Notes: In which Loki really does get somewhere: Hogwarts!
I've been reminded by readers that in the books, there is no baggage car, and eleven-year-olds have to cope with getting trunks into the train and onto racks (since there seem to be no visible adults except the trolley lady.) I've decided that, in the ten years since the end of the Second Wizarding War, someone figured out that this is sure to lead to squashed firsties. (Also, I have a bad back and I'm in pain at the thought of all that lifting- no slipped discs for these students!) I've made some changes to the process of getting changed, too, at least for students in open carriages.
I've mentioned this story will probably draw from either book or movie canon. I've been going with the school uniform from the movies, with the robes worn over other clothing that also makes up the uniform. Please refer to the movies for your images of all teachers, once we introduce some, in case of differences. However, in the books, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons accepted both boys and girls, and that's what I'm assuming here for an incidental point. I've also picked up some extra information from Pottermore for certain points.
Warnings: I've mentioned already that this is an AU of an AU. That means that the house assignments discussed in the Housemates series proper may not all apply to this story, and everyone is a human. Also, I know the Loki we met in Thor was almost certainly a Slytherin, but the Housemates-universe posits that he got that way through not having his emotional needs met, and the Loki in that universe (and so this story) would have needed to be somewhere else entirely as a child.
Also, I am simply not up for writing a song for the Sorting Hat. Sorry about that.
Chapter Five
Loki figured it probably said something nasty about himself, that he was surprised his brother had told the truth, but he really had not expected to find the gathering of first-years right where Thor had said they would be. He found himself a little overtaken by shyness as they all sat down, but George was quiet, too, and so was the new boy with the curly dark hair.
Most of the others made up for anyone who was quiet. The blue-eyed girl, whose name was Darcy, was very interested in which houses everyone would be Sorted into.
"What about you?" she asked George. "What house does your family usually end up in?"
"None of them, I'm Muggle-born," George replied.
"I think I'd like to be in Gryffindor," said the curly-haired boy, whose name was Bruce.
"Aw, that's what everyone says," Darcy complained. "That's boring." In a mocking sing-song, she said, "'Oh, let's all be in Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart.' I'd much rather be in Slytherin. I think it sounds really cool. What about you?" she asked, turning to Loki.
"I don't know," Loki mumbled. "My family always has been in Gryffindor."
"But you don't want to be?" Darcy pounced on his doubtful tone.
"No, I do," Loki protested truthfully. "I just- " It's just that I'm not actually a member of my family, and my real one probably all went in Slytherin.
"You never know what the Sorting Hat is going to make of you," said the brown-eyed girl, Jane, who was Darcy's cousin.
"Well, my family has always been in Hufflepuff," said Annie decidedly. "At least, my sister and my grandparents. And I think it sounds much the nicest, so that's the one I want to be in."
"Oh, come on, Hufflepuff's so boring," Darcy protested, returning to her favourite word.
Annie's eyes flashed dangerously. "Boring to you, maybe- " she began.
"Stop it, Darcy," Jane said quickly. "She doesn't mean it," she added to Annie. "She's got three older brothers and she just talks like that."
"Sorry," said Darcy, looking genuinely abashed. Annie, who had looked as ruffled as an angry owl, nodded her forgiveness.
It made perfect sense to Loki, that Annie would want to be in the nicest house, but it had never occurred to him before that people whose families were in houses other than Gryffindor would be every bit as proud of them as Gryffindors like Thor were of theirs.
"Well," Mitchell spoke up, returning to Darcy's original point, "I don't want to be in Gryffindor. Imagine having to live up to a reputation for daring, nerve, and chivalry all the time."
"Yes," said Annie, "you can get in enough trouble as it is." George giggled, and Mitchell threw the last two Every Flavour Beans at them.
"My family has always gone to Durmstrang," Natasha announced suddenly. "But the school hasn't changed its rule against allowing Muggle-borns to attend, and so my mother and father decided I should come to Hogwarts. They say the world has changed, since the War, and so our minds should change, too." Loki was thinking that Dad would approve of this girl, when she went on, "I would like to be in this Slytherin, I think. Clint and his brother have told me about it, and it sounds a very sensible house."
Of all the terms Thor had ever used to describe Slytherin, Loki could not remember sensible ever being one of them.
Darcy was delighted. "Great! You and I can hang out, because Janey here's definitely going into
Ravenclaw."
"You don't know that," Jane protested.
"Oh, come on, of course you are. Brain the size of Wales," Darcy said cheerfully, to the group at large.
"Good place for you, too," Mitchell said teasingly to George.
