polite. I could have called them chicks and dudes… frigin prep-schools.' The Giant woman scrunched her nose at her. 'I swear I took a shower this morning…what's her problem?'
"What?" Rihanna asked her.
"Your aczent, tis so vulgar. You are Américaine. No?"
'Are you serious lady?' Rihanna smiled at her as friendly as she could. "Oui m'dame je suis." [Yes ma'am I am].
The headmistress' eyes grew big for a moment and then she briskly turned away. All the girls immediately followed and turned their noses up as well. 'Snobs!' No longer interested, they all went back to their own business, which consisted of them discussing their showmanship and ignoring the "strange" girl by the door.
'So, dancing, swaying hips, and sighing butterflies is what the girls have planned… very lame in my opinion… and the guys will be doing something that involves staffs with sparks, acrobatics, and blowing fire… now that's more like it!'
Rihanna was still a bit nerves so Jasper squeezed her arm reassuringly. She felt a little better but she knew her father was right. She'd would definitely need another vile before the night was over. She was confident in the routine she picked. Dumbledor told her it wouldn't be necessary because the sorting ceremony would be an interesting show in itself, but she figured, as they say back in the states, "go big or go home". It was a spell combination that she was taught by her mother back when she was still alive and so performing it also brought her a sense of comfort. It combined bad-assness with elegance. Took her forever to learn but it was totally worth it!
~~~~~~(15 minutes later)~~~~~~
One after the other, the visiting schools entered the great hall and took their seats. As they entered, she was able to sneak a few glances into the room. It was beautiful and enchanting but still very strange and very large. She could see candles floating in the air and the sealing was enchanted to look like the night sky.
Now it was down to her. She inhaled deeply and let the air back out somewhat shakily. 'Breath, just breath.' She had to smirk at herself. She felt like Daniel from the movie 'Ever After' when she was entering the ball. The doors opened as she heard McGonagall call out her name. Taking one more breath to steady herself, she straightened her posture, and whispered her spells into the room. A wisp of silvery light flowed from her wand and took the shape of a timber wolf, which she followed into the room.
Her Patronus danced around the great hall, leaping over the heads of students and lolloping down the tables. Keeping her chin up and walking confidently to the front of the room while trying not to trip as McGonagall suggested… she couldn't help but smile. Glancing around the room, she noticed a mixture of expressions. Some students wore friendly smiles, some looked curious or confused, a few students had neutral faces as if they could care less and several of the boys were even trying to look flirtatious. 'What is with the male population here…they don't even know me yet. Good Lord!' But, thankfully, she didn't receive a single negative look… she inwardly sighed. 'So far so good, now time for the finally!'
As she reached the front, of the hall, her Patronus leapt to the sealing and burst into a light shower of cherry blossoms mixed with the sound of wind chimes. The blossoms dissolved instantly as soon as they touched something solid. She actually heard a few "oohs" and "ahhs". She felt proud of herself. Looking up at the staff table, Dumbledore gave her a smile and a nod with a twinkle in his eye as a means to say 'nicely done'. Rain smiled back and sat down on the stool ready to get this over with. Not a second later, McGonagall placed the Sorting Hat on her head and stepped back. When the hat spoke to her it caught her off guard and so she twitched slightly making herself blush.
'Hmmm, very interesting….yes, yes, very peculiar….'
'Is there a problem?'
'Hmmm, no problem…..just where to put you? With your intelligence, you would fare well in Ravenclaw, you are brave and courageous like Gryffindor, but you are also cunning and resourceful like Slytherin though, with your heritage, I'm not too sure they would welcome you with open arms…hmmm.'
Rain looked at each table in turn. Ravenclaw seemed nice enough. She valued intelligence and at least they wouldn't make fun of her for reading all the time, plus the blue of their uniforms would match her eyes…. But, she could be somewhat of a procrastinator when it came to homework because she liked to goof off, especially this year, most likely, sense she'll pretty much be going over the same material she already covered at her last school (she does excellent work but she takes her sweet time to do it).
Gryffindor seemed even better. She wasn't quite sure why yet but she liked them. They looked like a fun and rambunctious group; they would most likely be easiest to make friends with as well. Their smiles were open and welcoming and seeing that they weren't the brainiac-bunch like the other house, maybe they won't snoop and it will be easier to keep her personal "issues" a secret (at least…that's what she hopes).
Now the Slytherins, they didn't sit too well in her mind. The students were giving her the creeps. The looks she was getting from some of them made her skin crawl. She may be in love with snakes, but her grandfather always told her to trust her instincts and her instincts were telling her that they were trouble. (they feel wrong).
The Sorting Hat, having heard her thoughts, made its decision.
'Hmmm…..too bad…..that house would have suited you well.'
'No thank you!'
The hat shouted out to the rest of the room…
"Gryffindor!"
