Chapter four.
Notes: I intended to write this chapter a LONG time ago, you must believe me, but SOMUCHHASHAPPENED. I could say that I had to take all my finals, move all my stuff out and back home, had my birthday pass, found out I passed all my finals!, planned a trip to Alabama to visit my brother only for my grandmother to decide life wasn't worth living a week prior and having to make a side trip to Mississippi where my uncle went psycho and then we escaped with ridiculously small trinkets to remember her by and THEN finally went to Alabama for another week where I spent my time TRYING to relax after that whole mess but instead hid from my very hyper (adorable, smart, lovely) niece most of the time, and then coming home, BUT I won't say all that-…wait I did. Oh well. Now you know and hopefully won't hold it against me XD
Read on my friends… no shout outs this week because I'm too lazy to look up the names (even though I think there was only like… three of you). BUT YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE AND I LOVE YOU ALL FOR REVIEWING.
Give me recipes for happy
With the chemicals gone
Drinking freedom from a bottle
To the tune of belong
-Blue October, X Amount of Words
It became oddly quiet as the lanky teenage boy walked gracefully up to the Sorting Hat and placed himself upon the stool. His features were soft and angular like a woman, but the scowl that seemed almost a permanent part of his face told otherwise. A whisper from one of the Weasley twins—"any bets on Slytherin?"—had many students within earshot giggling, but they were quickly silenced by that threatening glower. Oh, if looks could kill…
Well, Allen would be dead already. The white haired boy stifled his own chuckles as the tattered hat was placed upon his comrade's head, obscuring the long haired exorcist's view of the room. For just a moment, all was completely quiet, and just as he began to think about how stupid this whole thing was, a voice broke through his thoughts.
"An Exorcist… how odd. I don't think I've ever had the pleasure of sorting one of your Order before. This shall prove to be exceedingly difficult." Kanda nearly tore the old hat off and sliced it in half with Mugen, but the thing continued. "There's no need for such action! I am only here for the purpose of sorting you. Anything I see within your mind will never be recited to another being. I only need to access your memories for just a few moments."
He didn't want to consent to the hat's request, but neither did he want to sit in that stool forever, or chance completely ruining the mission. And so, he relented and felt the odd sensation of his mind being probed by… an article of clothing.
After a few more moments, the hat began muttering in his mind. "Difficult indeed. As an exorcist, you have plenty of bravery in you—you face great evil on a day to day basis. Your heart, however, lacks passion. You are cunning, but perhaps not quite fit for the Slytherin House. You have an odd sort of loyalty to your companions, and an unexplainable loyalty to your Order, but neither qualifies you for Hufflepuff. You are intelligent, that much is certain, but you are far from the academic qualities that Ravenclaw so admire. Therefore, I think you are definitely best suited for…
"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat yelled enthusiastically. The once quiet student body was replaced by the thunderous applause—despite the glare still in place on Kanda's face—from the table decorated by red and gold. He ignored their congratulations and sat himself at the table, as far from anyone as he could, and near enough to one Harry Potter as he could without actually having to sit in front of the boy.
The applause was short, and the next exorcist was called forth.
"Lee, Lenalee." The young, short haired girl then approached the stool. Now that she was in front of the entire school, many could tell that she was of obvious Chinese descent. Her beauty was subtle, edging more on the soft, gentle look, yet even Harry Potter himself could admit that she had something that even Cho Chang did not.
She tucked her skirt beneath her as she placed herself on the stool with even more grace than Kanda had, and the sorting hat was placed upon her head.
"Another exorcist, how exciting! I do enjoy a challenge. Let's see. You are resourceful, have a kindness so very unexpected of your field, and your friendships… I see. I have the perfect house for you, and it had better be…"
"HUFFLEPUFF!"
And once again, the appropriate table cheered. Lenalee hopped off the stool and happily made her way to her home for the next year. She inwardly hoped at least one of her comrades would join her, but as she sat between two students at the Hufflepuff table, she knew she wouldn't have any troubles making friends regardless.
"Ah… Bookman Jr.? Lavi." It was indeed odd that Minerva McGonagall stumbled on a student's name, but since Lavi technically had no name, she struggled with what to call him. She recalled her conversation with Dumbledore as she spoke, and became more confident. Said junior Bookman made his way to the stool. Mischievous grin automatically had the Weasley twins perking up, and what with his wild red hair, he was in the running for becoming the third twin. Meanwhile, the rest of the student body prayed otherwise—what chaos could Weasley triplets come up with?