Loki turned away to feed an Owl Treat to Bronwyn, suddenly wondering about Ravenclaw. He had always done well at school. Mind you, that was mostly because, having no friends, he had so few distractions, but still. Maybe the Hat would decide-
The door at the end of the carriage opened, and a medium sized boy with a prefect's badge and Gryffindor robes came in. "All right, everyone, it's time for you to change into your robes. I'm Rhodes, by the way, and I'll be directing you when we arrive. If the girls could move down the other end of the carriage- " Rhodes pulled out his wand and gestured. A set of blackout curtains fell between sections of the carriage, and the window blinds rolled down. "I'll be back in fifteen minutes."
There was quite a scramble as the boys changed out of the Muggle clothing they had worn to be inconspicuous in the train station. Loki tried not to look at the robes, jumper, trousers and shirt Clint brought out of his package: they were not only obviously old, but were in need of mending and also a good wash. Remembering what Annie had said about the nicest house, Loki began to hope Clint would be in Hufflepuff. Surely Becky and Rogers would notice and make sure he was looked after.
Loki had a little trouble of his own with his uniform: all his school clothing seemed to have mysteriously shrunk since its purchase. His trouser cuffs were well above his ankles, and his sleeves much too short. Perhaps he had gotten taller, which was of course always possible, but the clothes he had worn to the station fit properly-
And then he noticed George's shirtsleeves trailing well over his knuckles, and also Mitchell, doubled up in silent giggles, and realized what had happened.
"Here, George, I think I've got your clothes," Loki said. George gave him a befuddled look, and Mitchell a sharp one, then hastily began to pull off Loki's things to trade for his own.
Even with the delay, they were all dressed and ready long before Rhodes came back to deal with the partition. Loki thought they all looked a bit like baby ravens, in their long robes with only a little white shirt peeking out at the throat, and even that partly covered by black neckties since they did not yet have their house ties.
And then the train was coming to a huffing stop. Rhodes told them to leave whatever belongings they had with them in the compartment, all of which would be brought into the castle for them. Loki left his bundle of Muggle clothing, his lunch tin, and- very reluctantly- Bronwyn, and, as Rhodes opened the door, followed the others onto the platform.
It was much colder here than it had been in London, but it was completely dark and quite misty, so Loki could not see what the place looked like. An enormous figure was standing under a streetlamp a little further down the platform.
"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" he was calling.
"That must be Hagrid," Loki whispered to Annie. "The groundskeeper. Thor says he doesn't like anyone but Gryffindors."
Annie's forehead wrinkled in a frown of concentration. "Becky says he's kind as anything, although she did tell me to be careful when we start Care of Magical Creatures in third year, because he's so good with all kinds of dangerous animals that he doesn't always stop to remember the students aren't yet. But she certainly didn't say anything about him not liking other houses. Are you sure your brother wasn't just having you on?"
"Maybe," Loki muttered, considering the possibility for the first time as they approached the huge hairy man.
And perhaps Becky was right, or perhaps it was that, being unSorted as yet, the first-years were still potential Gryffindors, but Hagrid greeted them all with a smile.
"All righ'. Firs' years go up to the castle across the lake, in boats. I'll be leading yeh. Yer things will all be taken to yer new dormitories once yer Sorted, except yer owls. They'll go to the owlery- "
Loki had planned to be quiet, and good, and not cause any trouble. But at these words his hand flew into the air of its own accord. Hagrid nodded to him, and Loki asked anxiously,
"Can we visit them?"
Hagrid smiled as though Loki had asked exactly the right question. "Course yeh can. Whenever yeh have free time. Take 'em flying whenever yeh have a chance." He nodded at Loki, who smiled tentatively back, and then gestured to the first-years to follow him down a steep path to the landing, where the little boats were waiting. "Four to a boat," Hagrid told them. Annie, George, and Mitchell immediately formed a little knot. Loki hesitated, and the two boys looked around at him while Annie grabbed his hand.
The night suddenly felt a lot less cold.
Across the lake, they could by now see Hogwarts itself. As much as Loki had tried to imagine what it looked like, the castle still took his breath away, looming above them on the cliff, a vast place bristling with towers and turrets and lighted windows.
