A/N: Now, FINALLY (quite a bunch of you asked for this), it's Heley's Sorting show time! I can't believe it took me up to eight chapters to sort Heley (even if I'm the one who's writing the story A_A)!
Warning!: Some characters are OOC, especially Neville Longbottom.
So now, enjoy!
Notice:
"I'm starting a new life now." : mental conversation;
"Thank you." : normal conversation;
'I guess the War had forced him to grow up,' : thinking.
Fallen & Risen 8. Mashed Potatoes
Previously…
During the Sorting Ceremony
"Ah! Here we meet again, Miss Heley Potter," the Sorting Hat said in her head. "Or should I say Mister Harry Potter, as you have been known up until today?"
Heley only smiled.
"Thank you for keeping my secret during all these years," Heley said.
"It was my pleasure to serve you, Miss Potter," the Hat answered.
"I'm now starting a new life," Heley said."I remember very well you want to sort me in Slytherin the first day I came to Hogwarts. If you want to put me back there again, then I won't protest this time."
"As a matter of fact, Miss Potter, I still believe that Slytherin House is the best place for you, considering all the potential you possess," the Sorting Hat responded. "However, during these last few years, you were able to develop much of your potential even though you were in Gryffindor. It seems that being in a rival House also make one's potential develop, as well as unknown ones, but in a different way. But having Harry Potter to disapear like this…"
Heley felt her heart ache upon being reminded of all the tragedy that had befallen the Gryffindor House.
"I… I didn't have a choice… It was the only solution I could think of to stop the Death Eaters daily attacks on innocent civilians…"
"And indeed, you have saved the wizarding world a second time, Miss Potter. But at such a price…"
". . ." Heley didn't say anything for a moment. "To tell the truth, Harry Potter's fame was becoming more and more difficult for me to carry."
". . ." the Hat waited for Heley to continue.
"Every time Harry Potter went out in the street, people came up to him and expressed their gratefulness for defeating Voldemort," Heley said. "However, many of those people who came to him were the ones who lost someone close to them, family and friends, during the war. Each time they told Harry Potter about their gratefulness, I felt myself grow more and more guiltier. It was mostly because of me that they lost those who were dear to them, yet they don't hold grudge against me. It was very hard to bear on my conscience."
"Miss Potter, it's not your fault… You should not-…"
"People keep telling me I should not feel guilty. Even Minister Shaklebolt said the same thing! But the feeling still remains!" Heley cried out, cutting off the Hat. "I know I'm a coward for running away like this, but I really just want to have a normal life, without burden, fame or anything." Heley clenched her fingers.
"Miss Potter, I understand your feeling," the Hat commented. Heley smiled.
"Thank you," she replied. They shared silence for a moment. The Hat let Heley composing herself back and Heley was grateful for that.
"Now, shouldn't you be sorting me? Where do I go this time? Slytherin like you had wanted?"
". . ." the Hat didn't answer yet. "Actually, Miss Potter…" the Hat stopped momentary. "Miss Potter, may I have a request please?"
Heley raised an eyebrow. Never did she hear about the Sorting Hat having a request about anything. Nonetheless, she nodded.
"What is it?"
"Miss Potter, I will tell you the truth. Right now, there is still dormant potential inside of you, potential which can grow strong and useful in the future if they are correctly nurtured. This time, Gryffindor House cannot help you. Only Slytherin can. My duty as the Sorting Hat will oblige me to put you in Slytherin, but I have a personal desire. I wish to place you back in Gryffindor, even if Gryffindor House won't be able to make your potential grow any further."
". . ." Heley waited for the Hat to continue.
"Miss Potter, after the death of Harry Potter, I have the very clear impression that the students of Gryffindor House have lost a parcel of their willpower and vitality. After all, Miss Potter, during the War, Gryffindor was the House that suffered the greatest loss compared to the other Houses. Not only they lost many comrades, but they also lost Harry Potter, a very dear friend. Miss Potter, I wish to put you back in Gryffindor for them. In you resides the essence and life of Harry Potter, the former Gryffindor. By putting you back in Gryffindor, I believe you can resurrect Gryffindor's vivacity. All the Gryffindors who knew and who have lived with Harry Potter when he was alive need you. I cannot bear on my conscience the sadness weighing their hearts when I know that the one they mourn for isn't really dead, but only his disguise. I want to put you back in Gryffindor for them, but also for myself, for my own redemption. Will you accept my selfish request, Miss Potter?"
