Because I know I wasn't especially clear, Hermione and Ron don't know that Harry is Harry Potter. In my mind, after helping him find the platform Ron just kind of pulled him along and they found a seat together. They shared first names, but Potter and Weasley never came up. Also, for the record, the Ron bashing will not continue forever. He'll start coming to his senses eventually, he just has to grow up some, and learn about other other people and stuff.
And lastly warning for vaguely implied sex between consenting adults. I really doubt anybody cares, but meh.
Chapter 7: Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo
"So what house do you want to be in, Harry?" She asked, as the clearly enchanted boats sped along the lake.
Fairy lights illuminated the lake, floating in a way that suggested they were actual fairies, and they cast a beautiful sparkling light on the water.
He looked up at her with confusion.
Ron scoffed.
"Your house? Ya know, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff?"
Harry clearly had no idea what they were talking about.
Hermione grinned.
"There are four houses at Hogwarts. Those are the people you spend your days with, share dorms, have classes and play Quidditch with.
The houses are Gryffindor, who embody bravery, Ravenclaw, who seek knowledge,
Hufflepuff who admire loyalty. And our Dear Ronald blatantly left out Slytherin House, who take pride in Cunning and Ambition.
So with that in mind, where do you want to go?"
Harry shrugged.
"Bravery…that sounds good," he said kind of shyly, and Hermione studied the look on his face. He seemed to be considering something specific
"But then, loyalty's important, and so is intelligence…and ambition…" he trailed off, causing to her to wonder what her newest friend's ambition could be.
Harry shrugged again.
"I don't know. How do you pick?"
"You don't!" Ron interjected, before Hermione could explain.
"My brothers Fred and George told me you have to fight a troll, and how well you do decides it!" He cried, clearly having believed his elder brothers.
She rolled her eyes.
"Definitely not. The process is quick and completely painless."
Ron scowled unattractively.
"Well if you know so bloody much, how do you choose?"
She grinned.
"A sorting hat."
Harry blinked several times in confusion, and Ron began laughing uncontrollably.
"Whatever! You don't know either do you? A hat! A bloody hat! That's the silliest thing I've ever heard!"
"Where do you want to be put, Ron?"
Harry said, mildly annoyed with his rudeness.
The redhead puffed up immediately with pride.
"Gryffindor, obviously! There hasn't been a Weasley in the last five centuries that hasn't been in Gryffindor!"
"So? That doesn't mean anything. You only go to Gryffindor if you're particularly brave. Are you?"
"Of course!" He said, as if her question was the silliest thing he'd ever heard.
A silence fell over them, and Hermione sighed at the looks they were aiming at her. Around them, the boats began slowing to a stop as they reached the shore.
"If you must know, I want to be in Slytherin," she said, before standing up and walking onto the dock.
After a few feet she turned and glanced at the two boys still sitting, Ron looking flabbergasted.
"Well? Are you coming?"
TSE
Draco Malfoy had planned to "retrieve" Harry Potter from his unsavory company the moment he saw him walking next to a red head. Not even a full day in and already a Weasley would try to latch onto him? He thought not.
But then he got a good look at the girl on his other side, her usually untamed hair pulled into a braid.
Stark?!
What was she doing in Scotland?
He knew for a fact that there were at least three other schools she could've chosen in North America, dozens around the world…and she chose Hogwarts? This could not end well.
So for the sake of his hide, he didn't approach the boy who lived, and simply observed while the red headed wonder shoved him towards his stupid "courageous" house.
Boy was he in for a shock.
"Slytherin? Are you crazy? They hate muggleborns!"
She rolled her eyes.
"So I've heard. I don't care."
"But only dark wizards join that house."
"Definitely not. I plan on joining, I'm certainly not dark."
"They're all evil!"
"And the fact that you think so is exactly why I should join. As far as I'm concerned, evil people are rarely truly evil. People who don't understand call them that because they don't know any better.
The truth is that bravery is all well and good- I'm certainly no coward, but I don't want to die because I choose a time that requires planning and skill and charged into a deadly situation.
I don't want to be blindly loyal to a person who may eventually betray me themselves, and what does it matter if I've got all the book knowledge in the world if when it comes time to use it, I can't?
So yes I'm choosing Slytherin. That doesn't make me evil, that just makes me aware of what I myself need to better myself as a witch."
Nothing else was said between them.
TSE
Ron's face was even redder than his hair when he realized that the sorting was in fact done by a hat. A hat that sang cheerful tunes and had a torn seam for a mouth. Minnie smirked to herself, but never looked at him.
The great hall just screamed magic. Everywhere. The ceiling was enchanted to look like the night sky, the hall was filled with floating candles-which were a bittersweet experience, as she was now truly feeling the absence of electricity. At the front sat a large table, where the most bizarre group of people sat. From the nervous looking man in a turban to the man on the end who she simply assumed was a vampire, they were all different, and all equally bizarre looking, especially the man in the center, who appeared to be attempting the world's longest beard as well as longest lived person. She took one glance at his florescent robes and swore never to comment on Wanda's 'uniform' ever again.
Professor McGonagall began calling names alphabetically, and the eleven year olds began marching to their fates.
The first of the three was Harry, but after his name was called only he reacted for a long moment.
"Harry. Harry Potter? That was Harry Potter?" The whispers erupted all around the hall, all but the muggleborn first years and teachers reacting with shock.
Hermione blinked, confused, and mildly upset that she didn't know what was going on.
What was so special about Harry Potter?
The noise had become so much that when the hat finally said his house, Hermione couldn't decipher a sound, just read the hat's jagged lips mouth hole.
Only the teachers noticed, their faces draining of color.