The closer they got to the castle, the more his companions faces glowed with excitement. Loki, for his part, was beginning to feel sick again. After all this time, all the wishing and hoping, all the terror and dread, he was here at Hogwarts, about to be Sorted. He glanced at the others in the boat with him, and remembered that none of them had seemed bothered by Darcy's approving talk of Slytherin. Perhaps, he thought, perhaps they would still be willing to be his friends when he was in that house. Of course, it would be more difficult if they were in different houses, and they had only just met, but-
"Heads down!" Hagrid shouted, and the little boats began to pass through a curtain of ivy, through a passage in the side of the cliff. The students all ducked, and the boats carried them through a dark tunnel into a sort of underground harbour, lit with flaming torches. The little boats scraped onto the pebbly shore, and the students clambered out.
"Are we at Hogwarts, or Dunkirk?" George whispered, looking at their flotilla. Loki giggled, glad he had gone to Muggle school and could understand the joke.
The students needed no encouragement to stay together, and Hagrid led them along another passageway that came out practically under the castle walls. There was a flight of stone steps, and a great oak door.
Hagrid knocked three times, the sound echoing in what must have been a vast hallway beyond. A moment later, the door began to swing open, hinges creaking. The sound made the hair stand up on Loki's neck, and he was not sure whether he moved closer to the other three, or they to him.
"The firs' years, Professor Sprout," said Hagrid.
"Thank you, Hagrid," said the witch who was now standing in the doorway. She was all gray: gray hair, gray robes, gray pointed hat. Small and plump, she looked a little like a comfortable purring cat, and she smiled at the students before her. The painful knot building in Loki's throat loosened a little.
"Welcome to Hogwarts," she said. "I am Professor Sprout, the head of Hufflepuff house, and I hope some of you will soon be joining us." Annie gave an excited little wriggle beside Loki. Professor Sprout went on, "Our welcoming banquet will begin shortly, but before it does, there is a very important task to be done: you must all be Sorted into your houses, which will become like your family here at Hogwarts." For the benefit of any Muggle-borns, she went on to speak about the four houses: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. She explained that these were not literally houses, but dormitories and common rooms within the castle, where students would live, sleep, and spend free time together. She also told them about the House Cup, which was won by the house whose members gained the most points throughout the year.
Loki already knew this, and knew the Gryffindor dormitories and common room were located in one of the castle's great towers. He wondered suddenly whether wind or storms kept the Gryffindors awake- Loki was nervous of thunder and lightning storms as well as the dark, although he had never admitted as much to anyone. Well, he thought, he was unlikely to find that out, being too cowardly to be in Gryffindor in the first place.
Professor Sprout led the students into a small chamber off the hall, and told them she would return as soon as the rest of the Sorting ceremony was ready to begin. There was very little talking after she left- even Darcy seemed nervous.
"If I'm not in Slytherin, my brother will never speak to me again," Clint whispered to no one in particular.
"Mine will do the same if I am," Loki whispered back.
It was probably a good thing they weren't left alone very long before Professor Sprout came back, told them to form a line, and led them into the Great Hall.
They marched to the front of the Hall, under the enchanted ceiling that made the Hall look as if it was open to the night sky. Lit candles flickered and floated above their heads.
Professor Sprout led the first-years to stand before the long table where the teachers sat. In the middle was Professor McGonagall, a stern elderly witch, Headmistress of Hogwarts. Loki's anxiety was by now so acute that he couldn't even listen as Professor Sprout brought out the Sorting Hat and explained about the ceremony. He didn't hear more than a word or two of the Hat's song, describing the main qualities of the houses: Gryffindor's courage and daring, Hufflepuff's loyalty and acceptance, Ravenclaw's love of wit and learning, Slytherin's cunning and ambition.
Loki knew all that, and he was busy looking at the house table on his extreme right, which he knew was the Gryffindor table because he could see Potts, the Head Girl, and halfway down the table the bulk of Volstagg. Thor must be sitting quite near Volstagg, but Loki couldn't see him, didn't know whether Thor was taking any interest at all in where his younger brother was Sorted.
Professor Sprout began to read names from a scroll of parchment, and one by one the first-years stepped up to try on the Hat and learn where it would put them.
"Banner, Bruce!" This was the curly-haired boy from the train, the one who had wanted to be in Gryffindor. The Hat considered a moment before calling out, "Ravenclaw!" Loki winced in sympathy, but when he took off the Hat and ran toward the cheering Ravenclaw table, Bruce didn't look disappointed at all.
Not so Barton, Clinton. The Hat took almost no time at all to declare Clint a Gryffindor, and he cast an apologetic look at the Slytherin table before trudging over to the Gryffindor table. Loki saw Potts, and then Rhodes, lean over to speak quietly to him.