Heley bit her lips. She looked at the Gryffindor table, especially at Ron and Hermione. Usually, the two of them would be quarrelling over some petty and insignificant thing. But today, they were awfully quiet. Actually, all the Gryffindors were awfully spiritless. Even Gryffindor joker-pair Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas were… abnormally lifeless. Ron had crossed his arms on the table and rested his head on them, waiting for the Sorting Ceremony to finish. His eyes were solely glued to the seat next to him, the seat where his late scar-headed friend used to sit. Right now, there was no one sat there, as if the Gryffindors purposely left the place empty, in memory of someone, even though that person was no longer there. Hermione, shoulders bended, kept sighing nonstop. Ginny was playing with her fork without very realizing what she was doing. Neville stared blankly at his empty plate in front of him, not moving a single muscle. Dean rested his head on his elbow, looking into nowhere. As for Seamus, Heley had the impression that he had banged his head on the table and hadn't moved from that position from the moment the Sorting had started. Usually, it was Slytherin table which emitted their particular aura of gloominess and boredom. But today, Gryffindor table emitted more gloominess than Slytherin had in the last ten years of gloominess put together. Even the calm and quiet Hufflepuffs or the hard working Ravenclaws were louder and livelier than the (usually noisy) lions.
"Gryffindors seem dead," Heley said.
"As I said, Miss Potter, after Harry Potter's death, Gryffindor's lively spirit died with him."
Heley watched the Gryffindor table again. She knew putting Harry Potter to death would cause pain to many people, but she hadn't expected their pain would be this heavy and hard to bear.
"I have decided," Heley said.
"Yes Miss Potter?"
"Put me back in Gryffindor."
The Hat grinned happily.
"Thank you, Miss Potter."
Heley nodded.
"GRYFFINDOR!" the Sorting Hat shouted.
(A/N: Sorry! I know many of you desire to see Heley in Slytherin, but for me, there are people who need her in Gryffindor. That's the reason why I put Heley back in Gryffindor.)
At the Sorting Hat's shout, the Gryffindors turned their head to Heley and clapped their hands, welcoming her as she approached their table. Neville broke his long standing eye contact with his empty plate and moved to make her a seat.
"Thank you," Heley said, smiling as she sat next to Neville. "I'm Heley Potter, nice to meet you." Heley gave him her hand.
"Neville Longbottom. Nice to meet you too," Neville greeted back, taking her hand.
Heley couldn't suppress her surprise when Neville grabbed her hand. It was a strong and firm hand shake, like those characterizing people who knew about their potential, who had known many harsh life experiences and who now had confidence about their potential. Heley looked up at Neville. Now that she looked at him more closely, she saw that Neville was no longer a baby-faced boy anymore. He lost his round cheeks, his cheek bones were higher and his features had sharpened. He looked more like a young adult. And his eyes… they were no longer the eyes of a timid and nervous teenage boy. Neville's eyes had lost their childish innocent and were instead replaced with the mark of maturity that came with adulthood. However, it wasn't a happy maturity but a maturity of graveness. Heley bit her lips.
'Did the War force him to grow up ten years ahead his time?' Heley wondered, a pain biting at her heart.
"Okay everyone," Horace Slughorn, Slytherin's head teacher and Potion master, stood up from the staff table and clapped his hands to get everyone's attention. Heley's attention darted her attention to him like the rest of the Great Hall occupants. "Now that you all together with their housemates, it's time to fest." Slughorn said. "Bon appétit!"
Immediately, food filled the students' plate and they started to dig in. At the Gryffindor table, Hermione, sitting in front of Heley, spoke.
"Hello Heley," Hermione said, smiling to Heley. "Welcome in the Gryffindor House."
"Thank you Hermione," Heley replied. The people around them turned their attention to Hermione and Heley.
"Hermione, you know her?" Seamus asked.
"Yes. Ron and I met her in the train," Hermione explained. "Here Heley, let me introduce you to everyone. You already know Ron, so let skip to the next person."
"But still, re-hi again, Heley," Ron said.