The hat was placed upon his head, and as soon as the voice filtered through his mind, his Bookman training was already at work. He busied himself with trying to figure out the strange hat's workings while listening to every word it said, making sure to note it for him to write down later.
"A sharp mind, no doubt. I've had the pleasure of sorting a couple Bookmen in my time, but you are slightly different, I see." Lavi didn't know whether to take this as a compliment or not… and he was torn between asking about the Bookmen before him, and asking what he meant by different, however, he didn't even need to ask for the hat was speaking once again. "You are stuck between the love you have for your friends, and the duty you have as a Bookman. Bookmen cannot grow attached, for they simply record, and nothing more. You, however, have become quite involved in the Order's war. You don't want to abandon your friends. You are very loyal, but I think you are best suited for…"
"RAVENCLAW!" Lavi left the chair slightly confused. The hat was indeed correct, however for the moment he merely made his way to the table that cheered for him. (Kayton Oliesi nearly collapsed as he passed by and glanced in her direction. He wasn't too interested in little girls, however, and she was soon thrown out the window when he spotted a group of 7th year girls and sat in the middle of them with almost literal hearts in his eyes.)
The next name to be called was Allen Walker. The entire time, he had been fiddling with his gold-trimmed coat, not wanting to have his turn. All of his comrades had so far been separated, and there was still one house left, leaving a chance for him to not be in a house with any of them. Masa pushed him forward, and he stumbled up to the stool nervously. The Noah in him would have been ashamed, but Neah was quiet at the moment, and so he pulled his hood higher and sat upon the stool. Professor McGonagall wished to scold him, tell him to take the hood off, but restrained herself, being aware that he had his reasons to hide himself. Though soon enough he would have to take it off anyways.
Mumbles broke out. This one wasn't taking off his hood for the Sorting? It was an odd occurrence, made even more so as the hat was placed awkwardly over his head. Despite the offending cloth, the hat was able to delve into the boy's mind, but he didn't stay there long.
It was a mess. Memories of Neah and Allen jumbled all together, and the former presence was most certainly not happy with the intrusion. The hat caught glimpses of many things he'd never seen in his life before, and as soon as he felt he had what he needed, he jumped out and quickly yelled—
"SLYTHERIN!" Allen frowned. He wasn't quite sure what had just happened, it was all so confusing, but he made his way quickly to the last remaining table. He silently hoped that at least his apprentice would be able to claim the same House as his. He didn't doubt that any of the others would be able to take care of him… but this was his apprentice. He was the one put in charge of the newest exorcist, and so far, he hadn't done a very good job.
Allen never felt like a leader, and becoming a General was intimidating enough for him—but to have an apprentice was something entirely different. He couldn't help but think of all the other Generals and how they worked so differently from himself. They all had established their own ways, and Allen was still trying to fit in.
But he had been the one to find Masa. It was only fair that the boy be given to him for training. Not only that, but there was something about him, something that both he and Neah felt that was odd… a connection neither understood.
"Hara, Masahiko," McGonagall called after Allen had placed himself at the table of green snakes. Allen swore that he was more nervous about Masa's sorting than Masa was. He waltzed up to the stool impassively, and sat upon it with that same bored expression. He looked over to Allen, people were still whispering about him and almost everyone was staring at him oddly at his new table, and something seemed to register in his mind. He flipped the hood off his head and whispers began anew, effectively taking the attention off of his General and onto himself, as he had planned. The action surprised Allen, but Masa remained unaffected as the hat was placed over his eyes.
Allen wondered deeply what kind of memories the hat got to see—he still knew next to nothing about his own apprentice—as shown by his previous display. The only thing he knew was that Masa was afraid of…them? And that he found the boy outside a small town in Italy. He wasn't sure if Masa was even from Italy—he did have a very small accent but he couldn't distinguish where it sounded like it was from and it didn't affect his speech in the slightest. For all he knew, Masa could have been born in Africa.
And while Allen had this small crisis, Masa himself was dealing with the Sorting Hat.
"And so a fifth exorcist to sort. You are the last one, correct? Yes, well let me see here… you—you're-!"
"Desist. That is no longer me. I left them. And I wish to be sorted in Slytherin with my General."