Foster, Jane, was the brown-eyed girl from the train, and she went to Ravenclaw exactly as her cousin had predicted. Likewise, the Hat quickly put Lewis, Darcy, in Slytherin, and she was obviously delighted to go.
Some of the students were Sorted almost the moment they put the Hat on their heads, but others took some time. Mitchell, who turned out to really be called Mitchell, John, sat on the stool for almost a minute, his face screwed up mutinously, for all the world as though he was having a silent but pitched argument with the Hat.
It ended with him being Sorted to Hufflepuff, and from the way he was smiling as he ran to the house table, that was the result he had wanted.
A few minutes later Professor Sprout called out, "Odinson, Loki," and it was his turn.
If it hadn't been for Mitchell, Loki would probably have sat there with an empty head and waited for his fate. Instead, as the Hat dropped onto his head, Loki gathered all his concentration and directed it into a plea: Gryffindor, please put me in Gryffindor, please, please…
"Gryffindor?" asked a small voice next to his ear. "Are you sure?"
Loki wanted to say Yes, of course I'm sure, that's where I belong, but of course he couldn't, because he wasn't anything of the sort. He wasn't really an Odinson, he was afraid of the dark and of storms, he had cried like a baby last night when he was upset about the owl-
He wasn't anything like a Gryffindor, and he knew it.
And the Hat must know it, too, so Loki changed tactics, instead chanting, Not Slytherin, not Slytherin, anywhere but Slytherin, please not Slytherin.
The little voice said, "All the houses have their virtues as well as faults, and all have produced great wizards. You must know that my role is to place you in the house that is the best place for you."
Slytherin isn't the best place for me, if you put me there my brother will hate me, my parents will be disappointed in me, please.
There was a pause, and then the little voice said, "Tell me, child. What do you want?"
Loki's heart gave a bump of hope. Gryffindor, I want to be in Gryffindor, please-
"Not houses," said the voice. "What do you want?"
There was a strange feeling, as if someone had brushed their hand over his hair. A picture rose to the surface of his mind, as if he was someone else, standing back and looking into the train compartment where he and Annie, George, and Mitchell were swapping lunches and laughing together. A moment later he saw himself in the middle of the friendly group in the open compartment, talking with them as if he mattered, too. His heart sped up, and the lump rose in his throat again as he wanted with everything in him.
And the Hat shouted, "Hufflepuff!"
Loki couldn't move for a second: he had never even considered this possibility, any more than he had Ravenclaw until that moment in the train. Thor never talked about Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, and so Loki never thought of them. Thor talked about how great Gryffindor was, and how much he detested Slytherin- so much so that Mum or Dad would sometimes make a point of mentioning colleagues of theirs who had been in Slytherin, and who were always perfectly nice when they came to dinner. But Thor rarely mentioned Ravenclaws except to call them brainy swots, and he almost never spoke of Hufflepuffs, except pityingly, as if they were such duffers there was nothing to be said about them at all.
The Hat was being lifted from his head. Loki cut a look at the Gryffindor table. He still couldn't see Thor.
At the same time there was a whoop of excitement from the Hufflepuff table- Loki was pretty sure it was Mitchell- and as Loki ran toward it he could see Annie's sister Becky beaming, and Rogers the prefect reaching out to shake his hand. And then Mitchell was pulling out the chair next to himself and urging Loki into it, pounding him on the back and shoulder.
"Two in, two to go," Mitchell gloated. It crossed Loki's mind that he had been adopted again.
Several students later, Romanov, Natasha, walked composedly to the stool and was promptly Sorted into Slytherin. She looked delighted as she ran to the Slytherin table and took the seat next to Darcy.
And then it was Sands, George's turn. George was pale as he sat down, and the Hat considered for the space of three breaths- not Loki's, Loki was holding his- before calling out, "Hufflepuff!"
Loki changed chairs of his own accord, to let George sit between Mitchell and himself, and then it was time for Sawyer, Anna- Annie.
This time, Loki didn't even hold his breath- he didn't have time to, because the Hat barely touched Annie's head before it was shouting, "Hufflepuff!"
Becky let out a shriek of excitement and threw her hands in the air. Mitchell, George, and Loki banged on the table, chanting "An-nie! An-nie!" as Annie scampered over to them. Rogers shook her hand, her sister hugged her, and then she was sitting next to Loki with a face like a sunrise.
The Sorting finished shortly after that. Professor McGonagall stood up to say a few words of welcome, and to introduce the other teachers. Loki was by now tired out from the excitement of the day and had trouble listening, but he did note the heads of the houses aside from Professor Sprout.