But when Harry got up and quickly rushed over to the Slytherin table, attempting to become invisible again, everyone noticed. And the Great hall was perfectly silent again.
Looking just as shaken as the rest, McGonagall called the next name, and the applause continued, quieter than before.
Then it was her turn, and her name was called.
None were as shocked as they were with Harry, but it was clear that some of the muggleborns knew who she was.
She sat down, and let the hat be placed on her head.
"Hello there,"
She blinked. Was it-
"Talking in your head? Certainly. Now let's see. You've led quite the interesting life, young lady. Superheroes and mad scientists and fame and riches! This little magical world of ours must be quite boring in comparison," the enchanted piece of felt mused.
"Brave enough, I'd say. I suppose you've been exposed to more than enough danger with your father. "
It seemed to be laughing inwardly.
"And a mind to rival all of your teachers. I imagine your common sense is enough to set you miles ahead of your own father in that regard as well."
She laughed herself at that.
"Not Hufflepuff, I think. Your loyalty may be strong, but born leaders never do well in a house where all are equal.
She stuffed down the urge to cross her fingers.
"You understand the struggle you will have to undertake? That you will likely be hated in that house?"
'Yes.'
"You understand the danger?"
'Yes.'
"Then I think you'll be great in
"SLYTHERIN"
Hermione Stark put down the hat and calmly walked over to Slytherin table, and sat down next to Harry, who smiled in relief.
A flabbergasted Draco Malfoy sat across from them, mouth falling open in the most undignified expression she'd ever seen him make.
She chuckled quietly to herself.
She spent the rest of the feast quietly observing. She observed that several faces were blatantly glaring at her and Harry, that the vampire looking man must have been their head of house because he was watching their table the most, and that McGonagall and the fantastically bearded man must have had a different outcome in mind for Harry's sorting, because they were looking specifically at him with what she could clearly see was disappointment.
This would be interesting.
Severus Snape had been arguing with himself for the past hour, unsure with how to proceed. Tonight had had unprecedented results. First Harry Potter had been sorted into Slytherin, then the Stark girl, the muggleborn daughter of a Billionaire.
His house was surely preparing to boil over at this very moment, and he'd be responsible for setting things right, and ensuring that the Wizarding World's most famous person, and the Muggle World's most famous person came out unscathed.
Why him?
TSE
Tony was already feeling the difference.
He'd actually gone to the office after dropping her off, needing something to keep himself busy, which hadn't happened ever since Minnie learned to walk.
Pepper had been keeping an eye on him all afternoon, giving him something new to work on as soon as he finished his current tasked and tried to call Minnie again.
He hadn't been this productive since…ever.
"Oh, hey! Tony! Boy, I haven't seen you physically in this office in months," Obadiah said as he walked in.
Tony shook his hand and grinned.
"Yeah well, you know how it is with Minnie. Kind of hard to go anywhere if I can't see her at all times, it's bad for my health," he joked.
Obadiah laughed and waved him off.
"Oh, give the girl a break, I'm sure you break more than she does."
He shook his head.
"Maybe, but I do it in the name of Science. She does it in the name of Destruction."
"Where is the Princess anyways?" he asked, the same way he always referred to Minnie.
He shrugged.
"Boarding school. She wanted to try it," he told him, a half truth.
Stane looked apologetic.
"Well, I'm sure that must be hard. Of course, I'm sure she'll be calling you every chance she gets," he told him, clapping a hand over his shoulder.
"Anyways, I came up here to give this to Pepper, but since it's for you, here you go. It's the market projections for this quarter."
Tony stared at the man, blinking confusedly for a long moment.
"That's...my job?"
Pepper let out a long suffering sigh, and took the paper from his hands.
"I don't get paid enough for this," she told the two men.
Stane laughed, and went back to his office.
Tony sank into his chair, the one he specifically selected because it was simple and sturdy, which was the closest he could get to Minnie-proof without building it himself out of materials that hadn't been discovered yet, and huffed.
He was supposed to deal with four months of this? Four months before Winter Holidays and Minnie came back home, where he could hopefully convince her to never leave the lab ever again?
He'd never make it.
He glanced up to see Pepper still standing beside his desk, her soft smile knowing.
"She'll be fine, Tony. If anything, we should be expecting a call begging us to take her back before long," she mused.
She was right, probably. But then, this was Wizard School, not kindergarten. Frankly, if the teachers there bit back, he wouldn't have been surprised.
Pepper leaned in and kissed his cheek reassuringly.
"I know something that'll cheer you up," she murmured.
Her tone of voice made Tony's eyes widen like golf balls, his expression more eager by the second.
His mouth curled up in a wolfish grin, he calmly began packing away his things.
Hmm, maybe he could get through this.
Yeah, that totally happened.
If my choice of house makes you want to burn me at the stake, sorry, but you're in the minority. Something like sixty people reviewed, and the majority wanted Slytherin. Still, from now on I'll just use a poll, because counting the reviews was a bitch :-D
But don't freak out, okay? Hermione will be all about house unity. She'll still make awesome friends and be generally badass. To be honest, my decision was made for the sake of her own future- the Slytherin skills will be necessary, but also for Harry. You'll see why eventually.
For the record, yes, I made it so Hermione hadn't looked up Harry before hand. I felt like they should be on a bit more even footing. Besides, our Minnie had more important things to do- like figuring out how magic works and breaking it. Oh man the plans I have for first year!
Also, someone mentioned the Malfoys, since it seems kind of weird that they'd do business with the Starks.
Hah, I know. There's a method to my madness, I swear.
Also, did I write another chapter without any references? Wow. As consolation, you have Cinderella in the title. I'll try to be better.
Adios!