"W-well I suppose if you've already decided I have no choice but to place you in…"
"SLYTHERIN!" the hat bellowed out. Allen celebrated in his mind as the rest of the table clapped for yet another new comrade. Masa, however, stood and walked calmly just as he had before to Allen's side.
"How lucky!" he whispered with a smile to his apprentice, earning an eyebrow raise in return.
"Not so much. I told the hat to place me with you," he said with a snort before turning to the stage again as the Headmaster stood to speak.
"..I didn't know you could do that," Allen muttered. If he had, he could have been in the same house as— "Oh well." No need to keep dwelling on that thought, laughing it off. And whether or not he actually was dwelling on the thought or not (and who exactly he had been thinking about in the first place) became irrelevant as the aged Headmaster cleared his throat.
"Welcome!" he started, having garnered the students' undivided attention. He welcomed them then once more, and continued on to say that he had something very serious to tell them of…
"Those creepy things that boarded the train are going to be guarding the school? I find it hard to believe they can guard anything! And what kind of 'Ministry business' anyways?" Allen complained, obviously not quite over the train incident. Masa rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"A-allen," he stuttered over the almost foreign name, but never got to finish as a blonde haired boy interrupted.
"You don't know? How could you possibly not know about Sirius Black escaping from Azkaban? I bet he's after Potter, otherwise they wouldn't bother posting Dementors all over the place." His voice held something of a bit of malice and maybe some contempt for Potter that did not go unnoticed by the exorcists. Allen also didn't miss the vague familiarity he had of the blonde boy. Perhaps on the train at some point…?
Neither answered as the Headmaster continued, mentioning that no one was to leave grounds without permission. This immediately concerned Allen, hoping that this did not apply to the exorcists—if there was an akuma nearby, they weren't going to have time to get permission to go outside and destroy it. And even that very night, Allen needed to take Lenalee, Kanda, and Lavi to Diagon Alley to get their wands. That required going back to the forest to the location of the door. He had strategically bought all their stuff for them so that they would have plenty of time to get wands…
"On a happier note, I am pleased to welcome three new teachers to our ranks this year. First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." The reception was rather dull, not many felt the need to clap for him except the group that had been with the two exorcists on the train. After that, he went on to say that some Kettlescorch-or-other had retired and a "Rubeus Hagrid" was taking the position in addition to "gamekeeping duties." The blonde boy sent some scathing remark to a scary looking girl and two large boys around him that Allen completely ignored. However, the biting book assigned for the man's class was a little… much. He tried to keep an open mind, nonetheless.
"We also have one last addition, however, it seems he has been delayed until tomorrow. He will be filling in for Professor Burbage* in muggle studies this year. His introduction will therefore have to wait until then!" he clapped his hands together then. "I believe that is everything of importance, then. Let the feast begin!"
And moments after he said that, immediately following the loud rumblings of a certain General's stomach, an immeasurable amount of food appeared on the plates in front of them. It was for this reason that each exorcist in the room immediately turned to find Allen Walker amongst the sea of green. And there he was…
…Mouth agape and eyes wide as saucers. This was going to be a great year for him.
Results are in and this is how the housing is situated! Hope none of you mind too much if this wasn't what you wanted or voted for.
Three guesses as to whom Allen was thinking about hehe~ oh wait… there are really only three choices anyways.
* As far as I am aware, everything I've read online says that Professor Burbage probably started around the third year… but I decided to give her the post beforehand so that I would have someone to get rid of, heh heh
Also, teacher. Yeah. Bet you could easily guess who that is going to be, also.
On that note, I have ESTABLISHED this as a Yullen. If you do not like that, I apologize, but that was popular demand and you're SOL if you didn't review and tell me what you wanted (:
Lavi is still open for discussion as far as pairings go…but I can tell you right now I will NOT do Lucky. I'm sorry if you like Lucky, and I have nothing against it, I just can't write it! I can not physically write it. I don't know how, and I don't want to try. They just don't mesh for me.
Masa is also still open for discussion, as well as Lenalee.
HP is looking canon so far, no one has really said anything about them yet. Lemme know if you wish differently
PLEASE CONSIDER ALL OF THE ABOVE WHEN YOU REVIEW. Because I know you will review. (And I honestly only ask because I do want answers to those things, and not just being a pest about not getting enough. I couldn't care less how many reviews I get XD)
Until next time, chiiiildren! (Yes.. I have been playing Fallout 3 lately.)