Immediately, the entire table stood up and began to cheer and clap happily for their new housemate. She was so excited; she almost skipped to the table. Even Magonagol who secretly wished the girl would be in her house after their slight bonding moment from earlier (though, again, she would never admit it out loud) was smiling.
Once she was seated and Dumbledore gave the 'go-ahead' to eat, she was immediately bombarded with questions.
"So you're a transfer student? Where are you from? I'm Lavender Brown, by the way." A girl with curly, blond hair, sitting across from her asked.
Rihanna tried to smile, after all it really was just an innocent question. 'Gosh I hate this part.'
"Well, I'm sure you can tell by my accent that I'm American, but my –"
A boy with red hair and a mouth full of chicken sitting to her right cut her off.
"Wa jow mov hen mid tum fow?"
"Ronald, don't be so rude!" Snapped a girl with frizzy brown hair sitting across from him, wrinkling her nose in distaste. She then gave Rihanna a look that said 'I'm sorry, please excuse him.' Rihanna couldn't help but shake her head and chuckle.
"It's all right; I'm use to these types of questions."
"Well, he should have at least swallowed his food first, that was disgusting." The girl sent him a pointed stare as if he were an ill-mannered child, making his ears turn red with embracement.
Rihanna laughed a bit more when she saw that, then started to explain.
"You see Ronald—"
"Please call me Ron!" He begged. "Hermione only calls me Ronald when she's frustrated with me cus she knows I don't like it." He cringed.
He jolted a bit, so Hermione must have kicked him under the table. Rihanna really laughed out-right this time, catching the attention of some of the students around them. Her laughter was like music, warm and sweet. It was almost contagious, making everyone that was listening, smile. When she calmed down, she sighed and answered Ron's question.
"Okay, you see Ron; my dad is a member of the U.S. Navy. He was just recently promoted and the only position open for his new rank was in one of our basses in England, so, we had to pick up our lives for the umpteenth time and move. I mean, I'm used to it… I had to do it all the time back in the states, but at least there I could still floo to school every week. I had to transfer here this time though cuz Lord knows the cost for flooing back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean every week would be ridiculous."
"Wait! Why every week?" Asked a boy with an Irish accent and slightly singed eyebrows a few seats down the table.
Apparently a good chunk of the table was listening into the conversation now.
"Oh! Well, Ilvermorny, the school I went to, was set to a weekly basis. You know, you show up around 8:30 in the morning for classes on Monday and head home for the weekend around 3:30 in the evening. Upper classmen could even switch to dailies if they wanted to opt out of having to stay in the dorms."
Most of the students gave her surprised and confused looks like they couldn't imagine having to go home every weekend.
"Weird." Said Ron, shaking his head.
Rihanna chuckled at their reactions.
"You know," she continued, "The founders of Ilvermorny were actually inspired by Hogwarts. We even have four houses that were named for their favorite animals... the Thunderbird witch I believe is the equivalent of your Ravenclaws, the Wampus, which was my house, is like Grifindor, the Horned Serpent would be Slitherin and the Pukwudgie being the Huffelpufs. It's a pritty interesting story actually. If anyone is interested, I can lend them my copy of the school's history." She offered excitedly.
"Oh, I would love to read it, if you really don't mind that is." Hermione requested, looking just as excited.
Rihanna smirked when she saw the others all rolled their eyes. Clearly this Hermione girl is a fellow reader and is not shy about showing it.
"Yeah, lovely, who cares?" Ron snark-ed. "But more importantly, what about sports? Did you play Quittage there?"
"Well, sure we dabble, but Quittage isn't really that popular." Rihanna answered honestly, even knowing there might be a bit of backlash for it.
"WHAT?!" The surrounding boys gasped in abhorrence.
"Yeah, we prefer Quodpot. I even played for my house's team." She informed them proudly.
"What the bloody-hell is a Quodpot?" Ron snapped in bewilderment.
"I suppose it's related to Quittage kind of like how our Baseball is similar to your Cricket-"
"Come off it! I think you just made the word up." Ron argued, cutting her off.
"All words are made up, Ronald." Rihanna countered easily and undeterred by his childishness. "Sorry if you didn't understand the reference. Baseball and Cricket are both no-maj sports." She tried to explain.
"What's a 'no-maj'?" Ron interrupted again.
The other occupants of the table bounced their eyes back and forth between the two as if they were a tennis match.
"No-maj." She prompted as if it should have been obvious. "You know, 'no magic', as in non magical people..."
"Oh, you mean a muggle." Ron translated as if she were slow in the head.
"Now who's making up words?!" Rihanna grumbled in exasperation. "Any-who, Quodpot is a game where-oh..."
Curious as to why she'd cut herself off this time, the others followed her gaze towards the head table to see that Dumbledore was standing up.