Professor Flitwick, the Ravenclaw head, taught Charms, and was a tiny wizard nearly the size of a house elf. Professor Slughorn, the Slytherin head who taught Potions, was a plump and elderly wizard with a surprisingly kindly face. The head of Gryffindor, Professor Coulson, was a slender, dark-haired wizard who taught Transfiguration. The only other teacher Loki really noticed was Professor Fury, who was a black man with black clothes and a black eyepatch. He taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Loki remembered Dad telling Thor, before his first year, not to mess about in his classes because Fury wouldn't put up with it, and also because Thor wouldn't want to miss anything he had to say.
After the introductions, Professor McGonagall clapped twice. The tables suddenly filled with plates and platters of all kinds of good things to eat. In spite of a big lunch, Loki was hungry, and nearly all his attention was quickly focused on the food. He found himself hoping, though, that whatever Clint most liked to eat was here.
And he looked around a few times, in case he could see Thor. He was never successful, and finally gave up.
The puddings arrived just before everyone would have been too full to appreciate them. Loki had a dish of rice pudding sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon, and then a little chocolate ice cream, because there was always room for chocolate ice cream. Not very long afterward the tables cleared themselves, and after a few remarks and notices that Loki did not remember seconds after they had been uttered, the prefects were asked to lead their houses' first-years to their dormitories.
Hufflepuff did not have one of the towers. In fact- and this made sense for a house whose emblem was a badger- their common room and dormitories were located in the basement, the entrance just off the kitchen corridor. If he hadn't been so full and sleepy, Loki might have been disappointed about that. As it was, he simply concentrated on what Rogers was telling them about the technique for getting into their common room without being doused in vinegar. There was a stack of barrels, and you had to tap the correct one to the rhythm of "Helga Hufflepuff" to make the lid open so you could crawl through.
Loki certainly hoped he would remember that, and not end up smelling like a jar of pickles for his entire first year.
The lid swung open and Rogers led them all in crawling through a short passage. Then they were in the Hufflepuff common room.
Anyone expecting the basement room to be dank or dreary was in for a surprise. The room was round, with cozy low ceilings- although Rogers, who was tall, had plenty of room to stand up straight- and the walls were hung with copper and cheerful yellow hangings, as well as potted plants that Loki could swear were nodding and whispering greetings to them.
The furniture was all squashy sofas and chairs, with little round tables set near them. The upholstery was mostly yellow, with some black patterning. There was a fireplace with a fire crackling merrily, copper lamps, and round windows high in the walls.
On each side of the room was a perfectly round door, which Becky explained led to the girls' and boys' dormitories. She led the girls away, while the boys followed Rogers through the round door and down a corridor with rooms opening off it.
"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit," George said, under his breath. Rogers glanced back with laugh.
"Yes," he agreed. "A lot of people have guessed that Tolkien had friends in the wizarding world, but most don't realize his wizard friends were Hufflepuffs. He never saw our basement, but it was obviously described to them."
Finally, the first-year boys arrived at their dormitories. Loki found the room where his trunk had been unpacked- his jumpers already edged in yellow and black, badger crests on his robes, and a new black-and-yellow scarf neatly folded in the second drawer, below the hanging compartment, of the wardrobe where his belongings had been put away.
Well, almost neatly. Loki noticed the scarf looked a bit bulgy, and he lifted it a little to find his floppy rhinoceros hidden safely underneath.
There was a fireplace in the room, with copper warming pans hanging near it in case anyone's feet were cold. The four-poster beds were covered in patchwork quilts and even if he hadn't been so tired Loki would have found them cozy and welcoming.
"It smells nice in here," Mitchell noted.
"Check under your pillows," Rogers advised. "Professor Sprout usually makes up sachets for the new first-years- lavender, camomile, and a little peppermint, all of which are calming, soothing herbs. I don't always keep mine under my pillow anymore, but I like to have it with me during exams. Nothing illegal about it, and you're welcome to make them for your friends as soon as you learn a little Herbology. Professor Sprout just likes everyone to get a good night's sleep their first night in Hufflepuff. And I think you should do just that."
Loki, his friends, and the other Hufflepuff first-years got into their pajamas and chose up beds. Loki got the one in the far corner, by the wall. One of the other boys took a fancy to a particular quilt in green and brown that reminded him of the woods near his home. Everyone else chose a bed and they all crawled under the covers. Mitchell turned out the lamp.
"Good night, everyone," he said as he got into bed.
"Good night," Loki yawned. He reached under his pillow to find the lavender sachet, and curled his fingers around it.
It was the very best sleep he had had in months.