"Re-hi to you too, Ron," Heley responded, giggling.
"Next to you is Neville, our Herbology genius. Ask for his help anytime you need it." Neville smiled at Heley.
"Whenever you want, Heley," Neville said. Heley smiled back at him.
"Thank you," Heley responded.
"This is Ginny Weasley," Hermione continued, gesturing towards the freckled, red head girl that sat next to her. "She is Ron's younger sister and she is in grade Sixth." Ginny gave a nod to Heley, which Heley gave back.
"This is Seamus Finnigan," Hermione said, introducing the person next to Ginny, a short brown hair boy with his collar and his tie neglectfully unfastened. "I advise you not to come too close to him. He might contaminate you with his bacteria of craziness."
"Hey! That's not a nice thing to say, 'Mione!" Seamus protested.
'But it's true that you're a crazy guy most of time, Seamus,' Heley thought, suppressing a smile.
"Next to him is Dean Thomas." Hermione pointed at the dark skin with curly hair boy next to Seamus. "Stay away from him too because he's a pair with Seamus. Those two alone have more stupidity virus than the whole school put together."
"'Mione!" Seamus and Dean wailed, momentarily gaining back their old self.
'Pffffft!' Heley bit her lips, stopping herself from laughing.
Hermione ignored Seamus' and Dean's wailing and proceeded to continue her presentation, sticking on to each person her own personal description. While doing so, she broke everyone's gloomy mood and restored Gryffindor's old happy atmosphere.
'Hermione, you haven't changed. Always there for everyone, always the one thinking about everyone, except for yourself…' Heley thought.
Heley wasn't blind. After all, she knew Hermione for seven years. She clearly saw that Hermione was forcing herself to make people smile again. When Hermione finished presenting around, some people asked Heley a few questions about herself to know her better. They stuck to general questions such as where she lives, if her parents were pure blood or Muggle, which school she went to before going to Hogwarts, why did she transfer to Hogwarts this year, etc. Heley answered to most of their questions and turned around some others when she didn't want to reveal some secret and didn't want to lie at the same time. As she kept answering, Heley could clearly feel that the Gryffindors were restricting themselves on something. And Ginny was the one who confirmed Heley's impression.
"Hm… Excuse-me… Hum… " Ginny hesitantly called Heley's attention. Heley turned to look at Ginny.
"You can call me Heley," Heley said, smiling.
"Then Heley…" Ginny continued. "I will appear rude to you, but I cannot stop myself. Please, forgive me to ask this, but are you…" she hesitated, biting her lips. Heley raised her eyebrow, confused by the unfinished question. Ginny decided to go ahead. "Since you have the same family name than him… are you related to Harry Potter?" Ginny finished.
The table immediately fell quiet. That was the question everyone wanted to ask, but no one dared to voice. They feared the answer. They feared that Heley might be related to a dead friend and feared that a stranger carrying the same name of a dead friend would remind them of him everyday. Heley could feel the tension around the table creeping under her skin.
'But it wasn't like I didn't expect this question…' Heley told herself.
"Yes, Harry Potter and I… we share the same family blood…" Heley softly said.
'That's not really a lie. Harry Potter and I have the Potter blood in our veins,' Heley excused herself. 'I'm sorry Ginny…'
"So that's why you look so extraordinarily like him… You two are cousins," Seamus concluded, misinterpreting Heley's words. "When you first stepped into the Hall, I really thought you were him…"
"Seeing you so close and because of your eyes, I thought you were him," Dean added.
Silence again at Gryffindor table. The sad atmosphere Hermione had tried to change settled back into the table's occupants.
CLANG!
Neville harshly slammed down his knife and fork, making everyone jump. They all turned their attention to him.
"You must stop this right now," Neville broke the silence with a firm and angry voice. "You all know Harry's last wish. He wants us to smile, even after his departure. You cannot continue mourning him like this. It's like betraying his memory and his last wish. After all the pain he went through to write down his last message for us when he was dying, how can you permit yourself to be like this again?"
Everyone felt guilty. Heley included. Everyone one was guilty, guilty for forgetting Harry's last wish before he died. Heley felt guilty, guilty for lying to them. She casted her eyes down and hid her hands under the table, clenching them until her fingers were drained of their blood.
