Chapter 6
Nell hesitated by the entrance of the Great Hall.
"Go on," Argus Filch growled, and gave her a small prod forwards.
She threw the man a quick glare and then proceeded forwards towards the large group of fellow First Years in the front of the hall. Nell briskly hurried down the center aisle between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables. She could feel the eyes of half the school on her. Perhaps I shouldn't have tried to find Gash. I'm making an awful fool of myself already. She could just feel Marie's disapproving stare, but Nell didn't mind that part so much.
As she neared the front of the hall, she passed a skipping Louise Figg, who had just been Sorted into Hufflepuff.
"Lupin, Ted," the Headmistress called.
Ted stepped out from the crowd and steadily made his way up to the seat. The Sorting Hat mumbled to itself for a couple of seconds and then called out, "Gryffindor!" Ted's face lit up, and he jumped down and ran over to join his House's table.
Headmistress McGonagall peered over the tops of her spectacles at the new arrival with a look of stern disapproval. The old woman crossed out a name towards the top of the list she was holding in her hands, and then called out, "Bennett, Nell."
A nervous chill crawled down her spine and settled in her twisted stomach, yet she calmly marched forwards and seated herself on the stool. She looked out over the whole school seated at all the four long tables before her lined with hundreds of students. Over at the Ravenclaw table, she spotted Marie, anxiously craning her neck to watch. Nell felt the weight of the Sorting Hat lower onto the top of her head. The Hat started to mumble to itself immediately.
"Oh, a clever mind, I see. Ravenclaw, perhaps? Oh? What's this? No, I see now…," the hat muttered, and then shouted "Slytherin!" for all the school to hear.
Nell felt a rush of warmth flush her face as the hat was lifted from her head. She quickly diverted her eyes from the Ravenclaw table, wishing not to see her sister's reaction. The Slytherin table had the least people, who had been, so far, the least enthusiastic in their welcoming of newcomers. She got down from the seat and walked towards the table, where she was greeted by a sparse applause and handshakes from a couple of the Slytherin prefects.
Nell sat in complete silence, watching the other students be Sorted into their respective Houses. Among those Sorted into Slytherin, and the only person she knew, was Kraz Pucey, who ended up sitting next to her. Headmistress McGonagall gave a short welcoming speech and then led the school in the stupid school song. Once that was over with, the feast began.
"Go on, Nell," Kraz said. "Stop looking so sullen and eat something. This chicken is great…"
Nell watched the skinny boy devour bite after bite and then refill his plate again.
She sparingly dabbed some food on her plate and ate slowly. Her thoughts lingered on Gash and how he fared. Should I bring some food for him? I did just recently give an extra frog before we left…he might not be hungry.
Cameron Mitchell, one of the Slytherin prefects, seemed to be one of the only upperclassmen to care about the year's newcomers. He and Jeremy Wynn both shared a similarly loud and talkative mouth.
"You might want to get those robes fixed," Cameron laughed. He nodded over to the Ravenclaw table. "Your name is Bennett? Well, I don't mean to disappoint your Ravenclaw sister, but you're a Slytherin now."
Nell glanced over her shoulder at the Ravenclaw table, and Marie looked away. Marie will tell the whole family about the Sorting by the end of tonight, there's no doubt about it. I wonder what her mother will say when she hears that I've been Sorted into the House of sleaze-backed, self-centered blood-purists.
Kraz, with his mouth full of food, turned back to Nell. "You mentioned that you were adopted? And you don't know who your birthparents are? Well, you might be pureblooded, or part pureblooded. Not many Muggle-born witches or wizards get Sorted into Slytherin anymore, you know."
Nell dodged his spittle. And after her initial feelings of anger of him bringing up the subject of her parents had passed, she thought about his words. "Perhaps so."
For some reason, Nell felt a lot cheerier after that. She still remained silent but she took an interest listening in on everyone else's conversations. The feast was soon over and Nell eagerly followed Cameron down to the entrance of the Slytherin dormitories in the dungeons.
"Venom," the Head Boy said to the entrance. The stone door slid open and all the Slytherin students filed inside.
The room was large, yet had a relatively low ceiling. The furnishing included jet black and dark green-upholstered sofas and lounging chairs. The tables and other chairs were made of a uniform rich, dark wood. A few stone snakes and Slytherin banners decorated the otherwise painfully bare walls. And, although the room was richly furnished, the musty air and stone walls gave the place an almost dark and cold atmosphere.
Once most of the First Years had arrived, Cameron spoke again. "Come along now, make room for everybody… This is the Slytherin common room. Boys' rooms are over in that hallway, girls' rooms are just down those stairs there. You will all already find your things in your respective rooms—."
But Nell had already followed the steady stream of upperclassmen girls down the stairs, not waiting for Cameron to finish his most likely longwinded speech. She shoved her way through the slow-moving crowd, poking her head in most of the rooms she passed, scanning each one for her worn old trunk and an irritated-looking raven.
After about the ninth room, a Seventh Year girl yanked Nell away from the doorway and pushed her back down the hall. "Stop snooping around. First Year rooms are down that way," she snapped, pointing in the direction Nell had come from.
Nell eventually found her dorm room, shared by four other First Year Slytherin girls, Hilda Nott, Adora Binns, Amelia Worme, and Lauren Malone, all of whom she had eavesdropped on at the feast. And they had all already arrived before her. She quickly crossed the room to her things. As soon as she did, she unlocked Gash's cage and let the raven stumble onto her outstretched arm.
"I'm sorry," she whispered as quietly as she could.
Gash blinked and shuffled his wings awkwardly. "Just change me back, now," he hissed equally as quiet.
"I can't right now," Nell said. She glanced at the other two girls who were currently in the room. Amelia and Lauren were busily putting away their belongings and chatting loudly. "Well, I suppose I could try."
She hesitantly pulled out her wand. She whispered the counter-spell gave the wand a flick. In an instant, the crow standing on her bed once again became a snake. He remained very still.
"You have no idea how disorienting that is," he said finally, shaking his head slowly. He slowly slithered his way across the bed and began to wind his way down the bed leg to the floor. "I'll have myself a good look around. You should start unpacking and get to sleep soon. Breakfast is at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, so don't be late."
Nell nodded and waited until she could no longer hear him before she went to her luggage. She heaved her large suitcase up onto her bed and unlatched it. Lying neatly on top of the mess she had hastily packed earlier this morning was a small framed photograph of her and her adoptive family. It had been developed like a Muggle photograph, so the figures in the photograph remained still and stagnant. She figured that Marie's mother had probably taken the liberty to place it in her trunk for her.
She stood silently examining it in her hands for a long minute. She remembered when this was taken. It was from last summer, when they had visited Paris, France, as shown by the Eiffel Tower in the background. She saw her tall sunburnt father standing in the back with his narrow smiling face and wispy blonde hair. His wife stood next to him, considerably shorter and plumper in comparison, with dark ebony skin and black hair falling around her shoulders in tight glossy curls. Andrew was there with the same lean build as his father, but with light chocolate-colored skin and medium brown curly hair. Next to Andrew was Marie, who had a rounded figure similar to that of her mother, but had darker skin than her brother and wavy dark brown hair. And then, front and center, was Nell. She stood out of the family, with her pale skin and petite build. Her straight black hair framed and emphasized her plain, strong jawed, almost gaunt-looking face. Her small half-smile was a pathetic attempt at a look of happiness compared to the genuine wide smiles of the others in the picture.
Maybe mum thought I might get homesick. Nell's eyes looked it over once more, and then she tossed it aside. It slipped off the bedspread and clacked loudly onto the floor. She ignored it and began the job of sorting out everything else in her suitcase.