"Do you guys mind if we press pause on the questions for a bit? We do have the next few years to get to know each other after all…. it looks like Dumbledore about to speak again."
Before he could speak though, the ceiling went haywire and started storming with loud clashes of thunder and lightning. Distracted by the fake but violent weather, nobody had noticed a grubby man walk in from the door to the side of the teacher's table. He flicked his wand out and aimed a silent spell at the ceiling that forced it to calm down.
"Bloody ceiling! Sorry 'bout that Dumbledore." The gruff wizard apologized.
The man was covered in scars and was missing a small chunk of his nose. He also had a metal leg jugging by his limp and a magical eye strapped to what was most likely an empty socket, that seemed to rove over every inch of the room like a spinning-top on crack. He really creped Rain out (another gut feeling).
Once everyone was quiet, Dumbledore introduced a Ministry wizard by the name of Bartemius Crouch. This wizard then began to explain the rules and regulations that were put in place for the tournament. When he got to the part about having to be at least 17 years old to enter, all of the underclassmen began to shout their protests. The loudest were a set of red-headed twins to her left, until…..
"SILENCE!" Was demanded by Dumbledore, making the room grow quiet again.
While all this was going on, Rihanna took advantage of the opportunity to finally eat something. The food was delicious and she was surprised to find that her goblet was filled with a batch of her tonic. 'You really are awesome Dumbledore.' She sighed and smiled to herself in content. Hermione saw her lack of attention and whispered to her.
"Hey Rihanna—"
"Please, Hermione, call me Rain, we are house mates now after all." Rain interrupted grinning. "Just never Rainy though... that's reserved for family."
Hermione smiled. "Okay, Rain, but shouldn't you pay attention…I mean this could be important?"
"Naw, it's cool. Dumbledore already told me all about it when he was talking to my dad and I in his office this morning."
Hermione nodded her understanding. The twin closest to her, having heard, whipped his head around to face her.
"So aren't you upset at all that you can't compete?" He asked.
She blushed, caught off guard.
"Uuumm, yeah, I guess I was a bit miffed at first, but hey… the tasks are supposed to be epic right? So, even if I'm not competing, it should still be fun to watch and cheer for our champion and what-not… among other things."
The last bit that she said caught the attention of the other twin.
"Other things?" He asked.
She blushed again but then grinned up at them.
"Yeah! For instance, I bet you guys 10 bucks that Krum is the champion chosen for Durmstrang."
The twins paused and stared at her for a moment, then, they looked at each other and slowly, identical grins that could easily rival the Cheshire cat appeared on their faces.
"We assume that 'bucks' is referring to American money..." Said the first one.
"So, you're on!" Said the other.
"We like you!" They added in unison.
The three smiled at each other and shook hands.
"I'm Fred—" The first one spoke up again.
"And I'm George! If you ever need anything, just come to us—"
"We are the Weasley twins and we've got your back!" They said together again, making her giggle.
Then, after realizing something about their features she, she had them hold still a moment. She stared at them both, examining their faces and subtly sniffing the air…
"Hold on just a sec... Okay! Got it!" She grind at them.
They looked confused…. "What?"
"You're Fred and you're George… I won't forget who's who now."
They still looked confused if not a bit skeptical.
"No, really! Two of my best chick-friends are twins. You two may 'look' identical, but you're not the same."
With that, she turned back to the front to see Dumbledore revealing the Tri-Wizard Chalice while the twins whispered to each other…
"Hey Forge?"
"Yeah Gred?"
"I think we just found a new game to play for the rest of the year!"
"Wicked!" They bumped fists.
After all was said and done about the dangers and eternal glory, everyone was dismissed to go to their respective resting places for the night. On the way to Gryffindor Tower, Rain taped Hermione on the shoulder.
"Hey Hermione? Would you mind showing me to the library sometime tomorrow, I'd like to snag a few new books to read?"
Hermione's face grew excited.
"You like to read? Oh I'd be happy to show you!"
Rain couldn't help but laugh.
"Yes, I love reading! I'm avid actually; you could even call me an addict. Hey if you're a reader too, which I assume you are based on that reaction just a second ago, we could exchange more than just that Ilvermorny History text if you'd like! I brought a few others with me from home as well!"
"Finally!" Hermione sighed happily at finding another girl like herself who wasn't in a different house.
The girls giggled and started to discuss who their favorite authors were.
Ron over-heard the girls talking and Rain saw him lean over to a boy with shaggy black hair and glasses to jokingly whisper loud enough for the girls to hear…
"Oh no Harry, another one!"
Said boy grinned and the girls chuckled louder. Rain was really starting to relax around them, 'I think I might actually like it here.'
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Don't worry…I didn't forget about Jasper….He comes back into play in the next chapter!
If you have any questions or if something didn't make since…please let me know!