'Everyone, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to hurt you that much…' Heley bit her lips, fighting so that her tears wouldn't escape from their green prison. Neville saw her lips trembling and misunderstood her reactions.
'Is she thinking that we're sad because of her, because she reminds us of Harry?' Neville wondered.
"Heley!" Neville called her in a bright voice.
Surprised, Heley snapped her head up. Everyone clearly saw some twinkling in the corner of her green eyes. She was on the verge of crying. Neville grabbed a plate of mashed potatoes and shoved it at her. Startled, Heley blinked, wondering what Neville was trying to do.
"Here! Take more of these!" Neville said, exaggeratingly flashing all his teeth. "They are very good! Hogwart's mashed potatoes are the best in all of the United Kingdom. It's Hogwarts sacred mashed potatoes. Today's your first day here, so you can't not eating this! It's sacrilege if you don't eat Hogwarts sacred mashed potatoes on the day of your Sorting." He pushed the plate into Heley's hands.
"Wh-what?… Hog-Hogwarts… sacred… mashed potatoes…?" Heley repeated, an eyebrow rose, twitching. She bit her lips… "Pfffffffft!" Then exploded. "Hahahahahaha! Hahahahaha! Sacred mashed potatoes! Hahahaha! Sacred mashed potatoes! Hahaha! Hogwarts sacred mashed potatoes! I never heard of this one before! Hahahahahahaha!" Heley laughed, clutching her stomach. "Hahahahaha! Sacred mashed potatoes! Hahahahaha!"
"Hogwarts sacred mashed potatoes…? A sacrilege if you don't eat Hogwarts sacred mashed potatoes at your Sorting…?" Seamus repeated, his eyebrows cocked. Then, "Pfffffft!" He covered his mouth with his two hands to refrain himself. But he couldn't resist. "Buwahahahahahaha! Wuahahahahahaha!"
"Hahahahaha! Hahahahaha!" And the rest of the table broke out into laughter too. Even Hermione couldn't help but laugh as well, hiding her face behind Ginny, who was clutching her stomach like her brother.
"Hahahahaha! Hogwarts sacred mashed potatoes! Hahahaha! Hogwarts sacred mashed potatoes! I never heard of something so ridiculous in my life! Hahahahaha!" Ron cried between his tears.
"Me neither! Bwuahahahahahaha!" Dean added.
"Oh man! Neville! I never knew you had such a twist sense of humour! Wuahahahahaha!" Seamus said. "It's the weirdest and stupidest thing I never head before! Hogwarts sacred mashed potatoes! Hahaha! Wuahahahahahaha!"
Neville shrugged his shoulders, vexed. He wasn't thinking when he took the plate. He only wanted to make the new girl feeling comfortable so he let his arms and mouth work the way they wanted to work. But he couldn't believe that his mouth and arms would come up with such a strange thing as 'Hogwarts scared mashed potatoes'.
'Hogwarts sacred mashed potatoes…?' Neville repeated in his head. "Pffffffffft!"
'It's so stupid!'
"Wuahahahahaha!" Neville exploded too.
On the staff table, the Sorting Hat was looking at the Gryffindor table.
'Miss Potter, thank you… for your generous heart…' the Hat gratefully thought, happy to see Gryffindor spirit back alive.
At the other tables.
"What's wrong with Gryffindors today? Why are they laughing so hard?" a Hufflepuff girl asked her friend.
"Don't ask me! I have no idea!" her friend answered.
From the Ravenclaw table, Luna watched them, smiling.
'But it's good to see you guys laughing again,' Luna thought.
"Gryffindors are weird today," a Slytherin said.
"Who knows? Maybe they finally succumbed to their insanity," his companion replied, biting in his sausage.
"But they are fun to look at," Blaise commented with a smile.
"Blaise, you have always been a little too fond on the lions for my taste, so I will pretend I never heard that blasphemous remark from you," Draco said.
Blaise shrugged his shoulders and resumed eating his dinner. But Draco couldn't help to look at the table of the guffawing lions, especially at the new girl who carried the same family as his late Gryffindor rival.
'She really looks a lot like Harry Potter…' Draco thought.
A/N: Thanks to WingofHaine for betaing the story. She always does a wonderful job and I wish that you know about it.
Post on Sunday December 13, 2009.